Commissioners in Monroe County eliminated additional obstacles for a Tavernier worker housing and grocery project.
A group is still attempting to appeal Blackstone Group Tavernier’s plan to construct 86 workforce housing units and a 49,000-square-foot Publix to the state. However, a shortage of funding can make the endeavor risky.
Commissioners met in Key Largo on Dec. 11 and passed a number of resolutions. In particular, commissioners unanimously agreed to reserve 86 early evacuation permits so that developers might build workforce housing behind the proposed Publix on the old concrete property at MM 92.5, Tavernier, which is located on the oceanside.
Commissioners decided to distribute the funds during a meeting held in Key Largo on September 11. The county received the funds from then-Governor Rick Scott after Hurricane Irma, a category 4 hurricane that devastated mobile homes and other houses in the Keys in 2017. The 300 apartments the state provided to the county were intended especially for multifamily complexes with many units on the property, such as the one Tavernier’s Blackstone Group is proposing.
Additionally, the commissioners granted the developers’ request to acquire the 86 units without adhering to the county’s 1-1 exchange scheme. The initiative, which commissioners approved in 2021, allowed developers to exchange affordable allocations for early evacuation units that they had previously acquired. In order to handle any possible takings claims, the county viewed it as a means of increasing their allotment for affordable housing. According to county officials, no developer ever took part in the program.
To construct the 86 units, developers are submitting applications for the low-income housing tax credit offered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. A distribution of income groups for the units, ranging from poor to moderate, would have to be included in a development agreement with the county. The apartments’ occupants must earn at least 70% of their income in Monroe County. On the workforce housing portion of the project, developers are collaborating with Vestor Companies, a Jacksonville-based company.
After a storm, tenants in the apartments would have to leave within 48 hours. First responders and other vital staff who might be stationed in units wouldn’t have to leave. The workforce housing complex is required by the county to have an onsite manager who has received evacuation training to make sure everyone departs on time.
A resolution amending the county’s land use district map to apply the Tavernier Commercial Overlay District to the property at MM 92.5 in Tavernier was also approved by the county commissioners by a vote of 4-1. The only vote against it came from Commissioner Craig Cates. 20% of the local inhabitants who lived close to the project opposed, hence the measure needed a fourth-fifths vote to pass.
In essence, the area permits developers to build a nonresidential building larger than 10,000 square feet for the Publix liquor store and grocery. At a meeting last February, commissioners first gave their approval to the request to amend the text of the Monroe County Land Development Code.
The county ordinance was initially overturned by Florida Commerce, but it was eventually approved. Since then, Florida Commerce’s decision to adopt the county legislation has been appealed by the Tavernier Community Association (TCA). In October, TCA filed its most recent appeal against the overlay district.
TCA President Richard Barreto has expressed skepticism about the state’s activities, saying he thinks the state abandoned its duty to monitor Monroe County as a critical state issue.
Following 60 days of review, FloridaCommerce issued a final order in May of this year rejecting the law for a number of grounds. The action came after the Planning Commission, Planning Department, and Monroe County’s Development Review Committee came to similar conclusions.
FloridaCommerce revised its initial rejection to approval and issued an updated final order in June. According to Barreto, the state transferred the cost and weight of appeal from the developer to the Tavernier community by changing the order.
According to a recent letter from Barreto, the group started a fundraising drive to cover the expenses of an appeal. According to Barreto, they failed and might have to give up on the endeavor.
“The appeal is the very agency that reversed themselves and supported the ordinance,” Barreto wrote in the letter, adding that “finances play a part in our decision.” Our efforts were substantially hampered by the State’s reversal of their initial final order, which has made our work much more difficult.
The TCA is developing an alternative plan, Barreto noted.
To move forward with the project, developers also need to secure a major conditional use approval. The Monroe County Planning Commission handles that issue. The developers plan to host a community meeting via Zoom on Thursday, December 19 at 5:05 p.m., as required under a major conditional use permit.
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