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Beauford

Beach Lover
Jun 23, 2015
126
76
Azzurro Condominium, Yellow House Amendment, Five Other Proposals Get Planning Commission Nod - The Defuniak Herald & Beach Breeze
By DOTTY NIST


Generating a great deal of testimony and public comment was the Azzurro Condominium development proposal, consisting of a four-story, 12-unit condominium on an undeveloped 3.11-acre beachfront site on the west side of Beachside Drive, south of San Roy Road in the Eastern Lake area.

A previous proposal for the property had been Angelo’s, a condominium with upwards of 20 units that the Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) had declined to approve in July 2007, due to staff indicating that the plans did not meet a code requirement calling for 95 percent preservation of the native dune plant community on a portion of the site. A couple of months later, the BCC had approved a downsized version, consisting of 13 multifamily units, with county preservation requirements deemed to have been met and all construction planned for the landward side of the coastal construction control line. However, the condominium was never constructed.

There have been efforts by the county to purchase the undeveloped site with its native dune area and rare plant community, for public use, going back to 2008 or earlier, when the county sought a Florida Communities Trust grant for this purpose. More recently, within the past few years there has been consideration of acquiring the property for the public with Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) funds. However, after several appraisals were obtained, there was a recent decision against the purchase.

Representing project applicant Cliff Harbour at the July 13 planning commission meeting were Dean Burgis of Emerald Coast Associates and Dana Matthews, attorney.

Matthews told the planning commissioners that all dunes on the property were to be preserved and that an easement existing on the site would not be interfered with. He said the building height was “right at 45 feet,” that a pool and decking that were part of the previous plans had been removed (placed at the top of the building) to allow for additional preservation of the site, and that the building had been pushed north 15 feet.

Matthews explained that 37 bedrooms were planned for the condominium and that 37 parking spaces were to be provided. He said the expectation was that this would be a second-home development.

Matthews referenced other condominiums in the vicinity of the subject property, which he explained are more dense that the Azzurro proposal. He also spoke of over 30 homes located within a quarter mile of the site that he said the applicant’s representatives had confirmed to be short-term rental homes. “This is a dense area,” Matthews said, observing that the short-term rental homes sleep a lot of people.

Planning Commissioner Danny Glidewell asked about the easement referenced. Burgis explained that this is a county easement on the eastern 33 feet of the property.

Eastern Lake/Gulf Drive resident Nina Horn told the planning commissioners that the dune on the subject property is over 20 feet tall and that she had been beach mice and sea turtle nests on the beachfront portion of the property. She added that for about 345 community residents, “this is our vista.”

Residents, Horn continued, view this parcel as part of the Eastern Lake neighborhood rather than part of the area of existing condominiums that Matthews had spoken of. She maintained that, as such, the proposed condominium would not be compatible with the neighborhood of single-family homes. “I am very much against this,” Horn concluded.

Will Dunaway, representing San Roy Road property owners, also argued that the proposed condominium would be incompatible with other parcels in the vicinity, explaining that the majority of the parcels south of CR-30A in the community are single-family lots.

Professional planner Allara Mills Gutcher, an expert witness for the opposing property owners, reinforced Dunaway’s argument, testifying, “The proposed development is not consistent with the uses in the area.”

Matthews countered by asking if this were true with 26 people sleeping in single-family short-term rental homes in the neighborhood.

Dunaway raised other questions about the development, including whether the proposed amount of impact on the site is allowable, arguing that only 0.432 acre of impact would be allowable, while the project plans show 0.45 acres.

Jeremy Reiser, an environmental specialist testifying for the applicant, told the board members that the project fits with the permit still in existence that was obtained for the previous proposal for the property.

Buddy Page, a planner and expert witness for the applicant, commented that he thought it was “fair to say” that this was not just a neighborhood of single-family homes that were not being rented out—but that instead the homes were “producing a considerable amount of income per month,” for the owners.

“That’s not single family,” Glidewell responded to the testimony.

Planning Commissioner Tom Babcock observed that a good job had been done with the proposal to reduce impact on the dune.

Planning Commission Chairman Teddy Stewart commented that this was a hard decision because, although the neighborhood is single-family residences, a “condo by a different name” has taken over the homes through them being used as the short-term rentals sleeping large groups of people. He said that although residents would probably rather see single-family use on the subject property to provide a better view of the beach, the condominium proposal that factors in plans for parking and other impacts is actually more beneficial to the neighborhood.

“In a perfect world, that would be a park,” Glidewell said of the property.

“I agree, I wish the county had bought it,” Stewart responded.

A motion for approval of the condominium proposal carried with all aye votes.
 

Jim Tucker

Beach Fanatic
Jul 12, 2005
1,189
497
Instead of advertising for more tourists than we can handle already - we should be buying properties like this to protect from more housing and provide access.
 
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