Don’t let the unfamiliar wording on the ballot fool you. Key West voters are being asked in a special election to authorize a long-term lease of land at Truman Waterfront to the developer that will build 100 or so units of affordable workforce housing on the remaining 3.2 acres of land at the waterfront.
Mail-in ballots arrived last week in Key West voters’ mailboxes. Election Day voting will take place on Jan. 18, but early voting will begin 15 days prior on Jan. 3, according to the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections office.
The special election ballot includes only one question, but it’s one of the most important for Key West’s housing crisis:
“Shall the Naval Properties Local Redevelopment Authority of the City of Key West (“LRA”) be
authorized to lease real property of approximately 3.2 acres at the Truman Waterfront, for a period of up to 99 years, exclusively for affordable workforce housing?”
“This affordable housing development will only move forward if approved by the voters,” states a City of Key West Facebook post.
Key West law prohibits leases of city property for longer than 10 years unless that lease is approved by the voters. And city officials have long heard that no developer will build affordable housing on land without a guaranteed long-term lease for control of that land.
The property at Truman Waterfront will only be used for housing and will include a combination of rental and ownership units.
Key West officials and residents have been planning workforce housing on the 3.2 acres at Truman Waterfront for nearly 20 years, since the Navy gave the waterfront parcel to the city. The housing has always been intended to benefit the surrounding Bahama Village community.
At their Nov. 16 meeting, Key West city commissioners voted to pursue negotiations with a joint-venture group called The Lofts at Bahama Village, which includes developer Vestcor, the Smith Hawks law firm and AH Monroe, which also has built several successful affordable housing communities in Key West.
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