Cynthia Guerra, Executive Director of Monroe County Land Authority, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
A conservation lands ordinance change will be discussed on April 15 and it needs to be understood.
Guerra said, “It’s generating a little bit of interest, and it could be misunderstood. Basically, what we need to do is we need to modify the county’s conservation lands ordinance to allow for projects in the public interest to take place if they meet certain criteria and if there’s no other way for them to be accomplished other than to be cited on conservation lands. So at last month’s meeting, I took a brief PowerPoint to the board to explain it to the board and to the public to let them know that this is something that we need to do to accommodate projects if they meet all the tests and if the board deems them worthy of being on conservation land. One of the things that sort of spurred this long is there is a need to install redundant power lines to the Key West airport and the route that the airport needs to install those lines is along the front of land authority and county conservation lands. And the way our ordinance is currently written, they absolutely can’t do it at all. There’s a complete prohibition. And so there’s a really good opportunity to install the lines there, because they’re going to be doing it in an area that’s already disturbed. It’s not native habitat. They’re not going to impact any native habitat, and that’s one of the conditions that they need to meet in the revisions for ordinance.”
What is the land authority’s role in this?
Guerra said, “The land authority has lands that are for conservation, or even the county has some lands that are conservation and they’re all in a conservation lands inventory that’s managed by the county’s land steward. It’s a little bit confusing, because the Board of County Commissioners and our governing board are the same five people, but basically these are county assets, and as long as the project, first of all is put forward by a government entity, it can’t be just, somebody wants to host a wedding in the middle of a forest or something like that, as long as it’s a public project that’s brought forward by a government entity with a proven public purpose, and as long as there’s no other place for the project there, this has to be the last possible place that they can put the project, and also, as long as it doesn’t impact natural resources, then the board will have the discretion to allow the project to happen on that parcel.”
That will be heard by the Board of County Commissioners in Marathon on April 15.
Guerra said, “We have our usual agenda where we’re picking up some new purchases for density reduction or conservation, and this is in the public hearings portion of their agenda. We’re having a really great year. I have an incredible staff that just is so efficient, and so far, we’re on pace to exceed last year’s acquisitions. Now that could change. We are a buyer like anybody else out there, and if the market changes or makes some adjustments and slows down, then our rate of acquisition is going to slow down. But so far, it’s been a really great year, since the beginning of our fiscal year, which was October 1 of ‘25.”
Does the real estate market affect any of this?
Guerra said, “It can be very challenging. I mean, the thing with properties in the Keys right now is that we are noticing that there are some more frequent price reductions, but the properties are sitting on the market longer. So what that tells me, or what that suggests, is that people have an expectation of what they’d like to get when they put a property up for sale, and the market just isn’t supporting those numbers. So sometimes that’s a waiting game, and it takes a little while for sellers to come in line with the market conditions. I’m not talking about any major reduction, certainly. It’s just a matter of degrees, really. But yeah, we have to respond and react to market conditions such as they are. We’re out there competing on the regular market. We’re not any different than any other buyer, except that if we have expressed interest to a seller or a seller’s realtor, they might keep us in their back pocket, and if they don’t find another seller, they might circle back to us, whereas other people, other buyers, when they find something, they’re going to buy it and they’re not going to be available to potentially purchase the property anymore. So that’s kind of one advantage that we have.”
Does the lack of a state budget affect the land authority?
Guerra said, “So far, it hasn’t. But every year is kind of a knuckle biter as we wait to see what the state legislature is going to do and when they’re going to do it. We are not dependent upon property taxes, so fortunately, we won’t be impacted if there’s changes to the property tax regime directly. However, we are a county agency, and we work in solidarity with the other county departments. And if there are major cuts county wide, that’s likely to have an impact to us as well.”