DEVELOPMENT
The Miami Herald
Hold the line on the urban boundary, board advises

A week before the Miami-Dade Commission votes on nine applications to move the much-debated Urban Development Boundary, the Planning Advisory Board recommended a majority of applications be rejected.

By Matthew Haggman

mhaggman@herald.com

Posted November 15, 2005

The Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board is recommending that the County Commission reject five of nine applications filed by developers to move the Urban Development Boundary.

The 10-person board also recommended commissioners approve three applications and decided to take no position on another.

The Planning Advisory Board, composed of private citizens appointed by commissioners, is the final panel to make recommendations on the proposals before the Miami-Dade Commission votes Monday. Commissioners will decide whether to scratch the proposals or send them on to Florida's Department of Community Affairs for further scrutiny.

After review by state regulators, the applications go back to the County Commission for a final vote in April.

The PAB made its recommendations after a full day of hearings Monday that lasted late into the night.

The projects the PAB recommended be rejected include a proposed 305-acre development at Southwest 184th Street and 157th Avenue and a 193-acre residential project at Southwest 88th Street and 167th Avenue.

The UDB is a boundary that forbids large-scale development along the western and southern fringe of the county.

Developers are making the biggest push in years to move the UDB to make way for new residential subdivisions, offices, stores and industrial parks. Not since 1993 has the UDB been moved to make way for a residential development.

They argue the line should be moved to accommodate growth -- particularly the need for more housing. Opponents counter there is plenty of land to develop inside the boundary and contend the county should focus on other infrastructure needs, such as public transit expansion and new schools, before allowing development farther west.

The Department of Planning & Zoning has stated there is enough land inside the boundary to satisfy residential needs until 2018.

Opponents to moving the line, who have organized under the banner Hold The Line, aim to persuade commissioners to reject as many applications as they can next week rather than wait for a final vote in April.

Developers, meanwhile, hope to see their proposals through to the next step in the review process.

They expressed dismay that the PAB recommended sending three projects to Tallahassee for state review even though board members thought the projects should be rejected. ''It was not a very strong showing by the PAB,'' said Cynthia Guerra, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society.

''A transmittal keeps an application alive,'' she said. Then, she said, "There is more time for consultants and lobbyists to recruit support.''

''We voted to kill the really bad ones,'' said PAB Chairman Wayne Rinehart.

"But the really questionable ones we made a vote to deny but still sent through the system by voting to transmit.''