Kevin Wilson, acting administrator for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
The board of county commissioners meet tomorrow with a pretty full agenda.
Wilson said, “We are covering a number of things, among them a report on a Stock Island health assessment survey that’s being done by the health department will be presented. Then we’re going to update the resiliency work. There’ll be two presentations on that, one from the Regional Planning Council, and then followed up by our chief resiliency officer, Rhonda Haag will be updating our part of the resiliency assessment.”
The land authority continues to be very active with land acquisitions.
Wilson said, “That’s a big topic and Christine has been very, very active since she took over at the land authority, acquiring properties to avoid long term takings risks. At the same time, there’s going to be some additional discussion by Kimberly Matthews on the ongoing evacuation modeling and ROGO discussions, our robust public process to determine what it is people really want the keys to be in the long term. They’re almost finishing another canal, canal 90 up in the Tavernier area. So that’s moving along.
The county has potentially 3,000 parcels that are developable, as opposed to potentially the 8,000 that was first discussed.
Wilson said, “About 8,000 vacant parcels, but Emily Schemper, the planning director and a number of the planning directors in the municipalities have gone through all of the vacant parcels in their jurisdictions and tried to assess which ones are actually developable. That number turns out to be closer to 3,000. Also, on the website, those people who haven’t seen it yet can take a look at the presentation done by the county attorney’s office. We refer to it as Takings 101, a full explanation what really is involved in a takings case, and why it’s not as scary as most people have thought over the years because there’s a number of boxes that have to be checked by a property owner in order to even qualify for having a claim. So I think that’s worth telling people take a look at our website and look for that presentation as well as Emily’s early presentation on what are developable properties?”
May 19 to 25 is Emergency Medical Services Week in Monroe County and the Emergency Operations Center will soon be open as well.
Wilson said, “We expect in June to be moving into there and we’ll have our first or annual hurricane exercise for the EOC staff and we’re hoping to have that in the new EOC. That’s a fantastic, fantastic facility. I’m really proud of it. Those of us who were in the EOC during Irma are sure looking forward to having a much more robust facility to work out of.”
A meeting concerning the replacement of the Seven Mile Bridge will be on Thursday.
Wilson said it will be “5:30 at the Marathon Government Center, there’s going to be a public meeting conducted by the Department of Transportation. The background for it is available on sevenmilebridge.com. A lot of discussion about what is it they expect to see? What does the community want to see? For example, where’s it going to land at each end? Is it going to have bicycle lanes, etc? They’re looking for early input. The design won’t be happening for a few more months or years.”
The plan is to replace the whole Seven Mile Bridge.
Wilson said, “Those of us who drove across the Old Seven Mile Bridge back in the 70s, they’ll remember the construction for the new Seven Mile Bridge. This is the third generation.”
The Monroe County Commissioners may have a little more oversight and control over the Tourist Development Council in the future.
Wilson said, “There’s a lot of work going on right now to sort out what has been, what is and what will be going on in TDC. We have a number of staffers working closely with the TDC staff. Where that will land, time will tell.”
Memorial Day weekend will have a number of celebrations.
Wilson said, “Veterans Affairs department will be having several ceremonies up and down the Keys at the Nelson Government Center and down in Key West, and also in Marathon. People should look out for that and attend if they can. I’d like to recognize one county staffer Daryl Greenlee, our fleet maintenance director is being inducted into the statewide public fleet managers’ Hall of Fame. That’s a big honor for Daryl. The fleet operation has won a number of awards over the last couple of years and this is recognition of Daryl’s role in that.”