A land war is simmering in southwestern Miami-Dade County.
Owners of small agricultural tracts claim local officials are running them out of business. The landholders -- many of them first- and second-generation Cuban immigrants -- say the government's tactics remind them of how Fidel Castro seized property and power in Cuba.
Officials at Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management say local and state laws require protection of the area's wetlands.
But landholders are angry over what they see as a powerful county bureaucracy imposing onerous fines and arbitrary restrictions in an 8.5-square-mile area designated for "wetlands mitigation."
Frances Salazar, co-owner of Two Sisters Nursery, complains of "drive-by" regulation.
After buying agriculturally zoned property in 2003, Salazar's family began clearing the land for their nursery.
"We were told there was a cease-and-desist order. Two years later, they sued us because we didn't get permit to farm," Salazar said of the county. After paying more than $110,000 in fines and permits, the family was able to resume operations.
"They put whatever prices they want to restore lands," Salazar charges.
Similar sagas have played out with hundreds of agricultural landowners, some of whom have been working their modest parcels for decades. They point to the irony of the massive and soon-to-be-expanding Homestead-Miami Speedway looming nearby, with its miles of asphalt and pavement spread over allegedly protected "wetlands."
Jose Delgado, owner of Palm Depot and Equipments, is trying to sell what's left of his land and get out.
"[Government officials] came in with mitigation after I bought the land. After I gave them 27 acres, they still told me I couldn't fill in the remaining 10 acres," Delgado said in frustration.
"It's all about the money -- not the alligators, not the lizards, the mosquitoes. It makes no sense at all."
A nearby tree farmer, who asked not be identified, is still fighting for his livelihood, but he's not optimistic. After saying he received mixed signals from DERM about the permissible use of his land, this farmer estimates that county-ordered mitigation will cost him $200,000.
"We don't have the means to fight the government. We're at their mercy," he sighed.
Landowners complain that their deeds make no mention of their properties being a wetland. Some of them have U.S. Department of Agriculture loans to operate their farms, with no reference to wetlands.
Even the county does not base the properties' tax appraisals on wetlands, but as agriculture and residential use.
Amid the political blowback, DERM director Carlos Espinosa resigned last spring. Defenders of the department's environmental agenda called his departure a "low-tech lynching."
County officials say Espinosa retired, and that his leaving was "totally unrelated" to the land feud.
DERM officials said wetlands regulations were established countywide in 1983. The rules require that a permit be obtained from DERM for any work in areas designated as wetlands, including the 8.5-square-mile zone.
"The permit process provides for work to occur while minimizing impacts to natural resources including surface and groundwater. It is possible that some property owner may simply not have been aware of these requirements," DERM said in a written reply to Sunshine State News' questions.
DERM lists 853 privately owned parcels in the 8.5-square-mile area, but not all properties contain designated wetlands.
A total of $44,560 in fines has been collected from property owners in the area over the past 10 years. This does not include a $72,130 penalty paid by a waste-hauling contractor to settle hurricane waste dumping violation cases in that area, DERM said.
The county said it has "not taken any properties in this area resulting from enforcement of wetland regulations."
County Commissioner Lynda Bell, one of DERM's critics, promoted formation of a Wetlands Advisory Task Force to review the processes used to designate wetlands and to assess whether the appeals process is "fair, adequate and allows for due process."
The County Commission, in a July 11 resolution, ordered the task force to conduct a minimum of five meetings and to submit recommendations by Jan. 17, 2012.
Alice Pena, president of the Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau and a task force member, told Sunshine State News she could not comment on the panel's progress. Bell was not available for comment.
Since the panel's work is strictly advisory and nonbinding, landowners remain skeptical, and angry.
Charles LaPradd, the county's agricultural manager, said, "It's not a black and white issue. Some people know the regulations and some do not."
LaPradd hopes the task force can succeed in mending fences.
"Some recent code changes have allowed for greater use of property in the past few months," he said. "I hope we continue that trend to provide an equal playing for all."
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 802-5341.
