The state of Florida has adopted a series of statutes aimed at managing its growth by setting standards for local and regional land use planning, while playing a direct role in planning for a small number of special areas, such as the Florida Keys.
In May 2011, Florida’s governor and legislature adopted legislation, HB 7207, which substantially weakened the state’s Omnibus Growth Management Act. While the impacts of these changes are not yet entirely clear, they require caution in describing the state of planning in Florida.
At least prior to May 2011, Florida’s approach was an example of state growth management laws that seek to raise the level of local planning without creating mandatory regional plans or imposing growth and conservation maps on local governments. Even before the 2011 changes, Florida’s experience illustrated the difficulties in making this approach work on any consistent basis, as the state has struggled with setting meaningful state policies and bringing local plans to carry out these policies across such a large and diverse area. Florida’s program is essentially voluntary because, while the state requires all local governments to plan, it does not require local plans to conform to regionally conceived and adopted land use visions.
A prominent, mandatory, but not inherently regionalist piece of Florida’s statutory scheme is the requirement that local government’s impose “concurrency” on growth – meaning they may not approve new development unless adequate public facilities, such as roads and sewer, are in place. Many argue that this concurrency requirement has had, at least in many areas, the unintended consequence of promoting sprawl by creating an additional financial disincentive for redevelopment and infill development of areas with older infrastructure that is expensive to upgrade.
Vital Statistics:
Chapter of the Book: 20
State: FL
Year Established: 1972
Geographic Scale: Statewide
Mandatory or Voluntary over Local Government: Voluntary
Authorizing Laws: State
Agencies and Organizations:
Division of Community Planning, Florida Department of Community Development
Resources:
1000 Friends of Florida, resources and links for information on HB 7207
