|
State review stalled for two weeks
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
keysnews.com
Monroe County
leaders will wait an extra two weeks for a decision by the governor and
Cabinet as to whether the county will get its full slate of building
rights this year. A review scheduled for Tuesday was pushed back,
according to state Rep. Ken Sorensen.
The Cabinet
will review a major conservation plan county commissioners passed
Wednesday. The group reviews the county each year to evaluate its
progress on goals of conservation, affordable housing and sewage
treatment. State Department of Community Affairs officials, whose
recommendation is influential, said the department was still evaluating
the plan Thursday.
The
informational meeting of state aides that typically precedes Cabinet
meetings was rescheduled Wednesday and the county review -- one of many
items scheduled for Tuesday -- will be tabled, Sorensen said.
"At this time,
state review is still pending but at first glance I believe the county
has included all of the department's requests," DCA Secretary Colleen
Castille said Thursday in a prepared statement. "I would like to stress
that the Monroe County Commission and its staff have worked diligently
to come to this resolution, which will provide substantial dollars for
affordable housing, improved water quality and the protection of natural
habitat."
The deal with
the county, along with similar agreements with Marathon and Islamorada,
could mean a total of $330 million in funding for the Keys, according to
Castille.
Meanwhile,
Sorensen lauded the Wednesday conservation agreement between the county
and the state regulators, which will ban development in some of the most
pristine wooded areas in the Florida Keys.
"DCA is very
happy and satisfied," he said. "We are all very happy with what happened
É nobody up here [in Tallahassee] has a problem."
Sorensen said
he discussed the agreement with Bush on Thursday and that the governor
was pleased.
As part of the
deal, the DCA agreed to give the Cabinet a favorable recommendation on
county conservation efforts in 2003. The agreement will also pump money
and resources into wastewater treatment efforts and affordable housing
projects.
State
review
Gov. Jeb Bush
and the Florida Cabinet, sitting as the Administration Commission, meet
publicly every two weeks to discuss Areas of Critical State Concern and
other state business.
The Florida
Keys are under state mandate to develop regulations that protect the
fragile environment. Past performance has been mixed.
The island
chain is currently in the seventh year of what was originally a
five-year work plan, and twice in the past the Administration Commission
docked the county 20 percent of its building credits because the county
failed to make progress on conservation.
To get DCA
support for a passing grade this year, the county will ban development
for one year on 2-acre or larger patches of forest in what it has
designated Conservation and Natural Areas. It rejected a similar ban
this summer, citing concerns over lawsuits from stymied developers.
After Jan. 6
negotiations with the county, the DCA left the meeting believing the
moratorium would cover all 2-acre or larger forests in the Keys.
Castille wrote a letter to the county asking that it widen its building
ban before the Wednesday county commission meeting.
The county
pushed ahead with its plans, though it agreed Wednesday to discuss
protecting lands outside the special boundaries. The commission chose to
use county maps instead of state maps, which some believe identifies
more of the 2-acre and smaller portions of natural land in the county.
The DCA made
changes to its end of the bargain Wednesday, cutting some money and
building credits, which would have been used for affordable housing in
the county.
Sorensen
denied that the county was losing money or credits and said the changes
were signs that the county and the state were working together amicably.
However,
despite unanimous approval Wednesday, the moratorium has raised tensions
on the commission.
Commission consternation
County
Commissioner George Neugent voted against the moratorium Jan. 6, saying
the county should do more to protect land -- a sentiment shared by many
environmental advocates in the county.
Neugent
continued to push for wider conservation efforts, recently saying during
a radio interview that he is disappointed with the commission.
Mayor Murray
Nelson scolded Neugent for those comments during the Wednesday meeting
and said there needs to be "harmony" on the commission.
"I see an
arbitrary and capricious attitude toward your fellow commissioners"
Nelson told Neugent.
Nelson drafted
the DCA agreement and called it a "huge success."
But Neugent
may have had the company of another commissioner in opposing the ban
Jan. 6 -- if not for confusion over what was being approved.
Commissioner David Rice voted in favor the ban but said later he
believed that he was voting on a moratorium for all forest areas in the
Keys.
Rice said
Wednesday that the phrase "Conservation and Natural Areas" was never
uttered during the meeting with DCA on Jan. 6.
County staff
and the mayor claimed that the county never agreed to a moratorium for
all forests in the Keys, and said the DCA was mistaken. |
