MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Tue, Feb. 08, 2005

Factors in land annexation are below the surface

JIM DEFEDE/COMMENTARY

Three months after taking office, Barbara Jordan faces her first real test as a Miami-Dade County commissioner.

As a member of the Infrastructure and Land Use Committee, Jordan will vote this morning on Florida City's application to annex 4,292 acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands in South Miami-Dade.

The proposed annexation offers no benefit to her district or constituents in the northern half of the county.

The county's Planning Advisory Board voted against the annexation, concluding that it was ''inconsistent'' with the master development plan.

And county staff has warned the annexation could undermine Everglades restoration efforts and make the cost of the cleanup more expensive for taxpayers.

The very fact the county's professional staff has outlined numerous problems with the annexation should be of particular concern to Jordan, who until her election spent more than 30 years working for the county. She knows what it feels like to have politicians, for their own motives, dismiss staff's good work.

So why would Jordan even consider such a proposal?

One reason may be blood.

Her brother is Otis Wallace, the mayor of Florida City.

Jordan, who grew up in Florida City, said her brother being mayor will not play a part in her decision. ''When you are a big sister, your siblings are used to you not being on your side all the time,'' she said. ``They know I have a mind of my own. My decision will be based on what is in the best interest of the county.''

Then the decision is easy.

For his part, Mayor Wallace told me he doesn't understand ''what all the hullabaloo is about.'' He said all he wants is enough space so the city can offer residents the opportunity to build houses on five-acre lots. Higher density isn't possible, he said, because the land is outside the Urban Development Boundary, or UDB line, which was established to protect the environment and preserve the county's rural past.

Wallace, however, is hoping no one notices the 800-pound gorilla waiting in the wings.

Most of the land he wants to annex is owned by Steve Torcise Jr., who told me his goal is not to build homes on five-acre lots. Instead, he said, he wants to see the ''highest and best use'' possible for that land by moving the UDB.

He has known Wallace for 20 years and said the mayor was ''amenable'' to his desire to move the UDB. ''I don't think I would be going forward with it if he said no way,'' Torcise said.

By having Florida City annex the land, the city could then take the lead in pushing the county to move the UDB. Moving the UDB on behalf of a poor and struggling city could be more politically palatable for county commissioners than moving it for the sake of some private developer.

And who is that developer?

Torcise acknowledged, and county records confirmed, that in September megabuilder Lennar Homes signed an option to buy 981 acres of the land Florida City wants to annex.

Torcise would not disclose the sale price or its conditions. ''I'm not sure what's public,'' he said, ``so I'm not going to comment on [the terms].''

The sale, however, is likely to be contingent on several factors, including the land being annexed by Florida City and the UDB being moved, which would clear the way for as many as 4,000 homes to be built. Lennar's option to buy the land is for five years.

Why the interest in Florida City getting the land?

Besides being an ally in lifting the UDB, Florida City would be developer-friendly in other ways. Lennar's partners in the land deal, according to records, are South Miami-Dade businessmen Michael Latterner and Wayne Rosen.

Latterner and Rosen's paid lobbyist is former County Manager Steve Shiver. Shiver's father is a Florida City commissioner.

And if the UDB is moved, it is the Florida City Commission that would control zoning as well as negotiate infrastructure improvements, such as roads and utilities, with the developers.