Tom Knight on Florida's Live Local Act

Here's a Facebook post from Tom Knight, Sarasota County Commissioner

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At the next meeting of Sarasota County's Board of Commissioners, item #42 will focus on our county's administrative process for the Live Local Act. I will post links to the full agenda soon, but in my efforts to help all local residents understand some of the land development decisions we make (or in this case, are precluded from making) as a commission, I'm providing some information and resources on Florida's Live Local Act. I encourage you to do more homework and form educated opinions, whatever they may be.

The Live Local Act is a law that was passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in 2023. It went to effect on July 1 of that year and was updated last year. More updates are expected in 2026 that will further restrict home rule. Most can't argue that the original intention was good: to create more affordable housing. As we know, housing affordability is a big problem in Florida, where market-rate and luxury housing prevails. Right now there are several projects in Sarasota County vying for approval under this law.

To incentivize new affordable housing, the law allows developers to circumvent certain local approval processes and get around many local development restrictions if 40% of units in a project are set aside for "affordable" housing for 30 years. What is the definition of affordable here? About $120K annually for a family of four (this changes, so don't quote me on it). 𝑰𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂, 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒚𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔:

  • 𝗭𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹. The term "commercial property" now includes strip malls, warehouses and planned-unit developments.
  • 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Density and height are dictated not by the parcel’s zoning but by whatever is allowed within a one-mile radius. The law now explicitly overrides local height, density and floor-area-ratio limits.
  • 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘀. Projects that meet affordability criteria are fast tracked by county staff—no public input or hearings are required. They do not go to the planning commission or the board of commissioners.
In addition, the Live Local Act provides certain tax incentives, including property tax exemptions, for developers who create affordable housing.
To help you learn more and draw your own conclusions, here are a couple of links:
Look for more information when I post the agenda for next week's meeting, which will be January 13 in the RL Anderson Center in Venice.

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