Potential Annexation Of The Falls And Fairway Estates

Miami-Dade County mailed a letter to 12 cities last August asking whether they might take in one of eight unincorporated areas after the county lifted a two-year moratorium on annexations.

Several cities said they might want parts of some areas, like Biscayne Gardens above North Miami and Northeast portions of Miami-Dade near the county line.

But the letter’s seemingly friendlier approach toward annexations also triggered talk of taking in other communities not proposed by the  county, including bringing the Falls and Fairway Estates in Perrine into Palmetto Bay and, more informally, expanding Cutler Bay southward.

The Palmetto Bay Village Council has now decided to address the issue of potential annexation of the two areas west of US1, the Falls and Fairway Estates.

As it reads now, the Village Charter does not allow for Palmetto Bay citizens to vote on annexation or boundary issues. On Wednesday, June 18 at 6:00 PM, a special Village Council meeting will be held at the Deering Estate Visitors’ Center to address the annexation questions.

Many Palmetto Bay citizens are not happy with this move as they feel that the village will lose its small-town atmosphere. Small-town feel is the reason they say they love living there. If the village council decides to annex these two areas the population of Palmetto Bay which is around 25,000 will more than double. The Falls area alone has a population of about 21,000.

Financially, however the annexation could be a windfall for the village. Back in 2004 when the residents of the Falls area were trying to incorporate on their own, the area was determined to be a donor community, which means they collected more in taxes from that area then it took to provide services to its residents.  If a Village of the Falls was created in 2004, it would have paid about $1.6 million a year to Miami-Dade County in mitigation fees. That was the tentative number reached after some back-and-forth between county officials and members of the Falls Responsibility Advisory Committee in March 2004.

Brief history of the failed incorporation of the Falls area in Miami.

In November of 2003, before a packed room at Signature Gardens, the Village of the Falls steering committee spent two hours updating residents on the progress of its incorporation effort. The nine subcommittees created by the steering committee outlined how incorporation could benefit those who live within the six-square-mile boundaries of what would be the Village of the Falls - or any other name its residents chose.

In January of 2004, The county Boundaries Commission approved the proposed Village of the Falls boundaries - running roughly along Killian Drive on the north, Southwest 136th and 152nd streets on the south to State Road 874 on the west and U.S. 1 on the east - amending them slightly to include a small community along the southern boundary called Edgewater Park.

In February 2004, a county planning board decided to recommend that the Falls be given a chance to vote on its future. About 400 people attended this meeting and for the first time since the Village of the Falls steering committee had started the cityhood push nearly a year ago, vocal opposition to the idea of incorporating surfaced. The decision came after more than four hours of back-and-forth between supporters and people opposed to incorporation.

Residents opposed to the creation of Village of the Falls did not waste any time and they soon started to organize, they vowed to collect signatures under neon-yellow banners that read “Stop Incorporation of the Falls.” They also leveled heavy criticism at the steering committee at the forefront of the cityhood push, saying that race was an issue when pro-incorporation signatures were collected and when the village boundaries were drawn.

In March 2004, the Falls took its case to the county and the county decided not to decide, at least then. County commissioners could have chosen to let Falls residents vote on incorporation, but after listening to impassioned pro- and anti-incorporation forces for an hour, the commission deferred its ruling until May 25 of 2004. County Manager George Burgess agreed with the decision to defer because he said the incorporation process was going too fast.

In May 2004, the Village of The Falls steering committee put together a proposed budget which showed that the village was financially viable. The committee finished the budget - which residents against the cityhood effort had been pressing for - after completing negotiations with the county. The steering committee said that based on its calculations, it would cost more than $9 million to run the city of 21,000 people  leaving a surplus of about $500,000.

On May 25, 2004 a tie vote doomed The Falls incorporation movement. County commissioners deadlocked 5-5 on the question of whether to let the residents vote on cityhood during the November general elections. Because of the tie, the motion automatically failed. The issue was emotional and drew people to every seat in the commission chambers. Incorporation advocates wore blue shirts with the word “Yes” printed on front and their opponents were dressed in white shirts.

A few months later the Village of the Falls Steering Committee said that it was not giving up. After the County Commission turned down its request for incorporation to be put to a vote, members of the group said that they had slowed down their efforts, but not stopped. The group said that it would poll the residents to see how people felt about incorporation and gauge their concerns. Then it would plan its next move. However, members of the anti-incorporation group countered that they would take a break and be prepared to put up a fight if the issue came up again, I wonder how many of the will be at the June 18 special Village of Palmetto Bay Council meeting.

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