The fourth time was the charm for the developers of the South Dade Logistics and Technology District, a 380-acre industrial and office park proposed on what used to be farmland — just over the Miami-Dade Urban Development Boundary.
They got the necessary 8-4 supermajority, instead of the 9 votes they would have needed if the vacant seat left by the removal of Joe Martinez was filled. But lobbyist Jeffrey Bercow et al can thank two commissioners in particular: Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz — who fought tooth and nail for them from the beginning — and Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who changed her vote from no to yes in exchange for (read: under cover of) getting some environmentally endangered lands in return.
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The owners of the closed Presidential Estates Golf Course in North Miami Beach got the green light Thursday to build 119 homes on the property after Miami-Dade Commission voted to approve the rezoning despite concerns from staff, residents and the district commissioner, Sally Heyman.
But it was expected. The commission is so developer friendly that Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz actually feels comfortable saying out loud that he’s going to cut critics’ time in half but give more time to an applicant.
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Neighbors hope county or state will step in and save the natural preserve
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Miami-Dade Mayor, Commissioners consider real solutions
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The superhero is not coming.
Just before Saturday’s deadline for the mayoral veto on the Calusa zoning change that allows developers to build hundreds of homes on 168 Kendall acres that are now an organic, overgrown slice of Florida wildlife, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava issued a statement full of excuses as to why she didn’t, and empty promises as to why it shouldn’t matter.
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It seemed like an easy win for residents against a zoning change for 168 acres of naturally overgrown green space that used to be the Calusa Golf Course by those who would turn it into yet another West Kendall gated community of 550 big, square, identical homes.
There was evidence of endangered bonneted bat activity on the property. There was photographic documentation of nesting by the threatened tri-colored heron and other Florida wading birds, including the threatened little blue heron, hanging out. There were incomplete or inadequate environmental assessments because they were done off peak times — which nobody can tell Ladra wasn’t intentional.
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