State due to report on progress county has made on work plan
BY ANN HENSON
Staff Writer
County officials are bracing for a state report, uncertain if the
state will find it has made substantial progress with its work plan.
The report, due out today, according to county officials, says the
state has a couple of gripes. A lot rides on the report
because the county is controlled by the state as it is considered an
area of critical state concern.
Tim McGarry, the county’s Growth Management director, and County
Administrator Jim Roberts met with state officials last week.
Despite their explanations, McGarry said he believes that DCA
Secretary Colleen Castille will not make a recommendation to the
governor and Cabinet on the number of building permit allocations
the county should receive this fiscal year.
In the past, the secretary has made recommend-ations for a full or
reduced complement.
A full complement would be 197 for
unincorporated Monroe County.
If the county has not made substantial progress, DCA officials could
reduce last year’s building permit allocation of 158 by 20 percent
to 126.
At least two areas trouble the state.
“They believe we are not moving fast enough on wastewater,” McGarry
said. Earlier this year, Department of Community Affairs (DCA)
H.E. Sonny Timmerman offered to discuss amending the county’s
wastewater priority list and to examine other options. “That
meeting was held,” said Commissioner Murray Nelson. “It
was with Jim Roberts, Timmerman and me. But no conclusions were
reached and shortly after, Sonny Timmerman left the DCA.”
County Commissioner Sonny McCoy, now the wastewater liaison, said he
has had several conversations with DCA officials and that they are
very upset. “They asked me to have a conference call three
weeks ago with some members of the Cabinet and asked about funding
because nothing was happening here,” he said.
On Monday, DCA Secretary Colleen Castille asked McCoy about a
project on Stock Island after reading press reports. That
project to connect residents to a system operated by a private
company brought allegations of price dumping onto 20 mobile home
parks.
The DCA faults the county in another area – for not doing enough to
protect environmentally sensitive land, McGarry said.
In July and near the work plan’s year-end, DCA’s Jim Quinn
reiterated the state’s stance – the county and municipalities should
adopt moratoriums on any further development in hammock and key
habitat areas The agency says the county has not put a
moratorium in place. “There’s not enough land out there to
make a grandiose statement about a moratorium,” McGarry said.
Besides, he said, the county has done inasmuch through with the tier
system. The tier system has not been adopted yet.
The highly controversial tier system is what the county proposes to
replace the Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO), a complicated and
lengthy but required process that allocates building permit through
a point system. The tier system divides properties into three
categories and building is only allowed in certain categories.
The DCA also has an open notice of violation against the county for,
it says, improperly scoring a Habitat Evaluation Index and issuing a
building permit in what is actually an environmentally sensitive
area. McGarry counters that the HEI is dead and “should have
been put to sleep a long time ago.” The tier system, he says, will
take care of environmentally sensitive areas.
Castille was to visit each commissioner
individually on Wednesday for a face-to-face meeting prior to the
issuance of the report. Details of those meetings were not
available by press time.
Ann Henson covers state and Monroe County government,
environment, Key Largo and is the editor of the Reporter’s website.
She can be reached at 852-3216 or by e-mail at
amhenson@keysreporter.com
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State may be upset, but it still listens to concerns
While the state apparently is unhappy with the county’s progress on
its yearly work plan, officials are apparently listening to county
concerns.
Hurricane evacuation time and easing the criteria for building
affordable housing are being reviewed by the state Department of
Community Affairs (DCA), which regulates the Keys.
Many have criticized one aspect of the county’s work plan – adopting
the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Plan. Some portions of the
plan were shelved because they were in error or unworkable.
One of those modules – the hurricane evacuation module – has been
questioned by many who say it is based on inaccurate information.
The DCA will now test that module to determine if it is
predicting the evacuation times correctly, said Rebecca Jetton, with
the DCA and formerly the liaison for Monroe County. In the
Keys, hurricane evacuation time is the determiner of growth.
The entire county must be able to evacuate within 24 hours in order
to be compliant.
Based on the model now being used, the county cannot evacuate within
the required time period.
Jetton said if that model is flawed, the state will remedy the
situation. “If the model is not predicting correctly, we have
a proposal to release 500 affordable [ROGO] units at one time,” she
said.
During a task force studying affordable housing for teachers,
members asked Jetton if the school district could build housing on
its own property and sidestep county rules.
The DCA says no, Jetton said.
But she offered a glimmer of hope by reporting that the governor
may consider decoupling nutrient credits from Rate of Growth
Ordinance (ROGO) units for affordable housing. In order to
build in the Keys, property owners must have a ROGO unit that is
allocated through a point process, with the most points given for
environmentally friendly building.
Property owners must also either buy or obtain from the county
nutrient credits, which become available whenever a cesspit is
removed, when a septic system is upgraded or when homes and
businesses connect to central sewers.
According to county officials, there are no nutrient credits
available.
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