Key West’s new city manager Al Childress got his first taste of the island’s great cruise ship debate during a special meeting on May 9 that packed city hall with pro-cruise ship business owners and anti-cruise ship activists.
Childress called the meeting at the behest of The Key West Committee for Safer Cleaner Ships, which has led the three-year charge to reduce the number and size of cruise ships that are allowed to visit Key West.
The owners of Pier B, Key West’s privately owned cruise ship dock, are asking state officials to make permanent an expansion of the underwater area that Pier B leases from the state. A temporary use permit for the larger submerged area was granted in July 2022, but expires after a year. Pier B’s owners are asking the state to approve that lease for 25 years.
The company’s application states, “there are no modifications that would change the use of the leased area and no new structures are being proposed.”
Representatives from Safer Cleaner Ships and its supporters warned city officials that the permanent expansion could lead to larger cruise ships coming to Key West, and reminded the same officials of the public referendums that voters passed in 2020 to reduce cruise ships in Key West.
Those restrictions ultimately applied only to cruise ship docks operated by the city, as officials were warned repeatedly that the city would face significant lawsuits if it tried to interfere with the private business of Pier B.
The state legislature later voided the voter referendums and further prohibited any municipality from doing anything that restricts maritime commerce in the state.
The anti-cruise-ship contingent wants the city to send a letter to the state opposing Pier B’s request for the permanent use permit.
“I encourage you to draft a resolution formally opposing this request,” Arlo Haskell, treasurer of Safer Cleaner Ships, told city officials.
But not all city commissioners were immediately on board.
Commissioner Sam Kaufman, an attorney by trade, and Commissioner Lissette Carey had several concerns about the city opposing the application, including whether it would constitute a restriction of maritime commerce that was expressly prohibited by state lawmakers.
“Before I make any decisions, I want to hear from our lobbyists how this will be viewed by Tallahassee,” Kaufman said.
Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover agreed, saying, “Sam also has me wanting to get this information from a legal perspective. I think there’s too much out there for us to move forward as of now.”
Mayor Teri Johnston was in support of Safer Cleaner Ships’ opposition request, but no formal votes were taken at the special meeting. The commission will revisit the issue and decide the city’s position at a meeting on May 16.
City Attorney Ron Ramsingh and Childress will assemble some legal analysis and potential impacts. The commission can then decide whether to oppose Pier B’s application, support it or ignore it and let the state decide on the request for permanency.
Members of the public who commented on the topic were fairly evenly split between pro-cruise-ship business owners and anti-cruise-ship activists who say cruise ships damage the environment and threaten the coral reef, a claim that other speakers said has been repeatedly refuted by reputable marine scientists.
“I don’t know when this city became anti-business, but it happened,” business owner Ed Swift said at the meeting. “This lease application is not going to bring any additional ships in and I think all this talk about that is misleading.”
Another member of the public pointedly told the commissioners that none of them depends on tourism for their income in Key West.
While others who support Safer Cleaner Ships strongly urged the officials to “do their job and support your constituents who voted for those referendums.”
