County Commission's action on working waterfront amendments unconscionable

Editor's note: On Monday, the Monroe County Commission approved seven pages of changes to land-use plan amendments dealing with the preservation of working waterfronts. The changes were submitted by attorney Jerry Coleman, representing a marina owner, just minutes before the vote, circumventing county planning staff, the county Planning Commission and any public scrutiny. The following are Planning Commissioner Sherry Popham's remarks to the Planning Commission the following day, when she resigned in protest of the County Commission's action.

When Monroe County Growth Management staff finalized the modifications to the Working Waterfront Comp Plan Amendment — responding to [state Department of Community Affair's] comments on the original submittal — I was extremely pleased that the strong language of preservation "no net loss" had survived. This is the "quid pro quo" for the significant incentives provided the property owners to participate in a process of preservation, whether commercial or recreational access.

While some have expressed that it was inappropriate to include the affected property owners in the discussions held on this topic, I have always been of the opinion that it is better to have the opposition in the camp with the objective of creating a win-win situation.

I have never been naive enough to believe that the property owners would independently take measures to preserve the working waterfront out of the goodness of their hearts.

Therefore, it was necessary to craft an agreement that would financially incentivize them to participate, and I believe the Planning Commission and staff were successful in doing that.

What happened at the [Board of County Commissioners] special meeting was a travesty of justice and unconscionable. At the last moment, stacks of documents were presented to the BOCC by the representative for one of the property owners.

Take note that these documents had not been seen or digested by the public, the press, the planning staff or the Planning Commission. When one commissioner questioned the two making a motion to approve this last-minute document as to whether they were approving something they had not read, they did not answer, instead calling for the question.

According to the presenter, he had new data and analysis for everything DCA had objected to, and the language of preservation — "no net loss" — was removed.

Therefore, in the 3-0 vote to approve, the BOCC provided the property owners with all the zoning changes allowing them to replace working waterfront with high-end development — which will exceed the Keys cherished height restriction — while removing the only language that was powerful enough to ensure the retention of what we have deemed most important: the preservation of what little remains of our precious recreational and commercial water access.

When I asked one of the commissioners how, with clear conscience, he could vote on something he had not seen and that had not been properly vetted, his answer was: "I am the Commissioner."

This statement is representative of why there is less trust in our public government than ever before, and why public respect and confidence in the planning/land-use process is waning. The Planning Commission and the BOCC have an obligation to use our power for the public welfare, not the benefit of private landowners.

Our primary responsibility is to represent our constituents' best interests.

Governments operating with this lack of transparency beg the question of susceptibility to corruption and undue influence.

State supreme courts have stated that members of commissions with the role of conducting fair and impartial fact-finding hearings, must, as far as practicable, be open-minded, objective, impartial, free of entangling influences and capable of hearing the weak voices as well as the strong.

They have stated clearly that decisions do not have to be wise, but they do have to be fair. The legal term for fairness in decision-making is "due process".

This due process must be conducted as to be free from bias and prejudice and must also have the appearance of elemental fairness.

This apparent lack of transparency and due process has more than once characterized the decision-making of our county's highest level of elected official and, once again, the actions of the Planning Commission and the desires of the public we serve have been marginalized by the BOCC.

Not wishing to be part of the facade of "due process" which the Planning Commission conveniently provides the BOCC, it is with significant regret that I tender my resignation immediately — and in doing so, I would encourage all who feel the way I do to take an active role this next year in ensuring that we change the face of our BOCC to be one consistently reflective of the ethics of civility, integrity and due process.

Sherry Popham was a Monroe County Planning Commissioner prior to her resignation from that advisory panel on Tuesday. She and her husband, Bruce, own and operate Marathon Boat Yard in the Middle Keys.

Published on Sunday, February 10, 2008