Manatee County will challenge Florida policies that, for better or for worse, stop local municipalities from increasing development regulations for one year after a hurricane.
State lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved Senate Bill 180 this year to prevent local governments within 100 miles of impact from a hurricane from approving policies that would make it more difficult to rebuild for a one-year period.
Manatee County, however, is among a growing number of local governments across the state claim the new rules are deceiving.
Manatee County commissioners say the bill instead protects developer interests from local policies that do not impact the hurricane rebuilding process, such as its planned restoration of wetlands policies that were in place until 2023, and efforts to slow development of agricultural land outside of the county’s longstanding urban growth boundary.
Commissioners plan to approve those changes to the county’s long-range growth plan on Aug. 21. But that vote comes after Manatee officials received notice from state agencies that the policy changes could violate SB 180’s predecessor, SB 250, that applied to Hurricane Ian.
Although the tighter growth management policies are popular with many local residents, the vote will likely provoke lawsuits from opponents that could put test the state law.
County Chairman George Kruse declared his intent to approve the policies and fight any lawsuits filed that result during a public meeting last week, and announced the date for the vote in a recent Facebook post.
“I do not believe SB 180 pertains to these items,” Kruse told the Herald-Tribune. “It’s listed as an emergencies bill. Emergencies and post-emergencies have to do with your house falling down, your roof needing replacing.
“The intent…was to prevent local municipalities from prohibiting people from getting back on their feet post-storm by jacking up permitting fees or assigning impact fees to people just trying to replace their home or their business,” he said. “I do not believe the intent of this, based on the title of the bill, pertained to future development on land currently occupied by cows.”
Manatee County commissioners prepare to challenge SB 180
SB 180 bans things like building moratoriums, more restrictive changes to the growth plan, or more burdensome procedures for things like permitting. The policy is similar to one approved specifically for Hurricane Ian in 2023, and was also retroactively applied to Hurricane’s Debby, Helene and Milton as well.
However local governments such as Manatee County argue they have been precluded from making comprehensive plan changes that recently elected county commissioners promised during their campaigns to implement.
Election of three new commissioners last year transformed the Manatee County board from a largely developer-friendly bunch into one more critical of development. They promised to restore protections cut by the previous board that require developers to leave a 50-foot buffer from wetlands, to undo a policy that has allowed for development of land outside of the county’s urban services area, and to increase impact fees on new development.
The sudden change in tenor has ruffled the feathers of local developers who seem eager to take Manatee to court.
Kruse, who was re-elected to a second term in office on that platform, said commissioners should not be detterred by potential lawsuits.
“They were top priority discussions during the last election cycle,” Kruse said, referring to the 2024 elections in which incumbents were rejected, adding: “That’s what the citizens wanted.
“I believe the public would rather us be sued for the right reasons than cower down for the wrong reasons, and let people keep trampling over Manatee County because we’re scared,” he said. “As soon as you start getting scared of being sued, but you know you are in the right, you’re always going to get pushed around.”
Manatee County commissioners are also supporting efforts by other local governments to address concerns with SB 180. On Aug. 5 the board voted to support a proposal by Pasco County that asks the Florida Association of Counties to lobby in favor of changes that clarify that SB 180 applies to properties damaged by a hurricane and not future development.
“They basically just want a simple fix that better defines what property means in Senate Bill 180 to be specific to property damaged during a hurricane, which in theory is what they intended it to be or implied it was intended to be,” Kruse said at the meeting. “I think this makes sense, we should be supporting any efforts to fix Senate Bill 180, this being one of them.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee County sets date for wetlands protection vote that could clash with SB 180
Reporting by Jesse Mendoza, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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