The Urban ForumNewsletter of The Urban Environment League

May 2005Issue No. 15Website: www.uel.org

Email: uelmiami@bellsouth.net

The Urban Environment Leaguehas spent much of the past fewmonths involved with activities tosupport The Hold the Line Cam-paign. The Campaign is composedof a group of grass rootspeople who care aboutthe future of MiamiDade County, includ-ing neighborhood orga-nizations, not-for-profit groups,affordable housinggroups, individuals whowant a livable commu-nity and municipalitieswho understand thethreat to their citizens ifthe line is moved.

Hold The Line was formed inJanuary. So far 50 groups have signedon and many municipalities. Thereis a website at UDBLine.com. Thepurpose of the campaign is to con-vince elected leaders to make wiseland-use decisions. The Evergladesand this community will not surviveif critical growth management issuesare not addressed now.

The UEL and the Hold Cam-paign have done the following basedon current threats to Move the Line:

1. Poled constituents about trafficin Dade County. The result was notcomplimentary to the County’s lead-ers.

2. Advised community groupsabout impending impacts to theirneighborhoods.

3. Took constituents on bus toursto the Everglades and to see the Ur-ban Development Boundary Line.

4. Generated press reports on ra-dio, TV and newsprint, including 37

letters to Editor, Edi-torials and EditorialCartoons. To datethere has not beenone letter or spokenword in favor ofmoving the UDB,except by paid lob-byists and anxiousland owners.

5. Spread theword far and wide.Hold the Line hasbecome a household

word in Miami.6. Held a Developer’s Forum, at-

tended by over 100 people that pro-moted public and private reinvest-ment where infrastructure alreadyexists.

7. Joined with housing groups toencourage infill housing that is really

affordable for the workforce in theCounty.

8. Advocated for communities toreevaluate their master plans before(according to Andres Viglucci andMatthew Haggman, Miami Herald4/24: City aims to put lid on zoninganarchy) their neighborhoods “be-come eviscerated by a troop of im-pertinent high-rise invaders” and de-velopments destroy theirneighborhood character.

9. Rallied to insure that trafficgridlock stops and mass transporta-tion system takes priority.

10. Connected the school issuewhere precious school funds will besiphoned off to new schools outsidethe UDB.

11. Visited with hands-on farm-ers to support their effort to main-tain the land for growing crops inMiami Dade County.

These are the reasons Hold wasorganized. We hope our elected lead-ers will support our message.

Other accomplishments of UEL

A Message from Nancy Liebman - President of the UEL:

since the last newsletter include no-tice that the League will have a rep-resentative on the City of Miami Bi-centennial Park Working Group. Ihave asked board member SageHoffman to represent UEL. UEL hasalso been invited to suggest names toserve on the Miami Dade GO BondCommittee and will be part of Mi-ami 21, the working group to rede-sign Miami’s zoning code. These areexciting and changing times in theCounty and UEL is proud to partici-pate in these public processes.

I look forward to seeing you atour our final dinner in May and atsubsequent events next year. Pleasesend us your comments and sugges-tions for the future. - Nancy

On April 22, the Urban Environ-ment League organized a MobileWorkshop to discuss and visuallypresent the complicated issues thatunderlie the League’s support for theHold the Line Campaign.

Earlier this year, UEL joined withthe South Florida National ParksTrust in hosting a trip to the Ever-glades. Fifty members traveled fifteenmiles into the vastness of the Ever-glades on the Shark Valley tram tournarrated by park rangers. As we trav-eled from Miami, we saw the bur-geoning subdivisions, marked thecurrent development boundary lineand gained a greater understandingof the interrelationship of the exist-

ing built environment and the sur-rounding natural environment.

County Commission DennisMoss has proposed that the CountyCommission organize a bus tour oftheir own to clearly see the areas andissues surrounding Urban Develop-ment Boundary policies. As one ofour Board Members, Denis Russ, re-cently noted: “When you see it, youget it.”

The issues that arose during thedrive to the UDB and at strategicstops along the way included:

1. The form and pace of existingresidential and commercial develop-ment. 2. The quality and characterof urban, suburban, rural, agricul-tural and natural lands. 3. The Wa-tershed Study (regarding water sup-ply analysis and growth patterns). 4.Traffic congestion, longer commutesand overcrowded schools. 5. Waterquality and quantity. 6. The impor-tance of supporting increased densityalong transportation corridors. 7.Handling projected growth withinthe UDB. 8. Affordable housing costcomparisons: redevelopment andinfill vs. sprawl. 9. Compatibilitywith the Comprehensive EvergladesRestoration Plan. 10. Hurricaneevacuation and safety. 11. The futureof the Farming industry in S. Florida.

The bus left downtown Miamiand traveled west on 836 to the Turn-pike, exiting at Kendall Drive. RodJude - Chair of the Miami Group ofSierra Club, narrated the route, not-ing the form and character of thesprawling suburban development andhow the county’s plan was to com-pliment public transportation routesand not to develop urban sprawl.

Although the vision was there, thepolitical will in the 1980’s was notstrong enough to stop the drainingof the Everglades. The result is theendless urban sprawl we see today.

