Brevard County, Florida Planning Delays Force Developers to Rethink Deal Structures

Written by:

Rudi Davis

Date:

11 Mar 2026

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Extended delays in Brevard County’s planning process are forcing developers to commit to land purchases long before they know if their projects will be viable under future market conditions. The result is a growing mismatch between when developers sign purchase agreements and when they can actually break ground. This challenge is reshaping how deals are structured and increasing the risk that projects will never be built.

Developers in Brevard County now face bottlenecks not from zoning disputes or public opposition, but from administrative slowdowns inside local government planning departments. Kelly Delmonico, Principal Planner and Founder of Land Development Strategies, says the main source of delay is the administrative review phase, where projects can spend 18 months or more before receiving site plan approval. This lag is creating a disconnect between the timing of land acquisition and market realities at the start of construction.

“We could start entitling a project, and we might not get site plan approval for a year and a half,” Delmonico says. By the time approval is granted, conditions may have changed enough that a once-promising project no longer pencils out. Developers are often left with land under contract but a business case that has evaporated.

Staff Shortages, Not Policy Changes, Are Causing the Delays

These delays are not due to tougher regulations or increased scrutiny from elected officials. The core problem is capacity: local planning departments do not have enough staff to handle the volume of applications they receive. Delmonico notes that governments are not rejecting more projects or introducing new policy-level hurdles. Routine administrative reviews now take far longer than in previous years because departments are overloaded and understaffed.

“Local governments absolutely want to take in projects, review them, and get them through the door,” Delmonico says, “but they’re just so overloaded and, in many cases, understaffed. They’re just trying to keep up.”

The main bottleneck is not at public hearings, where rezonings or conditional use permits are decided. Delays occur in the technical review cycles that precede public hearings. These involve detailed assessments of site plans, stormwater management, traffic studies, and other engineering documents. Each review round can take weeks or months, and projects often require several rounds as staff identify and request corrections. When departments lack adequate staffing, the time between rounds increases, and cumulative delays can stretch well past a year.

How Longer Approval Timelines Are Straining Purchase Agreements

Longer approval timelines are creating significant challenges for developers with active purchase agreements. These contracts typically include contingencies that allow buyers to withdraw if entitlements are not secured within a set period. When administrative reviews extend to 18 months, contingency periods are often exceeded, forcing developers to renegotiate with sellers or risk losing deposits.

“Review times are taking a long time, and that has really been affecting the purchase contracts that the buyers are having with the sellers,” Delmonico says. Developers are relying on sellers’ willingness to extend closing timelines, but many sellers are reluctant to do so indefinitely. Sellers often have their own financial obligations tied to the sale or worry that buyers will walk away if the process drags on. This uncertainty is eroding trust and making it harder to finalize deals that work for both parties.

Some developers, faced with extended delays and shifting market conditions, are choosing to abandon projects rather than wait for approvals. If construction costs rise, interest rates increase, or demand declines during a lengthy review, a project that once made financial sense may no longer be viable.

Shifting Market Conditions Amplify the Risk of Long Timelines

The disconnect between application and approval dates is introducing new risks for developers. In a stable market, an 18-month approval process might be manageable. When conditions change rapidly, however, the delay can make a project obsolete before it breaks ground.

Delmonico observes that developers are still pursuing entitlements. Still, the extended review period means the market at the time of approval may be very different from the one at the time the application was submitted. This uncertainty makes it difficult to predict whether a project will move forward, even after receiving all necessary approvals.

A multifamily project proposed when rents were rising and vacancies were low may no longer be viable if the market softens during the review period. Similarly, an industrial project designed for a specific tenant may lose that tenant if delays push the approval past the tenant’s timeline. “It’s a different environment by the time you get to the end,” Delmonico says.

The Capacity Problem Extends Beyond Brevard County

Delmonico emphasizes that the root problem is not new restrictions or anti-development sentiment from local governments. Planning staff are working to process applications as quickly as possible, but lack the resources to keep pace with the influx of proposals. “It’s just that administrative review cycle that basically everyone’s getting stuck in,” Delmonico says.

This capacity issue is not unique to Brevard County. Many Florida jurisdictions face similar challenges as development activity remains high. Even as construction starts have slowed, developers continue to submit entitlement applications in anticipation of future demand, keeping planning departments busy.

What Developers Can Do While the Bottleneck Persists

Land Development Strategies helps clients manage expectations and maintain communication with planning staff to minimize unnecessary delays. Delmonico’s team ensures applications are complete and technically sound before submission, reducing the number of review rounds required. The firm also helps clients structure purchase agreements with provisions for extensions or renegotiation in the event of delays.

These strategies mitigate the symptoms but do not solve the underlying problem. The fundamental issue is a lack of planning staff to handle the current workload. Until local governments add capacity, extend timelines, and address the risks they create, they will remain a reality for developers. Some jurisdictions are considering third-party consultants to assist with technical reviews, which could ease the backlog. Hiring and retaining qualified planners remains difficult, however, particularly in a labor market where private-sector firms often offer higher salaries.

Unless local governments make significant investments in planning department staffing, developers should prepare for continued delays. Building longer timelines into project schedules and structuring purchase agreements that anticipate administrative slowdowns are now essential steps. Developers must also factor in the risk that market conditions could shift before approvals are granted, potentially undermining the business case for a project. Without additional staffing or new review models, the gap between when projects are conceived and when construction can begin will continue to expose developers to shifting market risks and complicate land transactions for both buyers and sellers.