June 18, 2007
One of Eight
Want to see the site of the 2008 Dream Home? Go to Google Maps, or some other service, enter Islamorada, Florida and Founders Park. The home site is on the water (west side of the island facing Florida Bay) and just south of the park. In fact, the site's entrance road required an easement along the side of park property.
It's a tucked-away site, not visible from U.S. 1, which is called the Overseas Highway down there and is not only the main drag it's the only drag. They've got their site plan approved after addressing such issues as buffering, parking, and storm water and wastewater management. They have their permits.
The Dream Home is one of eight homes approved for the site. There were eight homes on the site previously, and these new homes are considered "replacement homes." That's no small deal because it exempts the development from the guidelines of the Buildable Rate of Growth ordinance in Monroe County.
Posted by Richard Wall, HGTVPro.com Staff at 11:13 AM | Comments (46) | TrackBack
June 14, 2007
Hoop Town
You think you have regulatory problems, overburdened with inspections and regs that slow you down and defeat your best-laid planning? Builders of the Dream Home in Islamorada, Florida, face the toughest regulatory environment in the country: the Florida Keys.
When I asked an employee of the Monroe County Building Department if builders had any special regulatory issues to follow, she burst out laughing and said, "Let's just say that builders have to jump through a lot of hoops around here."
Those hoops address two basic issues: the fragile natural environment of the Keys, which abounds with endangered species, and hurricanes.
Fortunately, the Dream Home site is on a shoreline that has already been altered, so they won't have to deal with turtle nesting rules, sea grass bed protection, or the many other environmental concerns that bring to Keys job site the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Environmental Protection, and other federal agencies.
Then there's the Florida layer, the Monroe County layer, and the Village of Islamorada layer. Monroe County is right up there with Miami-Dade in having the strictest building codes in the country.
Islamorada is a state-designated Area of Critical Concern, so all construction, particularly residential, happens under a microscope -- and a hot sun, too.
Posted by Richard Wall, HGTVPro.com Staff at 11:08 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
June 13, 2007
A Treasure of a Location
Situating the 2008 Dream Home in sea-level Islamorada, Florida, seems just about the exact opposite location from last year's Winter Park, Colorado, Dream Home, built more than a mile high in the Rockies. But really, the two places are similar.
Winter Park is a happily simple Colorado ski-town very unlike the more famous and glitzy Vail and Aspen. Likewise, Islamorada is a laid-back Florida Keys town, less self-absorbed and flamboyant than the more fashionable Key West. It's a jewel of a location in a paradise setting.
Islamorada means Purple Island, although no one really knows why the Spanish named it such in the early 1500s. Its fresh water wells drew early explorers and pirates. For about 200 years, Spanish galleons loaded with the silver and gold of Mexico and Peru sailed just off Islamorada's eastern shore on their way from Havana to Spain.
Pirates often waited in the waters of the Keys to chase the treasure ships aground. But storms brought down many more ships, often overloaded with gold. Then wreckers, salvagers, raced to locate the wreck before shifting sands covered it up. They only salvaged a fraction of the wrecks, and experts say there's more sunken treasure off this coast than anywhere else in the world.
If a construction worker were going to find a gold doubloon on a job site, the 2008 Dream Home would be the best bet.
Posted by Richard Wall, HGTVPro.com Staff at 6:52 AM | Comments (51) | TrackBack
