Marina gets OK to begin planning process for 71-unit housing complex

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

Formerly at odds over the overnight homeless shelter, Key West city officials and owners of the Sunset Marina on Stock Island will be working together, at least initially, on a development plan that would add 71 new housing units at the marina.

Commissioners voted Oct. 21 to enter into a development agreement process with Sunset Marina, LLC, allowing marina owners to work with planning and city staff to prepare a development agreement for the project, which will include 54 residential market rate units and 17 residential affordable units. Sunset Marina has also applied for some of the 91 newly-available residential construction permits the city will be awarding this year.

No one at the Oct. 21 meeting mentioned the elephant in the room; that the previous owner of Sunset Marina, 5555 College Road, had successfully sued the city over the location of the Keys Overnight Homeless Shelter (KOTS), which was adjacent to the marina. Acknowledging that city planners had not followed their own permitting processes, city commissioners agreed last year to find a new location for KOTS.

That agreement is currently causing numerous headaches for commissioners, who have been unable thus far to find a suitable alternative location. Meanwhile, time is running out for the city to act, according to City Attorney Shawn Smith. Commissioners need to have a new location proposal in front of the city planning board by February.

But that issue did not come up during the discussion of whether to allow Sunset Marina to proceed with the planning of its proposed project. In fact, Commissioner Jimmy Weekley wondered why the marina owners even had to come before the city commission at this point.

“Why do we have to give permission to someone to go ask if they can negotiate a development agreement? Any citizen has the right to negotiate a development agreement,” Weekley said. “To me, it’s a right they would have.”

City Planner Don Craig explained that the city commission had previously enacted the provision to avoid having City Hall staff work with a developer if the project ultimately would not receive commission approval. By approving the development application process, Sunset Marina now has an assurance that its proposed housing project can move ahead.

“All this does is provide the first step,” Craig told commissioners. “It does not obligate you to a particular type of development. It does not obligate you to a density of development. All it does is say, OK, you have the right to make us a proposal. It does not mean we’re going to accept it.”

That was good enough for commissioners, who voted unanimously to approve the resolution. The development plan will have to go before several city regulatory boards, including the planning board, before coming back to commissioners for the final vote.

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