The following article was in The Miami Herald a few months ago;

The city of Westchester? Effort advances, despite big loss in Biscayne Gardens

BY DOUGLAS HANKS, UPDATED NOVEMBER 16, 2021 7:25 PM

Miami-Dade County Commission incumbent Javier Souto is sponsoring legislation to form an incorporation committee to study creating a municipality out of the community of Westchester.

Miami-Dade commissioners on Tuesday advanced a study on forming a new city in the western community of Westchester, brushing off objections that it will be a waste of money. At issue was a 2005 county law requiring at least 20% of the voters in a proposed municipality sign a petition backing the formation of a new government.

The provision is designed to demonstrate a baseline of political support for forming new local governments, efforts that usually fail at the ballot box in Miami-Dade. The last time voters approved a new municipality was in 2005, when a referendum passed to create Cutler Bay. Commissioners routinely waive the petition provision, and voted to bypass the restriction Tuesday in giving preliminary approval to Commissioner Javier Souto’s proposal to form a Municipal Advisory Committee for Westchester. Only Commissioner Joe Martinez voted against the proposal, which still needs a final commission vote to pass.

The legislation forms a “MAC” to study incorporating the area between the Florida Turnpike and the Palmetto Expressway, bounded by Southwest Eighth Street to the north and 56th Street to the south. The vote follows a sound defeat of Miami-Dade’s most recent incorporation effort, to form a municipality in the northern part of Miami-Dade in the community of Biscayne Gardens. In that Nov. 2 special election, 82% of votes cast were against incorporation. Opponents of the Biscayne Gardens incorporation attended Tuesday’s commission meeting to urge commissioners not to avoid their own rules by letting the Westchester incorporation advance without voter signatures. Commissioners passed the petition rule three years after the Biscayne Gardens committee was formed in 2004, a process that went to voters 17 years later. “It could have saved us all so much time and money,” Maria Perilli, a Biscayne Gardens opponent, told commissioners. “The 20% rule seems obvious to me ... Why waste more time and money when we already have a system in place to avoid that?”

Commissioners did not debate the proposal. Supporters of the incorporation effort urged the board to focus on what Westchester residents want in deciding on the incorporation panel. “I am here as a proud resident of Westchester,” said José Gonzalez, a developer who lives in the area. “We want to see what else the potential is for the city.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2021 7:19 PM.