Veto Hazard Mitigation for Coastal Redevelopment bill

HB 1359, also known as the Hazard Mitigation for Coastal Redevelopment bill is a bad bill. Anyone who paid attention to the 2005 hurricane season could tell you that.

Just what does the bill do?

The current state and local regulations are currently set up to discourage increased coastal development in Florida. If these regulations weren't in place you wouldn't be able to see the ocean for the condos blocking your view all along Florida's coast.

The new law will allow a developer to get around the regulations one of two ways. One way allows developers to show that people will still be able to evacuate to shelters in under 12 hours and out of the county in 16 hours. The second way helps out the developers that can't show that people will be able to evacuate to shelters in under 12 hours and out of the county in 16 hours.

Any land put aside by a developer to act as a evacuation shelter or to provide more evacuations routes can sit for an unspecified period of time before the developer has to actually provide either.

If the developer can't show that a location can be evacuated within the specified time, they can simply pay a mitigation fee to the local government. The amount the developer would have to pay for a mitigation fee is not specified by the bill.

The bill is promoted as a way to curtail the human and environmental toll which could occur during a hurricane. The benefits the bill would provide (strengthening sea wall regulations) do not out weigh the potential damage that could be caused by increasing construction along the coastline.

Call Gov. Jeb Bush at 850-488-4441 and urge him to veto HB 1359. This bill is bad news for Florida's coastline.

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Cross posted on Can't Keep Quiet!