Developing A Middle Ground

Before Hometown Democracy becomes the next full-assault ballot-box war in Florida, the state's development watchdog deserves to be heard. Tom Pelham, secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, is calling for a reasonable middle ground on managing growth, and he brings undeniable credibility to the debate.
[ Read the full article here ]

Growth Management - Act II

Calling growth management 'a mess,' new DCA Secretary Tom Pelham wants a rewrite.

Twenty years after he took the job of making Florida's landmark growth-management law work, Tom Pelham is back and ready for a do-over. By this time next year, Pelham hopes, Florida will have a new growth management law, or at least a giant first step, to replace the 1985 act as well as the Santa Claus-sized grab bag of changes the Legislature has passed since then.
[ Read the full article here ]

Why the chamber of commerce wants to kill hometown democracy

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has announced plans to raise as much as $65 million to fight a constitutional amendment sought by citizens supporting Florida Hometown Democracy.

The FHD measure would require that changes to local zoning planssrequired by Florida law of each and every municipality and countysto first run the gauntlet of local voters before being voted on by local legislatures.

This moment in Florida history is framed by the biggest housing bust since the 1920's.

The soul of Florida is at stake ...
[ Read the full article here ]

Two Groups Fight Over Development Amendments

At a meeting last month, the owner of Boca Teeca Country Club spent hours persuading the Boca Raton Planning and Zoning Board to endorse a plan for 211 townhomes on a golf course. The meeting lasted hours and opponents lined out the door to protest.

Now imagine if the owner had to win a citywide vote as well?

That's what Florida Hometown Democracy wants and is collecting petitions to get a constitutional amendment put on the ballot in 2008.
[ Read the full article here ]

Growth showdown bound for ballot?

MANATEE - A major green-versus-growth battle is brewing across the state, and the showdown may be coming soon to a ballot booth near you.

And like any other high-profile debate, millions of dollars are being spent to sway your vote.

Tired of seeing paradise paved over for parking lots, Lesley Blackner and 278,000 like-minded Floridians are ready to rein in the booming development industry that has dominated headlines in previous years. Their primary weapon is a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters, rather than elected officials, to approve changes to land-use designations.
[ Read the full article here ]

Florida ballot wars: The empire strikes back

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So goes the strategy at Florida's growth coalition.

Well, sort of.

Hellbent on defeating Florida Hometown Democracy, the ballot initiative requiring referendums on any local comprehensive plan changes, the growth machine has cranked out a clever countermeasure.

"Floridians for Smarter Growth" is collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment that also would allow for citizen referendums.
[ Read the full article here ]

Amendments pit builders against anti-growth activist

TALLAHASSEE - Florida voters in 2008 may face two competing changes to the state constitution - one backed by a Palm Beach attorney, the other by businesses - dealing with how much influence residents will have over growth in their communities.

The first is backed by Lesley Blackner, who has worked for more than four years to put her Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment, an initiative that gives developers the shivers, on the November 2008 ballot.

The second is builders' and businesses' attempt to thwart it.
[ Read the full article here ]

Planning amendment statement revised after justices rejected it

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- State economists on Friday revised a financial impact statement that would go on the ballot with a citizens initiative designed to give voters a say in local planning and development decisions.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled the initial statement was misleading in a 5-2 opinion July 12.
[ Read the full article here ]

Amendment could bring balance

Recently, a couple of letter writers have "connected the dots" between undocumented meetings and decisions on development projects in Jacksonville.

I agree with those who think that there is a direct correlation between Florida's Government-in-the Sunshine Law violations, "green room" access by developer lobbyists and the resulting decisions the City Council makes on development projects in Jacksonville.
[ Read the full article here ]

Anti-Hometown Democracy hit man

My column this week contrasting the Hometown Democracy Amendment petition with a new petition drive launched by the business community got a quick response from organizer of the new petition, Michael Caputo.
[ Read the full article here ]

Florida Hometown Democracy's citizen initiative - the Pros and Cons

Yes: Have you tried to speak your mind at a public meeting lately?

