American PlanningAssociation
Florida Chapter
Creating Great Communities for All
2024 Florida Planning Conference
September 3, 2024
PLANNING OFFICIALS TRAINING
“Implementing
Merle H. Bishop, FAICP Senior Planner
Pennoni Associates, Inc. – Engineering/Planning Consultants
The Planning Process
ALayered Planning System
LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS
PERMITTING
An Integrated Planning System
• Local Level
ACoordinated Planning System
✓ Citizens/Stakeholders/Advocacy Organizations
✓ Planning staff and/or consultant
✓ Local Planning Agency
✓ Local Governing Body (City/County Commission)
✓ Adjacent municipalities and counties
• Regional Level
✓ Strategic Regional Policy Plan (Regional Planning Councils)
✓ Long Range Transportation Improvement Plan (MPO/TPO)
✓ Regional Water Supply Plan (WMD)
• State Level
✓Department of Economic Opportunity
✓Department of State
✓Department of Environmental Protection
EVALUATIONANDAPPRAISALOF
COMPREHENSIVE PLANS
[§ 163.3191, F.S.]
• Every 7 years (schedule contained in Chapter 73C-49, F.A.C.)
• Local Government must send Dept. of Commerce (Community Planning) a “Notification Letter” and affidavit stating if there are any changes in state requirements since the last Plan update.
• Must comprehensively evaluate and update Plans to reflect changes in local conditions.
• One year to prepare and transmit Plan amendments, including amendments necessary to reflect changes in State requirements.
• Failure to submit amendments results in the inability to amend the Plan.
Best Planning Practices
for Monitoring and Evaluating Plans
✓ Keep track of issues and problems as they arise.
✓ Keep good data on trends in order to gauge results.
✓ Be able to articulate what is working and what is not.
✓ Avoid the temptation to write very specific or detail policies to address a particular problem.
✓ Be visionary and realistic.
✓ Be realistic with time frames for implementation requirements.
✓ Set benchmarks for preparing evaluation and amendments.
✓ Base the evaluation on data and identifiable outcomes.
✓ Involve the public and stakeholders.
✓ Recognize the important relationship between infrastructure and land use and that infrastructure needs will continue to be critical to building and sustaining a livable community.
FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT [§163.3177(6)(a),
The future general distribution, location and extent of the uses of land for:
➢ Residential
➢ Commercial
➢ Industrial
➢ Agriculture
➢ Recreation
➢ Conservation
➢ Education
➢ Public Facilities
➢ Other categories of public & private uses of land.
Each future land use category must defined land uses and standards for the control and distribution of population densities and building & structure intensities.
F.S.]
PLANNING INNOVATIONS (TOOLS)
“Local governments are encouraged to apply innovative planning tools, including:
• Urban growth boundaries;
• Urban service areas;
• Mixed-use, high-density development in urban areas”
URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY
Adesignated area around a city or urban center that allows development and expansion of urban land uses. Outside of the boundary remains rural/agriculture.
▪ Established as part of the Future Land Use Map series with strong policy statements supporting the boundary.
▪ Can coincide with an Urban ServiceArea but can be a larger area.
▪ Based on population growth projections and community needs for housing, jobs, commerce, economic development, etc.
▪ Implemented through the Comprehensive Plan, interlocal agreements, joint planning areas, etc.
▪ Requires periodic review and adjustment.
▪ Establish criteria and requirements for amending the boundary.
URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY
▪ Advantages:
✓ Tool to implement the Comprehensive Plan;
✓ Promotes urban land uses (higher densities/mixed uses) and controls urban spawl;
✓ Promotes infill and redevelopment.
✓ Maintains open space, environmentally important areas, agriculture, conservation lands, etc.
