SEBASTIAN — Residents living in a condominium community just outside the City of Sebastian are not convinced that having an assisted living facility move in between them and US 1 is better than the originally planned shopping center, they told the county’s Planning and Zoning Board recently.
Several residents voiced concerns and objections to a developer’s plans to build a 125-bed adult congregate living facility on the east side of US 1, just north of South Mirror Lake Drive, the road that leads into the Reflections on the River condo community.
Ultimately, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously decided to recommend approval of the needed special exemption use to the Board of County Commissioners, which will take up the matter at a later meeting.
The site is already approved for about 50,000 square feet of commercial space, and could be developed for any number of uses, including a gas station, movie theatre, a bar or restaurant, to name a few, according to county planners.
Residents expressed concerns about safety and security, noting that facility residents could escape from the assisted living facility and wind up in the gated community. They also questioned the design of proposed 3-story building, noting they would be facing the back end of the building.
“That’s the business end,” resident Kitty Kennedy said.
She also raised the issue of access to her community, explaining that the entrance road would see a lot of traffic and it could get backed up.
South Mirror Lake road has a gate not far off US 1, not leaving much space for vehicles to queue, she said.
An attorney representing the Reflections on the River homeowners association, Tom Tierney, told the planning board that changing the acceptable use of the site to include an assisted living facility amounts to a “fundamental change” to the property.
Tierney said the residents were told when they bought their condos that the strip of land separating the community from US 1 would be developed as limited commercial and have a bank site.
Oculina Bank still plans to build a branch on the south end of the property.
Tierney said that not only was the use a “fundamental change” but the hours of operation would also be a change from residents’ expectations.
He explained the residents believed the commercial development would operate approximately eight hours daily. An adult congregate living facility, however, would be a 24-hour daily operation with commercial trucks delivering food and supplies.
“We did not buy into that,” said HOA President Tom Cooke, referring to the proposed facility. “We just feel very, very uncomfortable with this.”
Developer Joe Paladin told the Planning and Zoning Commission that the assisted living facility is a modified residential use – making it more compatible than a commercial development with the neighboring residential development.
“I can’t think of anything more compatible,” he said.
Addressing some of the neighbors’ concerns about the facility’s residents “escaping,” Paladin said the facility would not be a nursing home, nor would it be a place for dementia patients.
The $18 million facility would be a place for the elderly who need some amount of medical or physical care, he said.
Though the planning board expressed compassion for the residents at Reflections on the River, they determined that the facility would be a better fit than an undetermined commercial use.
“I thought it was one of the most compatible uses you could have,” agreed Community Development Director Bob Keating.
With the approved concept for the site, developers must now work out a final site plan to address various concerns raised by residents, including screening and buffers and security.
