BE
A VOICE! NOW IS THE TIME! Wednesday, April 28, 2010
@ 9:30 AM
The latest in
a string of requests to push the UDB line is Application #4
the
Ferro site (formally "Kendall Commons") Click here for more
information
On April 28th the Miami Dade County
Commissioners will vote on whether to add yet another retail
plaza in West Kendall, outside the Urban Development Boundary
(UDB) which was designed to stop sprawl.
Real estate over-supply and
sprawl undermines our existing businesses and our economy.
As residents, we face a fundamental choice: We can continue
to allow business as usual "growth at any cost"
or we can protect our home values, our neighborhoods and the
integrity of our economy from more surplus development by
demanding our Commissioners Hold the Line against sprawl by
denying the Ferro development.
Haven't you seen all the empty
storefronts in our neighborhood? Kendall Drive is littered
with retail signs so why keep lining the pockets of developers?
Some of these properties have been up for sale for over a
year.
Please e-mail
your Miami-Dade County Commissioners today and ask them to
reject Urban Sprawl and deny the Ferro Amendment to develop
outside the UDB.
Note: Commissoner Natacha
Seijas (District 13) is only available by phone. Please call
her at 305-375-4831.
Trick
or Treat??
Will
Miami-Dade Commissioners deliver another growth management
nightmare and approve the Ferro Development proposal outside
the UDB?
Despite the empty lots, numerous vacant storefronts, and foreclosed
homes, Mario Ferro is once again seeking to move Miami-Dade’s
Urban Development Boundary (UDB). In this economy, the idea
is so ludicrous that it would be funny, but on Monday the
Planning Advisory Board recommended that County Commissioners
once again ignore public sentiment and advance an application
for unwarranted new development on Nov. 4th.
Like a Freddie Krueger nightmare – these developers
just keep coming back. This is Ferro’s third attempt
to move the UDB. Just last April, Commissioners approved Lowe’s
application over public opposition. The Mayor vetoed it –
not once but twice! Florida’s growth agency, the Department
of Community Affairs (DCA) rejected it. Governor Crist and
his Cabinet agreed with the Judge finding the initial approval
unlawful. Yet, Miami-Dade residents are still footing the
bill -- now over $400,000.00 -- in the ongoing legal battle
to allow Lowe’s to pave wetlands on the outskirts of
the UDB..
Will the same County
Commissioners who tout fiscal responsibility transmit the
new application with little regard to the additional financial
burden to taxpayers? Will we once again pay County lawyers
to defend a private development we don’t need and didn’t
want? Is this how we should spend county funds while cutting
important services to the community?
The county’s planning experts show there is no need
to move the UDB. Instead of hiding behind the DCA, Miami-Dade
County Commissioners and the Planning Advisory Board should
Deny and Not Transmit the Ferro development application.
"The
days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those
days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody
recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build
communities."
President
Barack Obama
in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009
Take
action alert!
Miami-Dade’s
Sprawl Checkup!
Now
is your chance to weigh in and be heard! Miami-Dade
County is due for it’s 7-year exam and your input
is needed to reinvest in our existing communities!
Overdevelopment
and traffic have become too costly to Miami families.
The Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) is our chance
help redirect County growth management policies Development
Master Plan (CDMP) and offer solutions!
Please
attend of the town hall meetings near you!
August
24th 6-8:30 p.m. Martin Luther King
Center
2525 NW 62 Street, 2nd Floor. Miami, Fl 33147
August 25th 6-8:30 p.m. West
Kendall Regional Library
10201 Hammocks Blvd, Miami, Fl 33196
Miami-Dade reports
59,798 pre-foreclosures between January and September 2008?
More than 14.2% of existing housing units in the county are
vacant?
Since 1994 the county has lost 27% of active farmlands?
Miami residents waste more than 50 hours in traffic delays
each year?
Florida has just beat out California for the highest home
foreclosures in the nation?
Lennar’s
Parklands project would:
Add 6,941 homes
to the surplus of homes on the market in Miami-Dade.
Use nearly 1 million gallons of water per day.
Be built in a FEMA flood zone.
Develop 961 acres of Miami-Dade’s remaining agricultural
lands.
Increase the population by an estimated 18,232 residents.
Pave open space within 2 miles of Everglades National Park.
Offer less than 10% of its units for affordable housing.
Have insufficient density to support mass transit.
Meetings - YOUR VOICE is needed at these important
meetings. It’s time to tell Miami-Dade officials that
our economy, our environment, and our community can’t
afford to keep bailing out private land developers!
