development

A push by South Florida builders to expand future growth onto Miami-Dade County farm fields survived a critical vote Monday night.

The county’s Planning Advisory Council, which recommends changes to the county’s master growth plan, sided with builders and agreed not to endorse a report that would have protected land west of Kendall. The area is also targeted for the expansion of the 836/Dolphin Expressway.

Instead, council members said they want to keep the land in play.

South Florida builders are pushing to strip protection from farmland near the Everglades - and the controversial extension of the Dolphin Expressway - to open it up to future expansion.

The land sits outside the urban development boundary,  the line drawn to protect farm fields and wetlands - and is part of an area designated for future growth.

About 100 citizen activists gathered in Fort Lauderdale in the rain Monday night for an open forum about quality of life issues and development. 

“We may be under water tonight, but I promise what you hear will not be watered down,” Stan Eichelbaum told the crowd under tents at the Historic Stranahan House Museum. 

In Fort Lauderdale, how much to build – or not build – is a central question. It comes up regularly in public comment, city commission meetings and local government. 

While some people like the city's changing skyline, there are several citizens' groups that push back against the idea of over-development.

Some residents in Pompano Beach are divided about new construction moving forward on State Road A1A. 

City commissioners last week approved the rezoning for land where A1A meets NE 16th Street — near North Ocean Park. 

A developer plans to build two  condo towers there — topping 205 feet tall. There would be mixed-use commercial space on the ground floors. 

The pull of sunshine, designer living and lower taxes are attracting more home buyers to South Florida's high-end real estate market.

And Michael Goldstein, President of the Acqualina Brand, says the buyers are coming from one place in particular.

“Sixty-five percent of my buyers are coming from the northeast,” Goldstein says. "Most of the buyers that are coming in, they are not buying my small units, they are buying combination units, penthouses, single-family homes.”

Bishop  James Adams, of Overtown’s historic St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church, is no stranger to Miami redevelopment politics.

Over the last decade, while controversial mega developments have heightened fears of rapid gentrification in Miami, Adams has pushed to preserve Pan-Africanism in Overtown and has held developers accountable for promises of jobs. 

The Florida Keys could be facing a deadline that's unprecedented in South Florida. Four years from now, there might not be any more homes that can be built in the Keys.

The state has a rule that the island chain has to be able to get everyone out 24 hours before a hurricane hits. And there’s just one road out. So there’s a limit to how many people are allowed to live in the Keys.

That means people who live in the Keys — and especially the people who would like to build there in the future — are trying to figure out what to do.