County agrees to support Big Pine conservation plan
Story-Date: 02:17 a.m. PST Thursday , September 10, 1998

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County agrees to support Big Pine conservation plan


NANCY KLINGENER 
Herald Staff Writer

Monroe County commissioners agreed Wednesday to move ahead with a habitat
conservation plan for Big Pine Key, a step that could resolve the
longstanding legal logjam that is blocking construction on the Lower Keys
island.

Eugene Shinkevich of Big Pine urged approval of the county's agreement to
sponsor the plan, along with the state  departments of Transportation and 
Community Affairs.

"Right now, the Key is very divisive," Shinkevich said. "This plan will
take some of the gray areas. If you don't pass this, we're still going to
be in the same situation we are now."

Commissioner Mary Kay Reich said she worried the new plan, like many
previous efforts to find solutions for Big Pine, would be a waste of money.

"We pay for them, they get done, they get put on a shelf and nothing every
happens," she said.

Commissioner Jack London said he  wants the county attorney to make sure
the county was not on the line for "taking" property ruled unbuildable
under the new plan. Federal and state agencies, which drive environmental
protection efforts in the Keys, should be  responsible for paying for land
that can't be used, he said.

In a unanimous vote, commissioners eventually approved the memorandum of
understanding with the two  state agencies. The county's share of the plan
could cost up to $100,000.

In other action, the commission:

 Directed staff to draw up a water-bike ordinance that would define large
"operational zones" for personal watercraft, rather than continuing with 
an  ordinance  that bans them from certain shoreline areas.

Since the county first approved the ordinance, dozens of groups have
applied, asking for their shorelines to be added to the list of areas where
water bikes are not allowed. County officials are worried about the cost of
marking and enforcing those areas.

Instead, they asked staff to come up with specific zones as the only places
where water bikes would be allowed. Such zones are in use at the Monterey
Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

 Granted a two-year extension to the county's contract with Key West law
firm Morgan & Hendrick for civil and land-use litigation. Under the
agreement, County Attorney Jim Hendrick, who is a partner in the firm, will
not receive any fees for that work as long as he is county attorney.

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