We are currently watching as our most important document, our Constitution, Islamorada’s Comprehensive Plan, is being completely rewritten, not amended, in a less than ideal and efficient process.

This document has been more than 18 months in the making and only since March 2026 have we seen the proposed plan.

In our founding years, Council meetings and workshops were once standing-room only.  Critically important workshops and meetings have been few and far between with very limited attendance for the last decade.

After waiting 18 months, the Village seems to be in a giant hurry to finalize the Comp Plan.

One of the most critical processes that any municipality ever deals with is the creation of their Comprehensive Plan.

The Council hired Able City East, a planning organization, in Oct 2024 to help get the Village through an UPDATE, NOT A REWRITE, of our defining rules – the Village Comprehensive Plan.

The importance of the plan is on Page 1 of the draft plan written by Able City:

Why it matters for residents: For residents, the Comprehensive Plan influences everything from how easy it is to walk or bike safely, to whether affordable housing is available, to how well the Village protects its coastal resources. By tying local decisions to state and regional frameworks, the plan helps ensure Islamorada remains a livable, resilient community for generations.

Also on the very first page of the draft plan:

2. Public Involvement: The process requires meaningful public participation, ensuring residents, business owners and stakeholders have a voice in shaping their community’s future.

Able City East’s approach and promise from the start:

What separates us from other planning firms is our conviction that every citizen should be given the chance to become citizen planners for life. Often times, public participation processes will engage citizens for a number of hours or days. We take a different approach, one that makes planners out of lay people.

 

Village Manager, Ron Saunders, reported the results of an April 29 Comprehensive Plan workshop for the public in last week’s Village newsletter: 

“Consultants from Able City East shared an overview of the plan, followed by a productive Q&A session with attendees. The meeting was well attended, and we appreciate the thoughtful feedback received from the community.  We want to hear from you. The public comment period is open through June 1, 2026.”

June1st?????? June 1 - come and gone! What’s the hurry?

The Plan cannot be carefully reviewed by the resident lay planners in that time frame.

If rushed - we will not have a quality product that represents the Village.

Perhaps Saunders needs to take off the rose-colored glasses. 

Ron, for a town of 7000 residents, 20 attendees at such a critical workshop should hardly be considered “well attended.” 

Twenty residents is not exactly standing room only.

Ten of the attendees at the Oct 29 workshop were there to object to an affordable housing project planned for their immediate neighborhood. 

The format of the new Comp Plan draft document made a meaningful review of the changes an impossible challenge.

We believed that we simply were updating the existing plan to bring the antiquated data and procedures into the present-day setting.

Instead we got a totally new 242-page Comp Plan… a highly technical manuscript with sophisticated planning jargon presented by Able City.

Able City promised to make planners out of lay people.

They didn’t. The plan was, at times, incomprehensible to us “lay people.”

Our own initial review uncovered many typographical errors, misconceptions and misstatements.

We need to know the following:

·      What exactly was changed?

·      What was added?

·      What was deleted?

·      Keep it simple! Use normal coding with cross-thrus and underlines.

 

Last week Planning Director Jennifer DeBoisbriand was the featured speaker at the Islamorada Chamber lunch.

The  Chamber posted:

Islamorada Village Planner Jennifer DeBoisbriand did a fantastic job breaking the Comprehensive Plan update down into understandable and manageable pieces while helping attendees better understand the process and why it is important.

This is exactly what the residents should receive at a TOWN HALL MEETING at the Village Community Center.

Help us understand!

Residents need to be trained as lay planners in orderto assist in a critical role in planning the future of the community.

 WE know what WE want.

The Village public workshop lasted just 1 hour and 20 minutes.

That would make it impossible to unravel 242 complex pages of rules and regulations in the “new” Comp Plan.

Residents and staff also need to figure out changes, coordinating the Comp Plan and new Land Development Regulations. (LDRs) 

 

The planning staff had the initial draft of the Comp Plan from September 2025 until February of 2026 for their professional review. 

That’s 5 months.