Fortunately, our trip was on Sat-urday, so we missed the real trafficgridlock that exists during the week.

Traveling south on Krome Avenue,we passed the UDB line and notedthe proposed developments beingadvanced in West Kendall. The newdense town of Providence proposedby Texas Developer, D.R. Horton,outside the boundary line is a planfor 10,000 unit of mostly multipledwellings -- 35,000 people on 960acres according to the Herald. Addi-tional development pressures to ex-pand the UDB include a proposal byAtlantic Civil/Lennar Homes tobuild 6,000 homes east of CardSound Road.

Members of the Redland commu-nity gave us a tour of the historiccommunity where we saw workingfarms, row crops, groves and nurser-ies as well as agricultural accessoryuses. The persons who guided thetour of Redland included: CharlieMcGarey, Pat Wade and GeorgeGrunwell. They spoke about the im-portance of preserving the agricul-tural industry and the industry’s con-tribution to the economy. Grunwellgave a beautifully narrated guidedtour of historic sites in Redland. Thespeakers made us very aware of thedangers posed by moving the UDB,incompatible uses harming the farm-ing industry and the harm of frag-menting the farm lands.

We stopped at the Fruit and SpicePark to hear a panel of Redlandersfurther elaborate on their future asfarmers. Panelists included:McGarey and Grunwell, and DeweySteele, Pam Gray, Paul Mulhern andmoderator Pat Wade. We traveledsouth on Krome Avenue towardHomestead and Florida City, that legof the trip was narrated by PaulMulhern owner of the Grove InnCountry Guesthouse. He noted the

“When you see it,you get it!”

by Nancy Liebman

On April 11th, UEL hosteda Forum called: The Art OfDeveloping Within TheUrban Development Bound-ary The Speakers included:

Armando Codina,The Codina GroupMatt Greer,The Carlisle Group, andBernard Zyscovich,Zyscovich, Inc.

They discussed develop-ment opportunities in MiamiDade County within theUrban Development Bound-ary line and why they be-lieved it wasn’t necessary tomove it. About 150 peopleattended the Forum.

great opportunity this area has to de-velop agricultural tourism based on thefarming industry and the ecology of thearea. He urged the county to considerseizing on South Dade as a tourism at-traction and developing an appreciationfor the existing environment. As we trav-eled on Krome, we learned about thebattle to maintain Krome Avenue as atwo-lane road, an issue that is in thecourts. UEL supports maintainingKrome Avenue as a two-lane countyroad to protect against further sprawl-ing development.

As we approached Florida City, DenisRuss, organizer of the bus trip and UELboard member narrated the tour of af-fordable migrant housing communities.Jaime Furgang, Audubon EvergladesPolicy Associate, took the lead as we ap-proached Card Sound Road to look atthe environmentally sensitive lands pro-posed for annexation by Florida City(East of the intersection of US 1 andCard Sound Road). The property hasbeen slated to be purchased as part ofthe County Endangered Land Program.

We stopped for lunch in Florida Citywhere our panelist, Tonette Collier,member of the County’s EmpowermentZone Committee and Director of theHomestead Community DevelopmentAgency, discussed the S. West Neighbor-hood Redevelopment Plan for Home-stead which will provide well-plannedaffordable housing opportunities.

The finale of the trip was a tour givenby County Commissioner KatySorenson to the Naranja, Princeton andCutler Ridge communities. Sorensondescribed the charettes organized by thecommunity to develop a plan for hous-ing and commercial redevelopment ineach of those areas where developmentwill be coupled with the lands surround-ing the bus transit way. The UELstrongly supports developments that areconnected to transportation lines as amethod of stopping the traffic gridlock.

The Art of DevelopingWithin The Urban

DevelopmentBoundary

It is important that Hold the Line organizations and individual supporters make theirpresence known at the crucial County Commission meeting on MAY 17th at 9 AMwhere the UDB will be threatened.

The first decision will be Florida City’s request to annex over 1,728 acres of agriculturaland environmentally sensitive lands in South Dade. However, results of the South DadeWatershed Study, a multi-million dollar taxpayer investment called by one expert “Themost comprehensive watershed study assembled anywhere in the United States” are notexpected until later this year. This annexation land is in that study area.

As a Miami Herald editorial states:“The momentum for expanding the UDB in Miami-Dade derivesprimarily from Florida City’s request to annex 4,292 acres, of which1,465 acres are part of a proposed development of regional impactsubmitted by Atlantic Civil, Inc.”

(Lennar has an option to buy the Atlantic Civil property. Atlantic Civil has a request at the Statelevel for a development so large --- it is of regional impact, meaning that it impacts more than justMiami-Dade County)

We need you to say toCommissioners:Let’s wait till the facts arein. It is premature.There are studies going onregarding the Urban De-velopment Boundary. Let’swait to see the results andlook at all of our options.

Call May 16th or check ourwebsite for a time and anychanges:www.UDBLINE.comCar Pools are available.305-213-4348 (Cell)786-524-2286 (Fax)Voice Mail: 305 576-2553

We Need You Tuesday, May 17th at 9AM!!

