Monroe County shifts endangered-species review for Big Pine, No Name keys

Big Pine Key and No Name Key property owners will see endangered-species review shift into Monroe County’s regular permit referral system, with the county saying the same protections for Key deer, Lower Keys marsh rabbit and Eastern indigo snake will stay in place. The change applies only to properties on the two islands that fall within Species Focus Area maps.

Monroe County said Thursday that a letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the transition away from the long-running Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit framework. The new review path will run through the county’s existing Permit Referral Process under the amended April 30, 2010 Biological Opinion tied to FEMA’s administration of the National Flood Insurance Program. County staff said they are still working with USFWS and FEMA to pin down exactly how the handoff will work on July 1 and how impacts will continue to be reviewed and mitigated so the county stays in compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

For owners, the practical effect is more of a rerouting than a rollback. Monroe County said permits outside Big Pine Key and No Name Key are already reviewed through the same Permit Referral Process, so the move aligns the two islands with the broader county system. The county also said the revised Species Assessment Guides were issued May 27 and that the core protections built under the HCP and ITP will continue to be tracked in annual reports to FEMA and USFWS.

Those protections still include the cumulative cap on species impacts at 1.1 H-impact and a 3-to-1 mitigation ratio, with a surplus mitigation credit still available to permittees. The county said the maximum number of new residential units on Big Pine and No Name keys will rise from 200 to 236, as long as total impact does not exceed the H cap. Monroe County also said total native habitat clearing will remain limited to no more than 7 acres over 20 years.

The old plan was not a small one. USFWS approved the Big Pine Key and No Name Key Habitat Conservation Plan on June 20, 2006, calling it the largest Habitat Conservation Plan ever created in Florida. It covered about 7,000 acres and was designed to protect the three listed species while allowing limited development, including the acquisition and restoration of more than 500 acres of high-quality habitat.

For residents balancing property rights with endangered-species protections, the county is signaling continuity, not retreat. The review label changes, but the conservation math, the species list and the local limits that shape rebuilding on Big Pine and No Name keys remain in force.