County proposal makes mockery of public safety

Monroe County's proposal (Nov. 14 BOCC agenda) to establish the land-use definition "seasonal residential unit" appears to be a veiled attempt to allow RV spaces to be converted to permanent detached structures, and to circumvent hurricane evacuation considerations.

The 180-day occupancy limit in the proposed ordinance purports to ensure the units would not be permanently occupied, and thus would not add to the population required to be counted in hurricane evacuation. However, the 180-day stipulation would be totally unenforceable, and obviously could be circumvented by the occupants' merely leaving for one day and returning — if they even wanted to bother. The 180-day stipulation does not appreciably distinguish between permanent and "seasonal" occupancy. Seasonal residents are residents, and if they are here when an evacuation is required, what you call them does not matter. They cannot be made invisible to the evacuation process by calling them seasonal, especially with such an expansive definition of "seasonal."

The stipulation that the new category of residential unit be allowed only where there's "a managing entity responsible for evacuation" is meaningless. Ensuring the ability to evacuate is a government responsibility that should not be delegated.

RV spaces were originally allowed in the Keys at a higher density — about 4:1 — than permanent residences, because they were to have approximately a quarter of the impact. RV spaces were never intended to become permanent residences on a one-for-one basis, and that's what this proposed ordinance will allow.

The notion that permanent structures can replace RVs one-for-one, and then the occupants not be counted in evacuation calculations because of the totally unenforceable 180-day stipulation, makes a mockery of public safety considerations and of sound planning.

Last Stand's board of directors opposes this ordinance.

Dennis Henize, Last Stand, Cudjoe Key