Southeast Florida, including Palm Beach, Broward, Dade, and Monroe Counties, has evolved into a metropolitan region of international significance over the past 25 years. Experiencing tremendous population growth, the region today stands at a crossroads. Will it build on its strategic geographic location, glorious subtropical climate, unique and internationally significant resources and environment, and diverse population to become a prosperous, sustainable community? Or will the region settle for a gradual decline in its quality of life by failing to manage growth effectively, invest in needed public facilities and services, protect and restore the environment, and reverse social and economic disparities?
This briefing paper was prepared as background material for a discussion among regional leaders and the President's Council on Sustainable Development on the opportunities presented by the potential designation of the Southeast Florida region as a metropolitan partner of the President's Council. The following pages provide an overview of the region, scan key issues, trends, challenges and opportunities, and discuss some of the possibilities associated with the federal government joining in with the region's push toward sustainability.
Physical description. Approximately 6200 square miles in size, the region is larger than Connecticut, Delaware, or Rhode Island. Generally flat, the three mainland counties are each flanked on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and barrier islands with sandy beaches. Paralleling the coast is a coastal ridge, which has elevations ranging from 5-20 feet interspersed by lower areas created by historic drainage patterns. West of the ridge lie lands which were once part of the historic Everglades system but which now are largely developable because of the extensive drainage and flood control system built in South Florida during the twentieth-century. This system of canals, levees and pump stations, known as the Central and South Florida Flood Control Project, has segmented and fundamentally altered the health of the Everglades Ecosystem, which now covers about 2 million acres, or 50% of its historic area.
Palm Beach County, with a population of 1 million residents, is less urbanized compared to its neighbors to the south. Its western boundary includes parts of the remaining natural Everglades system, Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Large areas in the west and central portions of the county are included within wildlife management areas and the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, the current northern extreme of the "River of Grass." More than half of the county is used for agriculture, three-tenths for public conservation lands, and the balance is used for urban and suburban purposes. In Broward County, two-thirds of the western portion is included within water conservation areas. Nearly all of the remaining vacant land, mostly east of U.S. Highway 27, has already been approved for large scale residential development. In Dade County, the most urbanized county, the western half of the county is included within water conservation areas and Everglades National Park. Because of the county's establishment of an urban development boundary in 1975, over 80,000 acres of farmland still exist in the southwest part of the county and extensive rock mining operations can be found in the northwest portion. Biscayne Bay, an Outstanding Florida Water, lies off the east coast of Dade County. Much of the extreme southern end of the county is still largely covered by wetlands and shoreline mangroves and the shoreline of South Biscayne Bay is relatively undeveloped. Monroe County consists of a mainland section and a series of islands terminating at Key West. The mainland section lies entirely within Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve. The Florida Keys are home to the North America's only living coral reef system and the third largest reef system in the world.
Historical growth patterns. Large scale settlement of the region by nonindigenous peoples began with the extension of Henry Flagler's railroad down the east coast around the turn of the century. This railroad corridor bisects the historic growth corridor throughout the region that generally followed the coastal ridge. Now known as the Eastward Ho! corridor, this corridor today is the most intensely urbanized area of the region and contains the region's primary north- south transportation arteries, including the FEC and CSX railroad lines, I- 95, and the Florida Turnpike. As the region's population continued to grow over the past four decades, urban development began to move westward away from the coastal ridge. This westward movement was accelerated by the construction of the Palmetto Expressway and the Turnpike extension in western Dade County and I-75, I-595, and the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County. Bridge construction in the Florida Keys had a similar growth inducing impact.
Meanwhile, population growth continued unabated. The regional population reached 4.4 million in 1995, nearly twice the 1970 level of 2.3 million, and it is expected to continue to grow at an average of 62,500 persons per year. Today, the western portions of all three mainland counties are the areas with the fastest growth. For example, during 1985-95, an average of 10,100 building permits were issued per year in unincorporated areas in Palm Beach County compared to only 5,150 permits per year in incorporated areas. Similar spatial trends exist in Broward and Dade Counties. In all three counties the historic urban communities are declining in terms of population relative to western areas.
Metropolitan government structure. The region is governed by four counties and 108 municipalities. Palm Beach County has 38 cities, Broward County has 28 cities, Dade County has 29 cities, and Monroe County has 3 cities. In response to the impacts of growth on their quality of life, area residents have been forming new cities at a rapid rate in an attempt to gain more control over their neighborhoods. At least 5 new cities have been created in the region within the past few years (Weston, Wellington, Pinecrest, Aventura, and Key Biscayne) and numerous other areas are considering incorporation. In addition to 112 local governments, the region is covered by 3 metropolitan planning organizations, 4 county school boards, 2 regional planning councils, 1 water management district, 2 Florida Department of Transportation Districts, 1 Florida Department of Environmental Protection District, and numerous federal agencies and independent water control and drainage districts.
