Waterfronts: Preserving Access

Florida Law and Policy Context

• Preservation of Recreational and Working Waterfronts: Provisions of Chapter 2005-157, Laws of Florida (1.2mb ppt): A presentation of K. Marlene Conaway from the Florida Department of Community Affairs on the 2005 waterfronts legislation. This presentation describes the 2005 legislation, the problems that prompted the legislation, and the role the Florida Department of Community Affairs plays in the legislative scheme.


• Text of the 2005 Working Waterfronts Legislation (Laws of Florida Chapter 2005-157) (158kb pdf)


• Text of the 2006 Legislation Modifying Waterfronts Definition (Laws of Florida Chapter 2006-220) (229kb pdf): The portion most relevant to waterfronts is Section 6, which modifies the definition of recreational and commercial working waterfronts to add hotels and motels.


• Public to Private Conversions of Marinas, Boat Ramps and Boat Yards in Florida: Strategies to Address Diminishing Working Waterfronts and Waterfront Access (400kb pdf): This is a report from 2005 written by a student of the Conservation Clinic at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. The report describes the problems of loss of water access and conversion of former public access or working waterfront sites to private residences. The report describes the 2005 legislation and includes a lengthy report on case studies of loss of public access in many of Florida’s coastal counties.


• Working Waterfronts, Florida Senate Interim Summary Report 2005-122 (November, 2004) (80kb pdf)


• The Nature and Status of Riparian Rights in Florida


• Sovereignty Submerged Lands and Public Access to Florida Waters: A Policy Analysis (72kb pdf): Most land under navigable waters around Florida belongs to the State of Florida and is called “sovereign submerged land.” The Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund must manage these lands for the benefit of the public. Part of that management allows leases, under certain conditions, to individuals or private corporations. This document analyzes the possibilities of how the leasing system of sovereign submerged lands might be modified to assist in the effort to maintain public access to the waters of the State.


• Property Tax Deferral as a Tool for Working Waterfronts: A Survey of Recreational and Commercial Working Waterfronts (pdf): The 2005 waterfronts legislation authorized local governments in Florida to adopt a tax deferral plan for recreational and working waterfronts within the local government’s jurisdiction. Concerns about the possible efficacy of the statutory grant of authority led the Conservation Clinic at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law to conduct a small-scale, non-scientific survey of owners of businesses clearly falling within the definition of a recreational or commercial working waterfront. This document summarizes both the statutory tax deferral program and the responses of recreational and commercial working waterfront owners.

Local Government Tools

• Waterway Access Analysis Manual: A Guide for Local Decisionmakers (1.51mb pdf): Waterfronts legislation gives local governments responsibility to develop “regulatory incentives and criteria” to protect recreational and working waterfronts. These must then be incorporated into the local government’s comprehensive plan. Additions to comprehensive plans must be supported by adequate data and analysis.


• Preserving Public Access to Public Waters: A Policy Menu for Local Governments (pdf): This document provides an introduction and background legal principles for the series of policy tools in the following links. Each policy tool includes an introduction to the specific policy tool, its possible relationship to waterfronts, legal issues with use of the tool, and best policy practices.
  
  
  • Moratoria (pdf)
  • Zoning (pdf)
  • Exactions (pdf)
  • Incentive Strategies (pdf)
  • Design Standards (pdf)
  • No-Net-Loss Policy (pdf)
  • Concurrency: Levels of Service for Public Access (pdf)
  • Transferable Slip Rights (pdf)
  • TDRs (pdf)
  • Visual Access (pdf)
  • Liability Waivers (pdf)
  • Rights of Way (pdf)
  
  
• The Water Dependency Test as a Means to Preserve Recreational and Commercial Waterfronts (pdf): Zoning plays a central role in any integrated plan of strategies to protect and preserve recreational and working waterfronts. Requirements that a land use be “water dependent” to receive approval for land use along the water has a long tradition in zoning in Florida and other states. This document looks at varying definitions of water dependency to find the best definition. In 2006 the endeavor to rationally define water dependency in a zoning scheme became much more difficult because of the Florida Legislature’s addition of hotels and motels to the definition of recreational and working waterfronts.


• Creating a Recreational and Commercial Working Waterfront Program to Implement Chapters 2005-157 and 2006-220, Laws of Florida: A Model Comprehensive Plan Amendment with Policy Options (pdf): Waterfronts legislation requires local governments to make changes to their comprehensive plans. This document presents example comprehensive plan language with commentary explaining the choice of strategy. This is not meant as model language that may be adopted as a unit by local governments. Rather, the generic document attempts to demonstrate the use and integration of various policy tools described in the Policy Menu. Each waterfront local government will have to carefully assess its own priorities, situation, and future vision to determine what mix of strategies presented here may help achieve the community’s goals.


• An Annotated Model Tax Deferral Ordinance for Recreational and Commercial Working Waterfronts (188kb pdf): A model ordinance demonstrating how a local government might implement the 2005 tax deferral program for recreational and working waterfronts.