Emily Schemper, Senior Director of Planning and Environmental Resources for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about issues facing the county.
What’s going on with the ROGO discussion?
Schemper said, “We have a discussion item with the board tomorrow. It has a time approximate of 11:30, so that’s in Marathon, the regular BOCC meeting. We’ve been working for a long time, what to do to prepare for our current allocation system ending July, next year, 2026. The board had staff start the amendment process to our codes and comp plan to use some of our banked up allocations and also add new allocations from the legislative session into our comp plan and code and to make 70% of the category of market workforce, people who actually live and work in Monroe County. The legislation passed a bill back in May that gave the Keys up to 900 new allocations, and there were some guidelines and parameters associated with those. So we’ve been working on our amendments to try to incorporate those, but we did meet with some staff up at the state about a week and a half ago, and we just asked them to confirm the process that we’re going through. We had talked through this with them before, but they couldn’t really confirm it at that time. They said it may need to go to the governor and cabinet. So based on that and the length of time it takes for us to make changes to our code and comp plan, as everyone knows, staff tomorrow is going to ask the board to discuss an option to simply extend our ROGO system for one more year, as is, using some of those banked up administrative relief allocations. The downside of that is we won’t be able to put any of them into that workforce category, but we feel that we need to do this as an immediate, temporary solution, so we don’t actually run out in July, and then when we get further clarification from the state, we can start a new amendment to put the new ones in and move some into workforce and go as planned. But we really need to do something. We have to bring this amendment to our development review committee on October 21, so that’s only a week away. We have to do something, and tomorrow they’re going to discuss that at 11:30.”
The FEMA remedial plan, which involves the square footage for ground level and downstairs enclosures, has a final ordinance hearing before the BOC tomorrow.
Schemper said, “We had to adopt two ordinances to change our code to get rid of that 259 square foot limitation and a couple of inspection programs that were still in there from our meeting plan with FEMA. Tomorrow is the hearing for adoption of that last and final ordinance. So hopefully everything goes smoothly, passes through, I expect it will, and then it does take a little time for that to become effective, so probably in late January, early February, until it’s actually affected in our code, but we’re one step closer to resolving that. I think it’s something that everyone is looking forward to for the most part, and as long as everyone continues to just use that downstairs area for their storage, then we can stay on good terms with our Flood Insurance Program. It doesn’t change the fact that you may only use it for limited storage or access like a stairway.”
The height restrictions may also change.
Schemper said, “That is not on the agenda tomorrow, but it’s on the Development Review Committee agenda, I believe this month, for October 21. The board had asked staff to prepare amendments so that residential structures could have a higher height limit of 42 feet. So we are moving forward on that. That is similar to some of the other jurisdictions in the county at this point. It also will allow mechanical equipment, so for example, air conditioning condensers to be on the roof exempt from that height limit. So those are two somewhat significant changes, and I think a lot of people will utilize that to elevate their homes an extra several feet so they can get above flood even more. It will also help people park under the buildings, and in some cases they may add an extra story, two stories instead of one story above parking. But I don’t think necessarily that is the intent of it overall. It’s more about higher ceilings, extra flood elevation and the mechanical equipment issue. That always comes up.”
The online permitting and application system is continuing to be worked on.
Schemper said, “We’re actually working on getting that up and running for code compliance and even the planning and environmental resources department. So people who do a lot of work with us will understand the convenience that will be when you can submit everything electronically. We are working towards that, but it takes a while to get everything in place and test the systems and everything.”
For more information, click here: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/