Miami-Dade commissioners voted 7-5 Wednesday to send a controversial application to move the Urban Development Boundary to the state for review in a move that will test Florida’s gutted growth-management regulations.

The application by Ferro Investment Group II seeks to allow business and office development on 9.9 acres designated as agricultural and located outside the UDB, on the southeast corner of Southwest 167th Avenue and 104th Street.

County planners had recommended against sending the application to the state, citing the availability of commercial land inside the UDB. They said the move would add to urban sprawl and erode Miami-Dade’s dwindling supply of agricultural land.

Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, who represents District 11 where the property is situated, led the push to send the application to the state, saying that the substantive decision of whether to move the UDB will still come before the commission next spring — after state regulators review the application.

Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a state senator who works as a lobbyist for Miami Lakes-based Ferro Investment, urged commissioners to forward the application, arguing the infrastructure for development is already in place and the property borders the UDB. “You’re not talking about some land that’s out in the middle of nowhere,’’ Diaz de la Portilla said. “It’s contiguous with the UDB.’’

Diaz de la Portilla said the developer, who withdrew the application on several earlier occasions amid opposition, has received keen interest from grocery and retail outfits such as “Publix, Walgreens, Sedanos and others.’’

The state review may help clarify the status of Florida’s land-use authority. Earlier this year, a change in state law backed by Gov. Rick Scott dramatically watered down the state’s 25-year-old growth-management regulations, giving counties and municipalities greater freedom to amend their local comprehensive development plans meant to control sprawl.

Land-use functions of the state’s Department of Community Affairs were absorbed into a new Department of Economic Opportunity, and state oversight was largely limited to projects that adversely affect important state resources or facilities.

Martinez said despite supporting the state review, he has concerns about the application to change the UDB, which buffers the western and southern fringes of the county against growth. “It’s a gutted department,’’ he said of the former community affairs department. “Out of curiosity I’d like to see what they come back with.’’

A string of opponents spoke out against the application, including the Tropical Audubon Society, which highlighted the need to protect the Everglades and agricultural land. Laura Reynolds, its executive director, said after the vote that she anticipates even with the weakened state law that “the state will weigh in, because of the Everglades. It will not be as strong as before, but they will give us comments.’’

Voting in favor of sending the application to the state were Commissioners Martinez, Lynda Bell, Xavier Suarez, Esteban Bovo, Jose “Pepe’’ Diaz, Barbara Jordan and Bruno Barreiro. Opposed were Dennis B. Moss, Audrey Edmonson, Jean Monestime, Javier Souto and Sally Heyman. Rebeca Sosa was absent.

“This would open up 100 applications from land owners coming forward with property near the UDB,’’ warned Moss. “There has to be some order and some reasoning behind the planning we do.’’