Fighting the code wars could be a secret to a friendlier, less sprawling, and less bureaucratic, South Florida. Society does of course get some basic safeguards out of the code-makers' volumes. But too often there is no will to reassess public purpose of the rules. Small wonder we so often get bland, generic, even offensive buildings and settings instead of the intimate, pleasant communities we want. Parking requirements for instance, often force acres of rarely filled stalls, forcing up prices, creating voids of empty space, even in neighborhoods where many people walk or use transit.
Codes seem more anchored in our fears than our hopes.
A lot of South Floridian planners and thinkers agree. They have not often succeeded. But local opposition encouraged the county commission to reject it. Some claimed that in the wake of the Salamanca rejection. We were fascinated to meet Tim Hernandez, who worked 16 years for Pulte Homes, the last trying to get Salamanca approved.