70,000 cars give planners bad dream
Mega-mall could swamp Broward roads
It’s one of the largest developments in South Florida’s history, and just 2 miles south of the county line, but no roadway improvements are planned in Broward for the proposed American Dream Miami project.
As the gigantic theme park-retail mall and adjacent residential-office park edge toward a fall final series of votes in Miami-Dade County, officials from Broward raised red flags Friday about traffic spilling over.
So far, all that’s under consideration for Broward is a shuttle bus fromMiramar to the mall.
“This is a regional project that has regional impacts,” Jodie Sesodia, Broward planning and development director said at the South Florida Regional PlanningCouncil. “But you have no mitigation shown for BrowardCounty roadways.”
Miami-Dade officials, as well as representatives of Triple Five, the mega-mall developer, bristled at the suggestion that Broward had been slighted.
They said the project’s impacts across county lines were considered fairly.
“This was not done in someone’s closet,” Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor
Jack Osterholt, a former Bro ward County administrator, said .“This was an open and participatory process.”
Developer Triple Five plans to construct a theme park where visitors could ride in a submarine, slide down a ski slope, enjoy a hamburger, and shop for a new wardrobe, all under the roof of American Dream. It would be the largest such “retail-tainment” project in America, the developer says, and 70,000 cars would drive in and out of it each day.
The 6.2 million-squarefoot attraction is proposed in an unincorporated wedge of northwest Miami-Dade County, immediately north of the city of Hialeah, between Interstate 75 and the Florida Turnpike Extension. Miramar is its closest Broward neighbor.
Immediately south of the mall, Graham Companies proposes 3 million square feet of office space, 1 million square feet of commercial retail, and 2,000 apartments.
Sesodia said she finds it “hard to believe” that a project just 2 miles south, expected to draw thousands of visitors a day, doesn’t trigger road improvements in Broward.
But American Dream lawyerMiguel Diaz de la Portilla, a former state senator, said the team followed state law and the results of a traffic analysis, which found that the roads of south Broward — Miramar Parkway for example — will be clogged even without it.
Broward County traffic engineering director Scott Brunner said the county wasn’t able to view the assumptions behind the traffic analysis in enough detail to feel comfortable with it.
The way it turned out, Brunner said, all of the road widening and highway ramp improvements that were deemed necessary “just happened to be right at the border.”
“We’re skeptical of whether or not that’s actually true,” Brunners aid of the results, adding that he believes Miramar Parkway around I-75 will be significantly impacted by project traffic.
Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam said the city would like Pembroke Road extended to U.S. 27, and Miramar Parkway connected to Pembroke Road. Both projects are already proposed for construction, but he said the developer could contribute, to help alleviate the mall traffic that will likely burden his city’s roadways.
No final decisions were made Friday. Broward’s input will be considered, Portilla said.
The developer has identified $43.6 million in transportation improvements, and says it should be responsible for $34 million of it. Road improvements that would have been needed anyway shouldn’t be paid for entirely by the developer, lawyers for American Dream said.
Final recommendations on developer agreements with Miami-Dade County are expected to be released in August. Final public hearings are expected to be held at the Miami-Dade County Commission on Oct. 19 or Nov. 9.
BrittanyWallman can be reached at bwallman@ sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4541.