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Naples council deadlocks on rescinding 2023 land-use ordinances tied to SB 2 50; attorney review ordered
Summary
After hours of debate, Naples City Council on Feb. 5 voted down motions to repeal four land-use amendments adopted in 2023 and instead directed the city attorney to prepare a written legal analysis of whether the measures violate Florida's SB 2 50.
Naples City Council spent several hours Feb. 5 debating whether to formally remove four land-use code amendments adopted in 2023 after the state's Senate Bill 2 50 (and related HB 1) created new preemption restrictions for local land-development rules.
Background: The four ordinances were adopted by a prior council in 2023 following multi-year planning work and public workshops. After the state enacted SB 2 50, council members in late 2023 chose to stop enforcing those portions of the city code while leaving the adopted text codified. On Feb. 5 council members debated whether the correct legal step now is to repeal those ordinances entirely, to annotate them as suspended, or to ask the city attorney for a fresh legal analysis of each ordinance's compliance with SB 2 50.
Council action and outcome: Council considered separate motions to rescind four specific 2023 ordinances (PD regulations and related site-plan/lot-coverage changes). Each proposed repeal was put to the council by motion, and on each motion a majority of the dais voted against rescinding the text. By roll-call tallies recorded in the meeting, each motion to repeal failed (the transcript records multiple 4-3 outcomes). After the votes, several council members urged the city attorney to provide a clear written opinion addressing whether each ordinance is more restrictive or burdensome than state law allows, and whether language edits could make the measures defensible under SB 2 50.
Why the split: Supporters of repeal, including some council members and the city attorney, argued that keeping code text on the books while not enforcing it creates legal and transparency problems and that SB 2 50 makes the ordinances vulnerable and potentially void ab initio (invalid from adoption). Opponents of repeal said the 2023 ordinances embody local priorities on resiliency, green space and design that council should not abandon; several council members asked for time to review and to pursue revisions that would pass legal muster instead of an outright rescission.
Council direction: Rather than repeal or reinstate the measures without analysis, council directed the city attorney and staff to prepare a written legal memorandum examining the four ordinances' consistency with SB 2 50, and to identify whether limited wording changes could preserve the ordinances' policy aims while complying with state law. Staff and the city attorney will return to council with options and recommended next steps.
Ending: The decisions leave the 2023 code language codified but not enforced; council's next steps will depend on the city attorney's written analysis and staff follow-up. Multiple council members emphasized the need to balance legal risk with long-term resiliency goals for Naples.
