Statewide Campaign for Florida Hometown Democracy Trying for November ‘08 Election

Backers Hope to Require Voter Approval Before Comp Plan Changes

This would bring some form of accountability to the development process, because right now we don’t have any.

March 16, 2007
By RANDY ABRAHAM
MiamiSunpost.com

Members of a state group pushing to give Florida voters the power to control local growth discussed their petition drive during a recent civic group meeting held in South Broward, but opinions are divided on whether the referendum would spell relief for residents.

The state group hopes to pass an amendment to the Florida Constitution that puts all future changes to city and county comprehensive plans in the hands of local voters, said Joyce Tarnow, a Broward resident, activist and volunteer for the Florida Hometown Democracy initiatives.

Currently, elected officials make those changes. The group wants to put the issue on a November 2008 ballot and needs to gather 611,000 approved signatures by the end of the year to do so. The stakes, said Tarnow, are high.

“If we get this passed, people won’t have to go to their City Commission and plead with them not to increase density. The developers always want more, more, more. If this passes the developers would have to come to the people” and convince them to modify their comprehensive plan, Tarnow said.

A comprehensive plan is a municipality’s state-mandated blueprint for growth and development.

The movement to give residents final say on comprehensive plans was founded by West Palm Beach attorney Lesley Blackner, who characterized the current process as “government by the developers, for the developers and of the developers.” She said she began gathering signatures in fall 2005, has collected 250,000 so far, and is determined to get on the ballot next year.

Blackner knows she has opponents. “The Florida Chamber of Commerce is terrified of this because they realize they’ve been able to cram development down the throats of the community. We know they’ll spend millions to defeat this. They are the ones who run the most pro-growth candidates, and help pack planning and zoning boards,” she said. “This would bring some form of accountability to the development process, because right now we don’t have any, the process is susceptible to corruption. This would change the politics of growth.”

North Miami Beach Mayor Ray Marin, whose city has been attempting to amend its comprehensive plan to permit projects larger than currently permitted by city codes, said he would not sign such a petition. “I’m against it personally. I don’t believe in operating by referendum. You elect people to do the job. It becomes an emotional issue, and those issues at times become irrational.”

Having a different perspective is Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer, who led a similar petition drive in 1997 (months prior to being elected on that city’s commission) for a charter amendment requiring voter approval for density increases along the waterfront.

Dermer said he supports the petition, has signed it, and even met last year with Blackner. “I think what she’s doing is very courageous, and it parallels what we’ve done in Miami Beach: we’ve tried to expand the public vote. The concepts are the same,” Dermer said.

The measure would be an overdue antidote to runaway growth, countered Bill Borkan, who as president of the North Miami Beach Citizens Coalition, successfully sued the city of North Miami Beach over attempts to modify its comprehensive plan to establish several redevelopment zones that would serve as sites for high-rise planned unit developments.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Borkan. “I strongly support it and the NMB Coalition supports this effort. It’s a long time coming; ultimately the power over major development decisions should be in the people’s hands. Unfortunately the process has often been abused.”

Another activist who said he would support the measure is South Pointe resident and Miami Beach activist Frank Del Vecchio. “I am in favor of the proposed referendum change to the Florida Constitution that would give local voters a chance to register themselves for or against changes in local comprehensive plans,” said Del Vecchio in response to a query e-mailed by the SunPost. “This is a useful idea, which could slow down development pressures on the already compromised Florida environment, against the onslaught of special interests and their well-heeled lobbyists,” he added.

However, local zoning attorney Cliff Schulman, the go-to man for many large development proposals in the cities of Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach, feels the amendment could be a well-intentioned disaster for the Sunshine State.

“The adoption of the measure would provide only a virtual moratorium and freeze on new growth and economic development in Florida,” wrote Schulman in an e-mailed response to a SunPost question. He added that the concept could undermine representative democracy — the belief that elected officials, not individual voters, should make such decisions. “The proposed amendment is the antithesis of the concept of representative democracy and the death knell for planned and managed growth in Florida,” added Schulman. He defended the present approval system as based on facts and logical procedures, rather than emotions.; approach to determinations of the need for growth and the ability of Florida’s cities and counties to accommodate growth. The proposed amendment is an attempt to create an emotional, non-fact-based plebiscite on growth and no growth,” added Schulman.

Del Vecchio, a retired attorney, disputed Schulman’s interpretation, pointing out, “The state’s comprehensive planning law already states that: ‘It is the intent of the Legislature that the public participate in the comprehensive planning process to the fullest extent possible.’ [Florida Statutes, section 163.3181.] The state constitution change takes this legislative intent in a logical direction.”

Blackner said she felt the ballot question has already passed constitutional muster. “The Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it’s constitutional,” she said.

Also taking exception was Victor Diaz, a Miami Beach lawyer and activist who, from 1992-2006, served on a number of the city’s land-use advisory boards. He said the system is stacked against the public and that he tried to “level the playing field as a board member.”

“There’s not a public advocate in the process,” said Diaz, who noted he was unfamiliar with Florida Hometown Democracy, and was speaking in general terms on the land-use decision-making process. “There is a charade of public input in the public hearings, but these hearings are heavily lobbied by land-use attorneys and lobbyists and couched in highly technical terms,” said Diaz. “The process doesn’t really provide the public a meaningful opportunity to know what’s going on, and I agree there is a great need for public participation on major growth issues.”

Blackner said eligible voters who wish to sign her petition can call toll-free for more information, 1-866-779-5513, or visit the group’s Web site www.floridahometowndemocracy.com to download a petition.

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