Zoning battle brewing between county, Vanderbilt Beach community

Residents in and around Gulfshore Drive want a new zoning overlay in the area that would prohibit the construction of buildings more than 54 feet tall to reduce density in the area.

Current regulations have a 100-foot building height limit for the area. Collier County officials worry they will be vulnerable to lawsuits if the 54-foot height limit is established and also don't believe the 54-foot regulation is necessary.

"There are buildings over 100 feet in that area now," said Lisa Koehler, spokeswoman for the county's Community Development and Environmental Services division. "We looked around at building heights in the area and didn't see any need to make changes (from the existing 100-foot limit)."

The issue will be raised at today's Collier County Planning Commission meeting as part of a discussion on land development code amendments within the county. Vanderbilt residents want the Planning Commission to support the 54-foot limit.

Local residents then plan to take the issue to the County Commission on Dec. 10.

The height limit is being pushed by the Vanderbilt Beach and Bay Association, the Vanderbilt Beach Property Owners Association and Save Vanderbilt Beach. The three groups represent homeowners, citizens and businesses in the area.

The county's environmental advisory council voted last week to support the Vanderbilt community's proposal for new zoning regulations.

Diane Ketcham, president of the Vanderbilt Beach and Bay Association, said the height limit is needed.

"For us the worst-case scenario would be to have nothing but 100-foot buildings in this area with all of them 20 feet apart," Ketcham said. "Our major conflict with the county is building height."

Residents express concerns about they call "canyonization." This means having multiple structures of more than 100 feet throughout Gulfshore Boulevard with the space between the buildings looking like canyons.

If this were to happen, it would increase density in the area, which would lead to more traffic on the two-lane Gulfshore Boulevard, said B.J. Savard-Boyer, president of the Vanderbilt Beach Property Owners Association.

"We have many lots that are zoned residential-tourist on this street," Savard-Boyer said. "If we set a precedent that all these buildings can go over 100 feet, we'll see this area turned into another Fort Lauderdale or Miami Beach."

Residents in the area like the open spaces and nice views, and more buildings of over 100 feet would destroy that, Savard-Boyer said.

It would also be more difficult to evacuate the area in a hurricane or other disaster, she said.

Bruce Burkhard, vice chairman of the Vanderbilt Beach Zoning Committee and a board member of the Vanderbilt Beach and Bay Association, said an entire street of 100 foot buildings would damage the area.

"The county's attitude seems to be that everything is fine the way it is," Burkhard said. "The county is pro-development and just wants to see business as usual."

Koehler said every structure in the area couldn't be 100 feet under existing regulations.

"One of the things we're going to try and show Thursday is there will be greater setback requirements for some of these land parcels," Koehler said. "Under the setback requirements there won't be enough lot size for a 100-foot building with many of these parcels."

In response to Vanderbilt Beach residents' demands, county commissioners adopted a building ban in January 2002 on 46 parcels zoned residential-tourist off Gulfshore Drive between Bluebill Avenue and Vanderbilt Beach Road. RT zoning allows 100-foot-tall buildings. Staff was told to gather input from developers and residents and propose a compromise on development rules that both sides could live with.

The ban is set to end Jan. 31. Residents, upset with how the staff recommendations were going, hired their own planner and came up with their own proposal for development rules, which include the 54-foot height limit.

Normally Planning Commission meetings are conducted in the County Commission chambers, but this meeting will occur in conference rooms 609 and 610 at the county's development services building because another meeting is scheduled for the commission chambers.

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 8:30 a.m.