Survey: Don't change status
BY BECKY IANNOTTA
Citizen Staff
Eighty-two percent of
residents surveyed oppose lifting the Florida Keys designation as an
Area of Critical State concern, according to a survey of 400 voters in
Monroe County.
The designation has been in
place since 1974 to protect the Florida Keys from overdevelopment. State
Rep. Ken Sorensen, who represents Monroe County, has sponsored
legislation that could eliminate the critical concern designation by
October 2007.
Summerland Key property
owner Phil Shannon paid Lake Research Partners $10,000 to conduct the
poll.
"I was convinced that
probably only 15 percent of people knew about critical concern, and that
90 percent of that 15 percent were developers," Shannon said.
The poll asks a series of
questions about the environment and development in the Keys.
Seventy-five percent responded that it is either very important or
extremely important to preserve open space and undeveloped areas in the
Florida Keys, and 66 percent said it was their sense that there is too
much development.
When asked whether the
environment has improved or deteriorated over the past five years, 52
percent said the environment has gotten worse. The environment was rated
excellent or good by 66 percent of respondents.
Seventy-four percent of
respondents said they were either very familiar or somewhat familiar
with the Area of State Critical Concern designation. Participants then
were given reasons for opposition to lifting the designation, and were
asked, based on what they had heard, whether they favored or opposed the
change. Eighty-two percent either strongly or not-so-strongly opposed
lifting the designation.
"People had not connected
the dots," Shannon said. "They had not realized that dedesignation meant
a green light to development."
County Commissioner Murray
Nelson, a supporter of lifting the Area of State Critical Concern
designation, said last week that a change would help the county
establish a balance between development and preserving land. He believes
the majority of the public agrees with him.
"I was a recipient of the
poll and the questions were leading, at least," he said.
Cudjoe Key resident Dennis
Henize said the survey results did not surprise him.
"No one I know is in favor
of lifting critical concern," he said. The environmental group Last
Stand, of which Henize is president, is opposed to lifting the
designation.
Shannon also has started a
group called Kids 4 Keys to allow children to argue for preserving
Florida Keys land. The goal is to get the kids to educate parents and
state leaders on the importance of the Area of Critical State Concern
designation, he said.
"If the Critical Concern
legislation is passed, today's kids are wondering if they will be able
to afford a home in coming years. Affordable housing will be more
difficult to attain, as land, which could have been utilized for
affordable housing, will be sold to developers for high-rise condos and
resorts," according to a press release from the organization. |
