It’s been 50 years since Governor Reubin Askew signed the Growth Management Law that would redefine the way we plan for our communities. A slew of land, water, and resource management laws followed intended to harness sprawl and protect the natural resources that attracted millions of tourists to Florida annually.
Endeavoring to learn from the mistakes made by other Sun Belt States, Florida enacted statewide zoning standards and then created task forces to address the pressing needs throughout the state, such as sprawl, fires, droughts, and a significant resident influx, in an effort to create an incredible quality of life for generations to come.
Throughout city planning history, there have been many communities and people that have been excluded from the decision-making table. We will never be able to replace these missing voices from our past that could have created a better future for everyone. However, as planners, we are responsible for understanding our communities and how to improve their future, including how to overcome the legacy of actions and decisions made that often defaults to inequity. We are called to this by our adoption of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) professional Code of Ethics:
“We shall seek social justice by working to expand choice and opportunity for all persons, recognizing a special responsibility to plan for the needs of the disadvantaged and to promote racial and economic integration. We shall urge the alteration of policies, institutions, and decisions that oppose such needs.”
To fulfill these responsibilities, APA has taken unique strides to understand the varying needs around our diverse planning community and find innovative strategies to remove existing barriers, especially for those who have been historically under-resourced.
National APA has continually strived to incorporate equity, diversity and inclusion since 2017, beginning with their Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. Since then, APA has incorporated many initiatives including requiring Equity continuing education credits, and most recently, updated the APA Code of Ethics to include statements on equity.
APA Florida has been a leader, nationally in this field, from the publication of statements promoting equity to the establishment of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee in 2019. The EDI Committee has set the standard for inclusionary practices beginning with an equity survey in 2020. They have also developed a resource guide for members who want to focus on equity, diversity and inclusionary practices within their planning work. In addition, the EDI Committee provides many educational and professional development opportunities including webinars, blogs, articles, videos, and in-person workshops, such as the Planner to Leader Series. In addition, the EDI Committee provides guidance to APA Florida on legislation and political statements to promote equitable planning practices.
We know we have a long way to go to ensure that all voices are heard throughout our planning practices. With your help, we know we can represent the full needs of our diverse community and ensure every voice is heard.
Get Involved: florida.planning.org/edi
We caught up with past APA Florida presidents Kim Glas-Castro, AICP, Val Hubbard, FAICP, and Melissa Zornitta, FAICP, to talk about the past and current status of planning throughout Florida. As we move on throughout the year, we will share their insights.
This month’s question: How can planners fix historic disparities in communities?
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” ~ Jane Jacobs
“There are vast inequities in the distribution of healthcare, housing assistance, food accessibility, and educational opportunities, among others. While access to this social infrastructure is to a large extent driven by policy, certain spatial challenges exacerbate the situation—but they don’t have to.” ~ Ishita Gaur
“The physical characteristics of walls are not decisive as to their meaning. Rather, the key question is: Who is on which side of the wall? Does the wall perpetuate power, or defend against it? Does it reinforce domination, or shield vulnerability? Does it strengthen hierarchical relationships among people, or does it pave the way towards greater equality?” ~ Peter Marcuse
As the first decade of the new millennium came to a close, the nation was still in a recession and Florida was paralyzed by heavy financial woes, most stemming from housing foreclosures. In efforts to spur the state economy, the state legislature passed a series of laws aiming to weaken comprehensive plans (and the 1985 Growth Management Act), which they hope would entice developers. The 2009 Community Renewal Act revised requirements for for adopting amendments in regard to capital improvements of local comp plans, concurrency requirements, and adoption fees as well as authorized local governments to use alternative review processes to designate DULAs (Dense Urban Land Areas) It was the last part that pitted cities against the state, who called an the new law an unfunded mandate that required them to rewrite their comp plans and pay for transportation improvements without financial help. The law was deemed unconstitutional in 2010.
In 2011, state legislators authored another bill – the Community Planning Act of 2011 – that was signed by newly-elected Gov. Rick Scott, which eliminated the Department of Community Affairs in an effort to deregulate and loosen rules that were perceived as slowing growth and driving up costs. The legislation’s main purpose was to strengthen local government’s role and powers while significantly restricting state and regional review authority. Other changes were made to DRI law to reduce oversight, which opened the door for large-scale Sector Plan projects that avoid anti-sprawl criteria and eliminated the criteria to show need.
Since 2011, the legislature has authored several bills targeting the preemption local government home rule and undermining local comprehensive planning authority. During the 2021 session, there were more than 400 preemptions bills targeting local authority to regulate/deregulate vacation rentals, fracking, puppy mills, paper straws, plastic bags, etc.
