Smart Growth News

Florida

Gainesville Hopes to Follow Norfolk's Recipe for Success in Downtown Redevelopment

Much better than it recently was, downtown Gainesville can really become an economic and cultural activity hub, but local leaders must ''bury turfdom,'' embrace a ''shared vision,'' and jointly confront possible setbacks just like their Norfolk, Virginia counterparts have been doing over the past several years since they transformed the desolate crime-ridden downtown area into the community magnet it is today, said Tidewater Community College President Deborah DiCroce in a presentation to Gainesville commissioners and Santa Fe Community College officials, explaining, ''How did we do it? Partnerships!''

Norfolk teamed with the state, the area's school boards and the 37,000-student community college, each taking a stake in the city's redevelopment, reports Gainesville Sun writer Tiffany Pakkala, quoting president DiCroce, who pointed out that her college sees its partners and supporters as investors ''reinvesting in their enterprise'' to mutual benefit.

The college returned an abandoned theater to self-sufficiency in the performing arts, turned an old Woolworth building into a technology center, and used a vacant lot for a science building. It also will share its new library with a school district and, in a project still under way, will take several floors of a mixed-use building shared with the city and businesses.

The new Regional Automotive Technology Center on one of the college's campus, she noted, offers a solid program for the students and an educational opportunity for local residents, while benefitting the industry with as highly qualified work force and the city with additional tax revenue.

That's exactly where Gainesville is moving. Commissioner Rick Bryant observed that Santa Fe Community College has already stepped up to the plate by building its ''wonderful'' Blount Center downtown, and Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan expressed confidence that Gainesville will match Norfolk's success in ''five or six years.'' -- Gainesville Sun   2/21/2006

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

New ULI Jacksonville Group Will Focus on Links Between Growth and Transportation Policies

Increasingly interested in land-use research and related educational services, some 170 Northern Florida members of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Orlando chapter formed their own ULI Jacksonville District Council to keep the Jacksonville and regional economies strong despite slower residential development elsewhere in the state, with the new council's chairman, St. Joe Co. vice president Michael Shalley saying smart growth may make people ''groan, but it means looking forward to the challenges ahead and being proactive rather than reactive.''

They focused first on links between growth and transportation policies, a subject addressed in depth at their council's recent meeting by the Washington-based national ULI senior resident fellow for transportation and infrastructure, Robert Dunphy.

In an interview with Jacksonville Business Journal writer Liz Flaisig, he said fast-growing cities like Jacksonville should ''begin with a vision of where the community wants to be in terms of its growth, then put a transportation system together'' instead of doing it ''the other way around.''

But when development spreads rapidly away from the urban core, car-bent suburban residents often lose interest in public transit, such as the light rail suggested for Jacksonville's future, while delays increase potential project costs and sometimes make governments build more roads.

''All this creates that situation where people become dependent on driving, from home to work and then everywhere else,'' Robert Dunphy pointed out. ''We make it too easy to do the wrong thing and too difficult to do the right thing.''

To change the course, he told his Jacksonville region colleagues, they should promote planning policies and developer incentives to increase infill, which ensures the density necessary for successful public transit. -- Jacksonville Business Journal   1/27/2006

Resource(s): www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/

Gubernatorial Hopefuls Unanimously State Support for Sunshine State's Affordable Housing Trust Funds

Invited for their first joint appearance by the Florida Association of Realtorsr (FAR), whose concerns range from ''preserving affordable and attainable homeownership opportunities to private property rights and smart growth planning,'' all four candidates for the 2006 gubernatorial race -- state Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, and U.S. Democratic Representative Jim Davis and state Senator Rod Smith -- expressed support for the state's affordable housing trust funds.

''I will work to continue to make sure that those funds are available,'' the attorney general told some 450 participants of the FAR mid-winter business meeting in Orlando, ''to help fund attainable housing in this state for ... our teachers, nurses, police officer and many others in the workforce.''

His GOP colleague Gallagher agreed that lawmakers ''should not take money out of the affordable housing trust funds'' to finance other projects.

Democratic Representative Davis pointed out that he helped create the fund, saying of the Republican-dominated legislature, ''politicians in Tallahassee have helped take the trust out of the trust funds'' and ''it's time to stop playing games.''

His Democratic colleague Smith echoed the statement. ''I was in Okeechobee recently and they told me that they needed 36 teachers and they signed them up pretty quickly -- but then they lost about half of them when the teachers found out that they couldn't afford housing near where they were supposed to work,'' he said. ''The state is going to have to help make that happen.''

FAR President Mike Dooley promised that the state's more than 155,000 Realtors and their families will pay attention to the gubernatorial campaign. ''We will certainly support a strong candidate who will help build a better future for all Florida residents and visitors.'' -- PRNewswire   1/23/2006

Resource(s): www.prnewswire.com/

New Smyrna Beach Officials Receive Smart Growth Advice at Development Workshop

''Most local governments are in a reactive mode, not a proactive mode,'' said Maitland-based Ivey Planning Group principal Joel Ivey at a development workshop held by the New Smyrna Beach City Commission, advising officials to build the community's consensus on its future, but also to back good projects despite public opposition, and stressing that real smart growth must ensure three goals -- a sound economy, a safe environment and overall livability.

Involved in smart growth for about three years, reports Daytona Beach News-Journal writer Melanie Stawicki Azam, the planner explained that the movement promotes mixed uses, diversified housing, transportation options, land preservation, high construction standards and other sustainability practices.

The city can shape growth most directly through its code, he said, observing that most cities don't realize their codes may date back to the 1950s and hinder their search for better development. He pointed out that compact development reduces infrastructure costs, and that the city should protect wetlands, natural resources and historic buildings.

He also stressed the importance of smart-growth housing incentives, telling officials to work out such developer incentives with local merchants, since more residents downtown will help sustain their businesses. -- News-Journal   1/19/2006

Resource(s): www.news-journalonline.com/

Pine Island Residents Unhappy Over Prospect of New Development as Lone Road to Mainland Becomes Increasingly Crowded

The only road between Pine Island and the coast four miles east is becoming increasingly congested, yet Lee County commissioners have approved or may approve more island development, seemingly overlooking its impact on traffic, an omission of great concern not only for the Greater Pine Island Civic Association, but also to Fort Myers News-Press editors, who urged officials and residents to ''stand by smart growth.''

Hoping to save local character and as much land as possible from developers, in 1989 island residents won the county's consent for their proposal to stop approving new projects ''once traffic on the road to the mainland hit 910 trips,'' the daily recalled on the eve of a recent county planning workshop for the area, appreciative of that ''pioneering application of the smart growth principles so fashionable today.''

Consequently, it told commissioners they ''need to return to that original commitment to the people of Pine Island, especially since there are 6,000 platted lots on the island that can be developed in any case.''

That's what most of the 150 island residents who crowded the county's workshop wanted to tell commissioners, too, reported the daily's writer Karen Feldman, but in contrast to a public hearing, workshop rules made a full discussion impossible. County Commission Chairman Tammy Hall apologized for the misunderstanding and assured attendees the board was sensitive to their concerns.

Although county community development director Mary Gibb explained that planners don't need to calculate the potential number of additional cars on the island's road until developers are ready to use their permits, which may take years and sometimes never happen, island group representative Phil Buchanan disagreed. He asked commissioners to make the staff change the procedure and calculate a project's traffic impact early in the approval process. -- News-Press   1/10/2006

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Gainesville Merchants Ask Officials to Require Community Impact Reports for New Big Box Stores

Like many jurisdictions nationwide, Alachua County already limits big-box stores to just a few current or designated growth centers, but two Gainesville merchants, Adventure Outfitters owner Robert Ackerman and Goerings Book Store owner Tom Rider, want the county and the city to toughen rules and require a ''community impact report'' for any such store, to evaluate if it's really needed, how it would affect local businesses, and what it would cost the public in services.

The merchants, who offer higher-end outdoor gear and a range of quality books, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, don't feel personally threatened by nearby the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, which have mostly lesser-value camping merchandise and a limited book stock, but they point out that others may. They are especially concerned about small local stores that sell hardware, bicycles, cameras and musical instruments.

''These are all of the things that super Wal-Marts kill when they are scattered over the county, and I fear that if you put a Wal-Mart in each little precinct, you'll have no other business,'' said Tim Rider, while Robert Ackerman observed, ''Traffic will not be coming from just a mile around; it will be from 30 miles around.''

With their request for amending the county's comprehensive plan with a big-box community impact provision scheduled for discussion by planning commissioners in January, the writer notes, the two businessmen are also moving to present a similar proposal to the city. -- Gainesville Sun   12/30/2005

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Demand for Upscale Downtown Condos Continues in Tampa Bay Area

In a salute to the downtown St. Petersburg residential and business renaissance, JMC Communities development company CEO J. Michael Cheezem called his proposed 26-story luxury condo tower on Beach Drive -- just 150 yards from the Tampa Bay waterline -- Ovation, planning only 40 ''estate'' units at 22 upper floors, but with prices starting at $1.6 million for 3,600 square feet and reaching the upper $4 millions for the four 5,200-square-foot full-floor penthouses.

''I'm quite sure it will be the highest average price (for condominiums) in St. Petersburg,'' the developer told St. Petersburg Times writer Sharon L. Bond, who notes that he is not alone in anticipating further demand for upscale downtown units and pricing them accordingly. At Sandpearl and Enchantment on Clearwater Beach, prices start at $920,000 and $1 million, respectively, while at Trump Tower in Tampa they range from $700,000 to $6 million.

Planned in partnership with local Sembler Co. and developer Jimmy Aviram, the $80 million Ovation tower will have 13,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, while the three floors above will house parking and various amenities, including a swimming pool, an outdoor space, and a covered pavilion with a fireplace. Each of the next 18 floors will feature two condos, with the four penthouses on the top four floors offering 360-degree vistas. All units will have private elevators.

Sembler official Craig Sher said it's likely that one unit will be taken by company founder Mel Sembler, who just completed a tour as U.S. ambassador to Italy. -- St. Petersburg Times   12/20/2005

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Proposed Land Use Institute to Focus on Sustainable Development in Sunshine State

Joining forces with Sarasota County in its bid to diversify the local economy and become a center for sustainability, ''green'' industry and smart-growth research, the University of Florida and the liberal-arts New College of Florida intend to build an interdisciplinary Florida Institute for Integrative Land Use, which will focus on ways to manage development and protect the environment as the state's population of some 17 million in 2003 doubles by 2050.

According to University of Florida professor Stephen Mulkey and New College professor Meg Lowman, who spearhead the initiative, reports Sarasota Herald Tribune writer Doug Sword, the institute will inventory the county's soils, to identify the best building materials and native plants for different areas.

It will also study urban ecology and transportation ecology, to help governments and builders minimize traffic congestion through better location of housing, businesses and schools.

The county is donating $2 million and the five-acre Celery Fields site just east of the city for the proposed institute, counting on its expertise in drawing up the Sarasota 2050 growth plan and a comprehensive plan.

The project proponents still need $12 million to build the institute, its greenhouse and field station, but they expect the growing public interest in growth management to secure them $4 million in federal grants, and the rest in state and private funds.

County Commissioner Shannon Staub hopes the area will be as successful in the emerging sustainability sector as her native North Carolina is with the Research Triangle and its high-tech industries. -- Herald Tribune   12/12/2005

Resource(s): www.heraldtribune.com/

Fate of Massive Palm Beach County Biotech Park Hinges on Environmental Impact Study

Opposed in court by the Florida Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club as detrimental to the nearby Everglades, full development of the 1,920-acre former Mecca Farms citrus grove in Palm Beach County into a massive biotechnology park anchored by the proposed Scripps Research Institute campus must await an Army Corps of Engineers permit before it continues, stated federal District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in his second decision on the matter within two weeks.

Plaintiffs' attorney Richard Grosso said the new ruling make it even more clear that the judge is ''going to very strictly enforce the law and uphold the integrity of the federal environmental review process.''

The clarification, requested by Scripps and the county, report the Associated Press and Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, confirms that Scripps, based at La Jolla (CA), can work on its three Palm Beach County buildings and their access, but that the county can neither provide them with power and water nor pursue road and infrastructure construction for the whole site until and unless Army engineers find the environmental impact negligible, which may take several years.

The state is ready to invest $300 million and the county more than $210 million in the planned biotechnology park as a means to diversify Florida's economy, the Sun writer notes, quoting Governor Jeb Bush, who mentioned the possibility of its relocation.

''At some point, if there's so much uncertainty,'' the governor observed, ''then it's possible for the project to move.''

Optimistic that the court ruling won't block Scripps plans to build the Palm County campus, with its scientists already working out of a building at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, University of Florida (UF-Gainesville) vice president and liaison Win Phillips said his university and Scripps have recently agreed to work together on research and the licensing of technology, stressing, ''It's important to get Scripps located'' in Florida. -- Gainesville Sun   11/22/2005

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Miami Proposes ''World Class'' Park System as Part of Smart Growth Blueprint; Would Use Impact Fees to Fund Work

Last in park-space per 1,000 residents among the 12 densest cities on a Trust for Public Land list, but one of the hottest housing construction spots nationwide, Miami hopes to create ''a world-class park system'' as part of the Miami 21 smart-growth blueprint now in the works, with city commissioners tentatively approving a large increase in developer impact fees, which may boost the collection total from $2.5 million to $7.3 million a year and its park portion from $500,000 to more than $5 million.

Subject to a final council vote next month, reports Miami Herald writer Michael Vasquez, the increase would apply to project applications starting January 15, with builders likely to pass the cost to buyers.

Having long urged the city to hike impact fees and now applauding the move, neighborhood leaders will continue to lobby officials for an additional increase, said activist Steve Hagen, because even the new fee formula won't bring in enough money to keep the current park-space-per-resident ratio, given the scope of new construction and the projected population growth.

Although the new formula, the writer notes, includes affordable housing incentives, letting builders defer fees for low-cost units until they are resold at market prices, Commissioner Angel Gonzales cast the sole ''no'' vote, concerned that the charge is the same for $300,000 and $3 million condos.

''We can't solve the problems overnight,'' stated Commissioner Johnny Winton, but ''this is a great first step.'' -- Miami Herald   11/17/2005

Resource(s): www.miami.com/

New Smart Growth Panel Proposed for Volusia County to Better Implement Growth Plans, Management

With a population that's doubled in the past 20 years -- and that may reach 700,000 over the next decade -- Volusia County has had little luck in curbing sprawl.

The 1986 Growth Management Commission rarely scrutinizes projects, last year's 71 percent county vote for urban growth boundaries didn't survive a builders' complaint in court, and the August report by the broad-based Smart Growth Implementation Committee may still encounter a push for more ''visioning,'' reports Daytona Beach News-Journal writer James Miller, while two subsequent editorials advise regional cooperation and making the County School District an equal partner in the fight against sprawl.

As the Smart Growth Implementation Committee recommends, the editorials note, the ''unwieldy'' Growth Management Commission, composed of 16 city and five unincorporated area representatives, and two non-voting members from the school district and the St. Johns River Water Management District, should be revamped as the Smart Growth Commission. Its seven voting members -- three from cities, three from the county and one from the school district -- all elected officials, would be accountable directly to voters.

As a representative body, the new commission ''would have final say over the location of water and service boundaries, joint city-county planning and coordination of needs that affect countywide needs such as transportation and schools,'' says the daily's editorial, pointing out that although the 2004 vote for growth boundaries was defeated in court, the overwhelming support had its impact, since without it ''there would have been no incentive for developers and big landowners to sit down with slow-growth advocates and preservationists to seek compromise.''

Community Voice writer Clay Henderson argues similar points in his editorial, focusing on the Smart Growth Implementation Committee's four most important recommendations -- to protect the environmental core, to concentrate growth in target areas, to establish agricultural incentives, and to coordinate growth and school planning.

As voters in many area cities have just elected new leaders on slower-growth planks, county officials took notice and also pledged ''to begin the implementation of smart growth,'' he writes, confident that if given a chance, ''our voters will approve new tools to promote smart growth strategies.'' -- Daytona Beach News-Journal   11/13/2005

Resource(s): www.news-journalonline.com/

Orlando's Sprawl Spreads Ever Farther as Median Housing Price Doubles in 12 Months

The unrelenting home-price spiral in the four-county metro Orlando area -- its median of $117,000 a year ago now at $245,000 -- benefits sellers but forces some city residents who for one reason or another want a change, to expand their search for affordable homes from 10 to 20, 30 or more miles away, to places still rural, quiet and congestion-free, yet unlikely to remain so very long if the next development push outward is not cushioned by planning and left solely to market forces.

''Most are going to these outer areas seeking some kind of relief,'' says Washington-based Smart Growth America Executive Director Don Chen, afraid that those trying to escape traffic, housing costs or whatever they worry about ''are in for a nasty surprise.''

He mentions, reports Orlando Sentinel writer Kelly Griffith, longer commutes taking time from families, a likely lack of transit, difficult access to services like specialized health care and to other amenities, increased delays on more and more congested local roads, and the prospect of rising taxes as rural communities struggle to meet new sprawl-related service demands.

''We do not have a very good record anywhere in Florida, including our region, of containing sprawl,'' points out University of Central Florida's Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies Director Linda Chapin. ''There's no guarantee, no matter where you go in the (larger) seven-county area, whether it's Polk County or Lake County or another more rural area, that it is going to stay that way.''

But for now, those who move dozens of miles from Orlando, especially young families and first-time buyers, think their less costly and usually larger homes are worth it, the writer observes, noting that the population of unincorporated Sumter and Osceola counties jumped by some 28 and 39 percent, respectively, between 2000 and 2004, while their county seats, Bushnell and Kissimmee, gained 10 and 17 percent. -- Orlando Sentinel   10/12/2005

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Miami Commissioner Emphasizes Need to Include Smart Growth Practices in Development Decisions

''As elected officials, it is our responsibility to make the difficult choices by not allowing development with potentially devastating consequences,'' writes Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson to The Miami Herald, in response to Homestead resident Gilbert Melendez's worry over a recent South Florida Regional Planning Council rejection of a 2,600-home plan for his high-hazard coastal area, urging a change in public attitudes and stressing, ''Development needs to implement practices of smart growth, with mixed land uses, walkable neighborhoods and more compact design.''

In his letter to the editor, the Homestead resident argued that the city -- 15 miles from the land tip and squarely on the only route of evacuation from Florida Keys -- has learned a lot from Hurricane Andrew, knows how to evacuate early and shouldn't be ''punished'' through denial of its growth plans just because the Keys' population boom makes their evacuation difficult and ''because federal agencies were not prepared for Hurricane Katrina.''

But Commissioner Sorenson points out that no one is denying Homestead or other South Florida communities ''the right to grow and prosper'' and that smart growth allows them ''to expand while preserving open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas.''

And she also makes this point. ''It's time for us to recognize that the way we choose to live is not only an independent decision -- it affects our community and region as a whole.'' -- The Miami Herald   10/2/2005

Resource(s): www.miami.com/

Condo Conversions, Competition Over Urban Land Likely to Squeeze Orlando's Rental Housing Market

Adding to Orlando area concerns over the lack of lower-income housing, builders will complete only 2,100 apartments in the city by the end of 2005 -- 12 percent fewer than they built last year -- which is projected to reduce vacancies to just 6 percent and consequently push rents up by more than 3 percent. Orlando Sentinel writer Jack Snyder reports that the apartment market is becoming increasingly tight because home builders compete for urban land with multi-family zoning and because large real estate companies pay top dollars for rentals and convert them to upscale condos.

As an example, the writes cites one of the city biggest conversions ever, currently under way, the remake of the 100-acre, 1,088-unit Park Central apartment complex into condos with extensive amenities. Bought by the RAK Group of New York for $151 million, with $15 million more spent for upgrades and with 413 first-phase units already on the market, the project will include a private day spa, a restaurant and sports bar, a fitness center, tennis courts and five swimming pools. -- Orlando Sentinel   9/19/2005

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Lee County Notes Big Jump in Number of Residents Biking and Walking to Work

''With the gas prices the way they are, local governments should get ready to see a lot more people walking and riding their bikes,'' said Lee County walking and cycling program coordinator Dan Moser, hardly surprised by the American Community Survey, a project of the U.S. Census, which found the number of Lee County residents regularly walking or biking to work up from 950 in 2003 to 3,700 in 2004.

At the same time, reports Fort Myers News-Press writer Betty Parker, the combined number of those who rode bikes and motorcycles to work declined from 3,500 to some 2,700. Although Census Bureau spokeswoman Shelly Lowe can't explain the rapid annual increase in number of Lee walkers, speculating that the survey's small sample could have hit a walker-saturated ''pocket,'' local experts point out that mixed-use neighborhoods with housing near jobs are conducive to walking, in contrast to standard suburban subdivisions and gated residential communities, which make people almost totally dependent on cars.

''Downtown Fort Myers has a lot of apartments and a lot of jobs nearby,'' observed County Smart Growth director Wayne Daltry, mentioning also Fort Myers Beach and the Edison Mall area.

The county's Metropolitan Planning Organization director Glen Ahlert added Lee Memorial Hospital, with plenty of adjacent housing, to the list, and the city's older sections, with smaller, interlinked and more pedestrian-friendly streets. He noted that the ongoing $1.5 million sidewalk construction project along a nearly three-mile stretch of U.S. 41 between College Parkway and Colonial Boulevard will make walking and biking easier in that section, too.

But program coordinator Moser added a caveat. ''A huge mindset change needs to take place,'' he said. ''Motorists need to learn to share the road, (to learn) that bicyclists have as much right to be there as they do. And the people who ride bikes need to learn to be more skilled to ride on the road.'' -- News-Press   9/6/2005

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Developer Moves Ahead With Plans to Convert Former Florida Panhandle Timber Tracts to ''New Ruralism'' Retreats

Having paid $2 per acre in the 1930s for its 800,000 mostly wild swampy acres between Tallahassee and Panama City Beach, above the northeastern corner of Gulf of Mexico, the former paper-phone-railroad St. Joe Company tapped the land only for timber until the 1990s, when it reinvented itself as Florida's top real estate developer, now invoking famous 19th century nature essayist and nonconformist Henry David Thoreau, ''counting on rural chic,'' hoping to sell it as ''new ruralism'' for up to $2 million an acre and, reports New York Times writer Abby Goodnough, looking to ''entice city and suburban dwellers who are weary of civilization and long to own a tractor, a pickup truck, or at least a kayak and a few large dogs.''

A corporate take on New Urbanism -- the increasingly popular anti-sprawl movement that promotes compact design, walkability and human contact -- ''new ruralism'' advertises connection with land. Its St. Joe version, the writer notes, comes in three home types: on up to four-acre lots near marshes, creeks and conservation zones, on 5-to-20-acre lots near fields and ponds, and on up to 150-acre tracts in hunting areas.

In its June booklet quoting Thoreau, the company defines new ruralism, the writer paraphrases, as ''rising with the sun, fishing with the tides and resting with the moon.''

But far from Thoreau, who at 27 built his Walden Pond cabin in the New Hampshire woods himself, ate what he planted, caught and gathered in the wild for two years, and lived his ideas of simplicity and self-sufficiency, St. Joe's houses, farms and ranches, the writer finds, will offer the 42 to 60-year-old target group wireless Internet access, remotely controlled porch screens, Sub-Zero kitchen refrigerators and other comforts of modern rusticity.

Still, St. Joe's Chairman and CEO Peter S. Rummell isn't totally at ease. ''A moderated ruralism seems pretty attractive,'' he says, but he also acknowledges, ''A big, thick pine forest with a lot of undergrowth is a pretty forbidding place. It scares a lot of people.'' St. Joe's executive overseeing the first project, RiverCamps on Crooked Creek near Panama City Beach, adds, ''We honestly asked ourselves, 'Will people live in this environment?' We've got critters, we've got heat, we've got humidity.''

The company is working to make the land more hospitable by thinning the forest, burning underbrush, digging ponds and smoothing pastures, and so far 145 buyers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas have closed on RiverCamps' two-acre lots for up to $1 million each, even before construction began.

Some of the region's residents and conservationists, the writer notes, worry about this massive development and its potential impact. Although he allows that the company's latest plan ''could be positive,'' 1000 Friends of Florida Executive Director Charles Pattison cautions, ''This is an area of the state that typically has one of the lowest population densities. Issues like protection of habitat, hurricane evacuation routes and service provision have got to be addressed.'' -- New York Times   8/22/2005

Resource(s): www.nytimes.com/ ; www.stjoecommercial.com

Builders Groups Working to Help Manatee County Find Remedies to Infrastructure Funding Shortfalls

Prompted by their overlapping concerns about the lack of improvements paid for through development impact fees and about the rise of the area's median home price above $300,000, the Home Builders Association of Manatee County and the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance are joining forces to help county officials work out remedies, with the Alliance founder, Bosshardt Realty owner Dave Minton, saying, ''It has to be a team effort. We all want smart growth.''

Builders don't try to derail the county's 28-year-old fee system, but seek more accountability, reports Brandenton Herald writer Melissa Followell.

''The county has collected a lot of money but you have not seen the effect of it,'' said association vice president Bambi Spahr, hoping officials and residents will realize builder fees are just ''part of the puzzle'' and not enough to fund the infrastructure the fast-growing county needs.

Neal Communities president Dale Weidemiller would also like officials to move faster from the recent affordability discussions to a sound practical solution. ''If they took the plans they have now to the board today,'' he remarked, ''you wouldn't have your first affordable house for three years.''

Consequently, the writer notes, major area employers asked what they could do to help speed up the county process. ''Affordable housing isn't just a housing issue,'' stressed Aclarian Mortgage principal Bob DeCecco, ''it's a work force issue.'' -- Bradenton Herald   8/11/2005

Resource(s): www.bradenton.com/

Palm Beach County Struggles to Find Solutions for Affordable Housing

The average new Palm Beach County home price of $462,000 makes it ''almost impossible to recruit'' professionals and totally excludes unskilled workers, said County Board Chairman Tony Masilotti at a recent workforce housing workshop, which looked into the possibility of spurring affordable housing through builder linkage fees, inclusionary zoning and community land trusts.

''It's impossible to build affordable housing in Boca Raton. We have one hand behind our back,'' said Commissioner Burt Aaronson, summing up the county's jurisdictional and public perception problems. ''We don't want vertical and we don't want sprawl. You can't put a square peg in a round hole.''

Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams, reports Boca Raton News writer John Johnston, admitted that residents dislike high buildings and density, and agreed with the commissioner that a partial answer to the lower-income housing shortage lies in cheaper land just to the west and requires better public transportation. And that, the mayor said, the city and Tri-Rail will offer later this year, opening a Congress Avenue station, the first with ''a lot of daily amenities,'' including a pharmacy, several shops and banking.

In addition, he noted, the city council will focus on affordable housing, including workforce and subsidy issues, at its workshop in August. With the exception of Commissioner Mary McCarty, who ''wasn't excited by the social engineering of inclusionary zoning'' and told her six colleagues it may require ''mass transit and a model project'' first, the other county board members were receptive to the concept, which would require residential builders to include between 5 percent and 20 percent of affordable units in their market-rate projects.

They also liked the ideas of community land trusts and builder linkage fees. The trusts, the writer observes, keep land costs permanently in check and ''lock in'' home subsidies for all consecutive owners. The linkage fees, from both residential and commercial developers, fund construction of affordable multi-family housing, whose density also advances smart growth by reducing car trips throughout the area and their ''economic and environmental costs.'' -- Boca Raton News   7/21/2005

Resource(s): www.bocaratonnews.com/

''Civic Investor'' Reveals Plans for 41-Acre Urban Village in Osprey

Hating to be called a developer because of instant public images of suburban sprawl, self-described ''civic investor'' Henry Rodriquez, who sees the community ''as a whole,'' and whose public relations wizardry two years ago galvanized almost unanimous support for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Osprey as crucial for ''economic development,'' is now banking on New Urbanism and getting from Osprey residents equally broad endorsement for his $150 million, 41-acre pedestrian-friendly Bay Street Village & Town Center, in which cars will be ''optional'' and housing prices moderate.

''Everybody is isolated,'' he tells Sarasota Herald-Tribune writer Rich Shopes. ''Our social systems are breaking down to a point where you don't know your neighbor.''

As an antidote to Osprey's gated subdivisions, the writer notes, the versatile investor wants to build an urban village, with a town square, a library, 30 shops, some offices and 532 condos, villas and townhouses -- most units atop stores and priced from mid-$200,000 to upper $400,000.

''Once those villages start coming into communities, and people start looking at the success of these villages, the old mindset will start changing,'' he predicts. ''It has to, because we cannot continue to have these (low) densities.''

