(1) Within 30 days after receiving an application for approval of a development permit or development order, a county must review the application for completeness and issue a letter indicating that all required information is submitted or specifying with particularity any areas that are deficient. If the application is deficient, the applicant has 30 days to address the deficiencies by submitting the required additional information. Within 120 days after the county has deemed the application complete, or 180 days for applications that require final action through a quasi-judicial hearing or a public hearing, the county must approve, approve with conditions, or deny the application for a development permit or development order. Both parties may agree to a reasonable request for an extension of time, particularly in the event of a force majeure or other extraordinary circumstance. An approval, approval with conditions, or denial of the application for a development permit or development order must include written findings supporting the county’s decision. The timeframes contained in this subsection do not apply in an area of critical state concern, as designated in s. 380.0552.

(2) When reviewing an application for a development permit or development order that is certified by a professional listed in s. 403.0877, a county may not request additional information from the applicant more than three times, unless the applicant waives the limitation in writing. Before a third request for additional information, the applicant must be offered a meeting to attempt to resolve outstanding issues. Except as provided in subsection (5), if the applicant believes the request for additional information is not authorized by ordinance, rule, statute, or other legal authority, the county, at the applicant’s request, shall proceed to process the application for approval or denial.

(3) When a county denies an application for a development permit or development order, the county shall give written notice to the applicant. The notice must include a citation to the applicable portions of an ordinance, rule, statute, or other legal authority for the denial of the permit or order.

(4) As used in this section, the terms “development permit” and “development order” have the same meaning as in s. 163.3164, but do not include building permits.

(5) For any development permit application filed with the county after July 1, 2012, a county may not require as a condition of processing or issuing a development permit or development order that an applicant obtain a permit or approval from any state or federal agency unless the agency has issued a final agency action that denies the federal or state permit before the county action on the local development permit.

(6) Issuance of a development permit or development order by a county does not in any way create any rights on the part of the applicant to obtain a permit from a state or federal agency and does not create any liability on the part of the county for issuance of the permit if the applicant fails to obtain requisite approvals or fulfill the obligations imposed by a state or federal agency or undertakes actions that result in a violation of state or federal law. A county shall attach such a disclaimer to the issuance of a development permit and shall include a permit condition that all other applicable state or federal permits be obtained before commencement of the development.

(7) This section does not prohibit a county from providing information to an applicant regarding what other state or federal permits may apply.

History.—s. 1, ch. 2006-88; s. 1, ch. 2012-205; s. 2, ch. 2013-92; s. 1, ch. 2013-193; s. 1, ch. 2013-213; s. 2, ch. 2019-165.