TALLAHASSEE — Ocoee is challenging a decision by the Florida Department of Commerce to reject the city’s revised comprehensive plan because of a controversial new state law.
The Orange County city filed the challenge Tuesday at the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings as communities in many parts of the state grapple with the law, which passed during the spring legislative session.
Part of the law affects counties included in federal disaster declarations after last year’s hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. In part, it bars cities and counties in those areas from approving “more restrictive or burdensome” changes to comprehensive plans or land-development regulations through Oct. 1, 2027. The prohibition was retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024.
Comprehensive plans are designed to serve as blueprints for development and land-use decisions, and Ocoee in 2022 began the process of adopting a replacement for a 2002 plan, according to the challenge. It approved the revised plan — dubbed the “Envision 2045 Comprehensive Plan” — in July and sent it to the Department of Commerce, which reviews such plans.
The department, however, notified the city on Aug. 27 that the revised plan was “null and void” because it conflicted with the restrictions in the new law. The department said the plan was “more restrictive and burdensome,” according to a letter included in the city’s filing at the Division of Administrative.
Ocoee's challenge
In challenging the decision this week, the city contended that the Department of Commerce overstepped its legal authority. It said the new law did not give the department the power to determine whether cities and counties properly comply. Also, the city said there “are no articulable or objective standards mentioned in (the law) for how to evaluate a comprehensive plan amendment for being more restrictive or burdensome.”
“It is unclear what definition of ‘more restrictive or burdensome’ or criteria was used to determine the plan amendment to be ‘more restrictive or burdensome,’ but the department must have created and applied its own definition and applied it to the plan amendment in order to issue the agency statement,” the challenge said.
Also, the city indicated that it took into account the new law in finalizing the comprehensive plan. It said residents and business owners would be able to opt out of the new plan and develop property under the comprehensive plan that existed before Aug. 1, 2024.
“Therefore, even if there are any ‘more restrictive or burdensome’ provisions in Envision 2045, no property owner or applicant would be required to develop under Envision 2045 if they elect to develop under the August 1, 2024, version of the comprehensive plan,” Daniel Langley, an attorney for the city, wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to the department. “However, based on the public hearings and outreach efforts in the community, the city believes that most property owners and developers would prefer development under Envision 2045 than the prior version of the comprehensive plan to receive more density, intensity and mix of uses.”
The growth managaement restrictions were included in a broader measure (SB 180) that was billed as helping homeowners recover from hurricanes. Critics have contended it would halt most local land-use planning in the state for three years.
Numerous cities and counties have indicated they plan to file a lawsuit challenging the restrictions.
