ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly discusses of Florida's growth management context. In 1985 the state of Florida passed one of the most innovative growth management programs this country has ever seen. The Florida 1985 Growth Management Act (GMA) called for state oversight of local planning efforts, required consistency between formerly disconnected local plans, and established infrastructure concurrency, a mandate that specified that certain urban services must be in place prior to development. In 1985 Florida's drive for growth management was led in part by the state's governor, Bob Graham. Graham, who was elected governor in 1978 and reelected in 1982, was a champion of growth management and environmental protection in Florida. The 2001 survey results therefore provide insights into resident attitudes towards growth management after years of struggling to implement and debug a very complex approach to managing growth across the state.
