Florida Keys heirs win decades-long fight for right to build on island

A family’s seven-decade effort to build on a private island in the Florida Keys has largely ended in victory after appellate courts sided with the heirs.

A physician bought the 7.9-acre Snipe Key at a federal auction in 1956. The island came with residential zoning and a chain of title leading back to the United States government. The buyer believed he had acquired a rare piece of private land where he could eventually build a home.

The regulatory environment changed sharply over the following decades. Florida and the federal government introduced protections for wetlands, endangered species and coastal resources. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was created, while Monroe County adopted land-use plans governing where and how homes could be built.

Snipe Key is a small, mangrove-fringed island in the Lower Florida Keys, west of Big Pine Key and near the National Key Deer Refuge. The surrounding area is ecologically sensitive, with Key deer, rare plants and extensive seagrass beds. As more land came under federal or state protection, the family’s belief that it owned a buildable residential lot collided with stricter environmental rules.

The heirs sought permission to build a single-family home, but their applications were denied or delayed. The dispute moved through local boards, state agencies and courts. Rulings issued by appellate courts in 2025 and 2026 largely upheld the family’s right to proceed with limited residential development. Reported by Florida Trend and documented in court records, the case now stands as a major dispute over old land grants, property rights and environmental regulation in the Keys.