The Miami Herald Editorial

Contain costly sprawl in Miami-Dade

Posted November 21, 2005

OUR OPINION: REJECT THE ASSAULT ON THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT BOUNDARY

Today Miami-Dade County Commissioners come face-to-face with an unprecedented attack on the Urban Development Boundary. No less than nine proposals seek to expand the UDB for building projects, and another measure would make it far easier to move the line in the future. How commissioners vote will be critical to Miami-Dade's future.

Will we march ever closer to the Everglades, raising the costs of infrastructure and services for all taxpayers? Or will we sensibly build out vacant parcels and other locations ripe for redevelopment within the existing UDB?

The answer is clear: Commissioners should say No to all nine proposals for residential development and other projects outside the existing UDB. They should reject the proposed change in the standard used by the county planners to assess housing needs.

Protecting water supply

There is good reason for the UDB to restrict large-scale development on the county's western and southern fringes. Lands outside the UDB buffer the Everglades. They protect the water supply consumed by South Floridians and are vital to the health of Biscayne Bay and other environmentally sensitive areas. Developers eager go outside the UDB say that it is the only place with land affordable enough to build reasonably priced homes. But the county's Department of Planning and Zoning says there is enough land to continue building homes within the UDB until 2018.

More important, adding to Miami-Dade's sprawl will increase costs for all taxpayers. The reasons are well documented in studies and books. Providing roads, schools, water and sewer hookups, police and fire stations cost prohibitively more in new developments far from the urban core. Unleashing a building boom outside the UDB would make traffic worse on already-jammed roads. It would make mass-transit options less feasible and exacerbate crowding and neglect issues in schools.

Commissioners face tremendous pressure from more than 40 lobbyists hired by developers to extend the UDB. They should remember that their duty is to vote for what is best for all residents, not just the interested few with an agenda and a financial reward. Commissioners should vote against sprawl and for residents' future.