TALLAHASSEE - Florida is in the midst of a full-blown property insurance crisis, but there isn't even a whisper in the Legislature about doing one of the most sure-fire things to reduce risk: land-use planning that keeps new building off the coast.

As many pundits predict the next big storm will bring doom, other forces are making their own rules.

Allied Van Lines recently reported that about 2,000 more shipments left Florida last year than came in. Now, instead of being a magnet for inbound moves - a spot Florida held as recently as 2004 - it has joined Michigan and New Jersey as top-net-loss states in Allied's rankings.

No one knows whether the decades-long trend of Florida being a boom state could be heading toward a permanent shift. However, Tallahassee-based Florida Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis said her members have been hearing reports of a slowdown for some time. The force keeping people away doesn't appear to be hurricanes; rather, it's simple economics.

"We actually have several employees at the Florida Chamber who live in Georgia" because taxes, insurance and property are more affordable there, Davis said.

A slowdown in growth has the potential to accomplish what politicians haven't been willing to do, said Jerry Phillips, director of the Florida chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

"Keeping densities where we are at and not increasing them arbitrarily, that certainly would be an improvement," said Phillips, who said a statewide shift in growth patterns "could have a significant impact" in reducing stress on the environment.

Building To Beat The Storms

Along the coast, there's another evolution in human behavior that could change the whole hurricane insurance dynamic. Some people are choosing to rebuild in risky spots but with above-code construction designed to ride out all but the biggest storms.

For Angelo Petrandis, the final break with recent history was to realize that he has put so much money into a superstrong waterfront building that traditional property insurance doesn't make economic sense - and probably isn't needed.

In the 1940s, his grandfather founded a seafood restaurant on Ochlockonee Bay, and the quaint and somewhat rickety-looking structure became enormously popular, hanging just a few feet above the water until 2005, when a storm swept it away.

Disaster experts have said communities suffer from storm amnesia. Residents either forget the devastation or wrongly think they won't get hit again.

Not Petrandis.

"We don't want to go back there again" to a cycle of storm-rebuild, storm-rebuild, he said.

His solution?

The new restaurant is 23½ feet above the water on concrete pilings. It's so high that diners will be able to look down on the nearby bridge that carries U.S. 98 over the bay.

The new floor?

Reinforced concrete.

The walls?

Concrete.

The roof?

Steel trusses and a heavy metal covering.

"I've got more invested than I ever dreamed I'd own," Petrandis said. The payout from the former insurance policy didn't come near paying for the new construction.

He's not under any illusion that the new construction is a guarantee.

Taking the risk himself changes a dynamic that many have criticized. Insurance policies often were subsidized by state or federal money.

"That clearly changes the equation in the sense of not relying on public funding to bail them out," said Phillips, of the public employees group.

"Who knows? Sometimes good things come in a hard way," Petrandis said, and accepting the risk that comes with living on the coast is "kind of the old way."

Thomas J. Murray, a marine business and coastal development expert at the College of William & Mary, said people shouldn't underestimate the attraction humans have to be near the water, even when there's risk.

"It's so strong," he said, and though coastal building might not make sense in one way, the views are "what people come to Florida for."

It's Cheaper In Atlanta

Florida's new high cost of living may be outweighing traditional coastal appeal, said Davis, of the Chamber of Commerce.

"It's about people moving here. We're competing against the entire Southeast. And when it's cheaper to live in a place like Atlanta than Tallahassee, something's not right," she said.

Davis said chamber members are so concerned that they are planning a conference for the fall to discuss ways to keep people coming to Florida.

"It's serious," she said, and the state can't just coast on its reputation as a tourist haven.

It also is clear that there's little chance legislators will crack down on coastal lifestyles by making major land-use changes. The topic never came up during the Legislature's special session in January on how to cut property insurance.

The real estate business, already in a downturn, traditionally is a major source of political donations. On top of that, coastal tourism contributes an enormous amount to the state economy.

Phillips, who was a lawyer with the Department of Environmental Protection, said he "hasn't heard of any significant shifts" away from what he considers leniency in state enforcement of coastal development rules.

Reporter Kevin Begos can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or kbegos@tampatrib.com.