MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The controversial proposal to build a water park on Zoo Miami property has been pulled.
“This horse is dead,” said Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Oliver Gilbert.
Technically, the plan for Miami Wilds has been withdrawn.
“The court order simply says the federal process needs to take place before lease or anything of that nature is put forward,” said Commissioner Keon Hardemon.
Tuesday’s vote was to amend a lease the developer already has while federal inspectors gauge the impact on recently discovered endangered bugs and bats, and the native pine rockland there.
The process has drawn lines of opposition that included zoo spokesperson Ron Magill, who had to lead the resistance to the project as a private citizen.
“It could be the first time in my memory that the BCC has in prioritized the environment over development,” said Magill.
The pushback leading up to Tuesday’s hearing got a point-set-match kind of boost with an 11th-hour letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior saying that the zoo parking lot parcels are environmentally sensitive.