Florida Statute 373.4149 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXVIII
NATURAL RESOURCES; CONSERVATION, RECLAMATION, AND USE

Chapter 373
WATER RESOURCES

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373.4149 Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan.—

(1) The Legislature hereby accepts and adopts the recommendations contained in the Phase I Lake Belt Report and Plan, dated February 1997 and hereby accepts the Phase II Plan, submitted on February 9, 2001, to the Legislature by the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan Implementation Committee. These plans shall collectively be known as the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan. This plan was developed to enhance the water supply for Miami-Dade County and the Everglades, including appropriate wellfield protection measures; to maximize efficient recovery of limestone while promoting the social and economic welfare of the community and protecting the environment; and to educate various groups and the general public of the benefits of the plan.

(2)(a) The Legislature recognizes that deposits of limestone and sand suitable for production of construction aggregates, cement, and road base materials are located in limited areas of the state.

(b) The Legislature recognizes that the deposit of limestone available in South Florida is limited due to urbanization to the east and the Everglades to the west.

(3) The Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area is that area bounded by the Ronald Reagan Turnpike to the east, the Miami-Dade-Broward County line to the north, Krome Avenue to the west and Tamiami Trail to the south together with the land south of Tamiami Trail in sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, and 18, Township 54 South, Range 39 East, sections 24, 25, and 36, Township 54 South, Range 38 East, less those portions of section 3, Township 52 South, Range 39 East south of Krome Avenue and west of U.S. Highway 27, and less sections 35 and 36 and the east one-half of sections 24 and 25, Township 53 South, Range 39 East and Government Lots 1 and 2, lying between Townships 53 and 54 South, Range 39 East and those portions of sections 1 and 2, Township 54 South, Range 39 East, lying north of Tamiami Trail.

(4) The identification of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area shall not preempt local land use jurisdiction, planning, or regulatory authority in regard to the use of land by private land owners. When amending local comprehensive plans, or implementing zoning regulations, development regulations, or other local regulations, Miami-Dade County shall strongly consider limestone mining activities and ancillary operations, such as lake excavation, including use of explosives, rock processing, cement, concrete and asphalt products manufacturing, and ancillary activities, within the rock mining supported and allowable areas of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan adopted by subsection (1); provided, however, that limerock mining activities are consistent with wellfield protection. Rezonings, amendments to local zoning and subdivision regulations, and amendments to local comprehensive plans concerning properties that are located within 1 mile of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Area shall be compatible with limestone mining activities. No rezonings, variances, amendments to local zoning and subdivision regulations which would result in an increase in residential density, or amendments to local comprehensive plans for any residential purpose may be approved for any property located in sections 35 and 36 and the east one-half of sections 24 and 25, Township 53 South, Range 39 East until such time as there is no active mining within 2 miles of the property. This section does not preclude residential development that complies with current regulations.

(5) The secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, the secretary of the Department of Commerce, the secretary of the Department of Transportation, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the executive director of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District may enter into agreements with landowners, developers, businesses, industries, individuals, and governmental agencies as necessary to effectuate the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan and the provisions of this section.

(6)(a) All agencies of the state shall review the status of their landholdings within the boundaries of the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt. Those lands for which no present or future use is identified must be made available, together with other suitable lands, to the Department of Environmental Protection for its use in carrying out the objectives of this act.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that lands provided to the Department of Environmental Protection be used for land exchanges to further the objectives of this act.

History.—s. 21, ch. 92-132; s. 5, ch. 94-122; s. 1010, ch. 95-148; s. 10, ch. 97-222; s. 1, ch. 99-298; s. 22, ch. 2000-197; ss. 1, 2, ch. 2000-285; s. 3, ch. 2001-172; s. 1, ch. 2006-13; s. 249, ch. 2011-142; s. 1, ch. 2015-141; s. 38, ch. 2016-10; s. 35, ch. 2021-25; s. 113, ch. 2024-6.

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Amendments to 373.4149

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 373.4149

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Sierra Club v. Flowers, 423 F. Supp. 2d 1273 (S.D. Fla. 2006).

