HB 1557 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to Broward County; providing for the
3	disposition to general purpose local government of certain
4	lands and interest in lands owned or controlled by the
5	State of Florida and which are located in Section 16,
6	Township 51 South, Range 41 East, and Section 21, Township
7	51 South, Range 41 East, in Broward County; providing for
8	severability; providing for effect of conflict; providing
9	an effective date.
10
11	WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement
12	Trust Fund ("Trustees"), by virtue of section 253.03, Florida
13	Statutes, as amended, owns and holds title to certain lands and
14	property being utilized by the State of Florida for public
15	purposes, said lands being located in Section 16, Township 51
16	South, Range 41 East, and in Section 21, Township 51 South,
17	Range 41 East, in Pembroke Pines, Broward County ("Property"),
18	and
19	WHEREAS, the Trustees, pursuant to section 253.03, Florida
20	Statutes, entered into a 99-year lease agreement with the
21	Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, now known as
22	the Department of Children and Family Services, being Lease
23	Number 2628, dated January 4, 1973 ("Lease"), for the use,
24	benefit, and possession of the Property for the benefit of the
25	State, and
26	WHEREAS, approximately 160 acres of the Property ("Sublease
27	Property"), known as the Howard C. Forman Resource Campus, is
28	subleased for public purposes to the City of Pembroke Pines, a
29	municipal corporation of the State of Florida ("City"), through a
30	50-year Sublease with the Department of Children and Family
31	Services, said Sublease dated March 15, 2001, and known as
32	Sublease Number 2628-14 ("Sublease"), and
33	WHEREAS, in entering into the Sublease, the City relieved
34	the State of significant fiscal responsibility by assuming the
35	maintenance and operation of the existing buildings, including
36	the removal of asbestos, and by addressing other environmental
37	issues with certain portions of the Sublease Property, and
38	WHEREAS, the Sublease requires the City to manage the
39	Sublease Property only for the establishment and operation of a
40	Health Care Park and other related, appurtenant, and allied
41	purposes, and the City has been doing so at its expense since
42	the term of the Sublease began, and
43	WHEREAS, the City has since successfully sub-subleased
44	portions of the Sublease Property to qualified health care and
45	social services providers and is negotiating with other entities
46	desiring to sub-sublease portions of the Sublease Property for
47	health care and other related purposes, and
48	WHEREAS, the City desires to further relieve the State of
49	the responsibility of owning the Property, including the
50	Sublease Property, and requests that the Property be conveyed to
51	the City of Pembroke Pines, which will manage and operate the
52	Property for health care and other related public purposes, and
53	WHEREAS, section 253.03, Florida Statutes, provides for the
54	disposition of surplus real property owned by the State, and
55	WHEREAS, the City requests that the Florida Legislature
56	authorize the conveyance of the Property directly to the City,
57	bypassing the procedures provided in section 253.03, Florida
58	Statutes, thereby allowing the City of Pembroke Pines to develop
59	the Property for public and municipal purposes consistent with the
60	present use restrictions on the Property, including affordable
61	quality housing for seniors, health care and allied services, and
62	related uses benefiting the public, and
63	WHEREAS, the City of Pembroke Pines has regularly
64	demonstrated its ability to manage and operate properties of a
65	similar nature, in that a successful Charter School System is
66	operated within the City, consisting of a Charter High School, two
67	Charter Middle Schools, and three Charter Elementary Schools, as
68	well as, in partnership with Florida State University, a recently
69	approved Charter Lab School; and the City has further contributed
70	to education by voluntarily providing public funding and enacting
71	multiple special assessments to ensure the construction in the
72	City, under an expedited schedule, of public schools operated by
73	the School Board of Broward County, and
74	WHEREAS, the City of Pembroke Pines is directly involved with
75	and has been instrumental in the development of the Academic
76	Village on 75-plus acres of property located within the City,
77	which Village consists of the Florida International University
78	campus and building, the Charter High School, the Southwest
79	Regional Library, and the BCC Campus Building, and the City is the
80	only municipal operator of a Senior Housing Facility/Recreation
81	Center in the State, and general obligation bonds were approved
82	and validated to financially support said facility, and
83	WHEREAS, the direct conveyance of the Property to the City
84	will effectively cancel and legally merge the Lease and the
85	Sublease, and
86	WHEREAS, by removing from the State the fiscal and
87	administrative responsibilities for maintaining and operating the
88	Property, the direct conveyance of the Property to the City, an
89	entity that has exhibited the ability and expertise to develop,
90	manage, and operate the proprietary and nonproprietary use of
91	government property for municipal and public purposes, will be of
92	substantial benefit to the residents of Florida, as well as to
93	those of Pembroke Pines and Broward County, NOW, THEREFORE,
94
95	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
96
97	Section 1. This act may be referred to by the popular name
98	"Special Act for the Conveyance of State Property to the City of
99	Pembroke Pines."
100	Section 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 253.03,
101	Florida Statutes, to the contrary, the following property is
102	directly conveyed to the City of Pembroke Pines, a municipal
103	corporation in Broward County:
104
105	That Real Property described as Section 16, Township 51
106	South, Range 41 East, and Section 21, Township 51 South,
107	Range 41 East, in Broward County, Florida.
108
109	Said Property is restricted solely to health care, social services,
110	and educational uses and to those allied uses deemed by the City of
111	Pembroke Pines to be in the best interest of the public.
112	Section 3. It is found and determined that the notice of
113	intention to apply for this legislation was given in the time,
114	form, and manner required by the State Constitution and the laws
115	of Florida, and said notice is found to be sufficient and is
116	hereby validated and approved.
117	Section 4. The provisions of this act are severable, and
118	it is the intention to confer the whole or any part of the
119	powers provided for herein, and if any of the provisions of this
120	act or any of the powers granted by this act shall be held
121	unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, the
122	decision of such court shall not affect or impair any of the
123	remaining provisions of this act or any of the remaining powers
124	granted by this act, and it is intended that this act shall be
125	construed and applied as if such unconstitutional provision or
126	power not been included therein.
127	Section 5. In the event of a conflict of the provisions of
128	this act with the provisions of any other act, the provisions of
129	this act shall control to the extent of such conflict. Except as
130	specifically provided herein, the provisions of this act shall
131	control over the provisions of any other special or general law.
132	Section 6. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.