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Politicians need to face reality on land use
Every year or so,
county and city officials from the Keys make the long trip to
Tallahassee to report to the governor and Cabinet on whether they are
meeting the terms of their comprehensive land-use plans.
This annual report
is required because the Keys are an Area of Critical State Concern and
have been since 1975 when it appeared that dredging, filling and
imminent development would turn the islands into a 100-mile replica of
Miami Beach.
That, of course,
did not happen. A tougher land-use plan approved in 1986 along with
almost $200 million invested in buying natural lands has preserved great
swaths of our unique hardwood hammocks and pine rocklands.
But development,
and especially the increasing intensity of our tourism industry,
continued nonetheless. A new land-use plan, designed to chart the course
of the Keys until 2010, was found lacking in Tallahassee and by an
administrative law judge.
That judge, back in
1995, ruled that the Keys had already exceeded their carrying capacity
for nearshore water quality, seagrass meadow damage and endangered
species habitat.
But the governor
and Cabinet, then and now, were not about to entirely shut down building
in the Keys and face the prospect of immediate purchase of all remaining
lands. So in 1996, they punted, authorizing and funding an ambitious and
comprehensive Carrying Capacity Study for the Keys. It was required to
"determine the ability of the Florida Keys ecosystem and various
segments thereof to withstand all impacts of additional land development
activities."
The county was
required to implement the results of this study into its land-use plan
by July 2003.
The study, a
massive undertaking and in some ways an impossible one, has received
severe criticism. But one finding was confirmed as solid by two
independent scientific review panels: Natural upland habitats in the
Keys have already reached, if not exceeded, their ability to withstand
development.
Faced with this
news, the Monroe County Commission has done very little. Last summer,
the commission rejected 3-2 a proposed temporary moratorium on the most
sensitive lands. The county's lawyers and their land-use consultant
lawyers both told them such temporary measures are legal. But
commissioners, scared by the cost of the Shadek case (a case they
settled, not lost) and spooked by the state's Harris Act, declined to do
the right thing.
Last week in
Tallahassee, the governor and Cabinet found that Monroe County has not
made substantial progress in implementing its growth management plan.
This finding was based on the county's failure to enforce habitat
protection, as well as limited progress and commitment toward wastewater
improvements.
The governor and
Cabinet unanimously directed the state Department of Community Affairs
to determine what changes in the county's comprehensive plan will be
needed. The deadline for that determination is Jan. 10. The Cabinet will
meet and consider the Keys again Jan. 27.
Complaining about
heavy-handed state oversight and excessive interference in local
government has been a favorite sport in the Keys since at least 1975.
And the state could certainly do a better job of demonstrating to local
officials how it is in the greater public interest to protect both the
natural areas and the communities of the Keys.
But the ball is now
in the county's court. It is time to grow up, take responsibility and
deal with the realities that the engineers, scientists and attorneys
have told them. A little local leadership and a lot more maturity are in
order. Key West, Marathon and Islamorada have all found ways to meet the
requirements of their land-use plans. Surely the county can, too. It
would be especially refreshing if they did so by Jan 10. |
