Miami-Dade agrees to protect Redland farming region from development, at least for now
Farm fields, groves and nurseries that dot south Miami-Dade’s famous Redland region are protected, for now, from growing development pressure.
The Miami-Dade County commission on Thursday voted to keep the agricultural region out of its Comprehensive Development Master Plan, which includes expansion areas that carve out land earmarked for development in the future. Commissioners decided, at least for now, against opening up other sensitive areas near the Everglades to builders.
Commissioners also pledged to pay more attention to climate change risks in the long-running battle over conserving the county’s dwindling natural and rural areas.
In backing the Redland protection, commissioners supported recommendations by staff that future development should happen within the existing Urban Development Boundary, which is the imaginary line that protects farms and wetlands around the county’s urban core.
“We have plenty of evidence showing that there is no need to expand areas for development for now, and we supported these amendments because they benefit everyone, and not just a group of developers who have a short-term view,” said Laura Reynolds, who represented Friends of the Everglades and was part of a task force in 2018 that studied the areas just west and south of the urban boundary that are potential zones for expansion should the need arise.
The meeting considered changes to the county’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan — the document that guides how and where to build, and what needs to be protected in the county.
Builders have been pushing for the expansion of areas where future development is allowed under the argument that Miami-Dade needs more affordable housing. Environmentalists say that housing needs can be met by building higher-density homes in underused areas near transit lines, a strategy that would address traffic issues while protecting sensitive areas like wetlands and farmland.
One amendment, for example, aimed to allow a developer to build a gas station with a mini-mart and a restaurant outside of the urban development boundary on Krome avenue. It was almost denied, as commissioners considered the project would attract unwanted development to an area now zoned for agriculture, and set a precedent for future sprawl in the land that’s covered by row crops. But the builder’s lawyers, supported by a couple of commissioners, pledged to reduce the scope of the project to just a gas station and a food mart. Voting was deferred until a meeting scheduled for March 20.
“We understand the concept of respecting agriculture, but I’m not clear how preserving land applies to this,” said Truly Burton, with the Builders Association of South Florida. “If land is preserved, will the business be preserved? Otherwise if you have land and no business, then what is left?”
Commissioners also considered how climate change will affect development, approving a measure that tackles adaptation with new, stronger language.
The latest update to the Master Plan includes limiting public investment in areas that are susceptible to hurricane-driven flooding and designing by next year a checklist for new development that asks how flooding from sea level rise will be addressed.
“We’re trying to accommodate future growth in those areas where it’s higher ground and makes more sense, and at the same time strengthening development in high hazard zones,” said Kimberly Brown, a supervisor in the county planning department.
The measure also asks the county to prioritize all future disaster funding from the state and federal government for vulnerable communities, as well as map rising groundwater in the county by 2022 so that Miami-Dade can create more laws around septic lands, underground pipes and new construction.
“We’ve come a long way in our ability to model the anticipated impact of sea level rise on our community,’’ Brown said.
With a separate measure, Miami-Dade also officially recommitted to a goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent by 2050, a target it’s been eyeing since 2010. Environmentalists gave a thumbs up to the county’s adaptation plans but criticized the county’s mitigation strategy.
“That is no bold climate policy,” said Claudia Sebastiani Tenzer, of the Miami Climate Alliance. The alliance is advocating for the county to switch to 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2035, which doesn’t include electricity from the Turkey Point nuclear plant that provides a significant amount of power to the region.
“We’re not moving fast enough,” she said. “We’ve got to work harder in South Florida if we want to be resilient.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2020 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Miami-Dade agrees to protect Redland farming region from development, at least for now."
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