Town hall on the RFP Wednesday at Key Biscayne Community Center
The Venetian Causeway is going to be cut out of the request for proposals that already went out on the redevelopment and privatization of both the Miami Beach connector and the Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne, which is really what this project was all about from the beginning.
After weeks of complaints from Miami Beach residents and leaders, the Miami-Dade Commission Chairman’s Policy Council passed a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Sally Heyman to leave the Venetian alone. It directs Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to revise the RFP and take Venetian out. Mayor Dan Gelber was against it, saying its inclusion always looked like an afterthought.
Which is exactly what it was. The Venetian never belonged in the same RFP as the Rickenbacker in the first place.
Rickenvacker’s Plan Z — named after architect Bernard Zyscovich — has been batted around for at least seven years, maybe 10. The Venetian portion was recently added on so it wouldn’t look like the same unsolicited proposal (read: real estate deal) that’s been on the table since 2013.
Know more: Rickenbacker RFP looks like a done deal set-up for no-bid Plan Z proposal
After the mayor recommended the unsolicited proposal, the county had to put out a request for proposals that also seems like an afterthought. Because this is not a competitive process. The RFP issued on Aug.. 15 seems tailor-made for the same Plan Z team with no room for deviation from what they’ve already designed and proposed. They basically wrote the RFP. Who can compete with that?
The Venetian Causeway was never the biggest issue with the plan. It was a non issue. A last minute addition or bait and switch that the county always expected to take out.
The biggest issue with the planning was always the process and the way this plan has been rammed down everybody’s throats. It’s very obvious to anybody that the process is made for Plan Z — which has the involvement of the former Miami-Dade Parks Department director — to get it.
“The RFP put out there has basically been designed to reach a forgone conclusion,” said Key Biscayne Councilman Ignacio Segurola, at a special meeting earlier this month just to discuss the proposal. “It’s tailor made for them, and that’s unfair.”
The outcome is “pre-ordained,” said Key Biscayne Councilman Franklin Caplan. “The process has resulted in a constraint on design and planning that would not probably otherwise befall the outcome of the project if it was done more in public and more with expert input at the beginning.”
Others called it a done deal. Which is what Ladra called it weeks ago.
“It was done in the dark of night and sprung on us,” said former Councilman Gary Gross.
“If I was still up there with all of you I would be pounding the desk and demanding we pt on our war pot and stop this process in anyway we possibly can,” Gross said. “If anything resembling what they have today goes forward, this village is in a lot of trouble.”
Villagers are worried that too much emphasis is being put on the elevated and separated lane for pedestrians and bicyclists, on the linear park, and not enough attention is paid to bridge repairs and traffic issues on the only ingress and egress to their homes. They worry about retail and entertainment uses along the causeway making every weekend like a tennis or Ultra Music Festival weekend. They worry about the toll increase to pay for the development and the private partners’ profits.
“You can be sure that the revenue stream from the causeway is not sufficient to pay for a $4 or $5 million project,” said attorney Gene Stearns, a Key Biscayne resident against Plan Z and the shady process for this RFP.
“I want to understand how you guys are going to protect our $24 annual pass with this whole bridge thing,” asked Monica Sioka.
Know more: More questions than answers on makeovers for Rickenbacker, Venetian
Lobbyist Fausto Gomez, president of the Key Biscayne Condominium President’s Council — who also once represented the Village of Key Biscayne in Tallahassee — said the process “has been opaque and has not welcomed the opinions of the affected parties.”
He even suggested that the Village request the county turn over the Causeway to them and council members seemed to be receptive to that.
Segurola said that if the county doesn’t want to manage Rickenbacker anymore, Key Biscayne “is the only natural guardian of the causeway” after the county and called it the village’s destiny.
“As the only people who live at the end of the causeway, we have the best interest in maintaining and improving it,” Segurola said. “It is in our best interest to make sure that the bridges are repaired, improved or replaced because not only our homes but our livelihoods depend on them. We are also the only ones that have the best of interest in making sure that all this is done for a reasonable price, because if you raise the price too much it will be too expensive to come onto Key Biscayne and then our property values and our businesses will suffer.”
Both he and Caplan said they would support asking the county to rescind the RFP process and request the transfer of the causeway to Key Biscayne, with appropriate time to come up with a proposal.
“This isn’t a public amenity, it’s not a building, it’s not a park,” Caplan said. “The unsolicited proposal we are dealing with here is that existential linkage and practical necessity for us. That’s just different than the average project.
“The consequences of getting a wrong design or implementation are dire.”
Mayor Michael W. Davey said the village has two options. “We can move toward an open and public process that includes all stakeholders, identifes immediate needs and other possible improvements to the Bear Cut Bridge and Rickenbacker Causeway, or we can support the continuation of the current unsolicited bid process.”
Know more: ‘Secret’ plan for Rickenbacker reboot makes Miami-Dade mayor seek bids
But a motion to do just that died for lack of a second and the Key Biscayne Council decided to wait until a meeting this week with Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado — who has come under fire for supporting the RFP and was told she had a “defensive tone” — to try to edit or make amendments to the RFP.
Regalado said she would bring county staff to a town hall on Key Biscayne at the community center Wednesday evening (starts at 6:30 p.m.) and was taking questions in advance. But that seems to be a stalling tactic when there is no way the county staff is going to be able to address the issues that people have with the secrecy of this process and the advantage given to the Plan Z group.
This Key Biscayne meeting, however, was before Miami Beach got what they wanted. Certainly the council members are rethinking their decision and wonder what does Miami Beach have that Key Biscayne doesn’t?
Ladra hopes the Village takes the Venetian victory as a sign that they, too, can fight County Hall.`
Miami Beach dodges causeway Plan Z for privatization, but not Key Biscayne added by Ladra on
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