The Miami-Dade County Transportation Committee voted to approve an ordinance expanding the county’s Rapid Transit Zone (RTZ) smart-corridor subzone to encompass certain private properties within the City of Miami at its March meeting. The vote was recorded as yes from Commissioners Bastien, Bermudez, Vice Chairwoman Regalado and Chairwoman Higgins; Senator Garcia was noted as absent.

Melissa Fernandez Steers, speaking on behalf of the City of Miami, urged the committee to deny or continue agenda item 1G1. "I am here in my capacity on behalf of the city of Miami to respectfully request a denial or continuance of agenda item 1G1," she said, noting there is a pending lawsuit challenging the county’s authority related to the RTZ. Fernandez Steers told the committee the ordinance would expand the RTZ "to encompass private property" and that the expansion "purport[s] to completely usurp the city's jurisdictional authority over all regulatory decisions for properties within the city's jurisdiction, including but not limited to comprehensive planning, site plan approval, issuance of building permits, building inspections, construction related fire permits and inspections, compliance with the Florida building code and the Florida fire prevention code, issuance of seals, subdivision approvals, etc." She also cited subsection 6.02 of the county charter in support of the city's position.

The ordinance as read into the record amends chapters 33C-2 and 33C-3.3 of the Miami-Dade County Code and would expand the smart-corridor subzone of the RTZ to include private parcels in the vicinity of Northwest 30th Avenue and Northwest 30th Street, within a half-mile of a public transit station. The ordinance text presented at the meeting named specific property addresses and folio numbers; those folio numbers were not read into the record during public comment and are recorded in the legislation itself.

The committee approved 1G1 as part of a motion that also included a companion resolution on bus-service changes (item 1G2). After the vote, a committee member requested that item 1G1 be moved to the March 18 agenda for further departmental coordination; the chair agreed to relocate any items that require additional public-hearing scheduling.

The City of Miami’s representative said the asserted jurisdiction is being challenged in court and raised public-safety concerns tied to the county exercising regulatory control within municipal boundaries. The ordinance includes standard severability and code-inclusion language; an effective date was referenced in the ordinance text but not specified during public comment.

No amendment to the ordinance was recorded on the floor. The committee did not take separate roll-call votes for individual parcels beyond the consolidated vote recorded for the items before it.

The lawsuit challenging the county’s RTZ authority was described by the city’s representative as pending; no court filings or case numbers were cited in the meeting record.

Evidence from the meeting includes the ordinance text summary read into the record and the City of Miami’s public comment opposing the expansion. The committee’s action sends the amended RTZ provision forward per the procedure reflected in the motion and roll call taken at the meeting.