We caught up with past APA Florida presidents Kim Glas-Castro, AICP, Val Hubbard, FAICP, and Melissa Zornitta, FAICP, to talk about the past and current status of planning throughout Florida. As we move on throughout the year, we will share their insights.
This month’s question: What do you think is the most significant benefit from Florida’s planning structure over time and the biggest drawback?
“Whenever you’re fighting an issue, you have to have a bogeyman. DCA isn’t evil. They didn’t do a bad job across the board. It’s that they were just a more difficult agency for the growth community to deal with than they had to be.” ~ Barney Bishop, president of Associated Industries of Florida.
“As challenging as things look now for the future of Florida, it was even more daunting in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Political corruption over land deals were rampant, the Everglades burned, untreated sewage flowed freely into the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, and the concept that developers should pay their share of costs for new infrastructure was revolutionary.” ~ Nathaniel Pryor Reed, 1000 Friends of Florida.
“What is needed now is a return to a thoughtful and diverse stakeholder approach to establish evolving policies necessary to manage booming population growth while maintaining Florida’s unique environmental treasures. Such a body should ask, what state policies are needed to ensure that Florida attracts quality economic development while maintaining the planet’s most attractive climate and abundant natural resources?” ~ Bob Graham
“Florida is a land of extremes. The Sunshine State covers 58,560 square miles and contains the fourth largest U.S. population. If one divides the State into thirds, South Florida is known for its ostentatious lifestyle, Central Florida is home to the “happiest place on earth,” and North Florida has some of the country’s most diehard football fans. It is no wonder that these extremes have induced the need to manage its land development.” ~ Zachary Jellson
“People are going to wake up in a couple of years and see the results of this growth management and say, ‘What can we do to keep our countryside from being chewed up by development. And the answer will be nothing.” ~ Eric Draper, Audubon of Florida
Florida continued for almost two decades and through four governors to pursue the integrated growth management system set up in 1985, with adjustments to the laws as the state, its agencies, and local governments gained more experience in their implementation.
We caught up with past APA Florida presidents Kim Glas-Castro, AICP, Val Hubbard, FAICP, and Melissa Zornitta, FAICP, to talk about the past and current status of planning throughout Florida. As we move on throughout the year, we will share their insights.
This month’s question: What do you think is the most significant benefit from Florida’s planning structure over time and the biggest drawback?
“It was not until the notion [that growth paid for itself] was recognized as false that Florida began to face fully its growth management problem . . . implementation weaknesses [also] blocked attempts to solve complex and difficult problems.” ~ John M. DeGrove
“Florida, like California, is in great danger of becoming a ‘Paradise Lost.’ ” ~ Gov. Reubin Askew
“The longer view of Florida’s history suggests a process of evolution, not revolution. It bespeaks political consensus and bipartisanship, not combat. The past thirty years’ achievements were attained by our ability to work together and respond in a measured way to development—by appropriately balancing the competing constituencies. That is the only way we will make a lasting change again.” ~ David L. Powell
“It remains to be seen whether Florida can successfully implement and operate a truly integrated statewide comprehensive planning process. While the necessary statutory framework is now in place, the real challenge for the legislature, state and regional agencies, local governments, and all of Florida’s citizens, will be to make it work.” ~ Thomas Pelham
Recognizing the serious ramifications for Florida’s quality of life and economy, state leaders put in place a host of new environmental measures over those earlier decades. Beginning in 1972, the state took serious steps to start managing the many impacts associated with rampant population growth, culminating in the 1985 passage of Florida’s landmark Growth Management Act under then-Governor Bob Graham.
“It was not until the notion [that growth paid for itself] was recognized as false that Florida began to face fully its growth management problem . . . implementation weaknesses [also] blocked attempts to solve complex and difficult problems.” ~ John M. DeGrove
“Florida, like California, is in great danger of becoming a ‘Paradise Lost.’ ” ~ Gov. Reubin Askew
“The longer view of Florida’s history suggests a process of evolution, not revolution. It bespeaks political consensus and bipartisanship, not combat. The past thirty years’ achievements were attained by our ability to work together and respond in a measured way to development—by appropriately balancing the competing constituencies. That is the only way we will make a lasting change again.” ~ David L. Powell
“It remains to be seen whether Florida can successfully implement and operate a truly integrated statewide comprehensive planning process. While the necessary statutory framework is now in place, the real challenge for the legislature, state and regional agencies, local governments, and all of Florida’s citizens, will be to make it work.” ~ Thomas Pelham
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We caught up with past APA Florida presidents Kim Glas-Castro, AICP, Val Hubbard, FAICP, and Melissa Zornitta, FAICP, to talk about the past and current status of planning throughout Florida. As we move on throughout the year, we will share their insights with you.
This month’s question: How have you seen the planning field change during your time as a planner?