Second Street Development Plan

A plan to develop sixty-seven living units on thirty-two lots in the area bounded by Second and Third Streets and A and C Streets was presented to the Cedar Key Commission on December 15. The Cedar Key Hotel Holding LLC is the developer, and the project revolves around preservation of several historic structures while adding the living units. A development of the proposed size (80,000 to 96,000 square feet) has impact on parking, storm water management, adequacy of drinking water and waste water disposal and tax revenues.

Propose hotel building at the corner of Third and C Streets.

Conditional approval of the plan was recommended by V. Gail Easly, a consultant to the City. Likewise, James D. Hill, who serves as a consultant on the ongoing Comprehensive Plan revision, and Robert Niffenegger, Cedar Key's Building Official have given tentative approval to the development plan.

The plan would require 114 parking spaces. However, the City Commission recently passed an ordinance that exempts the existing structures from parking requirements. The Suwannee River Water Management District must give a permit for storm water management, with possible changes in the preliminary plan. Adequacy of a drinking water supply and waste water treatment capacity must be verified by the Cedar Key Water and Sewer District for the project to go forward. Perhaps most in question is the request by the developers to have tax money be earmarked for use in the Historic District. The request by Cedar Key Hotel Holdings was presented by its agent, Roy Norton. Mr. Norton has provided Cedar Key News with rendering of the proposed structures. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulations require that much of the construction be on pilings, with the habitable space rising three stories above the FEMA limit. The structure will be about twenty feet higher than the Drummond Bank Building.