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County counters state land-buy offer
BY TRAVIS JAMES
TRITTEN
keysnews.com
The county offered its
own plan for the future of land conservation and sewage treatment in the
Florida Keys Wednesday, and it differed significantly with a recent
state offer.
In the county plan,
the two would pay equal amounts to clean up nearshore waters and protect
hammocks.
Meanwhile, the state
Department of Community Affairs is proposing the county put up $200
million for sewage treatment, nearly twice as much as it is willing to
spend in return on land threatened by development.
"[The county's
counteroffer] will protect the nearshore waters, it will protect
environmentally sensitive land and it will protect the people of Monroe
County," said Mayor Murray Nelson, who drafted the county proposal.
It aims to clean up
sewage in nearshore waters by immediately pumping $30 million in county
money to Lower Keys sewer projects, and $20 million next year to
projects in Key Largo.
The offer also pledges
to collect another $80 million from residents for sewer projects over
the next six years.
In total, the county
will promise $130 million for wastewater and the environment, and
include money to build affordable housing in the Keys.
In return, the DCA
must increase its contribution to $130 million -- a $17 million increase
over its current offer -- for wastewater treatment, land conservation
and affordable housing.
The deal would allow
either party to opt out if the other does not fulfill its half of the
bargain.
"This is all subject
to review and to be accepted by DCA," Nelson said.
DCA Secretary Colleen
Castille, who traveled to the Keys Wednesday to address the media on her
offer but didn't attend the county meeting, said the agency is willing
to sit down with the county and discuss a deal.
"It was a great
good-faith effort on the part of the county and I look forward to
face-to-face negotiations [that are] part of their proposal," she said.
However, the agency
has its own offer on the table. Castille is asking the county to borrow
$200 million to jump-start sewer projects, and has promised $113 million
in return for buying natural lands endangered by development.
Castille will meet
with Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the Keys'
progress on protecting the environment. The island chain is one of a
handful of Florida environmental lands labeled Areas of Critical State
Concern, which require special state scrutiny.
She indicated earlier
in the week her recommendation to the governor and Cabinet could be
negative without buy-in from the county, but said Wednesday she was
waiting for the results of an Islamorada sewer funding vote to decide
the tone of her review. She said she was pleased with Marathon's
commitment Tuesday night to funding a sewer system there.
Sewage pollution in
the shallow waters around the archipelago remains a top concern.
But there was some
concern Wednesday that directing the lion's share of sewer money to Key
Largo may be unfair to other residents in Monroe County, who are also
faced with sewer fees. The entire Keys are under state mandate to
upgrade sewer systems by 2010.
Commissioner George
Neugent said the area may be set to receive $30 million in wastewater
funding from the federal government in 2005.
"We are not going to
do these projects in Key Largo, and have that $30 million come and go to
Key Largo," Neugent said.
Nelson, who represents
Key Largo, defended his plan and said the area is a major source of
illegal sewage systems.
"This is not a
parochial thing," he said. "We are doing this to get rid of the
cesspits."
However, no federal
money is expected for other areas in unincorporated Monroe County,
according to the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority.
The Key Largo
Wastewater Board has not met as a group and has not made a decision on
how it could partner with the county, Board Member Charles Brooks said.
"I am somewhat
perplexed at how much we could do or what we could do," Brooks said.
The Aqueduct Authority
said it is willing to work with the county on future wastewater
projects, even expand its staff and use its bonding power to speed up
the process.
ttritten@keysnews.com
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