The Monroe County Land Authority is coming off a strong fiscal year, with millions of dollars invested in conservation land and affordable housing throughout the Florida Keys.
Cynthia Guerra, executive director of the Monroe County Land Authority, joind Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
“So the Land Authority is a separate special district that is part of the general Monroe County government, and it’s our charge to provide for the land acquisition needs that the county needs based on our comprehensive plan and our growth management rules,” Guerra said. “We buy lands for conservation. We buy lands to retire density so that they can’t be built on. We buy lands for affordable housing, and then a little bit of land for recreation and some other purposes sprinkled in there.”
The Land Authority has accumulated thousands of conservation parcels since its creation in 1986 and has made significant investments in both conservation and housing over the years.
“We’ve got thousands of conservation parcels, and over the years since the Land Authority has been established, we’ve spent almost $70 million on both conservation land and almost $70 million on affordable housing units,” Guerra said. “So we’re heavily invested throughout the Keys.”
The Land Authority’s funding largely comes from tourism rather than directly from local property taxpayers.
“The Land Authority in Monroe County is kind of unique in that, unlike other land conservation programs throughout the state, they might be ad valorem supportive, or they might be supported by special taxes that are collected,” Guerra said. “Most of our revenues come from tourist impact taxes. We get half of a penny that is generated by the tourist impact taxes from people coming down to the Keys to visit, so it’s kind of a painless revenue stream for the local residents and businesses.”
The Land Authority had a particularly productive fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
“We had a really good year,” Guerra said. “We’ve just finished our fiscal year for FY 26 that ended on September 30. We’re just starting our new fiscal year, and that sort of forces us to take a look at where we’ve been, what we’ve done over the last year, and forecast where we’d like to go.”
The agency acquired more than $4.4 million in conservation land during the fiscal year, with additional purchases still pending.
“I was really happy to discover this year that we had a banging year,” Guerra said. “We acquired over $4.4 million in conservation land, which is quite a lot for us. It’s a real effort by my team.”
Another approximately $500,000 in contracts negotiated during the previous year had not yet closed.
“So that would put us over $5 million easy on the year, which is a really good year, and was great to see,” Guerra said.
Affordable housing was another major area of activity.
“We’ve also gotten a few of the big affordable housing projects completed in the last year,” Guerra said. “Not to say that the construction’s complete or the units are built yet, but we got them funded.”
One project is a new apartment building in Key West being developed by the Key West Housing Authority. Guerra said it will provide 54 units in Poinciana.
Another project involves the conversion of an assisted living facility in Poinciana into an independent living facility.
“The same population, just served a little bit differently and income qualified,” Guerra said. “I feel really good about the work that we’ve done in the last year, and I hope we can live up to those standards in the coming year.”
Looking ahead, conservation and affordable housing will remain the Land Authority’s primary priorities.
“We’re really focused on our conservation land acquisition, and we’re also really focused on our affordable housing,” Guerra said.
The agency is working with partners on several additional affordable housing projects, including a proposed development in Sugarloaf and a possible redevelopment of existing housing in Key West.
Guerra also hopes the state will become more active in partnering with the Land Authority.
“We’re looking forward to maybe having the state reengage with us,” she said. “They’ve always been a very long-term partner and helped.”
State participation has declined in recent years because of tighter budgets.
“Their last few years have been kind of lean in terms of their budget, so they’ve been kind of absent and not nearly as active as they have been,” Guerra said. “But we’re getting some signs that they’re going to be re-engaging with us hopefully this year, and that’ll really help push us forward.”
The Land Authority also continues to work on reducing potential liability from future takings cases by retiring development density.
“Part of our land acquisition, some of our conservation purchases are about retiring density,” Guerra said.
She explained that property owners who have been in ROGO for an extended period can apply for administrative relief, either by requesting an allocation or a purchase offer.
“In that case, we certainly get engaged and help to try to make them an offer that they’re willing to accept and they’re willing to sell to us,” Guerra said.
The effort remains important because the number of parcels seeking development opportunities exceeds the number of available allocations.
“Even though we are getting new ROGO units in in mid to late 2027, there’s still more parcels than allocations that are available,” Guerra said. “So we’re trying to help eat up some of that available inventory, so that there’s less liability in terms of taking cases down the road.”
For property owners considering selling to the Land Authority, the agency uses appraisals to establish fair market value.
“We get appraisal, and in the case of administrative relief, we’re offering fair market value based on that appraised value,” Guerra said.
Property owners do not have to be on the ROGO list to contact the Land Authority.
“Anybody who’s got any kind of land that they’re interested in talking to us, it doesn’t matter if they’re on the ROGO list or not. It doesn’t matter if it’s vacant,” Guerra said.
The agency sometimes purchases developed lots for conservation purposes as well.
“Sometimes we even buy for conservation. We’ll buy developed lots that maybe have a derelict structure. We can demo the structure,” Guerra said.
The Land Authority’s purchasing process is relatively streamlined, although board approval is required.
“We usually close less than 90 days, sometimes as quick as 60 days,” Guerra said. “We do use a local law firm that serves as our closing agent, and they pretty much take care of a very traditional closing.”
Anyone interested in discussing the potential sale of property to the Monroe County Land Authority can contact the agency’s Key West office at 305-295-5180.