Builders get a BOGO special and Miami gets… flooded
Miami commissioners are set to vote Thursday on yet another Damian Pardo special. The Miami commissioners has proposed a shiny new ordinance that would let developers double the allowable density in some of the most flood-prone, overdeveloped corners of the city — as long as they drop a little something into a new “Resilience Trust Fund.”
Because nothing says climate adaptation like building twice as much in an area already underwater.
The plan, which the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board already waved through in October, would let developers buy their way into supersized projects by paying into a city-managed fund for pump stations, seawalls, raised roads and other resiliency window dressing. Think of it as Miami’s first-ever Build-and-Flood program — the more you build, the more we promise to spend trying to keep it from flooding.
And of course, the first two “Resilience Fund Areas” just happen to be… both in Edgewater. You know, the neighborhood where a regular afternoon rain can stall your BMW for the day.We need more condo towers there.
Oh, and Watson Island, too. Because why stop at Edgewater when you can add incentives right where two mega-developments just happen to be waiting? It’s like playing a game of follow the bouncing bulldozers.
The proposal claims to be targeted at “high-demand areas,” but as usual, Miami’s definition of “targeted” is suspiciously specific. Both RFAs slice through Edgewater from the Julia Tuttle to NE 8th Street — an area already plastered with cranes and high-rise renderings.
Read related: Miami’s Watson Island liquidation sale to developers for lowball $25 million
Just last month, the Urban Development Review Board stamped its approval on a 47-story tower with nearly 500 apartments on Biscayne Boulevard. And Sam Nazarian’s crew is cooking up a branded condo tower down on 29th Street. Miami’s Edgewater is undergoing significant development with numerous residential, mixed-use, and commercial high-rise projects. Major developments include a large-scale Edgewater Collective project, the Braman Motors mixed use campus, the ELLE Residences and Edge House Miami — a 57-story monolith (rendering right) — all contributing already to the area’s transformation into a denser neighborhood. 
Now the city wants to sweeten the deal even more, with a zoning BOGO: Buy one density, get a second one free when you help pay for the pumps.
Developers can even get a 15% discount if they tug on their green cap and offer to do some of the infrastructure work themselves. What could possibly go wrong?
Even the chair of the city’s Climate Resilience Committee, Aaron DeMayo, couldn’t help pointing out the obvious last month. “Somewhat ironic that we’re incentivizing additional development capacity in an area that is already flooding significantly,” he is quoted as saying in the Coconut Grove Spotlight.
Somewhat ironic? It’s Miami. It’s perfectly on brand.
Still, the committee voted to support it. Because of course it did.
Neighbors and urbanists are warning that doubling density — especially in neighborhoods already bursting at the seams — will overwhelm Miami’s already-limping infrastructure and speed up gentrification. If history is a guide: sí, claro.
The ordinance also allows new RFAs to be created at any time by, you guessed it, another ordinance. In Miami language, that’s a standing invitation: If developers want a new hotspot, we’ll draw them a new map.
As usual, Pardo declined to talk about it. But a canned statement in his District 2 newsletter insisted the ordinance will “only apply to a portion of Edgewater.”
Sure. Today. But like every other “only here, for now” zoning gift, it can grow legs at any future meeting when nobody’s watching — or when the right lobbyist is. Las malas lenguas say city staffers have already said they plan to expand to the Transit Oriented Development overlays commissioners approved earlier this year that already jack up building heights and densities around rail corridors. Layer this onto that, and Miami’s development map is starting to look like SimCity played by a teenager with unlimited cheat codes.
Read related: Miami approves TSND zones to bring ‘affordable’ housing to transit hubs
Naturally, neighbors are concerned. A flurry of emails to the commissioner’s office was answered by his community liaison for Edgewater and Morningside, Bradley Mills, who sounded more like a lobbyist than a public servant.
“The proposed legislation…involves the creation of an Edgewater Resilience Trust Fund with the use of density bonuses. This legislation is the culmination of several meetings over many months and comes as a direct response to the request from Edgewater property owners and resident groups,” Mills wrote in an email Wednesday, adding that the climate resilience committee and the planning and zoning board both support the measure.
“The legislation does not double the density in the City of Miami. The double density is already in the city’s comprehensive plan and was adopted in 2017. Applicants can already achieve density increases through the City’s TDR and TDD programs and through our Public Benefits Program. Density can already be increased in certain transects across the city to the same threshold; this program merely offers an additional way to achieve the same density increases allowed in the Comprehensive Plan.”
So, nothing new to see here, folks. Just a little something extra.
Mills says the ordinance simply “unlocks a tool under the Miami 21 Zoning Code for the Edgewater area that builds infrastructure, provides home ownership opportunities, and funds public benefits important to the neighborhood.” There’s that lobbyist speak. He also raised the Live Local Act boogeyman saying it negates “these public benefit opportunities.
“In short, this legislation offers options for the Edgewater community that are important to the area and no other area.”
Not yet.
The commission will likely pass this on first reading — because they almost always do — and kick it to a second reading where developers will show up with glossy renderings and commissioners will congratulate themselves for “addressing climate resilience.”
Meanwhile Edgewater will still flood if someone sneezes on Biscayne Boulevard.
And Miamians will be left wondering: Are we really building resilience? Or are we building the problem faster than the pumps can catch up?
Ladra knows the answer. So do you. So does Pardo.
The city commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be seen online on the city’s website and its YouTube channel. The full agenda can be viewed here.

