Reject industrial facility in South Miami-Dade. It needs agriculture and a healthy bay, instead | Opinion

The proposed South Dade Logistics District — hailed by its traders as a job-creating savior for south Miami-Dade County — is as an alternative damaging and pointless industrial growth.

The long-term well being and prosperity of south Miami-Dade County relies upon not solely on jobs, however on a wholesome Biscayne Bay, clear water, safety of the Everglades and a viable agriculture trade. That’s why we’re calling on the Miami-Dade County Fee to observe workers’s advice and vote No on Could 19.

Jobs? Related giant developments already proposed or beneath means in South Dade — in places the place industrial use is at the moment allowed — supply the potential for at the least 6,400 further jobs, based on the county’s skilled workers. Actually, beforehand authorized warehouse-style growth tasks stay largely unbuilt, resulting from waning demand. Why would the Miami-Dade County Fee convert 800 acres of productive agricultural land offering long-term jobs in South Dade to permit extra warehouses?

In its 1,400-page evaluation of the undertaking, the county decided the traders behind this land-use change, Aligned Actual Property Holdings and South Dade Industrial Companions, haven’t substantiated their inflated jobs numbers, which assume a full build-out of the 800-acre website. And there’s not even an precise growth plan for almost all of the 800 acres, which the candidates don’t really personal.

The builders argue {that a} new main employment heart to draw jobs is desperately wanted for South Dade, and that there isn’t sufficient accessible land in South Dade to assist these jobs. That is verifiably false. The county report concludes: “On condition that South Tier’s present industrial land provide at the moment has the capability to maintain industrial development past the 12 months 2040, rising the acreage greater than twofold . . . as proposed within the utility, runs opposite to the coverage goals of prioritising using present websites at the moment contained in the [Urban Development Boundary.]

“Moreover, the appliance doesn’t display why accessible industrial parcels throughout the UDB will not be enough for the proposed industrial growth.”

What’s extra, native farmers and state agricultural consultants contradict the applicant’s claims that the land will not be agriculturally helpful and level out that the undertaking will eradicate agricultural manufacturing and jobs.

If this utility is authorized, it can lead to a windfall for traders — a considerable improve in property values and extra entitlements for using the land. What it is not going to do is present an financial boon to the area’s residents. And it’ll come on the expense of county taxpayers who will probably be on the hook for long-term upkeep of latest public infrastructure wanted for this large growth — which is in an space confirmed vulnerable to flooding.

Then there’s Biscayne Bay. The undertaking would do injury to many years of planning to guard and restore Biscayne Bay and the encompassing setting. The candidates’ claims that their undertaking will defend the bay and associated ecosystems are absurd. They’ve been refuted by each native, state and federal environmental company that has reviewed its plans.

These businesses, in addition to a bunch of well-respected unbiased scientific, technical and financial consultants, have made clear that constructing an industrial facility on prime of 800 acres of distinctive farmland and open house — strategically situated for restoring freshwater flows into Biscayne Bay and its surrounding wetlands — threatens to compromise ongoing Everglades restoration tasks wanted to revive the Bay. In a technical evaluation, these consultants rejected the applicant’s suspect claims that an industrial facility will probably be higher for the bay than the present farming makes use of.

County guidelines preclude placing new city infrastructure on this low-lying land that’s weak to sea-level rise and coastal storms. The developer portrays the undertaking’s main environmental issues as one way or the other a fiction created by “some environmental teams.”

The fact is that the county’s environmental and planning workers have issued two damning stories and rebuttals of the applicant’s claims — relative to nearly each facet of the undertaking. State environmental and agricultural consultants agree with these criticisms and raised lots of their very own.

County commissioners ought to reject this request to upend longstanding guidelines wanted to make sure the longer term well being and prosperity of south Miami-Dade for a flawed land-use scheme. The financial and environmental guarantees are empty.

Richard Grosso is an environmental land-use lawyer with 30 years of expertise in South Florida. Katy Sorenson served on the Miami-Dade County Fee, representing District 8, from 1994-2010.

This story was initially revealed Could 16, 2022 3:43 PM.