May 27, 2025
Dear Governor DeSantis:
The Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA Florida) respectfully requests you to veto SB 180, related to Emergencies. APA Florida is an association representing more than 3,100 professional urban and regional planners working for an array of public and private sector entities. We provide leadership to enhance Florida’s natural and built environments for the benefit of today’s residents and future generations. As professional planners within the Great State of Florida, we are strongly concerned about the unintended consequences of SB 180.
Building a resilient Florida requires an understanding of the lessons learned from major natural events. While SB 180 contains many positive policies for emergency management planning and hurricane recovery, the structure of the bill will create a continuous means of delaying needed improvements to regulations that will help ensure the protection of life and property, as well as lower the risks that drive up insurance costs, as communities rebuild.
SB 180 indiscriminately impedes local government planning in all counties and municipalities for three years, regardless of whether they were impacted by Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene, or Hurricane Milton, since every county was included in at least one of the federal disaster declarations. For future hurricanes, the bill restricts local government regulations for one year after a hurricane makes landfall. The restrictions on local governments from proposing or adopting “restrictive or burdensome” regulations create uncertainty in planning as the term is not defined and may be interpreted to include actions needed to reduce risk and increase safety in communities. We are also concerned this provision will impact Joint Planning with Florida’s vital military installations, which may at times require local governments to amend rules such as heights, density, setbacks, and other considerations to protect the operations of these missions.
Changes to land use regulations have been utilized in planning practices during storm recovery to improve resiliency and reduce the risk of repetitive losses. SB 180 requires state agencies to conduct annual reviews with recommendations to address or mitigate risks and hazards. Although well intended policy, the restrictions on local governments will prevent such recommendations from being implemented as communities recover and rebuild.
APA Florida appreciates your time and consideration in our request to veto SB 180. Should a veto not be possible, we look forward to working with you and the legislature next year to improve the provisions of this bill and offer our insight and expertise as planners to enhance local government recovery and response post-disaster. If you have any questions about our position, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Respectfully,
Allara Mills-Gutcher, AICP APA Florida President
