Highway tops Sugarloaf concern list

After spending the better part of three years gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in the county’s Growth Management Division, documents that outline a potential new master land use plan for Sugarloaf through Little Torch Keys are about to get perused again.

The county started what it calls the Liveable Communi-Keys planning process about three years ago for the Lower Keys area from Saddlebunch to Little Torch.

After several public input sessions and two drafts, the project halted as the Growth Management Division underwent a series of personnel and priority changes.

Last week, Sugarloaf residents asked the county to put the plan back in the pipeline.

“We need to get back on that,” said Christine Hurley, new growth management director. “I have begun the work of getting a status on the Lower Keys LCP. We will come back with neighborhood meetings for updates to the residents” on where we are with that plan.

Hurley said, however, it would realistically be summer before her staff would be able to bring the Lower Keys LCP back to the front burner.

Senior Director of Planning Townsley Schwab told residents that his staff would be reviewing and re-assessing the current documents in the coming weeks.

“There were some issues we heard in the public input meetings that weren’t addressed as thoroughly as we would have wished,” he said. “We need to do our homework and then coordinate a time when many of you will be in town to get more updates.”

Other islands had different issues regarding long-range planning in the Lower Keys, but Sugarloaf’s primary concerns centered around transportation issues with US 1.

Residents there are concerned that not enough is being done to coordinate any long-range land use issues with needed enhancements to the highway through the state Department of Transportation.

They are also concerned that the road is slated to be torn up at least three times in the coming years instead of all agencies “getting on the same page” and tearing the highway up just once, says Gordon West, Sugarloaf Shores resident.

He said the residents there are also concerned that little is being done to fix access and traffic issues near Sugarloaf Blvd.

That is the only road into and out of Sugarloaf Shores, and it enters US 1 directly across the street from the commercial complex at Sugarloaf Lodge.

Exacerbating those concerns, said West, is a recent application to change the future land use of the lodge complex to mixed use from destination resort.

“The mixed use land designation carries with it a much higher density of building than the current designation,” said West.

During the LCP planning process, no increases in building height or density were two of the concerns about which residents were extremely vocal.

“We have talked to (Lloyd) Good (owner of the Lodge complex) and he assures us that he has no desire to develop that property to its full density,” said Hurley.

She said that the planning staff would recommend that continued development on the lodge complex site be limited.

“We can’t say no additional growth, but Mr. Good was amenable to limits,” said Hurley.

The primary reason for the designation change, said Hurley, is that many of the current uses at the complex are not permitted in the destination resort. If they were to be destroyed by a storm or fire, Good couldn’t rebuild them as the same use.

Both Hurley and County Administrator Roman Gastesi said they would push DOT to sit down at the table and discuss the residents’ concerns about the highway with an eye toward modifying the planned resurfacing project.

Lower Sugarloaf is one of the two areas in the Lower Keys that have fallen below state standards for level of vehicular service along US 1. Previously graded as a solid C, Lower Sugarloaf has fallen well into the unacceptable category, and the area is avoiding a state-imposed building moratorium due to a five percent buffer the state allows.

“We’ll never fix the traffic concurrency issue if we don’t address the issues at Sugarloaf Blvd.,” said West.

“We have tried to put together accident statistics, but the Sheriff’s Office has one set and Florida Highway Patrol has another. It’s very hard to get a complete set. We want to see if the area needs a traffic light,” said West.

He said many of the residents would be happy if the state just installed some curbs or landscaping at the entry points to the commercial complex to guide patrons in and out of the area without the free-for-all that currently exists.

Gastesi said he would try to set up a meeting with FDOT, county and residents for the March Sugarloaf Shores Property Owner’s Association meeting.

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