Florida’s agricultural enclave law changes who controls development decisions when farmland sits amid existing or planned growth. It gives qualifying landowners a route around traditional comprehensive-plan amendments and rezoning procedures. Counties still evaluate whether a property qualifies, but certification sharply limits their ability to reject the residential use afterward. For residents, that makes the initial application and hearing especially consequential.

St. Johns County’s disputes with the Davis family’s development partner, The PARC Group, and Heritage Development have brought those limits into public view. The practical questions extend beyond those properties: What must an applicant prove, when can commissioners say no, and what happens to roads, schools and environmental review? Understanding the process requires separating certification from development-plan review and construction permits. Each serves a different purpose.

What Is Florida’s Agricultural Enclave Law?

Senate Bill 686 became Chapter 2026-34 and took effect July 1, 2026. It replaced the previous agricultural enclave comprehensive-plan amendment process with a certification procedure followed by streamlined development review. The Florida Senate describes agricultural enclaves as agricultural pockets largely surrounded by development. The legal definition, however, contains specific requirements that go well beyond that general description.

The law applies in counties with populations of 1.75 million or fewer, using the specified official population estimate. It permits qualifying properties to consist of multiple parcels under common ownership or control. Once certified, owners can pursue qualifying development consistent with specified neighboring land uses. Certification establishes access to that statutory process.

Which Agricultural Properties Can Qualify?

The definition addresses unincorporated, undeveloped land, single ownership or control, and a history of bona fide agricultural use. It includes a January 1, 2025 reference date and a five-year agricultural-use requirement tied to the relevant application. Applicants must also satisfy surrounding-land, public-service and acreage provisions. An agricultural tax classification alone does not establish that every requirement has been met.

Several alternative surrounding-land tests apply. These include routes involving existing development, mapped future development and urban-service boundaries, along with a separate provision for qualifying rural study areas. The familiar description that an enclave must be “75% surrounded” does not capture every route. The application should identify the exact statutory provision it relies on and document each component.

Acreage Limits and Neighboring Density Are Separate Tests

The law generally sets a 1,280-acre ceiling, with a conditional 4,480-acre ceiling and a specified water-protection exception. The larger ceiling depends on surrounding residential development meeting the statute’s perimeter and population-density requirements. It does not make every agricultural property smaller than 4,480 acres eligible. The remaining qualifications still apply.

Acreage also does not establish an approved housing count. The certification and development provisions connect proposed density to qualifying adjacent parcels or development. Residents should distinguish an applicant’s requested density from a theoretical maximum and from the number shown in a submitted development plan. Multiplying acreage by a headline density can obscure those differences.

What Can County Commissioners Still Decide?

Commissioners retain responsibility for determining whether an application satisfies the state’s certification requirements. They can examine ownership records, agricultural-use evidence, boundary measurements, surrounding land designations and infrastructure documentation. They can approve or deny certification after the required public hearing. A denial must explain the decision through detailed written factual findings and legal conclusions.

That authority requires a record tied to the statute. A staff recommendation informs the board’s decision, while commissioners remain responsible for their findings. Residents’ concerns are most useful when supported by documents and connected to a particular requirement. General opposition to growth cannot replace the eligibility analysis.

What Changes After Agricultural Enclave Certification?

For qualifying residential plans, the county must treat the proposed use as conforming despite conflicting comprehensive-plan, future-land-use or zoning provisions. This removes tools counties ordinarily use to determine where particular development belongs. It does not make the comprehensive plan irrelevant throughout the county. It changes how conflicting provisions operate for development proceeding under this law.

The county also cannot impose regulations more burdensome than those applied to comparable uses or densities. An enclave adjacent to an urban service district receives the treatment specified by the statute. Those restrictions limit attempts to recreate a rejected land-use barrier through a different requirement. Any subsequent review must operate within the authority that remains.

The Law Sets Two Different Development Clocks

The certification stage begins with a written county compliance report due within 30 days after receipt of the application. A public hearing must follow within 30 days after that report. If the local government neither approves nor denies certification within 90 days after receiving the application, the statute requires certification. That consequence makes tracking the application and decision dates essential.

