The 168-acre Calusa property is in Kendall, about 1 mile west of Florida’s Turnpike. GL Homes, Florida’s top privately-held homebuilder, filed a zoning application with Miami-Dade County to develop the parcel. Plans were carefully crafted with adjacent homeowners’ input and cooperation.
The application was approved by a 10-2 County Commission vote in 2021. That approval was successfully challenged in a lawsuit that claimed the County did not sufficiently notice the meeting. The final ruling was in May 2024. Due to the successful challenge, the 2021 meeting will need to be redone.
CALUSA IS ONE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY’S LARGEST UNDEVELOPED PARCELS WITHIN THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT BOUNDARY
The County faces a deepening housing shortage. Miami-Dade employment is growing. Yet there are few places to build new single-family home communities within the Urban Development Boundary (UDB). In the Calusa property’s district, a recent County study reported no availability of new single-family housing.
The new Calusa community provides a rare opportunity to add much-needed housing within the UDB. Our proposed low-density community of 550 single-family homes will help meet critical housing demand. Otherwise, more people will be forced to live outside of the County and increase commuter traffic.
Transforming Vacant Land Into a Vibrant New Community
The 168-acre Calusa property is located in Kendall, approximately 1 mile west of Florida’s Turnpike. GL Homes, Florida’s top privately-held homebuilder, has filed a zoning application with Miami-Dade County to develop the parcel. The plans for the community were carefully crafted with the input and cooperation of the adjacent homeowners.
The new Calusa community will provide much-needed housing within the Urban Development Boundary (UDB). Currently, the County faces a deepening housing shortage. The most recent County report concluded that available single-family housing supply within the district where the 168-acre site sits has been depleted to zero. Our proposed low-density community of 550 single-family homes should be encouraged to meet critical housing demand. While the County is attracting business migration that creates new jobs and economic growth, housing options are critical to fill the growing housing demand. Otherwise, more people will be forced to live in neighboring counties and increase commuter traffic.
A NEW CHAPTER IN THE CALUSA PROPERTY’S HISTORY
The Calusa property, once a golf course, has been vacant since 2011.
After the golf course experienced 8 straight years of losses and closed in 2011, it became a fenced-in vacant lot surrounded by homes. As private property, it was never community space or a park. Its acreage is visible only to adjacent homeowners. Located in the middle of a residential area, it is not appropriate for commercial or industrial use. Its natural use is as a low-density residential community like its neighbors.
At one time, a restriction limited the property to golf and related uses. The restriction has been removed.
When adopted in 1967, the restriction contemplated that conditions change, providing for its own removal if 75% of adjacent homeowners and the Miami-Dade County Commission agreed.
In 2017, GL Homes and a large group of adjacent homeowners began discussing how to craft a community to make use of this vacant land that worked for both parties. We collectively created development guidelines, agreed on surrounding community improvements, and agreed upon restrictions and limitations to protect the surrounding community. Measures included traffic improvements, buffer requirements, construction practices, operating hours, and much more.
By 2019, 84% of adjacent homeowners agreed that community plans justified the restriction’s removal. In 2020, the Miami-Dade County Commission also agreed and removed the restriction.
TRAFFIC- STRATEGIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
Miami-Dade County traffic is a top issue throughout the County. Accommodating the need for housing within the UDB while planning responsibly is important.
This property is well located near the Turnpike. Specifically, it is located in the area bounded by SW 104th Street, Killian Drive, SW 127th Avenue and SW 137th Avenue. In 2022, 340 apartment units within this area were approved without community opposition and without any physical traffic improvements. We plan on making significant improvements to address traffic.
We address traffic in three ways –
1. Community planning to minimize our community’s impact.
2. Improvements to drastically reduce an existing Calusa-area cut-through traffic
problem that sometimes creates gridlock between 7 AM and 9 AM on weekdays.
3. Improvements to roads surrounding the Calusa area.
COMMUNITY ENTRY
The existing entry for the old golf course emptied abutted a cul-de-sac feeding Calusa Club Drive, not an arterial road.
Instead of accepting the old golf course entry as our community entry, we purchased two homes to be demolished to provide direct access to SW 97th Street, which is only 400 feet from and leads directly to SW 127th Avenue. We then arranged in our zoning application for a traffic light to be installed at that intersection. This entry location will keep the vast majority of cars from the new community out of the existing neighborhood. Traffic will be channeled directly onto SW 127th Avenue.
Our second entry will be residents–only.
CUT-THROUGH TRAFFIC
We and our traffic engineers spent a tremendous amount of time studying traffic in and around the Calusa property. Our focus not only related to our community’s impact, but to major existing issues within the Calusa neighborhood. We identified areas where we can not only minimize impacts but ease current problems.
These proposed solutions are outlined below and include:
1 REDUCE MORNING CUT-THROUGH TRAFFIC
Our traffic study shows that over 1800 cars cut through the Calusa community weekday mornings taking shortcuts from the west and south to SW 127th Avenue, creating traffic backups on Calusa Club Drive. GL Homes created plans to drastically reduce this traffic through paid, police-enforced turn restrictions.
2 IMPLEMENT TURN RESTRICTIONS
GL Homes has identified critical intersections in the Calusa neighborhood where turn restrictions from 7-9am will substantially reduce cut-through traffic. These intersections include:
-SW 104th Street & SW 132nd Avenue
-SW 104th Street & SW 128th Place
-SW 137th Avenue & SW 98th Street
-SW 137th Avenue & SW 100th Street
3 FUND POLICE ENFORCEMENT
To enforce these turn restrictions, GL Homes has committed to pay 100% for police enforcement a minimum of 3 days every week from 7 – 9am. Enforcement will change commuters’ behavior. The new development’s HOA will be obligated to fund this enforcement after the community is complete.
TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SURROUNDING AREA
1 EXTEND TURN LANES ON SW 104TH ST.
To improve traffic flow in the broader Kendall area, we are committed to extending turn lanes on SW 104th Street in two locations. The first is at the SW 127th Avenue intersection and the second is at the SW 122nd Avenue intersection.
2 ADD A TURBO LANE ON SW 104TH ST.
A new turbo lane that GL Homes will add allows two lanes of eastbound traffic on SW 104th Street to bypass the traffic light at SW 132nd Avenue. This will improve traffic flow and makes it easier for Calusa residents to make a left turn and exit their community at SW 132nd Avenue and SW 104th Street.
3 ADD AN ADAPTIVE SIGNAL PROGRAM SW 104TH ST.
GL Homes has committed to funding adaptive traffic signals at SW 104th Street between SW 127th Avenue and SW 137th Avenue. Adaptive traffic lights can be adjusted in real time to speed up traffic as needed. This will improve the flow of traffic on this busy roadway.
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ADD AN ADAPTIVE SIGNAL PROGRAM SW 104TH ST.
GL Homes has committed to funding adaptive traffic signals at SW 104th Street between SW 127th Avenue and SW 137th Avenue .Adaptive traffic lights can be adjusted in real time to speed up traffic as needed. This will improve the flow of traffic on this busy roadway.
The Environment
At GL Homes, we pride ourselves in being environmentally sensitive by building sustainable projects that add to their natural surroundings. We look to ensure that our communities are clean, green and pristine for the next generation. With the help of highly skilled landscape architects, site planners and environmental consultants, GL Homes designs communities with natural features and open space.
TRICOLORED HERONS
On our property’s southern edge, a 0.147-acre island sits in a lake. In 2022, three tricolored heron pairs nested on the island. We continued inspections in 2023 and 2024. There was no tricolored heron nesting observed in 2023 and one nest observed as of April 2024.
We are prepared when tricolored herons return to nest. We installed a fence 330’ from the 2022 nesting area. Only routine maintenance occurs within the area. This distance is consistent with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) guidelines restricting heavy construction usage during nesting season. The fence surrounds the island except where interrupted by
Before commencing development, we will submit a revised site plan to DERM that will leave the island in place.
NO ENDANGERED SPECIES ON THE CALUSA PROPERTY
Endangered species studies show no bonneted bats, burrowing owls, endangered birds, or other endangered species living on the Calusa property. Bonneted bats forage around the 13 acres of lakes. We are adopting best management practices to facilitate foraging and are increasing lake acreage to 16.5 acres. Before obtaining development or construction permits, we will work with the Department of Environmental Resource Management to ensure that, just as we have been sensitive to tricolored heron nesting, any other threatened species will be protected and buffered from the development, and that habitat will not be degraded.
WELCOMING WILDLIFE WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF LAKES AND TREES
Open spaces, waterways and natural flora and fauna are integral components of every GL Homes community, The Calusa development will feature landscape buffers and thousands of trees that will provide shelter and sustenance for wildlife. The community’s lakes and lake banks will include plantings that encourage foraging.
The result is a community that is in harmony with nature.
SMART COMMUNITY PLANNING
Smart planning contributes to GL Homes’ success as a community partner. A careful attention to detail and an innovative approach to overcoming challenges, results in a community design that is not just good for our future residents, but also good for the surrounding area. While transforming the Calusa vacant land into a dynamic neighborhood, we will incorporate the following strategies with our neighbors in mind:
Limiting the number & types of homes we build
Under County guidelines, the property has the potential for up to 1,008 multi-family homes. To obtain adjacent homeowner support, and to create a neighborhood that will be cohesive with the surrounding area, we limited our plans to only 550 single-family homes.
Designing a site plan with Ample Buffers, lakes & trees
Over 60% of the new community will be buffers, lakes and lawns. Features include a 3.5 mile long, 75’ wide buffer with an intensely landscaped berm between the new community and existing homes. Lake acreage on the property will nearly double, and tree cover will increase from under 1,000 to over 5,000 trees.
Adding on-site neighborhood recreation
The new community’s homeowners will enjoy a 5-acre recreation area and clubhouse that support an active lifestyle and social activities with top-tier amenities. Not only does on-site recreation create a sense of community, but it also eases the burden on public parks.
ENHANCING BIKE PATHS IN
THE AREA
While providing onsite recreation for our own community, we are dedicating our recreational improvements outside of the community to add to the bicycle path envisioned in the Miami-Dade 2040 Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan to create interconnected bicycle and pedestrian friendly communities throughout the County.
GL HOMES – THE RIGHT COMMUNITY PARTNER
Since 1976, GL Homes has grown from a small, local builder to one of the nation’s largest. For over 45 years, GL Homes has created exceptional communities and built quality residences in Florida’s most desirable cities. There are more than 100,000 people living in GL homes throughout Florida. Many have moved up to their second, or even third, GL home. GL Homes’ success is in the details. Master plans are crafted to balance the use of open space, lakes and recreational areas. Communities are carefully planned to be both beautiful and functional. Floorplans are scrutinized for a maximum use of space and functionality. As you walk through our incredibly decorated model homes, you can see the difference in quality and excellence. We encourage you to visit a GL Homes community to experience the difference for yourself. Click here and find a convenient location to visit.
© 2021 GL Homes – Calusa Development Facts