✓ Arational way to phase the expansion of urban growth and increased predictability of future development patterns;
✓ Increases the efficiency of local government infrastructure and services;
✓ Helps to curb the cost associated with growth;
• Disadvantages
✓ Political implications and pressures to justify boundary adjustments;
✓ Potential negative impacts to land and housing cost;
✓ Can result in increased traffic and other capacity issues;
✓ Compatibility issues and conflicts at the boundary.
URBAN SERVICEAREA
An area in which a municipality provides access to public services, such as water, sewer, transit, etc.
• Areas where public facilities and services (central water & sewer capacity and roads) are already in place or planned to be provided by local government or private sector; and all lands located in any county or municipality designated as a ‘dense urban land area’as described in §380.0651(3)(a)." [§163.3164(51), F.S.]
• Amunicipality may extend its utility service outside of its corporate limits by creating a zone or area by ordinance and to prescribe reasonable regulations to connect, when available, with any sewerage system or alternative water supply system. [§180.02, F.S.]
• Astrategy that focuses public and private investments where services are available or planned to be available and will be most needed.
• Over the defined planning period, growth is focused in areas with sufficient existing or planned services and facilities like water, sewer, roads, drainage, schools,, and multi-modal transportation choices.
• Establish policies and criteria for connection to utilities, including defining availability of timing.
Urban Infill and Redevelopment [§163.2511,
(2) It is declared that:
(a) Fiscally strong urban centers are beneficial should be promoted.
(b)The health and vibrancy of the urban core benefits the region and state.
(c) Local governments establish a framework and work in partnership with communities and the private sector to revitalize urban centers.
(d) Preserve and redevelop existing urban cores and promote adequate provision of infrastructure and services to sustain the urban core.
(e) Successfully revitalizing and sustaining the urban core is dependent on addressing cultural, educational, recreational, economic, transportation and social service.
(f) Local governments should provide incentives to promote urban infill and redevelopment.
Residential Density
Net Density:
Total dwelling units / lot area (exclusive of right-of-way, common open space)
Gross Density:
Total dwelling units / overall area (measured to centerline of adjacent streets)
Residential Density
“Perceptions on density depend on design. People tend to overestimate the density of monotonous, amenity-poor developments and underestimate the density of well-designed, attractive projects, thereby reinforcing negative stereotypes”
- Campoli / MacLean, Visualizing Density, 2007
4 Dwelling Units/Acre (Gross)
• Wide street
• Lack of street trees
• Prevalence of garages & driveways
• Uniform design
5.9 Dwelling Units/Acre (Gross)
• Traditional streetscape • Sidewalks • Shallow front setbacks • Front porches • Deemphasize the garage
Residential Density Considerations:
(15 du/acre)
✓ Gross vs Net
✓ Sprawl vs Compact
✓ Variety vs Uniform design
✓ Emphasis on the auto (streets, driveways, garage) vs Emphasis on the living area (entryway, porches)
✓ Cost of infrastructure & services
✓ Housing affordability
✓ Conservation of agriculture
✓ Cluster and density transfer
✓ Mixed uses
✓ Congestion & concurrency
✓ Compatibility
✓ Sustainability and resiliency
✓ Economic vitality and work force
(5.3 du/acre)
FloorArea Ratio (FAR) – {land use intensity}
Ameasure of how much building square footage can be built on given piece of land. The relationship between the total amount of usable floor area that a building has and the total area of the lot on which the building stands.
FloorArea Ratio = Total Building Floor Area
Gross LotArea
COMPATIBILITY
What does it mean? What does it require?
Difficult to find a clear definition and it is not defined in many land development regulations.
❖ Compatibility (of adjacent uses) [§ 163.3164 (9), F.S.]:
“Acondition in which land uses or conditions can coexist in relative proximity to each other in a stable fashion over time such that no use or condition is unduly negatively impacted directly or indirectly by another use or condition” [not a negative relationship – not unduly harming].
