State Deals Blow To Lower Keys Homeowners Water Quality Fears
By Terry Schmida
In a setback to the efforts of two property owners associations to boost water quality testing in the area around the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater System plant, the state DEP has green-lighted the opening of the FKAA-managed facility.
The news came by way of an Oct. 15 memo that clears the way for the plant to come online – despite the objections of the Sugarloaf Shores and Cudjoe Gardens property owners associations, who are currently suing over the matter.
The president of the Sugarloaf Shores association, Chuck Licis, said Tuesday that the decision wouldn’t affect the lawsuit.
“Our legal team is still in talks with the opposing legal team,” he said. “Our board wishes that they’d held off until the final hearing had been settled. We’re disappointed, but we’re still moving forward with settlement talks with the FKAA.”
The DEP, which is named in the lawsuit – along with the FKAA and county government, claims that tests show four existing shallow wells will suffice, until a deeper well is constructed. The agency has also agreed, as a good faith gesture, to operate the plant at well under capacity, until the deeper well is completed.
Both sides in the dispute have agreed to keep talking, even as the clock ticks down to Oct. 26, the date of a hearing before a state Department of Administrative Hearings judge who will decide the matter, should the ongoing talks founder.
The aqueduct’s position was further bolstered last week by a ruling that pared back the degree to which the legal challenge may proceed.
While the homeowners associations aren’t quite throwing in the towel yet, FKAA appears to be moving ahead with the plant opening, advising over 1,000 nearby residents to prepare to connect to the wastewater infrastructure.
Aqueduct Executive Director Kirk C. Zuelch wasn’t available for comment at press time on Tuesday, but Licis, whose association represents some 350 members, said that opposition to opening the plant at the present time is widespread.
“We have monthly neighborhood meetings, and also mail out a print newspaper to member’s homes,” Licis said. “And for the past year we’ve been hearing feedback from our homeowners, and we’re acting on that feedback. We’ve heard from a few members who aren’t happy about the cost of the lawsuit, but by and large the majority of our members approve of and support what we’ve been doing and continue to do to try to preserve nearshore water quality in our neighborhoods.”
Should the Oct. 26 hearing go ahead as planned, it could delay the opening of the plant, and carry a “risk to taxpayers of extended legal cost as well as the potential cost for a second deep well to serve as a backup,” Licis and Cudjoe Gardens Property Owners Associations board President Larry Francisco wrote in a press release last month.
“The proposed agreement would also extend the period required for property connections to 365 days beyond startup with the deep injection well as opposed to the current requirement of one year following the invitation to connect,” they added.
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