Storm plan called ruse
BY LAURIE KARNATZ
Citizen Staff
A proposal going before
the Monroe County Planning Commission on Wednesday is a ruse that will
provide for more building permits but reduce resident safety, according
to County Commissioner George Neugent and other opponents of a plan that
purportedly reduces the time it takes to evacuate the Keys as a
hurricane approaches.
The problem, said Neugent
and other opponents, is that the plan is nothing new: It's merely
putting in writing what the county has been doing for years.
Meeting at
10 a.m.
at the Marathon
Government
Center, the
planning panel will, for the third time, consider the proposal to
officially adopt into county land-use rules a phased evacuation plan for
the Keys. Planning commissioners have twice delayed taking action on the
plan, which is the result of a six-month effort by local and state
officials to address hurricane evacuation issues in the Keys.
The state task force,
which included Keys officials and business leaders, discussed numerous
methods to reduce evacuation time and increase public safety. At the
last meeting of the panel, planners with the state Department of
Community Affairs said that including phased evacuation in each local
government's land-use plan would allow the state to increase the number
of building permits issued annually.
Building permits in the
Keys have been limited for more than a decade. The number allowed
annually is tied to the county's ability to successfully evacuate the
island chain in less than 24 hours when a storm threatens the low-lying
islands.
The problem, said
opponents, is that the county has for years been doing phased
evacuation. The newest solution is only a solution on paper that will
make no actual difference in evacuation time, said Neugent.
"This is all about
development," said Neugent. "If that's what the state wants to do to
produce more permits, then at least be honest about it. Don't do it
under the guise of improving safety."
The county has been using
a phased evacuation plan for 20 years, according to Dennis Henize, a
Cudjoe Key resident and the former National Weather Service
meteorologist who currently serves as president of the Last Stand
environmental and civic group.
And in 2000, the county
adopted a plan to work with tourism officials to promote early
evacuation of visitors as a storm approaches, asking them to vacate the
islands 48 hours ahead of a storm. That, too, is part of the phased
evacuation plan.
"I think you'll find a
lot of what we did is already in place," then-Marathon Councilman Randy
Mearns told members of the task force in January. "We didn't reinvent
the wheel."
DCA staff, too,
acknowledged that the phased evacuation plan "actually reflects what's
already in place."
"This is all about the
state circumventing the existing plan," said Neugent. "The more you
reduce evacuation time, the more permits you can have."
Said Upper Keys resident
John Hammerstrom, "[This] is yet another example of mid-level experts
being rolled over by politically powerful folks. In this case, we will
all be less safe as a result."
The proposal, whether or
not it's approved by the Planning Commission this week, will be on the
County
Commission's
agenda later this month.
Neugent said that he
wants a real discussion that involves county and state emergency
management experts.
"I just finished meeting
with [senior Emergency Management Director] Billy Wagner and [Director]
Irene Toner. They emphatically say this plan will not reduce evacuation
time," Neugent said.
The Tavernier Community
Association has written a letter opposing the proposal — or at least the
new permits it could generate. Local environmental groups also have
questioned the validity of the plan.
The Key West Chamber of
Commerce and proponents of affordable housing support the plan, but
would like any new permits generated by it to be used for affordable and
workforce housing.
lkarnatz@keysnews.com
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