ABSTRACT

This chapter provides some historical perspective for evaluating Florida's growth management system. When making an assessment of the Florida growth management experiment, it is important to keep the historical development of the Florida growth management process clearly in mind. Florida's growth management process is the culmination of more than thirty years of legislative reform. Effective growth management requires local comprehensive plans to be financially feasible and development to be coordinated with schools and water supply facilities. The Florida growth management system consists of both planning process and planning policy. Ultimately, the success of the system depends upon effective implementation of both process and policy. Florida's growth management process must also be evaluated in terms of the substantive planning policies established by the Growth Management Act (GMA). The GMA contains very strong policies designed to promote provision of affordable housing, including housing for low and moderate income groups.