What is the Live Local Act?
6/22/2026
Martin County, long known for strict growth controls, low-density development patterns, and resistance to overdevelopment, is seeing the Live Local Act represent a profound shift in how housing policy is implemented. The law is forcing local governments to reconsider zoning authority, development approvals, and the balance between preservation and growth.
The Live Local Act, Senate Bill 102, was enacted in 2023 to expand affordable and workforce housing across Florida. The law provides tax incentives and financing tools and, most controversially, state preemption of local zoning restrictions for qualifying housing developments.
Under the law, developers may build multifamily housing in areas zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed-use development if a required percentage of units is reserved as affordable housing. Local governments must approve qualifying projects administratively and, in many cases, cannot require rezoning hearings or discretionary board approvals.
The 2025 amendments further strengthened the law by explicitly stating that projects can proceed without quasi-judicial board review; that Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) may qualify; that mixed-use requirements are limited; and that local governments have less discretion to deny projects.
Martin County has historically maintained some of Florida’s strictest growth-management policies. Local planning rules emphasize environmental protection, low-density residential development, and preservation of rural character. It is what defines the Martin County Difference.
The county’s land-development regulations and future land-use policies have traditionally relied on extensive public hearings and detailed zoning review processes.
Since state law supersedes specific local zoning powers, Martin County officials have limited control over measures such as building height, residential density, mixed-use requirements, and approval timelines for qualifying affordable housing projects. This is particularly noteworthy in a county where residents have traditionally regarded growth management as vital to maintaining quality of life.
The law further accelerates development by simplifying approval processes, eliminating the need for prolonged rezoning disputes on many qualifying projects. Supporters claim that this approach lowers development costs, speeds up project timelines, and promotes private investment.
The law encourages residential development in underused commercial corridors and mixed-use areas. This could reshape portions of Martin County by converting aging shopping centers or commercial parcels, like the Treasure Coast Mall, into housing-oriented developments.
The major concern in Martin County is the loss of local control. The primary criticism centers on home rule. Martin County residents and officials have long favored local decision-making on growth issues. The Live Local Act shifts substantial authority from counties and municipalities to the state.
Local governments are best suited to understand their community infrastructure limits. Tallahassee should not interfere with local planning decisions. The rapid growth in these areas put additional stress on roads, schools, utilities, and environmental resources. This issue is becoming a concern across the state, with some counties legally challenging the law.
Accelerated approvals undermine environmental oversight and promote denser development in areas traditionally protected by strict zoning laws, providing greater profits for developers.
If the Live Local Act opened the door to higher-density affordable housing in Florida, Senate Bill 180 effectively removed many of the tools that local governments could use to slow that process. For Martin County, the interaction between the two laws proves more consequential than either statute individually.
For counties like Martin County, that means the state temporarily constrained many traditional growth-management responses just as rapid development pressures continue intensifying along the Treasure Coast. Martin County’s planning identity has long been rooted in managed growth. At its core, the conflict is about who controls growth in Florida.
Combined with the Live Local Act, the result is a powerful state-level framework that increasingly prioritizes housing production and redevelopment over local procedural discretion. The county’s infrastructure systems were designed around slower-growth assumptions.
Several lawsuits and legislative cleanup efforts have already emerged in response to the law’s breadth. Stuart joined a collective lawsuit where Martin County failed to respond.
The combined impact of the Live Local Act and SB 180 fundamentally changes development politics in Martin County. Instead of local governments being the primary gatekeepers of growth, the state is increasingly determining where housing can be built, the pace of project development, and the limits on regulatory resistance counties can impose. Nevertheless, Martin County has not entirely forfeited authority. It still handles environmental reviews, enforces building codes, plans infrastructure, and maintains some zoning powers outside of those preempted by the state. However, the space for implementing restrictive growth-management policies is shrinking.
In effect, the Live Local Act created a development pathway. SB 180 widened that pathway and removed many of the traditional barriers counties once used to regulate speed, density, and timing.
For Martin County, the challenge is no longer simply whether growth occurs, but whether local government can still meaningfully shape how it occurs.