People Are Asking ...

The Latest News: August, 2025
Sunset Park

Sunset Park now has shade sails over the center lawn, a paved area for handicap parking, and a new paver walkway nearly completed to the pier. The shade improves the lawn area for Sunday concert goers, dog walkers, families, picnickers, and celebrants. Kudos to Brendan Eubanks--UB Brickin'--for another great job. UB also did the new paver walks at Inch Beach, at the 7th Street Park, and many more.

What Happened at the Special Meeting for the 100% Drawings?

Laurie Swanson's letter was mentioned as received but the commission did not address any of her questions nor any of Concerned in KCB's comments.

The total project cost will be five to six million dollars making KCB's share of the cost three to four million dollars.

What are the results of the Planning & Zoning committee architectural review?

Where will the physical and digital records be stored?

Explain why the dark blue roof won't cause significantly higher cooling costs.

What is the alternate plan if the final drawings attract a construction bid well over the five to six million dollars budgeted for this project?

Why must the administration and the building departments must be walled off against the public?

The three-story entry building appears to violate city ordinances, the Florida Building Code, and a Florida statute. Please explain why it is okay to build this plan.

Why are there seats for as many as three receptionists, seven police officers, and eleven other staff?

Why will we spend nearly a million extra tax dollars for the empty lobbies, the "open atrium" and the gym.

Architect Brandan DeCaro believes the likely July-September, 2026, construction completion date will not impact the payout of $1.9 million in grant funds under the June 30, 2026, grant deadline.

KCBers would like a confirmation from the grant agency and from Commissioner Harding.

There is no sprinkler system anywhere in the building.

The "fitness room" has no after hours ADA access ramp (people requiring ramp access will have to enter by the locked, ground floor admin office door, navigate through a second locked doorway, and up the ramp around the elevator to the lobby to get to the gym, all using an "access card." Card access means many, many locked doors throughout the building. There was no discussion of who programs, issues, and maintains the cards.

Vice Mayor Colonell noted that "means and methods" changes will be discussed in Thursday's meeting.
The commission unanimously approved the $3,902,904 final opinion of construction cost which apparently does not include the A&E contract, landscaping, and other expenses.

Concerned in KCB has noted that the construction cost plus the A&E contract, landscaping, furniture, new office equipment, and other expenses beyond the scope of the bid, plus change orders will increase the total project cost to five- to six-million dollars. We hope the commission will address that.

The commission unanimously approved the city hall 100% design drawings.

The commission unanimously decided to move the discussion of the final bid package and contract to Thursday's meeting.

What did the KCB City Commission do at the Public Hearing and Regular Meeting on August 21?

Public Hearing

The commission approved the pool variance for 150 11th Street. Building official Tony Loreno called it "typical" of the other pool variance requests. He also noted that P&Z will look at an ordinance to change the pool variance requirement during their next meeting.

Read the Key Colony Beach Public Hearing Agenda and Packet.

Regular Commission Meeting

Read the Key Colony Beach Public Hearing Agenda and Packet.
There were many big issues on the agenda this month. KCBers may still want to ask our commissioners about many, many items in particular:

Since Commissioner Harding understands, "The person that does not rent is supplementing the people who do rent." about the rental program fees, why doesn't KCB apply the same question of fairness to the sewer fees or to stormwater assessments both of which are charged flat or "per dwelling unit" fees irrespective of usage or land area?

Will the commissioners explain why they changed the Sunset Park ordinance to allow fishing from the pier?

The Special Meeting did not address the expected total project cost of five to six million dollars and this meeting steamrolled over it.

Does the commission plan to have an architectural review by the Planning & Zoning committee?

Where will the physical and digital records be stored that they are safe and protected from water damage?

Will the commissioners explain why the dark blue roof won't cause significantly higher cooling costs?

What is the alternate plan if the final drawings attract construction bids well over the budget?

Will the commissioners explain why the administration and the building departments must be walled off against the public?

The three-story entry building still appears to violate city ordinances, the Florida Building Code, and a Florida statute. Will the commissioners please explain why it is okay to build this plan.

Will the commissioners please explain why there are seats for as many as three receptionists, seven police officers, and eleven other staff?

Will the commissioners please explain why we will spend nearly a million extra tax dollars for the empty lobbies, the "open atrium" and the gym folly.

