Florida Florida Statutes
§ 163.3248 — Rural land stewardship areas
FS § 163.3248Ch. 163
Statute text
View on source(1)Rural land stewardship areas are designed to establish a long-term incentive-based strategy to balance and guide the allocation of land so as to accommodate future land uses in a manner that protects the natural environment, stimulate economic growth and diversification, and encourage the retention of land for agriculture and other traditional rural land uses.
(2)Upon written request by one or more landowners of the subject lands to designate lands as a rural land stewardship area, or pursuant to a private-sector-initiated comprehensive plan amendment filed by, or with the consent of the owners of the subject lands, local governments may adopt a future land use overlay to designate all or portions of lands classified in the future land use element as predominantly agricultural, rural, open, open-rural, or a substantively equivalent land use, as a rural land stewardship area within which planning and economic incentives are applied to encourage the implementation of innovative and flexible planning and development strategies and creative land use planning techniques to support a diverse economic and employment base. The future land use overlay may not require a demonstration of need based on population projections or any other factors.
(3)Rural land stewardship areas may be used to further the following broad principles of rural sustainability: restoration and maintenance of the economic value of rural land; control of urban sprawl; identification and protection of ecosystems, habitats, and natural resources; promotion and diversification of economic activity and employment opportunities within the rural areas; maintenance of the viability of the state's agricultural economy; and protection of private property rights in rural areas of the state. Rural land stewardship areas may be multicounty in order to encourage coordinated regional stewardship planning.
(4)A local government or one or more property owners may request assistance and participation in the development of a plan for the rural land stewardship area from the state land planning agency, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection, the appropriate water management district, the Department of Transportation, private land owners, and stakeholders.
(5)A rural land stewardship area shall be not less than 10,000 acres, shall be located outside of municipalities and established urban service areas, and shall be designated by plan amendment by each local government with jurisdiction over the rural land stewardship area. The plan amendment or amendments designating a rural land stewardship area are subject to review pursuant to s. 163.3184 and shall provide for the following:(a) Criteria for the designation of receiving areas which shall, at a minimum, provide for the following: adequacy of suitable land to accommodate development so as to avoid conflict with significant environmentally sensitive areas, resources, and habitats; compatibility between and transition from higher density uses to lower intensity rural uses; and the establishment of receiving area service boundaries that provide for a transition from receiving areas and other land uses within the rural land stewardship area through limitations on the extension of services.
(b)Innovative planning and development strategies to be applied within rural land stewardship areas pursuant to this section.
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Legislative history
s. 3, ch. 2013-224.