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Looks like Lennar Homes, the country’s second biggest homebuilder and longtime Miami-Dade campaign donor, is back at the county commission asking for a little favor — the kind that turns farmland into profit.
On the agenda for Thursday’s meeting: Application No. CDMP20250003 — doesn’t that sound friendly? — which is really about turning 20.1 acres of land near SW 220th Street and 134th Avenue near The Redland from rural, estate-sized lots into a tighter, denser subdivision that could fit up to 13 homes per acre.
That’s right, the same piece of land now zoned for one or two houses per acre could soon hold up to 138 homes — if Lennar gets what it wants.
The legalese calls it a “small-scale amendment to the Comprehensive Development Master Plan.” In plain English: it’s a mini change to the county’s master blueprint for growth, one that doesn’t trigger the big, scary state-level review that larger projects have to go through. The county calls it “small.” But for neighbors who will suddenly be surrounded by hundreds of townhouses instead of mango trees and horses, it’s anything but.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission approves 700 homes on 90 acres of mostly farmland
Rodan Estates, as the development is called, consists of 3- and 4-bedroom detached “cluster homes” — which means they are grouped together and share open spaces. The application states that 25% of the property will be open green space.
This isn’t Lennar trying to push the Urban Development Boundary line — not yet, anyway. That ask comes later when they present their plans for “City Park” (more on that later). This one’s about squeezing more houses onto land they already own inside the line. But these little inside-the-line density jumps are what make it easier to justify moving the UDB later. One brick at a time, mi gente.
Lennar, represented by lobbyists Hugo Arza and Amanda Naldjieff of Holland & Knight, wants to redesignate the property from “Estate Density Residential, which allows from 1 to 2.5 homes per acre, to “Low-Density Residential with One Density Increase,” which brings that up to between 6 and 13 homes per acre — if the design looks “urban”. That’s bureaucrat-speak for cramming in as many units as possible, as long as they look nice on paper.
The developer has even offered a Declaration of Restrictions, which usually means some promises about landscaping, sidewalks, or traffic mitigation — the kind of sweeteners that make commissioners feel better about saying yes. But those “restrictions” rarely restrict much once the bulldozers roll in.
County staff already reviewed the plan, as required, and found no major reason to block it. The Planning Advisory Board and the local community council have also held their obligatory hearings — though not many residents even knew what was happening, since the notice came buried in government websites with links longer than the Everglades.
Read related: Kendall residents oppose early talks for development of waste transfer facility
The proposal is being billed as a “small-scale amendment,” which means it can be adopted by the County Commission with one final vote — no lengthy state oversight, no extra review, no second reading. If the commission approves it Thursday, the change becomes official unless someone files a legal challenge.
And you can bet Lennar’s lawyers made sure everything lines up neatly for that quick approval.
Critics say this is part of a bigger pattern: Lennar and other developers slowly carving up South Dade, where property is cheaper, one small-scale amendment at a time, until the Urban Development Boundary — the line that’s supposed to protect farmland and open space — becomes meaningless. Today it’s 21 acres here. Tomorrow it’s 200 acres there.
Before you know it, the mango groves are gone and the traffic is even worse than it already is on SW 137th Avenue.
Ladra’s not against new homes — everybody needs a roof. But every time Lennar comes to the county commission, it feels like déjà vu: another “small” change, another zoning bump, another profit-driven project labeled as “smart growth.” And the public hearings? They’re held during the day, when regular people are working.
So call it “small-scale” if you want, but Ladra’s seen this blueprint before. A few acres here, a few zoning tweaks there, and pretty soon the nurseries turn into cul-de-sacs and the Turnpike turns into a parking lot.
They call it smart growth, but it smells more like sprawl in a suit — and Lennar’s been walking this county commission around the block long enough to know exactly which way to tug the leash.

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Long-delayed developments on Watson Island are back on the drawing board and two new projects could go before voters on the November ballot. Miami city commissioners will consider on Thursday two new plans for the small isle on the MacArthur Causeway, which connects Miami to Miami Beach.

One of them would change the proposal for an eco-adventure hotel next to Jungle Island, which was approved by voters in 2018 and could be closed for months during the redevelopment. ESJ Capital Partners, which bought the 18-acre theme park for $60 million in 2017, has partnered with developer Terra to build a luxury condominium tower instead.

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And, in Miami, the old Sears could become 1,000 homes

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A downsized version of the Ponce Park Residences, an Allen Morris project that’s been pitched to the city of Coral Gables at least four times in the last three years, will be considered Tuesday by the city commission. This time, the proposal is for a 9-story building — down from an original 16 — with 60 residential units and 20,000 square feet of commercial or retail space on the first floor.

The scaled down design by Zyscovich architecture is reportedly the result of several meetings with nearby residents concerned about the density and the traffic it would bring to an already busy area, next to the Agave Plaza project. Development, or overdevelopment, is a key issue in the Gables.

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Did anybody really think that the South Dade Logistics & Technology District was going to be the last attempt to cross the Urban Development Boundary, an invisible line meant to keep urban sprawl from penetrating the Everglades? ¡Claro que no!

Instead, the Miami-Dade County Commission’s fervent dedication to and intentional push to up zone farmland late last year — they went of their way to approve it on the fifth try — opened the proverbial floodgates to these protected lands crucial to our water supply. The value of the properties that were upzoned skyrocketed. And speculators and developers can see the cash cow, um, cash manatee. That’s why three separate applications have been filed with the county in a year’s time, as first reported in The Real Deal by Lidia Dinkova and researcher Adam Farence.

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