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Miami Herald
12-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
‘When's it going to stop?' Bill could open Florida Keys to new development
The Florida Keys is poised to see a flurry of new development — despite warnings that island chain is already overpopulated with worsening traffic and rising flooding risks — thanks to a new bill set to become law at the end of the month. Senate Bill 180, which primarily focuses on hurricane recovery and emergency response, would also allow up to 900 new developments over the next 10 years in the Florida Keys through a small change in the mandatory evacuation window for Monroe County, pushing it just a half hour back from 24 hours to 24.5 hours. The small tweak could have big consequences for the Keys, the only place in Florida with state controls on growth. Long-time activist Ed Davidson, chair of the environmental group, the Florida Keys Citizens Coalition, spoke out at county and state meetings against the additional development in what he sees as an already overbuilt community. 'We've long since passed our environmental carrying capacity,' he said. 'And yet every time we reach the limit we all agreed to, we simply issue more development units.' The bill sailed through the Legislature, passing nearly unanimously earlier this year, and could become law by default on July 1 or sooner, with the stroke of the governor's pen. Monroe officials also downplayed the impacts. 'They have to be distributed out over at least 10 years, I wouldn't call it a boom,' said county growth management director Emily Schemper. Limits imposed in the 1970s In the 1970s, the state put a limit on future development in the Keys, based primarily on the single road that residents have to evacuate from the numerous hurricanes that wallop the island chain. Those permits for development, also known as a Rate of Growth Ordinance or ROGO, were set to officially run out in 2023, capping development in the Keys. READ MORE ABOUT SB 180: Florida bill could block communities from rebuilding stronger after hurricanes But that year, a state study found there were almost 9,000 vacant lots still awaiting potential development, and residents and local politicians began clamoring for the right to keep building in the Keys. 'That was supposed to be the build-out of the Florida Keys. That's it. We're full. And yet when we get there, they simply ask for the same number all over again,' Davidson said. Last year, the Monroe County Commission agreed that they would be OK with upping the evacuation window to get all permanent residents — not tourists — out of the county in the event of a hurricane from 24 hours to up to 26 hours. An earlier version of SB 180 called for expanding the evacuation window to 26 hours and allowing up to 3,600 new developments over the next 40 years, but the final version settled on up to 900 over a decade by expanding the window to 24.5 hours. Still, even a slightly longer evacuation window worries some, as more hurricanes begin to rapidly intensify, or strengthen very quickly over a short period of time. Every Category 5 hurricane that's ever hit the U.S. was a tropical storm or less three days prior, according to NOAA. If signed, the 24.5-hour evacuation window in the Keys would be only for permanent residents. Tourists are supposed to leave a day earlier. 'Except there might not be an extra day. With rapid intensification, we may not have 48 hours,' Davidson said. Cory Schwisow, Monroe's head of emergency management, said the proposed update would not affect how Monroe County plans and executes evacuations. 'The emergency management director looks at each storm differently based on the size, speed, and confidence level of the track, working closely with the National Weather Service,' he wrote in a statement. 'Each storm is looked at in a unique manner and residents and visitors will be given as much time as possible to evacuate safely.' Keep the development going If passed, the bill could restart development in some Keys cities and keep the permits flowing in others. While some municipalities — like Marathon — are fresh out of new development permits, the county is still working through its supply. It should be completely tapped out by 2026, said Schemper, Monroe's growth management director. The 900 more allowed by this bill would have to be spread out over a decade, and she estimates it would take at least a year before the state and county worked out a way to begin handing them out to would-be developers. 'It could allow the county to continue giving out permits, but probably slower than we do now because there's less than we have been giving out,' she said. The bill leaves some open questions that would still have to be addressed before the permits could be handed out. For instance, the bill specifies that these new developments would be single-family. But it also says that owner-occupied, affordable and workforce housing would be prioritized for building permits. Affordable and workforce housing are often multi-family, to save on building costs. The biggest concerns seem to be with traffic, which already can be sluggish on the Overseas Highway. A county-commissioned study found that with an estimated 1,000 more developed lots, Monroe would run into issues with traffic in the upper Keys, have slightly fewer school buses than needed and potentially need to beef up its fire department. Currently, the study found, Monroe has too many drivers to keep traffic moving smoothly in Upper Matecumbe and Windley. With 1,000 more developments, Lower Matecumbe would also face traffic stress. Water, wastewater, electricity and trash needs could still mostly be met with all those extra residents, the study found. However, not everyone agrees with the findings. Steve Friedman, an Islamorada commissioner, called the concept of adding this much new development 'ludicrous.' 'None of the residents that live here, unless you own property, really want this. Nobody wants more development,' he said. 'When's it going to stop? It was supposed to stop in 2023. We have to draw the line in the sand somewhere.' The county study also did not mention sea level rise, which is already swamping some spots in the Keys regularly and driving up costs for drainage fixes. Monroe County has seven road elevation projects underway — a $300 million bill footed largely by federal and state grants. There's still $4.7 billion of road raising left to go in the next few decades for the Keys alone. Threat of lawsuits looms Other than straining environmental and governmental resources, the biggest impetus behind allowing new development in the Keys appears to be the threat of lawsuits from property owners who don't get the chance to build. The fear is that developers left at the end of the ROGO musical chairs game with an empty lot and no permit to build on it will sue for the full value of their potential property — a multi-million dollar sum. Monroe's official stance appears to be that as long as there are development permits to hand out, they can avoid lawsuits. So this bill could help stave off a potential flood of suits. 'It's not just kicking the can, it's also allowing time for additional strategies to combat that,' said Schemper, who suggested that Monroe could use the coming decade to round up more money to buy out vacant lots and halt development. Monroe just finished the paperwork on the last of its property buyouts from Hurricane Irma, a process that was so popular there was a waiting list at one point. Those homes are now empty lots, not counted in the official tally of undeveloped properties. But environmentalists like Davidson doubt that landowners actually have much of a legal case. And if a judge rules they do have standing, Davidson would like to see governments simply pony up the cash rather than allow new development. 'Unless you owned the property before critical concern was designated, you have been on public notice that we're going to run out of permits in the Florida Keys, and you might well never get a building permit,' he said. 'It is vastly cheaper to say no and pay everybody $1 million for an empty lot than to say yes and pay for all that expansion, not to mention ruining the Florida Keys.'
