Author: Beth Tate

St. Johns County Resident and Entrepreneur - I am focused on supporting our county as we continue our rapid growth. "Connecting People; Solving Problems"
Posted in Affordable Housing, Comprehensive Plan, Florida Legislature, St. Johns County

Update on Florida Preemption Bills

Posted on by Beth Tate

Brief update on the Florida Preemption Bills I am tracking.

HB 1417/SB 1586 – Residential Tenancies

This bill preempts the regulation of residential tenancies and the landlord-tenant relationship to the state. What does that mean? Local communities cannot regulate any part of the “landlord-tenant relationship.” This includes setting caps on application fees and security deposits.

HB 1417 – Passed Civil Justice Subcommittee, Next Local Admin/Fed Affairs Judiciary

SB 1586 – On Judiciary Committee Agenda 3/29, Next Community Affairs, Rules

HB 1515/SB 170 – Local Ordinances

This bill empowers business owners to sue cities and counties for passing ordinances that case the financial losses. Businesses can sue over “arbitrary or unreasonable” ordinances for up to $50,000. While the lawsuit is proceeding, the local government must suspend enforcement of the ordinance in question. The bill also requires local government to produce and post on the local website a “business impact estimate” during the drafting phase of the ordinance.

SB 170 Passed the Senate – sent to the House

HB1515 – Ready for House Floor Vote

HB 627/SB 102 – Live Local

This bill is intended to incentivize developers and local governments to build or refurbish affordable housing units. This would waive zoning requirements that prevent affordable housing units from being built. It takes away requirements for a zoning change or comprehensive plan amendment for multi-family or mixed-use residential projects in commercial areas if the project sets aside 40% for affordable housing. Also included are incentives and tax exemptions for developers who provide affordable housing.

HB 627 – Laid on Table – Referred to SB 102

SB 102 – Passed the House and ready for the Governor’s signature

HB 359/SB 540 – Local Government Comprehensive Plans

Anyone challenging a local government for changing its comprehensive plan and then loses that challenge must pay the legal bills for the winner. This bill discourages small resident groups from challenging comprehensive plan changes

SB 540 – Passed Community Affairs, On Judiciary Committee 3/29

HB 359 – Ready for House Floor Vote

HB 1293/SB 1212 – Affordable Housing

Providing that a provision authorizing the board of county commissioners to approve certain development projects does not apply in a specified area of critical state concern; providing that a provision authorizing a municipality to approve certain development projects does not apply in a specified area of critical state concern; providing that certain provisions governing awards made pursuant to local housing assistance plans do not apply to counties and municipalities within areas of critical state concern meeting certain criteria, etc.

SB 1212 – Introduced 3/7

HB 1293 – Passed Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee, Next Agriculture, Conservation & Resiliency Committee

HB 235/SB 350 – Alternative Mobility Funding Systems

Revises requirements related to agreements to pay for or construct certain improvements; authorizes local governments to adopt alternative mobility planning & fee system; prohibits alternative system from imposing responsibility for funding existing transportation deficiency upon new development; revises requirements for calculation of impact fees; removes ability of local government, school district, or special district to increase impact fees in certain instances; provides requirements for mobility fees-based funding systems, mobility fees & fee increases; specifies criteria to be used in adopting mobility plan & mobility fee for transportation mitigation improvements; prohibits courts from using deferential standard for specified purpose; provides for specified mobility fee credits.

HB 235 Passed Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee, Next Ways & Means

SB 350 – Introduced

HB 833 – SB 714 – Vacation Rentals

Requiring advertising platforms to collect and remit specified taxes for certain vacation rental transactions; defining the term “advertising platform”; revising the regulated activities of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments preempted to the state to include licensing; requiring advertising platforms to require that persons placing advertisements for vacation rentals include certain information in the advertisements and attest to certain information; authorizing the division to revoke, refuse to issue or renew, or suspend vacation rental licenses under certain circumstances, etc.

SB 714 – Now in Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government, Fiscal Policy

HB 833 – On Agenda for Regulatory Reform, Next Ways & Means Committee

HB 439/SB 1604 – Land Use and Development Regulations

Revising the types of data that comprehensive plans and plan amendments must be based on; requiring local governments to determine if plan amendments are necessary to reflect a certain minimum planning period; requiring, rather than encouraging, a local government to comprehensively evaluate and update its comprehensive plan to reflect changes in local conditions; revising requirements for local land development regulations, etc.

