Monroe County will ask the federal government to consider a new plan for ending the county's controversial inspections for illegal first-floor living spaces, after it rejected a previous suggestion.

The Monroe County Commission hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will let it inspect for downstairs enclosures only when homeowners sell their houses, not when they merely pull a building permit, whether or not it relates to the enclosure, which is the current mandate.

Under the plan, the buyer could obtain a certificate of occupancy only after code officers inspected the house.

Sugarloaf Key resident Gordon West, who spoke at Wednesday's County Commission meeting on behalf of the Sugarloaf Shores Property Owners Association, said he supports the proposal because it would protect buyers from being saddled with unknown or undisclosed violations.

"Unincorporated Monroe County is now and has been a playground for games-men," West said. "The winners have been those who successfully sold their homes to unsuspecting buyers of property with illegal ground-level enclosures at elevated prices, Realtors who went along with undisclosed problems, and contractors building and dismantling structures."

The commission on Wednesday asked Assistant Monroe County Attorney Bob Shillinger to approach FEMA with the "point of sale" idea, after rejecting two other options he suggested for ending the quagmire over enclosures.

One idea, which modified a former plan the county had for removing cesspits, would grant building allocations -- which the state requires but limits -- to property owners who paid to have their neighbors' enclosures removed. Another proposal would grant building-permit fee waivers to homeowners who voluntarily removed their enclosures.

Commissioner Kim Wigington opposed all the ideas, saying the county should continue its current inspections policy. She called the "point of sale" option a "shotgun approach" that would cost even homeowners who do not have downstairs enclosures thousands of dollars and closing delays.

"It could easily evolve into much more than checking for illegal downstairs enclosures," she said. "Many people knew what they were doing and knew it was illegal. Why should the rest of the people have to have an inspection and go through the onerous process of obtaining a certificate of occupancy?"

Wigington said the other ideas equally would not be fair to people who followed the rules.

FEMA recently rejected yet another county proposal to grandfather in enclosures built before 2002, when it began inspections, to the dismay of the Keys homeowner group Citizens Not Serfs. The grass-roots effort advocates ending all inspections and allowing all enclosures.

"FEMA's inspection regime has cost a community a great amount of money, harmed innocent purchasers and homeowners with permitted work, has generated expensive litigation and has led to an unprecedented population loss in the past decade, or contributed to it," said Christen Spake, an attorney with Citizens Not Serfs.

FEMA requires inspections in order for the county to remain in the National Flood Insurance program.

tohara@keysnews.com