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Development banned in natural habitat
BY TRAVIS JAMES
TRITTEN
keysnews.com
KEY WEST -- The county
agreed Tuesday to temporarily protect native forests of the Florida Keys
from development, a move that most likely will deflect state penalties
for a poor environmental track record in 2003.
Building will be
banned for one year in native forests that are two acres or larger,
giving the county that time to craft permanent conservation laws.
The county also won
major concessions from the state, including about $130 million in
critical funding and a promise to help the local government with any
legal challenges from developers.
"Only by being in a
partnership can we meet the goals we have both identified," Monroe
County Mayor Murray Nelson said. "If the state does not show up as a
partner, they can only consider themselves remiss and not the county."
Last month, the state
Department of Community Affairs found that the county failed its
environmental responsibilities for not passing a building ban to protect
what has been described as some of the rarest forest land in the Unites
States.
The Keys are
designated by the state as an Area of Critical State Concern, one of a
handful of rare environmental resources, and are required to make
advances each year in conservation, wastewater treatment and affordable
housing.
County commissioners
plan to formally pass the moratorium Jan. 21 -- just days before Gov.
Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet review the county's record on
conservation. The Cabinet gave Monroe County an extra month to cobble
together a plan to protect hammocks.
The DCA gave a nod of
approval for the new plan, and the commission agreed with a 4-1 vote to
draw up the ban.
Commissioner George
Neugent was alone in his opposition.
"I think we could have
gone much further," he said.
Commissioner Charles
"Sonny" McCoy protested the county's long history of moratoria.
"Where else in the
country would they ask a county to invoke 30 years of moratoria and then
say, 'What's wrong with one more?'"
In return, DCA
Secretary Colleen Castille guaranteed the county $93 million for
environmental lands, about $20 million for sewer upgrades and $3 million
for affordable housing projects.
Some commissioners had
balked over a moratorium for fear that it would trigger lawsuits from
stymied developers, despite opinions by its legal counsel that a ban
could be defended in court.
Attorney Jim Hendrick
again opined that the ban would stand up in court if the county followed
simple rules, such as making building restrictions temporary and clear
definitions of the land that is affected.
The moratorium is a
victory for many in the environmental community, who have pressed the
county for the ban.
However, the 2-acre
limit may not be enough to protect Keys animal species, said Debra
Harrison, Keys program director for the World Wildlife Fund.
Hammocks and upland
forests as small as one acre can provide vital habitat for animals,
Harrison said.
The DCA also pushed
for the one-acre limit, but the county compromised with the two-acre
limit. |
