Parkland: how will the Planning Advisory Board vote tomorrow? by gimleteye

The Planning Advisory Board, appointed by Miami Dade county commissioners, is meeting tomorrow at 9:30 AM to consider the Parkland 2014 development of regional impact. Come downtown to County Hall and see your government in action.

If Florida Hometown Democracy had been allowed on the state-wide ballot, the decision for Parkland would have gone before the entire electorate of Miami Dade county, not wind its way to the county commission. But the builders and Chamber of Commerce made sure that the dysfunctional status quo would prevail. Two applications to move the Urban Development Boundary are headed to administrative court in early December after the county commission approval despite an outpouring of civic opposition, then vetoed by Mayor Carlos Alvarez and rejected by the administration of Governor Charlie Crist and then appealed by the unreformable majority, represented by VNS on the county commission.

Imagine if the public could vote on whether or not to move the Urban Development Boundary, and not county commissioners. This would not go over well with lobbyists and builders who made fortunes by manipulating zoning decisions. But times have changed. Or not?

AP reports that homebuilders' sentiment is at an all time low. So if it is at an all time low, why are Lennar and their partners, including Ramon Rasco (US Century Bank), Rodney Barreto and Pino so anxious to get their zoning approvals today? We've written a lot about Parkland, and if you want to read the history, check out our archive feature.

And if you can't make it tomorrow to County Hall, stay tuned for the meeting of the full county commission on the Parkland 2014 DRI, seeking to put a small city on the edge of Krome Avenue. I know if Joe Martinez was controlling the agenda, the commission meeting would be scheduled for Christmas Eve, to keep objectors away. But as things go, who wants to bet that Bruno schedules the full commission meeting sometime during the week before Christmas?

Homebuilder sentiment index plunges to record low
Tuesday November 18, 1:57 pm ET
By Alex Veiga, AP Real Estate Writer
Homebuilder sentiment index slides 5 points to new record low in November

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Homebuilders' confidence in a near-term housing recovery sank to a new all-time low this month, reflecting growing worries over the U.S. financial crisis, rising unemployment and weakening consumer confidence, an industry trade association said Tuesday.
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The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index, started in January 1985, tumbled five points to nine in November. The index stood at 14 in October after slipping three points from September.

Index readings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment about the market. But the index has drifted below 50 since May 2006 and below 20 since April.

"Today's report shows that we are in a crisis situation," NAHB Chairman Sandy Dunn said in a statement. "Tremendous economic uncertainties have driven consumers from the housing market, and it's going to take some major incentives to bring them back."

In recent weeks, homebuilders have ratcheted up pressure on Congress to take steps that go beyond trying to reduce foreclosures. the industry wants lawmakers to enact new incentives aimed at getting reluctant homebuyers back into the market.

Specifically, they're asking for a 10 percent tax credit of up to $22,000 for homebuyers that purchase a home over the next year and a temporary interest-rate reduction on 30-year mortgages.

"The housing downturn has already cost America three million jobs in construction and related industries, and this downward momentum cannot be stemmed without substantive government intervention," said David Crowe, the association's chief economist.

The builders' proposed housing aid measures would cost the government an estimated $270 billion, and would amount to a short-term fix at best, Deutsche Bank North America analyst Nishu Sood concluded in a research note earlier this month.

Builders have grown increasingly convinced that only government intervention will help stem the downward spiral in home prices and rising foreclosures that have led to a dearth in demand for new and preowned homes.

Major public builders such as D.R. Horton Inc., KB Home, and Centex Corp., have seen their stocks hammered as housing woes have worsened.

The latest builder index reflects a survey of 422 residential developers nationwide, tracking builders' perceptions of market conditions.

Builders' gauge of current sales conditions tumbled six points to eight, while the index of foot traffic by prospective buyers fell four points to seven. Builders' expectations for sales over the next six months remained at 19, the NAHB said.

Declines in builder confidence were seen across the U.S., with the biggest drop in the Midwest, where confidence declined by six points. The other regions -- Northeast, South and West -- saw builder confidence slide by five points.



MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Sun, Nov. 02, 2008
Battle looms on development push to the edge of the Everglades
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN

Does Miami-Dade County need a new suburb on its western fringe?

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/752455.html

Home-building giant Lennar and a group of wealthy and politically powerful Miami business leaders think so. They are launching an effort to create Parkland, a community that would eventually be home to nearly 19,000 residents, about 2.5 miles from Everglades National Park.

To build 961-acre Parkland and its projected 7,000 homes, stores, offices, warehouses, schools and a hospital, developers need to win approval to move the Urban Development Boundary, the line providing a green buffer between densely populated areas and the Everglades. The site, between Krome Avenue and Southwest 162nd Avenue near Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, has been planted in row crops for decades.

The first hearing on the request to move the UDB is scheduled for Monday. It sets the stage for the biggest battle in years in the often fierce debate over urban growth versus sprawling suburbs.

It's an argument that could well determine the course of development in Miami-Dade. At a time when county and city leaders are promoting infill and urban redevelopment, Parkland would be the biggest residential push west in more than 20 years.

If built, planners say, Parkland -- not to be confused with the Broward County city of the same name -- is expected to have a larger population than almost half of the municipalities in Miami-Dade County.

Critics say it would set a precedent that would eventually open up vast tracts of agricultural fields and open land currently off-limits to large-scale development.

''The future of Miami-Dade is at stake,'' said Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society. ``Decreasing home values, traffic congestion, crowded schools, emergency services, water supply, impacts to the natural environment and Everglades -- all of those things are tied into this one vote.''

