The Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, Jul. 28, 2006

HIALEAH

Deal reached on stadium land

The state and Miami-Dade County reached a settlement over an expansion of the Urban Development Boundary that could accommodate a Marlins stadium.

BY REBECCA DELLAGLORIA
rdellagloria@MiamiHerald.com

Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida have ironed out an agreement to allow an expansion of the Urban Development Boundary in Hialeah that could accommodate a proposed stadium for the Florida Marlins.

The settlement, which will likely be adopted Aug. 24 by the County Commission, seeks to assuage concerns by the state's Department of Community Affairs, which refused to approve the change to the county's master development plan last month. The DCA, which reviews major land-use changes by the county, cited Miami-Dade's limited potable water supplies and the expansion's impact on traffic in the Hialeah area.

The boundary is designed to deter urban sprawl into the Everglades. The 1,100-acre site outside the boundary is slated for office and commercial development. Developer Armando Codina, who owns most of the site, has indicated he would donate some of the land for a Marlins stadium. While that plan is backed by city and county leaders, no formal deal has been reached with the team, which hasn't commented on the proposal.

But neighboring Miami Lakes says the state-county deal would create a traffic nightmare.

To address the state's traffic concerns, the deal would require local highways to be expanded from eight to 10 lanes in Northwest Miami-Dade. It also would eventually create an interchange on Interstate 75 at Northwest 154th Street.

That is the main point of contention for Miami Lakes, which fears that an exit from I-75 at 154th Street would wreak havoc on an already congested road. The town's attorneys filed a motion to intervene in the proceedings.

''We need to send a strong message to the county that we are not happy, this is not acceptable and our residents are not stepchildren,'' said Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi. "They have one overriding obsession and that is having the UDB application go through at all costs. And they didn't tell us about it.''

The proposed roadway improvements are nothing new. All are part of the county Metropolitan Planning Agency's long-range transportation plan. But the settlement would speed up construction of the road improvements to sometime between 2015 and 2020.

Representatives from the county, Hialeah and Miami Lakes met last week to address the town's concerns. Attorneys for the county and Hialeah said they discussed whether doing away with the I-75 interchange would resolve the dispute before the county adopts the settlement. DCA also would have to sign off on the change.

''If DCA is willing to find us in compliance without the interchange being in there, I don't know that we feel an independent need to put it there,'' said Dennis Kerbel, an assistant county attorney.

Miami Lakes Town Manager Alex Rey said the Town Council would have to call a special meeting next month in order to give its approval, although the lane expansions for I-75 and State Road 826 could still be a bone of contention.

If the town is still not happy with the settlement after the county adopts it, it can request an administrative hearing on the matter.

As for the DCA's concerns about the county's supply of potable water, Kerbel said an agreement between the county and Hialeah to build a roughly $40 million reverse-osmosis water treatment plant should appease the state. The target date for completion of the plant is 2011, said Hialeah City Attorney Bill Grodnick.