Cited 10 times | Published | District Court, S.D. Florida | 62 ERC (BNA) 1265, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12579, 2006 WL 760489

...develop a plan that would "enhance the water supply for Dade County and the Everglades" as well as "maximize efficient recovery of limestone while promoting the social and economic welfare of the community and protecting the environment." Fla. Stat. § 373.4149....

...[82] Apparently in response to the miners' pitch, the Florida Legislature created a committee of agency and industry representatives to study and review future mining activities. The Dade County Freshwater Lake Plan Implementation Committee ("Committee") was established, according to Fla. Stat. § 373.4149, to "develop a plan which: enhances the water supply for Dade County and the Everglades, maximizes efficient recovery of limestone while promoting the social and economic welfare of the community and protecting the environment; and educat...

...All landowners in the Lake Belt had received notice of those public meetings and approximately 250 had attended each time; the Committee also had hosted *1306 a series of stakeholder meetings in 1999. AR617. The Plan was adopted in June 2001, Fla. Stat. § 373.4149, along with a Lake Belt Mitigation Plan, which imposed a mitigation fee of $.05 per ton of mined rock extracted from the Lake Belt, to be administered by the Florida Department of Revenue, with expenditures to be approved by an interagency committee. Fla. Stat. § 373.41492(2)....

...ps, EPA and FWS. [95] Although the mitigation' fee was to become effective as of October 1, 1999, the statute provided that the fee would be suspended if a "long-term permit for mining" was not issued on or before September 30, 2000. [96] Fla. Stat. § 373.41492....

...ands for each one acre mined, assuming that the cost to acquire and restore one acre of Pennsuco wetlands is $6,142. AR614 at 98. The mitigation fee is collected by the State and held in a Mitigation Fund overseen by a multi-agency panel. Fla. Stat. § 373.41492(2)....

...ederal agencies or any federal oversight planned for the mitigation funds. AR669. [96] "If a general permit by the U.S. Corps, or an appropriate long-term permit for mining, consistent with the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan, this section, and ss. § 373.4149, 373.4415, and 378.4115 is not issued on or before September 30, 2000, the fee imposed by this section is suspended until revived by the Legislature." [97] This legislation also created a short-lived requirement that all owners of propert...

...in the Pennsuco; and a total of 3,740 acres to be transferred "up front." AR560. [150] "If a general permit by the U.S. Corps, or an appropriate long-term permit for mining, consistent with the Miami-Dade County Lake Belt Plan, this section, and ss. § 373.4149, 373.4415, and 378.4115 is not issued on or before September 30, 2000, the fee imposed by this section is suspended until revived by the Legislature." [151] The revised mining plan allowed for larger lakes, however, which resulted in less littoral shelves....

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Sierra Club v. Strock, 495 F. Supp. 2d 1188 (S.D. Fla. 2007).

Cited 2 times | Published | District Court, S.D. Florida | 37 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20188, 65 ERC (BNA) 2082, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53604, 2007 WL 2058686

...[205] In addition, the record suggests that the costs of the million-dollar benzene contamination investigation and other Wellfield monitoring activities are being paid by the general public and not by the mining corporations. According to Intervenors, a new amendment to Fla. Stat. § 373.41492 will increase mitigation fees associated with limestone mining and also create a new fee of $.15 per ton to pay for upgrades to the water treatment plant that treats the water coming from the Wellfield....

...tion measures; to maximize efficient recovery of limestone while promoting the social and economic welfare of the community and protecting the environment; and to educate various groups and the general public of the benefits of the plan." Fla. Stat. § 373.4149(1)....

...ing, and ancillary activities, within the rock mining supported and allowable areas of the Miami-Dade County Lake Plan adopted by subsection (1); provided, however, that limerock mining activities are consistent with Wellfield protection. Fla. Stat. § 373.4149(4)(emphasis added), Sierra Club, 423 F.Supp.2d at 1302....

...ril 24, 2006. [206] The fee "shall be used solely to upgrade a water treatment plant that treats water coming from the Northwest Wellfield in Miami-Dade County. . . . necessary to treat or filter a surface water source or supply or both." Fla. Stat. § 373.41492....