UF to host lecture on Florida's growth management, planning legislation

October 11, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Bob Rhodes, a planning leader and attorney, will discuss recently enacted significant revisions to the state’s growth management and planning legislation as well as suggestions for moving forward as part of the Ernest R. Bartley Memorial Lecture Series. The Oct. 18 lecture is presented by the University of Florida and the department of urban and regional planning.

Rhodes, former executive vice president and general counsel of the St. Joe Company and senior vice president and general counsel for the Arvida and Disney Development Companies, will present “Growth Management: Certain Change, Uncertain Reform” at 7:30 p.m. at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Rhodes’ career has included senior level volunteer positions in four Florida planning, development and public service agencies. He chaired the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Commission, Jacksonville’s Downtown Development Authority and Economic Development Commission, the Trust for Public Land’s Northeast Florida Chapter and the Northeast Florida Regional Community Institute.

Rhodes also administered Florida’s growth management program and served as counsel to Richard Pettigrew, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He chaired state commissions that developed revisions to the state’s growth management and administrative procedures programs. Rhodes is also a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and has been recognized as the Jacksonville Daily Record’s Lawyer of the Year. He is an attorney in private practice.

Rhodes received a law degree from the University of Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law and a master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The lecture series honors professor Ernest R. Bartley, who taught at UF for more than 50 years. Bartley was a nationally prominent authority on land use and zoning law helping scores of communities develop and implement planning and zoning codes. He was a beloved teacher and colleague.