County toughens trimming policy

Monroe County officials have decided to get tougher on violators of the county’s canal trimming standards.

The Board of County Commissioners adopted an ordinance about ten years ago to regulate the amount of overgrowth allowed along residential canals in the county.

Under the terms of the ordinance, property owners must trim back navigable obstructions in the canal to no more than 10 percent of the canal width to allow for safe passage of boats.

And while county code officers have spent some time attempting to enforce that ordinance, the situation has continued to get worse in the last decade.

Resident complaints about canal overgrowth have gotten more frequent in recent months.

So county staff Wednesday asked for permission to devise a program that will help it eliminate the navigation issues while putting the cost onus onto the property owners violating the ordinance.

Under current code processes, once a code inspector is made aware of the problem, a code case is created and the inspector visits the site, reviews aerial photography and calls in a biologist to determine vegetation types, allowable trimming and permit needs.

Code inspectors reportedly send a courtesy violation notice to the property owner informing them of the trimming needs and giving a date for compliance. All costs are currently the responsibility of the property owner.

If compliance is not attained, the case goes through the normal magistrate process and fines begin to accrue.

“The entire process is lengthy and is frustrating to residents along overgrown canals,” wrote Cynthia McPherson, senior code inspector in her memo to the BOCC.

During the research process, which can include title searches to determine ownership, and is costly to the county, she wrote.

Under the present system, the county has no funding to either assist owners in achieving compliance or to abate the overgrowth on their own.

Part of Wednesday’s request was to allow staff to devise a program that uses county money up front to bring the canals into compliance and make for safer navigation of boats through the affected canals, and then place liens on the property to collect from the property owner if that owner doesn’t cooperate in compliance costs.

A large number of the canals deemed non-compliant by code officers are on Big Pine Key, primarily in the Eden Pines and Port Pine Heights subdivisions, with some in Doctor’s Arm.

Staff estimates the costs of achieving compliance to be about $1,000 per lot.

Commissioners agreed that a more aggressive approach is needed.

“I say we use an option where we pay for it, charge our costs for homeowners who work with us to achieve compliance, and charge a lot more for those who don’t,” said Commissioner Heather Carruthers.

Eden Pines resident Michael Maurer said that some of the canals in his subdivision are up to three-quarters blocked with overgrown vegetation and no amount of neighbor pressure has been successful in getting the overgrowth trimmed back.

“Eden Pines canals are some of the worst in terms of safety on the island,” said Maurer. “The vegetation has gotten so bad that some corners are blind spots, and that’s not safe for anybody.”

As part of the title search on the property, code officials say that often the lots come back as owned by the county, state or federal government.

“If there is an issue with violation of local ordinance, we want to be a good neighbor and make the attempt to comply,” said National Key Deer Refuge Manager Nancy Finley.

She did say, however, that any vegetative trimming would have to go through a review process to ensure that the activity meets the stated mission of the refuge in regard to habitat management.

The refuge also manages several county- and state-owned conservation lots under agreements with both bodies.

“If compliance becomes a significant budgetary issue for us, I’m sure we would have to seek the help of our partners to accomplish the goal, always keeping in mind that federal lands must be maintained within the parameters of habitat maintenance,” said Finley.

Finely said that the refuge has worked recently with Port Pine Heights residents on a canal trimming project, infusing money into the project.

“I’m sure there are partnerships we can undertake to get us all what we need,” said Finley.

County staff is expected to come back to the BOCC with a program that attacks the problem from two angles.

The first will be using county funds to bring the trimming into compliance, lien the property and collect the fines upon sale. The second will be to use county funds for compliance, then seek monetary judgments through the code process and file foreclosure actions for reimbursement.

According to County Attorney Bob Shillinger, either path is possible under the county’s code enforcement provisions.

No one had an opinion on how foreclosure action might be received, or accomplished, if the affected property belongs to the state or to the federal government.

The ordinance that will be unveiled to the BOCC later this year or early next year will also address overgrown dry lots that present a safety or health issue for the surrounding neighbors.

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