June 20 meeting of the Santa Rosa Island Authority's Committee to Redefine Pensacola Beach

The June 20 meeting of the Santa Rosa Island Authority's Committee to Redefine Pensacola Beach proved one thing - its members still have not arrived at a workable consensus of just what their mission statement is.
The eleven-member committee (realtor Jeanette Johnson resigned after one meeting) has been gathering a myriad of statistics about beach development, revenue sources, sewage treatment capabilities, SRIA budgets, and visioning plans. Yet, the members appear divided as to their “agenda.”
Mary B. Bolman, the SRIA's manager for Administration and Leasing, explained a detailed breakdown of developed commercial and residential property on the Island including the number of existing units, the number approved but not yet built, and the current land use designation.
Also provided was the maximum units allowed both without special exceptions and with exceptions if requested by developers. For example, the Dunes Hotel, which has approximately 3.1 acres, is zoned C Hotel (30-50 units) meaning 30 units per acre without special exception or up to 50 units per acre with special exception. They could either rebuild 93 units without any special requests or go for a maximum of 155.
The SRIA's calculations on hotel/motel units indicate 1059 additional units could be built without exception, or an additional 2521 units with exception. Residential units, which are affected by a building cap, could increase by 2,119 additional units if all property on the Island was built out to its maximum.
Following much discussion about build-out on the Island, guest speaker, David E. Cleveland, made a short presentation of what he described as “hotel economics 101.”
Cleveland, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Highpointe Hotel Corporation, began by saying, “Hotel business in Pensacola is actually strong. People still want to come to this beach. Between the tourist events and extra business demands due to post-Ivan reconstruction, our hotels in town have done extremely well. So, there is a demand to come back out to the Island as soon as facilities are back open.
“The landscape is shifting dramatically on Pensacola Beach, particularly in the core area, between two major component factors we look at in land development: land costs and construction costs. The economics of developing and operating a traditional hotel in a typical resort area are not what they used to be. That is where the relatively new concept of condominium hotels became introduced and is becoming embraced by the hotel community. “To the extent that we on the Island and in the area can embrace and facilitate the structure– it's basically a financial structure– we're going to get a better profit out of it. We are going to get more first class resort facilities than we would if we just tried to do it the old way. Therefore, whether it's the sale of hotel rooms that rent out and operate alone, or individual condominium owners, or whether it's a mixture of one component hotel and one component condominium that share amenities at a single location, some combination of those concepts is what it is going to take to redevelop those properties into a first class establishment.”
More discussion ensued regarding the size of a regular motel room (350 square feet) versus a suite (450-600 square feet) and which kitchen amenities were included in condohotels. The committee also queried Cleveland on Escambia County's current ordinance regarding maximum of only 10% of rooms larger than the 500 square foot size and owner occupancy of no more than two weeks a year. It was an information gathering session for those interested in the hotel versus condo-hotel concept.
On the plus side, committee member Julian MacQueen presented a slide show of the “good points” of nearby beach communities' visioning plans after personally scanning plans for the Navarre Town Center, Gulf Shores Visionary Plan, Orange Beach, and Plash Island/Bon Secur.
“What impressed me” began MacQueen, “is that we started on a process here that really deserves more than just the attention of this committee. It really does need the attention of the community at large. We have worked on the visioning process; we haven't really worked on the planning process. I think that this committee does not necessarily have the expertise to get to a vision of plan that will satisfy the community at large.
“We're not unique in the sense that we find ourselves at this crossroads where we have the responsibility of taking the community through the next decade and beyond, and in order to do that in a way that gets buyin from all the stakeholders, you really do have to bring them into the planning process.”
Among the highlights of the plans MacQueen reviewed, common themes included creating districts, town centers, onestop parking, and promoting pedestrian friendly access. Each community wanted to evoke a “sense of place” and “all wanted to maintain viewsheds/ viewscapes, and water view corridor protection.”
MacQueen noted that interestingly, the trend is leaning toward building high rises taller and skinnier rather than lower and wider, giving the public the water views they demand. In addition, in Orange Beach, the city chose to look at the value of the land and prohibit any development that would not cover the cost of developing the land. Incentives are given developers who provide the community with public access for beach goers, creating a win-win situation for a public-private venture.
Another trend in developing beach communities in combining commercial with residential development by dedicating first floor spaces for commercial uses with upper floors for residential use. This provides higher density use in the core area “creates a walking experience and more activity.”
“This beach is everybody's beach and everybody needs to be brought into this process. Those people who talk about unfair play or agendas won't have a lot to say if they can be included in this process,” MacQueen concluded.
MacQueen felt that if the SRIA wanted the committee's recommendation on the immediate issues before the board, then they should “hash those out” but if they wanted to redefine the beach, then they needed more time, more expertise, and the involvement of the community. Committee member Robert Rinke sided with Vice Chair, Jim Cox, saying that he felt the committee was charged with “giving the board some direction immediately with what's on their plate in terms of hotels and condos. This group cannot plan Pensacola Beach without funds and gather groups into place. And, we already have a request right away to change properties on the Island that could have a big impact. That was our main charge.”
Casey Trout, one of two beach residents appointed to the committee noted that one of the recurring comments in recent petitions to the SRIA regarding the Clarion's request, as well as noted in the Whitman Center's Vision 2010 was “no more high rises or limited high rises.”
“There are some high rises on the books that have been approved but haven't been developed as of yet. I just want to make sure that those groups who oppose all high rises are aware that some of those developments have been on the books, and in some cases, for a number of years.”
With differing opinions as to whether they were charged with immediate “band aids” versus visionary “plans” the Committee to Redefine Pensacola Beach struggles to define its mission. They meet again July 5, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at which time they hope to have speakers on matters relating to concurrency, Gulf Power and ECUA.