Concurrency has been a doctrine in Florida for decades. Essentially it's the rule that new development should not exceed the capacities of roads and other local infrastructure, and should pay to bring the two into balance where deemed necessary. It's been called the "teeth" of growth management.Now that the state legislature has chosen to remove the Concurrency requirement, what impact could this have? Is Florida about to show a bold new toothlessness?
It will be up to localities to decide whether and when to apply concurrency criteria. Obviously as the newspaper story indicates, many who live here and who attach a significance to quality of life are unhappy with the way lawmakers are going.
What can local government do to help clarify the implications?
For one thing, we have professional planners, as well as regional planners with tremendous expertise. Why not do some projections of how proposed developments are likely to impact traffic, water, population, and more? Take one or a few examples of proposed projects and examine how they would look with and without Concurrency in place.
Then invite the public to view and discuss what they come up with. If this isn't a matter for a public, civic discussion, what is?
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