A Conducive Business Climate: Guding Principle, Point to Keep in Mind, Challenge

Economics

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Guiding Principle - Point to Keep in Mind - Challenge
Current Condition
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Benefits
Key to Acronyms

A Conducive Business Climate

Guiding Principle:

How law works, not what it aims to do, is what is driving us crazy.

Point to Keep in Mind:

"Regulations are fully justified for the protection of public values. No one believes that one landowner's use of his land should result in another's loss. Yet it is easy for regulations to cross over the line of reasonableness, taking major values from landowners with only minor gains for the environment or the public".

Challenge:

Create a business and regulatory framework that promotes — and does not discourage — agriculture.

Sample Obstacle:

I don't have any good advice for agriculture. We don't see farmers everyday. And, frankly, the system has not been set up to help agriculture. By the time a farmer learns how to navigate through the system, he'll never do it again.

Let me give you an example. You can get a permit to build a 'shed' with few problems. But if you come in to the Building Department and say you want to build a 'barn', it's a different matter. You'll have to pay to obtain a certified site plan. The 'code' you'll have to comply with was not designed for barns. It was designed for commercial warehouses. But, never mind, you'll have to comply anyway. And if you don't do something right, you'll have to start all over again.

-- Gary D. Pailthorp, P.E., Professional Engineer
Planning & Development Management Department
Hillsborough County, Florida