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I’ve been following the action surrounding UDB application in South Dade for over a year – or rather I should say inaction, because certainly little has changed.
We all know this highly populated area of the county sorely needs a major employment center offering jobs that are located near to where people live here. In fact, Miami-Dade County’s own Strategic Economic Development Plan came to that conclusion by thoroughly documenting that an excess of 70 percent of South Dade’s 240,000 workers are forced to travel out of South Dade every day to go to work.
We also know that the South Dade Logistics and Technology District (SDLTD) was proposed to address this problem by expanding the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) in an area that is designated for development – “when the need exists.” It seems to me we’ve clearly met that threshold. Basic common sense tells us that.
It’s also well known that this SDLTD proposal has been heavily scrutinized, especially by the environmental agencies and activist groups. And that’s to be expected. It’s part of the process. But, month after month, the proposal continues to be deferred by the County Commission – four times to be exact. And month after month the applicants obligatorily jump through hoop after hoop to address the concerns of elected officials and others.
This is not supposed to be part of the process.
First, they reduced the size of the proposal by over half, from nearly 800 acres to 379 acres. And at the most recent Commission Meeting, they committed to purchase no less than 311 acres of environmentally endangered land (EEL) to donate to Miami-Dade County – land which has already been identified by the County as far more important to protect than the site of the SDLTD. On top of that, the applicants must contribute money every year to help fund the maintenance of those EEL lands.
Some Commissioners who will oppose any development at the site, no matter what the obvious benefits are to the people of South Dade, are criticizing the process that allows the applicants to make changes to their proposal. But isn’t this what applicants are supposed to do? Isn’t reasonable compromise supposed to be a part of the process, too?
Application procedures are designed to ensure things are done the right way. Proposals are presented; issues and concerns are identified and addressed; and a final decision is made. Most of the time – certainly by this point – the noise gets filtered out of the conversation and the overtures come to a close. It seems to me, however, somebody needs to orchestrate an end to this cacophony and allow commonsense to prevail.
So, what’s really going on here? What reason could there be to impede development of this property? After all, environmental groups say we need to protect Biscayne Bay and preserving the SDLTD property is a key to that effort. Through the application process, we have learned the property is actually contaminated with fertilizers and arsenic from decades of farming.
Currently, many of the pollutants on the property drain directly into the C-102 canal and then directly into the Bay every time it rains. That is not good for Biscayne Bay! It seems the environmental groups and some Commissioners are ok with that, which leads you to question whether their opposition is more about environmental politics than it is about the science or what is best for the Bay.
The bottom line is that the SDLTD applicants have presented a well thought out project that will be beneficial to the people of South Dade and to our environment. All the SDLTD parcels must be decontaminated before they are built upon. Its stormwater management plan is designed to handle a rain event that would be greater than Hurricane Ian, capture its storm water on-site, and prevent any runoff from entering the C-102 canal or Biscayne Bay.
And in addition to this state-of-the-art stormwater infrastructure system, the applicants are also going above and beyond by preserving other environmentally endangered land that we know needs to be protected.
The SDLTD won’t cure all the issues we face with Biscayne Bay, but it is a big step in the right direction – and is certainly more than anything the County has done to prevent this property from continuing to pollute the Bay.
Miami-Dade Commissioners should reject the tired environmental politics of the past and use their common sense. They should approve the SDLTD at their November 1 Commission meeting. It will make things better for South Dade residents and Biscayne Bay.
It’s time for the song and dance to end.
If you have any comments, feel free to contact me at grant@communitynewspapers.com or call me at 305-323-8206
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