Florida Hometown Democracy's citizen initiative would amend Florida's Constitution to allow Floridians to give themselves a vote on growth plans. It is a simple change to an existing process, and would simply add a final step after planners and local politicians decide to change local comprehensive plans.

NO: Let's update meeting protocol and heal trust in local government

If the leaders of Florida Hometown Democracy announced today they were canceling their statewide ballot initiative campaign, would that mean Hometown Democracy was dead? The answer is no. The ballot initiative is part of a broader political movement that has forever changed the politics of development in Florida.
[ Read the full article here ]

Business Lobby Aims at Amendment

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.
[ Read the full article here ]

Who controls growth? It's not us!

Whenever you're told that something is too complicated or too technical to be concerned about, it's time to read the fine it's time to read the fine print - and get a grip on your wallet.
[ Read the full article here ]

Businesses cringe at entrusting land to voters

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.
[ Read the full article here ]

Future development belongs in our hands

Why is everyone so scared of the Florida Hometown Democracy Petition?

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has just put out a competing petition that sounds very nice, but makes it impossible for citizens to control future growth. Why? The Chamber's main objective is to kill the Florida Hometown Democracy petition.
[ Read the full article here ]

Stop the population pressure for more

As a 44-year resident of southeast Florida, I have a different view of the impact of the Florida Hometown Democracy initiative than your recent guest columnist. "Ballot-box zoning" may stifle construction in some areas of Florida, and that could be a very good development. However, this initiative would not affect development plans that are already approved on a county's comprehensive land use plan.

The reason we need the Hometown Democracy amendment is because time and again citizens in South Florida and elsewhere have made their views on growth known to their elected officials but development interests almost always prevail.
[ Read the full article here ]

Chamber Draws Fire For Growth Initiative

TAMPA - The Florida Chamber of Commerce is backing an amendment to Florida's constitution that critics say is meant to confuse voters about another, similarly worded citizens initiative.

"The Florida Growth Management Initiative" is sponsored by a chamber-backed political committee led by a top Republican fundraiser. The amendment's stated purpose is "giving citizens the right to decide local growth-management plan changes."
[ Read the full article here ]

Hometown Democracy Initiative Work In Progress

Regarding "Hometown Democracy Threatens Economy, Property Rights" (Other Views, June 19):

Lenard Gilroy's characterization of Hometown Democracy as destructive ballot-box zoning and a threat to property rights is simply wrongheaded.
[ Read the full article here ]

Give Yourself A Vote

Regarding Gilroy's June 19 column:

As co-author of the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, I want to correct his distortions. Florida's Supreme Court noted that existing law allows referenda for land use plan amendments that affect more than five parcels.
[ Read the full article here ]

Wants To Have A Voice

Regarding "Businesses Fight Push For Land Use Overhaul" (front page, June 20):

There are some people who want to prevent Floridians from deciding their own future. The development industry and Florida Chamber of Commerce are acting in a very aggressive manner against the Florida Hometown Democracy organization.
[ Read the full article here ]

Act now to save Volusia County

I have watched for 16 years with increasing, silent despair as Volusia County has been transformed from a lush, tropical gem into bleak, mile upon mile of pavement and cookie-cutter concrete boxes.
[ Read the full article here ]

Stop Florida's Demise

Regarding Leonard Gilroy's column, "Hometown Democracy threatens more than politicians" (June 17) on Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment:

I helped write the Hometown Democracy amendment and serve on the board of directors. I was disappointed by Mr. Gilroy's distortions.

Mr. Gilroy mischaracterized our citizen's initiative effort as a "radical" and "ballot box zoning." Neither charge is true.
[ Read the full article here ]

Hometown democracy puts voters in charge of area's growth

St. Augustine - The Florida Hometown Democracy amendment is a proposed revision to the Florida Constitution that's necessary if the people of St. Johns County and Florida want real growth management.

