Growth Management

News Clips

(news clips have not been kept updated - check archives)

Rural environment: A vision for its survival-- I am requesting the following to come together: The city of Apopka, Orange County, the Department of Community Affairs, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, the St. Johns Water Management District, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, Metroplan Orlando, along with representatives from local land and homeowner associations and environmental groups.-- 
We are in need of a partnership to create and adopt a growth-management strategy for northwest Orange County: a comprehensive plan that would preserve our rural and agricultural lands, protect our aquifer-recharge areas and prevent the spread of urban sprawl. 11/26/02

Franklin, Gulf Comp Plans get state support
The state is urging Franklin and Gulf counties to update their growth policies and is offering $25,000 to each to help in the effort. 1State officials say updated policies in comprehensive plans are needed to avoid problems sometimes caused by growth. The state earlier this year cited the lack of an updated Comp Plan in Franklin County in raising objections to The St. Joe Co.'s proposed SummerCamp development near St. Teresa. 11/19/02

Behind czarist 'truths': Deception is no way to wage the drug war
The dogmatic heartlessness of the war on drugs was on flaming display Monday in Flagler and Volusia counties as national drug "czar" John Walters brought a message high on zero tolerance and dubious facts to a high school and a drug treatment center. Walters' sophomoric claims and punishing solutions illustrate exactly why a record 74 percent of Americans believe the war on drugs is a failure and why claims like Walters' cannot be trusted: They are irresponsibly blind to reality. 9/26/02

Impact fees - Naples-
In other locales, government agencies face unmet needs for items such as roads and parks because they cannot think of ways to raise the money. Around here, the problem is collecting the money from those known to be liable to pay — and those in growth and service industries try hardest to pass the buck. 9/24/02

Seminole residents fear loss of lifestyle
The deeper you walk in Frances and Earl Lord's back yard, the wilder it gets. 9/16/02

Demolition under way for apartments that violated growth rules
JENSEN BEACH — A demolition crew began tearing down a $3.3 million luxury apartment complex this week, seven years after nearby residents sued developers for building it in violation of local growth rules. Pinecrest Lakes residents argued that the neighboring complex was not compatible with their homes, as required by Martin County's growth plan, and that the development hurt property values. 9/8/02

Ocean rules: Developers shouldn't dictate beaches' future
It wasn't that long ago that Wyoming had beachfront property and Florida was an African province, with Daytona Beach's foreground landlocked somewhere between a tectonic plate and a savanna. In other words our familiar beaches have never quite been the static suntan strips we'd like them to be, nor is erosion an intrusion on the way things ought to be. Erosion is the norm. Condos, among other illusions of permanence, are the intrusion. 8/2/02

The nature of plantations
The plantation culture of the South has a harsh human history that may never be completely forgotten or forgiven. But these extraordinary tracts of land, which contribute so greatly to the beauty of our countryside, also represent a largely untainted environmental and agriculture history that's well worth sustaining. 7/81/02

Keep homes away from state park
Good for animals, and good for development. 7/31/02

Protect treasure - The governor should name a group to protect the Wekiva and build a road.-- Gov. Jeb Bush has before him a prime opportunity to protect one of the state's premier environmental jewels, promote responsible growth and solve one of Central Florida's most intractable transportation woes. 7/29/02

Close gate on taxation demagoguery
Rarely has a city official in this area placed ambition so high above responsibility.West Palm Beach began defending itself last week in a complicated lawsuit over whether the city illegally blocked private development of a city-owned marina. If the city loses, taxpayers could be on the hook for millions. The city might have to sell bonds to pay damages. 7/28/02

Jeff Lytle: 'Growth pay for growth' has been politicians' mantra for years
Collier County can stop growing now. We are killing the beauty, environment and quality of life that wooed us here in the first place. We've reached and even surpassed the magic population figure of 250,000. If we need anything new we can just redevelop the old. Right. Like that's going to happen. But that was the plan nearly three decades ago in a little-known countywide referendum on growth. For some reason the results of the straw ballot never come up in historical perspectives. 7/28/02

Frozen in time
Disney now wants to build several hotels and a luxury resort, and double the number of hotel rooms in the middle of the Celebration development. Residents, including one who develops real estate for a living, are mad. 7/28/02

