Politicos want voters' opinions on annexation

BY TIMOTHY O'HARA

Citizen Staff

Four of the seven Key West city commissioners support placing a referendum on the October ballot that would ask residents whether they want the city to annex Wisteria Island.

Commissioners Bill Verge, Mark Rossi, Clayton Lopez and Jose Menendez want the voters to weigh in on the issue when they go to the polls on Oct. 2 to vote for mayor and city commission seats.

Rossi on Friday told The Citizen he wanted a referendum. Verge on Tuesday proffered the idea on US1 Radio's Morning Magazine. When The Citizen contacted Lopez and Menendez about the issue Tuesday, Lopez seemed disappointed, saying, "I wanted to be the one to sponsor the resolution." Menendez said, "I am firm believer in the residents having the final say."

Mayor Morgan McPherson could not be reached for comment.

About 1,000 people have signed a petition saying they don't support the city annexing the island at this time, organizers said. Opponents want to know how much of the island would be developed and how much property and how much hotel bed-taxes the development would generate.

They also want to know how much it would cost the city to provide fire and other emergency services to the potential upscale community, which would be similar to Sunset Key. They also question where the live-aboard boaters would go.

A group of residents, calling themselves the Committee to Save Wisteria Island, are working together to form a trust that would secure funding for the purchase of the property from the owners in an effort to make the island a park. The group would lease the land back to the state for a dollar a year, said Bruce Ritson, a retired accountant who helped form the group.

The group would raise money and work toward securing grants from private, nonprofit environmental conservation groups, Ritson said, adding that he called the governor's office about it on Tuesday, and officials "seemed interested."

"It's a beautiful place," Ritson said. "It's idyllic. ...We want to leave it a wilderness."

Commissioner Dan Kolhage wants to see how the question would be worded before he decides on the issue. He cited a failed height referendum that would have changed the height limits for affordable housing projects in the city. He said the wording of that ballot initiative was too vague, and voters were not clear on what they were voting.

"It was too broad-brushed and could have been tightened," he said.

Commissioner Harry Bethel does not support placing the issue before the voters. The redevelopment of the Jabour's Motorcourt and the development of the Key West Convention Center and other major developments did not go before the voters, he said.

"Do we put everything that goes before the commission before a non-binding referendum?" Bethel asked. "Did the Jabour's or Spottswood project go before a referendum? ... We are here to do the job that the people elected us to do. That's why there is going to be another public hearing before we give a second reading on this."

Rossi contends the convention center and the redevelopment of Jabour's were different because the property was already in the city.

"Let it go to the voters," Rossi said. "This way we could see in a non-binding referendum what the public wants."

Bethel said he supports the annexation because it would put the fate of the island, which is just across the harbor from Key West, in the control of the city. He argues there will be several public meetings before any development would begin. The entire planning process could take 12 to 18 months.

The city must amend its future land-development maps, and the developers must submit a development application, Planning Department Director Gail Kenson said. The developers also would have to obtain a conditional-use permit and major development plan approval. After that, they would have to apply for building permits, Kenson said.

The project would be reviewed by the Planning Board, City Commission and state Department of Community Affairs, which oversees growth in Monroe County. The developers also must obtain environmental permits from the state.

The commission voted 5-2 in May, with commissioners Rossi and Verge dissenting, to approve the annexation of the 21-acre fill island, known locally as Christmas Tree Island. City Attorney Shawn Smith, citing a state attorney general's opinion, told the commission that voters cannot decide issues unless city or state laws require a referendum, which they do not in this case. This is why Rossi, Verge and Lopez have said the referendum should be non-binding. They only want to gauge public opinion, they said.

The Bernsteins have owned the island since 1967 and its 150 acres of surrounding bay bottom since 1972. The family, which has developed marinas and hotels in Key West and Stock Island, has formed a partnership with Ocean Properties Limited, controlled by the Walsh family, to develop Wisteria Island. Ocean Properties also owns Sunset Key and the Westin in Key West.

tohara@keysnews.com