SEBASTIAN — A Sebastian Realtor and unsuccessful Sebastian City Council candidate wants a judge to nullify a City Council decision to give six variances to Capt. Hiram’s resort that allows the hospitality company to build a 16-unit motel addition on its Indian River Drive property.
Damien Gilliams has filed his petition with the 19th District Circuit Court to set aside the council’s decision to grant the variances to Capt. Hiram’s for the addition at 1615 Indian River Drive.
The variances granted increased parking capacity through reductions of side yard and front yard set-backs and of a north side perimeter landscape strip, elimination of the north side perimeter hedge, reduction of drive aisle width from 25 to 21 feet and reduction of the parking stall length of standard and handicapped spaces from 20 to 19 feet.
The court challenge, which Gilliams crafted himself with the help of a paralegal, asserts that the C Council, sitting as the Board of Adjustment, illegally granted the variances during a Dec. 2 hearing by not following city procedures for mailing public notices of the hearing to all property owners within 300 feet of the proposed motel project.
Gilliams’ petition contends that, although a parcel he owns is located within the required 300 feet, he did not receive notice of the Dec. 2 meeting from the City as required.
Gilliams produced a map showing his property at 1623 S. US 1, Suite A-5, which is on the west side of US 1 and to the north of Capt. Hiram’s on the east side of US 1.
According to Gilliams’ calculations, the properties are 243.62 feet apart.
He said he obtained a certified copy of the list of all property owners who were notified of the hearing and his name wasn’t on it.
The Board of Adjustment meeting – at which the variance request was originally to have been made – was Nov. 20. Several City Council members were expected to be absent from that meeting and the Community Development Department advised that it was in the interest of the business community and the City that all council members hear the issue.
Capt. Hiram’s owner Tom Collins also wished to appear before a full board and selected either Nov. 26 or Dec. 2 as reschedule dates.
City Attorney Robert Ginsburg said that because the Nov. 20 meeting date had already been advertised, according to code, the hearing would need to be opened and the three members present could then postpone the hearing to another date requested by Collins.
“This would preclude the requirement for another legal ad,” he said.
Accordingly, when the Nov. 20 meeting was opened, council members voted to postpone the hearing until Dec. 2 with no other notification required.
When Collins made the variance request at the Dec. 2 meeting, objections were voiced.
Former Sebastian mayor Ruth Sullivan called the motel project “overdevelopment of land on the riverfront” and a potential danger to the lagoon from contaminated run-off.
“Anyone who wants to protect Sebastian’s lagoon from further destruction cannot vote to approve any part of this request,” Sullivan said.
Resident JoAnne White expressed concern about parking congestion and traffic safety issues.
Council member Richard Gillmor compared taking a three-family-unit space and creating 16 motel units to putting “10 pounds of potatoes in a five-pound sack.”
He also expressed concern about drainage, saying the project will “add more problems than we can shake a stick at. I can’t support this the way it is.”
Senior Planner Jan King said drainage issues would be taken up during the site plan review before the Planning and Zoning Board.
Ultimately, council members Andrea Coy, Jerome Adams, Jim Hill and Mayor Bob McPartlan voted to grant the variances.
Gillmor was the lone dissenting vote.
Gilliams’ objections to the project have also included lagoon pollution potential. He also objects to what he considers to be the City’s unfair, arbitrary granting or withholding of project requests based on who the applicant is or with whom they are friends, which he has long considered a “good ol’ boy” mindset by the City’s elected officials.
Gilliams said King – the City planner – told him he was not entitled to a meeting notification because the property for which the variances were requested had a different tax ID number than the rest of the Capt. Hiram’s property, thus making it farther from his property than the 300-foot minimum.
“She’s not following her own code,” Gilliams said, arguing that the entire property did indeed fall under the notification requirement. He referred to the portion of the city code that describes the outer boundary of the property involved in the application as “including contiguous property under the same ownership, as shown in the records of the county property appraiser.”
At the Dec. 11 City Council meeting, Gilliams objected to the variances.
“Why do we have codes if they are not followed? It’s unfair. He gets rewarded with variances when he has illegal (water) pipes in the DOT right-of-way. Where are the leaders, Mr. Mayor? Are they afraid to speak?”
After a contentious exchange between Gilliams and McPartlan, when Gilliams refused to relinquish the lectern, a police officer escorted him from the meeting.
The following afternoon, he filed an appeal to the Board of Adjustments, through the City Clerk.
In part, Gilliams said, “if this matter is not rescheduled and legally required notice given to all parties, I reserve the right to pursue this matter in the Circuit Court of Indian River County.”
As of Dec. 27, according to Gilliams, no response was received, and his petition was filed with the court.
If he fails to achieve a satisfactory response in court, Gilliams said, he will take the issue to the appellate court.
Collins, Capt. Hiram’s owner, declined comment because he had not seen the court documents.