PALMETTO BAY, Fla. — With an upcoming budget hearing for the village of Palmetto Bay, residents are gearing up for a fight to preserve a plot of land.
It’s essentially a custody battle between Miami-Dade County and the village over 8.7 acres of woodlands that have been untouched for 100 years.
The plot is owned by Miami-Dade County, but the village has been leasing it since 2019 on the promise that it would create a trail through it and some park features, but that hasn’t happened.
“They say we’re spending too much money, $40,000 a year,” said Henry Clifford, chairman of the Palmetto Bay Tree Advisory Board. “In reality, we’re spending $10 a year for the lease.”
Now the issue will be up for debate in the next budget hearing on Monday night.
Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer plans to vote against giving up the land.
“We’re proposing to give this back to Miami-Dade County and essentially leave this vulnerable to development,” he said. “That is their quality of life. This was supposed to be a park and to see the village and this administration propose to abandon it is essentially a betrayal (of) everything this village stands for because we are the ‘Village of Parks.’”
Merwitzer says every resident he’s spoken to is on the side of keeping the woodlands intact and all the creatures that call it home.
“We’d like to have the plants preserved, the geological features preserved,” said Clifford. “I’d like to see the city actually keeping the money that’s sitting there and using it.”
Flyers are being distributed encouraging residents to attend Monday’s budget hearing and voice any concerns.
It begins at 7 p.m. at Palmetto Bay Village Hall.
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