Flooded In A New Polk Subdivision? Thank Gov. Ron DeSantis and Your Legislators

Polk County commissioners seemed poised earlier this year to get more serious about flooding in some of the most flood pone areas of the county.
Following that direction, county staffers put together a change in the county’s development regulations that would raise the standards for how homes are built (or rebuilt) in what they call stressed or closed basins.
These are places toward where the stormwater runoff from hurricanes or just heavy thunderstorms flows and hits a dead end.
There were plenty of images in the newspapers and on television since the last hurricane season to illustrate what happened.
The proposed regulations required larger retention areas and greater consideration of the impact of upstream development and other requirements. Anyone looking at the effects of substandard stormwater management rules in Polk County over the years might agree such regulations were long overdue.
Those new regulations were approved unanimously by the Polk County Planning Commission April 2 and forwarded to the County Commission.
The County Commission delayed consideration of the new regulations three times before finally agreeing to withdraw them this week.
It seems they were waiting to see whether Gov. Ron DeSantis would sign legislation that was approved during this year’s regular session that dealt with post-hurricane development actions by local governments in Florida.
Polk officials said they had lobbied against including inland counties like Polk, but were unpersuasive, it seems.
The bill, whose provisions were retroactive to last August prohibits the approval of any growth plan or development changes that are “more restrictive or burdensome” (on developers.)
DeSantis signed the bill June 26.
After the rules were withdrawn. planner Erik Peterson said it is possible the administrative reviews of new developments might deal with the problem, but if you look at the fine print in the bill, it also seems that tougher reviews by county engineers and other staff are not allowed either.
What has given local officials pause is that the bill also makes it easier for any developer or property owner who doesn’t like what local officials are requiring to deal with flooding or anything else to sue and to collect their legal fees from the taxpayers if they prevail.
Another hurricane season has begun.
Keep some dry stationery handy so if your new home floods, you can send thank you notes to your legislators and the governor.
It’s the least you can do.