 | | Mark Clabaugh/Gulf Breeze News At left, dune restoration continues on Pensacola Beach providing well-needed, extra protection from Gulf waves and surge. |
Last Monday’s meeting of the Santa Rosa Island Authority’s Committee to Redefine Pensacola Beach sounded like a jack hammer, with the Clarion issue being pounded over and over and over again, but don’t blame it all on the committee.
During the previous week’s SRIA full board meeting, Redefine Committee chair, Monsignor Luke Hunt was given new marching orders. “I got the distinct impression that the board was not pleased with us to say the least,” he began.
“I think that perhaps their disappointment was that one of the reasons they formed this committee was the Clarion issue and three times we have failed as a committee to make a recommendation other than to leave things as they are so I think that may have been the genesis of their disappointment.”
Clarion property owner and Redefine Committee member, Joe Endry, offered his explanation of why the Island Authority’s board might be unhappy with the committee’s performance to date.
“When it comes to this business about rezoning property from medium density to higher density that’s been done before,” he said. “The Best Western property was medium density. Back in 1991, it was increased to high density. The precedent is there to change property from one density to another, so it has to be more than just the issue of the Clarion.
“I think they probably would like to have our input on the increasing of medium densities in general on the beach because it fits in with the future of Pensacola Beach.”
Committee vice chair, Jim Cox responded, “The 1988 Comprehensive Land Use Plan has given pretty good guidance for the beach for the past 17 years with a mixture of residential, condos, commercial enterprises. We’re a very different beach than all our competitors east and west of us, in part because of the last 17 years, with a couple of zoning variances like you say, that we made. It has held up extremely well.
“It is time for a fresh view, but that fresh view requires a much more extensive planning process with a lot more input in terms of forums and so forth in the community, similar to the process they went through 17 years ago to get that document and that goes beyond this committee’s scope.”
Portofino developer and committee member, Robert Rinke, added, “I think that we can make recommendations that we want the beach to be geared toward eco-tourism. We want the aesthetics to be much better. And that the Island Authority should hire professional architects to ensure that will happen, to be sure they use stronger hurricane codes, ensure proper plat
ting and approved materials.
“I think we looked at all of that, but to make zoning changes on the beach after 17 years, I think we need professionals in here to re-plan the beach, get the traffic people involved, people who do this professionally. None of us is qualified to change the level of this beach. It doesn’t need to happen at this level.”
When asked, SRIA staff confirmed that only one property, the Best Western, had been granted a change from medium to high density and that they had only increased to 30 units per acre, not a special exception asking for 50 units per acre as the Clarion is
Endry countered that SRIA staff had recommended the change requested by the Clarion and that it was not a controversial issue to his knowledge. “The folks that don’t want to see a high rise out here, it’s going to be a high rise…it may not be as high, but it’s going to be a high rise,” he said.
Still, other committee members reminded him that three separate motions on the Clarion failed, confirming that it was a complex request.
Victoria Clarkin, president of the Pensacola Beach Preservation and Historical Society, has attended the Redefine Committee meetings and spoke on the Clarion matter.
Clarkin told the group that she was bothered by comments made that the Clarion was not controversial, reminding them that “there was a public hearing and we had almost 50 people that came and were opposed.
“The Clarion presented its case. I also had brought a petition that had over 750 signatures against any more high rises, variances and that kind of thing.”
With the prospect of the Island participating in a long-range planning process that might take up to a year to complete, committee member Stan Potts commented, “There are 84 people (Clarion property owners) who are hung out there on a limb. Do they need to wait for another year before they decide what they can do with their own property?”
Joel Asmar, president of the Sunray Village Owner’s Association (doing business as The Clarion Suites), also addressed the committee. “It’s not really practical to develop an 86unit hotel any more. The owners don’t have enough money to rebuild. We have to get a developer partner to come in. We’ll actually have to wait until a rezoning goes through. You just don’t see any examples of smaller complexes... along the Gulf Coast.”
Peter Gram, also a property owner at the Clarion, added, “If you’re going to maintain the flavor of the beach and still have the economic development that you’re going to need to go ahead and pay for services and infrastructure then you want to go ahead and have the concentration in the core area. Every other property in that area is already high density.”
Ultimately, the committee agreed that they “could not reach a consensus recommendation for the SRIA” regarding the Clarion, However, in a summary report being drafted for the Island Authority that evening, the Redefine Committee will recommend the SRIA “not grant blanket changes in zoning (e.g. from medium density to high density) for hotel sites.
Additionally, the committee will recommend “the SRIA give consideration to requests for ‘special exemptions’ to increase the number of units allowed to the maximum permissible within the current zoning classification (e.g. up to 20 units per acre for medium density sites, and up to 50 units per acre for high density sites).”
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