Marathon City Council Member Robyn Still joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the city.
There is a workshop to talk about ROGOs in Marathon on December 3.
Still said, “The city council here in the city of Marathon is having a workshop on December 3. It starts at 5:30 in city council chambers. Originally we were not going to have a workshop for November or December. However, we are at a point in planning the future of the city of Marathon and Monroe County, where we have to let the Board of County Commissioners know how many building allocations we would like to get from the state. I think everybody’s familiar that the state came to us last year, they did the hurricane modeling, they updated it, and we’re all running out of building allocations. The state proposed up to 8,000 building allocations that the county and the municipalities could potentially ask for from the state. Since that time, the Board of County Commissioners has been amazing. They’ve done public workshops. They’ve done public surveys to try to gauge the interest of the residents as to how many ROGOs for the county, Rate of Growth Ordinance or Building Allocations, BPAS, for the city of Marathon, how many we want to ask the state for?”
The issue is that Marathon will be out of building permit allocations.
Still explained, “Basically that means, if you live in the city of Marathon, and if you own a piece of property that’s never had a residence on it in the past, you have to apply for a building permit allocation. If you are not already on that list, you’re not going to get one if we don’t get more allocations from the state, even if you’re already on that list. You may be further down on the list, and there may not be any to give you, and what that’s going to result in is those property owners are going to sue the state, they’re going to sue the county, and they’re going to sue the city, and that’s called the takings case. We’re basically taking your right away to beneficial use of your property. I’m not a lawyer, so this is kind of layman terms. Our city attorney says that we could lose these lawsuits, and the impact could be billions, not millions, but billions of dollars, and that money would come from our taxpayers. I’m a taxpayer also. We would have to pay that bill. If we don’t ask the state for allocations, when those lawsuits come, then, if we look to the state to bear some of the burden of these lawsuits financially, the state’s more than likely going to say, well, we offered them allocations, and they took nothing, so we’re not liable. So it’s really important that our residents come out on December 3 to let us know what they want. We have to vote on it. We’re going to vote on it at the next city council meeting, which is December 10. So this is a final opportunity for our residents to come out. I wanted a workshop here in the city of Marathon, so our city residents wouldn’t have to drive to Key West or Islamorada or somewhere else to make their opinion known. If you work, it’s difficult to get away, it takes a little while to drive to Key West, and if there’s a 5:30 meeting, you’re having to leave before 4:30 which more often than not, you’ll have to leave work early. So in a nutshell, it’s extremely important that our residents come and let us know their opinion, and if they have questions about it, they let us know. This has been going on for years and years, but we have come to where we are. We are at the point where we cannot postpone this any longer.”
Having your voice heard is very important.
Still said, “Last year, there was, I think, some misunderstandings about the number of 8,000. The state proposed just under 8,000 building allocations that are based on what they said may have been vacant lots. There are not that many buildable lots in the whole county. But I want people to understand that from my understanding from my fellow council members, and obviously we can’t talk about this outside a noticed council meeting, but from comments that are made during previous council meetings, I think they’re probably in the same opinion I am. We get these allocations. They’re not going to be immediately given out. This is going to be something that’s going to be given out over a period of years. That could be 20, 30, 40, 50, years. It depends on what the council would suggest and vote on. But just because we get them doesn’t mean that all of a sudden you’re going to have and I’m just taking a number 500 new residences being built in the city of Marathon this year, next year. It just means we’ve got them, we’re going to be giving them out slowly and according to the way we give them out, infrastructure has to be able to support what we’re giving out. I just want people to not have the misunderstanding that no matter what the number is, that number is not given out automatically, it will be slowly trickled out, just like it is now. A lot of people are concerned that it’s going to automatically all of these building allocations will be given out, and all of this building is going to immediately start. That is not the case.”
The workshop can be watched live.
Still said, “We don’t have the functionality to where you could ask a question online, but we’re not voting December 3. So let’s say you couldn’t make the meeting. You watch it live, or you watch the recorded, you have until December 10, our next city council meeting. That’s when there will be a vote, a resolution. So reach out and email us, call us. I don’t know how many more times I can urge and say, please, please participate. We have to make a decision. I don’t want to make a decision without hearing from people. I know everybody’s busy. I know it’s the holiday season, but we have to make this decision, and it is going to impact all of us for years to come. I just think it’s important that everybody participates, and that being said, I’ll be more cheerful – happy early Thanksgiving. I hope everybody has a safe and wonderful holiday. Remember what we should all be thankful for. No matter what’s going on. We live in a beautiful place, and we just need to count our blessings, just be a good community. Be good to each other.”