More discussion about mixed-use ability in downtown area, with several agenda items staved off until June at Historic Preservation Board meeting
The meeting of the Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board on Wednesday, May 11 was brief, with several items on the day’s agenda pushed to the June meeting for various reasons, including insufficient information and requests for administrative relief.
Among those items that were discussed were solar panels. Board members had asked Lee County at their last meeting to do some research into how other counties and localities deal with the visual impact of solar panels, to which Lee County Attorney Amanda Swindle responded.
“It was actually a very timely review, as this item is also coming up on the local government list of items,” she said. “Just so you know, there is a Florida statute that prevents a local government from adopting an ordinance that would prohibit the installation of solar collectors. Now, the historic review process stems from federal law, so it trumps the state statute regarding solar collectors, but I wouldn’t say it completely pre-empts it. So what we have to do is what other local governments have done – take a look at potentially developing guidelines that we would incorporate into our design standards regarding solar collectors. Generally the Parks Service says if the solar panels are installed in a way that they can’t be seen from the street, they are compatible. The city of Key West, though, has a hierarchy of locations where they can be placed if there is no way they can’t be seen from the street, in order to preserve historic integrity of their district.”
She continued, “I can see a process whereby it is possible to install them completely unseen from the street; maybe that can be an administrative process. If not, I do think that it deserves some kind of review by this board. My recommendation would be to direct staff to start this process. Our design standards could use some work on many issues, not just solar collectors. But I believe this board should retain the authority to review these applications when the collectors will have to be seen from the street. Don’t give up that authority.”
Board President Jerry Edgerton said that prior to this time they allowed the contractors to use their discretion to place the collectors. Swindle said they need to review the way they are installed, to make sure the architectural integrity and historic characteristics aren’t impacted. She said the Parks Service guidelines charge the board with doing just that.
Board Member Peggy Stanley said she was reminded of a past project in which she felt the usage needed to match up with the needs of the home. The extent to which those solar collectors would satisfy the energy needs of that house, and the potential extra amount it was generating, would be important to have in the proposals that come before the board.
Edgerton also brought up the fact that they had asked staff to do some research into a mixed-use zoning status for the downtown district. Swindle said there has not been any formal work done on that, and the reason for that is the Gasparilla Act.
“It’s very tough to regulate around that very specific special law,” she said. “The topic of affordable housing was brought up at the last meeting, and there is a state statute which will pre-empt any law to the contrary to allow for mixed-use affordable housing, but it needs to be affordable, meaning tied to 125 percent of the median income, so really the Gasparilla Act is the backstop unless you want us to do research, and … affordable housing is a big issue all over the county, and the State in their last legislation beefed up their pre-emption and the ability to provide affordable housing. But it is very highly regulated.
“That type of affordable housing is not what I was talking about,” Paterson said. “I was talking about mixed use, which would create some affordable housing in our terms of affordable housing. The one thing I wanted to say is that Charlotte County has a mixed- use overlay that they use to create a special district.”
“They don’t have the Gasparilla Act,” Swindle said.
“Does the Gasparilla Act preclude mixed use?” Paterson asked.
“It does, yes. It would preclude any rezoning of that sort.
Rodriguez said the Gasparilla Act precludes any sort of rezoning, other than for single-family residential zoning districts. Down here we do have some properties that are commercially zoned that do permit residential use as well as commercial, so there is an opportunity there. But, we also have an overall density regulation as well, which is five dwelling units per acre according to the Gasparilla Act, but is three dwelling units per acre according to Lee County.
Paterson said if you have a building that goes lot line to lot line and access front and back, and if you were to put a second story on it and it was an apartment for the owners or an employee, is that possible?
Rodriguez said it is.
“There may be a handful of dwelling units you can develop, but we would have to talk to staff to see if we should expand that already existing mixed-use overlay. We are very busy right now and down a staff member, so we will get to it as we can. But this is a good time to explore this.
Jeffrey Farrington, partner of Kevin McLaughlin in the projects he has going on Boca Grande, said this was of interest to them because McLaughlin owns the vacant lot between The Temptation and the J. McLaughlin store. They have been before the board twice in an attempt to have zoning regulations changed.
“We’re very interested in maintaining the character of the community, so we’re looking at a first-floor building there. FEMA wants it on pilings, and we don’t want it on pilings … when you meet all those requirements, the cost of construction becomes quite high. To make it economically viable in any way, we would have to put something on the second floor, and then we have the problem of not being able to put a residential unit in, which has the lowest parking requirement, but if you put something else in you’re going against the parking requirement. I would ask the board to consider this, as we very much would like to find a way through this morass, because we would very much like to develop it and contribute to the downtown area.”
Paterson had a very interesting question at that point.
“What if, because of all the different regulations, he really cannot improve that property? Is that the taking of property? It’s just a question, but I know how long they’ve been trying to get anything on there. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
Swindle said generally that wouldn’t be taking by the County, especially when you’re talking about FEMA, construction requirements and the Gasparilla Act. She and Rodriguez agreed that there is a process by which a property that has no other use would have a minimum use determination. This would allow one property – one family residence – to avoid the situation of the taking of property.
Everyone agreed that doesn’t help much, as a single-family residence is not what would be asked for there, whether they were allowed to build lot line to lot line or not.
Another resident and business owner, Tom Fleming, said he owns the Boca Grande Outfitters building, which is right across the street from the vacant lot. He said he was interested in replacing the office space above the Outfitters to make it residential space for visiting family. He told the board he had researched this and found that if minimum requirements for minimum housing standards were met, there was a way to do it.
“Now if the minimum standards are 125 percent of the median income, is that for Lee County or for Boca Grande?”
After the laughter subsided, Swindle and Rodriguez said it was for the average of the entire country, per the U.S. Census Bureau. As long as residential use is permitted in that zoning district, you are allowed to change from commercial to zoning, they said.
Rodriguez introduced Courtney Gordon, a senior planner in the zoning section at Lee County, who will be hearing the cases for the Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board. Gordon has a B.A. in archaeology, experience in environmental and urban planning, as well as GIS work (mapmaking and analysis work). She was also a planner for the city of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office. She has been with Lee County for approximately a year.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 8.
