PalmBeachPost article

PalmBeachPost.com

County's development control might weaken

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, April 28, 2005

TALLAHASSEE — Palm Beach County officials fear their ability to supervise local development would, ironically, be weakened under a growth management bill given preliminary approval Wednesday by the state House.

The 165-page bill (HB 1865) aims to control building expansion in Florida while finding a way to make sure roads, schools and services keep up with growth in Florida, but it doesn't meet the stringent demands for paying for such growth that Senate President Tom Lee has made his priority this session.

Still, the sponsor of the House bill, Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, said a statewide growth management bill would mean that certain counties, called charter counties, should no longer have the extra rule-making power over development that comes with that designation.

"Now that we are raising the bar statewide, there should not be the need for charter counties to impose their will on cities, and we are trying to make cities autonomous again," said Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, whose bill will come up for a final vote next week in the full House. "We are saying that we are changing the rules of the road so we want you to begin this process again."

The House's proposal, which faces final approval next week, would require the state's 19 charter counties, including Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade, to go back to the drawing board on their charter provisions.

Any current or future rule regarding land use or other issues such as height restrictions would need to be approved by a majority of each city council before it could be imposed on that city or by a countywide vote.

Assistant Palm Beach County Attorney Bob Banks said it's too early to tell what exactly would be affected by the bill — it could be everything from new subdivisions to traffic performance standards.

But he said the bill would make it "cumbersome" to enact any new development ordinances countywide.

In a charter county, voters approve changes to the charter, and county commissioners issue ordinances to enact the changes.

Banks said the way he reads the bill, even the implementing language would have to be approved by voters.

"The attempt is to weaken the ability of charter counties to do things on a countywide basis," Banks said. "People who don't like counties would view this as a positive."

Todd Bonlarron, the county's Legislative Affairs director, said the bill could limit the county's abilities involving countywide traffic performance standards, developer impact fees and well-field protection, which the county studies when cities propose to develop significant projects.

And Barbara Alterman, executive director of the county's Planning, Zoning and Building Department, said it would also be difficult for county commissioners to adopt a countywide ordinance that would affect municipalities.

Although Lee, R-Brandon, had not seen the charter-county provision in the House bill on Wednesday, the Senate president said he had no plan to approve the House's version because it has no long-term funding plan.

"We will not take up the House bill," said Lee, who had previously threatened to request a special session if a compromise could not be reached on growth management. "I'm going to insist the Senate bill passes."

The Senate version of the bill (SB 60) does not contain the restrictive charter-county language.

It was passed unanimously in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.

Kriss Vallese, spokesman for the Florida Association of Counties, said her group is most concerned with the charter county provision, which she said was added late to the mammoth growth management bill and may even be unconstitutional.

"These charters were already approved by voters of the state and this would require them to start all over again," Vallese said.

"We think this is a very dramatic shift in powers."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/epaper/2005/04/28/c1b_GROWTH_0428.html