SEVERAL
NEWS ARTICLES OF POSSIBLE INTEREST TO DUCK KEY
RESIDENTS
December
2004
The
Wall Street Journal
To buy a
ocean front home on a seven lot estate parcel on Duck Key
one might expect to pay around $5.2 million.
An
article by June Fletcher in the The Wall Street Journal
of 12/7/2004 entitled "Marooned, With a View", suggests
that buying a island could be a better deal.
The focus
of the article was how technological advances had made
island living a possibility - "at least for some
millionaires and recluses"
The
article listed the Tom's Harbor Keys among private
islands on the real estate market. The price shown for
the two Tom's Harbor islands was $2.9 million and the
description stated,
"These
two islands, totaling 46 acres, have been in the
family of Dr. William Scherer, a Boca Raton physician,
since 1968. He's selling he says, because it would
cost at least $1 million to develop the property,
which has natural sand beaches - but no
utilities."
Through
out the world there are some 500,000 to 600,000 islands
in existence with about 400 islands generally for sale at
a given time.
The
article states " . . . in the Florida Keys, . . ., an
island must be at least 10 acres before a homeowner can
put up a home, unless the building permits have been
grandfathered."
There is
no mention of ROGO as another impediment to building in
the Keys in the article.
Additional
information on the history of the Tom's Harbor Islands
may be found at Tom's
Harbor Keys
January
2005
Key
West Citizen
Another
article of interest to Duck Key resident appeared in the
Key West Citizen.
The
reader learns from the article about Key Haven Estates
that
"Developers
seek to bypass growth limits" and construct "43 new
homes and 10,000 square feet of commercial space on
'Enchanted Island' and along the southern boundary of
Key Haven."
This was
deemed "potentially possible," according to Monroe County
planning staff. A related news article in the Citizen
indicated the developer's plan "received overwhelming
support from Key Haven residents. It also appeared to
receive cautious support - with caveats from county
planners."
For 250
plus land owners in the lower keys plus 28 or more land
owners who have submitted permits to build in the Middle
Keys and must wait their turn, the news that the
developer of Key Haven Estates seeks to bypass the
rate-of-growth ordinance should be very disconcerting.
Called ROGO the ordinance limits the number of building
permits issued each year and permits are awarded on the
basis of a score determined by environmental and
conservation criteria.
Link
to the
list of Duck Key applicants awaiting
permits
under
the ROGO system. The List is for period April to October
2004. A new list which is longer will be available in
early February 2004.
No permits have been issued since June 2004 due to a
lawsuit filed by an environmental group.
Key Haven
Estates proposes that they be awarded 43 building permits
"in exchange for upgrading" Key Haven's sewage treatment
plant to advanced treatment standards by 2006.
Does this
sound familiar? Residents of Duck Key will recall that
the Singh Corporation proposed sewering the residential
island of Duck Key in exchange for the right to build 28
additional villas. Meeting considerable opposition Singh
later obtained transferable building rights in Marathon
and went on to build the 28 units anyway.
The
Citizen article also reported that in a memo to the
Planning Commission, a planning administrator wrote,
"Neither the 2010 [Comprehensive Land Use] Plan
nor the county code provides authority to assign ROGO
market-rate allocations outside of the competitive
allocation process."
Planning
Department staff also noted that an earlier 1997
agreement to build duplex units stipulated to the
Department of Community Affairs that permits for the
project would be awarded through the competitive ROGO
system.
One can
sympathize with the Key Haven residents and understand
that the present proposal is better since it replaces
prior proposals which called for a 100 plus unit hotel, a
restaurant, clubhouse, recreational and office
facilities, a marina, swimming pool, and 17 single family
homes. Earlier proposals dating from 1989 were
rejected.
Planning
staff acording to the Key West Citizen recommends
approving parts of the proposal and reject other items,
including the exemptions of ROGO.
The Key
Haven Estates item was continued until the Planning
Commission's Feb. 9 meeting.