❖ Compatible does not mean “the same as.” Rather, compatibility refers to the sensitivity of different zoning districts, permitted land uses and development proposals in maintaining the character of existing or permitted development. •What makes uses incompatible?
o Use
o Density
o Lot size
o Traffic o Size/bulk o Visual o Design o Noise
• Can incompatible uses be mitigated?
o Buffers
o Transitional uses / density
o Proximity / Separation
o Hours of operation
o Building size, scale and design
o Site design
JOBS – HOUSING BALANCE
The ratio of jobs to housing in a geographic area.
➢ High ratio – more jobs than available housing. (higher housing cost, longer commutes, more traffic congestion)
➢ Low ratio – higher unemployment / inadequate job availability for residents, more traffic as residents leave the area for jobs.
➢ Balanced – a community where people can both live and work.
➢ Requires a broad mix of housing types to accommodate households (workers) at a range of income levels.
➢ Expansion of existing businesses and development of new businesses/manufactures require an available trained workforce.
➢ Acentral concern is transportation: the journey to work or commute.
Questions
➢ Is jobs-housing balance public policy or should the market take care of it? (Jobs, housing, transportation, land use, place quality are closely linked)
➢ Does the availability of available housing choices (distribution, location, type, cost) complement the earning potential of available jobs?
PLACEMAKING
Think of a special place(s) you enjoy visiting.
Park Plaza Square
Downtown Street/Alleyway Market
Neighborhood Trail/Walkway Beach/waterfront
Placemaking: creating places and focuses on transforming public spaces to strengthen connections between people and places
Placemaking: a process centered on people and their needs, aspirations, desires, and visions, which relies strongly on community participation.
Placemaking increase a community’s vibrancy, improves economic conditions, and builds capacity among residents to take ownership of their community.
WHAT MAKESAGREAT PUBLIC PLACE?
✓ Meets a community need – connection to the market.
✓ Quality of design and maintenance – landscape, architecture, etc.
✓ Creates a place, not just a design – the setting conveys a strong sense of community and serves a community purpose.
✓ Provides options for multiple activities and social interaction –intergenerational and multiple interest.
✓ Provides unique features and characteristics:
- Whimsy, surprising or discovery, uniqueness
- Unique space for self-reflection, inspires, educates (public art)
- Reflects local culture and history
- Sense of importance
✓ Community ownership – contributes to quality of life, gatherings, events. Promotes human contact and social activities.
✓ Walkable and Connected –Accessible, convenient, linked to surrounding land uses
✓ Safe and comfortable – welcoming, visibility, shade, shelter, lighting, relaxation, etc.,
SMART GROWTH
1. Mixed land uses.
2. Take advantage of compact building design.
3. Create a range of housing opportunities.
4. Create connected, walkable neighborhoods. 5. Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. 6. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty & critical environmental areas.
Direct development towards existing communities.
Provide a variety of transportation choices.
Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective.
Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
• Comprehensive plans must “provide meaningful guidelines for the content of more detailed land development and use regulations” [§ 163.3177(1), F.S.]
• Comprehensive plans establish a range of densities and intensities for property and provide broad standards to guide the development of land [§ 163.3177(5)(a), F.S.]
• Land Development Regulations provide detailed development criteria and zoning requirements consistent with the provisions of the Comprehensive Plan
• Land Development Regulations must be consistent with Comprehensive Plan
Lan D v lopm ntR gulations [§163.3202,F.S.]
– use of land and water (zoning);
– subdivision of land (site plans/plats);
– potable water well-fields protection;
– seasonal / periodic flooding;
– environmentally sensitive lands protection
– signage;
– public facilities and services; and
– safe and convenient on-site traffic flow
“Meaningful Guidelines”
Purposeful Land Development Regulations
Based on common law and relevant case law, there must be a reason to regulate.
Regulations must:
• Be based on legitimate public purposes, which protect the public health, safety, or welfare
• Have a substantial relationship (rational nexus) to promote a public purpose; especially, to advance the relevant provisions of the Comprehensive Plan.
• Be sufficiently clear that a person to which it applies reasonably knows what the regulation requires and the decision maker applying the regulation does not act in an arbitrary manner.
