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 Monroe County
 Land Development Code
 Chapter 118. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
 Article I. IN GENERAL

  § 118-7. General Environmental Design Criteria.  

Latest version.

  • No land shall be developed except in accordance with the following general criteria:

    (a)

    Development shall not disturb the following vegetation:

    (1)

    Champion trees (listed nationally or in the State of Florida);

    (2)

    Native specimen trees (diameter at breast height that is greater than seventy-five percent [75%] of the record tree of the same species for the State of Florida); and

    (3)

    Plant species listed by the USFWS as threatened or endangered.

    (b)

    To the maximum extent practicable, development shall be sited so as to preserve all listed threatened and endangered native plant species; species of special concern; and regionally important native plant species. In those instances where an applicant can demonstrate that avoidance of such species is not possible by clustering or by an alternate design approach, then the applicant shall make a payment into the Monroe County Land Management and Restoration Fund in accordance with Section 118-8.

    (c)

    The habitat of protected plants and animals (including but not limited to species listed as endangered, threatened, species of special concern, or protected under laws such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act) shall be preserved to the maximum extent practicable through the configuration of open space. Habitat includes, but is not limited to, foraging, roosting, breeding, and natural and artificial nesting habitat. This includes, but is not limited to, bird rookeries and bird nesting colonies. No habitat of protected species shall be disturbed without prior notification and approval by the County Biologist. Impacts to endangered species habitat that result in a "May Affect" determination through the application of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Species Assessment Guides will require coordination with the USFWS in accordance with Chapter 122-8.

    (d)

    All areas of disturbance shall be managed to avoid the introduction and/or establishment of invasive exotic plant species as defined in Section 101-1.

    (e)

    All invasive exotic plant species shall be removed from the parcel proposed for development.

    (f)

    It is the purpose of this subsection to minimize the environmental impacts of development by requiring design of a development on a parcel of land to incorporate clustering of the development away from the natural areas on the parcel that are the most susceptible to harmful impacts of development. Clustering requirements shall apply to all development, including plat design, and shall be achieved in the following manner:

    (1)

    When a parcel proposed for development contains more than one habitat type, all development shall be clustered on the least sensitive portions of the parcel. For the purpose of this subsection, the relative sensitivity of separate habitat types shall be as listed below with subsection (f)(1)a. of this Section being the most sensitive and subsection (f)(1)j. of this Section being the least sensitive.

    a.

    Cactus hammock;

    b.

    Palm hammock;

    c.

    Beach/berm;

    d.

    Pinelands;

    e.

    Hammock;

    f.

    Disturbed beach/berm;

    g.

    Disturbed with slash pines;

    h.

    Disturbed with hammock;

    i.

    Disturbed; and

    j.

    Disturbed with exotics.

    (2)

    Development within the least sensitive habitat shall achieve the maximum density or intensity allowable by Chapter 130, and shall fully use the net buildable area of the habitat prior to expanding to the next least sensitive habitat type on the site. For proposed plats, these clustering requirements shall be applied such that the number of proposed lots are sized and configured to achieve the highest allowable density within the least sensitive habitat prior to locating additional lots within the next least sensitive habitat. For disturbed habitats only, development or proposed plats shall use 100 percent of the disturbed habitat, except for the area of any required setbacks, before expanding to the next least sensitive habitat type.

    (3)

    In addition to the requirements of subsections (f)(1) and (f)(2) of this Section, development shall be clustered within the least ecologically valuable area of each habitat as determined by the County Biologist.

    (4)

    All development shall be clustered in a manner that reduces habitat fragmentation and preserves the largest possible area of contiguous, undisturbed habitat. The Planning Director may vary the clustering requirements described above in order to reduce habitat fragmentation.

    (g)

    The Planning Director, in consultation with the County Biologist, may approve an application that modifies or waives the minimum yard requirements set out in this Land Development Code in order to preserve champion and specimen trees or the habitat of protected species.

( Ord. No. 006-2016 , § 1(Exh. 1), 4-13-2016)