Tower firm's claims fall short of accurate
Like a noxious weed that
keeps sprouting despite all attempts to root it out, the mega-tower
proposal for Cudjoe Key recently reared its ugly head again.
This proposal, which was
opposed by the Monroe County Commission and legions of Keys residents
when it first came up in 2000, has recently been residing in federal
court. Now it could reappear before the County Commission. Attorney
David Paul Horan, representing Industrial Communications & Engineering,
has suggested the county settle the lawsuit.
Settlement, according to
Horan, would mean approving construction of the tower. That sounds more
like capitulation.
This tower that ICE wants
to build on Cudjoe Key near the blimp base is a true monster – 970 feet.
Here's a little perspective: That's about the same height as the Eiffel
Tower (986 feet). It's taller than the Washington Monument (555 feet).
The Statue of Liberty is 305 feet from the base of the pedestal to the
torch. The U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. is 289 feet from baseline to
the top of the statue on the roof. The Key West Lighthouse, historic
sentry that towers over the island, is 86 feet.
That's how tall this is.
On our flat, low-relief islands, such an insult would be seen for miles.
And it's not just the
aesthetics. Towers are documented hazards to migrating birds — and the
Florida Keys just happen to be one of the nation's most important
migratory flyways, a funnel of land from the mainland U.S. that birds
follow as they navigate each year to wintering areas in the Caribbean
and Central America.
Since the tower was first
proposed, Monroe County has approved an ordinance limiting
communications towers to 330 feet. That was a smart move. The ICE folks
are fond of pointing out that when they first applied, the county had no
limits on height. This is true. But it's also true that the application
did not meet other regulations of the time, which was why they needed
commission approval in the first place (and still do).
The ICE folks, through
their attorney, also claimed that their tower would provide services
needed by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Monroe Sheriff's Office, and even
used the prospect of a 1,500 foot Coast Guard tower as a scare tactic to
push for public acceptance of their proposal. (More perspective: 1,500
feet would outclimb even the Empire State Building, which surveys New
York City from 1,250 feet.)
Unfortunately for the
tower-builders and their attorney, both the Coast Guard and the
Sheriff's Office dispute this story. The Sheriff's Office has managed to
upgrade its communications systems on existing towers and the Coast
Guard says it plans a series of smaller towers, about the same height
allowed under the county's current tower ordinance.
So there you go. We don't
need it. The residents strongly oppose it. And it would create another
peril for wildlife that are already struggling against habitat loss,
poisoning from pesticides and predation from cats — a peril that would
hit them at their most vulnerable, during their astoundingly long
intercontinental journeys.
We urge the Monroe County
Commission to resist any last-minute settlement entreaties —
particularly "settlement" that involves giving the plaintiff rights to
create a gigantic and hazardous blight on the Keys land and seascape.
— The Citizen |
