Monroe County Land Authority Executive Director Cynthia Guerra joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
The land authority has invested more than $3.8 million in conservation land purchases over the past fiscal year while continuing to expand affordable housing initiatives throughout the Florida Keys.
The authority is preparing its budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 after presenting its first preliminary budget to its governing board, the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners.
“We’re coming off of a very successful year,” Guerra said. “We’ve had some challenges in that for most of the year, we lost our purchasing partner, the state of Florida, because of their own fiscal restraints. But it didn’t seem to slow us down at all. I’m very happy to report that we’ve made over $3.8 million in conservation purchases this year.”
The Land Authority operates independently of Monroe County’s property tax revenue and instead relies primarily on tourist-generated funding.
“We do not get our revenues from property taxes or ad valorem taxes,” Guerra said. “We are supported solely by tourist impact taxes, which are the bed taxes that are paid. A big chunk of our revenue comes from that, and then a little bit of our revenue comes from a surcharge that’s paid when people enter a Monroe County state park in unincorporated Monroe County.”
Additional revenue comes through partnerships with the State of Florida and other miscellaneous sources.
Created to assist with growth management and conservation in an area designated by the state as an Area of Critical State Concern, the Land Authority serves as an intermediary between landowners and government agencies while also supporting affordable housing initiatives.
Guerra highlighted several ongoing housing projects, including assistance with the Bahama Lofts development in Key West and the conversion of the former Poinciana assisted living facility into independent affordable housing.
The authority also continues its longstanding partnership with Habitat for Humanity chapters throughout the Keys.
“Generally, the arrangement is that we’ll go out and purchase the properties for the houses to be built on, and then we give those properties to the county, and the county leases them to Habitat for development of those affordable units,” Guerra said. “That’s been a longstanding partnership that has yielded a good number of units all up and down the Keys.”
As part of its current strategy, the authority is encouraging owners of vacant, potentially buildable parcels to consider selling their property.
Guerra noted that although the State of Florida recently awarded additional Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO) allocations to Monroe County and its municipalities, there still will not be enough building allocations over the next decade to develop every vacant lot.
“There are not enough units that are going to be awarded over the next 10 years to use up all of that vacant land,” she said. “We want to present another option to landowners that maybe don’t want to pursue a building permit but want to liquidate that asset.”
She added that properties do not need to contain pristine native habitat to qualify for purchase by the authority.
The acquisition program also provides an alternative for landowners who may otherwise pursue legal action over development restrictions.
“That was one of the intentions all along — to give people another opportunity to utilize that asset, their land holdings, in a different way,” Guerra said. “If somebody is interested in selling, we can potentially negotiate and reach a favorable agreement and purchase the land.”
Since its creation, the Land Authority has maintained a balance between conservation and housing efforts. Guerrera said the agency has invested more than $60 million in conservation lands and more than $60 million in affordable housing projects over several decades.
“We have spent over $60 million on conservation land, and we have spent over $60 million on affordable housing,” she said. “It’s been a really equitable effort across all of our objectives.”
She added that nearly every parcel acquired provides environmental benefits.
“Every piece of property in the Keys that’s purchased, whether or not it’s got hammock on it or some other native habitat, is basically environmental in some regard,” Guerrera said. “Every piece of land helps to protect our offshore waters and nearshore waters from pollution and runoff.”
While Monroe County includes a small mainland portion extending into the Everglades, the Land Authority has little involvement there because most of that land is already owned by federal agencies as part of national parks or preserves. Owners interested in selling property in those areas would generally work directly with federal partners.