The Florida Senate

163.3191  Evaluation and appraisal of comprehensive plan.--

(1)  The planning program shall be a continuous and ongoing process. The local planning agency shall prepare periodic reports on the comprehensive plan, which shall be sent to the governing body and to the state land planning agency at least once every 5 years after the adoption of the comprehensive plan. Reports may be transmitted at lesser intervals as may be required or upon request of the governing body. It is the intent of this act that adopted comprehensive plans be periodically updated as provided by this section through the evaluation and appraisal report. The evaluation and appraisal report process shall be the principal process for updating local comprehensive plans to reflect changes in state policy on planning and growth management.

(2)  The report shall present an assessment and evaluation of the success or failure of the comprehensive plan, or element or portion thereof, and shall contain appropriate statements (using words, maps, illustrations, or other forms) related to:

(a)  The major problems of development, physical deterioration, and the location of land uses and the social and economic effects of such uses in the area.

(b)  The condition of each element in the comprehensive plan at the time of adoption and at date of report.

(c)  The comprehensive plan objectives as compared with actual results at date of report.

(d)  The extent to which unanticipated and unforeseen problems and opportunities occurred between date of adoption and date of report.

(e)  The effect on the comprehensive plan of changes to: the state comprehensive plan, the requirements of this part, the minimum criteria contained in chapter 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code, and the appropriate strategic regional policy plan.

(f)  The identification of any actions that are taken or need to be taken to address the planning issues identified in the report.

(g)  Proposed or anticipated plan amendments necessary to address or implement the identified changes.

(h)  A description of the public participation process used by the local government in preparing the report.

(3)  The report shall also suggest changes needed to update the comprehensive plan, or elements or portions thereof, including reformulated objectives, policies, and standards. Local governments are encouraged to use the report process to develop a local vision that could serve as one basis for revision of the local comprehensive plan consistent with the requirements of this act.

(4)  The governing body shall adopt, or adopt with changes, the report or portions thereof within 90 days after receiving it from the local planning agency. The governing body shall amend its comprehensive plan based on the recommendations contained in the adopted evaluation and appraisal report, pursuant to the procedures in ss. 163.3184, 163.3187, and 163.3189. Amendments to the plan and the adoption of the report may be simultaneous. When amendments to the plan do not occur simultaneously with the adoption of the evaluation and appraisal report, the report shall contain a schedule for adoption of proposed amendments within 1 year after the report is adopted, except that the state land planning agency may grant a 6-month extension for adoption of such plan amendments if the request is justified by good and sufficient cause as determined by the agency. The report shall be transmitted to the state land planning agency, with the related amendments when the amendments are transmitted pursuant to s. 163.3184.

(5)  The first periodic report for each local government shall be prepared not later than 7 years after the adoption of the comprehensive plan. Every other periodic report shall be prepared not more than an additional 5 years thereafter.

(6)

(a)  The report shall include findings and recommendations with respect to the requirements of subsections (2) and (3).

(b)  If the plan amendments to implement recommendations in the evaluation and appraisal report are submitted subsequent to submittal of the report, the amendments must be consistent with the findings and recommendations of the report.

(7)  Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (5), a municipality with less than 2,500 residents shall submit its initial report no later than 12 years after adoption of its plan pursuant to chapter 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code, and at least every 10 years thereafter. The assessment of the municipality's local plan in responding to statutory or other policy changes shall be made when it adopts a plan amendment which directly relates to the pertinent change, or in conjunction with submittal of a report.

(8)  The state land planning agency is authorized to adopt by rule a phased schedule for submittal of reports. A local government may transmit its report in advance of the submittal date set by rule if it gives the agency and the public adequate notice as prescribed by rule. If a local government has submitted its report in advance of the established submittal date, the local government shall submit on its due date an addendum to address relevant changes in the state comprehensive plan, this part, the minimum requirements in chapter 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code, and the appropriate strategic regional policy plan made subsequent to submittal of the report. The schedule for completion and transmittal of plan amendments to implement the intergovernmental coordination element of s. 163.3177(6)(h)1., 2., and 3. shall not be dependent upon nor established by the rule authorized by this subsection.

