Growth chief says wrong criteria used

The Monroe County Commission on Wednesday delayed reclassifying 12 Sugarloaf Key land parcels from extreme environmental sensitivity to the category easiest to build in under the county's tier land-mapping system.

Growth Management Director Drew Trivette asked the commission to put off the item, which was on the agenda of the commission's regular monthly meeting, until staff can reevaluate the classification of all the affected lots.

The decision means another delay in a longstanding effort by the county to put into place a system of classifying each vacant parcel of land in the county based on its environmental sensitivity.

In theory, the tier system should provide a blueprint for future development, steering new construction away from environmentally valuable land and encouraging limited growth in areas that are already built up or scarified.

The lots that were scheduled for consideration Wednesday were to be reclassified from the most sensitive Tier 1 to the easiest classification for construction, Tier 3. However, Trivette asked for the delay, saying his department had recommended the changes based upon the wrong criteria.

They were evaluated, he said, on a set of criteria drafted in 2006.

“In 2007 the criteria changed based on a final order from the secretary” of the state Department of Community Affairs, he said.

Attorney Richard Grosso represents the Florida Keys Citizens Coalition and Last Stand, two environmental organizations that opposed the tier system and challenged it through the state's administrative appeal system. The groups won the challenge, and map changes for 148 parcels are a result of that legal decision.

In a letter to the commission dated April 16, Grosso lodged his concern about the way the reclassifications were being handled.

“Those designations cannot be accomplished in this manner,” he wrote. “The tier designation can only be changed via the formal ordinance adoption process. That is how the tier maps were adopted and that is how they must be amended.”

Grosso also took exception to the changes themselves. Even if a parcel has no sensitive vegetation, he said, it might still be classified as Tier 1 “because of the impact additional development on that lot or parcel would have on an adjacent or nearby natural area.”

Grosso asked the commission to consider a more comprehensive approach to implementing the tier system to “bring to an end the need for major litigation over the substance of the county's habitat protection efforts...”