Wildlife officials block plans to restore Broward's beaches -... The $45 million project would widen 12 miles of beach using 2.5 million cubic yards of sand from offshore deposits. The work has created deep divisions between beach residents and businesses, including the new Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, concerned about erosion and environmentalists concerned about the impact on the reefs. 7/25/02

Don't Dam The Wild Yellow River - T he Yellow River flows from Alabama through Panhandle woodlands to Blackwater Bay near Pensacola. The wild river is known for fine bass fishing and has been designated an Outstanding Florida Waterway. Its fresh water flow is vital to the marine life in Blackwater Bay.-- Yet some north Florida residents are campaigning to destroy the river. They want to sacrifice the Yellow for new development. They would dam the river and use the resulting reservoir as a water supply source.7/25/02

Palm Beach County considers moratorium on development -- Surprising developers, their own planners and even themselves, Palm Beach County commissioners agreed Wednesday to consider temporarily halting development.-- The idea came from Commissioner Mary McCarty, who envisions perhaps a six-month period during which the county wouldn’t approve any new developments. Projects already approved could continue.- Other commissioners gave the idea mixed reviews but said they are willing to give the moratorium idea, as well as other possible strategies for controlling future traffic congestion, a fuller airing in October, and possibly even next month. 7/25/02

Alachua to consider development ban
The City Commission will consider a one-year timeout on nearly all development in the 40-square-mile city, giving the Alachua a chance to revise its comprehensive plan and land-use regulations 7/25/02

Developers' high- rise plan attacked
Developers slammed for plan to replace Wiggins Pass Marina with two 22-story condominiums.
It was an unpopular proposal pitched to unhappy people already fed up with what they call unbridled growth in Collier County. A hostile crowd of some 260 people heckled and laughed at developers who pitched a plan to replace Wiggins Pass Marina with two 22-story condos Wednesday night. Some even called for the county to purchase the 450-slip marina next to the county's Cocohatchee River Park in North Naples. The standing-room-only crowd at the county-mandated public meeting held by developers remained under control throughout the two-hour meeting at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Naples. But they held nothing back. 7/25/02

Reject GL Homes plan
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Selling out voters, as well as the Ag Reserve. 7/24/02

Group opposing county's growth plan meets up - A group of rural landowners intent on nullifying Alachua County's newly revised long-term growth plan, designed to encourage development in urban areas, met Monday afternoon to lay out their objections once again.-- The landowners, which have formed a corporation called Preserving Rural Property Values, say the county's comprehensive plan strips their property rights by establishing extensive rules on how rural lands can be developed, subdivided and maintained. They also contend that the policies trying to restrict growth in farm areas will severely decrease land values, impacting their ability to gain credit. 7/23/02

St. Johns panel to vote on residential-commercial project
Developers of a 545-home gated community and commercial center will seek approval today for the twice-denied northwest St. Johns County project. 7/23/02

Butterworth closes gate on demand for services
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Private communities can't spend public money. 7/22/02

Visions of future development collide on sunny Treasure Island
The Gulf of Mexico is especially blue and vibrant on Sunset Beach, at the southern end of Treasure Island, one of the string of barrier islands along the Pinellas County coast. ... The people of Treasure Island, as in Madeira Beach to the north, St. Pete Beach to the south and many other waterfront communities, are wrestling with what their future should look like. From the perspective of a sunny, idle afternoon on the beach, one cheers for things not to change at all. But they always do; the only question is how. 7/22/02

Growth Dilemma Plagues County
TAMPA - During the past few years, Hillsborough County officials shrank the county's urban-service area, retooled the comprehensive growth plan and tried to use community planning to reach out to neighborhoods. 7/22/02

Dredging up a pool of dissent -- But to the residents at the neighboring Marina at Tarpon Springs condominiums, it is pretty, full of life and worth preserving. They oppose a developer's plan to fill in the pool to create enough dry land for new stores at the northwest corner of Meres Boulevard and Alt. U.S. 19 N.-- "We're opposed to this, because, you know, enough is enough," condo association president Carol Petropoulos said last week. 7/22/02

