On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, Jane West, Director of Policy and Planning of the 1000 Friends of Florida, and Vivienne Handy, Board Member of 1000 Friends of Florida and a Comm’r on the Hillsborough Co. City-County Planning Board joined MidPoint to discuss SB 540, often called “the worst environmental bill of the 2023 legislative session.” Our guests explain that this law makes plaintiffs in lawsuits challenging changes to land-use Comprehensive Plans personally responsible for fees and costs of developer defendants in any failed litigation, making it much too dangerous and expensive for community members to bring such challenges, and giving developers free rein to ignore many environmental concerns and increase sprawl in many areas that do not have the infrastructure to support it. According to West and Handy, this new law will inhibit community members from objecting to developer-proposed changes to carefully crafted local land-use plans and it will have a strong negative impact on the quality of life in many areas where such changes are sought.
You can listen to the discussion in its entirety here, or on the app, or stream it on-demand from wmnf.org/midpoint, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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