Doral: Improving Every Day!
One of the improvements that our city has experienced in the past is that we have moved to one of the top cities in the classes of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS), this means that we have minimized the risks in the case of flooding and the flood insurance policies now grant an additional discount to the properties located in Doral.
Edda Pujadas
After taking into consideration the rapid growth of our city, its strategic location, industrial and commercial development, together with its parks and entertainment options, Times Money magazine classified Doral as one of the best 100 cities to live in the United States in 2018.
The magazine puts us as number 22 and references the fact that we are just one mile from Miami International Airport and 12 miles from Downtown Miami. It states that the city has overgrown in the last decade, turning into a beautiful place for new residents, international buyers, and big businesses.
They place our population in 67,224 residents, with an annual family median income of $83,124 and they project a workforce increase from 2017 to 2022 of 6.51%, due to the presence of big companies such as Carnival Corporation, Univision, The Miami Herald, and Doral Trump Golf Resort and Spa.
They mention that the services have grown at the same rate that the city has grown, with two new urban centers around it: Downtown Doral and CityPlace that offer dining, shopping and entertainment options. They also mention the seven public parks and highlight the 82 acres of Doral Central Park, and as a curious fact, they indicate that out of the 365 days of the year, we have 249 which are sunny days, giving us more than 68% of the year with a great weather to enjoy our parks.
Also states that the percentage of teenagers that graduate in Doral is 80%. This percentage comes from the fact that all the public schools in Doral have been graded by the State of Florida as “A” schools due to their academic achievements. In this context of educational progress, it is important to highlight that 15 years ago, when Doral was founded, there were only six schools (four public schools and two charters) and today there are a total of 13 schools, between public and charter and to these we have to add 7 more that are entirely private, with which we are speaking of about 20 academic institutions within the City of Doral.
EVEN MORE…
There is so much more to say about Doral. For example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency – FEMA has raised the classification for our city to a class 7, within the NFIP/CRS, this means that all the properties in Doral qualify for a 15% discount in their flood insurance policies.
There are flood zones in Doral, both residential and commercial, that will receive this benefit. The real estate owners will get this 15% discount automatically when they apply for their flood insurance.
This information together with advice on what to do in case of disasters can be located through this link: https://www.cityofdoral.com/all-departments/building/hurricane-flood-information.
In order to educate the residents in regards to flooding, the Public Works Department of the City of Doral conducted two workshops where they provided valuable information both to residents and businesses about how to prepare before a possible flood and where they also explained the permit process after natural disasters in order to pay for essential damages that might have occurred.
Within the preventive actions that our city is conducting, it is important to highlight that the City of Doral is an active member of the Local Mitigation Strategy Workgroup (LMS) of Miami Dade County. The LMS is an integral community initiative designed to reduce or eliminate the risks for human life and property from the hazards generated by natural disasters, in the long term.
Another positive aspect which is essential to highlight from Doral is that it is home to more than 3,000 companies in the freight forwarding and logistics business, these support the domestic and international commerce. For example, last year, the Port of Miami moved more than 12,500 million tons of merchandise, it exported 3.4 million and imported 5.3 million. We also have the Miami Free Zone, that offers 750 thousand square feet of free tax storage for re-exported goods.
Doral is also considered one of the best places to invest in Real Estate in South Florida with an average home price of $320 thousand. Doral is also an “intelligent city” as ratified by the Platinum Certification ISO 37120 that was granted to the city by the World Council on City Data (WCCD) and that places us in the same level as Boston, San Francisco, Barcelona, and Dubai.
Even when traffic is still one of the main problems that the residents and workforce in Doral suffer, the city is betting on the Traffic Management Plan which objective is to minimize traffic congestion along the main streets in Doral. This is being developed together with the Department of Transportation and Public Works of Miami Dade County and the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX).
In essence, this plan includes the updating of traffic lights and signals, the installation of cameras and Bluetooth devices to monitor traffic and the evaluation of the development and implementation of long-term projects that will require planning and funds for their construction.
In order for this growth to keep up in a positive way, it is necessary to have the commitment of the residents of the city for whom it is essential to understand that we are submerged in an evolutionary process that will be impossible to achieve if we do not follow the rules, if we do not know what common well-being means and the importance of the citizen participation.