Florida's Great Northwest: more than a brand 
"Like the ballplayer getting booed by opposing fans, just getting noticed is an important sign of success - at least that's the way those of us at "Florida's Great Northwest" regard the recent attention being directed our way.
...Most importantly, "Florida's Great Northwest" is more than a brand. It's also the story of a region pulling together for a common goal. Instead of competition among neighboring communities, civic and business leaders across the region are working together to make this part of Florida a place where businesses and people will demand to be. In health care, education, infrastructure and every area important to quality living, Florida's Great Northwest is about teamwork to achieve greatness.
Some may poke fun, but the people in these 16 counties will laugh last. Above all else, Florida's Great Northwest is about the future. It's about unlocking the natural assets of the region and tapping the energy of its people. It's about taking a great but underappreciated part of Florida and making it a place that conjures magical images whenever you say the name." (see great northwest) 7/22/02

How to cut traffic jams (Palm Beach County)
Don't let G.L. Homes game the system. ... G.L. Homes wants to build a development in the Ag Reserve that would not be allowed under current rules. How to "solve" the problem? G.L. wants the county to look at the project as if it were three smaller developments instead of one big one. A legal quirk places fewer requirements on smaller projects. The county should say no because the move is a ruse, because it would increase traffic jams and because bending the rules would encourage developers to drive up the price of Ag Reserve land that voters said in 1999 they want to buy and preserve. 7/22/02

Preserving rural life is activist's goal - SAMSULA -- Wanting a house nestled among pines and palmettos, Michele Moen moved to this rural community less than a year ago. Already, she sees her way of life under attack, and she is fighting back.-- 
She has raised her voice in protest against everything from a proposal to extend Elkcam Boulevard in Deltona to a new economic development plan for Volusia County. 7/21/02

Opinion: Enclaves can't use taxes
 Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth says public money can't be used to pay for the upkeep of private developments, rebutting a mounting political movement to steer tax dollars into Palm Beach County's gated communities. 7/19/02

Developer's man-made wetlands riddled with problems in Miramar-- Miramar· It began as an IOU for wildlife -- a 55-acre developer-built wetland offering refuge to birds and fish.
But after years of effort, only half of the man-made marsh inside the 933-acre Monarch Lakes development has turned into the aquatic wildlife habitat that had been promised. 7/18/02

Pompano lobbyists face scrutiny as development heats up - Pompano Beach is on the cusp of major change. Developers have proposed three massive projects for the beach area that would significantly alter the city's character and, according to detractors, ruin its charm and ambiance. As the commission debates whether to allow these projects to go forward, McGinn wants to make sure lobbyists don't gain control.-- 
McGinn has asked the city manager's office to study other government agencies to learn how lobbyists are monitored in hopes that Pompano Beach can adopt some of their ideas. Commissioners are expected to discuss proposed new rules this fall. 7/18/02

Editorial: Conservancy keeps vigil on ill-sited condo project
Plans have been rattling around Collier County government offices for a year to erect high-rise condos next to one of the area's most cherished nature preserves, Rookery Bay. Vigilance by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida is a natural, especially since the ecological organization runs a public wildlife attraction nearby.7/18/02

New Law Softens Funding Requirements For Projects - TALLAHASSEE - The Suncoast Parkway ends abruptly just south of the Hernando- Citrus county line in sand hills dotted with scrub pine and palmetto.
Tangled hammocks hide scrub jays, indigo snakes and gopher tortoises. This is the real Florida, environmentalists say, wild and open. They want it to stay that way.
Developers and community leaders, on the other hand, look across the same horizon and see cheap land and opportunity. They want the Florida Department of Transportation to extend the toll road north through rural Citrus County.
To do that, the department's Turnpike District must demonstrate there's enough demand to justify construction. That task might have proved difficult until the Florida Legislature intervened this spring. 7/14/02

Road Builders Providing Political Funds - TALLAHASSEE - When the Legislature passed a 147-page transportation bill this year, it did so with huge majorities in both houses.
It's not hard to understand why lawmakers liked the bill. Road building interests are political players with deep pockets. Either directly or through political action committees, they pump millions of dollars into campaign coffers.
Take, for example, the Florida Transportation Builders, a political action committee representing construction, mining, asphalt and concrete companies. The PAC has collected $1.27 million since 1996 and passed out $210,000 to candidates and political parties during that time. 7/14/02