HB 439 – now in Commerce Committee, Referred to State Affairs Committee

SB 1604 – Introduced

HB 41/SB 856 – Land Development Initiative and Referendum Processes

Revises restrictions on initiative and referendum processes. Another state preemption bill that prohibits local initiatives or referendums on land development regulations.

SB 856 – On Community Affairs Agenda, Next Judiciary; Rules

HB 41 – Ready for House Floor Vote

All bills can be found at the following links:

Florida House – Enter Bill number in search tool at the top of the page.

Florida Senate – Enter Bill number in search tool at the top of the page.

Posted in Affordable Housing, BOCC, Comprehensive Plan, Florida Legislature, Politics, St. Johns County

Preemption Bills in the Florida Legislature

Posted on by Beth Tate

Bills that could impact local government’s decision making powers

Here are a few of the Preemption Bills I am watching. Reminder that Preemption Bills are State level bills that limit how local governments can make decisions based on local needs and preferences.

HB 1417/SB 1586 – Residential Tenancies

This bill preempts the regulation of residential tenancies and the landlord-tenant relationship to the state. What does that mean? Local communities cannot regulate any part of the “landlord-tenant relationship.” This includes setting caps on application fees and security deposits.

HB 1417 – Added to Civil Justice Subcommittee Agenda

SB 1586 – Introduced

HB 1515/SB 170 – Local Ordinances

This bill empowers business owners to sue cities and counties for passing ordinances that case the financial losses. Businesses can sue over “arbitrary or unreasonable” ordinances for up to $50,000. While the lawsuit is proceeding, the local government must suspend enforcement of the ordinance in question. The bill also requires local government to produce and post on the local website a “business impact estimate” during the drafting phase of the ordinance.

SB 170 Passed the Senate – sent to the House

HB1515 – added to Civil Justice Subcommittee agenda

HB 627/SB 102 – Live Local

This bill is intended to incentivize developers and local governments to build or refurbish affordable housing units. This would waive zoning requirements that prevent affordable housing units from being built. It takes away requirements for a zoning change or comprehensive plan amendment for multi-family or mixed-use residential projects in commercial areas if the project sets aside 40% for affordable housing. Also included are incentives and tax exemptions for developers who provide affordable housing.

HB 627 – Added to Ways and Means Committee

SB 102 – Passed and moved to the House

HB 359/SB 540 – Local Government Comprehensive Plans

Anyone challenging a local government for changing its comprehensive plan and then loses that challenge must pay the legal bills for the winner. This bill discourages small resident groups from challenging comprehensive plan changes

SB 540 – on Community Affairs Agenda 3/22/23 – 11:00 AM

HB 359 – Now in State Affairs Committee

HB 1293/SB 1212 – Affordable Housing

Providing that a provision authorizing the board of county commissioners to approve certain development projects does not apply in a specified area of critical state concern; providing that a provision authorizing a municipality to approve certain development projects does not apply in a specified area of critical state concern; providing that certain provisions governing awards made pursuant to local housing assistance plans do not apply to counties and municipalities within areas of critical state concern meeting certain criteria, etc.

SB 1212 – Introduced 3/7

HB 1293 – Added to Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee agenda

HB 235/SB 350 – Alternative Mobility Funding Systems

Revises requirements related to agreements to pay for or construct certain improvements; authorizes local governments to adopt alternative mobility planning & fee system; prohibits alternative system from imposing responsibility for funding existing transportation deficiency upon new development; revises requirements for calculation of impact fees; removes ability of local government, school district, or special district to increase impact fees in certain instances; provides requirements for mobility fees-based funding systems, mobility fees & fee increases; specifies criteria to be used in adopting mobility plan & mobility fee for transportation mitigation improvements; prohibits courts from using deferential standard for specified purpose; provides for specified mobility fee credits.

HB 235 – Added to Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee agenda

SB 350 – Introduced

HB 833 – SB 714 – Vacation Rentals

Requiring advertising platforms to collect and remit specified taxes for certain vacation rental transactions; defining the term “advertising platform”; revising the regulated activities of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments preempted to the state to include licensing; requiring advertising platforms to require that persons placing advertisements for vacation rentals include certain information in the advertisements and attest to certain information; authorizing the division to revoke, refuse to issue or renew, or suspend vacation rental licenses under certain circumstances, etc.

SB 714 – Now in Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government

HB 833 – First Reading 3/7/23

HB 439/SB 1604 – Land Use and Development Regulations

Revising the types of data that comprehensive plans and plan amendments must be based on; requiring local governments to determine if plan amendments are necessary to reflect a certain minimum planning period; requiring, rather than encouraging, a local government to comprehensively evaluate and update its comprehensive plan to reflect changes in local conditions; revising requirements for local land development regulations, etc.