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Monroe County Commissioner offers update on courthouse, new portal to report flooding damages
UNION, WV (WVNS) – In January 2025, the Monroe County Courthouse caught on fire. There was not much damage done by the fire, but there was a lot of water damage from the sprinkler system. Thankfully, first responders and the Monroe County Commission were able to get a handle on things very quickly. The commission was able to get ServPro on the scene and working within the same day. With power and water returning, heat now the focus for McDowell County Commission Monroe County Commission President Melvin Young gave 59News an update on matters at their historic courthouse. 'ServPro is almost done. Little bit of odor in there. They are going to take care of that and the construction moving forward,' said Young. The Monroe County Courthouse did not sustain any additional flooding from February 15, 2025. In terms of flooding, the Commission has launched a Flood Damage Reporting Portal to help assess the damages done throughout the county from the February 15 Flooding. You can access the portal here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Black residents of Chestnut have little hope of access to public water
Members of the Chestnut community pose for a photo after attending a Beatrice town council meeting in early February. Credit: Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News Members of the Chestnut community pose for a photo after attending a Beatrice town council meeting in early February. (Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. CHESTNUT — For Valentino Thames, it's become a routine. Just another part of everyday life. At least once a week, he makes a trip of more than 25 miles to the nearest Walmart, located in the county seat of Monroeville, to buy gallons and gallons of water—enough for him and his wife Linda to drink, cook and wash themselves until the next week, when they'll have to do it all again. He's one of dozens in Chestnut, a small, majority-Black community in south-central Alabama, that lack access to public water. Like Thames, many residents are forced to travel dozens of miles to access or buy water for everything from drinking to personal hygiene, a result of private wells that are deteriorating or have in some cases fallen into complete disrepair. For years, they've pressured public officials without success to extend water infrastructure to Chestnut. 'I don't understand it,' Thames said. 'It seems like they come up with reason after reason to keep us from getting water. We're trying as hard as we know how.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Across Alabama, around 800,000 people—about 20 percent of the state's population—rely on private water supplies, like wells, for drinking water, according to state estimates. That reality often has socioeconomic and racial implications, too. In some places, such as Athens, just under 100 miles north of Birmingham, and Prichard, just north of Mobile, most whites have reliable municipal water and sewer service while many Black residents suffer from deteriorated or nonexistent water infrastructure. Across the state, money and power can often determine where the water flows, experts say. And there are other risks, as a rapidly warming climate brings heat waves and drought, extreme weather and flooding. Summers, too, are simply getting hotter. As many as one-fifth of the world's wells are at risk of drying up in the near-term, researchers have concluded. Among public officials, Chestnut's situation is no secret. It's an inconvenient truth. Earlier this month, residents of Chestnut attended a meeting of the town council of Beatrice, the nearest community with a municipal water supply. They hoped to get a commitment that if grant money were found for the project, Beatrice leaders would allow for a water connection and sell Chestnut residents water as they do their own citizens. Billy Ghee represents the area on the Monroe County Commission, which is the governing body for unincorporated parts of the county like the Chestnut community. He pitched residents' request to Beatrice town officials, who refused to allow Chestnut residents to speak. Both towns are predominantly Black. 'We're not going to entertain questions or comments from the public,' Beatrice Mayor Annie Shelton told those gathered, including roughly a dozen Chestnut residents seated in folding chairs in the rear of the room. 'This is not the time for that. This is the way it's going to have to be done.' Instead, Shelton allowed Ghee to take the floor. 'This is a humanitarian issue that we are dealing with,' Ghee told Beatrice officials. 'And I'm hoping we can work with you all.' Because of money made available through legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Ghee said, there may be a way to obtain grant funding to help cover the cost of extending public water access to Chestnut. Obtaining any grant money, though, would likely require the stated approval of the cooperating water authority—in this case, Beatrice. And time, he said, is of the essence. 'I don't know how long these funds are going to last,' he said. President Donald Trump has already issued a directive freezing government funding that called the release of IRA and infrastructure dollars into question, and though the order has since been rescinded, experts say the money may still remain in limbo and litigation as the Trump administration unfolds. Beatrice's water operator, Stanley Watson, spoke after Ghee on behalf of town officials. Watson said he agreed with Ghee's characterization of the problem and said it was one of his 'longtime dreams' to extend water supply to Chestnut. 