By Jake Bell, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
Have you ever asked yourself, “What is a balcony?” Probably not. But in Apopka, it's a burning question.
According to Merriam-Webster, it is “a platform that projects from the wall of a building and is enclosed by a parapet or railing.”
Simple enough, but not when it involves an affordable housing development in the middle of the Apopka City Center project.
The battle of the balcony, or the interpretation of the word, would rage on for 90 minutes at Wednesday's Apopka City Council meeting... and in the end, the debate ended in a deadlocked vote that solved nothing.
The Apopka City Council, staff, and attorneys for Wendover Housing Partners (the developers of Southwick Commons affordable housing development) and Taurus Southern Investments LLC (the developers of the Apopka City Center) argued over the construction of the Southwick Commons 192-unit affordable housing complex. The apartment complex will be located on the southeast corner of Sixth Street and Alabama Avenue. After facing legal battles with the City, they met once again to determine the issue of the requirement of balconies and what defines a balcony.
Community Development Director Jim Hitt was first in line to begin what would become a drawn-out debate. He argued that the balconies the developers wanted to build did not meet the standards of the development agreement because they would not be a “usable outdoor space.” According to Hitt, the developers proposed installing “Juliet balconies,” which is a door that opens to a railing that is flush with the exterior of the building.
Rebecca Wilson, the attorney representing Southwick Commons, disagreed with Hitt’s description of the balconies her client intended to build. Wilson said that the plans are to install two types of balconies, the first being “1 foot deep” and “7 feet 4 inches wide,” and the second type would be “5 feet 8 inches deep and 15 feet wide.”
“…I was just thinking, nothing in my three years of law school really prepared me for arguing over what the word balcony meant in a development agreement,” Wilson said.
Bryan Capps, an attorney representing Taurus Southern Investments LLC., presented a mockup of what he alleges the balcony would look like. Capps said that what they intend to provide is a ledge rather than a balcony based on his interpretation of the definitions of each word.
Wilson said that she found it “quite rich” that Taurus would show up to the meeting to “complain” because she alleges they knew that Wendover would be building an affordable housing project. With “the burden of proof,” she said, she should have the chance to rebut Capps and claims that Southwick Commons has provided the balconies that were requested by the City staff.
“It is not a Juliet balcony, it is not a faux balcony, it may not be as large as people may like, but you know what, it may be large enough for the people who choose to rent here,” Wilson said. “…We’ve complied with the development agreement. Please let us move forward with this project.”
Commissioner Kyle Becker recounted the timeline surrounding the dispute they have been repeatedly confronted with dating back to 2016. Becker said that they’re right back where they started with the interpretation of the meaning of the word “balcony.” He said if searched for in the land development code or code of ordinances, the dimensions or specifications do not provide a definitive answer or adhere to the varying definitions that the Council had been presented with from staff and attorneys.
According to Becker, an email had been sent to the City Council by Taurus on the day of the meeting. The email stated the specifications of the dimensions for the balcony be “5 to 6 feet deep” and “12 feet wide.” According to Wilson, she was not sent the email before the meeting.
“From where we’re sitting up here as a City Council, which definition are you using? I get it that Taurus is trying to say kind of, ‘you gotta stay with the spirit of the developer's agreement,’ but I would argue that spirit was broken in November of 2021, and it was enabled going back to November 2020,” Becker said.
Commissioner Nick Nesta said he wants the developers to do what’s in the best interest of the tenants who would eventually live at Southwick Commons. Nesta said that just because the balconies need to be affordable doesn’t mean they need to be “cheap.”
“There needs to be a little more give and take, and again I understand that there was a lot of games that were played as well that got us here…” Nesta said. “…I think we need true balconies, the industry standard. If a layperson comes in and wants to lease a unit, what does that look like, and it’s not 11 inches.”
Mayor Bryan Nelson said he didn’t know why Taurus would have sold the property to Wendover and why Wendover would have made the purchase if they knew the conditions of the development agreement in advance. Nelson suggested that the City Council determine a sufficient and agreed upon square footage amongst themselves and come back to both opposing parties with their decision.
Becker said that this approach would lead to a “slippery slope” if they were to create land development codes “on the fly.” He said he struggles with the issue because they could debate it repeatedly at future City Council meetings and would be unlikely to come to a “true consensus” of what constitutes the definition and variations of the many types of balconies.
As the meeting came to an end and votes were called, Nesta asked if Southwick Commons would be willing to compromise and meet in the “middle.” Wilson replied that they had made compromises regarding the balconies and that they already meet the requirements set by City staff. She said that they couldn’t keep guessing the City's expectation of what is a satisfactory balcony and that if a favorable decision could not be reached, the issue would be taken in front of a judge for litigation.
“We’re spending a lot of time talking about what someone who would live in an affordable housing development would like,” Wilson said. “What they’d like is to have a home and not have to wait another 18 months to break ground on this…”
The vote was a 2-2 tie, with City Commissioner Diane Velazquez and Becker in favor of approving the project's current balcony design and Nelson and Nesta in opposition. With City Commissioner Alexander Smith not present at the meeting, the motion did not pass.
