A call to Action by the UEL Board of Directors!

Florida is a treasure which we have the privilege of enjoying with the responsibility to preserve and enhance that treasure for future generations. - Former Senator Bob Graham

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR UEL BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

To All Those Interested in Fair Growth and Good Planning in Greater Miami:

The Urban Environment League calls on you to speak out against fast track legislation that will significantly harm the built and natural environment of South Florida. We are facing a major crisis brought on by Governor Rick Scott and the state legislature.

Is Florida prepared for more uncontrolled development? Governor Rick Scott thinks so. He’s working to destroy the growth management laws and gut the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to appease to the interest of developers. The public's interest is being lost and we will pay a high price in years to come. Most of the public does not adequately appreciate the complex nature of the issues involved but hopefully you can help persuade legislators that thousands of voters do care very much.

Under the leadership of Governors Reubin Askew and Bob Graham, Florida was at the forefront of states in creating the Growth Management Act of 1985 - mandating state oversight of local development so that more rational planning could assure fair funding of public infrastructure, calling for contributions by developers. Do we really want to gut this legislation in favor of paying for new development when we have such a glut of unsold properties from the past housing crisis?

What’s at stake for South Florida?

- Our fragile Everglades ecosystem faces new and unplanned for encroachment!

- Our municipal services, already struggling, would be incredibly strained by this legislation.

- Our existing infrastructure and transportation systems need to be upgraded before we can pay for more development & growth! Where would any authority effectively oversee that?

Governor Scott is proposing that the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) be drastically reduced in size and its authority to regulate development emasculated. The citizens, in the past, have been able to call on the DCA for help with issues like enforcing the UDB line rules and requiring water dependent uses for riverside properties. This will end.

The DCA has been instrumental in maintaining the urban boundary line (UDB) in Miami-Dade County as well as other counties that face the threat of decentralized sprawl. That could become history.

The Urban Environment League is in favor of well planned development, infill and encourgaing development around transportation corridors but knows all to well that some politically connected developers in Miami-Dade County can and will easily distort community needs in favor of their narrow interests. Without the oversight of the DCA, uncontrolled growth will prevail.

Now is the time to advocate and fight for smart growth planning in South Florida and throughout our state!

Join the UEL and other groups like Tropical Audubon Society in demanding that growth management laws remain intact and that the DCA remain as a vital government entity, fully funded and fully staffed.

There are a number of ACTION STEPS you can take:

1. Commit to writing a letter to the editor of your newspaper.
2. Send an email to your State Representative or State Senator in support of growth management.
3. Also call their office.
4. Post your concerns and share articles about this issue on Facebook, asking your friends to write emails and make calls to their legislators!

Please contact the UEL with any questions or requests for assistance at uelinfo@bellsouth.net

Florida really needs your support at this critical time!

Thank you,

UEL Board of Directors

Bob Graham - The Sad State of our State

Bob Graham column: The sad state of our state (reprinted from the St. Pete Times)

Bob Graham, the former Florida governor who also served in the U.S. Senate, wrote a column for the St. Petersburg Times.

As the Legislature enters its second half, there has emerged a disturbing pattern of ignoring many of Florida's core values. Over the last half-century these values have given Florida government — whether in Republican or Democratic hands — a stability and predictability that is now threatened.

What are some of those at-risk values?

Florida is a treasure which we have the privilege of enjoying with the responsibility to preserve and enhance that treasure for future generations.

For most of Florida's history, up until the mid 1960s, our state was treated like a commodity. If you didn't like it you changed it: land into water; water into land. The business of the state was business, and our enormous natural resources were just another input. The quality and safety of our coasts, fresh waters, open lands and the Everglades were regularly and enthusiastically sacrificed on the altar of growth.

Riding over the horizon were two merging armies. Emerging Democratic leaders, such as Reubin Askew of Pensacola and Lawton Chiles of Lakeland, who were in the vanguard of the recently reapportioned Legislature, joined forces with young Republicans like Nathaniel Reed of Hobe Sound and Warren Henderson of Sarasota, who were appalled at the change they had seen in their newly adopted state.

These armies had a common mission: to reverse the damage commoditization had done to Florida and replace it with a culture of conservation and intergenerational responsibility.

Read the entire column here.

Miami Beach Parking Problems

In yesterday's Miami Herald, Daniel Shoer Roth wrote about the parking shortage on Miami Beach and the impact on the Beach's residents. He quoted activist and longtime friend of the Urban Environment League, Frank Del Vecchio:

"The problem is not development but the failure to regulate development."

The article says:

One culprit for the decline in quality of life is what urban planners call "intensity of use.'' Take, for example, a 150-room hotel. By Miami Beach code, it must have one parking space per room. But one day, looking for additional revenue, the hotel opens a nightclub with a capacity of hundreds of customers. The hotel has no obligation to provide more parking.

City of Weston Poised to Fight State of Florida. By Fran Bohnsack

Weston is appealing to other municipalities hoping they will join them to mount a legal challenge against unpopular Senate Bill 360 that Crist recently signed into law. Here is the letter Weston is sending out (Hit of the pages to enlarge them).

According to the Daily Business Review:

Seven governments have joined Weston [in opposing the law], and several others are considering this within the next two weeks, said Weston City Attorney Jamie Cole of Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske in Fort Lauderdale.

Three cheers to Weston!

