Board denies Tula Avenue right-of-way vacation after heavy resident opposition

The board on Aug. 27 denied a petition to vacate an unconstructed portion of Tula Avenue in the Despinar Acres subdivision after more than a dozen residents urged the commission to preserve the county right of way.

Applicant counsel Mary Sullick (representing Everglades College, Inc.) told the board the small sliver of right of way provides no access and that utilities would be accommodated with recorded easements. In contrast, residents — including leaders of the Markham Woods Association — delivered sustained testimony describing existing traffic congestion on nearby Markham Woods Road and E. E. Williamson, the proximity of Woodlands Elementary and a bike trail crossing, and the risk that vacating the strip would facilitate a high-traffic redevelopment. John Higgins, a long-time neighborhood resident, told the board: "We earnestly ask you to consider not giving this group its first approval..." Multiple speakers urged the board to deny the vacate now and consider it only in the context of any later formal redevelopment application.

Commissioners debated whether the county might need the parcel in the future for trail access, drainage or other community purposes and whether the applicant needed the vacate before pursuing development approvals. After discussion the board voted to deny the vacate; commissioners said the action can be revisited if and when a concrete development proposal is filed.