Council explores code and zoning changes, ADUs and parking options to improve affordability

During the City of Destin visioning session, councilmembers laid out several avenues to address housing affordability while noting municipal limitations.

Councilmember (Speaker 9) said the city has "a whole lot of vacant commercial property" that current rules prevent converting to workforce housing and urged code changes to allow mixed-use redevelopment. He proposed reviewing vacant commercial parcels for potential housing conversion paired with guidelines to ensure long-term affordability.

Others raised accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as a partial solution and flagged past attempts that failed because developers required additional density incentives to make affordable units financially viable. "The ADU route might be the better route," one councilmember said while acknowledging developers will seek offsetting intensity or density in exchange for affordability commitments.

Parking and housing were debated separately: some councilmembers favored exploring parking garages with aesthetics and potential housing above, while others said filling existing surface lots and private feasibility must come first. The city is actively rewriting the land development code (LDC), and the council directed staff to consider housing-allowing changes in the LDC rewrite.

Next steps: staff to return with specific code options and feasibility notes for allowing workforce/mixed‑use housing in targeted commercial districts and outline trade-offs, incentives and required safeguards to preserve long-term affordability.