Annexation HB 1669

[firemick]

Remember i was tlking about a few annexation laws that the South Carolina legislature is looking at. well apparently the Florida legislature is addressing these concerns as well!!! This is HB 1669 and is entitled Expedited Annexation.

HB1669

A bill to be entitled

An act relating to municipal annexation; amending s. 171.044, F.S.; renaming voluntary annexation as expedited annexation; revising a provision exempting municipalities in certain charter counties from application of the section; providing an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Subsections (2), (4), and (5) of section 171.044, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

171.044 Expedited Voluntary annexation.--

(2) Upon determination by the governing body of the municipality that the petition bears the signatures of all owners of property in the area proposed to be annexed, the governing body may, at any regular meeting, adopt a nonemergency ordinance to annex said property on an expedited basis and redefine the boundary lines of the municipality to include said property. Said ordinance shall be passed after notice of the annexation has been published at least once each week for 2 consecutive weeks in some newspaper in such city or town or, if no newspaper is published in said city or town, then in a newspaper published in the same county; and if no newspaper is published in said county, then at least three printed copies of said notice shall be posted for 4 consecutive weeks at some conspicuous place in said city or town. The notice shall give the ordinance number and a brief, general description of the area proposed to be annexed. The description shall include a map

clearly showing the area and a statement that the complete legal description by metes and bounds and the ordinance can be obtained from the office of the city clerk.

(4) The method of annexation provided by this section shall be supplemental to any other procedure provided by general or special law, except that this section shall not apply to municipalities in counties with charters which set forth verbatim provide for an exclusive method for expedited of municipal annexation and identify by metes and bounds all areas governed by such exclusive method.

(5) Land shall not be annexed through expedited voluntary annexation when such annexation results in the creation of enclaves.

Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

Page CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

[GRS328]

Hmm, I'm not really up to speed on the whole annexation process and how it works, so correct me if I'm wrong, but Orlando would be able to annex land without O.C.'s approval if this bill were in effect?

I defintely don't get annexation... I just know I want Orlando to annex all that unincorporated land

[firemick]

Hmm, I'm not really up to speed on the whole annexation process and how it works, so correct me if I'm wrong, but Orlando would be able to annex land without O.C.'s approval if this bill were in effect?

I defintely don't get annexation... I just know I want Orlando to annex all that unincorporated land

[Aessotariq]

What concerns me is the potential for abuse by suburban municipalities trying to do cherry picking and other land grabs. In principle this works great for the core city/county seat of a county, as long as the city is trying to take control of reckless land use and create urbanistic communities rather than just continue sprawling as the county might be doing (i.e., Orange County vs. Orlando).

The opposite is true in Palm Beach County, though. Palm Beach County is trying to keep development in the east, where the majority of the population is. Municipalities in the western fringes of the county, especially by Lake Okeechobee, are trying to annex environmentally sensitive land (Everglades), usually farmland, in order to rezone it for low-density sprawl. Had it remained unincorporated, it would have stayed undeveloped or farmland since the land is outside of the county's east coast urban service area.

Last year voters passed a referendum giving the county more control over annexation, the idea being that some municipalities are friendlier to reckless sprawl (Wellington, Belle Glade, etc.) than the county is. Environmentally sensitive land and overburdened infrastructure are at stake in this case. This type of law would encourage developers to build farther west, knowing that they can convince existing landowners to "voluntarily" annex themselves into a sprawl-friendly city and then allow themselves to be bought out.

Each county has specific needs, and instead of a sweeping statewide revision of annexation law, each county should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Orange County has relatively few municipalities and a huge unincorporated urbanized area surrounding Orlando, so it has specific needs that need to be addressed regarding land use, and the cities and county need to start cooperating more, thinking and behaving regionally. Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach each have 30+ cities and they need regional oversight by their county governments. Although I mentioned Dade, it would be the only county unaffected by this annexation rule because of its home rule powers.