TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida planning requirement to provide ample road or other transportation capacity before new development can take place was designed to stop urban sprawl, but it's had the opposite effect.

A bill that would exempt certain dense urban areas from that constraint and make other changes to Florida's growth management laws won unanimous approval Thursday from the Senate Transportation Committee - although some members still had qualms about the details.

Planners have found to their dismay that the capacity requirement, known as ``transportation concurrency,'' has pushed growth, particularly residential development, out of urban centers into outlying and rural areas because roads there are less traveled and cheaper to build.

``It has not eliminated congestion,'' said Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham. ``In fact, it's given us more. It has not discouraged urban sprawl. In fact, it promotes sprawl by sending development farther and farther out.''

The bill also would eliminate extra planning requirements for developments of regional impact - those that affect multiple jurisdictions - if they are in dense urban land areas that have at least 1,000 people per square mile.

Seven Florida counties that have more than 1 million residents also would be exempt. The same population criteria would apply to the transportation concurrency exemption.

Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, said he had a problem with exempting entire counties from either requirement because many of those high-population counties still have large swaths of rural or natural areas where growth should be limited.

Uma Outka, legal director of 1000 Friends of Florida, a growth management advocacy group, raised the same objection.

``We're characterizing as dense urban, significant areas of land that are not dense or urban by any measure,'' she said.

On the other hand, officials from Sarasota and Manatee counties, said they wanted to be included in the exemptions although they don't meet the million-resident requirement.

The legislation drew support from Pelham and business lobbyists. Chris Dudley who lobbies for Pensacola's Sacred Heart Hospital, told the panel his client would save significantly when it builds a new $120 million children's hospital.

That's because developers now must pay for upgrading roads, mass transit or other facilities if they want to build in areas that lack sufficient transportation capacity.

``Basically the last builder on the street has had to pay for all of the previous development,'' said Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, the bill's sponsor. ``That's really not a fair way to do it.''

Bennett said local governments still could charge such developers proportionate impact fees but they won't be required to pay the entire bill.

Pelham's agency and the Department of Transportation are conducting a study on an alternative financing method through a ``mobility fee'' that would be paid by everyone in a particular area, not just new developments. The study, though, is not expected to be completed in time for this year's regular 60-day legislative session, which begins March 3, and Bennett's bill does not address the issue.

``The problem with it is nobody anywhere has a working model that has shown over time to be successful,'' Bennett said.

Other provisions would lift a 90-day waiting period if cities and counties want to reduce impact fees, give local governments more time to comply with planning requirements for schools and other infrastructure and reduce penalties for those that still miss the deadlines.

The measure has two more committee stops in the Senate. A similar House bill (HB 1306) has not received a committee hearing.

A co-sponsor, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said it will help stimulate Florida's sagging economy.

``Five years ago ... the No. 1 economic problem in Florida was growth management, and now we wish we had some growth to manage,'' Gaetz said.

02/20/09 11:16 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.