Charles Lee email

All:

I think we must look at the BIG picture. There are lots of key people in
Central Florida, beginning with the Executive Director of the Regional
Planning Council who are thinking that the approach taken by Restoration
under the current revised plan can become the "standard" which future
development should follow. In other words, this one gets done and then
these standards are imposed or written into requirements for other
developers.

Imagine if all developers were required to set aside 70% or so of their
lands that are ecologically desirable...imagine if all developers needed to
follow the water conservaton requirements proposed here...imagine if the
concentrated urban design with streetcar transit were the norm in new
projects.

I appreciate the skeptics view and the longing of myself and others for the
"Old Florida" without these kind of development presures. But, the reality
here is a choice between what you see proposed at Restoraton and what
happened at Venetian Bay (and thousands of others who follow the
traditional pattern and plan for development).

Environmentalists and environmental groups (including me) have been waiting
for the public officials "who will just say no" to emerge. The reality is,
they aren't coming to save us. There have been brief points in time where a
city or county commission here and there mustered a "just say no" majority.
Look what happened to them (Martin County was an example TWICE). Our
"Majority" lasted only one term to be swept aside by new faces funded by
development interests.

If a development like Restoraton is not encouraged, then the bottom feeders
win. Folks like the developers of Venetian Bay will laugh in the face of
folks like Don Mears and say, " you see...you spent all that money,
sacrificed all those acres of developable land on a plan designed to
protect the environment and please the environmentalists and they throw mud
on you anyway..."

There is an old saying about insanity that defines it as doing the same
thing over and over again getting the same adverse results, but continuing
to do it anyway...

We need to ask ourselves the "Dr. Phil Queston" about the effectiveness of
the "Just oppose it" posture of environmental advocates. Look around
Florida at what we are getting and then ask "How is it working for you?"

Then consider "Wouldn't having Restoration as the template for change be
better?"

Charles