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County, state work out land details
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
Citizen Staff Writer
After seven
months, the county could be just a week from seeing the final version of
a landmark environmental work plan drafted by the state.
The plan is a
guide meant to make up for a lack of county environmental conservation
in 2003 and will require comprehensive protection of Monroe County's
hardwood hammocks, uplands and nearshore waters, which many believe are
stressed by growth.
County Mayor
Murray Nelson and the county's growth management staff were reviewing a
draft of the plan Friday, and plan to hold a telephone conference with
the governor's office Tuesday to go over the details for what may be the
final time, according to Nelson.
The work plan
could be made public by the end of the week, Nelson said.
"One of the
things that is not in this document that we are going to be talking
about on Tuesday is what the state is going to provide [to Monroe
County] over the next six years," he said. "What we would need is a
memorandum of understanding that they are committed to doing this."
The county
stands to be rewarded with millions of dollars from the state if it
comes through on its new environmental responsibilities. In the past,
the number of home-building permits issued to the county by the state
Department of Community Affairs, which regulates growth in the Keys, has
been reduced as a penalty for not taking adequate steps to protect the
environment.
State
officials have said they will speed up the purchase of $93 million worth
of environmentally sensitive lands, secure up to $30 million in funding
to improve sewage treatment and increase the number of homes that can be
build in the Florida Keys each year.
The state
already has speeded up protection. Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet
voted unanimously in June to buy 23 acres of environmentally sensitive
land in the Florida Keys.
The purchase
is the first since the governor and Cabinet voted to accelerate
conservation of more than 6,400 acres along the 112-mile chain of
islands.
"Conserving
the last available land in the Florida Keys protects both the economic
and environmental value of these unique islands," Bush said in a
prepared release. "Preserving more than 15,000 acres will provide
long-term protection to the waters of the Keys and the only barrier
coral reef in the Continental United States."
Marlene
Conaway, director of county planning and environmental services, said
the increase in housing permits is a top concern for the county.
The deal would
increase the yearly allocation from 159 building permits to 197, she
said.
The county
must come up with $100 million for sewer upgrades, begin buying up
sensitive lands and change its laws to protect natural lands from
development.
It is a stark
contrast to the county's position as late as last November, when it
faced state penalties for not meeting its environmental responsibilities
as an Area of Critical State Concern. The county missed a deadline for
creating laws to protect natural lands, then floundered on creating a
temporary building ban that would give more time.
The Department
of Community Affairs threatened — and made good on the threat — to
recommend that the state further decrease the number of homes county
residents could build each year.
In December,
Nelson pushed a bold, last-minute plan that included major concessions
on both sides and it was approved by the state Department of Community
Affairs.
He says that
initial agreement, which was approved by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida
Cabinet, has changed very little since negotiations with the Department
of Community Affairs in January.
"Now, they
have finally put this in written form for us to review," Nelson said. "I
think after reviewing it today with growth management, I don't have any
substantial problems with it."
The final plan
will be posted publicly for comment in the Upper, Middle and Lower Keys.
Residents will
be able to appeal during that period — something some environmental
groups have threatened because they say the agreement allows too much
new growth. |
