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Sorensen Is The Critical State Concern
State Representative Ken Sorensen is
bleeping his horn all over Tallahassee and the Keys, calling for the end
of critical state concern for the Keys. He recommends removing the Keys
from 30 years of state oversight by the state Department of Community
Affairs of all growth management decisions. The onerous designation was
a self-inflicted wound because the state was unable to get the Keys and
Key West's attention to provide the necessary preparation for enormous
growth. Bring the tourists and new residents on, said the city and
county commissioners back in 1975. We'll figure how to flush what they
leave as soon as we get around to it. Infrastructure can come later.
We'll get to wastewater and housing and all the rest of it after we skin
the tourists.
Sorensen was on the county commission back
in the good old shake-and-bake days, and current county commissioner
Sonny McCoy was driving the bulldozer in Key West, bringing true meaning
to the term "zoned and designed by." Sonny was mayor at the time and the
Buboes' favorite architect.
Finally, after years of swift growth in
the Keys, the state got tired of the Keys thumbing its nose at the rules
and regulations and work projects the state required in order to let the
city and county grow. Growth was restricted to 255 houses a year and the
developers squealed ink, piggy, piggy, ink.
Well, the Keys are still an area of
critical state concern and Ken Sorensen is still squealing. Because of
term limits, this is his last legislative session and he has vowed to
have this yoke of responsibility removed from us so we can again return
to scarring one of God's most beautiful land and sea scopes. Ken's going
to save us in one of two ways: Having the governor and cabinet strike it
down, or through legislative action.
But Ken and his clan have it all backwards
again: Asking for the growth before we have the infrastructure to
support it. Yes, we have begun, but just barely. The reefs are our
number-one resource and they're not getting any better. The state, from
top to bottom, is in the midst of another population boom but we still
have no viable plan for getting to the lower half. At least in the Keys
we finally have a single agency (FKAA) overseeing wastewater, but that
was after a brawl in which Sorensen fought for the county to take it
over. If he decides to run again for the county commission he would
again have power on this lucrative, long-term public works project .
If we lift critical state concern, we
would begin to go backwards on affordable housing, sewers, preserving
habitat and a host of other critical chores.
What really needs critical state concern
is Ken Sorensen. Hold a hammer over his head, not the county's. Give him
scrupulous oversight. Hold him responsible for this words and actions.
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D.E. |