Since the Bay HarborIslands Citizens Coaliton wasfounded in March, 2002 tovoice the community's opposi-tion to uncontrolled high risedevelopment, the BHICC hasensured government account-ability through the election ofa Town Council that reflectsthe citizens vision for main-taining the quality of life thatbecame the mission of ourcommunity and to insureplanned and controlleddevelopment.

Currently, four of sevencouncil members were alsomembers of the Coalition andlisten to the voice and con-cerns of it's citizenry.

The current Vice Mayor,Peter Lynch was a foundingCoalition member and thefirst coalition endorsedcandidate. Both Albert Ruderand Ken Weinstien served onthe Coalition's Board ofDirectors before beingelected to the Town Council.Eileen Wallace, was active anactive coalition member sinceit's inception.

Today, this community hasan elected leadership whoinforms and involves thecommunity in the decisionmaking process throughcitizen committees andoutreach working together.

This is a unique communitymodel that demonstrates thepower of community whenthey have a collective voiceand a vision. - Susan Luck

All of our Monthly Dinner Meetings are held at the historicMiami River Inn, 118 SW South River Drive, Miami. They beginat 6:00 pm with a wine and cheese reception, 6:45 pm is the actualdinner and then the program begins at 7:30 pm. The cost forUEL members is $25 per dinner meeting and for non-members itis $30. Programs are free without dinner. You must reserve for thedinner and the program: 305 325-0045

We will be wrapping our most successful monthly dinner meeting sea-son on May 17th when we will have noted environmental and growthmanagement attorney Richard Grosso and Joan Borel, Board of Director,of the Keys Environmental Organization, Last Stand.

They will speak on the topic “The long and narrow/get the skinny onthe struggle in the Keys.” We can learn from this nearby struggle withdevelopment and sustainability, as population burgeons in Miami-DadeCounty.

The Dinner Meeting Committee is busy working on next season’s din-ner meeting series which begins in September, 2005 and concludes inMay, 2006.

We will kick-off the season on September 20, 2005 with the honorableMayor of Miami, Manuel A. Diaz discussing all the exciting happeningsin the City of Miami.

The second dinner meeting, scheduled for October 18, 2005 will dealwith the status, from Miami Dade County officials, of the recently ap-proved General Obligation Bonds.

Other topics currently being considered for next season include anupdate on the Miami River and an evening with Professor Marvin Dunnon race relations and how community gardens bring people and neigh-borhoods together.

We will inform you of all dinner meeting topics as soon as possible.Should you have any suggestions for topics, please be kind enough tosend an e-mail to: Dinner Committee Meeting Chairman, Albert Ruderat albomart823@msn.com. - Thank you, Albert Ruder

May 17th - 6pmThe Long & Narrow:

Get the Skinny on theStruggle in the Keys

Richard Grosso,Executive Director -

Environmental and LandUse Law Center

&Joan Borel of “Last Stand”Moderator: Alan Farago

Update on Bay Harbor Islands:

We are in a building boom, butwe will surely go bust if our productis not sustainable for the future andwe leave out the qualities that givedignity to a person’s life.

I am not a developer, lobbyists,housing expert, designer, architect. Iam just a devotee of ideas that makecommunities great places to be. I be-came involved with housing issues 25years ago while advocating for thepreservation of the art deco district.

We were a group of passionatepreservationists in the early 1980’s.We knew we wanted to save a won-derful, neglected neighborhood ofmixed uses – hotels, apartments andcommercial space.

We were novices, but as we usedour energy to motivate our electedbody to save the neighborhood, bril-liant young creative developersemerged from areas outside MiamiBeach. These developers began therenaissance by redeveloping and re-storing existing building stock.

It was the incentives for housingthat jump started the big housingboom in the art deco district.

The run-down drug havens be-came residences for a downtownworkforce and attracted creativepeople who loved the pedestrianqualities the city offered and the prox-imity to their downtown jobs.

Developers took advantage of thetax credits and preservation incen-tives. They did not fall into the nega-tive patterns of creating sprawl andthe relentless movement to the Ever-glades. These developers worked toenergize a critical mass of new resi-dents to live, work and play in a ne-glected place in this county.

Within afew years, thecity of MiamiBeach, theCounty andFlorida Powerand Lightwere forcedto improvethe existing,neglected in-frastructure.

The devel-opers took arisk that paidoff. They restored a neighborhoodthrough adaptive reuse. The endproduct is a unique community witha livable lifestyle and urban ameni-ties. There are many more opportu-nities to do this type of infill devel-opment.

The challenge is the use of exist-ing infrastructure, rather than drain-ing the Everglades to create large freshtracts of land.

Another challenge is to convincethe county commission to have thewill to put incentives in place in themaster plan to create affordable hous-ing. The success of what the Miamibeach housing developers did was torecreate a place that had some char-acter. They added infill according toa master plan. They resisted cookiecutter sub-divisions where peoplecan’t find their way on mundane,identical streets.

Those art deco developers and thecity of Miami beach offered ameni-ties to make a comfortable life style.

The hold the line campaign, groupof 50 organizations, is encouragingelected officials to create incentives

for rehabilitationwithin the existing in-frastructure, provideeffective transportationand promote housingdevelopments that aredesirable and afford-able for all residents.

