MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday in Miami-Dade County court that was part of an effort to stop the development of a new water park at Zoo Miami.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Barbara Areces signed the order to dismiss the civil lawsuit against Miami Wilds, LLC and Miami-Dade County arguing the project was set on environmentally sensitive land.
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Ron Magill, of Zoo Miami, asked Miami-Dade commissioners to stand against the project, which threatens to impact the bonneted bat, an endangered species with federal protections. Magill supports the opposition efforts of Bat Conservation International and the Tropical Audubon Society.
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Paul Lambert, one of the water park’s developers, said the original plan for the project at Zoo Miami’s northwest parking lot, was scaled down to address the opposition’s concerns.
Lambert’s original plan with Bernard Zyscovich, an architect, and Michael Diaz Jr., an attorney, used to include a 200-key hotel, some 20,000 square feet of commercial space on 27.5 acres of county-owned land.
Magill said the endangered pine rockland habitat next to Zoo Miami needs to be protected since it’s home to the Miami tiger beetle, the Atatla and Bartram’s hairstreak butterflies, and other animals.
Voters in Miami-Dade approved a park project through a referendum in 2006. Last year, Miami-Dade and the developer agreed on the lease, but the commission has yet to approve it.