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HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE
STATE
Tom Barry, Secretary of the Florida
Department of Transportation, submitted his
resignation to Governor Bush effective February
28, 2003. In his memo to FDOT employees he wrote:
"I am confident that the Department can and will
continue to operate at a high level of excellence
after I am gone, because our strength has always
been in our employees. I plan to stay in the
transportation business in Florida, and look
forward to maintaining the many friendships that
we past five years as your Secretary have been
some of the most satisfying and rewarding years of
my life. With your hard work and support I believe
we have made the Department one of the best
agencies in the country, and for that I will be
eternally grateful." FAPA wishes Secretary Barry
much success and we look forward to continuing our
professional relationship with him in his future
endeavors.
The Strategic Intermodal
System(SIS) Steering Committee Final Report
(Draft) is now posted on the SIS Web site at
www11.myflorida.com/planning/sis/default.htm. This
report includes recommended criteria for
designating which facilities and services should
be part of a strategic intermodal system for the
State of Florida. The Steering Committee will be
reviewing and revising this draft report, which
will be adopted as a Final Consensus
Recommendations Report, and presented to Secretary
Barry at the end of December.
DEP issued a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Chapter 62B-34.
The purpose of the proposed rule is to implement a
general permit for activities occurring seaward of
the Coastal Construction Control Line. The rule
stipulates the terms, conditions, requirements,
limitations, and restrictions applicable to
qualify for a general permit. If requested within
21 days of the date of the notice, which was
November 27, 2002, a hearing will be held December
19, 2002, at 9:00 a.m. in the Carr Building,
Conference Rooms 153/154, 3900 Commonwealth
Boulevard, Tallahassee. To receive a copy of the
rule or for any other questions, contact Rosaline
Beckham, Environmental Specialist III, at (850)
487-1262 or
rosaline.beckham@dep.state.fl.us.
Watch
DCA's web site for posting of a boating facility
siting technical assistance guidebook. Chapter
2002-296, Laws of Florida, established an optional
exemption of marinas from the DRI review process
under certain conditions. In addition, within six
months of the effective date of the law, it
required the Department of Community Affairs, in
conjunction with the Department of Environmental
Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission to provide technical
assistance and guidelines, including model plans,
policies, and criteria to local governments. The
Department completed a draft of the guidebook,
which is about to undergo peer review. The
finalized document will be published on the
Department's web site by the end of the
year.
More good news from DCA: The
Department recently printed a facts-at-a-glance
brochure that summarizes the new school and water
supply legislative requirements. This document, as
well as the Department's newsletter, "Community
Planning," and other useful publications may be
found at
www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/DCP/publications/index.htm.
Also, don't miss the newest features added to its
school planning and water supply planning web
pages, respectively found at
www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/DCP/SchoolPlanning/school_planning.htm
and
www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/DCP/WaterSupplyPlanning/water_supply_planning.htm.
Finally,
Rule 9J-11, F.A.C., was filed for adoption with
the Secretary of State's office on 11/4/02 and
became effective 11/24/02. View the rule online at
www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/DCP/PlanProcessing/9j11final.pdf
FEDERAL INITIATIVES
The 107th Congress ended
with only two of the 13 appropriations bills for
fiscal year 2003 signed into law. The fifth
Continuing Resolution since the beginning of the
federal fiscal year, October 1, 2002, will expire
on January 11, 2003. The 108th Congress convenes
on January 7, 2003, and will have to act quickly
on a further extension of funding for the fiscal
year. An "omnibus" spending bill has been used in
the past to approve appropriations for multiple
agencies and may be used again. If not, a sixth
Continuing Resolution will be needed to extend
funding beyond January 11th. The 108th Congress
will face the expiration of highway and transit
authorizations (TEA-21), aviation authorizations
(AIR-21), and Amtrak authorizations, among
others.
On November 18, 2002, EPA
Administrator Christine Todd Whiteman presented
the first 2002 National Awards for Smart Growth
Achievement at the National Building Museum. The
awards recognize state, regional and local
governments that promote and achieve smart growth.