It will establish that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan or amend a comprehensive land use plan (the binding plans that determine what kind of development goes where), the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to a local voter referendum.
[ Read the full article here ]

Proposed amendment pits builders against voters

OCALA - A proposed constitutional amendment that would require voter approval for changes to city and county comprehensive land-use plans would be disastrous for the state's home building industry, a trade group representative said Wednesday.

Addressing the monthly meeting of the Marion County Builders' Association, Douglas Buck of the Florida Home Builders Association said the proposed Florida Hometown Democracy amendment could cause gridlock in the voting booth and stall development.

"The citizens of Ocala would probably vote on five or six hundred proposed plan amendments every two years," Buck said.

But organizers of the Hometown Democracy movement say the proposed constitutional amendment is a way to return control of growth to voters, not special interest groups.
[ Read the full article here ]

Groups works for direct resident say on land use

I recently discovered that Florida Hometown Democracy Inc. is circulating a petition statewide in an attempt to place local and county land-use plans and amendments on a ballot to be approved by the residents of a municipality or county.

With the actions of the Polk County Commission and other local governments in Polk County, I have to agree that this action be passed in a statewide constitutional amendment vote in 2008.
[ Read the full article here ]

Businesses Fight Push For Land Use Overhaul

TAMPA - Florida's largest business groups are mobilizing to crush a citizen initiative they say would slow development and kill the state's economy.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is leading an effort to defeat Florida Hometown Democracy, and amendment that would take major land use decisions out of the hands of local politicians and put them to a popular vote.
[ Read the full article here ]

Hometown Democracy Won't Stop Growth

Regarding, "Smart Growth Hard to Plan" (Commentary, May 27:)

Editor Rosemary Goudreau should know better than to proclaim that the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment "could grind growth to a halt and destroy jobs." Her "sky is falling" hysteria is dead wrong.
[ Read the full article here ]

An Interview with Lesley Blackner

News Journal Opinion Editor Carl Wernicke sat down with Lesley Blackner, president of Florida Hometown Democracy, to talk about the group's proposal to let local voters decide changes to local growth management plans.

Sign Petition to Stop Endless Growth

Palm Bay's plan to sprout up to10,000 single and multi-family homes on the green-space corridor land it recently annexed from the county is a classic example of why Florida needs the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment.
[ Read the full article here ]

Put people in charge of growth?

“It’s the merging of an elite group that makes its money off development, with elected officials who do their bidding…Honey, it’s just a bunch ofgood old boys in the back room, cutting deals.”

Florida Hometown Democracy founder Lesley Blackner,
on Florida’s growth management process.

“If you all want to see what your future looks like, I suggest you get in the car and drive down to Tampa or Orlando,” guest speaker Lesley Blackner recently remarked at a Pensacola League of Women Voters forum.
[ Read the full article here ]

Attorney: Let citizes make land decisions

Our goal? Let Floridians decide future of our state

Hometown Democracy is not a special-interest group but a grass-roots organization that wants Martin County (and all of Florida) to be able to tell developers "no" about land use changes that the politicians and developers keep saying "yes" to. We basically have seen what it looks like when you bullldoze all the green space and pour concrete over it.
[Read the full article here]

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Newberry Village debate a preview of constitutional amendment battle
May 21. 2007
by staff writer CINDY SWIRKO
The Gainsville Sun

A proposal to let voters decide if regulatory changes should be made to allow a mixed-use development on Newberry Road will be considered by the Alachua County Commission Tuesday.

The proposal is a settlement offer by Brad Stith, a Gainesville resident who has filed a legal challenge to action taken by the commission last year for Newberry Village on Newberry Road at Fort Clarke Boulevard.

"We're basically hoping the commissioners will let the citizens decide about this thing," Stith said. "I imagine there will be some discussion on whether it is legal and whether it is a good idea. It is a way to settle this without going through a giant battle like what went on with Springhills."