Regulating to Prevent Harm:
• Nuisances
• Economic
• Public health
• Visual impacts
• Noise impacts
• Smoke/Pollution
• Vibrations
• Odors
• Light – whether blockage of sunlight or the intrusion of artificial light
• Unsafe situations – (transportation, structural safety, hazards, crime, etc.
Regulating toAdvance a Goal:
• Amenity enhancement
• Regulatory efficiency
• Compatibility
• Economic stability or growth
• Job stability or growth
• Coastal protection and management
• Environmental protection
• Quality of life protection
• Efficiency in the provision of services
• Sustainability and Resiliency
• Energy efficiency and green design
• Aesthetic advancement
• Urban infill and redevelopment
What is The Purpose of Zoning?
(Land Development Regulations)
✦ Tool used to build and grow a town/city.
✦ Implements the Comprehensive Plan.
✦ A mechanism to achieve the vision of the community.
✦ Protects private property values and rights.
✦ Promotes economic development and prosperity of a community.
✦ Protects public investment in infrastructure and community assets.
✦ Protects important and scarce environmental resources.
✦ Promotes a quality of life that makes a city more enjoyable to live in.
TYPES OF LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Euclidian Zoning: (Village of Euclid, Ohio)
[The 1926 US Supreme Court upheld the general constitutionally of zoning legislation (Village of Euclid, OH vs.Amber Realty)]
▪Most common type of zoning in US.
▪Characterized by the separation of land uses.
▪Helps prevent incompatible uses.
▪Protects property values.
▪Protects open space.
▪Protects historic neighborhoods.
▪Promotes residential urban spawl.
▪Exclusionary zoning segregating uses and densities.
▪Potentially limits housing supply.
▪Discourages urban redevelopment, infill development and revitalization.
TYPES OF LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Performance-based Zoning
➢ Based on quantifiable performance standards to achieve a desirable goal or regulate density/intensity of land use to prevent adverse impacts on abutting and nearby properties.
➢ Amethod of regulating the design and/or location of a development based on factors that relate directly to the development's site, the specific effects of the development on its neighborhood or desired development outcomes.
➢ Provides more flexibility than traditional use-based zoning.
➢ Typically uses incentives or incentive zoning techniques to achieve the desired result.
➢ Performance standards are typically broken down into two categories:
• Regulating the site (i.e. lot size, setbacks, height, floor area, building coverage, parking, etc.)
• Regulating the activity (i.e. density, intensity or outputs of a use, nuisance standards, traffic, water use, etc.)
[source: https://www.nashuarpc.org/]
TYPES OF LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Performance-based Zoning
Examples of desired or preferred development features used to determine standards (density, intensity, design, location on site, etc):
✓Transit Oriented Development – Proximity to fixed transit routes and stops.
✓Affordable Housing – based on percentage of development.
✓Environmental Protection – preserving or enhancing site features
✓Open space and recreation – open space/ active recreation
✓Low Impact Design (LID) – stormwater best practices.
✓Resilient or sustainable features – alternative energy, underground utilities, higher than min. standards for flood protection, mixed uses, etc.
✓Connectivity – roadway layout, sidewalks, multi-modal, etc.
✓Enhanced landscape and buffering –xeriscaping, buffer widths, etc.
TYPES OF LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Form Based Zoning Code:
• Regulates development to achieve a specific urban form.
• Places an emphasis on the relationship between buildings, especially the building façade and the public realm (sidewalk, street, etc.);
• Addresses the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and type of streets;
• Creates a predictable public realm by controlling physical form of private developments, with a secondary focus on land use regulations;
• Better adept to implement a community vision and character.
TYPES OF LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Form Based Zoning Code:
1. Regulation Plan – A plan or map of the regulated area designating the locations where different building form standards apply.
2. Public Standards – Specifies elements in the public realm (sidewalk, travel lanes, on-street parking, streetscape, etc.)
