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Published Tuesday, July 24, 2007
I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but one of Florida's largest business lobbies has hatched a plan to derail the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment. The Florida Chamber of Commerce is openly opposing the amendment and is speaking against it because it thinks it's a bad idea. But the chamber has taken another step. It has launched a front group called Floridians for Smarter Growth, which has created a competing petition drive. The petition drives sound deceptively similar. Here's what Florida Hometown Democracy's proposal says: "Establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to vote of the electors of the local government by referendum, following preparation by the local planning agency, consideration by the governing body and notice. Provides definitions." Here's what Floridians for Smarter Growth's proposal says: "Allows Floridians to call for voter approval of changes to local growth management plans through a citizen petition. Voter approval of growth management plan changes will be required if 10 percent of the voters in the city or county sign a petition calling for such a referendum. Defines terms and establishes petition requirements." The obvious difference between the two petitions is that while Florida Hometown Democracy's amendment would apply statewide automatically, the Floridians for Smarter Growth amendment would require a second petition drive whose signatures would have to be certified by local election officials before the request could be considered. By the time residents accomplished that, the issue could be moot because the measure may have already been passed. I'm not surprised that the business interests are nervous about the amendment's prospects. I base that on the results of the recent Polk County Citizens Opinion Survey. If there's anything that upsets people more than higher taxes, it's what they perceive as out-of-control growth. Here are some highlights: Eighteen percent said growth management has not improved in the past year. Only 8 percent said taxes were worse. Growth was considered the most important issue facing Polk County, outpacing taxes by at least 2-to-1 and often more over the past four years in the same poll. I think you could argue that if the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment passes, it would be somewhat similar to the passage of the tax cuts by the Florida Legislature in one way. It will be something local government brought upon itself. For years, in many parts of Florida it appeared as though development interests had an inordinate amount of influence on government decision-making. That was certainly true here in Polk County. Developers and their allies delayed adoption of growth planning and then easily persuaded county commissioners to form a committee composed primarily of people from the development community to look for "glitches," which meant in some cases to add provisions they forgot to put in the original document. The ordinance was filled with provisions that allowed developers to get credits for things people outside the development community thought they should have to do as a matter of course. Add to that the catastrophic failure of planning in the Four Corners area that created a gigantic gap between supply and demand of public infrastructure. County officials, after fighting state planners for years to allow dense development along the U.S. 27 corridor at the eastern edge of the Green Swamp, feigned surprise at the sudden development demand. They issued building permits hand over fist, but somehow never got around to making sure there was enough water or parks and recreation. It's not just us. Next door in Hillsborough County, the development community has been pressuring the County Commission there to get rid of local wetlands regulations, claiming - well-documented evidence to the contrary - that state and federal regulators will do an adequate job of protecting wetlands. In Highlands County, planning officials actually solicited landowners to apply for growth plan amendments prematurely to avoid any of the effects of the Hometown Democracy Amendment. Now the county's growth map has too much urban growth planned in rural areas where it has no business occurring. This is not meant to be an endorsement of the Hometown Democracy Amendment. I leave endorsements to our editorial board. What I am saying is that it is clear that many people have had enough and it may take more than a sly political gambit by the Florida Chamber of Commerce to divert that rage. Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com. Read more views on the environment at http://environment.theledger.com and more views on county government at http://county.theledger.com. |
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