The Florida Legislature passed a development bill that St. Johns County argues would take away some of their local decision-making power. | Gary McCullough, AP
Published on March 24, 2026 at 2:31 pm
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St. Johns County Commissioners will send a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis asking that he veto a bill commissioners say will tie their hands on some development decisions.
The decision came during a County Commission meeting Tuesday. County Administrator Joy Andrews recommended that the board send a letter to DeSantis’ office urging him to veto HB 0399.
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The bill includes a number of development provisions, but the bill’s sponsor, David Borrero, R-Hialeah, says part of its goal is tackling Florida’s housing affordability crisis.
How? By taking away the ability for local governments to say that a development proposal is incompatible with its surrounding area — at least without providing specific justifications and allowing developers to make amends.
According to the bill, compatibility standards must be quantitative. Things like “community character” or “neighborhood feel” would not be considered legally justifiable reasons to deny a development application.
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During a hearing for the bill in January, Borrero said that when it comes to homes being unaffordable in Florida, local governments share some of the blame.
He cited conversations he had with land use attorneys and builders about the amount of money they must spend to get an application in front of a municipal government body, and their frustration when plans are denied over changing a community’s character.
“When a local government just has the ability to say, ‘This is incompatible,’ without giving any rhyme or reason as to their justification for incompatibility, it just creates, I would say, discrimination, disparate treatment to applicants,” he said.
St. Johns County’s Board of County Commissioners has used compatibility as reasoning to deny development applications that could bring many homes to predominantly rural areas and to deny affordable housing near areas with busy roads.
County Commission Chair Clay Murphy said he understands that the state wants to preempt local governments doing a bad job at picking and choosing development applications, but he wants to ensure St. Johns County is in charge of its own future.
“It’s a challenge for me to allow someone who doesn’t live here to come in and tell us how to do our business,” he said.
If DeSantis signs the bill, it will go into effect next year. If that happens, St. Johns County Deputy Attorney Kealey West said the county will have to update its land development rules with specific compatibility guidelines.
State and local development
HB 0399 passed the House with 73 lawmakers supporting it and 27 against it. It passed the Senate with 27 yea votes and 11 nays.
Among the bill’s opponents were Miami-area lawmakers Rep. Ashley Gantt, D-Miami, and Rep. Felicia Robinson, D-Miami Gardens.
Among the bill’s supporters were every member of the St. Johns County legislative delegation: Rep. Sam Greco, Rep. Kim Kendall, Rep. Judson Sapp and Sen. Tom Leek.
Gantt took issue with what she said was an assertion that city and county governments were unfit to govern themselves.
“If we trust these same people to vote for us, then we should be able to trust those same people to vote yea or nay if they amend their county charter to affect how their community is developed,” Gantt said.
Before the House of Representatives cast its final vote on the bill this month, Rep. Robinson stated her reasons for opposing it. “You’re taking away local government and local Floridians’ right to determine what’s in their environment.”
