America's First Eco-City: Doomed From the Start 258
An anonymous reader writes "Despite backing from the Clinton Climate Initiative, and a $111 million investment from Subway Restaurant mogul Fred DeLuca, a planned city for Central Florida called 'Destiny' was doomed from the start, according to memos retrieved from Florida's Department of Community Affairs. According to state officials, despite a great deal of hype about Destiny, Florida, becoming the first fully sustainable city in the U.S., plans to build the city were rejected almost immediately due to concerns over 'possible urban sprawl, energy inefficient land use patterns, the endangerment of natural resources, and the undermining of agriculture.'"
Re:In otherwords (Score:5, Informative)
The batshit insane goverment there killed it because it involved environmentalism.
Magical libertarian thinking knows no bounds.
Based on TFA, it sounds like there were some valid concerns about the project:
Although the data and analysis state that the New City will support multi-modal transportation alternatives, and the scenario analysis assumes the New City will have transit, the policies do not actually require it. Urban sprawl may not be discouraged without clearer and more specific standards.
As written, this policy is vague regarding the actual size of the New City... the policy fails to provide adequate guidelines and standards for the location, suitability, contiguity, and compactness of the developable area, which could result in a scattered, energy inefficient, and sprawling pattern of development in areas which are environmentally unsuitable.
These sound like valid concerns, If it's not in writing, it's not going to happen - any city that's worked with a developer knows that the developer will promise the world "Oh yes, we'll build a park on every street corner and a paved jogging/biking trail around the perimeter of the development, trust us", but when funds run short, the development ends up with a patch of dirt called a "park", and fifty feet of paved trail that goes nowhere.
Plus there was the little financial sideshow:
While Destiny's Pugliese could have gone elsewhere with his plans, it seems a legal plot twist was the final nail in Destiny's coffin: A series of finger-pointing lawsuits between Pugliese and investor Fred DeLuca concluded last October when Pugliese and his business manager Joseph Reamer were charged with money laundering and fraud for using a portion of DeLuca's investment to pay for personal and business projects unrelated to Destiny.
Just another Florida land scam... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/delray-beach-developer-anthony-pugliese-charged-wi/nSpp7/ [palmbeachpost.com]
Re:In otherwords (Score:4, Informative)
It's like walking by a post and observing a turtle on top of it.
Re:In otherwords (Score:5, Informative)
In this case boy would they have been right. When I first saw the website I just shook my head. What a freaking boondoggle. It would have been in the middle of nowhere Florida. And yes I grew up in Vero Beach, Florida. The current town at that location is called Yeehaw Junction and no I am not kidding. It is the Turnpike exit that you use to get to Vero. No jobs, no infrastructure, no people. A community there would be a classic Florida land scheme. AKA it is "swampland", not really it is central florida grassland. Good for raising cattle but not much else.
Anybody from the area that heard about it would say, wow that is crazy.