City manager outlines 2025 session changes that limit local land‑use authority and affect housing, fees and water policy

City Manager Mike Hogarth told the City of Stuart Commission on May 20 that several bills passed in the 2025 Florida Legislature will directly affect local permitting, affordable housing and post‑storm redevelopment, and he recommended city staff begin preparing to implement and respond to those changes.

Hogarth said the most consequential for the city is the emergency‑development bill (Senate Bill 180), which restricts local governments’ ability to adopt new land‑development or comprehensive‑plan ordinances or issue moratoria for as long as specified in the bill following certain hurricanes and, in one section (sec. 28), imposes a retroactive restriction tied to the 2024 named storms. “Section 18 restricts local governments from adopting new ordinances related to land development or comprehensive planning and or issuing a moratorium on development for 1 year after a hurricane has made landfall,”…