County Land-use Plan Nets Some State Criticism

Though they realize much work remains, Palm Beach County officials say they are pleased with early reviews of the county`s land-use plan.

Comments from several state agencies that review the growth document have praised the county`s effort and say the plan is a significant improvement over what is now in effect.

But the agencies say the county`s proposal may be too lenient in allowing more development in already-congested areas and settling for heavy traffic on several major east-west roads.

``There are a lot of things they have to attend to,`` said Michael Tako, assistant district planning engineer for the state Department of Transportation.

DOT and two other agencies -- the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and the South Florida Water Management District -- have criticized the county for allowing development that cannot meet the state`s concurrency provisions, which require roads and other services to be in place when new residents and businesses arrive.

Such ``entitlement densities,`` which would allow developers to build one- fourth of the homes allowable under normal circumstances, would undermine state planning goals, the agencies say.

But county officials say entitlement densities may be their only defense against lawsuits from landowners deprived of using their property.

``The (state`s) Growth Management Act could prove to be a taking of property rights,`` County Administrator Jan Winters said.

Winters said the entitlement policy has been on the county`s books for several years, but no developer ever has used it. Instead, developers have chosen to wait until roads are improved to build their projects or have offered to build roads themselves.

``It looks like we`re not giving away everything, because if we were, it would have been used,`` he said.

Both the DOT and the regional planning council also have criticized the county for projecting that several roads, including Palmetto Park Road, Glades Road and Okeechobee Boulevard, would exceed the state`s accepted traffic levels during the 21st century.

And the water management district`s review indicates that the plan needs to address development restrictions in flood-prone areas of the county.

``These are matters we can take care of rather easily,`` Winters said.

The state Department of Community Affairs, which reviews growth plans for compliance with state law, received the agencies` comments last week.

The state will review the comments as part of its first report on the growth plan, which the county expects to receive in July. The county then will adopt an amended plan in the fall.