Thus, New Urbanism is a sure bet. ''The market is not that large for these big estates, and what are you going to do about housing for everyone else?'' he asks, offering a cautionary note for big-lot developers. ''At the end of the day,'' he says, ''when this bubble pops, and make no bones about it, this bubble will pop, you're going to have a lot of developers stuck with all these estate lots they will not be able to sell.'' -- Herald-Tribune   7/11/2005

Resource(s): www.heraldtribune.com/

Gov. Bush Signs Bills to Overhaul Florida's Decades-Old Growth Management Act

Making the long-sought and much-debated overhaul of the state's 1985 growth-management act a reality, Governor Jeb Bush signed three bills that provide more than $8 billion in the next 10 years for new roads, schools and water systems, commending lawmakers, especially Senate Republican President Tom Lee, for this ''historic piece of legislation,'' with Tampa Bay area developer, Newland Southeast president Don Whyte calling it a good first step in smart-growth planning.

''We're not in favor of controlling growth because we don't think Florida growth can be controlled,'' said the developer on behalf of the Association of Florida Community Developers, which helped forge the bills. ''But what we think it does is facilitate the planning for growth, and that's the more important concept.''

The senate president stressed that without ''strategic improvement in our infrastructure, we're not going to have sustainable economic development in our state, and we know that.''

Under the bills, notes Tampa Tribune reporter Michael Dunn, each new project that creates additional traffic will have roads in place or under construction within three years of its approval; local governments and school board will work together to make educational facilities ready or started within three years of new development; and local water supply agencies will cooperate closely with regional management districts to secure an adequate water supply before residents move into new developments.

The water bill, the reporter adds, also offers financial incentives for exploration and development of alternative resources and techniques, including desalination. -- Tampa Tribune   6/25/2005

Resource(s): http://news.tbo.com/

Lee County Extends Subdivision Ban to Allow Review of Water Supply Study

Concerned about aquifer conditions under the 150-square-mile Density Reduction and Groundwater Resource area, established for southeast Lee County in 1989, the County Commission unanimously extended the area's large-subdivision ban for two months, until September 1, to examine hydrologist Greg Rawl's water-supply study and see if the findings allow additional development.

The county, reports Fort Myers News-Press writer Pamela Smith Hayford, kept the area's development limited to farming, mining and one house per 10 acres, but officials made an exception for Florida Gulf Coast University, and now some developers demand a similar comprehensive plan change for big subdivisions.

Lee County Smart Growth Committee co-chairman Bill Hammond, an environmental sciences assistant professor at the university, said the aquifer must be defended, noting, ''Greg Rawl's study gives us some good ammunition.'' -- News-Press   6/15/2005

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Editorial: Volusia County's Growth Policy Should Give Public Interest Precedence When Deciding Where and How to Build

In a collision of two Volusia County ''land-use ethics,'' one that ''subjugates public interest to the speculative interests of private property owners,'' and one that ''presumes the primacy of public interest to control growth provided the private property owner is compensated fairly for any loss of current -- not speculative -- land value,'' The Daytona Beach News-Journal sides with the latter, but notes that all may depend on the County Council-sanctioned Smart Growth Initiative Implementation Committee, created last summer ''to prepare a 'balanced' plan for growth management.''

Formed after the council's majority gave up on earlier-embraced urban growth boundaries, says a News-Journal editorial, the committee wants the county to identify and protect all private land that should remain undeveloped for environmental reasons, and designate the rest either as ''primary'' or ''secondary'' water and sewer service areas, the first suitable for high-density development; the other, for cluster development, with larger open space and ''conservation set-asides.''

But cluster development on large tracts should be cautious and infrequent, otherwise it also can ''escalate'' leap-frogging in rural areas, the editorial warns, concerned that the committee's early draft ''gives less consideration to slowing growth than to facilitating it,'' with seemingly all county land seen as primary or secondary urban.

The committee must now amend the draft to reflect recent legislative changes in the state 1985 Growth Management Act -- some of them improvements, especially in school and water-supply ''concurrency'' requirements -- but ''much of what come out of Tallahassee will appeal to the committee's substantial pro-growth sentiments.''

If the committee really wants balance, the editorial concludes, ''it should draft a growth management policy that gives the public interest precedence in private property transactions,'' that allows deals and land use changes ''if the development density fits with the community's vision for growth and quality of life.'' -- The Daytona Beach News-Journal   5/29/2005

Resource(s): www.news-journalonline.com/

Florida Welcomes $8.25 Billion ''Down-Payment'' to Tackle Infrastructure Backlog

With Florida's service and infrastructure backlog estimated at $35 billion, and the population up by more than 1,000 each day, the $8.25 billion in new money for roads, schools and water in the next 10 years hardly overwhelms anyone, but since the situation in many areas looks desperate, reports Associated Press writer Samantha Gross in the Tallahassee Democrat, all sides agree that some cash is better than none.

''It's a good down-payment,'' said 1000 Friends of Florida executive director Charles Pattison, hoping that future lawmakers follow suit and that growth-management money may ''become a permanent part of the budget.''

Still, AAA Auto Club South senior vice president Kevin Bakewell cautions that catching up on the project backlog is unrealistic. ''That's just not going to happen without tax increases like they have in Europe,'' he observed, ''and I think we have to make the best of what we've got.''

Backed by Governor Jeb Bush, the writer notes, Senate Republican President Tom Lee pushed for making it easier for counties to raise gas taxes and secure some $5 billion a year for their local growth-management needs, but he lost to the historically more conservative House negotiators.

Providing about $1.5 billion for next year, the bill gives just some $175 million for school construction and renovation. But to really deal with school overcrowding, said Florida School Board Association legislative director Ruth Melton, districts need a total of at least $10 billion, and more if they were to reduce the numbers of children in classes as demanded by voters in a 2002 state constitutional amendment. -- Tallahassee Democrat   5/12/2005

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/

Sunshine State Lawmakers Say Infrastructure Funding Bill Will Reduce Sprawl, Promote Orderly Growth

It happened only 15 minutes before the midnight deadline of the two-month legislative session, but key concessions by Republican Senate President Tom Lee to his House colleagues finally secured Florida's first-ever bill with serious money for roads, schools and water facilities -- $8.25 billion over 10 years, including about $1.5 million next year -- to help absorb the state's enormous population growth.

Although inadequate in the context of the present $35 million infrastructure backlog, reports Palm Beach Post writer Jennifer Sorentrue, the bill's money and ''concurrency'' provisions were touted by lawmakers as certain both to reduce sprawl, by providing incentives for building in cities, and to induce orderly growth, by requiring developers to ensure sufficient water supplies for new residents before launching construction.

''People are going to see mass infusion of infrastructure repair and widening on their roads,'' said the bill's House sponsor, Republican Representative Randy Johnson. ''They are going to see over the next few years a major shift of room in classrooms for our kids.''

With about $1.1 million earmarked for next year's local and state transportation projects, and about $200 million for alternative water sources and water pollution cleanup, the writer notes, the remaining $200 million will go for new classrooms required under the state's constitutional amendment limiting class sizes.

To secure the bill in the conference committee, she adds, Senate negotiators made their biggest concessions on taxes and on development in rural areas. They dropped their insistence on letting county commissioners increase taxes for new roads and schools without referendums, and accepted the House's demand to bar the state Department of Community Affairs from reviewing land-use changes for projects on rural tracts smaller than 20 acres. ''The Senate,'' commented 1000 Friends of Florida attorney Janet Bowman, ''really hasn't gotten much for taking the stuff out.'' -- Palm Beach Post   5/7/2005

Resource(s): www.palmbeachpost.com/

Hernando County Ready to ''Push the Envelope'' With New School Concurrency Ordinance

Looking at Florida's only ''school concurrency ordinance,'' adopted by Palm Beach County after years of debating, planning and lobbying, the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners concluded its latest ''marathon'' workshop by asking staff to work on a similar smart-growth measure, which would ensure county-school district planning coordination, ban new subdivisions until classrooms can accommodate extra students, and make developers provide land for new schools.

''Let's push the envelope,'' said new Commissioner Jeff Stabins,'' which pleased school board member Jim Malcolm, who observed, ''We have 1,000 new students a year. We can't keep up. We need help.''

Planning and zoning board member Anna Liisa Covel also welcomed the move, writes Hernando Today reporter Michael D. Bates, since she has never had clear guidelines for approving residential rezoning requests. But Tallahassee attorney Jake Varn cautioned workshop participants about potential problems, reminding them that Broward and Monroe counties tried but failed to produce school concurrency ordinances.

Specifically, said County Attorney Garth Coller, the county, the school board and probably the city of Brooksville would have to agree on language and a cooperation framework. And after the county and the city worked out consistent comprehensive plan amendments, they would need approval form the state Department of Community Affairs.

Consequently, the reporter notes, the commission must clarify the county's growth vision for the next 10 years to pursue its school concurrency ordinance. -- Hernando Today   4/23/2005

Resource(s): www.hernandotoday.com/

Florida Lawmakers Still Searching for Funds to Reduce Backlog of Infrastructure Projects

As Florida's 60-day legislative session reached the April 6 midpoint and state Republican leaders became alarmed that time was almost out for their efforts to strengthen the 1985 Growth Management Act and cut the $23 billion service backlog without affecting the party's anti-tax mold, reports Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel writer Mark Hollis, Governor Jeb Bush said unexpected additional state revenue this year could ''jump start'' infrastructure improvements, while Senate President Tom Lee and Representative Mike Davis expressed belief in real estate transaction stamp fees or similar payments.

Hoping that growth-related taxes can be avoided, the governor noted earlier that local governments are already able to raise at least $5.3 billion -- $1.1 billion for roads, $2.8 billion for schools, and $1.4 billion for general needs. The governor and key Republican lawmakers, the writer reports, are pushing a ''pay as you go'' system for meeting local ''concurrency'' goals and reducing their backlog.

Pointing out that real estate documentary taxes, or transfer fees, ''are soaring along here,'' Senate President Lee said, ''We're thinking of maybe lassoing some of those and dedicating them to infrastructure.'' At the same time, he cautioned communities against development like the proposed Scripps Florida project for a former orange grove in rural western Palm Beach County, far from other projects under way.

''My personal view is the Scripps site is not the right site,'' he explained. ''I think it's sprawl.''

Representative Davis, the manager of growth-management legislation in the House, acknowledged that people held in traffic gridlock ''for the fifth and sixth light change'' may be ''pretty willing to pay higher taxes,'' and saw an answer in impact fees, too. ''I had someone describe it as the initiation fee that you pay at the country club,'' he said. ''If you want to join us in Florida and you're brand new, then you should pay to mitigate the growth.'' -- Sun-Sentinel   4/7/2005

Resource(s): www.sun-sentinel.com/

Infrastructure Concurrency Could Be Part of Florida's New Planning Reform Package

In a concentrated push for Florida planning reform, to ensure timely provision of project roads, water, schools and other infrastructure by developers and local governments alike, Governor Jeb Bush personally made the concurrency case before newspaper editorial boards statewide, and a day later sent key department heads to argue it in the House Growth Management Committee, telling reporters, ''There is no growth management in this state. You can exempt your way out.''

Since the reform cost is certain to reach billions of dollars, intense negotiations over the governor's proposals have somewhat slowed down, with all sides wary of the state's infrastructure backlog and their prospective new burdens, writes Tampa Tribune reporter Garrett Therolf, quoting Senate Republican President Tom Lee, who said, ''We've really got the next couple of weeks to get that consensus on a funding source developed.''

As work on policy and legislation details continued, the reporter notes, the proposals outlined by administration officials at the House committee hearing would require construction of necessary roads within a year of project approval, instead of the current five to seven years after completion, and schools would have to be ready before new housing is opened.

Also, development would be allowed to go forward only if it had sufficient water-supply allocation, instead of only a water facility in place. This last requirement, said Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille, would help protect the state from water shortages. -- Tampa Tribune   3/30/2005

Resource(s): http://news.tbo.com/

Experts Tell Orlando Community Challenges Regional Forum to Boost Urban Cores, Curb Sprawl

Given that the nation's projected population surge of 50 million between 2000 and 2020 demands 1.2 million new homes each year, the key questions are how they should be distributed and at what density, said Urban Land Institute environmental land-use policy director Michael Pawlukiewicz at Orlando's regional Community Challenges forum on smart growth, telling Central Florida listeners to plan strategically for mixed uses and transportation choices and to follow the examples of Atlanta, Denver and Washington, D.C. in the effort to boost urban cores and curb sprawl.

For decades ''mindless'' growth simply went where land was ample and cheap, which unleashed car dependency, traffic congestion, economic segregation and other public ills, the speaker said, stressing, ''We have to change that so the natural thing that happens is smart growth.''

He pointed out that growth ''is a sign of vitality,'' which creates economic opportunities and advantages, and that ''the lion's share'' of new development will still go to greenfields, but that the basic goal of smart growth is to offer choices.

''People like to have choices,'' he observed. ''Some people would like to take a bus or subway, or walk.''

The Community Challenges forum was the second in a series that brings together all concerned with the region's rapid growth, reports Orlando Ledger writer Michael W. Freeman, quoting University of Central Florida's Florida Institute of Government Director Marilyn Crotty, who said, ''We want to see this (Orange County) as a place where our children and grandchildren can grow and prosper.'' -- Ledger   3/24/2005

Resource(s): www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=REPORTER

Gov. Bush Emphasizes Overhaul of Florida's Growth Management Laws in State of the State Speech

Upbeat about Florida's recent achievements and potential, but worried about its lack of a comprehensive development strategy, Republican Governor Jeb Bush urged lawmakers in his State of the State speech to ''take steps to ensure that our growth enhances, rather than detracts, from the quality of life'' that is the state's trademark.

''We need true concurrency between new development and the infrastructure needed to meet the demand on roads, schools, and water resources the development creates,'' the governor said. ''Development must be tied directly to the infrastructure it will use, and growth decisions must be made accordingly.''

This will require, he continued, ''adequate funding for local governments with significant infrastructure needs,'' alignment of development costs ''between the developer and the community,'' and a streamlined ''review process for comprehensive development plans to reduce redundancy and delays.''

Pointing out that ''local and regional governments must shoulder responsibility for growth in their communities,'' the governor stressed that ''state government must fund infrastructure of statewide priority.'' He admitted the complexity of these issues, ''with competing interests and no easy solutions.''

But asking lawmakers ''to look over the horizon, and envision the future'' of their hometowns if nothing is done, he repeated, ''I urge you to work with us to revamp our growth management laws, and provide the funding to make them work.''   3/8/2005

Resource(s): www.myflorida.com/

Orlando Beltway Project, Wekiva Law Help Create ''Watershed'' Moment for Central Florida Development

''For decades, mismanaged growth has been Florida's shame,'' but now ''a new era of enlightenment may be dawning,'' says an Orlando Sentinel editorial, encouraged by last year's legislative consensus ''on how to protect the Wekiva River Basin from the ravages of development while completing a beltway around Orlando,'' and even more by Lake County officials' determination to resist developer plots that could scuttle the Wekiva law, although it ''should be a smart-growth template'' for Central Florida.

Two years in making, the law requires the state to buy several properties, including some 1,500 acres stretching across the Lake and Orange county line northwest of Orlando, to build the planned 18-mile toll road and protect the fragile area's wildlife and underground water.

But these 1,500 acres belong to developers Nancy Rossman and Bill Cole, who hired ''an attorney with deep Lake County connections to secure utility and land-use approvals to artificially inflate the value of their holdings,'' says the editorial, summing up an earlier report by Sentinel writer Etan Horowitz.

The writer noted that the Wekiva law mandates acquisition of all properties the state seeks to complete the Orlando beltway, that Orange County commissioners just voted to pay $4.4 million for 163 acres on their side of the Wekiva basin, and that the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority offered $25 million for the tract the developers bought for about $7 million in 2001.

Nevertheless, the developers asked for a utility extension to the tract and for rezoning of its 200 acres, which would allow a potential increase in the number of homes from some 220 to 523, with their attorney Cecelia Bonifay saying they simply want to get the value of their land. They were turned down.

Last month, Eustis municipal officials ruled out water and sewer line extensions; earlier this month, Lake County planning and zoning officials recommended against higher density; and subsequently county commissioners unanimously rejected the rezoning request.

Calling these decisions ''a watershed moment in the region's development history,'' the editorial applauds officials for the change. It then offers this warning: ''Glib promises, private meetings and chummy winks don't make for good public policy. Yet, for years, that's what has passed for thorough research, smart planning and sustainable growth in Central Florida. If that sycophantic relationship between elected officials and the development community doesn't end, Central Florida's quality of life will pay dearly.'' -- Orlando Sentinel   2/27/2005

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Gainesville's Depot Park Will Turn Downtown Brownfield Into Stormwater Collection and Public Recreation Site

Turning first shovels of dirt on a polluted former freight-depot and gas-company site in downtown Gainesville South East, some 20 city, state and federal officials launched its $24 million transformation into the 35-acre Depot Park -- the first of the three prospective stormwater runoff collection ponds slated for full operation this summer, and a variety of interspersed wetlands, nature and bike trails, botanical gardens, picnic spaces and other public amenities gradually built over the next several years.

With the city hoping for additional state and federal grants for a pond-side amphitheater and considering ideas for using the old freight depot for art exhibitions, meetings and a small sandwich or ice cream shop, the project's early proponent, Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, said this somehow ''forgotten'' post-industrial area ''could become a real hub of activity downtown.''

While the 1907 half-block-long freight depot is temporarily moved to allow soil cleanup from solidified coal tar reaching up to 30 feet deep, reports Gainesville Sun writer Bob Arndorfer, the nearby Depot Avenue stretch will be widened with bike lanes and lined with sidewalks on both sides.

Meantime, pointed out Environmental Consulting & Technology water resources engineer Chris Fagerstrom, whose Gainesville-based company prepared the site's cleanup and stormwater engineering plan, the 3.2-acre phase-one pond will already be collecting storm runoff from about 55 downtown acres to the north, purifying the water from suspended solids and other contaminants as it seeps into adjacent wetlands and eventually ends in the Sweetwater Branch creek some half-mile south.

''Right now,'' the engineer observed, ''water drains directly to Sweetwater Branch through the stormwater system.''

In early 2007, he said, construction will start on the 6.5-acre phase-two pond father northeast, where soil contaminated by petroleum storage between the 1880s and the early 1950s was replaced with clean soil last year. The second pond, located a foot higher, will collect storm runoff from about 40 downtown acres and 22 acres in the park itself. It will be linked with the first pond -- and ultimately a small third one near the Regional Transit System's administration and bus-maintenance complex -- through a meandering channel, all planted with native aquatic vegetation to help water purification, while decorative bank rocks will enhance the landscaping effect and submerged plastic liners contain bottom-settling solids.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, reports Sun writer Jeff Adelson, area U.S. Democratic Representative Corrine Brown announced her request for $6 million more in federal funds to expand the park's recreational potential and Mayor Hanrahan called the project an opportunity to ''take what is really a negative legacy, something that is unfortunately left over from our past, and turn it into something positive for the community.'' -- Gainesville Sun   2/20/2005

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Planning Professor Outlines Faults in Gainesville Road Expansion Proposal

While in most of Alachua County's more progressive cities '''smart growth' initiatives are fostering road conversions that reduce lanes, disperse traffic, provide more transportation choices and make communities safer to walk,'' Gainesville is still debating road expansion for a congested area near the University of Florida, complains Department of Urban and Regional Planning Professor Linda Crider in a Gainesville Sun opinion, calling the debate pointless since ''we know we cannot build our way out of congestion.''

Besides, she stresses, the community made it clear at the 1998 Hull Road/20th Avenue charette that the area was ripe for mixed uses, ''with a campus-village-style development and a grid pattern of smaller roads,'' which ensure pedestrian and bike access to the university and its surroundings.

During the week-long charette, participants told the state Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization that proposals to build a four-lane Hull Road extension or to widen 20th Avenue to four lanes clashed with area traffic-reduction goals set by the university and by the county comprehensive plan.

The charette's recommendations for 20th Avenue transit, a direct bicycle-pedestrian path between 62nd Boulevard and the campus, and reconfiguration of lime-rock 24th Avenue with two-lane pavement, sidewalks and bike paths, were incorporated into the long-range transportation plan, the professor writes, wondering whether ''the institutional memory'' of that public input has been ''erased by the lure of dollars for big-box-style development that circumvent the normal process that other developers undergo.''

The professor concludes, ''Allowing SW 24th Avenue to become a major road, feeding even more commercial development to an area that already fails to disperse traffic, is like giving an ice cream cone to an overweight kid so he or she won't eat the cotton candy.'' -- Gainesville Sun   2/7/2005

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Developers Seek Tax Increases to Help Pay for Smart Growth in Florida

Unveiled by the Department of Community Affairs in the legislature just last month, a 172-page draft bill to revamp Florida's 20-year-old growth management law was scrapped under pressure from local officials and developers, the latter asking Republican Governor Jeb Bush to let localities raise taxes to help advance smart growth or ''they'll continue to chase cheaper suburban and exurban land to build stores, office parks and sprawling subdivisions.''

At meetings in the department and the governor's office, reports Fort Myers News-Press writer Aaron Deslatte, developers objected to new ''regulatory hoops'' without new means to fund roads, schools and other infrastructure.

The proposed draft, the writer reported last month, required cities to draw up strategic policy plans showing targeted growth areas, made unilateral annexations more difficult, and shifted final decisions on large disputed projects from the governor's cabinet to future regional planning councils.

The governor and majority Republican leaders had promised new funding as part of any growth management reform, but the scuttled draft was silent on the issue.

Noting its complexity, House Growth Management Committee vice chairman Mike Davis said lawmakers began to work on a reform bigger than he ''originally envisioned.'' Accordingly, the writer finds, the Senate Community Affairs Committee is drafting a plan to eliminate the current law's requirement for referendums on local infrastructure surtax proposals and to let county commissions raise fuel taxes through a simple-majority instead of a super-majority vote.

With the commission seeking public input at hearings in Tampa, West Palm Beach and Pensacola this month, its Republican chairman Senator Mike Bennett pointed to the state's projected fast population growth over the next 15 years, stressing, ''If we don't start figuring out now the natural resources we absolutely, unequivocally have to protect, we're going to lose them.'' -- News-Press   2/2/2005

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Oakland Park Scores Big with Mixed-Use ''Main Street''

Having first set up mixed-use zoning for its drab 1,000-acre Community Redevelopment Area just north of booming downtown Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park is now using grants, tax revenue and an $18.5 million loan from the Florida League of Cities to transform the area's 150-acre central business district from an industrial wasteland into a thriving, around-the-clock ''Main Street,'' with apartments atop shops, tree-shaded sidewalks and outdoor cafes.

''We have taken a city in a bad financial situation and turned it into one of the hot spots in Broward County,'' says Mayor Layne Walls. City Manager John Stunson points out that new regulations and design guidelines will make builders comply with the ''Main Street'' plans and share costs for public amenities.

The city's strong efforts restored public optimism and sparked private investment, reports Miami Herald writer Samuel P. Nitze, noting recently-opened shops and new housing construction. Calling the downtown business district ''one of the last reasonable, affordable places'' on the market, developer Scott Brenner, who plans to fill an old Sears warehouse site he bought four years ago with 300 town houses, condos and lofts, sees sizeable consumer demand and adds, ''The market studies prove the interest is there.'' -- Miami Herald   1/31/2005

Resource(s): www.miami.com/

Legislators Eager to Reform Florida's Growth Management Law

A frequent target for conservationists, developers, public officials and others, as sprawl-permissive or process-heavy or underfunded or otherwise-challenged, Florida's 20-year-old growth management law once again will face reform-eager state legislators, with Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Secretary Thaddeus Cohen handing House Republican Speaker Allan Bense a 172-page change proposal, which assigns more planning tasks to local governments, but offers them no implementation funds.

House Growth Management Committee Chairman Randy Johnson said the committee will seek public input on the draft at hearings in Fort Myers, Orlando, Tallahassee and Jacksonville this month. ''We all know it's broke, and we all want to fix it,'' he told reporters. ''We just want to find out where we agree.''

For now, reports Fort Myers News-Press writer Aaron Delatte from its Tallahassee Bureau, everyone seems to agree with the committee's vice chairman, Mike Davis, who stressed, ''This bill will not become law without funding.''

The DCA draft, the writer notes, would require cities to draw up new ''strategic regional policy plans,'' showing areas targeted for growth. It would also make unilateral land annexations more difficult, and shift the power of final decisions over disputed projects from the state's cabinet to regional planning councils.

With many details still to emerge, 1000 Friends of Florida legal director Janet Bowman said she expects ''everyone will find something'' to dislike in the proposed growth management changes. -- News-Press   1/11/2005

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Facing Growth Crisis, Orlando Looks at Long-Term Planning Goals

For the past two decades, Orange County and metro Orlando officials wanted to match Atlanta's ribbons of asphalt, endless subdivisions and shopping malls on the edges, but now Atlanta's perimeter is ''groaning under the weight of suburban sprawl,'' reports Orlando Sentinel Joe Newman, quoting former County Commission Chairwoman Linda Chapin, currently director of the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies (MCRS) at University of Central Florida, who tells him ''we're horrified at the prospects.''

County Commissioner and Smart Growth Alliance Chairwoman Teresa Jacobs says the region, like people, has reached maturity, suddenly realizing it needs to improve transportation and make better plans for its golden years. ''We're certainly not too late,'' she observes, ''but we're also not a bit too early.''

With a recent Brookings Institution report and a Virginia Tech study showing that the region will need about 94 percent more homes -- another 649,000 -- by 2030, Chapin's MCRS and Jacobs' Smart Growth Alliance are co-sponsoring a University of Pennsylvania team's work on several metro Orlando growth scenarios, based on current development patterns and on their prospective changes, involving transportation, conservation, urban density and other long-range planning goals.

Others are also moving in that direction. After the 2003 rejection of the county's Mobility 20/20 ballot on a sales-tax increase for transportation, the writer notes, the measure's chief critic, former County Commissioner Lou Treadway, and its top backer, Darden Restaurants executive Rick Walsh, have met, initiating the idea of community forums to reach a consensus and to work out a set of solutions for regional growth problems.

The first forum, last November, focused on ''civil leadership'' and success stories from around the country; the next forum, January 28, will concentrate on transportation issues. One of the series organizers, Orlando urban-design firm partner Tim Jackson says Orange County prospects in the next 50 years depend on a ''common understanding'' and common answers.

Ex-commissioner Treadway believes a new public vision will halt the mistakes of the past decades. ''Back then, bigger was better,'' he says. ''But people now see that bigger is not necessarily better -- it's quality that matters.'' -- Orlando Sentinel   12/29/2004

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Volusia County's Urban Growth Boundary Law Doomed After Growth Management Commission Exempts Cities

Upset by development pressures on Volusia County's rural core, almost 72 percent of voters backed a proposed county chapter amendment to enact urban growth boundaries, but the Volusia Home Builders Association convinced two courts that the ballot language wasn't clear enough to make it legal, while the Volusia Growth Management Commission, made up of county and city appointees to oversee jurisdictional plans, put such limits on the boundary that the County Council had no choice but to vote the now-corrupted plan down.

''I'm afraid they've given it a poison pill,'' said the boundary team's member, Volusia/Flagler Sierra Club representative and Edgewater resident Mike Thompson. Outgoing Councilwoman Pat Northey and Councilman Joe Jayness agreed. The former called the county's original proposal ''hijacked;'' the latter urged residents to talk ''about some power,'' because the appointed growth commission ''can override everything that's going on in the county.''

Among other things, reports Orlando Sun-Sentinel writer Kevin P. Connolly, the commission wanted to exempt cities from the county growth boundary, which would make it largely meaningless.

Undaunted by the setback, county leaders vowed to step up work on an alternate ''smart growth'' plan, with Council Chairman Dwight Lewis saying the commission's boundary comments could actually help the plan and make it more resistant to future assaults. -- Sun-Sentinel   12/17/2004

Resource(s): www.sun-sentinel.com/

Lee County's School Impact Fee Expected to Rise in Coming Year

Part of Lee County's efforts to make growth pay for itself, the $2,232-per-home school impact fee, enacted three years ago, still faces an active class-action suit by builders and home buyers as unconstitutional, but Lee Building Industry Association director Michael Reitmann is ''fully expecting'' it to triple next year because elected officials ''don't have the intestinal fortitude to raise taxes.''

The county charges impact fees for emergency services, roads, parks and schools, the last three scheduled for regular three-year updates in coming months, reports Naples Daily News writer Charlie Whitehead, noting that during a week-long March trial a county judge criticized the school-fee calculating formula, which generates $24 million a year, but let the fee stay.

Builders director Reitmann says it's too little money to build enough schools, while county teachers and other educational needs still remain underfunded, but it especially hurts the least affluent and first-time buyers who seek affordable housing. And even if his association's attorney, Ted Trippe, argues that ''(t)he increase in student population is more than compensated for by the increase in (property) taxes,'' the director thinks officials should pay for infrastructure by increasing taxes, not developer impact fees.

