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“The Century Gardens project includes 24 town houses and a strip mall at the end of a runway. In the middle is a small park requested by county officials — where they said pilots could aim in the event of a crash.”

Pino’s group has also convinced the airport that a buffer zone surrounding the airport — where new homes are banned — should shrink. Almost all of the 68-acre Century Gardens project falls within this buffer zone, now zoned for industrial or business use.

Mayol, Pino’s lawyer, successfully argued that the buffer zone was designed to limit neighborhood complaints about noise, and had nothing to do with public safety.

Pino is no stranger to the commission. This year, he and his companies donated $29,000 to the reelection campaigns of five commissioners, records show.

Pino’s companies also donated $25,000 to a political committee challenging a recall effort against Commissioner Natacha Seijas.

In 2004, Pino took Commissioner Jose ”Pepe” Diaz on his private jet for a fishing vacation in Cancún, Mexico. Diaz never listed the trip as a gift in financial disclosure forms he is required to file.

Though the County Commission vote won’t take place until Thursday, bulldozers already have been spotted at work on the land.