Special powers; public improvements and community facilities.

The district shall have, and the board may exercise, subject to the regulatory jurisdiction and permitting authority of all applicable governmental bodies, agencies, and special districts having authority with respect to any area included therein, any or all of the following special powers relating to public improvements and community facilities authorized by this act:

(1) To finance, fund, plan, establish, acquire, construct or reconstruct, enlarge or extend, equip, operate, and maintain systems, facilities, and basic infrastructures for the following:

(a) Water management and control for the lands within the district and to connect some or any of such facilities with roads and bridges.

(b) Water supply, sewer, and wastewater management, reclamation, and reuse or any combination thereof, and to construct and operate connecting intercepting or outlet sewers and sewer mains and pipes and water mains, conduits, or pipelines in, along, and under any street, alley, highway, or other public place or ways, and to dispose of any effluent, residue, or other byproducts of such system or sewer system.

(c) Bridges or culverts that may be needed across any drain, ditch, canal, floodway, holding basin, excavation, public highway, tract, grade, fill, or cut and roadways over levees and embankments, and to construct any and all of such works and improvements across, through, or over any public right-of-way, highway, grade, fill, or cut.

(d)1. District roads equal to or exceeding the applicable specifications of the county in which such district roads are located; roads and improvements to existing public roads that are owned by or conveyed to the local general-purpose government, the state, or the Federal Government; street lights; alleys; landscaping; hardscaping; and the undergrounding of electric utility lines. Districts may request the underground placement of utility lines by the local retail electric utility provider in accordance with the utility’s tariff on file with the Public Service Commission and may finance the required contribution.

2. Buses, trolleys, transit shelters, ridesharing facilities and services, parking improvements, and related signage.

(e) Investigation and remediation costs associated with the cleanup of actual or perceived environmental contamination within the district under the supervision or direction of a competent governmental authority unless the covered costs benefit any person who is a landowner within the district and who caused or contributed to the contamination.

(f) Conservation areas, mitigation areas, and wildlife habitat, including the maintenance of any plant or animal species, and any related interest in real or personal property.

(g) Any other project within or without the boundaries of a district when a local government issued a development order pursuant to s. 380.06 approving or expressly requiring the construction or funding of the project by the district, or when the project is the subject of an agreement between the district and a governmental entity and is consistent with the local government comprehensive plan of the local government within which the project is to be located.

(h) Any other project, facility, or service required by a development approval, interlocal agreement, zoning condition, or permit issued by a governmental authority with jurisdiction in the district.

(2) After the local general-purpose government within the jurisdiction of which a power specified in this subsection is to be exercised consents to the exercise of such power by the district, the district shall have the power to plan, establish, acquire, construct or reconstruct, enlarge or extend, equip, operate, and maintain additional systems and facilities for:

(a) Parks and facilities for indoor and outdoor recreational, cultural, and educational uses.

(b) Fire prevention and control, including fire stations, water mains and plugs, fire trucks, and other vehicles and equipment.

(c) School buildings and related structures and site improvements, which may be leased, sold, or donated to the school district, for use in the educational system when authorized by the district school board.

(d) Security, including, but not limited to, guardhouses, fences and gates, electronic intrusion-detection systems, and patrol cars, when authorized by proper governmental agencies; except that the district may not exercise any police power, but may contract with the appropriate local general-purpose government agencies for an increased level of such services within the district boundaries. However, this paragraph does not prohibit a district from contracting with a towing operator to remove a vehicle or vessel from a district-owned facility or property if the district follows the authorization and notice and procedural requirements in s. 715.07 for an owner or lessee of private property. The district’s selection of a towing operator is not subject to public bidding if the towing operator is included in an approved list of towing operators maintained by the local government that has jurisdiction over the district’s facility or property.

(e) Control and elimination of mosquitoes and other arthropods of public health importance.

(f) Waste collection and disposal.

(3) To adopt and enforce appropriate rules following the procedures of chapter 120, in connection with the provision of one or more services through its systems and facilities.

