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| THE
MIAMI HERALD |
March
9, 2005
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
BY CURTIS MORGAN
cmorgan@herald.com
Diverse
groups unite against sprawl
As developers push to extend the Urban Development Boundary,
environmental and community activists have broadened
support for a surprisingly effective opposition campaign.
Both live miles from where developers want to build
thousands of new homes, but Hattie Willis and Millie
Herrera still fear they will feel the impact in their
own backyards.
That's why Willis, a Little Haiti activist, and Herrera,
an East Kendall community council member, have joined
the fight against expanding the Urban Development Boundary,
which would open Miami-Dade County's western and southern
fringes to a wave of growth.
Willis believes her blighted neighborhood ought to get
basic necessities before tax dollars go to sparkling
new communities.
''We have streets over here that don't have pavement,''
she said. ``We have streets that don't have curbs and
sidewalks. We have people over here who don't have lights.''
For Herrera, the prospect of more cars streaming onto
Kendall's choked roads looms as a nightmare.
''Anywhere you go in this town, it's gridlock,'' she
said. ``This needs to be looked at as an environmental
issue, but more importantly, for quality of life and
economic impact.''
The two are among the newest recruits in a campaign
that has added diversity to the usual list of suspects
opposing suburban sprawl. Along with the Sierra Clubs
and Audubons are the Haitian Women of Miami and the
Venetian Causeway Neighborhood Alliance.
BROADENING RANKS
Nancy Liebman, president of the Urban Environment League,
which is paying for and helped organize the Hold the
Line campaign, said the environmental and community
activists who typically lead such fights recognized
they needed to broaden ranks.
''This couldn't be just another environmentalists versus
developers argument,'' she said. ``It had to show the
power of all the people opposed to it.''
While the fight is only beginning and likely to last
for years, a campaign formally launched only two weeks
ago already has proved effective, bolstered by support
from two formidable political voices. Miami-Dade Mayor
Carlos Alvarez and Gov. Jeb Bush have both questioned
moving the line.
The development industry, which wields significant political
clout of its own in Miami-Dade, is paying close attention
and planning strategies to counter what some acknowledge
has been a surprisingly sophisticated offensive.
''They're out in front,'' said Jeff Bercow, a veteran
land-use attorney with clients hoping to develop property
currently outside the UDB. "I don't agree with
their position, but they have gotten their stories out
effectively so far.''
Because only one house can be built on five acres outside
the UDB, which snakes along the county's western and
southern fringe, the line has long acted as a buffer
between suburbs on the east and farm fields and the
Everglades on the west. While largely intact since the
late 1980s, it was moved in 2002 for developer Armando
Codina's Beacon Lakes warehouse project west of Dolphin
Mall.
At least two other developers are pursuing large projects
beyond the line.
Near Florida City, Atlantic Civil wants to build 6,000
homes, movie theaters and shops. Lennar, a major developer,
has an option on the land.
In West Miami-Dade, Texas builder D.R. Horton hopes
to build 5,000 homes and condos along Krome Avenue near
Kendall Drive. Other proposals are expected.
Environmental groups began strategizing more than a
year ago -- before either project had made much progress
through agencies.
''I think we thought of this as the new Homestead Air
Force Base,'' said Cynthia Guerra, executive director
of the Tropical Audubon Society.
Working with the Urban Environment League, they modeled
the UDB campaign on the effort that finally killed plans
to turn the air base into a commercial jetport.
With a modest budget -- Liebman said the campaign has
cost about $10,000 to date -- they hired a young but
experienced grass-roots organizer. Gilberto Osario,
23, fresh off the John Kerry presidential campaign,
began cold-calling community groups.
They commissioned a survey showing that residents were
fed up with traffic and spiraling taxes. They set up
a website. They put on PowerPoint presentations detailing
ripple effects on everything from traffic to drinking
water and -- oh, yeah -- efforts to restore Biscayne
Bay and the Everglades.
'It was funny, somebody came up after a meeting and
said, `You didn't even mention the environment,' ''
Guerra laughed.
JOINING THE CAMPAIGN
So far, 29 groups have signed on, from homeowner associations,
affordable housing advocates and garden clubs to city
groups such as Willis' Communities United. Less than
10 are groups whose agendas typically include environmental
issues.
Developers say the campaign is trading on distortions
and fear-mongering.
Miami-Dade planners have said there is enough room inside
the UDB to accommodate projected population growth for
at least a decade. But developers argue there is a pressing
need for more homes, particularly ''affordable'' ones,
as prices soar and open land within the UDB disappears.
Ed Swakon, a consulting engineering for Atlantic Civil,
believes critics have exaggerated the environmental
value of land and outside impacts.
Such large ''developments of regional impact'' face
tougher standards than hodgepodge projects, Swakon said.
``They have to do a much better job of planning for
traffic, for schools and for commercial projects internally.''
Swakon said he recently registered a website with the
aim of countering the environmentalists' position. Both
Bercow and Swakon agreed the development community needed
to do a better job of making the case to the public.
Miguel DeGrandy, a lawyer and lobbyist for Horton Homes,
said critics were politicizing a decision that should
be based on data. The UDB, he argued, has never been
intended as a ''line in the sand,'' but as something
to be adjusted as the county grows.
`RELIGIOUS FERVOR'
''They make it an issue of religious fervor,'' DeGrandy
said. ``What I have seen so far of Hold the Line is
it's following that pattern of creating the appearance
of good guys and bad guys. They tell you that anyone
that seeks to disagree is necessarily trying to harm
the environment.''
Herrera, not a member of any environmental group, begs
to differ.
For her, it's about learning from and fixing past mistakes
that have eroded daily life, such as inadequate roads
that have doubled driving time to clients, robbed time
from family and multiplied stress. She knows she is
not alone.
''It's a growing and thriving community, but we need to take care
of these issues and not just grow because we want to grow,'' she said.
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