Amid the last-minute scramble to move legislation before the non-budgetary session was set to end last week, Florida lawmakers quietly approved a bill that could open up more contaminated “brownfield” areas in south Florida to housing development.
But the bill, if signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, could also lead to frustration and litigation from homeowners and builders who may be denied insurance coverage or claims for structures built on once-polluted lands, attorneys and insurance agents said.
“This legislation is likely to generate several categories of litigation, including insurance coverage disputes, construction defect/toxic exposure claims, mass tort litigation, and government preemption challenges,” said John Riordan, an insurance defense lawyer with the Kelley Kronenberg firm in West Palm Beach.
Senate Bill 1434 was passed by the Senate March 5 with no “nay” votes, then was quickly endorsed in the House by a vote of 87-24. The measure, which received little news coverage, is dubbed the “Infill Redevelopment Act.” It was sponsored by state Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, who has made job creation and environmental protection—as well as lowered home insurance costs—key planks in her election platform.
The bill would apply only to counties with more than 1.4 million people, and with at least 15 municipalities in the county. That leaves only Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, three of Florida’s most-populated and developed counties, parts of which have seen a rise in flooding in recent years.
“The Legislature finds that this state’s urban areas lack sufficient land for the development of additional residential uses, which has led to a shortage of supply,” the bill reads.
The measure would preempt some local land development regulations and could make it easier for developers to build new housing tracts on land that was once considered polluted, also known as “brownfields,” according to a legislative staff analysis of the bill. Many of those brownfield parcels have sat vacant for years. The bill would not apply to city-owned park lands, agricultural lands, utility property, or areas near military installations.
While the bill would limit some local control over development in the areas, it may open the door for state agencies to promote housing there, Calatayud seemed to suggest at a Senate committee meeting in January.
“This is another strategy the state can look at on environmentally impacted or contaminated lands and create a pathway for those to be part of the housing stock,” the senator said.
In response to a question about the risk to residents on the land, Calatayud said her bill would not remove any existing requirements that brownfield lands must meet before being developed. It would only streamline certain zoning requirements, lowering costs for developers and easing the cost of new homes in those sections, she said. She could not immediately be reached for further comment Monday.
Environmentally impacted land is defined in the bill as “any portion of which a contaminant or pollutant has been detected above the applicable local, state, or federal residential cleanup target levels from Phase II environmental site assessment activities,” or any “portion of which is located in a brownfield area” as designated by state law.