December 18, 2008, 9:30 A.M. Board of County Commissioners
Hearing
County Commission Chamber
111 N.W. 1st Street
Hold
the Line wins State Support!!!
Will Miami Dade Commissioner Gamble with our Budget?
The Department of Community Affairs has filed
a lawsuit rejecting Miami-Dade County Commissioners efforts
to move the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) in an effort
to preserve the Everglades, our community and quality of life!
Although we successfully defeated one application, we still
have a long way to go. County Commissioners voted to transmit
with a recommendation of adoption an application for a Lowe’s
store in Doral and a retail project in West Kendall. Both of
these projects impact fire and rescue service response times,
traffic, and wellfield protection zones which protect our water
supply from degradation.
A
special thank you to Commissioners Sorenson, Heyman, Gimenez,
Moss and Sosa who fought for the all of Miami-Dade County
residents citing water needs, infrastructure deficits and
a surplus of available lands for residential, retail and industrial
use within the Urban Development Boundary! Thank you for being
stewards of smart growth for Miami-Dade and not succumbing
to developer driven public policy!
TAKE ACTION NOW! Hold
The Line Needs You! Click
here to voice your opposition to development outside the current
Urban Development Boundary (UDB).
GET INVOLVED!! The
future of Miami-Dade County is at stake. County Commissioners
are under pressure to move the Urban Development Boundary, in
order to accommodate land speculators and big developers. Some
massive development plans are already being reviewed by state
agencies. Nearly one dozen applications to move the UDB have
been filed with the county and will be reviewed by the county
commission in the coming months. There
will be public meetings
and chances for you to be educated on the issues and to become
involved. Hold The Line believes that the needs of current taxpayers
and residents must be fully accounted for, before any decisions
to build new cities in areas that are already overburdened with
traffic, inadequate schools, and parks. Our drinking water needs
and environment must be fully protected. You must help, if you
care about your future, your neighborhood, or your community.
Help us Hold The Line!!
Urban Sprawl
Strikes Again
A look at
any aerial photograph of Miami-Dade County will show you where
the Everglades meets development and rooftops give way to marshy
wetlands. In a 1975, the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) was
drawn along the southern and western boundaries of Miami-Dade
County in an effort to create a buffer between metro Miami and
Florida’s Everglades.
In 2006, the Hold the Line campaign successfully to kept the
UDB from being moved to accommodate sprawling development that
would strain Miami-Dade’s already backlogged infrastructure.
Four new pending applications have been filed to open another
178 acres of Miami-Dade to development outside the line. An
additional application is expected that seeks to add another
7,000 residential homes to the county’s roads, schools,
and utilities increasing both traffic and pollution.
South Florida can’t
afford to pave wetlands and permit new developments that will
draw from our already taxed water supply and jeopardize the
Everglades.
Action:
We need people and organizations to join the Hold the Line
Campaign and send the message to lawmakers. To learn how you
can help fight sprawl, please contact us at (305) 489-5949,
or htl@cleanwater.org.
Imagine
a Miami where we all have our American dream.
It can happen when we work together.
Everyone
agrees that growth is an opportunity to improve our Miami-Dade
community, but growth must be fair and include our needs.
We want safe neighborhoods, clean air and water. We want transportation
choices beyond mind-numbing traffic.
The big picture has to be kept
in mind, including the well-being of existing communities.
We are for housing choices for all families in vibrant cities,
suburbs, towns and rural areas.
To get there, we need to put
all options on the table, take all costs into account, and
fairly evaluate the big picture.
We must make our region growth-ready:
that means finishing the job of existing infrastructure needs
and protecting what we have as we look to our future together.
Our first campaign is to persuade
Miami-Dade decision-makers to "Hold the Line", the
Urban Development Boundary that separates urban areas from
environmental and agricultural lands.
Youth
and Future of Miami-Dade Stand Up to Protect the UDB!
"The Miami-Dade County Student Government Association
is proud to join the Hold The Line campaign in its efforts
to stop county commissioners from moving the urban development
boundary line. We as students believe that our environment
is precious and unique to our state and that it should
be kept intact and untouched. As President of an organization
that represents over 360,000 students throughout Miami-Dade
County, it is my job to look out for the students' best
interests. We urge the Commission to oppose all remaining
applications to expand the UDB."
Ronald Bilbao President,
Miami-Dade County Student Government Association
