November 22, 2009

Growth Rush of 2009

Developers seek land-use approvals before Hometown Democracy goes to voters

By DEREK CATRON and JIM SAUNDERS
Staff Writers

To develop his clients' vast land holdings, attorney Glenn Storch met with Volusia and Brevard county officials, bordering property owners and conservation groups.

They talked about roads. They talked about water. They discussed residential densities and jobs creation, debated how much land should be preserved, explored the impact on school construction planning. The company pulled together a panel discussion of national experts to critique their plans in public.

"We have spent four years thinking about how to do the right thing, and we're only halfway there," Storch said recently.

Having convinced elected officials in both counties to propose changes to their long-range growth plans to accommodate the Farmton project, the last thing Storch would want to do is mount an election campaign to secure final approval from voters.

"What owner in their right mind would go through an election after going through all the rest of this?" Storch said. "I don't know of any landowner who'd be willing to take that on."

That sentiment helps explain the stealthy moves to prepare for another Florida building boom. Even as the construction industry remains stalled by the recession, developers are lining up at unprecedented rates to secure approval for big projects that could add hundreds of thousands of new buildings to the Florida market.

Florida Hometown Democracy's Amendment 4, which will be on the ballot next November and would give voters the final say on local comprehensive plan amendments, is unintentionally helping push the planning frenzy.

Yet, in what would be the ultimate ironic twist, those seeking to thwart the amendment could find their actions building support for it instead.

SURGE IN PLANNING

Tom Pelham, secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs, told lawmakers this month the specter of Florida Hometown Democracy is causing more proposed land-use amendments and many are "unprecedented in their size and scope." He also added later that a lot of amendments are "half-baked products.

"The fear that the voters of this state will actually adopt that (Florida Hometown Democracy) requirement . . . is driving, causing, prompting, stampeding many landowners to seek plan amendments much earlier than they otherwise would," Pelham said.

As of a Nov. 12 count, the Department of Community Affairs had received 878 "packets" of proposed amendments from local governments this year. Each packet might include more than one amendment.

That compares to 410 packets the department received during all of 2007. (Local governments were required to update parts of their comprehensive plans in 2008, which makes it difficult to compare that year.)

Locally, comp-plan amendments include Miami Corp.'s Farmton GreenKey, which calls for a cluster of nearly 30,000 homes while conserving 40,000 acres in Volusia and Brevard counties; Edgewater's Restoration, which proposes 8,500 residences and would nearly double the city's population; and the Neoga Lakes and Old Brick Township projects that would add about 12,000 homes on the outskirts of Palm Coast.

Brian Teeple, chief executive of the Northeast Florida Regional Council, an agency that reviews large developments in Flagler and six other counties, said he thinks Hometown Democracy is leading to amendments getting proposed years earlier than they might otherwise have been.

Teeple said, for example, that could mean development proposals in rural areas that would have been put off in the past until they are more "ripe."

"I'm sensing that some of these things aren't really ready yet, and folks are pushing them," Teeple said.

Tallahassee land-use attorney Linda Shelley, a former secretary of the Department of Community Affairs, said Hometown Democracy has created uncertainty that is leading to an increase in comprehensive-plan amendments.

She said property owners "don't have any idea what the process will be in the future.

"I think there is definitely an increase (in proposed amendments), particularly on the property-owner side of the equation," said Shelley, who represents the city of Ormond Beach in the proposed Ormond Crossings development in northern Volusia County.

THREAT OF OVER-DEVELOPMENT?

To Hometown Democracy's supporters, the planning boom is proof their amendment is needed.

"The fact that there's a stampede for amendments shows the developers know they get their way with the elected officials," said Palm Beach attorney Lesley Blackner, one of the amendment drive's founders. "Why are they afraid of facing the public? They know the public is tired of over-development."

Fears of over-development are not the same as a desire for no development, said Greg Gimbert, a Daytona Beach resident who's become an advocate for smarter planning.

"We need construction jobs," said Gimbert, a phone company technician. "We need development. We need people banging nails."

But why do local governments keep approving new developments "in the swamp," Gimbert wonders, when there's so much existing supply?

"You're diluting the value of everyone's property," he said. "It siphons off demand that should rightfully come to our cities. We've built schools (in the cities). We've built roads (there). Not only are we having to pay the higher prices for services (to extend them to newly developed areas), it's had the effect of rotting out our urban areas."

It is more expensive to provide services to more far-flung areas, and the absence of a methodical growth plan can leave service providers spread too thin, said Saralee Morrissey, who oversees planning for new school construction for the Volusia County school district.

To better anticipate growth, Morrissey's office maintains an analysis of unbuilt -- but approved -- housing units in the county. It totals nearly 60,000, and it's a conservative estimate that figures to get bigger, she said.

"In a county as large as us with as many cities as we have, the potential exists with a lot of areas to over-develop," she said.

ULTIMATE IRONY?

An over-supply of houses would hold down the prices on existing homes, said David Denslow, an economist with the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

"We do see some recovery of the housing market," he said. "But that process will be discouraged somewhat by the comp-plan amendments going on right now."

Denslow is no fan of the Hometown Democracy amendment because he doesn't believe it will foster good planning. But he also criticizes legislative action that has loosened growth management regulations in hopes of aiding the economy.

He was reminded of Florida's class-size amendment, which forced smaller teacher-student ratios on lawmakers and school officials after they failed to quell the clamor from parents and education advocates. A failure to meet voters' concerns about over-development is driving Hometown Democracy -- even as the threat of Hometown Democracy prompts developers to accelerate their plans.

"That's a great analogy," Denslow said. "It (development) got out of hand during the housing boom. We saw a period that amounted to deregulation. Hometown Democracy is a reaction that goes too far the other way."

Yet lawmakers may push voters in that direction if they push too hard to ease regulations on growth, Denslow said. He cited Senate Bill 360 -- which ended a requirement for developers to improve roads near new construction projects -- as an example. Environmentalists and smart-growth proponents fought against the measure, and its passage into law this spring altered the landscape in the political battle over Hometown Democracy.

Charles Lee, a longtime Audubon of Florida leader who was in Daytona Beach last month to participate on the panel discussion of Hometown Democracy, said the Florida Legislature "lost its credibility to govern" on growth issues and warned they could push people to support Hometown Democracy.

"I believe they have poisoned the well, " he said.

Denslow fears it could get worse, particularly if owners feel the value of their homes is at risk.

"Everybody can anticipate the supply (of houses) is already there. The problem is if local governments lose the ability to control that supply," he said. "That's just going to feed Hometown Democracy."

derek.catron@news-jrnl.com

jim.saunders@news-jrnl.com