(WSVN) - Miami-Dade commissioners are scheduled to vote on two resolutions to change the Urban Development Boundary.
Commission Chair Jose “Pepe” Diaz proposed the idea, and it is set to be evaluated on Tuesday. It was the fourth meeting about the proposal, although commissioners have concluded there will be another meeting.
Developers are offering more concessions for their proposal to develop several hundreds of acres, including an industrial technology park and hotel south of the Florida Turnpike and north of Southwest 268th Street.
“As part of our application, we are committing to a one to one acreage basis to acquiring hundreds of acres of wetlands and sensitive lands in South Dade,” said Pedro Gassant, the developers’ attorney. “That is our commitment we are providing. Purchase on convey to the county’s eel program as part of our development.”
“There are significant environmental impacts. Those lands are necessary for ground water recharge, they are necessary for the Everglades, for restoration of Biscayne Bay,” said Steven Leidner, of the Miami Sierra Club.
Although a problem lies where the project would be outside of the Urban Development Boundary, which was created to restrict development in order to protect the wetlands and farmlands in South Dade.
The boundary was established nearly 40 years ago to limit the county’s westward expansion.
“We think there is a crushing need for additional industrial land,” said Jeffrey Bercow, another attorney for the developers. “Logistics companies cannot find enough industrial land in the South Dade area, or in the county for that matter. We can see rates are extremely low, the rents are sky high and we just can’t find the land.”
Opponents said the environmental effects would be detrimental.
“UDB was established to try to concentrate growth and limit our growth and be more efficient,” said Leidner. “The planet is not infinite.”
“There is a capacity inside the Urban Development Boundary in South Dade, and so there’s plenty of places for investors to come in and build projects,” said Laura Reynolds, from the Hold The Line Coalition. “We shouldn’t even be building there, but the reality is without these protections in place, we could. We could make those bad decisions.”
The proposal didn’t have that many votes back in September, although on Tuesday, developers sweetened the pot.
“Don’t appreciate the surprise offer knowing full well you could have given us advance notice, so that we could have properly vetted it,” said Danielle Cohen Higgins, Commissioner for District 8. “I think it’s irresponsible to even consider this, at this juncture, because our attorneys and administration have not had the opportunity to review it.”
“If this is going to be deferred, I am willing to come on back one more time,” said Sally Heyman, Commissioner of District 4.
Commissioners will return Nov. 1. The hope is that they will have all the information they need in order to make a decision.
If the proposal is passed, developers would be allowed to build property on sensitive land.
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