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Groveland CDC V5 form-based code adoption

The regulatory architecture awaiting SB 180's June 2026 lift

Condition
Groveland brings CDC V5 (or any substantive code update) to Planning & Zoning Board vote post-SB 180 sunset
Significance
82
Horizon
near term
Confidence
high
Status
pending

Groveland's Community Development Code Version 5 — the city's form-based code rewrite encoding the eco-agrarian vision and Village Core / Center / Edge tri-zone framework — has been in drafting since 2024 but cannot adopt under SB 180's "more restrictive or burdensome" trigger. When the statute sunsets in June 2026, Groveland enters its adoption window. CDC V5 is the city's defensive regulatory architecture; without adoption, the eco-agrarian vision lives only in non-binding plan documents while conventional subdivisions continue to populate via existing code. The adoption is the cardinal test of whether Groveland's "Building identity from scratch" thesis converts to enforceable code or remains aspirational. Watch item resolves when the code is brought to a substantive vote.

groveland-floridagrandfather-window

What's pending

A condition-triggered watch item — there is no specific date. Resolution arrives when:

  • Groveland's Planning & Zoning Board agendizes CDC V5 for substantive vote, OR
  • The City Council adopts CDC V5 (or a substantive subset), OR
  • Groveland materially deprioritizes the code update (e.g., the city pivots to incremental amendments rather than a code rewrite)

The constraint stack

CDC V5 is structurally blocked by three layered constraints:

  1. SB 180 — the statute prohibiting "more restrictive or burdensome" land-development code changes, retroactive to August 2024, sunsets June 2026 on its own terms (the Senate repeal failed earlier in 2026)
  2. Hurricane state of emergency — the layered freeze on comprehensive plan amendments, on top of SB 180; persists as long as the SOE is active
  3. Institutional capacity — three "interim" titles (City Manager, Community & Economic Development Director, Senior Planner support thinning) plus the outgoing City Attorney with no announced successor (see groveland-new-city-attorney)

Each constraint must lift (or the code must navigate around it) before adoption is operationally possible.

What's at stake

CDC V5 carries:

  • The Village Core / Village Center / Village Edge tri-zone framework
  • The "Eco-Agrarian Lifestyle" zoning recognition (front-yard gardens, hand-tendered farms, rain harvesting, rooftop aquaponics)
  • Form-based regulations governing building placement, street design, pedestrian orientation
  • The CNU-recognized "new frontier for New Urbanism in Central Florida" architecture

Without adoption, Groveland's defensive regulatory posture is non-binding. With adoption, the city's identity bet converts to enforceable code — and the gap between brand and build-out narrows.

Resolution criteria

This watch item resolves on the first of:

  • Groveland Planning & Zoning Board substantive vote on CDC V5
  • City Council adoption (or rejection) vote
  • Material deprioritization signal (e.g., a post-sunset window passes without the code reaching a vote)

The outcome assessment captures:

  • Whether adoption occurred and when (relative to SB 180's June 2026 sunset)
  • The successor City Attorney's role in shaping the final code
  • Which Village zones pass first; whether the eco-agrarian recognitions hold or are stripped
  • The first development application processed under the new code

Source trail