Concurrency‐Management Practices in Florida: Comparative Assessment

Abstract

The present paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of concurrency-management systems as a means of tying growth-management practices to funding infrastructure improvements. This assessment is accomplished by offering a comparative analysis of Broward and Lee Counties, (Florida) concurrency-management systems. This analysis illustrates two divergent approaches taken to implement concurrent facility level-of-service requirements. Specific conceptual and practical methods aimed at refining concurrency-management systems are offered. These methods relate to administrative and operational topics, level-of-service capacity allocations, implementation of growth management policies, and facility funding. The present paper recommends that the principles of flexibility and predictability underpin any local government’s concurrency-management system. Through the incorporation of concurrency-management practices, such as, and including, integrated review processes, district-wide level-of-service capacity averaging, tiered long-term certification, and dedicated infrastructure funding, an effective, acceptable, and meaningful growth-management tool is created. In turn, concurrency management serves to ensure that facilities are in place when they are needed and it does so in a manner that avoids economic dislocation through development moratoriums.