Times change as grid nears

Planning panel OKs power on No Name Key

BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff

A plan to bring central sewer service and utilities to No Name Key moved ahead Wednesday, with the Monroe County Planning Commission recommending a change to the county's comprehensive plan and land development regulations that would accomplish both objectives.

The change also could help one No Name Key neighborhood of 18 homes become eligible for federally subsidized flood insurance.

The Planning Commission makes recommendations to the Monroe County Commission, which has the final say.

No Name Key is a sparsely populated island adjacent to Big Pine Key in the heart of the National Key Deer Refuge. A dozen or so homeowners for years advocated independent lifestyles, with homes that include cisterns, solar and wind power generation and other, off-the-grid features. This group successfully fought efforts to connect the island to the power grid in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But the island's philosophical winds may be changing.

Another group of property owners appears to have persuaded the Planning Commission and the County Commission that electrifying the island is necessary to provide advanced wastewater treatment on No Name Key — a state mandate with a 2010 deadline. Only one speaker opposed the move during Wednesday's meeting.

In recent months, the County Commission has passed several resolutions and ordinances that call for new and better sewer systems for No Name Key, paving the way for, at the very least, limited electrical power from the utility grid.

Wednesday's Planning Commission decision focused on bringing sewer service and electricity — and possibly removing obstacles to the availability of subsidized flood insurance — to a No Name Key neighborhood known as Island's End.

The area is in the federal Coastal Barrier Resources System area — a designation that discourages development in low-lying coastal areas prone to flooding by making such areas ineligible for the National Flood Insurance Program.

A companion designation in county law extends that prohibition to wastewater and electrical utilities. The Planning Commission voted to strike criteria related to power and sewers from the county designation. Those restrictions are not included in the federal designation.

The County Commission last month approved a resolution asking the federal government to lift the designation for No Name Key, and asked county staff to explore removal of the local designation. The county has sought the help of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, to remove the federal designation.

"We are asking for more info before we reach any decision," her spokesman, Alex Cruz, told The Citizen. "It's not easy to get properties off the Coastal Barrier Resources System."

tohara@keysnews.com