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Charles Pattison
Here are two articles written by Charles
Pattison, AICP
President and CEO
1000 Friends of
Florida
cpattison@1000fof.org
(850) 222-6277 |
And now we know. With three reports
facing Martin County, nothing less than the whole of the comprehensive
plan is at stake. That may not be a surprising result given
thinking that the “limitations” of the current plan
need to be revisited.
In particular, this means major changes to the very important Urban
Services Boundary (USB), something the county commission has said it
would not move. And of course the USB has been the most
important policy in the plan that has limited sprawl so common in much
of Florida. Don’t believe the rhetoric
that you can make these changes and keep the USB – no less an
authority than Dr. Tom Daniels at the University of
Pennsylvania But if the recommendations of the rural land
patterns, industrial and MPO proposals are followed, you can forget the
USB. What’s offered instead are
“new” policies that promise more open space,
connected habitats and possibly better patterns of
development. Those were the same kinds of policies promoted
to help Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and look what they
have today.
This reminds me of an event many years involving one of the major
components of the state’s growth management program, the
Development of Regional Impact (DRI) process. The DRI process
was terminated as unnecessary and outdated, and a replacement called
the Intergovernmental Coordination Element “with
teeth”, was to be substituted. Hailed by DRI
opponents at its demise, the new process became less and less desirable
as it was developed. Eventually, the whole
“new” process was dropped, and the DRI process was
readopted. It was really quite simple. What looked
like a good idea simply got too complicated and too convoluted to serve
the very constitutents it was meant to benefit. In the end,
the “devil they knew” instead of the one they
didn’t ruled the day.
The situation here is really no different. The
“promise” of better results is what is being
offered, and that is at the expense of one of the most effective
comprehensive plans and policies in Florida. Can Martin
County afford to take this chance to gamble for a hoped for better
result? Can it really do this in the face of three expensive
studies, none of which have been coordinated with each other?
What about the already well debated and time-tested USB
policy? The phrase that seems to fit best: stay the
course.
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Martin County’s future is at
stake. Three new studies involving rural land patterns,
industrial development, and future roadway projects are all
recommending major changes to an award winning plan that has contained
the very sprawl that its neighbors to the north and south now
have.
Some citizens and elected officials believe that the existing
comprehensive plan must be “revisited” in order to
remove limitations that are preventing a better planned
future. At the center of the controversy are the Urban
Service Boundary (USB) and the 20 acre ranchette land use
category. These are two of the most important policies in a
plan that has limited sprawl, protected natural areas, and required
orderly expansion of the USB. In the name of better planning,
however, these studies are promising more protected open space, better
patterns of development, and a better roadway system with incentives
which involve more density in low density areas.
Those were the same kinds of policies promoted to help Miami-Dade,
Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and look what they have today.
No less a land use planning authority than Dr. Tom Daniels of the
University of Pennsylvania has said that if you allow new clustered
development outside the USB, then you destroy that very basic
concept. That is the same concept the Martin County
Commission has sworn to protect. Providing density incentives
for clustered development outside the USB is a way to keep that promise?
The “promise” of better results being offered is at
the expense of one of the most effective comprehensive plans in
Florida. Now is the time to let the many consultants and
County Commissioners know that the promises are just that.
Speak up in person or in writing now at the hearings this week and next
before it’s too late.
Charles Pattison, AICP
President and CEO
1000 Friends of
Florida
cpattison@1000fof.org
(850) 222-6277 |
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