Romar Lakes Plan OK'd

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

Marqueza, a 15 story structure, will replace storm-damaged low-rises in Orange Beach

ORANGE BEACH -- A redevelopment plan for the hurricane-damaged Romar Lakes condominiums was approved by the City Council on Monday.

The vote was unanimous, although Councilwoman Joni Blalock abstained.

Replacing the five three-story buildings on the north side of Alabama 182 will be two towers standing 15 stories tall. While the current development has 75 units, the designs proposed by Rick Fine will include 297.

Called Marqueza, the project was originally pitched to be a pair of 151-unit, 23-story towers. But concerns from city officials over the height, which would have exceed that allowed under a recently approved set of zoning rules for that part of the beach highway, led architect Forrest Daniell to recast the designs, coming up with a C-shaped building that rises from 13 stories at the south-facing ends to 15 along the long northern edge.

As part of the approval, Fine will give the city about $1.5 million to spend on infrastructure improvements, pay for a crosswalk or pedestrian overpass to connect the project with its Gulf of Mexico beach access, link its lakes to a nearby state park trail and give $250,000 to a scholarship fund for Orange Beach students.

What limited building height on the 9.5-acre Romar Lakes property were the lakes and wetlands that sit between the current condos and the Gulf State Park to the north. Because the new zoning rules, collectively called the beach overlay district, require structures to be built back from the north side of Alabama 182 two feet for every foot of building height, 268-foot-tall towers would have to be at least 537 feet from the road.

The developer originally proposed setting the buildings back between 235 feet and 350 feet from the highway, according to the plans.

A 537-foot setback would put the buildings amid the small lakes and wetlands, and City Council members said they'd rather let the developer break the setback rules -- though not by as much as 300 feet -- than try to fill wetlands.

"A strict interpretation would be about 14 stories and we're talking 15 stories, so this does meet the intent," said Jim Lawson, community development director. "This is very involved and the people now living in the condos have a lot of problems and need to move out and do want to stay here in Orange Beach."

During previous public hearings before the council and the Planning Commission, many Romar Lakes owners spoke in favor of a redevelopment plan, saying it would be too expensive to repair the condos, which suffered more than $2 million in damage in 2004's Hurricane Ivan.
Wayne Bennett, president of the Romar Lakes Condominium Owners Association, and others have long argued that the structures weren't worth saving because of "construction deficiencies." Though residents are still living in some units, others have been uninhabitable since Ivan.

The buildings, for example, have no moisture barrier between the exterior stucco and wooden frames, and improperly installed flashing around pieces of wood that secure stairs and walkways has caused rot, Bennett has said. Each building's elevator needs expensive repairs and one building is sinking, he's said.

Covered under a $5 million insurance policy, Romar Lakes is in need of an estimated $8 million in repairs, owners said.

"More than 85 percent of the owners at Romar Lakes have signed redevelopment agreements and strongly support this proposal," Bennett said at a public hearing before the council earlier in the month, according to a recording of the meeting. "Our complex has become difficult if not impossible to maintain and extremely expensive to insure."

Some who opposed an earlier redevelopment proposal by Mobile developer K.C. Chiang agreed to Fine's, making it possible to override the opinions of a handful of opponents.

Under Alabama law, the sale of condo complexes built after 1991, such as Romar Lakes, which was completed in 1996, requires the approval of at least 80 percent of the owners.

The exact terms of the redevelopment proposal were not made public, but the owners told the Planning Commission at its October meeting that, like Chiang's earlier offer, they would be getting a unit in the new building.

Councilman Ed Carroll said council members wanted to work with the developers on a compromise rather than simply reject the original designs because of the owners' situation, "But we couldn't go with what they wanted based on the height because everyone else would in come here and want the same thing or more."

Carroll and other council members commended Fine and Daniell for changing their plans to better fit the intent of the zoning district.

Councilman Pete Blalock said that although Romar Lakes was permitted a loose interpretation of applicable zoning rules, its situation was unique and that other developers should not expect similar allowances.

"This one is very unique in the situation that came about because the wetlands behind it, the people involved," he said. "To think that this has anything to do with any other project that comes down the line, you're going to be sorely disappointed."