Legislative Committee
Adopted Platform | Legislative Reports | Conference

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Introduction and User Summary:
FAPA's Legislative Program and Policies represent the Chapter's positions on professional planning issues, especially related to the State's annual Legislative Session. Developed over time, most remain essentially the same and offer background and guidance as issues emerge or change annually. Similarly, the Chapter's major priorities remain constant, unless significant legislative initiatives surface requiring reordering.

The Program is voted on by the members as part of the annual meeting at the FAPA's Annual Conference. This ensures that it remains timely and enjoys support. It is regularly reviewed and updated by the Chapter's Legislative Policy Committee (LPC), made up of representatives of each local Section and three or more at-large appointments ensuring depth and breadth of expertise. The LPC submits the Program for review to FAPA's elected Executive Committee before the annual meeting, where it is adopted as is or with amendments. This year members unable to attend the annual meeting may vote on it by proxy.

Except for updating time-related statements and occasional edits for clarity and consistency, the "Adopted 2003 FAPA Legislative Program and Policies" is essentially the same as the adopted 2002 version. There is one significant exception. The Chapter's new Legislative Representative, Lester Abberger, has reviewed and distilled its provisions into a targeted message of five (5) key statements, which appear at the beginning entitled "Key Position Statements". These and the balance of the Program have been reviewed and amended by the membership prior to adoption at the September 26, 2002, annual meeting in Key West.

These five Statements are intended as an easy aid for any member to use to maximize their impact as each may briefly have the attention of one of their legislators. It also simplifies a member's focus and fosters use of FAPA's positions to assess issues arising before local and regional decision-makers. It is hoped that this will broaden FAPA's impact and increase its effectiveness as the Chapter works with its Sections to expand the planning constituency participating in the legislative process.

The balance of the Program and Policies assist and guide members, the Executive Committee, the Legislative Representative, and the Chapter Office in allocating time and resources when responding to and prioritizing the overwhelming volume of issues that develop in the course of the annual 60-day Legislative Session. It enables the FAPA leadership to refine and adapt the Chapter's legislative focus to meet its most pressing needs and those of the profession. It further benefits the Executive Committee and Legislative Policy Committee, which convene on a year round basis, in establishing policy between annual meetings.

Key Position Statements

1. FAPA is committed to the protection, preservation, and advancement of the practice of planning by trained and qualified planning professionals, which promotes the public welfare and fairly meets the needs of people relative to the manmade and natural environments.

2. FAPA supports legislative revisions that streamline, improve, and integrate current planning processes.

3. FAPA supports a balance among public and private sector values in state, regional, and local planning, policy development, and decision-making.

4. FAPA supports better integration of water, transportation, and land use planning at both the local and regional levels.

FAPA supports planning policy that better integrates the siting of schools into neighborhoods and communities and includes greater cooperation and accountability between local governments and school boards.

General Background Guidance Positions

FAPA is more specifically committed to the following:

• Vision-based, consensus-driven planning as the benchmark for state, regional, and local policy determinations.
• An integrated, performance-measured regulatory framework for implementing local, regional and state land use plans.
• Effective long-term natural resource protection and management.
• Ensuring diverse and adequate fiscal resources to effect sound planning.
• Balancing public and private sector values in state, regional and local decision-making and policy-setting.

