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Written by Miami Today on November 26, 2025
Miami-Dade may look to use its park lands as a county-owned wetlands mitigation bank that could sell scarce mitigation credits to developers who need them to meet regulatory requirements to work in wetlands.
A measure up for a county commission vote Dec. 2 would direct Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to evaluate the use county parks for such a mitigation bank and report back within 60 days.
In fact, the commission asked the mayor more than four years ago to apply for a permit as a first step in creating a county wetlands mitigation bank and for a series of reports on progress, but the current measure states that no reports were ever made.
Now, the legislation by Commission Juan Carlos Bermudez asks the mayor to expedite a report that was due May 11, 2022, and to also evaluate the feasibility of the county using its parks in that mitigation bank.
In mitigation banking, environmental enhancement and preservation to mitigate for wetlands impacts within a defined region earn credits that can be used elsewhere, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
If the county did such projects on its lands, it would earn credits based on the ecological value of completely restoring one acre and it could then turn around and sell the credits to developers to satisfy their regulatory requirements under federal, state or county permits to work in the wetlands.
If the county had mitigation bank status, it could turn needed wetlands improvements in its parks for which funds now are unavailable into money-generating projects rather than costs.
A change in state laws might play a role in a county mitigation bank’s impact. Until July 1, developers could buy bank credits only within their own watershed district. But under a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June, if no credits are available in a developer’s district they can be purchased from the next closest basin at a premium price.
Today, Florida has more than 160 mitigation banks, yet mitigation credits are scarce here and developers often wind up on waiting lists to buy them. “Insufficient wetlands mitigation credits are currently available in Miami-Dade County,” Mr. Bermudez’s resolution states.
“Projects that would greatly benefit the local community and local economy might not be able to move forward without the ability that mitigation banks provide to mitigate those projects’ wetland impacts,” the legislation says.
One of Florida’s early mitigation banks was Disney Wilderness Preserve, which was created to offset wetland impacts from the development of Walt Disney World and Orlando International Airport.
Florida Power & Light turned unused lands near its Turkey Point nuclear power plant in South Miami-Dade into a mitigation bank in the mid-1990s, with a state-drawn service area from along the coast to Krome Avenue and from Pembroke Pines to the southern edge of Everglades National Park.
Wetlands mitigation banks have been created to meet specific needs and, while they are national in scope, Florida is their epicenter. A 1991 University of Florida study found that the state had lost more than 26,000 acres of wetlands a year in the 1970s and 1980s, totaling more than 250,000 acres.
The aim of mitigations banking is to retain wetlands in specific areas. Wetlands clean our water, absorb floods, help prevent coastal erosion and provide animal and plant habitats. Mitigation banks helped keep those benefits flowing to the state.