Judge rules that FL law prohibits citizen petitions and referenda in huge development case.

[madfloridian]

I really need some help on finding this part of the law the judges used to overturn this citizens' petition. I guess I always thought that citizens could get together and fight against anything going on their state. I am gathering you can not do that in Florida now.

There are huge developments going on all over Florida...or there WERE before the housing crash. This very large one looks set to move ahead anyway. I guess I just in the back of my mind thought that there were ways to fight.

Wind Meadows South prevails over residents trying to stop 272-acre, 835-unit project.

An appellate court has cleared the way for Lakeland developer Highland Cassidy to build the 835-unit Wind Meadows South development.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a circuit judge's ruling that state law prohibits citizen petitions and referenda in zoning cases such as this one. Highland Cassidy LLC, a Lakeland development firm, was seeking approval of a zoning change to allow 835 houses on the site, on the north end of E.F. Griffin Road in northwest Bartow. The court issued its ruling without a written opinion, simply saying the three judges hearing the case agree with the Circuit Court's decision. That means the residents can seek a rehearing by the DCA, but can't appeal to another court.

More:

Petition organizers said the development would burden the city's overcrowded schools and overburdened roads, and it wasn't compatible with the rural nature of the community.

.."Bartow lawyer Jonathan Stidham, who represented the city, said he wasn't surprised by the court's decision.

"We got this one in the bag," he said Friday. "(City Attorney) Sean Parker gave the city the right advice at the start of this. That was clear to me as soon as I took the case over. He was dead on."

Parker had told the City Commission that the city couldn't have a referendum on a development permit, which is what the city gave to Highland Cassidy when the commission approved the development in September 2007.

"That's what the state law says, and that's what Langford ruled," Stidham said.

Does that mean citizens can't fight developers? Or does it mean that they can't fight once a permit is issued? Since much of Florida's city and county commissions are loaded with developers...that does not bode well.

Or was it a limiting of citizens' rights to petition and gather signatures? The bill signed last year by Charlie Crist did a lot of that. That is, in addition to moving up Florida's primary and throwing a monkey wrench into Democratic harmony. The above citizen's referendum may have no connection to this bill, but it did ring a bell.

2007 Paper Trail mixed with bad citizen initiative language

*Sections 1-2 of the bill stifles voter registration efforts by grassroots organizations and strips key voter protections. The language addressing third party voter registration efforts will impact an ongoing court case in which similar restrictions that were passed in 2005 have been enjoined from being enforced. While the new language reduces the penalties that can be imposed on third party groups doing voter registration, it is still too restrictive and will likely mean that some well intentioned grassroots organizations will cease their voter registration efforts for fear of being penalized.

*Section 25 imposes new restrictions against citizen initiative petition drives and includes an onerous and expensive new process for gathering petition revocations. Under this new process, citizens who had signed a petition would be singled out and lobbied to subsequently “Revoke” the original petition signature. This new revocation process will create a cottage industry of companies who specialize in collecting petition revocations and could result in citizens being harassed to sign revocation forms in their own homes. It will also create a burdensome new workload for our county Supervisors of Elections.

This 77 page bill became a legislative train for various other pieces of legislation, most of which were never discussed and had not been filed as separate bills. The final bill looks very little like the original HB 537 which passed the House floor on March 21 by a vote of 115-1. The bill now makes changes in 52 Florida Statutes, ranging across 13 different chapters of Florida law. We respectfully argue this is not a good way to write election law in Florida. And while we do support the change to paper ballots which was fully debated and discussed in committee, we believe the other changes included in this bill deserve to be reviewed by a blue ribbon panel that will take a more comprehensive and thorough approach.

It was approved by the Florida legislature in a bipartisan way...the vote was 115 to 1

House Republicans and Democrats passed the earlier primary bill (HB 537) by a 115-1 vote - a challenge to the national parties that are wielding threats in an attempt to prevent a nationwide race for earlier and earlier primaries.

