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Weekend clear-cutters should pay higher price
Sometimes the
facts right in front of our faces are the hardest to come to grips with.
For years, the
dirty little secret of environmental protection in the Florida Keys has
been a serious lack of commitment on the enforcement side. While we talk
all the time about our unparalleled protections as an Area of Critical
State Concern and the Byzantine requirements of receiving a building
permit, we rarely discuss or act on the scofflaws who simply bypass the
system and head right to "Go," firing up the chainsaws and bulldozers
and tearing out the remnants of our dwindling natural habitats.
The place
these weekend warriors ought to go is "Jail," for real. Weekend
clear-cutting crews have been a growing phenomenon in the Upper Keys and
some flagrant cases have recently been documented in the Lower Keys. In
one such case, curious citizens noticed a lot was being clear-cut --
right up to a fringe along the road to prevent drive-by alerts.
The
clear-cutters had no permit and told the curious citizens that a permit
had been applied for. Later checking -- on a weekday of course --
disclosed that there was no permit application on file.
Acts like
these, and a lack of action on the county's part to throw the book at
the offenders, renders all the hard-fought protections in the Keys
useless. If it is simply the price of doing business to clear a lot,
request an after-the-fact permit and pay a small penalty, why wouldn't
you do it?
"We've had an
ongoing problem with people doing clearing and there really aren't a
whole lot of penalties," the county's Growth Management Director, Tim
McGarry, recently told The Citizen.
A lot of the
suspicion and distrust on the part of environmentalists toward the
county stems from this issue. The same people who sit through meetings
with endless debates over the size and category of parcels that deserve
protection see natural areas casually wiped away on weekends, without
benefit of permits. Making a serious effort at increasing penalties,
backing up code enforcement officers and biologists in the field and
working with prosecutors to make cases would go a long way toward
creating a more harmonious atmosphere where good faith could operate.
Until
recently, county leaders have dismissed enforcement as an entirely
separate issue from growth management regulations. That's an easy out,
but it is denying reality. If flouting the law is an easier path than
following the regulations, then the regulations will be useless -- and
the level of distrust between environmentalists and governments will
keep growing.
Recently,
inspired by a well-documented case assembled by one concerned Cudjoe Key
resident, County Commissioner David Rice has taken up the enforcement
cause and proposed increasing the penalties for violations.
This is long
overdue. The county commission should jump all over this opportunity to
provide meaningful protection to remaining natural areas and stop
penalizing those who actually follow the tortuous growth management
regulations. Chopping down hammocks and pine forests without permits is
a crime. The county should make these criminals pay an adequate price
for their actions. |
