... I have received numerous e-mails from individuals looking for greater clarification on the project and our stance. To help satisfy these requests, I am posting a representative response to one such inquiry:
Thanks for your interest in this issue. The school is currently proposed to be built on 38 acres of former agricultural land that was seized by the school board last year through eminent domain. The parcel is located at the intersection of 152 avenue and 160 street. Though actual numbers cited vary, the school will accommodate anywhere from 2,000 to 2,800 students. Last March, the school board approved a roughly $260,000 preconstruction contract and the field has been cleared and fenced. The estimated $49 million construction contract has yet to be awarded. For over two years, this project has been in acquisition and development without the benefit of traditional public process.
As you might imagine, everyone would likely give you a different reason for opposing or supporting the school at its current location. For those of us pushing to have the site moved, the ultimate goal is to simply preserve the quality of life we’ve deliberately moved here to enjoy. As you’re aware, a new high school would bring about a bevy of localized impacts including noise, traffic, lighting and crime. This latter point has brought some controversy, primarily by a few who want to believe that teens opt to spend their idle time reading the bible and praying the rosary at home. Those of us who live in the real world recognize that every adolescent makes occasional errors in judgement, and clustering 2,000+ in one area increases that potential exponentially.
In the bigger picture, however, our strongest objection is that the school blatantly violates policies set forth in the county’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP), which dictates what sort of activities are permitted both west and east of the Urban Development Boundary (UDB). This imaginary line was purposely established by the county’s planning board to help stymie reckless growth and promote sensible long-term planning for future growth. The CDMP clearly states that high schools should not be constructed within a 1-mile buffer of the line, under the premise that improved facilities and infrastructure so close to the line serve to enable and encourage growth to the west. The entire footprint of the HHH1 project lies wholly within this buffer, which in our area is demarcated by 157 avenue. These concerns would have likely come to light had there been an honest effort to involve the public in the process.
That is where the Lennar development comes into play. They have proposed building Parkland, a 6,000 unit mini-city with approximately 200,000 square feet of retail space on 1,000 acres just west of Country Walk. Those 6,000 units include a mix of single family homes, condos and rental properties. To build the project, they would require passage of an exemption to build west of the UDB. In April, over the objections of residents, community organizations and Mayor Alvarez, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved two such exemption requests. One was approved largely on the promise of a new high school for the area.
If built at its proposed location, HHH1 would serve as a similar justification to allow for rampant westward expansion in our area. This would inevitably detract from the quality of life we all enjoy in ways we can only image. Having lived in a somewhat rural area yourself, you might better understand the importance of open spaces and tranquility to good living. It’s a lesson planners in Miami-Dade County have had a hard time grasping.
Believe me, we all understand the importance of quality educational opportunities to our community. At its current location, however, we believe HHH1 would sacrifice far too much to constitute a benefit. It would do our community little good to build a school that, in short order, would be swarmed by new students from the west.
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I know that some people sincerely do not believe that any crime will accompany this high school. Of course, "our children" are not criminals. However, if you believe that absolutely no trouble will come to our neighborhoods along with the school, I invite you to contact our own school board rep, Ana Rivas-Logan. Ask Ms. Rivas-Logan just how often, while she was an Asst. Principal at Miami Senior High, that she was called after hours about fights and other incidents involving students. If she is being honest, she will tell you that many of her dinners and evenings were interrupted by problems at the school ranging from loitering to fighting and even an occasional shooting. I know her personally and thus know this first-hand. This is the reality of managing a high school and anyone who thinks that HHH1 will be immune to these problems is naive. Your teenager may not be the one getting in trouble, but others will. This is a real consideration to be thought through before placing a high school in the middle of a quiet neighborhood.
I wish you guys the best of luck, but I'm afraid that it's already a done deal. Remember Lennar's involved. Had a similar situation happened to us about 3 years ago. Our board member is Evelyn Greer. She came down and put on an outstanding public "show" meeting. In a nut shell, promised us the moon and stars and ensured public participation in all aspects to siting and landscaping to the name. None of it ever happened. All got shoved down our throats. So now I'm a home owner who has to look at the "Back" of South Dade Middle School from my front yard. At night with all the lights, you'd think it was a prison there. Totally screwed up the normal traffic pattern turning some streets into permanent one ways and not just during school hours.
So again. Good Luck.......finding a realtor!
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