Hall Harbor Residents Ask Council to Grandfather Condos’ Zoning

STONE HARBOR – Residents of Hall Harbor Condominiums on 96th Street here asked Borough Council to grandfather its zoning, as a conforming use, because of the effect of a new ordinance on condo owners.
Owners were concerned that a conditional use would hinder their ability to sell or renovate their units.
Ordinance 1343, to make boutique hotels a conditional use in the Waterfront Business District, was slated for introduction on a preliminary agenda but was retracted and no action was taken during council’s meeting Aug. 4.
Helfried LeBlanc, president of the Board of Directors and condominium resident of 25 years, said she and others are concerned that rezoning the waterfront “will and already has had a negative effect and will cause financial harm to owners at Hall Harbor.”
LeBlanc represented about a dozen other condominium owners who were also present.
She said an owner lost a pending sale of their unit as a result of the new ordinance because a local bank would not finance a condominium in a non-conforming use location.
“The potential buyer sought clarification at the zoning office and information received scared them enough to get out of the deal,” she said.
“Our last thought on this was to harm anybody,” Mayor Suzanne Walters said.
Hall Harbor is about 35-years-old and about half of the 60 units are rented to vacationers over the summer and into the shoulder season, LeBlanc said.
“It is those families who shop in our local stores and frequent our local restaurants and keep merchants in Stone Harbor happy…If I understand the purpose of the Master Plan, it is to bring more business to Stone Harbor,” LeBlanc said.
“The result is opposite of what the borough wants to achieve,” she continued.
LeBlanc said it is a “critical point in time” for the condominium owners who seek to renovate and modernize the structure and they fear the ordinance would hinder their ability to rebuild and to get financing.
LeBlanc requested that council amend the ordinance to include a grandfather clause for Hall Harbor Condominiums from the new boutique hotel and single-family use zoning.
Walters said the ordinance would be reviewed.
LeBlanc requested that the ordinance process be expedited because “we can’t get assessments and nothing can be done until this is resolved.”