Traffic pressure from development moves south while the transportation dollars to address it flows smoothly to the north

Nothing from the locals? Is there any update as to input from our South Dade Communities on this County development plan?

We are set to get the development, but not the promised rail extension that we were promised to lure us to approve the ½ cent transportation sales tax. We have dutifully paid this tax over the past decades.  Bus is not rail, no matter how many bells and whistles you attach to it.  Now we get to pay even more for the approved Metrorail extension to the north. The increased tax revenue proposed to be collected from the increased development in the south will flow north to fund the extension to the north, along with our ½ cent sales tax proceeds, all while we get to enjoy unmitigated increased traffic.

Is this proposed density a done deal? Would it even matter if we reduced the Palmetto Bay’s downtown district to strawberry fields? The acreage that runs along the proposed transportation line will surely overwhelm present transportation levels, even with the promised additional express buses, while pushing development further south and west, putting even more pressure on the County Commission to extend the UDB.

I assume that there have been briefings from our district commissioners to the municipal leadership.  Developmental decisions don't happen in a vacuum. See Miami Herald online: Miami-Dadepasses plan to let developers build more near Metrorail, transit routes, by Douglas Hanks, Jan. 24, 2019:

Miami-Dade is moving closer to allowing larger buildings along current and future transit routes, part of a plan to get more people to live closer to bus and rail service.

County commissioners on Wednesday revised Miami-Dade’s development rules to allow for more density in the six corridors that make up the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit Plan — best known as the SMART Plan. Launched in 2016, it is funding consultant studies to recommend new transit plans for some of the county’s busiest commuting routes.

Last year, the commission approved a massive tax zone enveloping the 55 miles of SMART corridors and existing 25 miles of Metrorail tracks. The zone stretched out half a mile on either side of the most of the corridors. When a property’s value inside the zone rises more than 4.5 percent in any given year, that money gets diverted to build future transit projects.

Silence by the local officials is acquiescence. Actually, silence is approval, endorsement – and possibly neglect, predicated upon what occurs long term. Were any positions in opposition advocated or objections put in by the municipal councils of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay? This is imposition of density without the commensurate improvement in mass transit. More traffic to be supported by roads once (reasonably) thought to be neighborhood roads.  Our South Dade municipalities were once united in demanding and working hard for Metrorail, but the unified effort has obviously come off the rails. New councils in each area = new priorities.

However, Council Member David Singer, one current member of the Palmetto Bay Village Council, has proposed legal action to protect our rights on the TPO's failure to deliver on the promises of the 1/2 cent sales tax. Is there any interest from the current Mayor and council to take a serious look at this proposal, especially as the stakes have been raised due to recent development plans?

Pinecrest is all in for BRT – by why should the Pinecrest Council fight for those to their South? Pinecrest is served by 2 Metrorail stations, Dadeland North & South. The circumstances are much different for the areas from Palmetto Bay south.  Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay should not give up on Metrorail. I would like to see an update on what action has been taken by the current Mayors and Councils, what information has been disseminated to each mayor and council member internally as well as at the Chamber South Transportation Committee.

Now, not later, is the time to act.