Businesses cringe at entrusting land to voters

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
via email: 17 July 2007
Tampa Bay.com

TALLAHASSEE - It's not often that a ballot initiative gets compared to "Armageddon" or a "nuclear bomb."

But that's the kind of rhetoric that business groups are using to describe a little-known group called Hometown Democracy that wants to give voters direct control over new development.

You may not have heard of Hometown Democracy, but you will. Opponents are predicting it will be the costliest ballot initiative fight to date: maybe as much as $65-million.

The group officially has 262,000 of the 611,000 verified signatures needed by Feb. 1 to get its initiative on the November 2008 ballot, according to state records.

The way it works now is if a developer wants to build anything from a Wal-Mart Supercenter to a new high school in a spot that's designated for, say, agriculture, the developer goes to a county commission or a city council and asks to change the land-use designation. Then the state must sign off, too.

Under the Hometown Democracy ballot measure, any land-use changes that conflict with the local government's plan for growth, called a comprehensive plan, would have to be approved by a majority of its voters. In November, St. Pete Beach became the first Florida city to give voters control over changes to its comprehensive plan.

Supporters say Hometown Democracy will stop willy-nilly land-use changes and force a slowdown in Florida growth.

Opponents say such an initiative will bring all growth, and thus Florida's economy, to a screeching halt.

That prospect is more frightening to business groups than anything to do with property tax or insurance, which is why in just three months, the Florida Chamber, the national parent of the Florida Home Builders Association and the sugar behemoth U.S. Sugar already have raised close to $1-million to bankroll an anti-Hometown Democracy group called Floridians for Smarter Growth.

That's more than Hometown Democracy has raised in its entire four-year battle.

"From where we sit, it's going to be a very expensive campaign," said Michael Caputo, a Republican consultant who just moved to Orlando to open headquarters for Floridians for Smarter Growth.

Hometown Democracy has raised $484,000 in cash so far, $94,300 from co-founder Lesley Blackner, an environmental lawyer. Blackner, who was out of town last week, also has contributed services to the effort worth an additional $341,000.

The other co-founder, Ross Burnaman, says he's not intimidated by his opponents' efforts or their deep pockets.

"We're not a special interest group, we're not profiting on this, and we're not doing this for personal gain," said Burnaman, who is also an environmental lawyer. "We're just Floridians who think we should educate citizens on what the long-term vision for development should be."

After a lengthy court fight just to get the ballot measure's language approved by the Florida Supreme Court, Hometown Democracy's battle is now largely one of signatures and money.

In addition to the 262,000 signatures, the group has collected another 188,000 that need to be verified, Burnaman said. And for the first time, the group is attracting bigger dollar contributions, such as a $25,000 check from Joe Redner, a Democratic activist and owner of the Mons Venus strip club in Tampa.

"I just believe that developers have way too much say-so in how our wetlands and all our lands are being paved over," Redner said.

The group also got $80,000 from Dr. Steve Rosen, a South Florida skin care mogul, former dentist and animal rights activist. Rosen famously saved 320 black-tailed jackrabbits from death at Miami International Airport.

Meanwhile, Floridians for Smarter Growth also has gained momentum.

That group's organizer, Caputo, is a veteran of the last big environment vs. industry fight: He helped the sugar industry defeat the 1996 ballot measure that would have taxed it for Everglades restoration efforts.

Hometown Democracy's measure would cripple Florida's economy and clog up election cycles with some 200 to 300 local referendums each year, said Paul Thompson, senior vice president for the Florida Home Builders Association. He compares the measure to Armageddon.

"If that sounds over-dramatic, let me assure you it's not," Thompson wrote on the home builders' Web site. "Whatever pain you might be feeling right now with the economic slowdown, it's nothing compared to the utter devastation that Hometown Democracy will bring to the Florida home building and development industry."

Beyond fundraising, Floridians for Smarter Growth has started collecting signatures for a competing ballot measure that looks nearly identical to the Hometown Democracy initiative, except for one caveat.

Under this other measure, a proposed land-use change could go before voters only if 10 percent of residents sign a petition at the county Supervisor of Election's Office saying they want to hold an election on the proposed land-use change.

It's a controversial idea that divides the business community. Associated Industries of Florida opposes Hometown Democracy, but it doesn't want to support a measure that would acknowledge elections as the way to go for land-use changes. The group also is skeptical of the intentions behind that ballot measure.

"We're leery about supporting any new constitutional amendment that would be a poison pill initiative," AIF chief executive Barney Bishop said.

Hometown Democracy's Burnaman has a much harsher assessment.

"It's a Trojan horse, designed to confuse our prospective signers of our amendment into signing theirs," he said.

Jennifer Liberto can be reached at liberto@sptimes.com.