But this means that all residents would have to subsidize new development, retorts the county Smart Growth Advisory Committee's member Arnold Rosenthal, pointing out that if new demographic and other data show the need to increase school impact fees by $7,500, ''then that's what they should be.'' -- Naples Daily News   11/30/2004

Resource(s): www.naplesnews.com/npdn/

Legislators Hope to Implement Major Change in Planning for Florida

Although Governor Jeb Bush's administration is renewing its push to relax the state's 1972 growth-management laws, which haven't slowed sprawl because ''the hassle and paperwork'' turned developers to the suburbs rather than urban cores, the Republican-led legislature may be diverted by post-hurricane recovery measures from the growth challenges, reports News-Press writer Aaron Deslatte, quoting the new Senate Community Affairs Committee chairman, Mike Bennet, who says, ''Whatever we do, we're looking for a major change in planning for Florida's future.''

Committee vice chairman, Republican Senator Mike Haridopolos adds that whenever lawmakers tried to pass a new growth management act, they always stumbled on the question of ''who pays for the impact,'' especially for road and other transportation improvements. The key is to find a balance between strengthened ecosystem safeguards and the ever-higher demand for affordable housing and other necessities, the writer observes, with Lee County Economic Development Department's Smart Growth director Wayne Daltry pointing out that while swamps are now ''restored for scenic vistas and water supplies'' rather than drained for agriculture, Florida is still ''a place the baby boom generation is going to be retiring to.''

Last year, the writer notes, environmental groups opposed legislative planning changes recommended by the governor's Growth Management Study Commission in 2000. The changes would have limited state oversight of municipal and regional development plans and exempted certain high-tech projects from some regulations. ''What state officials want,'' comments Save the Manatee Club legislative lobbyist Patrick Rose, ''is much greater densities (of development) with less public input.''

But new Senate Republican President Tom Lee, who promised to focus the chamber on helping cities raise revenue for stalled transportation projects, albeit in the context of proposed land-use regulation reform, says the current strict land-use codes and zoning policies discourage development in the urban core. ''What we do,'' he stresses, ''is push that development out in the suburbs, where it costs us an arm and a leg to build the infrastructure to bring those people back in to shop and to work.'' -- News-Press   11/21/2004

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Miami-Dade School Board Considers Placing Schools in Mixed-Use High-Rise Projects to Ease School Crowding

With more than 1,000 apartments and 1.8 million square feet of retail and offices built, under construction or planned around Miami-Dade County Metrorail stations, the Miami-Dade School Board would like to add schools to transit-oriented, mixed-use, high-rise projects, which also would ease crowding in its other schools.

''If studies yield that it is feasible, safe and cost-effective to place schools within proposed high-rises, we may have a viable alternative to work with,'' said school board member Frank Cobo.

The board, reports Miami Herald writer Samantha Joseph, has authorized superintendent Rudolph Crew to work with the Miami-Dade County Transit Authority on a feasibility study, which would include identification of suitable urban sites for public schools.

Having worked on consumer destinations near transit since 1998, the writer adds, county officials are about to open retail and office space at the Martin Luther King Jr. Station and rental housing near the Allapattah stop, with construction under way or slated next month at Coconut Grove, Overtown and South Miami stations. -- Miami Herald   11/4/2004

Resource(s): www.miamitodaynews.com/

Alachua OK's Projected School Enrollment Report; Development Restrictions Not Planned

Having delayed several subdivisions last summer due to questions about their school impact, the Alachua County Commission joined the Alachua County School Board in approving a broad-based steering committee's report that finds projected enrollment mostly within classroom capacity and tells the county, the district and area cities to start a coordination process for monitoring student enrollment, school site selection, new development impact and other factors affecting school capacity.

Made of county, board and city officials, builders, realtors and residents, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, the steering committee concludes in its year-long study that although some west Gainesville elementary schools are crowded, other county elementary schools can absorb more students until 2008, after which they will face increased enrollment through 2012.

In contrast to county middle schools, high schools also have more students than designed for, but both kinds of enrollment are expected to drop around 2008. The committee endorses the board's policy of easing some school overcrowding by letting students from new subdivisions attend schools farther out, deciding that the county doesn't need a formal concurrency plan.

With enrollment projections based on a state Department of Education formula, Commission Chairman Mike Byerly questioned their reliability, a point emphasized by steering committee member and School Board member-elect Eileen Roy. ''We should not rely entirely on these conservative projections. Other counties that have relied on them have been blindsided,'' she said, noting the need for developer school impact fees.

Opposed by the Builders Association of North Central Florida, they were omitted in the compromise fee package passed 3-2 by the County Commission earlier this month. The association's president and steering committee member, David Miller, who endorsed the package of fees for transportation, recreation and fire protection in unincorporated areas and shortly later astonished observers by pledging support for the half-cent sales tax increase for roads and recreation on the county's November 2 ballot, told the writer that blocking development because of school overcrowding would be unfair for parents who need houses, insisting, ''We can address capacity without having school concurrency.'' -- Gainesville Sun   10/28/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Partnership Plans $200 Million High-Density Town Center Near Orlando

In their first venture as partners, Jacoby Development Inc. (JDI) chairman and CEO Jim Jacoby and Vlass Group founder Michal Vlass teamed up with the city of Altamonte Springs, about eight miles north of downtown Orlando, to build the $200 million high-density Alamonte Town Center, with the chairman saying the JDI-Vlass partnership will focus on urban rather than greenfield development and look for similar ''smart growth projects'' throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

The 25-acre mixed-use Alamonte Town Center will include some 300 apartments, 100 condos, 400,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of office space.

Also the chairman of Atlantic Station L.L.C., which is transforming a once-polluted 138-acre steel mill brownfield in Midtown Atlanta into a diverse mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, notes Commercial Property News contributing editor Anne Kasper, Jacoby expressed the new partnership's special interest in environmentally challenging projects, promising to draw on the Atlantic Station environmental team's prowess for future work.

And noting his partner Vlass's accomplishments both in banking and real estate since mid-1970, he said, ''That's another thing we bring to the table: the expertise in financing.'' -- Commercial Property News, Atlanta Business Chronicle   10/19/2004

Resource(s): http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/ ; www.cpnonline.com/cpn/index.jsp

''Community Challenges'' Group Unites Diverse Parties to Promote Smart Growth in Orlando

Last year's failure of Orange County's Mobility 2020 referendum on a half-cent sales tax increase to help fund $8.7 billion of road, transit and walkability improvements taught both backers and critics that transportation solutions ''can't be addressed in a vacuum,'' but must promise ''to balance economic development, mobility issues and community livability,'' said Orlando-based Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart Inc. land planning firm president Tim Jackson, helping two former mutual foes launch the grassroots Community Challenges group to move the county toward smart growth.

After the referendum, the two former foes, pro-tax Darden Restaurants Inc. Corporate Affairs Senior Vice President Rick Walsh and anti-tax former Orange County Commissioner and County Watch Chairman Lou Treadway, reports Orlando Business Journal writer Noelle Haner, found themselves equally concerned about the future and came together to work for a common vision for 2025, a goal shared by the third Community Challenges founding partner.

''This is not a partisan issue,'' says Walsh. ''This is about the retirees who live here, the families that live here. This is about everybody.'' In eight months, promises Treadway, ''we will bring a specific set of actions to the Orange County Commission for its consideration.''

To make it happen, the writer reports, the group will follow Volusia County's Smart Growth Project, under which five ''smart growth summits'' led by national speakers, with participation of the University of Central Florida's Florida Institute of Government (FIG) and with discussions continued in small groups, produced a vision report for the Volusia County Council. The report includes ''specific recommendations for ordinances and codes'' and comments on urban growth boundaries, notes FIG director Marilyn Crotty. In the project's second phase, participants are now forming a committee to help implement the recommendations.

The Community Challenges group and the Florida Institute of Governments are starting an Orange County series of eight public forums on November 5. A national urban and growth-management expert, Citistates Group president Curtis Johnson, will discuss the power of citizen involvement and civic leadership. -- Orlando Business Journal   10/18/2004

Resource(s): http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/

Alachua Commissioners Hope to Land Dual Wal-Mart Projects

Turned down by Gainesville last year, Wal-Mart is still seeking acceptable sites for two supercenters in that city, while embraced some 13 miles up I-75, where the Alachua City Commission voted 4-1 for a controversial distribution center in August, and now some commissioners seem predisposed toward an 184,000-square-foot supercenter with gas pumps that the company may propose next year.

Both distribution center and supercenter would be ''great,'' said Commissioner James Lewis. ''The city of Alachua and the county of Alachua should be proud of the tax revenue they'll gain from this. And you can't beat those jobs.''

But some residents, reports Gainesville Sun writer Amy Reinik, think the much-debated and eventually improved Wal-Mart distribution center plan still doesn't ensure sufficient protection for ''the sinkhole-rich city's water supply from pollution, area roads from too much traffic or nearby neighborhoods from noise.''

Its sole opponent on the commission, Vice Mayor Dianna Kosman-Rothseiden, voices similar concerns about the prospective supercenter, also worried it may damage the city's small businesses. ''I just think,'' she said, ''about whether we're going to be hurting the people who have built this community, who have been here 80 or 90 years.'' -- Gainesville Sun   10/13/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Alachua County Approves Compromise Development Impact Fees

For the first time since the idea of growth paying for itself came up in Alachua County years ago, all five commissioners decided to follow it through last year, but the compromise impact fees for recreation, fire protection and transportation in unincorporated areas, eventually worked out by environmental and business groups, passed by only a 3-2 margin, with Chairman Mike Byerly and Commissioner Penny Wheat refusing to back fees that don't cover the full cost of development.

Different for commercial and residential buildings, based on square footage, and effective next March -- with the average 2,200-square-foot house required to pay $2,759 and further increases capped at 2,600 square feet -- reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, the three impact fees are expected to raise $18.7 million over five years.

''This is about paying for previous mistakes. We in government now are having to deal with issues that should have been dealt with 20 years ago or 30 years ago,'' said another strong fee supporter, Commissioner Rodney Long, optimistic about the commission's courage to increase the fees in due time ''regardless of the political winds,'' perhaps to ''keep up with inflation.''

Meantime, the commission must decide on how to distribute the $100,000 it put aside to offset the fees for at least some low-income homebuyers, the writer notes, quoting Habitat for Humanity specialist Dave Feather, who thinks they will cost a Habitat home around $1,550 and ''will eliminate some families from our program.''

Given affordable housing needs, Chairman Byerly considers the $100,000 ''a pittance'' and stresses that ''(t)he low-income housing should be built in relatively urban areas close to services, close to urban amenities,'' especially public transportation. -- Gainesville Sun   10/3/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Broward County Report Emphasizes Need for Regional Vision

Sometimes criticized for lack of cooperation with its coastal neighbors, Palm Beach County to the north and Miami-Dade County to the south, Broward County must pursue regionalism to succeed over the next 15 years, asserts the comprehensive VisionBroward report, which sums up the year-long research work by teams of some 700 public, business and civic leaders as follows: ''There was no more common theme throughout all of the task forces than the idea captured by these three words: coordinate, collaborate and cooperate.''

Facilitated by Nova Southeastern University and seen as a possible master plan, reports Miami Herald writer Gregg Fields, the report urges the county's joint efforts ''with the rest of South Florida to create a regional identity that can be marketed to the world, as well as foster regional approaches to common problems like education, transportation and economic development.''

The main development agencies of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties have already made a first step in the new direction, holding an economic summit on regionalism in June, the writer observes, expecting the VisionBroward report to fare better than earlier calls for cross-jurisdictional cooperation, because it is backed by varied key forces, including the County Commission, the Broward Alliance economic development agency, and the Broward Workshop of top local company executives. -- Miami Herald   9/28/2004

Resource(s): www.miami.com/

Infill Is Key to Fort Lauderdale's Plans for Neighborhood Revitalization

Despite current fiscal problems, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board tells Fort Lauderdale residents to be optimistic about the future, applauding not only the Community Redevelopment Agency for its ''smart-growth'' revitalization of the city's northwest section through infill, but also the Downtown Development Authority and the City Commission for their nod to long-range plans for 13,000 new housing units downtown.

In contrast to the old method of renewal by ''razing entire neighborhoods and rebuilding from scratch,'' while often displacing many residents unable to move anywhere else, the editors stress, the infill approach reflects the needs of the 21st century and ''deserves full support.''

The same goes for concentrating future housing in the downtown area, although that ''can't happen without a serious investment in mass transit.'' Noting that some people are frightened by any massive housing construction downtown, and that the possible risk of transit lagging behind residential growth prompted Mayor Jim Naugle to vote against the 13,000 new units, the editors call these concerns valid and urge city planners to proceed carefully, and county and state officials to scrutinize the plans, before they return for the city Council's final approval, ''to make sure growth is managed properly.''

The editors conclude, ''No one wants to see downtown Fort Lauderdale choked with traffic or dwarfed by concrete canyons. But growth is inevitable, and it's smart to put that growth in the urban core rather than letting it sprawl farther into the suburbs, which can't sustain it.'' -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel   9/20/2004

Resource(s): www.sun-sentinel.com/

Opposition to Higher Residential Density Complicates Hernando County's Work on Comprehensive Plan Updates

As Hernando County updates its comprehensive plan, smart growth advocates and developers agree that environmental and economic reasons make higher residential density necessary, especially near office and commercial hubs, but area residents continuously oppose multifamily housing as detrimental to local character and quality of life.

The two newest examples, reports St. Petersburg Times writer Dan DeWitt, are high-density projects proposed some eight miles northeast of central Spring Hill, near the Mariner Square shopping center and a key intersection, in an area of one-acre and bigger home lots and two golf courses. One targets a 16-acre parcel for 20 homes and 120 condo units; the other seeks rezoning of a 20-acre site for 40 single-family homes, 14 duplexes and some stores or offices.

But county planner Jim King tells the writer, ''Almost nobody wants density substantially higher than the single-family development we are known for.''

Still, a leader of a residents' group that advised the county on its plan updates, Gene Kelly, stresses, ''The most important part of smart growth is mixing land uses.'' One of his group's top proposals, he says, was to encourage creation of walkable complexes at some of the county's main intersections, with multifamily densities greater than the current maximum of 16 units per acre.

If more of the county's population was concentrated around its office and shopping hubs, the writer comments, residents could walk to stores, restaurants or jobs, which ''would cut traffic and, potentially, reduce future road construction costs,'' with greater tax and impact fee revenue allowing more investment in sidewalks and bike paths. -- St. Petersburg Times   9/5/2004

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Advisory Committee Proposes Changes to Gainesville's Project Review Process

Fleshing out ideas initially outlined by new Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan's transition teams in May and by participants of the fact-finding trip to Norfolk, Va. and New Haven, Conn. in June, the City Commission's specially formed advisory Economic Development/University Community Committee proposed more then 40 city policy changes, several of which would ease the review process for some projects and encourage redevelopment.

Specifically, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, the committee would like to require city staff to provide more developer advice and guidance during the review process, make more projects eligible for approval through staff ''minor reviews'' instead of Development Review Board hearings, and eliminate neighborhood meetings on new development.

Such meetings, poorly attended anyway, says committee member and Trimark Properties representative John Fleming, cost developers at least a three-week construction delay, while rarely helping them improve projects. Commissioner Ed Braddy agrees, also suggesting abolition of the Development Review Board as too subjective and favoring project neighbors.

But Mayor Hanrahan, who considers development process changes necessary, stresses the value of neighborhood meetings and developer discussions with the Development Review Board. ''I don't know,'' she says, ''why people (developers) think they can get through this process without an engineer when most people don't do their taxes without an accountant or do a will without an attorney.''

In another development-related proposal, the writer adds, the committee would like to create an ''Urban Mixed-Use'' zoning category, which would facilitate denser development and taller buildings in ''key urban corridors.''

Meantime, notes Sun business editor Doris Chandler, downtown revitalization advances, with West University Avenue Lofts LLC preparing the site for a $4 million three-story building, which will include 29 luxury lofts, two townhouses and several street-level offices and businesses. Helped by the Community Redevelopment Agency with some $550,000 in various incentives, the company plans to complete construction next July, with several units in the $134,000 to $210,000 price range quickly reserved by buyers.

CRA director Tom Saunders says the agency sees the project as very important ''to tie together the revitalization that is already happening farther east in downtown Gainesville, and farther west in the College Park area.'' -- Gainesville Sun   8/26/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com/

Cape Coral Officials Hope Mixed-Use Projects Ease Traffic, Build Community

A new series of developments in Cape Coral, Florida are designed to counteract the effects of quick, unplanned growth. Three new apartment and condominium complexes with a retail component are part of the strategy of providing needed services to residents while alleviating traffic jams and building a sense of community.

Cape Coral's growth has traditionally occurred in different parts of the city at different times, stressing infrastructure. Built in the 1960s and with a population of about 600 when the community began, Cape Coral has swelled to more than 100,000 residents in recent years. With growth coming in uneven waves over the past four decades, the result has been a strain on municipal services and a lack of retail for the residential population. The new developments are designed to meet the residents' needs and reduce infrastructure burdens, according to MPG Newspapers writer Gregg Gethard.

As Cape Coral begins construction of new water and sewer facilities to meet the growing demand for public utilities, Connie Barron, the official spokesman for the city of Cape Coral, has this to say to to communities looking at expected growth booms: ''Plan. Plan. Plan. Now.'' -- Old Colony Memorial   7/17/2004

Resource(s): http://oldcolony.southofboston.com/

Sprawl Slows Emergency Service Response Time to New Orlando Subdivisions

Homes built in formerly rural and now suburban areas of the Orlando area are experiencing greatly slowed fire and emergency response time. Newer homes in unincorporated parts of Orange County are more than twice the time away from a fire station as older residential areas, according to Orlando Sentinel writer Mark Schlueb.

Fire officials acknowledge that the spread out pattern of development and the low densities are stressing the department's ability to respond in a timely fashion. ''As the city grows and annexes more land, it has impacted our level of service,'' Orlando Fire Chief Robert Bowman said.

Increased insurance premiums and traffic jams are only some of the consequences of low density development. Sprawl is also forcing the creation of pricey new fire stations.

Politics between incorporated and unincorporated parts of the county, and finances between developers and cities are complicating the building of the stations. -- Orlando Sentinel   7/16/2004

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Gainesville Plans to Turn Brownfield into Multi-Purpose Park

The site of Depot Avenue Park, a stormwater facility and community park planned near downtown Gainesville, housed a manufactured gas plant from about 1880 to 1950. ''The factory would convert coal to gas, then that gas would be distributed for citizens to use,'' said Matt Dube, brownfields coordinator for the city of Gainesville. Coal tar, a byproduct of the conversion process, was stored on the site and consequently contaminated the soil, making the former plant a brownfield site.

For the past several years, Gainesville City Commissioners have been planning to clean up the site and build a pair of stormwater retention ponds to capture and treat rainwater contaminants. An approximately 25-acre multi-purpose park, with walking and bike trails and a skateboard park, will then be built around the ponds.

The area is currently being used as a staging site for construction of a municipal garage. This will not delay the completion of the stormwater park, however, which is currently projected for 2007. Other portions of the future park, such as the former home of a ready-mix cement firm, are currently being cleared and decontaminated. Final assessments of groundwater need to be completed before construction of the basins can begin in early 2006.

A CSX freight depot will be moved 30 feet south to allow bike lanes to be added to Depot Avenue. The building will serve as a visitors center, arts facility, or concession area for park visitors. -- Gainesville Sun, Alligator   7/15/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesville.com ; www.alligator.org

Alachua County Postpones Impact Fee Vote Until September

Debated in Alachua County since 1988, when 92 percent of voters said in a referendum that new development should pay for itself, the most-recently proposed impact fees for parks, fire protection, emergency services, public buildings and transportation in unincorporated areas were once more vigorously backed and fought at the County Commission's public hearing, which closed after midnight with a 4-1 decision to delay its final vote till September.

With many attendees wearing ''What's the rush?'' stickers, reports Gainesville Sun writer Rachel Kipp, the sole dissenter, Commission Chairman Mike Byerly asked, ''What's the stall?'' He offered this response: ''It's the chance or the hopes that after the election with a roll of the dice that a new group of politicians will replace us up here and any impact fees will be dropped.''

But Commissioner Rodney Long succeeded with his delay motion to work out a ''reasonable and equitable'' fee structure, for which all involved will use the state average as a basis for negotiations. As currently proposed, the fees would raise $41 million within five years, ranging from $4,083 for a 1,800-square-foot single family house to much more for commercial projects.

According to the Builders Association of North Central Florida, the fee for a 5,000-square-foot bank with a drive-through would reach $175,000; according to updated county figures, $46,620. Considering such fees ''outrageous,'' Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut cautioned that ultimately they would be passed on to home buyers, so ''we need to think about affordable housing and if we are going to price people out of the market.''

But in Marion County, just to the south, the writer reports, moderate impact fees implemented in 1990 for transportation and in 2002 for fire protection -- with a $2,017 charge per each new 1,800-square-foot home, -- caused no problems. Its number of building permits has steadily grown from 2,451 in 1990 to 5,322 in 2003, with county fee coordinator Kim Hatcher saying the fee implementation ''has not slowed down growth.'' -- Gainesville Sun   7/14/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Wal-Mart Eyes Gainesville Mobile-Home Park as Possible Supercenter Location

Its proposed 250,000-square-foot Supercenter at Gainesville's northwestern edge rejected 5-2 by the City Commission last month, Wal-Mart in now seeking talks with Alachua County commissioners about such a store seven miles southwest, in a mobile-home park just outside the city limits, but Commissioner Penny Wheat considers such private contact highly improper, since they ''could give the public the impression that this is a done deal for Wal-Mart.''

Wal-Mart representatives didn't make it clear whether the company would build a southwest Supercenter instead of or in addition to one still possible somewhere in northern Gainesville, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, quoting company spokesman Glen Wilkens, who hopes to ''address any of the concerns the commissioners have and sit down with them in any venue that they're comfortable with.''

With county commissioners focused on the budget and proposed developer impact fees in unincorporated areas, county principal planner Steve Lachnicht doesn't expect any large-scale application process until at least January.

The impact fees, slated for a July 13 public hearing, reports Sun writer Rachel Kipp, are seen by builders and business leaders as excessive. With the total fee for an 1,800-square-foot single-family home set at $4,083, Builders Association of North Central Florida president David M. Miller said owners of average new homes paid property taxes two times higher than others last year. His association calculated that the fee for a 5,000-square-foot medical office would reach $62,700 and for a bank with a drive-through, $175,000.

In response, County Commission Chairman Mike Byerly said, ''Part of the reason we're facing a backlog in needed infrastructure is we haven't asked new developments to pay their fair share. Impact fees represent a modest step in that direction.'' -- Gainesville Sun   7/9/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Gainesville City Commission Rejects Wal-Mart Supercenter Proposal

Having held two special hearings in three days on the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in northwest Gainesville -- one focused on the environment, and the other on economic, fiscal and social issues -- the City Commission has overcome its three-three split, with one member undecided, and voted 5-2 against the 250,000-square-foot store, while leaving the company an option to explore other locations in the city and many residents suggesting the east side.

Before the last hearing, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, Commissioners Ed Braddy, Rick Bryant and Tony Domenech favored the proposal, Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan and Commissioners Craig Lowe and Warren Nielsen opposed, and Commissioner Chuck Chestnut sought more arguments from both sides, but in the end only Commissioners Braddy and Bryant voted for the project.

The previously undecided Commissioner Chestnut and the previously supportive Commissioner Domenech voted ''no'' -- the former after questioning Wal-Mart representatives about the company's pollution record, community impact and diversity issues, including the new class-action suit for discrimination by some current and former female employees; the latter, a former small-business owner, after considering the Supercenter's potential impact on local merchants.

Commissioner Chestnut pointed to ''a perception that Wal-Mart has fallen short of being a good corporate citizen,'' and Commissioner Domenech stressed, ''The truth is that the big corporations are going to jump through whatever hoops you put up for them as long as there are customers they want.'' -- Gainesville Sun   6/24/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Alachua County Planners Consider Incentives for Connected Streets, Bike and Walking Paths Between Subdivisions

With more people ready for layouts other than the common cul-de-sacs, Alachua County planners advised the County Commission to consider builder incentives for connected streets and biking-walking paths in and between adjacent subdivisions once it adapts land-use regulations to the new comprehensive growth plan later this year. Aware that many residents will always prefer secluded dead-end streets, and far from any notion of a ''one-size-fits-all'' connectivity mandate, county officials would simply ensure both types of development, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, quoting Commission Chairman Mike Byerly, who says, ''There has to be some sort of rational middle ground.''

He points out that although cul-de-sac neighborhoods, with one or two entrances, may offer greater privacy, lesser and slower traffic, and more security for playing children, they also cause choking points on local roads, which keeps drivers behind the wheel longer, increases air pollution, and hinders public emergency response.

''As connectivity goes down, larger-scale traffic congestion gets significantly worse,'' Chairman Byerly says, adding, ''The tax burden -- the amount we have to pay for public services -- is related to how accessible an area is.''

Accordingly, the writer reports, county planners want to limit cul-de-sac street lengths and require multiple connections in new subdivisions. They also want to establish a ''connectivity index'' for all new developments, which would measure their accessibility by dividing the number of street links, including intersections, by the number of street ends. The higher the number, the higher the connectivity, the writer observes, noting that possible builder incentives for connectivity still have to be proposed. -- Gainesville Sun   6/19/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Gainesville Leadership Team Heads to Norfolk and New Haven for Downtown Redevelopment Ideas

In a search for the best ways to jump-start downtown renewal, neighborhood redevelopment and business expansion, about 40 Gainesville officials, planners, architects, developers and educators spent a few days in Norfolk, Virginia, and New Haven, Connecticut, coming back ''fired up to lay out a plan of action to redevelop the city's core while attracting new businesses.'' In both cities they got similar advice, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes.

In Norfolk, whose downtown blight until last decade reflected long neglect, flight to the suburbs, and a shipping industry shift, but which thrives now as a business, tourist, education and entertainment center, officials told them to be persistent, involve all sectors and institutions in the revitalization process, and adopt and stick to a strategic plan, rejecting incompatible projects but approving the right ones really fast.

That sometimes means 48 hours in Norfolk, as opposed to months in Gainesville, the writer notes, also quoting former longtime Norfolk Redevelopment Agency director David Rice, who said, ''If you can get new housing going -- no matter how old a neighborhood is -- it can get (other) things going,'' too. Equally important, he added, is city help for all willing to renovate or buy homes in depressed neighborhoods rather than seeking new homes in the suburbs.

The Gainesville group found another model for spurring urban revival found in New Haven, where Yale University President Richard Levin initiated acquisition of vacant properties around the campus, renovating buildings, filling them ''with dozens of mom-and-pop businesses,'' and telling the shops to stay open until at least 9 p.m. and the restaurants to 11 p.m.

''It makes it safer and builds more foot traffic,'' said Yale's associate vice president of city and state affairs Michael Morand.

The campus proximity is also crucial for Yale's spinoff biotechnology companies and related businesses that have located at larger reclaimed industrial sites, making some $2 billion in investments so far. ''It's all happening because it's a five-minute walk to our facilities,'' said Yale's cooperative research director Jon Soderstrom.

The trip organizer, Commissioner Warren Nielsen, wants the University of Florida to follow Yale's example and to make central Gainesville available to spinoff companies that now locate usually 20 miles north in the city of Alachua, the writer reports, noting that the Santa Fe Community College will increase its downtown presence with construction of eight Blount Center classrooms this summer. -- Gainesville Sun   6/7/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Gainesville's Wal-Mart Supercenter Set for June 21 Vote

Just weeks before its crucial June 21 vote on a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter to anchor several other businesses and some housing units at a 90-acre mostly-wetland site in northern Gainesville, the City Commission is evenly split, with Commissioners Ed Brady, Rick Bryant and Tony Domenech disposed for the plan, Commissioners Craig Lowe, Warren Nielsen and new Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan disposed against it, and Commissioner Chuck Chestnut eager to further question agency staff and Wal-Mart representatives during the commission's public hearing.

Wal-Mart reacted to criticism last year by reducing the site's planned commercial space, increasing its parkland and improving other features, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, but city, county and state agencies still recommended denying its present plan, because their subsequent comments and requests for more details, needed to change the city's comprehensive plan and zoning, went unanswered.

As elsewhere in the country, the writer notes, Wal-Mart expansion is a hot topic for residents and community groups. Its backers argue the area needs the jobs and tax revenue the retailer would create, while opponents point out that the project also would damage wetlands and the watershed, increase traffic congestion and undercut local businesses.

In the past 12 months, residents sent commissioners some 2,000 e-mails, the influx growing in recent weeks, with messages ranging from ''We love Wal-Mart Supercenters'' to ''We're tired of Wal-Mart trying to ramrod its way into Gainesville.'' -- Gainesville Sun   5/30/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

New Design for Proposed Wal-Mart Fails to Address Gainesville City Commission's Concerns

The year-long controversy over a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for Gainesville's northeastern edge is nearing another climax, with the city Community Development Department finding the company unresponsive to major concerns over the project's impact on traffic, wetlands and the watershed.

Last spring, the City Commission voted 4-3 against the Supercenter, which would require changes to the city's land-use and zoning plans, letting Wal-Mart resubmit the same plan by an identical 4-3 vote one week later, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, but Wal-Mart chose to rework the design.

