South Florida Audubon Society asks Marriott to stop Everglades development

A development combining hotel, commercial  and light industrial space is being proposed west of the Sawgrass Expressway. Since we are already aware that water will be our next challenged resource it seems unwise to propose much less approve a development that is situated in such an environmentally sensitive location that could easily impact our potable water supply.

With the acknowledgment that climate change is happening causing our ice caps to melt raising sea levels, this would further complicate the environmental safety of this development. Well documented and supported through the recently released report by the Broward County Climate Change Task Force, it addresses the issue of climate change resulting in rising sea levels which are already impacting our infrastructure. Even with three to four inches of sea level rise, our area will begin to see more impacts as the current system is not designed to handle this.

Considerations of designing for a 500 rather than a 100 year flood at a minimum should probably be required along with any other considerations that would be needed to respond these changes. To approve this project by the City of Sunrise would seem short sighted. Currently, the commercial market is saturated with available inventory, some of it vacant. Considering that sustainability is what we all should be striving for, environmental, economic and social, the reuse of a previously built site would be in keeping with best land practices and with the USGBC LEED for Neighborhood Development guidelines. Developing virgin land next to the Everglades should seem unnecessary, certainly unwise.

Let us support them by showing that money should not make these kind of decisions for us. We should be learning from the continuing tragedy that regurgitates itself day after day in the Gulf. Sadly, as we read the continuing unfolding of events regarding the Deepwater Horizon rig accident that all too often money played a key role in forming decisions that clearly went all too terribly wrong.

Supporting the petition by the South Florida Audubon Society to oppose this development until all environmental issues are resolved responsibly by all parties involved, included in the remaining text is the background information regarding this development and the South Florida Audubon Society’s resolution provided by Grant Campbell, South Florida Audubon Society, Director of Wildlife Policy.

“The City of Sunrise Commission is [being wooed by...] lobbyists Ruden-McKloskey and is being pushed to change the zoning on a piece of ground at the end of Sunrise Boulevard west of the Sawgrass Expressway. The zoning was originally parks and recreation, but it was changed in the & lsquo;80s to B1, then to B5 and they are trying now for a B7 that was created specifically for this piece of property and alters the setbacks and the landscaping.

This is being done because the FAA, because of the site’s proximity to the Doppler Radar tower, has imposed a height restriction of 120′, and the builders want to enlarge the footprint of the building to allow maximum square footage in the shorter building, although they have been very careful not to mention the FAA restriction in any of their correspondence or at any of the meetings.

Plans are to build a 350 room hotel with 630,000 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. The property is bordered on the west by the L35A canal which is separated from Water Conservation Area B2 by only a pervious limestone levee. the canal, to my understanding was overdug for fill for the expressway, and now has a direct connection to the Biscayne Aquifer, and both waterbodies connect to the Everglades. Any Chemical spill or pollutant runoff could potentially affect the South Florida potable water supply and the entire food chain of the Everglades.

At present, there are no commercial developments west of the Sawgrass Expressway with the exception of the Doppler radar station and a tractor/trailer parking lot north of the property. If this project is allowed to be built, a precedent will be established that will open the door to build along the L-35A canal from Sunrise Boulevard north to the Loxahatchee Wildlife preserve.

Although Broward County has no official UDB, the strip of land west of the Sawgrass Expressway has until now served as a buffer zone between development and Broward County’s gateway to the Everglades. Building so close to the WCA2 endangers the quality of the WCA, the downstream canal system that leads to the North New River Canal and the Biscayne Aquifer.

The project site has drainage piping installed that runs under the Sawgrass Expressway to an impoundment/treatment area east of the Sawgrass Expressway, but concerns have been expressed that the system is marginal and probably will not withstand the rigors of a 100 year flood, placing food chain of the Everglades, the entire canal system and the Biscayne Aquifer in danger, over and above the threats imposed by commercial buildings essentially in a riverfront setting.

There are other issues as well, such as the City of Sunrises capability of supplying water to all of its planned developments which include Tao, (now sitting idle) Westerra, The Commons and Oz as well as the Everglades Corporate Park and doesn’t even consider any future private residential development.

Below is a letter I sent to the Everglades Coalition, a resolution adopted by both the South Florida Audubon Society and the Everglades Coalition.

