At its meeting on Dec. 10, the Marathon City Council decided to ask for a revision to the state regulations controlling the number of building rights in the Keys, citing the danger of takings cases in a city that has almost used up all of its remaining building allocations.
The most significant of these changes would be raising the mandatory hurricane evacuation clearance time for permanent residents from 24 to 26 hours. Resolution 2024-125, which was unanimously approved Tuesday night, calls for modifications to the rules governing the Florida Keys as an Area of Critical State Concern.
The resolution’s recommended language also suggests building allocations to be given to the Florida Keys and Key West Areas of Critical State Concern, despite city officials’ repeated emphasis that the resolution was primarily about changing evacuation times. This is based on an assessment that indicates this number roughly corresponds to the number of undeveloped, buildable residential lots that remain in the Florida Keys. Following that, the allocations would be split equally among the jurisdictions based on the number of buildable vacant lots in each.
The resolution also suggests requiring new building units to be distributed equally over a minimum of 40 years, albeit those units may be borrowed from subsequent years if they are used to build workforce housing that is affordable.
While some people advocated accepting a limited number of units, while others suggested admitting as many as possible, almost everyone supported a moderate rate of distribution to allow for the necessary infrastructure modifications. Public comments on the matter matched Marathon’s workshop one week earlier.
According to Ann Olsen, president of the nonprofit environmental advocacy group Keys Last Stand, not a single speaker (last week) stood in front of you and told you to stop doing ROGOs and to start a takings case right away. Simply put, all of the non-development side’s remarks stated: Take the fewest number to escape liabilities, or figure out how few you can give away year to avoid takings.
Councilman Kenny Matlock expressed concern about the borrow forward clause, stating that it might be difficult for the city to legally prevent a landowner with easily accessible resources from monopolizing future years’ supply of affordable workforce units and building a sizable multifamily complex.
George Garrett, the city manager, admitted that certain granted rights might be kept solely for the construction of single-family homes or duplexes, but that the issue might be resolved with a future amendment to Marathon’s property development laws.
Vice Mayor Jeff Smith stated that all forms of housing are necessary for communities. I have an issue with memorializing (the types of units) here in order to keep any of those demands from being satisfied in your community. Although I don’t want to restrict people’s options in the future, we should definitely include some single-family homes.
Smith also expressed support for Monroe County’s efforts to create a new building allocation classification, which is presently being developed by county employees in response to community and commissioner demands. The new homes might eliminate valuation limits often associated with affordable housing units in return for exclusive ownership by people who live and work in the Keys, given the working title of worker market-rate units in recent talks.
According to City Attorney Steve Williams, obtaining state funding for the defense and expenses of upcoming takings claims may depend on a request for more building rights.
According to him, the state has historically attempted to cover up to 50% of the defense expenses in certain cases. If we don t ask, or if they offer and we say no, when it comes time to defend these, instead of somebody else footing the bill, we re going to have to write the entire check ourselves. You can choose between a check and a unit.
“We’re going to argue about how many numbers we should request, but you’re pretty much stuck with this request,” Matlock remarked. Do we take cases or not? Tonight is almost here.
What I hear from this council up here is that we are committed to slow growth, said councilwoman Robyn Still, who pushed with Matlock to extend the timeline from 30 to 40 years for distribution of new units. We are dedicated to ensuring that the infrastructure and service level are in place.
Building rights requests from Marathon, Islamorada and Key West were set to be considered at the Monroe County BOCC s Dec. 11 regular meeting, with a final request for rights, if any, to be finalized at a special session on Dec. 19 in Marathon.
Founding councilman Frank Greenman honored
One of Marathon s first five councilmen will be honored each Nov. 26, thanks to the unanimous passage of Resolution 2024-124. Read by housing coordinator Josh Mothner and later expounded upon by fellow former councilmen John Bartus and Randy Mearns, the resolution dedicates a day of civic service and music appreciation in memory of Frank Greenman, who passed away late last month.
The resolution honors Greenman as a true teacher at heart and tireless crusader for justice with a seemingly limitless determination to improve the quality of life for everyone in the city of Marathon.
He was part of the original crew who put (Marathon) together. Through the good ideas and crazy ideas, it was Frank and Bob Miller who led us down the straight path and made this happen, said Mearns. We are all indebted to him.
In other news:
- Resolution 2024-127, unanimously approved, awarded a $4.87 million contract to Charley Toppino & Sons Inc. for construction of the upcoming new drainage system on a constantly-flooded Sombrero Boulevard.
- Resolution 2024-129, also unanimously approved, awarded Water Science Associates LLC with a $2.83 million contract for design, permitting and construction engineering services for Marathon s upcoming deep wastewater injection well.
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