• Funding: Effective planning and growth management requires adequate funding to address the challenges of Florida's fast paced growth. Funding resources that were to accompany passage of the Growth Management Act were not provided and serious shortfalls have occurred at the State and local levels. Although steps have been taken to provide targeted funding in certain areas (e.g., land acquisition, road building), a greater commitment to funding of sound planning and growth management is needed.
• State Plan: The State Comprehensive Plan is an integral component of Florida's planning and growth management policy framework. An update of the Plan is long overdue. Restructuring of this long-standing statute (Chapter 187, F.S.) is also needed to link the plan to the state budget, to officially designate it as the "state planning document" (contemplated by a Constitutional amendment of years past) and to clearly delineate state level priorities, within and beyond the growth management realm.
• Governmental Roles: The State of Florida, local governments, Regional Planning Councils, and other entities of Florida government each have a vital role to play in planning and growth management matters. The State has proposed substantial changes to its role, involving devolution of selected duties to the local level. FAPA supports adjusting governmental roles in a way that acknowledges and respects the capabilities of local and regional entities and the vision of individual communities, while also ensuring that needs of the public at large are met long-term. A cohesive, well thought out plan is needed toward this end, including appropriate incentives, safeguards and evaluation mechanisms.
• Compelling State Interests: Proposals involving the designation of "compelling state interests" and revamping the roles of government in growth management in the context of this new framework have arisen in the past. If ever implemented, FAPA believes that a broader range of interests should be designated than those proposed and that more careful attention is needed in the definition of such interests and how they would be utilized in the growth management process. In addition, when considering such proposed approaches, FAPA also believes that alternatives to it should be identified and examined, with the advantages and disadvantages of each carefully weighed in relation to the other.
• Sustainable Communities: FAPA is a strong supporter of incentives and other initiatives for the creation of sustainable communities. In addition, FAPA supports the idea of establishing a Sustainable or Livable Communities Certification Program for qualified local governments. Proposed legislation from the 2001 Legislative Session could serve as a starting point in developing any new statutory language toward this end.
• Regional Delegation: FAPA supports expanding the role of Regional Planning Councils (RPCs) as a means of better addressing regional needs and evaluating local issues and opportunities from a regional perspective. FAPA supports delegation of local plan amendment review authority to RPCs under an appropriate scenario of restructured governmental roles (per the above) with a certification program that sets forth appropriate qualifications, monitoring, and appeals processes, and with provisions for appropriate funding to carry out these additional duties.
• Plan Amendment Review Process: FAPA continues to support maintaining such a process but also believes that it should be streamlined to avoid unnecessary reviews (such as for routine matters of purely local concern) and, possibly, to reassign certain review duties to the regional level. A certification program or other such program to specify areas exempt from state review should be examined.
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• evelopments of Regional Impact: Reviews of the DRI process have pointed to the need for its improvement or replacement. FAPA supports either approach. If the program is to be replaced, the alternative approach should be thoroughly researched and designed so that the intended purposes for which the DRI program was originally established are achieved, and so that the new process is clearly better than its predecessor. In addition, FAPA objects to creating exemptions to the current process that eliminate or weaken regional reviews and intergovernmental coordination for development projects that have regional impacts. Any proposed changes to DRI thresholds should include a thorough analysis of what specific review processes are already in place to assure that the intent of the DRI statute regarding regional review and intergovernmental coordination is maintained.
• Schools: FAPA supports providing for better integration of schools into neighborhoods and communities. Toward this end, FAPA supports legislation to ensure greater cooperation and accountability of local governments and school boards through better planning (including a school facilities element in local plans) and through sharing of growth-related data. Greater flexibility for school construction and siting is also needed to promote quality inner city schools. FAPA supports legislation and rules that create new or expanded funding sources to address school capital facilities. FAPA also supports revitalization and expansion of older schools in urban areas.
• Notice Requirements: FAPA supports ensuring that the public is well-informed of governmental decision-making on growth management concerns and of opportunities for citizen involvement. FAPA supports legislation, such as proposed by the Department of Community Affairs in the 2001 Session, to modify notice requirements for local government comprehensive plan amendments. The legislation was approved on a one-year basis, and FAPA, subject to its actual effects, is supportive of more permanent proposals.
• Rural Policy: In the recent past, significant attention has been drawn to challenges and needs facing rural Florida in relation to growth, development, and growth management concerns. FAPA believes the State could benefit from a cohesive rural policy that addresses growth-related impacts and opportunities. Progress toward development of such a policy was made in the 2001 Legislative Session, and FAPA welcomes the continued opportunity to work in support of such a policy.
• Small Scale Amendments: Legislation has been proposed over the years to increase the statutory thresholds for small scale amendments to local government comprehensive plans. Increases were approved several years ago and more have been sought in recent Legislative Sessions. FAPA supports allowing small scale amendments to be exempt from the statutory twice-per-year limitation on comprehensive plan amendments but believes that the current thresholds are adequate and that broad expansions conflict with the purposes of the law.
• Judicial Review: Changes have been proposed in the past to significantly amend statutes governing citizen standing to enforce local comprehensive plans through development orders. FAPA agrees that clarification is needed to the definition of "affected parties" and supports ensuring that the judicial review process is fair to all involved parties.