Miami-Dade must start over on approving controversial project by Biscayne Bay, judge says

Miami-Dade broke the rules in a 2022 vote to expand the county’s Urban Development Boundary for an industrial project near Homestead, a Tallahassee judge ruled on Friday, backing a state finding of a flawed approval process.

The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis contends Miami-Dade granted too many delays in allowing developer Aligned Real Estate Holdings to pursue County Commission approval to transform 380 acres of farmland into a project known as the South Dade Logistics and Technology complex.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade commission OKs project that critics say threatens Everglades restoration

Construction there requires expanding the county’s development zone farther into agricultural areas, and commissioners narrowly passed the change over a veto by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in late 2022, concluding a process that had its first commission vote nearly a year earlier.

The win followed four delayed commission votes that year as developers lobbied for support on the commission.

Weeks later, Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, which oversees state land-use rules, notified Miami-Dade that it had exceeded the 180-day cap on delays between state review of a project and local hearings on the application. The agency said that Miami-Dade could still decide to expand the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) but would need to start the process over again to comply with the time limits. The boundary generally separates suburban development from wetlands and agricultural lands.

Miami-Dade joined Aligned in suing the agency over the ruling, litigation filed in Leon County, home to the state capital. The dispute has stalled construction of the project, which sits south of Florida’s Turnpike and about 3 miles northeast of Homestead. Developers called the complex of warehouses and industrial space an economic game-changer for South Miami-Dade that would bring 7,000 jobs to an area where many people must commute north for work.

On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Lee Marsh ruled with the state, saying the facts are clear that Miami-Dade waited too long to approve the Aligned request to amend county land rules allowing the UDB expansion.

READ MORE: County commission overrides veto, clears project outside urban boundary near Biscayne Bay

Representatives for Aligned were not immediately available for comment Friday.

Developers can appeal the ruling, so the Marsh decision isn’t final. While Aligned secured the needed eight votes to overturn Levine Cava’s veto, four of those commission seats are now held by different commissioners. Environmental groups argued the project would hurt Everglades restoration by disrupting drainage to nearby Biscayne Bay and contend they’re better positioned to block approval now than they were in 2022.

“We’re so excited,” Laura Reynolds, head of the Hold the Line Coalition, said Friday. She called the land critical to a federal Everglades project and that “losing it to development would have been a blow to the overall health of Biscayne Bay.”