By John Pacenti
The Ocean Ridge Town Commission at its Dec. 1 meeting for 61 minutes grappled — in what Mayor Geoff Pugh called “a great discussion” — with whether single-family property owners could exceed the town code for house size in exchange for easements needed for flood control.
It will come up for a second reading at the commission’s Jan. 12 meeting.
The town needs an easement on a property on Harbour Drive North, a street that frequently experiences flooding. The homeowner, according to Town Manager Michelle Heiser, wants to add 500 more square feet.
“The homeowner, like it or not, knows we need that easement and says, ‘This house my wife wants, it includes a bigger closet,’” Heiser said.
The proposed addition to the home also would not be visible from the roadway and the ordinance is an effort to solve the impasse, she added.
The issue at hand is FAR — floor area ratio — the measurement of a building in relation to the size of the lot or parcel on which it sits. Currently, the town allows a 36% FAR for parcels up to 20,000 square feet.
For the Harbour Drive North home in question, which sits on an 11,761-square-foot lot, the proposed ordinance would allow the property owner to go from a 36% FAR to a 42% FAR, increasing the house maximum — now at 4,704 square feet — to 5,227 square feet.
“The proposed ordinance would create a sort of tiered approach to allow for properties to increase their FAR up to a certain percentage based on the town’s request for an easement,” Town Attorney Christy Goddeau said.
Goddeau said any prospective single-family residence would still have to pass muster with the Planning and Zoning Commission, be compatible with the neighborhood, and satisfy other factors.
Future consequences
Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy spoke out against the ordinance as proposed, saying the town has crafted rules to keep property owners from “maxing out” their residences. She noted that the ordinance really is because of an “uncooperative homeowner” on Harbour Drive North.
“To build an ordinance because of one property owner, because we need it now, I think, is a mistake,” Cassidy said.
“This is a blanket ordinance for the entire community that we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” she noted.
Commissioner Ainar Aijala Jr. asked Goddeau if such accommodations would be a rare circumstance.
Yes and no, she said. Currently, there are only two properties, besides the one on Harbour Drive North, where the new ordinance would apply.
“But as you know, things change in town, given drainage issues and flooding issues, there may become a need that this is utilized more by the town,” Goddeau said.
Public comments were also pointed.
“I think it’s a really slippery slope, whether you’re doing it for one homeowner or only because of an easement or only on a certain street,” said former Mayor Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation. “The character of our town is based on the fact that we don’t have these Boca McMansions.”
Former Commissioner Terry Brown had the opposite viewpoint. “In my opinion, you’ve got to do horse trading. And this is an example of where you’re going to do it,” he said.
Cassidy asked whatever happened to the idea of the town abandoning the right of way.
Heiser said that the town engineer did not see that as a good solution because of flooding issues and has already started the permitting process with the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District.
“It looks like we’re trying to solve a problem, but I want to make sure there aren’t unintended consequences that we just can’t foresee,” Aijala said.
Flooding issues
Commissioner David Hutchins and the mayor live on Harbour Drive North.
“When it floods on that street, it’s dramatic, and it can affect a lot of activities,” Hutchins said. “The reason we were looking at this easement was so we could move the water off the street, at least on a high tide.”
He said the homeowner has “got us over a barrel,” but the goal has always been flood control.
Pugh said it was time to make a deal.
“So if you want me to tell everybody on my street who complains vociferously about the flooding on the street that we didn’t do it because we wouldn’t give that guy 500 more square feet,” Pugh said. “I’m not willing to do that.”
In the end, the commission passed the ordinance on first reading but with amendments, including a preamble that the commission intends for such easement swaps to be limited use and that it would periodically review requests. The commission also asked Goddeau to tighten up the language on whether the easement remains with the town if the property is sold and to explore if the FAR percentages could be lowered.
In the meantime, negotiations continue with the homeowner.
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