Cheryl Meads, Islamorada Seat 2 Candidate Takes Aim at Controlling Development

Konk Life: On the air in a segment is Cheryl Meads, she’s a candidate for Seat #2 for the Village of Islamorada. Cheryl can you give us a brief background of yourself and why do you want to run for seat two of Islamorada?

Cheryl Meads: Sure, as a whistle-blower who took on Big Pharma, I believe in ethical decision making. I’m a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a retired chemist, and a Clean Water advocate. I’m extremely concerned about what’s going on here in our community. As a resident, I have spent my time and resources, with my husband to help the community. My husband and I have contributed to numerous not for profits, including Habitat for Humanity and the local hospital systems. I have also served on the board of the Good Health Clinic and Mariners Hospital. I previously served on the Village Council from 2016 until earlier this year.

Konk Life: You have already served on the Islamorada Village Council, right?

Cheryl Meads: That’s exactly right. And then Governor Ron DeSantis appointed me to a position on the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board. I made the hard decision to resign from the council to take over that important role and resigned from the council. But I’m frustrated by the course that the current Council has taken since my departure, and that includes irresponsible development that has eroded our quality of life and the character of our neighborhoods; and our fiscal priorities are out of line with the desires of the tax-payers. Planning and land use decisions by the Current Council continue to price our local workforce out of the housing market. Traffic here continues to be a nightmare. I have a history of voting for the residents. And my opponent, Mr. Gregg has a history of increasing density to enrich himself and his benefactors.

Konk Life: Let’s talk about controlling growth, as you know, I’m a resident of the City of Key West, which has a tremendous amount of restrictions on growth. And one of the areas that they restrict is height. Does Islamorada have any restrictions on height there? Or can developers actually start developing either very tall condominiums or hotels?

Cheryl Meads: No, no, we have a height restriction as well. Thank goodness, the voters saw fit to put that in place some years back.

Konk Life: What areas are you speaking about restricting development? When you talk about restricting growth or are you talking about just a continuation of more hotels, private homes, or is there anything else that you think needs to put a hold on?

Cheryl Meads: The current members of Council and Local Planning Agency have found loopholes to spot zone, they’re trying to turn residential lots into commercial. In dealing with a land use item concerning the Key Heights neighborhood, they rezoned residential property for commercial use, giving the owner of that property access to an environmentally sensitive canal that runs through that community. There is also a bald eagle that lives in the hammock there. About 80 Key Heights residents showed up and had a very contentious meeting on February 10 2020, where residents showed up and begged the LPA to vote down that change and it went to council. The Council voted to approve it. But what is important to note is the applicant is the chairman of the LPA. So there’s a lot of that going on where there are business dealings there that are happening behind closed doors. There are the people who are changing the code and making money who sit on the LPA or sit on the village council. And then the rest of us who begged them to please consider our quality of life and are not being heard.

Konk Life: So that you feel that they’re voting in their own interest, not in the interest of the citizens.

Cheryl Meads: Oh, they are absolutely voting in their own interest. From 2000 to 2004, my opponent was on Council and was selected to be Vice Mayor, and later Mayor. During that time, he was able to increase the density on property he owned from having three dwelling units to eight. In the process, the Village’s Director of Planning who wouldn’t provide the eight units was let go from her job. I have a quote here that she said that I could use anytime I wanted: “She felt like she was absolutely fired because she wouldn’t go forward with the scam.” Also. Mr. Gregg bought that property for about $600,000. After he got the extra transferable development rights, he sold it for over 3.5 million, and then left town and went to Central Florida.  We have four councilmen that are running on a platform of giving control of our community back to the residents so that we can be heard, and we can be protected. I’m not against development. I’m about planned growth. Because we’re not built out. We’re not built out, but we will become built out. The question is, what is that? What should that look like?

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