CONCURRENCY-MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN FLORIDA - COMPARATIVE-ASSESSMENT

The present paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of concurrency- management systems as a means of tying growth-management practices to funding infrastructure improvements. This assessment is accomplished b y offering a comparative analysis of Broward and Lee Counties' (Florid a) concurrency-management systems. This analysis illustrates two diver gent approaches taken to implement concurrent facility level-of-servic e requirements. Specific conceptual and practical methods aimed at ref ining concurrency-management systems are offered. These methods relate to administrative and operational topics, level-of-service capacity a llocations, implementation of growth management policies, and facility funding. The present paper recommends that the principles of flexibil ity and predictability underpin any local government's concurrency-man agement system. Through the incorporation of concurrency-management pr actices, such as, and including, integrated review processes, district -wide level-of-service capacity averaging, tiered long-term certificat ion, and dedicated infrastructure funding, an effective, acceptable, a nd meaningful growth-management tool is created. In turn, concurrency management serves to ensure that facilities are in place when they are needed and it does so in a manner that avoids economic dislocation th rough development moratoriums.