Sierra Club Plea about the UDB. By Geniusofdespair

The Urban Development Boundary line is being threatened again. There is a petition to open up over 96 acres of green space that buffers the Everglades from development inside the UDB to allow retail and businesses. The Planning Advisory Board will be voting on whether or not to move forward on this issue.

Planning Advisory Board (PAB) meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 21st at 2 p.m.  We need you to be there to urge the Planning Advisory Board to reject expansion. Help us send one clear message: We do not want sprawl; we want smart, environmentally sensitive planning.  This meeting will be held at The Government Center at the commission chambers. If you can not attend, please email the Planning Advisory Board with your comments to reject the expansion.  Their contact information is below:

JoseBared                                 joseb@jonesdrydock.com
Aida G. Bao-Garciga                 Abao-garciga@miami-airport.com
Horacio Carlos Huembes          hcarlos@bellsouth.net
Jesus Vazquez                          ivazquez@facchina.com
Joseph James                          Joejames10@bellsouth.net
Javier Munoz                            Javier.munoz.mail@gmail.com
Serafin Leal                              serafinleal@bellsouth.net
Raymond Marin                        raymondm@hmdcpa.com
Robert Meador                         RBMESO@bellsouth.net
William Riley                            bill-riley@ibew349.org
Wayne Rinehart                       wrinehart@costarealty.com
Georgina Santiago                  gablespar@aol.com
Carla Ascencio-Savola            savolac@yahoo.com
Peter DiPace                           PeterDiPace.Esq@gmail.com
Paul Wilson                             Paulvwilson1@yahoo.com

      
                      

Moving the UDB LINE....Again. By Geniusofdespair

Turnberry/Doral GP, LLC - Land outlined in yellow

This will be going before the Planning Advisory Board 2pm on October 21st. It is Northwest and southwest corners of NW 41Street and the Florida Turnpike Extension. What do you think Turnberry, owner of the Aventura Mall, is going to do there?

Tired of fighting.

Planning Advisory Board Meeting. Guest Blog By Tropical Audubon Society

On Monday, April 15th at 10a.m., the Planning Advisory Board (PAB) will meet to discuss the proposed amendments to our Comprehensive Development Master Plan (the overall guiding growth management document for Miami Dade County).

There are a number of great initiatives that would help Miami grow sustainably and would improve our quality of life. The general components added to our CDMP include:

Allocation of funds for public transportation (Application 2, MT3-C & MT3-D)  

Incorporation of climate change to our planning (Application 1)

Increased protection of our watersheds and the Everglades (Application 4) 

Health as a major component of city-planning    

Recognition of natural resources preservation as an economic as well as environmental issue (Application 4) 

We need you to attend this meeting and express support for these great initiatives! This is step #1 to prevent sprawl and protect our green spaces, so please join us. For more information, please read out letter.   

Trying to Move the UDB Line: Ferro Property. By Geniusofdespair

Once again, someone wants to move the Urban Development Boundary line, this time it is for retail space. The only trouble is, there is already a lot of retail space in the area available (see all the pushpins in the map above created by Clean Water Action). For instance, the red pushpin is in the Hammocks, a retail complex with a Publix as an anchor store. There is already property in the Hammocks available for many usages, says the crack tag team at Tropical Audubon Society and Clean Water Action, and the Hammocks is only a little over a mile away. Of course, this is not the only reason NOT to be moving the line.

The hearing at the Planning Advisory Board is at the Stephen Clark Gov’t Center on Monday, 3/22 at 9:30a.m. The address is 111 NW 1st Street, Suite 200, Miami. If you can't go, contact Planning Advisory Board Members at mclf@miamidade.gov. Here is a list of the members of the board:

Coral Gables Candidate Gonzalo Sanabria Voted to Move the Urban Development Boundary Line Again and Again. By Geniusofdespair

On 11/14/05 Gonzalo Sanabria made a speech at the Planning Advisory Board meeting discounting Hold the Line (HTL). He said that Brown (one of the applications to move the Urban Development Boundary line) had 2,000 petitions and Gonzalo said that in comparison, HTL had the same 5, 6 or 7 people speaking all the time. He said maybe when HTL can come with 2,000 signatures we will listen to them. In fact, I don’t think Gonzalo ever knew, Coral Gables was a member of Hold the Line.

Communities joined HTL because with billions of dollars of unfunded and deteriorating infrastructure within the line, they did not want to further strain the budget by going outside the line. They wanted to catch up within the line first.

You would think while Gonzalo Sanabria was a member of the Planning Advisory Board, considering he lived and worked in Coral Gables, that he would have the interest of his hometown in his heart. He voted exactly opposite of Christi Sherouse (on every single vote to move the UDB Line). He voted to move the Urban Development Boundary, Christi voted not to. Heck, he didn't only vote he also argued in favor of most of the applications. He and Christi argued with each other during the preliminary meeting 11/14/05 and the final meeting on 3/30/06.

Christi Sherouse was representing the County Commissioner of Coral Gables: Gonzalo was representing the district including Aventura, Bal Harbor, Bay Harbor Islands, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Surfside, Sunny Isles and some of Miami Beach for Former County Commission Chair Gwen Margolis, then Sally Heyman. The Planning Advisory Board Members do not have to live in the district they represent. But, Gonzalo, you should note that North Miami, North Miami Beach, Surfside, Aventura, Miami Beach, Bal Harbor and Bay Harbor Islands were all members of Hold the Line. You were representing these cities on the Planning Advisory Board. You didn't even vote the same way as the Commissioner who you were representing. I think you agreed on one application: Hialeah. The rest, you voted to move the line and Sally Heyman voted no. Exactly who were your representing?

During the final vote 3/30/06, Gonzalo Sanabria voted in favor of every application to move the UDB line. He even argued in favor of the Doral West Commerce Park application in November, which was a half-hearted application at best, no one else was giving it much support. I think it might have been withdrawn but I am not sure.

Hey Gonzalo, if I heard you right, you argued that the Hialeah application would create 16,000 jobs. Have you checked on that lately? Follow-up is important. You also were voting for the Lowes Big Box Store application, you said based on the promise that they were going to sell the school board/charter school land for a new school. There was nothing in writing on that promise either. And, if the line was moved and the school board/charter school did not use the land, Lowe’s would have been free to use the land for other purposes. How do I know this? I sat in at the Administrative Hearings this year, Lowe's admitted as much.


It is dangerous to make such important votes on promises. Christi Sherouse didn’t vote like you did on any of the applications, she represented Coral Gables well. She listened, she held the line.

Miami Dade Planning Advisory Board Members & Dennis Moss is the New County Commission Chair. By Geniusofdespair

Members of the Miami Dade County Planning Advisory Board and who appointed them: Reginald Clyne (Edmonson), Antonio Fraga (Barreiro), Pamela Gray (Sorenson) VOTED AGAINST PARKLAND, Horacio Carlos Huembes (At Large), Rolando Iglesias (Souto), Eddy Joachin (Jordan), Daniel Kaplan (Martinez), Serafin Leal (Diaz), Al Maloof (Rolle), William W. Riley (At Large), Wayne Rinehart (Sosa), Georgina Santiago (At Large), Christi Sherouse (Gimenez)VOTED AGAINST PARKLAND, Jay Sosna (Moss) VOTED AGAINST PARKLAND, Felipe Llanos (Seijas).
Hit to enlarge it.