Weekly comment from Dale Martin

City Manager Dale Martin

Dale Martin

City Manager

Fernandina Beach

December 1, 2017 12:00 p.m.

The members and committees of the Florida Legislature have been meeting for the past several weeks. The final week of published committee meetings begins Monday, December 4. The official commencement of the next Legislative Regular Session begins on Tuesday, January 9, 2018.

The efforts of last year’s Legislature to pre-empt a variety of home rule powers will likely transition to a more formidable onslaught this year.

Some of the efforts last year were successful. Ride-sharing regulations, most commonly associated with Uber and Lyft, were standardized across the state. Telecommunications companies won the right to unilaterally place equipment not exceeding twenty-eight cubic feet within the public right-of-way as well as capping the amount of fees associated with such use of the public right-of-way. Ironically, the State exempted itself (Department of Transportation rights-of-way) and The Villages from this legislation.

Other efforts failed. The most notable failures included the elimination of local regulations regarding short-term vacation rentals and the repeal of local regulations related to business and further require specific legislative approval for enacting future regulations.

The concept of home rule is quite simple. The residents of each community are the best to determine what each community should be. Business and zoning regulations are primary considerations in each community: what is desirable or acceptable in one community is not necessarily welcome in another. Each community is different and unique.

The argument made by many pre-emption proponents is that the patchwork of regulations across the State makes it difficult for business, thwarting economic activity. The ride-sharing legislation passed last year is an example of addressing varying regulations across the State, such as insurance and licensing requirements. For the most part, standardization of what should be local rules and self-determination does not serve communities well.

Should local restrictions on short-term vacation rentals be abolished and thereafter be determined by State officials? The concern in many communities is that vacation rentals are often a business operation located in a traditionally neighborhood area. The business operators may not exercise the same level of care and concern for the neighborhood as full-time residents. What happens to the otherwise quiet neighborhood when a property is transformed into a noisy, trashy flophouse hosting substantially more guests than for what the building was designed (or permitted)? Not all vacation rentals are bad, but that’s the point- why should something that would be better addressed at the local level become subject to decree from Tallahassee?

The vacation rental legislation will likely return for legislative consideration in January. Other topics have already been heard or are scheduled for consideration.

Local governments and tourist development councils remain in the sights of legislators. The efforts are wrapped in such innocuous terms as “accountability” and “transparency.” What about State accountability and transparency? I shared a story recently with other officials about the Governor’s effort to have some additional revenue (gained as a result of increased property values) not classified as a “tax increase” because the tax rate didn’t change. That philosophy is clearly contradictory given that municipalities must declare the same such revenue as a tax increase (with very specific publication requirements- size of font, placement in newspaper, dates of publication, etc.). The “do as I say, not as I do” theory of government.

One of the most disheartening pieces of proposed legislation is SB 574- Tree and Timber Trimming, Removal, and Harvesting. This legislation would immediately pre-empt local tree regulations. The apparent genesis of this legislation is that a member of the Legislature was taken aback when he discovered that his community had enacted restrictions and permits that prevented him from cutting down trees on his property. That’s the “sledge hammer to kill the fly” theory of government. It is a trouble trend, these new expanded theories of government. But, if you don’t make your voices heard at the state level, you run the risk of losing many of the benefits and gains that we enjoy and value here.

Local government is great. We are immediately accessible and responsive to the people that we serve. As I embark on my third year of service to this community, I have gotten to know many of you by name and a few more of you by face (and I apologize for not being able to recall your name immediately when I pass you at the market). I hope that if you have questions or concerns regarding local issues, that you contact a City Commissioner or me to provide an appropriate response. We are all here to serve the community.