Winners in the following categories were as
follows: 1) Built Projects--Town of Breckenridge,
Colorado Planning Department; 2) Policies and
Regulations--City/County Association of
Governments of San Mateo County, California; 3)
Community Outreach and Education--Massachusetts
Executive Office of Environmental Affairs; and 4)
Overall Excellence in Smart Growth--Arlington
County, Virginia. To learn more about these awards
and the awards recipients, visit
/www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/awards.htm or contact Tim
Torma at (202) 566-2864 or
torma.tim@epa.gov.
The U.S. DOT launched an
Environmental Stewardship web site at
www.fhwa.dot.gov/stewardshipeo. It contains
information to date related to President Bush's
Executive Order 13274. This Executive Order was
issued on September 18, 2002, to enhance
environmental stewardship and streamline the
decision-making process in connection with major
transportation projects. Please visit the web site
for further information.
REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS
Two independent studies
of the financial viability of a high-speed rail
link between Tampa and Orlando concluded that the
fares paid by riders alone would cover the cost of
operating and maintaining the system. Excluding
commuters, the ridership study calculated that
travel between Tampa, Lakeland, and Orlando in
2010 would be around 50 million trips per year. Of
those, somewhere between 15.6 million and 16.2
million trips might be captured by a high-speed
rail system. This base ridership would generate
between $26 million and $36 million a year, enough
to cover operations and maintenance. The article
may be read in full for a limited time at the
following web site:
www.sptimes.com/2002/11/21/TampaBay/Study__Fares_will_sup.shtml.
The
Florida High Speed Rail Authority is moving
forward with the development of a state system
that will first operate between Orlando, Tampa,
and St. Petersburg with future service to Miami
and other urban centers around the state. This
website, www.floridahighspeedrail.org/home.jsp,
provides information about the project, including
authorizing legislation and project
status.
The Florida Legislature's Office of
Program Policy Analysis and Government
Accountability issued its list of recommendations
for statutory changes that would increase state
program effectiveness and efficiency and/or
produce cost savings. Among its many
recommendations, the report addresses brownfields;
the Florida Communities Trust Program; Enterprise
Florida, Inc.'s, service to distressed areas; the
State's Lands Program and Recreation and Parks
program; water reuse; recycling and education
grants; public transportation related to
recommendations made by the Transportation and
Land Use Study Committee; and water policy with
regard to who should pay for new water supplies.
The full report may be found at the following web
address:
www.oppaga.state.fl.us/reports/pdf/oppaga_recs2002.pdf
Two
reports of interest recently issued by the Surface
Transportation Policy Project are: "Building on
TEA-21: Four Challenges for TEA-3," available at
www.transact.org/PDFs/platform.pdf, and "Measuring
Up: The Trend Towards Voter-Approved
Transportation Funding," available at
www.transact.org/report.asp?id=201.
The
Federal Highway Administration released, "Entering
the Quiet Zone: Noise Compatible Land Use
Planning," available at
www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/noise/quietzon/index.htm.
The
International City/County Management Association
(ICMA) released a new report on greenspaces called
"Growing Greener: Revitalizing Brownfields into
Greenspace." The report provides information about
different types of greenspaces, examples of
successful projects from a variety of communities,
and strategies for creative financing, leveraging
resources, and open and active communications to
address community issues. The book may be
purchased online for $19.95 through the ICMA
Bookstore at: bookstore.icma.org. For more
information on ICMA’s Brownfields program, contact
Danielle Miller Wagner at dmwagner@icma.org.
The Brookings Institution released a
report entitled "Seizing City Assets: Ten Steps to
Urban Land Reform," which highlights ten actions
that urban leaders can take to turn empty and
derelict properties into tax-generating assets.
For more information, go to
www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/brophyveyvacantstepsexsum.htm.
GRANTS, FUNDING, & RFPS
A grant
competition--Active Living by Design--is being
sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
This is a $16.5 million national program designed
to establish and evaluate innovative approaches
that support active living. Its purpose is to
promote changes in local community design,
transportation, and architecture to make it easy
for people to be physically active. Grants of up
to $200,000 over five years will be awarded to 25
interdisciplinary, community-oriented
partnerships. The deadline for receipt of brief
proposals is January 31, 2003. Eligible applicants
include local, state, and regional entities such
as city planning offices, local advocacy groups,
and parks and recreation departments, as well as
other nonprofit or government agencies. For more
information or to obtain a copy of the RFP visit
the Active Living by Design web site at
www.activelivingbydesign.org.
