ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A new Florida law is making changes to land use and development regulations.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure on Friday. It’s already raising concerns among Northwest Florida officials.
Some commissioners in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties say this law takes away local control over development and reduces public oversight.
“You know once again, here we are and the state is trying to get in the local governments ability to regulate growth and development within the county,” Santa Rosa County administrator Brad Baker said.
House Bill 399 was one of the first signed by DeSantis this year. It requires local governments to base development fees on the actual cost of reviewing projects.
It also means some applications can be approved without a public hearing or any further local action.
Baker says there are a number of other provisions in this bill that residents should look at.
“I think the main thing I would want citizens to be aware of is, Florida has historically been a home rule county,” said Baker. “So the more preemptions the state takes away from the local government, the less we are going to control. And there’s many things over the last or three years that really take the local control away from the county commission, the governing body of the county.”
Those concerns cross county lines.
“I think the commissioners will lose their leverage, at the point where residents expect us to act,” Escambia County commissioner Steve Stroberger said. “I think it takes away a lot of authority and shifts that power to Tallahassee.”
Stroberger adds it could impact the county’s relationship with developers. It can cap development fees, requiring simple majority votes for land use changes and limit how projects can be denied.
Governments must have clear rules on what fits in a neighborhood.
“Think what they want to do is streamline things, but that streamlining doesn’t give us the ability to be able to say, like in Perdido or Beulah, that it’s not compatible with this neighborhood,” Stroberger said. “And that it’s an adequate reason to deny something.”
Kevin Enfinger, vice president of Green Hill Construction, has been in the business for over two decades and believes the new law doesn’t come from construction associations.
“It came from, I would say developers in south Florida,” said Enfinger. “And I think there’s pros and cons to it. I think the accountability piece of it, of making sure you know there’s written correspondence to understand why something was rejected from a local jurisdiction is helpful. but i don’t necessarily agree with the idea that approval processes should be bypassed. Home rule should be protected in most cases.”
This law took effect when it was signed on Friday. Changes to specific provisions can be made starting Jan. 1.