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Magically morphing moratorium falls flat
The limitless creativity
of people of the Florida Keys is embodied in many ways -- colorful
subtropical watercolors, quirky sculpture, insightful local literature
and even the eyebrow-raising "Conch Cruisers" rumbling along Keys roads.
At times, it seems
this depth of creativity extends to local politics, where public
business often appears to include elements of both whimsy and illusion.
Such may be the case
with Tuesday's meeting of the Monroe County Commission where, in a cloud
of confusion, county staff and commissioners maneuvered to dodge a
punitive bullet from Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet.
The state is -- and
has been -- threatening to tighten the drag on Keys development by 20
percent if the county does not show it is making substantial progress
toward complying with its 2010 Comprehensive Plan. On Dec. 16, the
governor and Cabinet determined that the county fell short of that goal
due to its failure to protect native habitat from development, and due
to its less-than-stellar progress toward building wastewater-treatment
systems.
Last year, the county
created so-called "tier" maps prioritizing what lands need protection,
but it chose not to impose a development moratorium on the most
environmentally valuable of those parcels. Mayor Murray Nelson has
publicly stated that NOT imposing a moratorium was among the wisest
things the commission accomplished in 2003.
Obviously, wisdom is
malleable. The mayor and three other commissioners voted Tuesday to
create an ordinance temporarily banning development on parcels of
environmentally sensitive uplands (wetlands already are protected under
federal law) 2 acres or larger. Or it seemed that is what they approved.
The first red flag was
a poorly worded motion -- made on the fly-- that would protect parcels
of "native uplands vegetative land" 2 acres or greater. Most of us
laypersons would assume the commission's wording pretty much
accomplished the stated goal. But those who long have dealt with county
government know that the devil frequently resides in the details, and in
this case the details were unspecified.
Environmental
activists had sought protection for parcels 1 acre or larger. The county
was thinking more along the lines of 4 acres or larger. State Department
of Community Affairs Secretary Colleen Castille, who has been attending
a lot of Keys meetings lately, said the state would accept a compromise
of 2 acres or larger.
Vote taken; mission
accomplished. Maybe.
One of those unstated
details was how the county would determine exactly what parcels were
protected. It appears the mayor and county Growth Management Director
Tim McGarry assumed it would be determined by the county's Conservation
and Natural Areas Map, which includes the most sensitive "tier" from the
previously drafted tier maps.
Seems reasonable. That
is, until you consider that a criteria used to designate "Tier 1" lands
was that they are 4 acres or larger -- with the exception of a few small
parcels that connect larger parcels.
Say, wasn't that what
the county wanted in the first place, before the "2-acre" compromise?
Never mind that
Secretary Castille had specified that the protected lands should be
determined by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Gap
Maps. These are the maps the state uses to target lands for conservation
purchases.
Surely the county
wouldn't be trying to trick the governor and Cabinet. Would it?
After Tuesday's
meeting, Castille immediately lifted a state "notice of violation,"
thinking the commission had made a good faith effort to redeem its
formerly recalcitrant self. Now we are told that she is drafting a
letter to the county, clarifying the state's expectations.
If this tale ever culminates in a moral, that might be: "Stop fooling
with Mother Nature -- and the governor, Mr. Mayor. |
