SB 354 Blue Ribbon Projects is a bill making its way through the Florida Senate that would grant big landowners the right to ignore local land use controls and protections of rural areas. This bill would green-light large projects with little oversight and no public participation. This is the last committee stop in the Senate; a similar bill has already passed through the House committees.
Local comprehensive plans are created by the community, planning experts, and local stakeholders. These plans are the foundation of our community’s character, and new developments must meet the standards set forth in the comprehensive plan. The Blue Ribbon Projects bill completely upends this foundational structure for large-scale development projects.
One way it does this is by the project being approved by the State of Florida Department of Commerce first. Once that happens, the local government is required to administratively approve a blue ribbon project without any public hearings, regardless of the existing future land use designation or zoning. This calls into question the validity of all land use plans. Instead of being based on data and local expertise, long-term plans will be subject to the whims of large landowners, no matter the actual conditions on the ground – including ignoring and overriding designations like wetlands or conservation lands.
The Blue Ribbon Projects could also put taxpayers at risk. Road networks and other infrastructure will be needed to support these sprawling developments – developments that will be the size of new cities. We know that development doesn’t pay for itself, and local taxpayers – who will have no say in whether this sprawl should be approved – will likely be left paying for the creation and upkeep of these new facilities.
Is this bill necessary? Absolutely NOT! There are tools already available in state law to allow for large-scale planning efforts, such as the ability for large landowners to create sector plans. These currently existing avenues for rural planning include full public participation, with the final decisions made, as they should be, by local elected officials during a public hearing to ensure that the sector plan is consistent with the local land use plan.
All of the standards and criteria for development contained in this bill – including mixed-use design, walkability, transportation planning, and economic development goals – are already required under existing state law and included in local comprehensive plans. This bill does not include meaningful standards for these aspirational development goals.
We need you to contact legislators in the Senate Rules Committee, along with the bill sponsor. Please let them know you want them to vote NO on this dangerous bill.