And although the company cut the project's commercial space by 30,000 square feet and increased open space and parkland, it left the subsequent agency comments and questions unanswered. Mayor-elect Pegeen Hanrahan said Wal-Mart officials probably thought the project could loose anyway, so they decided against further studies. ''You don't want to sink a huge investment into a particular site,'' she observed, ''if there's a chance that site will be turned down.'' -- Gainesville Sun   5/12/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Former Milwaukee Mayor Norquist Addresses -- and Advises --Pensacola on New Urbanism

Planners and builders should increasingly turn from routine sprawl to mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development in city centers and older neighborhoods, reasoned Congress for New Urbanism President and CEO John Norquist in a public lecture on ''Unlocking the Value of the Urban Form'' in the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition at the University of West Florida, Pensacola, noting ''People would rather live in an interesting place. Everyone owns a car. But do you want to use it for every movement?''

Former four-term Milwaukee (Wisconsin) mayor and author of the book ''The Wealth of Cities,'' Norquist practiced what he advocates. During his 15 years in office, Milwaukee rebounded from poverty, spurred downtown housing, created the 3.1-mile Riverwalk, and tore down a 0.8-mile stretch of elevated freeway to attract some $250 million investment in neighborhood redevelopment.

Norquist told listeners that Pensacola could also gain, reports Pensacola News-Journal writer Sean Smith, if it would narrow a four-lane bayfront road to two lanes and use the freed space for parking, retail shops, residences and walkways.

Officials and business leaders were receptive to the idea, with businessman Collier Merrill saying, ''We need to slow the traffic down and bring it into town so people can see Pensacola.'' -- Pensacola News-Journal   5/7/2004

Resource(s): www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/

Wal-Mart Launches Public Relations Campaign to Support Revised Plans for Gainesville Supercenter

Its previous plan for a Supercenter, single-family homes and some commercial buildings on 92 acres at the fragile Hogtown Creek source in northwest Gainesville rejected by the City Commission in March 2003, Wal-Mart has already launched a public relations campaign in support of a revised proposal, slated for the City Plan Board's review on May 20, by mailing full-color brochures to more than 30,000 households and telling residents that the Supercenter would create 150 jobs and generate $3.5 million a year in sales tax revenue.

The revised plan still includes a Supercenter of more than 200,000 square feet, but reduces the site's total commercial space by 30,000 square feet, and expands its park and conservation areas, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson.

Still, local environmental and transportation officials, along with a state Department of Transportation representative, are concerned that Wal-Mart hardly addressed key issues of the project's impact on the creek area -- where extensive paving could harm watershed ability to absorb and filter storm runoff -- and on local traffic.

The City Commission may consider the Wal-Mart plan in June, the writer notes, finding it split on the issue, with the result likely to depend on Commissioner Chuck Chestnut, who supported the first Wal-Mart proposal. Commissioners Tony Domenech, Rick Bryant and Ed Braddy are for the plan, the latter saying, ''They have expressed an intent to build somewhere in the county. I would rather they build in the city limits so that the money goes to the School Board and the city.''

Commissioners Craig Lowe, Warren Nielsen and Mayor-elect Pegeen Hanrahan are currently against, the latter stressing, ''My opinion has been changed in the past by great groundswells of support for something that's happening. But my sympathy is really for the people and not the organization that is trying to get approval.'' -- Gainesville Sun   4/18/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Consolidation Pros, Cons Discussed at Gainesville-Alachua County Town Meeting

Having countered school disaccreditation, governmental abuse, and the flight of city residents to the suburbs with their 1968 merger, Jacksonville and Duval County gained greater fiscal and growth-management efficiency, improved accountability and reduced taxes, said former Jacksonville mayor and current University of North Florida President John Delaney at a Gainesville-Alachua County town meeting on unification, making ''no presumptions'' about what they should do, but telling the audience, ''I don't know of any city/county government that has consolidated and now regrets it.''

Nationwide, there are 34 consolidated governments in 16 states, reports Gainesville Sun writer Lise Fisher, noting that the daily and the League of Women Voters co-sponsored the town meeting, and that its editorial department has endorsed unification.

In contrast to Jacksonville's University of North Florida president, Gainesville's University of Florida law professor Joseph Little argued that Gainesville and Alachua are free from the problems plaguing the other area in the 1960s, and that separate governments are more accessible and ''the most accountable because they are the closest to the people.''

Long-time Alachua County Commissioner Leveda Brown backed the idea of consolidation, saying, ''I am not one of those that believe that unification of governments will automatically save a whole bundle of money. I think over time there will be savings.'' -- Gainesville Sun   4/18/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Gainesville Commissioners Change Comprehensive Plan, Relax ''No Net Loss'' City Wetlands Regulations

Despite public objections, the Gainesville City Commission voted 4-2 to relax the ''no net loss'' city wetlands regulations of the previous comprehensive plan and allow mitigation elsewhere, or compensating for wetlands destruction in the city area by creating or protecting similar sites even miles away.

Arguing for the change, reports Gainesville Sun writer Jeff Adelson, Commissioner Warren Nielsen said, ''No one individual or group has a handle on the absolute truth, whatever that may be,'' after which he cast a ''yes'' vote as his ''best shot.''

Adamant against the change, Mayor Tom Bussing called it a sell-out to developers, stressing, ''You are taking a wetland and saying, 'Fill it in and sell it.' Mitigation in the city is out the window.''

Florida League of Conservation Voters spokeswoman Francine Robinson commented, ''Judging from the rapid and widespread development in Gainesville, there seems to be no urgent need to sacrifice wetlands by weakening the rules. Yet the political pressure is there to do so,'' even though ''a wetland destroyed is destroyed forever.'' -- Gainesville Sun   4/13/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Editorial Advises Caution as Florida Lawmakers Tinker With Developments of Regional Impact Reviews

Since poorly regulated development ''threatens the environment and strains schools and roads,'' while ''excessive regulation stifles the economy, reducing the opportunity to enhance public services that benefit all,'' managing growth is ''a question of balance, says a Tallahassee Democrat editorial, advising legislative caution on two proposed bills to ease restrictions on Developments of Regional Impact (DRI), which is ''one of the state's primary tools for promoting smart growth that affects an entire region.''

The bills, SB 1174 and HB 1205, would reduce the frequency of state review for such developments and exempt most marinas from the process, the editorial explains, agreeing that reform is needed where the state duplicates local efforts, but pointing out that where it ''promotes a big-picture approach to planning,'' reducing DRI reviews ''would be foolhardy.''

The editorial is similarly concerned that even though marinas funnel millions of dollars into Florida's economy, they ''can also be big polluters,'' while affecting regional traffic and groundwater quality. This especially applies to the Panhandle along the Gulf of Mexico, including Leon and Wakulla counties, the editorial notes, quoting 1000 Friends of Florida legal director Janet Bowman, who says, ''Wakulla could be the poster child for areas where regional review could be helpful.'' -- Tallahassee Democrat   3/31/2004

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/

Lee County Buys Abandoned Kmarts, Considers New Sales Tax in Struggle to Cope With Rising School Expenses

In anticipation of increased growth along Florida's middle-western coast, the Lee County Smart Growth Committee and the County School District are working on a sales tax increase for schools proposal, which commissioners could put on the November ballot, with Superintendent Jim Browder also expressing hope that the current snag over the district's share in state funds and developer impact fees will be resolved soon, because the district is ''at the limit'' of borrowing for school construction, but must ''stay on course just with the land purchasing.''

The district, reports Naples Daily News writer Chad Gillis, has already saved some $15 million for the next ten years by buying abandoned Kmarts for interim classrooms and acquiring the architectural design rights for future schools. But more school money must be found, stresses Smart Growth Committee member Bill Hammond, convinced that people will support a sales tax increase if its need is convincingly presented at a grassroots level. -- Naples Daily News   3/18/2004

Resource(s): www.naplesnews.com/npdn/bonitanews/

St. Lucie County Feels Growth Pressure As Developers Map 8,800 Acres for New Projects

In a sudden rush on St. Lucie County's rural north, developers have snatched more than 8,800 acres since January 2003, making this area just south of Indian River County ''the next frontier of Treasure Coast growth,'' reports Vero Beach Press-Journal writer Eve Modzelewski, quoting St. Lucie County community development director Dennis Murphy, who says, ''The barbarians are at the gate.''

The question about how to handle the prospect of thousands of new homes preoccupies the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and both county commissions, all three consulting and seeking public input. The Regional Planning Council would like St. Lucie County to keep its current Urban Services Boundary, which allows one home per acre, and extend utilities only to quality projects such as cluster, mixed-use, village-style developments.

Should St. Lucie County permit routine sprawl development, says Indian River County community development director Bob Keating, ''we'll probably be impacted negatively,'' but if ''it's compact, mixed use, New Urbanism type development, the impacts probably won't be bad.'' His county is about to form its own growth-control task force, with 133 residents, builders, Realtors, land use attorneys and others applying for the seats by the mid-March deadline.

Meantime, South Florida's G. L. Homes company, which has recently bought 2,500 acres in an area slated by Port St. Lucie for its future westward expansion, asked the city to annex the land, in an exchange offering to pay for new infrastructure. -- Press-Journal   3/18/2004

Resource(s): www.tcpalm.com/

New Urbanist Developers See Big Opportunities in Gaineville's Former Big Box Mecca

Having helped revive downtown Gainesville with such new-urbanist projects as the Sun Center and Arlington Square Apartments, developers Ken and Linda McGurn are finding the demand in their newest Union Street Station square of housing, shops and offices so high that they wish there were 100 more condos for sale.

Like other urban developers, the McGurns know well that building mixed-use projects in the suburbs is easier and helps defuse traffic, but still contributes to sprawl, while redeveloping areas like the 13th Street and 23rd Avenue corridors advances ''the real thing,'' reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, quoting Ken McGurn, who says, ''When you do two- or three-story densities there, you're helping the environment by keeping people in the city.''

The two corridors' area was the city's first ''big box mecca,'' the writer observes, but some stores have already closed and Wal-Mart plans to move elsewhere, which offers opportunities for mixed-use redevelopment, its potential increased by proximity of the University of Florida.

One of its advocates, City Commissioner Warren Nielsen, spent some time in New Haven, Connecticut, studying the successful joint city-Yale University urban renewal work -- which drew $1.5 billion in private investment around campus -- and is now giving group presentations on their initiative, hoping to spur similar efforts locally. ''I've attempted to encourage a conversation between builders, developers, financial folks, city planners and the like,'' he says. ''I really believe that good urbanism is ripe for Gainesville.'' -- Gainesville Sun   3/14/2004

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Lawmaker Seeks Executive Order to Establish Treasure Coast Sustainable Communities Commission

Determined to establish his proposed Treasure Coast Sustainable Communities Commission within weeks if not days, state Republican Senator Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie asked Governor Jeb Bush to create it by an executive order, which would augment the ''credibility'' of its search for regional growth solutions, but stressed, ''This commission will be formed with or without the governor's blessing.''

The 25-member commission, reports regional News writer Sarah Myrick, will bring together one elected official from each Treasure Coast jurisdiction, with the governor likely to appoint other members should he issue the executive order. Selected to assist the future commission, Florida Atlantic University growth management expert Jim Murley hopes the governor will act before its first meeting, planned for April 8 at Florida Atlantic University-Indian River Community College campus.

Looking forward to his work on the commission, Port St. Lucie Mayor Bob Minsky expects it to focus on regional needs and to increase mutual understanding of local growth policies. -- The News   3/14/2004

Resource(s): www.tcpalm.com/

Miami Ordinance Helps Homeowners Who Increase Property Value to House Parents, Grandparents

Under the so-called ''granny-flats'' Florida constitutional amendment to help families accommodate their elderly at home instead of in often-subsidized care institutions -- an amendment passed by 67 percent of voters statewide, with 75 percent in Miami-Dade County, in November 2002 -- the county board unanimously adopted an ordinance that reduces tax assessments for homeowners who increase their property value by renovating or adding quarters to house their parents or grandparents.

The reduction, meaning exemption, equals the assessed property value increase resulting from improvement and new construction or 20 percent of the new total value, whichever is less.

Commissioners expect the ordinance to cost the county about $2.6 million in lost tax revenue and another $110,000 in implementation and enforcement. Nevertheless, ordinance top sponsor, Commissioner Bruno A. Barreiro said, ''This is a win for the entire community. Now people can age at home with their families, with savings across the board.''   2/25/2004

Resource(s): www.miamidade.gov

Fort Myers' Downtown Revival Plan Spurs Investment in Former ''Greyfields''

Real estate professionals in fast-growing Lee County have overlooked ''the necessity for redevelopment of aging areas,'' but things began to change last year thanks to county Smart Growth program director Wayne Daltry's focus on abandoned properties, or ''greyfields,'' writes local real estate broker Frank D'Alessandro in his business column in the Fort Myers News-Press, quoting the director, who says, ''Smart Growth recognizes that when a core use leaves an area, the surrounding community may suffer and the aging process accelerates if maintenance on the vacated sites is not continued.''

Such greyfields, he notes, breed blight, diminish city revenue and often harbor crime. The broker-columnist, member of the D'Alessandro & Woodyard Commercial Team at RE/MAX Realty Group, points out that under its own Smart Growth plan, Fort Myers has greatly helped downtown revival in the last few years by spurring private investment in historic renovation and other projects. Now, he writes, ''more and more people are moving downtown, creating a 24-hour economy where people live, work, and play.'' -- News-Press   2/15/2004

Resource(s): www.news-press.com/

Editorial: Voters Urged to Elect Officials Dedicated to Managed Growth

''Unbridled development is not inevitable. What is needed is a majority of the elected officials sharing the same philosophical approach to smart growth,'' writes former Wellington (Palm Beach County) vice mayor and recent Indian River County resident Linda Bolton in a Vero Beach Press Journal guest column, congratulating the City Council for its public session on future growth as a harbinger of ''solid planning decisions'' that should ensure local quality of life for the next 100 years.

After 12 years in Wellington, which grew from 19,000 to 44,000 people during that time, the former vice mayor, currently Bolton Associates Inc. president, alerts readers that city councils and county commissions ''must have a plurality of votes dedicated to managing growth,'' because one or two voices alone won't carry the day. Thus she advises local voters to ''(e)lect only officials dedicated to smart growth,'' meaning ''those who have the integrity to demand lower densities and require a generous gift of land to the community for the privilege of building in Indian River County.''

Urging them to set ''tough standards for future growth,'' she mentions ''legally defensible but demanding school and traffic concurrency policies,'' a maximum residential density of two units per acre, a limit on ''zero-lot-line'' homes within the city, and generous minimum lot sizes. She stresses the need for clustering ''without sacrificing lot size;'' for ''strategically located employment centers'' to boost the economy, expand the tax base and reduce commuting; and for requiring developers ''to set aside land for future schools, child-care sites, roadways, libraries, fire/rescue sites, parks, environmental preserves, landfills, public works, cemeteries and organic-waste disposal sites.'' Bolton also advises the county to promote ''large land tract usage,'' including ''educational campuses that attract small incubator type businesses;'' mandate underground utilities for development sites and affected roads; avoid candidates with potential conflicts of interest between official and private roles; pursue strong cooperation with adjacent jurisdictions to prevent cross-purpose policies, as when ''Marin County's admirable restrictions are being diluted by St. Lucie County's high-density growth;'' and encourage homeowners associations, ''which function as mini code-enforcement operations.'' Then she concludes, ''Officials should be selective about projects, and not afraid to invoke moratoriums to manage or slow development. With rising land values, impact fees can never be high enough. Lower densities, more open land, more dollars for schools, road improvements and underground utilities will be a gift for the future.'' -- Press Journal   1/19/2004

Resource(s): www.pressjournal.com/

Mixed-Use Projects Eyed for Underused Park-and-Ride Lots on South Florida's I-95

In new efforts to reduce South Florida car dependency and spur transit use, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is encouraging development of underused park-and-ride lots near five Tri-Rail stations along I-95, with Fort Lauderdale officials already working with a developer on a mixed-use project proposed for the Cypress Creek Road station, and Hollywood officials fleshing out conditions for a similar mixed-use proposal, but including a K-8 charter school, for their Sheridan Street station.

Finalizing his plan for 800,000 square feet of offices, a 400-room hotel, retail and restaurants at the Cypress Creek parking lot, reports Miami Herald writer Jerry Berrios, developer Michael Swierdlow is required to compensate for the lost spaces with a garage big enough for the new development; link the Tri-Rail station, the garage and the office building with a pedestrian bridge; build an air-conditioned bus station near offices; and spend some $75,000 a year for bus and rail passes to promote transit use.

Proponents of the Sheridan park-and-ride lot transformation, Codina Development Corp. and Pinnacle Housing Group, want their future Sheridan Stationside Village to include about 500 apartments, some of them affordable, plus offices and shops, a basketball court, a pool and a playground, with the Miami-based Academica educational services organization ready to build and run the K-8 charter school. Noting that the location would let parents drop kids off at school before taking transit for work or errands, Academica president Fernando Zulueta says, ''Anything that can be done to provide more options for parents is going to result in a better community for everyone.'' -- Miami Herald   12/15/2003

Resource(s): www.miami.com/

Editorial Sees Shift to Smart Growth as Best Solution for Indian River County Gridlock

Although ''the Treasure Coast's lifeline'' -- coastal U.S. 1 -- is less clogged in Indian River County than in St. Lucie and Martin counties, its daily vehicle counts are expected to double or even triple locally by 2025, which would render any multimillion-dollar widening and other improvement projects useless without a turn from ''the old, inefficient model of more strip centers and piecemeal development'' to long-term land use planning, warns The Vero Beach Press Journal in an editorial entitled ''Fixing gridlock.'' With thousands of homes planned or proposed along Indian River County's U.S. 1 corridor, and with numerous studies showing that ''more lanes merely facilitate traffic volumes, and, thus, congestion,'' the editorial stresses, builders ''must make meaningful contributions to improved thoroughfares throughout the county'' now, while planners must focus on better solutions for the future. ''Synchronizing signals and enforcing density limits are a start,'' the editorial says. ''Ultimately, though, this area's robust expansion will necessitate a shift toward more organized, self-sufficient communities that efficiently blend residential and commercial components. That so-called ''smart growth'' may be the only way to go.'' -- The Vero Beach Press Journal   12/14/2003

Resource(s): www.tcpalm.com/tcp/press_journal

Cluster Housing, Mixed-Use Villages Advised for South Florida's Treasure Coast Region

The eastern South Florida region of Treasure Coast must end suburban sprawl -- this much was clear to all officials, conservationists, builders and national experts at the Rural Land Symposium in Port St. Lucie, but how to make it happen remained an open question, with St. Lucie County development director Dennis Murphy stressing, ''We can't just put a sign at the county line that says, 'No vacancy'.'' In response, reports Vero Beach Press Journal writer Katie Campbell, urban experts advised a smart-growth shift in the region's rural development pattern of large homes on five-acre lots toward higher-density cluster housing and mixed-use villages.

In contrast to the predominant ''ranchettes'' -- which increase infrastructure costs, waste natural resources, generate ''a lot of asphalt and more traffic'' and ''will eventually be subdivided into disconnected suburbs'' -- said Maryland University's National Center for Smart Growth professor Reid Ewing, a mix of uses reduces traffic, allows varied housing, ''breaks up development'' and preserves agriculture.

University of Pennsylvania city and regional planning professor Thomas Daniels suggested farmland belts around new towns to keep housing inside, arguing, ''Sometimes you literally have to draw a line in the sand to say 'This is where growth ends','' but cautioning against imposing ''farmland preservation on farmers'' and instead advising incentives to make them sell development rights and preserve their land forever.

Sunland Homes senior vice president Ron Hyman had these words for dense housing opponents: ''If you don't like clustered density, then you have to like sprawl, because your kids have to live somewhere. Developers don't feel different about sprawl. It's not attractive, but it is the market's response to regulations. If our government officials continue this way, we'll get more of the same.'' -- Vero Beach Press Journal   12/6/2003

Resource(s): www.sun-sentinel.com/

Manatee County Looks at Residential Impact Fee Increases to Cover Service, Infrastructure Costs of Expected Growth

With 89 percent of Manatee County's growth through 2010 expected in unincorporated areas, the County Commission moved to prepare for related service and infrastructure challenges by including municipalities in its plan to roughly double residential impact fees by 2006 -- from $2,065 to $4,180 for a typical three-bedroom house -- but municipal officials at a county workshop complained about fairness and applauded Bradenton City Councilman Bemis Smith for saying, ''The city should have control of determining whether our folks pay.'' Island city officials added that with neither county roads nor much vacant land, they would hardly benefit from the fee increase, since they would have to send the additional collections to the county. County Commission Chairman Jonathan Bruce responded he doesn't mean to tell them ''how to do your job in the municipalities,'' later telling Sarasota Herald-Tribune writer Mitra Malek the dispute is ''not worth it,'' as ''(w)e have too many issues in the future that we need to work on with the cities.''

The writer notes that Bradenton is charging fire, police and park fees since last year, with road fees coming next year. Palmetto is charging water and sewer fees and also considering others. Island cities don't plan any fees. He adds that last spring county voters passed a half-cent sales tax increase for schools and will decide next March on another such increase for land preservation and public work projects. -- Sarasota Herald-Tribune   12/4/2003

Resource(s): www.heraldtribune.com/

Smart Growth Symposium Stresses Importance of Community Involvement, Increased Densities for Successful Planning Decisions

''We are going to have growth,'' said Utah Quality Growth Commission Chairman and Utah Homebuilders Association president Dan Lofgren at the fourth annual Smart Growth Symposium for South Florida in Fort Myers, outlining his state's anti-sprawl goals and advising area planners, developers and scholars to ''stop and think'' about the best way to ensure public planning involvement, increase densities and accommodate further population surges over the next decades. The public-private Envision Utah group, which shaped quality growth and won a 2002 American Planning Association (APA) award for citizen cooperation, is hoping its push for higher densities will save the state some $4.5 billion in transportation and infrastructure costs over 20 years, while reducing tailpipe emissions and both land and water consumption. The symposium participants, brought together by the APA and Florida Gulf Coast University's Center for Public and Social Policy, reports Port Charlotte Sun Herald writer Allyson Gonzales, liked these smart growth ideas. Former Department of Community Affairs Secretary Steven Seibert stressed the need for a Utah-type process of community interaction and extensive public polling as opposed to a suggested constitutional amendment, called Florida Hometown Democracy, which would make any local land use changes subject to referendum. Denouncing it as ''an assault on representative democracy,'' the former secretary said, ''It is a reckless toss of the dice with our communities' future.'' Former Lee County commissioner Charles Bigelow also called the proposal shortsighted, but said it reflected the feeling of growth-decision-making helplessness among voters who want a better way to express their views than the three minutes allowed at public hearings. -- Sun Herald   11/8/2003

Resource(s): www.sun-herald.com/

Gainseville Planner Describes 'Road to Ruin' in New Book

''If you build a road for high speeds, what you will ultimately get are high speeds'' and ''When you make cars happier, you inevitably make everything else less possible,'' said top Gainesville long-range planner and New Urbanism advocate Dom Nozzi, his new book entitled ''Road to Ruin: An Introduction to Sprawl and How to Cure It'' scrutinizing the nation's obsession with improvements for cars rather than people, which forces too much public money into road systems and increases pollution, traffic accidents, commute distances and total travel in ''a vicious circle'' that demands more and more roads. As a realist, the planner doesn't expect suburbanites to repopulate inner cities, but believes in offering residents various lifestyle options, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, so they ''can, if they choose, leave their cars in the driveway and walk, take a bus or bike to work.'' Government, the planner points out, contributes to the cycle of sprawl and car dependency wherever it prohibits mixed uses or mandates parking space minima for shopping centers and office buildings, also responsible for growing car use. ''As long as there is abundant free parking, people will continue to use cars,'' he says, noting that although they may like to drive around, each year millions are vacationing in such walkable cities as Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia or dozens in Europe and elsewhere. -- Gainesville Sun   10/22/2003

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Green Space Preservation Ordinance Seen as Boost to Brevard County's Quality of Life

As Brevard County's natural beauty is ''rapidly disappearing under concrete and asphalt,'' a Melbourne Florida Today editorial urges the County Commission and all 15 county cities to approve the Significant Environmental Areas (SEAS) ordinance as ''an ideal addition to local efforts to replace rampant development with smart growth that saves crucial wildlife and plant habitats countywide.'' Serving builder and conservation interests alike, the editorial stresses, the SEAS ordinance would encourage building layouts to save wide stretches of ''crucial habitat'' that account for a total of about 15,000 acres in unincorporated areas and almost the same within urban limits. In exchange for preservation of green space, the ordinance ''streamlines and consolidates'' environmental laws, and offers developers such cost-saving bonuses as faster permitting and higher density. Generous green space and nature preserves also give projects ''a competitive edge'' among buyers seeking ''more than a concrete jungle'' and bolster builders' reputation on a market ''increasingly sensitive to the environment.'' The approval of SEAS by the county and its cities, the editorial says, ''would make Brevard a model of environmental vision for the state, preserve green space in neighborhoods that otherwise will be lost to bulldozers, and boost quality of life, every day.'' -- Florida Today   9/26/2003

Resource(s): www.floridatoday.com/

Fate of Sarasota County's Growth-Management Plan Hinges on Decision by Administrative Law Judge

The implementation of Sarasota County's 2050 growth-management plan, adopted last year but challenged by the ManaSota 88 environmental group and one resident, depends on visiting Tallahassee Administrative Law Judge Donald R. Alexander, who just heard from the Orlando-based consultant Tim Jackson that his new-urbanist plan conforms to state laws, means to build ''communities of place'' and goes back ''to our roots before our dependence upon the automobile,'' all seen by opposing attorney Dan Lobeck as ''a lot of generalities and feel-good testimony,'' and a ''radical new approach'' that would set a state standard of 50-year planning horizons. The plaintiffs fear, reports The Venice Gondolier, that despite its promises to cluster growth in mixed-use, high-density, pedestrian-friendly villages, the plan may facilitate sprawl in the county's eastern part. The consultant reaffirmed in his testimony that the villages, each with a sufficient service center, would be surrounded by neighborhoods with their own centers within a quarter-mile walking distance, all linked by a network of roads, trails and bike paths. Attorneys for the defendants -- the county and the Florida Department of Community Affairs -- confirmed the plan's compliance with state growth-management laws. -- The Venice Gondolier   9/24/2003

Resource(s): www.venicegondolier.com/

Tampa Transit Officials See Double-Deck Highway as Most Affordable Option for Expansion

To relieve traffic backups and drivers' frustration along the 14-mile Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority is double-decking its most-congested six mile stretch for strictly financial reasons, says authority spokeswoman Dawn Perry Brown, calling the $350 million price a relative bargain and explaining, ''Right of way is most of the cost of any construction project, and because this is pretty much an urban toll road right in the middle of downtown, we needed to find a way to save money.'' The three-lane upper deck -- held up by a series of single columns, or piers, in the expressway's median -- will allow one-way traffic in opposite directions during morning and evening rush hours, reports Arizona Republic writer Bob Golfen to Phoenix area residents who will face a similar choice for one of their clogged freeways. Besides using its current right of way in the median, the Tampa-Hillsborough authority has also saved on construction costs by having the deck segments cast off site, trucked in and only cabled together along the route. The spokeswoman said some neighborhoods initially resisted the double-deck concept, but gradually recognized its design as an enhancement of the cityscape, because this is ''a very majestic-looking bridge.'' -- Arizona Republic   9/16/2003

Resource(s): www.azcentral.com/

Tallahassee's Infill Plans Keeping Sprawl in Check

Encouraging development in their ''urban service area,'' and especially ''infill'' as a remedy for sprawl, Tallahassee and Leon County growth policies are showing results -- the number of residents outside the service area has increased by only 1.6 percent in the past decade and builders have responded to the market change by putting homes on small lots in any empty pocket of urban or suburban land they can find, a trend still difficult to quantify, says City Growth Management Department director Bob Herman, but indicative of ''a maturing of the community.'' New homes, reports Tallahassee Democrat writer Bruce Ritchie, ''are being slipped onto lots between existing homes'' and new small-lot subdivisions ''are being slipped into the nooks and crannies of undeveloped land within two or three miles of downtown.'' Confirming the increased demand for homes near the downtown area, developer Pete Rosen of Benchmark Construction of Tallahassee Inc., sees simple reasons, ''You drive a half-hour, 47 minutes or an hour every day each way to work. You get home -- you are exhausted at night. You pull into your garage without meeting any of your neighbors or knowing who the kids are playing with.'' But closer in, ''(y)ou sit on your porch, wave at your neighbors and interact with other people. Its more fulfilling than being in the 'burbs on your hunk of land.'' With some homeowners and neighborhood groups considering higher density a threat to their open space and property values, County Commissioner Bob Rackleffs points to the quality of four side-by-side ''infill'' homes build by Benchmark Construction on Ninth Avenue and says, ''When people see that and understand that is the possibility with high-density housing, they will be less likely object to density.'' -- Tallahassee Democrat   8/10/2003

