SB 360 Signed into Law June 1

Thank you for your calls and emails regarding SB 360. Despite the concentrated efforts of media, local governments, and conservation/advocacy groups, we are disappointed to report that Gov. Crist signed the bill into law late in the afternoon on June 1, issuing this brief press release.

1000 Friends will be assembling a group of colleagues that opposed the bill to identify strategies to promote smart growth within the new parameters of SB 360. We have also spoken with DCA Secretary Tom Pelham and offered to assist in any way we can. DCA is holding its 2009 Growth Management Implementation Workshop on June 25-26 at the Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, and will include information on how the agency will implement the provisions of SB 360. Please contact Sheri Coven at sheri.coven@dca.state.fl.us or call (850) 922-1681 to register. The cost is $115.

At the end of this message is a brief overview of SB 360 as well as a copy of 1000 Friends' veto letter to Gov. Crist. Also attached below are links to recent coverage on SB 360, including two perspectives on the passage of SB360 appearing in the Tallahassee Democrat, one from 1000 Friends President Charles Pattison and one from the Chamber of Commerce:

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200906020200/OPINION05/906020304

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200906020200/OPINION05/906020306

Additional coverage:

St. Petersburg Times: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1006369.ece and http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/article1006378.ece

Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1076955.html

Palm Beach Post: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/06/01/a8a_growth_edit_0602.html
and http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/state/epaper/2009/06/01/0601growthbill.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=0

Tallahassee Democrat: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090602/CAPITOLNEWS/906020308/1001/RSS

Tampa Tribune: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/01/011939/crist-signs-growth-management-bill-supported-busin/news-breaking/

Also, check out this anonymously-produced video on YouTube to learn more about some of the impacts of SB 360: http://sun33.state.fl.us:8080/ramgen/eog/sb360_youtube.rm.

Summary of Concerns About SB 360

1000 Friends outlined its concerns in a veto letter to Gov. Crist, and will provide a more extensive overview of the bill’s provisions soon. In summary, SB 360 is intended to promote infill development by providing for exemptions from transportation concurrency and Development of Regional Impact (DRI) review in “dense urban land areas.” However, the legislation defines 1000 people/square mile as “dense urban land areas” which includes areas with less than one dwelling unit per acre and automatically qualifies 245 cities and significant portions of eight of Florida’s largest counties. The bill also allows other counties to establish urban service areas with only cursory DCA and FDOT review and oversight, making those areas also eligible for a complete waiver of transportation concurrency and elimination of DRI review. Additionally, the bill changes the definition of urban service areas, removing schools and recreation areas from the public services required in the definition of a dense urban land area, thus lowering the intensity for the exemptions, and including more rural lands.

While 1000 Friends concurs with the need to lessen transportation concurrency requirements in truly urban areas, SB 360 also eliminates the requirement in low density areas as well. This leaves taxpayers—not developers--holding the bill for roadway improvements which, if not undertaken, will result in even more congestion, inefficiency and level-of-service failure. As noted, the bill also provides for exemption of Development of Regional Impact (DRI) review in “dense urban land areas.” This means that the requirement to mitigate development impacts to an adjacent local government will no longer be required, resulting in significant intergovernmental conflicts as adjacent communities wrestle to address on their own what are clearly regional issues.

SB 360 does include positive language regarding community land trusts. However, it also includes two problematic provisions regarding affordable housing. The first provision favors existing developers for no valid reason by restricting new affordable housing projects to those developers with a minimum of five prior projects with the state. The second concern is that it allows the inappropriate conversion of RV and mobile home park lots into permanent dwelling units regardless of the potential environmental and infrastructure implications, or whether the unit is sufficient to be considered a permanent dwelling. We believe this is a decision best left to the local government’s discretion and not a mandate from the state.

In addition to 1000 Friends of Florida, those on record opposing the bill included:

Broward County
Hillsborough County
Miami-Dade County
Palm Beach County
Collier County
Lee County
Lake County
Wakulla County

Audubon of Florida
Florida Wildlife Federation
Sierra Club
APA – Florida Chapter
Clean Water Network
Florida League of Cities
Florida Association of Counties
Everglades Trust
Everglades Foundation
Everglades Law Center

1000 Friends’ veto letter to Governor Crist is attached, as well as the recent publication, Smart Growth for Florida’s Future. 

Florida Conservation and Planning Groups Call for Florida Sustainable Communities Act