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Relaxing Growth Controls No Fix For State's Money Crunch

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 22, 2008

Facing a $4 billion budget shortfall, some lawmakers and special interest groups are quietly eyeing growth management laws as sacrificial lambs, wrongly figuring that fewer regulations will jumpstart Florida's sluggish home market and economy.

It would be a colossal mistake to slash growth reforms that require roads, schools and water resources be created concurrently with new subdivisions.

Besides, Florida has a five-year inventory of unsold residential units, so supply is not the problem, says Tom Pelham, secretary of the state Department of Community Affairs, the state's growth management agency.

In addition, local governments have approved tens of thousands of homes, apartments and condominiums that have yet to be built - including 60,000 in Pasco County and 50,000 in south Hillsborough. Constructing these units will keep builders busy for a good while.

Yet, shenanigans are afoot in Tallahassee to water down reforms adopted just three years ago. Even the DCA itself is being targeted.

One proposal would place a three-year moratorium on a law that requires sufficient school capacity before new residential development is approved, a move that would take the state two steps backward.

The Legislature's previous failure to tie school construction to residential development created overcrowding in high-growth counties. Smart growth cannot be delayed.

In addition, Collier County-based consultants and landowners want the state to make it easier to transform agricultural land into city-sized developments under the Rural Lands Stewardship Program.

Specifically, they want DCA to follow Collier guidelines that allowed the development of a new city, Ave Maria, in a rural area.

Pelham is right to strongly oppose this push. The rural-lands program is meant to preserve ranches and farms - not create another route for sprawl.

Others, Pelham says, want to streamline the regulatory process and possibly eliminate the DCA because of tough budget times. In the last decade, the department, which reviews proposed land-use changes to ensure comprehensive plans are followed, already has been streamlined. Coastal management and housing finance programs have been assigned to other agencies, for example.

Still, Pelham says there is talk of removing the Florida Communities Trust from DCA oversight, a terrible mistake. The trust provides millions of dollars every year to purchase park land and preserve green space. Its rightful home is within DCA.

Without question, the state faces tough economic times. But targeting growth management programs is not the answer. Instead, they should be protected and strengthened. The mistakes of the past - congested roads, overcrowded schools and costly urban sprawl - make that clear.

Lawmakers should look elsewhere for answers to this crisis.

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