News: County withdraws plans for outdoor recreation area due to opposition

Posted on July 27, 2010

By www.naplesnews.com
07/27/10

It's the end of the line -- at least for now -- for a proposal to create off-road riding trails as part of a larger plan for outdoor recreation at the former jetport site in Big Cypress National Preserve.

Miami-Dade County has withdrawn the plans in the face of opposition from state growth regulators and environmental groups.

The county plans to reintroduce a revised version of the project this fall or next spring, Miami-Dade special projects manager Kevin Asher said.

Parks planners notified Collier County of the decision to withdraw the plans with just days to spare before a planned vote Wednesday by Collier commissioners.

Plans for the jetport, owned by Miami-Dade County but within the borders of Collier County, would require Collier to amend its growth plan.

Dubbed the Dade-Collier Cypress Recreation Area, the 1,600-acre site was proposed to include a visitors center, an 80-space parking lot, camping, an archery range, fishing piers, 10 miles of hiking and biking trails and 15 miles of off-highway vehicle trails north of U.S. 41 East near the Dade-Collier line.

ATV riders had pinned their hopes for a new place to ride on the jetport plans.

"As long as you don't give people a place to ride, they're going to ride anywhere," Collier County ATV riding advocate Rick Varela said.

Varela cited a crash this weekend in Brooksville, Fla., between an ATV and a sports utility vehicle that killed two ATV riders.

Varela said the state of Florida is failing the public by collecting fees on ATVs but not providing places for riders in South Florida.

"Nothing will happen until the lawsuits start to fly," Varela said.

The National Parks Conservation Association lauded state opposition to the Miami-Dade plans and the county's decision to withdraw them.

"Activities within the Everglades, such as an ORV park, would have been in direct conflict with Everglades restoration," the group's regional director John Adornato said.

The fight over the jetport in the 1970s marked a pivotal moment for Everglades conservation and led to the creation of the Big Cypress preserve.

Plans for a recreation area at the jetport have had a bumpy ride for the past year.

Collier County commissioners voted in January to send the proposed growth plan change to the state Department of Community Affairs for review.

In a sternly worded reply, the DCA warned the county not to approve the amendment and cited concerns about urban sprawl and impacts on wetlands and wildlife.

After the DCA weighed in, the county's Planning Commission voted unanimously to dump the plans. The advisory board had cast a tie vote on the plans last year.

The county's Environmental Advisory Council voted 3-2 to reject the plans earlier this year after voting 3-2 last year to back the idea.

Asher, with Miami-Dade parks department, said planners have revised the proposal to satisfy DCA's objections but could not get an official sign-off in time for Wednesday's hearing.

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