3. Building Standards – Regulations (presented in both code text and clearly drawn illustration, diagrams, and other visuals controlling the features, configurations, and functions of buildings) that define and shape the public realm.
4. Administration – A clearly defined and streamlined application and project review process.
5. Definitions –Aglossary to ensure the precise use of technical terms.
FORM BASED CODE:
PREDICTABLE PHYSICALOUTCOMES
determined by standards and parameters for physical form–build-to lines, frontage type standards, and open space features–rather than standards with highly unpredictable physical outcomes–which result in a high-quality urban form and public realm, while still allowing for variety in the size and shape of urban spaces and the design of buildings.
LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Mixed-use Zoning:
▪ Permits a complementary mix of residential, commercial, and/or industrial uses in a single district.
▪ Encourages a healthier lifestyle.
▪ Creates cohesive, diverse, neighborhoods with increased economic and cultural opportunities.
▪ Encourages infill and redevelopment in areas of existing infrastructure reducing cost.
▪ Provides a more compact development pattern that helps protect open space and natural resources
▪ Reduces reliability on building new roadways and widening existing roads to meet transportation needs.
LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Planned Unit Development (PUD):
➢ An agreement to develop land (usually large) for a use or mix of uses in a more beneficial and efficient manner than the existing zoning provisions allow.
➢ Versatile tool for developers and local governments to work together for creative and innovative land use projects to achieve identified objectives.
➢ There are two options for local governments to process PUD requests:
✓ Azoning district consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
✓ Aspecial or conditional uses within an existing zoning district.
➢PUD objectives:
✓ Efficient and economical uses of land and/or building design.
✓ Meet changing needs, technologies, economics and consumer preferences through flexibility in design, uses, dimensional standards, etc. to
✓ Create a sense of place – Placemaking
✓ Create a complement of land uses, building types and building relationships.
✓ Reduce vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled.
✓ Preserve existing landscape, natural features and amenities.
✓ Protect unique, valuable environmental resources.
✓ Provide enhanced recreation opportunities and open space.
✓ Implement community vision or meet a community need.
LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Planned Unit Development (PUD) Requirements:
✓ Minimum size.
✓ Unified control/ownership.
✓ Uses, density and intensity consistent with Comprehensive Plan.
✓ Conceptual/Master development plan – level of detail needed?
✓ Meets objectives
✓ Unique or innovative design features and benefits.
✓ Identify zoning standards and how they are different from the code.
o Uses
o Density
o Intensity (FAR, ISR)
o Minimum lot size
o Setbacks
✓Phasing schedule
✓Special conditions
✓ImpactAssessment
✓Approval process.
✓Administrative Review
LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Conditional Uses:
➢ Have a unique characteristic that require the imposition of development criteria to ensure that they are not harmful.
➢ Criteria or condition may be applied to use, occupancy, location, construction, design, character, scale, manner of operation, or the necessity for making complex or unusual determinations.
➢ May be approved administratively by staff, the planning & zoning board (local planning agency), or elected commission depending on the use and/or criteria.
➢ Examples (depending on the zoning district the use is located in):
✓ Bars, lounges, taverns
✓ Bed and Breakfast
✓ Childcare center
✓ Commercial vehicle parking
✓ Event facility
✓ Group Home
✓ Heavy equipment sales & service
✓ Mining
✓ Outdoor concert venues
✓ Solar electric power generation facilities
LAND DEVELOPMENTREGULATIONS
Overlay District
▪ Ageographic district layered on top of another existing zoning district(s).
▪ Typically provides requirements, incentives or options intended either to protect a specific resource or to encourage development in certain areas.
▪ Includes increase flexibility or increased/different regulations tailored to implement or achieve an identified purpose or community goal.
Environmental/sensitive habitats
Affordable housing development
Transit-oriented development
Pedestrian oriented/focused
Airport protection
Downtown development
Neighborhood character
SpecialArea Plans
Form Based Design
Dimensional standards:
➢ Setbacks:
LAND DELOPEMENT REGULATIONS
▪ Protect property values.
