Veto this bill, Gov. DeSantis, and keep the faith of voters
With the coronavirus pandemic demanding less of his time, Gov. Ron DeSantis is turning his attention to other matters of state, like appointing Supreme Court justices and considering whether to sign bills approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
One of those bills — a last-minute, underhanded attempt to declare open season on rural Seminole County and overturn the will of its voters — deserves an enthusiastic veto. A stern lecture on the ills of dirty politics would be nice, too. But a simple veto would do just fine.
Senate Bill 410 began life as a succinct if unnecessary mandate for local governments to include property rights language in their comprehensive planning documents.
Then, like a mob of Dr. Frankensteins, lawmakers started sewing on more parts. In the final days of the springtime lawmaking session, they added the appendage designed to further thwart growth management — a favorite pastime for the Legislature these days. In brief, it would take most of Florida’s counties out of the decision-making equation on land-use matters once property is annexed into a city.
This might sound like a mundane exercise in bureaucracy, so let’s put it in terms close to the people of Seminole County: This bill effectively dismantles the rural protections for eastern Seminole that voters overwhelmingly placed in the county charter in 2004.
It means that all a developer like Chris Dorworth must do to tear up rural Seminole is dangle a project and promises of property tax riches in front of some city council members until they bite. Once the property is annexed, the city can do whatever it wants. The county charter, and the vote of the people of Seminole, won’t matter any longer.
Dorworth’s 669-acre River Cross project on the eastern banks of the Econlockhatchee River stands to be a major beneficiary if DeSantis signs SB 410. Seminole County commissioners have already told Dorworth they weren’t willing to go along with his plans for thousands of homes, apartments and hotel rooms, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial development inside the rural boundary. Dorworth, a former Seminole legislator, responded with a lawsuit.
Commissioners considered a stinker of a land swap to make the lawsuit go away but, in an act of political bravery last month, decided they weren’t interested and would go to court to defend the voters’ 2004 decision. Dorworth responded by reupping his request to have the property removed from the rural boundary and filing yet another lawsuit against the county, this one challenging the constitutionality of the voter-approved rural boundary.
Senate Bill 410 would open a new avenue for an increasingly desperate Dorworth to pursue his ambitions. If the bill becomes law, and if he can persuade the Oviedo City Council to annex the land, Seminole’s rural boundary won’t matter any longer.
The bill’s broad seizure of power from other counties with charters — which are like local constitutions — would weaken the ability of other counties to govern growth, counties like Osceola, Volusia, Brevard and Polk. Strangely, the Legislature saw fit to preserve those oversight powers for big counties like Orange, Miami-Dade and Broward.
Practically everyone hates this bill, and not just groups like 1000 Friends of Florida, which advocates for sound growth management, and the Florida Association of Counties. Even the Florida League of Cities doesn’t like it.
Among the many letters to DeSantis urging a veto is one from David Smith, a Republican who represents Seminole in the state House, voted for the bill but reconsidered. Even Jason Brodeur, a Republican candidate for the state Senate in Seminole, president of the chamber and one of Dorworth’s political pals, wrote the governor asking him to veto the bill.
The main proponents appear to be Republicans in the Legislature who probably were blindly following the lead of state House and Senate leaders.
And developers like Dorworth, who view Florida as a profit center.
When DeSantis first took office he received widespread congratulations for swiftly moving to safeguard Florida’s environment, which had been neglected for eight years by his predecessor, Rick Scott. He also won bipartisan acclaim for respecting and protecting the will of the voters who approved the use of medical marijuana in 2016, demanding that legislators get rid of a law that made smoking it illegal.
A veto of Senate Bill 410 would be a DeSantis twofer, demonstrating both the governor’s continued commitment to protecting natural Florida and respecting the will of voters.
Make Floridians proud, governor, and veto this bill. Editorials are the opinion of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board and are written by one of its members or a designee. The editorial board consists of Opinion Editor Mike Lafferty, Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio, Jay Reddick, David Whitley and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Send emails to insight@orlandosentinel.com.