Economy. The metropolitan economy is an emerging "global metropolis." Major economic sectors in the region include tourism, international trade, services, retail, government, transportation, health care, real estate and development, finance/insurance, and agriculture. The region's subtropical climate, beaches, recreational attractions, shopping and nightlife, unique urban places like South Beach, and Everglades and Biscayne National Parks continue to attract vacationers and convention events from around the world. In addition, the entertainment industry, regional film and television production, music and location-based entertainment, has been growing rapidly. The region include three international airports (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, and Palm Beach), eight regional airports, and four deepwater seaports (Key West, Miami, Port Everglades, and Palm Beach). Miami International Airport ranks in the top ten airports worldwide in nearly every category. The Port of Miami and Port Everglades are the number one and number two cruise ports respectively in the world and also rank in the top cargo ports worldwide. The region is also a major international business hub, with 106 international banking offices, 55 foreign consulates, and 25 foreign trade offices in 1995. Palm Beach County is the largest agricultural producing county in Florida, with cash receipts in excess of $1 billion annually (sugar-related products generated well in excess of 50% of those revenues). Outside of the public sector, top employers in the region include Publix and Winn Dixie supermarkets, Southern Bell, American Airlines, BellSouth, Motorola, Jackson Memorial Hospital, the University of Miami, Florida Power and Light, Pratt and Whitney, American Express, Eckard Drug Stores, and Burdines.
Ecology. The region is part of one of most diverse and unique ecosystems in the world. The Everglades are designated a biosphere of global significance. The Florida Keys and offshore coral reefs are unique to North America. The region's subtropical climate supports flora and fauna found nowhere else. Sitting on top of a sole source surficial aquifer, the ecosystem is also under tremendous stress as a result of population growth, sprawling development patterns and practices, and, most significantly, the construction of the region's drainage and flood control infrastructure that fundamentally altered the quality, quantity and timing of water flowing through the region's natural system. All of South Florida's population depends on this system for their water supply. The health of this system is directly tied to the economy, especially in Monroe County, where 90% of the economy depends on the health of the system.
Societal change. The composition of the region has undergone dramatic change over the past 25 years. Minority populations -- Blacks, Hispanics, Indians, and Asians -- are increasing at a faster rate than the White non-Hispanic population and this trend is predicted to accelerate. For example, in 1960 the population of Miami was 77% White and 22% non-White (Hispanic and Black). In 1990, the population was 62% Hispanic, 24% Black, and 12% White. Cubans are the largest Hispanic group in the region but there are also significant populations of Nicaraguans, Colombians, Salvadorians, and Puerto Ricans. Populations of Blacks -- primarily American Blacks, Haitians, and Jamaicans -- are also increasing. The mean age of the population, while still the highest in the nation, is also starting to decline because retirees have become less prone to move to the region and the birth rate recently began to exceed the death rate for the first time. English is the most prominent language spoken with Spanish the most prominent foreign language, with over 1 million Spanish speakers. More than 250,000 residents speak another foreign language as their first language.
Defining trends. Explosive population growth is the root cause of nearly every trend that defines the region. Unfortunately, similar to other fast growing metropolitan regions across the county, the Southeast Florida region is not managing growth effectively and thus is beset by the many symptoms associated with urban sprawl. Vehicle miles traveled are increasing at a faster rate than the population and the percentage of commuters driving alone is rising. Older urban areas in the east are losing upper and middle income populations, leaving eastern areas with populations that are disproportionately Black, poor, undereducated, and underemployed. Similar conditions are found around Lake Okeechobee. Some eastern cities have even had a net loss in population during this time of rapid regional population growth. Rising crime throughout the region has also adversely affected the tourism industry and generated a perception of a lack of safety that many residents express when asked about why they do not live in older urban areas. The region's population increase has strained the regional and local infrastructure, overwhelming the capacity of schools, highways, and many water, sewer and stormwater facilities. The westward urban sprawl characteristic of growth in each of the three mainland counties has also resulted in the loss of large quantities of farmland, wetlands, and open spaces important to the regional water supply, which is dependent nearly solely on rainfall. Because many of these problems are being felt first in Dade County, already home to over 2 million people, a northward migration to Broward and Palm Beach Counties is evident. These residents are finding, however, they are bringing with them the problems they are trying to leave behind. In Monroe County, the side effects of relentless growth are threatening the very existence of the living coral reefs.
