Hinckley Yacht Co. receives approval ...
Hinckley Yacht Company receives approval for 40-foot high boat storage building
The Hinckley Yacht Company received approval Tue night for a 40-ft high boat storage building at its boatyard in Rocky Point, prompting several nearby homeowners to threaten to fight the project in court.
“We have great grounds for appeals,” said Jay Honan, a Rocky Point homeowner. “The county contradicted itself a number of times.”
The neighborhood homeowners will meet to decide whether to file suit challenging the approval, Honan said.
Capping a contentious 10-hour public hearing, the Martin County Commission voted 3-2 to approve the final site plan for a 40,497-sqft boat storage and service building and a 3,200-sqft maintenance building.
“These people are willing to make in investment in tough times,” said Commissioner Michael DiTerlizzi. “Business is bad all over Martin County.”
But Commissioner Sarah Heard, who lives in Rocky Point, joined several neighborhood residents who said they believe the proposed boat storage building is completely out of character with the neighborhood and would harm property values.
The large boat storage building should not be allowed because county rules require it to be at least 150 ft away from nearby residences, said Heard and several other Rocky Point homeowners.
But Growth Management Director Nicki van Vonno and County Attorney Stephen Fry said the marina is exempt from the 150-foot setback because it was established prior to 2002 when the County Commission updated the county’s zoning rules.
In addition, Heard and several homeowners charged that the boatyard and marina has violated Martin County’s rules for several years and questioned whether the scraping and painting of boat hulls on the property threatened drinking water wells and the Manatee Pocket.
Bob Raynes, a lawyer representing Hinckley Yachts, said the state Department of Environmental Protection has inspected the Hinckley property twice and found no violations.
Under questioning by Heard, county Building Official Larry Massing said code enforcement officials found several alleged code violations on the Hinckley property, including a failing seawall, a houseboat used as an office, and sheds and huts used for maintenance and painting.
Raynes and Fry said it was acceptable under county rules for many of those alleged code violations to be corrected by the new site plan for the 15-acre property.
Jim McManus, the president of Hinckley Yachts, and several marine industry representatives said the new boat storage building is needed to maintain jobs and the boating business, which is crucial to Martin County’s economy.
“This project is critical to maintaining and growing Hinckley employment in Stuart,” McManus said.
Hinckley’s work force in Rocky Point shrunk to 50 employees from 70 as a result of the hurricanes of '04 and '05 because boat owners are moving their vessels north during hurricane season.
The boat storage building is crucial for Hinckley because insurance companies are reluctant to insure boats unless they are stored in storm resistant buildings during during hurricane season, McManus.
Raynes said company representatives met with neighborhood residents several times and tried to resolve their concerns, but could not give in to everything everyone wanted. One concession is providing a landscape buffer on the perimeter of the property that is greater than county requirements, Raynes said.
“We have taken the neighbors very seriously in this process,” Raynes said. “Short of us going away, they’re not going to be happy. I’m sorry that they’re not happy about it. We are trying to do what we can to try to minimize those impacts.”
But Giovanna Gallottini said she and other Rocky Point homeowners will continue defending their neighborhood against the project and pointed to the Pinecrest Villas case in which a judge ordered an apartment complex demolished for violating the county’s growth rules.
“Even an approval today is no guarantee that his building will be built and allowed to remain there,” Gallottini said. “These issues will be dealt with as with other issues in court at a later time.”
News source : http://www.tcpalm.com