More on The Lowe's Big Box Hearing. By Geniusofdespair

This was submitted to me and I am posting it as requested:

The hearing before an administrative law judge of The State Of Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA) versus Miami-Dade County (MDC) concluded Thursday in Miami. The DCA challenged the approval of two projects beyond the Urban Development Boundary (UDB). In this hearing, several people and organizations were part of the the case as intervenors (supporters) for each side.

Mrs. Karen Esty and Mr. Barry J. White were intervenors of behalf of the DCA. Mayor Michael Pizzi, Mayor of Miami Lakes, represented them pro bono in this case and the entire community should be grateful for his time and effort. 

The community should also be grateful to the DCA for pursuing and prosecuting this case aggressively and competently on its behalf; we do have friends in Tallahassee. Mr. Mike McDaniel of the DCA must be specially recognized for his informed and vigorous pleadings and his understanding of the problems we are facing and his work to bring rational growth to our County.

Summation arguments were not permitted at the end of the hearing but Mr. White had prepared a statement in case they were allowed. Here is that statement:

DOAH Case No. 08-003614GM   Judge B.D.E. Canter
DCA vs MDC Hearing January 28-29, 2009  Miami, FL
Summation Statement of DCA Intervenor Barry J. White
 
Judge Canter, Karen Esty and I are speaking on behalf of the two and a half million residents of Miami-Dade County. Our quality of life and the viability of our water supply are at stake in these matters. We are living in a fragile ecosystem on a limited spit land stuck between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, land which is becoming as stressed as its residents. This pivotal hearing is one of the most important and critical in the history of growth in this county.
 
The two projects under review represent more than just zoning issues. If either one is approved it will permit the camel to get its nose under the tent, to start an avalanche of building requests beyond the current UDB.  The proposed projects do not represent or fulfill any urgent or transcending need and certainly do not merit ignoring existing planning guidelines. Currently, there are major efforts to have the existing UDB permanently fixed so the movement to the next proposed limit of the boundary will not be unchallenged  and is not assured.
 
We have limited land. We are encroaching on the unique Everglades and its survival is not certain. We have limited water. We are on permanent water rationing. In January 2007 the Director of the South Florida Water Management District said, “If Miami-Dade keeps pulling (water) from the Biscayne Aquifer, salt water will gradually seep into the Everglades, destroying the environment and the drinking supply”.  He threatened a building moratorium. A movement to zero or limited growth is possible.
 
The Lowes Project, in addition to introducing construction into an environmentally sensitive virgin area, will pave over more of our land undermining and challenging our water supply and our ecosystem. Current research is showing that flora absorbs contaminants from an underlying aquifer. Lowes is putting profit before human and natural concerns.
 
Our roads are beyond capacity and we cannot commit any more land to roadways which urban expansion would require.
 
No developmental impact fees EVER cover the full long range costs of bringing new infrastructure to a project. Miami-Dade County has not increased its impact fees in fourteen years. If we build in new areas funds will have to be drawn from projects and services in other parts of the county.  We do not oppose rational growth. However, the proper course is urban infill such as we have seen along Coral Way east of SW 37 Avenue and along U.S. 1 in south county where responsible developers have creatively re-fashioned older areas which already have the necessary infrastructure, are close to transportation, shopping and services and where water, sewage, drainage, roads and schools are already concurrent.
 
There is a new economic reality in the nation and especially here in South Florida, We must shepherd the use of our limited financial resources as carefully as we protect our limited natural resources.
 
We cannot take any more land out of agriculture in Miami-Dade County, as the Brown project would do, without causing the demise of the industry. We are at the absolute minimum of the 55,000 acres of critical mass of contiguous land in agriculture required to maintain the supporting functional  infrastructure for the industry. In addition, degradation of the ecosystem is threatening the existence of an economic mainstay, sport fishing, in South Florida and the Keys.
 
We must learn to make do with the water we can count on and to live on the land which has already been designated for habitation and commerce. We cannot support or survive unbridled population growth and the paving over of paradise. Re-development, re-design, rational growth, and urban infill must take the place of urban expansion or we will kill our Golden Goose.
 
To preserve the quality of life in Miami Dade County, on behalf of its 2 ½ million residents, we ask that the considered recommendations of the Department of Community Affairs of the State of Florida, the Department of Planning and Zoning of Miami-Dade County, and the Mayor of Miami-Dade County be followed and that the Brown and Lowes building projects be denied.