No HOA is as strict as the rules for the Billionaire Bunker island where Bezos and Zuckerberg live
Money talks in Indian Creek Village.It just can’t talk its way out of a 103-page book stuffed with rules and regulations that deep-pocketed residents of this “Billionaire Bunker” must follow.The 300-acre island off Surfside and Miami Beach has quietly become the address of choice for the planet’s wealthiest, but nobody gets a pass on the fine print — not even the guy who owns Amazon. Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Brady, Carl Icahn, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner all call the enclave home.
And all of them answer to a code written back when the community was incorporated in 1939 — one that still governs a population that clocked in at just 84 people in the last census.For starters, these billionaires can’t land their choppers in their own backyards.And when it comes to the size of the mansions they call home, the rules also mandate strict minimums for square footage.Break it and it’ll cost you. Willful violations of the Land Development Regulations carry fines up to $500 a day, on top of the threat of court enforcement or a yanked building permit. Village Manager Guillermo Olmedillo oversees compliance, and the enclave backs it up with its own police department that one broker has described as openly hostile to anyone without clearance to be on Indian Creek.As for those on the island, they have some real regulations to follow.
Yes, forget landing the chopper in the backyard.Helicopters and helipads are banned outright as an accessory use, full stop, regardless of how many private jets are parked at the airport.Want a mansion instead? Better make it big, not small.
The code sets a floor, not a ceiling, requiring at least 5,000 square feet of gross floor area, three quarters of it under the main roof.There’s no such thing as a modest starter home on Indian Creek.Even the lawn has rules.
Grass can’t grow past 6 inches high, and building coverage is capped at 25% of the lot — including hard surfaces, such as driveways, pools, tennis cou...