A separate schedule applies after submission of qualifying residential development plans. Within 30 business days, the owner and county must agree in writing to a review process and schedule. The county cannot require agreement to a process longer than 180 days or one containing further quasi-judicial review or a public hearing. The 180-day provision concerns development-plan review, rather than a deadline to build the project.

Does Certification Eliminate Construction and Environmental Review?

Certification does not itself authorize a bulldozer to begin work. Development plans, engineering requirements and applicable construction permits remain separate matters. The agricultural enclave process changes land-use treatment and review procedures; it does not function as every permit a project might need. The approvals still required must be identified for the particular site and proposal.

The legislation expressly preserves existing protections for designated areas and interests, including recorded conservation easements, areas of critical state concern, specified military properties, the Wekiva Study Area and the Everglades Protection Area. It also encourages feasible design measures where development affects an established wildlife corridor. Encouragement and a mandatory prohibition carry different legal force. Readers should examine the applicable protection rather than assume that certification either erases environmental rules or guarantees conservation.

Who Pays for Roads, Water, Sewer and Schools?

Public services form part of the eligibility definition. The statute recognizes several ways to satisfy that requirement, including existing services, scheduled capital improvements, alternative infrastructure providers and an offer to enter a binding proportionate-share agreement. Consequently, qualification does not necessarily mean every required facility already exists. The supporting documents should explain which route the applicant uses.

For residents, the practical questions concern delivery and cost. Which improvements must precede occupancy, who must construct them, and what funding has actually been committed? A proportionate-share contribution also needs to be distinguished from the entire cost of a regional improvement. Those details determine how a development’s infrastructure commitments affect existing neighborhoods and public budgets.

When Can Residents Participate?

The certification hearing is an expressly required public decision point. Residents can review the application, examine staff’s compliance report and present relevant information under the hearing’s procedures. Useful evidence can include maps, infrastructure schedules and records addressing the claimed eligibility route. Raising a documented discrepancy gives commissioners something concrete to evaluate.

After certification, the law restricts additional public hearings for the qualifying development-plan process. Residents therefore should not assume that every issue will return for a traditional rezoning debate. They can continue following submitted plans, agreements and permit records. The scope of public participation depends on the particular approval being considered.

What Happens When a County Denies Certification?

The applicant can seek circuit-court review through a petition for writ of certiorari within 30 days after the county renders its decision. The statutory deadline refers to rendition of the decision, making the written order important. A rejection does not necessarily prohibit development through another lawful route. It denies the requested agricultural enclave certification unless subsequent proceedings change that result.

The Davis and Heritage disputes illustrate why different legal questions must remain separate. Whether land qualifies differs from whether a county can reconsider an approval already granted. Challenging an individual decision also differs from challenging the legislation itself. Our Part 1 coverage explains how those disputes arose in St. Johns County.

What Does the January 2028 Expiration Mean?

The act schedules its amendments to expire January 1, 2028, with the affected statutory text reverting as specified in the legislation. That creates a limited operating period for the revised provisions unless lawmakers change them. It does not establish that every certification or development approval issued beforehand automatically disappears. The treatment of existing approvals requires examination of the applicable law and any subsequent changes or rulings.

For anyone following a particular property, the most useful records remain the application, staff report, written decision, development plans and infrastructure agreements. Together, they show what has been requested, what has been established and what still needs approval. Florida has limited important county powers through this process. Careful reporting must also identify the responsibilities counties continue to exercise.

Sources

• Florida Senate: SB 686 legislative history, including enactment as Chapter 2026-34 and the July 1 effective date. The Florida Senate

• Laws of Florida: Chapter 2026-34, the enacted agricultural enclave legislation governing eligibility, certification, development review and expiration. laws.flrules.org

• Florida Senate: SB 686 enrolled text, displaying amendments to Sections 163.3162 and 163.3164, Florida Statutes. flsenate.gov

• Florida Senate: Agricultural Enclaves bill summary, providing an overview of the certification process and its scope. The Florida Senate

• Florida Senate Committee on Rules: February 25, 2026 bill analysis, providing background on comprehensive plans and the legislation’s development. The enacted text controls where descriptions differ.

Florida Growth & Local Control Series