Florida Senate - 2022                                     SB 706
       
       
        
       By Senator Perry
       
       
       
       
       
       8-00683-22                                             2022706__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to school concurrency; amending s.
    3         163.3180, F.S.; requiring, instead of encouraging,
    4         local governments that adopt school concurrency to
    5         apply such concurrency to development on a
    6         districtwide basis; removing provisions addressing
    7         school concurrency on a less than districtwide basis;
    8         revising provisions specifying when school concurrency
    9         is satisfied; specifying that proportionate-share
   10         mitigation must be set aside and not spent if an
   11         improvement has not been identified; providing an
   12         effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Paragraphs (f) and (h) of subsection (6) of
   17  section 163.3180, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   18         163.3180 Concurrency.—
   19         (6)
   20         (f)1. In order to balance competing interests, preserve the
   21  constitutional concept of uniformity, and avoid disruption of
   22  existing educational and growth management processes, local
   23  governments are encouraged, if they elect to adopt school
   24  concurrency, must to apply school concurrency to development on
   25  a districtwide basis so that a concurrency determination for a
   26  specific development will be based upon the availability of
   27  school capacity districtwide.
   28         2.If a local government elects to apply school concurrency
   29  on a less than districtwide basis, by using school attendance
   30  zones or concurrency service areas:
   31         a.Local governments and school boards shall have the
   32  burden to demonstrate that the utilization of school capacity is
   33  maximized to the greatest extent possible in the comprehensive
   34  plan and amendment, taking into account transportation costs and
   35  court-approved desegregation plans, as well as other factors. In
   36  addition, in order to achieve concurrency within the service
   37  area boundaries selected by local governments and school boards,
   38  the service area boundaries, together with the standards for
   39  establishing those boundaries, shall be identified and included
   40  as supporting data and analysis for the comprehensive plan.
   41         b.Where school capacity is available on a districtwide
   42  basis but school concurrency is applied on a less than
   43  districtwide basis in the form of concurrency service areas, if
   44  the adopted level-of-service standard cannot be met in a
   45  particular service area as applied to an application for a
   46  development permit and if the needed capacity for the particular
   47  service area is available in one or more contiguous service
   48  areas, as adopted by the local government, then the local
   49  government may not deny an application for site plan or final
   50  subdivision approval or the functional equivalent for a
   51  development or phase of a development on the basis of school
   52  concurrency, and if issued, development impacts shall be
   53  subtracted from the contiguous service area’s capacity totals.
   54  Students from the development may not be required to go to the
   55  adjacent service area unless the school board rezones the area
   56  in which the development occurs.
   57         (h)1. In order to limit the liability of local governments,
   58  a local government may allow a landowner to proceed with
   59  development of a specific parcel of land notwithstanding a
   60  failure of the development to satisfy school concurrency, if all
   61  the following factors are shown to exist:
   62         a. The proposed development would be consistent with the
   63  future land use designation for the specific property and with
   64  pertinent portions of the adopted local plan, as determined by
   65  the local government.
   66         b. The local government’s capital improvements element and
   67  the school board’s educational facilities plan provide for
   68  school facilities adequate to serve the proposed development,
   69  and the local government or school board has not implemented
   70  that element or the project includes a plan that demonstrates
   71  that the capital facilities needed as a result of the project
   72  can be reasonably provided.
   73         c. The local government and school board have provided a
   74  means by which the landowner will be assessed a proportionate
   75  share of the cost of providing the school facilities necessary
   76  to serve the proposed development.
   77         2. If a local government applies school concurrency, it may
   78  not deny an application for site plan, final subdivision
   79  approval, or the functional equivalent for a development or
   80  phase of a development authorizing residential development for
   81  failure to achieve and maintain the level-of-service standard
   82  for public school capacity in a local school concurrency
   83  management system where adequate school facilities will be in
   84  place or under actual construction within 3 years after the
   85  issuance of final subdivision or site plan approval, or the
   86  functional equivalent. School concurrency is satisfied if the
   87  developer in good faith offers to execute executes a legally
   88  binding commitment to provide mitigation proportionate to the
   89  demand for public school facilities to be created by actual
   90  development of the property, including, but not limited to, the
   91  options described in sub-subparagraph a. Options for
   92  proportionate-share mitigation of impacts on public school
   93  facilities must be established in the comprehensive plan and the
   94  interlocal agreement pursuant to s. 163.31777.
   95         a. Appropriate mitigation options include the contribution
   96  of land; the construction, expansion, or payment for land
   97  acquisition or construction of a public school facility; the
   98  construction of a charter school that complies with the
   99  requirements of s. 1002.33(18); or the creation of mitigation
  100  banking based on the construction of a public school facility in
  101  exchange for the right to sell capacity credits. Such options
  102  must include execution by the applicant and the local government
  103  of a development agreement that constitutes a legally binding
  104  commitment to pay proportionate-share mitigation for the
  105  additional residential units approved by the local government in
  106  a development order and actually developed on the property,
  107  taking into account residential density allowed on the property
  108  prior to the plan amendment that increased the overall
  109  residential density. The district school board must be a party
  110  to such an agreement. As a condition of its entry into such a
  111  development agreement, the local government may require the
  112  landowner to agree to continuing renewal of the agreement upon
  113  its expiration.
  114         b. If the interlocal agreement and the local government
  115  comprehensive plan authorize a contribution of land; the
  116  construction, expansion, or payment for land acquisition; the
  117  construction or expansion of a public school facility, or a
  118  portion thereof; or the construction of a charter school that
  119  complies with the requirements of s. 1002.33(18), as
  120  proportionate-share mitigation, the local government shall
  121  credit such a contribution, construction, expansion, or payment
  122  toward any other impact fee or exaction imposed by local
  123  ordinance for public educational facilities, on a dollar-for
  124  dollar basis at fair market value. The credit must be based on
  125  the total impact fee assessed and not on the impact fee for any
  126  particular type of school.
  127         c. Any proportionate-share mitigation must be directed by
  128  the school board toward a school capacity improvement identified
  129  in the 5-year school board educational facilities plan or must
  130  be set aside and not spent until such an improvement has been
  131  identified that satisfies the demands created by the development
  132  in accordance with a binding developer’s agreement.
  133         3. This paragraph does not limit the authority of a local
  134  government to deny a development permit or its functional
  135  equivalent pursuant to its home rule regulatory powers, except
  136  as provided in this part.
  137         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.