The Determinants of Stringency of Local Land Use Regulation in Florida: Fid-Bau Portal

The Determinants of Stringency of Local Land Use Regulation in Florida

Yoo, Dongsang / Jang, Myungjun

Growth management is a policy tool to limit unorganized urban growth and to preserve environmentally sensitive lands, high quality agricultural and conserve the urban natural environment. The state of Florida has adopted a comprehensive state growth management legislation to prepare growth management plans for guiding local development. However, the degree of land use regulation in relation to the growth management policy is different for each local government. This study raises a research question about why the difference of restrictiveness of land use regulation exists among the local government in the same state. One might assume that this is a result of discretionary power in a local government. However, it cannot be enough of a reason. Therefore, this study will investigate the factors that influence the restrictiveness of local land use regulation by regressing independent variables in the category of three main variables and a dependent variable. By analyzing with an ordinal logit model, the form of government, population, the population increase and the property tax are the variables that influence the degree of more stringent land use regulation in counties. Moreover, the marginal effects after the ordered login analysis of land use regulation shows interest group variables that indicates a clear pattern to influence the choice of stringent land use regulations of the counties. This study supports the argument that social and economic attributes are important in growth management. Furthermore, it provides an important policy implication that the full understanding of land use policy at the local level should be accompanied with variations of local entities in terms of social, economic, and physical environments in order to deliver appropriate growth management.