by Bill Davis | Staff Writer
A package of 11 linked zoning ordinances will be up for first vote that could refocus and redefine Center Street in the public portion of the meeting.
And in a closed-door work session, Council will discuss Mayor Tim Goodwin’s proposed short-term-rental plan that could introduce fines and repercussions for absentee owners who don’t maintain their properties’ impact on their neighbors.
Councilmembers and city staffers want residents to be fully informed on all the issues by the meeting. City planning czar Jenna Stephens sent out a letter last month to affected property owners to get the process started.
Councilman Bill Farley says the ordinances are intended to help differentiate buildings and businesses that face Center Street from ones that don’t, and recognize the different zoning needs for both types of properties.
In short, those facing Center Street would be defined as “downtown com-mercial,” while those abutting Center Street and behind those that do front, would be changed to “island commercial.”
According to Stephens:
- The first zoning ordinance to be discussed in public will be one that would shrink the downtown commercial district, remove future multi-family units from being allowed to be built there, limit buildings to two stories (including rooftop bars and patios), and remove parking requirements for the shrunken downtown commercial district.
- The second one is intended to have zoning more accurately reflect what type of business is being included in the two zones, while allowing for new con-struction abutting the downtown zone to have single and multi-family units, but with limited heights, and to include a 10-foot setback where it’s not already been done.
- The third one will set up public hearings for the proposed ordinances, as well as exempt multi-family units already built in the new two-family district from the “substantial damage rule.” This would mean that if a hurricane destroys one of those units, the owners would be allowed to build back, grandfathering their non-conforming use.
- The fourth one would rezone the second block west between Ashley and Arctic avenues from Island commercial to “residential two-family” (RTF).
- The fifth one would create a 10-foot setback and maximum buildable eight on buildings in the island commercial zone to 40 feet above grade.
- The sixth one would rezone properties between Ashley and Arctic avenues on Center Street from island commercial to downtown commercial.
- The seventh one would eliminate multi-family commercial properties from the downtown commercial district, while allowing for residences to be built above commercial uses.
- The eighth one would apply an overlay to a specific section of Center Street that would require new development to be at grade, and limit building heights to two stories.
- The ninth one would rezone the first block of Center Street from downtown commercial to island commercial, as well as certain properties behind that street.
- The 10th one is a housekeeping ordinance that would rezone zones created above into the overlay.
- The 11th would require new development in the commercial districts to build pedestrian paths in front of the parcel. Current property owners would be grandfathered in under previous ordinances.
“These ordinances are for the long-term,” says Stephens. You won’t see changes tomorrow, but years in the future. The goal is to keep the historical feel of Center Street and encourage development at ground level.”
Mayor Goodwin is more direct, as usual.
“If you come to the Post Office, you see big, ugly townhouses being built that everyone who lives here, hates. This is one way we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Goodwin is counting on residents’ votes overriding outside investors’ interest on the island. “We all have to decide, ‘Do you want a residential island or a commercial island?’ All of this is an effort where we are trying to do something now versus when it’s too late.”
“All of this” includes his short-term-rental plan that he laid out before Coun-cil at an April meeting. The mayor points out that of the 2,800 total residential units on the island, “1,123 are being used by AirBnB and Vacation Rental By Owner.”
And he’s not a big fan of the ratio.
His plan would cap the number of rental business licenses issued to the number in 2020, forcing new properties to wait until a licensed property changed hands before being awarded one.
It would also limit the chain of succession of the license to close family members, so that if a licensed property was sold, the new owners would go “to the end of the line” for a new short-term rental license.
And finally, it would introduce a three-strike fine and complaint system, wherein after three fineable offenses the short-term rental license would not only be stripped from the property, and it would require the owner to wait 24 months before being allowed to apply for a new one, from the back of the line.
“You’ve got these owners living in New York who don’t give a damn, and you can’t get a hold of them,” says Goodwin. “Well, they will give a damn when they lose the ability to short-term rent their properties.”
Goodwin is realistic, knowing that his plan won’t sail through unchallenged. “If you don’t plan for change, then you ain’t planning.”
