The Florida voter initiatives make for entertaining reading most election cycles, but every once in a while an important one slips into the stream. Amendment 4 is one of them.
I first noticed a "Vote No on Amendment 4" banner attached to a land developer's building. Then I saw one on a Rinker site - a company that provides fill for new construction sites.
That spurred some research.
In short:
Amendment 4 requires the voters ok any changes to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan* at the community's expense.
* link is to a synopsis of the history of this legislation and
here you'll find a lot of wonky land use definitions.
In Long, Legalese:
Amendment 4
Title:
Referenda required for adoption and amendment of local government comprehensive land use plans.
Summary:
Establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to vote of the electors of the local government by referendum, following preparation by the local planning agency, consideration by the governing body and notice. Provides definitions.
Financial Impact Statement is:
The amendment's impact on local government expenditures cannot be estimated precisely. Local governments will incur additional costs due to the requirement to conduct referenda in order to adopt comprehensive plans or amendments thereto. The amount of such costs depends upon the frequency, timing and method of the referenda, and includes the costs of ballot preparation, election administration, and associated expenses. The impact on state government expenditures will be insignificant.
First Impressions
Florida is in the foreclosure scandal lime light. We have one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. There's a 12 month supply of single-family homes on the market nation wide and it's higher in Florida. We have miles of unleased business space. Lots of vacant, abandoned car dealerships.
While driving past many, many for sale signs on homes in my neighborhood, I noticed 2 new housing developments started just a few miles away. The developments weren't busy. They had very few worker's present on the job site, but there was activity.
I went to Markham and Barkham Park a couple weeks ago. Markham Park is a few miles east of the Everglades and the aerial photo of the park shows that it is a wet lands park. I noticed more new housing developments near this park and the Everglades. Again, these developments are surrounded by for sale signs of existing homes.
In going to visit a friend west of 160th Avenue in Broward County, I saw a new strip mall soon to be home to a new Whole Foods Market and 40 more empty stores. Again, there were few workers present on the job site for the size of the strip mall. Several of my friends and co-workers tell me they are seeing the same thing. New development with a handful of construction workers at any one time.
Why are there all these new housing projects when there's a huge inventory of existing home sales? Why the new retail strip malls with all the vacant stores less than 2 miles away? Why do these new projects have so few workers?
Florida's Overbuilding Problem
Miami and West Palm Beach were in the most overbuilt communities in 2007. The situation is no better today, because lowering the price to below what they owe is the only way sellers can sell their homes. In fact, it is projected that home prices will continue to slide downward for another 3 years.
What are land developers doing? They are gearing up to continue this circus.
Florida's Land Use Planing Laws
Similar to the CON (Certificate of Need) system used in health care, the Comprehensive Land Use Plans required of each County in Florida are largely a joke. If a developer pays a few "environmentalists" to back a development project for a percentage of the project (usually billed as a flat fee that totals to the negotiated percentage), they can get the ok to build whatever they want at a cost of maybe 1-2%.
Anyone who visited the Florida Keys in the 1980's and then again after 2000 knows the land planning laws are a joke. Anyone who crosses Alligator Alley or Tamiami Trail regularly sees more and more building encroachment into the Everglades.
Government officials see see greater fees and taxes from developed land. School officials see a path to building schools in the areas closer to the Everglades where new families are moving to by collecting development fees from new building projects. In short, there's more advantage to ok'ing a building project to a government official than in denying one. Since it makes "economic sense" (at least in the short term) to community revenues to ok any building project presented, it's relatively easy to change the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The long term plan is to reap higher property taxes from developed land as opposed to vacant land.
Amendment 4 is meant to stop irresponsible land use because government officials are choosing short term fee revenues over doing their job of protecting the community's overall interests. It's to stop a city from developing their land disproportionately. The Miami Herald puts it in a nutshell:
Despite such concerns [costs and more], it's hard to imagine a system for managing growth that could possibly be more dishonest, or deaf to the public interest, than what we have now.
In fact, a developer was key in getting a local school board member arrested for alleged bribery related to a new housing development. It seems the school board member helped a developer avoid paying new construction fees to the Broward School District.
Florida's Everglades and Environmental Outlook
With salt water intrusion into the coastal aquifers and further encroachment into the Everglades; it won't be long before all of South Florida will require expensive desalination for safe fresh water. The problem in part is due to more water being pumped out than is naturally restored to these aquifers. That's caused by more people crammed into less area who need more water for bathing, food preparation and drinking water. More than the environment can provide.
The Everglades and alligators are key to maintaining fresh water supplies to much of Florida. Deadly as these creatures can be, alligator holes create mini ecosystems for other wildlife. The River of Grass is in need of protection and Florida's government had to be sued by the feds to get a move on to restoring it. We're going to be sued again if we don't do a better job of planning our land use.
Costs of Amendment 4
The main argument against Amendment 4 is about costs. The fear is that communities won't be able to afford the voting process to approve or disapprove changes to the Land Use Plans. That argument carries a lot of water during a recession. The other side of the argument says that vacant buildings are bad for Florida's economy in that faster land development growth makes for a deeper plunge in unemployment and a more depressed real estate market during an economic downturn - not bad assessments.
