Key West to press Navy on reopening Truman Harbor

Key West to press Navy on reopening Truman Harbor

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Never say never.

Key West City Commissioner Richard Payne is redoubling his efforts to convince Naval Air Station Key West to reconsider its 2013 decision to close Truman Harbor to recreational and commercial use.

Payne sponsored a resolution at the March 20 city commission meeting directing the city’s outside attorney to request a formal sit-down with NASKW Commanding Officer Captain Bobby Baker. Payne, with a lifelong career as an attorney and judge stretching out behind him, is mad that after the Navy formally gave Truman Harbor back to the city in 2002 as part of a base closure realignment act, it reneged on that promise in 2013, saying it needed a safe area for military training. But he is mostly mad that under the letter of the law that he spent his career protecting, the United States Government, under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, may not take public property for private purposes without “just compensation.”

“I can’t ignore what I see,” Payne said. “It’s an existential question.”

Despite the perhaps quixotic nature of his efforts to force a course correction in the Navy’s policy regarding Truman Harbor, Payne convinced all but one of his colleagues on the city commission to take the next step in the dispute, formally asking the Navy to sit down and discuss the issue. Under the terms of the contact the Navy signed when it returned the harbor in 2002, it has to do that. But only that. Recent statements by Navy officials indicate their position hasn’t changed: the harbor is off-limits for non-military use.

But because the Navy occasionally makes an exception, including allowing the annual powerboat races to use the harbor as a staging area, Payne hopes that other exceptions can be made. The outside attorney the city hired in January helped developed a list of several potential uses of the harbor, including fishing tournaments, wave runner races, a sailing regatta and a nautical flea market.

“As I understand it, the Navy only uses the harbor three days or less a month to train divers so there is plenty of time for us to have events for the community,” Payne said.

A few local residents spoke on the matter at the recent city commission meeting. Tom Malone said it is time to abandon the harbor issue and move on.

“I don’t think you can expect the Navy to explain in any detail their national security concerns. I think we simply need to take them at their word,” he said. “This country is at war.”

But resident Eddie Perez scoffed at that idea.

“The war with ISIS? It’s in the dirt. It’s in the desert. They [Navy] can’t share the harbor? We just don’t want to lose our rights to the water and the harbor,” he said.

While agreeing there was no harm in trying to open a dialogue with the Navy, Commissioners Billy Wardlow and Clayton Lopez said they would not support filing a lawsuit against the deep-pocketed military complex if the discussions are not fruitful. And Commissioner Margaret Romero, the lone vote against asking the Navy to discuss the issue, angrily took commissioners to task for even asking for a meeting. She pointed to federal Department of Defense-provided statistics showing the military provided almost, 8,300 jobs in Monroe County in 2017, creating a county-wide economic impact of $929 million.

“This is a big economic engine for us. My question is why are we going to antagonize the hand that feeds us,” Romero asked.

Commissioner Sam Kaufman asked Romero to “dial it down a notch,” pointing out that Payne’s resolution doesn’t threaten to sue the Navy or antagonize it in any way.

“It simply says can we have a discussion. I can’t see the harm in that,” he said. And Commissioner Jimmy Weekley agreed that a discussion is in order.

“During that conversation we may want to remind the Navy they transferred this property at no charge for economic development purposes. Then they took away the economic development. I don’t understand that aspect of it,” he said.

When the Navy returned ownership of the harbor, including the East Quay, to the city in 2002, city officials began planning to build a 130-slip marina in the harbor, producing enough revenue – an estimated $1.3 million a year – to pay for the annual upkeep of the new Truman Waterfront Park. But when then-NASKW Commander Capt. Steve McAlearney reversed the decision in 2013, the city had to scramble to find other sources of revenue to pay for the park, which has been difficult to do.

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