Ortega Landing use lies in wait, in hands of legal authorities
Plans for a large, assisted living facility on the Ortega River opposed by residents nearby have been placed on an “indefinite hold” by a local developer working with an out-of-state property owner and city planners, said city Office of General Counsel attorney Mary Staffopoulos on July 26.
The applicant for Vestcor Communities on behalf of the property owner Bixby Bridge Capital, LLC of the Chicago area, asked city planners for the hold to review “historical” documents related to the development of the property during roughly the last two decades, she said.
The two visions competing for the future of the 2.34 acres fronting the Ortega River on the 4200 block of Lakeside Drive this year are starkly different.
One has three condo buildings between Lakeside and the river where one eight-unit condo building stands today. It’s what neighboring residents say they’ll tolerate and what could be built today. It’s also what eight existing condo unit owners immediately east of the property expected when they bought homes from Bixby Bridge Capital, which has been working with Vestcor to rezone the 2.3-acre parcel.
The latter parties’ most recent competing plan aimed to rezone the site to accommodate 120 assisted- and independent-living units for seniors inside a five-story building.
Now residents are anxiously awaiting an opinion sought from the city’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) requested by several parties, including local District Councilwoman Randy DeFoor, as to whether a 2008 planned unit development (PUD) agreement between the property owner and the city that largely limits development on the site to condominiums alone can be amended to permit an assisted living facility.
The PUD agreement contains this language: “… there shall be no further changes to the PUD unless extraordinary circumstances warrant it and if no adverse impacts to the surrounding land use would occur from such a change …”
Some 23 years ago, Betty Ann Graves moved to a residential lot immediately north of the existing Ortega Landing marina clubhouse, one that’s within a few hundred feet of the existing residential building. She’s okay with more 2000-plus-square-foot condo units, but not 120 smaller units planned inside five-story structures.
“I feel there would be big demand for condos,” she reasoned. “… There could still be green space, open space. That’s what we all agreed to; all the neighbors … I don’t have a problem with assisted or independent living. The biggest problem for me is the size of the buildings and how close they will be. That’s all you will see. It’s too big. There will be too many cars. There’s no way the parking plan is sufficient. I don’t know how they would accommodate all those cars there,” she continued, “…maybe if it was a third of the size [traffic and parking] would be manageable.”
Residents of the small Ortega Landing community association, along with a cohort of local neighbors and those living or vacationing on boats in the nearby marina, are opposed to the assisted living facility proposed by multi-family housing developer Vesctor on behalf of Bixby Bridge Capital, the property owner.
“When my wife and I went to the open house to look at these condos none had been sold,” recalled current condo unit owner Charles Johnston from his initial visit in 2012 when they were seeking to relocate from their Avondale home. “Berkshire-Hathaway was the real estate agent for Bixby. They were marketed and advertised as part of the community of Ortega Landing and undeveloped parcels would be developed in accordance with the PUD as condos, no restaurants.”
They moved in the following year.
“We know of no one in the neighborhood who is in favor of it,” said Mr. Johnston of the assisted living facility (ALF) plan.
Residents said they believed Vestcor chairman and founder John Rood has been lobbying city council members ahead of any potential rezoning application hearing.
Ortega Landing was initially developed on about 4 acres as a marina and condominium project using a 2003 PUD agreement between the city and the former owner. The parcels within the PUD have since been sold. The subject 2-plus-acre site is owned through Florida subsidiaries by Bixby Bridge, which also owns the adjacent marina. The current eight-unit condo building is owned by an association of unit owners.
Neighbors argue a five-story building with 120 units is too big and intense for the property and runs counter to the PUD agreement as amended in 2008 after a fight over planned building heights. It resulted in the restrictive PUD amendment language above.
Mr. Johnston said current residents enjoy the active, pedestrian- and watercraft-friendly community of Ortega Landing but fear the scope of the proposed plan could reduce their quality of life and property values.
“We’re surrounded by boats. It’s an active community. We’re not asking that the land remain vacant,” he said. “We want it to be developed to make the community more active. What we don’t want is something so large and so intense it doesn’t fit in and work with what’s already there.”
Vestcor Communities President, Will Morgan, said there’s a shortage of assisted living facilities in the area and the project would attract residents who would remain at the facility most of the time with many amenities planned inside the facility. Therefore, he said, the proposal would not lead to a heavy increase in traffic and congestion. He argued the current PUD calling for development to condos may result in more, rather than less, traffic problems than an ALF.
Residents counter that traffic from ALF employees, delivery trucks and other commercial vehicles could be worse.
“We thought it was a perfect fit,” Mr. Morgan said of the ALF project. He said the initial plan for a trio of condo buildings isn’t feasible now because only one building and eight units have been sold since the initial plans in the early 2000s.
“That’s proof …” he said that the PUD should be changed, adding that the proposed plan constitutes a “very passive” use of the 2-plus-acre parcel.
Neighbors like Mrs. Graves fault the housing market crash of 2008 for slumping sales initially and say conflicts over building heights, unit volume and the like have dragged on-and-on since then.
“All-in-all, if you’re looking for a high-density multi-family project, this checked all the boxes the other [plan] didn’t,” Mr. Morgan said of the ALF proposal.
Regardless, residents like Mr. Johnston are considering legal action to protect the current PUD language. Asked what he considers an extraordinary circumstance, as referenced in the PUD changed in 2008, Mr. Morgan responded that riverfront property remaining undeveloped for 15-plus years is just that. Residents, however, contend the language in the current PUD should have led to a denial of Vestcor’s rezoning application to accommodate 120-unit ALF in the small community.
“We are now looking at filing a lawsuit and seeking relief …” said Mr. Johnston, adding that he doesn’t think he and his neighbors will “get a fair shake” should a rezoning application go before the city council given Mr. Rood’s political donations.
“It’s a body too influenced by politics and those who contribute money to campaigns rather than making decisions on sound zoning principles. If they were, the [ALF] application would be denied,” said Mr. Johnston.
Vestcor has retained Jacksonville attorney Steven Diebenow of Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow. Diebenow didn’t return a call for comment. T.R. Hainline is representing the condo association through the firm, Rogers Towers. He spoke on background but declined to be quoted and referred on-record comment requests to residents.
By Joel Addington
Resident Community News
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