Computer-generated image of the future South Pointe Park, courtesy of the city of Miami Beach.

Beginning July 9, South Pointe Park will be closed until at least December 2008 for a long-awaited improvement project. During that period, patrons of the steak house Smith & Wollensky, which is located in the park, will be the only non-construction-related people granted access.

Last Wednesday evening, June 13, city officials hosted a Town Hall-style meeting in the community room of the Miami Beach Police station to discuss construction plans and the phases of the work. Winning contractor Magnum Construction Management Corporation, the architecture firm of Hargreaves Associates, and city staff were on hand to answer residents’ questions and address concerns.

The $22.3 million make-over of the 19-acre, waterfront South Pointe Park, located along the southernmost shore of Miami Beach, promises to create a source of pride for the city of Miami Beach and the thousands of South Floridians who use it.

“I think this is the most major park project that the city has undertaken, and I think when it is completed it will be the crown jewel in the city’s park system,” Commissioner Saul Gross told the SunPost.

The upgrades will include a sand dune path, an elevated serpentine walkway, another walkway along Government Cut with turtle-sensitive lighting, a 7,000-square-foot pavilion with a child play area, and lots of fountains and other water features.

“Children will be able to play under arching water and run through gushing water,” said Hargreaves associate Jamie Maslyn.

In light of recent drought restrictions, which scientists say are likely to worsen, Jonah Wolfson, candidate for commission Seat 4, expressed concern over the amount of water that will be needed to maintain the park.

Maslyn explained that most of the fountains will use underground filtration tanks to recycle water. However, for health reasons, a constant flow of fresh water will be used in the child-specific play areas. Irrigation systems for the plants and trees will be monitored with computers. The dunes are expected to need watering only in the beginning while the plants take root, Maslyn said.

Even dogs were thought of during the design process, with water baths, an off-leash area and a possible dog beach where the four-legged creatures would be able to take a dip in Government Cut.

Roby and Lucia Greer of Responsible Dog Owners of Miami Beach are working with the city to secure a spot for their canine friends to play while the park is closed for construction. One possibility is the grassy lot on the corner of Second Street and Washington Avenue.

Ironically, the featured artwork in the subtropical park will be an iceberg. The Drift, a white iceberg sculpture by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, will be given a position of prominence in the Alaska Parcel portion of the park. Once owned by an Alaskan tribe, the two-acre tract of land behind Apogee was deeded to the city by the Related Group to expand South Pointe Park. The half-million-dollar iceberg, a commentary on global warming, was the butt of jokes around City Hall last year.

Commissioner Matti Bower, a mayoral candidate, questioned the decision to close the whole park during the entire construction period, as opposed to in phases as originally discussed.

Mario Gonzalez-Pola, the city’s senior capital project coordinator, said the contractor, MCM, determined the work could be completed more quickly with the entire park closed. He said the city had hoped to keep one of the walkways open, but determined the liability was too great.

Nipping at the heels of the project is a lawsuit filed by contractor A2 (A-Squared) Group that could possibly cause the work to be postponed indefinitely. Appellate judges (A2’s lawsuit was dismissed in Circuit Court) heard final arguments last week, and as of press time had not released a decision.

Though the meeting did not focus on the pending appeal, activist Frank Del Vecchio asked for a status report. Hours earlier, Deputy City Attorney Jean Olin was in court giving final arguments against A2’s appeal.

Gonzalez-Pola said MCM had signed a letter satisfying Beach officials that the city’s interests are protected upon entering into the contract.

That indemnification agreement, dated May 3, “holds the CMB [city] harmless for any and all damages that could result in the event that a final non-appealable order in the above-styled lawsuit, or any other judicial determination, is issued requiring CMB to terminate the contract with MCM.”

The appeal follows a long bidding war between A2 Group and MCM.

In October of 2006, the city sent out invitations to bid for the South Pointe Park project. City staff ranked A2 first, and MCM second. Later it was determined that neither company met requirements. So on Jan. 17 of this year the commission decided to reject all of the bids and start over. MCM sued and the case was thrown out of court.

The city then held a second bid with slightly different criteria. MCM challenged it, asking the city to weigh a bidder’s financial size when ranking candidates. The city said no, it would not include financial size in the criteria.

Once again city staff recommended A2 number one, and MCM number two. Betty Ribas, wife of A2 Group President Al Ribas, told the SunPost they went into the March 14 City Commission meeting fully expecting to get the contract. She and her husband were stunned when they lost the bid 5-2. Commissioners Michael Gongora, Simon Cruz, Bower, Richard Steinberg and Jerry Libbin voted for MCM. Mayor David Dermer and Commissioner Saul Gross cast the no votes. Immediately following his loss, Al Ribas told the press he didn’t plan to sue despite his opinion that the vote was “bizarre.”

Ribas changed his mind and took the city to Circuit Court. Jack Shawde and Gabriel Nieto, of the law firm Berger Singerman, argued that the commission’s choice of MCM was “arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the requirements of law and the City Code denied A2 due process of law, was pretextual and based upon rationale that was illogical and contravened both the express terms of the City’s [invitation to bid] and the fundamental purpose of competitive bidding — to ensure that city contracts are let pursuant to transparent and defined criteria.” A2 wanted an injunction to stop the city from entering into a contract with MCM.

Meanwhile Bower made a motion at the April 11 City Commission meeting to reconsider the March 14 vote in favor of MCM. Gross seconded the motion for discussion. The item lost 3-4, with Gongora, Cruz, Libbin and Steinberg opposed. Bower then requested that her March 14 vote be changed to a no vote against MCM. There being no opposition, the tally was officially changed from 5-2 to 4-3.

Last week Bower told the SunPost that MCM made a compelling argument at the March 14 commission meeting, but she felt bad about voting against the staff recommendation of A2. That, she said, is why she wanted to reconsider the vote, and ultimately changed hers.

“The truth is, I should have voted for A2 from the beginning,” Bower said.

But A2 was not able to convince the court, and after an April 23 hearing it ruled in favor of the city and MCM.

A2 was still not ready to throw in the towel. It appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal, which brings the battle to the present.

Nieto and Shawde’s argument briefing on the appeal states that Miami Beach’s “arbitrary and capricious award of the contract to MCM does not prevent this court [Third District Court of Appeal] or the lower court from directing the city to follow its own ITB and award the contract to A2, the highest ranked, best-value bidder.”

Shawde told appellate Judges David M. Gersten, John G. Fletcher and Richard J. Suarez that the commission chose MCM based on the criteria that MCM tried unsuccessfully to convince the city to include in the ITB in January.

Those criteria were financial size of the company, and limited past experience only to that in which the company was considered the contractor, Shawde said.

Shawde argued that since the city had denied MCM’s request, and the commission ended up using that rejected criteria in its decision, the vote should be overturned.

Olin countered that those criteria are in the city code, and thus the commission did no wrong.

At the community meeting last week, Libbin told the SunPost that unfortunately litigation is the name of the game with city contracts. He defended his decision to go with MCM as a simple matter of dollars and cents. The sticker price for MCM’s bid was $765,000 less than A2’s.

“We were elected to do what we think is best,” Libbin said. “I saw no reason to spend hundreds of thousands of extra dollars.”

For a detailed look at how planners arrived at the current design for South Pointe Park, visit: www.miamibeachfl.gov/newcity/cip/BODR_18July05_Final.pdf.

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com.