ATV Florida Forum

www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/apr/19/road-enthusiasts-may-find-home-
site-failed-airport/

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Miami-Dade County, which still owns almost 25,000 acres [about 40 sq. miles]
at the jetport, is teaming up with Collier County to push plans to turn a 1,600-
acre [less than 2.5 sq. miles] swath of swamp between the runway and U.S.
41 into an off-roader’s paradise complete with a visitor’s center, campgrounds,
RV parking, fishing piers, an archery range, hiking trails and — most unsettling
for some — trails for off-road vehicles.

Hearings are tentatively set for later this year on Miami-Dade’s proposal to
amend the Collier growth plan to create the Dade-Collier Cypress Recreation
Area.

If the new plans eliminate illegal off-roading in the preserve, the jetport might
help solve a conflict that was unforeseen when the preserve was created,
said Joe Browder, the leader of the dual campaigns to defeat the jetport and
create the Big Cypress.

Or maybe not.

“I think it could get very controversial if it’s not planned right,” Browder said.