June 01–Marco Island City Council will hold a public hearing Monday on the controversial three-year, $150 million Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort expansion and renovation that has split residents and business owners.
It will be the second time council will hold a first reading of the ordinance, and this time a key sticking point — that it was written by Marriott officials and vetted by staff and the city attorney — was fixed. City Attorney Burt Saunders wrote this proposed ordinance, which would amend the 2001 planned unit development’s guidelines.
And as city officials did on May 5, when the public hearing was postponed, they will begin a half-hour early, at 5 p.m. to dispose of other city business and set up folding chairs in the lobby of the Community Center for what’s expected to be a spillover crowd of more than 200 residents.
City officials hope this meeting will go more smoothly.
“I think that the council wanted the draft to be generated by the city attorney and he’s accomplished that,” said City Manager Roger Hernstadt. “I guess it’s a starting point.”
The Marriott wants to push the hotel into the luxury tier with an expanded, improved convention center and room renovations that could transform it into a high-end JW Marriott property. Hotel officials say the convention center is 30 years old and inadequate for current events.
The PUD amendments include allowing construction of a 111-foot third tower — 11 feet over the PUD limit — to match existing hotel buildings. Marriott officials say they need the increased height to build an updated ballroom, modern meeting rooms and add 84 guest rooms already approved in the PUD, increasing the number of guest rooms from 726 to 810. The amendments also involve adding a roughly 900-square-foot cooling tower across the street.
The Marriott also is asking to increase parking from 897 spaces to 1,243 — and that prompted opposition — but that falls under the city’s Land Development Code, not the PUD.
Opponents contend there would be an increase in traffic during and after construction, in addition to added noise and pollution. They maintain the Marriott wants to break a 2001 PUD covenant with citizens that set the height limit and prohibited additional parking and other elevated structures, except tennis courts, on the east side of Collier Boulevard.
Supporters, however, say the hotel is a beautiful draw and brings jobs, tourists and money to the island — lowering taxes, funding beach re-nourishment and utility costs. EyeOnMarco.com is pushing the project and the Marriott set up a website, GoodforMarco.com, that offers details and also enables residents to send council an email in support.
The property originally was the Marco Beach Hotel, which opened in 1965 as a 50-room, two-story motel and restaurant the Deltona Corp. used to house potential island homeowners. The Mackle Brothers renovated it, reopening the 400-room Marco Beach Hotel and Villas in December 1971. It featured a 111-foot guest-room tower, three restaurants, two pools, a tennis club and a nine-hole “pitch and putt” golf course. It became a Marriott in 1979 and three years later, another 111-foot guest-room tower was built, increasing the rooms to 735. The golf club was added in 1991.
