|
Expanding building ban to smaller land parcels earns praise
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
Citizen Staff Writer
In a surprise
move, county commissioners last week proposed a one-year building ban on
all native hammocks and uplands across Monroe County.
County
officials believe an expanded moratorium would simplify protection of
natural lands that are stressed from years of rampant growth.
"It would
include a lot more and it would be a lot easier to implement," said
Marlene Conaway, director of county planning and environmental services.
Some residents
who studied the county's proposal said the changes make the ban fair for
property owners, and will stave off lawsuits.
County Mayor
Murray Nelson, who was absent when the commission approved the
amendments Wednesday, said the expanded coverage will block construction
for hundreds of much-need affordable homes that might soon be approved
by the state.
"That is exactly
where we want to put these affordable and market-rate housing [units],"
Nelson said. Some environmental groups have repeatedly said the county
has enough lots that will not fall under the ban to support housing
needs in the future.
The amendments
would bar development for one year in any patch of tropical hardwood
hammock or pine upland that is not divided by U.S. 1. The previous
proposal included only protecting 2-acre patches designated as the most
pristine hammocks and uplands.
The state agreed
to increase the number of homes that can be built in Monroe County if
the county cleans up its environmental record — which means banning
growth in natural lands until permanent regulations are passed.
Meanwhile, Nelson
blamed environmentalists for threatening to derail county and state
conservation efforts.
Nelson was the
architect behind a landmark deal with the state Department of Community
Affairs in January. The agreement allows the county major concessions,
including about 337 housing credits over the next year in return for
spending millions of dollars on sewage treatment, and creating a
temporary building ban.
Environmental
groups, including World Wildlife Fund and the Environmental and Land Use
Law Center, asked the state to rethink the deal because it allows for
too much growth. They might challenge the deal once it becomes final
this summer.
The county
struggled for about a year to protect the natural lands. Commissioners
rejected a proposed moratorium over the summer, but returned to the idea
after pressure from the state. The DCA agreed to allow the moratorium to
apply to areas 2-acres and larger, despite recommendations from the
environmental community that covering parcels as small as 1-acre would
protect more hammocks and pine uplands.
A moratorium on
smaller areas will be easier to enforce, said Conaway.
"If they want to
do it purely by the maps we do have maps that show 1 acre," Conaway
said. "That is not really that hard."
The county maps
are aerial photos taken from 1992 and may not include hammocks that have
grown since. Disputes over moratorium boundaries would be the most
likely cause of lawsuits against the county, said attorney Lloyd Good,
who warned commissioners against banning growth.
Residents have
the option to appeal to a special counsel, but that can be time
consuming and expensive. Instead, some may opt to sue the county rather
than build, Good said.
The county's
earlier, more limited moratorium would have created confusion over the
boundaries, said Joan Borel, a member of Last Stand. Property owners
would have had to hire surveyors and biologists to determine the size
and quality of their land under the earlier proposal, she said.
The wider
moratorium could be shown more accurately on existing maps and give
property owners a "straight and easy answer to, 'Is my parcel in or
out?'" she said.
Borel, along with
Alicia Putney, former county planning commissioner, and several other
residents scoured maps and spoke with county and state staff before
lobbying the county to expand the moratorium.
The argument
resonated with commissioners Wednesday. After the staff confirmed that
the amended moratorium would be simpler, four commissioners voted
unanimously to approve the changes.
Nelson and
commissioners Charles "Sonny" McCoy and Dixie Spehar often vote in a
block on conservation and other issues. The three-member majority has
outvoted commissioners George Neugent and David Rice in the past.
With Nelson
absent, Neugent took the lead on amending the moratorium.
ttritten@keysnews.com
|
