RV Park Rebuilding Stirs Unrest

August 24, 2007

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RV park Rebuilding stirs unrest

BY STEVE GIBBS reporter of Key West Citizen

 

Nine years of controversy and dissent are not likely to end even as the Key Largo Ocean Resort is reborn. About 40 percent of the RV park’s residents will lose their homes in the impending redevelopment, project opponents say. On top of that, the Monroe County Commission waived a requirement for worker housing when it approved the redevelopment plans last week. Commissioner Sylvia Murphy voted against it for those reasons, but she was the lone dissenter. The 4-1 vote gave the 285-unit gated community the green light to require residents to replace temporary units with permanent houses that must comply with federal flood elevations, county zoning regulations and fire codes that require emergency access to all structures. An October fire that destroyed six trailers accelerated a redevelopment plan that had been in the works for years. Firefighters were inhibited by a lack of water and streets that were too narrow for firetruck access. Circuit Judge Luis Garcia ordered that the redeveloped community have elevated homes, more parking spaces and clear access to water. Residents who oppose the plan complain that the Key Largo Ocean Resort cooperative did not seek their input and unfairly reallocated the parcels, which are owned by the board, not the residents. They claim the board of directors favored friends of President Pedro Salva with choice lot allocations after the board promised a lottery drawing. Several residents, especially those on fixed incomes, say they cannot afford to replace their units. “There was no other option,” said the cooperative’s attorney, Franklin Greenman, adding that residents can build whatever type of structure they want, as long as it meets all of the government requirements. “These are 800-square-foot units and they can be modular homes built for $115,000,” he told the County Commission. Frustration between factions boiled over into a parking lot brawl after a recent county Planning Commission meeting. Sheriff Rick Roth and two deputies attended last week’s County Commission meeting, but no problems arose.