The latest news for you

Volume 51 | March 31, 2021

Your Weekly News and Updates

Turtle Nesting Season is Upon Us

Turtle season officially begins May 1st. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Sea Turtle Conservation Program will be surveying beaches from April 1 to October 31 to ensure that the beach habitats are safe for turtles during the annual nesting season.

The Village of Key Biscayne reminds residents and visitors that any interaction - such as the use of lights (cell phones, flash photos), entering a marked nest area, damaging a nest (marked or unmarked), digging into the nest (marked or unmarked), and the possession of sea turtles and their eggs and/or eggshells - is considered harassment and/or unauthorized take under the Florida Marine Turtle Protection Act (379.2431(1), F.S.) and federal Endangered Species Act.

Furniture left out on the beaches may be hazardous to marine turtles in that it creates yet another obstacle for them to navigate around (potentially becoming disoriented) and even may become entrapped in which could lead to a stranding event. Beach furniture should be removed from the beaches when possible. If not possible, condense the footprint and pull as far back on the beach as possible without damaging the dune vegetation system.
Artificial lighting is known to cause disorientation with sea turtles crawling in the wrong direction, which jeopardizes their nesting frequency and may cause the turtle to be stranded. The most affected by artificial lighting are hatchlings. Natural lighting is one of the environmental cues that sea turtles utilize to find their way to the water, for, on a natural beach, the reflection of the sky on the water serves as the brightest horizon. Please encourage sea turtle-friendly lighting during the season.

If you come across sick, injured and/or disoriented adult or hatchling turtles, please call Miami-Dade County's stranding e-line at 305-310-3046 or leave a message on the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-3922.

For beachfront property managers: Miami-Dade County Sea Turtle Conservation Program offers lighting sight evaluations. For more information, email Laura Dell.

Annual Electronics Recycling and Shredding Drive

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE! Take a look in your closets, desks, drawers and entertainment areas to find household electronics, batteries and fluorescent lamps that can be recycled.

Residents and local businesses are invited to participate in the annual electronics recycling and document shredding drive on Saturday, April 10, 2021 from 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Acceptable items:

Computers and peripherals: hard drives, main frames, laptops, keyboards, printers, scanners, cables, chargers, modems, hubs, PC and laptop batteries. CRT monitors (glass-bearing)
Televisions (glass-bearing)
Media players and devices
Other electronics: Copiers, fax machines, telecommunication systems
Land phones, cell phones, PDAs and chargers
Mercury-bearing devices and batteries:
Fluorescent lamps, ballasts, capacitors
Alkaline, lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries
Non-lithium batteries: not to exceed 10 pounds

Small home electrics (ex: toasters, hair dryers) will be accepted as a service to residents but not recycled.

Unacceptable items:

White goods; i.e., ranges, washers, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators
Tools
Wood console TVs and projector TVs

Please note that due to COVID-19, we kindly ask you to remain in your cars. Staff will remove all items from your vehicle. We regret to inform you that this year crewmembers will not be able to accompany residents to retrieve bulky/heavy items from their home or business.

For more information, please email Mariana Dominguez-Hardie.

COVID-19 Testing and Vaccinations

The Village of Key Biscayne and Key Biscayne Community Center are working with the Key Biscayne Community Foundation to assist our community’s seniors with appointments to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Community Center and Foundation are keeping a list of seniors who need transportation assistance and pairing them with volunteers to drive seniors to their appointments, to sign-up for a vaccine (once available) visit vaccinatekb.com or contact the Foundation at 305-361-2770.

Village of Key Biscayne staff remains in communication with the Florida Department of Health regarding the state’s rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines and is logistically prepared to offer vaccines to residents, per the state's guidelines, should vaccinations become available.

For information on eligibility and vaccination sites from the State of Florida, visit https://floridahealthcovid19.gov. Additionally, Miami-Dade County has details about all of the vaccination sites in the county, including local, state and federal sites; click here for Miami-Dade's site.

For the latest news, the Miami Herald is publishing a daily article with Unlimited Access.

Testing Options in Key Biscayne:

The Village of Key Biscayne has partnered with Curative Inc. to offer a COVID-19 testing kiosk at the southeast corner of the Village Green (by the public restrooms) and mobile testing van in Calusa Park. The kiosk and van are operational from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week (Monday through Saturday). Patients can sign-up for testing in advance by visiting the Curative website or on-site.

Additionally, drive-through testing at the Key Biscayne Community Center remains available 2-days per week by appointment only and is self-pay. The COVID-19 self-pay cost at the drive-through testing is $85 and registration is available on the Key Biscayne Community Foundation website. Dates are subject to change, please confirm your date and time when making your appointment.

Additional testing options include the Baptist Health Urgent Care Express located

at 240 Crandon Blvd. Suite #110; CVS Pharmacy located at 726 Crandon Blvd; and Ethos Wellness Pharmacy, located at 260 Crandon Blvd C33.

Miami-Dade County Launches Solar Co-op for Residents

and Small Business Owners

The Miami-Dade County Office of Resilience is teaming up with the nonprofit group Solar United Neighbors (SUN) to bring you the Miami-Dade County Solar Co-op — a free group to help residents go solar. The solar co-op will help homeowners and small business owners from across Miami-Dade County to learn about solar together and purchase solar panels at a group rate from a single installer.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact Laura Tellez from Solar United Neighbors at ltellez@solarunitedneighbors.org or visit Solar United Neighbors.