I had never before put a bumper sticker on my car. But I have one now; its says “Vote No Amendment 4."
That’s because I am truly afraid of what Amendment 4 would do to Broward County. In reality, Amendment 4 would cost jobs, stall the economy and prevent blighted properties from being redeveloped. The effect would be most devastating in Broward County, where it could make land-use changes all but impossible. In 1985, the Florida Legislature established a growth management system requiring each county and city to designate the use of all land in its jurisdiction. It is a painstaking process that requires consideration of numerous planning issues, from the availability of transportation to the protection of natural resources. Whenever a change in use is requested, evaluations of the change are prepared by the planning staffs of the local government, the Regional Planning Council, the Florida Department of Transportation, the School Board, the Water Management District and State of Florida Department of Community Affairs. The technical reports from all the agencies are presented to the local government considering the change, and public hearings are required before the local government arrives at a decision on the change. In the rest of Florida, at least three public hearings are required. But in Broward, such changes undergo at least eight public hearings because in 1977 County voters amended the County Charter to require special protections for land use changes. Residents are notified of each hearing, and often turn out in force to speak up for or against the change. If they don’t show up it is usually because the property owner has met with the neighbors and received support for the change. When a land use change is approved it is typical for conditions to be placed on the new land use -- requiring things like road improvements, a special design for the buildings, buffers, bikeways, parks, affordable housing and so forth. But even approval by the local government after multiple reviews and multiple hearings isn’t the end of the current process. The State Department of Community Affairs then gets a chance to challenge any change that appears to conflict with state law. Even if the Department approves, members of the public affected by the change can ask for an administrative hearing. It is only at the end of this gauntlet of technical review, public hearings and possible administrative hearings that a new use is established. It is not uncommon for this arduous process to take a year or longer. Amendment 4, if approved, would add a referendum to the end of the process, meaning that all of that deliberative work by property owners, planning staffs, state agencies, neighbors and elected officials would be reduced to a simple thumbs up or down by voters who, through no fault of their own, would know nothing about the land use changes they are voting on. History makes the outcome of such a vote predictable: Voters almost always reject anything they don’t understand. As difficult as it would be to succeed in changing land use throughout the state if Amendment 4 were approved, in Broward County it would be virtually impossible. That’s because in Broward County, where the County’s Charter requires all land use to comply with both the city’s Land Use Plan and the County’s Land Use Plan, every land use change would have to be approved by two separate votes -- a referendum in the municipality where the property is located and a countywide referendum. Imagine for a minute, in more concrete terms, how Amendment 4 would work in Broward County. Suppose someone wants to tear down an outdated and half-vacant apartment building in Pompano Beach and build a shopping center with a large new grocery store in its place, because an apartment building is no longer a viable use in that location. Broward County’s Charter would require changes to the land use plans both of the City of Pompano Beach and Broward County. The change would go through the agency reviews mentioned above and seven public hearings. Neighborhood meetings would be held and neighborhood issues would be addressed through design guidelines, landscaping, traffic improvement and so forth. Those conditions on the development of the property would be made binding on the property. Let’s say that the City and County having received recommendations of approval from the agencies and the neighbors involved in the process approve the land use change and the State supports the change. Today the process would end here. If Amendment 4 were approved this November, after a year or more of this painstaking process the change to allow a shopping center would have to win a “Yes” vote in Pompano Beach and win a separate “Yes” vote in a countywide referendum. They couldn’t possibly --so they will vote “No.” What would that “No” mean? The neighborhood will not get its shopping center and grocery store. The deteriorated apartment building will remain or become a vacant lot. People who would have found jobs designing, financing, surveying, building the water and sewer systems, building the shell of the buildings, putting on the roofs, installing the electric and plumbing, doing the painting, installing the landscaping, and supplying materials won’t get that work. People who would have found jobs in the shopping center won’t get those jobs. The property won’t pay its share of property taxes but will require additional police and code enforcement surveillance. The same scenario in different forms will be repeated many times over throughout the county, jeopardizing this community’s opportunity to get rid of deteriorating buildings and create jobs. If Amendment 4 should pass, the evils it will cause will not be the fault of voters in the future who routinely say “No” to land use changes they don’t understand. The blame will fall squarely on the shoulders of those few people who have dreamed up the broken process that Amendment 4 would create and who are trying to sell the idea by calling it “democracy” rather than what it is: a very un-American tyranny by referendum that ignores the wishes of property owners and neighbors, halts economic recovery, eliminates jobs and takes property rights. Please, don’t just vote “No.” Get a bumper sticker too! Barbara Hall is an attorney at Greenberg Traurig whose practice includes land use and environmental law. She has 21 years of experience in development law, representing local governments, private property owners and developers. As an Assistant County Attorney, Barbara played a key role in the drafting and adoption of Broward County's Comprehensive Plan which was the first County Plan approved by the State of Florida.
Amendment 4 would change Florida’s Constitution to give voters the final say on changes to how any parcel of land can be used. If that sounds simple and democratic, it’s neither.
Here’s a little background that will help explain why that’s so.
What do you suppose are the chances that voters in cities outside Pompano Beach will understand the merits of putting a shopping center in a Pompano Beach neighborhood and vote “Yes”?
