On March 13, 2017, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a meeting to discuss the necessity of a supermajority- that is, needing 4 votes in the affirmative- to make any changes to the Comprehensive plan that Hernando County uses for its land development. After multiple testimonies from citizens of Hernando County, the commission agreed with the arguments presented and it was passed unanimously that they would favor keeping the supermajority intact. This is not the first time the question of the supermajority has been brought up as a meeting held on May of 2016 saw many of the same advocates voicing their disapproval then.
The Planning and Zoning meeting, following Florida statute, preceded the two mandatory public hearings- the first of which was held on April 11.
The general consensus reached by the citizens in P&Z meeting and the BOCC public hearing held April 11th leaned towards worry that the board and the amendments potentially made, would lose focus and shift from the interests of the people they govern to that of ‘special interests.’
Given Florida’s statutes, this Board meeting was not held in order to have a final vote on the ordinance seeking to repeal the supermajority and replace it with a ‘simple’ majority needing only 3 votes in the affirmative. Rather it was to vote on whether or not there should be a second public hearing held on this matter. If the board were to decide against a follow up meeting, the ordinance would die off.
After citizens’ comments mostly advocating for the keeping of the supermajority- the commissioners took the opportunity to voice their thoughts.
Chairman Wayne Dukes was the first on the board to voice his disapproval of the supermajority stating that when he watched the prior meetings where the supermajority was first instated, he could not find any evidence that gave adequate enough reason to have a supermajority, to get rid of the 60% that had been needed up until that meeting.
Commissioner Champion followed up Dukes with his support of repealing the supermajority citing the fact that the state and federal levels of governing do not require anything more than a simple majority to pass legislation. To support the need for 3 votes in order to approve any amendments to the comprehensive plan, Champion brought up the fact that it only takes 3 votes to increase taxes. Using his more conservative views, Champion argued that this supermajority acts as another example of government overreach in the lives of the citizens of Hernando County and, if it is kept, would infringe upon the personal property rights that each citizen has.
It was argued by Commissioner Mitten that a second public hearing be held in order to hear what the public has to say regarding the supermajority and its repeal. Commissioner Allocco voiced his support for the follow up meeting and argued against having a minority rule in the board- stating that it would be easier for people to influence the decisions made by the board now that there would be less people to ‘convince.’
Commissioner Nicholson also argued against a minority rule and made the motion to set the next public hearing date for 5:01pm on May 9th. The time was set and agreed upon in order to let as much of the public voice their opinion as could be accommodated.