City approves Watermark project in bight
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff
KEY
WEST — The City Commission Tuesday night approved an upscale Key West
Bight condominium project, which has been the center of island debate
for nearly two years.
The commission voted 4-2
in favor of approving the swank Watermark complex, composed of 25
two-bedroom, two-bathroom condos that start at $1.5 million and go to $3
million. City Commissioner Carmen Turner and Mayor Jimmy Weekley voted
against the project.
"It's no longer going to
have an adverse impact on this neighborhood," said Commissioner Tom
Oosterhoudt, who represents the Bight neighborhood. "Unless you're at
the Schooner you're not going to see it .... I can no longer fight
something I can't see a problem with."
Former County
Commissioner Shirley Freeman and local author and activist Barbara
Bowers and some other Old Town residents say the buildings are better
suited for mainland Florida and are too big and out of scale with the
surrounding community. They say the project violates city rules that
limit new buildings to 2 1/2 stories tall and rules on floor area
ratios. City officials say that it may violate floor area ratios, but
the ratios have never been applied to residential projects. The mayor
objected to the project because of the floor area ratios.
The developers first
reduced the number of units to 32 on site and allowed them to transfer
48 to another location. They eventually cut the project to 25 units. The
Jabour family sold the property to the Caroline Street Partners, a local
development subsidiary of the statewide development conglomerate Cortex
Companies.
Supporters say the
buildings would be a welcome successor to the old trailers of the former
Jabour's motorcourt and the abutting cement buildings that currently
occupy the land. Developers, the Caroline Street Partners, contend the
project fits in with the old fisheries, dry docks and other working
marina-type facilities in the Key West Bight.
"It's a highly active
urban environment," said Glad Roberts, a project coordinator and
landscape architect with Watermark. "We are doing something to
complement, not degrade, the working waterfront."
Bob Goldman, bight
resident and an attorney, filed a series of legal challenges. He filed a
petition challenging the city's HARC staff's authority to approve a
recent modification to the project. He also filed a complaint
challenging the vested rights the city granted the developers for
transient rentals on the property. Goldman contends the City Commisison
should not have discussed the project until the legal wrangling is
resolved.
Turner reminded those who
packed Old City Hall on Tuesday night that they should not let their
strong opinions on this issue be a reason to treat each other badly or
be hostile to one another.
"If you had a major
development going up in your neighborhood, you would be just as
concerned as these neighbors are here," Turner said. "If you had a
financial interest in this as some of these gentlemen do, you would be
here today .... When we leave here today we have to remember that we all
have to live here together."
tohara@keysnews.com |
