ENROLLED
       2023 Legislature                            CS for CS for SB 718
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2023718er
    1  
    2         An act relating to local government; amending s.
    3         163.3167, F.S.; prohibiting an initiative or
    4         referendum process in regard to any land development
    5         regulation; reordering and amending s. 171.031, F.S.;
    6         defining the term “feasibility study”; amending s.
    7         171.0413, F.S.; specifying the measurement of land
    8         during annexation procedures; amending s. 171.042,
    9         F.S.; replacing the term “report” with the term
   10         “feasibility study”; amending s. 171.051, F.S.;
   11         revising contraction procedures when qualified voters
   12         desire to be excluded from municipal boundaries;
   13         prohibiting contraction under certain circumstances;
   14         providing construction and applicability; amending s.
   15         171.204, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference; providing
   16         an effective date.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Subsection (8) of section 163.3167, Florida
   21  Statutes, is amended to read:
   22         163.3167 Scope of act.—
   23         (8)(a) An initiative or referendum process in regard to any
   24  development order is prohibited.
   25         (b)An initiative or referendum process in regard to any
   26  land development regulation is prohibited.
   27         (c)(b) An initiative or referendum process in regard to any
   28  local comprehensive plan amendment or map amendment is
   29  prohibited unless it is expressly authorized by specific
   30  language in a local government charter that was lawful and in
   31  effect on June 1, 2011. A general local government charter
   32  provision for an initiative or referendum process is not
   33  sufficient.
   34         (d)(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that initiative
   35  and referendum be prohibited in regard to any development order
   36  or land development regulation. It is the intent of the
   37  Legislature that initiative and referendum be prohibited in
   38  regard to any local comprehensive plan amendment or map
   39  amendment, except as specifically and narrowly allowed by
   40  paragraph (c) (b). Therefore, the prohibition on initiative and
   41  referendum stated in paragraphs (a) and (c) (b) is remedial in
   42  nature and applies retroactively to any initiative or referendum
   43  process commenced after June 1, 2011, and any such initiative or
   44  referendum process commenced or completed thereafter is deemed
   45  null and void and of no legal force and effect.
   46         Section 2. Section 171.031, Florida Statutes, is reordered
   47  and amended to read:
   48         171.031 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the following
   49  words and terms have the following meanings unless some other
   50  meaning is plainly indicated:
   51         (1) “Annexation” means the adding of real property to the
   52  boundaries of an incorporated municipality, such addition making
   53  such real property in every way a part of the municipality.
   54         (4)(2) “Contraction” means the reversion of real property
   55  within municipal boundaries to an unincorporated status.
   56         (7)(3) “Municipality” means a municipality created pursuant
   57  to general or special law authorized or recognized pursuant to
   58  s. 2 or s. 6, Art. VIII of the State Constitution.
   59         (8)(4) “Newspaper of general circulation” means a newspaper
   60  printed in the language most commonly spoken in the area within
   61  which it circulates, which is readily available for purchase by
   62  all inhabitants in its area of circulation, but does not include
   63  a newspaper intended primarily for members of a particular
   64  professional or occupational group, a newspaper whose primary
   65  function is to carry legal notices, or a newspaper that is given
   66  away primarily to distribute advertising.
   67         (9)(5) “Parties affected” means any persons or firms owning
   68  property in, or residing in, either a municipality proposing
   69  annexation or contraction or owning property that is proposed
   70  for annexation to a municipality or any governmental unit with
   71  jurisdiction over such area.
   72         (6) Feasibility study” means an analysis conducted by
   73  qualified staff or consultants of the economic, market,
   74  technical, financial, and management feasibility of the proposed
   75  annexation or contraction, as applicable.
   76         (10) “Qualified voter” means any person registered to vote
   77  in accordance with law.
   78         (11)(7) “Sufficiency of petition” means the verification of
   79  the signatures and addresses of all signers of a petition with
   80  the voting list maintained by the county supervisor of elections
   81  and certification that the number of valid signatures represents
   82  the required percentage of the total number of qualified voters
   83  in the area affected by a proposed annexation.
   84         (12)(8) “Urban in character” means an area used intensively
   85  for residential, urban recreational or conservation parklands,
   86  commercial, industrial, institutional, or governmental purposes
   87  or an area undergoing development for any of these purposes.
   88         (14)(9) “Urban services” means any services offered by a
   89  municipality, either directly or by contract, to any of its
   90  present residents.
   91         (13)(10) “Urban purposes” means that land is used
   92  intensively for residential, commercial, industrial,
   93  institutional, and governmental purposes, including any parcels
   94  of land retained in their natural state or kept free of
   95  development as dedicated greenbelt areas.