While the settlement deals only with Newberry Village, the remedy it seeks is a preview of a debate that may heat up in 2008 over a proposed constitutional amendment pushed by Florida Hometown Democracy, a group co-founded by Stith's Tallahassee attorney, Ross Burnaman.
[Read the full article here]

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More citizens want to take the law into their own hands
May 20, 2007
By EILEEN ZAFFIRO
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- First came the citizen revolt over building heights in Ormond Beach, which blocked a $2 billion oceanfront project and sent ripple effects into development for decades to come.

Next was the Florida Hometown Democracy movement, an effort to allow voters statewide to go to the polls every time their local government ponders a change to their city's land-use plan.

Now, there's a campaign under way in Ponce Inlet to allow residents of the small town to create new local laws without their council's blessing and to veto recently passed ordinances.
[Read the full article here]

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Sick of sprawl, voters deserve chance to stop it
May 16, 2007
By PAMELA WINCHESTER
Daytona Beach News-Journal
COMMUNITY VOICE

As treasurer of Florida Hometown Democracy, I would like to clarify misinformation contained in the recent flurry of commentary about our proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution, and answer some of the questions.

First, it's no surprise that Eric Olsen, president of the Volusia Home Builders Association, is terrified by the idea of voters having the final say about whether or not they want more sprawl in their communities. I suspect a majority of us are angry and disgusted with what is happening to our once beautiful state.

His commentary shows that the development machine is worried about preserving the status quo.

For example, Olsen claims that the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment would kill job growth within the construction industry. In fact, a 1999 study added up all the growth already authorized by all the city and county comprehensive plans in Florida and found land allocated for housing more than 100 million people. Since then, there have been thousands of comprehensive plan amendments adding density. In fact, if we never amended a plan again, there is too much growth already allocated.
[Read the full article here]

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Florida growth machine gets its annual grease job
May 13, 2007
By KENRIC WARD
TCPalm columnist

A not-so-nice thing happened on the way to Indian River County getting its referendum on growth. Just follow the bouncing ball into the ditch:

• On April 30, the Florida House approves unanimously approves HB 1589, which would enable the county residents to vote on any changes to the urban service boundary.

• On May 1, the County Commission rejects a charter-government proposal that would effectively do the same thing.

• On May 4, the Senate adjourns, with HB 1589 stuck in the Rules Committee.

No charter. No vote. No referendum.

The commission's marathon May Day meeting was well-documented. As this panel has done repeatedly — first, with Caroline Ginn's ill-fated moratorium and then with lost "visioning" — the commission majority blinked and did nothing. The players may change but, somehow, the outcome is always the same.

The Tallahassee story is a bit more convoluted, and even more maddening.
[Read the full article here]

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Let referendum settle land changes that affect many
May 07, 2007
By JESS R. SANTAMARIA
Palm Beach EDITORIAL

Property owners have rights to use their property as zoned. If a property is zoned agricultural, the property owner has the right to use it for any and all agricultural purposes. They paid the fair price for that land, and therefore, they have every right to use it for its intended agricultural purposes. Agricultural land owners do not have the right to use their land for high-density residential and commercial purposes.

[Read the full article here]

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'Sense of place' in jeopardy
A threatened commodity in modern Florida
May 6, 2007
By BILL BELLEVILLE
Special to the Orlando Sentinel

I was standing out in Jake Glisson's backyard recently, overlooking the edge of Orange Lake. Jake, now 80, grew up on the other side of that lake near a little bend in a country road called Cross Creek. His nearest neighbor was author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who earned a Pulitzer for her superb depiction of people and place in her Florida-based novel The Yearling.

Jake and I were talking about the endearing worth of individuality -- and why it's a threatened commodity in modern Florida. "Well, . . . everyone in Cross Creek was a character," said Jake. "You had room to spread out, room to be one. If you tried to be a character today in a condominium with walls only six inches thick, well, they'd ask you to leave." As if in affirmation, a pair of Florida sandhill cranes glided overhead, calling in that deep haunting way they do, like a bird from another time.

