Rep. Vicki Lopez and Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez.
Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez is speaking out against a proposed state law she said would curb the city’s power to decide which development projects get built.
House Bill 943 is part of a package of bills in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate that seek to tweak the Live Local Act and expand affordable housing.
The proposed laws could grant more power to real estate developers and have spurred concern among local elected officials like Gomez, who worry that cities and residents would have less control over real estate development.
The legislation, filed by Rep. Vicki Lopez (R-Miami), along with a companion bill, House Bill 923, “removes unnecessary barriers to affordable housing development, streamlines approval processes, and modernizes land use policies to promote sustainable growth,” Lopez said in a statement to CoStar, a real estate news and analytics site.
Among other changes, HB 943 bars cities from imposing certain restrictions concerning project density, height, and size, according to CoStar. It also bars cities from imposing new permit fees and limits their power to mandate mixed uses for real estate.
Several other recent bills also propose tweaks to the Live Local Act. Backers of the bills say they aim to stop municipalities from hampering affordable housing development, which the Act – signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March 2023 – was meant to boost.
In a social media post Thursday, Gomez said HB943 “would effectively remove the City of Tamarac’s ability to decide which development projects make sense for the city and our residents, and the public will have NO SAY whatsoever.”
“Everyone wants more affordable housing, but this bill goes too far and takes away cities’ ability to manage growth responsibly,” Lopez wrote. “It puts neighborhoods at risk, takes away local decision-making, shifts costs to taxpayers, and allows unchecked development.”
The mayor added: “Cities should have the power to make smart choices for their communities.”
Lopez, who filed HB943, said Florida’s “critical” affordable housing challenges were making it harder for young workers to remain in the state and that the legislation would help.
According to Gomez, HB943 is headed for the Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee and will likely be on that committee’s agenda for next Tuesday, April 8. The ranking Democratic member of that committee is state Rep. Dan Daley (D-Coral Springs), according to the committee’s web page.
The mayor encouraged Tamarac residents to call or email committee members through their contact page.
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