In March 2026 the draft became available to the “lay planners” of Islamorada who will be subjected to the Comp Plan guidelines and will need to deal with new Future Land Use and Zoning Maps for the next couple decades. With no planning assistance.

Fair? Good governance? Absolutely not!

When the Village approved the first Comp Plan and maps, they held over a dozen public hearings with huge maps hanging on the walls for residents to study. 

The promise of public involvement only works if the public is engaged in the process.

 

We need to make that happen or we will be facing a future with plenty of “I was never told” or “Nobody told me” excuses for years to come. 

In last week’s Village newsletter, Manager Saunders stated written comments can be sent to Planning:  Jennifer.deboisbriand@islamorada.fl.us by Monday, June 1, 2026.

Now that the comment period is closed, all feedback is to be reviewed. And then the next public meeting date will be announced.

I repeat what Able City wrote:

The process requires meaningful public participation, ensuring residents, business owners and stakeholders have a voice in shaping their community’s future.

Resident participation should be the Village Council and Manager’s first priority. It is a key ingredient to the success of the Village.

I implore the Village Council and Manager to focusing on the electorate and invigorating their participation in the process.

Anything less is unacceptable.

 

Invigorate the electorate!!!

Tom

We do not have the numbers yet to calculate how much lost revenue the Village and other taxing authorities would face.   Gov DeSantis has argued that rapidly rising property tax collections are placing increasing pressure on Florida homeowners, with statewide collections rising from roughly $32 billion in 2019 to about $60 billion today. The Village has seen an increase in total property taxes of $6,719,600 since 2020, a 58% increase, with no increase in population.   The hope is that the local governments will trim some excesses in their budget. The homestead properties are only a relatively small part of the total property tax revenue in the Village.  A vast majority of the homestead properties have a taxable value in excess of $150,000 and will continue to pay property taxes. Click here for details of the proposal from the Florida League of Cities.

In a letter to legislators, Monroe County Mayor Michelle Lincoln said county leaders support tax relief but are concerned that the plan could destabilize funding for required services in the Keys, an area vulnerable to hurricanes and other unique geographic circumstances. Click here for Lincoln’s letter.

A property tax elimination plan could make Florida the first state with no income tax AND no property tax on homes. It starts with a plan to dramatically reduce taxes on Homesteaded properties.

Several bills were filed for the Special Session on property taxes that began Monday afternoon, June 1. The primary bill to be considered by both the Florida House and Florida Senate would place a constitutional amendment before the voters at the 2026 General Election this November. The resolution increases the homestead exemption from the current $50,000 to $150,000 beginning Jan 1, 2027, and to $250,000 beginning Jan 1, 2028. The increased homestead exemption applies to county, municipal, school district, and special district levies. During day one of the special session: Lawmakers seemed to be moving the property tax overhaul forward, but with major changes that protect public-school funding and strip out a proposed trust fund to offset local revenue losses. Only  homesteads would see relief under the proposal; commercial and investment properties would stay taxed as-is. Any amendment approved by lawmakers would still need 60% voter approval in November to take effect. A $150,000 deduction at the 2025 millage rate (8.9199) would amount to over $1300 per year for homesteaded properties in Islamorada.

It appears negotiations are going on behind closed doors.

The license agreement, necessary to spell out the responsibilities of both the Village and the School District, is the deadlock. We continue to hear that the School Board does not want to agree to give the Village any say at all as to the design of the upgraded field or the materials used.

Both the Village Council and the School Board will meet on June 9. But not together.

There are few people who have contributed as much to protect our treasured environment as Charlie Causey.

Marby and Charlie Causey Charlie Causey 1934 - 2026 When Marby first met Charlie, she noticed he was smart, good-looking, funny and ambitious. She had no idea she would spend the next 55 year with a man who was, first and foremost, a remarkably good person and a true Southern gentleman.

