County wants to be 59th national park

Officals say it's the only way to pay $1.2 billion for unbuildable land

By TIM CHAPMAN
KeysNet.com

Maintaining habitat for endangered species such as Key deer have caused many lots to be deemed unbuildable.

When Monroe County officials go to Tallahassee Tuesday to report on how the county's doing on a state-mandated work plan, they're going to make a pitch -- for $1.2 billion.

That's how much county officials say the Keys are on the hook for to buy private land deemed unbuildable under the islands' strict environmental rules. And because that financial burden obviously can't be borne by 75,000 residents, they want much of the Keys to be declared the nation's 59th national park. With that status, they say, would come money to buy the land.

"We're going to go to the state and federal governments and say help us with this land," County Administrator Roman Gastesi said Friday. "Most of it is endangered land and we want to partner with the federal government."

Gastesi, Mayor Mario Di Gennaro, County Commissioner George Neugent, Growth Management Director Drew Trivette and attorney Derrick Howard plan to appear before the state Cabinet Tuesday. It convenes at 9 a.m. The Keys issue comes under the Administration Commission portion of the meeting.

"Let's put a working group, a task force, whatever you want to call it, together and review the possibilities," Gastesi said. "We need to move forward and we're going to evaluate seeking some kind of national park status for the Keys. We don't know what that is. We're reaching out to the feds, the federal government, and saying help us."

The plan isn't to get all of the Keys designated a national park -- or a national seashore, preserve or refuge. Rather, it would be the vacant land sitting in what are called Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas.

The county's tier land-mapping system defines vacant parcels according to the amount of sensitive vegetation on each one, and awards points toward building permits for parcels that are more desirable for building, for example, in existing neighborhoods or along U.S. 1.

Tier 1 is the most sensitive. The county says there are 6,004 vacant Tier 1 lots comprising 7,275 acres. In Tier 2 -- mostly Big Pine Key -- there are 497 lots made up of 97 acres.
The county fears lawsuits -- landowners suing for having their property rights taken away by being denied use of their land.

That's already happened -- and cost the county plenty.

In 2002 in the so-called Shadek case, the county agreed to settle a longstanding takings case, agreeing to pay a landowner $6 million in order to end litigation that could have cost the county up to $50 million. To pay off the $6 million, the county raised property taxes.

And in May, a Monroe County jury awarded $5.06 million to the owners of a 22-acre North Key Largo parcel that state appraisers said was worth only $100,000. In a companion case, the same jury awarded $450,000 on a 4.3-acre North Key Largo property the state valued at $15,000.

The state took both pieces of land in 2004 using eminent-domain powers, paying the property owners $550,000 for the larger piece and $80,000 for the smaller one. The jury said those prices were under the real values.

Key Largo attorney Jim Mattson represented the plaintiffs. Friday, he said the idea of designating Tier 1 and 2 lands as a national park so the feds can pay to buy them is "the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
He also said that come Monday, he's "going to send a letter to everyone with a vacant lot in the Keys and tell them not to sell [to the government]. Let them settle it in the courts. They aren't going to pay $1.2 billion."

He sees the value of the land much higher than that.

"I think [Gastesi is] off by a factor of five. They're using depressed values," Mattson said.
Gastesi said this is just the beginning of the process. First, he wants to re-examine the Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study to find out the exact sustainability of the Keys -- how much more development they can take.

The study launched in 1996 with an ambitious goal: "To determine the ability of the Florida Keys ecosystem, and the various segments thereof, to withstand all impacts of additional land-development activities."

For $6 million, project contractor URS was charged with designing a computer program -- using only available scientific studies and databases -- to let planners calculate the effects of proposed development on the environment and infrastructure.

Advisors and planners quickly determined the study's initial mission would be impossible.

"I've served on the [South Florida] Regional Planning Council for several years now and never heard it mentioned once, not even once," said Sandra Walters, a Key West land-use consultant who is the council's vice chairwoman. "It seems like it probably ended up on a shelf somewhere."

By TIM CHAPMAN