MICA Opposition to CS/CS/HB 1389

This letter was sent to Governor Ron DeSantis on March 20, 2026:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Marco Island Civic Association, we write to place you on notice of MICA's formal opposition to CS/CS/HB 1389, as passed by the Florida Legislature, and to transmit the enclosed Resolution adopted by the Board.

MICA is not merely a civic association offering commentary from the sidelines. MICA is a longstanding island institution with authority and responsibility to enforce deed restrictions recorded across most of Marco Island. Those restrictions were created to protect the integrity of the island, assure conformity of new construction, preserve neighborhood compatibility, and protect property values. For decades, MICA has served as both shield and sword for Marco Island homeowners, protecting them from incompatible structures, improper uses, and disruptive neighboring conditions that threaten the character of the island. We therefore do not take lightly any legislative action that undermines the clear and intended character of Marco Island or weakens the protections on which homeowners have long relied.

MICA also speaks with the strength of a broad constituency. It is the oldest and largest civic group on Marco Island, serving over 20,000 residents and property owners. Those residents and property owners have a direct stake in preserving Marco Island's scale, compatibility, and residential character.

This legislation is not simply another housing measure. It is part of a continuing pattern of state preemption that removes meaningful local control over planning, land use, and compatibility. As passed, CS/CS/HB 1389 alters local planning authority and limits the ability of local governments to meaningfully review height, density, compatibility, site intensity, setbacks, and neighborhood impact, including in connection with properties involving religious institutions.

Marco Island is a constrained barrier island. It is not a typical inland growth community. We face limited bridge access, evacuation concerns, finite roadway capacity, infrastructure limitations, environmental sensitivity, and established residential neighborhoods whose character depends on careful and informed local review. Those realities require meaningful local judgment. State preemption that overrides those protections ignores these conditions and places the long-term character and physical limits of the island at risk.

The practical burden of this legislation falls directly on communities like Marco Island. The bill will predictably increase demands on roads, bridges, drainage, utilities, public safety, and evacuation systems, along with substantial long-term capital and operational costs. Those costs are, in substance and effect, unfunded long-term mandates. They require the City to plan for, serve, and ultimately pay for infrastructure expansion and service demand without any corresponding state funding. In doing so, the legislation shifts the cost of statewide policy decisions onto local government and forces local taxpayers to subsidize growth mandates they did not create and may not be able to afford.

For these reasons, the Board urges that CS/CS/HB 1389, as passed by the Legislature, be vetoed unless it is materially amended to protect barrier islands and similarly constrained coastal municipalities and to preserve meaningful local authority over height, density, compatibility, setbacks, uses, and site-specific review.

If this bill is enacted without those protections, MICA will support all appropriate efforts to resist its damaging effects on Marco Island. That includes availing itself, where appropriate, of all available remedies under private deed restrictions, covenants, and applicable law.

This issue goes to the heart of Marco Island's ability to preserve its existing scale, compatibility, residential character, and traditional land-use protections. Our elected officials should be defending the City's ability to protect itself, not accepting legislation that strips local authority while leaving the City responsible for unfunded long-term mandates it cannot afford.

We respectfully urge that you veto CS/CS/HB 1389 in its current form.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Respectfully,