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Miami Set to Receive Smart Growth Assistance

Release Date: 10/30/2008
Contact Information: Davina Marraccini, (404) 562-8293, [email protected]

(ATLANTA – Oct. 30, 2008) Miami, Fl., is one of three communities across the country that will receive technical assistance from EPA to help put the principles of efficient, affordable, and environmentally sensitive growth into action. Many communities want to foster economic growth, protect environmental resources, enhance public health, and plan for development, but lack the tools, resources, and information to achieve their goals. EPA’s smart growth technical assistance program helps with this need.

Projects in Miami, New York City and Connecticut were selected under a national competition that drew 47 applicants from 22 states and Puerto Rico. Under a federal contract, each community will receive direct technical assistance valued at approximately $45,000 from a team of national experts organized by EPA and other partners to work with local leaders. Team members will have expertise in disciplines relevant to each community’s unique needs.

Concerned about the expansion of metropolitan Miami into areas adjacent to the Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade County, Florida has requested assistance to explore how management and oversight of a major planning tool – the Urban Development Boundary (UDB), which separates urban from non-urban development – might be changed to better support county growth goals. In the past, UDB has been amended to accommodate growth, but officials want to investigate how to use it more effectively to guide development toward existing areas and protect sensitive environmental areas. This project will provide a key test for understanding how to balance development and conservation goals through smart growth principles. Partners on the project include Florida Atlantic University, Biscayne National Park, Builders Association of South Florida, Trust for Public Land, Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, and the Agricultural Practices Studies Advisory Board.

More information about EPA’s Smart Growth program: https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/

More information about the communities receiving EPA smart growth technical assistance: https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia2008.htm