Rogo Challenge
The case was won (everywhere except KW due to a wording technicality – 300 ROGOs). This was a very successful outcome. That is, until this spring’s legislative session where new laws were created both to prevent/ squash similar challenges in the future and to “reinstate the other 1,000 ROGOs”. Ultimately, LS lost, however, we did more and organized more than on any other topic in recent years, because any new development needs to protect existing residents and be sustainable.
Rogo Challenge
Beginning in 2018, Last Stand challenged the status of the ROGOs (building allocations) after then-Governor Rick Scott presented Keys communities with 1,300 additional building allocations which violated both growth limitations for the Keys as well as the state-directed 24-hour safe hurricane evacuation mandate.
Last Stand ultimately participated in a legal challenge (both via testimony from a then-Alternate board member and former president of LS) as well as financial support for the lawyers who tried the case through DEO courts and finally up to the 3rd District Court of Appeal.
Last Stand’s challenge to the ROGOs was successful because
● LS educated the public through many emails and newsletter articles
● LS spoke before the BOCC repeatedly
● LS had several Calls to Action including letter-writing campaigns and a Petition which more than 1,000 people signed.
● LS partnered with many/multiple Keys civic and environmental groups (the list includes: the Florida Keys Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, Florida Keys Citizens Coalition, Florida Keys Environmental Fund, Inc., Friends of the Lower Keys (FOLKs), Island of Key Largo Federation of Homeowners Associations (IKLFHA), Key Deer Protection Alliance, Inc., Last Stand, Lower Density for Lower Sugarloaf LLC (LD4LS), Save Summerland Native Areas, Cudjoe Gardens Property Owners Association, South Point Homeowners, LLC, Sugarloaf Shores Property Owners Association (SSPOA))
● LS wrote press releases and had a great deal of coverage in Keys (and even Miami) newspapers
Last Stand recently spoke at the April 17th BOCC meeting, expressing opposition to granting 86 early evacuation ("EE") ROGOs to CEMEX Construction Materials, Florida, LLC. Originally, this pool of EE ROGOs was designated for Beneficial Use Only (also known as Takings Cases) or for exchange with other ROGOs. However, the applicant is seeking to acquire all 86 EE ROGOs without providing any affordable allocations in return. This places a burden on Monroe County taxpayers and increases potential liabilities.