The challenge is tooffer residents a qualityof life without a twohour daily drive towork on gridlockedroads.

The challenge is to build infillwithin existing communities thathave defined their master plans withdevelopment standards and designguidelines. The challenge is to de-velop a blueprint compatible with thehuman being.

A great quote I just read from aconsultant who is assisting BrowardCounty with affordable housing is:“Density is not a four-letter word.Ugly is.”

Residents have awakened to over-zealous developments in their com-munities. Municipalities are re-sponding by re-planning their landuses. Even the City of Miami is re-vamping its zoning code. People de-serve some dignity in the places wherethey live. There are a variety of ex-amples of neglected neighborhoodsbegging for redevelopment such as:Overtown, Narranga, Princeton,Homestead, Wynwood, 79th StreetCorridor, Cutler Ridge. Accordingto a recent review of Dade Countyrecords, there are 17,141.44 acres ofvacant land within the UDB.

There is a 8.9% vacancy rate with75,504 vacant homes.

Miami Dade: Boom or Bust?The following is the text of a presentation by UEL President Nancy

Liebman as a member of a panel sponsored by FIU’s Metropolitan Center.

Continued...

There were twelve members of theBoard in attendance. The meetingtook place at the Miami River Inn.

As an introduction to Vision draft-ing, the Facilitator, Janice Fleischer,proposed the following six (6) itemsas potential core values for the groupto use as a basis when drafting

their Vision Statement. These sixitems were identified by Ms. Fleischerfrom the UEL’s Core Principles.

1. Concern for community2. Smart growth principles3. Dynamic neighborhoods4. Public space and public accesspreservation and enhancement5. Public review of development6. Coordination with other orga-nizations.The group decided to just use these

as a guideline, there was some con-cern that using these items alonewould not accurately reflect what theorganization does or wants to do.

The group then drafted a VisionStatement and adopted it:

Final Vision Statement of theUrban Environment League

The Vision of the Urban Environ-ment League (UEL) for Miami DadeCounty is a safe, clean, vibrant, sus-tainable community guided by thepublic’s interest and governed by aMaster Plan.

We see preserved natural resources,increased density in urban areas withsufficient existing infrastructure andalong mass transportation corridorswithin the urban developmentboundary. There are more greenways,water access, pedestrian friendlyparks, improved historic neighbor-hoods and landmarks still recogniz-able and protected.

Our richly diverse community hasunique neighborhoods that haveSouth Florida-sensitive architecturewith quality housing affordable to all.

Improved public communicationis encouraging a better educated citi-zenry and democratic processeswhich has led to greater political in-tegrity practiced by accountable poli-ticians who enforce zoning and build-ing codes.

The UEL works with others toachieve our Vision.

UEL Retreat, February 19, 2005Prepared by Janice M. Fleischer, J.D., Facilitator

Last month, the City of Miamihad a kick-off ceremony to completethe master plan for Bicentennial Park.

Over 250 people attended theevent with both City of Miami andCounty Commissioners present.

The master planning processshould take about 11 months to com-plete. A working committee has beenformed consisting of the city andcounty staff, Cooper, Robertson &Partners, a member of the WaterfrontAdvisory Board and a member of theUEL. Nancy Liebman has appointedBoard Member Sage Hoffman to rep-resent the UEL. There will be a se-ries of public meetings to give updatesand receive feedback from the pub-lic during the process.

Bicentennial Park Update

Rethink the American dream.Not everyone can live in a red roof-

top single family house if land is nolonger available.

Smart Growth development op-portunities need to be promoted. Itis no longer acceptable for DadeCounty to allow sprawl. Let’s developcommunities, not just buildings.

Let’s demand a respectful planningeffort for all of our communities:• Improved mass transportation• Improved infrastructure• Improved roadways• Improved water quality• Integrated housing in well planned diverse neighborhoods• Parks and open spaces• Viable schools• Walkable sidewalks• Groceries, drug stores, cleaners, and other commercial necessities• Preservation of historic structures and cultural resources by amend ing the building codes – to make it desirable to restore existing liv-able places.We can do this within the UDB!

.

Holding the Line: AReport from the Field

As Nancy Liebman explained onPage 1, the UEL has been extremelyactive in the fight to protect the Ur-ban Development Boundary (UDB).Led by our fearless leader, NancyLiebman, the UEL has taken everypossible opportunity to exclaim: Holdthe Line! From the depths of SharkValley in the Everglades, to Fla. City’sBoardroom, to the pages of the Mi-ami Herald – the past three monthshave seen a torrent of activity. Assomeone lucky enough to have had afront row seat, here is a report fromthe field of what’s been happening.

Community OutreachFor an issue with a lot of history

like the Urban Development Bound-ary, we knew that community out-reach was going to be vitally impor-tant to our success. In an effort tobuild this necessary awareness, theUEL organized several major events.The three most notable include theEverglades Bus Tour, the Urban De-velopment Boundary Bus Tour, andthe forum, The Art of DevelopingWithin the UDB.

