Balance growth with hurricane threats

OUR OPINION: ENSURE A VIABLE ESCAPE ROUTE FOR KEYS RESIDENTS

MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL
Posted on Tue, Sep. 20, 2005

The South Florida Regional Planning Council was absolutely right to put the brakes on plans to build an additional 2,600 homes in booming Homestead. The council's rare decision to question a development has a basis in serious concerns: the negative impact that a growing number of residents could have on the hurricane evacuation of people from the lowers Keys.

Yesterday, a fast-forming Hurricane Rita showed again how important a smooth, quick exit is as more than 40,000 Lower Keys residents and visitors were mandated to evacuate north to the mainland.

Adequate shelters?
Imagine if those evacuees included an additional 10,000 people from projects already approved by Homestead for development within the next 18 months. Atop that, add thousands more potential evacuees from homes already approved by Miami-Dade County in areas just north of Homestead and mostly along U.S. 1.

Would there be enough time to get Keys and South Miami-Dade residents out of harm's way with a storm bearing down on the area? Would there be adequate shelters for those who can't get out? How wise is it to permit unrestrained growth on low-lying lands vulnerable to flooding and Hurricane surge -- inviting greater injury to people and property?

The inadequate evacuation of New Orleans before Katrina is a lesson in what not to do. Too many tried to leave too late; too many were left behind, and the shelters were woefully lacking in safety and provisions. South Florida may be better prepared in some ways. But when Dennis threatened the Keys in July, the mandatory evacuation turned into a frustrating, 25-mile, six-hour bottleneck along U.S. 1.

Moreover, the only shelter for Keys residents is at Florida International University's main campus in West Miami-Dade. That's a long way from where evacuees hit the mainland at Florida City, especially when there are only two major roads north from there: U.S. 1 and Florida's Turnpike.

The city of Homestead says that the new housing is critical for its economy and future, particularly when it is only now rebounding from Hurricane Andrew's hit in 1992.

Halt building plans
Yet the city didn't provide the South Florida Planning Council any evidence or plan to ensure that the new housing wouldn't impede Keys evacuation. It's hard to imagine that the city could. State regulators should uphold the council's recommendation to halt Homestead's building plans.

Regulators should also take a critical look at other developments in the offing, especially any that are proposed for the 1,727 acres recently annexed by Florida City, which are outside of the county's Urban Development Boundary and should remain so. The lives of Keys residents could depend on it.