A conservation group says a lease agreement between Miami-Dade and a group that wants to build a water park is illegal because the land is home to endangered species.
A conservation group says a lease agreement between Miami-Dade County and a group that wants to build a water park is illegal because the land is home to endangered species, filing a civil lawsuit Tuesday.
Miami-Dade County agreed to lease land to Miami Wilds LLC to build a water park, hotel and retail in the space that is currently parking for Zoo Miami.
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WATCH HEREBat Conservation International, a non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems, is spearheading the lawsuit. The group says the space is not only a parking lot but a feeding ground for the critically endangered bonneted bat.
“We think that Miami-Dade County has made a great mistake,” said Mike Daulton, the executive director of Bat Conservation International. “This is a really rare bat that is heavily using this one very specific location and that’s the area that they’ve decided it’s not environmentally sensitive and they want to put a water park there. So, we are saying hey we think this is illegal,” he added. “We think it violates the will of the Florida voters and that it’s one of the worst possible locations for a water park.”
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The location is also a study site for the critically endangered bonneted bat. That work recently won a Florida Conservation Award.
“The voter referendum from Florida voters that approved this project said that it could not be on environmentally sensitive land and we are saying this is almost the exact opposite of what the Florida voters asked for,” Daulton said.
The group says it’s not just bats that will be affected — other South Florida species live there as well.
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NBC 6 reached out to Miami-Dade County for comment but did not hear back.