People requiring ramp access to the "fitness room" will have to enter by the locked, ground floor admin office door, navigate up the ramp around the elevator to the lobby to get to the gym, all using an "access card." Will the commissioners please discuss who programs, issues, and maintains the cards? (Anyone who has used an access card in a hotel recently knows how often they fail but hotels have 24-hour desk service.)

The commission proudly recognized of Chief Kris DiGiovanni for 20 years of service to the community.

KCBCA presented a $5,000 check for the refrigerator in city hall.

Citizen Comments and Correspondence included several about the golf course and Laurie Swanson's letter concerning city hall included in an earlier newsletter but none were read for attendees to hear. Mel Ardis spoke to two issues. He called the extension of the Sunset Park "a distraction and a mess" and noted that the key card access to city hall "will create more problems than what it's worth." The commission "needs more consideration of what do with the key card and with the fitness center" before moving forward.

Marathon Fire/EMS noted that the CPR program for residents will restart in October.

In the discussion of the 2021 Ford F150 Responder truck, it was noted that the police department currently has eight vehicles for seven positions with two new ones on hand now, plus a new order coming this fall, plus two SUVs due to be sold. The commission approved the purchase for $24,000.

Commissioner DiFransico asked about cameras in Sunset Park. The chief noted that we don't have a dispatch center to monitor the feed which means we have a liability of response. Commissioner Harding said we have IT coverage for the connection. That desire for surveillance started with Dave Turner's city-wide Hotwire proposal.

Mayor Foster reported that the $2.2 million grant for city hall is on track. "We've talked at length with the manager" and can submit work up to June 30. It was noted that we have to follow the federal purchasing bid guideline and that "Some of the grant is COVID money."

Early Alert a company "we don't pay anything to unless we have a hurricane situation or emergency." The commission approved them without any discussion of the "pay-as-you-use-them" cost.

Building official Tony Loreno reported they have had a "good turnaround with local contractors and inspections," and underscored his focus on job safety. "We are bringing Sam [Building Assistant Samantha Rodamer] up to be our fire inspector." There is some concern about ongoing inspections by unlicensed personnel. The city hall asbestos abatement is done. Mayor Foster ordered that "Tony will be paying part of the city hall construction with the $400,000 building department" reserve fund.

City attorney Smits said they are waiting for a proposal from Daryl Rice for the golf course contract. Commissioner DiFransico will work with Daryl.

The Consent Action Items were approved unanimously.

In the Discussion Action Items, the commission examined not renewing the US Water contract for the sewer plant. They "proposed that we explore the waste water work in house." The MOU Agreement with Marathon would have Marathon do testing and backup as needed.

They combined the Discussion of the Shelter Bay Drive Wet Detention Pond Fountain System and the Landscaping. Commissioner Harding noted "This is a cash flow issue." He would borrow from the Infrastructure Fund to pay these bills. Infrastructure and General Reserves are allocated for hurricane costs and city hall. There is no fence in the proposals. Mayor Foster said there was "enough cash available to buy the fence and have Mike install it." The total $298,161.41 project for the fountain system and landscaping was approved unanimously.

They removed the interlocal agreement for fleet maintenance & repair services from the agenda because the county increased the hourly rate by $100/hour. Commissioner Harding said "we could pay Dirk to change our oil at lower cost."

The commission approved amending the contract with CPH after a private discussion with the city attorney. They updated the bid documents and approved it.

Sewer billing practices for the marina got a lot of attention. Commissioner Harding thinks the fee is excessive for a boat and says "The charge would apply to liveaboards but not a fishing boat." They will collect more data although no one was sure what data to collect. Commissioner Harding made the point that "The thing we have to think about as a commission is 'are we taxing fairly?'" Commissioner DiFransico thinks "we're opening a can of worms." Mayor Foster moved to postpone the decision to a "date TBD based on data." The motion carried 3:2 with Commissioners Diehl and DiFransico opposed.

The Utility Board recommended changing all wastewater billing. The commission "just got this today." City clerk Roussin read the utility board recommended motion, "To have a flat rate charge for residents and condos and to eliminate extra costs which means no more assessments for washing machines and lavatories, for condos to be treated the same as residents with no changes to the commercial bill structure." Commissioner Harding noted that "there are two different proposals so if you approve one, that negates the other." The motion passed 3:2 with Mayor Foster and Commissioner DiFransico opposed.

