Today’s discussion will pivot more towards fiscal practicality of land development in Florida. This post reviews an article by a series of authors published in the Journal of the American Planning Association in 2024 entitled, “Can Florida’s Coast Survive It’s Reliance on Development?”
The following video is a good source for visual/audio learners to pick up on some of the points that will be brought up in this post:
Buying Florida Land – Important things to know! 2024 Update
Florida has been an attractive destination to many people since it was colonized by Europeans back in the 16th century. Whether people could afford to make the trip over or wanted to learn about the richly biodiverse ecosystem through art and literature, deep interest in Florida has been a key feature of how the state is known. If we look at our current times, in the past five to ten years there has been a wave of people who have moved into the Sunshine State. The population has grown 8.23% since 2020, the second fastest growing state right behind Idaho at 8.24% (Camargo, 2025).
As we have discussed in previous posts, there is an issue with the rich biodiversity of the state being diminished by overdevelopment of the land. Today, however, we will be looking at a more humancentric issue with overdevelopment. As more and more is built, more and more of the structure of the land is changed. Combine this with natural erosion of the coast over time and the future for Florida’s development and cost of living is looking quite pricy. The article being discussed today, “Can Florida’s Coast Survive Its Reliance on Development,” discusses the logistics and concerns surrounding this problem.
As time goes by and the climate adapts and changes, new regulations are being set into place. Cost of infrastructure (ie building roads, elevating land, widening drainage systems, installing utilities, etc) is adapting alongside the climate and steadily increasing. The cost of property is also increasing due to sellers becoming aware of the cost of insurance and climate risks. Essentially, infrastructure and property costs are rising due to the potential of damage from natural disasters. However, a good portion of Florida’s economy relies on development due to the lack of income taxes and reliance on sales tax, property tax, and other charges and fees. Along with the tax issue, Florida is highly fragmented into different municipalities. Regularly, Municipalities need to be 2 miles apart, but the Formation of Municipalities Act of 1974 allowed bodies of water to count as guides for separation of municipalities.
As development increases, and climate adapts, there is a gradual progression of development moving inland from the coast to seek areas that are less risky toward natural disasters or coastal erosion as well as areas that can more easily be development infrastructure-wise. This development progression can best be compared to gentrification. Although it isn’t specifically targeted towards lower income groups or particular communities, the shift inland naturally pushes lower income households out of Florida or to cheaper areas due to the increase in costs of living. Another bleak reality is that the increases in need to put costs toward development drains the government and allows less funding to go towards public necessities such as education and outreach. Additionally, that funds they can disperse to still meet requirements for other government programs often leaves development dry, and projects lacking in revenue and manpower creates a cycle of planning and slow completion.
The only foreseeable way to alleviate pressure would be to adapt where revenue is coming from. Raising sales taxes or biting the bullet and introducing income taxes might help increase the money coming in. Alternatively, governments can look into new ways to adapt to development, such as new insurance products and alternative forms of clean energy. Otherwise, the state needs to discourage development and divert the focus of their economy onto a different industry.
References:
Camargo, M. (2025, June 26). Florida’s population increased by 8.2% since 2020, making it the fastest-growing state over the last 4 years: US Census. WJXT; WJXT News4JAX. https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2025/06/26/floridas-population-increased-by-82-since-2020-making-it-the-fastest-growing-state-over-the-last-4-years-us-census/
The article itself:
Shi, L. Z., Butler, W. H., Holmes, T., Rosemann, T., Anthony Charles Milordis, Jonathan Andrew Ignatowski, Yousuf Mahid, & Aldag, A. M. (2023). Can Florida’s Coast Survive Its Reliance on Development? Journal of the American Planning Association, 90(2), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2023.2249866
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