On our first trip, we braved awindy day in February to see whatwas at stake in the Everglades. Aftera long trek, we came away with a newfound awe for something ancient,powerful, and very much alive – yetvery much at risk.

For the next bus ride, we deter-mined to see what this imaginary lineon a map looked like in reality. Ourdrive, which was constantly narratedby one very knowledgeable tourguide after another, took us westalong Kendall Drive to Krome Av-enue and down to The Redland.Once there we saw farms bordered

by the Everglades on one side and en-croaching development on the other.It was a painful visual reminder thatevery inch of agriculture and openspace lost is an inch lost forever.

There is only one thing the UELdoes better than deliver a well-planned bus tour: deliver a well-timed public forum. As you know,one lobbyist after another hasmarched to the podium in the Com-mission Chambers and declared thefollowing declaration: “There is nomore land in Miami-Dade County.That’s right, we have simply run outof developable land.” Granted, thereis one very loud and authoritativevoice that counters this claim everysingle time: the County’s own De-partment of Planning and Zoning.In 2003, this department performedthe same analysis that it does everyseven years, as required by State law,the Evaluation and Appraisal Report(EAR). In this study they concludedthat there was no need to move theboundary until the 2020s. In otherwords, there was enough developableland within the UDB to accommo-date projected growth patterns untilthat time.

However, since that is not enoughto convince the antsy developers,Nancy Liebman thought it mightsink in if they heard it from othermembers of the development com-munity. After all, there are numer-ous examples of successful infill andredevelopment projects within theUDB that provide affordable hous-ing and improve existing infrastruc-ture. With that in mind, in mid-April Nancy Liebman organized theUEL sponsored forum called The Artof Developing Within the UrbanDevelopment Boundary. At this fo-rum, three heavyweights in the de-velopment community (ArmandoCodina, Bernard Zyscovich, and

Matt Greer) systematically refutedthe claim that there is no more land.

Urging Public Servants toConsider the Public

While it is true that grassroots andcommunity outreach is vital, we alsounderstand that elected officials needto hear from us directly. Representa-tives from Hold the Line are meetingwith all County Commissioners whowill answer our call - and all do payattention to what we have to say. Itis often difficult to know what theyare thinking or how they will vote,but one thing remains certain: Com-missioner Katy Sorenson is a truechampion of this cause, like everyother cause vital to the quality of lifefor Miami-Dade residents. In addi-tion to meeting with Commission-ers individually, Hold the Line de-livered a presentation at the last UDBworkshop. The stated purpose ofthese workshops, initiated by Com-missioner Moss, is to gain public in-put and devise a strategy for the cre-ation of a county-wide UDB study.

And to be fair, we have also metwith elected officials that we knewwould hardly agree with our position.Most notably, we recently visited withMayor Otis Wallace in Florida City.By the end of a very long conversa-tion, he understood that we had nochoice but to vociferously oppose hisattempt to annex pristine wetlandsbeyond the UDB. But at the end ofthe day, at least we all agreed to dis-agree and had a civilized discussionbefore entering into public debate.

It also goes without saying that weare very grateful to have received thestrong support of Mayor CarlosAlvarez.

Friends IndeedThe UEL is a leader in this cam-

paign, but we are not alone – we havebeen joined by over fifty partner or-

By Gilberto Osorio

ganizations and eleven municipali-ties. The unique nature of our part-ner organizations reflects the fact thatthis is not a single-issue campaign.It is not just about fighting for ourenvironment, or for better schools,or less traffic, or affordable housing,or clean water, or better plannedcommunities; it is about all thosethings and more.

Consider some of the groups.There is the Carlisle DevelopmentGroup, the state’s largest builder ofaffordable housing; the Gold CoastSection of the American PlanningAssociation; Haitian Women of Mi-ami, concerned that the westwardbound movement would fly in theface of efforts to revive existing com-munities; Miami NeighborhoodsUnited, a coalition of nineteen ho-meowner associations; and Neigh-borhood Housing Services, surprisedthat developers would claim a UDBextension would create workforcehousing.

Of course, municipal governmentsalso realize that extending the bound-ary would adversely affect the livesof their constituents. Included intheir resolutions were clauses like:“Calling on the Miami-Dade CountyCommissioners to oppose any exten-sion to the Urban DevelopmentBoundary at the present time, to en-courage infill and redevelopment andadherence to the County Develop-ment Master Plan…”

City after city has adopted its ownversion of a resolution to oppose anyUDB extension. From Aventura inthe North, South Miami to the south,Miami Beach to the east, and theKendall Community Council 12 inthe west – the message remains thesame: Hold the Line.

A Good Story Goes aLong Way

The first major story about the

UDB this year appeared in theHerald’s Business Monday on Feb-ruary 14th. Reporter MatthewHaggman said:

“Now as developers eye the wideopen spaces beyond the boundary,opponents are girding to save thecurrent configuration at all costs.”

On February 27th, Jim Defedeintroduced us to Miami-Dade resi-dents in the following way:

“Hold the line. Three simplewords with enormous meaning forthe future of Miami-Dade County.”

That same day, Carl Hiaasen lam-pooned the developers who wish toextend the boundary, writing:

“If they have their way, west Mi-ami-Dade will eventually look asghastly as west Broward, where vir-tually every wetland has been drainedand developed.”

