Politics – Page 2

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

Preemption Bills in the Florida Legislature

Posted on March 20, 2023March 20, 2023 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.

Florida Legislature, Politics, St. Johns County

Florida Legislative Bills I am Watching

Posted on March 7, 2023March 7, 2023 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.

BOCC, Florida Legislature, St. Johns County, Transportation

St. Johns County Transportation Summit

Posted on March 3, 2023March 6, 2023 by Beth Tate

Summary of the March 3 Workshop

On Friday, March 3, the County Commissioners hosted a Transportation Summit at the County Auditorium. In attendance were:

Our County Commissioners, Sarah Arnold, Christian Whitehurst, Krista Joseph, Roy Alaimo, and Henry Dean
US Representative John Rutherford
State Representatives Cyndi Stevenson
State Senator Travis Hutson
FDOT District 2 Representative Jim Knight

This was a “workshop” with no time granted for public comment.

A presentation was provided by County Engineer Dick D’Souza highlighting projects in the county and some of the main areas of traffic concern. Ironically, Representative Stevenson was a few minutes late to the meeting because of heavy traffic. She noted, if she had been going north to catch a flight, she would have missed her flight!

The presentation from Mr. D’Souza is available on the County website at this link:

Transportation Infrastructure

Some highlights of interest:

Prioritization of projects that will connect to the Strategic Intermodal System
Widening of County Road 210, Greenbriar Road to Cimmarone Blvd. – funded with local, developer and federal funds – currently in the Design Build phase
Longleaf Pine Parkway widening to 4 lanes – Developer funded, Construction start in 2023
Veterans Parkway – widen from Longleaf Pine to Greenbrier Road, including construction of new 4 lane roadway from Longleaf Pine Parkway to CR 210 – Developer funded, Construction started in 2021
Old Moultrie Road – Dino Road, SR 312 to Lewis Point Road – Local and Developer Funds, Construction start 2023. Includes new bicycle lanes and sidewalks

Partnership projects include:

I-95 Widening project
First Coast Expressway
County Road 2209
A1A Intersection improvements
State Road 16 and International Golf Parkway intersection

Other noted projects:

St. Johns Safe Rail Project is intended to address concerns at US 1 and CR 210. The conceptual design would close the intersection fo Alt CR 210 and US1 and construct a westbound bridge over US1 and access ramps from County Road 210 to US 1.

Country Road 2209 – from Silverleaf Parkway to State Road 16. This project would complete the upper section of north-south 2209 and link with SR 16 to provide a seamless rout to 9B and Race Track Road. It would connect the regional workforce to a 700,000 SF commercial and innovation hub expected to provide more than 1,200 jobs in the county.

Multimodal & Safety Improvements under review include the Pine Island Road at US 1 intersection. Very recently the site of another traffic fatality that resulted in an extensive traffic back-up across CR 210, this is a high priority for the County. The project includes complete reconstruction of the intersection, signalization and a multi-use trail-head. St. Johns County has made an urgent $2 million legislative request to fund this project.

Multi-Use trails are requested including Nocatee trail extension to A1A, St. Johns River to the Intercoastal, and the North-South Connector to SR 207.

Be sure to check the link above for the presentations behind the data!

BOCC, Florida Legislature, Growth & Development, St. Johns County

Florida Legislative Bills I Am Watching

Posted on February 14, 2023February 14, 2023 by Beth Tate

House Bill 439 – Land Use and Development Regulations

Here’s a bill to watch in this Legislative Session if you are concerned about the future of development in St. Johns County.

House Bill 439, filed by Representative Stan McClain from District 27 (Ocala)

HB 439: Land Use and Development Regulations

GENERAL BILL by McClain

Land Use and Development Regulations; Revises effect of special magistrate’s recommendation; revises local governmental entity notification requirements; revises types of data that comprehensive plans & plan amendments must be based on; requires local government to submit affidavit for specified purposes; requires that EDR be sole publisher of specified estimates; revises elements that must be included in comprehensive plan; revises frequency at which local government must evaluate its comprehensive plan; prohibits local government from adopting plan amendments when it fails to meet certain requirements; revises exceptions to applicability of land development regulations relating to single-family or two-family dwelling building design elements; requires AG to audit county transportation trust fund.

Drilling into the bill, there are some important changes that would further impact how the local Board of County Commissioners would be able to approve or deny new development in the County.