AICP NEWS & INFORMATION
REMINDERS:
Application
Submission Deadline: December 9, 2002
Self-Study Course:
www.planning.org/certification/examprep.htm
CPC Study Manual: fapa@floridaplanning.org*
2003 Exam Date: Saturday, May 10, 2003
Florida Test Site Locations: Daytona Beach;
Lake Worth; Miami; Tallahassee; Tampa
*The
Chapter Office still has not received the revised
manual but we expect copies to arrive any
day.
Don't forget--Section study groups are
posted to the FAPA web site. Please continue to
notify the Chapter Office of upcoming study groups
sessions and workshops, to keep the web site up to
date and your members informed.
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
The International
City/County Management Association (ICMA) has
formally launched BrownfieldSource.org. The Web
site provides instant access to news, events,
research reports, and other published materials
related to brownfields revitalization, focusing on
the latest in community, economic, environmental,
governmental, innovative, legal, and redevelopment
issues. For more information, go to
www.brownfieldsource.org.
On November 15, a
circuit judge issued a final ruling in favor of
the State of Florida supporting actions by the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) to require, and deny, a permit to conduct
offshore drilling by Coastal Petroleum Company.
Judge J. Ralph Smith formally rejected claims from
Coastal who argued that the permit denial amounted
to a "taking" of their property. In this Final
Judgment, Judge Smith found that DEP's refusal to
issue a permit allowing Coastal to drill on
offshore leases met the terms of a 1976 agreement
between the State and Coastal. In that agreement,
all necessary and current environmental permits
were to be secured before Coastal bored any wells.
The State successfully argued that the
environmental threat from drilling outweighed any
potential benefit from oil found in the lease area
located just six miles from the Florida
coastline.
The 2nd DCA held that impact
fees are a properly accepted method of paying for
growth, and a trial court erroneously concluded
that such a fee imposed by a local government was
not justified by increased usage of a utility
system. The 2nd DCA reversed a lower court order
finding that a municipal utility connect fee
constituted an illegal tax. The City of
Zephyrhills sought to impose the impact fee when
the new owners of an abandoned auto repair shop
modified the building to open a sports bar. The
owners refused to pay the fee and the lower court
ruled in their favor. However, the 2nd DCA
rejected the judge’s reasoning, saying the impact
fees were assessed not because of increased usage
or the change in ownership, but because of a
change in the property’s use. “Impact fees, which
include connection fees, are the method by which a
new user of a municipally-owned water or sewer
system pays his or her fair share of the costs
that the new use of the system involves. Impact
fees are the accepted method of paying for public
improvements to serve new growth,” the 2nd DCA
noted.
The 5th DCA held that a state agency
cannot deny a new permit for a grandfathered
nonconforming use of property just because the
permit holder changes. The court said the
Department of Transportation erred in ruling that
a billboard was not grandfathered in at the time
the property on which it sat was rezoned. Tommy
Hobbs bought land along Interstate 95 in Brevard
County, including a billboard for a nearby
campground. The campground maintained a state
permit for the billboard even after the property
was rezoned for residential use, and the county
and DOT determined that the nonconforming use was
legal. Several years later the campground asked
DOT to cancel its sign permit, and Hobbs sought a
new permit. DOT denied the request, arguing that
the sign became illegal once the campground’s
permit was canceled. The DCA disagreed, citing the
1st DCA’s similar 1985 conclusion that the concept
of grandfathered nonconforming use relates to how
the property is used, not the type of ownership.
That reasoning, the 5th DCA concluded, “supports
Hobbs' claim that the right to use the sign
located on his property did not become illegal
simply because the entity which applied for a
permit to use the sign changed. Further support
for our ruling is found in the fact that there is
no statute or rule which supports DOT's
determination that it cannot issue a new permit
for a legally existing, nonconforming sign.”
