Florida Senate - 2011                                    SB 1440
       
       
       
       By Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       20-01079-11                                           20111440__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to rural land development; amending s.
    3         163.3177, F.S.; adding the Fish and Wildlife
    4         Conservation Commission and removing the water
    5         management districts from the list of governmental
    6         entities that must cooperate in providing assistance
    7         in the implementation of laws governing land use
    8         planning and development and related agency rule;
    9         adding a landowner as a recipient of assistance in
   10         designating rural land stewardship areas; exempting a
   11         landowner or local government from a requirement to
   12         demonstrate need; authorizing a landowner to petition
   13         a local government for certain land designations;
   14         adding economic development as a planning goal;
   15         removing the Department of Environmental Protection
   16         and water management districts as agencies providing
   17         assistance with mapping environmental areas worthy of
   18         protection; requiring the provision of technical
   19         assistance as needed to a local government in the
   20         implementation of rural land stewardship; removing a
   21         provision that expands the role of the Department of
   22         Community Affairs as a resource agency; removing a
   23         provision requiring the department to encourage
   24         participation of certain types of local governments;
   25         including the protection of private property rights
   26         for rural areas as a broad principle of rural
   27         sustainability; removing the notification requirement
   28         by the local government to the department of intent to
   29         designate a rural land stewardship area; modifying the
   30         criteria for designating a rural land stewardship
   31         area; removing consideration of certain criteria
   32         relating to a functional mix of land uses; removing as
   33         a review consideration the control of sprawl;
   34         providing for the designation of a receiving area and
   35         removing requirement for prior review by the
   36         Department of Community Affairs for designation of a
   37         receiving area; providing that the applicant rather
   38         than the developer is required to coordinate listed
   39         species protection; modifying the considerations that
   40         are balanced in designating a receiving area;
   41         providing for the establishment of a rural land
   42         stewardship overlay zoning district; providing for
   43         stewardship credits rather than transferable rural
   44         land use credits to be created following the
   45         designation of stewardship receiving areas; modifying
   46         the criteria that affect underlying permitted uses,
   47         density, or intensity of land uses; providing for an
   48         increase in density or intensity of use; providing for
   49         compensation to landowners who implement specified
   50         land management activities of public benefit; removing
   51         a reporting requirement; providing legislative
   52         findings that the act be implemented pursuant to law
   53         rather than rule; repealing certain rules of the
   54         Florida Administrative Code; providing an effective
   55         date.
   56  
   57  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   58  
   59         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (11) of section
   60  163.3177, Florida Statutes, is amended, present paragraphs (e)
   61  through (h) of that subsection are redesignated as paragraphs
   62  (f) through (i), respectively, and a new paragraph (e) is added
   63  to that subsection, to read:
   64         163.3177 Required and optional elements of comprehensive
   65  plan; studies and surveys.—
   66         (11)
   67         (d)1. The department, in cooperation with the Department of
   68  Agriculture and Consumer Services, in cooperation with the Fish
   69  and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of
   70  Environmental Protection, water management districts, and
   71  regional planning councils, shall provide assistance to
   72  landowners and local governments in the implementation of this
   73  paragraph and rule 9J-5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code,
   74  if a landowner and a local government are not required to
   75  demonstrate need based on population growth or on any other
   76  basis. Implementation of those provisions shall include a
   77  process by which a landowner the department may petition a
   78  authorize local government governments to designate all or
   79  portions of lands classified in the future land use element as
   80  predominantly agricultural, rural, open, open-rural, or a
   81  substantively equivalent land use, as a rural land stewardship
   82  area within which planning and economic incentives are applied
   83  to encourage economic development through the implementation of
   84  innovative and flexible planning and development strategies and
   85  creative land use planning techniques, including those contained
   86  in this section herein and in rule 9J-5.006(5)(l), Florida
   87  Administrative Code. Assistance may include, but is not limited
   88  to:
   89         a. Assistance with mapping environmental areas worthy of
   90  protection and from the Department of Environmental Protection
   91  and water management districts in creating the geographic
   92  information systems land cover database and aerial
   93  photogrammetry needed to prepare for a rural land stewardship
   94  area;
   95         b. Support for local government implementation of rural
   96  land stewardship concepts by providing information and technical
   97  assistance to local governments as needed; and regarding
   98         c. Making available land acquisition programs that may be
   99  used by the local government or landowners to leverage the
  100  protection of greater acreage and maximize the effectiveness of
  101  rural land stewardship areas.; and
  102         c. Expansion of the role of the Department of Community
  103  Affairs as a resource agency to facilitate establishment of
  104  rural land stewardship areas in smaller rural counties that do
  105  not have the staff or planning budgets to create a rural land
  106  stewardship area.
  107         2. The department shall encourage participation by local
  108  governments of different sizes and rural characteristics in
  109  establishing and implementing rural land stewardship areas. It
  110  is the intent of the Legislature that rural land stewardship
  111  areas be used to further the following broad principles of rural
  112  sustainability: restoration and maintenance of the economic
  113  value of rural land; control of urban sprawl; identification and
  114  protection of ecosystems, habitats, and natural resources;
  115  promotion of rural economic activity within rural areas;
  116  maintenance of the viability of Florida’s agricultural economy;
  117  and protection of private property rights in the character of
  118  rural areas of Florida. Rural land stewardship areas may be
  119  multicounty in order to encourage coordinated regional
  120  stewardship planning.