HB 439 – now in Commerce Committee, Referred to State Affairs Committee

SB 1604 – Introduced

HB 41/SB 856 – Land Development Initiative and Referendum Processes

Revises restrictions on initiative and referendum processes. Another state preemption bill that prohibits local initiatives or referendums on land development regulations.

SB 856 – Introduced 3/7/23

HB 41 – Now in State Affairs Committee

All bills can be found at the following links:

Florida House of Representatives – Enter Bill number in search tool at the top of the page.

Florida Senate – Enter Bill number in search tool at the top of the page.

Posted in BOCC, Comprehensive Plan, St. Johns County, Transportation

March 21 St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners Meeting

Posted on by Beth Tate

A Short but Important Agenda!

In addition to the usual Opening items and Public Comment on Tuesday, there are only two Regular Agenda items. Perhaps it is because of spring break in St. Johns County!

The first item on the agenda is of great interest to those in the Northwest Sector of the county.

RiverTown DRI

At the March 7 Commissioner’s Meeting, the RiverTown PUD modification was approved however the DRI portion was not approved. Commissioner Whitehurst requested an update to the status of completion of Veterans Parkway construction from Longleaf Pine Parkway to County Road 210. This update is to be provided at the March 21 meeting.

Many residents of the Northwest Sector will want to see this update! Of interest in the materials being presented on Tuesday are the Traffic studies completed for this DRI modification.

You can read them at this link: RiverTown DRI

Traffic Studies begin on Page 133 of the document.

The second item on the agenda Tuesday is a presentation on the Evaluation and Appraisal Review for the County’s Comprehensive Plan. As you may be aware, the current Comprehensive Plan is the “2025 Comprehensive Plan” and it is due to be updated soon!

Important upcoming dates are:

  • August 2024 – Letter of Determination to Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
  • June 2025 – Latest date for transmittal (PZA Hearing)
  • July 2025 – Latest date for transmittal (BOCC Hearing
  • State requires 60-day review after transmittal
  • TBD – Adoption Hearings

What is included in the Comprehensive Plan?

  • Capital Improvements
  • Future Land Use
  • Transportation
  • Water and Sewer
  • Conservation
  • Recreation and Open Space
  • Housing
  • Coastal Management
  • Intergovernmental Coordination
  • Private Property Rights

In short, this drives the decisions the Commissioners may make about future development in the county. Residents are frustrated with the large number of waivers extended to developers. Many of these waivers are driven by the dated Comprehensive Plan now in place.

This is the opportunity to set the blueprint for future development in the county. After this presentation on Tuesday, we hope to see scheduled Growth Management Workshops to gather input from residents.

The presentation from Growth Management for Tuesday can be read here: Presentation on Comprehensive Plan Update

I’ll post a summary later next week.

Posted in BOCC, St. Johns County

Highlights from the March 7 St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners Meeting

Posted on by Beth Tate

The March 7 Board of County Commissioners meeting was a long one!

After volunteering at The Players all week, I’m a bit late in getting caught up viewing the 6 hour meeting. Here are the highlights.

During the Public Safety Update, SJSO Director Skip Cole spoke about the very important work SJSO is doing with the Northeast Intercept Task Force to combat human trafficking in Northeast Florida.

You can learn more about the Intercept project here: Intercept

The County Court Clerk shared an important update about Operation Green Light, being conducted March 20 – 24. This annual event allows drivers who have had their license revoked to pay their overdue fines, with no collection fees, and have their Driver’s License reinstated.

Learn more about Operation Green Light here: Operation Green Light

Regular Agenda Items

Moving into the Regular Agenda, the first item presented was for the Bella Terra PUD

Located in District 3, the Bella Terra PUD Request is to rezone 26 acres of land from Open Rural to Commercial Intensive for a multifamily residential development with a maximum of 174 units. Even though revisions were made to the original request, this development was denied unanimously. A motion to allow a waiver to the one-year limitation before reapplying died, with no second forthcoming.

County Administrator Contract Renewal

There was lively discussion on the renewal of the County Administrator’s Contract. Several residents spoke out strongly against the contract renewal. Some residents in opposition insisted that the original hiring of the Administrator had been illegal. In particular, there were statements that the hiring was a violation of Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Commissioners inquired of the County Attorney if there was anything illegal in the original hiring. The attorney opined that the arguments from residents about Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were not valid. As there were no other applicants for the position, there could be no “Aggrieved parties” therefore the hire was not illegal.

