News & Public Affairs

Crist urged to veto new growth management law listen

05/06/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, growth management, development

Today Hillsborough County Commissioners voted to send a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, asking that he veto a new Growth Management Bill that critics say would no longer require developers to add road capacity in nearly half the state’s municipalities, as well as several entire counties. They will instead pay a fee, which the state has yet to decide how to calculate.

Current law requires developers to add roads to accommodate the extra traffic that their developments will generate.

Commis...

1 comments

House members critical of DCA Secretary listen

04/29/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, growth management, development

Despite criticism from the state’s top planning official, the Florida House this morning went ahead to pass a controversial growth management law today.

Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham said yesterday that House amendments to a Senate-passed bill (SB 360) he once supported would undermine growth management laws.

That led Key West Democrat Ron Saunders to tell the bill’s sponsor in the house, Daytona Beach Shores Republican Dorothy Hukill, that the body should respec...

Be the first to comment

Hillsborough rejects development in Little Manatee River listen

04/07/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Development

Hillsborough County Commissioners today rejected a developer’s request to build homes on a slice of land near the Little Manatee River in Ruskin, and instead said they would forward the issue to their environmental lands acquisition department for possible purchase.

Richard Davis, the attorney representing the developer Little Manatee Reserve, read off a lengthy brief from the county’s own staff praising the project.

Davis quoted a biologist as saying that no listed wildlife species hav...

Be the first to comment

Proposed growth management changes draw criticism listen

03/25/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, growth management, development

There are a number of proposals floating through the Florida Legislature this session that environmentalists say would gut laws designed to slow growth in the state.

Today in Tallahassee, the House Council on Economic Development and Community Affairs Policy voted unanimously in support of a bill that would revise growth management laws.

Tom Pelham, secretary for the Florida Department of Community Affairs, objected to a part of the bill that he said would reduce citizens attempts to ch...

Be the first to comment

Bill would eliminate impact fees in Florida until 2012 listen

03/16/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Economy, politics, development, impact fees, growth

A bay area senator angered environmentalists before the legislative session began when he filed a bill that would block the collection of developer impact fees for three years.

Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, says the way impact fees are imposed is totally unfair and inappropriate.

Hillsborough County Environmental activist Denise Layne says Bennett’s bill and other proposals aim to deregulate the building process this year.

The foreclosure crises has hit Florida hard, with some economist...

Be the first to comment

Paving Paradise: Vanishing wetlands

03/03/09 Robert Lorei
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: wetlands, development, Army Corps of Engineers

WELCOME TO RADIOACTIVITY. I’M ROB LOREI. Coming up today, we’ll hear from two local authors who have written a new book about Florida’s vanishing wetlands. And later we’ll hear from anti-genocide activist John Prendergast.

First up:

When European settlers first came to Florida- up to three quarters of Florida’s 35 million acres were under water at least part of the year. What’s happened to those wetlands is the subject of a new book called *Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands ...

Be the first to comment

Some legislators will promote development to fix economy listen

02/20/09 Mitch E. Perry
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Politics, economy, development, housing

Earlier this week, some state lawmakers announced that they believe a way to kick start Florida’s economy is by streamlining the permitting process for new development.

The St. Petersburg Times reporting this week that some of the groups pushing for looser permitting include such politically powerful groups as the Florida Home Builders Association, the Association of Florida Community Developers, and Associated Industries.

Barney Bishop is president of Associated Industries, based ...

Be the first to comment

Forclosure workshop held in St. Petersburg listen

08/18/08 Jamie Kidder
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: Development, Foreclosure, Rick Baker, St. Petersburg City Council

Last Friday, hundreds of local residents showed up to the second Forclosure Assistance Workshop in St. Petersburg held by Kathy Castor and the St. Petersburg City Council.

As the state with the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, Florida is feeling the pinch of the current economic crisis.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor represents Florida's 11th District. She held a foreclosure workshop last month in Tampa, with over 600 families in attendance. One of the greatest benefits to t...

Be the first to comment

Management plan offered for Brooker Creek

08/07/08 Concetta DeLuco
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: land preserves, conservation, environment, development, Pinellas Board of County Commissioners

Today the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners met in Clearwater to approve plans for the Brooker Creek Preserve. Deciding what to do with the publicly owned land located in the northeast corner of Pinellas County has been an issue of controversy over the past few years.

Currently, the 7,960 acres of Brooker Creek exists as a wilderness area that provides refuge to several endangered plants such as the Catesby lily as well as a unique collection of wildlife that ranges from bobcats to sw...

Be the first to comment

Uhurus hold conference on economic development

06/23/08 Jamie Kidder
Listen to this entire show:

Tags: African American, Development, Race, Rays stadium, St. Petersburg Police, Tropicana Field, Uhurus, economy

Yesterday in St. Petersburg, the Uhurus met in St. Petersburg to talk about the city’s economic development plans and the Rays ballpark proposal.

The Uhuru Movement in St. Petersburg is a group dedicated to the unity of Africans internationally. They met yesterday at the Uhuru House in South St. Petersburg, where they hosted a conference about the economic development projects in St. Petersburg, the primary one being the construction of a new waterfront stadium.

Local business owners s...

Be the first to comment