Class, race, and distribution issues. Because of its geographic location, the region is the gateway through which North American connects to the tropics and Central and South America. Extremely culturally diverse, the region also is home to large numbers of illegal aliens that are frequently at the lowest rung on the economic ladder. Within the older central cities, economically-distressed neighborhoods have not shared in recent growth. Increasing income disparity has been exacerbated by the arrival of a new wave of low-skilled immigrants in the 1990s. Combined with the region's population growth and middle class flight to the suburbs, these factors add up to a region facing enormous social and economic disparities. These disparities can be seen in many areas but are most pronounced in the areas of housing, health care, employment, income, transfer payments, home ownership, and education. By far the most challenged urban areas in the region are those around Lake Okeechobee, which reflect third world development conditions. A compelling statistic: while 9% of all households in Palm Beach County live in poverty, among Black households the rate is 29%.
Challenges and opportunities. The paragraphs above have sketched out many of the key challenges the region must overcome to assure a prosperous, sustainable future. But an equal if not greater number of opportunities exist that make this region a logical selection for participation in the Metropolitan Initiative Program. Foremost among these opportunities is the collaborative work already underway throughout the entire ecosystem to promote a sustainable region. While far from limited to these, key regionwide sustainability efforts include those of the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and its Florida-based Working Group, the MacArthur Foundation's Sustainable Everglades Initiative, the State of Florida's Eastward Ho! and Florida Keys Initiatives, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's South Florida Initiative, and the Annenberg Regional Challenge. Highlights of these efforts follow:
Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida. The Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, created by Governor Lawton Chiles in April 1994, has spent nearly three years studying the decline of quality of life in South Florida and making recommendations for creating a prosperous, sustainable future. Their activities have resulted in the development of region-wide efforts to create a better South Florida. The 47-member blue ribbon panel includes representatives from all levels of government and diverse public interest, business and environmental organizations.
The South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and its Florida-based Working Group. The task force and working group, initially comprised only of federal agencies, was created in 1993 primarily to assist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a comprehensive restudy of the Central and South Florida Flood Control Project as directed by the Water Resources Development Act of 1992. The Restudy's purpose is to identify ways to modify the system to continue to provide needed flood protection and urban and agricultural water supplies while restoring the health of the Everglades Ecosystem, which is dying as a result of the hydrological changes made by the Project. Recognizing the critical importance of broader involvement in this effort, the task force and working group were soon expanded to involve state, regional and tribal representatives. The task force and working group were recently codified in the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 and local government representation was also added. While initially focused primarily on coordinating plans, programs, and policies related to Everglades restoration, the task force and working group are now working to restore and enhance the sustainability of the entire South Florida Ecosystem. The task force has an executive director stationed in Miami funded out of the office of U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
The MacArthur Foundation's Sustainable Everglades Initiative (SEI). SEI has been working since 1994 in Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and Monroe Counties to help promote a shared framework for sustainability, align public policy with sustainable goals, build capacity of individuals, institutions and communities to act in sustainable ways, create a communications strategy to support sustainable behavior, and introduce market incentives to reward sustainable behaviors in the region.
The State of Florida's Eastward Ho! and Florida Keys Initiatives. Recommended by the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, Eastward Ho! is a community revitalization and sprawl-antidote initiative targeting a 100-mile long historic growth corridor spanning eastern Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. A multi-faceted project with multiple collaborative partners, the Eastward Ho! initiative is focusing on infrastructure, land use patterns and practices, community involvement, economic development, and making the corridor a 24-hour destination. The Florida Keys Initiative involves both regulatory oversight and planning for a sustainable future. In recognition of the fragile nature of the Florida Keys, Monroe County and its cities have been designated an Area of Critical State Concern for over two decades, which provides for close state scrutiny of building activity in the keys. Monroe County also has adopted a strict rate of growth ordinance that tightly regulates the number of building permits that can be issued each year. Even with these controls, there is widespread concern that growth in the Keys is either near or past the Key's carrying capacity. In response, Monroe County and state and federal agencies are collaborating to conduct a ground breaking carrying capacity study to be used as a management tool in evaluating future development proposals in the Florida Keys to assure their impact will not overwhelm the assimilative capacity of the natural and built infrastructure.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's South Florida Initiative. The Office of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities (OSEC) has stationed staff in South Florida as a major demonstration of its commitment to community-based environmental protection. OSEC personnel are helping state and local agencies to identify opportunities for federal assistance and then working to help access that assistance. Initial efforts are focusing on brownfields, fiscal impact analysis and pricing strategies, and education and awareness building on how to create more liveable communities.
