One of the key features of the 40 Year War on the Environment has been-- at least in Florida-- to dismantle federal regulatory authority in favor of the state. That is why, at the present moment, the Republican, radical right has taken such ferocious aim at the US EPA for attempting to impose nutrient standards in Florida waters. The right appears completely blinded to the fact that the EPA is not over-reaching but merely responding to a federal court decision. Lost in the smoke and mirrors is a disturbing fact about the next Republican achievement, if it can be called that: dismantle state authority in favor of local city and county government.
There is nothing new about this. Jeb Bush favored emptying government buildings in Tallahassee. It has just taken nearly a decade, and a massive crash in the economy -- that could have been averted if the speculators had been kicked out of the halls of power-- to achieve. Gov. Rick Scott has picked up the cudgel and beaten growth management in Florida to a pulp. Protections that citizens and environmentalists had relied on, tepid and weak as they were, have vanished. What is left? Our county commission.
A newspaper editorial in the Florida Keys last weekend, from the Florida Keynoter, picked up this thread by calling attention to the rare defeat of a rock mining proposal in West Palm Beach in district court, on the basis that the county had violated, by approving the mine, its own comprehensive land use plan. "Richard Grosso, the attorney who represented the 1000 Friends of Florida in the Palm Beach County case, told the Florida News Service the appellate court's ruling will reinforce local growth controls at a time when state lawmakers have weakened state oversight of growth management. "Once they are written, comprehensive plans mean what they say," Grosso said, "not what a majority of county commissioners think should happen."
Who wants to bet that the Miami-Dade County Commissioners can be trusted with growth management? What the radical right selectively forgets is: history. Growth management became a state responsibility for the simple fact that enough legislators, Republicans and Democrats, became disgusted with the ramshackle, disorganized and chaotic growth that was over-running the state by the 1970's. If the Miami-Dade County Commission had its choice, Miami International Airport would have been moved into the middle of the Everglades. And only last year, County Commissioner Pepe Diaz saw nothing wrong with moving ATV's into the old Jetport site in Big Cypress National Preserve, over designated state and federal protections. These are all facts conveniently ignored by the radical right and their lobbyists in the Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries. (click 'read more', for the Keynoter editorial)
With weakened DCA, tighten local growth controls
An appellate court ruling handed down this week in Palm Beach County is casting a big wake in legal circles with implications for Monroe County.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach reversed lower courts in a case involving the right of Palm Beach County commissioners to permit rock mining in an environmentally sensitive area. The permit was issued even though the county's comprehensive land-use plan limits rock mining in the Everglades Agricultural Area for public purposes only.
The question turned on whether the County Commission could ignore its own land-use plan. The appellate court, in a unanimous decision, said no.
That issue of local control over land-use regulation is becoming a hot potato here in the Keys, where the County Commission on Aug. 17 considers tighter restrictions on commission power to override Monroe County's comprehensive plan.
Under a proposal floated late last year by District 5 Commissioner Sylvia Murphy, changes would require a super-majority vote (four of the five commissioners) instead of a simple majority.
Murphy raised concerns late last year following the November election of Republican Rick Scott as governor. Among his campaign promises was one to dial back the state's role as development watchdog. He took aim at the Department of Community Affairs, which has had final oversight and approval over Keys development for decades after the Keys were declared an Area of Critical State Concern.
The state's move to dismantle DCA means the County Commission becomes even more of a critical gatekeeper, says state Rep. Ron Saunders. "We always had the assurance that if a county commission got crazy and stupid, the DCA was there as our backup. Now we do not have that assurance," Saunders told the Keynoter last year.
It was DCA intervention that proved critical in 2009 to stop massive development on Stock Island of a 300-room hotel, marina, retail shops and ferry terminal green-lighted on a split-vote by a previous county commission.
That vote to override the county's own land plan, led by the so-called Gang of Three, ultimately brought defeat at the polls for Dixie Spehar, Sonny McCoy and then Mario Di Gennaro.
The current commission has a much better track record when it comes to being a watchdog over ill-conceived development. But that's little guarantee some future commission might not be more reckless.
Richard Grosso, the attorney who represented the 1000 Friends of Florida in the Palm Beach County case, told the Florida News Service the appellate court's ruling will reinforce local growth controls at a time when state lawmakers have weakened state oversight of growth management.
"Once they are written, comprehensive plans mean what they say," Grosso said, "not what a majority of county commissioners think should happen."
When the idea of a super-majority vote was floated last December, we editorialized in support of the proposal. After what's happened to gut DCA since Scott took office in January, we are even more convinced this is a good move.
3 comments:
Diaz has to go whether it's through a recall or election. I remember his "tummy tuck" paid for by the taxpayer's of Sweetwater! He and the rest of the URM are so problematic, there's just not enough bandwith to write about his bad ideas and lack of policy making for the actual good of the people. I vote that we redistrict him out of office!
Unfortunately, none of them can be trusted. So what do you go with. This is where my thinking gets skewed. In reality, I would rather have regulation closer to home, but with the caveat that we would regulate and protect.
I think we need to really look at local reforms and segway with adjoining counties to do the same. Its our turf. We need to defend it.
There will be quite a few up for elections, if the people are really fed up with all this craziness, they should all go out in groves and vote ALL of them out- we need new blood, people who care about our wetlands, environment, social needs!
Instead of lining their pockets with side deals.
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