Keys injunction finally lifted [Florida Keys Keynoter, (Marathon, Fla.)]

Sept. 29--Monroe County has been "bombarded" with calls from property owners now that a seven-year stay on National Flood Insurance Policy protection for thousands of Keys parcels has been lifted, Monroe County Growth Management Director Christine Hurley says.

On Sept. 13, U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore removed the 2005 injunction that froze some 55,000 parcels in development limbo. The injunction was part of a much older lawsuit filed in 1990 by three environmental groups against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The suit claimed that allowing flood insurance in endangered-species habitat violates the Endangered Species Act. The environmental groups won and FEMA, as part of a 2010 settlement, saddled the county with the burden of habitat inspection.

"We would ask the customers to be patient. It's just as new to us as it is to everyone else," Hurley said. "For another month or two -- until we get this into the normal process -- it's really frustrating for people. Even though it's really good what happened, people in the process view it as another level of review they have to go through."

What happened was that the county on June 2 approved a law creating a "permit referral process" that essentially means the county reviews proposed new development occurring in "species focus areas" or "species buffer areas." She said there are roughly 35,000 of those parcels in the Keys.

Those "review" areas are habitat where one of nine federally-protected species could live: the eastern Indigo snake, Key deer, Key Largo cotton mouse, Key Largo woodrat, Key tree cactus, Lower Keys marsh rabbit, Schaus swallowtail butterfly, silver rice rat and Stock Island tree snail.

Chief Assistant County Attorney Bob Shillinger told the Keynoter that Monroe's court action against FEMA and Fish and Wildlife was officially dropped on Thursday. He called the permit referral process a much more "palatable" one for the county.

Shillinger added that Moore dissolved the injunction because the county and all five cities within Monroe County adopted similar new laws.

"It lessened the administrative cost because it made the job of reviewing a large number of parcels less intense. Their adjustments also lessened the county's exposure to takings liabilities," Shillinger said.

Hurley said the new system is not without issues. For instance, property owners who didn't submit for a permit before Sept. 13 are subject to additional reviews that they may have already gone through.

There are also "over 200" single-family permit applications that were in the rate of growth ordinance, or ROGO, process when the injunction was put in effect in 2005.

"These people were still competing for a permit but because they couldn't get their flood insurance the [County Commission] let them 'toll' their permits. Meaning, 'We're going to let you wait until the feds figure out what they want to do with this.' Some of them have been sitting since 2005," Hurley said.

Hurley said she plans to hold public workshops so that interested parties can learn about the permit referral process. Hurley said they're slated for Oct. 24, at the Marathon Government Center, and Oct. 25 at the Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center in Key Largo. Both are scheduled for 3 p.m.

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