(9)  The state land planning agency shall conduct a sufficiency review of each report to determine whether it has been submitted in a timely fashion and contains the prescribed components. The agency shall complete the sufficiency determination within 60 days of receipt of the report. The agency shall not conduct a compliance review.

(10)  The state land planning agency may delegate the review of reports to the appropriate regional planning council. When the review has been delegated to a regional planning council, any local government in the region may elect to have its report reviewed by the council rather than the agency. The agency shall adopt rules for uniform and adequate review of reports and shall retain oversight for any delegation of review to a regional planning council. Any plan amendment recommended by the report shall be reviewed by the agency pursuant to s. 163.3184 and be adopted by the local government pursuant to s. 163.3189.

(11)  The Administration Commission may impose the sanctions provided by s. 163.3184(11) against any local government that fails to implement its report through timely and sufficient amendments to its local plan except for reasons of excusable delay. Sanctions shall be prospective only and begin after a final order has been issued by the Administration Commission and a reasonable period of time has been allowed for the local government to comply with an adverse determination by the Administration Commission through adoption of plan amendments that are in compliance. The state land planning agency may initiate, and an affected person may intervene in, such a proceeding by filing a petition with the Division of Administrative Hearings, which shall appoint an administrative law judge and conduct a hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57(1) and submit a recommended order to the Administration Commission. The commission may implement this subsection by rule.

(12)

(a)  The state land planning agency may enter into a written agreement with a municipality of fewer than 5,000 residents or a county with fewer than 50,000 residents so that such a jurisdiction may focus planning resources on selected issues or elements when updating its plan, if the local government includes such a request in its report and the agency approves the request. Approval of the request does not authorize the local government to repeal or render ineffective any existing portion or element of its local plan.

(b)  In evaluating a request to address selected local planning issues or elements, the state land planning agency shall consider the following factors:

1.  Population growth rate or changes in land area since adoption of the chapter 9J-5, Florida Administrative Code, plan update.

2.  The extent of vacant and developable land and land vested for development.

3.  The need for redevelopment.

4.  The extent to which public services and facilities for residents are supplied by providers other than the local government.

5.  Past performance in local plan implementation.

6.  Presence in the jurisdiction of natural resources with state or regional significance as identified in the applicable state or regional plans.

7.  Infrastructure backlog.

(c)  The agreement shall set forth the findings that are the basis for the decision and the portions or elements of the plan to be updated and those not to be updated. It shall provide that, within 18 months of termination, the local government shall adopt plan amendments that would update any portion or element of the local plan which was not previously updated pursuant to the agreement. The agreement shall be approved by the local government after a public hearing.

(d)  Any local government that enters into an agreement to target its planning resources pursuant to this subsection shall update and amend its local plan in full when the local government exceeds the population criteria provided in this subsection. For the purposes of this subsection, the population of the municipality or county shall be the most recent estimate determined by the Executive Office of the Governor pursuant to s. 186.901.

(e)  Notwithstanding any provision of this subsection to the contrary, all local governments shall update their future land use element, intergovernmental coordination element, conservation element, and capital improvements element. Each local government in the coastal area shall update its coastal management element unless the local government can show that its coastal lands are publicly owned or managed, there is no public access to coastal lands, and there is no existing or planned development in coastal lands.

(f)  The state land planning agency's decision to grant, modify, or terminate a written agreement on local planning requirements authorized by this subsection shall be subject to a formal administrative hearing pursuant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57(1) upon petition by an affected person as defined in s. 163.3184(1).

(13)  When an interagency hazard mitigation report is prepared in response to a Presidential Disaster Declaration, its recommendations may be incorporated into a local comprehensive plan, as deemed appropriate by the applicable local government, when the plan is revised during the evaluation and appraisal report process.

History.--s. 11, ch. 75-257; s. 10, ch. 85-55; s. 11, ch. 86-191; s. 10, ch. 92-129; s. 13, ch. 93-206; s. 6, ch. 95-322; s. 29, ch. 96-410; s. 5, ch. 96-416.