[Hobbs v. Department of Transportation,
11/15/02]
CHAPTER ANNOUNCEMENTS
For those interested in
energy issues, APA released an article, "Who's Got
the Energy?" which discusses issues of energy
consumption and conservation that arise in public
discourse and policy analysis. Using three case
studies, the article demonstrates that smart
growth goals are achievable by focusing on
energy-efficient growth in addition to land use,
transportation, economic development, and housing.
To view the article, visit APA's web site at
www.planning.org/planningpractice/2002/oct.htm.
DID
YOU KNOW??? Based on number of members, FAPA ranks
26th among business and professional associations
throughout the State of Florida.
Over the
next two weeks, APA members should receive
preliminary programs in the mail for the 2003
National APA conference scheduled in Denver, March
29-April 2, 2003. On-line registration will
shortly be available at
www.planning.org.
FAPA MEETINGS & OTHER
EVENTS
FAPA CHAPTER AND SECTION
AFFAIRS:
December 11, 2002: SAN FELASCO
SECTION--Winter meeting/dinner; 6:30 p.m. - 8:30
p.m.; Matheson Historical Center, 513 East
University Avenue, Gainesville; featured
presentation--Crime Prevention Through
Environmental Design with Dr. Richard H.
Schneider, AICP, University of Florida Professor
of Urban and Regional Planning; $15 non-members;
$10 members; $5 students; RSVP to Linda Dixon at
ldixon@admin.ufl.edu.
December 13, 2002:
CAPITAL AREA SECTION--Open House at FSU Department
of Urban and Regional Planning's newly remodeled
offices; 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.; Bellamy Building,
3rd floor; RSVP to (850) 644-4510.
December
17, 2002: GULF COAST SECTION--Santa Rosa County
Legislative Delegation; 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.;
Santa Rosa County Commission Chambers, 6495
Caroline Street, Milton; for more information,
contact Allison Carter at (850)
439-9092.
January 24, 2003: Executive
Committee Meeting (Orlando)
February 19-20,
2003: FAPA Legislative Workshop
(Tallahassee)
March 29-April 2, 2003: APA
National Conference in Denver, Colorado. Go to
www.planning.org/conferences/overview.htm for
additional information.
April 11-12, 2003:
Executive Committee Retreat
(Gainesville)
June 27, 2003: Executive
Committee Meeting (Orlando)
September 3,
2003: Executive Committee Meeting (Palm
Beach)
September 3-6, 2003: FAPA Annual
Conference (Breakers Hotel/Palm
Beach)
OTHER SCHEDULED
EVENTS:
December 10, 2002: Fiscal Impact
Analysis Model Working Group (final meeting); 9:30
a.m. - 4:00 p.m.; DEP's Douglas Building,
Conference Room A, Tallahassee.
December
10, 2002: CDBG Implementation Workshop for Regions
7, 8, and 9, City of Avon Park, City Council
Chambers, 110 East Main Street, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00
p.m., contact Rick Status, Financial Specialist,
State Small Cities CDBG Program, at (850) 922-1892
for additional information or to register
(required).
December 12, 2002: Strategic
Intermodal System Steering Committee Meeting #8,
Tallahassee, Florida. For further information,
call Renee Cross at (850) 414-4816 or go to the
following web site at
www11.myflorida.com/planning/sis/calendar.htm.
December
17, 2002: CDBG Implementation Workshop for Regions
4, 5, and 6, Withlacoochee Regional Planning
Council Office, 1241 Southwest 10th Street, Ocala,
9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
January 30 –
February 1, 2003: 2nd Annual New Partners for
Smart Growth Conference, New Orleans. For further
information, go to:
www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth/
February
11-13, 2003: Florida Chamber's Environmental
Network's Annual Growth Management and
Environmental Permitting Short Course, Rosen Plaza
Hotel, Orlando. Program brochure and registration
information are available at
www.flenvironmentalnetwork.com/frameset2.html.
February 26-27, 2003: Planning and Zoning
Institute; sponsored by the University of
Illinois, Department of Urban and Regional
Planning, Champaign-Urbana campus; for further
information contact Pattsi Petrie at
p-petrie@uiuc.edu or visit www.urban.uiuc.edu/ce
for updated programming
information.
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