At a May 19 meeting of the City of Key West’s Planning Board, as the roll was being called, the board’s vice chairman, Jim Gilleran, voiced concern over a dilemma
State House representatives have removed the requirement from a proposed bill that would have ordered boat owners anchored or moored off the Florida Keys to move their vessels every 90 days if they were not moored in a regulated mooring field.
HB 639, and its Senate companion bill, SB 1068, included the 90-day requirement to help prevent Keys vessels from becoming derelict and sinking, which has become an expensive problem for the Monroe County government.
The 90-day provision remains in the Senate version of the state bill, which the Senate has passed. Also in the Senate version is a provision that before the law be enacted 300 new moorings be placed within a mile of Key West, 250 new ones and adding 50 to the City of Key Westâs mooring field.