MARATHON, Fla. — Monroe County will hold a public meeting Sept. 21 to consider calls for additional environmental and development protections for Big Pine Key and No Name Key as the county continues adjusting to the expiration of a decades-old federal habitat conservation framework.
The in-person and online meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, in the second-floor commission chambers at the Marathon Government Center, 2798 Overseas Highway. The county has scheduled the meeting through 7 p.m. and will also provide access through Zoom.
The meeting is intended to focus specifically on additional protections sought by community organizations, rather than simply the technical transition from the former Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit, known as the HCP and ITP.
Among the issues scheduled for discussion are development restrictions previously contained in the HCP/ITP framework, references to those protections in the Big Pine Key/No Name Key Livable CommuniKeys Plan, the county Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code, Tier Map criteria and future management and monitoring requirements. The meeting will include an opportunity for public comment.
Conservation Groups Seek Permanent Protections
The discussion follows joint comments submitted Aug. 3 by Keys Last Stand, the Key Deer Protection Alliance, Save Our Key Deer and Big Pine United, which argue that some protections previously connected to the federal HCP and ITP should now be independently incorporated into county law.
Their proposals are extensive. Among them, the groups want the county to review Big Pine Key and No Name Key Tier Overlay District maps using updated habitat information; preserve limits on development in environmentally sensitive areas; maintain cumulative residential and commercial development caps; strengthen habitat mitigation requirements; and establish continuing biological monitoring and reporting requirements.
The groups also are asking the county to support an annual Key deer population census and mortality analysis, improve public reporting of deer deaths and injuries and consider using at least $175,000 annually in Tourist Development Council funding to pay a qualified organization to conduct the census and trend analysis. That proposal is a request from the organizations and has not been adopted by Monroe County.
Other proposals call for preserving a 236-unit cumulative ROGO cap for Big Pine Key and No Name Key, maintaining limits on new Tier I residential development and carrying forward the former HCP’s cumulative habitat-impact ceiling and mitigation provisions in county law. The organizations also want a cumulative maximum of 47,800 square feet of new commercial floor area maintained for the two islands.
What Changed This Summer
The Big Pine Key Habitat Conservation Plan was developed to address the effects of public and private development on endangered species and their habitat, including the Florida Key deer, Lower Keys marsh rabbit and Eastern indigo snake.
The HCP expired in 2023, while the accompanying Incidental Take Permit expired June 30. Monroe County has since transitioned Big Pine Key and No Name Key permitting into the broader federal Permit Referral Process associated with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion. County officials have said maximum limits on impacts to protected species established under the former HCP/ITP framework will continue to apply.
The county has also emphasized that the HCP itself did not establish the original limits on residential growth. Maximum Rate of Growth Ordinance allocations, known as ROGO, are established through Monroe County’s Comprehensive Plan.
County regulations already continue to reference the HCP, ITP and Livable CommuniKeys Plan for development on Big Pine Key and No Name Key. Existing county language states that residential allocation awards on the islands are subject to those provisions and limits Tier I allocations in the Big Pine Key/No Name Key subarea to no more than one every two years.
A Separate Discussion From August Meeting
The Sept. 21 meeting follows an Aug. 20 county meeting focused on a narrower proposed amendment to Chapter 122 of the Land Development Code.
That amendment was designed primarily to place into county code the transition from the expired HCP/ITP system to the federal Biological Opinion and revised U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requirements that took effect July 1. County staff said the amendment also would carry forward several environmental and development provisions specifically applicable to Big Pine Key and No Name Key.
County officials deliberately separated the two discussions. The August meeting addressed the regulatory transition already underway, while the Sept. 21 meeting is intended to give residents and community groups a dedicated forum to debate whether Monroe County should go further by adopting additional protections.