To the proponents, Amendment 4 is the answer to the land developer's lobbyists. To opponents, Amendment 4 is an impediment to economic recovery. The choice facing Florida is do we want to sell out our habitat for economic recovery? Those who want to preserve the current system to easily change the Comprehensive Land Use Plans want to "pave paradise and put up a parking lot". Do we want the Florida Keys to become a solid run of concrete from Key Largo to Key West? Do we want Orlando to continue to intertwine gridlocked concrete attractions? That's a false choice, because the destruction of wet lands will eventually require expensive, tax payer funded restoration. Eventually, we're going to need the trees and swamp back.
Those who Say VOTE YES on Amendment 4 have raised about $2.4 million to promote the amendment and include:
Audubon of Martin County
Citizens Council for Creeks and Wetlands
Clean Water Network of Florida
Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County
Environmental and Land Use Law Center
Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida
Florida Native Plant Society
Florida Panther Society (that's not FIU)
Florida Wildlife Federation
The Green Party of Florida
National Humane Society
Save Our Florida
Save Our Wetlands Coalition
Save the Manatee Club
Sierra Club, North East Group
Yes, that's a green bunch of people that are for Amendment 4. These groups are taking the "David" position and aren't getting much respect.
Now meet "Goliath"
Those who Say VOTE NO on Amendment 4 and have raised over $12 million to fight it include:
The Alarm Association of Florida
Associated Builders and Contractors
Associated General Contractors of Greater Florida
Association of Florida Community Developers
Business Forum Of Palm Beach County
The Broward League of Cities
The Economic Council of Palm Beach
Florida Apartment Association
Key West Association of Realtors
Lake City Board of Realtors
Lakeland Association of Realtors
Manatee Association of Realtors
Naples Area Board of Realtors
New Smyrna Beach Board of Realtors
Northeast Florida Association of Realtors
Ocala Marion County Association of Realtors
Okeechobee Board of Realtors
Palm Beach Board of Realtors
Sarasota Association of Realtors
Tallahassee Board of Realtors
The Florida Association of District School Superintendents
The Electrical Contractors
The Plumbing and Heating Contractors
The Automobile Dealers Association
The bankers
The engineers
The fire sprinkler makers
The surveying and mapping people
The turfgrass manufacturers
Venice Area Board of Realtors
West Volusia Association of Realtors
Just about every City Council (Pompano Beach is just the latest)
Just about every Chamber of Commerce in Florida.
On the surface it looks overwhelming, that Amendment 4 is a bad idea; but I have to look below the surface. What is Amendment 4 trying to address?This argument has gone on in Florida since the 1880's and the environmentalists are continually swept aside until the costs of restoration or dealing with a serious lack of fresh water are astronomical. The majority here, has their collective heads in the sand soaked in salt water.
The Realtors are against Amendment 4 because it reduces their ability to buy and sell real estate. The AFL-CIO is against Amendment 4, because of jobs. If Florida slows down building, then construction workers won't have jobs - not that there is much in the way of construction jobs in Florida right now. Bankers are against it because they lose loan business if building slows down. City governments and school boards are against it because they will have the added expense and fewer fee revenues.
The problem with the opponent's point of view is that they refuse to do an honest appraisal of just how many people, cars, roads, housing and other buildings can the Florida environment support and tolerate. What are the future costs of allowing uncontrolled growth? What are our government officials doing to preserve wetlands and fresh water supplies? Can the cities and school boards show that the fees they collect are enough to cover the costs of the added sprawl? We all no the answer to that, it's no; so why allow the uncontrolled growth when it only leads to higher property taxes?
Funding the Amendment 4 Campaign (David, meet Goliath)
The money funding the Amendment 4 commercials is predictable.
So, the choice (if the opponents are to be believed) comes down to jobs now or drinking water and higher property taxes later.
- or, if you will -
It comes down to critical thinking.
Are the developer impact fees enough to pay for the costs of overbuilding? I think not. They are waived all too often. I'm going to let Carl Hiaasen take the argument home (with a few links to prove his case):
Nobody with half a brain believes that development pays for itself. Study after study shows that residents are the ones who pay big-time for sprawl, which is why taxes are so brutal in Florida's most densely populated counties.
So is the cost of living. Clogged highways, overcrowded schools and jails, water shortages -- we pay for all of it.
Opponents claim that Amendment 4 will actually raise taxes, one of many straight-faced lies that will saturate the airwaves between now and election day. This is well-financed desperation.
snip,
The biggest donor is the Florida Association of Realtors -- what a shocker -- followed by some of the biggest home builders on Wall Street.
Here's the killer: Many of the companies bankrolling the ad campaign against Amendment 4 are recipients of a congressional bailout, in the form of humongous tax refunds earlier this year.
According to an industry magazine (Headline: ``Builders Cash in on Tax Refunds''), Lennar Homes has already taken $251 million in taxpayer-funded relief.
Yet somehow the firm scrounged up $367,000 to fight the Florida Hometown Democracy movement.
Pulte Homes accepted $800 million in federal bailout refunds while kicking in $567,000 to a political action committee opposed to Amendment 4.
So, when you see all those dire-sounding, fright-filled TV commercials, remember whose paying for them. You are.
These guys are using your money to keep your voice, and your vote, out of the neighborhood planning process. Think about that when you're standing in the voting booth on Nov 2.
Do the thing they dread the most: Read Amendment 4 and decide for yourself.
I'm going to take Hiaasen's advice and think long a hard about the forces dedicated to defeating Amendment 4.