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Written by Genevieve Bowen on March 4, 2026
The City of Miami is standing behind Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary, calling on local and state officials to honor a recent mayoral veto blocking industrial development threatening 160 acres of sensitive wetlands in the Everglades west of Sweetwater.
On Feb. 26, Miami city commissioners voted unanimously to express support for keeping the county’s growth boundary intact and urged county leaders to uphold Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s veto of a land use change.
The city commissioners also called on the Florida Legislature to reject any effort to weaken the boundary or county charter, while encouraging investment in workforce and attainable housing within the existing growth line.
Stretching roughly 80 miles from north to south along the western edge of Miami-Dade, the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) marks a clear line between urbanized neighborhoods and farmland and wetlands that buffer the Everglades from sprawling development. Established in 1983, it protects drinking water, preserves wetlands and keeps flood-prone ecosystems intact, essentially acting as the county’s regulatory barrier against unchecked expansion.
The city’s vote came amidst concerns over a proposed text amendment to Miami-Dade County’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan, the county’s long-term growth blueprint, first considered in January that would have cleared the way for a 2.2 million-square-foot industrial complex west of Northwest 137th Avenue and the State Road 836 interchange. Filed by Kelly Tractor Co., the proposed project includes a headquarters, heavy equipment storage, repair and fueling facilities, truck wash areas, a rail connection and a helicopter pad.
County commissioners approved the amendment 9-2, but Ms. Levine Cava vetoed it Feb. 1. “Despite meaningful discussion and concessions, the environmental protections ultimately fell short of the standards our community expects,” Ms. Levine Cava said in a Feb. 2 press release.
In her veto message, the mayor said the proposal “did not include enforceable commitments sufficient to adequately preserve or mitigate impacts to approximately 160 acres of wetlands,” including areas within the North Trail Basin identified by county staff as a priority for environmental mitigation.
She also wrote that “the application relied on a text amendment process to bypass the Urban Development Boundary amendment framework, a longstanding policy that exists to make sure growth is planned carefully and responsibly.”
Wetlands in the area filter water that replenishes the Biscayne Aquifer, providing flood protection for nearby neighborhoods and influencing the county’s standing in the National Flood Insurance Program. This benefits residents by helping to keep insurance rates affordable and sustaining critical environmental services.
Rather than expanding westward, the Miami City Commission’s resolution supports investing in attainable and workforce housing within the UDB to address affordability issues while protecting environmentally sensitive land from development.
The city measure encouraged the Miami-Dade County Commission to uphold the mayor’s veto of the Comprehensive Development Master Plan text amendment, and further urged the Florida Legislature to oppose any legislation that would weaken the UDB or the county charter. The Florida House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that could ultimately spell the end of the UDB.