  121         3. A local government, in conjunction with a regional
  122  planning council, a stakeholder organization of private land
  123  owners, or another local government, shall notify the department
  124  in writing of its intent to designate a rural land stewardship
  125  area. The written notification shall describe the basis for the
  126  designation, including the extent to which the rural land
  127  stewardship area enhances rural land values, controls urban
  128  sprawl, provides necessary open space for agriculture and
  129  protection of the natural environment, promotes rural economic
  130  activity, and maintains rural character and the economic
  131  viability of agriculture.
  132         3.4. A rural land stewardship area may not shall be not
  133  less than 10,000 acres, and shall be located outside of
  134  municipalities and established urban service areas or planned
  135  future urban service areas growth boundaries, and shall be
  136  designated by plan amendment, or more than one plan amendment if
  137  the rural land stewardship area encompasses more than one
  138  county. The plan amendment designating a rural land stewardship
  139  area is shall be subject to review by the Department of
  140  Community Affairs pursuant to s. 163.3184 and shall provide for
  141  the following:
  142         a. Criteria for the designation of receiving areas within
  143  rural land stewardship areas in which innovative planning and
  144  development strategies may be applied. Criteria shall at a
  145  minimum provide for the following: adequacy of suitable land to
  146  accommodate development so as to avoid conflict with
  147  environmentally sensitive areas, resources, and habitats;
  148  compatibility between and transition from higher density uses to
  149  lower intensity rural uses; and the establishment of receiving
  150  area service boundaries that which provide for a transition from
  151  separation between receiving areas and other land uses within
  152  the rural land stewardship area through limitations on the
  153  extension of services; and connection of receiving areas with
  154  the rest of the rural land stewardship area using rural design
  155  and rural road corridors.
  156         b. Goals, objectives, and policies setting forth the
  157  innovative planning and development strategies to be applied
  158  within rural land stewardship areas pursuant to the provisions
  159  of this section.
  160         c. A process for the implementation of innovative planning
  161  and development strategies within the rural land stewardship
  162  area, including those described in this subsection and rule 9J
  163  5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code, which provide for a
  164  functional mix of land uses, including adequate available
  165  workforce housing, including low, very-low and moderate income
  166  housing for the development anticipated in the receiving area
  167  and which are applied through the adoption by the local
  168  government of zoning and land development regulations applicable
  169  to the rural land stewardship area.
  170         d. A process that which encourages visioning pursuant to s.
  171  163.3167(11) to ensure that innovative planning and development
  172  strategies comply with the provisions of this section.
  173         e. The control of sprawl through the use of applicable
  174  innovative strategies and creative land use techniques
  175  consistent with the provisions of this subsection and rule 9J
  176  5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code.
  177         4.5. A receiving area may shall be designated only pursuant
  178  to procedures adopted in the local government’s land development
  179  regulations by the adoption of a land development regulation.
  180  Prior to the designation of a receiving area, the local
  181  government shall provide the Department of Community Affairs a
  182  period of 30 days in which to review a proposed receiving area
  183  for consistency with the rural land stewardship area plan
  184  amendment and to provide comments to the local government. At
  185  the time of the designation of a stewardship receiving area, a
  186  listed species survey shall will be performed. If listed species
  187  occur on the receiving area site, the applicant developer shall
  188  coordinate with each appropriate local, state, or federal agency
  189  to determine if adequate provisions have been made to protect
  190  those species in accordance with applicable regulations. In
  191  determining the adequacy of provisions for the protection of
  192  listed species and their habitats, the rural land stewardship
  193  area shall be considered as a whole, and the potential impacts
  194  and protective measures taken within to areas to be developed as
  195  receiving areas shall be considered together with the
  196  substantial environmental benefits derived from lands set aside
  197  and protective measures taken outside the designated receiving
  198  of areas protected as sending areas in fulfilling this criteria.
  199         5.6. Upon the adoption of a plan amendment creating a rural
  200  land stewardship area, the local government shall, by ordinance,
  201  establish a rural land stewardship overlay zoning district that
  202  provides the methodology for the creation, conveyance, and use
  203  of transferable rural land use credits, otherwise referred to as
  204  stewardship credits, the application of which does shall not
  205  constitute a right to develop land, nor increase density of
  206  land, except as provided by this section. The total amount of
  207  stewardship transferable rural land use credits within the rural
  208  land stewardship area must enable the realization of the long
  209  term vision and goals for the 25-year or greater projected
  210  population of the rural land stewardship area, which may take
  211  into consideration the anticipated effect of the proposed
  212  receiving areas. The estimated amount of the receiving area
  213  shall be determined by using projections based on available data
  214  and the development potential that is represented by the
  215  stewardship credits created within the rural land stewardship
  216  area.
  217         6. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits are
  218  subject to the following limitations:
  219         a. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits may only
  220  exist only within a rural land stewardship area.
