HB 1549

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to rural land stewardship; amending s.
3	163.3177, F.S.; providing for agricultural landowners to
4	participate in the rural land stewardship program;
5	revising criteria for rural land stewardship areas;
6	requiring the Department of Community Affairs to make
7	provisions for landowner agreements; providing an
8	effective date.
9
10	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
11
12	Section 1.  Paragraph (d) of subsection (11) of section
13	163.3177, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
14	163.3177  Required and optional elements of comprehensive
15	plan; studies and surveys.--
16	(11)
17	(d)1.  The department, in cooperation with the Department
18	of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of
19	Environmental Protection, water management districts, and
20	regional planning councils, shall provide assistance to local
21	governments in the implementation of this paragraph and rule 9J-
22	5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code. Implementation of
23	those provisions shall include a process by which the department
24	may authorize local governments and landowners to designate all
25	or portions of lands classified in the future land use element
26	as predominantly agricultural, rural, open, open-rural, or a
27	substantively equivalent land use, as a rural land stewardship
28	area within which planning and economic incentives are applied
29	to encourage the implementation of innovative and flexible
30	planning and development strategies and creative land use
31	planning techniques, including those contained herein and in
32	rule 9J-5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code. Assistance may
33	include, but is not limited to:
34	a.  Assistance from the Department of Environmental
35	Protection and water management districts in creating the
36	geographic information systems land cover database and aerial
37	photogrammetry needed to prepare for a rural land stewardship
38	area;
39	b.  Support for local government implementation of rural
40	land stewardship concepts by providing information and
41	assistance to local governments regarding land acquisition
42	programs that may be used by the local government or landowners
43	to leverage the protection of greater acreage and maximize the
44	effectiveness of rural land stewardship areas; and
45	c.  Expansion of the role of the Department of Community
46	Affairs as a resource agency to facilitate establishment of
47	rural land stewardship areas in smaller rural counties that do
48	not have the staff or planning budgets to create a rural land
49	stewardship area.
50	2.  The department shall encourage participation by local
51	governments of different sizes and rural characteristics in
52	establishing and implementing rural land stewardship areas. It
53	is the intent of the Legislature that rural land stewardship
54	areas be used to further the following broad principles of rural
55	sustainability: restoration and maintenance of the economic
56	value of rural land; control of urban sprawl; identification and
57	protection of ecosystems, habitats, and natural resources;
58	promotion of rural economic activity; maintenance of the
59	viability of Florida's agricultural economy; and protection of
60	the character of rural areas of Florida. Rural land stewardship
61	areas may be multicounty in order to encourage coordinated
62	regional stewardship planning.
63	3.  A local government, in conjunction with a regional
64	planning council, a stakeholder organization of private land
65	owners, or another local government, or any landowner or
66	landowners with 2,500 acres or more of contiguous agricultural
67	land as described in s. 193.451, shall notify the department in
68	writing of its intent to designate a rural land stewardship
69	area. The written notification shall describe the basis for the
70	designation, including the extent to which the rural land
71	stewardship area enhances rural land values, controls urban
72	sprawl, provides necessary open space for agriculture and
73	protection of the natural environment, promotes rural economic
74	activity, and maintains rural character and the economic
75	viability of agriculture.
76	4.  A rural land stewardship area shall be not less than
77	2,500 10,000 acres and shall be located outside of
78	municipalities and established urban growth boundaries, and
79	shall be designated by plan amendment. The plan amendment
80	designating a rural land stewardship area shall be subject to
81	review by the Department of Community Affairs pursuant to s.
82	163.3184 and shall provide for the following:
83	a.  Criteria for the designation of receiving areas within
84	rural land stewardship areas in which innovative planning and
85	development strategies may be applied. Criteria shall at a
86	minimum provide for the following: adequacy of suitable land to
87	accommodate development so as to avoid conflict with
88	environmentally sensitive areas, resources, and habitats;
89	compatibility between and transition from higher density uses to
90	lower intensity rural uses; the establishment of receiving area
91	service boundaries which provide for a separation between
92	receiving areas and other land uses within the rural land
93	stewardship area through limitations on the extension of
94	services; and connection of receiving areas with the rest of the
95	rural land stewardship area using rural design and rural road
96	corridors.
97	b.  Goals, objectives, and policies setting forth the
98	innovative planning and development strategies to be applied
99	within rural land stewardship areas pursuant to the provisions
100	of this section.
101	c.  A process for the implementation of innovative planning
102	and development strategies within the rural land stewardship
103	area, including those described in this subsection and rule 9J-
104	5.006(5)(l), Florida Administrative Code, which provide for a
105	functional mix of land uses and which are applied through the
106	adoption by the local government of zoning and land development
107	regulations applicable to the rural land stewardship area.
108	d.  A process which encourages visioning pursuant to s.
109	163.3167(11) to ensure that innovative planning and development
110	strategies comply with the provisions of this section.
