Point of View
Palm Beach Post
June 1, 2016
Western development will have unintended consequences
We see the Agricultural Reserve being destroyed by unnecessary development. The local food market is growing, with the demand for locally grown food along with it. Preserving the Agricultural Reserve could provide a viable opportunity to increase locally grown foods and maintain Palm Beach County’s economy.
Yet Palm Beach County is moving to over-develop this area. This is because county staffers do not promote good planning.
The Post editorial on May 22, “County’s smart planning is ignored to give developers OK,” perfectly outlined the problem. Failure to protect the local economy and the environment is a troubling problem. We are focused only on saying “yes” to developers. We have a staff that no longer supports good planning.
The editorial clearly pointed out that we cannot pay for the roads we currently need and that concurrency no longer pays for the expenses of new infrastructure demanded by new projects. So why does the county continue to approve new projects?
It is because we no longer have a model for good planning in the county. County planners are now simply told to present proposals to be approved. It does not matter whether the county can afford the projects because there is never any real discussion of how we will pay for these infrastructure costs.
The public is no longer represented in the County Commission audience. Members of the public don’t attend meetings because the commission no longer listens to them. Commissioners meet with developers before public meetings and have their minds made up when they come to the meetings.
The public does not have the same access and has to wait for the meetings, where they are permitted only three minutes to speak — and sometimes that is reduced to two minutes. Members of the public have to arrive at the beginning of the meetings and wait for hours to be able to address the commissioners.
The county is approving developments that are too far outside of our corridors. They sit beyond the county’s existing road structure. There is no good way of connecting these developments to existing roads.
The other issue is drainage. In Houston, Texas, we have just seen catastrophic flooding. The ultimate cause was too much development and too much pavement, not permitting water any place to go. We may someday have the same problem as we continue to pave Palm Beach County.
Houston went through a great growth spurt where developments were approved without thought to where they would drain. New developments send water into older areas. We may experience the same problem if we continue with these endless developments that are farther and farther west.
DREW MARTIN, LAKE WORTH
Editor’s note: Drew Martin is the conservation chairman of the Loxahatchee Group of the Sierra Club.
3 comments:
drew Martin is also running for Shelly Vana's Commission seat when she leaves office. Elect Drew. An honest voice on the Palm Beach County Commission? It can happen if we elect Drew.
If you don't think that our county commissioners are getting rich under the table you are crazy.Forget term limits . We need campaign expense limits ! Every campaign limited to 10,000 bucks. That's more than enough to get your name out there. And no need to sell your soul to get campaign money like our current commissioners have.
Great article. And so very needed. And 8:49, good idea as well. We need somehow to stop this revolving door of government out of the sunshine and political paybacks for huge campaign donations. Why should we be paying for infrastructure for these wealthy developers to ruin the sustainability of our area? If you don't think it can happen, take a look at Texas now. Boom town development, that's what it gets you. Underwater. Period. Financially and literally.
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