Big developer-loving local officials sure to waste Sadowski funds

There may be a better use for the state’s Sadowski Housing Trust Fund revenue than handing it over to local officials.

While Palm Beach County Commissioner Paulette Burdick has a point about the need for affordable housing, which the fund was meant to provide, I have little faith that the counties and cities in need of affordable housing will use the money wisely.

Perhaps state lawmakers should take some of the money and conduct a study of how local ordinances and codes, specifically the Unified Land Development Codes (ULDC), hinder the affordable housing market and block the formation of small startup businesses.

As more cities are incorporated, these problems will only worsen. The ULDC, by design, favors big developers and big corporations that can afford the cost to comply. These developers and companies spend a lot of time and effort lobbying for code changes that favor them.

The ULDC limits certain uses of privately owned property by omission. There are no options for private landowners to fill the need for affordable yearround housing. Small startup businesses also suffer due to the omission of affordable land-use options. Furthermore, the code is permissive and not restrictive. This means that unless a land-use option is spelled out in the code as allowed, it is prohibited and requires that a landowner or small business endure the costly process of obtaining a variance.

First and foremost, how did these counties and cities get into the business of telling everyone what use is allowed? The elected officers of counties and cities, in their efforts to court big developers, must remember their first responsibility: to serve all the people.

Smaller landowners should not have to beg and jump through hoops to gain approval for innovative and creative out-of-the-box projects. Ordinances and codes should focus only on those land uses that should be restricted because they may cause harm to the public or surrounding landowners. Instead, codes like the ULDC permit only what the planners envision. This is why, when you travel from one county or city to the next, everything looks the same.

Fixing the ordinances and the ULDC will bring innovative and creative projects that will lift us up and fill the needs of all the people, not just the persuasive and connected few.

ANNE KUHL,