Bird Board
Land Grab next to Key Birding Area in Dade County
Kendall Indian Hammocks is ranked #28 in species variety in Miami-Dade County according to E-bird. The Seed School of Miami charter school asking for a variance on the county property immediately adjacent to the park to forgo the require landscaping on the property including maintain 40% tree cover. I am writing a letter to the Community Zoning Appeals board asking them to deny any environmental variances for the property due to the importance of the land for wildlife in the area. Please write your own letters to:
Miami Dade County
Agenda Coordinators Office,
111 NW 1 ST, 11 Floor,
Miami, Fl 33128
RE: Hearing Number Z15-012
All correspondence must contain and address and signature.
I will also be at the Amendment 1 Rally and TAS plant sale on Saturday 5/30 starting at 11:00 am to collect signatures for a petition I have started to ask the county to ensure that no variance is provided. The petition is as follows:
We, the undersigned, petition the Community Zoning Appeals Board and County Commission to deny The Seed Schools request for any variance, at the property located at 11025 SW 84 ST, relating to required tree coverage, landscaping requirements, or required open landscaping on the property. This property is immediately adjacent to one of the oldest natural parks in the county and the loss of green space will greatly disturb the natural wildlife in the area including 141 documented bird species, 3 documented bat species, 1 documented fox species, and other wildlife that is known to live in the park and surrounding area. The land is not appropriate or zoned for the use requested by The Seed School and we ask that the county require them come into compliance with the required zoning for the property.
Regards,
Brandon Trentler
Comments
We are losing birding spots at an alarming rate and nothing is being done. Just in the time that I've been birding (16+ years), here are the locations that we've lost, or at least have been degraded to the point where birding is no longer as productive:
Kendall Drive Sparrow Spot
Manfredi Marsh
Dump Marsh (2 of 3 ponds, the remaining one will be lost soon)
Virginia Key Wastewater Plant
Lucky Hammock (fields no longer productive and access limited)
Cutler Wetlands (overgrown and water levels suck)
Flynn's (no longer productive)
Mt. Trashmore (pond on west side gone)
Matheson Hammock west side (now it's a dog park)
What's happening at KIH doesn't surprise me. No one out there is looking out for the interests of birding, not even the biologists and land managers at the public agencies. If TAS doesn't do it, trust me, no one will. As someone that works for a very large environmental non-profit, I can tell you, birds and birding are the forgotten step child when decisions concerning our open areas are made. No where is this more evident that here in Dade County. Just as an example, in other counties in Florida birders can drive into their local landfill to see birds. That was the case when I did the Cocoa CBC and went to the landfill to count the gulls. Here in Dade, if you even stop outside the fence to look in you will get security guards coming to question you and even ask you to leave. In Palm Beach, Wakodahatchee and Green Cay were built to treat reused water AND provide access to nature enthusiasts. By contrast, most of the public land owned by the water management district in Dade is off limits to anyone. Just look at the fence down Aerojet Road. I fear that we will see more of this in the future.
I appreciate the support Toe. I went the the Amendment 1 Rally today with my son and we were able to collect 25 signatures. It is a good start but I need to keep going.
Thanks for the support and keep up the good fight.
Thank you everyone that signed the petition or sent a letter. We had 113 signatures. I presented the petition at the zoning hearing today. Prior to the hearing DERM gave directions for the developer to come into compliance by modifying the plans that the developer will follow; so the the issues we asked for in the petition are no longer a factor in the zoning variance. There were two crucial wins today. First, the county asked the developer to up the native plants on the site to 100%. Thank you Commisioner Cava for the suggestion. Second, the county commision discussed the merits of wildlife preservation at Kendall Indian Hammocks and what DERM is doing about it. Awareness of the issue is the first step in conservation so I really appreciate Commisioner Suarez taking a few minutes to address my concerns too and ask key follow ups to DERM.
Leave a Comment