Florida’s plan-review machinery is shifting in three places. If execution matches the headlines, applicants should see fewer re-review loops and faster close-outs. The question isn’t whether the moves sound good; it’s whether they move the metrics.
Pinellas County
Pinellas is waiving penalty fees for after-the-fact permits through Dec. 31, 2025 — an incentive to bring unpermitted storm repairs into the light. That’s good policy. It reduces underground work, gets inspectors on site, and lets homeowners fix paperwork without a punitive double-fee. The base permit still applies; the stick is gone so the carrot can work. What to watch: number of amnesty applications, median days from filing to inspection, and first-cycle pass rates. If those improve, this is a textbook compliance win.
Miami-Dade
Commissioners are reshuffling parts of environmental review as DERM is re-established as a stand-alone department. Supporters call it streamlining; skeptics worry about two lines instead of one. Treat this as an operations test: who owns the critical path end-to-end, and what are the posted service-level targets (days to first comments, re-review counts)? If the county publishes a single-owner RACI and hits SLAs, great—if not, applicants will just see a different badge at the same chokepoint.
St. Augustine
The city nudged short-term-rental registration fees for the first time since 2020. Staff say it’s cost recovery to fund inspections and oversight—not policy deterrence. That can be positive if the dollars are ring-fenced for throughput: an added inspector, faster re-inspections, and fewer recycling plans back to applicants. Ask to see the cost allocation and how many inspections the added funding will buy each month. The proof is in backlog shrinkage and complaint resolution time.
Bottom line for applicants: these are three different levers—amnesty, accountability, and capacity. Pinellas is the cleanest quick win if communication and scheduling keep pace. Miami-Dade needs a published owner and SLAs to be more than musical chairs. St. Augustine’s change will earn trust if the money clearly buys measurable speed.
Scorecard to track over the next quarter
- Pinellas: amnesty uptake, median days to inspection, % first-cycle approvals.
- Miami-Dade: before/after org chart, single process owner named, SLA performance.
- St. Augustine: inspection backlog trend, re-inspection lag, complaint resolution time.