15-STORY HARBOR REFLECTIONS SQUEAKS BY CITY SCRUTINY

Destin has its first Tier Three project.

In a quasi-judicial hearing Thursday night at the Destin City Hall Annex, the Destin city councilors heard the request from the architects and developers behind Harbor Reflections, a proposed 15-story condominium tower to be built to the immediate west of Harbor Docks Restaurant.

For nearly three hours, the councilors peppered Joseph Dougherty of Dougherty and Chavez Architects and city staff with questions about whether the proposed facility would increase traffic, have enough parking and whether its proposed boardwalk, a requirement for Tier Three projects, would receive Florida Department of Environmental Protection approval.

The proceedings, surprisingly, included no testimony from any member of the public opposed to the project.

After a brief recess, the council reconvened and approved the applicants' development order by a 4-3 vote with Larry Williges, Capt. Kelly Windes and Dewey Destin voting in opposition.

The project was the first to work its way through the regulatory process under the city's 3-year-old land development code and was scrutinized by the council on a number of fronts.

Councilor Larry Williges took umbrage with the city staff's traffic report on the project, which suggested that approving the development wouldn't result in increased traffic on Destin's roads.

"These traffic studies would lead you to believe that there is no traffic problem in Destin. It shows, in my humble opinion, that these traffic concurrency reports aren't as valid as we'd like to think," he said. "I have a hard time telling people with a straight face that we have room for more cars and more traffic on our roads. We are allowing just about anything to be built."

Williges expressed his disappointment that the city's traffic consultants weren't in attendance to answer questions from the council regarding the traffic report.

Councilor Dewey Destin echoed Williges' sentiments regarding the traffic issue and lamented the city's lack of alternative transportation.

"The project is well designed, but it gives me great pause to approve this when we have nothing but a paper tiger to combat the traffic problem that we have now," he said.

While the harbor boardwalk, boat slips and parking were all points of discussion during various parts of Thursday night's hearing, most of the debate centered on the project's proposed public benefit contributions and impact fees.

Under the land development code, it is the responsibility of the city manager to negotiate with the applicant on what percentage of the estimated profit anticipated by the applicant in going from Tier Two to Tier Three, the city should receive by way of a public benefit contribution.

The percentage agreed upon by Kisela and the applicants was 33 percent or $1.3 million.

Capt. Kelly Windes said he thought that number was too high and a disservice to those harborfront property owners who have held off cashing in on their parcels.

"For those old families who held out for 50, 60, 70 years, they are not making a good return. For the city to take 33 percent and say, this is for us,' that's on the verge of socialism for me. There is too much subjectivity," Windes said. "Every project that comes before us, we are going to argue with them about what chunk of the profit the city should get and it's too ambiguous. There has to be a standard, and we have to simplify this formula."

The question of legal precedent was raised by a couple of city councilors as to whether or not, by approving Harbor Reflections and it's 33 percent public benefits contribution, the council was setting a precedent for future Tier Three developments.

City land use attorney Scott Shirley and the attorney representing the applicants both voiced their opinion that the city had the right to take every project and every parcel of land on a case-by-case basis and assess the public benefit differently. He concluded that the city was not setting precedent with their actions Thursday night.

As approved, the developers will pay $250,000 to $300,000 in impact fees under the city's current ordinance and will also pay an additional $1.3 million in a number of public benefits that are to include constructing a 10-foot wide public harbor access way to the east of the project and upgrading the existing tram stop on Benning Drive.

Under Tier Three, the development is also required to construct a section of the harbor boardwalk as part of the city's harbor redevelopment plan, approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency board in October.

Destin City Manager Greg Kisela said now that the council has approved the project's development order, the applicants can begin to plan construction and apply for the necessary building permits when they are ready to take the project vertical. Though given the market, he added, it was likely that work wouldn't begin until the end of the year or the beginning of 2009.