John Cascone, Vanneza Stubbs, Margaret Kirkland and Mark Bennett speak out opposing the variance
After hearing two and half hours of impassioned pleas to keep the character of downtown neighborhoods intact, the city's Board of Adjustment voted 5-0 Wednesday to deny the developer of the former Tringali property a variance seeking to build 10 housing units on parcels where three homes had once stood.
Property owner Worthy Investments sought the variance to revert to the city's 1857 Yulee Plat that would have allowed the developer to subdivide three parcels into 10 lots for residential housing.
The city's Land Development Code (LDC) specifically prohibits reverting property to the 1857 platt when houses or structures have been built across lot lines, ruling those two lots are now considered a single parcel.
"We spent months and months doing this," said Planning Advisory Board member Mark Bennett, who helped write the 2006 LDC provision against subdividing lots. "If you allow this to go forward, you will kill this city."
Bennett said the intent of the LDC section was to preserve the integrity of neighborhoods.
"A neighbor could walk out on their porch and know there were six houses on 4th Street every day, not 12 houses, not seven," Bennett said. "This (variance application) is the same story (more density) I've heard when we started this (writing the LDC revisions)."
Bennett was among 12 speakers who gave testimony opposing the variance.
Following the ruling, Ron Flick, the agent for Worthy Investments, said he was optimistic that the property owners would prevail with an appeal of a Nassau County Court Ruling that said the developer had to obtain a variance from the Board of Adjustment in order build more units on the land, which was formerly owned by the Tringali family.
Under the city's R-2 zoning allowances, Worthy Investments would be allowed to build six units - a triplex, duplex and single family home - on the lots which are located on South 4th Street, just north of Beech Street.
Last year, the city commission ignoring provisions of the Land Development Code voted to allow Tringali lots on South 3rd and 4th Streets to be subdivided for townhouses. That decision was overturned by a Nassau County Judge following a lawsuit by adjacent homeowners to the property. Worthy Investments appealed that ruling.
Flick told Board of Adjustment members that Worthy Investments was seeking the variance and "asking to make the property more flexible" in developing units.
"These are 10 parcels in my book. Originally, the idea was to generate something targeting a higher value per square foot in product, compatible with the land values which drives up land and other values of all the adjacent properties," Flick said. "It benefits us to make the (overall) community look better."
He said "I don't like the constraints of the size of the lots right now" and stated limitations of the current restrictions would make current allowable units "somewhat disjointed."
Retired attorney Frank Santry argued the LDC was ironclad in prohibiting subdividing of parcels after homes and structures had been built on combined properties. "Don't lose sight of the three LDC provisions that you're being asked to provide an exemption from what the last 19 years has applied to every other similar situated landowner in the city of Fernandina Beach without any reference to the underlying circumstances," he said.
John Cascone, who has lived across the street from one of the lots on 4th Street for 34 years told the board, "They (Worthy Investment) bought (the property) knowing what the rules were, they should be bound by the rules. You're talking about bringing in row housing, like downtown Philadelphia, New York or Boston. That's not what Fernandina is. You're being asked to change the entire nature of our neighborhood."
Worthy Investments can file an appeal of the Board of Adjustment's variance denial in Nassau County Court.
Flick would not comment on whether Worthy Investments would appeal the decision.
Good decision.. Developers playing fast and loose with the neighbors and neighborhood brought into daylight.
Thank you, Mark Bennett, for making time to appear at this hearing. I think it was very very important to have you in the room to describe the key pieces of information as to how and why the code section of concern came about. Thank you for all your hard work for our city over the years and for showing up when it was so important to do so. You are a treasure!
You sure have stayed on top of this story.
Well, they got something right today.
It's more than we can say for the county commissioners' decision for the taxpayers of Nassau County to foot a $335,970.40 grant payment to RYAM to offset RYAM's building and tax expenses. This on the heels of every property owner in Nassau County's exponential property tax increases we just got slammed with - taxpayers paying to underwrite RYAM for building the prerequisite to the chemical refinery no one wants. The chemical manufacturing specifically prohibited by the City's own Comprehensive Plan.