(4)(a) To adopt rules necessary for the district to enforce certain deed restrictions pertaining to the use and operation of real property within the district and outside the district pursuant to an interlocal agreement under chapter 163 if within another district or, if not within another district, with the consent of the county or municipality in which the deed restriction enforcement is proposed to occur. For the purpose of this subsection, the term “deed restrictions” means those covenants, conditions, restrictions, compliance mechanisms, and enforcement remedies contained in any applicable declarations of covenants and restrictions that govern the use and operation of real property and, for which covenants, conditions, and restrictions, there is no homeowners’ association or property owner’s association having respective enforcement powers unless, with respect to a homeowners’ association whose board is under member control, the association and the district agree in writing to enforcement by the district. The district may adopt by rule all or certain portions of the deed restrictions that:

1. Relate to limitations, prohibitions, compliance mechanisms, or enforcement remedies that apply only to external appearances or uses and are deemed by the district to be generally beneficial for the district’s landowners and for which enforcement by the district is appropriate, as determined by the district’s board of supervisors; or

2. Are consistent with the requirements of a development order or regulatory agency permit.

(b) The board may vote to adopt such rules only when all of the following conditions exist:

1. The district was in existence on the effective date of this subsection, or is located within a development that consists of multiple developments of regional impact and a Florida Quality Development.

2. For residential districts, the majority of the board has been elected by qualified electors pursuant to the provisions of s. 190.006.

3. For residential districts, less than 25 percent of residential units are in a homeowners’ association.

4. The declarant in any applicable declarations of covenants and restrictions has provided the board with a written agreement that such rules may be adopted. A memorandum of the agreement shall be recorded in the public records.

(c) Within 60 days after such rules take effect, the district shall record a notice of rule adoption stating generally what rules were adopted and where a copy of the rules may be obtained. Districts may impose fines for violations of such rules and enforce such rules and fines in circuit court through injunctive relief.

(d) The owners of property located outside the boundary of the district shall elect an advisor to the district board pursuant to paragraph (e). The sole responsibilities of the district board advisor are to review enforcement actions proposed by the district board against properties located outside the district and make recommendations relating to those proposed actions. Before the district board may enforce its rules against any owner of property located outside the district, the district board shall request the district board advisor to make a recommendation on the proposed enforcement action. The district board advisor must render a recommendation within 30 days after receiving a request from the district board or is deemed to have no objection to the district board’s proposed decision or action.

(e)1. Whenever an interlocal agreement is entered into pursuant to paragraph (a), a district board advisor seat shall be created for one elected landowner whose property is within the jurisdiction of the governmental entity entering into the interlocal agreement but not within the boundaries of the district. The district board advisor shall be elected by landowners whose land is subject to enforcement by the district but whose land is not within the boundaries of the district. The district board advisor shall be elected for a 2-year term. The first election for a district board advisor shall be within 90 days after the effective date of the interlocal agreement between the district and the government entity.

2. The election of the district board advisor shall occur at a meeting of eligible landowners. The district shall publish notice of the meeting and election once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the parties to the interlocal agreement. The notice must include instructions on how all landowners may participate in the election and how to obtain a proxy form. The last day of publication may not be less than 14 days or more than 28 days before the date of the election. The landowners, when assembled at the meeting, shall organize by electing a chair who shall conduct the meeting. The chair may be any person present at the meeting. If the chair is a landowner or proxy holder of a landowner, he or she may nominate candidates and make and second motions.

3. At the meeting, each landowner is entitled to cast one vote per acre of land owned by him or her and located within the district for each person to be elected. A landowner may vote in person or by proxy in writing. Each proxy must be signed by one of the legal owners of the property for which the vote is cast and must contain the typed or printed name of the individual who signed the proxy; the street address, legal description of the property, or tax parcel identification number; and the number of authorized votes. If the proxy authorizes more than one vote, each property must be listed and the number of acres of each property must be included. The signature on a proxy need not be notarized. A fraction of an acre shall be treated as 1 acre, entitling the landowner to one vote with respect thereto. For purposes of determining voting interests, platted lots shall be counted individually and rounded up to the nearest whole acre. The acreage of platted lots may not be aggregated for purposes of determining the number of voting units held by a landowner or a landowner’s proxy.

4. If a vacancy occurs in the district advisor seat, a special landowner election shall be held within 60 days after the vacancy using the notice, proxy, and acreage voting provisions of this subsection.