New Monroe County Land Development Code Goes Into Effect Today

MONROE COUNTY, FL – The new Monroe County Land Development Code is effective today. This code establishes the specific regulations to implement the vision and policies of the updated 2030 Comprehensive Plan.

The Comprehensive Plan evaluates just about everything that would affect the island chain, including land use, housing, marine resources and conservation of environmentally sensitive land. It addresses transportation, including mass transit, ports, aviation and infrastructure (water, sewer, solid waste disposal, drainage and groundwater aquifer recharge). This plan also deals with recreation and open space, cultural resources, historic preservation and capital improvement for all County services.

Both the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code originally were developed 20 years ago. To update these detailed documents was a 6-year effort – with numerous public meetings along the way. The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners adopted both the Plan and Code in April 2016. After review and approval by the State, the Plan went into effect June 16, 2016.

A month later, also after State review and approval, the State published a final order approving the Land Development Code update. This initiated a 21-day appeal period.

The 580+ page Code would have become effective on August 16, 2016; however, during the appeal period, a petition was filed with the State that challenged their Final Order regarding 6 words.  It challenged Section 130-165 of the Code, which added a condition that in order to aggregate development of two or more parcels, the development must be “located on contiguous parcels of land”.

The challenge of these few words held up the effectiveness of the entire Land Development Code. The petitioners, State and County agreed to settle the matter by deleting the new text of “located on contiguous parcels of land” and the petitioners voluntarily dismissed their case. As a result, the Land Development Code is now in effect. The adopted documents can be viewed at: http://keyscompplan.com/.

The applications for the Planning and Environmental Resources Department are being updated to reflect the newly effective Land Development Code and can be accessed here: http://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/index.aspx?NID=189.

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