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Battle lines forming over building rules
By KATHY SAUNDERS TREASURE ISLAND -- Round 1 Wednesday went as expected. Neighborhood opponents left the first of two scheduled planning board meetings convinced that changes in the city's development rules would turn Gulf Boulevard into a wasteland: 100-foot-high hotels on the beach and, across the street, a row of parking lots. City officials, manager Chuck Coward in particular, appeared just as steadfast that development and beach ambience can co-exist with the new regulations. The additional tax revenue would help, too. Another Planning and Zoning Board meeting is scheduled Wednesday. Before that, city commissioners have agreed to discuss at their workshop Tuesday night the neighborhood coalition's demand that voters have the last word. The possible trump card in this debate are the petition signatures that could force a ballot initiative. Neighbors here have a history of passionately defending their waterfront. In the past 15 years, they have kept dogs off the beach and alcohol on it. Revisions to the city's land development regulations, or LDRs, have sparked the current trench war. Wednesday night's arguments focused on a proposal called density averaging. A landowner with multiple properties could use the total acreage to determine the number of hotel rooms or condominiums he could build on one site. For example, if a developer owns an acre on the beach where 50 units are permitted and another acre across the street where 30 units are allowed, the new law would allow the builder to put 80 units on the beachfront land. Presumably, the developers would put parking for the buildings on the east side of Gulf Boulevard. The two parcels have to be under the same ownership and abutting each other. That's how a hotel, limited to 55 feet by the current rules, could climb as high as 100 feet. Resident Frank McConnell said he was concerned that the density averaging would create a wasteland along the east side of Gulf Boulevard. "You'll have a string of parking lots," he said. Said Heidi Horak, a lawyer from Sunset Beach: "This seems to me an opportunity to bulk up the west side of Gulf Boulevard." City Manager Coward said the city would require heavy landscaping of any lots constructed across from hotels. "I would much rather see a nice landscaped parking lot with virtually no activity or noise than the back side of the Best Western Motel," Coward said. "I admit I am making a value judgment, but I think I'd rather have that." With density averaging, Coward acknowledged, the density of any given lot could increase, "but the overall density of the community does not increase." The proposal also will make beachfront land more valuable. Jim White Sr., of Century 21 -- Jim White & Associates Inc.said land on the west side of Gulf Boulevard already costs twice as much as property on the east side. With higher prices on the gulf, hotel developers on the beach have to make sure they can build and sell enough units to make their projects feasible, White said. Mike Daughtry, spokesman for the group demanding a referendum on the LDRs, says volunteers have gathered about 1,500 signatures -- more than enough required for a vote. The process goes like this: The petitioners have 90 days to collect signatures and submit them to City Hall. The city clerk then has 45 days to verify the signatures through county voting records. If enough signatures are validated, the clock for a special election begins to tick. The city then has 120 days to schedule an election. In the current scenario, the city would have to hold a special election by February. Daughtry said he is hoping commissioners will agree after Tuesday's workshop to put the LDRs on the March ballot themselves. "Oh, it's going to be a show Tuesday," he said. Commissioner Stephanie Lavino asked for a commission discussion of the referendum issue. "Whoever seconds that is going to be re-elected," Daughtry said. Meetings this weekCity Commissioners are scheduled Tuesday night to discuss the citizens' petition to put the proposed land development regulations to a vote. That workshop is 7 p.m. at City Hall, 120 108th Ave. On Wednesday, the Planning and Zoning Board is scheduled to complete its review of the LDRs and conduct a public hearing on the issues. The 15-member board also could make its recommendations to the City Commission. The meeting is 6:30-9:30 p.m. at City Hall.
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