Height-limit-busting projects Off the Table -- for
now...
| The developer
(Miami-based Carlisle Group) who originally said he could build
affordable housing projects in the Keys with "only" a
2-foot increase in the county's 35-foot building
height limit has blown town because the proposal to raise the limit
9 feet, to a 44-foot maximum, met considerable public
resistance. The county will never gain public trust as long as
they keep playing shell games. Both the county government and
Carlisle Group talked up the height increase as "just a couple
feet", yet the Comprehensive Plan amendment they actually
sought was for 9 feet, to accommodate a third story above parking.
Carlisle's proposal appears dead, but rest assured the proposals to
increase the height limit and to double allowable density in the name of
"affordable" housing will return. Stay tuned.
From the November 4 Key West Citizen: |
Developer
drops 'affordable' project
BY ANN HENSON
Citizen Staff
A plan to tap a $5 million state grant to build as many
as 162 affordable housing units in Monroe County appears to be scuttled.
The only developer to apply for the project has withdrawn its proposal,
saying construction would not be cost-effective if it can't build the
homes higher and denser.
CEO Lloyd Boggio said his Miami-based Carlisle Development Group based
its proposal on the county easing its height and density restrictions, a
decision the County Commission began to discuss at its Oct. 18 meeting,
but postponed until its Nov. 15 meeting. The board said it wanted to
give the public more time to review the background material.
Easing height and density restrictions were believed to be a key in
winning a grant in the innovative category from the Community Workforce
Housing Innovation Pilot Program (CWHIP).
"Now the [county] administrator and board will have to make a decision,"
said Assistant County Attorney Jerry Sanders. "But it appears that the
county will give up on the CWHIP program this year."
The city of Key West and Village of Islamorada are continuing to pursue
affordable housing funding through the program, Sanders said.
Boggio said he heard a resounding "no" when the commission postponed
voting on the public hearings to increase height restrictions for
affordable housing by 9 feet, to 44 feet, and doubling the density for
units smaller than 750 square feet, to 12 per acre. About 20 residents
had signed up to speak at the meeting, almost all of them opposed to
easing the restrictions.
"I don't think the political will is there and it was no, at least for
now," Boggio said.
He said even if the commission were to ease the restrictions in
November, it would be too difficult to make the Dec. 15 deadline to
apply for funding.
Commissioners had said they thought they'd still have enough time.
"The decision not to make the changes in height limitations and density
makes them economically not feasible under that program, even if we
could meet the deadline," Boggio said.
The affordable housing projects were slated for four small parcels — in
Big Coppitt Key, Cudjoe Key, Tavernier and Key Largo. Without building
higher and denser, the potential dropped from 32 units per site to 12.
And Sanders said 100 units were more likely than 162 because some would
be two-bedrooms with more square footage.
"You just can't do it. I can't do it," Boggio said, adding that no other
developers submitted proposals for myriad reasons, including the small
lots, difficulty of construction, county's growth restrictions, and
density and height caps. "When you put them all together, they make
building a townhouse that would cost $125,000 in Ocala cost $500,000 in
Key West," he said.
"I don't understand what the plan is — how or why 35 feet is more
important than having permanent people who service the economy."
Boggio remarked on how Keys businesses import Eastern European students
who cram as many people as they can into rental homes and apartments.
"They make a lot of money by their standards, work for six months and
have enough money to pay for two years of their education" back home, he
said. He cautioned against basing an economy on foreign workers, as the
political climate in those countries could change.
While other areas in Florida, such as Naples, and other parts of the
country, such as Cape Cod, face similar problems with affordable
housing, the work force in those areas can live in nearby cities. The
Collier County legislator who authored the CWHIP program clearly had
Monroe County in mind, Boggio said.
"They were trying to cure the least affordable, and you have it the very
worst," he said. "But people from the outside don't get to evaluate
what's important in Monroe County."
ahenson@keysnews.com |
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