Planning for sea rise. Negotiating Beckham soccer complex deal. Miami has a busy 2020.
The city of Miami’s government faces a torrent of challenges entering 2020. The issues include negotiating private use of public land, planning for climate change and keeping streets clean.
At the top of the organization, five commissioners with an unclear set of alliances are already on shaky terms with the city’s top administrator, City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who was one vote away from being fired Dec. 12. Against a backdrop of tension and instability at the highest level of the government, Miami’s public servants will be tackling the following issues in the New Year.
Preparing for climate change
Next year is shaping to be a big one for the city’s plans to survive sea level rise as administrators roll out multiple plans to address the issue.
Mayor Francis Suarez has signaled that for the first time in the city’s history, Miami will commit to reducing carbon emissions. The administration could consider lowering the city government’s energy consumption and changing the municipal vehicle fleet. This means the city will finally address the root cause of climate change, rather than reacting to the symptoms of the problem. Strategies for reducing emissions are expected to appear in Miami’s climate action plan, which will debut at the end of January.
Also in January, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release its tentative draft plan to protect the city from sea level rise and storm surge. It’s likely this plan, the result of the Miami Back Bay Feasibility Study, will include bold infrastructure options like a tidal gate at the mouth of the Miami River and a strategy already employed on a limited scale by some agencies: the government buying out homeowners on vulnerable properties.
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In other water news, the city’s administration hopes to pass laws to raise public sea walls and encourage private owners to elevate theirs too. The initial plan, which will be discussed in public workshops, is based on a model developed in Fort Lauderdale by Alan Dodd, now the head of Miami’s Public Works and Resilience Department.
In May, FEMA will release the county’s new preliminary flood insurance rate map, which could lead to rate hikes for property owners. That’s expected to start a wave of requests for changes from property owners who suddenly find themselves in flood zones when they weren’t before.
The city also plans to finish modeling for the Stormwater Master Plan, which will guide the city’s efforts to keep Miami dry.
Future of Forever Bond
Two years have passed since nearly 57% of Miami voters approved taxing themselves to fund $400 million in government spending to tackle flooding, affordable housing and a variety of other public projects.
In December 2018, commissioners approved borrowing $58 million for the first round of work, 33 projects that included installation of one-way valves to allow stormwater to flow out of drainage pipes, the redesign of low-lying public spaces in Brickell and Little Havana, and improvements to city roads and parks.
As of Dec. 20, one of the 33 projects is 100% complete: The one-way valves. Four are under construction, including flooding mitigation in Coconut Grove’s Fairview neighborhood and renovations at parks facilities across the city . The rest are either out for bid or in the planning stages. According to a status report, the city has completed 23% of the work for these projects.
In 2020, Miami staffers are expected to recommend the second batch of projects to be funded by the bond. Steve Williamson, the city’s director of capital improvements, said the city will look at more road improvements, steered by assessments of road conditions and the potential for flooding, along with affordable housing funding, guided in part by a citywide master plan developed by Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center. That plan is set to be presented to commissioners in January.
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City administrators are waiting for the completion of a citywide stormwater plan before pursuing projects in some of the city’s major drainage basins. With a plan in hand, the city could seek outside funding and matching dollars to take on big-ticket improvements.
Another priority in the second round of spending: publicly owned facilities that need renovation. Mayor Francis Suarez and multiple commissioners have pointed to places such as the Miami Marine Stadium and Olympia Theater as prime targets for upgrades.
“Now, we really want to consider cultural facilities,” Williamson said.
The administration’s choices may stir debate among commissioners who represent Miami’s five districts and want to bring money and improvements to their voters’ neighborhoods.
Illegal dumping
When commissioners approved a $1 billion spending plan for the current fiscal year, they agreed to spend $275,000 to buy 50 cameras to help enforce city laws against dumping refuse on public property. The budget also included funding for two new code compliance officers, additional training and addition of new solid waste enforcement officers.
Crammed between high-profile controversial votes and political speechifying that dominate commission meetings, each of Miami’s five elected representatives has complained about illegal dumping in corners of his district. Some of the dumping is done by people who drive in from outside the city to take advantage of Miami’s regular bulk waste pickup. Administrators have pledged to crack down on the problem with a combination of enforcement and education.
Inter Miami soccer stadium
David Beckham and local partner Jorge Mas are preparing to field South Florida’s new Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami, at a new stadium in Fort Lauderdale in March 2020. The 15,000-seat facility attached to the team’s training complex is under construction and, according to the team, is supposed to host home games until the stadium in Miami is built. After that, the Fort Lauderdale stadium will host exhibition games.
Mas is leading the effort to negotiate a 99-year lease with the city of Miami to construct Miami Freedom Park, a $1 billion commercial and stadium complex on Melreese golf course, the only course inside Miami city limits, next to Miami International Airport. That lease would require approval from four of five city commissioners.
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Last week, the city’s negotiating team told commissioners it could take until May before Mas and the city agree on a final lease document.
An outstanding issue: the cost of environmental cleanup at Melreese, which has contaminated soil under the surface that was polluted by toxic ash from an old municipal incinerator. Mas has said his experts believe the cleanup cost will not be so high that it will break the deal. Miami Freedom Park representatives are meeting with county environmental officials before the end of the year to discuss remediation.
In 2020, the sticking points on the deal will come into clearer focus, from the environmental concerns to the worries about traffic congestion at the airport and around the adjacent neighborhood, Grapeland Heights. The dollars and cents will also need to be ironed out — will the city or private owners benefit from stadium naming rights or parking fees?
Another key issue: Enforcing the city’s no-net-loss policy for park space. Inter Miami will be required to replace any acreage that is rezoned from park — although Melreese is a golf course managed by a private entity and accessible only for those who pay a fee, the whole property is zoned as a park. It remains to be seen how the lost acres would be replaced.
Even if a final lease is presented to commissioners in late spring or early summer, the deal-making will likely continue in City Hall’s commission chamber. To secure four votes, Mas might have to give more once he’s standing before commissioners Joe Carollo and Ken Russell, who’ve indicated they expect millions more in rent and a robust plan to replace lost park space.
