The City of Key West Sustainability Advisory Board voted to endorse a resolution supporting a proposed green building program based on the Florida Green Building Certification (FGBC), and the package will be sent to the City Commission for consideration in January. The board made the endorsement by voice vote after a staff presentation and brief question-and-answer session.

Allison, the staff presenter, told the board the proposal grew from nearly two years of research and stakeholder outreach. "City Manager Barossa said, you know, I want you to shop this around as much as possible," she said, noting consultations with the Chamber, Navy, Realtors, the Contractors Association and Keys Energy. Allison said the existing local ordinance applies mainly to new BPAS residential units and therefore doesn’t reach most of Key West’s existing buildings.

The proposed program would apply a small fee on building permits and offer tiered reimbursements based on FGBC certification. Allison summarized the suggested structure: smaller projects (valued under roughly $25,000) would be assessed about 0.5% (averaging $40 to a $125 cap), while other projects would be assessed 2%. Reimbursement rules would range from 100% for gold or platinum certification to lower percentages for silver and bronze tiers. Allison also proposed a one-time rebate to recognize homeowners who have already made efficiency upgrades and noted certification cost is about $3,500.

For equity, the draft would waive fees for projects that are 100% affordable, workforce or homesteaded but still require such projects to meet green-building standards. The plan includes a six-month post-hurricane pause on fee collection after a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Individual Assistance declaration for Monroe County, and staff would not implement the fee until at least two staff training workshops and supporting contractor/resident materials are in place.

Allison said unclaimed reimbursements could be placed in a sustainability fund and used for resiliency projects—water and energy upgrades, wind-mitigation projects, stormwater improvements and environmental restoration. She proposed quarterly permit reviews to identify funds that are past the reimbursement window and automated reminders to owners that a rebate window is closing.

Board members asked for simple homeowner guidance about retrofit priorities and clarification on the city’s electricity figure after solar arrays. Allison said the solar array reduced the city’s billed electricity by about 15–23% depending on weather and usage patterns and that more precise historical comparisons would require additional data review.

Board member (speaker 2) moved to endorse the resolution; Allison seconded. The board endorsed the resolution by a voice vote and will forward the endorsement to the City Commission ahead of its January meeting.

Next steps: the proposal already passed the Planning Board in November and will be included in the City Commission packet in January for formal consideration.