Push to expand Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary kept alive by last-minute offer

A proposal to expand the Urban Development Boundary was kept alive on Tuesday when the Miami-Dade Commission voted for the fourth time to delay a final vote on converting hundreds of acres of farmland into a warehouse complex northeast of Homestead.

The deferral decision gave developers another chance to secure the eight votes needed to expand the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) for the first time since 2013.

READ MORE: To expand the UDB, developer needs Miami-Dade to change county policy on flood risks

Their hopes rest on a proposal to purchase more than 300 acres of wetlands and other environmentally sensitive lands for a county preservation program in exchange for commissioners approving development of the 380-acre South Dade Logistics and Technology District south of Florida’s Turnpike. Developers revealed the offer as the debate began Tuesday.

Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who voted against the project last month, praised the developers for coming up with a plan that could be an environmental plus for Miami-Dade.

“I know we’re all kind of tired of this,” Regalado said. “At the same time, I think it’s a very important conversation.”

READ MORE: In quest to move the UDB, developers get multiple chances to win final vote

Backers tout the proposed mix of warehouses, call centers and other industrial buildings as a needed employment opportunity for residents who currently have to commute out of South Dade for decent wages. Developers forecast more than 7,000 jobs, while county planning staff predict about half that amount of permanent employment at the site.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, opposes the project in part for its potential harm to a federal Everglades restoration effort. Those concerns also came from environmental groups, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from West Miami.

The final vote on the South Dade project was supposed to happen in May, but developers failed to win the required two-thirds vote at that meeting and secured a delay until June.

At the June meeting, commissioners agreed to defer the decision until the fall. Developers Stephen Blumenthal, David Brown and Jose Hevia and partners reworked the project and cut in half the original 790-acre footprint by dropping some farmland from the proposal.

At the Sept. 22 meeting, developers fell one short of the votes needed to expand the UDB with Regalado joining René Garcia, Sally Heyman, Eileen Higgins and Danielle Cohen Higgins in voting against the project.

Cohen Higgins, whose district includes the project site, called the fourth delay “an embarrassment for Miami-Dade County” and rejected the last-minute proposal to use development dollars to bolster the county’s Environmentally Endangered Lands program.

She compared the offer to a popular meme where a cartoon dog instantly stops talking when a squirrel runs by.

“You’re shifting our focus,” Cohen Higgins said. “Brilliant.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 6:20 PM.