Davie town leaders voted Wednesday night to move forward with plans to build a new housing development on a farm.
This comes after community members fought for weeks to save the farmland.
"It’s a huge loss to the community," Santiago Arroyo said.
Arroyo and other farmers are disappointed that the 27-acre farm, located on the corner of Flamingo Road and Orange Drive, will soon be turned into homes.
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"Twenty-seven acres of farmland lost is not something you can easily replace from one day to the next," he said.
The farmland mainly produces fruits and vegetables found in the Caribbean. The project would allow for more than 60 homes to be built on the property.
Arroyo and more than a dozen other community members showed up to the meeting, hoping town leaders would give Barbara McKenzie — who leases the farm— an extension that's long enough for her to relocate.
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At the meeting, developers agreed to give McKenzie until November to vacate.
Although she didn’t want to do any interviews, McKenzie did turn to social media before the vote, and posted a video message on Instagram pleading for help.
The town also said the farmer might be able to move her crops to another 10-acre farm.
"The town council gave the town administrator direction to expand the town’s agricultural footprint to add an additional 10 acres for farming on town property to demonstrate the town’s continued commitment to agriculture. The town is sympathetic to Ms. McKenzie and all farmer’s situations and continues to encourage dialogue between Ms. McKenzie, the landowner and the developer," the town of Davie said in a statement in part.
