Planners OK Bight project
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff
KEY
WEST — The city Planning Board, on Thursday night, recommended approving
a luxury condo complex in the Key West Bight called Watermark.
Planning Board members
Richard Klitenick, Patricia Eables and Bill Mauldin voted in favor of
the project. Bill Verge and Paul Tagliaferri voted against the project.
The project was conditionally approved for 25 units, not 26, and with
some lowered roofs. The board's vote is a recommendation to the City
Commission, which can ultimately deny or approve the project.
Watermark developer and
Conch Derek Parker put forth a passionate request for support of the
project. He cited his family's long history in the town and said that a
corporation he is partners in, Cortex Companies, is not run by "greedy
out-of-town developers." Several buildings in town are named after
members of his family, including City Hall and a building at the
airport. Developer Everett Atwell, Realtor Ralph Sanchez and attorney
Tim Koenig are partners in the company, and all come from Conch
families. The project is being developed locally by the four under the
name Caroline Street Partners.
His company has tried to
work with neighbors, and scaled down the project several times, he said.
The project in recent months went from 81 units to roughly 30 to 26 and
finally 25 units. The partners have also recently agreed to lower the
roofs on several buildings.
"We have reduced the
project density to fall within the city guidelines," Parker said. "We
are merely working within the parameters put to us ....To the neighbors,
we will continue to work with you."
Many longtime residents
and Conchs packed the meeting hall Thursday night to speak in support of
the project. Paul Worthington, owner of the neighboring Schooner Wharf
Bar, also spoke in favor of the most recent proposal of the Watermark.
"The silent majority is
no longer silent," the group's attorney, Jim Hendrick, said after
hearing applause from the Conchs and long-time residents.
The Cortex Group also put
forth a sophisticated computer generated presentation that showed
different angles of the Watermark project and how it fit in with the
many commercial waterfront buildings in the Key West Bight. The
presentation refuted assertions made by many residents and a model built
by local architect Bill Rowan. Rowan's model depicted the four Watermark
condo buildings as out of scale with neighboring old conch homes and
remodeled bordering houses. Many spoke and wrote letters in opposition
to the project, stating the two of the buildings still exceed the city's
height requirements and floor area ratio guidelines. Buildings in that
district can only be 35 feet high unless they have a pitched roof, which
allows the building an extra 5 feet. Opponents claim that the buildings
do not have pitched roofs as developers claim. Buildings there also can
not exceed 2 1/2 stories, local attorney Bob Goldman said. Some of the
buildings exceed that, Goldman said.
"If you fall off those
buildings, you still fall four stories" Goldman said, citing one
neighbor's argument. "We ask that this development comply with the law."
The Caroline Street
Partners offered an alternative to the current plan for the Watermark
condominium complex, which will be housed at the site of old Jabour's
Trailer Court & Campground. The group may still implement the current
plan, which calls for 26 $1 million-plus condos housed in four
buildings. The alternative calls for 25 units. The penthouse would be
removed from the top and the under-condo parking removed along Lazy Way
and William Street. This would drop the peak of the building from 40 to
28 feet. Underneath parking would also be removed from another building
that would drop the peak of that roof from 40 to 36 1/2 feet, City
Planner Ty Symroski said.
Opponents of the project
said reducing the average height is unimportant if other buildings on
the property still exceed height regulations.
tohara@keysnews.com |
