MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Miami-Dade County commissioners voted 8 to 5 on Thursday morning to approve the Calusa golf course redevelopment in West Kendall.

Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez, an attorney who was elected in 2024 to represent District 11, which includes parts of West Kendall, stood in opposition.

“West Kendall is already burdened with congestion, and adding more without a clear, realistic mitigation plan is not responsible,” Gonzalez wrote in a statement released on X after the vote.

The redevelopment project has been at the center of a long and tedious fight between a group of residents trying to protect their neighborhood’s quality of life and an influential group of investors.

The Calusa Country Club, at 9400 SW 130th Ave., opened in 1968 with a legally-binding land covenant that banned redevelopment until 2067.

Facundo Bacardi, of the family-owned spirits company founded in Cuba, purchased the 169-acre golf club in 2003 and closed it in 2011. Commissioners lifted the covenant in 2020.

In 2021, Bacardi sold the golf course to Sunrise-based GL Homes, and commissioners voted to rezone it in favor of the redevelopment’s vision of a community of single-family homes.

“In 2021, the commission passed it, this was a reconsideration of that,” Richard Norwalk, a senior vice president at GL Homes, said about the commissioners’ vote on Thursday.

Amanda Prieto, the leader of Save Calusa, a nonprofit grassroots residents’ organization, opposed it and filed a lawsuit against the county to invalidate the 2021 rezoning vote over a notification error.

The Florida Supreme Court sided with Prieto, who had claimed the county had failed to notify residents about the date and time of the public hearing when commissioners voted to rezone the golf course.

“I am proud of my community,” Prieto said about Save Calusa’s efforts to protect the golf course. “We made tremendous progress over the last seven years.”

After the court’s ruling, Norwalk went back before the commission and had the application reheard.

“Notice wasn’t done correctly, so we are glad that once again they saw their way to approving this community and providing more housing for Miami-Dade,” Norwalk said after the commissioner’s zoning vote.

The developers’ proposals have ranged from 1,300 houses to the most recent 524.

Prieto and the Save Calusa members raised concerns about traffic, loss of green space, and impacts to local wildlife, including a bird rookery.

The developer committed to working with the Tropical Audubon Society to protect the rookery. Prieto said she was very disappointed about the vote.

“We got some rookery protections. I think our voices were heard, but ultimately, this decision, and their legacy, will lie on the shoulders of the commissioners that voted today,” Prieto said.

Watch the meeting

Related document: County staff recommendations summary (553 pages)

Related stories

• Kendall’s Calusa development proposal postponed after community concerns
• Florida Supreme Court hands victory to Calusa homeowners
• Worried residents hope Miami-Dade County mayor can save Calusa
• New drone video of construction on Calusa golf site causes concern among residents

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