Amendment
Bill No. CS/HB 7129

Amendment No. 016887

CHAMBER ACTION
Senate		House
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1	Representative Workman offered the following:
2
3	Amendment
4	Remove lines 6920-7080 and insert:
5	(2)  Upon written request by one or more landowners of the
6	subject lands to designate lands as a rural land stewardship
7	area, or pursuant to a private-sector-initiated comprehensive
8	plan amendment filed by, or with the consent of the owners of
9	the subject lands, local governments may adopt a future land use
10	overlay to designate all or portions of lands classified in the
11	future land use element as predominantly agricultural, rural,
12	open, open-rural, or a substantively equivalent land use, as a
13	rural land stewardship area within which planning and economic
14	incentives are applied to encourage the implementation of
15	innovative and flexible planning and development strategies and
16	creative land use planning techniques to support a diverse
17	economic and employment base. The future land use overlay may
18	not require a demonstration of need based on population
19	projections or any other factors.
20	(3)  Rural land stewardship areas may be used to further
21	the following broad principles of rural sustainability:
22	restoration and maintenance of the economic value of rural land;
23	control of urban sprawl; identification and protection of
24	ecosystems, habitats, and natural resources; promotion and
25	diversification of economic activity and employment
26	opportunities within the rural areas; maintenance of the
27	viability of the state's agricultural economy; and protection of
28	private property rights in rural areas of the state. Rural land
29	stewardship areas may be multicounty in order to encourage
30	coordinated regional stewardship planning.
31	(4)  A local government or one or more property owners may
32	request assistance and participation in the development of a
33	plan for the rural land stewardship area from the state land
34	planning agency, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer
35	Services, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the
36	Department of Environmental Protection, the appropriate water
37	management district, the Department of Transportation, the
38	regional planning council, private land owners, and
39	stakeholders.
40	(5)  A rural land stewardship area shall be not less than
41	10,000 acres, shall be located outside of municipalities and
42	established urban service areas, and shall be designated by plan
43	amendment by each local government with jurisdiction over the
44	rural land stewardship area. The plan amendment or amendments
45	designating a rural land stewardship area are subject to review
46	pursuant to s. 163.3184 and shall provide for the following:
47	(a)  Criteria for the designation of receiving areas which
48	shall, at a minimum, provide for the following: adequacy of
49	suitable land to accommodate development so as to avoid conflict
50	with significant environmentally sensitive areas, resources, and
51	habitats; compatibility between and transition from higher
52	density uses to lower intensity rural uses; and the
53	establishment of receiving area service boundaries that provide
54	for a transition from receiving areas and other land uses within
55	the rural land stewardship area through limitations on the
56	extension of services.
57	(b)  Innovative planning and development strategies to be
58	applied within rural land stewardship areas pursuant to this
59	section.
60	(c)  A process for the implementation of innovative
61	planning and development strategies within the rural land
62	stewardship area, including those described in this subsection,
63	which provide for a functional mix of land uses through the
64	adoption by the local government of zoning and land development
65	regulations applicable to the rural land stewardship area.
66	(d)  A mix of densities and intensities that would not be
67	characterized as urban sprawl through the use of innovative
68	strategies and creative land use techniques.
69	(6)  A receiving area may be designated only pursuant to
70	procedures established in the local government's land
71	development regulations. If receiving area designation requires
72	the approval of the county board of county commissioners, such
73	approval shall be by resolution with a simple majority vote.
74	Before the commencement of development within a stewardship
75	receiving area, a listed species survey must be performed for
76	the area proposed for development. If listed species occur on
77	the receiving area development site, the applicant must
78	coordinate with each appropriate local, state, or federal agency
79	to determine if adequate provisions have been made to protect
80	those species in accordance with applicable regulations. In
81	determining the adequacy of provisions for the protection of
82	listed species and their habitats, the rural land stewardship
83	area shall be considered as a whole, and the potential impacts
84	and protective measures taken within areas to be developed as
85	receiving areas shall be considered in conjunction with and