But the project's developers say it's a model of smart growth and a rare chance to build a community the right way from the ground up.

''It will be like Coral Gables or Miami Lakes,'' said Rey Melendi, Lennar division president for Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The first homes are slated for delivery in 2014, when the builders hope that huge inventories of unsold homes will have shrunk and the credit crisis eased.

CROSSING THE LINE

The UDB, capping the spread of subdivisions by limiting construction to one dwelling for every five acres beyond the line, was once nearly impregnable. County commissioners moved it only twice during the 1990s, but it has been under increasing assault this past decade from suburban builders who want more land for industrial parks, malls, offices and homes.

In the last six years alone, county commissioners have voted to move the boundary five times for commercial projects. If Parkland's developers are successful, it would be the first time in 15 years that the UDB has been moved for any housing project.

But opposition is building. Environmentalists, civic activists and urban leaders are organizing. Last week, Miami-Dade's Planning & Zoning Department said it opposes moving the UDB for Parkland. County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said Friday that there are some attractive aspects to Parkland, but that he opposes moving the line at this time, ``especially considering the surplus and available housing within the UDB.''

Two of South Florida's most prominent developers, Jorge Perez and Armando Codina, said it makes no sense to move the UDB for residential development. Perez said it's poor urban policy.

''There are lots of opportunities within the boundary to build residential right now,'' said Codina, who added that he wasn't passing judgment on Parkland.

County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, the decisive swing vote in two UDB decisions this year, also has declared her opposition: ``I will not support this application.''

DIFFERENT CONCEPT?

Parkland's developers say it would be different from the suburban sprawl that has clogged roadways and produced isolated bedroom communities. The project is designed to be walkable and bike-friendly, a self-contained community with a mix of uses that would encourage less driving -- and perhaps inspire reverse commutes to the 2,550 jobs that developers hope to create within Parkland, Melendi said.

Energy-efficient homes are proposed, along with a water harvesting system that reuses wastewater for irrigation. Parks, along with habitats for fish and fowl, are promised.

''There are some communities I did that I'm not very proud of because my customers don't have a park or school nearby,'' said Sergio Pino, president of Century Homebuilders, who is part of the Parkland development group. ``But we've learned. I will be proud to say I was part of this.''

But opponents are not convinced. ''They're greenwashing,'' said the Tropical Audubon Society's Reynolds, arguing that Parkland's developers are trumpeting eco-friendly aspects that obscure greater problems. ``A New Urbanist community is what we want to see, but this is not the place for it.''

Those opponents say Parkland is too close to the environmentally sensitive Everglades and sits in a flood zone -- although developers say the area would be elevated during the construction phase.

It's far from major employment centers. If Parkland residents commuted, travel times would be 48 minutes to Miami's downtown and health district, which employs 245,000 people, and 34 minutes to Doral, employer of 194,000 workers, according to county planners.

The Parkland proposal comes against a backdrop of trends, including long commutes, hefty gasoline prices, and congested and poorly planned streets that are pushing people and development into urban centers. A county analysis concluded that there isn't sufficient roadway capacity to handle Parkland traffic.

Skeptics insist that a new western suburb also would strain the region's water supply and stretch thin government services like police and fire. ''Can the government afford the infrastructure to support further development outside the UDB line?'' asked real estate analyst Michael Cannon. ``Every economic study I have ever seen states no.''

And county planners said there is ample room within current UDB boundaries to ''accommodate residential demand through the year 2018.'' That analysis doesn't even include the foreclosures and newly built unsold houses that have created a spike in the number of vacant homes, the report said. Population growth also has slowed in Miami-Dade.

EARLY PLANNING

Pino, one of the largest home builders in the county, said he controls more than 700 acres on which he could build houses inside the UDB. But the Doral-based developer said that Parkland is a response to the housing needs of the future and that the county must do such planning now. ''You can't just do this stuff overnight,'' Pino said.

The developers challenge county calculations that there is an adequate supply of developable land within the UDB. ''They are overstating their numbers,'' said Melendi, who argues that the county has largely reached its buildable limits within the UDB.

He also said that predictions of more traffic gridlock are overblown, that Parkland's water and sewer system would be more environmentally friendly than those of many cities -- and that the allure of suburbia remains strong for many South Floridians.

''I don't see a trend of people moving closer to urban centers,'' Melendi said.

The first vote on moving the UDB is expected to come before the County Commission in December, but the process could stretch into the spring.

Melendi said the decision on Parkland may ultimately come down to politics. The UDB planning process, he said, ``is not being used as a planning tool; it's political.''

But when it comes to politics, the Parkland developers have plenty of clout.

The business leaders involved include not only Lennar Chief Executive Stuart Miller, whose West Miami-Dade company is among the largest home builders in the nation, but also Pino, who hosted President Bush at his Cocoplum home last month; Ed Easton, the industrial-park developer and a prominent Republican fundraiser; and Rodney Barreto, head of a lobbying firm and chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Also included are Ramon Rasco, chairman of U.S. Century Bank; Adolfo Henriques, former Regions Bank and Florida East Coast Industries executive; attorney Frank Angones, president of the Florida Bar last year; Sedano's Supermarkets President Agustin Herran and board member Armando Guerra; home builder Silvio Cardoso; and Ezra Katz, a real estate financier.

''For a lot of commissioners, these are the most influential people, and it spells trouble for the community,'' said Nancy Lee, a community activist and former board member of the Urban Environment League. ``This will be a question of whether power trumps policy.''



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