working together
to protect our homes
and neighborhoods,
and to improve our
community
West
Neighborhood
Associations
during the last year (2004), continued.
Shirley Freeman and others have tried for an honest compromise on
this project, but have ben rebuffed.
The project is obviously outsized and inappropriate for the area, and
looks more like "Anywhere USA" than something that would enhance the
historic surroundings.
What happens now will set the tone for Key West for the foreseeable
future. That's why this is important.
UPDATE: IT'S STILL IN LITIGATION, AND THERE ARE BITTER FEELINGS ON
BOTH SIDES. A BETTER DESIGN, AND A FRESH APPROACH COULD HAVE
AVOIDED A LOT OF THE UNNECESSARY RANCOR.
We moved to Key West in 1999. The Key West Bight and surrounding area
quickly became our favorite area of the town due to its overall
ambience and reflection of "Key West as it once was". It is of
tremendous importance to the future of the city as a vacation
destination that we retain as much as possible of the sense of its
history. The Watermark project, as currently designed, is clearly an
intrusion into perhaps the most pristine, historically-important, and
indeed residential sections of Old Town Key West.
When the Conch Republic Seafood Company was built, and particularly
when the Conch Harbor Marina property was redeveloped, on two edges of
the Historic Waterfront, one could already see the potential for that
kind of"redevelopment" that robs an historic district of its heart
and soul. Watermark now strikes at the very core of that district with
a project design that is clearly doesn't conform to the guidelines and
ordinances that regulate development there. It is of a scale and
design that both overwhelms all that is around it and will sit as an
ugly interruption in the architectural and historic integrity of the
Historic Waterfront.
We are not an anti-development-for-any-reason people. We recognize
that property rights are a valuable and transferable asset, and that
the owners of the project do have the right to build upon the land
they have invested in. However, the city and its citizens also have
the right, explicitly claimed in their codes, ordinances, and
guidelines, to maintain the character and integrity of the city and
its heritage.
You all are our guardians in these matters. We hope that you will
recognize that there are defects in the plans as they currently stand,
and hope further that you will see to it that the builders of
Watermark show proper respect to the wishes and desires of our
community.
* * *
I'm sure by this time all of you have heard more than you'd care
to hear about the pros and cons of the proposed Watermark Project at
the site of the former Jabours property. While I've followed the
various stages of the process to date I feel that the project never
should have received HARC approval to begin with. It violates the
basic intent of the HARC committee which as I understand it is to
basically preserve the historic "look and feel" of any proposed
development within the Historic District. Watermark clearly does not
merely on the basis of its' scope and presence, dwarfing everything
in the immediate vicinity.
All of you still have the ability to preserve the character of the
Historic District by disapproving this project and requiring that it
be scaled down to be more in character with the surrounding buildings
and seaport. I am hopeful that the charming, historic character of
Old Town may still survive this challenge to its integrity.
* * *
My wife and I have a home on Curry Lane and have been coming to Key
West for the past eight years. We enjoyed our first visit there so
much that we purchased and remodeled our current home with the idea
that we would move to Key West soon and make it our permanent home.
One of the reasons we like it so much there is because the town has
such character. We are afraid that the direction that the Watermark
Project is taking will do serious damage to the beauty and
architectural character of the community.
We would ask you to please hold the line on the historical laws
regarding the preservation of what Key West has always represented. As
much of an inconevience and additional expense that the Watermark
developers would incur, that is what we believe would be best for Key
West. We, as most all other home owners who renovated were required to
adhere to the standards that helped preserve Key West, we feel that
Watermark should also be held to these same high standards.
OUT. BUT IT WASN'T TO BE. THE THEME OF "ABSOLUTE PRESERVATION" VS "PAVE IT OVER FOR PROFIT" CONTINUES.
IT WOULD BE INTERESTING IF EACH SIDE TRIED TO SHOW HOW IT HAD BEEN WILLING TO COMPROMISE.
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