Monroe County has worked hard to make a new law that would preserve the commercial fishing industry and ensure future public access to the water has turned into a rocky battle over the development of just one island’s waterfront. The main aim was to preserve commercial fishing and public access throughout Monroe County. The law took more than two years to draft and ended up addressing only land that is zoned marine industrial.
With that zoning Stock Island’s waterfront is the only substantial piece of land in unincorporated Monroe. Last year the state Department of Community Affairs, which oversees land use in the Keys, kicked back the county’s working-waterfront protection ordinance with a long list of objections and recommendations to fix the problems. T
he commission changes many issues and resubmitted the ordinance in February, but DCA again rejected it in April, largely due to last-minute additions made by attorneys for two Stock Island property owners, David Paul Horan representing New Stock Island Properties and Jerry Coleman representing Robbie’s Marina.
Among the new additions there was a proposal to build a 300-room hotel on the waterfront and increasing the county’s allowed density for the development. But DCA has some objections as the proposed objective states the loss of working waterfront in one geographic area must be balanced by a gain elsewhere. This could result in an oversupply of working waterfronts in one area of the county and an undersupply in other areas.
County’s new policy calling for regulatory incentives lacks meaning because it does not provide specific incentives, nor does it outline criteria that would ensure continued commercial, recreational and public access.
