It looks like the people of New Smyrna are looking at the possible marriage of incompetence with sheer stupidity. The incompetence comes from failing to follow the proper procedures in permitting as outlined by my colleague Henry Frederick in his breaking news story: NSB's Flagler Avenue hotel and I-95 Wal-Mart in peril; Mayor: 'It's as bad as it can get.'
The Stupidity comes from the possibility of the people voting for “Home Town Democracy” this fall. If that happens before the mess with the building permit fiasco is solved we are almost guaranteed that nothing will be built in new Smyrna Beach for a long, long time. NSB officials had better hope and pray they have the permitting issue resolved before the November elections as they meet in emergency session Wednesday in Tallahassee with state officials.
If “Home Town Democracy” is voted in this November nothing can be built without voter approval. This would be a direct assault on people’s property rights that would give everyone else besides the property owners a say in what they can build. This would stop virtually every activity that involves building.
It's certainly not an overstatement to say Home Town Democracy is a really bad idea. When you combine this concept with the bad idea of growth planning, it is hard to see any economic activity in the building industry.
Please note that since every corner of any city or area is populated with numerous NIMBYS (not in my back yard) we would end up as a BANANA state (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything) .
In places where they have “Home Town Democracy” everything stops. If anything gets built, it costs an extra fortune.
The officials at NSB City Hall are extremely nervous at this point as they should be for allowing the planning debacle in the first place. It is almost certain that there will be serious lawsuits. These delays are costing the building projects fortunes. We will be having a huge “legal research project” to discover the relationship between time and money. At this point you might want to review my blog,” Griffin ’s Law of Finger Pointing” posted on 08/09/2009 because there will be plenty of that.
At any rate, it now looks like those people who want to “keep the charm” will have their dreams come true. And that's not a legacy we want to hand down to our children and grandchildren.