Come for the Land Speculation, Stay for the Red Tape!

My comments follow the story.
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www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbmasterplan0106sbjan06,0,4867253.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale Beach revisiting its master plan for development
Master plan update includes citizen remarks on traffic, affordable housing
By Jennifer Gollan
January 6, 2008

Hallandale Beach
Deluged by proposals for flashy high-rises and gambling hubs, the city last year called a time out to do some urban planning.

A moratorium on new development has been in place since August. The city has hired a consultant to overhaul its 30-year-old master plan, to outline what should be built over the coming decades, and how.

As part of the planning process, more than 60 residents registered their concerns Saturday about everything from the surfeit of traffic to the dearth of affordable housing during a two-hour meeting at the Hallandale Beach Cultural Community Center.


It was the second of four public meetings intended to gather residents' input before the City Commission votes on the plan in February.

The redrafting of the city's plan is driven by an explosion in planned or possible development, including at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino and Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center.

There has been a related flurry of proposals for condo towers and mixed-use projects to replace the barren parking lots, tired storefronts and dilapidated homes that overtook much of the city beginning in the 1970s.

"Now development is coming at us like a 180-mph bullet train," said Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London.

Indeed, more than 1 million square feet of new development — proposed before the moratorium took effect — is pending or already under way, said Richard Cannone, the city's director of development services.

"The catalyst for the master plan was the development of the casinos, which led us to make sure we are developing in an organized way," Cannone said.

The plan outlined Saturday envisioned six mini-downtowns with shops, restaurants and housing.

The goal is to create a pedestrian-friendly city with lush parks and a unique identity, said Donald Shockey, project manager for EDAW Inc., a design firm with offices in Miami Beach that is overhauling the city's plan for a $250,000 fee.

"Because of the economy, we want to make sure we have economically feasible redevelopment well into the future," said Mayor Joy Cooper.

To that end, Joe DeFalco, 78, asked city leaders Saturday how Hallandale Beach could afford the ambitious vision given in the master plan.

"Where are you going to get the money to do all of this?" asked DeFalco, who is president of Tower Mobile Home Park.

"It's not going to be a boondoggle program," said Shockey, "it's going to be done in a phased, measured way."

Jennifer Gollan can be reached at jgollan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7920.
Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbdig01027sbjan02,0,2312417.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Hallandale Beach: Master plan concepts to be presented at public forum
January 2, 2008

A public forum on the citywide master plan is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cultural Community Center, 410 SE Third St.

Initial master plan concepts will be presented and comments from the public received. Residents, businesses and other interested parties are encouraged to attend.
Call 954-457-1381.

Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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Come for the Land Speculation, Stay for the Red Tape!

On the chance that you didn't see the actual print edition of this last Sunday, it had a very different sort of headline: "Hallandale prepares for building blitz"

Wish the Sun-Sentinel reporter had been at the first public unveiling last month, the day after Christmas, when there were more citizens in attendance.

I'll be posting my comments soon on the Hallandale Beach Master Plan itself, which I picked up a printed copy of recently and have been reading in dribs and drabs to refresh my thoughts on the meeting I attended on December 26th.

HB Masterplan Workshop 5503 KB, Last Uploaded: 12/26/2007
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/DocumentView.asp?DID=456

I should say here, though, that while I might disagree with some aspects of it, given the reality of the demographics and personalities here, the presentation itself by Donald Shockey was very impressive in its overall scope, as was his ease with dispensing pertinent facts.

Equally importantly to me was EDAW's true understanding of the myriad underlying problems of the city, and their realization that there's no magic bullet.

Also, contrary to the impression that may've been created by the reporter here, and very much for the better, EDAW, Inc. is an international firm whose closest office is located on Miami Beach, NOT a local firm in Miami Beach with no sense of what's going on outside of South Florida.

I spent quite some time prior to the first public forum looking at their website, then did a Google search to see the sort of plans the firm has produced for past clients, and what the public reaction in those cities were, and suggest you do the same.

(They also did the downtown Master Plan for Boynton Beach
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpschool0107pnjan07,0,5528328.story )

Barbara Faga, EDAW's executive vice president, works out of the Atlanta and Miami Beach offices, and started a blog after writing a book on the intersection of design, development and public policy, http://barbarafaga.com/book/buy.aspx which is quite interesting called designing public consensus.

She even writes about the problems in her own neighborhood in Atlanta associated with unelected neighborhood association officials in a very illuminating fashion.
See http://www.edaw.com/whoWeAre/principals/principal.aspx?key=8931
and http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/

Referenced blog post re Atlanta is at:
http://www.designingpublicconsensus.com/blog/?p=42

For what it's worth, Design Intelligence named her "one of the top 15 women who are changing the world of architecture."

IF only we could put Ms. Faga in charge of building and implementing a new Marlins ballpark near Chez Huizenga and the Metro that'll be operating near there in 2012.
A beautiful and uniquely Miami stadium, funded largely by a new consortium of far-sighted Marlin owners with a love for architecture, design and South Florida, instead of the current Loria & Co. brain trust, which seems fixated on paying for as much of it as possible with the public's wallet. In what could only be called one of THE worst possible locations, far from its fans.
She could be a Janet Marie Smith for South Florida's baseball fans!

See Ballpark: Camden Yards and the Building of an American Dream by Peter Richmond
See http://www.amazon.com/Ballpark-Camden-Yards-Building-American/dp/0684800489

Here are some links to some local South Florida projects that EDAW is involved with.
They might help you come to some conclusions on thoughts of your own about what, if anything, is missing from the current plans for Hallandale Beach that EDAW submitted to the city, and what needs to be considered or modified.

EDAW Miami Beach office: http://www.edaw.com/whoWeAre/offices/office.aspx?id=66456

Flamingo/Lummus Neighborhood Urban Design and Streetscape Improvements
(for The Related Group)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?back=y&office=66456

One Miami Riverwalk (for The Related Group)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=1&projId=66658467726976686982765048485548534952485051575250&office=66456

Oceanfront Neighborhood Urban Design and Streetscapes (for City of Miami Beach)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=2&projId=6578686982837978745048485248564957485752505251&office=66456

Biscayne National Park Ethnographic Overview and Assessment (for NPS)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=3&projId=6578686982837978745048485348554949485048484957&office=66456

St. Joe West (for St. Joe Land Company)
http://www.edaw.com/WhatWeDo/projects/projects.aspx?idx=4&projId=6578686982837978745048485248555051485250555254&office=66456