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Letter to the editor

This 'pilot' project should be grounded

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published May 29, 2007

Quick - should it be easier or harder to develop land in Florida?

How about the city of Tampa or Pinellas County, in particular?

If you answered "easier," then you ought to like House Bill 7203, which was just passed by our Legislature.

If not, you might want to ask Gov. Charlie Crist to veto it when it reaches his desk.

This big "growth bill" is another one of those multi-subject suckers that crams various topics into one law.

The most controversial part is a "pilot project" that puts Tampa and Pinellas County on a list of places with a "streamlined" state approval process for changes to their local comprehensive plans.

The bill speeds up the deadline for state agencies to object or comment. And comments would go back to the local governments directly, instead being compiled by the state Department of Community Affairs.

The approval process now can take six or seven moths; this could knock off up to 120 days, state officials say.

For developers, that means a much shorter wait for approval. But for citizen opponents, it means less time to organize opposition - and less ammunition, since there will no longer be a single state report summing up all the potential objections.

The other communities in this pilot project are Broward County, Jacksonville, Miami and Hialeah.

The idea, according to the Legislature, is that they are densely developed, they have a lot of planning procedures in place already, and they should be encouraged to fill in existing development.

Some other points in this bill:

- New developments could no longer be asked to help pay for existing backlogs in services.

- Local governments could create special tax districts to pay for such backlogs.

- The maximum term of "development agreements, " contracts between developers and local governments, would go from 10 years to 20 years.

I talked with Tom Pelham, the secretary of the state Department of Community Affairs, which oversees the state review of local decisions.

Since his department still retains final authority, Pelham said, "We can live with the expedited process because it's a pilot project." If problems emerge, the department will ask lawmakers to reconsider.

The conservation group 1000 Friends of Florida has problems with HB 7203, concluding: "Citizens get little from this bill."

And I got a slightly sharper comment from Lesley Blackner of the group Florida Hometown Democracy, which wants direct voter control of growth decisions.

"God forbid the Growth Management Act actually work and Tallahassee actually say 'NO' to a developer's pet project to cram another 10, 000 homes down our throats, " Blackner said.

As for me, I don't hear a cry rising up from an anguished populace demanding that we "streamline" approval of growth in Florida. If I were the governor, I would veto HB 7203. Twice, maybe.

* * *

This is Tuesday, which means there's a live chat on TroxBlog today. Join me from noon to 1 p.m. to talk about current events in Florida and the Tampa Bay area.

You can find TroxBlog under the "Blogs" link on www.tampabay.com, or by typing the address blogs.tampabay.com/troxler.

[Last modified May 29, 2007, 00:18:03]