County reschedules housing hearings
BY ANN HENSON
Citizen Staff
The deadline is looming
for Monroe County to apply for a state affordable housing program, but
county officials this week hit the brakes on the process.
The County Commission on
Wednesday continued two public hearings that officials say are necessary
components of the county's application for the Community Workforce
Housing Innovation Pilot Program (CWHIP). The program provides funding
and expedited approval for affordable housing projects.
County
Commissioner
Dixie Spehar and the county's affordable housing czar, Jerry Coleman,
agreed that the public did not have enough time to prepare for
Wednesday's hearings, including reading all the background material
included in the agenda packet.
"We didn't get the stuff
on the Web site as quickly as we wanted to," said Coleman, an attorney
and liaison to the county's Workforce Housing Task Force. "There's no
trickery involved — I was uncomfortable and other commissioners were,
too. I just felt that even though we need to proceed expeditiously, we
have until Dec. 15 to put in the proposal."
The commission allowed
comments from about 20 citizens who showed up for the public hearing,
and said the board would take more comments at its Nov. 15 meeting.
"Those who would like to
can speak today," Spehar said at Wednesday's meeting, "but let's delay
this to the November meeting."
Both public hearings are
about relaxing height and density restrictions for four proposed
affordable housing projects — one each in Cudjoe and Big Coppitt and two
in Key Largo. One public hearing is about allowing the developers to
build 8 feet higher; the other is about letting them build at twice the
density.
As it stands, the height
of residences is capped at 35 feet, with density at six affordable homes
per acre.
Coleman said by adopting
such changes to the county's comprehensive plan, Monroe has a good shot
at a $5 million state grant through CWHIP, and getting the changes
expedited with only one public hearing, instead of the typical two or
three. Coleman said that's good news, as The Carlisle Group is ready to
build all four projects.
Several speakers on
Wednesday criticized Coleman for trying to push through the height and
density changes, and claimed they are not necessary for the CWHIP
program.
"I don't think it's
necessary to get height and density bonus just to get $5 million from
the state," said Ed Swift, a Key West developer and member of the
Workforce Housing Task Force. "I do believe it is critical that we
address height and density as tools for affordable housing."
Lloyd J. Boggio, CEO of
the Miami-based Carlisle Group, defended both amendments, saying Monroe
is the most difficult county in the state in which to develop affordable
housing.
"The primary problems are
availability of land, cost of land, cost of construction and the
limitations due to [its designation as] an Area of Critical State
Concern," said Boggio, who participated in the Meridian West affordable
housing project. "We had a list of 300 waiting; there's never been a
vacancy."
Big Pine Key resident
Kathy Wheeler countered: "If Carlisle has built affordable housing
before at 35 feet, I see no necessity to raise the height limits."
ahenson@keysnews.com
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