▪ Provide for public safety, e.g. spread of fire, access for public safety equipment, provide room for off-street parking
▪ Protect roadways from encroachment.
▪ Protects neighborhood character.
▪ Maximum setbacks or build-to lines can be used to achieve better community design and aesthetics.
▪ Promote a community goal, e.g. different setbacks for living area and garage.
➢ Building height
➢ Bulk – building size
➢ FloorArea Ratio (FAR)
➢ Impervious Surface Coverage/Area
• Measures the development intensity on a particular site
• Helps with stormwater management.
• Reduces “heat island” effect in urban areas.
Lot Size:
LAND DELOPEMENT REGULATIONS
➢ “A persistent shift towards smaller lots” over past 30 years.
➢ 2022Average Lot Size = 8,524 square feet / Florida = 10,019 sq. ft.
8,524 sq. ft.
➢42% of sf detached lots sold in 2022 were under 7,000 sq. ft. (0.16 acre)
Large Lot Developments:
LAND DELOPEMENT REGULATIONS
➢ Requires more land area, less efficient use of land. [higher impact on natural resources, more sprawl, diminishes rule character, conflicts with agriculture, etc.]
➢ Results in lower density which contributes to spawl land use patterns resulting in higher public cost for infrastructure and services.
➢ Higher vehicle miles traveled and more traffic congestion.
➢ Limited ability for multi-modal transportation and connectivity.
➢ Higher water demand with impacts on potable water supply capacity.
➢ Increase housing cost.
[17.8% of single-family housing cost is finished lot cost (NAHB-2022)]
➢ Limits housing choices.
(A tenet of Smart Growth)
❖ Lot size does not determine housing quality or value.
❖ Smaller lots can generate higher tax revenue and increase the tax base
PEOPLE WANT TO WALK MORE
•Arecent poll reveals that 54% ofAmericans would choose walking as their preferred mode of transportation.
•In fact, 3 in 5 are willing to walk one mile before seeking other modes of transportation. OnePoll Market Research, 2022
• “MostAmericans now prefer to live in walkable communities.”
Realtor.com
• “For many potential home buyers and home sellers, the walkability of a house's neighborhood is vital.”
WALKABLE COMMUNITIESARE IN-DEMAND
1. The current momentum and trend is toward walkable urban places in every metropolitan area.
2. More diverse, resilient, sustainable, friendlier, and greener.
3. Walkable downtowns and neighborhoods draw people from all income brackets.
4. Walkable places are more financially productive.
5. Research shows that people who live in walkable neighborhoods and communities are healthier and happier.
✓ Promotes active living, for longer and better lives.
✓ Improves happiness and mental health.
✓ Reduces obesity and chronic disease.
✓ Fosters social interaction.
6. Enhances “sense of place” and community identity.
7. Increased house value.
8. Safer and less crime.
Creating Walkable Communities: Understanding Trade-Offs
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Aug. 30, 2018
Increased Walkability = Higher Property Values and Rents
• There is a direct correlation between increased walkability and price appreciation.
• Prices for properties located in walkable CBDs have risen 125 percent over the past decade, while comparable properties located in car-dependent areas have risen only around 20 percent during the same time period.
• The index finds that prices for highly walkable suburban properties were up 43%.
CONNECTIVITY
CONNECTIVITY
➢ Promotes walkability
➢ Promotes more equitable and inclusive communities.
➢ More resilient and sustainable.
➢ Multi-modal transportation opportunities (auto, transit, bicycle, pedestrian, etc.)
➢ Reduces vehicle miles traveled.
➢ Increases physical activity and improves overall health.
➢ Promotes “place making” and “complete streets” (street scale design for all transportation modes)
➢ Promotes strong community/downtown identity and character (branding).
➢ Promotes strong, cohesive neighborhoods.
