Town council gives ‘good faith effort’ to Newton Cottage
own council gives ‘good faith effort’ to Newton Cottage
After breezing through much of the night’s consent and administrative agenda due to its efficient work session March 12, the Fort Myers Beach Town Council hit a speed bump Monday while discussing the application process for Newton Park on 4650 Estero Blvd.
The council took nearly two hours debating the sensitive issue of the Newton Park cottage – the cost for relocating it versus the demolition of it – after the Local Planning Agency, acting as the Historic Preservation Board on March 10, rejected the demolition of it.
Town manager Scott Janke first identified the Park’s other building – Seven Seas – before moving on to the cottage.
“The town, as the applicant, has requested that Seven Seas be identified as historic so that we could go in to the process of rebuilding the building, adding the public bathrooms, etc., and that we could open up the building before the end of the year,” he said. “We were successful with that application and we can move forward.
“The LPA, sitting as the HPB, unanimously rejected our request to destroy the cottage and then they decided to delay a decision on relocation of the cottage for 35 days to give us time to provide a better application for relocation.”
Janke said the application was lacking because there was no place to relocate the cottage. Then he outlined the town council’s four choices for the disposition of the cottage.
“You can appeal the decision for demolition, you can request that the town show an economic hardship to the HPB and request reconsideration for demolition, you can move forward with the relocation as described by the HBP’s action on this issue or you can resubmit the application for demolition to the HBP,” he said.
The debate centered on the insufficient funding for relocation; the inability to find an applicant who would take the cottage along with the cost of relocating it; or the demolition of it. Each councilperson had opinion on the issue.
“I was just perplexed that the HPB rejected the demolition out right and wanted the town to then take on the responsibility to finding a location and moving it,” said Councilwoman Jo List. “I imagine that’s a very costly thing to do.”
“We might have underestimated how big a project this needed to be in terms of preparation,” said Mayor Larry Kiker. “No matter what happens, we have to review the process and make sure this council spends enough time so the presentation can go forward properly.
“We have tried to move it already. There are two or three places we have asked but, for the same reason we have, it costs too much.”
“What I would recommend is that the town do an appeal on the cottage,” said Councilman Bob Raymond. “No decision has been made. I believe the applicant can pull it back, withdraw the application.”
“You have to have your minds wrapped around the environmental impact of destroying a building and then creating a new one for whatever purpose you might need,” said Vice Mayor Herb Acken. “Maybe we don’t have the resources to move it right now, maybe the best thing to do is to repurpose it right where it is. There is no reason that the town cannot use it for its own office space where it is and still have a park while we’re moving forward. I will not support any demolition.”
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for our LPA acting as the HPB. I did not sit through the meeting,” said Councilman Tom Babcock. “I would be unwilling to take a position here without viewing the tape or the minutes. There is no question on my mind they spent a lot of time and consideration. It doesn’t sound like this was ready to go to the HPB. If, in fact, we think the process was handled poorly, then we need to consider a ‘do over.'”
Cultural Resources director Theresa Schober was asked for her input.
“It was council direction to submit alternate applications to the HBP to allow those options to be picked through to determine a final option that’s viable with the town’s government code,” she said. “So, staff prepared applications both for demolition and for relocation. We knew at that time there was no specified relocation site and that was a deficiency in the application. The council was not willing to determine a relocation option. They wanted to understand what their options were in terms of whether one or the other would be viable.”
Schober continued on the subject.
“The difficulty was the property was designated as a historic resource locally by the request of the property owner which was the previous town council,” she said. “The reason that the zoning has not gone forward on the Newton property is partly connected with this issue.”
In its final decision, the council decided on a “good faith effort” to direct Janke and his staff to continue the relocation of the cottage for 90 days total to give time for the town to solicite interested parties.
Before Newton Park discussion, the town’s board members focused on resolving issues such as its service boundary agreement with its neighbors and aircraft flight problems of the past.
Janke set the tone for the boundary agreement and the Board of County Commissioners’ Vice Mayor Tammy Hall, a guest of the council, stated the county’s goal and asked for support on the resolution.
“The purpose of this resolution is to respond to the county’s initiating resolution and open the door to negotiate with them on final agreement,” said Janke.
“I really appreciate your consideration on this resolution,” said Hall. “Our goal is to do what’s most efficient and effective for our residents and to not cause more tax dollars to be spent on lawsuits but (for money) to be put back into our communities and to open up dialog with the cities. That’s why I started the mayors’ meetings.”
The council elected to unanimously approve Resolution 09-02 to negotiate an interlocal service boundary agreement by using the FMB Fire District service area which extends out to Summerlin Road.
Then, in quicker fashion, Resolution 09-03 supporting efforts to decrease the number of aircraft flights over the town, increase the altitude of aircraft and have aircraft abide by noise abatement arrival procedures when on visual approach over Fort Myers Beach was unanimously passed by the council.