Annenberg Regional Challenge. Part of a national educational reform initiative, the region is participating in a $100 million challenge involving the Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County School Systems.
In addition to the efforts described above, numerous other opportunities exist to foster a more sustainable region in Southeast Florida. Four such opportunities are highlighted below. First, for the first time in any of the counties, a strong mayor post has been established. Newly elected Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas is already taking steps to promote urban revitalization and bring economic opportunities to the poorest sectors of Dade County. He is also working to lessen the polarization among social and ethnic groups that currently characterizes the Dade County political and economic scene. Second, the South Florida Regional Planning Council's Vision 2025 Initiative is working to develop an investment strategy for the future in the areas of economic development, education, transportation, land use and infrastructure, natural resources, and public health. Third, Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach have funded a study of the feasibility of creating a regional transit authority. Fourth, Joint Venture South Florida (JVSF) has been working to improve the region's economic vitality since 1994. The mission of JVSF is to use information technology and collaboration to make South Florida the home of the 21st century knowledge worker.
Goals and Strategies. The region must agree upon its unifying goals and strategies for its effort to create a prosperous, sustainable future. As a starting point for this discussion, the five principles outlined by the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida are offered:
1. "Restore Key Ecosystems -- restore the Everglades and other ecosystems to provide adequate supplies of clean, safe water for the natural, human and economic systems;"
2. "Achieve a More Clean Healthy Environment -- prevent and reverse pollution in South Florida's air, land and water, plants and animals;"
3."Limit Urban Sprawl -- establish urban development boundaries to protect environmental resources and encourage urban redesign and redevelopment supported by good public transportation;"
4."Protect Wildlife and Natural Areas -- provide for sufficient open space to protect wildlife, and provide natural and recreational areas for public use;" and
5. "Create Quality Communities and Jobs -- provide life-long education and training to ensure a better educated and higher paid workforce while improving quality of life through better health care, housing, safety, and cultural programs."
Achievements to date. Many of the opportunities described above are rightfully counted as achievements. A few additional regional accomplishments include: implementing a growth management system under which every local government has adopted a comprehensive land use plan; rising to a preeminent position in the hemisphere in international trade, aviation, and tourism; putting in place the beginnings of a true multi-modal transportation system, including transit facilities such as TriRail, MetroRail, and the new South Dade express busway; hosting the Summit of Americas in 1994, which was attended by 34 Nations; opening a state of the art homeless facility in downtown Miami; nearing ground breaking on the first Black-owned hotel on Miami Beach; and being selected for the headquarters of the U.S. Armed Forces Southern Command.
The Metropolitan Initiative Program (MIP) offers the possibility for the federal government to become a supportive, flexible and collaborative partner in promoting sustainable regional growth. The following paragraphs highlight a few areas for consideration as building blocks for this partnership. It is expected the selection of the Southeast Florida region for participation in the MIP would provide the maximum opportunity for the true possibilities presented by this partnership to be discovered, refined and implemented.
Regional infrastructure and transportation upgrades. Regional infrastructure and transportation needs exist throughout Southeast Florida. Many areas, mostly occupied by minorities, remain without central water and sewer, and suffer from inadequate stormwater management systems. Malfunctioning cesspits and septic tanks are impacting near shore water quality in the Florida Keys and along the Atlantic Coast. In addition, several key transportation projects are at a crossroads and vitally dependent upon federal support, including port-to-port connector projects in Dade and Broward Counties, construction of the Miami Intermodal Center, and improvements to the TriRail system to make it a competitive transportation alternative. Federal transportation assistance is essential to complement state and local investments in improving the regional port infrastructure and in providing transportation alternatives to urban sprawl.
The supply of educational facilities is also critical as South Florida has an extreme shortage of classrooms. Without adequate classroom space, the region cannot revitalize urban communities as a strategy to redirect growth if children have no place to go to school. The three fastest- growing counties in the state are Broward, Palm Beach, and Dade, according to the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. From 1983 to 1993, school enrollment in Broward County increased 51 percent, while Dade County's grew by 39 percent. Broward County is now the second-fastest-growing school district in the United States, behind only Clark County, Nevada, according to the Miami Herald. While the federal government is not a traditional partner in the construction of education facilities, consideration should be given to a pilot project in the region to demonstrate how the federal government can work with local communities and states to mitigate the direct impacts of federal immigration policies.
Education and workforce development investments. With an increasingly ethnically diverse population, the region is ripe for participation in the world economy, but the lack of a quality workforce threatens the region's competitiveness. The present workforce is based in agriculture, construction, tourism, and service industries associated with the tourism industry. Assistance is needed in developing research and implementing strategies for training a workforce in new technologies, new food processing techniques and production, and new agriculture-related businesses.
