Editing Islandia, Florida (section)

==History==

Islandia, particularly Elliott Key, was originally fished by the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] [[Tequesta]] people. It subsequently became a haven for [[shipwreck]] survivors.  By the mid-1800s, a group of [[The Bahamas|Bahamians]] had made their way to the key, where they unsuccessfully tried [[agriculture|farming]] on an island with a base of [[coral reef|coral rock]]. By the early 1900s, Islandia had its own school district and more than 100 residents. However, the number of residents dwindled over time due to the lack of electricity, poor farming, and the relatively long distance from the mainland.<ref name="herald">{{cite news |first=Charles |last=Rabin |title=Miami-Dade's Islandia, a forgotten city, may soon be just a memory |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/27/v-fullstory/2563669/miami-dades-islandia-a-forgotten.html |work=[[Miami Herald]] |date=Dec 27, 2011 |access-date=2011-12-29}}</ref>

In 1950 the Dade County Planning Board announced a plan to build a highway connecting [[Key Biscayne]] with the [[Overseas Highway]] on [[Key Largo]]. The project envisioned a series of bridges connecting artificial islands, to be built on the [[Safety Valve (Biscayne Bay)|Safety Valve]], and existing small keys to Elliott Key and on to Key Largo. When the Dade County Planning Board was unable to secure a right of way for the highway across the southern end of Key Biscayne, it dropped the plan.<ref name=Bandell/><ref>{{cite book|last=Blank|first=Joan Gill|title=Key Biscayne|year=1996|publisher=Pineapple Press, Inc.|location=Sarasota, Florida|isbn=1-56164-096-4|pages=166–171}}</ref>

At the end of 1960, however, 13 of the island's 18 registered voters approved the incorporation of a municipality, and the 33 northernmost islands of the Florida Keys became the city of Islandia. Developers and the residents revived the plan to build a causeway across the bay, and sought to fill Elliott Key with luxury hotels, golf courses, oceanfront homes, and a six-lane roadway running down the center of the key.  A grassroots opposition of fishermen, gardeners, and elected state leaders opposed the plan, and sought to include the islands in the [[National Park Service|national park system]]. Islandia mayor Luther Brooks and his small city council fought back, and at one point obtained a large bulldozer and cleared a {{convert|125|ft|adj=on}} wide swath down the center of Elliott Key as the beginning of the proposed six-lane Elliott Key Boulevard.<ref name="herald" />

Nevertheless, the purchase by the federal government of most of the land on Elliott Key ended those plans, and in 1968, Islandia was made a part of Biscayne National Monument (which later became [[Biscayne National Park]]). What remains today of the failed Elliott Key Boulevard is an {{convert|8|ft|m|adj=on}} wide nature trail covered by a tree canopy that is mockingly referred to as "Spite Highway."<ref name="herald" />

By 1990, exasperated by decades of the city not filing papers or following municipal procedures, the state of Florida ruled all of Islandia's elections illegal on the grounds that only land owners, as opposed to all residents, had been permitted to vote, in violation of voting-rights laws. The state called for the dismantling of the municipality. In December 2011, the Miami-Dade County Commission finally agreed, and the area reverted to unincorporated status in March 2012 after the Commission gave final approval to the ordinance abolishing the City of Islandia.<ref name="ordinance" /><ref name="boundaries" /><ref name="herald" />