Lessons in Land Use Planning for South Florida
Land use planning regulations are responsible for an extreme transformation of the landscape in South Florida. It is surprising then that land use planning allowed landscape changes of this magnitude. There is a story behind most of these decisions.
Everglades Betrayal - The Issue that Defeated Al Gore describes the proposal to redevelop the former Homestead Air Force Base that was all but finalized before conservationists noticed that the development would have destroyed two natural features that make south Florida special: Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park. Everglades Betrayal chronicles the processes that were followed to comply with - or change - land use planning regulations to accommodate the proposed development. There were local processes to amend the county’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan and efforts to block the amendments and state processes to govern development. The amendments also changed federal processes to close a military installation in accordance with the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) process and to protect against environmental impacts in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Everglades Betrayal provides a case study of one complex saga for students and practitioners of land use planning, development, environmental protection, and land management. It involves a revered politician, developers with extensive political ties, the National Park Service, conservation groups, and interested citizens. In the end, Everglades Betrayal describes land use planning’s effect on the 2000 presidential election that came down to south Florida voters.
As we now know, land use planning impacts all of us that live in this country and care about our environment.
The Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore is now available to you online.
