Ecological Due Diligence and Permitting
County: Miami-Dade
Project Description
The proposed industrial/warehouse development project is a 29-acre property near the urban development boundary in unincorporated western Miami-Dade County, that has been used primarily as an improved cattle pasture. The project is in an area of both industrial and commercial land use and mining.
Smart-Sciences was hired to perform an ecological due diligence assessment of the property, conducted by preliminary research and a visual inspection of the entire property. The property was determined to have uplands and various low quality wetland habitats. Smart-Sciences assisted the project engineer in the application of environmental permits from the County, State, and Army Corp of Engineers to impact the on-site wetlands and determine the costs of mitigation. In support of these permit applications, Smart-Sciences’ staff conducted the wetland delineation, mitigation assessment using the Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM) and WATER and listed species survey to determine impacts and mitigation required for permitting. Smart-Sciences’ staff met with the regulators on-site to verify the wetland line and to discuss the functional value of the wetland areas being impacted to determine reasonable mitigation requirements.