For decades, cities have grown in an unsustainable manner, consuming land and other resources at a perilous rate.  Efforts by the environmental movement were largely piecemeal, limited to minimal recycling programs and the occasional hybrid vehicle.  With its comprehensive approach to green planning, IPG pledges to change all this.

Sixteen years after Andrew, Homestead is thriving, on a scale that seemed unimaginable not long ago and in defiance of the real-estate meltdown in South Florida. The city in recent years has seen about 1.5 million square feet of retail space open.

"Every time you drive by, there's something new going up," says Tom David, an attorney who worked on government-recovery projects after Andrew and now advises private clients on zoning and land-use issues in South Florida.

The reversal in Homestead is remarkable for a city that was nearly blown off the map. Andrew leveled hundreds of houses, damaged thousands of others and left streets so devoid of landmarks and signs that locals would get lost. The federal government closed an Air Force base that had long anchored the local economy.

If it weren’t for its proximity, Mayor Otis T. Wallace might not have approved the plans.

”I would not want to freely give special uses for light industrial areas,” Wallace said.

Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, Badcock Furniture, Largo Honda, and other major businesses have recently moved in.

Florida City led Miami-Dade cities in gains in property values this year, and was one of only three cities to enjoy increases amid the real estate slowdown and tax cuts.

Florida City’s property values jumped 13 percent, followed by North Bay Village’s gain of 12 percent and Medley’s 9 percent, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s Office. Iler Planning Group has been working extensively with Florida City, North Bay Village, and is currently working with Medley on EAR-based Comprehensive Plan Amendments.

The citys Planning and Growth Management Division, a part of the citys DCD, ran the first two workshops. The city contracted with the Iler Planning Group out of West Palm Beach to help run the third session. After the presentation this week, the city may look to expand on information from the visioning sessions and create a document that outlines goals and ways to reach those goals for the benefit of the citys leadership.

“I think the process of doing grass-roots planning from the neighborhood on up is a good thing,” said Kurt Gearing, president of the Everest Homeowners Association and a participant in the workshops. “Cape Coral historically has not had a lot of good planning. They just kind developed as people wanted to build homes.”

“Aesthetics seems to be the key for people in Cape Coral,” said Amy Yearsley with the citys Department of Economic Development DCD.

A proposed three-tower Coconut Grove condo project — decried by some neighbors as an imposing behemoth and tainted by allegations of political payouts — may never get built.

In a stunning blow to The Related Groups 300 Grove Bay Residences project, a three-judge Miami-Dade Circuit Court appellate panel has nullified Miami City Halls approval of the towers.

This is a win for the neighborhoods, plain and simple, said City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents the Grove and was on the short end of the 3-2 vote approving the project.

In other action, Florida City awarded developer James L. Brown Sr., a contract to build four-story buildings located east of Northwest Third Avenue and south of Southwest 328th Street, across from Tatum Park on Lucy Street.

Brown was awarded the permits and a height variance to add the fourth floor in a three-story limit zone.

That extra floor, he said, would help make the building affordable for both housing and for mom-and-pop shops that could not otherwise rent a costly space on U.S. 1.

The property is a just over an acre and is surrounded by properties zoned for multi-families and mixed-use.

”It’s not going to be out of character if the adjacent properties are developed to their full potential,” city planner Henry Iler said.

”What’s been proposed is in keeping with Florida City’s long-time vision,” added Mayor Otis T. Wallace.

Quoted from City of Titusville Newsletter:

Last fall the City embarked on a program entitled: “United Vision – Envisioning our future together.” This process utilized a significant marketing effort to engage our citizens and businesses in two workshops to develop a consensus of broad themes that the City could utilize in developing a vision for our future and setting goals for the community as it relates to growth management.

IPG has been selected to conduct a seminar on Green Planning strategies at the 2008 Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (FAPA) Annual Conference.

The conference titled “Sustainability. Just Plan It.” will run from September 10th to 13th at the Intercontinental Miami, in downtown Miami, Florida. The focus of this year’s event will be on the environment, economy, transportation, society, and sustainable planning initiatives. IPG will conduct its Green Planning session during the conference on Friday, September 10th, at 9:30 am.

The Green Planning session, moderated by Henry Iler, AICP, President and Principal of IPG, will convey the master planning process, its methodology and how it works at the local level, using actual case studies. It will present general scientific concepts central to global warming, resource conservation and environmental processes. It is expected to address comprehensive plans and land development codes, and their role in green master planning and implementation, and familiarize participants with local government practices that have adverse global warming consequences.

“Our little town is changing,” says Epling, president of the Homestead-based Community Bank of Florida for the past three decades and a resident of the town for most of his life. “The face is changing. Its a community in transition.”

If you haven’t been to Homestead in a few years, you might not recognize it. Nearly 10,000 new families have moved into the area since 2000, a growth rate of 32 percent, or almost triple the county average. Now retail shops are moving in, and city leaders are looking to attract offices and industrial businesses.

Before Hurricane Andrew walloped Homestead in 1992, the city’s two principal industries were farming and the Homestead Air Force Base, which then employed close to 10,000 people.

After the storm, the military reduced the site to an Air Reserve Base. The facility has taken on more personnel in recent years, but its still nowhere close to pre-storm levels. It now has around 1,100 full-time workers, plus about 1,200 reservists who come to perform monthly drills. An additional 175 full-time workers are expected to arrive soon.

“We could do more creative things associated with, if you will, The Jetsons,” said Jay Marder, director of the citys Development Services. He was talking about the possibility that the city could encourage future development in the Miami Modern style.

Marder and city consultants broached the topic during a workshop held April 3 to kick off the drafting of a proposal that would lay the groundwork for new development in Miami Gardens.

Miami Modern, or MiMo, the post-WWII style sometimes compared to the futuristic city drawn in The Jetsons cartoon and already incorporated through some sections of the city, could be used to create a physical identity for Miami Gardens, consultants from Iler Planning Group said.