The Board of Directors
Everglades Coalition

The Everglades needs your help again. Just as the Federal Government is finally releasing long-promised funding to begin the Everglades restoration project, unscrupulous developers are again trying to build a hotel to be operated by Marriott Corporation and a commercial/light industrial park on the west side of the Sawgrass Expressway. It is to be built on a narrow 22 acre strip of land that is so close to the L-35A canal that site stabilization will require a seawall to be built in the otherwise pristine canal.

To date, the development west of the Sawgrass Expressway consists of the Doppler Radar Tower, an FPL sub-station and a DOT truck/trailer parking lot, all in Sunrise. Meanwhile, Kentucky based Sawgrass Investors, et al has manipulated zoning changes through various prior City of Sunrise Commissions for 20 plus years proposing a project that will consist of a 10 story hotel office complex and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial, light industrial and warehouse space that will be the only commercial development west of the Sawgrass Expressway.

The City of Sunrise has voted 4-1 to allow a zoning change on the property to allow the maximum square footage to be built into a 10 story building. Ten stories is the maximum building height allowed by the FAA because of the site’s proximity to the Doppler Radar Tower. This has been accomplished by zoning changes to minimize the setback requirements on the property, and adjacent parcels as the legislation applies only to this property essentially owned by one consortium from Louisville, KY.

If these developers can build a seawall and increase the elevation and possibly the physical size of their property, other developers will see it as a green light to do the same.

If built, this project will establish a precedent that other money hungry developers will be quick to follow. Any land left east of the L-35A canal will be fair game, and the canal could become lined with seawalls and thus become another “concrete canyon”.

The site, overlooking the River of Grass that we are trying so desperately to restore, lies to the north of Sunrise Boulevard and to the west of the Sawgrass Expressway which, until now, has been the de facto Urban Development Boundary in Broward County.

South Florida Audubon Society is opposed to any development along the canal because it is at the very edge of what constitutes the remainder of the Everglades and because the canal is separated from the WCA2B by only a pervious limestone levee. The canal and the water conservation area are recharge areas for the Biscayne Aquifer and both water bodies connect directly to the Florida Everglades.

Provisions are supposedly in place to protect the water supply, but, according to a Broward County DEP official, under certain weather conditions, this system of protection can be overwhelmed causing backflow to introduce whatever chemicals and compounds that might be present in parking lots, on road surfaces, on sidewalks and in landscaped areas to wash into these recharge areas, potentially affecting the quality of the Broward County potable water supply as well as the food chain of the entire downstream area of the Florida Everglades.

The City of Sunrise has filed to renew their Consumptive Use Permit, but SFWMD has temporarily denied the application due to their concern that the City will not have sufficient water supply capacity to meet the obligations of the planned development within the city, and due to a petition against the project filed by a citizen of Sunrise that alleges the same thing. Sunrise development plans include Metropica, Westerra, the Commons, Tao and the City of OZ besides the ECP. Not considered is any additional private residential development.

I am requesting your help both in advising the City of Sunrise and the developers that this development is not conducive to Everglades restoration and in visiting the following link to sign the petition and inform Marriott Corporation that our collective memberships will boycott Marriott holdings until their attitude toward our environment improves.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/stop-corporate-development-in-the-everglades

I am including a view of the property so you can see how the project lies in relation to the L-35A canal and to WCA2B.

Below are the email addresses of the Commissioners of the City of Sunrise. All except Sheila Alu voted to approve the zoning change. Please join with us to make the City of Sunrise Commission understand that the environment is much more important than filling some already well-stuffed pockets.

; ;
;

Grant Campbell
South Florida Audubon Society
Director of Wildlife Policy
Conservation Chair


I recently wrote to Marriott Corporation asking them to abandon their plans to continue their decimation of Florida’s remaining green space, in particular, the piece of ground located north of Sunrise Boulevard and west of the Sawgrass Expressway.
Not only did I not receive a response, but current plans are to develop the property anyway, even though it will be the only development west of the Sawgrass Expressway
In view of their refusal to stop encroaching on our environmentally sensitive areas I am asking for an immediate boycott Marriott Corporation until they show a more positive attitude regarding our environment.
Please join me in delivering a strong message to Marriott by participating in the boycott and by signing the petition to “Stop robbing the Everglades” here: Mr. Marriott has also worked to compile a family of 18 lodging brands that range from limited service to full service luxury hotels that meet the needs of any traveler. Today, the company manages and franchises hotels and resorts under the following names.

