Last week, the Gainesville city commissioners approved a resolution in opposition to proposed state constitutional Amendment 4, the so-called Hometown Democracy amendment.
No surprise there. Cities and counties all over the state are similarly going on record against the amendment. And for good reason.
If the amendment passes, all future changes to county or municipal comprehensive land use plans would have to be approved by voter referendum.
Hometown Democracy would do nothing less than turn representative democracy in Florida on its head.
Yes, Florida's comprehensive planning process is flawed. But there is nothing to suggest that making future land use changes on the basis of popularity contests would fix anything.
While Amendment 4 would be a boon to campaign consults and PR firms - cranking up campaigns to support or oppose comp plan changes would be a growth industry - that doesn't mean it will bring anything resembling rationality or vision to growth management in Florida.
To the contrary, it would only make the process more serendipitous than it already is.
This week it was reported that city officials in St. Petersburg are contemplating a rewrite of its land use map. The plan currently has 23 separate land use categories, but the rewrite would contain just five more broad categories.
Why? Because if Amendment 4 passes, the city could approve more development under the simplified land use map without having to go to voter referendum.
In other words, that city may dumb-down its comprehensive plan in order to avoid development approval by popularity contest. That's hardly the sort of growth management improvement framers of Amendment 4 envisioned. Amendment 4 is a well meaning, but ultimately flawed, proposal that voters should reject.
