Miami-Dade commission blocks UDB expansion, but developers will get third chance to try again

A coalition of MiamiDade County commissioners narrowly blocked an expansion of the Urban Development Boundary on Thursday, but the board plans to take up the proposal again next month.

It was the third time a majority of commissioners granted a reprieve to developers of the proposed industrial complex on farmland off of Florida’s Turnsense,” pike in South Miami-Dade, this time allowing another vote on Oct. 6.

Dade’s charter requires a two-thirds vote to expand the Urban Development Boundary, but commission rules allow a majority to approve a repeat vote on a UDB application. While developers of the 379-acre South Dade Logistics and Technology couldn’t muster the eight votes needed to move the UDB, there was enough support to try again next month.

“It doesn’t make any

said Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, whose district includes the 380-acre project site and led the charge to deny the proposal. “The fact that something dies but subsequently survives makes no sense.”

The UDB separates farmland and wetlands near the Everglades from most residential and commercial construction in MiamiDade. Building the project requires commissioners to expand the UDB for the first time since 2013.

Covering 380 acres, the project forecast 7,300 fulltime permanent positions on a site south of Florida’s Turnpike and north of Moody Drive (Southwest 268th Street), north of the Homestead Air Reserve Base and about three miles west of Biscayne Bay.

Developers pitched the project as an employment center for South MiamiDade’s commuting residents. Environmental groups insist it will create more urban sprawl at the expense of Biscayne Bay and the Everglades.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava joined environmental groups in opposing the project, and they seemed to secure a victory Thursday afternoon when the legislation needed to move the UDB for the South Dade project failed on 7-5 vote.

But Commissioner Kionne McGhee asked the board to vote again on a project with about 85 acres removed from the plan. The board agreed to consider that item next month.

“Miami-Dade County preaches resiliency, yet today we witnessed hypocrisy,” said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. “This application has been smoke and mirrors from the start.”

The delay means developers would need to peel away one no vote from the five commissioners who opposed the expansion: Cohen Higgins, René Garcia, Sally Heyman, Eileen Higgins and Raquel Regalado. Jean Monestime, a commissioner who voted against the project in May, voted yes for the UDB move Thursday.

The 13-seat board was missing a member after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended District 11 Commissioner Joe Martinez on Tuesday.