Babcock Ranch: A Solar Powered City

I remember several years ago during the real estate boom in South Florida, the Babcock family threatened to sell off their land. The family understood how much the land was worth and was willing to sell the environmentally sensitive area to the highest bidder. I found this to be tragic and disgusting. Because of the increasing property values, the family's greed clouded their own conscience and they did not pay any attention to the negative impacts of possible development projects. Environmentalists and other activists urged the Florida state government to purchase the land before a private developer does. Unfortunately, Kitson & Partners purchased 18,000 acres for future development even though the state claimed the remaining 73,000 acres were studied to be the most sensitive areas to human activity.
I visited the Babcock Ranch website for updates on the Kitson & Partners project. Digging through the site, I found several articles and the Kitson & Partners online homepage. I reviewed a Time magazine article, The Florida Times-Union article, and sun-herald articles regarding future plans for Babcock ranch. CEO of Kitson & Partners, Syd Kitson, has pushed for a Babcock city that will be powered by solar energy. The planned solar fields that will power the city when completed, will be the largest solar powered facility in the world. Syd claims his main objective is to push for an environmentally sustainable city that will influence other South Florida communities. Although there will be strip malls and other large business buildings, he also believes the people who live within the city can find jobs and find the area to be a wonderful place to raise a family.
Even though Kitson & Partners plans on constructing an environmentally and an economically friendly city, the project still requires deforestation and environmental damage. Development will always have a negative impact on the Florida environment, especially the overuse of groundwater and other precious resources. The only positive side of this tragedy, is the vision of a city powered by clean solar energy. Kitson & Partners will either help transform communities throughout Florida by using solar power or they will hurt the land forever.