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County gets one-month reprieve
BY TRAVIS JAMES
TRITTEN
keysnews.com
State regulators
recommended a failing grade for Monroe County environmental conservation
in 2003, during a review by Gov. Jeb Bush and his Cabinet Tuesday.
But the cabinet
Administration Commission allowed the county another month to cobble
together a plan to protect tropical hardwood hammocks threatened by
growth.
Development, along
with sewage pollution and affordable housing, is considered a top
concern for the Florida Keys, an Area of Critical State Concern that is
subject to yearly progress reports by the Department of Community
Affairs.
Thirty-two property
owners could lose the right to build homes next year if the county does
not convince the governor and Cabinet that it is making progress on Jan.
27, according to Tim McGarry, director of county Growth Management.
It would be the second
time the state has made a 20 percent reduction to the Keys yearly
allotment of building credits.
"To fully participate
in the [state] partnership and build on their prior positive efforts,
Monroe County needs to take steps to increase protection of areas
containing high-quality native habitat," the agency said in a press
release following the Cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Marathon
was given a passing grade for conservation, wastewater treatment and
affordable housing. The Administration Commission put off a ruling on
Islamorada, but DCA representatives said the agency expected the city to
make satisfactory progress during its next council meeting.
County Administrator
Jim Roberts, who attended the Tallahassee meeting, said the state is
undecided on county environmental progress and is allowing the extra
time for negotiations.
"There are going to be
no decisions until the end of January" when the Cabinet meets again,
Roberts said.
DCA Secretary Colleen
Castille and county commissioners will schedule a special meeting in
coming days to hash out an agreement.
More than a month
before the review, Castille offered a deal to the county that would have
meant a favorable recommendation: bond out $200 million for wastewater
projects and receive $113 million in state conservation funds.
Commissioners said the
county could not commit to that amount of debt.
County Mayor Murray
Nelson countered Castille's offer with another proposal -- approved by
commissioners during a special meeting last week -- that pledged $130
million in coming years to sewage treatment, conservation and affordable
housing.
After the Cabinet
meeting, Nelson said he did not believe his proposal failed and that it
may be used as a starting point for negotiations.
"This is not the end.
This is the beginning," he said.
The DCA's
recommendation to the Cabinet was not much of a surprise.
An agency report
issued in November showed that Monroe County was seriously lagging on
elimination of illegal cesspits in highly populated areas, and did not
take action on conservation over the past year.
"I am somewhat
embarrassed that this has happened," Commissioner George Neugent said.
The county missed key
opportunities to temporarily ban building on the county's most pristine
natural lands, he said. A majority of commissioners said they feared
litigation from stymied developers and voted down a proposed moratorium
this summer.
"When you have your
attorneys stand up and say you can do this [moratorium] without risk and
then to not do it, I think that [litigation] argument is empty," Neugent
said.
Some in the
environmental community who attended the meeting said the DCA
recommendation was justified.
"Monroe County has
consistently refused to provide the protection called for [by the
state]," said Deborah Harrison, South Florida and Keys program manager
for World Wildlife Fund. "We are continuing to see the loss of the final
vestiges of this very unique and very threatened ecosystem."
The county has had
years to act and many staff proposals from which to choose, Harrison
said.
The negative DCA
recommendation could turn out to be a positive development in the long
environmental struggle, said Nancy Klingener, Florida Keys program
manager for The Ocean Conservancy.
"It's a good thing
because they are going to have to take some actual actions to protect
habitat É and pay for wastewater," Klingener said.
However, the DCA and
environmentalists may be part of the problem when it comes to delays,
according to a state lawmaker representing the Keys.
Rep. Ken Sorensen
wrote to Gov. Bush Monday asking that the Cabinet put off a decision on
the Keys for one month.
In the letter,
Sorensen blasts Cabinet advisers and Secretary Castille for tying the
county up in a "never-ending saga" of environmental regulation.
"Some have never had
any intention of solving the problem, but in order to justify their
jobs, they perpetuate the problem," Sorensen wrote.
Castille was named
conservationist of the year by the environmental group Audubon Society
-- "an honor that does not help our credibility in light of the fact the
Audubon Society more often than not opposes the state policy," he wrote.
The DCA's mission is
to protect the state's natural resources and preserve the quality of
life for residents by encouraging planned growth, environmental
protection and the creation of affordable housing, according to the
agency Web site. Castille was not reachable for a comment Tuesday
afternoon.
ttritten@keysnews.com |
