Florida Coastal Management Moves to Local Government

Abstract

A new generation of regulation is about to appear in Florida as a product of the state comprehensive planning process mandated by the Legislature in 1985. All local governments must develop comprehensive plans. Each coastal county and municipality must have a coastal management element in its plan and must adopt development regulations implementing the various policies of the plan. Those governments have the option of developing their own coastal regulations or incorporating by reference existing state or federal regulations on coastal resources. Most have chosen to develop their own regulations and permitting programs. The net result is that there will he further fragmentation and layering of the existing scheme of regulation of coastal activities, the focus of which is currently at the state level. This comes at a time when local governments have less money than ever to spend on government programs and at a time when there has been a growing awareness of the need to manage many of our resources on a regional basis through a regional entity. This paper delineates the coastal policy areas which the State comprehensive plan requires local governments to address, examples of local policies which have been delineated in those areas, and the implications for coming local regulations with regard to the efficient and effective allocation of uses of coastal resources.