West Kendall incorporation studies advanced by Zapata

Incorporation studies by newly proposed Municipal Advisory Committees (MAC) in two West Kendall areas will go forward with approval of Miami-Dade County Commissioners and necessary additional budgeting. Boundaries for three different West Kendall MACs originally were proposed by District 11 Commissioner Juan C. Zapata, labeled Sections 1, 2 and 3 to cover all of Kendall west of Florida’s Turnpike between SW Eighth and SW 152nd streets.

However, the communities of Horse Country, Village Green, Royale Green, Kendale Lakes East around the golf course and the large Winston Park community were withdrawn at the request of District 10 Commissioner Javier Souto during a commission review on July 2.

As a result, Commissioner Zapata “consolidated the remaining areas of both MACs which are now only areas within District 11,” said Bernardo Escobar, Senior Assistant to Zapata. “Section 1 and 2 encompass Commission District 11 only and have been combined as one MAC.

“The area for the new MAC is irregular, but most of it is west of SW 147th Avenue except for a small portion between Sunset and N. Kendall drives which has the eastern boundary as 137th Avenue, and the area between SW Eighth Street and Coral Way which has the eastern boundary of 107th Avenue,” he added, noting the exact area is difficult to describe because the irregular district’s boundaries. Study area boundaries of the two MACs as revised:

• Tamiami Trail (north); Kendall Drive (south) between SW 147th Avenue (east) excepting SW 107th Avenue between Tamiami Trail and Coral Way; Everglades (west).

• Kendall Drive (north); SW 152nd Street (south); SW 137th Avenue (east) including parts of District 7, east of SW 137th Avenue, (Calusa, Kenlands, etc.); Everglades (west).

Escobar said the two consolidated MAC studies can move forward with commission approval despite task force review of future incorporations and annexations, since the moratorium on incorporations and annexations imposed by the county was lifted. He noted that the county staff stated during the adoption of the resolution creating the task force that task force deliberations “would not impede any MAC studies from moving forward with their work.”

“We are gearing up to commence the studies right away so that the areas can catch up with what the rest of the county is doing as far as incorporation and annexation studies, and so that the residents of the West Kendall area have a full range of options to determine what they want to do and how they want to proceed as a community, when the Task Force has completed its deliberations and issues its recommendations to the board of county commissioners,” Escobar added.

An estimate of $96,000 initially was tied to approval needed to fund an additional person for a five-member team currently at work on incorporation and annexation studies, if the number of proposed cities and annexation studies continue to grow in the future, according to the county budget staff.

Apprised of the change and Souto’s action, Miles Moss, president of the Winston Park HOA, said, “Having talked with other communities, I believe the residents would like to at least have the MAC study done to understand any advantages and disadvantages of creating a city

“Certainly, if Kendale Lakes was within a city, they would have help and financial backing in their battle with the Miccosukee Golf Course,”

Moss noted. Moss was one of the first members of the West Kendall incorporation committee that served from 1996 to 2004, first chaired by Zapata before it was disbanded in early 2002 due to public apathy in the incorporation move at that time.


Connect To Your Customers & Grow Your Business

Click Here

1 COMMENT

  1. There is absolutely no advantage to incorporation. It will only serve to muddy the political waters with two local governments being funded and trying to make decisions for areas that are now adequately taken care of by just the County.
    If you look at independent studies done in other states and also within other areas of Florida, few residents feel they have gained anything at all from incorporation. The promise of better representation at the neighborhood level because the municipality is in control of some funding is seldom realized. Why fix what is not broken and create redundancy in government?
    In addition, small agricultural areas such as the Redland and Horse Country will never be represented as they are too small to sustain themselves, and hence, will be swallowed up via annexation by surrounding communities that have nothing in common with them.
    The 2002 incorporation committees were disbanded because of apathy, and in my opinion, if you ask the average County resident if they feel the services they currently receive meet their needs, their answer will be "yes". There was apathy in 2002 for a reason. We do not benefit from nor need incorporation!

Comments are closed.