Commissioners spoke of their current assessment of the Administrator, and all were in full support of the job the Administrator has been performing and the motion to renew the contract was approved unanimously.

Details of the Contract can be found here: County Administrator’s Contract

Rivertown PUD and DRI modifications

This request in the RiverTown development is to revise school mitigation requirements, address the abandonment of the Eagle nest, add a date certain for a library site and fire station site, clarify the residential development rights, include age restricted units, and reduce the proposed roundabout locations on SR 13. The PUD modifications were approved with the DRI request being delayed to the next Commissioner’s Meeting to allow time to address questions raised about traffic.

Land Acquisition and Management Program (LAMP)

Location of the Top 5 properties are:

  1. County Road 13 N. Picolata Area – 457.5 acres with a potential use of passive recreation and conservation, wetland mitigation credits, and historic interpretation.
  2. County Road 13 McCollough Creek – 17.6 acres adjacent to the SJC McCullough Creek Conservation Area (MCCA) with a potential use to connect to the MCCA and add a small boat launch.
  3. Anastasia Lakes (Mid-Island) – 49.34 acres of salt marsh with a potential use of preservation for salt marsh credits.
  4. County Road 13 S. Riverdale Area – 30 acres with access on Atlantic Road and a potential use as preservation for wetland mitigation or park uses.
  5. 600 State Road 13 N (Fruit Cove) – 7.7 acres of a former landscape nursery with existing trees and a small pond. Potential use is a passive park. This had been previously recommended in 2022.

The Commissioners approved the list of properties and authorized staff to negotiate the best possible purchase agreements. The Board will have final approval over the purchases.

More information about the proposed properties can be found here: LAMP Proposal

Countywide Strategic Plan

Another lively discussion ensued about the development of a Strategic Plan. Some Commissioners felt that a Strategic Plan was not necessary as the focus needed to be on the update of the Comprehensive Plan. After much discussion, the Board approved the proposal to initiate work on a Strategic Plan. There is already money in the budget to fund hiring a consultant to work on development of the plan.

Posted in Florida Legislature, Politics, St. Johns County

Florida Legislative Bills I am Watching

Posted on by Beth Tate

Preemption Bills

The Florida State Legislative session opens today, March 7, and there is a LOT happening in this session. As the session progresses, I’ll be highlighting a few of the bills I am watching as they make their way through the process.

Preemption Bills

I’m always interested in State Preemption bills. What are Preemption bills? These are bills that preempt the ability of local government to make decisions that are in the best interest of their local constituents. Most of these are written based on a presumption that “Tallahassee knows best,” or that all Florida counties have the same needs.

Certainly, the differences between Miami and Jacksonville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Orlando and Tallahassee, Tampa and Jacksonville, The Keys and Jacksonville should serve as reminders of the vast differences in needs of different counties. Yet so many of the legislative decisions override or ignore those differences.

I’ll start today with one of the most egregious preemption bills, Senate Bill 170. This bill is a watered-down version of the 2022 session’s Senate Bill 620 which passed but was not signed into law.

Senate Bill 170

Local Ordinances; Authorizing courts to assess and award reasonable attorney fees and costs and damages in certain civil actions filed against local governments; providing certain procedures for continued meetings on proposed ordinances for counties; requiring a county to suspend enforcement of an ordinance that is the subject of a certain legal action if certain conditions are met; providing certain procedures for continued meetings on proposed ordinances for municipalities, etc.

What does this really mean?

Each local governmental body would have to prepare a business impact analysis before any new ordinance is adopted. That means, St. Johns County would need staff with the experience and capacity to perform business impact analyses on any new ordinance under review. And, that analysis must be published before or at the same time the new ordinance is publicly posted. If a local business decides to challenge that ordinance through the court system, that ordinance must be immediately suspended until it has been defended in the courts. And this bill would award attorney fees and to the plaintiff in such a challenge if they are successful in their challenge.

The impact analysis of this bill notes that the economic impact is “indeterminate” currently. Just looking at the requirements for each municipality one can see that this is going to require additional hiring and costs for the local governments and additional burden on the court systems.

Even though this is much watered-down from last year’s Senate Bill 620, this is still a dream bill for trial lawyers who will greatly benefit from the lawsuits that could be filed under this piece of legislation. And it’s an economic drain for local governments as it interferes with their ability to file local ordinances that are of benefit to the entire local population.

This bill is now on the Special Order Calendar for March 8, 2023.