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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/14/2025 Agenda AGENDA m MONROE COUNTY SPECIAL BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING November 4, 2025 11:30 AM The Board will convene at the Marathon Government Center 2798 Overseas Hwy, Marathon The meeting is open to the public. Members of the public can also attend via Communications Media Technology at: Zoom webinar: https://mcbocc.zoom.us/i/8920409870 This meeting will be conducted in person. Remote participation is available as a courtesy but is not guaranteed. ADA ASSISTANCE: If you are a person with a disability who needs special accommodations in order to participate in this proceeding,please contact the County Administrator's Office, by phoning (305) 292-4441, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., prior to the scheduled meeting, if you are hearing or voice impaired, call "711". Live Closed Captioning is available via the MCTV portal @ his.Ilcloud.castus.tvlvodlmonroe/videol60832c9dcf67bb7acOc21791?page BIOME&type=live for meetings of the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners A person may submit written comments or other physical evidence on a particular agenda item for consideration at the BOCC meeting via email to Lindsey Ballard @ ballard-lindsey(�monroecounty- fl.gov County Administrator's Office, no later than 3:00 P.M. on the Monday prior to the meeting. The email must include the submitter's name, address, phone number and email address and the agenda item number the documents/comments are regarding. Any intellectual property submitted must include the appropriate authorization for use.Any person who wishes to be heard shall,prior to an item being called, provide the Clerk with his/her name and residence, and the agenda item on which he or she wishes to be heard. An individual has three minutes to address the Commission. However, the first person representing an organization has five minutes to address the Commission. Subsequent speakers for the same organization have three minutes to address the Commission. For land use items, the petitioner and, if the owner is different than the petitioner, then the owner of the property that is the subject of the land use item, will be allowed 20 minutes to address the Commission. Other people are allowed five minutes to address the Commission. Speakers appearing remotely via communications media technology may speak under the same time constraints as those speakers appearing live before the Commission. Remote speakers need not fill in a speaker card before speaking but must identify themselves and their addresses at the beginning of their remarks. Failure to do so may result in early termination of their speaking privileges for that item. For additional assistance, please call (305) 292-4441 or email your inquiry to: ballard- lindsey(�monroecounty ft gov. If a person decides to appeal any decision made by the board with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing, he or she will need a record of the proceedings, and that,for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. 1 Please note that all time approximate items are listed in bold. TIME APPROXIMATE SPECIAL MEETING 11:30 A.M. Call to Order Salute to Flag A. ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS,AND DELETIONS B. PUBLIC HEARINGS Bl. A public hearing to consider an emergency ordinance that would declare that an emergency exists and amend Section 18-26 of the Monroe County Code, entitled Rules Specific to Higgs Beach County Park-," to vest the County Administrator to grant exemptions in writing to any prohibition set forth Section 18-26 for organized community events that contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of the County, and requiring the Administrator to transmit a copy of that written exemption to county commissioners upon issuance. 2 B1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY of MONROE Mayor James K.Scholl,District 3 The Florida Keys Mayor Pro Tern Michelle Lincoln,District 2 Craig Cates,District 1 David Rice,District 4 Holly Merrill Raschein,District 5 Special Board of County Commissioners Meeting Meeting November 4, 2025 Agenda Item Number: B1 2023-4814 BULK ITEM: No DEPARTMENT: District 3 TIME APPROXIMATE: STAFF CONTACT: Mayor Scholl n/a AGENDA ITEM WORDING: A public hearing to consider an emergency ordinance that would declare that an emergency exists and amend Section 18-26 of the Monroe County Code, entitled Rules Specific to Higgs Beach County Park," to vest the County Administrator to grant exemptions in writing to any prohibition set forth Section 18-26 for organized community events that contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of the County, and requiring the Administrator to transmit a copy of that written exemption to county commissioners upon issuance. ITEM BACKGROUND: Section 18-26 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances establishes rules that are specific to Higgs Beach County Park, which is located within the City of Key West. Those rules contain certain prohibitions against various activities within the Park including: (b)possession of alcohol (with limited exceptions); (d) the locations where cooking, camping, and other fires may be lit on Higgs Beach; (e) park closure hours [e.g. closed from 11 pm to 6 am with certain limited exceptions]; and(g)parking, standing, or stopping of recreational vehicles and campers. Subsection(f) makes violations punishable by up to 60 days in jail and/or a maximum fine