Residents resist new condo plan

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February 13, 2006 Residents resist new condo plan Density stays divisive on Merritt Island BY JEFF SCHWEERS FLORIDA TODAY A Southwest Florida developer who wants to turn the Banana River Marina into an upscale multifamily housing community can't seem to please area residents. He has shaved the height of the buildings by a third, from nine stories to three stories. He has shrunk the number of units by more than half, from 191 to 88. And he has increased the number of slips to 100, with a promise to keep some available to the public and have a ship store open to the public. "We've completely redone the project from condos to townhomes," said Rick Torpy, the lawyer for Bonita Springs developer Keith Jennings of Pelican Bay Development. "It's a completely different project, not even remotely related to the old project." The new plans, filed with the county zoning office Feb. 2, are so different that the Brevard County Commission tabled the project Feb. 2 and sent it back to the planning and zoning advisory board for review. It has been rescheduled for March 6. Because the project still proposes multifamily housing, residents say, it's not in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. "The density is the issue," said Antonio Rovira, who lives in a subdivision of single-family homes on the western edge of the 17-acre marina property. "We don't want the density to change." The issue has galvanized residents along South Banana River Drive. More than 150 members of the East Merritt Island Homeowners Association filed opposition letters with the planning and zoning office. Their concerns: roads, traffic and stormwater. The road is 16 feet wide and barely can handle the existing population. Any more would be hazardous, they said. There's a private wooden drawbridge that needs to be replaced. There's talk of realigning the shoulderless Banana River Drive. That raises evacuation concerns during hurricane season. The residents don't oppose development. They said they just think it should be what the county zoning allows. But even that's a point of contention. Residents say current zoning allows for about 45 houses. Torpy said the current zoning would allow about 113 units. "It's a moving target," said Kathy Scheetz, who lives in a custom home on two acres on the northern edge of the marina on the west side of South Banana River Drive. The revised project would block her view of the Banana River. She wants to maintain the area's character -- quiet road, shady trees, wind and water. "There is nothing a large-scale development can do to maintain that," she said.