I've been hearing a lot about "sense of place" lately. Last year I wrote a book about the impacts of sprawl on "community." I tried to quantify personal costs, tried to define what it means to lose a place you care about in your heart. Then, on behalf of the Florida Humanities Council, I traveled the state, fielding questions about it. I visited Bartow and Cedar Key, Lake Wales and High Springs, and dozens of other small towns.

[Read the full article here]

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Referendums could change state growth
April 30, 2007
By JACK GURNEY
Sun-Herald.com

Florida Hometown Democracy wants local referendums on comprehensive plan changes. The Florida Supreme Court has approved its constitutional amendment proposal.

A proposed Florida Constitutional amendment that would require local voter approval when cities and counties increase density in their comprehensive plans has cleared the legal hurdles necessary to be on a 2008 statewide ballot. Petitions are again being circulated.

[Read the full article here]

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Growth Plan Finds Few Supporters
Published: Apr 27, 2007
By MIKE SALINERO
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - The battle over how Hillsborough County grows in the next 20 years is being waged between community activists who want to preserve rural areas and developers who say they must expand into those areas to keep housing prices affordable.

Thursday night, both sides pleaded their cases to the county commission during a public hearing on updating the comprehensive growth plan. Development of the plan will continue through next year.

Neither side seemed particularly happy with the proposed plan. Environmental and community groups are angry that the commission last month removed an element that would have encouraged higher-density growth around transportation corridors.

[Read the full article here]

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Have a say
April 25, 2007
By JOHN DUNN
YOUR OPINION
Ocala Star Banner

If an invading army were destroying and polluting our state, real Floridians would hunt it down. Why, then, isn't there more outrage when developers and complicit government officials promote schemes that destroy and degrade what's best and beautiful in our state?

Years ago, Tallahassee required all Florida cities and counties to forge comprehensive growth management plans to prepare for the growth now hitting us. However, many Florida officials - on behalf of developers - have undermined those plans.

[Read the full article here]

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Let people decide on development
Saturday, April 21, 2007
By: LESLEY BLACKNER
Guest Opinion - Southwest News-Press.com

The lack of water, local government pandering to developers has lowered state's quality of life

Got water? That seems to be the question in many parts of Florida as we approach yet another Earth Day. It's hard to believe that this state is running low on clean, drinkable H2O. After all, once upon a time Florida was dotted with uncounted bubbling springs, criss-crossed with giant rivers, lakes, and impenetrable swamps. And Florida sits atop the Floridan Aquifer, once one of the planet's greatest sources of clean water. But these days the water management districts are screaming for restrictions and Floridians are praying for rain.

[Read the full article here]

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Selling growth, not just houses
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
By JOEL ENGELHARDT
Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Development is not inevitable.

If residents only knew how hard developers work to get all those suburbs that seem so, well, inevitable, they would be less likely to give up without a fight.

[Read the full article here]

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Hometown Democracy Will Protect Communities
March 17, 2007
By BEV GRIFFITHS
Tampa Tribune COMMENTARY

Are you fed up with traffic jams, road widening, loss of green space, high-rise condos that look out of place or conversion of farmland to endless rooftops? If you answered yes, what I have to say will interest you.

If the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment is passed it would let voters in their own communities decide whether their city or county comprehensive land use plan will be changed or adopted.

[Read the full article here]

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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.

[Read the full article here]

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The woman -- and trend -- developers fear
March 16, 2007
By LAUREN RITCHIE
Orlando Sentinel COMMENTARY

That blonde in the classy lime green suit with pale pink lipstick has developers on the run.

They hate her. Lesley Blackner is anathema to them. And it's pretty amusing how their last frayed nerve is starting to show.

Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer and mother of two, found herself on the cover of Florida Trend magazine and the subject of a catty profile in the March issue.

A headline on the cover asked, "Who's Lesley Blackner?" Another answered: "The woman behind 'Hometown Democracy' -- and why every business group in Florida hates it."

The magazine needn't have bothered. Its readers already know. For most of the rest of us, however, Blackner's life work is a mystery, and her name is unfamiliar.

