Bill discourages state urban sprawl
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – A state planning requirement to provide ample road or other transportation capacity before new development can take place was designed to stop urban sprawl, but it’s had the opposite effect.
A bill that would exempt certain dense urban areas from that constraint and make other changes to Florida’s growth management laws won unanimous approval Thursday from the Senate Transportation Committee – although some members still had qualms about the details.
Planners have found to their dismay that the capacity requirement, known as “transportation concurrency,” has pushed growth, particularly residential development, out of urban centers into outlying and rural areas because roads there are less traveled and cheaper to build.
“It has not eliminated congestion,” said Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham. “In fact, it’s given us more. It has not discouraged urban sprawl. In fact, it promotes sprawl by sending development farther and farther out.”
The bill (SB 360) also would eliminate extra planning requirements for developments of regional impact – those that affect multiple jurisdictions – if they are in dense urban land areas that have at least 1,000 people per square mile.
Seven Florida counties that have more than 1 million residents also would be exempt. The same population criteria would apply to the transportation concurrency exemption.