Rumor and Truth Factory: Miami Dade County. By Geniusofdespair

Yes I do report rumors and truth...

Codina Partners in February hired a shitload of lobbyists. Now what is he up to?

Lennar's Mega-Development Parkland, (on the wrong side of the Urban Development Boundary) a DRI from 11/2005 -- according to the South Florida Regional Planning Council is still alive. Jeff Bercow is no longer lobbying for them according to the lobbyist list. Bercow is lobbying for Panattoni Development Company's approval for Westview Property. According to the bizjournals.com, Westview is seeking $9.5 Million in taxpayer funds. That is OUR funds.

Parkland might be coming back during the May CDMP cycle although I don't see a lobbyist for it yet. It is time. Lennar has been itching to get it going according to a Lennar insider. Yes, I know developers.

Rebeca Sosa said she is NOT running for County Mayor. Raquel Regalado is stuck on the fence on the Mayoral run.

Lynda Bell gets some retribution -- after her chain link fence fiasco, that partly did her in -- from Javier Souto, who hates chain link fences. He says they cheapen neighborhoods. This is on the Agenda today:

4F 150330 Ordinance Sen. Javier D. Souto, Prime Sponsor ORDINANCE RELATING TO ZONING; MODIFYING REGULATIONS REGARDING CHAIN LINK FENCES; AMENDING SECTIONS 33-11 AND 33-311 OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE Commissioner Souto is seeks to ban the installation of new chain link fences around the County. Under the changes proposed in this item, chain link fences will only be allowed in areas zoned IU districts, AU districts and GU districts trended agricultural.

Rally to save endangered land

Pine Rockland: This is on the Agenda today -- I heard 40 people are there to speak but it is getting deferred for a second time (wear the people down, that is what they do, make everyone go all the way downtown...for nothing). I heard he wasn't even at the Commission, will have to turn on the TV to see if this is a rumor:

142509 Resolution Dennis C. Moss, Prime Sponsor

RESOLUTION DECLARING CERTAIN GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF UNINCORPORATED MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA DESCRIBED GENERALLY AS BOUNDED ON THE NORTH BY SW 152 STREET, ON THE WEST BY SW 137 AVENUE, ON THE SOUTH BY SW 184 STREET, AND ON THE EAST BY SW 117 AVENUE TO BE A SLUM OR BLIGHTED AREA; DECLARING THE REBUILDING, REHABILITATION, CONSERVATION AND REDEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA TO BE IN THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, MORALS AND WELFARE OF RESIDENTS OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS/METROZOO AREA, AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; FINDING NEED FOR CREATION OF COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY; AND DIRECTING THE COUNTY MAYOR OR COUNTY MAYOR’S DESIGNEE TO PREPARE A REDEVELOPMENT PLAN(Office of Management and Budget)

On another note...
My eyes are so itchy I could scream.  Should I change our logo to this? I think so, to keep an Eye on Miami it is pretty painful.  I can see again and everything is fine except for the damn itching. Thank you all for your good wishes.  I am very cranky.

Big, bad sprawl is back! Hold The Line! ... by gimleteye

You may think that the penalties of sprawl only apply to people chasing the most affordable dream, homeownership in the suburbs. In Miami-Dade, that means the places where companies like Lennar find farmland or open space that can be rezoned to platted subdivisions. The entire industry was mothballed after the rampant glut in 2006 and 2007. Who can forget the former director of the Latin Builders Association, Willy Bermello, boasting in the Miami Herald of the housing boom, " … real estate continues to still be a safe harbor for investors, whether it be equity or the purchase of a condo in South Florida, where doubling of your investment in less than two years is commonplace... this bubble is not latex, it is stainless steel.” (Miami Herald, May 21, 2005)

The housing bust – the greatest collapse of real estate in Florida since the Great Depression – put Miami-Dade’s significant sprawl creators – I call them, the Great Destroyers – on hold. Eye On Miami chronicled the players and investments, and raised questions whether the biggest of lawn owners and partnerships – like those associated with US Century Bank – were allowed to mothball mortgage and principal payments while ordinary homeowners in south Florida were foreclosed by the thousands.

Although it is far too soon to call this a recovery, some of the biggest housing investors – like Lennar – have reaped windfall profits buying distressed mortgage debt for pennies on the dollar and are now cycling into cash through the same financing techniques with large banking institutions that, since the 2007 debacle, refloated their own balance sheets thanks to zero interest money from the Federal Reserve.

There is one development in particular we have paid attention to, called Parkland. Our archive feature, type in “Parkland” shows a history stretching back nearly half a dozen years. This area of Southwest Miami Dade had been primed as the next gold rush in sprawl development. In fact, one partnership even was bore the optimistic name, “Krome Gold”. The investor groups represent the top suburban sprawl lobbyists and champions. Their business models closely tracked the Papa Bear of the sprawl builders: Lennar.

http://www.miamidade.gov/business/cdmp/Parkland/Parkland_Init_Recs.pdf
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2008/05/lennar-is-starting-process-to-move.html
(Please click 'read more' for the full post ...)

EOM Memo to China: stay away from Lennar? by gimleteye

Lennar, really? China, read our blog ...

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Chinese Target U.S. Homes
State Bank in Talks to Provide Lennar $1.7 Billion for Two Long-Stalled Projects
By DINNY MCMAHON and ROBBIE WHELAN

(June 25, 2012) Lennar Corp., LEN +0.80% one of the U.S.'s largest home builders, is in talks with the China Development Bank for approximately $1.7 billion in capital to jump-start two long-delayed San Francisco projects that would transform two former naval bases into large-scale housing developments, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The negotiations aren't final and the financing arrangement could still fall through. But if completed, the deal would reflect a changing dynamic between the U.S. and Chinese economies, as an American company turns to China for help funding a long-delayed and partially publicly funded project that otherwise wouldn't get done.

Lennar's New Development's "Prime Location". By Geniusofdespair

Black Point Landfill, dubbed by locals as Mount Trashmore, seen at top, is near the development The Isles of Bayshore. I am sure the community will be landscaped to block any view of the Landfill.

I was reading this Lennar ad in the newspaper Sunday and I was saying to myself, this area sounds too good to be true. They call Isles at Bayshore a "Lifestyle Rich Community" from the low $200's. They call it a "prime location." The pristine lake views -- I suspect some are drainage canals. They say the community is in the desirable Old Cutler Neighborhood near the Black Point Marina. True, but we all know what else is near the Black Point Marina. The Black Point landfill and the wastewater treatment plant.

The Development at top, the landfill and the wastewater treatment plant land is indicated on the map.

The view above is  a snapshot from where the little yellow man is standing -- not from the Isle of Bayshore Property -- but it is nearby. The Property is in in purple.

I would think if there was an odor or bird problems the people living there would be up in arms like Fisher Island was, on the next Island from the Virginia Key Wastewater Treatment Plant or the Biscayne Landing folks living near a North Miami Beach Plant. Complaints of smell were light on line for Black Point area (do they not have drying beds): "The landfill is new since I lived in Cutler Ridge, but when we would go down in that area after we moved and they built the landfill, I think the smell was worse in the southern parts of Cutler Ridge than the northern areas. It also varies depending upon the wind and season."

It is always good to know where your property is located as "Location, location, location" is the most important rule of real estate. And, for the reader that states it is not sprawl, look at this, the whole area was green a few years ago: