Unwelcome Precedent

Unwelcome Precedent

By Grant Campbell

At the City Commission meeting on 4/28/09, the City of Sunrise voted to permit another blatant attack on the sanctity of the Everglades by allowing the development of the Everglades Corporate Park on the very edge of Water Conservation Area 2 that cleanses the water that supplies the Everglades and recharges the Biscayne Aquifer.

The proposed Park will consist of a 10 story office complex and hundreds of thousands of square feet of industrial and warehouse space and will be the only development west of the Sawgrass Expressway.

Any significant chemical spill in this area will affect all of South Florida through intrusion into the aquifer and will have the potential to damage the food chain throughout the Everglades. This includes diesel fuel and oil from construction machinery, pollution from the runoff of vehicle emissions in parking lots, and various other chemicals common to industrial parks.

The project, located just north of Sunrise Boulevard and just west of I-75, will overlook the River of Grass that we are trying so desperately to restore. This will only serve to set a precedent that other money hungry developers will be quick to follow, and so far, it has been quietly helped along by a compliant City of Sunrise and the same set of lawyers and lobbyists that are behind the proposed Cocomar development in Coconut Creek,.

Kentucky-based Sawgrass Investors, and its team, the Ruden McClosky legal and lobbying firm, Rhon Ernest-Jones, a former Coral Springs mayor whose firm is engineering the project, along with the development's lobbyist, Dennis Mele, have entered the back door of the City of Sunrise in the same quiet, underhanded fashion in which they infiltrated Coconut Creek, through campaign contributions to the Commissioners.

The Federal Government has finally released funds to begin the long-promised Everglades restoration project and this ill-conceived and ill-timed project runs counter to all restoration efforts.

Commissioner Sheila Alu is to be commended for her lone dissenting vote: "I don't think I've ever been more opposed to anything in my eight years being on this commission. As you can see how close this area is to the Everglades, the only thing that buffers it is the C-13 canal... I am going to do everything in my power to fight any negative impact that this development could possibly have on the ecosystem."

It is time to give Ms Alu some much needed help, and stand up for the Everglades. If Florida is really going to make some progress in restoring the Everglades, we must see that this kind of development is stopped before it begins.

Please help us make the City of Sunrise Commission understand that the environment is much more important than filling some already well-stuffed pockets.
 
Copy and paste the block of email addresses to send all of the Commissioners your thoughts on this rape of our environment and to voice your disapproval of this unwelcome precedent.
.

rwishner@cityofsunrise.org; drosen@cityofsunrise.org salu@cityofsunrise.org;
jscuotto@cityofsunrise.org; lsofield@cityofsunrise.org

Please sign this petition to let the City of Sunrise know that you are opposed to any construction west of the Sawgrass Expressway/I-75 corridor. Thank you.

Grant Campbell
Audubon South Florida
Director of Wildlife Policy
Conservation and Environment Chair

Broward Sierra Club PAC

Unwelcome Precedent

By Grant Campbell

At the City Commission meeting on 4/28/09, the City of Sunrise voted to permit another blatant attack on the sanctity of the Everglades by allowing the development of the Everglades Corporate Park on the very edge of Water Conservation Area 2 that cleanses the water that supplies the Everglades and recharges the Biscayne Aquifer.

The proposed Park will consist of a 10 story office complex and hundreds of thousands of square feet of industrial and warehouse space and will be the only development west of the Sawgrass Expressway.

Any significant chemical spill in this area will affect all of South Florida through intrusion into the aquifer and will have the potential to damage the food chain throughout the Everglades. This includes diesel fuel and oil from construction machinery, pollution from the runoff of vehicle emissions in parking lots, and various other chemicals common to industrial parks.

The project, located just north of Sunrise Boulevard and just west of I-75, will overlook the River of Grass that we are trying so desperately to restore. This will only serve to set a precedent that other money hungry developers will be quick to follow, and so far, it has been quietly helped along by a compliant City of Sunrise and the same set of lawyers and lobbyists that are behind the proposed Cocomar development in Coconut Creek,.

Kentucky-based Sawgrass Investors, and its team, the Ruden McClosky legal and lobbying firm, Rhon Ernest-Jones, a former Coral Springs mayor whose firm is engineering the project, along with the development's lobbyist, Dennis Mele, have entered the back door of the City of Sunrise in the same quiet, underhanded fashion in which they infiltrated Coconut Creek, through campaign contributions to the Commissioners.

The Federal Government has finally released funds to begin the long-promised Everglades restoration project and this ill-conceived and ill-timed project runs counter to all restoration efforts.

Commissioner Sheila Alu is to be commended for her lone dissenting vote: "I don't think I've ever been more opposed to anything in my eight years being on this commission. As you can see how close this area is to the Everglades, the only thing that buffers it is the C-13 canal... I am going to do everything in my power to fight any negative impact that this development could possibly have on the ecosystem."

It is time to give Ms Alu some much needed help, and stand up for the Everglades. If Florida is really going to make some progress in restoring the Everglades, we must see that this kind of development is stopped before it begins.

Please help us make the City of Sunrise Commission understand that the environment is much more important than filling some already well-stuffed pockets.
 
Copy and paste the block of email addresses to send all of the Commissioners your thoughts on this rape of our environment and to voice your disapproval of this unwelcome precedent.
.

rwishner@cityofsunrise.org; drosen@cityofsunrise.org salu@cityofsunrise.org;
jscuotto@cityofsunrise.org; lsofield@cityofsunrise.org

Please sign this petition to let the City of Sunrise know that you are opposed to any construction west of the Sawgrass Expressway/I-75 corridor. Thank you.

Grant Campbell
Audubon South Florida
Director of Wildlife Policy
Conservation and Environment Chair

Broward Sierra Club PAC