Key Biscayne is an island village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.

Because of its low elevation and direct exposure to the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually among the first Miami areas to be evacuated before an oncoming hurricane.

The northern two-thirds of the island had operated as the largest coconut plantation in the continental United States during the first half of the 20th century.

[6] The island's southern third, which included Cape Florida, was owned by James Deering, and, after his death, by his brother Charles, for 35 years.

In 1948, José Manuel Áleman, a Cuban politician in exile, bought the Cape Florida property from the Deering estate.

[7] In 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon purchased the first of his three waterfront homes, forming a compound known as the Florida White House, to be near his close friend and confidant Bebe Rebozo, owner of Key Biscayne Bank, and industrialist Robert Abplanalp, inventor of the modern spray can valve.

The U.S. Department of Defense spent $400,000 constructing a helicopter landing pad in Biscayne Bay adjacent to his compound; when Nixon later sold the property, including the helicopter pad, there were public accusations that he had enriched himself at taxpayer expense.

[citation needed] The area was incorporated as a new municipality in 1991, making it the first new city in Miami-Dade County in over 50 years.

Rafael Conte was elected the first mayor, along with the members of the founding village council: Clifford Brody, Mortimer Fried, Michael Hill, Bautista Tedin, Lucas Keller, Luis Lauredo, Joe Rasco, and Raymond Sullivan.

The village's incorporation, overseen by Alfred Brewer, provided local control over taxes and future development.

[9] The eye wall passed over uninhabited Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, which received the brunt of the storm.

Federal and state funding allowed the replanting with native vegetation, making the park a showplace natural area.

Due to its island location, Key Biscayne is subject to cooler highs than Miami year-round.

In 2008, the village council, saying that requiring community voting on zoning changes infringed on its responsibility, submitted another proposal to revise the charter.

But on November 4, 2008, voters overwhelmingly rejected the council's proposed change, defeating the amendment by a more than two-to-one margin.

Key Biscayne has a visitors center, open 24/7, 365 days a year, in the Village Hall, 88 West McIntyre Street #100, next to the police station.