KEY LARGO, FL – In a special Monroe County Board of County Commissioners meeting held Tuesday, the board directed staff to not move forward to the construction phase of the $41 million potentially grant-funded sea-level rise road adaptation project in the Stillwright Point neighborhood after finishing the grant-funded design already underway, and to continue only routine road maintenance and potential future repavement, which will be discussed during the upcoming budget process.

“This was a productive but painful process we had to go through to come to this solution,” said Commissioner Holly Merrill Raschein. “We needed to get to this step to learn what the next steps are, the costs, the long-term benefits, and what the residents are willing to contribute. I commend our entire team for their hard work, and our community for their endurance.”

During several meetings, Stillwright Point property owners opposed providing easements to the county required to facilitate water retention and treatment when the roadway is elevated.

Other road adaptation projects underway with grant-funded design, including Sands Subdivision, Conch Key, Winston Waterways, and Big Coppitt, will have the the designs completed, and then be reviewed for neighborhood funding participation to supplement the grant funding before construction is authorized.

Monroe County Administrator Christine Hurley provided information about how Lee County handles the special needs of neighborhoods, where each neighborhood organizes, conducts a polling of potential costs, and funds 100 percent of those improvements through a Municipal Services Benefit Unit (MSBU). Some of the above projects already have various levels of grant funding available for construction, but property owners will be asked to pay for the difference in project funding and future maintenance costs. At least 50 percent plus one of the property owners must be in favor, or the project will not proceed.

Over the last decade, Monroe County has been working toward a more resilient Florida Keys, including a Roadway Vulnerability Analysis and Capital Plan, which uses environmental and human-use factors in assessing the flooding vulnerability of 300 miles of county-owned and maintained roads.

Ninety-seven neighborhoods within unincorporated Monroe County are identified as at risk for sunny-day flooding by 2045, with an estimated cost of $1.6 billion for adaptation of 150 miles of county-owned roadways. The commissioners expressed concerns about using general population taxes to fund special projects benefiting specific neighborhoods and not the county as a whole.

The commission wants to ensure that a standard of core service is provided to the community, which typically includes routine maintenance and repavement of streets without elevation as needed and when funds are available, and directed staff to develop a new program where neighborhoods interested in road elevations to combat sea-level rise have a formula to follow to accomplish increased service levels like the Lee County model.

The first budget meeting is July 15 at 3 p.m. at Marathon Government Center.

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