TALLAHASSEE — The sponsor of a growth management law intended to curtail urban sprawl apologized Thursday because in the real world it had the opposite result, and the Senate passed a new measure he filed to fix that mistake.
Only for densely populated areas, Sen. Mike Bennett's new bill would lift a requirement to have sufficient roads and other transportation facilities in place before development can occur.
To the dismay of Bennett and other growth management advocates, that transportation concurrency provision in the 2005 law encouraged development in outlying and rural areas because roads there are less traveled and cheaper to build than in cities.
"We actually encouraged sprawl," Bennett told the Senate. "For that I apologize."
The Bradenton Republican, though, made no concessions to critics who predicted that his new bill will have a similar unintended consequence.
It would exempt entire urban service areas from transportation concurrency if they have densities of at least 1,000 people per square mile, but that includes sparsely populated parts of those areas, notably in Miami-Dade County.
The bill also would eliminate additional state permitting requirements for large projects, known as developments of regional impact, and streamline other permitting in the densely populated areas. The intent is to channel growth into cities, including undeveloped sections known as in-fill.
"You will be eliminating a lot of the controls on sprawl," said Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach. "So rather than actually promoting in-fill and promoting smart growth, which I think is the goal of the bill, you'll actually be doing exactly the opposite in an area like Dade County."
The Senate passed the bill 32-8 with Gelber among those opposed.
Bennett later said local officials already have the power to solve Gelber's problem by changing the boundaries of the urban service areas. That, though, would disappoint some of their constituents who want to build in those outlying areas.
"They don't want to face their developers and builders and property owners," Bennett said. "They want us to do it for them. I'm not willing to do that."
The bill next goes to the House, where a similar measure includes a provision to abolish the Department of Community Affairs and transfer its duties, including growth management, to the Department of State.
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