Key West Mayor Teri Johnston joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s happening in the city.
Songwriters fest showed the vibrant musical community in Key West.
Johnston said, “That’s one of our opportunities here in the city of Key West. We’re taking a look at our current amphitheater construction, because we really think that we can be the music capital of the southeast with some effort. I know we’ve talked several times about St. Augustine and the economic engine that they have become for the city of St. Augustine. They put well over $50 million back into the community just from that one venue. So we would like to take a look at our amphitheater and spruce it up, add some features to it that would draw some bigger names and help our local businesses out.”
A strategic planning discussion was held in the city last week.
Johnston said, “It’s one of the most important things that we do. We had a day and a half last week, Thursday afternoon, and then all day Friday that we talked about the city of Key West, our six current strategic goals, do we need to add anything? Do we need to put anything back into the background? But this year, it was so important because it was very closely tied to our budget, which we are just getting ready to head into. And budget not only financial budget, but also resource budget, in the terms of people. Do we have the right people, do we have enough money? Do we have a source for that money? It was a really intense day and a half. But it’s wonderful for particularly the elected officials because we don’t get an opportunity to interact with staff on a day to day basis. I probably have more opportunity than most because I’m here every day. But it was it was wonderful to hear exactly what’s on their plate right now, what they can handle, what’s important to them, what challenges they’re having, within City Hall, and it’s a really good exchange of information.”
What will be done with the information that was gathered?
Johnston said, “We actually took a look at our six objectives. Are we meeting those? Where are we moving ahead to the point where we’re satisfied? We’ve got one area that we think we’re doing really well on, which is cleanliness of the community. That’s due mostly to a volunteer organization. But we also talked about adding one more strategic goal, which is an economic engine. We’ve got a tourist Development Council, but we don’t have an economic development group. So we’re looking at adding that so that we can go out and we can seek businesses to come into the city of Key West. For instance, Al and I were at Tallahassee for the Florida Keys days and we happen to run into one of the managers from Target. She said, I would love to come to Key West, she said, it wasn’t on my radar, but I would love to come to Key West to see if that’s a viable opportunity for us to bring a Target to Key West. So I think we haven’t done enough of that going out and seeking the businesses that we want in Key West, so that we can augment tourism. I think everybody is concerned about having the majority of our eggs in one basket. So I think going out and actually seeking out alternative businesses that do not rely on tourism would make us a stronger Key West.”
The city commission meeting is coming up with 51 agenda items.
Johnston said, “Don’t let that scare anybody away, because many of those items are on consent agenda. Then we’ve got a number of items that are related to our land planning, our land development, which are really important items as we move forward in the city of Key West. We had several of those which are recommended to be postponed until November 12, I believe that is and that’s important to your listeners and to the city of Key West because there will be a new commission seated for that November 12 meeting. So there is a great possibility that four out of the seven elected officials will be new at that meeting.”
Is it possible that Stock Island might eventually be annexed into Key West?
Johnston said, “Our land development regulations and comp plan require us to have a plan for annexation and it was supposed to have been done in 2017. Then it came back up in 2021. So with Al coming in, we’re cleaning up a lot of issues that have been left on the table and that is one of them. So our planning department got together, they are required if they ever do an annexation and the areas that are most often discussed when you talk about annexation is South Stock Island and Key Haven, and neither one of those is there an active conversation going on about annexation. We are just doing our due diligence getting a plan in ready in case annexation ever happens. But I have been in city politics here for about 16 years and I have yet to hear a serious conversation about annexation. If that were to ever occur, it would occur with county approval, it would occur with approval from South Stock Island residents and also the residents from Key Haven. It would occur only if the city of Key West approved that. So lots and lots of different moving parts. But unfortunately, because it was on the agenda, it was required by our comp plan. It created a lot of really undue stress for people, I think in South Stock Island and Key Haven.”
Naval development is also up for discussion.
Johnston explained, “We have two agenda items that are going to be discussed on the naval properties. Those both are sub leases for Poinciana. We have a project going on right now and it’s got a lot of moving parts. It involves AH Monroe. It involves the Key West Housing Authority. It involves a number of different agencies, but what we’re looking to do is we’ve got an opportunity to infill some of those properties, build some new structures and add to the density there to hopefully alleviate some of our housing stress in the city of Key West. So we’re moving forward to approve two of those sub leases. There are two agenda items on there for the Casa Marina rezoning. That has been somewhat of a controversial item. Lots of residential input so far. Every one of the commissioners and myself I’ve heard from a lot of residents who are very concerned on that issue. That is also recommended to be postponed until November 12, where there will be a new City Commission seated.”
Hurricane season starts in a few weeks.
Johnston said, “It’s not ever too early to start getting your insurance papers in line, take a picture your landscaping, get your batteries, get your medication, get your pet’s medication. Never too early to prepare.”