Country Walk, Florida

Country Walk is located at 25°37′56″N 80°26′6″W (25.632332, -80.434956).[3]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.8 square miles (7.3 km²), of which, 2.8 square miles (7.3 km²) of it is land and 0.36% is water.

The Country Walk Community was originally designed and built by Arvida/Disney Corp. It is a deed-restricted community. There are 1606 homes located within the Country Walk community. Country Walk is located in Southwest Miami Dade County. Arvida broke ground on the first homes in 1978 and construction finished in 1994. Country Walk is approximately 2 square miles made up of 1280 acres. The Eastern boundary is 137 Avenue, Western boundary is 157 Avenue, Northern boundary is SW 144 Terrace and the Southern boundary is SW 152 Street. Country Walk is made up of six sub-associations and one Master Association. The sub-associations are Country Villas, Estate Homes, Lakeside, Patio Homes, Stoneybrook and Village Homes. Country Walk Master Association has a clubhouse located at 14601 Country Walk Drive. The clubhouse includes a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball court, playground and game rooms. This is located in the center of Country Walk and is used as a gathering place for the residents to join together and have fun. There are various activities planned at the clubhouse through out the year. It starts in February with our Annual Valentines Day Music Under the Stars and ends in December with the Annual Holiday Party but the best is right in the middle the July 4th Holiday Party including fireworks! There are also regular activities planned at the clubhouse for the residents to participate in such as Tennis Tuesday’s, Strategic gaming on Sunday and Bingo on Friday’s. The lake located next to the clubhouse has a vita course around the banks and there is a dock to enjoy the views of the fountain or great fishing.

The Country Villas sub- association is made up of 97 townhomes. Country Villas is also known as “Hickory Lane”. The Estate Homes is 435 single-family homes. The Estate Homes includes sections called “Turtle Creek”, “Live Oaks”, “Robins Run” and “Robins Run East”. The Lakeside community is made up of 94 single-family homes originally built by Weitzer Builders. The Patio Homes is made up of 460 single family homes with large green belts around the community and has sections called “Greenwich East”, “Greenwich West”, Roosters Ridge”, “Summer Tree”, and “Willow Bend.” The Patio Homes also have a swimming pool area for their residents use. The Stoneybrook community is another Weitzer community made up of 172 single-family homes. They have two playground areas for their residents use. The Village Homes is a condominium community made up of 344 units. They also have a swimming pool for their residents use. The condominiums are constructed in groups of four units making a larger building.

There are also two commercial areas included in the Country Walk community they are the Country Square Shopping Center located within Country Walk and the Country Walk Plaza located at the corner of SW 152 Street and SW 137 Avenue. The Country Square Shopping Center includes many local businesses including restaurants, childcare, a pharmacy, pet store, real estate sales office and a corner store. The Country Walk Plaza includes nationally known businesses including Publix, CVS, GNC, Chase, Bank of America and many other local stores and restaurants.

Also located within the Country Walk community is Jack D. Gordon Elementary School. A Miami Dade County Public School. The community area schools are Richmond Heights Middle School, and Sunset Senior High. Also located near Country Walk are the Magnet schools of Coral Reef Senior High, Robert Morgan Senior High and Herbert A. Ammons Middle School.[4]

In 1985, Janet Reno prosecuted the Country Walk case, allegedly an example of day-care sex-abuse hysteria.[5][6]

In August 1992, Country Walk was severely destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. 90% of the 1,700 homes in Country Walk were destroyed. Following the hurricane, property owners filed lawsuits against the developer of Country Walk, Arvida for shoddy construction. In the subsequent years, the homes were slowly rebuilt. Unlike the destroyed homes which were made of wood frame construction, the new homes were rebuilt with concrete walls. Although many areas of Miami were heavily affected by Hurricane Andrew, Country Walk was one of the worst affected and remains a reminder of the hurricane's extensive disaster in the CDP today.[7][8]

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 10,653 people, 3,234 households, and 2,820 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,879.0 people per square mile (1,495.7/km²). There were 3,409 housing units at an average density of 1,241.3/sq mi (478.6/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 77.60% White (28.6% were Non-Hispanic White,)[10] 10.66% African American, 0.10% Native American, 2.52% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 5.00% from other races, and 4.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 56.13% of the population.

There were 3,234 households, out of which 56.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.8% were non-families. 9.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.29 and the average family size was 3.51.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 32.7% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 38.5% from 25 to 44, 17.0% from 45 to 64, and 5.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $63,689, and the median income for a family was $66,250. Males had a median income of $41,798 versus $30,987 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,736. About 3.5% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 17.6% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, Spanish was the first language for 61.78% of all residents, while English accounted for 35.79%, Urdu accounted for 1.02%, Portuguese made up 0.59%, French was 0.48%, and French Creole was the mother tongue for 0.31% of the population.[11]

• Country Walk Homeowners Association