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Lauderdale Sun Sentinel |
Miami
Groups oppose allowing more western
development in Miami-Dade
By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau
March 1, 2005
MIAMI - A coalition of environmental and community groups
on Monday launched a campaign to prevent development
in Miami-Dade County from spreading further into the
Everglades, saying significant new construction would
damage the environment.
The "Hold the Line" campaign includes Audubon
of Florida, the Human Services Coalition of Miami-Dade
County, the Sierra Club Miami Group, the Urban Environment
League of Greater Miami and homeowner associations.
They are fighting efforts to move the county's Urban
Development Boundary, a buffer between heavily populated
areas and the Everglades.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Miami-Dade Commissioner
Katy Sorenson, who support the groups, both said there
are plenty of opportunities within the boundary for
development or redevelopment.
Alvarez said he believes the county is years away from
having to move the boundary to accommodate growth.
"We must look for ways to increase development
within the UDB," he said. "We must be creative
and rise to the challenge, balancing current desires
against the need for sufficient clean water and a healthy
economic and social well being for our future generations."
Sorenson said county leaders were correct to establish
the boundary in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, she said,
the county allowed too much uncontrolled development,
which led to traffic jams, long commutes and crowded
schools. She called for alternatives to moving the boundary,
such as redevelopment in older neighborhoods and giving
low-income families the opportunity to buy homes.
"Breaking the dam on the UDB will weaken the potential
for redevelopment and actually hurt low- to middle-income
families," Sorenson said.
The "Hold the Line" campaign raised concerns
about Florida City's plan to annex environmentally sensitive
lands outside the boundary and developers' requests
to move the boundary so they can build homes, some of
which are pitched as affordable housing.
The activists said any homes built outside the boundary
would not be "affordable" because they would
be on the fringes of the county and would add to traffic
congestion and burden commuters living in the new homes
with heavy transportation costs.
Hattie Willis, executive director of Communities United,
fears that increased traffic would go through the heart
of her community, the Little Haiti section of Miami,
which she said is already used as an alternate route
for people avoiding Interstate 95.
Instead of pushing the boundaries, Willis said there
are plenty of places developers could build in her community,
where she said there are many abandoned homes.
"There's a whole lotta land there that a developer
could bulldoze," she said. "There's things
they could do within the city. They don't want to spend
the money."
Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace denied accusations that
the city's request to annex 4,284 acres of mostly wetlands
-- including 981 acres under option by the Miami-based
Lennar Corp. -- is an attempt to move the boundary line
that would open the door to unchecked development.
"This open the door argument is a ridiculous argument,"
he said. "The land-use issue still remains with
the county before or after annexation. The city has
not asked that the Urban Development Boundary be moved
and we never have asked that it be moved."
The county limits development outside the boundary to
one dwelling per five acres of land and those limits
would apply to any land annexed by Florida City, Wallace
said.
"Obviously, we're a pawn," he said. "Environmental
groups, and I think their intentions are good, are using
the occasion of annexation to fight a land-use battle."
Miami Bureau Chief David Cázares contributed
to this report.
Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com
or 305-810-5007. |
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