A trial judge in Tallahassee has struck down Senate Bill 360, approved by the Legislature and Governor in 2009. As you may remember, Senate Bill 360 provided several forms of growth management relief in response to the market downturn, including the following:

  • A procedure to secure a two year extension for certain local government development orders and permits;
  • The establishment within “dense urban land areas” of transportation concurrency exception areas, allowing local governments to adopt alternatives to proportionate fair share concurrency assessments to mitigate transportation impacts;
  • An exemption from DRI review for projects located in “dense urban land areas”;
  • An exemption from transportation concurrency review by the DCA for land use amendments originating in “dense urban land areas”;
  • A deferral of the requirement for local governments to demonstrate a “financially feasible” Capital Improvements Plan until December 1, 2011.

Several local governments challenged Senate Bill 360 in court, arguing that it created unfunded mandates in violation of Article VII, section 18(a) of the Florida Constitution. The trial court agreed and declared the legislation unconstitutional. It is unclear at this time whether the Governor and legislative leaders (the defendants in the lawsuit) will appeal the decision.

In anticipation of this outcome, earlier this year the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1752, which provides that any permit or development order extension granted pursuant to Senate Bill 360 would survive a judicial determination that Senate Bill 360 is unconstitutional. Therefore, any extension obtained in compliance with Senate Bill 360’s requirements should remain valid. Senate Bill 1752 did not address any other provision of Senate Bill 360, and therefore all other provisions are, pending appeal, no longer in effect. The City of Jacksonville will continue to pursue a mobility fee as an alternative to proportionate fair share concurrency. Please contact us to discuss how your property rights and development entitlements might be affected. Rogers Towers will continue to monitor this litigation closely and keep you up to date as events develop.