Three years after Monroe County's initial public hearings on the issue, the vocal opponents of vacation rentals had the final decision they had been seeking. Central to both Euclid and the instant case, is the concept that uses of property may be separated into compatible areas. Failing to separate such commercial uses or allowing them to proliferate unregulated, can result in many impacts, some of them expected and some unintended. Although many of these issues are addressed by state and local ordinances, the local police and code enforcement process are poorly equipped to handle the problems created by vacation rental tenants night after night, week after week by an ever-changing stream of tenants. For the Keys tourist, recreational activity is the rule, on a daily basis, rain or shine.
Continuous fun is a temporary vocation.
But for the residents, the keys are home a place where people have to get up and go to work in the morning. Although seen as minimal when compared to the community character issues, these small benefits resulting from the Ordinance accrued to the Keys sensitive environment. Tourists utilizing vacation rental homes are generally unfamiliar with the shallow patch reefs, the ecological importance of seagrass beds and many of the federal and state-listed endangered and threatened species within Monroe County, such as Key Deer. For example, feeding Key Deer is a popular, but illegal, tourist activity as it encourages the diminutive deer to interact and rely on humans for food. Education is made more difficult when tourists are dispersed throughout neighborhoods and no longer concentrated at traditional hotels and marinas.