There were three phases in Charlie’s life: Finance: Causey began his professional life in finance on Wall Street. His hard work, insight, and diligence led to successes that allowed him to retire at age 45.   Environmental activism: Soon after his retirement, he and Marby bought their home in Islamorada and Charlie fell in love with the marine environment here. Back country fishing became a passion.   He looked out over his beloved Florida Bay and realized “this is worth fighting for” and thus began his determination to protect our environment. His name was soon associated with a multitude of environmental efforts, serving on the boards of numerous local, state, and national environmental organizations. He worked on local Comp Plans, Board member of SFWMD, National Marine Sanctuary, Everglades restoration, and the Florida Keys Environmental Fund, saving the 18 mile stretch from 4-laning, helping to negotiate design features like the life-saving median wall between north and southbound lanes.   Photography: Charlie became an accomplished photographer in his later years, especially focused on capturing amazing shots of birds in the Keys and  Everglades. He combined his photography skills and environmental stewardship into graphic storytelling of the environmental paradise he loved. Charlie’s long time fishing guide, Eddie Wightman: “I’ve known Charlie as a client but also a very close friend for well over 40 years…one of the finest men I’ve ever known. And the strongest of advocates for protecting our environment; always willing to fight for what is right, and with his own money. Just to protect a place he loved.” Village Councilman Steve Friedman commented: “Charlie was a real pioneer in the conservation world.  Early on, he helped educate all of us about the need to fight for clean water, giving us a head start in the effort.” Islamorada and the Florida Keys will miss Charlie, the man who was so driven in his efforts to make a difference here and in the world. Rest in Peace, Charlie.

Held May 28, two companies, Circuit and Freebee,  made presentations. We left the workshop with numerous questions! In attendance, there were only a handful of residents, four members of council, two lobbyists (both, oddly, from lobbying firms representing both the Village and Freebee), several staff members, and several Freebee drivers. An RFP (Request For Proposals) was advertised by the Village on March 12, 2026. A competitive bid process is required by FDOT when applying for grant funding. The only previous RFP was mysteriously canceled by the Village without explanation after Circuit was recommended by the selection committee two years ago. The current RFP stated that a $2 fee per rider would be charged, in an effort to reduce the cost of the service to taxpayers. While the representative from Freebee claimed his proposal reflected a reduced cost compared to the current Freebee contract, his proposal calls for Freebee to be paid $665,000 annually instead of the current $553,330. The net cost to the Village in the Freebee proposal is reduced by $23,330, from $553,330 currently to $530,000, a result of new Village revenue of $135,000 from the $2 fee and advertising on vehicles.   Circuit’s proposal varied from a low of $400,000 up to $581,000 depending on options suggested and varied ridership figures. The current ridership numbers suggest there are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 riders annually ($80,000 - $100,000 revenue).  Plus possible revenue for advertising on vehicles, and with their cell phone app.

Memorial Day at the Monument has been a treasured Matecumbe Historical Trust event since the 1980s, organized for years by Trust Founder, Irving Eyster, and now, since Irving’s death, by his daughter, Barbara Edgar.

Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez (and Barbara Edgar) The wreaths honoring Veterans Matecumbe Historical Trust Founder - Irving Eyster

This year, Florida Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez addressed the crowd. Also present: Jim Mooney, Florida House, Michele Lincoln, David Rice and Holly Raschein from the County Commission, Anna Richards, Deb Gillis from the Village, Sherri Hodies, Supervisor of Elections, Sue Woltanski,School Board. Local veterans contributed a wreath and passed out poppies to those in attendance. The poppy was originally associated with Veterans Day but is now primarily worn during the Memorial Day weekend, here and around the country. In 1992, the owner of a wreath company in Maine, had a surplus of holiday wreaths. He donated them to Arlington National Cemetery as a tribute to the fallen—a gesture that soon became an annual tradition on Memorial Day. It may have been traditional to lay wreaths at the Hurricane Monument even earlier than 1992. Thank you to the Matecumbe Historical Trust for this special annual community event.

Juneteenth National Independence Day is a federal holiday celebrated on June 19, commemorating the end of slavery in America. It was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Village Hall will be closed for this holiday.

provided by Carolyn and Eddie Wightman

These rose-colored glasses
That I'm lookin' through
Show only the beauty
'Cause they hide all the truth

Song by John Conlee