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City
should buy property to preserve Salt Ponds
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITY COMMISSION
Dear Mayor and Commissioners:
As you know, the owner of the last privately-owned piece of untouched
land along the Bridle Path has announced plans to fill in a piece of the
Salt Ponds and put up a building in the middle of what has been a public
park for the past 70 years.
We at Last Stand join with others throughout the community
to ask your help in defending the Bridle Path from this latest and
perhaps greatest attack.
The proposed structure would chop the Bridle Path in half,
with the apparent right to build and then fence from the Salt Ponds
right through the mangroves and buttonwoods and out to South Roosevelt
Boulevard. This would force the public into the street as they moved
from one end of the Bridle Path to the other.
The current owner is Old Town Key West Development, Ltd., a
development corporation headed up by Ed Swift, which bought the property
from the McKay family several years ago. Old Town inherited a court
settlement with the property that included 13 rogo units. The
developers utilized 12 of the valuable units elsewhere in the city,
leaving one unit attached to the land, where they now plan to begin
construction. Asked what he planned to build, Swift told a Last Stand
board member he wanted a “Good Old Boys Club” on the site.
So far he has talked with City officials, cut down trees on
the lot, and invited Keys Electric to the site to discuss the electric
power supply. So he seems serious about his plan to build.
How important is this proposed development to the City? It
would be a little like putting a small-engine repair shop in the middle
of Bay View Park. Or setting up a concession stand behind second base
at the little league field. Especially since Key West has spent lots of
time and money over the years to preserve and restore both the Salt
Ponds and the Bridle Path.
After long negotiations, dozens of other owners agreed to
donate or sell their land
to the City or County. Thousands of dollars have been spent acquiring
these parcels to keep development out of the shallow water ponds and
hammocks, giving wildlife a chance at survival. The ponds are a
well-documented nursery area for a variety of fish, crabs, shrimp,
lobster and other marine life. They are also a wonderful spot for quiet
and peaceful non-commercial kayaking.
The woodlands provide important habitat and food for native
and migrating bird species. In fact, the proposed building site is just
east of the Riggs Wildlife Preserve, an area donated for bird
observation. If Old Town has its way, the Riggs viewing dock would look
out for the first time on a manmade structure, instead of water, trees
and wading birds.
The path itself is ideal for walking, jogging, biking, or
just relaxing, a few short yards from the sea. And if you owned a
horse, it would still be a nice place to ride.
The City worked long and hard to clear out illegal campers
from the interior hammocks, and to close down the “tent city” that
sprang up on the Bridle Path last year. The giant RV’s that once parked
and dumped their waste are being brought under control. Volunteers
regularly spend hours cleaning up the garbage that is tossed from
passing cars. The tons of sand and debris from beach cleaning
operations has been removed. New coconut trees have been planted. In
short, the Bridle Path is looking better than it has in years.
After all this effort, it doesn’t seem possible that someone
can start filling wetlands and putting up a building smack in the middle
of things. Yet that is exactly what the owner is threatening to do.
Is this just posturing, hoping for a higher settlement? Is
Old Town angling for concessions on some other project? Why won’t they
sell to the City now, when they were willing to do so two years ago?
Please, City Commissioners. Use your powers of persuasion,
and if necessary your bottom line authority to obtain this land.
Reasonable people can usually solve problems if they try hard enough.
Negotiate with the owner. Find a way to buy this last piece of the
puzzle. And if that fails, take the necessary steps to condemn the land
through eminent domain, for the welfare of the community. No one is
making more parkland these days. What little we have, needs to be
protected. There is no one else that can do it. We are depending on
you.
George Halloran
For the Last Stand Board of Directors |
