Urgent Concerns: 16 Keys Organizations Call for Reassessment of ROGO Process

August 16, 2024 

Via Email 

Dear Mayor Raschein and Monroe County Commissioners: 

Our 16 organizations, representing many thousands of Keys residents, continue to monitor the  County’s efforts toward reaching a decision whether to request new market-rate ROGOs from the  State. This letter addresses (1) the BOCC’s recent decision to direct staff to recompute the number of privately owned “buildable” lots in the unincorporated County, (2) our concern that the County has not begun a necessary analysis of the capacity of the Keys to handle more ROGOs and the capital and other costs to Keys residents of accepting more ROGOs, and (3) our concern that the results of the surveys of members of Keys organizations regarding new ROGOs that are currently being conducted by County staff will be skewed in favor of accepting more ROGOs because of the use of an inflated estimate of the County’s takings liability. 

Recomputation of the Number of “Buildable” Lots 

According to the County Attorney’s office, the only owners of vacant lots that will have any chance  of winning a takings case are the owners of lots that are considered “buildable.” For this reason, the  BOCC directed staff to compute the number of privately owned buildable lots in the unincorporated  County. Staff initially determined that number to be 2,220. Since that number was released, statements have been made by both Commissioners and staff that the process is headed toward the  County’s requesting more than 2,000 new ROGOs from the State. 

Our organizations, in a July 12 letter to the BOCC and in comments at the July BOCC meeting, told you we believe that the 2,220 number of buildable lots computed by County staff is vastly inflated. At the July BOCC meeting, you directed staff to recompute the number. Following that meeting, we submitted to staff our recommended methodology for the recomputation. We believe the actual number of buildable lots which should be used in any analysis of the County’s likely takings liability is in the hundreds, not the thousands. We look forward to hearing the results of staff’s recomputation of the number of buildable lots in the unincorporated County as soon as possible, hopefully at the August BOCC meeting. 

Need for a Carrying Capacity Analysis 

The County’s “Planning Considerations” for the process of evaluating whether to request more  ROGOs called for a “data driven analysis” and stated that infrastructure considerations (roads,  water/sewer, schools, electric, etc.) are to be taken into account. Also, the monetary, social,  environmental, and other costs are to be considered. 

Mayor Raschein recently stated as follows in regard to the ROGO consideration process: “I am  committed to a robust process of fact gathering and public participation in advance of the December discussion and decision. To that end, County staff has put together a strong team and process that I believe will gather the information/data needed on planning and legal issues ….” The Mayor went  on to say that “our Planning and Legal teams [are] work[ing] to gather information on a variety of  issues such as infrastructure and level of service impacts ….” 

At the July BOCC meeting, Commissioner Lincoln asked whether County staff is looking at  infrastructure needs and other carrying capacity impacts of requesting more ROGOs. Staff’s answer  leads us to believe that they are not. The result of the discussion was that the analysis of carrying  capacity was deferred. 

Our organizations will not support any new market-rate ROGOs until an in-depth analysis of the carrying capacity of the Keys is performed by the local governments of the Keys. Such an analysis needs to take into account the impacts of more ROGOs on infrastructure (such as roads, drinking water, wastewater, storm water, electric power, and schools), as well as water quality, sea-level rise,  and other environmental impacts. The additional capital and other costs to Keys taxpayers of accepting new ROGOs need to be assessed so they can be weighed against the potential takings liability costs. Such an analysis should be performed by an independent consultant. The County should impose a moratorium on the issuance of new ROGOs pending the completion and review of such a carrying capacity analysis. Accepted case law makes clear that any such moratorium will not generate takings liabilities. 

Concern with the County Survey Process 

At the direction of the BOCC, Kimberly Matthews of County staff has been holding meetings with  Keys organizations for the purpose of surveying attendees’ views on more ROGOs. At these meetings, Ms. Matthews has been stating that the County’s liability for takings claims is “roughly estimated to be more than $1 billion” and that this cost will be borne by County taxpayers in the form of increased property taxes. We have asked the County Attorney where that estimate came from, and he told us this is the total appraised value according to the County property appraiser’s office of all 8,000 privately owned vacant lots in the Keys. 

We strongly object to the use of a more than $1 billion estimate of the County’s takings liability in conducting these surveys. The County Attorney’s office has acknowledged that any estimate of the takings liability should take into account only those lots that are “buildable,” whose number is only a small fraction of all of the vacant lots in the Keys. And while we acknowledge that appraised values per the property appraiser’s office do not fully reflect the cost of defending or losing takings claims, this estimate is also inflated because it assumes that the County will lose every single takings case brought by lot owners, which is a preposterous assumption. For these reasons, it is clear that the more than $1 billion estimate used in the survey meetings is overstated by a very large amount. The use of the more than $1 billion estimate by County staff seems to have been intended as a scare tactic which will skew the results of the survey. We request that you direct staff to immediately cease using the more than $1 billion estimate in its surveys. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Ann Olsen 

On behalf of the Last Stand Board and the undersigned organizations 

cc: Emily Schemper Kevin Wilson 

Bob Shillinger Roman Gastesi

Cudjoe Gardens Property Owners Association, Key Deer Protection Alliance, Florida Keys Citizens’ Coalition, Inc., Friends of the Lower Keys (FOLKS), Keys Last Stand, South Point Homeowners, LLC, Islamorada Community Alliance, Sugarloaf Shores Property Owners Association, Inc. (SSPOA), Island of Key Largo Federation of Homeowner Associations (The Federation), Tavernier Community Association (TCA), Izaak Walton League of America, Florida Keys Chapter. Upper Sugarloaf Residents Association