The Ink is Dry! Community Action Stops Development and Saves Local Coastal Wetlands for Restoration Efforts
Celebration planned for Saturday, March 27th at Tropical Audubon's Moonlight Concert. Doc Thomas House, 5530 Sunset Dr., South Miami, 7pm. (305) 667-7337. Join us to raise a glass in toast to this hard won community victory!
An agreement has been reached and papers signed. 129 acres at SW 184th & Old Cutler will be in public hands because of grass roots community action. Tenacity throughout a 3 year long process at multiple levels of government is what it took to keep this last piece of coastal green from seemingly inevitable development. Heartfelt gratitude to all who contributed to this outcome!
Timeline and History of this deal gone right in the end:
Adjacent "Cutler Cay" sets a precedent for carving into coastal wetlands despite being in the footprint of restoration projects and gets targeted by National Geographic as a threat to Biscayne National Park.
2005 - Cutler Properties LLC, represented by Bilzin Sumberg of the infamous submerged land deal, submits development applications to the USACE, SFWMD and DERM to build 400 houses and mixed use on 30 acres of Class I coastal wetlands right in the path of a planned Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) project. The 130 acre tract contains only 9 acres of land that can be developed without an environmental variance.
Fall 2006 Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay residents Tom Condon, Eduardo Varona, Amy Roda and Beth Kibler organize their communities to oppose DERM's permit approval recommendation before the county Evironmental Quality Control Board (EQCB). Months of community pressure and SFWMD indecision prompt a withdrawal of the variance request.
August 2007 - Governor Crist appoints SFWMD Governing Board members that are supportive of the Sugar Lands deal. This board passes a moratorium on permitting in 6000 acres of BBCW. SFWMD then gets sued by Cutler Properties for an illegal taking of the land. In December of 2008, mounting legal and financial pressures prompt the board to rescind the permitting moratorium - with no stakeholder notice.
January 2009 - The regulatory side of the District proposes a "compromise" that changes the restoration plan - and mirrors the original development footprint - in an attempt to neutralize mounting District liability.
Local residents insist on the full implementation of CERP and public purchase of the land and again send email, meet with board members, speak at monthly public meetings across south Florida and do the research to stop “compromises” that are not based on science or public interest. The CERP side of the District finally stands up for CERP and Regulatory is able to recommend a denial of the permit. Negotiations between the District and the owner are on and off and monthly meetings are characterized by extensions and deferrals.
January 2010 Governing Board Meeting in Key Biscayne - A resolution to settle the lawsuit and purchase the land is on the agenda. Hundreds of emails are received by board members within a two day period. Numerous residents, elected officials, government agencies and non-profit organizations including Tropical Audubon, National Parks Conservation Association, Biscayne National Park, Department of the Interior, Mayor Eugene Flinn, Mayor Paul Vrooman and Commissioner Katy Sorenson speak to once again highlight the public good that will be served by acquisition of the property.
On March 11th, 2010 the SFWMD Governing Board:
-voted unanimously to authorize the settlement deal
-approved acquisition of 129.88 acres
-acted to access funds from the Save Our Everglades Trust Fund
-approved wetland restoration costs
This action demonstrates commitment to CERP/Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands and to the long term health and well being of our residents and to fragile coastal habitats. BBCW aims to:
-restore wetlands
-improve natural fresh water flows to Biscayne Bay
-reduce salinity in the Bay
-rebuild coastal estuaries
-protect Biscayne National Park
-protect our water supply
-sustain the economic viability of the bay
8 comments:
This accomplishment is a rarity in South Florida, for that matter, in many other places both in and outside Florida. It shows what ordinary people, by asking the right questions and putting bureaucrats on the spot, can achieve. No more nonsense that ignores the common good of the environment and its social and economic benefits--both of which are invaluable; instead, reinforce the expectation that oversight of these resources must be provided without the historic insistence on accommodating development interests. Just as importantly, this is an object lesson for environmental groups, who ultimately want the same thing but often argue among themselves for their own narrow causes. To wit: Advocates of the Everglades and supporters of Biscayne Bay should keep striving to work together to revitalize both our National Parks and their unique place in our region.
How about a beach for people to swim here? or a walk along the water? More public access to the waterfront is needed in this area that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Or are all the neighbors too rich to care about the rest of us?
I agree!
To the North there is a Deering Natural Area that used to be accessible to the Public but after palmetto bay or whichever Municipality claimed this area, at 152 St East to 6? Ave?? MDC put in coral rock boulders and No Parking signs at the entrance to this Public Natural Area Land it is now for the private use of the Private development at the end of 152 St which by the way cuts down Mangroves trees on a consistent basis ...How about it???
"How about a beach for people to swim here? or a walk along the water? More public access to the waterfront is needed in this area that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Or are all the neighbors too rich to care about the rest of us?"
Ask not what your water management district can do for you - ask what you can do for your water management district and your community, anonymous. Public access/recreation is part of CERP. Write Eric Buermann the SFWMD governing board chair at ebuermann@sfwmd.gov and your county commissioner and ask for it!!!
Sounds like years of hard work on this. Thanks to all the folks in these towns who got together to save this piece of land. Biscayne Bay needs all the help it can get!
It's a good thing there was a restoration plan footprint here or this property would have gone the way of every other wetland that goes through the DERM, SFWMD or Army Corps of Engineers permitting process. Environmental impacts would have been traded for phony compromises and "mitigation" and the bulldozers would have rolled. There would be 400 new empty houses to add to the already 40% vacancy rate.
There is public access to the water in this area that not only doesn't cost an arm and a leg, but is free. Try the People's Dock at the Deering Estate or Palmetto Bay's park on the south side of the canal at Snowden's bridge. Also, the area along the north side of the canal currently under renovation by the County's Park & Rec Dept. is a popular place to fish, launch kayaks, and watch the sun come up. The Cutler Properties site is not an appropriate place for land-based public access to the water, given it would take cutting through hundreds of yards of mangroves within the boundaries of Biscayne National Park to reach the water, which is less than two feet deep for hundreds of yards more offshore. Also, considering how badly folks treat the bay in areas that are easily accessible by land, this spot is better off left to those who care enough to make the effort to reach it by canoe or kayak.
There is no possibility of creating a beach here. Aside from being totally destructive of the natural habitat to do so, one would sink knee deep in muck along the mangrove coast. This area is rich in a natural ecological ecosystem and needs to be left completely alone. As above readers have said, launch your kayak or canoe from the north or south public access areas and enjoy this last stretch of natural habitat the way it should be. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
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