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Keys Building Height Limit Threatened
Please contact county commissioners, and attend
hearing October 18 in Key West. The Keys-wide
(unincorporated Monroe County) building height limit of 35 feet, which
has served well for 30 or so years to keep the Keys looking like the
Keys and not Anywhere Beach, FL, is under assault.
Under the guise of being "necessary for affordable
housing", changing the 35-foot limit to 44 feet has been
advertised by the county for hearing and adoption in a hearing during
the
October 18 County Commission meeting at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.
| The hearing now is definitely
scheduled for 3PM ("time-approximate") at the BOCC meeting, at
the Harvey Government Center in Key West (1200 Truman Avenue).
If you wish to speak, you must fill out and turn in a speaker's
card before the first speaker is called. (agenda
HERE). [The county may not have yet amended the agenda
to show the hearing, but we are assured it will be added. It has
been officially advertised for 3PM.] |
Here is the issue in a nutshell:
The county's Workforce Housing Task Force proposes to
change the county's 2010 Comprehensive Plan to relax density and height
restrictions for "workforce" housing developments. These are just
the latest developer-friendly proposals this developer-friendly task
force has proposed. The 35-foot height limit has been in effect
since the late 70s, and has been very effective at preserving a degree
of community character in the Keys. Many overdeveloped popular
destinations elsewhere envy the Keys for having had the foresight to
limit height when we did. Initial talk by
county officials was of only a 2-foot height increase for affordable
projects, apparently to soften public opposition. But now it has
morphed into a 9-foot increase, to 44 feet!
The county intends to adopt these major Comp Plan changes with only one
hearing. Normally, amendments this major would require multiple
hearings, which would be held throughout the Keys. Using
provisions of a new state program (Community Workforce Housing
Innovative Pilot Program) which allows (but does not require)
fast-tracking of rule changes that favor developing workforce housing,
the county intends to make these sweeping changes with just one hearing.
The CWHIPP program does not require throwing out sensible
planning concepts that have proven effective. (At the September 13
County Commission meeting, Mayor McCoy assured the public that there
would be multiple hearings, but only one has been announced.) PLEASE
CONTACT ALL FIVE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND LET THEM KNOW IF YOU WANT THE
KEYS' 35-FOOT HEIGHT LIMIT TO REMAIN.
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