Commission Lifts Big Pine Building Moratorium: Mitigation Costs Far Too Expensive Says County Board
By Alyson Crean, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
Jan. 19–The Monroe County Commission, in a 4-1 vote, followed the advice of the county’s Planning Commission and threw out a moratorium on issuing building permits on Big Pine and No Name keys.
Commissioner Sylvia Murphy was the sole dissenting vote.
The commission did not discuss its decision to end the freeze, but three public speakers encouraged the commission to extend the moratorium until county staff can come up with a mitigation plan that doesn’t break landowners’ banks.
Big Pine resident Mick Putney, speaking for the environmental organization Last Stand, said the group is in favor or keeping the moratorium until the county comes up with a plan to pay for mitigation on the island. A Habitat Conservation Plan controls development on Big Pine and No Name. The plan, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is aimed at protecting the endangered key deer.
In November, the Planning Commission quickly rejected a proposal that would have required $98,000 in mitigation fees in order to build a new home on either of the two islands.
Last week, the Planning Commission voted unanimously against renewing the moratorium, pointing out that it only really means the issuance of a handful of permits.
The HCP allows eight new market rate and two new affordable rate homes annually for the next 20 years on the two islands. It allows only two market rate permits per quarter.
Big Pine property owner James Shea told the County Commission he supported the Planning Commission’s rejection of the freeze.
“The idea of charging people $98,000… is preposterous,” he said.
At last week’s Planning Commission meeting, acting Planning Director Townsley Schwab said staff is coming up with a new formula for figuring mitigation costs.
Now that the County Commission has sanctioned the end of the moratorium, permits will be issued for landowners who became eligible in December and this month.
The county will mitigate those permits from its own mitigation bank. The county has been using publicly owned lands for private mitigation over the past year, depleting the county’s store of mitigation land.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Florida Keys Keynoter, Marathon
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