| Settlement talks between Monroe County and Florida
Department of Community Affairs (DCA) regarding Comprehensive Plan
changes for "working waterfront" drag on in hopes of heading off the
trial slated for December before a state Administrative Law Judge.
Interveners in the case and the settlement talks include the developers,
the US Navy, and Last Stand.
The Navy quite sensibly argues that allowing increased residential
density beneath the approach to NAS Key West is contrary to safety.
Last Stand agrees with the
Navy on that point, and we advocate "no net loss" of marine facilities
and public waterfront access. The issues in play are described in
the following October 19 editorial from the Key West
Citizen: |
'On the Waterfront' sequel coming soon
On Nov. 19 in Key Largo, a new -- or at least
renovated -- Monroe County Commission will be seated. It will
have a full plate of issues to delve into from the start --
including a room full of developers, feet tapping and blueprints
in hand, waiting for a green light to move ahead with ambitious
plans for Stock Island's Safe Harbor.
Their anxiety is palpable -- each week that passes without
approval of their plans costs them money and increases the
chance their financial backers will cut their losses and run. On
the other hand, had those developers not attempted to circumvent
every development regulation on the books and not stumbled over
each other in an attempt to slip eleventh-hour goodies into
land-plan amendments, Safe Harbor might today be bustling with
bulldozers and construction crews.
Whether we sympathize with the plight of these developers -- or
the attorneys from whom they have taken advice -- is not the
issue. The Safe Harbor dilemma is central to several important
issues that need to be quickly resolved. While we're reasonably
sure this is not an epiphany for the new commission, we hope the
newly reconstituted board will do a better job than the previous
commission in considering the public's best interest. (We
believe the public most eloquently expressed that sentiment in
the primary election.)
A central issue that must be resolved before the commission
blesses any additional development on Stock Island is that of
compatibility with training operations at Naval Air Station Key
West. The Navy has made it clear that it is not seeking to halt
development in the areas of high noise and increased crash
potential beneath the paths of training flights. It seeks only
to ensure that such development is compatible -- which may
reduce, exclude or require special measures for residential
development in those areas. It doesn't take a rocket scientist
to recognize the logic of that concern.
The next challenge is deciding whether the issue of preserving
working waterfronts should be separated from Safe Harbor
development issues through the creation of a special "deepwater
harbor" zoning district. Valid arguments can be made on both
sides of this debate. One thing is clear, though. Efforts to
reshape proposed working waterfront regulations to fit
developers' plans for Safe Harbor have eroded, if not completely
undermined, the effort to preserve public access and historic
commercial use of Florida Keys waterfronts. Developers' specious
claims to the contrary are simply hooey.
Whatever decision the County Commission makes on Safe Harbor
zoning, public input should be a significant part of the
decision process. We hope never to see a repeat of the shameful
afternoon when a majority of commissioners approved seven pages
of "corrections" to a working waterfront ordinance -- without
bothering to read them or take public comment -- just minutes
after they were introduced by a marina owner's attorney.
The third and final challenge is also the genesis of the entire
debate -- a working waterfront ordinance that amends the
county's land-use plan. This is where the new commission should
return to the beginning -- before the recommendations of an
advisory committee, county staff and the Planning Commission
were disregarded; before a planning commissioner quit in disgust
at the commission's charade; before the state put a kibosh on
land-plan amendments that were chock full of exemptions to
development regulations.
We urge commissioners to revisit the original mission: "to
protect and promote Monroe County's recreational and commercial
working waterfronts; protect and improve commercial,
recreational and public access to shorelines and waters ...,
protect and enhance the cultural heritage and physical character
of the area as a working waterfront community; and enhance the
aesthetic character of the area by directing development in a
manner that maintains the working waterfront identity of the
county."
It's a tall order that will require the ability to see through
smokescreens and endure much song and dance. But we're confident
that the new commission, with priorities refocused on the public
good, is up to the task.
-- The Citizen |
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