   96         (3)(11) “Contiguous” means that a substantial part of a
   97  boundary of the territory sought to be annexed by a municipality
   98  is coterminous with a part of the boundary of the municipality.
   99  The separation of the territory sought to be annexed from the
  100  annexing municipality by a publicly owned county park; a right
  101  of-way for a highway, road, railroad, canal, or utility; or a
  102  body of water, watercourse, or other minor geographical division
  103  of a similar nature, running parallel with and between the
  104  territory sought to be annexed and the annexing municipality,
  105  may shall not prevent annexation under this act, provided the
  106  presence of such a division does not, as a practical matter,
  107  prevent the territory sought to be annexed and the annexing
  108  municipality from becoming a unified whole with respect to
  109  municipal services or prevent their inhabitants from fully
  110  associating and trading with each other, socially and
  111  economically. However, nothing in this subsection may herein
  112  shall be construed to allow local rights-of-way, utility
  113  easements, railroad rights-of-way, or like entities to be
  114  annexed in a corridor fashion to gain contiguity; and when any
  115  provision or provisions of any special law prohibits or laws
  116  prohibit the annexation of territory that is separated from the
  117  annexing municipality by a body of water or watercourse, then
  118  that law shall prevent annexation under this act.
  119         (2)(12) “Compactness” means concentration of a piece of
  120  property in a single area and precludes any action which would
  121  create enclaves, pockets, or finger areas in serpentine
  122  patterns. Any annexation proceeding in any county in this the
  123  state must shall be designed in such a manner as to ensure that
  124  the area will be reasonably compact.
  125         (5)(13) “Enclave” means:
  126         (a) Any unincorporated improved or developed area that is
  127  enclosed within and bounded on all sides by a single
  128  municipality; or
  129         (b) Any unincorporated improved or developed area that is
  130  enclosed within and bounded by a single municipality and a
  131  natural or manmade obstacle that allows the passage of vehicular
  132  traffic to that unincorporated area only through the
  133  municipality.
  134         Section 3. Subsection (5) of section 171.0413, Florida
  135  Statutes, is amended to read:
  136         171.0413 Annexation procedures.—Any municipality may annex
  137  contiguous, compact, unincorporated territory in the following
  138  manner:
  139         (5) If more than 70 percent of the acres of land in an area
  140  proposed to be annexed is owned by individuals, corporations, or
  141  legal entities which are not registered electors of such area,
  142  such area may shall not be annexed unless the owners of more
  143  than 50 percent of the acres of land in such area consent to
  144  such annexation. Such consent must shall be obtained by the
  145  parties proposing the annexation before prior to the referendum
  146  to be held on the annexation.
  147         Section 4. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 171.042,
  148  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  149         171.042 Prerequisites to annexation.—
  150         (1) Before Prior to commencing the annexation procedures
  151  under s. 171.0413, the governing body of the municipality shall
  152  prepare a feasibility study report setting forth the plans to
  153  provide urban services to any area to be annexed, and the
  154  feasibility study must report shall include the following:
  155         (a) A map or maps of the municipality and adjacent
  156  territory showing the present and proposed municipal boundaries,
  157  the present major trunk water mains and sewer interceptors and
  158  outfalls, the proposed extensions of such mains and outfalls, as
  159  required in paragraph (c), and the general land use pattern in
  160  the area to be annexed.
  161         (b) A statement certifying that the area to be annexed
  162  meets the criteria in s. 171.043.
  163         (c) A statement setting forth the plans of the municipality
  164  for extending to the area to be annexed each major municipal
  165  service performed within the municipality at the time of
  166  annexation. Specifically, such plans must shall:
  167         1. Provide for extending urban services except as otherwise
  168  provided in this subsection herein to the area to be annexed on
  169  the date of annexation on substantially the same basis and in
  170  the same manner as such services are provided within the rest of
  171  the municipality before prior to annexation.
  172         2. Provide for the extension of existing municipal water
  173  and sewer services into the area to be annexed so that, when
  174  such services are provided, property owners in the area to be
  175  annexed will be able to secure public water and sewer service
  176  according to the policies in effect in such municipality for
  177  extending water and sewer lines to individual lots or
  178  subdivisions.
  179         3. If extension of major trunk water mains and sewer mains
  180  into the area to be annexed is necessary, set forth a proposed
  181  timetable for construction of such mains as soon as possible
  182  following the effective date of annexation.
  183         4. Set forth the method under which the municipality plans
  184  to finance extension of services into the area to be annexed.
