Originally Published 1 October 2007
Hernando Today
BROOKSVILLE - When Nancy Murphy signed, Hickory Hill was fresh in her mind.
Murphy, a 65-year-old Spring Lake resident, mailed her petition for the Florida Hometown Democracy initiative just a few days ago.
She said the county commission's recent 4 to 1 approval of the comprehensive plan change for the 1,750-home development off Spring Lake Highway is a glaring example of why Hometown Democracy is necessary.
Murphy and her husband Joe Sr. have lived in Spring Lake since 1979. Joe helped draft the county's original comp plan, so Nancy said she understands that the plan is meant to be flexible and accommodate change sometimes.
However, she said, "People of Spring Lake spoke very loudly that they didn't want this development, but we're going to get it."
Murphy is one of 6,619 Hernando County residents who have signed the petition to help get the Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment on to the ballot in November 2008.
The amendment would require that any change to a city or county's comprehensive land use plan be approved by voters through a referendum.
So far the initiative has garnered a little more than 331,000 total signatures statewide, according to the state election office. That's more than halfway to the 611,006 needed to get it on the ballot. The deadline is Jan. 31.
Lesley Blackner, one of two cofounders of the initiative, estimates the signature count is closer to 400,000 because the state has yet to verify all of them.
"It's nerve-wracking," Blackner said of the effort Monday as the four-month countdown crept closer.
Though the Division of Elections is checking for a certain number of signatures from each of the state's 25 House districts, Blackner and fellow organizers are taking a county-by-county approach, enlisting an army of volunteers to meet the goal.
Florida residents are tired of politicians granting exception after exception for just about any developer seeking a comp plan change, said Blackner, a Palm Beach environmental attorney.
"Right now, there's no accountability to the public," she said. "Too many of these commissioners are bought and paid for by the development industry. Either they're in it themselves or it finances their campaigns. All Hometown Democracy wants to do is give some control back to the community."
That notion prompted Linda Prescott of Hernando Beach to volunteer to collect signatures here.
"I thought people should have a right to have a voice for what goes in their neighborhood," said Prescott, a 59-year-old computer and accounting instructor at Hillsborough Community College who helped with the unsuccessful effort to fight the Wal-Mart on U.S. 19.
A host of local groups have helped with the Hometown Democracy effort, including the Sierra Club, the Green Party, the Gulf Coast Conservancy and the Hernando Alliance for Open Land Conservation, which fought Hickory Hill.
"I think in Hernando, the time is right because people are very concerned about all the development," Prescott said. "I think people are waking up to the fact that growth for the most part does not pay for itself."
Prescott and other volunteers have stood in front of polling places during elections and passed the petition around at various meetings. She has eschewed the door-to-door approach to gathering signatures, preferring to meet with homeowner associations to recruit more signature gatherers.
"I don't want anyone signing it who is not convinced it's the way to go," she said.
'An irresponsible amendment'
Pro-growth, pro-business forces are fighting back.
A group called Save our Constitution has contacted people who have signed the Hometown Democracy petition to get them to change their minds and revoke their signatures.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce is helping to lead a group called Floridians for Smarter Growth, bankrolled in large part by builders. The chamber calls Hometown Democracy "another irresponsible amendment being promoted by extreme special interests" that "would imperil Florida's prosperity and quality of life."
The amendment, according to the chamber's Web site, "subverts a well-established, open, accessible and democratic planning process" so "citizens, not the representatives they elected, are forced to regularly decide thousands of intricate land-use planning issues."
The amendment, according to these groups, would stymie economic development in the state and create exorbitant costs for elections.
The Greater Hernando County Chamber will likely take the same stance, said Morris Porton, chairman of the chamber's governmental and legislative affairs committee.
"The system works pretty well," Porton said. "Comp plan changes are not something that people take lightly."
The local chamber is currently working to educate its leadership and members about the amendment, Porton said. Part of that education will include a talk on Hometown Democracy by Sebring Sierra, vice-president of operations of Sierra Properties, the developer of Hickory Hill.
The chamber is charging $10 for admission to the Oct. 3 event at Country Kitchen in Brooksville; the talk is open to the public but RSVP is required.
Porton said the chamber hadn't decided on whether to invite a pro-Hometown Democracy speaker at some future meeting.
"We're certainly open to any thoughts on (the issue)," he said.
County Commissioner Diane Rowden said she has yet to take a stance on Hometown Democracy but said she understands voters' frustration.
Rowden cast the lone dissenting vote against Hickory Hill and has lamented how often and easily the county's comp plan has been changed over the years.
"I don't necessarily think putting it out for a vote would be an ideal situation, either, but there has to be some way to protect the comprehensive plan more than we have now, and if that's the way, so be it," Rowden said.
Commissioner Dave Russell said he was surprised by the "almost disproportionate number" of signatures coming from Hernando County.
While the amendment sounds appealing to many, Russell said he worries about the potential impact on growth control measures that were recently updated and improved.
As a state legislator, Russell worked on amendments to the Growth Management Act that set so-called concurrency standards to ensure that schools, roads and water supply can handle proposed development.
He pointed out that the new rules did not apply to Hickory Hill because it was already in the process, but that Sierra has worked to meet concurrency standards anyway.
"I think given a chance to work, the new growth laws will accomplish much of what the Hometown Democracy initiative might accomplish in a way that's a little more practical," Russell said.
Politicians have had their chance, Blackner said.
"Why are they so afraid of giving voters the final say," she said. "Do you think the voters can do any worse? These comp plan changes are political decisions. They shouldn't be granted unless the commission makes the determination that the broad public interest is served by the change. Unfortunately, when it comes to land development, too many commissions have redefined the public interest to keeping the development going full throttle, and they never say no."
Reporter Tony Marrero can be contacted at 352-544-5286. Find out more about the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment at www.flordiahometowndemocracy.com. For an opposing viewpoint, visit the Floridians for Smarter Growth site, www.flsmartergrowth.org.
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