Dennis Norman Musings

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Having done my share of new developments and being put through the “wringer” by city councils and boards of aldermen, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the governor of Florida had signed into law SB 360, titled Growth Management.

According to the Governor’s press release, the following are the benefits of the bill:

• The bill incentivizes entrepreneurs to undertake economic development projects in designated urban areas.
• The bill directs a study of a mobility fee system to replace proportionate share payments paid by developers for transportation impacts.
• The bill also allows economic development projects to stay “in the pipeline” by extending the validity of development permits for two years.
• The bill makes changes to our affordable housing programs to ensure affordable homes are available for those in need, including young adults leaving the state foster care system.
• Finally, the bill encourages green building and storm resistant construction.

At first blush the bill appeared to me to be timely legislation; making it easier and less costly for new developments to happen a a time when the real estate market is struggling through one of the worst markets ever.  However, like most things, particularly when related to development and growth, there are strong opinions on both sides of the fence. 

While researching for this story I came across several articles, comments and videos, admittedly most of which against the legislation,   that made some good points against it, including:

• there is an over-supply of housing, particularly in Florida, so why do anything to encourage more development?  
• by easing the traffic concurrency requirement that the taxpayers will end up footing the bill for road improvements that become necessary as a result of the new development.

Hey, I don’t have a horse in the race…I don’t live in Florida, nor do I own or develop property there, I am just encouraged when I see a state or local government doing something to encourage development (and ultimately economic growth) in their area.  I realize there are other issues, particularly when it comes to the environment and other growth isues whch is why I’m going to post the video below that was produced by someone that opposed the legislation.