DELRAY BEACH — The site plan for the oceanfront Glass House condominiums got the go-ahead in June, following objections from opponents concerned that it was intended as a rehabilitation facility and that it was environmentally harmful.
The Site Plan Review and Appearance Board conditionally approved the plan for the condominiums at 2225 S. Ocean Blvd. The property would have 11 units on 1.7 beachfront acres and would be a primarily glass building. The medium-density residential area allows six to 12 units on the property, with proposals requesting more than six subject to compliance with performance standards.
The 16 one-story residences now at the address, which were built in 1945 as Delray Villas, will be demolished.
The Glass House would be built by Marc Andrea Musa, whose brother’s home borders the property on the south. The Musas formerly owned Eyeglass World.
The developers and architects for the Glass House repeated several times that there was no intention of creating a rehabilitation facility or being affiliated with one.
“I don’t know why people think we’d do that,” said developer Barry Globerman, noting each condo would be priced to sell for millions of dollars. “It’s too expensive. It’s not economically practical.” Skepticism rang out from the audience, however. When Dale Meaux of architects API Group said, “I’d like to reiterate this is not in any way a rehab center,” a voice from the audience said: “Yet.” And Globerman’s statement, “We’d sooner change the name than have this go on,” was met with “Then change it.”
While it wasn’t clear where the issue of a rehabilitation center originated, the SPRAB staff report initially listed as a condition of approval that the Glass House won’t be a rehabilitation or treatment facility unless approved by the City Commission.
Assistant City Attorney Terril Pyburn advised the panel to remove that statement, because it is illegal to include it. She also told the audience at the start of the review that the purpose of the session was not to determine who would occupy the Glass House condominiums.
Environmental factors including dunes and sea turtles also were a focus, with complaints that the construction would damage the dunes and that the glass would reflect light — from condo interiors, the moon and elsewhere — which would distract the sea turtles. Members of SPRAB, however, noted the project will have to meet stringent state standards in those areas, and won’t be approved if it doesn’t.
SPRAB member Shane Ames raised the issue of the condo’s excavated garage and questioned how the developer would deal with water issues because the garage is eight feet below the water table and 12 feet below high tide.
“We do perceive this as a problem that has to be addressed,” Meaux said.
The site plan passed with one dissenter and conditioned upon resolution of the water table concerns. James Borsos voted against the plan because it was incomplete. He also criticized the staff report, pointing to several shortcomings. Candi Jefferson, senior staff planner, said that while the staff at first had some of the same misgivings Borsos pointed to, it was advised to support the plan. Denying it would have allowed the Glass House to build only six units, which Jefferson said was unfair given the number of units in surrounding properties. “We did not want to deny the owner economic viability,” she said, adding the staff did attach conditions to its recommendations.
Upon questioning by Pyburn, Jefferson reiterated that the project met all the minimum standards. “Otherwise, we would’ve been forced to deny the proposal.”
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