From the Panhandle to Miami, Lennar Homes has hundreds of communities along coastal Florida. Major housing markets inland such as the greater Orlando area are also among Lennar’s portfolio. And now the home-building giant is eyeing the rural heartland.
In the first of what will likely be a long, drawn-out process of studies and approvals by various local departments and higher-level agencies, Lennar scored a victory recently when a recalcitrant county commission explained its hands are largely tied from denying a re-zoning application to Lennar.
Nearby residents and even Sergei Kelly from West Palm Beach urged the commission to not pave the way for a project of some 200 homes on 73 acres surrounding wetlands.
“This is how over-development starts in your rural areas," Kelly said. "We've seen it in Broward County — their western part get wiped out — It's gone. Palm Beach is facing the same threat now, and large parts are already wiped out where you have these [agricultural] enclaves or these rural districts, and they come in and say it's going to be a nice subdivision. “
Commissioner Terry Burroughs was rather blunt in his assessment of the situation the board is in.
I'm not happy with saying yes to it, but I'm not going to put the board and this county at jeopardy for a lawsuit," Burroughs said.
He says the commission's hands are now largely tied by the governor and Florida Legislature which has stripped much of local control from away county and municipal governments in recent years.
That wresting of control expanded a year ago when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 180 into law. The law prevents nearly all counties and cities that have suffered flooding after natural disasters in the last few years from adopting construction moratoriums or enacting new comprehensive land use amendments that are deemed restrictive or burdensome.
"That's what the legislature has done to this board, and so everybody knows my thoughts on what about the legislature. I'm very clear that — they're not our friends," he said.
Senate Bill 180 has faced heavy pushback and lawsuits from local governments – including Okeechobee County — which argue it illegally strips home-rule authority and stops vital storm water planning.
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