TALLAHASSEE \u2014 The Florida Home Builders Association has joined a legal battle to help defend a new state law that includes blocking cities and counties from approving \u201cmore restrictive or burdensome\u201d changes to growth plans.<\/p>\n
The association and one of its members, Northwest Florida builder Alton Lister, intervened Tuesday as 25 cities and counties and the growth-management group 1000 Friends of Florida seek a preliminary injunction against the wide-ranging law (SB 180), which lawmakers said was designed to help the state recover from hurricanes in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 attempts to enjoin Senate Bill 180 in its entirety would greatly (and negatively) affect ongoing work of the association\u2019s members and affiliates throughout the state,\u201d the builders\u2019 motion to intervene said. \u201cIncreased red tape, costs and delays are just some of the cascading effects of the relief plaintiffs seek (and to which they\u2019re not entitled).\u201d<\/p>\n
Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey, who approved the motion to intervene, will hold a hearing Friday on the plaintiffs\u2019 request for a preliminary injunction and a request by state officials to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n
In a document filed Monday, attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote that the law \u201chas caused confusion and turmoil in all counties and municipalities in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCounties and municipalities are spending significant funds to take actions required under SB 180 and are approving projects that, but for SB 180, would not be approved,\u201d the plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n
The local governments filed a lawsuit in September, and 1000 Friends of Florida and Orange County resident Rachel Hildebrand followed with another lawsuit. The cases were later consolidated.<\/p>\n
Most of the attention has centered on part of the law that effectively freezes local land-development regulations and comprehensive plans through Oct. 1, 2027, and was made retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys, in part, have alleged the law violates local governments\u2019 home-rule authority, violates a constitutional single-subject requirement for legislation and strips the ability of cities and counties to manage growth.<\/p>\n
In Tuesday\u2019s motion to intervene, the builders\u2019 attorneys pointed to \u201cadverse effects\u201d if Dempsey grants the plaintiffs\u2019 request for an injunction.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaintiffs don\u2019t like SB 180\u2019s bar on local construction moratoriums and more burdensome land use regulations,\u201d the motion said. \u201cIf these provisions of SB 180 are enjoined, however, construction timelines would suffer. Projects already underway or planned for a storm-damaged area could suddenly be halted because of a local freeze or a new land use regulation that has the practical effect of a freeze on development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The law drew little opposition during this spring\u2019s legislative session after hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton hit the state in 2024.<\/p>\n
It addressed numerous issues, such as debris removal, mutual-aid agreements and building-permit and inspection fees, and DeSantis has defended the measure as primarily helping people whose homes were damaged to rebuild without government interference.<\/p>\n
The lawsuits name as defendants Florida Department of Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly, Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, Department of Revenue Executive Director Jim Zingale and state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. The lawsuits said those state officials have roles in carrying out the law or in local-government money.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the state officials have raised a series of arguments in seeking to dismiss the case and scuttle a preliminary injunction, including contending that the plaintiffs don\u2019t have legal standing to challenge the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE \u2014 The Florida Home Builders Association has joined a legal battle to help defend a new state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49500,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-92338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-highlands_homes","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}