HERE’S THE SCOOP……SAVING EL MAR DRIVE….. AGAIN….
September 16, 2021 by Barbara
THE FUTURE OF EL MAR DRIVE IS AT STAKE….
Dear Readers…. whether you have lived in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea for years or just landed as a resident or tourist it must be because you fell in love with what you found…..A Town like no other as described by Martha Munser in her book that is still referred to on the Town website.
We have been here before with urban planners, Town administrations and staff that believe change is their task to accomplish and developers who look at our town as the last beachfront frontier to conquer!
They have all been held at bay and sent packing due to the mobilization of residents old and new who prevailed!
Here we are again!
Just when we thought El Mar Drive was off the redevelopment train with the demise of the overbuilt land grabbing luxury resort that was encouraged by those same change agents on the old Holiday Inn property and the massive design change pushed upon us for the El Mar Drive Project we are now faced with a massive McMansion Conditional Use application at 4112 El Mar Drive on a 50 foot lot that was a walkway to the beach!
Something nefarious, deceptive and/or ignorant has taken place as this application has moved through the Conditional Use process for a single family home in our hotel district, in this writer’s opinion!
Our Interim Town Manager Linda Conners was our Town Planner when the Town Commission made the Conditional Use requirement for single family homes their #2 priority in 2011. She presented it to the 2012 Planning and Zoning Board on March 21, 2012 emphasizing how important it was.
In November 2017 when single family homes were discussed while the Planning and Zoning Board was in the process of bringing the north end codes in-line with the south end, the current Chair of the Planning & Zoning who has been on the board since 2012 brought up single family homes on El Mar Drive and Linda Conners, Director of Development repeated the importance of not having them in our hotel district.
Here we are in 2021 and the first Single Family Home Condition Use application had been submitted for consideration after it was removed from the original April 2021 Planning & Zoning hearing date. Suddenly it was not being presented on July 7, 2021 to the 2021 Planning and Zoning Board as the catalyst to build a single family home on El Mar Drive, rather it was being cast aside as non-essential in the board’s decision!
The Planning and Zoning Board made it clear they needed direction and history from the Interim Director of Development and the Town Attorney. They were given none! They were not provided backup to that March 21, 2012 Planning & Zoning meeting with the original backup provided for that meeting or the minutes and the video. They were not provided or informed that this 4112 El Mar Drive application was being based on it meeting the Conditional Use requirements to approve or deny it. They stated as a board they felt their hands were tied. They were correct!
The Planning and Zoning Board had their hands tied by being kept in the dark about their role as an advisory board and by not being provided the materials and the direction required to perform their appointed duties!
The last single family home application made prior to the 2012 Conditional Use requirement went to the Planning & Zoning Board multiple times requesting changes before it went to the commission.
That single family home that was never completed had heard the board loud and clear. The attorney for that applicant stated they had reconfigured their house to not impact the small hotel next door to their south!
It was the Seaward Hotel family owner and his attorney who came to the Planning & Zoning Quasi Judicial Hearing opposing the 4112 El Mar Drive Conditional Use applicant who intends to build this McMansion next door the Seaward that did the Town’s job!
Attorney Henry Handler , Seaward Hotel owner Jim Sellitti and their architect tried mightily to inform the board as well as the Interim Director of Development and Town Attorney James White of the purpose of the Single Family Conditional Use in their deliberations but they were summarily cast aside at every turn!
The board was reticent when they passed this applicant on to the commission 4-1 to a hearing set for July 27, 2021.
Between July 7, 2021 Planning & Zoning Board meeting and the July 27, 2021 commission meeting word spread about what took place and what was coming to the commission impacting El Mar Drive !
That Quasi Judicial Hearing in front of the commission was postponed as a result, in my opinion.
At the July 27,2021 commission meeting in Public Comments, Former Mayor Scot Sasser, Former Mayor Roseann Minnet and Former Vice Mayor Stuart Dodd made strong, impactful comments to stress the importance and significance of the Single Family Home Conditional Use requirement they instituted along with our current Mayor Chris Vincent. A large number of public comments were made at the podium and sent in to the Town Clerk from very concerned town people.
The Town Architect did a required architectural review in August after the applicants made a developmental review application right after the July 27, 2021 Quasi Judicial Hearing was canceled which is required for any development in RM25 zones.
