ISLAMORADA — The roughly 40-acre Parmelee Key property, in the midst of a pending sale that hinges on its subsequent redevelopment into a high-end resort community, is awaiting the state’s OK of land-use and zoning changes recently approved by the village.
If given the OK from the Department of Economic Opportunity, and then again by the Village Council, the future owner and developer of the site would be allowed to use the town’s transfer of development rights program as a means to build more units on the land, which has been on the market over a year with an asking price of $19 million.
Some neighbors of the Lower Matecumbe Key property worry what all the changes might bring.
Under the village code, TDRs cannot be used on the property given its current zoning. That zoning only allows for one resort unit to be built for every 4 acres at that site. But if the change is approved, the developer could build one unit for every 2 acres, and then the TDRs would come into play.
Victor Ballestas, of Miami-based Integra Investments, the site developer, made it clear that redevelopment is already allowed on the property. He said the only issue lies with the number of units allowed, which was the reason for the requested land-use and zoning amendments.