In order for Lennar’s Mega-Development (between SW 136 Street and SW 152 Street - West of 162nd Avenue), known as Parkland, to fly (now up to approximately 7,000 homes) they have to solve the transportation issue. The development is scheduled for a Community Council Meeting July 16th. Luckily they have a compliant commissioner ready to come to their aid. See a portion of Commissioner Joe Martinez’s memo to fellow Commissioners below written June 18th (hit on it to enlarge it):
And see where the CSX line is in relation to Parkland (a development so large, it is a State certified Development of Regional Impact). Pretty transparent what is going on...isn’t it?
We have 9 entries in our Parkland Index and 12 in our CSX index, we think this is an important issue for the entire county. Developing a new dense city on the edge of the Everglades impacts us all.
12 comments:
I have always complained about the CSX corridor, not because it goes through residential neighborhoods like some complain, but because it doesn't go far enough.
I would much rather see the corridor instead of taking that westward turn, continue south all the way to Homestead. For a long time I have felt that Tri-rail service sort of gave Miami-Dade county the short end of the stick and extending Tri-Rail service all the way south to Homestead would be a vast improvement.
I don't know who they're trying to kid. And 7,000 homes? Who, pray tell, is going to buy them?
I say, go forward with the rail corridor project. Anyone with any brains will be living in North Carolina before the 7,000 homes are actually built and occupied.
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CSX south of 152 St goes outside the UDB through the heart of Redland. The new busway (which is actually west of US1) extends to Homestead/Fl City and is within spitting distance of CSX. Why in the hell would anyone extend CSX to compete with the busway, unless of course you are desperate to open up farmland to development.
Dear Joe, Give it a rest! You are so transparent with the CSX out west, outside the UDB. We are not stupid and recognize your fondest wish to see this mega city in your district. Transportation guru to the stars, Cathy Sweetapple, manages to get the CSX in every one of her projects. CSX tracks are toothpicks and not safe for commuter travel; it will cost millions to make them commuter safe. Joe tried to serve his west Kendall projects with the 4-laning of Krome but it will be many years before the state has the money to 4-lane a road with so many other needy roads. Kendall folks need to retire Joe and his sprawl.
We are particularly vulnerable on this right now because the cost of a barrel of oil makes "greenwashing" an effective propaganda tool to snooker the public with. I am just waiting for the Commissioner to use "carbon footpring" in a speech. Unfortunately, people will mistake this choo choo for something that actually will help them. Here are the basic reasons to vote the thing down:
1. Grade crossings will cause more traffic than will help it
2. Cost will be ridiculous
3. Ridership will be limited as the thing will not have any stops in between West Kendall and Dadeland Station
4. Transit concurrency beyond the UDB won't help traffic, it will fuel traffic by allowing massive home developments that we don't need (or want).
5. The 97th Avenue overpass, Kendall and a train...one of these things does not fit.
6. Depending upon their plan, I cannot see how to pull this off without undermining all the work they did on the overpasses near Dadeland. That cost millions, it it works beautifully right now.
It's time for a website. It just gives us another tool to use to get the word out there, and I am thinking we need to get the word out there.
Whilly Bermudez will be attending!!
Is the July meeting advertised? I can't seem to find notice of it anywhere.
Using CSX infrastructure within the line is not a bad idea. What the graphic doesn't show you is that the CSX corridor runs through some very populated areas throughout Dade County. We cannot be against any sort of urban development that takes place close to our UDB for fear that it will exacerbate the problem. We need to support rail projects that concentrate large populations around their stops as a way of taking pressure off of westward expansion. The caveat is that the line needs to stop well before the line. Maybe the airport is the final stop.
Rail projects that make sense would be great. The question is, Miami has grown up around the rails and can we really achieve that on these existing rails. Are we presuming too much? If, for instance, this line were to go beyond Dadeland, I feel sorry for anyone in Sosa's neighborhood. Commissioner, are you paying attention? There are areas there where houses are right up against those rails...lots of them. I go back to Metro rail, north corridor, orange lines. These things need to be looked at, not this ridiculous white elephant of a "greenwashed" project. It does not hold water, functionally or economically.
I thought that the CSX rails would have to be replaced for passenger traffic.
Wasn't there talk about having to put a second rail along side the existing to make it work?
Can the current train rail system be used to haul the fill from the rock pit lake in the Krome Gold Project? Don't forget to go to the meeting on July 8th at Arvaida Middle School.
I just got a call on 8/25/08 from a research company that was obviously Parkland.
At first it sounded like it was Hold the Line with some innocuous questions about how much I care about preserving farmland, traffic gridlock, overdevelopment, affordable housing, etc. But then the questions were triangulated to produce certain pro-Parkland conclusions such as pointing out the that there are uses outside the UDB like mining and 1 in 5 acre development and dispeling a misbelief by the public that everything outside the UDB was "natural."
Then they asked what I thought of different names: Shoma Homes, Century Builders, Lennar Related Group and Carlos Gimenez.
Then they asked what I thought about different statements that sounded like they were from the Parkland brochure. Green development, uses less water than ag, affordable housing and on and on. I said that if it's outside of the UDB I don't respond to any of it.
The last question they asked of me was whether I was against "all growth." I declined to answer.
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