'But it's not feasible,' Watson said. 'The money is 95 percent of the equation.' With so few residents in Chestnut to recoup the upfront costs of extending water lines, bringing water to the community isn't economically reasonable, he argued. 'It's not that I'm against it,' he said. 'I look at it in a common sense-type way. I look at the numbers and the population of Chestnut.' Residents like Thames interviewed by Inside Climate News said they understand the economic argument. But access to clean water for drinking and bathing should be a right, they said, not a matter of a financial cost-benefit analysis. Public officials have a moral obligation to extend the water supply to suffering rural residents, regardless of the financial calculus, they said. Shelton told residents that if funding were actually secured, members of the Chestnut community could come back to Beatrice officials to discuss the matter. But for now, she said, there would be no commitment, written or otherwise, from the town. 'Right now, it cannot be done,' she said of supplying water to Chestnut. Lasonja Kennedy, a resident of nearby Buena Vista who's helped organize Chestnut residents, said the mayor's stance puts citizens in a Catch-22. Without a formal commitment from a supplying water source, applying for grants to help cover the costs of running Beatrice's water to Chestnut would be difficult, if not impossible. 'And water is a right,' Kennedy said after Monday's meeting in Beatrice, a town of about 200 people. 'These people need water one way or another.' Hearing again and again from residents struggling to access water each day is heartbreaking, Kennedy said, and isn't reflective of what claims to be the richest country in the world. Earlier in the night, as the Beatrice meeting had begun, each Chestnut resident had stood and pledged allegiance to the American flag—that of a country as of yet unable or unwilling to provide them clean drinking water. Yet those same residents, Kennedy explained, are burdened with unearned shame when they see someone they know in the grocery story, for example, and have pallets of water weighing down their shopping cart. One resident described the feeling, Kennedy said, explaining that she would lie to her neighbor to explain all the water she'd purchased: 'I'm just having a party.' Kennedy said that among the hundred or so residents of Chestnut, nearly all face some type of water access issue. For some, that means frequent, often costly repairs to old water wells that have deteriorated year after year. For others, it means no access to running water at all, a result of a well that is no longer serviceable or a groundwater source that has simply dried up. Even when an aging well pumps water, it may not be suitable for drinking or cooking, she said. Thames recalled the day nearly 10 years ago when his wife doubled over with stomach pain. The Thames family had to travel to a Mobile hospital more than 100 miles and a two-hour drive away to get medical care. Medical professionals confirmed she had suffered from a parasite caused by contaminated water, Thames said. Since then, they've been taking the trips to Walmart at least once every week or so, buying enough clean water to survive in their Chestnut home, typically around 10 cases of 40 bottles—over 50 gallons in total. He rarely invites family to his home, Thames said, because of the shame involved in not having access to clean running water. 'I get embarrassed that they can't even take a proper bath or shower in the tub,' he said. 'Everybody needs to wash.' Jerry Johnson is one of the community's few white residents. He said that the argument that there's no money available for extending the water supply to Chestnut is unfounded. 'That's bullshit,' he said. 'There's money available.' Both Johnson and Thames pointed to other projects across the county that have recently been funded, projects like a splash pad for children and renovations at the county courthouse in nearby Monroeville, heart of Harper Lee country, widely considered to be the inspiration for her Alabama classic 'To Kill A Mockingbird.' 'I just don't understand why we can't have running water,' Johnson said, frustration in his voice. Asked about the danger of IRA or infrastructure money that could potentially help Chestnut disappearing under the new presidential administration, Johnson took out his phone and clicked the photos app. He turned his phone around and pushed it out from his chest with pride. 'Here's my son with Trump,' Johnson said. 'I'm not worried.' The day of the Beatrice meeting, Trump had announced his plans to attempt a shutdown of USAID. Johnson brought it up, noting that Trump's shuttering of the agency should free up billions in federal funding. In Johnson's view, an application of an America-first approach would mean that money would now begin to flow to projects like providing Chestnut with public water. 'He's going to do it,' Johnson said. 'I know he will.' He said he has a message for the president: 'America first. American people first. Chestnut people are part of America, and they ought to have water.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
