Neighbors remain concerned about Selby plans

In producing a master plan for renovating its 15-acre property south of downtown, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens representatives have emphasized the organization’s efforts to engage with its neighbors.

But as the botanical garden begins to go through the city’s development review process, residents living nearby say their communication with Selby has diminished.

In January, Selby filed a site plan with the city. In February, the city’s Development Review Committee offered feedback on those plans. As neighborhoods bordering Selby’s bayfront campus have been monitoring these steps, some are frustrated about a perceived lack of responsiveness to community input.

Selby President and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki said the organization remains committed to engaging with residents and a meeting with neighbors is scheduled for later this month.

Still, critics remain upset.

“The communication of late has been almost nothing,” said Robert Bernstein, president of the Bay Point Park Neighborhood Association.

That’s why, at a February meeting of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations, representatives for neighborhoods near Selby presented a resolution on the master plan stating elements of the master plan are incompatible with the surrounding residential areas.

If the resolution is approved in March, the organization would formally request the city reject the master plan until those issues are addressed.

The master plan calls for new buildings on the property, including a parking garage with a rooftop restaurant, a greenhouse complex and a welcome center. Selby has estimated the cost of implementing the master plan at $67 million. The site plan application focuses on the first phase of the project, which includes the garage, welcome center and an entry court.

Since Selby first presented its master plan to residents in 2017, it’s been a source of controversy. Residents raised concerns about the scale of the garage; the proposal includes a maximum height of 75 feet for a structure with a footprint of more than 40,000 square feet. They feared the effects increased traffic to the garden might have on neighborhoods, particularly if a primary access point is on Orange Avenue.

Selby representatives addressed those concerns at an October workshop. Selby argued the scale of the buildings created an appropriate transition from the downtown zoning on the north side of Mound Street to the residential areas near Hudson Bayou. Consultants said traffic studies showed the plan would not negatively affect neighborhoods.

Rominiecki said Selby was waiting on an updated traffic study before meeting with residents again. Now that the latest study is finished, Selby intends to continue the discussions.

“We’ve been very transparent this whole time,” Rominiecki said. “We just haven’t had new information to share before now.”

In the site plan application, Selby noted it formed a neighborhood advisory committee to provide updates on the master plan process. The plans detailed how the project had been designed to fit in with its surroundings.

Still, residents remain upset with many of the same aspects of the master plan. In addition to traffic and building heights, Bernstein said neighborhoods also feared the increased commercialization of the Selby property. Selby’s 2021 strategic plan includes a goal to become “a world-class catered event and dining destination and the premier bayfront entertainment location.”

“We love Selby Gardens, but we love it the way it is,” Bernstein said. “We would rather see them put money into improving what they have than to build this massive master plan.”

Selby has said its focus on a stand-alone restaurant and events is a strategy for generating revenue to sustain and improve the botanical gardens. Rominiecki said Selby strove to incorporate as much resident input as possible, and she expressed confidence the proposed changes would benefit the neighborhoods near the property.

“What we are going after with the new zoning and permitting is to designate our 15 acres as a botanical gardens in perpetuity, so it will be conserved for all the generations to come and remain a downtown oasis,” she said. “That’s the entire theme of this plan.”