The Planning Advisory Board voted unanimously to adopt with acceptance of a proffered declaration of restrictions for CDMP application CDMP20250012, which would redesignate about 31 acres from low-density residential to industrial-office and limit development to no more than 700,000 square feet of warehouses and self-storage.

Senior planner Rommel Vargas described the site as largely agricultural and bordering the Homestead Air Reserve Base; the applicant proffered connections to county water and sewer, an endangered-species survey and a proportionate-share mitigation agreement to address Turnpike traffic impacts. The covenant limits total warehouse square footage to 700,000 in lieu of the CDMP’s theoretical maximum for industrial intensity.

Homestead Air Reserve Base representative Larry Ventura told the board the site is subject to a 1956 restrictive-use easement that bars residential development and large gatherings; he said warehousing and self-storage conform with those restrictions and will support base operational security. Ventura said the parcel’s conversion from residential designation to industrial uses would help resolve long-standing operational security concerns along the base perimeter.

Why it matters: The action converts land that is effectively incompatible with residential development because of base easements into employment-generating industrial uses near major regional freight and highway infrastructure. Approving the covenant sends a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners and establishes limits that will shape future zoning and site plan reviews.

What’s next: The PAB recommendation will be transmitted to the Board of County Commissioners for final consideration; subsequent site plan and zoning steps will specify building configurations, operational controls and any additional mitigation commitments.