Monroe County's legal staff has tweaked a plan that would require developers to pay building and planning fees when building affordable work-force housing in unincorporated areas of the Florida Keys.

County staff first proposed that all developers pay permit fees, as the county is losing much-needed revenue. However, the County Commission rejected that proposal last month. On Wednesday in Key Largo, the commission will vote on a plan that exempts nonprofit groups, such as Habitat for Humanity, from paying permitting and planning fees. If adopted, developers with for-profit companies will lose the fee exemption.

The change comes after county Mayor George Neugent questioned the exemption, noting that developers building affordable housing projects were not passing the savings to buyers in the form of fee waivers. Neugent also questioned the need for additional work-force housing, as market-rate prices for many homes have fallen to -- or below -- the level of county-subsidized affordable housing.

Bob Calhoun, executive director of Lower Keys Habitat for Humanity, said the county should continue to waive permit fees for all developers, including those who profit from the projects.

"This is a chronic problem that is not going away," Calhoun said of the shortage of affordable housing. "Any incentive to create affordable housing is just as important as it was a few years ago."

Downstairs enclosures

Neugent also has proposed the county change its policy on inspecting downstairs enclosures, requiring inspections only when a home is sold. A buyer would not be able to obtain a certificate of occupancy if the home was not inspected, Neugent said.

Some Keys residents have found themselves at odds with the county and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on whether homes with illegal downstairs enclosures should receive federally subsidized flood insurance. Some homeowners claim real estate agents never told them about the prohibition on living areas below flood elevation when they purchased their homes.

The county began inspecting after FEMA threatened to eject it from the National Flood Insurance Program if it did not take steps to enforce regulations prohibiting living space below flood elevation in homes built after 1975, when the county joined the program. Inspections have drawn criticism from Keys homeowners who are in violation of the regulation.

Neugent's proposal comes a month after FEMA rejected a county request to grandfather illegal enclosures built before 2002, when inspections began.

Granting such amnesty was not in keeping with the county's responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens, FEMA Director of Mitigation Brad Loar wrote in a letter to the county.

Hospital tax district

The commission will vote on establishing a special taxing district from Marathon to Layton, with proceeds going to subsidize Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon.

The approval would only start the process. A new tax would first require approval of the Florida Legislature, then must be approved by voters in the proposed district.

The hospital board has expressed dissatisfaction with the company that leases the hospital, Health Management Associates. The board attempted to bring in another company to operate the hospital, but negotiations with the nonprofit Baptist Health South Florida failed early this year. Baptist operates Mariners Hospital in Tavernier.

Neugent's proposal to create a taxing district comes as a Florida Keys delegation is lobbying the University of Miami Hospital system to operate Fishermen's. The move could save the county from taxing residents to subsidize the facility, said County Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro.

The University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine operates Jackson Memorial Hospital and the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami.

Di Gennaro, Fishermen's Hospital board member Bruce Schmitt and University of Miami doctors Bruce Boros and Richard Burger met on Tuesday to discuss the university assuming management of the Marathon hospital.

Other issues

The commission will vote on selecting a new mayor and vice mayor, positions that are mostly ceremonial.

Commissioners also will discuss what to do with the Hickory House property on Stock Island. The county, which bought the waterfront restaurant and night club for $3.1 million in 2006, has been trying to sell it for several years. A development group recently submitted a bid to the county to lease the land for $800 a month for 25 years.

The commission meets at 9 a.m. at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo.

tohara@keysnews.com