Deciding County Growth Debated
TAMPA - Some want to re-examine which organization should decide where and how development occurs: the 10-member appointed Hillsborough Planning Commission or the county's Department of Planning and Growth Management. 7/14/02

Alachua may limit new types of growth
A proposed timeout on industrial development first discussed in January could become a moratorium on everything from new neighborhoods to warehouses within the city. 7/12/02

Juno suffering growing pains
Some residents are unhappy that older homes are being razed to make way for mansions.7/8/02

One man's crusade
A sprawling Central Florida retirement community sues its pesky foe, who won't give up despite losing every round in his eight-year fight to limit its growth. 7/7/02

Development plows over farming life- ...Three decades ago, more than 15,000 people like Whaley earned their living in agriculture in Central Florida, according to census data.-
Today, only 5,463 remain. -- 
The number of farming jobs has plunged nearly 75 percent when population growth is taken into account. At least 134,000 acres of farmland has vanished in the past decade alone. 7/1/02

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Development threatens natural Florida in the Ormond Loop

When people visit me from out of town and start cracking wise about why I live in a tacky tourist town, I have a surefire comeback. I take them for a drive on the Ormond Loop. Shuts them up every time. 

Now, I guess I'll have to think of something else.
Or maybe just agree with them. 

The Loop is a 23-mile circuit. I usually start on North Beach Street, go from Old Dixie Highway to Walter Boardman Lane, then to Highbridge Road and John Anderson Drive (or A1A depending on traffic) and turn on Granada Boulevard to complete the circle. 

The north section is a leafy tunnel created by the overspreading limbs of oaks. There are lovely vistas of salt marshes. Herons that seem the size of Big Bird. You can get a glimpse of natural Florida and be home in time for dinner. There is no better long way home. 

The Web site of The Chamber, Daytona Beach/ Halifax Area, advertises this route to bikers both in English and in German. A few of the better guide books recommend it to tourists around the world. 

So, what are we doing to this tourist draw and local treasure? We're making it the back door for a housing development that will have 669 homes in its first phase and 1,577 homes when it's finished. It will have a golf course, school and businesses. The county road department estimates that Plantation Oaks will generate 5,228 car trips every weekday. 

And Dixie Highway will be another commuter road. One that someday undoubtedly will need to be widened, straightened. And for heavens sake, won't somebody cut those dangerous overhanging trees before people get killed! 

That's progress, folks. 

I have a postcard from 1905. It shows a leafy tunnel of oak trees that looks just like The Loop. Here's its caption: 

"Ridgewood Avenue. Daytona, Fla." 

I consider that postcard a warning. A rather scary warning. 

Oh, and that part about "the back door" to this new development? Actually, that's just the official line. More likely, any road to Old Dixie Highway would, in daily practice, operate as the main road. That's because residents are likely to avoid coming and going via U.S. 1. And during special events like Bike Week and Biketoberfest, U.S. 1 traffic slows to a crawl. The only way out of the development and into town during those weeks will be on Old Dixie Highway. 

It doesn't matter if you change the speed limit. It doesn't matter if you ask people to please use the other road. People will tend to use this road. That's why the developers want to build it. That's why extra turn lanes are planned. 

Add this road, add this development, and the character of The Loop changes forever. 

We hear a lot of talk from the county about eco-tourism and how we need to market this area's natural beauty. Well, here is regional, even international, natural draw for bicyclists and bikers. A place where visitors can convince themselves they're seeing The Real Florida from their rental car. 

It's already here. It's already popular. It's already used to sell this place to visitors. And what are we going to do to it? Yup, put in a golf course. Build a subdivision. Add a commercial center. Put up a parking lot. 

Once again, we are poised to destroy a place of beauty, a place that gives this community character. And once that job is done and the bulldozers are hauled away, we will again sit back and wonder why people don't want to come here. Why is it we need to hold disruptive, noisy and expensive special events to entice tourists to visit? 

