enough signatures for amendment 4 ballot

TALLAHASSEE -- Backers of a proposed state constitutional amendment that would give residents control over changes to local land-use plans believe they have enough signatures to get onto the 2010 ballot.

But that's only if a pending Florida Supreme Court decision goes their way.

Florida Hometown Democracy, led by Palm Beach land-use lawyer Lesley Blackner, has been trying for more than five years to get the initiative before voters statewide.

Blackner's petition would require voters to consider all changes to comprehensive land-use plans, the growth strategies that lay out what gets built where and encompass everything from convenience stores to strip malls to mega-dwelling developments. If voters did not approve them, they could not happen.

Now, county and city commissioners make those decisions.

Blackner's group has collected 691,896 signatures, according to the Department of State's Web site - more than the 676,811 required by state law to get onto the 2010 ballot. The count won't be official until state officials certify the signatures.

But a law backed by the business community allowing residents to revoke their signatures thwarted Blackner's efforts to get onto the ballot last year.

Blackner and the co-author of the Florida Hometown Democracy petition, Ross Burnaman, sued to overturn that law. The state's high court has yet to rule on the case.

Today, Burnaman filed a motion asking the justices to expedite their decision.

The court's ruling is important because state law requires a certain number of signatures from each congressional district. If the revocations don't count, the group has enough signatures in Central Florida's District 7. But if the revocations are upheld, Hometown Democracy would be 150 signatures short.

In the meantime, the business-backed Floridians for Smarter Growth has its own petition in the works. Its amendment would let residents vote on a change only if 10 percent or more of a community's registered voters sign a petition at the local supervisor of elections office.

That group is still hundreds of thousands of signatures from the required total, which must be certified by the state by Feb. 1 to get on the ballot.

Floridians for Smarter Growth executive director Ryan Houck said his group hasn't decided whether it will pursue getting its initiative onto the ballot next year.

"We're keeping our cards close to the vest regarding that," he said.

Gov. Charlie Crist's recent signature of a new law (SB 360) making it easier for developers to get approval for projects heightens the need for residents to have a decision about growth management changes, Blackner said.

"It just goes to show that they always get what they want. This is the same group that basically destroyed our economy with overbuilding, and their solution is to dismantle growth management and build more," she said.