Bruce Ritchie: Candidates say nothing about Florida’s future role in managing growth

The debates are over in the race for Florida’s governor.

Some environmental questions have been asked and either answered or dodged. Election Day is Nov. 4, and early voting has begun.

But the lingering unanswered question I have that should be on the minds of every Floridian is: What will happen to the state role in managing growth with the election of either candidate?

Growth decisions and policies affect road traffic, school overcrowding, economic development and the protection of rivers, state parks and beaches. But the issue has been nearly extinguished in state campaigns since the economic meltdown of 2008-2009.

When he first campaigned for governor in 2010, Gov. Rick Scott joined critics in blaming the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which oversees growth management, for killing jobs.

In 2011 during his first year in office Scott signed bills that eliminated the department and drastically scaled back the state oversight of local land-use decisions and policies.

Bill supporters said scaling back state oversight moved decisions about development to local government where they said it belongs.

Environmentalists and some Democrats in 2011 argued that local government decisions too often are short-sighted and are controlled by development interests. They said strong state oversight will be needed again to protect Florida’s quality of life when the economy rebounds.

The issue this year never came up in the gubernatorial debates, although it was alluded to in a question to Scott during the second debate on Oct. 15 in Davie. He responded by talking about state funding for the environment but not growth management.

The Crist campaign on Thursday issued a statement criticizing Scott for not fighting a proposed huge development in Hendry County near the Everglades.

But the Crist campaign did not address my questions about whether future changes to growth management law are needed or whether the Department of Community Affairs should be reinstated. The Scott campaign did not acknowledge or respond to my questions.

Tim Chapin, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning at Florida State University, said neither Crist nor Scott seem to want to discuss the state’s role in managing growth.

“I really do think the main reason is that growth management is seen as anti-growth and anti-economic development,” he said. “The political attitude still is one in which people are looking at economic recovery as the driving focus.”

Scott won’t bring up the issue, Chapin said, because he’s the one who signed the bill eliminating the Department of Community Affairs.

Although Crist pushed for energy sustainability and actions to reduce climate change as governor, Chapin said Crist isn’t gaining traction on the issue in this election.

And Chapin said even the environmental groups with lobbyists at the state Capitol are focused more on other environmental issues, such as springs and water quality, even though they are related to growth.

He said when attention eventually returns to the issue, it is likely to be under some name other than growth management.

“We may not want to talk about growth management, basic urban service provision, the protection of our natural environment, the provision of adequate and affordable housing for all,” Chapin said. “(But) these are issues that have not gone away and they will remain with us.”

Bruce Ritchie is an independent journalist covering environment and growth management issues in Tallahassee. He also is editor of Floridaenvironments.com. Column courtesy of Context Florida.