| From
the July 4 Upper Keys Reporter:
County staff may offer plan that is de facto
moratorium
BY ANN HENSON
Staff Writer
County staff appears ready to offer another option to a building moratorium
in certain environmentally sensitive areas of the unincorporated Keys.
According to Tim McGarry, director of Monroe County Growth Management, a
plan to add negative points to the most sensitive areas of the Keys, known
as Tier 1, would make it almost impossible to build upon, but falls short of
an official moratorium.
He said the commission might find this approach more palatable.
The county must come up with a way to limit growth and get the most of the
environmentally sensitive lands into government ownership before they are
built upon.
The plan’s deadline is this month; however, the state Department of
Community Affairs (DCA) will apparently be lenient and allot a full
complement of building permits as long as the county is working on a
replacement for its Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO), McGarry said.
The DCA oversees the Keys as an Area of Critical State Concern, which means
more stringent policies than the rest of the state.
Under ROGO, a point system used to earn building permits, points are given
for environment-friendly considerations.
The system also assigns minus points to sensitive areas to discourage
building there.
“We are suggesting adding a minus 10 points to high-quality areas,” McGarry
said.
At the June 20 County Commission meeting, McGarry proposed a moratorium on
areas in Tiers 1 and 2 during a public hearing.
Tier 2 areas either serve as buffers for sensitive areas or are located in
neighborhoods that are less than 50 percent build out.
The tier system, which has not been approved by the commission, is a way of
identifying areas that the government should purchase.
All of Tier 1 and some Tier 2 areas are slated for purchase while all of
Tier 3 areas, which are already more than 50 percent build out, are suitable
for building.
Commissioners appeared lukewarm to the moratorium idea.
This week McGarry said he believed a moratorium would not fly with the
board.
During the commission meeting, many of the 34 speakers also opposed a
moratorium.
In response, McGarry said the county could keep ROGO but add a clause that
subtracts points for high-quality hammock areas.
Generally, it takes about 22 points to receive a permit.
Many earn extra points and go to the top of the list by purchasing and
donating lots to the county.
Another practice of buying several lots in Tier 2 areas to garner enough
scarified land to build upon is a controversial method of obtaining a
building permit.
“You can’t aggregate lots, either,” in the proposed plan, McGarry added.
The minus points would also be added to hammock areas considered as
moderately sensitive in Tier 2, he said.
McGarry is floating this negative-point idea to commissioners prior to the
next public hearing for the moratorium, set for July 16 (this is
incorrect; the hearing is July 15 -- see Action Alert linked from
home page) in Key West.
Many speakers at the June commission meeting urged the county to tinker with
the point system already in place.
Rebecca Jetton, a DCA official, suggested just adding 100 points to Tier 3
areas as an encouragement to build there.
“You can’t just give negative [or positive] points,” McGarry said. The
county must provide a rationale for its determinations.
The plan must now be reviewed for legal sufficiency, but McGarry thinks it
will pass the scrutiny of county lawyers.
And he believes the commission will go for the plan.
“It think it’s a clean approach,” he said. “I’m pretty certain that we can
counter the concerns.”
Ann Henson covers state and Monroe County government, environment, Key Largo
and is the editor of the Reporter’s website. She can be reached at 852-3216
or by e-mail at
amhenson@keysreporter.com
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