• Marriott
• JW Marriott
• Renaissance
• Bulgari
• The Ritz-Carlton
• Courtyard
• Residence Inn
• SpringHill Suites
• TownePlace Suites
• Fairfield Inn
• Marriott Vacation Club International
• The Ritz-Carlton Club
• Grand Residences by Marriott
• Horizons brands
• Marriott Executive Apartments
• Marriott ExecuStay division

Resolution by the South Florida Audubon Society against development of the Everglades Corporate Park

The current plan to develop the 22 acre plot on the west side of the Sawgrass Expressway at Sunrise Boulevard in the City of Sunrise, Florida, presents a potential danger to the L35A canal, Water Conservation Area 2B, waterways downstream from the project site and the Biscayne Aquifer.

To date, the development west of the Sawgrass Expressway consists of the Doppler Radar Tower, an FPL sub-station and a DOT truck/trailer parking lot, all in Sunrise, but Kentucky based Sawgrass Investors has proposed a project that will consist of a 10 story hotel/office complex and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial, light industrial and warehouse space that will be the only commercial development west of the Sawgrass Expressway.

Whereas the City of Sunrise has voted 4-1 to allow a zoning change on the property to allow the maximum square footage to be built into a 10 story building by changing the setbacks on the property, and

Whereas the legislation applies only to this particular piece of property, and

Whereas 10 stories is the maximum building height allowed by the FAA because of the site’s proximity to the Doppler Radar Tower, and

Whereas, by building a seawall and increasing the elevation and possibly the physical size of their property, a precedent will be set that other developers will see as a green light to do the same, and

Whereas the project site is at the very edge of what constitutes the remainder of the Everglades and because the canal is separated from the WCA2B by only a pervious limestone levee, and

Whereas the canal and the water conservation area are recharge areas for the Biscayne Aquifer and both water bodies connect directly to the Florida Everglades, and

Whereas the project site is at the very edge of what constitutes the remainder of the Everglades and because the canal is separated from the WCA2B by only a pervious limestone levee, and

Whereas the canal and the water conservation area are recharge areas for the Biscayne Aquifer and both water bodies connect directly to the Florida Everglades, and

Whereas the site, which overlooks the River of Grass that we are trying so desperately to restore, lies to the north of Sunrise Boulevard and to the west of the Sawgrass Expressway, and

Whereas, until now, the Sawgrass Expressway has been the de facto Urban Development Boundary in Broward County, and,

Whereas provisions in place to protect the water supply, according to a Broward County DEP official, can be overwhelmed under certain weather conditions causing backflow to introduce whatever chemicals and compounds that might be present in parking lots, on road surfaces, on sidewalks and in landscaped areas to wash into these recharge areas, potentially affecting the quality of the Broward County potable water supply as well as the food chain of the entire downstream area of the Florida Everglades, and

Whereas SFWMD has expressed concerns that the City will not have sufficient water supply capacity to meet the obligations of the planned development within the city, and

Whereas a petition against the project has been filed by a citizen of Sunrise that alleging the same thing, and

Whereas the City of Sunrise development plans include Metropica, Westerra, the Commons, Tao and the City of OZ besides the ECP, and does not consider any additional private residential development,

South Florida Audubon Society is opposed to any development along the canal and west of the Sawgrass Expressway.”

As an architectural consultant, LEED AP, LEED certification reviewer, real estate broker and AIA associate, Valerie J. Amor is dynamically engaged in sustainability and issues regarding the built environment. Actively participating in several local, county and national organizations and committees focused on sustainability issues, she is also owner/principal of Drawing Conclusions and founder/president of Green Collar Connection, companies engaged in sustainable design, real estate development, green job training and research. Knowledgeable and well connected she brings you timely and thoughtful articles. Reach her at .

About Valerie J. Amor: As an architectural consultant, LEED AP, LEED certification reviewer, real estate broker and AIA associate, Valerie J. Amor is dynamically engaged in sustainability and issues regarding the built environment. Actively participating in several local, county and national organizations and committees focused on sustainability issues, she is also owner/principal of Drawing Conclusions and founder/president of Green Collar Connection, companies engaged in sustainable design, real estate development, green job training and research. Knowledgeable and well connected she brings you timely and thoughtful articles. Reach her at .

Related posts:

1. October busy month for Audubon Society in Florida
2. SFWMD Begins Project to Restore Florida Bay, Everglades
3. New project helps Everglades Restoration plan
4. South Plantation Seniors Learn from Renowned Everglades Photographer
5. Construction Continues on Project to Clean Everglades Water

Short URL: https://browardnetonline.com/?p=8192