For those of you wanting details, read on for a history and background of this saga:

I won’t include links to the many Sunshine Law violations and contract flaws that plagued this years’ long negotiation.  

This is a landlord - tenant situation.  Islamorada is the landlord and the School District is the tenant.  Who in their right mind would spend five years designing improvements, hiring a design and build contractor, submit an application for permits with included  civil and structural engineering plans - before the “lease” has been discussed and approved by the property owner?

And now expect the Village to agree to the “lease” - without nitpicking.

Over the years, our excellent athletic programs have been able to allow more and more Coral Shores students (which includes students from Tavernier and Key Largo ) to participate in sports on campus: girls and boys soccer and lacrosse, track, softball, tennis, as the baseball field was off site at Village owned Founders Park.

Remember, it’s not just Islamorada children.

The School District didn’t need to buy more land that would have cost millions of dollars, if they were able to get a good deal.

Instead school baseball space was leased from the taxpayers of Islamorada with a whopping $10/year lease. In fact – a gift at a giveaway price – with a lease now to be extended another 40 years.

Marathon and Key West residents do not pay any maintenance, utility bills,

repair and replacement costs for their facilities. Do their fields get utilized for other school activities after baseball season is over?

Shouldn’t the same happen at the Founders Park high school baseball field?

The license agreement prorates maintenance, utility costs – School 5

months; Village 7 months.

Replacement/repairs of improvements for the next 40 years – a 50-50

split.

What if other school athletic programs use the baseball field? Shouldn’t that reduce the 7 months? Not based on the agreement being considered.

Marathon workshop-

On July 21 a joint workshop was scheduled with the School Board and Village Council:

a Tuesday at 1:30 pm. Not conducive for Islamorada residents who work. But better than nothing. We’ll take it.

The residents here, naively believe they are entitled to open, transparent government with decisions made at public meetings.

The workshop agenda provided a license agreement as the base document that the Village Council had not previously agreed to, at least not publicly, as required.

The workshop discussion was limited to the changes to that previously “unseen” license and use document, with numerous items never discussed and approved publicly.

A “final” design being currently permitted by the Village that has never been presented to our Council and the public at a public meeting.

The design is not even the same as the improvements listed in the scope of work in the License Agreement.

We predict the agreement will likely be approved unanimously with no changes. Council will pretend that it was carefully thought out.

Far from it, another rollover to make it go away before the election.

I have to mention that at the end of the baseball workshop last week, a member of Village Council said the council wouldn’t “nitpick” the license agreement at the Special Call Council meeting Monday July 27 when the license agreement is to be approved.

“Nitpicking” is not the right word. The obligation of the Council is “attention to detail,” something that Islamorada lacks in most of our contracts.

Careful scrutiny of Village agreements is desperately needed in Islamorada. And I guess the School District too.

We absolutely need to “nitpick” and to analyze carefully every part of this 40-year agreement.

This is not “monopoly” money. The bill will be paid by taxpayers, current and future taxpayers.

“Nitpicking” on contracts should be standard operating procedure but, sadly, it is not.

Making Village taxpayers responsible for too many unknown future costs for a facility desperately needed by the school kids, is, in fact, sadly ill-advised.

It will only add to the future controversy and potential taxpayers’ financial obligations.

Islamorada did more than our share by providing an athletic site worth millions

of dollars, charging just $10/yr!  Because those are our kids.

We should be given the same financial burden the people of Marathon and Key West have. None.

The school budget should pay for the children in the Upper Keys as they do in the rest of the County.

Whether they “own” or “lease” the field should not be an issue.  

Am I being “nitpicky”?

Last year the Village millage rate approved was 2.65; School millage rate countywide,  2.947 mills.  

And the village must cover some school athletic costs that no other Monroe County

municipal government covers. Have the taxpayers of Marathon, Key Largo, Key West contributed school assets like the taxpayers of Islamorada?

We need to pay attention to the details - 40 years is a long time to pay for mistakes the council could make with an agreement that has not been properly nitpicked.

An election is coming!

Tom

The new owners plan to sell at least some of the 22 homes individually, with Ocean Sotheby in Islamorada already marketing several, starting at $3.8 million.  

History: Twenty-two homes, permitted as 4 bedroom/4 bath single family residential homes, were completed on the property in 2017.  Later an adjoining 8 unit hotel was added to the project. The 22 homes have vacation rental licenses.  The property was built as 4 bedroom/4 bath single family homes, replacing Pelican Palms, a mobile home park once located there.

Van Cadenhead effort: The controversy began when a Village street, DeLeon Avenue, was abandoned from the Old Highway to the Ocean and deeded to the property owner who owned on both sides of DeLeon. The abandonment created a large contiguous parcel where the 22 homes were built. Through the persistence of then community activist and one time resident of Pelican Palms, Van Cadenhead, a public walking right-of-way was granted, from the Old Highway through the new project to the ocean, in exchange for the elimination of DeLeon Ave that previously provided public access to the water. A pedestrian gate along the Old Highway provides public access to the walking path.  

More recently: The Village Planning Director affirmed that even though Vacation Rental licenses issued for the 22 individual single-family homes prohibit rentals of less than seven days, the homes at the Islands of Islamorada can be rented nightly.