Several weeks later, Curtis Morganwrote a detailed piece about our cam-paign and its evolution. The earlyresults were in: Hold the Line wasstanding firm. Morgan wrote: “Whilethe fight is only beginning and likelyto last for years, a campaign [Holdthe Line] formally launched only twoweeks ago already has provedeffective…The development indus-try, which wields significant politicalclout of its own in Miami-Dade, ispaying close attention and planningstrategies to counter what some ac-knowledge has been a surprisinglysophisticated offensive. ‘They’re outin front,’ said Jeff Bercow, a veteranland-use attorney with clients hop-ing to develop property currentlyoutside the UDB. ‘I don’t agree withtheir position, but they have gottentheir stories out effectively so far.’”

Since, our message has continuedto intrigue the press. On March 27th,the Miami Herald delivered a strongmessage of support in an editorialentitled:

“Hold the Line on Rural, OpenLands: Protect the Everglades,Biscayne Bay and Resident’s Qualityof Life.” In the last month, NPR’sTopical Currents ran a piece aboutHold the Line and the UDB, NBCSix aired a story called: “The Battlefor South Dade,” and last week thisissue made National news when theAssociated Press ran a story called:“Developers Eye Miami-Dade BufferLand Along Everglades.”

The stories have continued toamass because this issue is vitally im-portant to the future of Miami-DadeCounty.

Next StepsI hope you will agree that our cam-

paign has garnered important sup-port and made significant progress sofar, however, the other side has nolack of resources, and our greatestchallenges remain in the weeks andmonths ahead.

In particular, our biggest challengeis fast approaching. On May 17th,the Board of County Commission-ers will be voting on Florida City’sproposal to annex lands that includea proposed 6,000 home developmentoutside the UDB. Our position issimple: Any decision regarding theannexation of land outside of theUDB should be delayed until all thefacts are in, including studies cur-rently underway of this environmen-tally sensitive land.

If you agree with this statement,we would urge you to write a letterto your commissioner and expressyour thoughts. You can find yourcommissioner at www.udbline.comand click “Get Involved”). And mostimportantly, we hope that you willattend the May 17th meeting at 9:00AM. As always, for more informa-tion please email me at:Gil.Osorio@gmail.com

The Urban Development Bound-ary (UDB) is an arbitrary boundarystretching along west Miami-Dadefrom Broward County south pastHomestead/Florida City.

The UDB separates areas wheredevelopment is allowed from areaswhere development is discouraged.

It separates development from rockmining, environmental lands andwellfields in the north andfrom agriculture in thesouth.

County ser-vices are mini-mal and zoningrestrictions aretough on the‘non-develop-ment’ side whichmakes it difficult tobuild large-scaleprojects.

Periodically, the construction in-dustry gets hungry for vacant landand the political pressure mounts onthe County Commission to move theline.

Today, the area most desired by theconstruction industry is South Mi-ami-Dade which means the agricul-tural area will be sacrificed. The lossesto County residents, their quality-of-life and their future will be many.Below are ten reasons why the lineshould not be moved into agriculturelands.

1. Agriculture is the second larg-est industry in the County, provid-ing one billion dollars to theeconomy. The total market value ofagriculture products increased 39%(24% adjusted for inflation) be-tween 1997 and 2002.

2. Agriculture provides over20,000 jobs in the county. Over the

past five years agriculture jobs havechanged from seasonal to more full-time.

3. Agriculture land provides openspace for recharge of the aquifer andflood control. The agriculture area ofRedland has the best water in theCounty and major wellfields to sup-ply future drinking water to all

County residents have been stud-ied/planned for several

years. As salt-water in-trusion and urban run-

off pollute otherwellfields, agricul-ture land will becritical to maintainclean water supplies.

4. Agricultureland provides a protec-

tive buffer from develop-ment for Everglades Na-

tional Park on the west and BiscayneNational Park on the east.

5. Agriculture provides fresh, safe,local produce for residents.

6. Agriculture offers tourism op-portunities for local residents and visi-tors.

7. South Miami-Dade agricultureproducts are unique because it is theonly place in the continental U.S.where sub-tropical and tropical fruitsand vegetables can be grown. Manyof the tropical fruits and vegetablesprovide our diverse community withethnic food choices. South Florida isa major source of winter vegetablesto the rest of the country.

8. Redland is fast becoming theorchid capital of the world. Horticul-ture in Redland has the largest salesin the State. Our unique climate andclean water are perfect for aquacul-ture.

Agriculture: Ten Good ReasonsTo Not Move The Urban Development Boundary

- Pat Wade

Prepared for the Florida Earth Project by KenShuler, Agricultural EA IV

9. Moving the UDB jeopardizesagriculture because it decreases thecritical mass of farmland to where itis not feasible to farm. A minimumamount of commercial farmland isnecessary to maintain support ser-vices; trucking and fertilizer sales, forexample. In the past, when the UDBwas moved farmers moved west intothe Everglades. Everglades restora-tion will not allow that to happenanymore. Today, every move of theUDB is a net loss of agriculture land.

