Issues, Florida Chapter

Growth Management

Throughout the state of Florida, one of the greatest threats to natural resources is urban sprawl. The issue intersects with land use/water resources, wetlands, wildlife, transportation, energy, and public elections/campaign finance. We need to empower more of our local activists to fight the changes in their comprehensive plans hopefully through citizen initiatives; legal action should be seen instead as a last resort. This will work hand in glove with the efforts to pass Florida Hometown Democracy.

At the legislature, the focus will be on further revising the growth management laws/rules in this State. Among many things pointed out by this chair at the end of the last session, we need to attempt to toughen the state's oversight and enforcement role through DCA to protect our natural resources and we also need to ease the standing requirements so it is easier to raise legal challenges organizationally where necessary.

Threats and Opportunities

The development community will keep trying to dilute all processes in the name of "streamlining" and in certain parts of the state, to ignore the process altogether if it can get away with it.

Opportunities exist to unite, educate, and urge Sierrans and other allies to action throughout the state, to defeat bad legislation and to support good legislation where it emerges plus to show them how they can conduct local initiatives and position themselves where they can do this.

Goals

Educate our members about the power they can muster in their local communities and offer technical assistance in drafting local charter initiatives such as the ones done throughout the Panhandle. Through doing this, we can bring about better growth management policies in the State from the bottom up.

Work with our local Legislative Delegations before and during the session to educate and advise of state Sierra interests both for proposed bad and good legislation in this area. If a rally in Tallahassee and elsewhere is appropriate, let's do it.

Assist our chapter director in Tallahassee with committee meetings, legislator meetings and letter writing campaigns where deemed important. Work closely with colleagues in other environmental and civic groups involved with public interest coalitions and educate others where possible in the error of their ways should they be too quick to endorse a potentially bad compromise.

Legislative

With potentially major revisions of the State growth management statute again on the table, Sierra club will need to be very vigilant this session. We know that likewise there will be rulemaking to implement the rewrites of the growth management bills. Also, there will be some number of suits designed to slow or stop the spread of sprawl and we should most closely look at those which would have the broadest impact first.

Allies and Opponents

There are many members of the past Growth Management Coalition (38 groups) who have been and will continue to assist in monitoring these growth management issues so that we don’t lose oversight of growth management by the DCA. Our opponents will be the development industry, which will promote streamlining, but to the detriment of our environment and good community planning. The Cabinet and agencies will fall in line with the Governor’s vision of more control at the local level, and less at the top. Another very long session looks to be on tap but that can be balanced by more activism at the city and county levels to pass charter initiatives!

Additional actions planned

We will be especially watching water issues again along with the Water and Wetlands Committee. We will continue to support action against the anti-citizen legislation that was previously passed to undo and improve upon the standing situation. We will also continue to support Everglades initiatives that bring about positive growth management principles for the rest of the state. We will be watching agricultural-related legislation as well, particularly the enclave legislation that keeps rearing its ugly head. The committee is established to continue work on the Florida Hometown Democracy Campaign and we'll be in there pitching with them, as we will also assist local groups when necessary on issues involving the St. Joe Company’s development in tandem with the Panhandle Issues/St. Joe Committee.

Recent Achievements

Did defeat some of the worst excesses for the GM legislation but some bad stuff still got through. Helped gather petition signatures for Florida Hometown Democracy. Helped draft and actually worked local initiative drives and campaigns important to growth management.

What can you do?

Our basic messages to our members is, 1) we need have them become active in local initiative charter changes and achieving Florida Hometown Democracy; and (2) to maintain and strengthen state oversight and enforcement through the DCA on growth management – regional issues.

Through contacts via email, fax, telephone and newsletters, our committee will be educating our members as to what can be done, what the issues are, and what our position(s) will be. Then each member should work with this commonality so as to try and achieve local charter changes which would enhance good growth management and in opposition to sprawl development. Each member and group in the state can assist greatly by working with their own Legislative Delegation via phone, letter, email and fax. This will allow our chapter director to work with committee meetings as well as the individual legislators with large, visible membership support where necessary on legislation.

Also, it is very important for groups to develop contacts with local media on the various growth management issues. This is a wonderful opportunity to raise public awareness, through the media, of the Sierra Club positions on growth management/sprawl.

Once we heighten public awareness on Sierra Club issues, it creates an opportunity to add to our membership and fundraising efforts.