Florida Farm Bureau opposes Amendment 4, “Hometown Democracy”

The board of directors of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation has affirmed the organization’s opposition to Amendment 4, often referred to as “Hometown Democracy” after its sponsoring group. The amendment is officially slated for the 2010 general election ballot.

Amendment 4 would require all new comprehensive land use plans and comprehensive plan amendments be voted on and approved by the public in a local referendum. Currently these decisions are made by local governments and overseen by the Department of Community Affairs in a process that allows for input by local citizens.

As an example of the potential harm of the proposed amendment opponents of Amendment 4 estimate that, had it been in place last year, Broward County residents would have had to vote on almost 700 issues.

“This amendment, if it is approved, would be a disaster for local governments, which are already struggling with their budgets. It would be wrong to expect counties to bear the expense of holding referendums on hundreds of plan changes every year,” Florida Farm Bureau President John L. Hoblick said. “It would short-circuit Florida’s comprehensive planning process. It is unrealistic to expect voters to micro-manage that process.”

Hoblick said the amendment would bring economic growth to a halt, turn the planning process into a political process and undermine the principles of private property rights.

The Florida Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general-interest agricultural association with about 140,000 member-families statewide. Headquartered in Gainesville, the Federation is an independent, nonprofit agricultural organization. More information about Florida Farm Bureau is available on the organization’s Web site, http://FloridaFarmBureau.org