TO: Indian River County Board of County Commissioners
THROUGH: John A. Titkanich, Jr., County Administrator
THROUGH: Jennifer W. Shuler, County Attorney
FROM: Susan J. Prado, Deputy County Attorney
DATE: July 2, 2025
SUBJECT: Resolution Designating Planning Services as Administrative Authority overseeing plating process and Designating County Administrator as Administrative Official for Approval of Plats.
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BACKGROUND
Florida Statutes Chapter 177 provides rules for subdivision of land and plat creation for all local government bodies in the State of Florida. Under these rules all plats had to be approved by the local governing bodies where the land to be subdivided is located. During this last legislative session the Legislature proposed Senate Bill 784 which made some large amendments to the plating process in chapter 177. (A copy of SB 784 is attached hereto for reference.) On June 20, 2025, Governor Desantis signed Senate Bill 784 into law with an effective date of July 1, 2025. There are a few larger key factors that affect local governments, which the County will need to address via changes to its code of ordinances as well as via adoption of resolutions.
The first significant change is the time frame in which final plats/replats are to be reviewed. The time period was shrunk to seven (7) business days for final plats and replats. This change will require a future code amendment to bring our code consistent with the amended law as well as policy changes on how the plating process will need to be handled by the County moving forward.
The next significant change is removing the approval of final plats and replats from local governing bodies and making the approval process purely administrative. This requires the local governing body to designate either via ordinance or resolution an administrative officer to approve, approve with conditions, or deny a final plat or replat. This issue is in front of the Board today for consideration. The recommendation is to designate the County Administrator and/or his/her designee as the administrative officer who will perform administrative approval of all final plats and replats.
Another item of significance is the acceptance of dedications which used to take place via approval/acceptance of the plat/replat by the Board. The Board will no longer be approving/accepting the plat/replat, but Florida Statute Section 177.081(3) still requires dedications to be accepted by the governing body so there will need to be a resolution brought forward to the Board after the acceptance of a plat/replat by the administrative authority for the Board to accept any dedications made to the County.
The new amended statute also requires that the local governing body designate by ordinance or resolution an administrative authority to receive, review, and process final plat or replat submittals. The Planning and Services Division has historically served as the department that oversaw intake and routing of all planning items, final plats and replats included. Today we are seeking that the board officially designate the Planning and Services Division as the Administrative Authority over plating pursuant to amended Florida Statute Section 177.071 via the attached proposed resolution.
Any amendments to County Code will need to be made at a later date in order to meet all notice requirements.
ANALYSIS
N/A
BUDGETARY IMPACT
Not applicable at the current time, but may change when time comes to update county code sections.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTIONS
N/A
POTENTIAL FUTURE BOARD ACTIONS
Adoption of updated ordinances to reflect changes needed to comply with amended Florida Statutes.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
N/A
OTHER PLAN ALIGNMENT
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends:
1) The Board officially designate the Planning and Services Division as the administrative authority to receive, review and process final plats/replats.
2) Designate the County Administrator and/or his/her designee as the administrative officer with the responsibility of approving, approving with conditions, or denying the proposed final plat/replat.
3) Planning and Services Division bring to the Board a resolution for acceptance the dedications made to the County via the plat/replat after said plat/replat has been accepted and recorded.