Saturday, March 31, 2018
3pm-6pm
(directions)

A rally is planned for Saturday, March 31 from 3pm-6pm to save Arch Creek Preserve.  Gather at the Arch Creek East entrance sign, on the median, and we will walk the length of NE 135th Street (just under a mile) and terminate in a gathering at the Preserve entrance. Bring signs, bring your friends, bring your smile for the TV cameras! This will be the first of our rallies for the Preserve and we will continue until we succeed in protecting it.

Please sign the petition to stop FIU from destroying the preserve!

By signing this petition you are showing support for the continued status of Arch Creek East Preserve in North Miami as being CLOSED to motor vehicles (excepting emergency and service access). Arch Creek East Preserve is one of North Miami's last remaining green spaces. People can walk, cycle, dog-walk, jog and experience an oasis with no cars, and where wildlife can be seen and enjoyed in peace. Florida International University (FIU) want to create a new university entrance and 4-lane access road through that will destroy the Preserve. The city and residents want to stop this, but FIU is using underhanded methods to force their plan on local residents. It will destroy this place by replacing the existing pedestrian path / emergency vehicle access route and turning it into a major road. This will add thousands of cars every day to the now quiet dead-end NE 135th Street (also known as Arch Creek Boulevard). This attractive mile long residential street with its large tree-lined passive park/central median will become just another noisy polluted 4-lane main road. North Miami will lose a unique asset, residents will lose property values, and the city will lose tax revenue.

ACE Preserve:
  • Designated as an Environmental Preserve in perpetuity by the City of North Miami in 2007
  • 13 acres next to Biscayne Bay, about half Mangroves and half dry ground
  • Wildlife include Manatees, Saltwater Crocodiles, Eagle Rays, Mullet, Snapper, Snook, Grouper, Wood Storks, Great-Horned Owls, Egrets (White, Cattle), Herons (Great and Little Blue, Green, Tricolor, Yellow-Crested Night), Vultures and Ospreys, Swamp Rabbits, Squirrels, Raccoons, Possums, Land Crabs, Ghost Crabs, and so much more...
  • Vital Wildlife Corridor between 2 major state conservation areas: Oleta River State Park Annex (~120 acres of Mangroves) and Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve (65,400 acres)
  • Hundreds of volunteers have invested thousands of hours over the past 5 years
  • Projects include removing invasive species and planting native habitat such as mangroves
  • Habitat restoration has recently been funded, and the complete transformation of 1.8 acres is planned
  • Restoration will provide biodiversity for more species and numbers of Wildlife
  • Provides access to nature for visitors and residents
  • The path through the Preserve is used by walkers, cyclists, dog-walkers, nature-lovers, exercisers, bird-watchers and kids commuting to two local schools plus FIU
  • The Preserve serves as a neighborhood park, city park and regional park with disabled access
  • Part of the Open Spaces Master Plan (Miami-Dade County)
ACE Neighborhood
  • Slow 2-lane cul-de-sac has zero through traffic
  • Large median strip serves as a passive park for residents and dogs
  • ACE Preserve serves as their local park
  • 1,000 residents bought into this quiet neighborhood when they moved in

What will be lost if FIU builds a 4-lane highway through ACE?


Environmental Preserve Lost:
  • Terminated: Habitat restoration projects of 5 years are wrecked
  • Terminated: Future habitat restoration
  • Polluted: Protected Mangroves, Manatees and habitat are polluted by road-runoff, exhaust and noise
  • Terminated: Access to nature (a human right) is destroyed
  • Degraded: A vital Wildlife Corridor connecting larger wilderness areas
Neighborhood Wrecked:
  • A campus with 10,500 people will send an estimated 5,000 cars through the neighborhood daily (coming and going)
  • Destroyed: Safety for children, elderly, residents, visitors, cyclists
  • Lost: The Preserve is a component in property values, now wiped out
  • Destroyed: Property value losses could amount to $30 million to residents
  • Destroyed: Mortgages may go "under water", leading to foreclosures, bankruptcies and homelessness
  • Wiped out: City tax base loses taxable value

We call for a written commitment from President Mark Rosenberg and the FIU Board of Trustees to give up all claims and plans to use the Arch Creek East Preserve for a road or transportation corridor, in perpetuity, beyond its current capability as emergency access. This written commitment should include cessation of all efforts to circumvent and over-ride the wishes of local residents in North Miami and the City of North Miami, and describe their intention to instead find alternative solutions to their traffic problems.

Thank you for taking the time to read our petition motive and we hope you can join us in acting to protect this unique city asset for future generations of both people and animals to enjoy.

THIS PETITION IS GOING TO: President Mark Rosenberg, VP and others at FIU. Also, all of the FIU Trustees and Governor Rick Scott.

More updates on Facebook - ACE Preserve Action Group