The commission discussed a contract amendment for the dry floodproofing of the maintenance garage. Commissioner Harding reported "You'll notice some smoke and mirrors have popped up." He reported that "We have paid K2M $16,100 so far and have been billed $28,760 for change in scope" plus construction drawings for state, and phase 2. "The good news is that we have some leftover money from last year... The estimate for the work they've done is $59,210 which will take us through the phase 2 engineering." The commission passed that unanimously.

For Resolution 2025-07: Emergency Medical and Fire Rescue Services, Commissioner Harding reported that this is a significant change again. we paid $550K in 2022, $550K in 2023, then a $150K increase to $700K in 2024, a $237K increase to $937K this year and another 220K increaseto $1.2M in 2026. Commissioner Harding stated, "with two more increases, we could do cheaper this ourselves... 70% of our tax increase goes to this one line item." It was passed unanimously

For Ordinance No. 2025-500: Sewers And Sewage Disposal, Monthly Rates And Charges, they made changes based on the prior discussion: deleting additional bathrooms all the way down to sinks. Commercial accounts will revert to $247 and they changed the residential rate from $74 to $75. They unanimously approved the first reading as edited and restated.

For Ordinance No. 2025-503: Parks And Recreation, City attorney Smits said the ordinances are being aligned to require all four committees to be the same for residency, recommending, quorum. There were substantive changes to this ordinance for swimming and fishing, changes that concerned the correspondents. Commissioner DiFransico doesn't want to mandate that residents be "full time" to serve on a board. City attorney Smits quoted the domicile statute. They edited out "full time" from the residency requirement. The first reading was passed unanimously as edited.

For Ordinance No. 2025-504: Beautification Committee, the first reading was passed unanimously as edited.

For Ordinance No. 2025-505: Development Review Committees Planning And Zoning, the first reading was passed unanimously as edited.

For Ordinance No. 2025-506: Utility Board, the first reading was passed unanimously as edited.

didn't explain why actual expenses tracking higher than the predicted budget by $247,000, or 5.8%. "Our prediction for revenue was good but we're spending more money," he said. "In the last six years, we have never been cash flow negative in July." Until now.

Commissioner Harding planned $5.3M for the city hall project cost (confirming local expectations of $5-6M total cost). Architect Brandan DeCaro estimated a $3.9M building cost alone plus all the furnishings, gingerbread, and other costs which adds up to a $5.3M estimate without any consideration of cost overruns. Mayor Foster said he "can support a $4.5M" because some of the costs won't be paid in 2026. They approved putting $4.5M in the budget as the total cost of the city hall project next year.

City attorney Smits noted that the three cases currently in litigation--the Cay, Cox, and Harper--"are being handled by our insurance"at no cost to the city.

Commissioner Harding reported that COVID is still present in our wastewater samples and that Monroe County and FL numbers are going up. Both flus are also monitored and are zero. RSV has been very low.

Commissioner DiFransico Met with Beauts Chair Sandy Bachman and Rec Chair Cindy Catto for their wish lists for future projects.

Vice-Mayor Colonell reported that the "Brick program has been beaten to death legally. We've gotten nowhere. Brick has hit a brick wall."

Mayor Foster reported that TDC Grant Award for Pickleball Sail Shades allowed us to put shades over four courts and that he had a TDC Grant for improvements to the Sunset Park Fishing Pier. The 7th Street parking lot is getting blacktopped to be paid out of the impact fees. He said there was an anonymous complaint from a publication he refused to acknowledge.

Mayor Foster recognized that the "budget as of this morning from Jen we will finish the year went $150K negative on top of the $350K shortfall in the budget" and recommends a $1.5M line of credit to support cash flow. Commissioner Harding "didn't want to pull that plug because it would get a lot of press attention." He proposed waiting until we have the city hall contract. KCBers are concerned that this is the first time the city has been cash flow negative since before Irma and that it is happening before city hall construction has even started.

About the Golf Course Mayor Foster said he was "Up to my neck in the communication from the guy running the golf contract. If he needs stuff, he needs to come to the commission. He needs to speak for himself. We're still getting questions about why he doesn't have a contract and people should ask him why he doesn't have a contract." Commissioner Harding suggested delegating a commissioner to talk to him. Commissioner DiFransico will work with Daryl.

Mayor Foster reminded the commission, "Placating is not in my cards." He also said, "If I get any more letters from any more citizens, I'm really not interested in having that vendor on the city."