of$500. Recently, the City of Key West restricted use of at least one of its properties that had previously served as a staging area for vessels participating in the boat races and their support vehicles which include recreational vehicles used as tow vehicles. Event organizers have requested use of Higgs Beach as an alternative but such a use would violate the prohibitions against RVs and overnight parking and use of Higgs Beach. The code currently contains no language or mechanism to grant an exemption from from certain rules in Section 18-26. The proposed ordinance, as drafted, would vest the County Administrator with the authority to grant exemptions to any rule in Section 18-26 for organized community events that contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of the county. Under the draft ordinance, such exemptions may only be granted in writing and must be transmitted to County Commissioners at the time of issuance. 3 The normal process for adopting a county ordinance is set forth in F.S. 125.66. That process requires that public notice of the public hearing to consider that ordinance be published in the paper at least 10 days in advance of a public hearing and publication of a business impact estimate. That statute also contains an exception for emergency circumstances, which dispenses with the public notice and business impact statement requirements if the Board finds that the circumstances constitute an emergency and pass the ordinance by a 4/5th vote of the entire board. The draft ordinance alleges that the confluence of events, i.e., the unexpected decision to not allow use of a certain city property and the fast approaching start of the boat races constitutes sufficient grounds to declare an emergency and follow the emergency adoption process. The draft emergency ordinance proposes an effective date retroactive to November 1, 2025. Without proceeding through this emergency enactment process, boat race participants that use RVs as tow vehicles would not be able to use Higgs Beach County Park as a staging or storage areas during the November 2025 boat races. The boat races generate significant revenue for local businesses, as well as tax revenue for the City of Key West and Monroe County. The proposed ordinance would amend Section 18-26 of the code to add subsection(i)which would read as follows: • The County Administrator is vested with the authority to grant exemptions to any rule or prohibition set forth in this section provided that the exemption is granted only for organized community events that contribute to the health, safety, or welfare of the County. The Administrator may consider the economic impact of the event to the County and its residents when determining whether to grant an exemption. In granting an exemption. the Administrator must state in writingthe he specific exemptions being granted and transmit a copy of that exemption to members of the Commission upon issuing it. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: Section 18-26 of the Code was enacted by Ord. No. 16-1991 and subsequently amended by ordinances 24-1995; 1-1997; 33-1998; 36-1998; 2-2000; 18-2001; 008-2002; 026-2002; 20-2012; 009- 2023; and 026-2024. INSURANCE REQUIRED: No CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: n/a STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approval. DOCUMENTATION: 4 Emergency Ordinance amending S. 18-26 to authorized CAD to grant exemptions to Higgs Beach rules.docx FINANCIAL IMPACT: n/a 5 ORDINANCE NO. -2025 AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, AMENDING SECTION 18-26 OF THE MONROE COUNTY CODE OF ORDINANCES, "RULES SPECIFIC TO HIGGS BEACH COUNTY PARK", TO VEST THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR WITH THE AUTHORITY TO GRANT EXEMPTIONS IN WRITING TO ANY PROHIBITION SET FORTH IN FORTH SECTION 18-26 FOR ORGANIZED COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE INCLUDING ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF THE COUNTY AND REQUIRING THAT THE ADMINISTRATOR TRANSMIT A COPY OF THAT WRITTEN EXEMPTION TO MEMBERS OF THE BOARD UPON ISSUANCE; AND PROVIDING FOR SEVERABIILTY AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE RETROACTIVE TO NOVEMBER 1, 2025 TO MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW. WHEREAS, under F.S. 125.01(1)(f) the Board of County Commissioners for Monroe County (BOCC) is granted the authority, among others, to provide parks, playgrounds and recreation areas; and WHEREAS, the BOCC finds that public parks and recreation areas provide sites where the families and citizens of Monroe County can benefit from and engage in healthy recreational activities; and WHEREAS, Section 18-26 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances establishes rules that are specific to Higgs Beach County Park, which is located within the City of Key West; and WHEREAS, 18-26(b)bans the possession of alcoholic beverages with limited exceptions; and WHEREAS, Section 18-26(d) limits the locations where fires may be lit at Higgs Beach County Park; and WHEREAS, Section 18-26(e) provides that Higgs Beach County Park is closed to the public from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. with limited exceptions; and WHEREAS, Section 18-26(f)makes it an offense punishable by a maximum of$500 fine and/or imprisonment of up to 60 days in the county jail not to violate any provision of Section 18-26; and WHEREAS, Section 18-26(g)bans recreational vehicles and campers (hereinafter"RVs" from parking, standing, or stopping within the fenced, gated, or posted area of Higgs