This website will highlight the progress of this exciting development.
In November 2021, the County Commission approved our Zoning application and site plan for the construction of the community. That approval was successfully challenged and set aside due to County noticing deficiencies. The meeting needs to be re-done.
We are in the process of updating the Zoning application. We hope to be before the Commission again in Summer 2025.
In 2022, an on-site abandoned maintenance building was demolished and debris removed pursuant to a County permit. The building was inspected for bat roosts and other wildlife on many occasions, including a few days before demolition. No wildlife was observed in any inspection.
There were two underground fuel storage tanks at the maintenance building site. These tanks were abandoned years ago and filled with concrete. They too were removed pursuant to a County permit.
Exterior fuel tanks and any other potentially hazardous materials were carefully removed and disposed of offsite. This work was witnessed by a DERM representative.
A 0.147-acre (6400 sq. ft.) island sits in a lake on the southern edge of our property. This island serves primarily as a non-native cattle egret rookery, with over 100 cattle egret nests one year. There also has been tricolored heron nesting. The tricolored heron is a State-threatened bird.
Since 2022, we, a biologist, DERM (The Division of Environmental Resource Management, of the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources) representatives, and sometimes others including FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission) representatives and community opponents we have invited, have inspected the island for tricolored heron nesting six times each nesting season, from March through August.
Three documented pairs of tricolored herons nested in 2022. Their nests resulted in a total of six fledglings that we believe survived. There was no tricolored heron nesting observed in 2023. One successful nest was observed in 2024. As of April 1, 2025, only the March inspection has been performed this year. No nests were observed.
As noted elsewhere, our proposed site plan preserves the island and will enhance the habitat.
In 2022, we voluntarily installed a fence extending 330’ around all sides of the island on our property. A 330’ radius is consistent with FWC guidelines restricting heavy construction usage during times when State-threatened birds are nesting. The fence does not extend into existing home back yards that are not part of our development.
Other than routine maintenance, the area around the island that we own has not been disturbed since fence installation.
Endangered Florida bonneted bats forage throughout southern Florida. To determine if any bonneted bats roost on this site, ecological experts performed bonneted bat surveys in December 2020, December 2021, August 2022, March 2023 and November 2024. Other than the August 2022 inspection, which was limited to DERM tree removal permit No. TREE-12642, all surveys included a tree-by-tree cavity inspection and a thorough inspection of the existing structures. No bats were found roosting on the property, and no other evidence of bat roosting was discovered.
In December 2024 an emergence survey was performed. No bonneted bats were heard or observed during the survey.
Before commencing development, still more inspections will be done to verify that nothing has changed.
To date, results are consistent with expectations. The attached link explains why bonneted bats have not been found roosting in Miami-Dade trees for 30 or more years. Buildings, particularly those with Mediterranean Revival style architecture, have proven more appealing as bonneted bats homes than trees.
https://www.eaglehill.us/urna-pdfs-regular/urna-042-Ober.pdf
Our site is always available for inspection by regulators. Representatives from DERM, US Fish and Wildlife and FWC have all visited the site. DERM visits regularly. We are diligent stewards and welcome the oversight. We encourage the visits to provide factual counterpoints to a concentrated environmental misinformation campaign waged to prevent development.
Prior to development, DERM requires soils samples to be analyzed to provide for enhancement of the property’s soil quality.
In areas covered by brush or invasive species such as Brazilian Pepper, limited clearing is required by DERM to allow access to collect soils samples. Under DERM supervision, we have already cleared brush in certain areas far from nesting birds so soils samples could be collected pursuant to DERM’s criteria. Testing for the overall site is mostly complete, but tests in select areas may continue indefinitely.
To facilitate further soils testing required by DERM, we cleared some additional invasive plants and brush in 2022, again far from nesting birds.
In addition to collecting soils samples, one or more soils remediation pilot programs have been and may be executed to ensure that proposed procedures to remediate soils will be effective. The first pilot program commenced in August 2022. Executing the plan required several trees to be removed to create an area large enough to test remediation procedures. A tree removal permit was obtained.
The site excluding only the island will continue to be maintained as it has been maintained since the golf course was created. Such maintenance is required by County code. Failure to comply can subject us as owner to penalties.
We regularly mow grassy areas and spray around lakes to control invasive vegetation. With respect to the rookery, if maintenance were to stop within the 330’, overgrowth from exotic vegetation such as Brazilian pepper could result in a vegetative connection from the island to the lake bank, which would allow mammalian predators such as raccoons and foxes direct access to nests.
Other maintenance incudes trimming and spraying weeds next to the perimeter fence and maintaining and repairing the perimeter fence. Public utilities also may access their facilities. For example, FPL completed a project that installed underground lines in the back yards of all homeowners who surround our property. FPL used our property for access to back yards. Several utilities have easements around the perimeter of the property.
As neighbors we sometimes must address adjacent homeowner concerns. For instance, a tree far from the tree island was infested with bees that were swarming into an adjacent homeowner’s backyard. After consultation with bee experts and DERM, the tree was removed. When situations like this come up, we work with the County. We also email some who oppose the project and who have expressed an interest in tracking activity on the property. We welcome the opportunity to add anyone else to the email list who wishes to be notified. Misunderstandings of County-approved work and work related to the safety of neighbors have triggered attacks on us and on our motives in the past. We will continue to make every effort to clearly communicate onsite activity to avoid those misunderstandings.