Community opposition seemed to outweigh corporate interests this week in Key West.
At the April 1 city commission meeting, a dozen or so residents persuaded local lawmakers — well, five of the seven — to deny a hotel’s request for a zoning change that would allow it to build 21 new luxury villas across the street from private homes.
Park Hotels & Resorts, the Virginia-based real estate investment trust that owns the Casa Marina Hotel, had indicated that the proposed new transient hotel villas on one Seminole Street lot were needed to subsidize the construction of 25 new workforce housing units on a neighboring lot.
One of those lots currently includes 25 derelict apartments in four buildings that were previously occupied mainly by hotel employees, but have been empty and neglected since 2005, when Hurricane Wilma flooded them.
The hotel owners could immediately rebuild those apartments with no zoning changes required, according to the planning department’s report. But the 21 new hotel villas would need the commercial zoning designation.
Hence, the controversial request at the April 1 city commission meeting. Mayor Dee Dee Henriquez and Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover were the only two officials who voted in favor of the zoning change. Hoover has long supported the project, saying neighborhood residents for years have complained about the “eyesore.”
Neighborhood residents emphasized that they are not opposed to any workforce housing units, but some of them have claimed the hotel owners are “holding them hostage,” only agreeing to get rid of the derelict buildings in exchange for the profitability of 21 new hotel rooms. It was not a trade the neighbors were willing to support.
“Consistenty, your professional planners have said this is not a good idea,” local real estate attorney Carlene Grant told the commissioners on April 1. “The people who own the Casa Marina don’t even know they own it. It’s a real estate investment trust, not a small group of local investors. Take the advice of your planners and deny this.”
Former Key West mayor Sheila Mullins also opposed the project, reminding the commissioners that the city has long worked to encourage transient rentals to be transferred out of residential neighborhoods, not added to them.
“This changes a house from a home to a commodity,” she said. “And our island is filled with small hotels that could use this as a precedent to expand transient uses into neighborhoods.”
A representative from Keys Last Stand environmental group said, “Why didn’t Park Hotels rebuild that housing years ago when they knew there was a need? Voting yes for this says that a corporation’s rights to profitability outweigh the rights of the residents.”
Resident Joey Phillips also opposed the move, saying, “The planning department says they haven’t met any of the criteria for a zoning change. How much more money do they need to justify building workforce housing — for mainly their own employees?”
Karen Siegel, who with her husband, Jeff, helped create the nonprofit Protect Our Residential Neighborhoods to oppose the project, said, “They want to take more than three acres from residential to commercial. This needs to stop. These people here in this room are who you represent — not a multibillion-dollar hotel corporation.”
Local psychologist Fred Covan wondered aloud about what would motivate people to vote in favor of the zoning change.
“The hotel’s motivation is money, of course, but what would your motivation be if you vote in favor of this?”
Ultimately, the commission voted 5-2 to deny the zoning change, upholding the planning staff’s recommendation.
“In essence, the proposed zoning amendments are only needed and are intended to facilitate the construction of transient units in return for the development of deed restricted employee housing units,” the planning staff report states. “However well-intentioned, this approach will result in a reduction of existing market rate housing stock, exacerbating ongoing housing shortfalls.”
It was unclear immediately after the meeting whether there was any avenue to appeal the denial, or what the hotel ownership’s next steps might be.
After the meeting, Jeff Siegel, of Protect Our Residential Neighborhoods, told the Keys Weekly, “The real victory here isn’t ours. It belongs to the community. When people come together like this, change isn’t just possible; it’s unstoppable.”
