Virginia Key

October 2009 - Let Nature Rule in Virginia Key Master Plan

Virginia Key is not just another piece of real estate. It is one of our community's special places, a sacred space, really, because it is our last, vast open greenness amid a sea of urbanity. We desperately need it to remain so.

Despite years of neglect, there is a power to this place. Much of it is untamed, a place of possibilities not programmed by the hand of man. Here, a dolphin might leap out of a wave or a manatee sidle up to a rower. And deep in the night, sea turtles nest in a ritual as ancient as the sea. Even a cursive glance at the expanse of sky and sea around the island from the top of Rickenbacker Causeway can momentarily take your breath away. It is that achingly beautiful.

When Miami began a master-plan process more than five years ago, I naively thought that once the consultants came to Virginia Key they would be equally inspired. Surely they would design a plan befitting of an island that had bestowed us with such amazing gifts. They didn't. But there is still time to correct that. On Thursday a proposed master plan for Virginia Key will be presented to the City Commission, and it will have an opportunity to weigh in. I'm hoping the commission's definition of ``highest and best use'' for Virginia Key matches mine: open spaces -- green forests and blue waterways, the kind of silence that lets the you hear the wind whisper, the flutter of bird wings, the ripple of incoming tides. Less is more when it comes to Virginia Key. Minimize concrete. Respect the wildlife. Preserve the views. Give people access to the waterfront.

We can't let this jewel languish amid the jumble of decay and commercial clutter it has become when no one was looking. For starters, we need to clean up the place. Plant a few trees. Park a few benches where the views are terrific and the salty breezes blow sweetly. Then we can sit down awhile and take it all in, in silence. Minimize the concrete. Respect the wildlife. Preserve the views. Give people access to the waterfront. Nature has a way of taking care of itself. If we just get out of its way. - Blanca Mesa

September 2009 - Virginia Key Update

The City of Miami may present a a "revised" Virginia Key Master Plan to the City Commission as early as October 8, 2009. The Sierra Club and other groups have asked the City for traditional public meetings to allow time for the public to comment on the revised plan and also provide more input. In the meantime, the Urban Environment League is organizing a public design workshop to come up with a new vision for the island that is environmentally sustainable. This public design workshop will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 26 at the Rusty Pelican restaurant on Virginia Key. Everyone who wants to save Virginia Key from destructive and intrusive commercial and other development needs to be there. Volunteer architects and students will create renderings of the new "less is more" vision for the island based on input received at the meeting. Look for more info at www.uel.org. Rsvp by email uelinfo@bellsouth.net or 786-472-0011.

June 19, 2009 - Virginia Key Update

Mayor of Miami Manny Diaz says, go back to the drawing board.

The Mayor has asked city planners and their consultants to take another look at the recent proposal to remake Virginia Key. The plan had drawn poor to awful reviews from residents, environmentalists and city advisory boards. The city had originally planned to put the new plan, which had cost around $1 million and took more than three years to draft, on a fast track to a commission vote. Critics had said that the intensity of the planned commercial and recreational development would overwhelm the ecosystem which includes bird and turtle nesting, manatee breeding areas, mangroves and a coastal hardwood hammock.

May 2009 - Virginia Key Master Plan to go to City Commission in June

Is This the Plan our Community Wants?

The final proposed Master Plan for Virginia Key was unveiled May 20 and will go to the Miami City Commission June 25. The plan created by EDSA is a far cry from the vision of a resource based, environmentally compatible future for Virginia Key, the 1,000- acre environmentally fragile island in Biscayne Bay, home of the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area. And it certainly doesn't reflect the public input provided at numerous public meetings, including the well attended planning charrette two years ago at La Salle High School, where the request was for "less is more" on Virginia Key. Although the planners included trails and wildlife observation decks, it also packed the island with dozens of sports fields with stadium lights near turtle nesting areas, parking garages and parking lots to accommodate thousands of vehicles, a conference center and other intensive commercial activities, including a shopping center.

