Kelly Tractor Postpones UDB Development Vote After Opposition
Heavy machinery supplier Kelly Tractor withdrew its 2.2 million-square-foot headquarters proposal outside Miami-Dade's Urban Development Boundary after lacking sufficient commission support. The $30-per-hour job creator will return with revised plans in May.
Heavy machinery supplier Kelly Tractor has postponed its controversial bid to build a massive industrial headquarters outside Miami-Dade County's Urban Development Boundary after failing to secure sufficient commission support during Thursday's hearing.
The company withdrew its application for the 2.2 million-square-foot campus on 246 acres at Northwest Sixth Street and the Dolphin Expressway after realizing it lacked the nine supermajority votes needed to override Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's expected veto. The proposal will return to commissioners on May 5.
Kelly Tractor, founded in Clewiston during the 1930s, plans to relocate from its current base near Doral to accommodate growth and better serve government infrastructure projects. Company President Chris Kelly told commissioners the new facility would generate 1,300 jobs paying approximately $30 per hour, adding to the firm's existing 600 South Florida employees.
The Caterpillar equipment supplier currently employs about 300 people in Miami-Dade and argues the expanded headquarters would help address the county's affordability crisis by providing well-compensated positions in the industrial sector.
Opposition centers on the project's location outside the Urban Development Boundary, a protective greenbelt designed to limit sprawl toward the Everglades. Environmental advocates and Florida International University students voiced concerns during two hours of public testimony, highlighting the development's impact on approximately 160 acres of wetlands.
Critics argue the wetlands provide essential flood protection for nearby Sweetwater while supporting regional water quality and wildlife habitat. They also questioned Kelly Tractor's use of a text amendment process rather than the traditional UDB expansion procedure requiring multiple governmental reviews.
Mayor Levine Cava previously vetoed the project's January approval, maintaining her opposition despite Kelly Tractor's revised environmental commitments. The company has pledged to preserve 63.1 acres of onsite wetlands plus an additional 20 acres of offsite mitigation.
County staff maintain sufficient industrial land exists within the UDB to accommodate Kelly Tractor's expansion needs, a position the company disputes through its legal representatives. This disagreement over available developable land remains a central issue in the approval process.
The mayor acknowledged Kelly Tractor's improved wetlands protection measures but emphasized the UDB's fundamental purpose in preventing overdevelopment and protecting environmental resources.
Miami-Dade's rapid development boom has made UDB expansion proposals among the most contentious issues facing county commissioners, as they balance economic growth opportunities against environmental preservation mandates that protect the region's natural infrastructure.
