County report and project proposal add to development pressure near Homestead base
The pressure to develop farm and nursery land near Homestead Air Reserve Base — already the target for proposed private commercial aviation — appears to be gathering governmental momentum.
In a new draft report looking at future areas to build, Miami-Dade County planners identify a handful of potential expansion areas beyond the current Urban Development Boundary. One of them is near the base. That’s not a surprise considering the Miami-Dade County Commission asked the planning department two years ago to find potential new uses for land surrounding the base.
But the report was released last week at the same time that an application was filed by developers to convert about 800 acres of agricultural land outside of the UDB into a “logistics and technology district” with industrial use as well as office and warehouse space less than a mile from the base.
It comes on the heels of other moves as well. In January, the county changed growth management rules to allow
A study about moving Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary points to land near Homestead Air Reserve Base and other areas as potential sites for growth.
developers more opportunities to pitch projects beyond the UDB, making it easier for builders to move the line. And last year, a county proposal to use the base for civilian operations and the arrival of FedEx and Amazon warehouses to the area reignited concerns from environmentalists that the Air Force might cave to pressure to allow cargo operations at the facility.
“Any reasonable person would conclude that this application, filed less than two months after the County Commission voted to increase the frequency of its consideration of Urban Development Boundary Amendments, to place a major logistics center next to a major turnpike and less than two miles away from a 10,000 foot runway the County is asking permission to put to civilian use, makes cargo operations a reasonably foreseeable consequence,” attorney Richard Grosso wrote on behalf of Friends of the Everglades in a March 17 letter to Air
Force leadership highlighting growing concerns over potential cargo operations in the area.
The county report doesn’t address any specific applications to move the UDB or potential civilian use of the base. But it directs staff to specifically look for “potential additional uses that would be appropriate for the Urban Expansion Areas, particularly near the Homestead Air Reserve Base” as the county works to decide how and where the city should grow beyond its short-term and long-term development horizons in 2030 and 2040.
The report was the result of a Commission request to find land that could potentially be included in the Urban Expansion Areas — land that the county may choose to develop at some point if there is a need for more housing, commercial space and industrial projects.
Those areas are currently outside the Urban Development Boundary, an imaginary line that separates the county’s suburban housing developments and shopping centers from farmland and the Everglades. The UDB is designed to prevent uncontrolled urban sprawl and protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands. The county is seeking public comments on the report’s recommendations through April 15, 2021.
There’s also another potential driver to expand growth areas. The county is seeking to replace about 2,000 acres currently proposed for protection from development. In 2019, Miami-Dade decided to exclude from future development some environmentally sensitive lands that are part of Everglades restoration projects and wetlands that recharge the county’s water supply.
It’s looking for alternatives to make up for the proposed acreage reduction but also doesn’t need those areas right away: the study said the county has enough land inside its urban boundary for housing beyond 2040 and enough industrial land supply through at least 2030.
“Once the need exists to identify additional Urban Expansion Areas, the County should look to areas with fewer constraints and good access to infrastructure,” said the report, which identified the land around the air base and other locations around the county. They include area 1A, a triangular-shaped area above the intersection of the Florida Turnpike and West Okeechobee Road and south of NW 170th Street, and area 3A in Redland, near a portion of the South
Dade Transitway.
The idea to look for other uses for land near the air base is still just that, an idea. Planners don’t know exactly how the area could be used. And any proposal would need to go through the county’s UDB amendment process once the need arises, said Jerry Bell, the county’s assistant director for planning.
“We don’t know right now what the potential uses will be. All we are doing at this point is saying the county may want to look at this area,” he said.
But even the idea of development around Homestead is enough to sound the alarm among advocates fighting to protect Everglades and Biscayne national parks from the effects of pollution, increased traffic and the loss of buffer natural areas that can protect environmentally sensitive lands from Miami-Dade’s growing urban core.
Development around the Homestead base has been a contentious subject for the past couple of decades as proposals to turn the facility into a commercial operation were fiercely contested because of increased air traffic and pollution that frequent flights would bring to the Everglades and Biscayne Bay.
Last year, yet another
move by the county to try to use the base for civilian operations after FedEx built a warehouse nearby and Amazon announced plans for a massive distribution center triggered renewed concerns among environmentalists.
And the recent application by developers to convert agricultural land outside of the urban boundary into a logistics hub highlighted growing pressure in that area.
In his letter on behalf of Friends of the Everglades, Grosso said the organization is particularly concerned about the new application. The project is called “South Dade Logistics and Technology District,” proposed by developers Stephen Blumenthal, Jose Hevia and others. It sits north of Southwest 268th Street, between 107th Avenue and 122nd Avenue. The northern boundary is the Turnpike extension that connects Homestead with the expressway.
According to the application, it would allow a “thriving employment center for the underserved South Dade region,” and “introduce a synergistic mix of new and innovative uses that will fuel and diversify the local economy, meeting rising local demand for best-in-class logistics facilities, distribution and technology space for businesses serving
the local area, as well as supplying services for today’s e-commerce driven economy.” The new district would include “distribution and logistics centers, warehouses, maintenance and repair facilities, office buildings and parks, light manufacturing, wholesale showrooms, and similar uses.”
The developers hope to convince the county that it doesn’t have enough industrial space inside the urban line, and that they should be allowed to build the project outside, in an expansion area. They disagree with the county’s assessment that it has enough industrial space and vacant land to meet demand through at least 2030, consultant Andrew Dolkart wrote in the economic-impact study for the project.
Hevia said in a statement last week that the project doesn’t need cargo facilities to be successful.
“Our application has nothing to do with, and does not depend upon, any private aviation at Homestead Air Reserve Base now, or in the future,” he said in a statement.
Developers can apply between January and May during odd years to build outside the boundary.
Miami-Dade frequently makes amendments to its development plans as it works to manage growth and address the often conflicting interests of developers and the need to preserve agricultural or natural areas.
This recent study considered areas located within two miles along the entire UDB for potential inclusion in future expansion areas, taking into account factors that make areas more or less suitable for development, and provided recommendations.
For instance, area 3A, along the South Dade Busway, was selected as a possibility because it’s close to mass transit, which would allow the area to accommodate residential capacity when needed.
However, it also includes protected forests that provide habitat for the federally endangered Bartram’s Scrub Hairstreak Butterfly, the study said. Using this area for development would also impact about 600 acres of agricultural lands located in the Redland agricultural area.
Area 1A, near US 27 and the Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike, provides a direct connection to I-75. The proposed SMART Plan Bus Express Rapid Transit station, planned to be built just north of NW 170th Street, would provide transit connections to the area. The area also has water and sewer connections nearby. But this area also has protected land needed for Everglades restoration projects designed to benefit Biscayne Bay.
Planners want to receive public input on the report until mid-April, when the county is expected to propose amendments to its Comprehensive Development Master Plan, its blueprint for growth. Public comment is being accepted by email at UEAStudyComments@miamidade.gov.