The push for more houses in Miami-Dade hits a wall over saving farms outside the suburbs

Legislation making it easier to convert Miami-Dade County farmland into residential projects stalled Thursday, delaying a showdown over the future of suburban growth.

Sponsor Jose “Pepe” Diaz pulled the legislation from a scheduled committee vote, saying he wanted more time to negotiate a compromise with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava — who warned the proposal would clear the way for developing thousands of acres of farmland where building is currently banned.

“I’m working with the administration... I think we’ve got something solved,” Diaz, the commission’s chairman, said during a rare appearance at the board’s Infrastructure committee, which was considering his legislation that afternoon.

He said the legislation, opposed by environmental groups but supported by builders, has been misconstrued in the media and beyond as triggering construction growth into farms and other areas near the Everglades.

“This has taken on a life that shouldn’t have happened,” he added.

The Diaz resolution deferred by the commission’s infrastructure committee doesn’t mention farmland.

But he proposed a change in the county’s growth-management calculations to require a 10-year supply of land for building new single-family houses, townhouses and duplexes.

The county only has a four-year supply of land zoned for single-family construction. The existing pipeline of construction lots is forecast to run dry by 2026 and squeeze supply even more in one of the country’s least affordable housing markets.

Planners said meeting Diaz’s 10-year target would force Miami-Dade to expand the current building area into the farmland that rings the western and southern suburbs — areas where developers are ready to build new residential communities once the county allows construction there.

Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary divides the areas where builders can develop new subdivisions and where land must be preserved for farmland and other rural uses. County planners must recommend expanding the “UDB” once the county runs out of building sites to cover 10 years of anticipated housing demand.

Current policy calculates building supply using a mix of single-family sites and land suitable for construction of apartment buildings and condo towers. Factor in future “multi-family” projects and Miami-Dade estimates it has enough land to satisfy more than 20 years of housing demand.

By giving single-family houses and townhouses their own 10-year target, planners say the county would have no choice but to create new housing lots by expanding the UDB into what’s mostly farmland outside of suburban communities.

“It’s mandating a metric that’s impossible to meet,” said Lourdes Gomez, Levine Cava’s director or Regulatory and Economic Resources, the department that oversees zoning.

Her staff estimated the Diaz proposal would require another 3,200 acres of land for constructing houses, a demand that would mean easy approval for developers seeking to build on existing farmland.

“It’s causing the moving of the UDB,” she said.

Diaz objected to linking his legislation to a trigger to expanding the county’s urban area.

His legislation called for changing county rules to make it easier to create single-family homes with the existing urban development area, including splitting lots and adding backyard homes for family members.

“As the Mayor, it is your responsibility to determine a methodology to address the housing needs within the UDB,” Diaz wrote in a Thursday memo to Levine Cava ahead of the committee meeting.

This article was updated to remove an erroneous reference to the type of advocacy groups opposing the proposed legislation.

This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 8:26 PM.