Florida county officials try to eliminate public comment on development

Lee County, Florida planners presented a rewrite of the county's growth plan at a public meeting on August 25 that would make developer-requested public hearings on land-use changes voluntary rather than mandatory. The crowd reportedly laughed at multiple points, especially when told hearings would no longer be required, and the meeting notice itself was reportedly worded so residents wouldn't easily know what was being proposed.

The move follows a county commission vote in April, initiated by a commissioner who is himself a would-be developer, to direct staff to 'streamline' rules that have governed 17 separate community growth plans for four decades. Those local plans, covering areas from Pine Island to Alva, were created specifically to give residents power over development after a 1985 state law empowered public objection to growth, before a 2011 repeal gutted state oversight.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.