Repel attack on growth management
With only a few days left in its 2018 regular session, the Florida Legislature has a limited time to confront a full plate of state issues. Yet some members still can’t resist sticking their noses into the business of locally elected leaders and their constituents.
The latest outrageous example is a measure that could overrule local decisions to control growth — and threatened to trump a judge’s 2017 ruling against urban development in rural east Orange County. It ranks as one of the most devious power plays cooked up in the Capitol this year to crush home rule.
House Bill 883 was amended by Republican Matt Caldwell of North Fort Myers to summarily declare land within three miles of a state university campus open to urban development. It wouldn’t matter if a county’s own comprehensive plan — its blueprint for growth — designated the land as rural.
Trying to turn more rural areas in Florida into subdivisions and strip malls is an especially bizarre move from Caldwell. He’s a candidate for state agriculture commissioner, and the job description includes being a good steward of the environment.
Called out by smart-growth advocates, environmental groups and local government representatives, bill sponsors insisted they changed the language Tuesday to exclude rural land in Orange County east of the Econlockhatchee River, within three miles of the University of Central Florida’s main campus, from high-density development. The Econ has long served as a natural boundary between urban and rural Orange County.
Last year, an administrative law judge ruled that the County Commission had violated its comprehensive plan when members voted 4-3 to allow urban development east of the Econ in the Lake Pickett area. Developers covet the area for two, 2,000-home subdivisions, though there is plenty of land available west of the Econ.
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet are scheduled to consider the judge’s ruling today. But even if they make the right call and vote to uphold the ruling, passage of HB 883 could leave their decision open to further legal challenge, according to environmental groups.
Regardless of the ultimate impact on Orange County, an urban development zone within three miles of UCF’s campus also would reach into land designated for rural protection in east Seminole County by its voters in 2004. Chris Dorworth, a former legislator from the county who now lobbies in Tallahassee, reportedly has a contract to purchase nearly 700 acres in that zone. Dorworth did not respond to a request for comment.
Considering there are 11 other state universities throughout Florida, the disruption to local growth-management decisions from Caldwell’s amendment could be enormous.
Another toxic provision in HB 883 also threatened Seminole County. The bill would have forced counties whose voters have approved a boundary to contain urban development to put it back on the ballot for reconsideration once a decade. By the end of Tuesday, sponsors said the provision had been removed.
The House bill, which had swelled to nearly 200 pages by Tuesday, was a moving target for opponents, with a series of amendments either removing objectionable provisions or rewriting them. There remained a possibility of more changes before the bill came up for a final vote in the chamber.
If HB 883 passes the House with any of its offensive elements intact, it’ll be up to the Senate to defeat the bill, or at least strip it of those elements. We have high hopes that Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican whose district includes all of Seminole County, will lead the charge to preserve his county’s rural area, and stand up for home rule and growth management in every county.