10. Moving the UDB causes frag-mentation of farmland. As the landclose to the UDB becomes ‘popular’,non-farm development penetratesinto farmland and farming opera-tions are brought into contact withnon-farm neighbors who often com-plain about noise, dust, and odorsfrom farms.

Urban/farm conflicts and theft ofAgriculture products from the field(people driving by a field and fillingup a plastic bag with farm produce)discourage farming and inducefarmers to sell for development, fur-ther increasing fragmentation.

MIAMI21Miami’s current renaissance moves

into high gear with the Mayor’s ma-jor master-planning effort, MI-AMI21, unveiled on April 16, 2005at Miami Dade College.

The keynote speaker was MayorJoe Riley, mayor of Charleston, SCfor almost 30 years, He stated that,“We are an Urban nation”, and that“Great cities are not afraid to give thepublic the best spaces on the water-front. It’s all about beauty.” “Why notthe best.”

He noted New York City’s masterplanning effort of 1811 and toChicago’s 1906 planning effort thatresulted in the “Burnham Plan”. TheBurnham Plan is used to this day tochart Chicago’s future. It is not amistake that Chicago has ended upas one of the most attractive, livablecities in the US with a great economyand with world-class architecture.

Commissioner Johnny Wintonstated that, “The backbone of ourcity are our single-family neighbor-hoods, and they are the centerpieceof our planning effort.”

MIAMI21 planning effort hasfour different parts:

1. Rewriting the building code-(Duany-Plater Zyberk & Company)2. A study and a plan for transporta-tion- (Gannett Fleming, Inc.) 3. Astudy and an economic plan- (Eco-nomics Research Associates) 4. Astudy and a plan for the public realm– (Goody, Clancy & Associates)

Mayor Manny Diaz stated, “MI-AMI21 will give us a tremendousopportunity to correct past evils andto provide a sustainable basis for thefuture.”

Mayor Joe Riley finished by nam-ing eight items crucial to makingMiami21 a success:

1. Strong political leadership 2. Anenvironment of intellectual creativ-

ity 3. Celebrate diversity 4. Providehousing for everyone. 5. Long last-ing public participation. 6. Goodtransportation infrastructure. 7. Pre-serve land for parks and open spaces.8. Dedication to high quality urbandesign.

This will result in pride in yourcity.

Uel Traffic Poll conducted January, 2005by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc.

Suburban Voters Spending More Time inTraffic, Feel It is Hurting Their Quality of Life

A majority of Suburban Miami-Dade County voters say they arespending more time in traffic than they were a year ago, say it is amajor factor in their day-to-day time management choices and feel itis hurting their family life. Voters also feel that elected officials arenot giving enough consideration to area traffic problems.

Overall, 55% of suburban voters indicated they were spendingmore time in traffic, 31% said it was “about the same”, and just 11%said they were spending less time in traffic. An even larger majority(77%) say that traffic has gotten “a lot worse” since they first movedto the area, while just 15% said it was only “a little worse” and 6%said it was “the same.” Among those who commute to work, 54%said they spend at least 30 minutes each day driving one-way totheir job.

Asked how much traffic affected the choices they made each dayon how to spend their time, 63% said it was a “major factor”, 16%indicated it was only a “minor factor” and 19% stated it was “not afactor.” An overwhelming 76% said they believe the increasedamount of time spent in traffic is harmful to their family life. Amajority (63%) also thinks the traffic situation is harmful to the localeconomy and economic development efforts.

Voters are also frustrated with local government’s efforts tocontrol traffic. Overall, 63% said elected officials are not givingenough consideration to area traffic problems and 56% do notbelieve existing regulations protect their quality of life and theenvironment. Less than half (44%) feel county government is tryingto protect their quality of life.

This poll was commissioned by the Urban Environment League ofGreater Miami. It was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Re-search, Inc. of Washington, D.C. from January 17 through January 20,2005. A total of 400 registered voters in suburban areas of Miami-Dade County were interviewed by telephone. Interviews wereconducted in both English and Spanish. The margin for error is plusor minus 5%.

The Miami21 planning effort di-vides the city into four parts – plan-ning and implementing one part at atime – Part One, which includes theUpper Eastside – will be the Petri dishfor the city’s entire planning effort.

Notes by Robert Flanders, at theMiami21 Kickoff Program, 4/16Info: www.miamigov.com/miami21

Alan Farago, Hold the Line Campaign (4)Jay Beskin & The Northeast Dade Coalition-California ClubAssociations (8, 9)Mabel Miller, Veteran Environmentalist (not pictured)South Florida Community Development Training Institute at FIU Annetta Jenkins, Senior Program Director, South Florida LISC Dario Moreno, Director, The Metropolitan Center, FIU Thomas Zuniga, Training Director, S. FL LISC, Training Institute at FIU (6,11) Bryan K. Finnie, Director, Office of Community & Economic Development (6,11)Dr. James and Sallye Jude for Historic Preservation (7 JaneCaporelli Accepting)Dade Heritage Trust (5)M. Athalie Range for Preservation Of Virginia Key (not pictured)Bay Harbor Islands Citizens Coalition (1,2,3,12)Nancy Lee, UEL’s First President’s Award (10)

