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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Christine Rupp-Dade Hertiage Trust Vinson P Richter Letter.? � :`(! ;I Pres�n^�ri�n. ):.dnc�rion.:ldwscac}c Founded 1972 February 21, 2023 Submitted into the pu.lic record for it m(s) on City Clerk The Honorable Christine King, Chair, and Honorable Members of the Miami City Commission Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 VIA HAND DELIVERY Re: Proposed Boat Ramp Near Miami Marine Stadium, Agenda Item No. PZ. 12, February 23, 2023 Chair King and Commissioners: As 4th generation native Miamian and resident for nearly 65 years, I write to protest, in the strongest possible terms, the City administration's recommendation for an exception to the City's zoning code that would allow construction of a brand-new— not a replacement— boat ramp and associated docks northwest of Miami Marine Stadium. This is an undisputable fact: The master plan for the totality of Virginia Key, which was adopted by the Miami City Commission in July 2010, does not provide for a boat ramp to exist at the location recommended by your administration, To construct a boat ramp at that location would be a blatant violation of the City's governing master plan for the island, and thus a violation of law. A brief history is in order. In January 200S, the City Commission authorized its administration to engage professional consultants to prepare a master plan for Virginia Key. The firm Edward D. Stone Associates (EDSA) was hired. With remarkable citizen input, EDSA's work product was presented to the City Commission in October 2009, more than four years later; however, there was considerable unreadiness to approve the 123-page document. Commissioners ordered additional community outreach, to be led instead by the University of Miami, and consideration of the matter was deferred until February 2010. At the City Commission's February 11 meeting, a presentation of the Virginia Key Consensus Master Plan was re -rescheduled for July 22, 2010. It appeared on that agenda as PZ.1. (A copy of the agenda item and the entire consensus master plan, marked "A" and "B," are first and second attached.) Including its cover, the consensus master plan is only18 pages (some of which are copied from the EDSA document); the final page, oddly, is blank except for a notation that it is titled the "Transportation Plan" page. The prior two pages are the only pages that govern the plan's "Basin Area Properties." Page 16 is an aerial photograph from July 2010. THERE IS NO BOAT RAMP SHOWN, DESCRIBED OR DEFINED at the location contemplated today. The photograph shows MANGROVES IN THAT LOCATION. Similarly, and importantly, Page 17 depicts all of the future construction elements contemplated and authorized by the consensus master plan, with NO BOAT RAMP shown; instead, it shows a pedestrian Baywalk, a city requirement, at that location, Dade I lcritage 'Trust • 190 SE 12 1'errace - Miami, FL 33131 305-338-957? 1 �,}��-�t��--.dade:i�eritagetru�t,nrg `� You should know, however, that the words "boat ramps" and "boat launch" do appear within the consensus master plan. The first location is on Page 4, a summary of the Waterfront Advisory Board's meeting on October 5, 2009—three days prior to the City Commission's rejection of the EDSA master plan document in order to obtain additional public input. The WAB resolution urged that "one or two of the identified Boat Ramps [be] included in the Master Flan." (A copy of that resolution is marked "C" and third attached.) The second location is on Page 10, titled the "Shrimper's Lagoon, Public Beach and Coastal Hardwood Hammock Restoration" page. On that page's map, the first location 111"' depicts an existing pier and access to what is more formally known as Lamar Lake (former home to Jimbo's) and the legend for "1" is "Renovated Boat Launch with Canoe/Kayak Rentals and Food Concessions." Thus, Shrimper's Lagoon is THE ONLY PLACE IN THE ENTIRE CONSENSUS MASTER PLAN THAT IDENTIFIES A SPECIFIC LOCATION FOR A BOAT RAMP OR BOAT LAUNCH, and that was to renovate an existing boat launch ... in a spot nowhere near the Marine Stadium. (That renovation has since occurred.) At the consensus master plan's Page 5 —a list of public meetings following the City Commission's October 2009 deferral — another WAB meeting is shown for July 13, 2010, in the week prior to the consensus master plan's City Commission adoption. (A copy of that resolution is marked "D" and fourth attached.) Across the five years during which the master - plan process evolved, with its multitude of public meetings (including specific presentations to the Waterfront Advisory Board), there was considerable discussion about whether a brand-new boat ramp should be — or should not be — inserted into Virginia Key's master -plan -in -progress. Locations on both sides of Marine Stadium were part of the EDSA and UM presentations and community discussions (with the western concept much closer to the Stadium than the location contemplated today). In the end, however, NO NEW BOAT RAMP WAS CONTAINED OR SHOWN IN THE CONSENSUS MASTER PLAN presented to and approved by the City Commission on July 22, 2010. To that specific point: It is a complete mystery why