Coastal Properties-Vaca Cut LLC will furnish a Corps of Engineers permit for the dock at the next meeting of the Marathon City Council on Tuesday, May 26. The development of nine, free-standing homes — each with its own pool — passed the Marathon Planning Commission’s conditional use review this week on a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Lott Pansky dissenting.
The homes will be built on the northeast side of Vaca Cut, one of the city’s main water arteries that provides boaters access between the gulf and ocean.
“We wanted to keep the dock as close to the shoreline as possible,” said project spokesperson Amadeo D’Ascanio of D’Asign Source. “It’s pretty straightforward.”
The “T” dock hugs the shoreline and extends about 75 percent of the parcel’s frontage with one access point from land. City Planning Director George Garrett estimates the dock will extend about 15 feet into the cut.
A planning commissioner initially asked to delay the conditional use permit until the applicant could produce the dock permit. That motion failed. Instead, the planning commission passed the conditional use for the Marathon City Council’s approval with the added proviso it be a discussion item and the applicant furnish the permit.
Permitting docks is the purview of the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In other news:
- The old Blue Waters Motel in Marathon will be redeveloped and incorporated in the Marriott Courtyard project. The plan involves knocking down the aging 21 units and reconstructing new hotel rooms adjacent to the Marriott; in fact, the developments will be connected by interior second- and third-floor corridors. The two parcels, however, have a distinct set of owners and separate real estate ID numbers. One is the Courtyard Marriott and the other is the Blue Waters at Courtyard Marriott.
“The separate real estate parcels with one resort is unusual for Marathon,” said Marathon Planning Director George Garrrett. “But it’s not particularly unusual for the state of Florida.”
The developers asked to be allowed to provide two units of employee housing, rather than the more stringent workforce/affordable housing requirement. (The first is NOT deed restricted, and the second is.) Project representatives said because the construction is a redevelopment — 21 units for 21 units — it should not invoke the city’s 2014 ordinance that requires workforce housing, but fall under the old guidelines. City Councilman Dan Zieg said there are other considerations, however, such as the eventual development of commercial space on both properties for features such as a restaurant.
The city council granted the conditional use for the Blue Waters, requiring two workforce/affordable housing units. The matter will be heard one more time before approval is final.