Florida Hometown Democracy - Don't believe the Hype Against It. By Fran Bohnsack

Note the press release below. It is hype. Ryan Houck is a young political operative who worked for Republican Senator Martinez. He was hired to keep Hometown Democracy off the ballot. Now it appears he is trying to smear it, i.e. by calling it the Anti-Jobs amendment. Don't believe the hype! Look at the word "Radical" that he uses. That couldn't be further from the truth. I am going to vote for Amendment 4. I have seen growth management railroaded. I think letting the people vote on Land-Use changes, after they have been approved by a city or a county, is not radical: It is democratic. And it is not 'Vote on Everything,' as they say, it is vote for what the government changes in the State Approved Growth Management Plans (changes that are usually developer driven).

Tell the truth Floridians for Smarter Growth (better known as the Chamber and the development lobby).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ryan Houck

AFTER THREE FAILED ATTEMPTS, ANTI-JOBS "AMENDMENT 4" IS CERTIFIED FOR BALLOT
Led by Floridians for Smarter Growth, the business community is ready for battle
(ORLANDO, FL - June 22, 2009) The radical "Hometown Democracy" proposal failed to reach the ballot in 2004, 2006 and 2008. However, the Secretary of State today certified the anti-jobs amendment for the 2010 ballot. It will appear on the ballot as Amendment 4.

UEL was against SB360 from the start.

This was delivered to the legislature:

A Resolution of the Urban Environment League of Miami-Dade County
April 2, 2009

Whereas, Florida became a leader among states during the 1970s and 1980s in terms of the quality of its growth management legislation; notably with the Growth Management Act of 1985 under the leadership of Governor Bob Graham;

Whereas growth management has become an important tool in combating urban sprawl, inadequately planned growth, impact fees, and environmental oversight by state agencies;

Whereas, the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), although inadequately staffed, has provided invaluable oversight of local developments, DRI’s and other growth management mechanisms;

Whereas the Florida Senate has passed SB 360 which can be found online at

http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2009/Senate/bills/billtext/pdf/s0360c1.pdf that will have the effect of decimating numerous existing agencies such as the DCA, and greatly facilitating the permitting process for builders at the local level. Among other problems with the legislation, it recommends that “the Legislature recognizes and finds that reduced state oversight of local comprehensive planning is justified for some local governments in urban areas and for certain types of development ” and that “this state's urban areas require a reduced level of state oversight because of their high degree of urbanization and the planning capabilities and resources of many of their local governments.”

Whereas, building sustainable neighborhoods has become a national priority, including adequate funding for infrastructure, water supply, and preservation of open spaces, urban development boundary lines; and

Whereas Florida, of all places on the planet, must find a way to support innovative development that can turn the tide against climate change;

Whereas, the economy of Florida has historically been devastated by poorly planned expansion of housing tracts and inadequate oversight of concurrency or planning of infrastructure;

Whereas the existing economic downturn has been caused, in significant degree, by the complicity of builders, bankers and others who have sought short term profits at the expense of long term planning;

Whereas there have been legitimate concerns expressed by developers about the length and clarity of the permitting process;

Whereas, the construction and development industry has, for far to long, had a disproportionate impact on the political process through its campaign funding and extensive lobbying and press/advertising networks;


Whereas the public has inadequate understanding of the proposed changes in SB 360 and other similar legislation;

Be it Therefore Resolved that the Urban Environment League

1. Condemns the proposed legislation known as SB 360 and calls for its immediate defeat. We urge the public to write to members of the House urging that the provisions of SB 360 that damage DCA not be incorporated into the House companion Bill, HB 1019, or any other growth management bill;

2. Recommends that a special Florida Reform Commission on Growth Management for Sustainable Development be created by Governor Crist with wide representation from construction, business, environmental, community/neighborhood, and affordable housing groups as well as state and local officials. Said commission will be charged to take a year to hold hearings around the state, take wide public input, do an historical assessment of growth management legislation and make a set of recommendations to the Governor and Legislature about reforms of the system;

3. Recommends that urban areas send representatives of non-profit organizations to a separate statewide conference on Reforming Growth Management to be held in the fall of 2009

4. That public school students -- and the public -- be made aware of the growth management legislation through linked websites.

Watch out for Cul-De-Sacs

Principles of Smart Growth

Principles of Smart Growth from Smart Growth Online:

Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
Providing quality housing for people of all income levels is an integral component in any smart growth strategy.


Create Walkable Neighborhoods
Walkable communities are desirable places to live, work, learn, worship and play, and therefore a key component of smart growth.


Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
Growth can create great places to live, work and play -- if it responds to a community’s own sense of how and where it wants to grow.


Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
Smart growth encourages communities to craft a vision and set standards for development and construction which respond to community values of architectural beauty and distinctiveness, as well as expanded choices in housing and transportation.


Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
For a community to be successful in implementing smart growth, it must be embraced by the private sector.


Mix Land Uses
Smart growth supports the integration of mixed land uses into communities as a critical component of achieving better places to live.


Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
Open space preservation supports smart growth goals by bolstering local economies, preserving critical environmental areas, improving our communities quality of life, and guiding new growth into existing communities.


Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
Providing people with more choices in housing, shopping, communities, and transportation is a key aim of smart growth.


Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities
Smart growth directs development towards existing communities already served by infrastructure, seeking to utilize the resources that existing neighborhoods offer, and conserve open space and irreplaceable natural resources on the urban fringe.


Take Advantage of Compact Building Design
Smart growth provides a means for communities to incorporate more compact building design as an alternative to conventional, land consumptive development.

The Truth About Florida SB360 Bill

The "Hold the Line Video."



New Urbanism: Liz PLater Zyberk & Andres Duany

Designing for Smart Growth