Talk About it Tuesday: Endangered Pine Rockland turned into Commercial Housing

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The University of Miami recently sold 88 acres of rockland, which contains a variety of plants animals and insects found in no other place. The University of Miami sold one of the world’s rarest forests to a Palm Beach County developer who has plans of turning it into a Walmart, an LA Fitness, Chik-fil-A, Chili’s, around 900 apartments and a 158,000-sqaure-foot box store.

Developers have agreed to set aside 40 acres of preserved land of the 88 that were purchased. This leaves less than 2 percent of the vast savanna that once covered South Florida’s ridge left remaining. Attorney Dennis Olle, board member of Tropical Audubon and the North American Butterfly Association was quoted saying, “You wonder how things end up being endangered? This is how. This is bad policy and bad enforcement. And shame on UM.”

The news of these recent plans to develop the endangered land into shopping centers and apartment complexes has left many Miami residents and environmentalists questioning the integrity of the University choosing to sell the land.

How do the residents of Miami feel about these new plans?  Let us know on Twitter at @Loop305 with the hash tag #TalkAboutitTuesday

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