Partner Tyson Smith began his planning career, in 1992, as a planner with Monroe County and later with the City of Key West. Each jurisdiction, along with the other local governments in the Keys, are within Florida’s Area of Critical State Concern program and subject to state-level planning review and requirements.
In each of these early roles, Tyson helped administer the Building Permit Allocation System (aka ROGO) which times the issuance of building permits with the availability of sufficient road capacity for safe hurricane evacuation, based on a point system.
Since 2000, Tyson and other WSC team members have continued to work with Monroe County on matters related to growth management and ROGO. In 2004, Tyson oversaw the staff development of a modified ROGO system known as the “tier system,” which continues today. In 2012, Tyson developed the state and local government “memorandum of understanding” effectuating an update to ROGO and an updated evacuation model.
Tyson also led an overhaul of the County’s “beneficial use determination” program in 2006 and served as an expert witness for the County during the County’s successful defense of its new approach.
