The Government Affairs Committee (GAC) of the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce will recommend to the full Chamber membership that it adopt a resolution officially opposing controversial Amendment 4 in the Nov. 2 general election.
Amendment 4, if passed, would require that changes to an area’s comprehensive land-use plan be approved by voters in a referendum rather than being approved or rejected by city or county commissions.
Comprehensive plans and the growth management process were mandated in 1985 by the Florida Legislature when it passed the Growth Management Act. The law requires all local governments (counties and municipalities) to adopt a comprehensive plan to guide their future growth and development.
Amendment 4 proponents, a majority from south Florida, gathered almost 690,000 signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. They argue that reform is needed to stop rampant overdevelopment and sprawl.
Former state Rep. Buzz Ritchie (left) talks about the effects Amendment 4 could have on Florida business growth while United Peninsula Association president Don Richards listens. Joe Culpepper/Gulf Breeze News Opponents contend the law would squash business growth and opportunity in Florida at a time when the economy is suffering and unemployment exceeds 10 percent. Some of the groups that oppose Amendment 4 include the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Association of Realtors and Floridians for Smarter Growth, to name just a few.
“Anybody who has ever wanted to address anything that is in the current plan and have it modified ought to be pretty much shocked about this, about the delays that would be involved,” Buzz Ritchie, a local civic leader, bank founder and former state representative told the GAC last week.
“Any roadway improvements or expansion, hospitals, schools, parks, fire and police stations, even traffic signalization – anything that’s going to amend the land-use plan – would have to go to an election. How could we do that?”
Ritchie used two Florida cities as examples. The city of Alachua considered 635 landuse changes during a recent year. In another recent year, the city of Carrabelle had 617 landuse issues go to leaders for consideration.
Ritchie said St. Pete Beach adopted such a law in 2006 and by 2009 had rescinded it.
“The Mayor of St. Pete Beach was pretty emphatic about what a fiasco it was, how it really hurt the economy,” Ritchie said. “It just shut everything down. Nobody could get anything done.
“The biggest thing is the delays, the costs; the litigation that arises out of this would be just phenomenal. It would be a great thing for attorneys because everybody would be suing everybody.”
Leslie Blackner of Jacksonville, president of the Amendment 4 movement formerly known as Hometown Democracy, contends local governments bow to the desires of rich developers and extend too many favors.
“Development gone wild has taken Florida’s economy over the cliff,” Blackner told the Naples News.
Ritchie has heard it all.
“There are people in this state who want to stop growth,” he said. “They think Florida is too big, and they want to slow it down. Some people believe that special interests – builders, developers, investors – have too much influence over the elected political process and they get their way in city hall and county government for the land-use changes that are in fact ably decided by elected local officials.”
Gulf Breeze City Manager Buz Eddy said rising Internet security company AppRiver’s plan to expand and accommodate the relocation of Avalex Technologies from Pensacola might not have happened so efficiently had changes in the land-use plan been forced to a public referendum. Necessary minor changes to the plan were approved by the City Council in relatively quick order.
“In addition to all the other things we argue about, Amendment 4 would give other people, other states, a competitive edge over our cities in Florida,” Eddy said. “This would stymie our economic engine that helps keep taxes down. It’s a bad thing all around.”
