In defiance of a previous council’s decision made a month ago, a recently elected Islamorada Council is considering asking the state for additional residential market-rate building permits.
At a meeting held on November 19 at the Founders Park Community Center, the council debated for almost an hour without reaching a consensus on a final figure. Three other members voted in favor of Councilman Buddy Pinder’s proposal to move the issue to a future meeting.
A proposal for 104.75 more market-rate construction licenses for the village was approved by the council last month with a vote of 4-1. These permits would be added to the community’s 0.25 allotment, making 105 in total. With three departing members, the council requested that the new allocations be distributed over a 12-year period. They thought that the number, which was lower than the 250 suggested by the planning department, would cover the 178 applications whose undeveloped parcels might be developed as well as the 54 applicants who are awaiting a permit but haven’t been granted one because of the restricted availability. The decision was made in response to public discussions and survey responses from towns and villages throughout the Keys regarding the need to ask the state for additional ROGO/BPAS funding.
Don Horton, a recently elected councilman, asked that the previous council’s resolution be given another look. Prior to his election-day victory, he acknowledged that he had supported the staff’s suggestion of 250 during earlier council meetings.
According to Village Attorney John Quick, a majority vote authorizing a waiver of council process would be required if the council wished to revoke and modify the allocation request. Councils are currently not allowed to discuss the same issue more than once in a six-month period. Horton seconded Councilwoman Deb Gillis’ motion to forego the process. Pinder and Mayor Sharon Mahoney backed the action. Councilman Steve Friedman objected to the waiving process, citing the careful consideration the previous council gave to their proposal.
Since the previous council put a lot of time and effort into reaching this figure, I would rather not take the chance of any movement on it, Friedman stated.
According to Horton, if the council doesn’t request a figure to cover potential future takings claims, they run the risk of burdening the taxpayers. Horton claimed to have witnessed two significant takings claims in the hamlet, including the Sojourn property, that were successful.
He said that the community must be consulted in order to decide how many building licenses should be issued, saying, “I think it’s irresponsible to say it’s not going to happen and we don’t have some sort of buffer.”
A number of community organization representatives expressed their disapproval of the council’s possible request for additional funding. Speaking on behalf of the 19 organizations joining forces to form the Florida Keys ROGO Coalition, Dottie Moses represented the Island of Key Largo Federation of Homeowner Associations. According to her, the group supports impartial, data-driven examination of ROGO consequences before development licenses are issued to Keys municipalities.
Significant unaddressed infrastructural issues are currently plaguing Islamorada. For instance, she noted that heavy traffic congestion on U.S. 1 is causing the service level to deteriorate. In addition, there have been eight significant pipe breaches in the Islamorada sewer system, which is still a problem. These gaps take place on weekends with heavy attendance, which begs the question of whether the issue is due to insufficient capacity or a technical failure.
The president of Last Stand, Ann Olsen, asked the council to consider the costs to the environment, infrastructure, and economy.
There should be no competition to reach the most allotment. At the very least, it should be a priority, and the most recent county poll confirms this: According to 84% of our citizens, the BOCC has only sought 220 ROGOs or no ROGOs at all, she stated.
Mahoney, who supported the previous council’s 104.25 allocations, stated that she disagreed with the planning department’s recommendation to take all 250.
That evening, I sat with Elizabeth (Jolin) and Mark (Gregg). She answered, “I thought 105 covered everything.”
The village’s planning director, Jennifer DeBoisbriand, stated that there is no magic number for the market-rate residential development permits in the village. DeBoisbriand and her team analyzed the village’s unoccupied plots. According to her, the village has 178 undeveloped lots that fit the requirements for a residential building permit. In particular, the property appraiser has determined that the lots are unoccupied as of 2022, are residentially zoned, and meet the minimum square footage size required for lot construction.
She stated that we may still perform more analysis. The fact that we didn’t inspect every property when it was bought affects takings claims. There are other items that we didn’t examine. I offered you a backup number to make sure we had everything covered.
Is the number my spouse? No. “I provided an analysis so you could decide what you thought was best for the village,” she said.
A request for 220 additional allocations for the Keys, including 40 for Islamorada, was approved by county commissioners last month. Legislative modifications to hurricane evacuation schedules would not be prompted by the figure. According to DeBoisbriand, Monroe County has more control over the 220; state lawmakers would need to approve anything beyond that.
Of course, the state has the final say over everything. We won’t simply receive anything. According to DeBoisbriand, they will inform us of what we can expect.
Gillis recommended that the council request 150.75 allocations after making his first appearance back to the council since terming out in 2020. The discussion ended without a consensus on a number. Pinder’s move to carry on the conversation until the meeting on December 10th was accepted 4-1. The only one who did not vote was Gillis.
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