South Dade Matters discusses the Palmetto Bay Council and its committment to "New Urbanism"

The recent blog "South Dade Matters" has been blogging the Palmetto Bay Council action.  The current post is entitled:

Palmetto Bay and the Battle for “New Urbanism”

Read this posting.  As an aside, insiders have told me that both Mayor Shelley Stanczyk and newly elected councilwoman Joan Lindsay both traveled together to attend the 10th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities Conference at Village Expense held in Charlotte, North Carolina last Feburary 3 - 5th, 2011.  It was a strange trip to spend village money on as Palmetto Bay had its codes in place and apparently no code-related legislation ensued during past or current year other than a pending ordinance to allow Gun Shops into BU2 zoning districts in Palmetto Bay.

So what was learned by the new Mayor Shelley Stanczyk and Councilwoman Joan Lindsay at the smart growth convention in February? No one knows.  It was never publicly disclosed.  We do know that councilman Howard Tendrich brought forward a restriction now in place limiting each council member to $2,000.00 travel expense during this 2011-2012 budget year.  Will this make it difficult for the two to travel to the Sun, Surf, and Smart Growth: The 11th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference will be held February 2-4, 2012, in San Diego, CA?  We can only wait and see.

But I digress, as SDM discusses:

The more important question for Palmetto Bay is whether it is serious about honoring its commitment to New Urbanism, the basis of which is increased density of development along major transportation corridors.

If Palmetto Bay fails to permit intensification of development in the areas that it has designated for such activity, it will both expose the village to new litigation and turn away the private investment necessary to make the urban corridor succeed.

We as a community cannot have it both ways. We cannot scream bloody murder whenever someone proposes to build out west and then deny development along urban corridors, too. At some point, the need for regional growth will force the issue.

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We will all wait and see at the December zoning hearing whether this Palmetto Bay Council is consistent in living up to their training in North Carolina from the village funded trip to learn smart growth.