NEW URBANISM AND SMART GROWTH AS A FRAMEWORK FOR THE REVITALIZATION OF DOWNTOWN HIALEAH, FL By GUILLERMO DE NACIMIENTO III A TERMINAL PROJECT PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2015 © 2015 Guillermo De Nacimiento III I dedicate this to my family. A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents, Guillermo and Maria De Nacimiento, Who have always supported my education, And inspired me to strive for my goals. Your words of encouragement and push for tenacity ring in my ears. Thank you for being my number one supporters, My advocates and my confidants through this lengthy journey … I love you FOREVER! To my sister and grandmother, Herlinda Lombardi and Herlinda Viera, My second mothers, my guiding light, And a shining example of how to live my life. Thank you for your support and guidance! Last but not least, To my brilliant, outrageously loving and supportive wife, Heidrys De Nacimiento. And our exuberant, sweet, and kind-hearted little boys, Guillermo and Giovanni De Nacimiento And the apple of my eye, my sweet baby girl Giuliana De Nacimiento. Thank you for the inspiration, Just know that I did it all for you! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my committee members who were more than generous with their expertise and precious time. A special thanks to Professor Stanley Latimer, my committee chairman for his countless hours of reflecting, reading, encouraging, and most of all patience throughout the entire process. A big thank you to Dr. Kathryn Frank for agreeing to serve on my committee and for taking time during her travels to read through my draft and provide her much appreciated feedback. Another special thanks to Dr. Ferdinand Lewis for his guidance and words of encouragement during my toughest times in this “marathon” of a degree. I would like to acknowledge and thank the Department of Urban and Regional Planning for allowing me to conduct my research and providing any assistance requested. Finally I would like to thank all of my professors, mentor-teachers and administrators in my program that assisted me with this project. Their excitement and willingness to provide feedback made the completion of this research an enjoyable experience. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. 5 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 11 INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE ............................................................................. 13 Historical Overview ................................................................................................. 14 An Immigrant Enclave ............................................................................................. 17 The City of Progress ............................................................................................... 19 Problem Statement ................................................................................................. 20 Description of Study Area ....................................................................................... 21 Existing Conditions ........................................................................................... 23 Street Network and Walkability ......................................................................... 26 Planning and Zoning ........................................................................................ 28 Civic Capacity and Engagement ...................................................................... 30 Why Revitalize Downtown Hialeah? ....................................................................... 30 Smart Growth and New Urbanism .......................................................................... 32 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 36 Importance of Downtown ........................................................................................ 36 Sprawl: Cause and Effect ....................................................................................... 37 Revitalization through the Years ............................................................................. 38 Downtown Revitalization Strategies ........................................................................ 39 Effects of Redevelopment ....................................................................................... 41 Pedestrians, Transit & Equity .................................................................................. 43 Criticisms of Smart Growth and New Urbanism ...................................................... 44 What is SWOT? ...................................................................................................... 46 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 47 Overview ................................................................................................................. 47 Case Studies .......................................................................................................... 47 City of Asheville, North Carolina ....................................................................... 48 City of Greenville, South Carolina .................................................................... 49 City of Lakewood, Colorado ............................................................................. 50 5 City of Guelph, Ontario ..................................................................................... 51 City of San Antonio, Texas ............................................................................... 52 FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................... 55 The Overlap: Smart-Urbanism? .............................................................................. 55 SWOT Analysis of Downtown Hialeah .................................................................... 59 Strengths .......................................................................................................... 59 Weaknesses ..................................................................................................... 60 Opportunities .................................................................................................... 61 Threats ............................................................................................................. 62 Findings from Case Studies .................................................................................... 65 Benefits to the Community ...................................................................................... 67 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 70 Recommendations .................................................................................................. 71 Funding Options ............................................................................................... 72 Develop for Mixed-Uses ................................................................................... 74 Attract Employers ............................................................................................. 77 Expand Access to Transit ................................................................................. 79 Improve Pedestrian Safety ............................................................................... 84 Enhance Public Perception .............................................................................. 89 Remediate Brownfield Sites ............................................................................. 91 Citizen Participation .......................................................................................... 93 A Framework for Urban Planning ............................................................................ 94 A Compact Walkable Urban Center ........................................................................ 95 A New Urbanist Community .................................................................................... 96 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 99 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 106 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page Table 1- Historical Population ....................................................................................... 19 Table 2 –Ten Principles of Smart Growth & New Urbanism .......................................... 35 Table 3- Overlap in New Urbanist & Smart Growth Principles ...................................... 58 Table 4- Ten Most Densely Populated Cities with a Population over 200,000 .............. 63 Table 5 -