The Comprehensive Plan of the City of Anna Maria (COAM) is under a Future Land Use Plan that is environmentally based--Conservation FLUC—and which covers the coastal ecosystems along the three water sides of Anna Maria. The Conservation FLUP allows no development. The COAM wants to make specific changes to the Conservation FLUP and several policies which would allow development on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Property owners and city administrators. The prime motivation for this action is to protect the COAM from property rights lawsuits.
There are a number of violations of Florida Law in their proposed amendments but the most disturbing fact is that the Conservation FLUP is the only element that provides environmental protection for the city. If the currently proposed amendments are passed, it might have the unintended consequence of opening the west coast of Anna Maria to development. The COAM is attempting to change the Comprehensive Plan to comply with zoning but Florida Law requires zoning to comply with the COMP plan.
Text amendments to COMP Plans should be based on changes in conditions, mistakes, state requirements/amendments to 9J-5, to describe a new FLUP, add a new plan element, or generally to clearly direct the local unit of government towards goals and objectives that preserve and protect environmental resources while guiding growth for economic purposes. The COAM may argue that the proposed text amendment is an attempt to fix a mistake, but based on the adopted EAR , and the environmental evidence on land surrounding the coastal perimeter in the form of sensitive flora, fauna and protected coastal landforms it appears that the original language is in the public interest, and there was never a mistake. The city did not provide any studies or evidence to support the change.
The city could address the problem of inconsistency between the zoning regulations and the COMP Plan by amending the zoning regulations to make them consistent. The current plan protects the city’s environmental resources. Florida Law requires zoning and Land Development codes to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
If anyone wants to make comments to the DCA regarding this process, they can make comments to Mr. Ray Eubanks (ray.eubanks@dca.state.fl.us) or to Mr. Chris Wiglesworth (chris.wiglesworth@dca.state.fl.us) at the DCA and mention Case # -- Anna Maria 11-1.
If anyone is interested in a more comprehensive look at the proposed changes, contact me by email and I’ll forward the document to you. (rofriday@wisc.edu)
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