Vero Beach officials said last week they might not be able to contribute to the state’s effort to provide affordable housing locally, because the 14-acre, city-owned property they had targeted is needed for a more-pressing purpose.
Storm-debris storage.
“At one time, we had four sites for storm-debris storage, but we’re now down to two – one on the island and one on the mainland,” City Manager Monte Falls said. “The mainland site, however, is the one property we had identified as being suitable for the construction of affordable housing.
“So, unless we can find another option, it comes down to affordable housing versus emergency preparedness,” he added.
“It’s a tough call, and we need to talk about what we want to do.”
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the matter at its Dec. 9 meeting.
The property in question is the former site of what longtime residents might remember as the “old city nursery,” which was located on Old Dixie Highway, adjacent to Crestlawn Cemetery.
Two years ago, the council – in response to the Florida Live Local Act becoming law in 2023 – identified the nursery property as the one site in the city suitable for the construction of affordable multi-family housing.
The property has been vacant since the late 1980s.
Now, Falls said, the city needs the site to store debris if Vero Beach gets hit by severe storms or tornadoes, as was the case when Hurricane Milton-spawned twisters tore through the community in October 2024.
The city no longer has access to two previous storm-debris storage sites: the former Dodgertown Golf Club, which was sold to the county and repurposed into a walking trail; and the Vero Beach Dog Park on the island.
Currently, the city’s only other storm-debris storage site is the grassy overflow-parking area at Riverside Park.
Falls said he plans to present the council with an option: Ask county officials if they’re willing to make available an alternative site – close to the Vero Beach limits on the mainland – that the city could use for storm-debris storage when needed.
“The city needs the nursery site for debris storage, or we need something to replace it,” Falls said. “I’ll talk to the county and see if they can help us, if that’s what the council wants me to do.”
If county officials have an available site and are willing to share it in the best interests of the overall community, the city could then use the nursery property to build affordable housing, which would benefit the overall community.
Or could it?
Vero Beach officials aren’t sure – because the nursery property is protected in the City Charter, which prevents the land from being sold, leased, traded or given away without voter approval.
That means the city, if it wants to lease the site to a developer, would need to put the matter to a referendum.
But does the Live Local Act override city charters?
“That’s the $64,000 question,” City Attorney John Turner said.
Hoping to get clarification – or at least guidance – from the state, Turner wrote a letter to the Florida Attorney General’s Office in April. As of last week, he still hadn’t received a response.
“Haven’t heard a word from them,” Turner said, adding that he had no reason to expect a reply before the council’s next meeting.
The Live Local Act is a comprehensive law aimed at addressing the state’s affordable housing crisis by providing funding, tax incentives and streamlined processes for developers.
Key components include more than $800 million in funding for housing programs, property tax exemptions and pre-empting local control of the identified properties to allow for more development of affordable housing, provided at least 40 percent of units are reserved for income-eligible residents.
For example: A municipality may not require a proposed multi-family development to obtain a land-use change for building height, zoning or densities authorized under the law.
The law also places conditional prohibitions on restrictions to density, floor-area ratios and building heights.
As it governs height restrictions, the law prohibits municipalities from setting the limit below the highest currently allowed height for a commercial or residential building located within one mile of the proposed affordable-housing development, or three stories, whichever is higher.
City Planning Director Jason Jeffries said the height limit for development of the nursery property for multi-family affordable housing would be 65 feet – 50 feet for the actual building, plus 15 feet for architectural embellishment – as it is downtown and would be at the Three Corners site.
Many of the critics of the Live Local Act are elected officials in local governments, and they argue that the legislation further erodes local home rule.
They cite the law allowing developers to build housing on commercial, industrial and mixed-use properties, and enabling such projects to be approved without public hearings, if certain income requirements are met.
Turner said Vero Beach has not yet formally adopted the nursery site for affordable-home development, adding, “The city isn’t required to provide a site. We’ve merely agreed to identify any available property that is suitable for affordable housing.”
At the moment, the city has identified only the nursery property – and it might need the site for storm-debris storage.
“The city is looking for ways we can contribute to the effort to provide affordable housing,” Falls said, “but we can’t solve the affordable housing problem, here or anywhere else.”
