CALUSA, Fla. – A court ruling on Wednesday affects hundreds of residents of Miami-Dade County’s Calusa neighborhood.
The Third District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the neighborhood residents who wanted a zoning decision to be reversed because of a lack of proper notice.
The November zoning decision would have allowed a developer to build 550 homes on a 168-acre site that used to be a golf course. Amanda Prieto, a community activist in Calusa, considered the court’s ruling a victory.
“We had extreme concern with the environmental studies and what this has done is given us additional time to ensure those studies were complete,” Prieto said. “So now, potentially, we go into this new zoning hearing with a county staff recommendation, and independent verification that there is imperiled nesting on this property.”
The opponents argued there are protected bird species nesting at the former Calusa Country Club Golf Course. Aside from the environmental issues, there were also traffic congestion concerns and worries about a lack of infrastructure.
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