Beach County Park.; and 6 WHEREAS,Higgs Beach County Park has been reserved in the past to serve as overflow for boat parking during the Key West Boat races which occur every November; and WHEREAS, due to an unforeseen change in use of a city park as the primary location for parking of boats and the use of RVs as tow vehicles for boats participating in the boat race, race organizers have inquired whether RVs that serve as tow vehicles for boats participating in the race boats can be parked overnight within Higgs Beach County Park during the boat races; and WHEREAS,the County Code currently only contains exemptions to certain prohibitions set forth in the rules at Higgs Beach but not other prohibitions, including RV parking and overnight use; and WHEREAS, the Key West Boat Races are scheduled to begin on Wednesday November 5, 2025; and WHEREAS, the BOCC finds that the above-recited circumstances and confluence of events constitutes an emergency for purposes of enacting an emergency ordinance pursuant to its authority under F.S. 125.66(4); and WHEREAS, under F.S. 125.66(4) the BOCC is authorized to dispense with the normal notice requirements before considering an ordinance at a public hearing provided that 4/5ths of the membership of the entire commission declares that an emergency exists and votes in favor of adopting the emergency ordinance; and WHEREAS, it is the intent of the BOCC to immediately amend the code, retroactive to November 1, 2025,to vest the County Administrator with the authority to grant exemptions to all prohibitions set forth in Section 18-26; and WHEREAS, without proceeding through this emergency enactment process, boat race participants that use RVs as tow vehicles would not be able to use Higgs Beach County Park as staging or storage areas during the November 2025 boat races; and WHEREAS, the Boat Races generate significant revenue for local businesses, as well as tax revenue for the City of Key West and Monroe County which is an economic benefit to the community; and WHEREAS, the Board specifically intends for this ordinance to have retroactive application to November 1, 2025 to the maximum extent permitted under law and in support of that intent the Board specifically finds that this ordinance does not create new obligations, impose new penalties, or impair vested rights since the obligations imposed by the current version of Section 18-26 of the Code of Ordinances; and WHEREAS,the BOCC does hereby declare that an emergency exists and that immediate enactment of this Ordinance is necessary, and by no less than a four-fifths vote of the BOCC does hereby waive notice of intent to consider this Ordinance; and 7 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA: SECTION 1: LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. The above stated recitals to this Ordinance are hereby incorporated into this Ordinance by the BOCC as the legislative intent pertaining to this Ordinance. SECTION 2: EMERGENCY ENACTMENT. Pursuant to State law and based on the legislative findings set forth herein, it is declared that an emergency exists requiring immediate action by the BOCC. SECTION 3: EXEMPTIONS. Section 18-26 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances is hereby amended to add subsection (i)which shall read as follows: (i) Exemptions. The County Administrator is vested with the authority to grant exemptions to any rule or prohibition set forth in this section provided that the exemption is granted only for organized community events that contribute to the health, safety, or welfare of the County. The Administrator may consider the economic impact of the event to the County and its residents when determining whether to grant an exemption. In granting an exemption, the Administrator must state in writing the specific exemption(s)being granted and transmit a copy of that exemption to members of the Commission upon issuing SECTION 4: SEVERABILITY. If any portion of this Ordinance is for any reason held invalid or declared to be unconstitutional, inoperative or void, such holding shall not affect the remaining portions of this Ordinance. If this Ordinance or any provision thereof shall be held to be inapplicable to any person,property or circumstances, such holding shall not affect its applicability to any other person,property or circumstances. SECTION 5: CONFLICT WITH OTHER ORDINANCES. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this Ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of said conflict. SECTION 6: FILING: Pursuant to F.S. 125.66(4), the Clerk is directed to transmit by email a certified copy of this Ordinance to the Florida Department of State as soon after enactment as is practicable and to the Municipal Code Corporation for publication. SECTION 7: EFFECTIVE DATE. To the maximum extent possible allowed by law, this Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon adoption by a 4/5th vote of the entire commission, retroactive to November 1, 2025, subject to any requirements of F.S. 125.66(4). PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida,through emergency enactment procedures authorized by F.S. 125.66(4), on the 4fh day of November, 2025. Mayor James Scholl Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Lincoln Commissioner Craig Cates Commissioner Holly Merrill Raschein 8 Commissioner David Rice (SEAL) BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Attest: KEVIN MADOK, Clerk OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA By: By: Deputy Clerk James Scholl, Mayor Approved as to form and legal sufficiency: 9