➢ Reduces demand for public infrastructure and services.
➢ Increases taxable value and tax base.
➢ Creates opportunities to implement Smart Growth principles.
➢ Increases safety and reduces crime.
➢ Increases community engagement and collaboration – greater citizen satisfaction and support.
CONNECTIVITY
Winter Haven, FL
Cypress Gardens Boulevard
CONNECTIVITY
Fish Hawk Ranch, Lithia, FL
INDICATORS OF SPRAWL [§163.3177(6)(a)9,
F.S.]
✓ Low intensity, low density, and single-use development or uses.
✓ Significant amount of urban development in rural areas at substantial distances from existing urban areas while not using undeveloped lands that are available and suitable for development.
✓ Urban development in radial, strip, isolated or ribbon patterns.
✓ Fails to protect and conserve natural resources such as wetlands.
✓ Fails to protect adjacent agricultural areas.
✓ Fails to maximize use of existing public facilities and services.
✓ Fails to maximize use of future public facilities and services.
✓ Allows for land use patterns or timing which disproportionately increase the cost in time, money, and energy of providing and maintaining facilities and services.
✓ Fails to provide a clear separation between rural and urban uses.
✓ Discourages or inhibits infill development or the redevelopment of existing neighborhoods.
✓ Fails to encourage a functional mix of uses.
✓ Results in poor accessibility among linked or related land uses.
✓ Results in the loss of significant amounts of functional open space.
CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH (SPRAWL)
163.3164 Community PlanningAct; definitions. (52) “Urban sprawl” means a development pattern characterized by low density, automobile-dependent development with either a single use or multiple uses that are not functionally related, requiring the extension of public facilities and services in an inefficient manner, and failing to provide a clear separation between urban and rural uses.
Increased reliance on the auto – increased gas consumption, longer commutes, more emissions, more congestion, higher $$$
Health issues – less active, increased risk of obesity, hypertension & heart disease, emergency response times. $$$
Impact on social lives – isolation, less social interaction.
Infrastructure and public services – longer distances, low density & more area to cover results in less efficiency, higher cost, higher taxes. $$$
Loss of rural heritage, open space and agriculture lands. $$$
Environmental impacts – habitat loss, increase water consumption, increased stormwater runoff, less sustainable and resilient.
“Local
Special Planning Considerations
governments are encouraged to apply innovative planning tools”
• Urban infill and redevelopment [§ 163.2511, FS]
• Innovative PlanningTools [§ 163.3168, F.S.]
• Visioning
• Sector Planning
• Rural Land StewardshipAreas
• Urban ServiceArea Designation
• Urban Growth Boundaries
• Mixed-use, high-density development in in urban areas
• Discourage urban sprawl [§ 163.3177(6)(a)9, FS]
• Allow accessory Dwelling Units [§ 163.3171, FS]
• Water Supply Plans [§ 163.3177(6)(c), F.S.]
• School Coordination [§ 163.31777, F.S.]
• Coastal Management [§ 163.3178, F.S.]
• Concurrency [§ 163.3180, F.S.]
• Transportation Deficiencies [§ 163.3182, F.S.]
Infill Development
Other Planning Implementation Tools
• Development Incentives
• Education
• Community RedevelopmentAreas (CRA)
• Downtown/Mainstreet master plans
• Joint PlanningAreas / InterlocalAgreements
• Capital Improvements Program (CIP)
• Utility ServiceAreas /Annexations
• SelectedArea Plans
• Neighborhood Planning
• Public Private Partnerships
Is your community’s vision still valid and relevant?
How well is you Land Development Code implementing the vision?
What’s working – not working?
Internal inconsistencies? With Comprehensive Plan? Are smart growth principles being applied?
Prioritize what needs to be fixed. Create working groups of citizens and stakeholders.
Our opportunity for economic growth and prosperity, improved quality of life and protection of valuable human, community & environmental resources are determined by how well we plan for the future.
