Undoing a Sprawl-Inducing Rule in Florida

Planners in Jacksonville are getting behind plans to encourage more infill development by getting rid of an older rule that was seen to contribute to sprawl.

1 minute read

January 26, 2011, 9:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"The new rules, which will be submitted for state approval in the next few weeks, would get rid of the system known as "concurrency," where developers are assessed a fee based on transportation improvements their project may require, whether or not those improvements are ever made. It has been in place since the early 1990s and is widely considered to be a failure.

'I've thought concurrency was a bad idea for a long time,' said Bill Killingsworth, director of the city's Planning and Development Department. 'It's achieving the opposite results of what was intended.'"

The new rules would instead emphasize the creation of places already linked by transportation infrastructure.

Thanks to The Overhead Wire

Thursday, January 20, 2011 in The Florida Times-Union

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