Florida Keys ROGO coalition group letter sent march 17th

Dear Committee Chair Botana:

For tomorrow’s committee hearing, the 17 undersigned members of the Florida Keys ROGO Coalition, representing tens of thousands of residents of Florida and the Florida Keys, ask for your support for HB 995, introduced by Representative Jim Mooney, as a responsible and balanced approach to managing development in the Florida Keys. 

HB 995 responsibly allocates 500 new Rate of Growth Ordinance (ROGO) permits over 10 years, ensuring that development remains measured and adaptable to future conditions. Crucially, 73% of these permits (365) must be used for workforce housing or affordable housing. Additionally, more than 600 unallocated affordable housing ROGOs, along with hundreds of future affordable housing units on ROGO-exempt properties, are already available to address the affordable workforce housing shortage in the Keys.

In contrast, the two related bills in the Senate, SB 1326 and SB 1730, would add many thousands of new ROGOs. This would create a dramatic spike in development – increasing traffic, stressing the environment, straining infrastructure, and permanently altering the character of the Keys. In the case of SB 1326, nearly half (1,595) of the new ROGOs are open to housing that is neither affordable housing nor workforce housing. SB 1730 goes farther than SB 1326 by authorizing even more new ROGOs, none of which are required to be for affordable housing or workforce housing, and with no minimum time period for those ROGOs to be issued. This actually goes beyond what the Keys local governments have requested.

Based upon surveys conducted by Monroe County, Keys residents overwhelmingly prefer Representative Mooney’s bill to the Senate bills. The Keys community has made it clear that they support responsible growth, not a developer-driven expansion that prioritizes profit over sustainability.

By authorizing thousands of new ROGOs and increasing the hurricane evacuation clearance time up to 2 hours, the Senate bills dangerously increase risk to public safety amid larger and stronger storms and rapid intensification. The current evacuation model is already flawed – it ends more than 40 miles from the nearest mainland shelter, ignores evacuation traffic from mainland South Florida, and assumes that all Keys’ second and vacation homes are unoccupied and will not be evacuating. These bills would only make a bad situation worse.

Furthermore, claims that limiting ROGOs will lead to a surge in takings lawsuits are unfounded. Based on public statements from both the Monroe County Attorney and the Marathon City Attorney, HB 995 presents no takings liability risk over the 10-year period. In contrast, the new ROGOs authorized by SB 1326 and SB 1730 far exceed the number of buildable lots in the Keys, demonstrating that the takings argument has been a red herring used to justify unsustainable development.

HB 995 is taking a stand against the unchecked growth being pushed by Monroe County and the Keys municipalities. This is the ONLY bill that protects our islands’ future by ensuring measured responsible growth focused on workforce housing. The other bills are an open invitation for developers to build at will with few or no guardrails to protect our Area of Critical State Concern.

We appreciate your support for HB 995.

Respectfully submitted:

1000 Friends of Florida

Breezeswept Beach Estates Civic Association

Coastlove

Cudjoe Gardens Property Owners Association

Islamorada Community Alliance

Island of Key Largo Federation of Homeowner Associations

Key Deer Protection Alliance

Keys Accountability Project

Keys Last Stand

Lower Keys Guides Association

Protect Our Residential Neighborhoods

Save-A-Turtle of the Florida Keys

South Point Homeowners LLC

Stock Island Association

Sugarloaf Shores Property Owners Association, Inc.

Tavernier Community Association

Upper Sugarloaf Residents Association