Here's the short answer: She's the woman making a liar of every developer who ever repeated the mantra, "Growth is coming -- there's nothing you can do about it."

[Read the full article here]

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What got Floridians to the place they want final say over growth

March 15, 2007
By AGNES WITTER
Daytona Beach News Journal

The Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment is back in the news and will no doubt be on the ballot in 2008. Rather than questioning how we should vote, citizens and elected officials alike should be questioning why such drastic action was deemed necessary.

The fear of uncontrolled growth is the answer, and with good reason. Recently a map showing what Florida will look like in 40 to 50 years was published in newspapers around the state. It was a reality check for some. Growth is a done deal. The question is at what price.

Uplands, the primary source of aquifer replenishment, are also the main choice for building construction. As we continue to build on and pave over them, is it any wonder we've been warned the aquifer will not support the influx of expected new residents, and that alternative sources for potable water must be secured? Will it come from the St. Johns River or the ocean? The decision has been made. It will be both.

[Read the full article here]

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ON THE MARK: LAND PLANNING AT THE VOTING BOOTH

March 2, 2007
By MARK STRAIN
NaplesNews.com

There is a new challenge to development in Florida that may put the power to make decisions on growth squarely in the hands of the public through an amendment to the Florida Constitution. Called the Florida’s Hometown Democracy Amendment, it would require all changes to any comprehensive plan to be approved by a voter referendum. The informational website is: www.floridahometowndemocracy.com.

The website is loaded with information and links that have addressed many of the questions voters have about the impact of such an amendment. There is also a downloadable petition form for registered voters to fill out and send in if they want to see this option become added to a future ballot.

Changes to our local comprehensive plan usually occur twice a year in the form of Growth Management Plan (GMP) changes. For any zoning in this county to become reality, the very first step in the process is that the zoning request must be consistent with our GMP. Once that consistency is acknowledged, then developers can go to the next step and actually apply for the particulars of their zoning request, usually in the form of a Planned Unit Development (PUD). Some local land use attorneys have even suggested that once a project is consistent with the GMP, approval is mandatory. Regardless of whether this is right or wrong, the importance given to the GMP is obvious.

[Read the full article here]

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HURRICANE INSURANCE, PROPERTY TAXES AND LESLEY BLACKNER

By MIKE VOGEL
March 1, 2007
FloridaTrend.com

Tickled at the memory of her subterfuge, Lesley Blackner recounts how she went under her married name to a real estate development trends conference in West Palm Beach in October.

Amid the real estate slowdown, as she tells it, the mood was hardly ebullient. Then, one speaker, in the course of remarks on land regulation in Florida, touched on an issue dear to Blackner's heart.

The proposed Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment, the speaker said, was the "worst idea I've ever heard."

"They all just stood up and started clapping," recalls Blackner. "It was the only time I ever saw any kind of energy in the room. You know what? It was interesting to see the kind of reaction because I haven't seen how angry they are. It's like the end of the party as far as they're concerned. They've had it so good for so long."

[Read the full article here]

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Florida's Sierra Club backs push to let voters rule growth!

By KEVIN SPEAR
March 1, 2007
OrlandoSentinel.com

Backers of a statewide proposal to give voters ultimate authority over new subdivisions, shopping centers and other future growth received a $35,000 contribution and vows of vigorous support from one of Florida's largest environmental groups Wednesday.

The Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club stepped firmly behind the Florida Hometown Democracy campaign, which aims to gather enough voter signatures to put a proposed constitutional amendment on next year's ballot. If passed, local politicians would have to win voter approval to change growth-planning guidelines.

"I think more and more people are becoming outraged by how we are growing," said John Hedrick, Sierra chairman for growth issues, who announced his group's support in Tallahassee. "I think people feel cut out of the planning process."

Hedrick said the Sierra Club in Florida has 18 local groups with a combined membership of more than 30,000. Each group has pledged to secure thousands of voter signatures.

[Read the full article here]

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