Traffic Concurrency Law Repealed

jaxlore · July 06, 2009, 09:04:41 AM

http://jacksonville.com/business/2009-07-06/story/new_development_law_could_mean_big_change_in_jacksonville_plans

I am not sure how to feel about this one, good, bad , ugly:

A state law that took effect Wednesday exempts Duval County from a development law it's followed since 1991. The older law requires developers to prove area roads can handle the traffic their developments will create and pitch in money for upgrades if those roads come up short.

Proponents of Senate Bill 360 say it will bring a boost to the local economy by encouraging development, but opponents say it will give developers a blank check to build without regard to the traffic impacts their projects create.

The bill took a swing at the state's "traffic concurrency" - a major piece of Florida development law. It effectively annulled it in counties with 1 million people, or more than 1,000 people per square mile, and in cities with more than 1,000 people per square mile.

But the new law's effects won't come quickly, said John Crofts, deputy director of Jacksonville Planning and Development. The Department of Community Affairs has determined that the city has two years to develop a new transportation plan, or "mobility plan," that will be the model for the city's possible replacement for traffic concurrency, he said.

"There's going to be a major rework of our transportation review and concurrency process," Crofts said. "The existing system is still in effect until we amend our comprehensive plan. I think that this is an opportunity to improve our existing system, which I think needs attention. We're looking at alternatives and this kind of crystallizes that opportunity."

The bill includes wording for a replacement for traffic concurrency - a "mobility fee." Using a mobility plan and fee, local governments will collect developer funds for planned roads as well as mass transit, such as light rail. But the law didn't create the new fee, it just mentioned that the Legislature will address it next year and requires that local governments come up with mobility plans, said Northeast Florida Regional Council CEO Brian Teeple.

Although the law specifies mobility plans and fees, it allows for home rule power in crafting transportation ordinances and fees, Teeple said.

That means governments of exempted city and counties could keep laws that require developers to pay their "fair share" of the costs for new roads, come up with new traffic funding methods, or just allow developers to build, no traffic strings attached.

The Department of Community Affairs will have to approve changes to exempted city and county comprehensive plans if their respective governments choose to toss traffic concurrency and go with something else, Teeple said.

The Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research confirmed Wednesday that Duval County qualifies for the exemption. Nassau, Clay and St. Johns counties don't and will continue to use the concurrency system.

Officials across the state are wondering what this means for development in areas that qualify for the exemption, said DCA spokesman James Miller.

"I think local county governments are just trying to get their heads around Senate Bill 360 first," Miller said. "It's causing a lot of confusion, without a doubt."

T.R. Hainline, a shareholder for Jacksonville commercial law firm Rogers Towers - a firm that often represents people in land development issues, said Senate Bill 360 will bring a welcome change. Under traffic concurrency, development might cost more on one Jacksonville street than it does on another, due to a knotted web of formulas determining when and where traffic "trips" happen and how too many can push a road to too much congestion, or "failure" under concurrency standards.

That can lead to a "fair share" price tag for road improvements or other construction that a developer thinks isn't fair at all, he said.

"The results are wildly inconsistent and unpredictable," he said. "What the mobility fee will wind up being is a more standard, predictable fee, which everyone will have to pay. It will be a standard and more predictable dollar amount."

St. Johns County Commissioner Ken Bryan was less sanguine.

"I was amazed that Gov. (Charlie) Crist passed it. I was shocked. It wasn't a good move," he said. "Developers will get anything they want."

kevin.turner@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4609

fsu813 · July 06, 2009, 10:16:04 AM

not good.

jaxlore · July 06, 2009, 01:17:29 PM

yeah after i look at it again it seems developers will probably go hog wild and most likely in places that are already developed to the gills.

copperfiend · July 06, 2009, 01:56:38 PM

It is hard to believe the law was always being followed.

Charles Hunter · July 06, 2009, 10:36:15 PM

The law also exempts big developments from DRI review in the same counties that concurrency was repealed. I'm guessing you will see developers pulling their DRIs - both pending applications and approved developments, and starting over with no rules. While the intent may have been good - to encourage infill development in densely developed areas ( more than 1000 persons per square mile), expanding that definition to ALL of Duval County is absurd.

Ocklawaha · July 06, 2009, 11:28:52 PM

Quote"There's going to be a major rework of our transportation review and concurrency process," Crofts said. "The existing system is still in effect until we amend our comprehensive plan. I think that this is an opportunity to improve our existing system, which I think needs attention. We're looking at alternatives and this kind of crystallizes that opportunity."

This could be the silver lining in an otherwise cloudy bill. "Alternatives", could well mean: Monorail, Streetcar, Light Rail Transit, River Boats, Commuter Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, Express Bus, Corridor Service etc... I'm all for pulling the requirements of building massive parking for every urban development, build transit and give the developers a break if they play the transit card. In other words, screw building new highways and asphalt lots or garages and create transit stations.

So much of Jacksonville has been lost forever in the name of huge parking lots and garages. What some see as a free ticket to pile on the buildings, might be the chance to open up the downtown once again.

OCKLAWAHA

Charles Hunter · July 06, 2009, 11:40:42 PM

Ock, do you really think the Development Friendly leadership in this town will do anything like that?

Dog Walker · July 07, 2009, 08:44:03 AM

Don't hold your breath that we will get anything but bigger roads. Had a friend who worked for FDOT for many years who used to joke that FDOT believed in a mixed transportation system; half asphalt and half concrete.

If we have the will to fight all new roads and new development eventually begins to choke us to death, then maybe the will for mass transit systems will develop.

mtraininjax · July 07, 2009, 03:09:09 PM

What do we do when gasoline is 5 or 6 bucks a gallon, when oil is 200 bucks a barrel? Boone Pickens was on CNBC this morning, he said there 6.5 million 18 wheelers on the road, and not one of them can run using today's battery technology. He said the US has the perfect North American Commodity to solve the problem, natural gas. Half as dirty as oil/gasoline and 20xs cheaper.

I can lobby for mass transit solutions, but I refuse to without an embrace of cleaner cheaper fuels as part of the solution. The technology is out there to convert from oil to natural gas, we just need the Obamanator to stimulate americans to do so.

Dog Walker · July 07, 2009, 04:22:03 PM

If you look back over many years I don't think you will ever find one time when T. Boone Pickens ever lost money on a deal. He was Mr. Oil for decades and never put a foot wrong. He made billions and billions of dollars in oil. When HE says that our oil economy is not sustainable and offers a solution....LISTEN! The man has experience and credibility on this issue.

As he says, natural gas is still a fossil fuel, but it is the ideal bridge solution for transportation over the next couple of decades until we can make liquid or gaseous fuels out of something renewable.

tufsu1 · July 07, 2009, 09:47:48 PM

Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 06, 2009, 11:40:42 PM
Ock, do you really think the Development Friendly leadership in this town will do anything like that?

I'll answer for Ock...yes!

tufsu1 · July 08, 2009, 02:06:09 PM

SB 360 might not last long...lawsuits are underway!

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/07/weston_sues_state_over_growth.html

Ocklawaha · July 08, 2009, 02:26:07 PM

Quote from: tufsu1 on July 07, 2009, 09:47:48 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 06, 2009, 11:40:42 PM
Ock, do you really think the Development Friendly leadership in this town will do anything like that?

I'll answer for Ock...yes!

Thanks TUFSU1. Yes Charles they will, because the force that is behind them in this city is us! Witness the sudden downshift in the "Billion Dollar Bus." We vote not just yes, but HELL YES!

OCKLAWAHA