Florida Land Use News: Is Orlando to Become the L.A. of Florida

I have often likened Greater Miami to Los Angeles as exemplars of a city accessible only by car and expressway reuslting from predominantly low-rise development and consequent urban sprawl.

Now the University of Central Florida warns that without adequate land use planning, Orlando may soon find itself in the same category.

By 2050, Orlando may well be as spread out as L.A. if Florida continues to grow at its current rate. According to a recent UCF study, Florida as a whole appears destined for the same fate. Projected are 1/3 of the land mass covered by homes, roads and businesses.

Population will have doubled to 36 million, sprawled across most of the peninsula.

The new study prepared by UCF charts a course to a different, greener future.

The population growth expected during the next 50 years could be accommodated, the study proposes, on far less land and for far less money.

Measures required to achieve this growth-managed goal are five in number:

1. Change of land-use regulations to allow developments mixing high-density housing and retail and office spaces.

2. Purchase of 8,500,000 acres of land critical for wildlife survival and aquifer and wetlands preservation.

3. Conservation of water resources and imposition of limits on residential water consumption.

4. Construction of a highspeed rail system connecting Florida's large and mid-size cities.

5. Development of local rail routes serving each high-speed rail station.

According to the study, statewide and local rail systems will cost less than building new and expanded highways which would be necessary to serve the popoulace under the present "free-for-sprawl"--if we may be forgiven the neologism and the pun.

The study was commissioned by the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies at the University of Central Florida.
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To be sure you're doing the most you can with your property consistent with applicable zoning and land use regulations--or with opportunities to change those regulations--contact a Florida zoning or land use lawyer.

Daniel A. Weiss has over 26 years local government experience. Mr. Weiss represented the Miami-Dade County in litigation and appeals between 1981 and 1995 as a Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney and has since represented both municipalities and people who do business with counties, municipalities and other local government agencies.

Daniel Weiss was named in the 2007 South Florida Legal Guide as one of the top lawyers in the practice areas of both Real Estate - Land Use, Zoning & Environmental and Real Estate - Commercial. Weiss was named by Florida Super Lawyers 2006 as one of the top 6 local government lawyers in South Florida.

In Florida Trend magazine™'s Legal Elite's issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida.

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