The height of a building at the Indian River Mall shouldn’t have any bearing on the number of apartments in downtown Vero Beach.
But it might.
Earlier this month, a County Commission majority expressed a willingness to consider a request from the mall’s new owner – who wants to build a 45-foot-high hotel on one parcel of a long-neglected property desperately in need of redevelopment – for a variance to the current ordinance limiting building heights to 35 feet.
The timing of the request, however, couldn’t have been worse for the Vero Beach City Council, which is trying to convince already-skittish voters to approve a November referendum to increase residential density in the downtown area.
“Is 10 feet a big deal out at the mall? Probably not,” Councilwoman Tracey Zudans said last week. “But could that request, coming at this time, affect what happens in the city? Yeah, it could.
“All you need is one example where someone was given a variance for people to begin wondering.”
Some Vero Beach residents have been wondering and worrying for months, sharing at council meetings their concerns about the possibility of a “slippery slope” they believe could connect the desire for a more populated downtown to the construction of apartment buildings that exceed the city’s height restrictions.
Council members say the density increase is needed to encourage developers to embrace the city’s downtown revitalization efforts by building hundreds of new, smaller and more-affordable apartments desired by the young adults who would move in and re-energize the neighborhood.
They’ve also tried to ease concerns that the proposed increase, from 17 to 36 units per acre, could eventually lead to raising the city’s wildly popular height restrictions.
Still, there is skepticism, and hearing county officials publicly say they’re open to a discussion of a height-limit waiver – which, as is the case with the city’s proposed density increase, would be limited to one specific area – reinforces the trepidation of Vero Beach residents who see their community growing beyond their small-town comfort zone.
“I can understand how some city residents might see what’s happening in the county, look at what we’re trying to do downtown, and wonder: Could it happen here?” Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno said. “But it can’t.”
Cotugno then went on to explain that, unlike the county, Vero Beach is governed by a charter – a written document that strictly defines the powers and responsibilities of the city government, and only the voters can amend it.
If, for example, the council wanted to raise the height restrictions downtown, or anywhere else within the city limits, it would need to go to a referendum and be approved by the voters.
That’s not likely to happen.
“The height limit in the city is sacrosanct,” Cotugno said, “and the safeguards are built into the charter.”
Vice Mayor Linda Moore went a step further, saying, “The city of Vero Beach would never approve a height-restriction waiver. I don’t believe the county will, either. The citizens of the city and county have made it clear this is not something they would want.”
City Councilman John Carroll said there should be no confusion – increasing the density downtown will not have any impact on the city’s height restrictions – regardless of what the county does at the mall.
Even though the density referendum would allow construction of up to 1,800 residential units downtown, he said there’s no real chance anywhere near that many would be built in the next 20 years.
“The height-limit question has come up on more than one occasion, but we’ve made it abundantly clear from the start: That’s not going to happen,” Carroll said. “Nobody wants to see high-rise apartment buildings downtown.
“The timing of the county having this conversation now doesn’t help, but this is just a bump in the road.”
The city still needs to educate the community on the referendum – why it’s necessary, how the process works, and what it would allow to be done downtown, he added.
Unlike the Three Corners referendum in November 2022, when 79 percent of city voters approved the proposed development of a dining, retail and recreational hub on the mainland’s waterfront, the downtown density ballot initiative isn’t a slam-dunk.
Some city residents have noted the improvements made downtown in recent years and say they’re satisfied with what’s there now. Others aren’t necessarily opposed to making further enhancements, but the word “density” scares them.
“People need to understand: Once the referendum passes, we’re still going to get community input in how we move forward, particularly on how the city distributes those 1,800 units,” Carroll said. “The public will be involved in the process.
“First, though, we need to focus on getting the referendum passed,” he added. “We can’t afford to see this thing fail after all the time and energy that has been invested in it.”
Time is running short.
On Election Day is only six weeks away, and there will actually be two downtown-related referendums on city voters’ ballots: the density question; and a proposal to allow building owners to sell already-approved-but-unbuilt units to other property owners, enabling the new owners to build at a higher density, as long as the total number of units stays within the maximum permitted for that area.
That’s a lot for city voters to comprehend – which makes it understandable some might become confused, especially when both the downtown density increase and height restriction at the mall are making headlines.
“Even if it’s not a logical connection, people in the city might see what the county is doing and be reluctant,” Zudans said. “When people are concerned about slippery slopes, the county just talking about the height limit is opening a can of worms.”
At the worst possible time.
“I can see where people might get confused, but that just makes the education process more important,” Cotugno said. “We want to make downtown a vibrant part of our city, and whether we’re successful or not depends on the referendum.”
