Workforce Housing on Marco Island

When the January 5 meeting of the Planning Board convened it was with a light agenda as one of the two items previously posted for action was moved from January 5 to the scheduled February 2 meeting of the board.

However, the other scheduled hearing to come before the board involved a longer-than-expected discussion regarding the Affordable Housing issue, an issue often debated but lacking solutions.

At this meeting, the Planning Staff brought forward legislation that would allow a change to the city’s existing land use regulations and zoning as it relates to “mixed use.” This change would allow mixed use in all commercial districts as a conditional use.

This would allow for the repurposing of certain upper-level areas of presently existing commercial properties to allow for workforce/affordable housing.

Mary Holden, the city’s Planning Manager explained that this stipulation in the changes would be done via a “conditional use” provision and would not be done as a matter of right and would be directly related to existing structures as they seek to redevelop underutilized second-floor square footage.

During the ongoing discussions regarding the presentation Board Member Nannette Rivera inquired as to what is the total of utilized density credits which have been utilized within the city. Many were surprised that the city’s planning staff lacked that important calculation. 

“I know I’ve been requesting those numbers. How do we know whether we can approve something if we are not cognizant of what is available without exceeding the numbers we’ve set? How much density is left in our districts, in our planning for the community” said Board Chair Jason Bailey.

Bailey himself would have sought to simplify the process and would prefer to see mix-use available under the same existing ordinance rather than develop an entirely new process, but with provisions.

Staff will bring back another look for the board to review next month.