I think it may have added much more change to Florida statutes than we realized at the time. I can't find clear wording in Florida statutes that would prevent citizens from stopping a development that would endanger resources for the area. It must exist, I just can't find it.

Land zoning uses and changes in the local paper used to take up half a page at the most. Now it can be pages. It seems to be disappearing our rural lands at a dangerous pace.

I hate to think there is no way to stop the encroachment.

[elleng]

1. Haven't gone into it in detail,

but says court said couldn't have 'referendum on a development permit.' Hard to tell if no written ruling, even tho small, limited ruling.

So, way to be heard: 'residents can seek a rehearing by the DCA,' with a good lawyer who understands land use/zoning law.

There's probably a time limit for this, so move quickly.

[madfloridian]

3. Makes one wonder if a rehearing at the same court would matter.

I sure can't figure all of this out.

[elleng]

4. It might, if 'standards' required for them to meet

had not been well-discussed and argued before them. Did anyone represent 'residents' initially?

[madfloridian]

5. They were represented, don't know the guy.

Or how well they were represented.

I do know that things are stacked against citizens, and as some of our very prominent moderate Republicans recently found out...things are stacked again them as well. Jeb's cronies rammed the CSX deal through, and not a single Republican who saw the danger could stop it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. This is another thread that came to my attention, past the 24 hr. recommend limit.

[QC]

2. Let him build it and bankrupt himself.

It hs gotten so that the two most terrifying words in Florida are "real estate."

[madfloridian]

6. That might be the only thing that stops them.

Many of these huge developments have been halted because of the over-building.

Yep, the current overbuilding might be the only way.

Warnings about dire FL economy

..."With the mortgage crisis, the credit crunch and the flatlining of the population, the twin industries that buffered Florida through two previous recessions, real estate and construction, are weighing down Florida's economy, complicating a recovery and making it likely Florida will be among the last to bounce back.

"This recession is not only going to be bad for us. It's going to be worse than the nation's," said David Denslow, a University of Florida economist. The primary reason: Florida's residential construction boom grew at twice its normal rate and "we got overbuilt."

[QC]

7. There was an absolute auction here in town today

at which condos originally priced at more than $500,000 went for $200,000.

Quite a haircut there!

[madfloridian]

8. Wow, I knew things were bad.

But that's awful.

[McCamy Taylor]

9. Here's what you do. If the city no longer wants the development, deny it services.

No roads, no utilities, no commercial properties go up anywhere near it. It will get frozen out. Who is going to move into the new houses when nothing can be built nearby? No grocery store, no Quikee Mart, nada. The developer will leave. Cities have all sorts of power.

Cities do this all the time to minority communities. They can do this to upscale communities if they want. They will get bribed, of course. Maybe the city leaders are only pretending to fight the community in hopes of getting some payoffs. Maybe they are encouraging locals to protest, and when the builders grease some palms, city leaders will suddenly see things the builders' way.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Your second paragraph is spot on.

Select locals are being "bribed" in various ways. I use the word loosely, since the offers will not be so overt. It will come in the way of employment offers or business opportunities. Or worse, encouragement to trespass on your neighbors without fear of reprisals.

[quaker bill]

10. A link to the circuit court decision

might well be helpful. This decision should contain statutory references and citation of precedent. It is unlikely that the decision has anything to do with the recent language on the citizen initiative process for constitutional ammendments.

This decision has a feel of something a bit older in the law. It could date back to the "enhanced takings" legislation of the 1990s. There was a fair amount of legislation related to planing and zoning decisions that occurred early in the first JEB term. Limiting the right to petition as well as limiting who would have "standing" to file legal challenges was a big part of that effort. It went along with gutting the regional planning councils and "enhanced takings" under which local government can be forced to purchase property if they render an unfavorable zoning decision, or be forced by law to compensate the developer for his/her loss of profit based on their decision.

Does the developer have an Environmental Resource Permit? Any project this large in the State requires one. The issues subject to review would be much more narrow, but adjacent property owners would likely have standing. Bartow would fall within Southwest Florida Water Management District.