  185         (2) Not fewer than 15 days before prior to commencing the
  186  annexation procedures under s. 171.0413, the governing body of
  187  the municipality shall file a copy of the feasibility study
  188  report required by this section with the board of county
  189  commissioners of the county in which wherein the municipality is
  190  located. Failure to timely file the feasibility study report as
  191  required in this subsection may be the basis for a cause of
  192  action to invalidate invalidating the annexation.
  193         Section 5. Subsections (2) and (4) of section 171.051,
  194  Florida Statutes, are amended, and subsection (11) is added to
  195  that section, to read:
  196         171.051 Contraction procedures.—Any municipality may
  197  initiate the contraction of municipal boundaries in the
  198  following manner:
  199         (2) A petition of 15 percent of the qualified voters in an
  200  area desiring to be excluded from the municipal boundaries,
  201  filed with the clerk of the municipal governing body, may
  202  propose such an ordinance. The municipality to which such
  203  petition is directed shall immediately undertake a feasibility
  204  study of the feasibility of such proposal and the governing body
  205  shall, within 6 months, evaluate the feasibility study of such
  206  proposal and either initiate proceedings under subsection (1) by
  207  introducing a contraction ordinance or reject the petition as a
  208  legislative decision, specifically stating the facts upon which
  209  the rejection is based.
  210         (4) If, at the meeting held for the such purpose of
  211  considering the contraction ordinance introduced by the
  212  governing body, a petition is filed and signed by at least 15
  213  percent of the qualified voters resident in the area proposed
  214  for contraction requesting a referendum on the question, the
  215  governing body shall, upon verification, paid for by the
  216  municipality, of the sufficiency of the petition, and before
  217  passing such ordinance, submit the question of contraction to a
  218  vote of the qualified voters of the area proposed for
  219  contraction, or the governing body may vote not to contract the
  220  municipal boundaries.
  221         (11)If more than 70 percent of the acres of land in an
  222  area proposed to be contracted is owned by individuals,
  223  corporations, or legal entities that are not registered electors
  224  of such area, such area may not be contracted unless the owners
  225  of more than 50 percent of the acres of land in such area
  226  consent to such contraction.
  227         Section 6. The amendments made by this act to s. 171.051,
  228  Florida Statutes, are intended to be prospective in nature and
  229  apply only to petitions filed on or after July 1, 2023.
  230         Section 7. Section 171.204, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  231  read:
  232         171.204 Prerequisites to annexation under this part.—The
  233  interlocal service boundary agreement may describe the character
  234  of land that may be annexed under this part and may provide that
  235  the restrictions on the character of land that may be annexed
  236  pursuant to part I are not restrictions on land that may be
  237  annexed pursuant to this part. As determined in the interlocal
  238  service boundary agreement, any character of land may be
  239  annexed, including, but not limited to, an annexation of land
  240  not contiguous to the boundaries of the annexing municipality,
  241  an annexation that creates an enclave, or an annexation where
  242  the annexed area is not reasonably compact; however, such area
  243  must be “urban in character” as defined in s. 171.031 s.
  244  171.031(8). The interlocal service boundary agreement may not
  245  allow for annexation of land within a municipality that is not a
  246  party to the agreement or of land that is within another county.
  247  Before annexation of land that is not contiguous to the
  248  boundaries of the annexing municipality, an annexation that
  249  creates an enclave, or an annexation of land that is not
  250  currently served by water or sewer utilities, one of the
  251  following options must be followed:
  252         (1) The municipality shall transmit a comprehensive plan
  253  amendment that proposes specific amendments relating to the
  254  property anticipated for annexation to the Department of
  255  Economic Opportunity for review under chapter 163. After
  256  considering the department’s review, the municipality may
  257  approve the annexation and comprehensive plan amendment
  258  concurrently. The local government must adopt the annexation and
  259  the comprehensive plan amendment as separate and distinct
  260  actions but may take such actions at a single public hearing; or
  261         (2) A municipality and county shall enter into a joint
  262  planning agreement under s. 163.3171, which is adopted into the
  263  municipal comprehensive plan. The joint planning agreement must
  264  identify the geographic areas anticipated for annexation, the
  265  future land uses that the municipality would seek to establish,
  266  necessary public facilities and services, including
  267  transportation and school facilities and how they will be
  268  provided, and natural resources, including surface water and
  269  groundwater resources, and how they will be protected. An
  270  amendment to the future land use map of a comprehensive plan
  271  which is consistent with the joint planning agreement must be
  272  considered a small scale amendment.
  273         Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.