Financial capital access. Improving access to capital to undertake higher risk projects in areas needing urban revitalization is critical to a successful regional revitalization strategy. Targeted assistance to the region is needed to address capital needs for community development financial institutions, microenterprise revolving loan pools, and hazard mitigation investments.
Research and technology strategies. The region needs assistance to seize the advantages presented by the information revolution for the reinvention of the regional economy in ways that would benefit all of the region's disparate social and economic strata. Regional universities and businesses have not yet tapped into the large federal National Information Infrastructure research and development expenditures in the area of information technology.
Business and market development. The fast emerging global economy presents new challenges for regional economic competitiveness. Regions that best understand the changing dynamics of industry clusters in the context of the global marketplace will be best prepared to compete successfully. Federal assistance in providing information such as market assessments, trend analyses, and comparisons of metropolitan competitiveness would be important assets to regional economic decisionmaking. Likewise, financial and technical assistance in developing and executing regional strategies for targeted industry clusters would be an important contribution to the regional economy.
Community and economic development and revitalization. The weakness of current local, state and federal efforts to revitalize distressed areas is not that it is place-based but instead that it is place-based at the wrong scale. Rather than correcting the regional influences that are the source of individual and business locational decisions and behaviors, current efforts erroneously focus on the symptoms, e.g., trying to attract development to a specific neighborhood using tax incentives associated with an enterprise zone. Federal collaboration is needed to develop and implement new strategies that will achieve more socioeconomically mixed development patterns at the regional scale. In addition to strategic planning in this area, direct federal assistance may be needed in educating local governments and residents and in shaping a package of financial incentives and disincentives that will encourage local governments to think regionally while acting locally. Another important contribution the federal government could make to the region's sustainability would be the designation of the region -- or its Eastward Ho! corridor -- as a Showcase Community under the emerging new federal National Brownfields Partnership Community Program.
Tax and regulatory policy streamlining. This is an extremely rich area for cooperation but only one example in each area is offered here. Targeted tax breaks in inner city neighborhoods and around Lake Okeechobee to encourage the creation of jobs that can provide transitions to work for former welfare recipients is a critical need. In the area of streamlining, delegation of EPA and USACE permitting in targeted infill areas to the state and then down to regional and local environmental protection agencies would also represent an important step forward.
Environmental preservation and restoration. The federal government must maintain its commitment to Everglades restoration, a key component of achieving a sustainable future in the Southeast Florida region. Accelerated assistance in restoring environmental quality in important riverine systems, such as the Miami River and the New River in Ft. Lauderdale, is also needed. Federal cost-sharing for the Florida Keys carrying capacity study is another critical link.
Quality of life enhancements. The added population and tourism economy have created a need for safer communities. Aggressive drug enforcement and community policing operations are needed throughout the region, as is continued federal commitment to available and affordable housing for households all along the economic continuum. Florida's large retiree population also makes the state an ideal laboratory for research, health care, and service delivery for senior citizens.
Southeast Florida will continue to grow. Population predictions for the four counties total six million people by 2020. But will the region be sustainable? A flexible, innovative and collaborative federal partner is needed to help the region to leverage its investments, link its efforts, and learn by doing and by what others are doing. To succeed in the emerging global economy, the 112 local governments in Southeast Florida must pull together as a unified metropolitan region. Problems that drain the region's economic vitality, such as decaying urban centers and social and economic disparities, can only successfully be addressed from a regional perspective driven by an understanding of what makes a sustainable community. Federal commitment is needed to work with all of the stakeholders and partners in the Southeast Florida region on problem identification, analysis, and solution building. Through the Metropolitan Initiative Program, it is hoped the commitment can be found to turn the possibilities described above into specific actions that will help build a prosperous, sustainable future in the region.
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Leadership for Regional Development. Prepared for the James Irvine Foundation by Collaborative Economics. Draft. October 4, 1996.
Maps, Graphs & Data Book. Planning Division. Palm Beach County Planning, Zoning & Building Department. 1994-95.
The Possibilities. Center for Governmental Responsibility. University of Florida. Working draft paper. March 1997.
Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios and the American City. Paul A. Jargowsky. Russell Sage Foundation. New York.
Regional Profile of South Florida. South Florida Regional Planning Council. April 1996.
The South Florida Region. Special Advertizing Section. Florida Trend Magazine. June 1995.
Strategic Regional Policy Plan for South Florida. South Florida Regional Planning Council. August 1995.
Strategic Regional Policy Plan for the Treasure Coast Region. Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. December 15, 1995.