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/

Developer Leading Campaign to Preserve Kissimmee Area's Open Space

Combining family business interests and local activism, Kissimmee developer Kevin Schoolfield of Schoolfield Properties Inc., is leading a year-old SAVE Osceola conservation group in a countywide campaign for a 50-cent per $1,000 of property value tax increase, to raise about $60 million for open space preservation, because it would enhance the area's quality of life and hence property values, and because ''we value our community, and want to make sure it grows smart.'' He told Kissimmee Reporter editor Michale W. Freeman that the group is not seeking ''to slow down the growth,'' but to locate parcels ''that can be preserved as a natural environment'' and ''pay market value to a willing seller,'' so the rural land to the city's east and south can be ''within a bike ride from our homes'' in the future. The idea won support from the Osceola County Association of Realtors Inc., the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce, the Kissimmee Utility Authority, the Kissimmee Valley Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and other groups and agencies. They all know that fast growth in the so-called Four Corners region of Osceola, Orange, Polk and Lake counties will continue and that the time to save the best open space is getting short. ''It's most compelling to do it while the land is available, and do it while the land is affordable,'' said Nature Conservancy state chapter community relations manager Rob Dent, noting that land prices are rising by 5 to 7 percent a year and that Floridians ''are very strong advocates and stewards of our landscape.'' He added, ''Although there are competing needs out there -- such as social services and schools -- these competing needs will always be there as long as the population grows. Those needs will never go away.'' -- The Reporter   7/24/2003

Resource(s): www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=REPORTER

Settlement Weakens Alachua County's Growth Management Plan

Blocked in court by the Builders Association of North Central Florida and several rural landowners since April 2002, the new Alachua County comprehensive growth management plan is no longer among the strongest in the state, as county commissioners voted 3-2 for a settlement -- reached through a state-requested mediation -- which brings an additional 2,500 acres within Gainesville's urban service boundary for future development, removes a clustering requirement for rural subdivisions of fewer than 25 lots and drops the ban on gated communities and cul-de-sacs. It also reduces wetland setbacks in crucial habitat zones from 300 to 100 feet; exempts small poor-quality wetlands from strict regulations; and eliminates several conservation area maps that identified almost 90 percent of the county's land as ecologically significant. Nevertheless, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, county growth-management director Rick Drummond believes the settlement still secures ''a much stronger plan than the one that is currently in effect,'' and Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, who voted for the compromise together with Commissioners Rodney Long and Lee Pinkoson, calls it ''fair and just.'' Landowners' lawyer Ron Carpenter agrees, saying his clients preferred the old plan, ''but that's not what compromise is about.'' But nothing is really settled yet, since several residents already filed a suit to nullify the settlement and some conservation groups -- Sustainable Alachua County, Women for Wise Growth and the Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club -- feel they were excluded from negotiations and also promise legal action. Voting against the settlement together with Commissioner Penny Wheat, Commissioner Mike Byerly blasts the negotiations for an ''arrogant disregard'' of the public policy-making process, while environmental consultant Dave Bruderly says, ''We don't need to continue chewing up our open space. There's lots of land in the city of Gainesville that can be redeveloped.'' -- Gainesville Sun   7/16/2003

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Volusia County Plans 2nd Smart Growth Summit

The popular notion that ''everyone wants a big house in the suburbs with a big lawn'' is belied by some cities' ability to spur redevelopment and preserve their green outskirts, and one of them is Austin, Texas, pointed out Urban Land Institute (ULI) educational and environmental policy director Michael Pawlukiewicz at a Volusia County smart-growth summit in Deland, telling the 220 officials, conservationists and business leaders that in contrast to low-density, separate-use, car-dependent ''mindless'' growth, smart growth brings back compact development, mixed uses and transportation choices. Austin was able to save its ''green'' corridor over the aquifer, vital for the area's water supply, and Volusia cities should do the same, said the ULI expert. The advice, reports Orlando Sentinel writer Ludmilla Lelis, struck a chord with the attendees, who see the county's future in neo- traditional communities and downtown areas, ''where people live, work, shop, go to the doctor's or go to a movie.'' To flesh out this vision, the Volusia County Association for Responsible Development will hold another smart-growth summit August 22 at Daytona Beach Community College, the writer adds, quoting one of the county's biggest landowners, Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. vice president Joe Benedict, who says, ''Political guts -- that's what it boils down to.'' -- Orlando Sentinel   6/14/2003

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Tallahassee Commissioners Approve Mixed-Use Condo for Final Slot in Downtown Plaza Revitalization Program

In its push to revitalize the Tallahassee core, the City Commission chose a 108-unit condo building, with offices, stores and a restaurant on the ground floor, over a 130-apartment complex for Kleman Plaza's last vacant lot, with Mayor John Marks saying, ''Downtown should be an 18-hour area, and condominiums are better suited for permanent housing and our goals.'' Noting that the commission recently approved a 20-story apartment building for the plaza's southwestern side, Tallahassee Democrat writer Todd Wright quotes the condo-specialized GameDay Centers company's representative Rick Bateman Jr., who says commissioners ''don't want 600 rental units in one area,'' because people ''want to own.'' He expects the lot sale contract to be finalized quickly, construction to start within a year and the prices for one-to-three bedroom condos to range from $180,000 to $500,000. The condo project is the last for Kleman Plaza as the anchor for downtown transformation into a cultural center, including the Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Science, the Challenger Learning Center and IMAX Theater, the writer observes, once again quoting Mayor Mark. Confident that residents want a vibrant downtown area, he says, ''They want museums, hotels and shopping ... our job is to make it better.'' -- Tallahassee Democrat   5/29/2003

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/

Alachua County Hopes Building Incentives Will Spread Affordable Housing Throughout County

Although a new Alachua County study classified about 67 percent of its housing as affordable, it also found this less expensive housing -- still costing many residents more than 30 percent of their income -- concentrated on the city of Gainesville's east side and in rural areas, a situation the County Commission would like to change, perhaps by builder incentives for more low-income units in new subdivisions throughout the county, with Commissioner Mike Byerly stressing the need to avert the ''damaging trend'' of socio-economic segregation. The commission, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, directed staff to work with local builders on a series of affordable-housing incentives, which could include an expedited permitting process and exceptions from limits on projects near extremely congested roads. The commission also would like to start channeling state housing grants for down payment assistance, second mortgages and home renovation into areas needing more low-income housing, to which builder Barry Rutenberg responded, ''If the money is available, I think the market will find a way to use it.'' The writer adds that Commissioners Byerly and Penny Wheat would prefer a mandatory affordable-housing share in new projects, but Commissioners Rodney Long and Cynthia Chestnut sided with Commissioner Lee Pinkoson, concerned that ''(i)n upper-end subdivisions, owners in higher-priced homes could end up subsidizing the lower-priced homes.'' -- Gainesville Sun   5/22/2003

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Michigan Land Use Leadership Council Looks at State Models for Effective Smart Growth Strategies

As it seeks input for a future Michigan growth-management plan, Governor Jennifer Granholm's bipartisan Land Use Leadership Council can learn much about what works or doesn't in smart growth from other states, writes Michigan Land Use Institute policy advisor Arlin Wasserman, citing the institute's in-depth research in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Florida -- which found that big money talks, the right message must reach the right people, and political shifts require new messages and allies -- and the parallel Sierra Club/Mackinac Chapter interviews with environmental and land use advocates in 13 states, which confirmed the general conclusion that ''political leadership from top state official is crucial to advancing Smart Growth.'' In Colorado, the writer explains, a 1998 anti-sprawl measure, initially backed by 80 percent of residents and by $1 million in campaign donations, lost in a landslide because developers spent $6 million on a counter-campaign and Governor Bill Owens urged voters to let him control sprawl by other means. Consequently, ''Colorado's environmentalists find themselves on the outside as the governor works his way through a list of less ambitious reforms.'' In Pennsylvania, the 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania environmental group spent years garnering broad support for its reform proposals, forming alliances with smart growth, quality of life and economic efficiency advocates, and setting up an extensive education network. The Friends were happy to let then-Governor Tom Ridge ''take the credit for their proposals'' and to help inform his advisory board as it sought input on his 2000 program, eventually enacted into law. In Florida, gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush declared support for the state's growth-management policies during his 1988 campaign, but once elected ''pandered to the property rights movement and tried to gut the state laws.'' But environmentalists and ''savvy developers'' in the 1,000 Friends of Florida group ''did some research, and unflinchingly cited the undue industry influence and bias'' in the governor's new position, beating back his efforts. With the multi- state research by the Sierra Club/Mackinac Chapter showing the importance of holding elected officials true to their electoral land use promises and forming broad coalitions with groups focused on quality of life and social equity, the writer adds: ''It doesn't matter which political party controls a state's government. That's because Smart Growth is pro-business, pro-equity, pro-environment, and pro-quality of life. These are, in sum, bipartisan issues.'' -- Michigan Land Use Institute   4/13/2003

Resource(s): www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16478

''Conservation Subdivisions'' Gaining Popularity in North Florida, But Some Wary of Sprawl Potential

One of the top issues at the current series of Leon County and Tallahassee hearings and workshops on updating their joint 2000 comprehensive plan are zoning requests for ''conservation subdivisions,'' where developers can cluster more homes than currently allowed in exchange for saving most land as open space -- a concept gaining traction in the region, with Conservation Fund chairman Patrick Noonan calling it ''the wave of the future,'' but others still cautious, worried it may sometimes serve as a cover for sprawl. That's why, reports Tallahassee Democrat writer Bruce Ritchie, planners oppose requests to change the zoning of two large tracts in the city's northern suburb of Bradfordville from rural to ''urban fringe,'' to allow conservation subdivisions. The change would let local landowner Miley Miers build about 120 instead of 30 homes and preserve 190 acres of his 301-acre tract; it would also let Centerville Properties Ltd. put 296 instead of 59 homes on a 592-acre tract although the company's plan for this and an adjacent 283-acre site calls for a total of only 233 homes and protection of more than 500 acres as open space. The landowner denies his project would add sprawl, arguing that Tallahassee growth is coming up his way anyway since the city hasn't much land left for more homes, an assertion questioned by planners. The company's attorney, Charles Gardner, says rezoning would permit homes on lots smaller than currently allowed, stressing the company has ''bought into'' consultant-planner Randall Arendt's land conservation approach. During his presentation at a Leon County growth-management meeting last November, the writer notes, Arendt pursued the themes of his Rural by Design book, urging the area to secure recreational trails, open space and rural character, all making neighborhoods more attractive to prospective buyers. -- Tallahassee Democrat   4/6/2003

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/

Greenway Corridor Is Springboard for Marion County's Smart Growth Coalition

Having helped ''to make growth a compelling issue in Marion County'' and ''formed strong coalitions with kindred groups throughout North Central Florida,'' the county's two-year-old Smart Growth Coalition describes itself as a ''community catalyst'' and plans a ''busy spring'' for ''identifying and publicizing growth/sprawl-related issues'' and spotlighting solutions. Its big immediate focus, the coalition announces in The South Marion Citizen, is the 90- mile Greenway corridor running from Palatka in Putnam County southwest through Marion and Citrus counties to the Gulf of Mexico. Once slated for the subsequently discarded Cross Florida Barge Canal Project and now state-managed for recreation and conservation, the corridor is the coalition's ''springboard'' for bringing together diverse environmental, outdoor activity, business and civic groups to make the public and county commissioners aware of strong support for green spaces as worth preserving not only for their beauty, but also for their economic value. Hoping to bolster state and local land acquisition efforts to ''fill in the gaps'' in the Greenway and link it with a similar one under way in Alachua and Levy counties, the coalition plans to follow its spring educational workshops with a major green space forum in September. -- The South Marion Citizen   4/4/2003

Resource(s): http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/794/public/news444938.html

Study Finds Most of South Florida's Office Parks Accessible Only by Car

In contrast to such central business district (CBD) markets as Chicago and New York, where 57 and 54 percent of offices were located downtown in 1999 -- and a median of almost 30 percent for all 13 large markets in the Brookings Institute's study ''Beyond Edge City: Office Sprawl in South Florida'' -- downtown Miami had mere 13 percent of the region's office space, while the record 66 percent was scattered throughout suburban ''edgeless cities,'' with the 1987-2002 study's author, Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech professor Robert E. Lang, noting that most South Florida office parks are accessible only by car. One example, reports Miami Today news service writer Frank Norton, is the 250-acre Waterford at Blue Lagoon office park near Miami International Airport, its 14 office buildings unreachable through Miami-Dade County's Metrorail line. ''The reason you have terrible traffic is because everybody is going in every direction every morning,'' stresses Professor Lang. ''On your 40-mile commute every morning somebody who lives where you work will drive right past you because you're going to their edgeless city while they're going to yours.'' Miami-Dade County planning director Carey ''Lee'' Rawlinson says smart growth should include high-density mixed-use development around present and planned transit hubs, to take advantage of local infrastructure. Noting that the Dadeland area's first mixed-use projects are under way, he mentions ''a long-range, public-private effort to build Downtown Kendall'' near the Metrorail commuter line. See Professor Lang's study at www.brookings.edu/urban   4/3/2003

Resource(s): www.miamitodaynews.com/index.shtml

Miami Hopes to Partner With Property Owners for Development Around New Transit Routes

Six months after Miami-Dade County voters passed a half-cent sales tax increase that will bring in about $150 million a year for massive transit expansion by 2031, officials planning 89 miles of new Metrorail routes hope to prevent the lengthy and costly process of land condemnation for 89 stations and parking lots by forming partnerships with property owners who will build transit-oriented residential and commercial projects, including affordable housing. For Metrorail construction in the 1980s, says Office of Public Transportation Management officer Alberto Parjus, the county often had to condemn whole parcels, though only narrow strips were needed, then pay for the upkeep and safety of the surplus land until it was leased to developers. Now, the county will avoid such additional costs and development delays by partnering with prospective developers early in the Metrorail expansion process, which is expected to start in 2005. Right now, reports Miami Today news service writer Paola Iuspa, completed or continued development around 16 of the 21 present Metrorail stations includes different type of mixed-use projects, most with low-cost or market-rate housing. The county is also discussing a proposal by the nonprofit Miami Metro Action Plan Trust to build a 220-unit affordable rental building at the Northside station and another proposal by the faith-based Jubilee community development corporation to build affordable housing at the Okeechobee station.   4/3/2003

Resource(s): www.miamitodaynews.com/index.shtml

Activist Receives Award for Spearheading Alachua Wildlife Corridor Project

Having settled in Alachua County just three years ago, business and utility consultant Dan Smith founded the grassroots nonprofit Santa Fe Land Trust and brought together several public agencies and more than 100 local landowners in an effort to secure a 10-mile wildlife corridor between San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park and the Santa Fe River, in recognition of which Gainesville attorney Stephen K. Johnson nominated him for The Gainesville Sun's 40th Annual Community Service Award for a person with the best record of voluntary community service. Unlike many others, the attorney wrote in the nomination letter, ''Dan has worked to bring diverse interests together and has avoided the pitfall of polarization that is so often the result of the 'do-gooder' mentality'' and in contrast to ''taking rights away,'' persuaded many owners to allow permanent conservation easements on their land. This, the daily notes, applies to his own 40 acres in the corridor, which includes thousands of acres of wetlands, river floodplains and pristine hardwood forests. The nominee, the daily adds, ''has volunteered countless hours to coordinate the massive effort, placed his development business on the back burner and donated his own money to keep the project moving forward.'' After an independent panel of judges selects this year's winner, the daily will hold its award ceremony on April 21. -- The Gainesville Sun   3/11/2003

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/apps/

Town Meetings Seek Input on Developer Impact Fees, Consolidated Services in Florida's Alachua County

In an effort to advance intergovernmental cooperation across Alachua County, its commission launched a series of town meetings to get input on local issues and such countywide needs as better fire protection and developer impact fees for roads and recreation -- the first meeting in the city of Alachua increasing commission chairman Rodney Long's hope ''to have impact fees adopted sometime this year,'' perhaps before June. The county's 1992 transportation impact fee, imposed for three years, raised about $1.4 million, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, noting that new road and recreation fees, their amounts yet to be determined, would be paid by developers when building permits are issued. In response to Alachua city residents' concerns over local effects should the county and Gainesville merge their fire protection services, county commissioners assured them they would have protection matching their financial commitment, which means funding a new fire station. They also confirmed that the county is exploring how to free downtown Alachua from heavy traffic, by diverting hundreds of trucks around the city, with a Public Work report due in about six weeks. The next town meeting is scheduled for March 4 in Archer. -- Gainesville Sun   2/19/2003

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Fort Pierce Development Director Sees Bright Future for Revitalized City

Just 15 years ago, the small coastal city of Stuart in Martin County had 65 percent of its downtown businesses boarded up, most buildings blighted and streets deserted, but today residents and visitors crowd the vibrant core, restaurants are full and there is dancing in the streets, writes a Fort Pierce Tribune editor, congratulating Stuart on its renaissance -- spurred by business owners, volunteers and architect Peter Jefferson with his wife Joan, all guided by renowned New Urbanist Andres Duany -- while Tribune writer Liz Flaisig reviews parallel downtown revitalization efforts in Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, with the city's development director, Ramon Trias, upbeat about the prospects. A 1989 University of Miami graduate and Duany's follower, Trias remembers the new urbanist theory ''was so radical and controversial then because there was a lot of money at stake for the private side'' and developers ''sold out to a bill of goods that was just wrong.'' In South Florida, where he started, the damage from abandoning traditional planning was most evident and too deep to remedy in Palm Beach or Broward Counties, he says, but coming to Fort Pierce in 1995, he found ''a tight local community,'' rooted in good planning, aware that the time for revival had come and ready to handle the task. Seeing the public planning process as ''half of the partnership that must exist for new urbanism to succeed,'' the writer reports, Trias proposed a series of meetings and charrettes, which resulted in several key projects, including a waterfront library, a visitor center, a manatee observation and education center, street upgrades and new Marina Square, featuring a fountain and roundabout. But once the city averted a crisis, the public became somewhat ''complacent,'' Trias observes, noting the need to eliminate an old power plant near the waterfront, renovate Melody Lane buildings and establish more historic districts. Hoping that officials will realize they ''need to do most things themselves,'' Trias says Fort Pierce, with its great location along the Indian River, with Atlantic beaches, a beautiful environment, pedestrian-friendly downtown and cultural facilities, ''will never go out of business again.'' -- Fort Pierce Tribune   2/3/2003

Resource(s): www.tcpalm.com/tcp/trib_local_news/

Plant City Officials Briefed on Smart Growth as Hearings Begin for Mixed-Use Community

As the Plant City Planning Board readies its first hearing on a Sunrise Homes plan to turn the industrial Gregg Business Centre into a mixed-use community of 2,800 varied-style homes, with narrow streets, parks and trails, City Planning and Zoning director Rob Anders brought in Hillsborough's City-County Planning Commission assistant executive director Ray Chiaramonte to brief city officials on the advantages of Neo Urbanism, Traditional Neighborhood Development and Smart Growth. ''We're taking some ideas from the past and reintroducing them,'' the guest told Tampa Tribune writer Yvette C. Hamett on the way through the city's historic residential district to the workshop, where he encouraged commissioners and planners to pursue the Smart Growth ideas already embraced in the region, mentioning West Park in Tampa and Long Leaf in Pasco County. It's not telling people how to live, it's offering them more choices, he said, pointing out that neo-traditional neighborhoods include single-family homes, duplexes and apartments in a broad price range, while their pedestrian amenities facilitate social interaction and reduce auto dependency. -- Tampa Tribune   1/18/2003

Resource(s): www.tampatrib.com/

Gainesville, Fla. Approves Mixed-Use ''Midtown'' Towers Plan

Despite misgivings voiced by Gainesville Mayor Tom Bussing and echoed a day later by many residents, the citizens' Development Review Board ended its night-long hearing with a 2-1 early-morning vote to redevelop a rundown 4.3 acre site between downtown and the University of Florida (UF) campus as mixed-use Midtown, with one 26-story and two 21-story towers housing student apartments, a 300- room luxury hotel, retail space and parking garages, but dwarfing the currently highest, 11-story Seagle Building and marring the cherished small-town skyline. Opponents also argued, reports Gainesville Sun writer Ashley Rowland, that the project -- planned by Boca Raton developer Ben Schachter at a cost of $300 million to $500 million -- could raise the tax base to such and extent that nearby fixed-income residents wouldn't be able to pay their property taxes. But supporters stressed that the project would boost the depressed neighborhood and help downtown businesses. UF administrative vice president Ed Poppell also noted the benefit of linking the campus with downtown, saying, ''We think that it will improve the density in a small area that will continue to enhance our mass transit.'' Subject to a final city approval after the developer makes a few minor changes, the writer adds, the project may get under way in February 2004 and be completed within three to five years. -- Gainesville Sun   1/11/2003

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Editorial Questions Florida's Growth-Management Efforts

With Governor Jeb Bush appointing Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood to lead his Department of State and Cabinet aide Colleen Castille to lead the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), The St. Petersburg Times notes his earlier-stated intention of merging both departments and asks ''Is Colleen Castille supposed to take charge of growth management or preside over its demise?'' The governor, says the daily in a dry editorial, ''has spent four years delivering little more than speeches as it relates to controlling Florida's real estate growth,'' admitting his inability to ''overcome special interests in the Legislature'' and espousing ''less oversight for local governments, not more.'' In his first three years, the editorial observes, the DCA ''approved local development plan changes at seven times the rate of the previous decade'' and the only bill the governor ''touts'' is one that asks school boards and county commissions to cooperate on new schools ''in high-growing areas.'' Saying the governor ''has fought every attempt'' to help cities and counties with more money for the roads and services required by new growth and his only growth-management idea ''revolves around a cost-accounting formula no one seems to fully comprehend,'' the editorial concludes: ''If he needs a reminder of what is at stake, he need only look to the south and west of the capital, across the Panhandle, where St. Joe Land Co. owns some 940,000 acres of land and 39 miles of Gulf of Mexico coastline that it is actively marketing for development. This is the Florida that can't afford another four years of inaction.'' -- The St. Petersburg Times   1/7/2003

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Orlando Wal-Mart Affecting Quality of Life

Like others everywhere, many Orlando area residents love Wal-Mart's discount prices, but hate its mega-stores for bringing in more traffic, noise and crime, reports Orlando Sentinel writer Richard Burnett, noting that although 25 percent of Americans consider Wal-Mart their favorite store and 58 percent of youngsters think it best for buying clothes, the giant chain, a defendant in more than 9,400 lawsuits, is ''the most-sued entity in America after the U.S. government.'' Statewide, the writer finds, Wal-Mart generated almost $500 million in sales taxes last year and employed more than 71,000 people, including 12,600 in 34 stores of Central Florida, where it also donated almost $2 million for various community causes. But after the mid-2001 opening of a 230,000- square-foot Wal-mart Supercenter in Orlando's MetroWest, traffic accidents within its 5-square mile area increased 31 percent in the first year, car thefts 56 percent, property crimes 110 percent, robberies 231 percent and shoplifting almost 1,900 percent, to 477 cases. These statistics fuel opposition to Wal-Mart, especially in such relatively affluent neighborhoods as MetroWest, the writer observes, quoting the president of the Orlando-based Portnoy Group consulting firm, Eli Portnoy, who says, ''A lot of people see Wal- Mart as a downscale, monolithic retailer that can cause home values to go down substantially because it caters to such a broad range of people in the lower socioeconomic areas.'' He points out that the company appeals to many and does ''an enormous business,'' but it also is ''the most polarizing retailer to ever come along ... constantly in battle with communities who don't want it.'' Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams says, ''We don't want to go where we're not wanted.'' For some local groups, he argues, opposition ''becomes an anti-Wal-Mart hobby,'' but with ''a quiet, strong majority'' for Wal- Mart in most places, it often wanes once a store is approved. Noting recent rejections of Wal-Mart stores in Lake, Seminole and Volusia counties, the writer adds that experts see circumstances working against the ''sprawling Supercenters,'' especially when proposed for historic districts, ecologically fragile sites and ''potentially congested commercial and residential corridors.'' -- Orlando Sentinel   12/31/2002

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

University of Florida at Forefront of Sustainability Research, Education

Having last year become the first in the nation to publish a full list of its environmental, social and economic impact indicators under a voluntary reporting system established by the United Nations Environment Program, the University of Florida, Gainesville, moved further ahead last month, with the Sustainability Task Force's policy recommendations for research and education, community outreach and campus operations -- the direction in this last field already set with the almost completed, ''green'' state-of-the-art M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Building Construction. The high-performance structure, reports Gainesville Sun writer Greg Bruno, will need a fraction of the energy and water used by standard buildings. Its 47,000-square- foot hallway is lit by sun rays from skylights over the main stairwell, roof storage tanks collect rainwater for its non-potable needs and specially equipped rest rooms will save 40,000 gallons of water a year. The director of the university's Office of Sustainability and of its task force, former Alachua County Commissioner Dave Newport, sees the new school and his job ''as illustrative of UF's commitment to social, fiscal and environmental sustainability.'' Composed of faculty, students and a county official, his task force, the writer notes, concluded that the university should manage its land to ensure ''no net loss of biodiversity;'' limit the use of inorganic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers; complement land-use strategies with coordinated bus and bicycle services; apply green building standards for all future construction; and devise strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. -- Gainesville Sun   12/29/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Slow-Growth Newcomers Victorious in Alachua County's Local Commission Elections

In an emerging nationwide trend, voters in Alachua County's cities of High Springs, Newberry and Archer passed over longtime or lifetime residents seeking local commission seats and elected relative newcomers Kirk Eppstein, Joe Hoffman and Lenny Torres, all having lived there less than five years, but all involved from the beginning in community service and all dedicated to better growth. All three, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, promised to attract more business, while stressing the need for the compatibility of development with their small towns' atmosphere and the environment. An expert from the Washington-based Smart Growth Alliance, David Goldberg, says, ''What's going on (in Alachua County) is absolutely classic,'' with old-timers focused on economic development and newcomers on local character. University of Florida political science professor Bert Swanson attributes the power shift to demographic changes in small towns, where many recent residents still commute to job centers like Gainesville, but want to protect the town's ambience and quality of life. The newcomers, the professor says, ''are frustrated because the good ol' boys are so pro-growth they would sell their grandmother,'' and this frustration translates into votes for new faces and growth curbs. The Newberry election winner, Joe Hoffman, puts it this way, ''(The) majority knew that since I'm from a bigger city, I've seen how industry and growth can take over a place and that I know how to prevent some of those pitfalls. I think the younger people here were the majority of my support.'' -- Gainesville Sun   11/18/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

New Alachua Commission Could Revisit Comprehensive Plan

Although the Alachua County Commission remains fully Democratic after November 5, its two newly elected members, Cynthia Chestnut and Lee Pinkoson, who ''ran on promises to encourage job growth and reverse the county's anti-business image,'' will pull the commission ''back to the political middle,'' predicts a Gainesville Sun editorial, giving it ''the opportunity to prove that environmental protection and economic development are not mutually exclusive goals.'' Both newcomers, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, expect to form a majority with prospective commission chairman Rodney Long, who envisages a commission more sensitive to the needs of people lacking ''better economic opportunities.'' The test of wills, the writer observes, may first revolve around the county's newly revised comprehensive plan, with the two newcomers arguing during their race parts of it should be revisited, in the interest of farmers and others affected by some growth restrictions. They include proposals to surround the Gainesville city limits with an ''urban service line, impose wider setbacks around wetlands and require rural owners to leave up to 80 percent of their land undeveloped. A group of rural landowners and local builders has been asking the county for a month in an ongoing state-mandated mediation process to revise these proposals, in vain so far. But for the new commission's first meeting on November 26, Commissioner Chestnut is counting on Commissioners Long and Pinkoson to tell the county's attorneys to move the negotiations forward, since ''a protracted litigation'' would delay action on other priority issues. Several area groups instrumental in crafting the comprehensive plan, including Sustainable Alachua County, Women for Wise Growth and the Suwannee-St. Johns Sierra Club -- are seeking seats at the negotiation table, to prevent any diluting of the plan. The writer quotes University of Florida physics professor Dwight Adams, an activist and Sierra Club member, who fears ''a full-court press to get the county on the road to growth,'' saying these groups must try to keep the plan ''from going down the tubes.'' -- Gainesville Sun   11/10/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Miami-Dade Voters Approve Tax to Fund County-Wide Transit Expansion

