| No Name Key Electrification - The Controversy Goes
On... Monroe County's Comprehensive Plan
discourages and effectively prohibits municipal utilities from being
introduced on No Name Key. The island, adjacent (just north and
east) to Big Pine Key, is home to an "off the grid" community which
serves as a model of sustainability. Newer residents who were
attracted to the island for reasons which probably include lower
property prices (precisely because of the lack of utilities), are
trying to change that, and are pushing for electrification. (Last
Stand solidly supports the solar community's claim that
the island should be left as it is, and that the county Comprehensive
Plan's prohibition should stand.) The controversy was featured in
the article below, in the January 31 Miami Herald: |
Residents of No Name Key divided over access to commercial
electrical grid, water access
BY CAMMY CLARKcclark@MiamiHerald.com
NO NAME KEY -- On this woodsy, secluded, 998-acre slice of
Florida paradise 30 miles from Key West, endangered pygmy deer
saunter across rustic yards, waterfront homes rest on stilts,
and residents revel in their independent lifestyle.One more
thing: They never pay an electric bill.
The island of 43 homes has remained, improbably, ``off the
grid'' -- without municipal or commercial power -- possibly the
last significant community in Florida and the continental United
States to do so.
That may be about to change, which for the majority of No Name
Key residents would be a long overdue coup. But for others, the
arrival of power lines would be an unconscionable travesty.
The dispute has ripped apart this idyllic outpost where coconuts
are sold for 25 cents, bicyclists enjoy the pristine scenery,
and young and old fish off the bridge.
``Why change a place that is unique and special?'' asked No Name
Key resident Alicia Roemmele-Putney, who has fought for nearly
20 years to keep the island pristine and powerless. ``It's so
neat to get your power from the sun and your water from the
rain. That's why we moved here.''
Out of necessity, each home on the island creates its own power,
using a combination of solar panels, batteries and generators.
Some also employ wind turbines.
The island is not connected to the main water pipeline -- all
homes capture rain into cisterns.
It's no Robinson Crusoe existence, though. The island's
residents -- including lawyers, schoolteachers, college
professors, engineers, a veterinarian, a dentist, a
mental-health therapist, an insurance-company owner, an employee
of Homeland Security and retirees -- enjoy the modern
conveniences of clothes dryers, televisions, microwaves and air
conditioning.
But some say that depending exclusively on self-generated energy
is not the earth-friendly solution it seems. Below her living
space, Beth Ramsay-Vickrey has a ``battery room'' where 24 golf
batteries are hooked up behind a ``Danger, Keep Out'' sign. And
she said the loud generators belch fumes and create noise
pollution.
``No Name Key should be called the big green lie,'' said
homeowner Bob Reynolds. ``The island is run off gas- and
diesel-powered generators and acid batteries. The waters are
polluted, and we have two active rock pits.''
GROUPS OF CONCERN
Over the decades, federal, state and local governments all have
weighed in on No Name Key's power issue, as have the electric
company, courts and environmental groups.
In the past, the power push usually was halted due to money. The
residents didn't want to pay the high cost to bring utility
lines to the island. But now the growing number of people who
want power -- which would almost certainly raise the value of
their homes -- are willing to foot the bill.
``In more than 20 years, this is the furthest those wanting
power on No Name Key have ever gotten,'' said Julio Barroso,
spokesman for Keys Energy Service, which provides power to the
Lower Keys.
Last week, Keys Energy Service sought bids for the project. It's
estimated it would cost $690,000 for an above-ground system, or
$1.4 million for underground wiring.
But it's far from a done deal, with various government entities
still looking into the matter, including the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, which oversees the National Key Deer Refuge.
Among its concerns: How will the extension of service affect the
endangered Stock Island tree snail, the silver rice rat and
their habitat?
PAST AND PRESENT
No Name Key was not conceived, at least originally, as a model
of self-sufficiency. In 1928, it became an important ferry
terminal for traveling to Key West from the mainland when there
was no Seven Mile Bridge for vehicles.
The island featured a hotel and had utility poles for telephone
service. But when the Seven Mile Bridge opened for vehicle
traffic in 1938, the ferry terminal became obsolete and
travelers bypassed the island.
No Name Key became completely isolated after a 1948 hurricane
damaged the wooden bridge to neighboring Big Pine Key, and a
subsequent fire made it impassable. In the early 1960s, the
island was a staging and training site for the failed Bay of
Pigs Invasion in Cuba. Rumor has it -- totally unconfirmed --
that the island once belonged to Howard Hughes.
In 1967, a modern, half-mile-long concrete bridge replaced the
old wooden one, bringing development to the 20 percent of the
island not yet purchased by the federal government for the newly
created wildlife refuge.
Local historian Jerry Wilkinson wrote that some folks were
attracted to the island by its absence of public utilities,
while others came with the expectation that it was just a matter
of time before the juice would arrive.
Only two Conch homes existed on the island when Bob and Ruth
Eaken purchased eight acres in 1969 and got one of the last
county permits to dredge a canal to make 32 waterfront lots.
``I was told . . . they would give us power in three years,''
Bob Eaken said while standing next to the array of solar panels
bristling atop his No Name Key home.
He's still waiting. As are Lois and Herb Craig, who bought on No
Name Key in 1979, completing a house that had been
half-finished.
``The electric company told us when there were eight houses out
here, they'd bring us electricity,'' said Lois Craig, 88.
``There's about 42 houses here now and we still don't have
electricity, and we've always wanted it.''
In 2003, after years of litigation, a circuit court judge
dismissed a lawsuit by a group of the homeowners that claimed
the state Constitution guaranteed commercial power to anyone who
requested it.
The lack of electricity, coupled with new strict development
regulations, derailed construction of a luxury development
called Galleon Bay, which had been approved for 13 units along
water leading to the Gulf of Mexico and in front of Roemmele-Putney's
home.
Roemmele-Putney said one reason she opposes commercial power is
that it invites more development, even though development is
already severely restricted on No Name Key.
``Infrastructure is forever,'' she said. ``Regulations are
not.''
Sue Witter, of the anti-power-lines contingent, said she loves
the nights on No Name Key, with ``no spotlights to dim the dark
sky so the stars and planets are very vivid.''
``I know the people who want to bring public utilities have
their valid complaints,'' she added, ``but there is nothing
wrong -- in fact, something admirable -- about conservation in
all our lives.''
PROS AND CONS
When storms knock out the power grid on nearby islands, No Name
Key is the envy of its neighbors.
But solar panels don't generate power at night or on cloudy
days, although there's often enough stored in batteries to keep
the lights on after dark. Solar-based systems also require
regular, often expensive, maintenance. Some residents say that
during hot summers they've coughed up $600 a month for generator
fuel to keep the air conditioners humming.
Kathy Brown, who is president of the pro-commercial-power No
Name Key Property Owners Association, said getting access to
commercial power ``is our legal right.''
She also emphasized: ``People who don't want to connect don't
have to -- and don't have to pay for it. The small group is
dictating what we have to do.''
Reynolds added that no one is looking to ditch their solar
panels. After hooking up, homeowners could sell any surplus
power they generate to the electric company.
Instead of being a throwback to the days when many lived off the
grid, No Name Key would become a ``beacon for the future,'' she
said.
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