'Representatives' build a case for Hometown Democracy

It could have been worse. The 2008 Legislature could have passed laws to:

• Erase urban service lines.

• Prohibit citizens from holding local referendums on land-use changes.

• Create a new “ag enclave” in Palm Beach County.

• Exempt developments of regional impact from urban-sprawl rules.

Because those bills failed, Floridians still have a fighting chance at responsible growth management. But the defensive victories were tempered by the defeat of the lone reform bill on the agenda: a “Citizen’s Planning Bill of Rights.”

The “Bill of Rights,” sponsored by the state Department of Community Affairs, would have restricted how often local governments can alter their comprehensive land-use plans (currently occurring some 18,000 times a year). Even that modest effort was too much for this Legislature. 

“There was a virtual feeding frenzy of bad proposals,” DCA Secretary Tom Pelham acknowledged this week. “The theme of this session was the very large number of very bad proposals that were killed. Because we spent a lot of energy fending them off, things just bogged down.”

When Pelham, a respected and well-connected public servant, cannot persuade lawmakers to pass even a milquetoast compromise, the outlook for meaningful curbs on runaway development is poor. And next year, he’ll have to make do with less. The Legislature slashed 17 positions at his agency — eight of them growth-management positions.

All of which makes the case for something that Pelham, self-styled “progressives” and politicians of every stripe still adamantly oppose — Florida Hometown Democracy.

Reflexively rejecting FHD’s requirement for public referendums on any changes to communities’ comprehensive land-use plans, our so-called public stewards service the very development interests they purport to fight. Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Floridians may reasonably question the motives of the political and pecuniary powers arrayed against the grassroots, democratic initiative. How many losses will our so-called “environmentalists” have to suffer before they come to their senses? How many legislative bullets must we dodge? How many more sellouts at county commissions?

Hometown Democracy rightly takes “representative government” to task. It recognizes the ineluctable fact that elected officials routinely place the interests of newcomers and the growth machine over the desire of taxpayers to effectively manage growth and maintain quality of life.

For all its alleged radicalism, Hometown Democracy simply extends the electoral franchise to taxpaying citizens — a right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. If that concept doesn’t resonate with the powers that be, it obviously hits home with people. By the latest count, 592,561 Floridians signed petitions to put FHD on the state ballot in 2010. Some 611,000 signatures are needed. 

Charter counties — as well as every city — have the legal authority to conduct binding voter referendums on growth issues. On Tuesday, 79 percent of Sarasota County voters strengthened their urban service boundary by requiring that any density increases in unincorporated areas receive unanimous commission approval.

But residents of Florida’s 48 non-charter counties — including those on the Treasure Coast — are left to the not-so-tender mercies of their sprawl-inducing commissioners. Because it’s far easier for developers to control three commission votes than to win over a majority of free-thinking taxpayers in a countywide election, the purveyors of the status-quo like their little inside game as is. They market this as “representative democracy.” It’s anything but. 

Whether it’s the county commission, the state Legislature or the governor, who is looking out for you? Did you ask Tallahassee to extend the time in which large developments can build out, or to exempt new developments within three miles of ports from state review? These are just two more ways in which lawmakers attempted to grease the sputtering growth machine this session.

Florida’s ugly, costly sprawl, decades of blatantly bad planning and an unprecedented housing glut stand as a testament to the handiwork of our elected “representatives.” The 2008 Legislature — full of builder-financed politicos sitting in safe, single-party seats — did nothing to inspire confidence it has any desire or aptitude to set things right. In fact, most politicians continue to do the opposite.

Throwing the bums out won’t work, because the new boss is the same as the old boss. It’s time people stopped putting their trust in false idols and took control of their own destiny.

ken.ward@scripps.com