Dear Kelly Tractor family, partners and neighbors,

I write to you with deep respect for our community and with the full weight of our shared responsibility: to one another, to the places we call home, and to the values that have guided Kelly Tractor for nearly a century.



As many of you know, our company was founded in 1933 and has been headquartered in Miami-Dade for more than 60 years. For generations we have shown up: keeping hospitals powered, restoring infrastructure after storms, providing the specialized equipment that is actively restoring the Everglades, training skilled technicians and giving families stable careers. After years of dedicated work for Kelly Tractor, you know these are not marketing lines — they are our commitment to you and to our community. It is with that same sense of duty that I want to speak plainly about the conversation unfolding around our proposed expansion before the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners for our property on SW 137th Avenue and the 836 Expressway.



For nearly three years, we have worked side-by-side with Miami-Dade County staff and state regulators to ensure every step of our expansion proposal meets regulatory standards and minimizes environmental impacts. By design, the 246-acre project is not a choice between protecting the environment and supporting working families. It is a commitment to both. As proposed, a minimum of 34 acres of the project are dedicated to a preserve that conserves and protects a sacred tribal burial ground, as well as water-retention zones and green space. More than 100 additional acres will remain unpaved to ensure adequate drainage. We have also pledged to purchase local mitigation credits and to explore additional park and habitat mitigation. The project has garnered the support of state regulatory agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Florida Water Management District. While a portion of the site is outside the Urban Development Boundary, it is important for you to know there are already intense uses in this area. Among them a cement factory, ongoing rock mining, a warehouse and distribution facility, and an approved truck terminal. If approved, Miami-Dade County and state agencies would control all permits that govern planning, zoning, and environmental for our new headquarters. We will continue to insist on the highest environmental protections. Our stewardship is not an afterthought; it is how we have conducted ourselves for decades — responsibly and transparently. Facts matter. History matters.



In 2017, Miami-Dade County selected our property as a potential site for a wastewater treatment plant specifically because Miami-Dade County staff determined “environmental factors such as impact to threatened and endangered species or sensitive ecological habitats” were less of a significant consideration “due to its existing disturbed/semi-developed site conditions.” It is a proposal that then District 8 County Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava voted to approve. If it was environmentally safe to build a sewage-treatment plant, I hope I can count on your support to build our state-of-the-art headquarters to continue serving our community.



Today, Kelly Tractor employs 400 colleagues throughout South Florida, most of whom live in Miami-Dade County. The proposed project would create 1,000 permanent jobs, generate meaningful local tax revenue and deepen workforce partnerships with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. These are real careers that support real families, the multigenerational livelihoods at the heart of our company’s promise to this community.



As your president, I ask our leaders and neighbors to consider the full record: the historical context, the independent analyses, the environmental safeguards, the public-safety benefits and the economic opportunity for working families. Let decisions be guided by facts, fairness and a long-term vision worthy of Miami-Dade’s future.



We remain committed to listening, engaging constructively and doing the hard work necessary to reconcile differing interests with solutions that protect our natural resources while enabling responsible growth. Kelly Tractor will continue to be a partner to this community, a steward of the environment and an engine of local opportunity.



Thank you for your trust, your service and your belief in what we can build together.





Christopher Kelly

President, Kelly Tractor Co.

Chris_Kelly@kellytractor.com