Miami-Dade County Moves to Abolish Lost City of Islandia

via Wikicommons

​There may not be an actual lost city of Atlantis, but there certainly is a lost (mostly underwater) city of Islandia.

Incorporated as a city on a coral reef Island off the coast of southeast Miami-Dade in 1951, leaders hoped to one day turn the town into a resort destination, but nothing happened and eventually the island become part of a national park. So today Islandia stands as Miami-Dade's smallest incorporated city, with no official government and a population of 18. Now the Miami-Dade County Commission has unanimously approved an ordinance that would no longer recognize Islandia as a city.

With only 6.4 miles of land actually above water and most of the city now part of Biscayne National Park, there's are only one private home on the entire island. The rest of the residents counted in the census are park rangers.

Reports The South Florida Business Journal:

A Miami-Dade ordinance moves to abolish the city because it has fewer than 20 electors and "appears to be a city on paper only." The city has also failed to file numerous state reports. Islandia would become part of unincorporated Miami-Dade and the county would collect its property taxes.

That ordinance was unanimously passed last week, and will go into affect pending the results of a public hearing scheduled for February 15th.

Farewell Islandia, we hardly knew ye, but your name was sort of neat.

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