According to the 1000 Friends of Florida this legislation:

Eliminates all state planning indicators for “urban sprawl,” instead defining urban sprawl as unplanned development that requires an extension of public facilities by a local government.
Expands the definition of an “agricultural enclave” from 1,000 residents to 1,000 residential units, in effect allowing major subdivisions in agricultural areas.
Prohibits the denial of a development order for failure to meet level-of-service standards, meaning that insufficient infrastructure (roads, schools, etc.) could not be the reason a local government denies a rezoning or subdivision plat approval.
Takes away local government discretion to reject a decision under Florida’s Land Use and Environmental Dispute Resolution Act, commonly referred to as “FLUEDRA.”

Who should pay attention?

Residents who are opposed to rapid growth and development in St. Johns County often complain that the Commissioners aren’t denying applications. They can only deny based on legal grounds. They cannot deny based on the “clamor of the crowd.”

As posted in every St. John County Neighborhood Bill of Rights Notice:

“NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING PROCEDURES: During the public hearing, all public comment is welcome, but please be aware that zoning decisions may not be merely based upon citizen “wishes” that are unsubstantiated by any competent facts, i.e. – the “clamor of the crowd” is not a sufficient reason upon which to base a decision, Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County v. Snyder, 627 So.2d 469 (Fla. 1993). However, the Florida courts have clearly held that “fact-based” lay testimony is admissible and may be relied upon as follows: “citizen testimony in a zoning matter is perfectly permissible and constitutes substantial competent evidence, so long as it is fact-based. Mere generalized statements of opposition are to be disregarded, but fact-based testimony is not.” Metropolitan Dade County v. Blumenthal, 675 So.2d 598 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995).”

House Bill 439 further erodes the legal justification for denying a new development by local governments. This is just one example of why it’s important to pay attention to what is happening in Tallahassee.

Current Status:

This bill has been referred to the following committees:

Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee
Commerce Committee
State Affairs Committee

It is now in the Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee

Local Administration Subcommittee

Florida Legislature, Politics, St. Johns County

Home Rule, Again?

Posted on February 13, 2023February 13, 2023 by Beth Tate

The 2023 Version of Local Preemption Bills

Here We Go Again

In 2022, Senate Bill 620 was the big bear looming over local governments as it took away the ability of local municipalities to pass ordinances in the best interests of ALL local residents. This bill cast a blanket view that all counties and local governments in the State of Florida have the same needs.

Governor DeSantis vetoed this bill in June of 2022 because of its “broad and ambiguous” nature; something raised by many opponents as it made its way through the Legislature last year.

Governor DeSantis SB 620 Veto Letter

The Governor did suggest that if the bill were fine-tuned and included targeted preemption, when local governments undermined State policy or the rights of Floridians, he would be in favor

And that brings us to the 2023 Legislative session and 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; requiring a board of county commissioners to prepare or cause to be prepared a business impact estimate before the enactment of a proposed ordinance; requiring a county to suspend enforcement of an ordinance that is the subject of a certain legal action if certain conditions are met; requiring a governing body of a municipality to prepare or cause to be prepared a business impact estimate before the enactment of a proposed ordinance, etc.

Residents of Florida should be paying attention to this bill and what it will cost local governments. The bill mandates a business impact statement to be filed before any ordinance can be adopted by a county or city.

Here in St. Johns County, that means the City of St. Augustine, City of St. Augustine Beach, and the County would need staff to review and prepare that business impact statement before every ordinance they consider. Our local governments are already stretched to meet current needs. This bill would add labor costs that then flow back to taxpayers as the budget would need to be increased to accommodate the additional workload. Even the Legislative Analysis says the financial impact is “indeterminate.”

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander

A full cost analysis and business impact analysis should be performed on this bill before it is passed!

Cause and Effect

If SB 170 is passed, one individual or business plaintiff could object to a local ordinance and then sue the local municipality, thus stopping the ordinance completely. If the plaintiff prevails, the attorney fees,
costs and damages would be borne by the local government; that means us taxpayers would foot the bill.

How might that play out? Let’s consider a local ordinance now being reviewed by St. Johns County. This local ordinance would raise the minimum cost of Affordable Workforce Housing from $240,000 to $260,000. What if a local business owner decided that was negatively impacting his business and ability to hire workers? He could sue the county and stop the ordinance in its tracks while it makes its way through the courts.

St. Johns County is not like Hillsborough County or Broward County or even Duval County. Local governments need to be able to pass local ordinances that are suited to local resident’s needs.

The next stop for this bill is the Senate Rules Committee. I expect it will sail through there just as SB 620 did in 2022. And this year, with the revisions based on feedback from Governor DeSantis in 2022, it is more likely to be signed.

If you are concerned about this local preemption bill, you can:

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