Parking issues in one Islamorada community and protections for roaming peacocks were among the notable issues before the Islamorada Village Council during a Sept. 9 meeting.
Discussion ensued over the Anglers Reef Property Owners Association’s interest in leasing the village right-of-way on Windley Key in order to construct and maintain parking spots for residents and visitors inside the gated community.
In the past, residents and visitors of Anglers Reef, located on the Old Highway on Windley Key, could park their cars, trailers and watercraft across the street on the right of way. That all came to an end, however, after a previous council approved a no-parking zone in the median and rights of way beginning at MM 84.3 on Windley Key to MM 85.4 on Upper Matecumbe Key. Concerns had been raised by the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, which needed the area unhindered by the influx of boats, trailers and heavy machinery for a water main replacement.
The FKAA water main replacement project on Windley has since been completed.
In August, the village’s engineer presented the council with a proposal to construct parallel parking spots on Windley Key not far from Anglers Reef at a $500,000 price tag. The village, as well as the association, didn’t feel hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars should be used to produce a limited number of parallel parking spots.
A draft proposal presented to the council Sept. 9 by the association’s attorney, Ty Harris, would give the association the ability to pay for and construct new, back-out parking spots. The association proposes paying the village $500 a month. The village would also be indemnified in the event of an accident occurring from a car backing out of a parking spot onto the Old Highway.
Harris said the proposal came following a recent meeting among the association, Islamorada Mayor Sharon Mahoney and Village Manager Ron Saunders that sought to find a solution to the community’s parking issues.
“This feels like the best solution to solve this problem without costing the village any money. The village is going to make some money on the lease; we’re going to incur all the responsibility for improvements,” Harris said.
A majority of council members ultimately gave staff the go-ahead to proceed with pursuing an agreement between the village and Anglers Reef for parking. Some council members said they would like the rent increased to $1,000 a month. The proposal is expected to come before the council in October.
If approved, the newly-created parking spots would be available not only to Anglers Reef residents, but also to visitors and other members of the public.
Islamorada resident Ken Thomas spoke in opposition to the new parking on a village right-of-way for Anglers Reef. He said the “private problem should find a private solution,” like Hog Heaven did when the restaurant acquired adjacent property for additional parking.
“This agreement and proposal is solely for the welfare of those wealthy individuals, about half of them from New York, New Jersey and other states. It changes Windley Key’s character to preserve the rich,” Thomas said.
A majority of the residences inside Anglers Reef are vacation rentals or secondary homes, with only one homesteaded property. Each home is built with two parking spaces. No additional parking is available inside the community, concerned residents say.
“This is not a community that can afford to spend $2.7 million on an empty lot next door. It’s not as rich as everyone says it is,” said Nick Catania, who spends half the year at his Anglers Reef residence. “The fact that we can’t park our cars anywhere now is becoming a very big problem, because now my kids are older and still want to come to the Keys and enjoy it just like I did.”
Scott Ofstein, Anglers Reef Property Association board member, said they’ve been trying to work something out with the village for 10 months. He said there’s no ability to accommodate overflow parking inside the community.
“This takes everything off the table for you guys,” Ofstein said. “We’re still going to make it beautiful. It’s just going to be cars and landscaping. For more than 15 years, it’s been cars and trailers looking like a disaster.”
Council members also approved the first reading of an ordinance protecting peacocks in the village. Specifically, the proposal prohibits anyone from taking, hunting, capturing or killing any peafowl and their nest or eggs. Property owners, however, still have the ability to remove peacocks from their property should they pose a nuisance. The ordinance states peacocks can be removed without physically harming them.
Also, the ordinance prohibits the feeding of any peafowl, either directly or by making food freely available for the purpose of consumption by peafowl. A person may maintain vegetation they know, or have reason to know, peafowl eat so long as the vegetation’s primary purpose is
not to attract peafowl to their property.
Added protections for peacocks come after a homeowners association on Plantation Key was seeking to have bounty hunters remove the birds in July. It caused quite a stir in a community with residents who’ve come to adore the peacocks’ existence on the island. A large response from the community and efforts by Mahoney to protect the peacocks led the Port of Call Townhouses Homeowners Association’s board of directors to pause the removal effort.
Per the homeowners association’s attorney, the cause of the peacock problem was the continuous feeding of the animals by two owners within the community — a violation of the association’s rules. Despite multiple violation letters sent by the association and its legal counsel, the owners continued feeding the peafowl and exacerbating the issue.
