Cutler Bay

Cutler Ridge, an ancient coral formation, stretches from south Miami, where it rises approximately 22 feet, through the Cutler Bay area, at a height of 14 feet, to Homestead, Florida, where it is about 8 feet. Cutler Ridge has been incorporated into the hurricane emergency plans for the area as lands east of the ridge are subject to storm surge, but areas west of the ridge would generally be protected.

Due to Cutler Bay’s position in a flat, low-lying coastal wetland area on Biscayne Bay, the area is prone to flooding. During the rainy season, Cutler Bay’s many canals, channels, and lakes are frequently full of water, and the groundwater table also is full and close to the surface. Flood hazards include rainfall from tropical storms, hurricanes, and other heavy rain events.

The Town of Cutler Bay is served by the Miami market for local radio and television. The town has its own newspaper, Cutler Bay News, which is published bi-weekly and is part of Miami Community Newspapers. Additionally, The Miami Herald provides news coverage for the town under the Cutler Bay heading of its “Miami-Dade Communities” section.

The town was named after Dr. William Cutler of Massachusetts who visited the area around 1880 and encouraged others to settle there.

The Charles Deering Estate, located in nearby Palmetto Bay, contains the Cutler Fossil Site where mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and California condors are among the many fossil records. The park holds archeological evidence of Native American habitation of the land 10,000 years ago. Tequesta burial mounds are also found there. The area called Cutler Ridge had been called the “Hunting Ground” by some of the earliest Caucasian settlers in the area, circa 1825.

In the early 1900s the Florida East Coast Railway was extended south to an area then known as Cutler, which was located near what is now the Charles Deering Estate. Cutler then served as the place where people settling in the undeveloped Homestead, Florida area went to get their supplies.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall near Cutler Ridge. The storm left the area in “almost total destruction”. The dense vegetation near the shore and the dense subdivision development of the area are thought to have been factors which mitigated the extent of areas impacted by flood damage caused by Andrew. However, nearly every building suffered major damage from the wind, and the damage in Florida was estimated at $25 billion, the most expensive natural disaster in US history to that point.

In May 2002, the Cutler Bay Steering Committee company met to discuss the formation of a municipal advisory committee, where the committee would advise on the incorporation of the Cutler Ridge area into the city of Cutler Ridge. The decision to incorporate was spurred in part by the efforts to recover from Hurricane Andrew. The proposed incorporation boundaries included Southwest 184th Street on the north and Southwest 216th and 224th streets on the south. In addition, the west boundary would include the Turnpike, U.S. 1 and Southwest 112th Avenue and Biscayne Bay would serve as the east boundary.

In April 2005, the Charter committee members looked at over a dozen names for the city, ranging from “Pine Ridge” and “Cutler Bay” to just “Cutler”. They reduced the choices to “Cutler Ridge” and “Old Cutler Bay”. In November 2005, voters approved the charter and chose the name “Cutler Bay” for the county’s 35th municipality, over “Cutler Ridge” by a vote of 1,920 to 1,403. In the months following the name change, many of those born and raised in the area that had been known as Cutler Ridge since the 1870s refused to accept the new name.

Cutler Bay is governed by a five-member Town Council and operates under a Council-Manager form of government. Three Council Members are elected to represent specific residential areas (Seats 1, 2 & 3) and must reside in their respective area. The Mayor and the Vice Mayor may reside anywhere in the Town. Town Council elections are non-partisan. As the legislative body of the Town, the Town Council determines policy, adopts the annual budget and makes laws. The Miami-Dade Police Department operates the South District Station in Cutler Bay.

In January 2006, Cutler Bay elected former Florida state legislator John F. Cosgrove as its first mayor. Mayor Cosgrove died on April 19, 2006, while vacationing in Zimbabwe. Vice Mayor Paul Vrooman assumed the position of Mayor. In November 2010, Edward P. MacDougall was elected Mayor from Vice Mayor. Prior to incorporation Edward MacDougall chaired the municipal charter committee which set the Town’s charter. In November 2014, Peggy Bell, who was one of the original Council Members when Cutler Bay was incorporated, was elected Mayor and served as Mayor until she reached her term limits in November 2018. Elected in November 2018, the current office of Mayor is held by former Council member Tim Meerbott.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools operates public schools.

Colleges and universities

College of Business and Technology (Cutler Bay Campus)