How about a Hot Dog at the Beach?

KCB Police Officers had a great time with hot dogs, cheeseburgers, conversation, and play at Sunset Park. There is lots of photographic "evidence" on Facebook.

100% City Hall Design Drawings

The city commission will host a special meeting in Marble Hall and on Zoom on Monday, August 18, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The meeting is for a presentation by CPH Architect Brandan DeCaro. The commission will discuss the construction cost, ram through the 100% design drawings, and approve the final bid package and contract.

Here is an abridged architectural plan showing the elevations and floor presented by CPH plus the elevation and 3D image from the citizen proposal to create a legal two story entry and to resolve the ADA access: http://peopleareasking.org/resources/100_submittal_set_floorplans-08-14-2025.pdf
KCB has added the 08-15-2025 City Hall 100% Design Development and the 08-15-2025 Opinion of Probable Construction Cost to the city website under "About Our City" on the page for "City Hall Renovations." The 17.5MB 2401034_Key Colony Beach_City Hall - Architecture.pdf is the 60 sheet architectural package. The other drawing sets include Electrical, irrigation, landscape, mechanical, plumbing, and structural drawings.

KCBers are still very concerned that we're buying a five-six million dollar shopping center facade as the showpiece for the city despite the obvious violations of KCB ordinances, the probable violations of Florida Building Code and Florida statutes, the likelihood of an ADA lawsuit, and the concerns that there has been no citizen architectural review.

The architects have made vast improvements and the commission has answered some of our questions but the crucial challenges remain:

People Are Asking why is the commission ignoring the city ordinance that calls for an architectural review by the Planning & Zoning committee?

Sec. 101-28. - Architecture.
All buildings, additions and alterations hereinafter constructed shall be of an architectural style and of building materials that are harmonious in character and appearance with existing buildings in the neighborhood and shall be appropriate to their surroundings. See section 101-167(2)(i) for additional, more detailed, criteria which shall apply to all buildings. All uses requiring site plan approval shall require architectural review as a part of that review...

People Are Asking why is the commission approving a "tower" that violates at least two city ordinances and the Florida Building Code?

Sec. 101-18. - PB Public buildings and grounds districts.
Sec. 101-28. - Architecture.

People Are Asking why will anyone who needs an ADA ramp to visit the "fitness room" be unable to do so after hours, violating at least one federal statute and risking a lawsuit?

Public Buildings and Facilities: The ADA requires that public buildings, including government offices, libraries, educational institutions, and fitness rooms have accessible entrances for all open hours.

People Are Asking why is the critical records storage room below Base Flood Elevation, violating at least one Florida statute?

Florida law requires municipalities to maintain and preserve public records, including permanent records, in a manner that ensures accessibility and prevents damage or loss. This involves storing records in their usual location or, for vital, permanent, or archival records, in fireproof and waterproof environments.

It is noteworthy that the simplest solution (first recommended at the beginning of this project) is to build the entrance lobby on ground level and floodproof it.
That simple solution eliminates ADA issues, eliminates parking lot issues, reduces the overall height of the building, and reduces costs.

People Are Asking why are there are seats for as many as three receptionists, seven police officers, and eleven other staff? How many more people does the commission plan to hire?

People Are Asking why is the standing seam roof specified as "blue" in this land of extreme solar gain?

People Are Asking why the commission plans to spend nearly a million dollars (20% of the total project cost) for lobbies, an "open atrium" and a gym?

The architecture is so far along that many of the unanswered questions and design errors are simply going to be the oh, why didn't we think of that issues in the finished building.

Those design problems include completely isolating the administrative offices from the public which violates both tradition and the desire of the citizens. The lovely open atrium design wastes space (and construction cost) that could have expanded the department offices, conference space, or restrooms. Access to the first floor administrative office through the lobby ought not require climbing up to the lobby elevation and then back going down to the admin floor. The second floor restrooms have grown slightly with lockers and changing space for eight police officers but there still no showers. The gym restroom downstairs now has a shower but no lockers. And the suggestion of letting the gym share restrooms with Marble Hall and the administrative space was ignored. There are still two enclosed, office-sized reception rooms upstairs. The building department has a "reception area" when a Dutch door and counter would separate the public from the staff. There are "extra" mechanical and electrical rooms on the second floor but no janitor's closet.