111	e.  The control of sprawl through the use of innovative
112	strategies and creative land use techniques consistent with the
113	provisions of this subsection and rule 9J-5.006(5)(l), Florida
114	Administrative Code.
115	5.  In selecting a landowner or landowners, the department
116	shall by written agreement:
117	a.  Ensure that the landowner has expressed intent to
118	designate a rural land stewardship area pursuant to the
119	provisions of this paragraph and clarify the intended rural land
120	stewardship area.
121	b.  Ensure that the landowner has the financial and
122	administrative capabilities to implement a rural land
123	stewardship area.
124	6.5.  A receiving area shall be designated by the adoption
125	of a land development regulation. Prior to the designation of a
126	receiving area, the local government shall provide the
127	Department of Community Affairs a period of 30 days in which to
128	review a proposed receiving area for consistency with the rural
129	land stewardship area plan amendment and to provide comments to
130	the local government.
131	7.6.  Upon the adoption of a plan amendment creating a
132	rural land stewardship area, the local government shall, by
133	ordinance, assign to the area a certain number of credits, to be
134	known as "transferable rural land use credits," which shall not
135	constitute a right to develop land, nor increase density of
136	land, except as provided by this section. The total amount of
137	transferable rural land use credits assigned to the rural land
138	stewardship area must correspond to the 25-year or greater
139	projected population of the rural land stewardship area.
140	Transferable rural land use credits are subject to the following
141	limitations:
142	a.  Transferable rural land use credits may only exist
143	within a rural land stewardship area.
144	b.  Transferable rural land use credits may only be used on
145	lands designated as receiving areas and then solely for the
146	purpose of implementing innovative planning and development
147	strategies and creative land use planning techniques adopted by
148	the local government pursuant to this section.
149	c.  Transferable rural land use credits assigned to a
150	parcel of land within a rural land stewardship area shall cease
151	to exist if the parcel of land is removed from the rural land
152	stewardship area by plan amendment.
153	d.  Neither the creation of the rural land stewardship area
154	by plan amendment nor the assignment of transferable rural land
155	use credits by the local government shall operate to displace
156	the underlying density of land uses assigned to a parcel of land
157	within the rural land stewardship area; however, if transferable
158	rural land use credits are transferred from a parcel for use
159	within a designated receiving area, the underlying density
160	assigned to the parcel of land shall cease to exist.
161	e.  The underlying density on each parcel of land located
162	within a rural land stewardship area shall not be increased or
163	decreased by the local government, except as a result of the
164	conveyance or use of transferable rural land use credits, as
165	long as the parcel remains within the rural land stewardship
166	area.
167	f.  Transferable rural land use credits shall cease to
168	exist on a parcel of land where the underlying density assigned
169	to the parcel of land is utilized.
170	g.  An increase in the density of use on a parcel of land
171	located within a designated receiving area may occur only
172	through the assignment or use of transferable rural land use
173	credits and shall not require a plan amendment.
174	h.  A change in the density of land use on parcels located
175	within receiving areas shall be specified in a development order
176	which reflects the total number of transferable rural land use
177	credits assigned to the parcel of land and the infrastructure
178	and support services necessary to provide for a functional mix
179	of land uses corresponding to the plan of development.
180	i.  Land within a rural land stewardship area may be
181	removed from the rural land stewardship area through a plan
182	amendment.
183	j.  Transferable rural land use credits may be assigned at
184	different ratios of credits per acre according to the natural
185	resource or other beneficial use characteristics of the land and
186	according to the land use remaining following the transfer of
187	credits, with the highest number of credits per acre assigned to
188	the most environmentally valuable land and a lesser number of
189	credits to be assigned to open space and agricultural land.
190	k.  The use or conveyance of transferable rural land use
191	credits must be recorded in the public records of the county in
192	which the property is located as a covenant or restrictive
193	easement running with the land in favor of the county and either
194	the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of
195	Agriculture and Consumer Services, a water management district,
196	or a recognized statewide land trust.
197	8.7.  Owners of land within rural land stewardship areas
198	should be provided incentives to enter into rural land
199	stewardship agreements, pursuant to existing law and rules
200	adopted thereto, with state agencies, water management
201	districts, and local governments to achieve mutually agreed upon
202	conservation objectives. Such incentives may include, but not be
203	limited to, the following:
204	a.  Opportunity to accumulate transferable mitigation
205	credits.
206	b.  Extended permit agreements.
207	c.  Opportunities for recreational leases and ecotourism.
208	d.  Payment for specified land management services on
209	publicly owned land, or property under covenant or restricted
210	easement in favor of a public entity.
211	e.  Option agreements for sale to public entities or
212	private land conservation entities, in either fee or easement,
213	upon achievement of conservation objectives.
214	9.8.  The department shall report to the Legislature on an
215	annual basis on the results of implementation of rural land
216	stewardship areas authorized by the department, including
217	successes and failures in achieving the intent of the
218	Legislature as expressed in this paragraph.
219	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.