This week, Everglades Law Center and our co-counsel secured a legal win in our litigation to prevent the development of the South Dade Logistics and Technology District in Miami-Dade County. This development project, which proposed a nearly 400-acre warehouse and truck parking site on land outside the Urban Development Boundary and in a location critical to proposed Everglades restoration plans, was improperly approved by Miami-Dade County in 2022. On Wednesday, judges for the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee issued a per curiam opinion, affirming the lower court’s March 2024 ruling that the County had missed a statutory deadline when it approved the project application.
ELC attorneys, with the help of our co-counsel Paul Schwiep and Richard Grosso, initially challenged the project’s approval in the state Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), on behalf of our client Dr. Nita Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a long-time Miami-Dade County resident whose property is adjacent to the proposed project site. ELC’s DOAH challenge asserted that the development violates state law and Miami-Dade County’s own development rules, threatened Miami-Dade County’s water supply, unnecessarily burdened taxpayers, and conflicted with Everglades restoration plans, Biscayne Bay water quality, and flood risk management.
This DOAH challenge was put on pause, however, after the Florida Department of Commerce (previously the Department of Economic Opportunity) notified the County and developers that the County had missed a deadline in its 2022 approval of the project. In response, the County and developers filed a lawsuit in state court against the Department, seeking to invalidate the state’s determination and push the project forward. On behalf of Dr. Lewis, ELC intervened in this case to support the state’s position.
In March 2024, a Leon County judge issued a ruling in our favor, finding the County had failed to comply with statutory deadlines. The ruling found the missed deadline rendered the project application “withdrawn” and therefore “a nullity”. We hoped this win would signify the end of this ill-conceived project application, but shortly after the court’s ruling was issued, the County and developers appealed to the First District Court of Appeal in an attempt to overturn the decision.
Our attorneys fought hard to hold up the lower court’s ruling. After several months of briefing, the appellate court held oral argument in February 2025. Just eight days after oral argument, the court issued a final decision, agreeing fully with the lower court’s reasoning and determination in a per curiam affirmation. By affirming, the appellate court held once again that this project application is withdrawn and a nullity, meaning the developers would need to reinitiate the application process before the County to advance the project.
This decision is a huge victory for ecosystems and communities in Miami-Dade County. The Urban Development Boundary exists to promote smart, sustainable development and discourage encroachment on wetlands and agricultural lands. This proposed project would have converted farmland in South Dade into an unnecessary warehouse and commercial parking complex, despite the project site being slated for inclusion in Everglades restoration plans.
Everglades Law Center is very thankful to its partners—the Everglades Foundation, Hold the Line Coalition, Tropical Audubon Society, Friends of the Everglades, Audubon Florida, Miami Waterkeeper, and many others—our co-counsel, and the many advocates and community members who organized against this improper development from the beginning.
This is a significant win for both the environment and for smart, sustainable development in Miami-Dade County. Everglades Law Center will continue to fight against irresponsible development in South Florida that threatens our environment, communities, and future.
