Residents fear being in middle

Incorporation may miss Kendall enclave

By ANA ACLE CHASKO
Herald Staff Writer

Ernesto Obregon worries that if Kendall and Pinecrest form separate cities, he and his neighbors will be left in a pocket of unincorporated Dade County.

Obregon lives west of the proposed boundaries of Pinecrest and east of the proposed boundaries of Kendall.

The boundaries leave a triangle of unincorporated county — and residents — between Southwest 77th Avenue and U.S. 1 and between 104th and 136th streets.

Some neighbors in that triangle fear that if the incorporation movements succeed, they’ll have jurisdictional problems and be isolated from services.

Many say they would like to join Pinecrest. Kendall, they say, is already too large.

With a few exceptions, the excluded area is similar to Pinecrest. The two have large homes on large lots, some exceeding an acre.

Gary Matzner, a Pinecrest resident leading the incorporation movement, said it is likely the homes in that triangle will be included with Pinecrest.

“If in fact Kendall comes to the west side of U.S. 1, the county won’t let us leave people in a legal limbo and will require us to come to the east side of U.S. 1,” he said.

The area wasn’t included, Matzner said, because incorporation leaders were trying to keep a small and manageable area. And, he said, they were trying to avoid the businesses along the highway.

“When we spoke to various police departments, they told us that the commercial areas would need more resources to patrol,” Matzner said. “We were trying for a bedroom community. We just wanted some commercial area to put City Hall.”

Mari Gomez, a resident of the excluded area, wants to be with Pinecrest and would like to see the area pass strict zoning codes, like those in Coral Gables, to increase property values.

“I’m willing to pay more taxes for that,” she said.

Not everyone agrees.

Meri Lee Tranthem, who also lives in the excluded area, likes the status quo.

“I’m perfectly happy,” she said. “There’s no need to change anything.”