[madfloridian]

11. I had not realized that about "enhanced takings".

"This decision has a feel of something a bit older in the law. It could date back to the "enhanced takings" legislation of the 1990s. There was a fair amount of legislation related to planing and zoning decisions that occurred early in the first JEB term. Limiting the right to petition as well as limiting who would have "standing" to file legal challenges was a big part of that effort. It went along with gutting the regional planning councils and "enhanced takings" under which local government can be forced to purchase property if they render an unfavorable zoning decision, or be forced by law to compensate the developer for his/her loss of profit based on their decision."

That would be in 1998 time frame. I missed a lot that happened then. I was not yet retired, and no criticism of Jeb was tolerated then.

I really was not paying a lot of attention politically until 2003 and Iraq, then we became involved in a certain campaign. I began to realize how clueless I was about politicians.

I don't know anyone in that area to ask about the situation. I tried looking up the court decision earlier and had no luck. I am not good at legal searches.

I wonder how I lived so long here and did not know those decisions occurred. I doubt very many people do know until they come face to face with a situation involving it.

[quaker bill]

12. Land use law

is really complex in FL. I am not too familiar with the other states, but am pretty clear that in NC for instance, it is much simpler.

Most County Clerks have their records on-line, and generally you can find judgements recorded there. In some Circuits, the records can be found on the Circuit Court website. Statutes can be found at myflorida.com. Once you have the references, it is pretty easy to get the chapter and verse. However, this alone may tell you little as the language can be quite cryptic.

I do not know the chronology of this matter, but generally developers sort out the zoning issues before getting the Environmental Resource Permit (ERP). On a development of this size, an ERP will be required before construction can begin. SWFWMD would handle this application. They have a website where you should be able to at least find contacts and perhaps more info on the project status.

JEB did a number of things that limited the discretion of local government and limited the standing of citizens and activist groups in these matters.

As far as change we could believe in, check out the "florida hometown democracy" initiative drive, which if passed, would create an opening for citizen initiatives and votes on these matters.

[madfloridian]

17. Yes, we worked with Florida Hometown Democracy...

Then the GOP here came up with a group with a similar name, and made people think that FHD was a fake. I don't remember all the details, but in the end signatures were denied. And nothing got done.

I think I posted on it somewhere when it happened. It was very upsetting the way they did it.

They simply made up a group favorable to developers and made our people's group look fake.

Ain't it amazing how that's done? Gee, I wish I could remember the details. Have it somewhere.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Until you get a group of attorneys in Florida, who are not connected

to the real estate industry in anyway, (though a little past experience is not bad), Florida will just continue to spiral down into corruption.

It's time to wake up. Lawyers, judges, developers, realtors-- they're all complicit. If there are any who fight for the rights of the public against radical changes in the zoning plans, I haven't heard of them. It's usually to the contrary. Once you get a few judges and lawyers interested in changing designations, there is a trickle down smorgasbord as the message is sent down the line that if you play along with the big boy's plans, there's profit to be found if you add to the chaos in the community and keep your neighbors off-balance with title encroachments. There is prison-type teaching going on with people getting the impression that regular people aren't going to be expected to know all the rules, so they can get away with more.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. What about a regional impact study? Are they still necessary?

Shouldn't one have been approved before the permit was allowed? This would have given the citizens more time to organize.

Also, do a public records request for the city attorney's timesheet. Go back years if necessary, to see who he's been talking to.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

15. Sounds Like A Fair Ruling To Me.

The citizens have a voice with the town and there are ways for them to get their voices heard. But they shouldn't have the power in the courts to overturn legal township decisions. For every development project there is, you will find citizens balking and complaining and wanting to stop it. They'll always use the overcrowding excuse etc. But growth should be able to take place and developers should be allowed to build. Only when there's a glaring misjustice that would occur if development went forward should there be special intervention. In most cases of protest I read about in my paper all the time though, the complaints are usually petty and knee jerking and worthy of stopping the development.