Future Modes The future is now! Volume 1, #1 Aug. 1, 2018
Future Modes has a new look and more analysis that’s a quick read By Jo Laurie Penrose, AICP Welcome to the revamped Future Modes blog site. This blog examines current urban and transportation planning topics that will affect our lives in the future. It’s here now! Hope you enjoy the posts and please share with your colleagues and other peers. Urban growth boundaries….hey, here’s an idea, the economy’s better, let’s extend them! An urban growth boundary is intended to keep urban and rural uses and development separate. The boundary draws a line where the local government will provided urban services such as central water and sewer and an improved transportation network. Other benefits of the boundary include giving developers a reason to develop in infill areas; assuring that businesses and local governments know where infrastructure will be places, and better efficiencies in how that infrastructure is constructed. Instead of building roads further and further out as happens in urban "sprawl," money can be spent to make existing roads and other services more effective. In other words, make a growth services area that will receive urban services. Beyond the UGB, where the intent is to protect resources and rural character, the infrastructure is not provided. Various jurisdictions use them for different purposes. Portland, OR is trying to minimize expansion into forest and farm land. Miami-Dade County’s UGB line is intended to protect ground water and wetlands. Developers in Miami-Dade try frequently to extend the line as far as the county plan will allows. This means more land to build on. However, Florida is already 18 percent developed with plenty of additional land. Osceola County has more than 100,000 acres set aside for development.
However, the urban growth boundary, in whatever jurisdiction, allegedly increases housing costs. Portland OR Metro Council members are considering allowing four cities in its area to expand their UGB, to accommodate nearly 10,000 more housing units If housing affordability is a top concern to elected officials, then maybe the urban fabric should be allowed to sprawl where it wants. In Florida, however, the UGB is meant to hold the line on development spilling over into fragile environments and farmland Home rule, still unsure who rules A few years ago I wrote a post about home rule issues in Florida and North Carolina. Florida is a home rule state, by the language in the 1968 Florida Constitution. The Florida Legislature has worked hard to subvert traditional selfgovernance by the state’s local jurisdictions. The Florida Constitution gives local governments extensive powers to deal with local issues and priorities. For decades, Florida’s communities have taken pride in local ordinances that provide local solutions, while reflecting the state’s unique values and needs. In recent years, the Legislature, pushed by special interests, has turned to overruling local control. They’ve pushed for state laws that preempt cities and counties from passing their own ordinances for regulation. Sometimes this comes at a cost to the public of its own health, safety and welfare. The squabble over what jurisdiction should regulate vacation rentals is a good example of pre-emption. House Bill 773 and Senate Bill 1400, introduced in the 2018 session, were intended to diminish local control over where vacation rentals are allowed. A few years ago I lived across the street from a vacation rental. The renters would stay for about two weeks, were fairly quiet, and then gone. However, a local government’s zoning ordinances are intended to keep neighborhoods stable. Unregulated vacation rentals could affect that stability. The two companion bills both died before the end of the session, but the contention continues.
House Bill 521/Senate Bill 574 would have pre-empted cities and counties from regulating trimming or removal of trees on private property. No matter if the trees presented a danger to surrounding property, a local government could not trim anything to protect its own utilities. This bill did not pass. In North Carolina, though, a similar bill did pass the state general assembly in 2014. It would allow a developer to clear cut every tree on a piece of private property. The worst form of pre-emption, though, is HB 631 passed by the 2018 Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott. The law blocks local governments from passing measures allowing continued public entry to privately owned beaches, even when property owners may want to block off their land. Instead, any jurisdiction that wants to do that need to get a judge’s approval first.
It helps if your jurisdiction already has passed customary use ordinances for beach access. Walton County is one that did, but the new state law appeared to invalidate it. More than 300 residents showed up for a town hall on July 17 to discuss access on the county’s Gulf beaches. City and county governments must be allowed to make their own decisions in the best interests of their residents, not those of private corporations and special interests. That means planning at the local level, by professional and elected officials who understand their communities.