Transportation Concurrency: Florida’s Example

The Florida Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land Development Act of 1985 called for local communities to develop concurrency-management systems that ensure that public facilities and services, including transportation, whose purpose is to support development, shall be available “concurrent with the impacts of such development.” Although most local communities have been implementing concurrency requirements since their comprehensive plans were approved in the early 1990s, little empirical research has been completed to document how the concurrency requirements have been implemented. Florida and Washington are the only states to require local governments to implement transportation concurrency as a form of adequate public-facilities requirements. The effectiveness of such policies for planners in other states and local municipalities throughout the United States is documented. The results of interviews with policymakers and planners in 25 metropolitan planning organizations in Florida are presented. The interviews were conducted on the subject of implementation of concurrency-management areas and transportation concurrency-exception areas. The concurrency-management process is outlined, and benefits and criticisms of the concurrency-management system are discussed in light of interviews, a review of the statutes, and observations of the Transportation and Land Use Study Committee.