The plan can be seen at www.virginiakeymasterplan.com. Also, please join the Friends of Virginia Key group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=88158191391 What you can do to help: Contact City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and City Commissioners http://www.miamigov.com/City_Officials/ Write to the Mayor and the City Commission! Tell them the EDSA plan doesn't reflect the community's vision for the future of Virginia Key. Tell them to scrap the proposed plan and go back to the drawing board to come up with a plan that is feasible, that benefits the community and protects the island's natural resources. Or, my personal favorite, turn the island over to a Conservancy to manage as the wildlife refuge that it really is. - Blanca Mesa

January 1999 Citizen Group Prevails for the Preservation of an Environmental and Historical Landmark

By Gene Tinnie and Mark Walters

After a year and a half of struggle, hard work and perseverance, a citizen group has prevailed on the City of Miami to cement its commitment to the preservation of Virginia Key Beach Park. On December 14, the commission unanimously approved the establishment of a permanent community land Trust that would oversee the reopening and the future development of historic Virginia Key Beach. The 77-acre park located on Virginia Key is the site of what was once the "Colored Only Beach" during the segregation era when Black citizens were barred from area beaches. The Trust would replace the temporary Virginia Key Task Force which was established in June, 1999, by the City Commission in response to widespread and vocal community protests against possible City plans to allow the construction of a privately owned luxury campground resort on the "Old County Park" site.

The Task Force, chaired by former City Commissioner Mrs. M. Athalie Range, has regularly received unanimous support and praise for its efforts from the Commissioners during its eighteen months of holding public meetings, hosting special events at the Park, and conducting a three-day Public Planning Charrette in January 1999. The charrette allowed a broad and diverse spectrum of citizens and design professionals to produce a comprehensive vision for the Park in the future. The Task Force expires at the end of December, and the new trust will continue its work. Most of that work will focus on making the concepts that came out of the Charrette a reality. These will include the restoration of historical structures, reestablishment of a safe bathing beach and the re-nourishment of the beach-front; all in concert with the natural environment of the island. There are plans for commemorative structure(s) and nature trails that will allow all residents of South Florida to enjoy and learn about a local treasure that has been hidden for so long. Already involved in the planning is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who, thanks to Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek, have already earmarked more than 11 million dollars for shoreline and environmental restoration, a safe swimming area and the return of the fragile natural environment of the whole island to a healthy state. The Task Force has also secured funding from the State for the process of securing official historic site designation on the national registry of historic places.

Up until the last days before the commission vote, there were concerns that development forces within the city would prevail in their bid to deny the right of citizens to enjoy their park. City staff had an opposing ordinance on the commission agenda that would have reduced the area under the Trust authority by almost 50%. City Manager, Carlos Gimenez's assertion of his reluctance to "give away city property" as the rationale for this action was laughable, considering that the Trust is a city entity with commission oversight. The second ordinance was eventually pulled when it became obvious that the Task Force had been mobilizing the community at large to attend the commission meeting in protest.

The Members of the Task Force thank all those who have assisted in this endeavor and look forward to continued cooperation and support as the Trust assumes its charge.

December 1999 Virginia Key Update

The Virginia Key Park Task Force is sponsoring a charette to be held the weekend of January 14, 15 & 16. The opening program will be Friday evening and the entire event will be at the Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Miami, which is located on Virginia Key. We expect participation from local, state and federal agencies including the National Parks Service, South Florida Regional Planning Council, the Department of Environmental Protection, Dade Heritage Trust and Tropical Audubon to name a few. We are also requesting that as many people as possible from the general public show up for this event. We need the public's ideas, suggestions and input to ensure that this process works and that what comes out of this is in the public's interest. The Old County Park site should remain public and accessible. With the seeming all-out push now on to hand over our public spaces to private interests, and Bicentennial Park comes to mind, there is even more need for support for this process. Please spread the word. Please plan to be there.

Mark Walters is the Sierra Club Representative on the Task Force.

November 1999 Virginia Key Update

As you know, if you have been following the Virginia Key Park issue, a Task Force was formed in June, at the request of M. Athalie Range. Commissioner Teele was an early supporter of this effort. The Task Forceâs charge was to create a development plan for a historical park on the site, which once was a segregated beach in the late 40âs until the mid 50âs. Further, the Commission imposed upon City Staff, a six month moratorium on developing the site - they had been on a fast track for development.

On October 26, the Virginia Key Task Force made an additional request before the City of Miami Commission. Resolution No. 99 382 was passed unanimously. This resolution funds a Charrette for the 77 acres of park property on Virginia Key. The Charrette is scheduled for a weekend in the middle of January. We would like Sierra members to attend this important planning event if at all possible. Input from the Community is the key to success. The final report by the Task Force will be presented to the Commission at the second meeting in February, during Black History Month. Mark Walters is the Sierra Club Representative on the Task Force.

