Monroe County commissioners on Tuesday instructed staff to continue drafting comprehensive plan and code amendments to handle new housing permit allocations created by Florida’s Senate Bill 180, but to delay formally sending (“transmitting”) the package to state review until March 2026 for greater clarity from Tallahassee.

Commission staff described a legal and procedural risk: portions of SB 180 restrict local governments’ ability to adopt “more restrictive” regulations in the two years following certain storm-related federal declarations. Because Monroe County received federal declarations for Hurricanes Milton and Helene, staff said some new local rules could be considered more restrictive and therefore vulnerable under the statute. Commerce staff has been issuing letters in other cases finding local measures more restrictive.

Staff said the county’s estimated share of the bill’s 900 statewide allocations would be 588 units (a distribution Commerce told staff was based on each jurisdiction’s inventory of vacant buildable lots). The county’s draft amendments would (a) reallocate 62 existing administrative-relief ROGO (Rate of Growth Ordinance) allocations for an additional 12 months to avoid a permit gap, (b) create a new market-rate workforce allocation category, and (c) incorporate the county’s portion of SB 180 allocations.

Faced with uncertainty about whether the state will accept certain local restrictions, commissioners instructed staff to pursue a two-track approach: continue developing the comprehensive plan amendment with the county’s preferred language but keep a “fallback” text that would simply extend the existing administrative relief allocations for 12 months. Staff will delay formal transmittal to the state until March 2026 to allow for possible legislative or cabinet action and additional conversations with Florida Commerce and the governor’s office. County staff said they would pursue meetings in Tallahassee and mobilize the county’s legislative contacts and lobby team.

Why it matters: SB 180 created a one-time pool of allocations intended to ease housing rebuilds and new construction in parts of the state. Monroe County leaders are trying to use the new allocations to address workforce housing but face an uncertain interpretation of the law that could void local rules if Commerce finds them “more restrictive.” The board’s decision aims to preserve the county’s policy goals while reducing legal exposure.

What the board directed: staff should continue drafting the preferred amendment, prepare the fallback language that extends administrative-relief allocations for an additional year, hold DRC/planning proceedings while preserving the board’s final choice, and delay state transmittal until March to see legislative and Commerce actions.