Having rejected several tax-for-transit proposals in the past 25 years, the increasingly congestion-wary Miami-Dade County voters reversed the trend through a 69-percent approval of a half-cent sales tax increase for a massive expansion of Metrobus and Metrorail systems as detailed in the long-range People's Transportation Plan (PTP), with officials immediately allowing free use of the downtown area's 4.4-mile automated Metromover line, eliminating bus and train fares for riders 65 years old and older, and adding and improving bus service in several neighborhoods. Strongly backed by civic and business leaders, the tax increase should generate $150 million a year, leveraging the substantial state and federal funds necessary for the advancement of the $17 billion plan, its outlays almost equally split between bus and rail transit. Officials, reports Miami Herald writer Andres Viglucci, envision the county fully covered with a tightly integrated transit network, which they expect to be ''reliable, convenient and attractive'' enough to lure many commuters out of their cars. Specifically, the plan will let the county almost double its bus fleet from 675 to 1,335 vehicles, including many minibuses on new routes and neighborhood circulator lines; provide around-the-clock bus service on major routes and increase frequency to 15-minute intervals during peak times; build 89 miles of rail lines; introduce 24-hour rail service next June; and allocate a total of 20 percent of the new tax revenue to 31 municipalities for their transit-related projects. The tax-for-transit plan was engineered by County Mayor Alex Penelas and Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, the writer adds, quoting the mayor who says, ''Twenty years from now, this community will look a lot different. You will have Metrorail and Metrobus to every corner of Miami-Dade County, and even into Broward County.''   11/7/2002

Resource(s): www.trafficrelief.com/rapid_transit_projects.htm ; www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/

Gainesville's East Side to See Long-Awaited Revitalization

Having spent hundreds of hours at planning workshops, residents of Gainesville's neglected 21,000-acre east side are expecting it to be revitalized this decade as a mixed-use corridor of houses, condos, offices and stores, with a high-tech ''Bus Rapid Transit'' system and much of the land near Newnan Lake slated for preservation. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO) and drafted by the Renaissance Planning Group of Orlando, the Plan East Gainesville would cost about $80 million, mostly in federal funds and private investments, reports Gainesville Sun writer Ashley Rowland. Unveiled at a community meeting, the plan was well received, but residents pointed out that a new east-west road, meant to relieve congestion at a crucial Five Points intersection, would create ''incredible, nonstop traffic'' in the Lincoln Estate neighborhood and damage local wetlands. They advised extensions for two nearby avenues as a much better solution. The writer notes that the MPTO, the Gainesville City Commission and the Alachua County Commission will likely review and approve the plan in January. -- Gainesville Sun   10/30/2002

Resource(s): http://www.sunone.com/

Smart Growth Critic Addresses North Central Florida Building Forum

Since all outside experts invited by the Alachua County to comment on its comprehensive plan revisions in the past two years hailed Portland, Oregon, and advised ''smart growth,'' the Builders Association of North Central Florida brought to its Gainesville forum a former Portland resident, outspoken smart growth critic Randal O'Toole, who fulfilled association president Howard Wallace's wish ''to get some balance in the discussion,'' by blasting Portland for traffic jams, high housing prices and squeezing many residents into ''Soviet style'' apartment buildings. Author of a book entitled ''The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths,'' O'Toole told the forum's almost 300 participants that residents of his former Portland neighborhood won a fight against rezoning it for higher density, but other neighborhoods are facing similar pressures under a banner of more walkable and livable city. He also argued, reports Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes, that ''incremental changes over the years have created a heavy-handed regulatory system that disregards individual property rights.'' Short on solutions, the writer observes, O'Toole advocated building more roads and taking a regulatory page from Houston, Texas, by replacing all government zoning with neighborhood power to decide on development projects. Noting that many area builders would like to persuade the County Commission, which will have two new members after the November election, to make changes in the comprehensive plan, the writer found the group of county planners and administrators in the audience skeptical about the speaker's arguments. ''There needs to be an overall vision despite what he said,'' stressed county senior planner Jerry Brewington. ''It's a very complicated issue that he distilled down to simple solutions when I don't think there is one.'' -- Gainesville Sun   10/30/2002

Resource(s): http://www.sunone.com/

Alachua's Strategic Plan Seeks to Retain Small-Town Atmosphere

After a year-long series of community vision workshops, the Alachua City Commission unanimously passed a strategic 2010 plan, which will balance economic development and job creation with open space protection and bike-pedestrian trail expansion, to save the city's small-town atmosphere and keep it from becoming ''a big box marketplace.'' Mayor Bonnie Burgess is determined to implement the plan, stressing, ''The citizens came together and poured their heart out into this.'' Happy with the plan process, its steering committee member, Duane Helle, credits the outcome to the absence of ''the extremists who just want to grandstand'' and to the cooperation of ''both ends of the spectrum.'' Planning and Zoning Boar chairman Gary Hardacre also praises the collegiate spirit of the broad-based steering committee, but notes that now officials ''have to figure out how to pay'' for what the community wants. The top goal, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, is to form public-private partnerships for bringing in new firms, especially small businesses and clean industries. To help it happen and at the same time address local quality of life concerns, the plan tells the city to improve biking and walking trails, protect the environment, build a community swimming pool, reopen a senior citizen center, designate future commercial areas, enact a mega-store ordinance, establish equitable code enforcement and promote urban infill. -- Gainesville Sun   10/8/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Creative Workers Key for Cities to Attract High-Tech, High-Wage Jobs

Convinced that America's economy will increasingly depend on the ''creative class'' of workers sought by high-tech and high-wage companies -- research, health, law, management or marketing professionals, scientists and artists, whose numbers grew from 10 to 30 percent of the work force over the past century -- Pennsylvania Carnegie-Mellon University professor, urban planner Richard Florida said, ''Places where the weird and the uncommon are accepted are places with a social ecosystem that attracts creative people,'' ranking Gainesville as the nation's second-most-creative and tolerant city with a population under 250,000. Gainesville Sun writer Tim Lockette reports that professor Florida, author of a new book entitled ''Rise of the Creative Class,'' in which he uses his Bohemian Index, Gay Index and other data to rank 268 American cities on their attractiveness to creative workers, is touring the country, advising university cities to integrate campuses with the urban fabric and telling all they will need gay bars and punk bands rather than smokestacks and tax breaks to cash in economic growth in this century. The theory is based on his research following the move of the Internet company Lycos from Pittsburgh to Boston, when he found, the writer continues, that the company couldn't recruit enough young professionals, because they were repelled by Pittsburgh's ''Rust Belt reputation'' and ''a stodgy, 1950s-style corporate culture,'' preferring cities like Boston, San Francisco and Austin, ''where they could wear their nose rings to work and retire to coffeehouses in their off-work hours.'' Gainesville officials' reaction varies. New Urbanism proponent, Commissioner Warren Nielsen, who has long argued that the city's economic growth will depend on a robust downtown culture instead of highways and big-box stores, agrees with the advice. Commissioner Tony Domenech praises creativity, but thinks people getting excited about these ideas, ''kind of lose track of the basics,'' such as the need to provide the infrastructure for thriving business. Commissioner Ed Braddy agrees that more ''creative class'' workers may stimulate the area's economy but is not sure how this ''trickle-down theory'' will help elevate those flipping burgers. In response, Florida tells officials to raise low wages, adding, ''steelworkers get paid well because they unionized and fought for good pay. This is going to have to happen in the service sector.'' -- Gainesville Sun   10/6/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Tallahassee Mixed-Use Project Gets Initial Approval, But Lake Protection Rules Pulled from Bradfordville Area Comprehensive Plan

Beset with suits over its 1995 comprehensive plan's policies and their 2000 implementation rules to protect Bradfordville area lakes and farmland north of Tallahassee from excessive commercial development and stormwater runoff -- criticized by developers for stringency and by homeowners for lack of enforcement -- the Leon County Commission decided against rewriting the policies and with a 4-to-3 vote simply removed them from the growth blueprint. Tallahassee Democrat writer Bruce Ritchie reports that homeowners' groups -- which convinced the circuit court to impose a moratorium on most area projects in 1998, until the county adopted policy implementation rules in 2000 -- wanted the county to rewrite area protection policies, with Lake Carolyn Estates Homeowners Association president Pat Rose hoping that the Florida Department of Community Affairs will block the decision to remove them from the comprehensive plan. At the same time, the county commission approved a conceptual plan for a huge northeast Tallahassee mixed-use project called Welaunee, which will include 4,819 homes, more than 1 million square feet of offices and 500,000 square feet of stores, with another controversy looming over its road widths. City planners, the writer finds, may propose six lanes for the project's main boulevard to prevent further congestion on surrounding roads. But Welaunee planners and environmentalists envisage a narrow boulevard to encourage walking and bicycling throughout the future neighborhood. -- Tallahassee Democrat   9/25/2002

Resource(s): www.tallahassee.com/

North-Central Florida Voters Choose Economy Over Growth Control

With Alachua County's 20 percent population growth over the past decade and 2.6 percent unemployment last year marred by the 1998 poverty rate of 17.1 percent reaching 23.3 percent among children, many residents and business leaders think area officials were doing too little to attract higher-paid jobs and too much to regulate development, a mix that doomed environmentally oriented incumbents in the race for the Gainesville City Commission and in the Democratic primary for the Alachua County Commission, all beaten by rivals stressing economic priorities, reports Gainesville Sun writer Tim Lockette. ''We have people flipping burgers who shouldn't be flipping burgers,'' says Alachua Count Alliance for Economic Development director Brent Christensen, critical of temporary construction bans in some city areas as discouraging business. But county development director Kenrick Pierre notes that regulations let the city and the county preserve their quality of life, a key consideration for many professionals looking for good places to settle. Easing regulations alone won't attract businesses, he adds, because they are more concerned about ''consistency of regulations'' and like the certainty that they won't change radically with little notice. -- Gainesville Sun   9/15/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Gainesville, Fl. Proposes Stricter Regulation of Ecologically Sensitive City Parcels

Under criss-cross pressure from property owners and environmentalists, the Gainesville Plan Board decided to hold additional workshops on its ''environmental overlay plan,'' which would tighten regulations for the 52 large vacant private parcels found ecologically sensitive, while leaving unprotected many similar but small lots along city creeks. Gainesville Sun writer Tim Lockette quotes one of the affected parcel owners, Ronald Weiss, who expressed their general concerns, saying the overlay plan would deny him the right to develop or use all but five of his 215 acres, which include 50 acres of wetlands. On the other hand, local biologist Howard Jelks felt the plan isn't strong enough and asked the board to extend its growth restrictions to small creekside parcels. The writer notes that once the board concludes the workshops and makes its recommendations for stricter protection of the ecologically sensitive parcels, approval of new regulations will depend on the City Commission. -- Gainesville Sun   8/16/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Alachua County, Fl. Moves to Preserve 1,194 Acres of Historic Forest and Wetlands

In the first move to implement the $29-million Alachua County Forever sensitive-land acquisition program, passed by voters in November 2000, county commissioners unanimously initiated a $2.8 million purchase of 1,194 acres of forest and wetlands six miles north of downtown Alachua for the proposed Mill Creek Mature Preserve, to save this ecologically and historically important tract from encroaching development. The tract, reports Gainesville Sun writer Bob Arndorfer, a home to many endangered or threatened plants and species, is the southernmost extent of American beech forest and beavers. It includes remnants of the Old Santa Fe Trail and the Providence Road -- the first perhaps taken in 1540 by Spaniard Hernando de Soto on his northward search for gold, when he discovered the Mississippi River; the other traveled by Spanish missionaries in North Florida -- and the Magnolia Hill archeological site with shards of pre-Columbian ceramics. Noting that residents have nominated a total of 150,000 acres for preservation under the Alachua County Forever program, its manager Ramesh Buch expects to buy about 30,000 acres with the bond money, to be raised in $14 million and $15 million chunks and paid off by a property tax of 0.25 mill, or 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. County environmental protection director Chris Bird thinks the county has a good chance of getting about $1.5 million for the Mill Creek preserve from the state under its Florida Communities Trust grant program. -- Gainesville Sun   8/14/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Coastal Building Continues Unabated on Florida's Beaches

Emboldened by Florida's weak coastal protection laws and perpetual replenishment of eroding beaches at public cost, rampant shore development is reaching its ''last frontier'' on the panhandle's narrow St. Joseph Peninsula, where dunes above Cape San Blas are being torn up for ''simple'' $700,000 houses, report Gannett News Service writers Paige St. John and Larry Wheeler in USA Today, mystified by ''the nation's obsession with living at the shore.'' Since 1978, they write, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has denied only 52 construction permits for erosion-prone sites while permitting 4,913 homes, condominiums, hotels and other buildings, more than half of them within ''critical erosion'' zones entitled to local, state and federal beach restoration money. The Coastal Construction Control Line program administrator for DEP's Bureau of Beaches and Wetlands Resources, Gene Chalecki, explains that with ''very few projects'' falling in the program's no-build category ''our job is to attempt to minimize impact associated with development.'' Florida depends on a special $30-million annual fund and on federal money to repair beaches that generate about $17.7 billion in tourist spending a year, the writers report, observing the cycle of state-approved coastal construction and taxpayer-subsidized beach restoration in virtually every one of the 21 Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coast states, which last year secured a record $135 million in Congress for 75 shoreline studies and repair projects. Once granted, federal protection guarantees 50 years of sand replenishment by the Army Corps of Engineers, with the long-term cost of the current 35 federal beach projects in 12 states estimated at $7 billion. Noting that President Clinton's effort to end this spending seven years ago was blocked by a ''loose-knit coalition'' of mayors, county commissioners and federal lawmakers, the writers expect similar ''stiff resistance'' to any Water Resources and Development Act changes that reduce the 65 percent federal payments for initial construction and make local and state governments shoulder greater shares of their beach restoration costs. -- USA Today   7/29/2002

Resource(s): www.usatoday.com/

Citing Sprawl Risks, Alachua Rejects Mixed-Use Project

''We want growth in the city of Alachua, but we want smart growth,'' said Interim City Manager Clovis Watson before last-ditch talks with Waco Properties Inc. to make it pay the cost of new infrastructure and services for its proposed 1,700-acre mixed-use West Alachua complex, a failed effort followed by the city commissioners' vote against the project -- which would have doubled Alachua's population to 12,000 within 15 years -- as posing too many budgetary, environmental, traffic and sprawl risks. The rejection means, reports Gainesville Sun writer Ashley Rowland, that instead of following an industrial-commercial-residential master plan for the whole site, already hosting a huge Dollar General Corp. distribution center and another commercial building still under construction, the company will rely on its 1999 contract to pursue similar development on about 1,200 acres piece by piece, adding more warehouses, storage yards and light-manufacturing or processing centers. Waco attorney Ron Carpenter was surprised that after two and a half years of planning, commissioners refused to extend the negotiations for another 30 days, which would likely let both sides find a solution. Perhaps the vote against the project ''wasn't in the city's best interest,'' considering ''the reality that comes with this denial.'' Two commissioners who wanted to delay the decision for a month were outvoted by the other three, including Mayor Bonnie Burgess, who said Waco had many opportunities to address city concerns, but turned the negotiations into a ''cat and mouse'' game. -- Gainesville Sun   7/23/2002

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Flaws in Everglades Restoration Plan Outlined

''The $7.8 billion plan to restore the Everglades may result in little restoration but will certainly increase water supplies for Florida residents, farmers and businesses, who already lead the nation in per-capita water consumption,'' says The Washington Post, presenting a June 23 to 26 series by its writer Michael Grunwald, whose investigation included more than 200 interviews, along with thousands of documents and e-mails, revealing that ''the plan has been shaped by intense political pressures brought by commercial interests'' and that most of its ecological benefits ''are riddled with uncertainties and delayed for decades.'' Beginning with quotes from the army Corps of Engineers restoration manager Stuart Applebaum, who admits ''We have no idea if this will work'' and from EPA's South Florida director Richard Harvey, who increasingly sees it as ''a massive urban and agricultural water-supply project,'' the writer explains the behind-the-scenes Everglades politics, the historic background, early reclamation attempts, naturalistic wishful thinking and the decades-long process of tearing down, paving over, mining under and otherwise exploiting its unique eco-system still largely subjugated to immediate economic and consumer demands. Environmentalists like World Wildlife Fund coordinator and Everglades Coalition co-chair Shannon Estenoz are starting to think they ''were suckers for supporting this;'' the director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, Richard Grosso, calls the restoration plan ''a blizzard of contradictions;'' and the state's most influential developer, head of a gubernatorial advisory CEO council, Al Hoffman, says of the rampant development pushing from southwest Florida toward Everglades, ''There's no power on earth that can stop it.'' He also objects to blaming developers for the Everglades' demise, saying ''If you want to blame someone, blame everyone who lives here.'' -- The Washington Post   6/26/2002

Resource(s): www.washingtonpost.com/

Naples Area Growth Management Plan Would Halt Urban Sprawl

Over vocal landowner opposition, Collier County commissioners unanimously adopted an environmentally sensitive growth management plan for 95,000 rural and swamp acres east of the Naples-Golden Gate urban area, with Commissioner Jim Carter hailing a new spirit of cooperation between developers and conservationists and Commissioner Fred Coyle saying to make them agree was a ''herculean effort,'' but ''we stopped urban sprawl.'' Passed just before the deadline given the county by Governor Jeb Bush and the state Department of Community Affairs in 1999, reports Naples Daily News writer Eric Staats, the plan sets up a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, encouraging development on 23,000 acres in ''receiving areas'' and limiting it on 22,600 acres in ''sending areas.'' Landowners in sending areas will have their permits reduced from five to one home per 40 acres, unless a smaller parcel was created before June 22, 1999, but the TDR program will let them convert disallowed permits into marketable credits, with which developers can increase density in receiving areas. Under the plan's last minute amendments, the county will give owners on the edge of sending areas a year for petitions to avoid that designation; follow within a year with rules encouraging developers to build affordable housing in newly allowed rural villages; consider increasing the value of development credits for land near the city; and explore the possibility of using tax money or state and federal grants for development right purchases in fiscal year 2004. As to landowners' opposition, County Commission Chairman Jim Coletta attributed it to a disinformation campaign by frustrated land speculators. -- Naples Daily News   6/20/2002

Resource(s): www.naplesnews.com/

Stormwater Management and Open Space Preservation Go Hand-in-Hand in South Florida

In South Florida, where the necessity of draining the land of stagnant stormwater after rainy months has always resulted in water shortages during dry seasons, Lee County smart growth director Wayne Daltry sees the open space preservation part of his job as an opportunity to prevent seasonal water imbalances by acquiring large flood-prone tracts to store water for later use and also open them for public recreation. ''Have enough land set aside for the water and it also becomes your park system,'' he says, devising a regional stormwater management, or ''land rehydration,'' strategy, which would bring together county governments, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the state's Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. EPA, along with area homeowners and developers. As an example of good water management, reports Naples Daily News writer Chad Gillis, the smart growth director mentions an SFWMD project, the 60,000-acre Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW), about 25,000 acres of which have been bought, with another 4,700 acres east of Bonita Springs being acquired. After the buyout and relocation of several families are completed, the district will restore the land's natural characteristics and function, which will inhibit Bonita Springs flooding and supply it with water in dry months. District spokesman Kurt Harclerode expressed its readiness to work with Lee County smart growth director on regional stormwater management and officials from the Estro Bay Agency on Bay Management also promised their help. -- Naples Daily News   6/15/2002

Resource(s): www.naplesnews.com/

Editorial Series: Seeking Regional Solutions for South Florida's Transportation Woes

''Traffic is bumper-to-bumper everywhere,'' the three counties of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade have ''run out of room for major roads'' and they need a regional solution, along with new thinking ''about transportation and land-use planning,'' declares the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in its introduction to a June 2-June 7 series of editorials focused on the need to advance the ''new urbanist'' philosophy, ''planted and nurtured by such organizations as the Smart Growth Network and the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.'' Researched, reported and written by Sun-Sentinel Editorial Writer Timothy Dodson, the series makes clear that since no amount of paving will get the region ''out of its automobile-based transportation rut,'' the only long-range answer lies both in ''multimodalism,'' or providing several equally viable means of transportation, and in ''intermodalism,'' or linking and coordinating different services while making them accessible to pedestrians and cyclists, which requires ''altering land use policies to create higher densities along the Tri-Rail route and other major transit corridors.'' The series also explains that new development and transit should support each other to make both more successful and discourage sprawl, and that South Florida should speak with one voice in the competition for federal, state and private transportation funds. Noting that smart growth has slowly begun affect local decision-making in South Florida, the series' writer mentions Palm Beach County, with its innovative Managed Growth Tier System and the endorsement of higher-density zoning near business centers and transit points, and Broward County, with its approval for 183 miles of bike and pedestrian trails between downtown Fort Lauderdale and the suburbs, and the varied-phase community programs for redesigning urban cores to create pedestrian ''transit greenways.'' As Miami-Dade County lags behind in these efforts to modify land use and set up a regional transportation authority, the writer emphasizes that ''smart growth can occur only if political leaders in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are smart enough to work together for the common good.'' -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel   6/2/2002

Resource(s): www.sun-sentinel.com/

Jacksonville Continues Plans for Downtown Revival

With tenants already occupying the first of 2,000 high-rise condo and townhouse units under construction on downtown Jacksonsville's waterfront, several city business leaders, organized by Dalton Agency vice president Michael Munz and local AmSouth Bank president Marty Lanahan, gained early political support for their ''Bay Street Town Center'' proposal, which would turn these three blocks of the street -- busy during daytime only -- into a resident-oriented activity and service hub, featuring bars, coffee shops, restaurants, stores and small businesses. Mayor John Delaney and City Council President Matt Carlucci, reports Florida Times-Union writer David DeCamp, consider the proposal consistent with their vision of downtown revival and plans for massive redevelopment of this waterfront area after the replacement of the City Hall Annex and the Duval County Courthouse by 2006. They think the city could fund landscaping, sidewalks and other Bay Street upgrades for the proposed town center, but await more specifics from center advocates who are still working out the proposal. The writer notes that Munz and Lanahan would prefer private funding, but may also ask the city to create a $30 million, low interest loan fund to help owners with their building improvements. -- Florida Times-Union   6/1/2002

Resource(s): www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/

Everglades Restoration Bill Signed in Florida; Includes Controversial Development Challenge Provision

Without the usual election year fanfare, Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill that will provide $100 million a year in bonds matched by federal funds for the Everglades restoration, but splits environmental groups with its controversial provision, which may impinge on individuals' rights to challenge environmentally risky development. The provision allows only those who can prove they are personally affected by a project to file a challenge, report St. Petersburg Times writers Julie Hauserman and Craig Pittman, noting that similar legislation failed during the past three years. The governor asserted that the provision will have ''minimal impact'' on citizen rights, they write, an assertion seconded by development attorneys, but questioned by many environmental lawyers. The governor cited the support from Florida Audubon, 1000 Friends of Florida, the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Trust for Public Land, the Nature Conservancy, the Everglades Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, the writers continue, quoting Florida Audubon president Stuart Strahl, who said the bill will secure ''an efficient and reliable source of money to buy land and restore the water and wetlands so essential to the health of the Everglades.'' Still, the writers reveal that some leaders of those groups were privately unhappy with the citizens' legal standing provision, but supported the bill publicly because the Everglades need the funding. About 100 groups opposed the bill, including the Sierra Club, Republicans for the Environment, the League of Conservation Voters and the Save the Manatee Club. The writers add that the governor asked the Department of Environmental Protection to study the law and report back in a year.   5/16/2002

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Smart Growth Debated in Alachua, Fla. City Commission Election

Both candidates for a seat on the Alachua City Commission seat talked ''smart growth'' at a pre-election public forum, pledging to protect the city's rural charm and spare it a ''cookie-cutter'' look, but incumbent Gib Coerper lost by 51 votes (4 percent) to the challenger, Dianna Kosman-Rothseiden, who trumped his ''probable'' opposition to a controversial 1,700-acre mixed-use project that would double city population to more that 12,000 in 15 years, with a promise to vote against it later this spring. She pointed out that the city should fully utilize present water and sewer lines before extending them further, that its quality of life is its ''greatest economic asset'' and that residents need more bike paths and pocket parks with playgrounds for children. The defeated incumbent, reports Gainesville Sun writer Ashley Rowland, was backed by the city's chamber of commerce and several development industry groups; the successful challenger, by the Sierra Club and the North Central Florida Green Party.   4/3/2002

Resource(s): www.sunone.com/

Bills Limiting Public Challenges to Development Permits Fail in Fla. Legislature

Strongly criticized by conservationists and newspapers as certain to limit public challenges to environmentally risky development permits, two pairs of Republican bills failed in the legislature, while a similar amendment attached to an Everglades restoration funding bill is now considered bad by the Sierra Club, but better by the Audubon of Florida, writes Florida Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage who shares the Audubon view. He thinks the amendment may even ease challenges to development permits, since it gives standing not only to environmental groups with at least 25 members in a county and created at least a year before a permit is sought, but also to individuals who frequent a development-threatened natural site. The columnist quotes from an intent statement, put in the legislative record by one of the amendment's sponsors, Republican Representative Gaston Cantens. If a person ''fishes in the water body to be altered by a permit, watches birds there, or undertakes similar activity that will be changed by the fact a permit is granted,'' the statement reads, that person ''will have standing.'' Noting that it shouldn't be difficult to find an environmental group or an individual site user to file a challenge to its development, the columnist concludes: ''There's going to be growth. But there's smart growth and there's stupid growth. With this amendment, people will still have a voice in trying to prevent the latter.''   4/2/2002

Resource(s): www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/

Gainesville Area Bike Network Designed to Ensure Easy Biking

Reflecting a public wish to protect the Gainesville area's quality of life and make biking an integral part of its transportation system, the Gainesville City Council and Alachua County Commission, acting as the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization, held a workshop on the county's new bike master plan, almost finished by a University of Florida team of architecture staff and students, its key principle being connectivity within a network.

An update to a 2001 plan that encouraged biking for transportation, recreation and health reasons, but left many short bike paths unconnected, reports Gainesville Sun writer Cindy Swirko, the new plan will ensure easy biking within and between residential, commercial and public facility areas through ''nets, braids and loops.''

Nets, the writer explains, are low-traffic local roads and projected paths between neighborhoods and subdivisions; braids are major urban commuter roads targeted for bike lanes, wide shoulders, off-street paths and other amenities; and loops are long cycling routes that will link rural areas with urban roads.

Officials expect to implement the plan gradually over a number of years, often during repaving and other road improvement projects, with some of the cost covered by federal grants. One top priority, said bicycle safety expert Linda Crider and other workshop participants, should be a bike route from the Gainesville-Hawthorne and Depot trails in the east, across the university, to the city's west side.

