Each week, in an effort to provide greater familiarity and communication between the four Marathon City Council candidates and our readers, the Marathon Weekly will print candidates’ answers to a series of questions in editions leading up to the Nov. 5 election. With councilman Luis Gonzalez terming out and councilman Kenny Matlock’s term expiring, the council will see at least one new face, as Matlock is seeking re-election. Former candidate Dustin Huff announced his withdrawal from the council race last week.
Have suggestions for questions to ask the candidates? Email alex@keysweekly.com for consideration.
Answers are printed exactly as submitted by candidates, with responses limited to 150 words.
This week: The conclusion of the 2025 Florida state legislative session may come with additional building allocations bestowed to the Keys. Are you in favor of Marathon accepting additional building rights? If so, how would you like to see them divided between different classifications (market-rate, affordable, owner-occupied, etc.) and why?
KENNY MATLOCK
I am ok with accepting building rights, but we need to be more responsible in delegating them and in a more responsible timeframe. Given the overdevelopment of Marathon and the Keys, we need to do everything in our power to give every right we can to owner occupied. Owner occupied rights require the property to be deed restricted, which incentivizes home ownership and discourages vacation rentals and large housing developments. We can do this by changing how we allocate points in the BPAS system. I think we should be giving one market rate building right for every 10 owner occupied rights. Affordable units should be used in single family homes or duplexes, not massive developments. This town has been sold out long enough to large developers and it’s time to turn the tide for families wanting to make Marathon their home and raise a family here.
MARK SENMARTIN
Not only would I be in favor of accepting additional building rights, I would fight for as many as we could get. This is not an issue about development, or over development, or any other campaign buzzword you keep hearing. This is about control. If we have the rights we control the growth. We control the takings cases. We control the future of Marathon. Without them, we are at the mercy of the state and face a huge financial tax responsibility for our residents. As for the classification, homeownership would be the best route, but there are only two people on the list applying for home ownership allocations. What I would like, is to determine the best use at the time of issuing them. Things are different here than they were 5 years ago, 10 years ago. Adaptability will be key to our success.
JODY “LYNNY” DEL GAIZO
We NEED to give SERIOUS thought as well as listen to our citizens and do a complete inventory on how many home ownership, vacation rentals, market rate homes, gov’t affordable homes, gov’t subsidized, tax credit units, workforce ect., we currently have, which will take work, and then prioritize future allocations for Marathon. The purpose of ROGO over the last 30 years was to slow down future growth and to keep the uniqueness of our Island living! What is the impact on our roads, bridges, electric, water and sewars (aka infrastructure) and most importantly our environment? These are a major concern before we can move forward for the future of our city! Home ownership would be my preference and to streamline the permit process reducing the impact or most important to balance our community over major development. The citizens should have a say in this since it affects our Island lifestyle!
RAY WOOD
Yes, I would take all the building rights we can get. We do not need to use them all at once or even right away. In the past the city normally divided the percentages 33%, 33%, and 34%. It may be premature to decide how to divide them up this early, however, at this time, I would like to see percentages more like, 60% Work Force housing and Market Rate, to insure strong labor force housing and attrack outside labor. I would use 30 % for Owner Occupied, obviously for home ownership and property taxes and long term residence. The remaining 10% for Affordable Housing for the work force to move from work force housing into affordable as needed.
WATCH THE FORUM
A full recording of the Keys Weekly and Marathon Chamber of Commerce’s local candidate forum on Oct. 7 is available by scanning the QR code. The forum features candidates for County Commission District 3, supervisor of elections and Marathon City Council.
