http://staugustine.com/print/17581
Guest column: Amendment 4 lets voter decide land changes
By St. Augustine Record
Created 09/05/2010 - 12:00am
LESLEY BLACKNER
Who's afraid of Amendment 4, the constitutional revision that will give voters more control over major projects and growth in their communities?
The opposition to Amendment 4 comes from politicians, real estate speculators and their lobbyists: the very folks who turned Florida into a real estate Ponzi scheme and crashed our economy for the past three years. The politicians want to keep their power, and the real estate speculators want to keep speculating.
Right now, politicians (influenced by campaign contributions and lobbyists who whisper in their ears) exclusively decide where development happens. Right now they have the exclusive power to allow change to your community's master plan, also called a comprehensive plan. Amendment 4 only adds one new step to this process: You, the voter.
Think of it this way: At a table where your community's future is decided, where major projects that could raise your taxes are discussed and approved, voters are not welcome. Voters do not have a seat at that table. It is marked with a "Reserved" sign for politicians, lobbyists and land speculators.
With Amendment 4, your city or county commission will study and vote as usual on changes to your local comprehensive plan. But, if a majority of the commissioners approve the requested change, the commission will have to submit that plan change to the voters in a referendum at the next regularly scheduled Election Day. You will either veto it or approve it. It's that simple. Amendment 4 doesn't require special elections. It would not clog the election system. It would not crash the economy. It is the overbuilders who have done that already and who now are fighting Amendment 4 so they can do it again.
Nearly $2 million of the $6 million raised by the opponents of the Yes on 4 campaign since April comes from Wall Street's biggest construction corporations -- companies that recently received billions in federal bailout money. Another $3.5 million funneled to the group opposing Amendment 4 during the past five months came from a who's who of lobbying groups that represent the over-builders/speculators.
Amendment 4 opponents will say just about anything to get you to vote no. In a column, Bill Lazar, chairman of the St. Johns Builders Council comes out swinging. He falsely claims that under Amendment 4 you will have to vote "200 or 300 times per year." Public records show that in St. Johns County there were just 13 comp plan changes put forward since the beginning of 2009. All but three authorized additional density, or greater growth. Most granted landowners the right to change from rural designations to residential, or in other words, turn farmlands into even more sprawling subdivisions. Under Amendment 4, you would have had a seat at the table on these decisions, a vote.
Lazar neglects to tell voters that the state issued a report finding that St. Johns County comprehensive plan has enough growth built into it for the next 34 years without changing a thing. Construction crews are idle because demand has evaporated in a recession fueled by overbuilding, not because of anything that Amendment 4 would require.
I hope taxpayers are connecting the dots: that reckless real estate speculation led to the housing meltdown, falling home values and rising taxes. Our homes and communities are just too important to be left solely in the hands of politicians and lobbyists. We deserve a seat at the table, a vote before our taxes go up to pay for even more overdevelopment.
On Nov. 2, Florida voters have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stop the Ponzi scheme economy that politicians and developers created. Vote Yes on Amendment 4.
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Lesley Blackner is the president of Florida Hometown Democracy, the nonpartisan group sponsoring Amendment 4, that will be on the ballot in November.
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