The Florida Senate

163.3164  Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land Development Regulation Act; definitions.--As used in this act:

(1)  "Administration Commission" means the Governor and the Cabinet, and for purposes of this chapter the commission shall act on a simple majority vote, except that for purposes of imposing the sanctions provided in s. 163.3184(11), affirmative action shall require the approval of the Governor and at least three other members of the commission.

(2)  "Area" or "area of jurisdiction" means the total area qualifying under the provisions of this act, whether this be all of the lands lying within the limits of an incorporated municipality, lands in and adjacent to incorporated municipalities, all unincorporated lands within a county, or areas comprising combinations of the lands in incorporated municipalities and unincorporated areas of counties.

(3)  "Coastal area" means the 35 coastal counties and all coastal municipalities within their boundaries designated coastal by the state land planning agency.

(4)  "Comprehensive plan" means a plan that meets the requirements of ss. 163.3177 and 163.3178

(5)  "Developer" means any person, including a governmental agency, undertaking any development as defined in this act.

(6)  "Development" has the meaning given it in s. 380.04

(7)  "Development order" means any order granting, denying, or granting with conditions an application for a development permit.

(8)  "Development permit" includes any building permit, zoning permit, subdivision approval, rezoning, certification, special exception, variance, or any other official action of local government having the effect of permitting the development of land.

(9)  "Governing body" means the board of county commissioners of a county, the commission or council of an incorporated municipality, or any other chief governing body of a unit of local government, however designated, or the combination of such bodies where joint utilization of the provisions of this act is accomplished as provided herein.

(10)  "Governmental agency" means:

(a)  The United States or any department, commission, agency, or other instrumentality thereof.

(b)  This state or any department, commission, agency, or other instrumentality thereof.

(c)  Any local government, as defined in this section, or any department, commission, agency, or other instrumentality thereof.

(d)  Any school board or other special district, authority, or governmental entity.

(11)  "Land" means the earth, water, and air, above, below, or on the surface, and includes any improvements or structures customarily regarded as land.

(12)  "Land use" means the development that has occurred on the land, the development that is proposed by a developer on the land, or the use that is permitted or permissible on the land under an adopted comprehensive plan or element or portion thereof, land development regulations, or a land development code, as the context may indicate.

(13)  "Local government" means any county or municipality.

(14)  "Local planning agency" means the agency designated to prepare the comprehensive plan or plan amendments required by this act.

(15)  A "newspaper of general circulation" means a newspaper published at least on a weekly basis and printed in the language most commonly spoken in the area within which it circulates, but does not include a newspaper intended primarily for members of a particular professional or occupational group, a newspaper whose primary function is to carry legal notices, or a newspaper that is given away primarily to distribute advertising.

(16)  "Parcel of land" means any quantity of land capable of being described with such definiteness that its locations and boundaries may be established, which is designated by its owner or developer as land to be used, or developed as, a unit or which has been used or developed as a unit.

(17)  "Person" means an individual, corporation, governmental agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal entity.

(18)  "Public notice" means notice as required by s. 125.66(2) for a county or by s. 166.041(3)(a) for a municipality. The public notice procedures required in this part are established as minimum public notice procedures.

(19)  "Regional planning agency" means the agency designated by the state land planning agency to exercise responsibilities under law in a particular region of the state.

(20)  "State land planning agency" means the Department of Community Affairs.

(21)  "Structure" has the meaning given it by s. 380.031(19).

(22)  "Land development regulation commission" means a commission designated by a local government to develop and recommend, to the local governing body, land development regulations which implement the adopted comprehensive plan and to review land development regulations, or amendments thereto, for consistency with the adopted plan and report to the governing body regarding its findings. The responsibilities of the land development regulation commission may be performed by the local planning agency.

(23)  "Land development regulations" means ordinances enacted by governing bodies for the regulation of any aspect of development and includes any local government zoning, rezoning, subdivision, building construction, or sign regulations or any other regulations controlling the development of land, except that this definition shall not apply in s. 163.3213

(24)  "Public facilities" means major capital improvements, including, but not limited to, transportation, sanitary sewer, solid waste, drainage, potable water, educational, parks and recreational, and health systems and facilities, and spoil disposal sites for maintenance dredging located in the intracoastal waterways, except for spoil disposal sites owned or used by ports listed in s. 403.021(9)(b).

(25)  "Downtown revitalization" means the physical and economic renewal of a central business district of a community as designated by local government, and includes both downtown development and redevelopment.

(26)  "Urban redevelopment" means demolition and reconstruction or substantial renovation of existing buildings or infrastructure within urban infill areas or existing urban service areas.

(27)  "Urban infill" means the development of vacant parcels in otherwise built-up areas where public facilities such as sewer systems, roads, schools, and recreation areas are already in place and the average residential density is at least five dwelling units per acre, the average nonresidential intensity is at least a floor area ratio of 1.0 and vacant, developable land does not constitute more than 10 percent of the area.

(28)  "Projects that promote public transportation" means projects that directly affect the provisions of public transit, including transit terminals, transit lines and routes, separate lanes for the exclusive use of public transit services, transit stops (shelters and stations), office buildings or projects that include fixed-rail or transit terminals as part of the building, and projects which are transit oriented and designed to complement reasonably proximate planned or existing public facilities.

(29)  "Existing urban service area" means built-up areas where public facilities and services such as sewage treatment systems, roads, schools, and recreation areas are already in place.

(30)  "Transportation corridor management" means the coordination of the planning of designated future transportation corridors with land use planning within and adjacent to the corridor to promote orderly growth, to meet the concurrency requirements of this chapter, and to maintain the integrity of the corridor for transportation purposes.

(31)  "Optional sector plan" means an optional process authorized by s. 163.3245 in which one or more local governments by agreement with the state land planning agency are allowed to address development-of-regional-impact issues within certain designated geographic areas identified in the local comprehensive plan as a means of fostering innovative planning and development strategies in s. 163.3177(11)(a) and (b), furthering the purposes of this part and part I of chapter 380, reducing overlapping data and analysis requirements, protecting regionally significant resources and facilities, and addressing extrajurisdictional impacts.

History.--s. 3, ch. 75-257; s. 49, ch. 79-190; s. 10, ch. 81-167; s. 10, ch. 83-55; s. 2, ch. 85-55; s. 3, ch. 92-129; s. 2, ch. 93-206; s. 2, ch. 95-257; s. 22, ch. 95-280; s. 7, ch. 95-310; s. 2, ch. 98-176; s. 2, ch. 99-378.