Hundreds crammed into Marco Island City Council chambers Tuesday night as council voted down a proposed assisted living facility.
The developer wanted to change the city’s zoning rules to build a the facility at the corner of Bald Eagle Drive and San Marco Road.
Representatives with Watermark, the company that would mange the facility heard about resistance to the project before the holidays, and came back to city council with a revised proposal.
“We brought the height down, our renderings reflect that, we’ve made the building more palatable we believe for the residential scale and we’ve reduced 46 parking spaces,” said architect Walt Chancey, who is working on the project.
Watermark says it spent thousands of dollars on studying the demographics of the island and says its important seniors have convenient access to an assisted living facility.
“We believe there is a demand, there is a need, there is a market, and we don’t think seniors should leave Marco to get the services,” said Chancey.
But residents and members of council said they still were not comfortable with the scope of the project.
“We are not responsible to give into every developer that comes by,” said resident Ann Sepe.
Council voted down a motion that would have allowed the developer to again revise its proposal for the assisted living facility.