Like the old Pogo cartoon said: We have met the enemy and he is us. 

.... from Daytona Beach NewsJournal FOOTNOTE By MARK LANE  mark.lane@news-jrnl.com , posted 11/25/02

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Editorial: Quality of life in Southwest Florida hinges on getting a grip on growth management - Now

Sunday, September 22, 2002

The Naples Daily News

It is astounding how fast progress can sneak up and overwhelm you.

Aptly, a reminder of that emerges from three stories that appeared on the same day in the past week in this newspaper.

See if you noticed the same convergence:

n The first story put into perspective the explosive growth during the 1990s in Southwest Florida. It said Census 2000 shows no less than 40 percent of all of today's housing units in Collier County were built in those 10 years alone. Lee County's decade chalked up nearly 30 percent; statewide, the count was above 20 percent.

n The second story chronicled discussions among Collier government officials and the development industry about impact fees for new roads, which by now everyone well knows were neglected altogether for the latter third of that decade. After several months of recalculations and the hiring of a second consultant to check the first that recommended an average new-construction hike of nearly 230 percent, the increase stands pared by more than half — and the industry still is unsatisfied.

n The third story addressed hard questions by Florida development regulators with new, proposed plans for growth around Immokalee. The state wants answers now, rather than later as preferred by county commissioners, on what kinds of development would go where, how they would curtail sprawl and how they would protect the environment in sensitive areas as the area seeks to swell the county's population by 75 percent.

The moral to the stories is this: let's learn from the past.

This is not a dress rehearsal. We have only one chance to get it right. Get it wrong and there is a drain on the quality of life in areas already developed and a mess left as a legacy on the new frontiers of the urban and rural areas.

All the pieces in all three stories are related.

Later in the week came further, related story lines — about state regulators' doubt that enough road capacity is on hand to let checkbook concurrency work, and the development industry seeking to keep allowing roads to lag new construction by as much as three years.

It's important to get future development and infrastructure plans in sync now. We've seen the momentum growth can achieve, and we've seen the mess is makes when it goes off half-cocked.

That is not good public stewardship, and it's not good business.

We can do better, and it is important that we do.

It is astounding how fast events can sneak up and overwhelm you.

... from NaplesDaily News, http://www.naplesnews.com/02/09/perspective/d817383a.htm 

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Growing pains in Southwest Florida: Continuing rapid development pushes the Everglades to the edge
Editor's Note: The Washington Post published a four-day series titled "The Swamp" from June 23 to June 26. It examined the $7.8 billion plan to restore the Everglades and was based on more than 200 interviews and thousands of pages of documents. Day 3 of the series focused on growth and environmental concerns in Naples and the rest of Southwest Florida. The complete text of that story follows with the permission of The Washington Post. The entire four-day series is available on the Internet at www.washingtonpost.com .
NAPLES — "You can't stop it," said Al Hoffman, the most influential developer in a state crowded with influential developers. "There's no power on earth that can stop it!" Hoffman, the energetic leader of WCI Communities Inc., knows a bit about power. He was co-chair of George W. Bush's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee's finance chair. Now he's the top money man for Gov. Jeb Bush — a former developer himself — and heads an exclusive council of CEOs who advise the governor on policy. A scribbled note from the president hangs on his office wall: "You are the man!" The unstoppable force Hoffman was talking about is the runaway development marching from Southwest Florida toward the Everglades. The Naples area was the second-fastest-growing in America in the 1990s. The Fort Myers-Cape Coral area is not far behind. And the gated golf course communities that have come to define this subtropical mecca are spreading east. "It's an inevitable tidal wave!" declared Hoffman, 68.-- 
That's good news for Hoffman and WCI, which sold $1.1 billion worth of homes in Florida last year. But it's a major threat to the ecology of Southwest Florida, the last refuge for endangered species ranging from the elusive ghost orchid to the beloved Florida panther. Now federal, state and local officials are asking leaders of the $7.8 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan: Is history repeating itself? The restoration plan is in many ways an effort to clean up after southeast Florida's unbridled sprawl. But now that the east side of the Everglades is almost built out, the officials warn that similar wetlands drainage and habitat destruction to the west are creating similar problems. 7/7/02