fully half of Page 4 of the adopted consensus master plan is devoted to the nine elements in the WAB's October 2009 resolution: That resolution was advisory to the City Commission's repudiation, three days later, of the entire EDSA document. When EDSA's proposal was rejected, the WAB's October 2009 resolution became ... entirely irrelevant going forward. On the other hand, the WAB's July 2010 resolution (Attachment "D"), is ENORMOUSLY RELEVANT TODAY: That subsequent resolution — its elements remarkably missing from the consensus master plan -- advised the City Commission a week later "to continue to work with the University of Miami and all interested parties to find a location for the boat ramp" ... a boat ramp that in no way, shape or form was or is located anywhere in the Marine Stadium basin within the consensus master plan. [Emphasis added.] As if any were needed, ADDITIONAL PROOF THAT NO NEW BOAT RAMP WAS INCLUDED IN THE CONSENSUS MASTER PLAN for Virginia Key may be found in the official minutes of the City Commission's July 2010 meeting and in two subsequent City documents related to a major development project elsewhere on the island: A. The consensus master plan was adopted at a City Commission meeting, following a formal presentation, extensive public commentary, and detailed discussion by the five Commissioners and then -Mayor Tomas Regalado. (Relevant pages from those lengthy minutes are marked "E" and fourth attached.) Reference to improvements for the existing boat launch at Shrimper's Lagoon was made during the formal presentation (at Page 87). A representative of the Tropical Audubon Society urged "a public boat ramp in the marine basin area" (at Pages 92-93). A private citizen also said there was community support for a new boat ramp (at Pages 93-94). And the chair of the Parks Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United requested that "a boat ramp [be] included in the marina section" (at Page 94). However, the manager of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, an employee of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, cautioned that a new boat ramp in the Marine Stadium basin "would also introduce new environmental impacts" (at Page 95). Following all the public testimony, there was no discussion among the five Commissioners on the dais regarding a new boat ramp in the Marine Stadium basin. None. Zero. And more to the point, NOT ONE AMENDMENT TO THE CONSENSUS MASTER PLAN AS PRESENTED — SPECIFICALLY, NO AMENDMENT TO INCLUDE A NEW BOAT RAMP ANYWHERE IN THE BASIN — WAS MADE BY CITY COMMISSIONERS prior to their unanimous approval of the agenda item. Despite several specific requests from the public to insert a new boat ramp into the plan, NO NEW BOAT RAMP WAS ADDED. Submitted into the public record f r item s} _ - on City Clerk 11ade 14erieage Trust • 190 SE 12 Terrace • Miami, 171, 33131 , 305-358-9572 %v%" ,"xL'.dadellerfragerrust.()rg B. In June 2015, and again in February 2017, the City published a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) to redevelop the wet slips, dry stack boat storage, restaurant and ancillary marine facilities generally located at the existing Rickenbacker Marina facility on Virginia Key. (The two RFP covers and the relevant page from each Executive Summary are marked "F" and fifth attached.) Although both procurements were terminated, each sought to require a winning vendor to construct a public boat ramp northwest of Marine Stadium "as an additional component of the Virginia Key Master Plan." [Emphasis added.] NO CITY OF MIAMI MASTER PLAN MAY BE AUGMENTED, REVISED OR AMENDED VIA ANY FREE- FLOATING, COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT PROCESS. THAT'S NOT THE WAY IT'S DONE! It has been asserted by the city administration at various meetings of your Virginia Key Advisory Board in the past year or so that a boat ramp exists today at the administration's desired location, and that its recommendation now before you is a renovation or an upgrade and not brand-new construction. That is untrue. What the administration asserts is a functional boat ramp there today — noticeably and critically missing any docks that are necessarily contemplated to be constructed now — is merely a degradation of the old seawall caused by the activities of the National Maritime Manufacturer's Association when it deployed and then retrieved massive floating docks to host the Miami Boat Show in recent years. I close by recalling the VKAB's meeting of April 27, 2021. The record of that meeting contains the comments in opposition to a boat ramp in the Marine Stadium basin submitted by 416 residents, which was augmented by in -person opposition testimony from nearly 50 additional residents. NOT ONE PERSON SPOKE IN FAVOR OF A NEW BOAT RAMP NEAR MARINE STADIUM that evening. NOT ONE. incerely, Vinson P. Richter President, Dade Heritage Trust cc: Francis X. Suarez, Esq., Miami Mayor Arthur Norega, City Manager Victoria Mendez, Esq., Miami City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, Miami City Clerk Scott H. Silver, Esq. Submitted into the public record for ite {S) on a�b 3F city C],rit Dade Heritage "1'rust - 190 SE 12 T'errace • N iami, FL 33131 - 0"05-358-9572 �nv°�v..darleheritagetrLis t.org