Clearance time again rears head

By Alyson Crean acrean@keynoter.com

He's asking the County Commission to approve an evacuation workshop with emergency management officials to take a look at a potential reduction from 24 to 18 hours to clear residents from the Keys in the event of a Category 3 or higher hurricane.

“We need to sit down with the appropriate experts in the field,” Neugent said. “They're all appalled at the 18 hours.”

In December, the South Florida Regional Planning Council released a draft regional evacuation plan that, among a series of best-case and worst-case scenarios, mentions a best case of 18.2 hours to clear the Keys of residents.

A discussion of the report before former then-Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet that month created a whirlwind of concern, especially among county officials who in 2005 adopted an amendment to the county's comprehensive plan that set a 24-hour timeframe for clearing the Keys.

“When this was brought before the County Commission, I voted against it,” Neugent said, “because it was a ruse. It was all about producing permits when it should be all about public safety.”

According to wording of the land-plan amendment, the evacuation “shall not increase the number of [permit] allocations to more than 197 residential units a year, except for workforce housing.”

The Key West City Commission this week rejected a resolution that would ask the state to investigate the “truthfulness and accuracy” of the newly formulated 18-hour timeframe.

“We desperately need affordable housing,” former Lower Keys Habitat for Humanity Director Bill Loewy told that body, linking evacuation to affordable housing.

“That makes no sense,” Neugent said. “Housing is housing.”

Matt Strahan, meteorologist in charge at the Key West National Weather Service station, agrees with Neugent.

“If [someone] doesn't want to evacuate, that's fine with me,” he said. “That does not mean they have a right to build and build until the option to evacuate is lost to overcrowded roads. It's a life safety issue, and it's my right to be able to take whatever actions I want to protect my life. Your right to build ends at my right to evacuate, just like your right to put a toxic waste dump on your property is curtailed by my right to safely enjoy my property next to yours.”

Monroe County Emergency Management Director Irene Toner said in a written statement shortly after the 18-hour timeframe came up that her office would not abide by it.

“Basically, our office is not changing the way we do things,” she wrote. “Our plan calls for 24-36 hours and we will continue to adhere to that protocol, as we've always done.”

Retired Keys Senior Emergency Management Director Billy Wagner and National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield - a frequent Keys visitor, even fishing here this week - both strongly rejected the idea that the Keys could be cleared in 18 hours.

Ironically, the Key West Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the county in support of shortening the evacuation time, despite the fact that it could mean an even earlier evacuation of tourists.