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Article
Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times
By
Editorial Staff
Published May 23, 2019
While the lack of affordable housing is a top issue in
urban areas from South Florida to Tampa Bay, the Florida Legislature is
trying to make it harder for local governments to meet the demand. They have
once again sided with well-heeled developers, making it more expensive for
counties and cities to add affordable housing and for citizens who want to
challenge a development decision in court. This double whammy would curtail
innovation and muzzle residents, and Gov. Ron DeSantis should veto it.
The legislation, HB 7103, was once even worse until
Senate leaders stepped in. Originally, House leaders wanted to ban local
governments from creating zoning that required developers to set aside units
for low-income residents. The revised bill that passed allows the zoning,
but it requires local governments to cover developers’ associated costs. In
other words, cities and counties would be forced to pay up, likely by
waiving fees or offering bonuses or other financial incentives.
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The requirement makes little sense other
than to pad developers’ bottom lines. No one forces them to
build in areas where they don’t like the zoning
requirements. If they don’t think they can make enough money
in areas that require affordable units, they can build
elsewhere.
Locally elected officials should set the community’s
development priorities, not state legislators too often
influenced more by strict ideology and campaign
contributions than by common sense. If local residents don’t
like the results, they can vote for someone else in the next
election. But many residents understand that local officials
need to try different ways to promote construction of
affordable housing. What works in one city might not in
another, but they should be left to figure out their own
best path. That’s how innovation works. Instead, this law
would handcuff local leaders.
To make matters worse, the bill also requires the loser in
any challenge to a development decision to pay the other
side’s legal fees, a provision added at the last minute by
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R.-St. Petersburg. On the surface, that
might seem fair. But what it really does is make it perilous
for a citizen or grassroots group to dare push back when a
local government adjusts its development plans to
accommodate a project. Court cases always hold some risk,
and legal fees can add up quickly, so even someone with a
strong legal argument will think twice. Who would take on a
deep-pocketed government when it might mean personal
financial ruin? |
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The Legislature wants to make it more expensive for
local governments to require affordable housing units. This is the
Burlington Post, a St. Petersburg development offers affordable
housing for older residents.
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The result will be more parking lots, strip malls and
condo towers where they don’t belong, as residents shy away from using the
publicly funded court system to remedy government mistakes. Left unchecked,
poor development decisions will scrub away what makes neighborhoods
distinctive. It could mean more density where less is needed and vice versa.
Bully for developers. Terrible for participatory democracy.
In vetoing a stated ban on local bans of plastic straws, DeSantis
demonstrated a willingness recently to buck Republican legislative leaders
when it comes to their relentless gutting of home rule. He should do the
same with HB 7103. Limiting the ability of cities and counties to tackle the
affordable housing crisis and curtailing access to the courts benefits only
developers. Floridians deserve better.
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