  221         b. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits may only
  222  be credited only from lands designated as stewardship sending
  223  areas and may be used only on lands designated as stewardship
  224  receiving areas and then solely for the purpose of implementing
  225  innovative planning and development strategies and creative land
  226  use planning techniques adopted by the local government pursuant
  227  to this section.
  228         c. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits assigned
  229  to a parcel of land within a rural land stewardship area shall
  230  cease to exist if the parcel of land is removed from the rural
  231  land stewardship area by plan amendment.
  232         d. Neither the creation of the rural land stewardship area
  233  by plan amendment nor the adoption of the rural land stewardship
  234  zoning overlay district assignment of transferable rural land
  235  use credits by the local government shall operate to displace
  236  the underlying permitted uses, density, or intensity of land
  237  uses assigned to a parcel of land within the rural land
  238  stewardship area which existed before the adoption of the plan
  239  amendment or zoning overlay district; however, once stewardship
  240  if transferable rural land use credits are transferred from a
  241  designated sending area parcel for use within a designated
  242  receiving area, the underlying density assigned to the
  243  designated sending area parcel of land shall cease to exist.
  244         e. The underlying permitted uses, density, or intensity on
  245  each parcel of land located within a rural land stewardship area
  246  may shall not be increased or decreased by the local government,
  247  except as a result of the conveyance or use of stewardship
  248  transferable rural land use credits, as long as the parcel
  249  remains within the rural land stewardship area.
  250         f. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits shall
  251  cease to exist on a parcel of land where the underlying density
  252  assigned to the parcel of land is utilized.
  253         g. An increase in the density or intensity of use on a
  254  parcel of land located within a designated receiving area may
  255  occur only through the assignment or use of stewardship
  256  transferable rural land use credits and does shall not require a
  257  plan amendment.
  258         h. A change in the density or intensity of land use on
  259  parcels located within receiving areas shall be specified in a
  260  development order that which reflects the total number of
  261  stewardship transferable rural land use credits assigned to the
  262  parcel of land and the infrastructure and support services
  263  necessary to provide for a functional mix of land uses
  264  corresponding to the plan of development.
  265         i. Land within a rural land stewardship area may be removed
  266  from the rural land stewardship area through a plan amendment.
  267         j. Stewardship Transferable rural land use credits may be
  268  assigned at different ratios of credits per acre according to
  269  the natural resource or other beneficial use characteristics of
  270  the land and according to the land use remaining following the
  271  transfer of credits, with the highest number of credits per acre
  272  assigned to the most environmentally valuable land or, in
  273  locations where the retention of open space and agricultural
  274  land is a priority, to such lands.
  275         k. The use or conveyance of stewardship transferable rural
  276  land use credits must be recorded in the public records of the
  277  county in which the property is located as a covenant or
  278  restrictive easement running with the land in favor of the
  279  county and either the Department of Environmental Protection,
  280  the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, a water
  281  management district, or a recognized statewide land trust.
  282         7. Owners of land within rural land stewardship sending
  283  areas should be provided incentives to enter into rural land
  284  stewardship agreements, pursuant to existing law and rules
  285  adopted thereto, with state agencies, water management
  286  districts, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and
  287  local governments to achieve mutually agreed upon conservation
  288  objectives. Such incentives may include, but are not be limited
  289  to, the following:
  290         a. Opportunity to accumulate transferable mitigation
  291  credits for use or sale.
  292         b. Extended permit agreements.
  293         c. Opportunities for recreational leases and ecotourism.
  294         d. Compensation for the achievement of specified land
  295  management activities of public benefit, including, but not
  296  limited to: facility siting and corridors, recreational leases,
  297  water conservation and storage, water reuse, wastewater
  298  recycling, water supply and water resource development, nutrient
  299  removal, environmental restoration and mitigation, public
  300  recreation, listed species protection and recovery, wildlife
  301  corridor management and enhancement, and activities relating to
  302  the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Payment for specified
  303  land management services on publicly owned land, or property
  304  under covenant or restricted easement in favor of a public
  305  entity.
  306         e. Option agreements for sale to public entities or private
  307  land conservation entities, in either fee or easement, upon
  308  achievement of specified conservation objectives.
  309         8. The department shall report to the Legislature on an
  310  annual basis on the results of implementation of rural land
  311  stewardship areas authorized by the department, including
  312  successes and failures in achieving the intent of the
  313  Legislature as expressed in this paragraph.
  314         (e) The Legislature finds that the provisions of paragraph
  315  (d) constitute an overlay of land use options that provide
  316  economic and regulatory incentives for landowners outside
  317  established and planned urban service areas to conserve and
  318  manage vast areas of land for the benefit of Florida’s residents
  319  and the natural environment while maintaining and enhancing the
  320  asset value of their landholdings. It is the intent of the
  321  Legislature that the provisions of paragraph (d) be implemented
  322  pursuant to law. Rulemaking authority is not authorized to
  323  implement paragraph (d).
  324         Section 2. Rules 9J-5.026 and 9J-11.023, Florida
  325  Administrative Code, are repealed, and the Department of State
  326  is directed to remove these rules from the Florida
  327  Administrative Code.
  328         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.