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MARATHON WEEKLY / JULY 21, 2022 NUMBER OF THE WEEK
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9709 Overseas Hwy. Marathon, FL 33050 Office: 305.743.0844 www.keysweekly.com
The number of lobsters per person, per day, during lobster mini-season, Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28, in the Florida Keys. Don’t say you’re catching another six lobsters for your wife who’s at the hotel or your father back home in South Carolina.
ON THE COVER Marathon resident Phil Demeo shows off a prized spiny lobster during the 2019 lobster season. If you plan to go hunting for miniseason this week, make sure you know – and follow – the rules. See page 17. CONTRIBUTED
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CAN BOATS BECOME HOMES? Marathon, BoatWorks, DEO square off in final administrative hearing ALEX RICKERT alex@keysweekly.com
D
oes a lack of express prohibition constitute permission? What’s the difference between a “liveaboard” and a “floating structure?” And what can you do with each of them? Definitions and code interpretations consumed the majority of proceedings in a final hearing involving the city of Marathon, BoatWorks Investments LLC and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on July 13 and 14. Heard by administrative law judge Todd P. Resavage, the outcome of the two-day hearing could set a significant precedent for the use of live-aboard vessels recognized as dwelling units when the city of Marathon adopted its 2005 comprehensive plan and 2007 land development regulations (LDRs). DEO’s petition against the city and BoatWorks Investments stems back to Resolution 2021-105, unanimously ap-
proved by the Marathon City Council in January 2022, in which the city allowed a limited number of the 32 live-aboard dwelling units previously recognized at a property to be re-developed as land-based units at the same location – if the live-aboards were subsequently done away with. As Marathon falls within an Area of Critical State Concern, all development agreements within the city – including the BoatWorks plan – are subject to review by DEO unless otherwise specified by a memorandum of understanding between a municipality and the state. Colloquially known as the “BoatWorks project” at the end of Marathon’s 39th Street Gulf, in which 52 units of affordable housing would be paired with up to 20 market-rate units along the waterfront, the development agreement was eventually appealed by DEO, which contended that the decision to redevelop the live-aboard units on land was inconsistent with the principles set forth by Marathon’s comprehensive plan and LDRs. In layman’s terms: a permanent residence on the water should not be used as a basis to build a residence on land, even on the same piece of property. Though the aftermath of the appeal was outside the scope of this particular hearing, DEO eventually issued a notice of violation to the city and
subsequently revoked its long-standing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Marathon when building permits were issued for a limited number of the market rate units as DEO’s appeal of the live-aboard redevelopments was ongoing. Calling DEO regional planning administrators Scott Rogers and Barbara Powell, former Area of Critical State Concern administrator Rebecca Jetton and Marathon Planning Director Brian Shea as witnesses, DEO attorney Linville Atkins argued that pre-existing boats and slips at the property were better classified as floating structures and were thus expressly prohibited from being re-developed on land due to provisions in Marathon’s code. “To allow the conversion of 34 wet slips, or live-aboards, to the upland as a development right circumvents the BPAS process or system, which in turn upsets the staged evacuation plan in place for hurricanes,” said Atkins. “This is a very important issue and … if allowed, will establish a dangerous precedent for not just Marathon but for the Keys.” According to Florida statutes, a floating structure is defined as “a floating entity … which is not primarily used as a means of transportation on water but which serves purposes or provides continued on page 7