Board of Advisors:Gregory Bush, ChairAmy Paige CondonSallye JudeDorothy Jenkins-FieldsDr. Paul GeorgeJoe KohlDan PaulElizabeth Plater-ZyberkBrenda McClymondsArva Moore Parks McCabeGene TinnieM. Athalie RangeMitchell Wolfson, Jr.George Knox

Kay Hancock-ApfelAlan BisnoGregory BushMichael CoxJohn DeLeonRichard DonovanRobert FlandersMatthew GreerAlbert Harum-AlvarezSage HoffmanMaria Ines CastroRuth JacobsJames JudeRichard KormanNancy LeeJudith Berson-LevinsonNancy Liebman

Urban Environment League 2005 Officers, Board Members, and Advisors

President Nancy LiebmanVice-President Ernie MartinTreasurer Kay Hancock ApfelSecretary Richard KormanPast President Gregory Bush

Susan LuckErnest MartinRobert McCabeDan McCreaArsenio MilianJimmy MoralesEnid PinkneyAlberto RuderDenis RussPaul SchwiepHoward SlotnickFortuna SmuklerMax StrangDavid TurnerJason UyedaJohn Van Leer

Board of Directors:

Officers:

Photos of Award Recipients (see next page):

The Orchid Awards are presented to Individuals and Organizations for:Preserving greenspace, sustaining liveable communities and protecting the environment.

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2005 Recipients of theOrchid Award

The Urban Environment League thanks the MiamiDade Public Library System for hosting the Annual Meet-ing at the new Miami Beach Regional Library designed byRobert A.M. Stern. The library is a beautiful new addi-tion to the historic Collins Park neighborhood in a settingwith the expanded Bass Museum of Art by Irata Isosakiand the Miami City Ballet headquarters designed byArchitectonica.

The League is also grateful to Talulah's Restaurant andBar for hosting the garden patio reception following theAnnual meeting. The beautiful orchids received by eachaward recipient are a product of Miami Beach's LincolnRoad Street Market.Photos by Ernie Martin/Robert Weinreb

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The second half of our two-partprogram on Everglades Restorationplayed to rave reviews on SaturdayFebruary 5.

Forty-five people joined us for abus tour to Shark Valley sponsoredby the South Florida National ParksTrust and the Urban EnvironmentLeague.

Bob Johnson, chief scientist atEverglades National Park, enter-tained the crowd with tales of hy-drology and an explanation of Ever-glades Restoration as the bus rolledwest from downtown Miami.

The group then boarded a tramfor a tour of the park led by volun-teer Dick Konicek Moran.

Dick described alligator holes asnature’s equivalent of a South Beach

hotel. Fish check in during the dryseason to swim at the spa, but therent can be steep. Every so often theresident landlord eats one of herguests. How’s that for a businessstrategy!

The tour concluded with lunchat the Miccosukee Casino on KromeAvenue. No word on whether any-one in the group had an encounterwith Lady Luck.

Special thanks to Bob Johnson,Cherry Payne, Dick Konicek Moranand Rachel Shull of Everglades Na-tional Park for making the trip a suc-cess (Rachel drove the tram; Cherrywelcomed the group to EvergladesNP).

Also, special thanks to Commis-sioner Katy Sorenson and Miami-

Dade County for providing a bus forthe tour. Finally, thanks to NancyLiebman, Nancy Lee and Denis Russof the Urban Environment Leaguefor helping to organize the outing.

The first part of the programtook place on January 18 with a din-ner discussion at the Miami RiverInn. Alan Farago and Rock Salt werethe featured speakers. Former Her-ald editorial writer Martha Musgrovemoderated the discussion.

-Don FinefrockLearn more about the South

Florida National Parks Trust by con-tacting the Trust at:

South Florida National Parks Trust1390 South Dixie HighwayCoral Gables, Fla. 33146305.665.4769www.nationalparks.org/southflorida

Photos:1. Cherry Paine2. Angelique and Jacalyn Giraud3. Gil Osorio and Adrienne Chiron4. Leonard Kantrowitz5. Sage Hoffman6. Howard Slotnick and (?)7. Nancy Liebman and Jim Jude

Everglades Restoration Tour

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URBAN ENVIRONMENT LEAGUE OF GREATER MIAMI MEMBERSHIP & RENEWAL APPLICATION

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212 N.E. 24 StreetMiami, Fl. 33137Phone: 305 576-2553Fax: 305 576-2530Website: www.uel.orgE Mail Address:uelmiami@bellsouth.net

NOTICE:The UEL accepts articles/lettersfrom its members and members ofthe public. These articles/letters donot always reflect the views of theMembers of the UEL, or its Board,or the views UEL Advisors.To submit articles/letters, contact: nancy88@ bellsouth.netThe editor takes full responsibilityfor botching articles during cuts.

Students: $15

UEL DINNERMay 17th - 6pmThe Long & Narrow:

Get the Skinny on the Struggle in the Keys(see inside)

To receive informationon upcoming UEL eventssuch as dinners, forumsand conferences send youemail address to:

UELmiami@bellsouth.net