The 3-2 vote was due to lingering concerns that the 30-month building halt would open the county to lawsuits, and fell in line with commissioners' positions in recent months. Commissioners David Rice and George Neugent unsuccessfully pressed fellow commissioners to pass the building halt, while Commissioners Charles "Sonny" McCoy, Dixie Spehar and Murray Nelson opposed it.

The moratorium would have temporarily protected the islands' most pristine forests from development. Now some residents fear the rejection could trigger a flood of applications to develop those areas.

The commission made some progress during the Key Largo meeting by identifying hammock and upland areas to be protected and outlining some options to pay for the properties.

"A moratorium can be a dangerous thing," McCoy said. "[We] have no comfort in saying they can craft it in such a way that we are going to be safe."

McCoy warned that commissioners could be headed for another Shadek settlement. The county must pay out a record $5 million to settle that lawsuit over a 1980s county moratorium and the resulting loss of property owner building rights.

However, the county land-use counsel, Jim Hendrick, and the nationally acclaimed legal firm Freilich, Leitner and Carlisle have both agreed that the moratorium would be a minimal legal risk.

"I think we have seen the best legal advice we could get that indicates we are not inventing the wheel," Rice said. "Nothing is foolproof; nothing is litigation proof. We will probably end up in court with this issue either way we go, and I would rather be on the side of protecting the Florida Keys."

Neugent said the county should stop giving "lip service" to the conservation effort and take action.

The commission also approved maps Wednesday which identify areas in the Keys that are environmentally sensitive. The moratorium would have applied to those areas.

The 30 months would have given the county needed time to write development regulations to protect the hammocks and find a way to purchase the lands, said Debra Harrison, Florida Keys program director for the World Wildlife Fund.

Harrison warned that, because of the maps, people will know which lands will eventually be unbuildable and will push to develop there before it is prohibited.

"We need to close the flood gates of the applications that are coming in from people that want to build on the lands the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study says we need to protect," she said.

The county was required to finish a system of development based on that study by July 12 but missed the deadline. The recently released Carrying Capacity Study said hammock and upland habitats cannot withstand more growth.

The state could decide in November to cut the county's yearly allotment of building rights by 20 percent if it does not meet the requirement.

Funding to purchase land has been a major stumbling block to creating a system to rein in growth.

The county estimated Wednesday that $45 million will be needed to protect natural lands and considered a funding system that would tap property taxes and other county taxes.

All the land could be bought within 15 years by raising property taxes by .25 mils, tapping gas or sales taxes and taking out tax-free municipal bonds, according to county financial advisers.

The news created some hope that the conservation initiative is still on track in the Florida Keys, said Jody Thomas, director of South Florida and Florida Keys programs for The Nature Conservancy.

"I am more heartened today than I have been in some time," Thomas said.

Tax increases for well-organized acquisition programs have been successful at ballot boxes across Florida, she said.

Also at the meeting, Marathon resident Lynn Mapes was appointed to the Monroe County Planning Commission by Rice. His term begins Sept. 20.

The appointment met some protest from residents who claimed the planning commission has too few members from unincorporated areas.

The county commission supported Rice's right to appoint Mapes, who served as chairman of the planning commission in the past.

Mapes will replace Alicia Putney, a No Name Key resident who gained a reputation for being tenacious and meticulous.

The planning commission advises the county commission on growth and development issues.