Key West Citizen

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Florida City development called danger in evacuation
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
Citizen Staff Writer

DUCK KEY

A plan to build 6,000 homes, a 250-room hotel, retail stores and a school at
Card Sound Road and U.S. 1 met fierce opposition at a meeting Monday at
Hawk's Cay Resort.

Environmental groups, local governments and property owners all asked the
South Florida Regional Planning Council to reject Atlantic Civil, Inc.'s
plan. They said they fear such a large development at the entrance to the
Florida Keys could create a dangerous bottleneck during hurricane
evacuation, burden water supplies and interfere with efforts to restore the
Everglades.

"We don't intend as a people to see [30 years of stringent environmental
regulation] destroyed by a 6,000-unit development at the edge of our
boundaries," said Debra Harrison, local program director for World Wildlife
Fund.

The planning council took no action Monday, but eventually will review a
comprehensive application, called a Development of Regional Impact, from
Atlantic Civil. The council makes recommendations and typically asks local
governments to approve such projects with stipulations. The company has
until February 2005 to file the application, according to council staff.

Atlantic Civil's project plans have not changed since a February
presentation to the planning council, but the number of units and space
could be revised, said Ed Swakon, spokesman for the construction company and
president of EAS Engineering.

"It is still very premature for anyone to be speaking in opposition to this
particular application because it hasn't been submitted," Swakon said. "We
are not sure there is going to be an impact."

The proposed development is in Miami-Dade County and the Miami-Dade County
Commission will must approve the project. Commissioners could ignore the
planning council's advice, but that could trigger an appeal by the state's
growth regulators at the Department of Community Affairs.

"I have a feeling you will do just fine with South Florida Regional Planning
Council," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, also a member
of the planning council. "The Maimi-Dade commission is where you need to
work."

The project would require the commission to OK the extension of the
Miami-Dade development boundary into farm land and wetlands that border the
Everglades, Biscayne National Park, Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge
and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The planning council asked staff to look into extending Monroe County's Area
of Critical State Concern boundary north to cover the area. That would enact
strict state growth regulations that could bar such a development.

Meanwhile, Monroe County and Marathon have both passed resolutions opposing
the Atlantic Civil project. Many other groups publicly oppose the project:
Ocean Reef Community Association, Last Stand, The Ocean Conservancy, Sierra
Club, 1,000 Friends of Florida and the National Parks Conservation
Association.

The development would be located in southern Miami-Dade County near Card
Sound Road and U.S. 1 and cap the end of a 120-mile evacuation route for
80,000 Keys residents.

Growth in the Keys is closely tied to hurricane evacuation times. Housing
and business development is curtailed to ensure that all residents can get
off the archipelago in the event of an approaching storm.

"That is our only evacuation route," Marathon Planning Manager Gail Kenson
said. "If that development affects our evacuation route, we lose building
allocations."

The Keys water supply also could be affected by the project, said Kim
Wigington, a Stock Island resident who is running for Monroe County
commissioner.

The Keys could be headed toward a "water war" with the new community over
the Biscayne aquifer, similar to battles over drinking water in Tampa,
Wigington said.

"Would it be allowed to tap our already endangered water supply?" she said.
"The current residents of Monroe County should not have to pay for this
future development."

Environmental groups comprised the core of opposition Monday.

The project would be built on land that is targeted for state conservation
under the Save Our Rivers program, said Dennis Henize, vice president of
Last Stand.

It also would mean dense new development in a region that is part of the
most ambitious environmental restoration undertaking in history, the 30-year
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

"The Florida Keys and the Everglades are natural resources of global
significance," 34-year resident Joan Borel said. "We have to take into
account the impact on the surrounding areas."

ttritten@keysnews.com