86	compensated by lands set aside and protective measures taken
87	within the designated sending areas.
88	(7)  Upon the adoption of a plan amendment creating a rural
89	land stewardship area, the local government shall, by ordinance,
90	establish a rural land stewardship overlay zoning district,
91	which shall provide the methodology for the creation,
92	conveyance, and use of transferable rural land use credits,
93	hereinafter referred to as stewardship credits, the assignment
94	and application of which does not constitute a right to develop
95	land or increase the density of land, except as provided by this
96	section. The total amount of stewardship credits within the
97	rural land stewardship area must enable the realization of the
98	long-term vision and goals for the rural land stewardship area,
99	which may take into consideration the anticipated effect of the
100	proposed receiving areas. The estimated amount of receiving area
101	shall be projected based on available data, and the development
102	potential represented by the stewardship credits created within
103	the rural land stewardship area must correlate to that amount.
104	(8)  Stewardship credits are subject to the following
105	limitations:
106	(a)  Stewardship credits may exist only within a rural land
107	stewardship area.
108	(b)  Stewardship credits may be created only from lands
109	designated as stewardship sending areas and may be used only on
110	lands designated as stewardship receiving areas and then solely
111	for the purpose of implementing innovative planning and
112	development strategies and creative land use planning techniques
113	adopted by the local government pursuant to this section.
114	(c)  Stewardship credits assigned to a parcel of land
115	within a rural land stewardship area shall cease to exist if the
116	parcel of land is removed from the rural land stewardship area
117	by plan amendment.
118	(d)  Neither the creation of the rural land stewardship
119	area by plan amendment nor the adoption of the rural land
120	stewardship zoning overlay district by the local government may
121	displace the underlying permitted uses or the density or
122	intensity of land uses assigned to a parcel of land within the
123	rural land stewardship area that existed before adoption of the
124	plan amendment or zoning overlay district; however, once
125	stewardship credits have been transferred from a designated
126	sending area for use within a designated receiving area, the
127	underlying density assigned to the designated sending area
128	ceases to exist.
129	(e)  The underlying permitted uses, density, or intensity
130	on each parcel of land located within a rural land stewardship
131	area may not be increased or decreased by the local government,
132	except as a result of the conveyance or stewardship credits, as
133	long as the parcel remains within the rural land stewardship
134	area.
135	(f)  Stewardship credits shall cease to exist on a parcel
136	of land where the underlying density assigned to the parcel of
137	land is used.
138	(g)  An increase in the density or intensity of use on a
139	parcel of land located within a designated receiving area may
140	occur only through the assignment or use of stewardship credits
141	and do not require a plan amendment. A change in the type of
142	agricultural use on property within a rural land stewardship
143	area is not considered a change in use or intensity of use and
144	does not require any transfer of stewardship credits.
145	(h)  A change in the density or intensity of land use on
146	parcels located within receiving areas shall be specified in a
147	development order that reflects the total number of stewardship
148	credits assigned to the parcel of land and the infrastructure
149	and support services necessary to provide for a functional mix
150	of land uses corresponding to the plan of development.
151	(i)  Land within a rural land stewardship area may be
152	removed from the rural land stewardship area through a plan
153	amendment.
154	(j)  Stewardship credits may be assigned at different
155	ratios of credits per acre according to the natural resource or
156	other beneficial use characteristics of the land and according
157	to the land use remaining after the transfer of credits, with
158	the highest number of credits per acre assigned to the most
159	environmentally valuable land or, in locations where the
160	retention of open space and agricultural land is a priority, to
161	such lands.
162	(k)  Stewardship credits may be transferred from a sending
163	area only after a stewardship easement is placed on the sending
164	area land with assigned stewardship credits. A stewardship
165	easement is a covenant or restrictive easement running with the
166	land which specifies the allowable uses and development
167	restrictions for the portion of a sending area from which
168	stewardship credits have been transferred. The stewardship
169	easement must be jointly held by the county and the Department
170	of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture and
171	Consumer Services, a water management district, or a recognized
172	statewide land trust.

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