Marathon Council Pulls Plug On Zip-Line…Probably

Reacting to a strong letter from U.S. Fish and Wildlife and another from a Florida based ADA advocate, the Marathon city council moved at its January 28 meeting to “step back” from its support of establishing a zip-line attraction at Crane Point Hammock. That support came in the form of a grant application from the city to the Department of Economic Opportunity for $ 727,000.

The five councilors voted unanimously, as Mayor Dick Ramsay put it, “that this council take a backseat until such time as we hear an update on at least a couple of these issues, one of which is obviously what we’ve been talking about—this letter from the advisory committee and secondly, and it keeps bugging me, the ADA.”

Ramsay is primarily referring to a very strong communication from Cindy Fury of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of Interior. Citing potential fatalities of the state-listed threatened White-crowned Pigeon because of likely collisions with zip-line wires or other structures, elimination of a vanishing hardwood hammock in the Keys, and woefully inadequate documentation, Cindy Fury of the agency, noted that potential prosecution could be in the offing if there is a “direct or indirect take (killing or injury).”

The potential prosecution is what scared the council.

Councilman Chris Bull tried to soften the blow by echoing Ramsay’s comment, saying that,

“That letter is actually from a Fish and Wildlife advisory committee, not from the actual Fish and Wildlife commission”

Bull is probably representing the Crane Point party line but that letter was not from an advisory committee. Bull is clearly thinking about Florida Fish and Wildlife, which is a commission. The letter came from U.S. Fish and Wildlife and not a committee there. The letter is advisory only in the sense that it advises that if a bird is killed or injured, then severe consequences will follow and the city could be held legally responsible.

There were many surprises at the meeting. The first is that the council, which had given nearly unanimous support to the project and to applying for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) on behalf of the non-profit nature reserve, now voted unanimously to suspend that support. The meeting seemed choreographed, as if they had all decided in advance that this is what they would do. No one dissented.

Clearly there is another shoe waiting to drop.

The second surprise was that the council members seemed ill-informed about the nature of the project and how the mechanics of the grant worked. While city staff has provided extensive assistance for filing the grant application and, in the case of the planning director George Garrett, even facilitating Crane Point’s efforts, most of the heavy lifting has been done by grant consultant Meridian/GSG, the company that works with the city when applying for CDBG money. For example, comments solicited from a newspaper advertisement about the impact of the project on the flood plain and wetlands were sent to the city’s community services director Debra London but were forwarded directly to Calvin Knowles of Meridian without specific municipal action. Since Meridian benefits financially if the grant comes through, the company is not likely to respond to negative comments by the public.

Two of the councilors – Rich Keating and Mark Senmartin — referred to the grant as “tax money”; however, the $727,000 grant is not local tax money but is funneled through the state from the federal coffers. What is worrisome to Marathon is that the source of the funds is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and that department also provides funding for affordable housing projects.

The city of Marathon’s financial responsibility, other than the extensive staff time spent on the grant application on behalf of a local non-profit, comes if the project doesn’t produce the 21 jobs promised by Crane Point. Then Marathon would need to kick in $35,000 per job not filled. If the project is not completed then that could total the entire amount of the grant.

Another surprise was that no one from Crane Point came to the podium to defend the zip line nor speak about why the city should continue to support it. One reason the council took the step it did is not just because of the legal threats but also because Crane Point has been remarkably dilatory about providing financial information or facts about the status of installing the zip line itself. This despite Mayor Dick Ramsay’s prodding them to do so to the point that the council appointed city councilor Ginger Snead as an ex-officio member of the Crane Point board to get answers.

Her appointment lasted exactly one Crane Point board meeting. When she reported back to the council she didn’t provide information about Crane Point’s financial stability or its plans but immediately indicated that the city should “step back” and let Crane Point deal with Fish and Wildlife and ADA concerns. The council indicated that the grant runs out on October 30. If Crane Point does not resolve these problems, then the city council seems to be saying that it will not seek a six-month extension for the grant deadline.

Right now all the city council is saying is that the city is taking a step back. It’s not at all clear about what precisely that means and observers left the meeting with many unanswered questions. Why the sudden and unanimous change of heart? Why did Snead not deliver the information she was sent to get? Is the grant completely off the table or only if Crane Point’s board isn’t able to satisfy the demands of Fish and Wildlife’s letter or ADA compliance issues? What happens in October when the grant expires?

In the meantime, opponents of the project feel heartened by the council’s actions and hope that Crane Point will now turn to money raising ideas that are more appropriate for a site zoned Conservation-Native Area.