The head of the university planning team, Professor Martin Gold, will incorporate workshop suggestions in the final plan, likely to be ready next month. -- Gainesville Sun   4/1/2002

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Florida Bills Would Restrict Public Comments on Controversial Development Decisions

A double pair of Republican-sponsored fast-track bills to limit public challenges against controversial decisions by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and regional water districts are under harsh criticism from environmental groups and several newspapers, including the Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times. Sponsored by Republican Senators Jim King and Ken Pruit along with Republican Representatives Gaston Cantens and Joe Spratt, and strongly backed by the Association of Florida Developers, the Florida Home Builders Association and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the bills (SB 270/HB 819 and SB 280/HB 257), ''ostensibly to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits and the backlogging of court cases,'' says a Miami Herald editorial, ''would end a 30-year tradition of public participation that has been beneficial for all Floridians who treasure clear air, clean water and our unique natural resources.'' A Tampa Tribune editorial points out that the bills threaten to make it ''virtually impossible for common citizens to challenge powerful development interests.'' A St. Petersburg Times editorial adds that the bills would restrict ''those who can speak against a construction project based on environmental concerns and scare others away with the threat of heavy financial penalties.'' And even a carefully-calibrated Steward News editorial, which notes that developers should not ''steamroll projects over objectors'' nor should objectors ''abuse the judicial system with litigation,'' calls the bill ''unwise'' and ''ill-advised.'' It says lawmakers shouldn't ''go with the developers, who are by far the largest campaign contributors'' and ''advocate a law which offers serious damage to the right of citizens to seek court redress if they can prove injury.'' Other details and editorial links available at the Citizens for a Scenic Florida web site below.   3/5/2002

Resource(s): www.scenicflorida.org/home.html

Controversy Brews as Florida Forever Funds Are Earmarked for Wastewater Reclamation Programs

''With state dollars about as scarce this year as wild manatees,'' writes Julie Hauserman of the St. Petersburg Times from Tallahassee, the state House approved a proposal which would let water management districts use their annual $105 million from the $300-million-a-year Florida Forever land conservation program to fund wastewater reclamation projects. District managers consider using Florida Forever money for water resources ''legitimate'' and ''critical to solving water supply problems.'' Proponents argue that irrigation of lawns and golf courses in suburban communities with treated wastewater will benefit the environment in the long run. But environmentalists disagree, the writer reports, quoting Florida Audubon lobbyist Eric Draper, who says, ''You're taking a program that is supposed to conserve land and taking money from it, and the effect would be to subsidize new development.'' The writer adds that under pressure from environmentalists, Republican Representative Dudley Goodlette promised to pull the proposed measure, but that another House bill contains similar language, which might also ''show up in companion bills moving through the Senate.''   2/7/2002

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Brownfield Reclamation Program ''Blasted'' in Florida

The much-publicized Florida brownfield reclamation program was ''blasted'' by the state Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability for spending more than $4.5 million in grants and tax incentives since 1997, but securing full cleanup and redevelopment of merely 15 of 67,000 acres listed by local governments for state help. St. Petersburg Times writers Craig Pittman and Julie Hauserman report that auditors found successful only a 14-acre brownfield reuse project in Orange County and a one-acre project in the city of Clearwater. The writers quote the program's legislative champion, Republican Senator Jack Latvala, who says, ''We've put a mechanism in place. You can't make people do the deals. It's still cheaper to do something in an orange grove than it is to redo something that someone else did badly in a downtown area.'' Focusing on Clearwater, the writers find the situation complex and views divergent. They write that in the state program's pilot phase, the city has received $500,000 and identified about 100 potentially contaminated sites of previous gas stations, dry cleaners and similar defunct businesses in its brownfield area. The University of South Florida described the area as not only ''an eyesore but also a serious threat to the social and economic well-being of nearly 12,000 residents,'' more than 20 percent of them below the poverty line and more than 50 percent in the low-to-moderate income bracket. The one-acre redeveloped site hosts a three-employee health clinic, whose founder Willa Carson thinks city officials have recently neglected the cleanup program. Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone contests hers and auditors' views. He says thanks to the brownfield program, the city has assessed potential pollution on 40 properties, cleaned up several and redeveloped some. The writers add that one of the audit recommendations to state agencies dealing with brownfields is to improve coordination, because now they are often unaware what others are doing.   2/7/2002

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Gov. Bush Urges Funding for Everglade Preservation

Pointing out in his State of the State speech that his administration ''worked diligently with citizens groups, environmentalists, localities, farmers, this Legislature and our leaders in Washington to create an historic accord to save and restore the Everglades,'' Governor Jeb Bush expressed concern about the plan's funding prospects and proposed ''a dedicated funding source'' that will ''generate the state's annual contribution of $100 million.'' The governor reminded lawmakers that once fully implemented, the plan will make the Everglades ''function much more like it did a century ago'' and urged them to approve his proposal ''so the Everglades will be protected forever.''   1/22/2002

Resource(s): www.nga.org/governors/1,1169,C_SPEECH^D_3099,00

President Bush Focusing on Domestic Issues: Brownfields and Everglades Restoration

With his anti-terrorism drive well under way, President Bush has moved further on domestic issues, signing two crucial environmental measures -- an agreement in the White House with Florida Governor Jeb Bush to prevent any commercial or developmental diversion of new water supplies gained under the $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan and, two days later in Conshohocken, Pensylvania, a five-year bill to provide at least $200 million annually for brownfield cleanup. Everglades restoration ''is a priority for my administration, as well as for Gov. Bush,'' said the President, who increased the project's funding to $219 million this fiscal year, or $58 million over the last budget. Noting that the full implementation of the multi-year plan will restore about 2.4 million acres of the ecosystem and give South Florida an additional 1.7 billion gallons of fresh water a day, Reuters writer Steve Holland quotes Audubon Society official Eric Draper of Tallahassee, who calls the agreement that commits the state to reserve its new water supplies only for the ecosystem ''a remarkable step forward.'' But Florida Democratic Senator Bob Graham, who pressed the White House to reach such an agreement by February 15, thinks it still requires ''strong programmatic regulations'' to make it successful. Under the brownfield bill, which the President hailed as an example of bipartisanship, a return of ''common sense to our cleanup program'' and a sign that ''environmental protection and economic growth can go on together,'' he will seek a cleanup spending increase from $98 million this fiscal year to $200 million for 2003 and possibly $250 million for 2004. Associated Press writer Sonya Ross quotes EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman as saying, ''This is something Congress was trying to get for 10 years. The president made a commitment and we're trying to get it done.'' EPA program director Linda Garczynski adds that this fiscal year the agency will approve 32 pollution assessment grant applications of the more than 100 received from states and other entities, and up to 25 grant requests to help secure cleanup loans.   1/11/2002

Resource(s): www.enn.com/news/; www.washingtonpost.com/

New Plan Would End 5-Acre Ranchette Development in Florida's Alachua County

Stepping up to Florida's growth-management forefront, Alachua County wants to break its deep-rooted sprawl pattern with a new comprehensive plan, which would halt the typical ranchette-style subdivisions of five-acre lots and launch ''rural clustered subdivisions'' of small lots, with saved stretches of farmland, forest or wetlands possibly owned by homeowners associations. Gainesville Sun writer Janine Young Sikes reports from a county-hosted educational forum that its guest, renowned conservation planner and ''growing greener'' champion Randall Arendt, told some concerned landowners and developers that clustered subdivisions work well in Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and other states, with small-lot homes near open space often fetching higher prices that those on five-acre lots. He said people like to look at nature or wildlife and ''there's more to life than lawn care.'' The writer notes that the county's comprehensive plan, likely to be approved as early as March, strengthens building restrictions on environmentally sensitive land, encourages varied- income housing and directs growth toward urban areas. Having recently reviewed the plan, the state Department of Community Affairs asked only to add maps for public transit, bike lanes and walkways, along with a five-year capital improvement blueprint for roads and parks. The department's planner, Jeff Bielling, said county commissioners have ''put a lot of thought into where they want to be,'' incorporating many tenets the state has been trying to infuse into counties for years. The writer adds that state support for the plan may strengthen the county in case of a lawsuit threatened by farmer and developer groups.   1/10/2002

Resource(s): www.gainesvillesun.com/

Editorial: Developers Winning Growth Battle In Central Florida

Calling Central Florida ''a national poster child for urban sprawl, a region where officials approve new rooftops and strip malls faster than the ink can dry on development applications, the Orlando Sentinel warns in its first 2002 editorial that ''Floridians will lose if lawmakers don't take major steps this year to manage growth.'' The daily says that legislative efforts over the past three decades to manage growth and preserve the region's earlier quality of life ''have failed miserably'' and now rural area development ''stretches our roads, schools and police to the breaking point,'' with the state resigned to do nothing. ''The laws are too unwieldy, too convoluted for even career bureaucrats to decipher -- maybe intentionally so,'' it continues. ''So developers win once again.'' Expecting lawmakers ''to take another stab at managing growth,'' the daily tells them to heed a few basic principles. It asks them to make regulations ''readable and easy to understand, providing equal footing for neighborhood activists and high-priced development lawyers;'' link new project approvals to availability of classroom space in neighborhood schools and also consider drinking-water supplies; create a simple method to assess real community costs of growth and require their publication well in advance of local approvals; and empower regional planning organizations ''to pass muster on local development decisions that affect other cities or counties.'' The daily ends: ''Unless lawmakers force local leaders to take seriously the consequences of unchecked growth, Central Florida will be on the fast track to ruination.''   1/1/2002

Resource(s): www.orlandosentinel.com/

Florida's High-Speed Rail Authority Considering Cost-Saving Measures

Faced with last year's voter mandate to start construction of a high-speed rail line between St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando and Miami by November 2003, the Florida High Speed Rail Authority would like to reduce the $1.5 million cost of the short St. Petersburg- Tampa segment that would need its own Tampa Bay bridge, by substituting a cheaper light-rail link that could use one of the existing bridges. Authority chairman Fred Dudley believes that the nearby cities can do without a high-speed link. ''If you're building a rail link between Orlando and Miami, a distance of 200 miles, and you want the fastest train feasible, you pick the mag-lev'' (magnetic levitation, allowing over 250 mph speeds), he says, ''If you're going 10 miles, you can probably get by with slower, less expensive technology.'' But St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker doesn't ''think much of that idea,'' insisting the high-speed rail start in his city as ''the statute says.'' St. Petersburg Times writer Jean Heller notes that the final decision belongs to the state legislature, which convenes in late January. He adds that the authority hopes to get a green light for the contracting process by the end of the legislative session in March.   12/11/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com/

Florida: Panhandle Pinelands Focus of At-Risk Woodlands

The 13 Southern states will lose 12 million acres of forest to development by 2020, with the Florida Panhandle's rich pinelands likely to fall fastest to urban sprawl, warns a 1,200-page Southern Forest Resources Assessment federal study just released by the U.S. Forest Service. Finding Florida the region's biggest timberland loser, with more than five million wooded acres developed since the 1950s, the study points out that besides destroying wildlife habitat and other natural assets, suburban development also hurts the local timber economy. St. Petersburg Times writer Craig Pittman cites timber industry sources stating that it employs 60,000 Floridians on a billion dollar payroll and favors tax incentives and conservation easements to help owners maintain their forests. The writer notes that the Panhandle's development boom is spearheaded by Florida's largest private landowner and "onetime timber giant St. Joe," which wants to sell much of its holdings, "turning quiet forests into pricey communities," with mostly rental and vacation homes for urbanites from other states. He also quotes a third-generation Jacksonville timber harvester, Elwood E. Geiger, 76, who would like to keep his 610-acre forest in the family, but is frustrated by regulations forcing him to protect his wetlands while developers "have wiped" them out all around. Like other timber owners, he says, he will be driven to sell by "an accumulation of aggravations," adding, "We have 1,000 people a day coming into Florida, and they all have to go somewhere."   11/27/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

School Funding Disputes Bring Growth Issues Back to Tallahasee

Growth management will return as a top issue during Florida's 2002 legislative session, state Republican Representative Johnnie Byrd told Hillsborough County commissioners, warning them that lawmakers frustrated last spring by differences over sources of funding for schools in fast-growing areas and tired of asking local governments to work with school districts voluntarily, are on the "verge of a mandate" to make it happen. "We want to make sure," he said, "we're successful in linking school siting and land-use planning." With County Commissioner Stacey Easterling adding, "If we decide to sit stagnant on this issue ... it will be decided for us in Tallahassee," the commissioners voted 4?3 to ask County Administrator Dan Klemen and school Superintendent Earl Lennard to form a joint task force on overcrowded schools. The three commissioners who cast "no" votes thought the proposed task force unnecessary; Commissioner Tom Scott said "The School Board is in the business of building schools. That's their job. Our job is land use and zoning."   11/8/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Builder Impact Fees Increase to Help Growth Pay for Itself

To relieve taxpayers from disproportional burdens of new construction costs and to make growth pay more for itself, Hernando County commissioners unanimously approved steep increases in builder impact fees for schools and roads, along with smaller increases for parks, public buildings and law enforcement, all taking effect in June, while immediately reducing the impact fee for libraries. "We have a tremendous number of people in the community who are on a fixed income" and "we can't have them subsidize new growth," said Commissioner Diane Rowden. The single- family home builder fee for schools will jump from $1,173 to $2,406, and for roads from $1,237 to $1,845. There was no opposition from the audience, reports St. Petersburg Times writer Jeffery S. Solochek, though some Realtors suggested staggered implementation and builders called for additional revenue sources to spare new home and business owners the cost of funding all new construction. Commissioners promised to work with the builders association to secure such new sources, including a document stamp surtax on all property sales.   11/2/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Global Warming's Effects on Gulf Coast States

Global warming will raise the level of the Gulf of Mexico eight to 20 inches and the region's temperature three to seven degrees Fahrenheit this century, threatening Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas with worsening surges of extreme weather, air pollution and drinking water contamination, warn two reports released by regional teams of ecologists, geologists, microbiologists and other scientists at a news conference on the University of South Florida campus in St. Petersburg. Based on worldwide climatological research, with contributions by experts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the extensive "Confronting Climate Change in the Gulf Region" report was sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Ecological Society of America; the compact "Feeling the Heat in Florida" report, by the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Climate change will likely magnify the harmful side effects of human activity on the region's environment," endangering natural resources that "contribute more than $160 billion a year" to the Gulf states economy, said Dr. Robert Twilley of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. "Leaders from Corpus Christi to the Florida Keys should act without delay to minimize the impacts of climate change" on land and water resources, said Dr. Susanne Moser of the Union of Concerned Scientists. The president of the American Association of State Climatologists, Louisiana climatologist Jay Grimes, called the reports "reasonably on target," even though "there remains a lot of uncertainty about the degree of warming" and its root factors. Concurrently with the reports' release, the Florida Climate Alliance called on Governor Jeb Bush to draw up a state action plan against the global warming threats.   10/24/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com www.enn.com

The Florida Supreme Court is examining the ...

The Florida Supreme Court is examining the thorny problem of how to make polluter pay for Everglades cleanup under the Fifth Amendment to Florida Constitution, approved by 68 percent of the voters in 1996, but never implemented by statute and enforced. The amendment reads: "Those in the Everglades Agricultural Area who cause water pollution within the Everglades Protection Area or the Everglades Agricultural Area shall be primarily responsible for paying the costs of the abatement of that pollution." Immediately after the referendum, the Florida Supreme Court agreed with former Governor Lawton Chiles -- who doubted his "duties in seeing that Amendment 5 is being faithfully executed" -- issuing an advisory opinion that the Legislature has to act to put the voters' will into effect. The following year, state Republican Senator Jack Latvala drew up such a bill, but, as he just told the court, he was frustrated by "industry and agriculture" interests that "had their friends in the Legislature who didn't move it through the process." The senator testified for the Save Our Everglades group, which wants to relieve six million homeowners from paying property taxes to the South Florida Water Management District for cleaning farm runoff, because the fifth constitutional amendment assigns the prime runoff cleanup responsibility to sugar and other agricultural producers in the 16-county district. An owner of an average $125,000 home pays $10 a year for the cleanup. The tax raises $30 million to $40 million a year. The group asked the Florida Supreme Court to send the case to Orange County for full trial. The defendants object, with U.S. Sugar Corp. spokeswoman Judy Sanchez saying, "We're paying our share to clean up the water that's coming off the farms" through a $25-per-acre tax on farmland. Everything in the district "was changed to benefit development," she added. "Those canals that drain water off homes and cities are also part of the problem." St. Peterburg Times writer Julie Hauserman notes that some justices seem hesitant about the possibility of "stepping on the Legislature's toes." But the plaintiffs' attorney, University of Florida law school dean and former state House speaker Jon Mills told them, "We're not asking you to compel the Legislature to do something. We're asking you to protect the citizens. The Constitution has to mean something."   9/4/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

The number of the nation's commuters using ...

The number of the nation's commuters using public transportation remained almost the same between 1990 and 2000 -- at 5.16 and 5.27 percent, respectively -- while carpooling decreased from 13.36 to 11.23 percent and driving alone rose from 73.19 to 76.31 percent, with 7.19 percent of employees walking or working from home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau figures, compiled by the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Its tables show double digits for public transportation use only in the District of Columbia (34.68%), New York (26.82%) and New Jersey (11.25%), and less than a half digit in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Arkansas, Alabama and Kansas. Carpooling is most popular in Hawaii (17.72%), Arizona (14.88%) and Utah (14.01%), and least popular in Connecticut, Massachusetts, D.C., Kansas, Ohio and New York -- all within the range of eight percent. The lowest drive-alone rates are found in D.C.(39.99%), New York (55.74%), Hawaii (66.78%) and Alaska (68.80%), and the highest -- above 80 percent -- in 17 states, including the bottom-ranked Alabama (84.56%). Florida is 24th in public transportation use (2.13%), 16th in carpooling (11.86%) and 28th in driving alone (79.07%). 08.14.2001   8/16/2001

Resource(s): www.nctr.usf.edu

Nearly half of Pasco County's 18-mile ...

Nearly half of Pasco County's 18-mile west coast is heavily developed with asphalt and cement replacing what used to be coastal wetlands, observes a St. Petersburg Times editorial, welcoming the cooperation between the state's Department of Environmental Protection and the Sierra Club to "save 1,446 acres from a similar fate" through the Florida Forever land-purchase program. The editorial also praises the attitude of the county's commissioners, who are backing purchase of the eight targeted sites, appraised at more than $2 million, in contrast to past commissioners, who "have bemoaned the loss of property tax revenue as undeveloped land came into public ownership." The editorial expects the state to request the county's management plan for the sites before it finally ranks projects on the 2002 purchase list in December. Noting that the Sierra Club hopes to put another 30 local sites on the list later, the editorial says, "The preservation program benefits the ecosystem and the public through protected green space and improved water quality by reducing runoff from urban areas. It also boosts protection for several endangered or threatened species."   8/9/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Moving away from the post-World War II ...

Moving away from the post-World War II urban landscape of almost identical three-bedroom homes, American cities will grow while reinventing themselves with mixed-use and mixed-housing neighborhoods, which will offer "everything you need within walking distance," predicted University of South Florida architecture professor James Moore at the Historic Citrus County Courthouse Museum in Inverness, during the Smithsonian Institute's "Yesterday's Tomorrows" exhibit event. The professor said with 26 and 24 percent of American households having just one and two occupants, respectively, half of the nation is living as singles or couples, which degrades "the present urban lifestyle." But within 20 years, he pointed out, "about 70 million baby boomers will retire" differently than their parents did -- they will be younger, more active, more affluent and ready to travel. They will be looking for urban amenities. The professor encouraged the public to get involved in growth planning to remedy the government's fragmentation. "Tampa doesn't recognize Hillsborough County, which in turn doesn't recognize the existence of St. Petersburg," he continued, "But people don't live that way. They drive across towns and counties, and they live in Tampa Bay, but there is no government for Tampa Bay." He concluded, "It's within your rights to dictate what things will look like in the future."   8/7/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

With a brief reminder that he has ...

With a brief reminder that he has increased the federal share of the $8 billion, ten-year Everglades restoration fund from $161 million to $219 million in 2002 -- a 36- percent boost over his predecessor's last budget -- President Bush repeated his pledge of good environmental stewardship at a visit to the Everglades National Park and nominated Florida's popular park-and-recreation system chief Fran Mainella as the new director of the National Park Service. The president pointed out that Congress passed the Everglades Restoration Plan with "strong bipartisan majorities" last year, expressed his hope for continued congressional bipartisanship and again reached out to environmentalists, promising "to restore what has been damaged and to reduce the risk of harm." Environmentalists praised the president's park director nominee, but continued fire at his early record on the environment and energy. Dozens of Sierra Club-organized protesters, some dressed as manatees and oil drums, picketed the site of his speech, and Wilderness Society vice president Don Barry, a former Interior Department official in the Clinton administration, declared, "Under the Bush energy plan, we would have to rename every national park Great Smoky, because all you would see is more smoke, more smog, more haze."   6/12/2001

Resource(s): www.stpetrsburgtimes.com

With the once-contentious atmosphere cleared by negotiations ...

With the once-contentious atmosphere cleared by negotiations and compromise, reports St. Petersburg Times writer Chase Squires, Pasco County commissioners easily approved zoning and land-use changes for a 256-unit apartment complex along Catfish Lake and another 350-unit one, with 250,000 square feet of commercial space, near the Country Close community. The first developer allayed local resident concerns over lake traffic and shore degradation by agreeing to limit lake access to five boats and move the buildings off the shore, behind a landscaped buffer zone. The other promised the community no spillover traffic and a landscaped buffer along a stone wall separating it from the apartments. After the commission's vote, Chairman Steve Simon said, "Isn't it amazing how that worked out?"   5/18/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Year's push to curb growth falls short ...

"Year's push to curb growth falls short," reports St. Petersburg Times writer Julie Hauserman, with "the only significant growth management measures" of the Florida 2001 legislative session consisting of programs to purchase conservation easements and transfer development rights, and a few exemptions for special-interest groups from state "development of regional impact" (DRI) review. The conservation easement purchase program will offer owners state per-acre payments for keeping their land rural; the development right transfer program, once launched as a pilot project in five regions, will let counties earmark agricultural and high-growth areas, with landowners paid for transferring their development rights from the rural ones to those slated for development. The exemptions from the thorough DRI review were given to airport builders, petroleum "tank farm" companies and the state's largest landholder, the St. Joe Co., which may avoid environmental scrutiny of some big housing projects it plans for rural areas. The last measure, "pushed as a way to boost the economies of slow-growth counties," can save the company and other developers millions on developing "parts of the Florida Panhandle, including some valuable stretches of coast." The writer adds the despite strong support by Governor Jeb Bush, "the much-talked about growth management bill, which would have made communities deny new development when schools are too crowded, died in the session's last hours." She quotes the governor as saying he is "not going to drop" his push to revamp growth laws.   5/7/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

The novel full-cost accounting provision of the ...

The novel full-cost accounting provision of the Growth Management Act A+ (GMA), sent to the legislature last month by Governor Jeb Bush's study commission, may become a national breakthrough in projecting the true costs of sprawl, writes Brad Smith of The Tampa Tribune, citing officials and experts who expect to gain insight "into the hidden expenses of each new housing tract, strip mall and town center." Florida Department of Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert and others stress that for the first time the state will have a clear fiscal preview of sprawl, including roads, schools, utilities, recreation and other services. The director of EPA's Development, Community and Environment Division, Geoff Anderson, says knowing these costs may help local officials adopt broad long-range views and consider alternatives for costly projects, especially since allocating costs among users poses huge questions. Professor Robert Burchell of Rutgers University's Center for Urban Policy Research notes that since full-cost accounting has never been tried before, the invention of a sophisticated system may take up to three years. To illustrate economic and social aspects of the stake, the writers points out that according to Professor Burchell's own landmark study, southeastern Florida could save $6.15 billion within two decades by turning from leapfrog development to city revitalization. Another study, by Professor James Frank of Florida State University, found that despite a huge spread in Tallahassee sewer hookup costs -- $4,447 in mostly black core neighborhoods near the treatment plant and $11,443 in upscale northern suburbs -- all households paid about $6,000, which means that inner city residents bore more sprawl's costs. A Hillsborough County researcher, Jim Hosler, says Florida residents have never recouped the cost of growth, paying for it in reduced services, crowded schools and expensive water. The writer observes that the cost of the more than four million miles of roads built nationwide since 1950 can be only approximated from the $507-million price of the 31-mile segment of Suncoast Parkway opened last month northeast of Tampa. Still, he adds, some are skeptical. Hillsborough Commissioner Ronda Storms thinks perhaps there is no way for all growth to pay for itself; and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Anthony Downs, says Florida will continue to grow because it "can't keep people from coming in" and "full-cost accounting will have no impact whatever." 04.02.2001   4/6/2001

Resource(s): www.tampatrib.com

Counting bipartisan work to balance"industry with ...

Counting bipartisan work to balance"industry with stewardship, with our obligation to protect Florida's fragile natural environment" among the top achievements of the past two years, Governor Jeb Bush (R) told the legislature in his State of the State speech that its agenda this year should "include elevating the quality of life for all Floridians," especially by realizing the full potential of the growth management act. Proud of continuing "the best in the nation" legacy of environmental stewardship through recent enactment of the Florida forever program and the launch of a long-delayed plan to restore the Everglades, the governor noted that the restoration and similar state projects will keep more fresh water in the ecosystem and ease the threat of droughts. Turning to the growth management act, the governor said the current act is still "distant from its goal," as "roads remain clogged with traffic, important resources are threatened or destroyed, and community needs like public schools are not fully met." That's why last year, the governor continued, he formed a study commission under then-Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez -- now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C. -- as someone with "the stature and courage to squarely confront the implications of development." The governor thanked Secretary Martinez for coming back to show lawmakers his support for commission proposals, one of which is "that we not blindly permit development ahead of our ability to build schools." Agreeing "it is time to stop doing business as usual," the governor stressed, "Today is the day we say, we will not allow our residential communities to swell without new classrooms. We will no longer allow Florida to be sold on the cheap." 03.06.2001   3/12/2001

Resource(s): www.nga.org

In their first comments on the Florida ...

In their first comments on the Florida Growth Management Study Commission report, Citrus County commissioners agreed with state officials, developers and conservationists about the need to reform the system and give local governments more say in development decisions, but also expressed fears, reports St. Petersburg Times writer Bridget Hall Grumet, that "removing some of the state safeguards against hyperdevelopment" could be catastrophic for their county. Having passed a resolution opposing the report's major recommendations, they intend to present their concerns to the legislature. Interviewed by the writer, Commissioner Gary Bartell said a responsibility shift "from the state government to the regional and local level" is not bad, except for the loss of state oversight that ensured "quality growth management" locally. He pointed out that Citrus County's mid-1980s comprehensive plan would have allowed wall-to-wall commercial development along major roads if the state Department of Community Affairs hadn't confined such projects to roadside growth nodes. County officials were bitter about the intervention then, but are mostly grateful for it today, the commissioner said. He also voiced two other concerns. First, without the department's review of most local rezoning requests, developers could once again increase political pressure on local boards to make them approve faulty projects; and second, the statewide-importance project categories recommended for the department's review omit water-related projects. Others also objected. Commissioner Vicki Phillips thought the study commission has gone too far beyond its original goal. Commissioner Jim Fowler disagreed with its dismissal of the concurrency provision, which requires adequate roads and water and sewer lines for project approval, counting it among the best features of the current growth management system. But seconding Commissioner Roger Batchelor, he also said, "We complain about the oversight of the state and not being able to be masters of our fate and (about) unfunded mandates and all of this. We just can't have it both ways."   2/26/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

The Growth Management Study Commission, created by ...

The Growth Management Study Commission, created by Governor Jeb Bush in July 2000, concluded an eight-city series of public hearings and sent the governor and the legislature its final report, "A Liveable Florida for Today and Tomorrow," which contains 89 recommendations to prepare the state for the New Economy, protect its "most compelling natural assets" and high quality of life, and implement "a new statewide initiative to be known as 'Growth Management A+ (GMA)'." The commission declared that Florida's 1985 "top-down" growth-management system has helped protect it in times of "tremendous growth" and taught regions, jurisdictions, citizens and developers "a great deal," but has become too rigid as communities have gained experience and matured. Thus, the state's role in relation to its local governments "must change to one of a partner and co-worker rather than a parent." The commission arranged its recommendations in eight categories, asking lawmakers to articulate "a primary vision statement for Florida with a healthy, vibrant and sustainable economy as its priority;" oversee the development of a uniform model (tool) for evaluating the true costs and benefits of local land use decisions and new projects; spur public understanding of and participation in the growth management process; focus state resources and responsibility on "compelling interest" areas such as natural resources and transportation facilities of statewide significance, and natural disaster preparedness; replace the 1972 Development of Regional Impact program, which requires many separate local agreements, with regional cooperation agreements for projects "with extra-jurisdictional impacts;" require each local government to integrate schools into community planning, including future land use and capital improvement programs; set incentives "for an effective urban revitalization policy, including dedicated sources of revenues for a 'fix-it-first' backlog of infrastructure needs in targeted infill areas;" and develop an incentive-based state rural policy, which "restores rural land values and protects private property rights," while dedicating new revenue for purchase of conservation and agricultural easements and creating "a special overlay of transferable density allocations" for rural areas to facilitate cluster development. The full report, some parts of which read like pages from a Smart Growth guide, is available at www.froridagrowth.org   2/21/2001

Resource(s): www.froridagrowth.org

Faced with the need for nine schools ...

Faced with the need for nine schools to put current Pasco County students, let alone future ones, into regular classrooms, county commissioner expressed support for an ordinance to adopt a $1,694 school impact fee for each new single-family home, but with a waiver for low- income buyers, defined as families of five making under $41,000 a year. The ordinance would also impose school fees of $1,187 for mobile homes and of $772 for apartments, townhouses and other residences. A state bill that would have barred new school impact fees, but let the state pay 62.5 percent of such fees to counties that already had them on the books, was vetoed last year by Governor Jeb Bush. Pasco Building Association representative Cindy Meyer thinks that the low-income waiver, together with a current one for seniors-only communities, is "going to encourage cheap housing." Expecting the new fees to bring from $2.5 to $4 million a year -- about half of elementary school construction costs -- the commissioners will vote on the ordinance February 27, says School Superintendent John Long, to have it "in place before the Legislature meets in March."   2/15/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Two weeks after the February 4rd opening ...

Two weeks after the February 4rd opening of the first, $800 million, 31-mile segment of the Suncoast Parkway between northwestern Hillsborough and northern Hernando counties, long seen by officials as "a commuter dream" and by conservationists as an impending "urban sprawl nightmare," the controversy over its environmental impact still keeps them in federal court. Tampa Tribune writer Andy Reid reports that officials, like Florida Department of Transportation's project spokeswoman Joanne Hurley, say the parkway, expected to carry 9,200 vehicles a day by the year's end and 90,000 by 2005, was built to help the inevitable growth and "alleviate traffic for the next 50 years." Pasco County Administrator John Galagher points out that Tampa growth and traffic will expand north with or without the parkway. Their view is shared by a director at the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation research, Steve Polzin, who argues that Florida cannot stop building roads just because development follows. From the other side, Sierra Club representative Beth Connor calls the parkway "the can opener to the countryside" and "the road map for more urban sprawl." Charging that development "does not pay its way in Florida," she stresses, "We pay later with having to add more schools, more roads, more police, more everything. Taxpayers are left holding the bag." The vice president of the Florida Consumer Action Network and Tampa's public bus system spokesman, Ed Crawford, adds that instead of roads that invite "far-flung" housing, the area needs better public transportation and "redevelopment in pedestrian-friendly communities" near Tampa. But St. Petersburg Times writer James Thorner, who agrees that the parkway "is sure to change the landscape" -- with more than 7,000 homes along a nearby five-mile stretch coming first -- notes that "preserved lands shrink development dreams." West of the parkway, " a big green monster" in the form of the 7,00-acre Serenova preserve and the 12,000-acre former Starkey Ranch is "untouchable to developers," he writes, while the Bexleys, a family of long-time cattle-farmers, doesn't intend to sell its 15,000-acre ranch east of the parkway "until the time is ripe," which may take another 20 years. www.tampatrib.com   2/15/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Under an August agreement with a Citizens ...