There are other issues but that's not a surprise. No building has ever been built that gets everything 100% right and, overall, this design meets many of the city's requirements.

More than seven years and ten months have passed since the commission hired K2M Design to assess city hall damage (K2M and FEMA find not enough damage to warrant "demolishing and replacing" city hall). KCBers have had no expectation that, after all that time, the design would be perfect. KCBers all do hope for and support any commission efforts to answer the issues raised, correct these errors, and finally to finish this project.

Click or tap here to email your questions and comments to the commissioners and city clerk to ask these and other questions about the plans.

More than ever, we--KCBers and commissioners and architects together--need to think critically to make this project the best it can be.

KCB has added the 08-15-2025 City Hall 100% Design Development and the 08-15-2025 Opinion of Probable Construction Cost to the city website under "About Our City" on the page for "City Hall Renovations." The 17.5MB 2401034_Key Colony Beach_City Hall - Architecture.pdf is the 60 sheet architectural package. The other drawing sets include electrical, irrigation, landscape, mechanical, plumbing, and structural drawings.

Here is an abridged architectural plan showing the elevations and floor presented by CPH plus the elevation and 3D image from the citizen proposal to create a legal two story entry and to resolve the ADA access: http://peopleareasking.org/resources/100_submittal_set_floorplans-08-14-2025.pdf

All the official "City Hall Renovation" documents released so far can be found here: https://keycolonybeach.net/about-our-city-2/city-hall-renovations

Steel Drum Workshop

St. Columba Episcopal Church and the Steel Drum Band of the Florida Keys offer an Introduction to the Steel Drum Workshop with Chuck Brooker in the St. Columba Parish Hall on August 16 at 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Brooker will discuss the history of the steel pan and teach the basics of playing and reading music in a relaxed atmosphere. No previous experience is required. The participation fee is $20. Follow this link to register and for more information.

Please Excuse Our Mess

Shelter Bay Drive may be a bit of a mess for a week or so as our Detention Pond gets a make over. That means large trucks will be entering and exiting the area. The rain this week won't make the work any cleaner of easier.

Work on our Detention Pond continues as LPS Contracting scoops out marl to increase the depth of the pond and to slope the sides properly:

After a series of field trials of plants with grasses in the upslope section and inundation tolerant plants in the downslope section, the Beautification Committee and Public Works has collected data that assessed plants for the area. The full report is available on the city website: https://keycolonybeach.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FINAL-REPORT-ON-DETENTION-POND-STUDIES.pdf.

The full history of the Detention Pond is available on the city website: https://keycolonybeach.net/detention-pond.

More Taxes and Talking Trash

The Marathon Weekly reports Monroe County school board members adopted a tentative budget with a tax increase... Specifically, the board set a tentative millage rate of 2.9470, which will raise $167 million. A taxpayer with a home valued at $500,000 last year and the maximum allowed increase in assessment would pay an additional $82.16, or 6.04% more in school taxes than they did in fiscal year 2024-25.

Monroe County has also proposed raising the aggregate property tax rate millage to 3.3965. Monroe County assesses all property owners in KCB for garbage collection. That charge appears as an annual assessment on your property tax bill. The assessment will increase $28.53 to $577.11 per "dwelling unit" this year in order to raise $20,479,325 from Monroe County property owners. The KCB also commission increased the local proposed millage rate to $2.82 per thousand in assessed valuation at the July meeting.

The County will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. on August 20 at the Harvey Government Center in Key West and via Zoom to receive public comment on the assessments. Call 305.295.4323 or 305.295.4328 with questions or for more information.

Stewardship Squabbles

The Marathon Weekly reports that Unincorporated Monroe, Key West square off with smaller cities over cash. Millions of state dollars from the Florida Keys Stewardship Act have funded crucial water quality improvement acts throughout the delicate island chain. But as another $20 million is on the way from Florida’s 2025-26 state budget, Keys governments aren’t aligned on how to split it up.

The KCB city commission approved the ILA for the Stewardship Funds at the July meeting. City administrator John Bartus had reported "the [smaller] stakeholders have agreed to work together to distribute it as an equal partnership." Monroe County and Key West appear to be challenging that agreement.

CLOSED

The KCB Farmer's Market is closed. San Pablo Farmer's Market on Fridays will re-open for the new season from November, 2025 through April 2026.

Most of the vendors will be working through summer at Boondocks MM27.5, every Saturday from 10am-2pm.