Swift Buys Density Credits from Museum
By ROB BUSWEILER Citizen Staff
The Marathon City Council agreed to let the museum transfer 16 density units out of Marathon so it can sell them to developer Ed Swift for a project in Key Haven.
Prior to 1986, density allocations were the main determining factor for obtaining development rights. After Monroe County implemented its comprehensive land-use plan in 1986, the county's Rate-of-Growth Ordinance supplanted density units as the primary means of regulating development. However, density units still play a smaller role in the process.
Projects that exceed the allowable density for a particular land-use zone must acquire additional density allocations in order to add more units to a particular site. Those types of requirements are typically outlined in the development agreement process.
Those density allocations currently can be sold and transferred throughout unincorporated Monroe County, but a special agreement was needed to allow the density to be brought out of Marathon.
The nonprofit Crane Point Museum is selling the density units to raise money for its education programs. The museum sits on 60 acres of natural lands and claims to possess more than 200 excess density units it will never need since the land is protected.
"Our future is bright, but we really need those dollars today," Crane Point Museum Executive Director Keith Douglass told the Marathon City Council.
Douglass said the units are being sold for about $25,000 each.
"We would love to be able to sell them in Marathon, but we can't," Douglass said.
A similar request was brought before the City Council last month, but was deemed too broad. That request would have simply created a mechanism for any property's density to be sold and transferred beyond the city limits with council approval.
Under Marathon's current land development regulations, density cannot be transferred within the city.
"We have no mechanism to use [transferred density] in Marathon yet," Councilman Mike Cinque said.
Before Marathon's incorporation in 1999, the museum sold about 100 of its density units, according to city officials.
"I think it behooves us to step out and help them," Councilwoman Marilyn Tempest said.
Several residents have expressed concern over sending density out of Marathon with no chance of getting any back. The Crane Point transfer approval is a one-time agreement. The council asked city staff to begin working on an ordinance to allow density transfers within the city for possible future discussion.
