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South Miami development threatens evacuations
The Florida Keys is the most tightly
regulated area in the state of Florida, when it comes to growth
management.
That's true if you are pleased with the
deal recently worked out between Monroe County and the state of Florida.
Or if you think it failed to protect our besieged natural resources. Or
if you think it is far too restrictive.
The truth is, the Keys are limited to a
few hundred new homes per year, and in return will receive more than
$100 million in state money for buying natural lands and improving water
quality. Meanwhile, the county alone has promised to come up with
another $200 million for water quality in the next three years.
All this did not happen spontaneously. It
happened because the state of Florida, for 30 years now, through
Republican and Democratic administrations in Tallahassee, has expressed
its strong belief that the Keys is one of Florida's most special and
fragile places. As an Area of Critical State Concern, the county is
under state scrutiny like few other places.
It was a shock, then, to learn of plans
proceeding full steam ahead in South Miami-Dade County to create a
massive new development just to our north. With 6,000 dwelling units
plus two schools, 240 hotel rooms and almost 400,000 square feet of
shops, this is essentially a small city.
The problems with this proposal, put
forward by the developer Atlantic Civil, are legion. First in our minds
of course is hurricane evacuation. The policy of Monroe County (again
under strong pressure from state government) is complete evacuation when
any storm of Category of 3 or higher threatens us. Already people are
terrified of making the long drive out of the Keys only to find
themselves on logjammed roads on the mainland.
The prospect of tens of thousands of
additional people right at the point where our two evacuation routes
merge on the mainland is untenable. And it is outrageous that as we in
the Keys are wrestling with the shape of an improved 18-Mile Stretch and
the location of our relatively meager supply of new building permits,
that the state would even contemplate allowing such a destructive
development right outside our door.
Monroe County Mayor Murray Nelson has
expressed his concern that the longterm deal to protect the Keys,
painstakingly worked out with the state, could be "obliterated by what
is going on in Miami-Dade County." He's right. Such a massive
development is harmful enough on its own, but when you add the
inevitable sprawl that would metastasize around it, it gets far worse.
The Monroe County Commission should
condemn this proposal in the strongest possible terms and demand that
the state start backing up its tough stance in the Keys with similar
measures for South Miami-Dade. For better or for worse, our fate is
linked with theirs and we should start acting like it.
Another major problem with the proposal is
that it lies in the footprint of the Biscayne Bay coastal wetlands
project, a component of the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan.
Encouraging or facilitating new sprawl in areas that are desperately
needed to help heal South Florida's wounded ecosystem is insane and
turns all of the exalted language about Everglades restoration into a
joke.
The Miami-Dade County Commission and the
South Florida Water Management District already allowed one project to
go through in South Dade on land needed for an Everglades project. They
need to stop this one immediately and purchase the land if necessary to
stop precedents that have the potential to destroy Everglades
restoration.
Our neighbors in Florida City argue that
they need this development for their economic health, which never
rebounded after Hurricane Andrew and the closure of the Homestead Air
Force Base. Instead, they should look to their fortunate location
between two spectacular national parks — Everglades and Biscayne Bay —
and put their efforts into the promise of a restored ecosystem instead
of contributing to its destruction.
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