In what was far and away the quickest gathering of the past year, the Marathon City Council’s Oct. 11 meeting gave further direction in the city’s ongoing battle to retain its 300 recently revoked affordable housing allocations, pledged help to residents affected by Hurricane Ian and saw the approval of two ordinances dealing with smoking, drinking and recreational fires on city property.
In a stunning opinion from Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal (DCA) handed down on Aug. 3, 300 affordable housing allocations given to the city in 2018 were deemed illegal. With the allocations earmarked as “early evacuation” units, the ruling declared that the designation violated Florida Statute 380.0552(9)(a)2, requiring a “hurricane evacuation clearance time for permanent residents of no more than 24 hours.”
A request for the DCA to re-hear the case was denied on Sept. 20, leaving Marathon with only one option for legal escalation: a petition to the Florida Supreme Court. City attorney Steve Williams informed the council that the Village of Islamorada has also elected to continue with such an appeal. With a unanimous vote, the council elected to pursue the petition while retaining the services of attorney Bart Smith, who has represented the city thus far in appeals of the case through the Department of Administrative Hearings and DCA.
City officials have previously acknowledged, however, that the final appeal is unlikely to resolve the issue, and that a more probable fix for the revoked allocations would come through a legislative change to statutes governing hurricane evacuations in the state’s 2023 legislative session.
In Other News:
- Marathon Mayor John Bartus, with the agreement of the council, announced that permit applications received by the city for legitimate Hurricane Ian repairs will be expedited and issued without the typical review period. Permits will be submitted to the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) but issued immediately to allow residents to work through hurricane repairs.
“We all know that our relationship with the DEO has been strained. But what I do not
want this to impact are people who have legitimate Hurricane Ian repairs for properties
and damage they suffered there,” said Bartus. “(City Manager) George (Garrett) has told
me that DEO is willing to work with us on Hurricane Ian permit repairs.”
- At its final public hearing, the council unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance prohibiting smoking and alcohol consumption on city property, as well as providing an enforcement mechanism for the offenses. According to the final ordinance, first-time violators would be asked to leave the property, second-time violators would be issued a trespass warning for all city parks for no more than a year, and third-time violators would be subject to arrest as a trespasser. The city council would be permitted to waive the provisions of the law for specific events on a case-by-case basis.
- At its first reading, the council unanimously approved an ordinance requiring a permit for any recreational fire on city property and allowing the city to apply a penalty for unpermitted fires as a code violation. A recreational fire permit must be received by the fire chief at least 30 days in advance of the intended event date, and fires must be fully supervised until all flames and smoke are extinguished. Permits will not be issued for any beach fires or in potential turtle nesting areas during turtle nesting season.
- Council comments included many thanks for city staff and first responders throughout the course of Hurricane Ian and included a stern address by Bartus addressing “rumors” heard about the city in the months leading up to the Nov. 8 general election. See page 35.