Under an August agreement with a Citizens for Sanity slow-growth group, Pasco County officials are conducting public forums to strengthen a proposed wildlife protection ordinance as part of their updated land-use plan due by 2003. Reporting on the group's growing influence, St Petersburg Times writer Ryan Davis notes that the county has also accepted its requests to reduce housing density for projects near wetlands and to pay greater attention to groundwater issues. The group's attorney, Tom Reese, confirms its progress in drafting the ordinance expected by August, while activist Jennifer Seney says, "It's like sailing a boat. If you change course by one degree, you will be miles and miles off course in the future. I feel we have changed the course of Pasco by several degrees." The writer adds that the county is also under pressure from the Sierra Club, which notified it two months ago about its intention to file a suit against an 8.6-mile Ridge Road extension across land bought to replace wetland taken by the Suncoast Parkway. Banning the road, he writes, "would prevent the suburbanization of much central Pasco farmland."   2/15/2001

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Big box chains, who have for years ...

Big box chains, who have for years "gutted downtowns and decimated locally owned businesses" now are dealing communities "a second blow" by moving from older stores to even bigger outlets, writes Stacy Mitchel in a Miami Herald article entitled "Abandoned malls, suburban blight." The author, a researcher with the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance, cites data. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has found that half a billion of the five billion square feet of retail space nationwide sits empty, the equivalent of "11,000 football fields worth of dead real estate, surrounded by thousands of acres of asphalt." Sprawl- Buster Consultants of Greenfield, Massachusetts, which help communities fight big boxes, count Wal-Mart among the worst offenders, with 380 abandoned stores across the country and plans to relocate 110 more in 2001. "Leapfrogging across the landscape," the researcher writes, costs Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Target, Circuit City and many other big retailers much less than recycling their stores because "the rest of us are paying the price." Their new stores, he continues, "are chewing up valuable farmland and open space, exacerbating traffic and air pollution, burdening public services and morphing our communities into placeless blobs of sprawl." But a growing number of municipalities refuse "to become victims of the corporate cannibalization game." They have stopped spending tax dollars on roads and sewers for big boxes and started reinvesting in their Main Streets. That strategy pays off in the long run, he stresses, because Main Street businesses, "unlike distant global companies, are owned by people who live in the community and have a far deeper interest in its well-being." More about ways to improve local communities, their businesses, finances, schools, agriculture and environment at the institute's web site www.ilsr.org   1/2/2001

Resource(s): www.herald.com

Hurt economically by the collapse of Eastern ...

Hurt economically by the collapse of Eastern Airlines in 1991, Miami Springs is spending a $750,000 state grant to devise a downtown business revitalization plan, while a "Save the Springs" residents' group is campaigning against any full-scale redevelopment of this 13,000-person community as bad for its "family-like atmosphere." The group fears that the City Council and the Chamber of Commerce may sacrifice local character for the sake of chain stores and big businesses. That, the activists think, could spell doom for neighborhood shops, presage both higher densities and higher taxes, and make many residents leave the city. Experts from Dover, Kohl & Partners Urban Planners, which proposed to build apartments above downtown businesses, renovate storefronts and expand sidewalks, hope residents and business owners will cooperate on the revitalization plan for mutual benefits. The need for a compromise is also stressed by the director of town planning at the renown architectural firm Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Co., Jeff Speck, co-author of The Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. Calling "pedestrian life" and " a 24-hour city" crucial for urban revival, he says that such results as "Starbucks and other boutique chains" moving in are "far better than the alternative, which is to have an automotive-oriented downtown."   12/18/2000

Resource(s): www.herald.com

At its October public meetings in Pensacola ...

At its October public meetings in Pensacola and Miami, the Florida Growth Management Study Commission discussed specific issues, along with potential solutions outlined by its five recently created subcommittees. The State, Regional and Local Roles Subcommittee is working to simplify and coordinate the planning process. The Infrastructure Subcommittee is looking at costs of schools, water, transportation and environmental protection. The Citizen Involvement Subcommittee is trying to ensure broad resident participation and new technology use at the outset of the planning process. The Rural Policy Subcommittee is seeking the best ways to preserve the state's rural heritage and promote agriculture. The Urban Revitalization Subcommittee is studying how to make the best use of existing infrastructure, encourage private investments in urban areas, provide incentives for infill and integrate city revitalization and land acquisition programs. At the Miami meeting, the commission also heard presentations by its three guests, Ron Young of Maryland, Austen Librach of Texas and Herb Simmens of New Jersey, on their states' successful efforts to strike a balance between rural preservation and economic growth and development. The commission will hold its next meeting November 16-17 in Tallahassee.   11/2/2000

Resource(s): www.floridagrowth.org

Wary of Citrus County willingness to approve ...

Wary of Citrus County willingness to approve four Home Depot and Wal-Mart megastores in its central Crystal River-Inverness-Momosassa triangle, despite the inevitable wall-to-wall development along U. S. 19 that will follow, Greg Hamilton of the St. Petersburg Times writes, We can balance the rights of businesses to develop with our interest in not turning our major traffic artery into a concrete canyon. He urges residents to ask themselves how much development is too much and to take a stand now, before the sprawl that is creeping up U. S. 19 from Hernando County overwhelms us. He says the county's comprehensive plan fails to deter sprawl. Officials tinker with the plan constantly and weaken it with small amendments that hardly anyone notices until the bulldozers come for the trees.   10/17/2000

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

Launching a wide campaign for a $400 ...

Launching a wide campaign for a $400 million bond proposal to save and enhance Broward County's remaining open space west of I-95, officials promised urban voters, massed east of the highway, $70 million for city parks. The president of the Broward Urban League, Don Bowen, says the land they want to buy is fairly well dispersed throughout the county, and in particular along the I-95 corridor. But state Representative Josephus Eggelltion and Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Carlton Moore seek more money and more specific county commitments for urban centers. The county has earmarked $200 million to preserve 1425 acres, including greenways linking parks, bike paths and wild areas, with the other $200 million going for park improvement and expansion, including recreational amenities and new swimming pools. Among the proposal's advocates are the Trust for Public Land and the local Political Action Committee for Safe Parks and Lands. The PAC's chairman, Bruce Ownby, is working for bipartisan support of the bond proposal, saying it's great not only for a cleaner environment, but also for kids because it has funding for swimming programs.   9/25/2000

Resource(s): www.herald.com

At the third meeting of the Florida ...

At the third meeting of the Florida Growth Management Study Commission, held September 13-14 in Tampa, many of the 30 speakers thought the commission had aimed for minimal public input, by convening the sessions mid-week, during work hours and at a downtown location with limited parking. According to St. Petersburg Times writer Craig Pittman, state Republican Senator and builder Tom Lee expressed the prevalent concerns, by saying that the public, tired of the policy that has resulted in road congestion, school overcrowding and scarcity of parks, is further irritated by local officials who approve even more development. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs said local officials sometimes forsake their responsibility to curb sprawl and approve projects for political reasons, hoping the state will turn them down. A Keystone Civic Association representative, Laura Swain, agreed that local officials often violate their own growth plans to accommodate developers, but assigned more blame for sprawl to the state Department of Transportation, saying people are trying to build communities, only to have the department ram six-lane highways through them. The writer adds that following Department of Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert's appeal for audacious ideas to change the state's growth management system, his working group asked him to cut the number of local growth plans under state review by 80 percent next year and to protect 95 percent of farmland from development by 2005. The commission will hold its next meetings in Pensacola an Miami, October 3 and 25-26.   9/25/2000

Resource(s): www.sptimes.com

The time for Smart Growth initiatives and ...

The time for Smart Growth initiatives and for forging alliances has never been better, said U. S. EPA Associate Administrator Richard Farrell at the Smart Growth Seminar II in Fort Pierce, September 14-15. He told the audience of experts brought together by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and the Florida Sustainable Communities Network that Americans are tired of development and policy patterns that have overburdened localities with the costs of far-flung schools and infrastructure, produced 400,000 urban brownfields and made drivers waste 1.6 billion hours in traffic congestion a year. His call for smart planning, new partnerships and innovative solutions was echoed by other speakers. Stressing that sprawl is expensive, the co-director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University, Robert Burchell, said almost 90 percent of the south's new houses are built outside central cities and will be subsidized over their lifetime with an average of $5,000 for a three-person household a year. He calculated that if one-third of the country's buyers embraced the smart growth principle of living closer to urban centers, they could save the nation $250 billion by 2025. The director of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Dick Benner, said Portland Metro's new 2040 Concept Plan will fuel the area's high-tech boom, while saving 77,000 acres of farmland and providing 70,000 housing units near transit and neighborhood centers. Confident of sufficient vacant land within Metro's urban growth boundary, he cited a recent Georgia Tech study showing Portland jobs and incomes rising faster than housing costs. Reporting the speeches on the Florida Sustainable Communities Center web site, contributing editor Cynthia Pollock Shea noted that EPA, in a new role as a facilitator and enabler, has initiated the Smart Growth Network - an alliance of 23 national organizations working to improve the built and social environment, with extensive data on grants, technical assistance and growth-planning programs on the Livable Communities web site. She added that in contrast to states increasing that multiply their efforts to create livable communities, Florida is trying to dismantle the small but growing network of Smart Growth advocates. The Florida Sustainable Communities Network will lose its funding with at end of September, and the anti-sprawl Eastward Ho! Alliance by the end of the year. Her report, along with almost 12 hours of presentations and discussions in RealAudio format.   9/25/2000

Resource(s): www.state.fl.us

Responding to Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney's pleas ...

Responding to Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney's pleas to save the city from the traffic and pollution problems that plague Atlanta, Duval County voters passed a half- percent sales tax increase, to help his ten-year, $2.25 billion growth management plan. The tax increase to seven percent, excluding basic food and medical items, will bring in an additional $58 million in 2001 and may legally last 30 years. The mayor's Better Jacksonville Plan provides $1.5 billion for street congestion relief, with the rest going for public facilities, sewer lines, economic projects and open space purchases. The plan's most vocal critic, radio host Andy Johnson, lost his last-minute suit to remove it from the ballot, but vows to continue the court fight, calling the ballot language illegal.   9/8/2000

The Florida Growth Management Study Commission, appointed ...

The Florida Growth Management Study Commission, appointed by Governor Jeb Bush on July 3 to determine by February 15 how to make state growth policies more effective, is fast at work. Besides holding two meetings this month, the commission - chaired by Orange County Commission Chairman Mel Martinez - launched a toll- free hotline and a web site, with details on its agenda and proceedings. Addressing the commission's first meeting in Orlando, Florida Department of Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert said the 1980's growth management laws must be revised because they failed to adequately protect ... major ecosystems and to become a driving force to rebuild cities or invigorate depressed rural communities. They neither sufficiently addressed the future of agriculture, nor brought warring governments together to resolve public disputes, nor involved neighborhood communities in charting their own course. The secretary stressed that Governor Jeb Bush envisions a Florida where strong environmental protection is compatible with a vibrant and sustainable economy. The governor himself voiced these concerns at the commission's second meeting in Tallahassee. He said developers should face steeper fees for projects in far suburbs, while the state should refine its 1972 Development of Regional Impact reviews, re-evaluate the appropriateness of its 11 Regional Planning Councils and return more power to local governments. He also said the state should exert tight control in its natural and resource-rich areas and instead of saying suburban sprawl is the problem ... focus on making urban areas more livable so people will want to live in them. He added that the state should protect farmland, since some places don't want to grow and involve residents in growth decisions, because if we ignore citizen involvement, we do it at our own peril. The commission will hold its third meeting September 13-14 in Tampa. See www.floridagrowth.org   9/5/2000

To stop Fort Lauderdale developers from marring ...

To stop Fort Lauderdale developers from marring the old- time charm and green aura of the Rio Vista and Victoria Park neighborhoods with oversized houses, their civic associations proposed zoning changes that would limit the home size for small, landlocked lots. The neighborhood-specific zoning would reduce the maximum home height from 35 to 28 feet, while requiring side yard setbacks of 7.5 feet for homes up to 18 feet tall and 10 feet for taller homes. The chairwoman of the Rio Vista association's newly formed development modification committee, Sherry Niarchos, says residents want to encourage compatible development. This would especially affect developer Glenn Wright, whose broker Greg Jaxtheimer points out that there is not enough housing downtown and that the buyers of large homes in Rio Vista are also its residents. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugele promises proper consideration of both sides' interests.   7/18/2000

Unfazed by the Miami-Dade Commission's denial of ...

Unfazed by the Miami-Dade Commission's denial of their appeal to block the Villa Vizcaya housing project, area residents in the West Lake Civic Association vow to fight it as detrimental to their quality of life. They say the Mediterranean-style, 285-unit condo and apartment project of 12.5 units per acre is too dense, lacks sufficient green space and guarantees additional traffic congestion. They also say the commission acted improperly by taking on matter belonging to the community council, giving inadequate notice of a public hearing, and denying the resident's appeal before it had a quorum.   6/26/2000

The former administrator of Florida's growth-management program ...

The former administrator of Florida's growth-management program, corporate executive Robert M. Rhodes, lists several points for the state to consider while it's reviewing and updating the program. Rhodes writes in the Miami Herald that policymakers should balance local control with limited and focused state oversight; create policy implementation incentives; recognize the complexity and interdependence of growth policies; encourage public input; streamline and simplify development review; and promote consensus-based resolution of policy and project disputes. After elaborating on each point, the author concludes: All government programs have components that outlive their usefulness, deliver unintended consequences or just don't work. We must periodically revisit these programs, including growth management, to ensure that they remain fresh and effective and that their administrators remain accountable and prepared for future challenges.   4/7/2000

After some clashes with lawmakers over his ...

After some clashes with lawmakers over his veto of $313 million for so-called "turkey" projects in their districts, Governor Jeb Bush has ended his first year "riding a booming economy, a wave of popularity with voters, and an extended honeymoon with ... doggedly faithful Republicans in the Legislature." Describing the governor as "always on the go" and "still learning," Miami Herald's Steve Bousquet says he "single-handedly canceled a $6 billion high-speed rail system, secured the first installment for a $3 billion preservation of green space over the next decade and won a $1.7 billion endowment in the name of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to pay for social services." But his proposal to rewrite the 1985 growth management laws raised even Republican concerns about doing "too much, too soon," with planners setting up local workshops and posting a growth questionnaire on the Internet. Many also resist his proposal to replace affirmative action with a voluntary diversity program and guaranteed university admissions for the top 20 percent of high school students. The writer thinks that the governor's first year success "will be a hard act to follow." He adds that his 2000 agenda includes more tax cuts, $400 million for transportation and a multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration plan.   1/11/2000

The city of Opa-locka, with failing infrastructure ...

The city of Opa-locka, with failing infrastructure and a 15- percent jobless rate, hopes that its designation as a Front Porch Community by Governor Jeb Bush will help it recover economically and socially. The governor's program covers Opa-locka and the adjacent areas of Rainbow Park, Bunche Park, Pine Tree Park and Golden Glades. It promises neglected communities state and private funds and technical assistance, to spark their revitalization, improve education and health care, and clean up the environment. Program coordinator Patrick Hadley says that groups working on plans to help Front Porch communities include the Florida Council of 100, the Black Business Investment Board, and Enterprise Florida. Opa-locka Chamber of Commerce president Hasan Shabazz stresses the city's need to "establish a strong retail basis," including fine restaurants, bookstores, children's clothing and electronic stores, "so people can walk downtown and find what they want."   12/22/1999

Despite urban planners' advice, Kendall residents have ...

Despite urban planners' advice, Kendall residents have persuaded the Miami-Dade Commission to reject the county's first "traditional neighborhood development" project, Salamanca. Similar to Disney's Celebration in Orlando and Seaside in the Florida Panhandle, the Pulte Homes' 160-acre project was to include 1,440 houses, along with shops and businesses. Opponents argued that it would worsen traffic congestion and school overcrowding.   11/22/1999

Hollywood officials are launching a massive 18 ...

Hollywood officials are launching a massive 18-month process of gathering public input and setting priorities for the city's first master plan, which will guide housing, transportation and development decisions, perhaps until 2025. In exchange for the $50,000 state contribution to preparatory planning costs, the city will produce a detailed handbook showing other cities how to develop long-term comprehensive master plans.   11/22/1999

Governor Jeb Bush's intention to rewrite the ...

Governor Jeb Bush's intention to rewrite the 1985 Growth Management Act and hand some control back to cities and counties, delights developers and many local officials as practical, but worries conservationists and several local newspapers as misguided. Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert says his department is starting its part of the rewrite preparations with a survey of developers, environmentalists and regulators, to pinpoint the growth act problems and suggest changes.   11/9/1999

A 16-acre pocket of warehouses and ...

A 16-acre pocket of warehouses and small businesses at one of the busiest I-275 intersections in southern Tampa -- five minutes from downtown and eight minutes from the airport -- will soon be turned into a $140 million mixed- use complex, wired for fast Internet access. Its New York developer, The Bromley Cos., will build a town square and lots of sidewalks to make the expected 6,000 employees shop and eat at the site "rather than congest surrounding roads."   11/3/1999

According to the St. Peterburg Times, Governor ...

According to the St. Peterburg Times, Governor Jeb Bush administration "is embarking on a monumental rewrite of Florida's Growth Management Act." The daily reports that an internal "white paper," drafted by top officials at the Department of Community Affairs shortly after the governor's January inauguration, calls the 1985 act ineffective and suggests ceding some state growth management powers back to local governments. Community Affairs Secretary Steve Seibert knows he is "making a lot of people nervous," but thinks the state "can trust local communities to make their own decisions." The daily notes that "even some prominent voices in Bush's own party say it is folly for the new Republican administration to think about cutting back on state oversight of local planning, (because) Floridians are still paying" for many bad local decisions made before 1985.   10/26/1999

With $565-million in current construction and ...

With $565-million in current construction and $3-billion in preliminary plans for the next several years, the whole sharply-stratified downtown Miami area is about to become the next hot spot for development. Good signs are already there. Miami-Dade County is pouring in redevelopment money, but most new projects are privately financed. Developers are snapping up vacant parcels, betting on the city to rebound, as an international tourist magnet and trade gateway. Land speculators pumped prices up from $25 to $70 a square foot in the northern section of empty warehouses. The downtown homeless number dropped under 1000, or 80 percent in five years, and crime went down 15 percent this year. Young professionals, dismayed by soaring beach condo prices, are buying or renting renovated houses downtown or nearby. Chairman and CEO of Terramark Corp., ready to break ground for the 67-story Millenium tower, says: "Urban sprawl has become a bad word. Affluent people are moving back to the city because traffic is a nightmare. People want to live near where they work."   9/29/1999

The most visible examples of Miami's efforts ...

The most visible examples of Miami's efforts to redevelop its downtown include the construction of the American Airlines Arena, plans for a performing art center and such community-led projects as the newly reopened Congress Building. The 80-year old 21-story building was deserted by business occupants in the early 1990s. In the past 18 months, The Downtown Miami Community Development Coalition and The Related Group of Florida have put $13 million into its renovation and conversion to 129 affordable apartments, with rents ranging from $203 to $307 a month. Officials and activist hope that the Congress Building success will spark a wider developer interest in the downtown historic district.   9/13/1999

Pasco County officials told Devco Development of ...

Pasco County officials told Devco Development of Tampa that the company's planned 1,500-home project on 840 acres near a congested highway intersection south of Land O'Lakes depends on helping the county with a major road to relieve traffic in the area. Under a tentative agreement, the company will build the project's collector road, and the county will extend it north to State Road 52 and south to the Hillsborough County line.   7/27/1999

Jacksonville: Republican Mayor John Delaney is working ...

Jacksonville: Republican Mayor John Delaney is working to spend more than $300 million within five years to save about ten percent of city property from development, enhance parks and ease residents' access to nature. Presidents of the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute, Will Rogers and Jim Chaffin, consider this especially instructive coming from a fiscal conservative "who has cut property taxes four times in as many years." They note that Jacksonville "is one of a growing number of communities using land conservation to manage development as part of an overall smart-growth strategy."   6/18/1999

Vice President Al Gore announced the release ...

Vice President Al Gore announced the release of $38.9 million to help Florida acquire about 10,500 acres crucial for the preservation of the Everglades. Combined with the same amount in state matching funds, the money will be used to increase a buffer against development east of Everglades National Park, and to preserve more wildlife habitat in Lee and Collier counties as part of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed Restoration Project.   6/18/1999

Fulfilling his campaign promise to save green ...

Fulfilling his campaign promise to save green space, Governor Jeb Bush signed into law a $3 billion Florida Forever bond program that will fund state purchases of forests, wetlands and other ecologically crucial sites until 2010. Similar to the previous $300 million-a-year Preservation 2000 program, under which the state has bought more than a million acres for protection since 1990, the new program will expand purchases of land for urban parks and greenways, and allows such purchases for water-supply projects.   6/11/1999

In a "No" to New Urbanism, the ...

In a "No" to New Urbanism, the West Kendal Community Council denied zoning approval for a 160-acre Traditional Neighborhood Development planned by the nation's largest home builder, Pulte, but hotly contested by local residents. The project was touted as a self-sufficient neighborhood with shops, schools and parks, similar to such New Urbanist communities as Seaside and Disney's Celebration. Residents scorned the claims of project's self-sufficiency, noting that it lacks a hospital, fire department and police station, and that the School Board has no money for new schools. Project proponents vowed to appeal the Community Council decision to the Miami-Dade County Commission, expecting a review in about two months.   6/11/1999

Miami-Dade County: The County Commission unanimously reversed ...

Miami-Dade County: The County Commission unanimously reversed a Community Council 5 approval for a 72-townhouse project on a 5.6-acre Palm Springs North site, zoned for a maximum of 33 housing units. The commission killed the project as contrary to the county's master plan and the area's character.   6/3/1999

Miami: The South Miami Metrorail station is ...

Miami: The South Miami Metrorail station is being redesigned into a "Hometown Station," or a pedestrian-friendly "transit village," with shops, offices and apartments. Urban designers and anti-sprawl activists, including the University of Miami's School of Architecture Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, are promoting such transit villages as open-air shopping and entertainment centers, to boost inner cities, while reducing car use and improving quality of life. Miami-Dade County officials hope that the station remake may help them win voter approval for a penny sales tax increase to 7.5 cents. The increase would fund the Metrorail system expansion from 21 to 100 miles.   6/3/1999

The state legislature is getting an environmental ...

The state legislature is getting an environmental thumbs- up for a new land preservation program, but thumbs-down for small, "difficult to follow" bills that chip away at the Growth Management Act. Florida environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the American Planning Association and the Public Interest Research Group, are asking Governor Jeb Bush to veto these bills. They say that a bill weakening septic tank control can threaten groundwater and invite sprawl by permitting houses in areas with no sever lines; a bill changing the Administrative Procedures Act can "roll back some 400 ... environmental rules;" a bill granting corporations greater immunity from civil lawsuits can nullify firms' liability for discharging chemicals; and a bill allowing new schools far outside urban areas can also facilitate sprawl and "undo" about ten years of efforts "to make schools an integral part of local planning."   5/28/1999

Miami-Dade County: Two communities in the county ...

Miami-Dade County: Two communities in the county, the Village of Pinecrest and West Kendall, are contesting big mixed-use developments planned for their areas as too dense for road capacity and a good quality of life. Pinecrest intends to sue the county for permitting the nearby 7.4-acre Dadeland Junction project, attributing it only to developers' "greed." West Kendall residents oppose a neo-traditional 160-acre high-density project on similar grounds. They say they are "sick and tired of developers coming into our community to build more houses when we don't have the right streets, police and fire protection."   5/28/1999

The Business Journal serving Jacksonville and northeast ...

The Business Journal serving Jacksonville and northeast Florida says that New Urbanism is taking off in the area, with several projects totaling more than 20,000 acres, 20,000 homes, and several million square feet of office and commercial space. The journal notes that New Urbanism concepts vary, but common features include a town center, consistent architecture, a pedestrian-friendly layout, and "a mixture of residential, business and retail structures." Florida has 30 of the more than 200 such projects nationwide in various stages of development.   4/29/1999

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a faster timetable for its $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan to halt the 50-year decline of this fragile ecosystem and to ensure lasting supplies of drinking water for South Florida's population, which may double to 12 million by 2050. The corps plans to restore 2.4 million acres of the Everglades by eliminating 240 miles of levees and canals. The 1.6 billion gallons of fresh water now discharged daily to the gulf and ocean will be pumped into the 1,100-foot deep aquifer, for release into the Everglades as needed. The key parts of the plan will be completed by 2010 and 2020, and the entire project by 2036.   4/1/1999

A study for the Florida Chamber of ...

A study for the Florida Chamber of Commerce recommends statewide transportation improvements as a key to job creation and economic growth. Released at a transportation summit of business and government leaders in Tampa, the study refrains from projecting costs, estimated sometimes as $50 billion over the next decade alone. According to a new legislative report, the state may have to raise its fuel tax by 16 cents per gallon to fund transportation improvements.   2/1/1999

Creating a comprehensive travel database for Broward ...

Creating a comprehensive travel database for Broward, Dade and Palm Beach counties, Southeast Florida Travel 2000 is conducting the survey phase of its Regional Travel Characteristic Study to explore both resident and visitor driving habits. Ending in September, the study will help the three counties reassess their transportation revenues and 20-year improvement costs, projected currently as $19.6 billion.   2/1/1999

Miami: A local developer group, Miami One ...

Miami: A local developer group, Miami One Center, will revive the city downtown core, by transforming the defunct site of the once famous Royal Palm Hotel into a mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly complex, where people will work, play and live. Named One Miami, the complex will have offices, shops, businesses, condos, apartments, a hotel and 7,000 parking spaces. Taking advantage of Miami's unique position as a gateway to Latin America and Europe, the developers plan to market the complex aggressively overseas. Inquiries from potential joint-venture foreign partners are already arriving.   12/1/1998

Harrison County: The County Development Commission, worried ...

Harrison County: The County Development Commission, worried about the impact of fast growth on the environment, has set aside a million dollars for a 200-acre wetland mitigation bank. Officials say mitigation banking is "a growing enterprise," favored by public agencies and private investors. Builders say that the bank would let them buy mitigation credits, cut some red tape, build more economically and pass the savings to buyers. Two publicly funded mitigation banks are already working in adjacent Mississippi.   12/1/1998

Florida's new Transportation and Land Use Study ...

Florida's new Transportation and Land Use Study Committee is gathering public input for its work on concurrency, or the practice of keeping development proportional to existing infrastructure. In January, the committee will present the legislature with recommendations on maintaining a balance between development and highway capacity and on projecting transportation needs.   10/1/1998

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush promises a ...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeb Bush promises a bigger role for government, together with business and education incentives, to engage urban core residents in revitalization of their neighborhoods. Envisaging 20 "Front Porch Communities," he plans for an Office of Urban Opportunity to help residents find resources. The state would provide multi-million dollar economic development loans, business tax breaks and housing assistance.   8/1/1998

Hillsborough County: The Commission is getting a ...

Hillsborough County: The Commission is getting a federal $2 million go-ahead for its 71-mile Tampa Bay Regional Rail Project. The decision on the rail will eventually go to voters. After a study and series of public hearings, the county will place the rail proposal on the ballot in the year 2000.   7/1/1998

The Southwest Florida Water Management District will ...

The Southwest Florida Water Management District will buy 334 acres along the Alafia River to protect its flood plain from clearing and development. The district wants to save 25,000 acres of riverside in Polk and Hillsborough counties.   6/1/1998

Governor Lawton Chiles signed a bill designating ...

Governor Lawton Chiles signed a bill designating an 1800 acre brownfield site in the city of Clearwater as a state enterprise zone. The bill qualifies the site for various tax incentives for developers, end users and employees.   6/1/1998

Six Tampa Bay area governments reached their ...

Six Tampa Bay area governments reached their first regional water-management accord, which allocates almost $550 million for water projects over the next ten years. The accord sparks hopes for wider economic cooperation across Central Florida, especially in the transportation and high-technology sectors.   5/1/1998

The legislature finalized its work on a ...

The legislature finalized its work on a new growth management bill to replace the state's original 1985 Growth Management Act.   3/1/1998

The Florida legislature reacted to increased greenfield ...

The Florida legislature reacted to increased greenfield development in the southern part of the state with bi-partisan support for redevelopment of brownflelds, including a long-vacant two-acre site in the troubled Wynwood neighborhood of Miami.   2/1/1998