There has been a lot of buzz around Holiday Island lately about affordable housing. The source seems to be the fact that we have a real estate person that is new to Holiday Island who has been exploring the possibility of utilizing a few of the 3000, give or take, undeveloped lots in Holiday Island to build smaller affordable housing. She had a couple of builders lined up that were interested in working with her. When word of this got out, for whatever reason, the rumor mill morphed her intentions into everything from “she’s here to build tiny homes” to “she’s here to build low income government subsidized housing for immigrants”.
I have had several conversations with this particular real estate person (I’m not using a name because I have not asked permission to do so) and before I even met her, I had met and talked to one of the builders she is working with. In my opinion, they have no intentions other than to conduct normal business in conformance with existing laws, ordinances, and covenants. They have no affiliation with the government and are not targeting any specific demographic. They simply understand that not everyone can afford a $350,000 home which is about what houses go for in Holiday Island. So they want to see if they can build something that more people could afford. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Because of what transpired at the last Planning Commission meeting and given that some anonymous person continues to post a “Recall Mayor Kees – Protect Your Property Values” sign at Sunfest, it is obvious that not everyone understands how things work in Holiday Island relative to building houses.
The city is responsible for making sure houses are built on the correct lot within the setbacks defined on the plot plan. We make sure the building being constructed meets the lot zoning requirements as in R1 residential, R2 residential, C1 commercial, etc. We make sure the house meets all State, Federal and local building code requirements. And we advise the potential buyers of the size restrictions in the Declarations of Reservations (commonly called the covenant) for that unit. Most of the time the owner or contractor has already checked that out. And in the three years that the city has been issuing building permits, it has not been an issue.
However, and I want to be clear about this, by Arkansas law, the city cannot restrict the size nor architectural design of a house. So if a property owner comes in with a plan to build a 600 square foot house in a unit where the covenant states 1000 sq, ft. minimum and they say they’ll take their chances with the property owners as far as violating the covenant, as long as the plans they present conform to the building codes and basic requirements of a residential structure, the city cannot refuse them a building permit. That could include a “tiny” home. The best we can do is advise the unit property owners in time for them to possibly take action.
Furthermore, and I also want to be clear on this, the city is not bound by the Declarations of Reservations, nor does it have any right to or responsibility to enforce them. The city enforces city ordinances. Every Declaration of Reservations that I have seen was written by the “Declarant” (another word for Developer) and was written primarily to protect his property values until he had the lots sold. Most, if not all, have a provision for the property owners to assume responsibility for the Declaration giving them the ability to enforce, change, or even make the document no longer binding. Several of the Unit Declarations have been changed over the years by the property owners in the unit who formed a committee to draft the revisions and circulate a petition to get it adopted. Once adopted, they then filed the revised Declaration with the County to go with the deeds in that unit. Since to my knowledge there is no longer a Developer or successor to the last Developer, if the unit property owners want their Declaration enforced, I recommend they form such a committee to address how they are going to handle it going forward. If not, eventually the Declarations will become irrelevant and unenforceable.
Above all, at least be aware of what your unit Declaration allows. There are Units that today would allow as small as 800 sq. ft. The Declarations can be found on the city website under the Planning Commission drop down menu. The city provides access to the Declarations as a service.
You can be angry with me and/or me and the city government for this situation, but it won’t change a thing. What we are all dealing with is the law and a lack of planning 20+ years ago as the community started to transition away from being managed by the Developer. However, if we all keep our cool and talk about concerns before they turn into an emotionally charged campaign, I feel we will be fine.
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