The Traffic Gridlock Act of 2009 - a/k/a SB 360

On June 1st, 2009 Gov. Crist signed Senate Bill 360, a/k/a the Traffic Gridlock Act of 2009.

A popular columnist, Howard Troxler, gave SB 360 a pet name and a very appropriate one, The Katie Bar the Door and Strip Mall Act of 2009, but we prefer the Traffic Gridlock moniker. Here are his words from a recent column regarding this horrible growth management approved by developer-supported politicians:

What the state House did Wednesday was essentially to gut the Growth Management Act for big chunks of the state. Big cities and counties could allow growth without worrying about whether roads and other services can handle it. Small counties would be laid open to entire "new towns" of big development without the usual review.

The name of this bill, the House's revised version of Senate Bill 360, is ironically titled the "Community Renewal Act." It would be better titled the "Katie Bar the Door and Strip Mall Act of 2009. "There had been great hopes that Governor Crist would not sign it, but indeed he did sign it. Here is more about the bill and its ramifications.

More than 300,000 residential units sit empty across Florida, 64,588 properties were in foreclosure as of May 2009, second only to Nevada, and real estate prices are still plummeting. Nonetheless, state lawmakers are making it easier for developers to add even more. Gov. Charlie Crist signed this bill with the reasoning that it would ease government oversight and exempt many areas from a requirement that says builders must pay for road improvements if traffic generated by their projects exceeds the local capacity.

Supporters of the measure — which passed the Republican-controlled Legislature with a wide majority — say it would streamline the permitting process, concentrate development in cities and add construction jobs. Environmentalists describe it as a gift to builders that would make Florida even more vulnerable to the boom-bust real estate cycles that have already shriveled residents’ incomes and dreams.Crist signed SB 360 yesterday even though he noted that his growth management expert, Tom Pelham, who runs the state Department of Community Affairs, had misgivings about the bill. I know the calls, letters and emails to him had been massive. I guess the developers have more power here than we the people have.

The bill rewrites Florida's 25-year-old growth management law, principally by allowing developers in the most urban counties to add more housing developments without expanding roads and by allowing counties and cities to designate new urban areas that also would be exempt from certain road-building requirements. Sponsored by Sen. Mike Bennett, a Bradenton Republican and an electrical contractor, the bill passed both houses of the Legislature by wide margins. Business groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida Association of Realtors hailed Crist's decision.

The Chamber said the legislation ``updates Florida's growth laws without compromising environmental or land-use protections. ''In signing the bill (SB 360), Crist, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, acknowledged the divisions it has caused. He has noted that his growth management expert, Tom Pelham, who runs the state Department of Community Affairs, had misgivings about the bill...."The new law is designed to make it easier to build new residential housing, even as Florida wallows in a glut of housing caused by the foreclosure crisis.

Crist signed the bill in private with no public ceremony. His press office issued a terse news release that attributed no quotations to Crist endorsing the legislation. Florida is now even more in the grip of the real estate developers, even with the glut of foreclosures, which are continuing, and even with over 300,000 housing units empty right now. I guess they think people are at the state line waiting to get into a state with little regulation on developing.