Unfortunately, poor land use decisions that perpetuate urban sprawl cancel out all these other gains we are making.

In a tired old refrain, the County commission once again buckled under to the weak arguments of developers and decided to move the Urban Development Boundary.  This time it was for two commercial developments on the western fringe - one in Kendall and one on the edge of the Everglades on SW 8th Street.  As though we need more shopping in South Florida.

Much was made at the hearing of the fact that people from the adjacent neighborhoods wanted a Lowe's Home Store and a road.  The Lowe's developer also dangled the possibility of a charter school to eager parents resigned to the reality that the State will never provide adequate public education.  While the charter school is far from a done deal, even the whiff of it did get citizens down to County Hall.

But the truth is, citizens can have these amenities without moving the UDB.  Lowe's owns a parcel in the same neighborhood inside the UDB where they could develop a store.  (The insurmountable problem, according to Lowe's attorneys and lobbyists, is that
they would have to redesign their store to make it fit. Which seems like a very lame reason to move the UDB.)  There is sufficient industrial and commercial
land in both areas to address citizens' desires. And the county can build the road the community needs.

Our Urban Development Boundary is not an arbitrary or imaginary line, but a line that was drawn with purpose: to protect our wellfields, our Everglades and our agricultural land. 

Even our own Climate Change Advisory Task Force told us, on Earth Day no less, that further urban sprawl would be detrimental to the community as a whole. But we ignored their advice.

When considering issues of conserving our agricultural land and open spaces, victories are temporary and losses are permanent.  Once these lands, which include wetlands, are developed and paved over, they will never go back.

And there aren't just environmental costs when we move the Urban Development Boundary.  We hurt everyone's quality of life.  As we sprawl, our infrastructure costs rise, traffic delays increase, demand for services such as fire and police increase. 
We already have a backlog of $6 billion in unmet infrastructure needs.  Police and fire departments are stretched to capacity.  At a time of budget cuts and $4 per gallon gas prices, sprawl makes even less sense.

And, thumbing our nose at the report of the State of Florida's Department of Community Affairs, which objected to us moving the Urban Development Boundary, will have
consequences for our taxpayers as well.

Now our citizens will be paying for our costly litigation with the state.  That's right, your tax dollars will be used to fight on behalf of the developers who want to move the urban development boundary. This in a budget year when we'll be cutting neighborhood services and programs.

Our only hope is that the mayor's expected veto will be upheld by 5 commissioners, and the chances are slim.

We need for our development community and our County commission to change its thinking. Some progressive developers are heeding the call to develop infill properties.  These projects focus on creating housing, businesses, and jobs in our central cities, where fuel and transportation costs are much less. That is truly green development.

We have a choice:  to sprawl or not.  Instead of perpetuating a bad pattern of development, let's invest in fixing our stressed and aging roads, bridges, water and sewer plants and pipes.  Let's give our transit system a fighting chance to catch up with our community's transportation needs.  Let's focus on parts of our county most in need of investment.  We must break the bad habit of urban sprawl now.