- Nancy Lee

Boat Show moving to Virginia Key

Letters to the Editor - The Miami Herald, June 2, 2015

Create an urban gateway to Biscayne National Park

It’s disappointing that the city of Miami would sell itself short on Virginia Key by letting the Miami Boat Show essentially take over the island, including precious waterfront parkland, and allow the construction of a massive marina in the ecologically sensitive Miami Marine Stadium basin (Miami Commission approves key Boat Show agreements, May 28).

Virginia Key is a gift and should be treasured and preserved for future generations.

One way to do this would be for the city of Miami to partner with the National Park Service to create an urban gateway to Biscayne National Park on Virginia Key.

Under this scenario, the historic Marine Stadium could finally receive funding and achieve full restoration while the surrounding natural areas would receive ecologically sensitive stewardship.

With Crandon Park Nature Preserve and Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, this would be a world-class national recreation area that combines both remote island wild lands, such as the Channel Islands National Park, with the easy accessibility to natural and historic sites provided by urban parks such as Santa Monica Mountains or Gateway National Recreation Areas in California.

Biscayne National Park’s expansion to Virginia Key with a visitor center at the Miami Marine Stadium would link the natural and historic heritage of the Miami region and help foster and fund the restoration and protection of important historic and cultural sites and facilities, such as the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, an 82-acre public park that played a critical role in the nation’s civil rights history.

This hybrid urban/wild national park property with tales to tell about the American experience — from civil rights, to restoring Florida’s fragile ecology to Miami’s modern architectural heritage — could be the new model for the National Park system, which is eager to reach out to an urban, diverse America.

After nearly a century of neglect, mismanagement and/or ill-conceived development plans, it’s time for the city to think bigger than just another commercial deal.

A final point — and perhaps the most important one — Miami should be considering the reality of climate change sea level rise and impacts to Virginia Key, which is already experiencing serious erosion.

A wiser investment of the $16 million the city is borrowing for its “flex-park” of asphalt and astro-turf would be to consult with experts on how to build a climate resilient shoreline incorporating native plantings and natural contouring of the sand dunes to protect this island from storm surge and further erosion as sea level rise accelerates.

The resulting landscape could be an example to the world of climate resilience and a living laboratory for an imperiled planet.

BLANCA MESA,

FRIENDS OF VIRGINIA KEY,

MIAMI

Dissolution of Virginia Key Beach Trust - 2022

A resolution in ref. to ordinance 14114

An ordinance by the Miami Commission rescinding and amending file #12497 based on an incomplete draft audit of the Trust by which commissioners claimed malfeasance, mismanagement, and theft by VKBP Trust; and

WHEREAS no such impropriety was found by the completed version of said audit; and

WHEREAS Commissioners have since shifted their justification for the above ordinance to claims the Trust has been ineffective, incapable, and substantially unable to realize a proposed museum and cultural center on VKBP lands; and

WHEREAS in fact ,it has been reluctance by the City to commit to maintaining and funding operational costs which has prevented the County General Obligation Bond (GOB) funding which had been voter approved, from being transferred from the County to the City for construction; and

WHEREAS the city of Miami is NOT being guided by the community’s general Land Use plan for the park site, or the “aspirations of the African American community,” specifically as evidenced by the speakers who have spoken during the public hearing segment at a succession of Commission meetings; and

WHEREAS the Trust took a principled stand opposing a homeless encampment on Virginia Key (North Point).

WHEREAS no member of the Trust shall become a candidate for elective political office during his or her term. EXEPT SITTING COMMISSIONERS.

WHEREAS this action by the City of Miami violates the Virginia Key consensus Master Plan and the Master Plan for the VKBP that was developed in a public charrette (June 1999) ,which led to the establishment of the VKBP Trust, and to the approval of the Park Plan by the City Commission; and

THEREFORE, be it resolved, on this 29th. Day of Nov 2022 that the Virginia Key Advisory Board votes to restore oversight and planning for VKBP to the community’s vision as codified by the Miami Commission in Dec. 2000 which established the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust.

Steven Leidner

Miami Sierra Club