Florida Real Estate "Development" in a nutshell - why we need Florida Hometown Democracy passed:

[ddeclue]

These bastards buy up 500 acres of land, get a county commission to rezone it for residential construction, spend weeks bulldozing every single tree on the lot into a giant pile, then they burn them off for days and weeks even. Once that's done they take the entire 500 acres and level it out to parking lot/runway flat and then they slap up >5 houses per acre up to 10 per acre and build houses right up next to each other with no privacy, no yards, no trees and no sense of uniqueness. A bunch of cookie cutter substandard houses built with cheap materials that are boxy and ugly.

These overly dense subdivisions then put a huge strain on local schools, police, fire departments and other services and destroy both the environment and any sense of natural beauty or local ambience.

A friend of mind has coined a term for this kind of situation: She calls it living in Generica.

If it were up to me speculators would not be allowed to build houses like this. People would have to buy individual lots and contract individually with builders to build them and no builder could have more than a fixed percentage of homes in any one neighborhood. Right now the whole system is vertically integrated and has served to screw over Florida homeowners and destroy our standard of living.

I have to believe that only California is worse about how real estate is "developed" than Florida.

We need to pass Florida Hometown Democracy in the worst way!

[d_r]

1. stucco hell

30 years ago when I was a kid growing up in citrus county I figured that in my life time I'd be able to walk from the gulf of mexico to the atlantic ocean by jumping roof top to roof top across houses without ever touching the ground. I can't make it yet, but I'm still not sure I won't live long enough to.

[ashling]

2. Texas too

[TwilightGardener]

3. That's almost everywhere in the US, not just Florida.

The problem is, people who want newly-built homes can only often afford to do so as a "package" deal in a subdivision, where the builder/investors are coughing up the money to bring in utilities and secure permits and have the labor force to throw those homes up nearly overnight, and have deals with big box stores for fixtures/supplies, etc. I am going through the planning stages of building a home on some land I purchased years ago, and when you do it on an individual basis, it's very costly and takes some time and effort to plan, coordinate, prove your worth to the bank for financing, etc. Thus...tacky cookie cutter subdivisions. It doesn't help that Americans are obsessed with NEW, either--buying a newly-built home is a status symbol among middle-class folks we know, even though pre-existing is often a better deal.

[lpbk2713]

4. Pete Seeger said it about fifty years ago.

Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

[timtom]

5. While Pete sang the definitive version,

the song is by Malvina Reynolds.

[lpbk2713]

6. I don't deny that for a moment

Seeger's version is the first one that came to mind, having seen him perform it live.

[timtom]

8. And undoubtedly the best.

I just wanted to show off.

Sorry.

[lpbk2713]

10. Not a problem at all.

It was a good show BTW. Some of the cornerstones of the folk music craze of the sixties were there.

I remember Linda Ronstadt although she isn't always associated with folk music.


:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

[lib2DaBone]

7. ..and when gasoline spikes back to to $7 a gallon or more...

.. the people who live in these new sub-divisions out in the middle of nowhere.. will be screwed.

Places where there are no grocery stores within 5 miles.. no town centers, no doctors offices and no public transportation.

The re-sale value on these zero lot line hell holes is already plummeting.(The only worse value in real estate is the TIme Share) The day of the "big-Box" stores out on the highway are over. Our Happy Motoring days are over.. except no one wishes to acknowledge it yet.

[madfloridian]

9. Kick

and recommend.

[raccoon]

11. Looks like that would really exascerbate problems with flooding. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. You have one of the most secretive property rights organizations

operating right under your nose in Florida. Involves one-time Judges, lawyers and developers and they're all pushing for what is essentially, deregulation, Libertarian style. They have been here since the eighties.

Then, have you ever noticed how in a small county, a lawfirm can take over the county by having one partner live in each of the municipalities, representing huge home owners associations for a nominal fee, and some, even representing the Cities -- directing them with their version of legal advice. I'm just saying, have you ever noticed?

You're going to come on this newsgroup and make the same old impassionate pleas for growth management in Florida, and miss the entire machinery behind the process.

To solve a problem, first you have to identify the source.

[ddeclue]

13. I know all about the source.. I personally know two county commissioners in Orange.

FHD works because it forces any major change to have to be passed by referendum not commission vote. This will effectively shut them down and the builders are scared to death of it.