Miami River interests complete legal sweep

Miami River interests complete legal sweep Miami River commercial shipping interests have completed a state appellate court sweep against residential development projects that had been approved at the local level.
   The Third District Court of Appeal issued a ruling Wednesday in favor of a group of marine industry interests that were opposed to the proposed Brisas del Rio project located in the 1500 block of Northwest 24th Avenue on a site that used to be the Florida Yacht Basin.
   The Miami River Marine Group and the Durham Park Neighborhood Association filed a lawsuit to stop the project in 2005. It was the third of three developments that has been stopped in the appeals court since August.
   The court had also ruled in favor of the marine interests in the 'Hurricane Cove' and 'Coastal on the River' cases, and the court noted that the Brisas del Rio ruling is consistent with those earlier rulings.
   The courts had ruled earlier that residential developments are not consistent with other state and regional land use recommendations that supported the use of commercial marine businesses on the Miami River.
   Developers had hoped to build 698 residential units at the Brisas del Rio site.
   Supporters of marine-related land use on the river note the site has a large slip that could handle something as large as a river-class roll-on/roll-off vessel.