Today, Miami-Dade County commissioners will cast a final vote on a developers’ proposal to add almost 800 acres of rural land off Florida’s Turnpike to the Urban Development Boundary. Friends of the Everglades executive director Eve Samples traveled to Miami to deliver the following comments in opposition to the industrial complex which threatens valuable green space and Biscayne Bay restoration efforts. Chairman and Commissioners, I’m Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. We were founded in 1969 to fend off a dangerous development that threatened the Everglades ecosystem. Back then, it was the Everglades Jetport. Today, it is the South Dade industrial complex. This vote is a litmus test. The outcome will reflect whether your voiced support [...]

Friends of the Everglades joined Tropical Audubon Society, Everglades Law Center, Audubon Florida, and National Parks Conservation Association  in sending a letter to the Miami-Dade Board of County Commission to express our concerns and strong opposition regarding the application to expand the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) to create the South Dade Logistics and Technology District. Three areas of particular concern include: The SDLTD proposal lacks detailed analyses and would create unacceptable risks to wetlands, flood protection, floodplain management and our regional water supply. The promised economic benefits of the SDLTD amendment application are not real and the costs are greatly understated. The proposal is dramatically inconsistent with the Miami-Dade Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP) and its long-held planning policies. The [...]