Expedited Permitting for Economic Development Projects
House Bill 73, which took effect on July 1, 2009, provides expedited processing for Environmental Resource Permitting (ERP) and wetland resource permits issued by the Department of Environmental Protection and the water management districts for certain economic development projects. Projects requiring approval by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund are exempt from the program. Currently, Chapter 373, Florida Statutes, requires that environmental permits, including Environmental Resource Permitting (ERP) and wetland resource permits, must be approved or denied within 90 days after receipt of the original application.
The economic development project must be identified by the local government as meeting the definition of “target industry businesses” under Section 288.106(o), Florida Statutes, which means a corporate headquarters business or other business engaged in one of the target industries identified in consultation with Enterprise Florida, Inc. and by one or more of the following criteria: future growth, stability, high wage, market and resource independent, industrial base diversification and strengthening, or economic benefits. Target industries do not include a business engaged in retail activities, any electrical utility company, phosphate or other solid minerals severance, mining or processing operation, any oil or gas exploration or production operation, or any business subject to the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
A local government must provide a resolution identifying the business as a targeted industry business. A pre-application review process will still be required to provide guidance to the applicant and reduce permitting conflicts but after a permit application is filed, the agency must approve or deny the application within 45 days after one of the following: 1) original application, 2) the last item of timely requested material, or 3) the applicant’s written request to begin the permit application process.
For permit applications for projects located in a charter county with a population of 1.2 million or more and the charter county is party to a delegation agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection or a water management district, the charter county must promulgate a resolution of the charter county’s governing board.
Expansion of Rural Agricultural Industrial Centers
Recently, the Legislature recognized the great benefit that agriculturally based products have on their communities. As such, it has provided legislation (House Bill 7053) that allows certain agriculturally-centered activities to expand, as well as permit other complementary trades and businesses which are compatible with these uses by creating an alternative comprehensive plan amendment process. “Rural agricultural industrial centers” are defined as a developed parcel of land in an unincorporated area which is operating as an agricultural industrial facility or facilities that employ at least 200 full time employees and processes farm product or any biomass material that could be used either directly or indirectly for the production of fuel, renewable energy, bioenergy, or alternative fuel. The property must be located within, or within 10 miles of, a rural area of critical economic concern and may include contiguous land not used for agricultural purposes but are essential to the operation of the facility.
Any property owner who owns land within a rural agricultural industrial center can apply for a comprehensive plan amendment to designate and expand the existing agricultural industrial use within the center or expand the uses within the existing center to include industrial uses or other uses, which are not dependent on agriculture, so long as the use is compatible with agriculture and the other uses of the existing facility. The comprehensive plan amendment cannot increase the physical area of the existing rural agricultural industrial center by more than 50 percent or 320 acres, whichever is greater. In addition, the proposed project must create at least 50 full time jobs, upon completion, and the applicant must demonstrate that sufficient infrastructure capacity exists or will be expanded to support the increase at the level of service standards adopted by the local government’s Comprehensive Plan. Finally, the comprehensive plan amendment must include goals, objectives and policies that will ensure that any adverse environmental impacts will be adequately addressed or mitigated against.
The local government will have six (6) months from receiving the comprehensive plan amendment application to transmit the application to the Department of Community Affairs. There is a rebuttable presumption that an amendment filed under this section does not promote urban sprawl. This legislation does not apply to optional section plans adopted pursuant to Section 163.3245, rural land stewardship areas designated by Section 163.3177 (11), or any comprehensive plan amendment which includes an inland port terminal or affiliated port development. The legislation takes effect on July 1, 2009.