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Moratorium now on fickle footing
BY TRAVIS
JAMES TRITTEN
Citizen Staff
Writer
The future of
a countywide moratorium on development in hammocks and uplands may be as
unsure as ever.
On Friday —
just days before a pivotal special Monroe County Commission meeting on
the measure — Commissioner Dixie Spehar said she will not support any
ban on development until county staff can provide better data on what
properties will be included.
"I just feel
that at this [Tuesday] workshop, that is what I am going in with," she
said. "I don't feel I can vote for something until I know what I am
voting on."
The Growth
Management department released new maps this week, but Spehar said the
1991 data used to create the maps is too old and could be inaccurate.
Property owners who dispute the maps would be required to pay $500 for
an appeal, which some fear could lead the county into a legal quagmire.
The commission
promised the state it would pass a temporary building ban to make up for
a poor environmental record in 2003. After four months, the five-member
commission remains polarized and has yet to firm up a plan, making
Spehar's swing vote important.
Commissioners
George Neugent and David Rice have said they support a wide, one-year
ban to protect all county natural lands of 1 acre or larger.
In County
Mayor Murray Nelson's absence on April 21, the four commissioners
unanimously passed a building ban on sensitive lands that are 1 acre and
larger, despite Nelson's negotiations with the state for a building
moratorium on 2-acre patches of the county's most pristine natural
lands, designated the Conservation and Natural Area.
Nelson cast
dire warnings about a wider ban, and, using his power as mayor, called
the special workshop meeting Tuesday in an attempt to scale back the
building ban.
He may find an
ally in Commissioner Charles "Sonny" McCoy.
McCoy often
votes in a block with Spehar and Nelson, but said Friday he would enter
the workshop with an open mind.
"[Nelson] is
going to bring some material up that maybe I am not aware of," McCoy
said. "So, I am not going to set my [decision] in stone."
Neugent called
for the wider moratorium at the April county commission meeting,
following months of staff consideration.
The unanimous
approval by Spehar, McCoy, Neugent and Rice was unexpected because a
majority of commissioners balked at passing any moratorium last summer.
Those who were at the meeting for the unanimous vote said they were
surprised and elated.
In January,
the commission, led by Nelson, negotiated the moratorium agreement with
the state Department of Community Affairs that would cover the most
sensitive, 2-acre and larger parcels.
Some
environmental advocates felt the agreement would leave out important
habitat and was an attempt by the county to wiggle out of its
conservation responsibilities.
Nelson has
railed against the county commission's changes to the building ban for
weeks, saying the new proposal could block affordable housing projects
in Monroe County.
Growth
Management Director Tim McGarry has somewhat supported Nelson's
concerns, saying that the wider moratorium passed April 21 would make
affordable housing projects more difficult. He was unclear on exactly
how much more difficult.
McGarry said
that staff has never supported a ban on growth outside the Conservation
Natural Area designation because there is no important habitat there.
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