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TCPalm, January 14, 2008

Florida Hometown Democracy initiative will hurt state's environment and economy, opposition leader says

By George Andreassi


PALM CITY - The Florida Hometown Democracy initiative, which would subject all land use changes to a voter referendum, should be stopped because it would hurt the state's environment as well as its economy, an opposition leader said Monday.

It would hurt the environment by locking in a pattern of one house per five acres for large swaths of land, resulting in suburban sprawl, said Ryan Houck, political director of Floridians for Smarter Growth, a group formed to defeat the initiative.

And the economy would suffer because the initiative would make it extremely difficult to convert land to commercial or industrial uses, Houck told about 120 Martin County business leaders during a luncheon at Piper's Landing County Club.

Houck received a warm reception from the members of Martin County's five chambers of commerce, serving as a counter balance for the support several local environmental groups gave to Leslie Blackner, the president of Florida Hometown Democracy, during her presentation on Dec. 3.

Houck said he believes there is a 50-50 chance that the Florida Hometown Democracy initiative will make it onto the Nov. 4 ballot.

Organizers must collect more than 611,000 petitions from registered voters throughout the state as well by Feb. 1, including a minimum number in 13 of Florida's 25 congressional districts.

But even if the initiative makes the ballot, Houck said he does not believe it will gain the support of 60 percent of the voters, which is needed to change the state's constitution, but it could be close.