The Miami Herald Editorial

Will county commissioners allow the UDB to become Miami-Dade's iron curtain regarding development into the Everglades?

Posted November 20, 2005

The Florida Everglades, the natural state treasure that not only is a ecological wonderland but the source of our water must not be compromised when it comes to the $8 billion plus federal, state and local funding to restore the body, and moving the Miami Dade County¹s Urban Development Boundary must not be approved.

The issue comes to the forefront Monday at a meeting of the county commission in their chambers where nine development proposals outside the boundary are being considered to be transmitted to the state.

The problem with this westward expansion of development however, is that it has a ripple effect throughout Miami-Dade. Moving the UDB partially negates the infrastructure progress county residents thought they were getting when voters approved the half-cent transportation sales tax.

It also puts in jeopardy the public schools five-year $3 billion plus capital improvement school program, as well as put in jeopardy federal transportation funds. Moving the line could also negatively affect the massive federal commitment to the Everglades clean up where that money could be used for many other national needs.

Part of the theory of mass transit and westward ho redevelopment is based on a development line that stays firm allowing for the in build of the county and completion of needed infrastructure.

However, making that line porous and flexible will negate the schools building program said school board member Evelyn Langlieb Greer last week at the institution¹s board meeting. Further, almost three dozen municipalities governing boards throughout Miami-Dade County are objecting to the expansion as well as the Citizen¹s Independent Transit Trust charged with the oversight of about $170 million in sales tax dollars.

What all these people and cities are saying is that the Everglades is the source of our community¹s water, must be restored as much as possible and pushing development into the ecologically sensitive areas is a Faustian Pact that will come back in the decades to come to haunt us all.

It remains to be seen if the county commission has the backbone to stop this urban sprawl, demand that it stop, or will the body just go along with all the developers saying these homes will not be flooded after major storms and people need the new development if we are to have an adequate housing stock.
On this one the risks for more development are to high, the Everglades Restoration must be successful and without that success the future of generations of South Floridians will be in jeopardy and that cannot be chanced for a few more thousand homes.

Readers will see if the county commission has the will Monday to hold the line and stop further westward development and though they are being pressured from both sides, which side they chose remains to be seen until then. All of us living here hope they make the right choice for we will be living with it for decades and generations to come.