What the mapped tiers are
In 2019 the County adopted a framework — Ordinance 19-7 and related Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP) provisions — that ties land-use expectations to its planned rapid-transit corridors.
Six original SMART Plan corridors and the existing Metrorail alignment are represented in the mapped transit-density geography.
Around those alignments, County GIS publishes distance-tier polygons at 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, and 1 mile where applicable. Only those three tiers carry maximum density and floor-area values: 60 units per acre in the 1/4-mile tier, 36 in the 1/2-mile tier, and 18 in the 1-mile tier.
What a result means
An "inside" result means the County’s own mapped polygon contains your address point — and that County planning policy already identifies that area for transit-supportive density under the CDMP. The broader land-use framework may already support substantially greater density there, subject to zoning, parcel conditions, project type, approvals, and other County rules.
Why being inside matters — even without a rezoning
Under the traditional process, a developer seeking more density than the land-use plan allowed first had to persuade the County to amend that plan, and only then pursue a zoning change for the site. Inside the mapped tiers, the land-use policy may already support the additional density, so what remains is the site-specific zoning and development approvals — a materially easier path.
A property is not rezoned by being on the map, and being on the map says nothing about whether anything has been filed for a given property. But the door is open: the County has already changed the planning policy that, under the traditional process, a developer would have had to get amended first.
What a result does not mean
Being inside a tier does not rezone a property. It does not automatically permit an apartment building on a lot. It does not mean an application exists or that a developer is coming. And it does not predict whether any future application would be approved. Eligibility is not entitlement — but it is a real change in the rules.
Geographic context only — not a zoning determination.
Why Continental Park shows this matters
Protect Continental Park, a separate neighborhood project, is documenting rezoning applications inside the Kendall corridor’s mapped area. Before those applications appeared, a resident looking at the neighborhood’s estate zoning, the surrounding single-family homes, the traffic, and the absence of rapid transit could reasonably have assumed that major multifamily rezoning would face a very high barrier.
But the mapped transit-density policy had already changed the broader planning framework. That is the lesson: the policy change is meaningful before any application appears. It does not mean those applications — or any future application — would be approved.
How the alignment name is determined
The County’s tier polygons do not carry a corridor name. ProtectDade names the alignment by finding the nearest County corridor centerline to your address — an association ProtectDade computes, not a County designation. The methodology page explains this in full.
County geography versus city jurisdiction
The distance tiers are drawn almost entirely over unincorporated Miami-Dade, where the County is the zoning authority — 99.5% of intersecting parcels. Incorporated cities are mapped separately by the County, without tier density values, and municipal zoning governs there. That is why an address inside a city gets its own result state.
What this does NOT mean
- This property has not been rezoned.
- An apartment building is not automatically permitted on this lot.
- This result does not predict whether any future application would be approved.