What appeared to be minutes after the agenda for London Bay’s special Tuesday Town Council meeting was posted, CEO Mark Wilson canceled the meeting. Wilson came to the conclusion the Town Council would not vote favorably for his condo/hotel project on the old Outrigger property and now says he’s going with the Live Local Act.
Florida’s Live Local Act lets builders bypass local zoning restrictions on density, height and usage for residential projects. In exchange, they must rent 40 percent of their units to households earning no more than 120 percent of the area’s median income and they must maintain the units as rentals for 30 years. The Live Local Act allows administrative approval of multi-family and mixed-use residential development by developers of affordable housing.
London Bay CEO Mark Wilson said on May 29th: “While the Live Local Act could allow the property to move forward with a more predictable approval path, the result would likely become primarily residential in nature, consisting of for-sale condominiums, affordable rental units and a members-only private beach club; no public access. The public-facing amenities and gathering spaces that defined our original vision would no longer be part of the project, and we believe that would be a real loss to the South end of the island. Once gone, a hotel with these types of public spaces will likely never come back to this location.”
Here’s the letter Wislon sent to the Town Council shortly after the agenda was posted…