Originally Published 2 December 2, 2007
The Treasure Coast Palm
Kenric Ward’s recent columns on the criminal conviction of some Palm Beach County officials for corruption in land deals and “greenwashing” in spending millions for “development rights” (instead of the voter-approved outright purchase of land for preservation) reflect the low level of public trust in the honesty and the competence of our elected representatives and those who advise them.
As public officials in Indian River County and across Florida continue to fail to represent the interests of the public in land use and development, voters must approve Florida Hometown Democracy (floridahometowndemocracy.org) if development is to be controlled when the housing market recovers.
Until Hometown Democracy is approved, voters should reject any land-use referenda sponsored by local government officials or special-interest groups linked to any business entities.
Every application for land-use changes and zoning changes should be subject to an independent environmental impact analysis.
This should take into consideration not just flora and fauna, but also impacts on existing human residents of the area, and the real short- and long-term impacts on taxpayer.
Neither local governments, nor the public at large, owe windfall profits to landowners and developers by approving changes in land-use and zoning density.
Any changes approved after independent scrutiny must be conditional upon fees, paid upfront, that fully cover the long-term, inflation-adjusted increased costs of all tax-paid services that will be necessary to support the change in use or zoning.
All of these groups, in their different contexts, are driven by power and money. To protect our environment, voters should get control of both.
Derek Hanley
Vero Beach
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