No halt to Keys building

No halt to Keys building
Commission won’t impose moratorium despite challenges to the Tier System

The Monroe County
Commission on Wednesday
said it would not impose
a building moratorium in
response to a legal challenge
of its proposed growthmanagement
plan.
Instead of issuing building
permits according to
the controversial new Tier
System, the county will
continue to allow construction
under the old rate of
growth ordinance (ROGO)
until the matter is settled.
County Administrator Tom
Willi last week had said the
legal challenge could stop
development.
In declining the moratorium,
developer Ed Swift
told commissioners at the
meeting, “You are refusing
to play into the hands of
the people who would stop
everything.”
Two environmental
groups, Last Stand and
the Florida Keys Citizens
Coalition, filed a legal challenge
saying the Tier System
does not protect environmentally
sensitive land.
Essentially, the tier maps
specify three regions where
development can occur or
is prohibited.
Building is for the most part
prohibited in Tier 1, which is
environmentally sensitive areas,
but allowed in Tier 3. The county
threw out the ambiguous Tier 2
in favor of Tier 3A, special protection
areas that allows building
on a case-by-case basis.
Each year, the county would
grant six permits in Tier 1 and
197 in Tier 3.
The county and state, which
oversee development in the
Florida Keys, have until July 28
to respond to the challenge. If
it has merit, it will be sent to
the Division of Administrative
Hearings, which will set a hearing
date.
It could take years for the
state or court system to resolve
the matter, County Attorney
Suzanne Hutton said.
Until then, the county will
continue issuing permits under
ROGO, whose point system gives
preference to property owners
who use the most environmentally
friendly building methods
or who give the county property
for affordable housing, or even
build the projects, in exchange
for the ability to transfer allotments
to market-rate projects
elsewhere in the county.
“It’s our interpretation that
ROGO is still in place,” said
Hutton, who researched reverting
back to the ROGO system
temporarily.