Oh, How Ugly
New Lifeguard Stands Could Look So Much Better, City Board Says

“We didn’t have time to be unique; we set up an assembly line.…”

Photo by Margaret Griffis.

By Randy Abraham

The Miami Beach Design Review Board decreed that design regulations are needed for lifeguard stands, during its meeting Dec. 5.

The board also recommended that the city make improvements to lifeguard stands now standing on the beach before the next hurricane hits.

The ruling came after DRB member Clothilde Luce expressed her dislike for the look of the new lifeguard stands installed to replace the previous ones damaged by Hurricane Wilma. “The new lifeguard stands just don’t look as good as the old ones,” DRB member Clothilde Luce said.

“I was getting some critical remarks and e-mails from residents concerned with the aesthetics on the beach,” said Luce, a former member of the Beach Preservation Committee, who suggested a possible design contest. She admires the stands that were designed by noted architect Bill Lane and installed after Hurricane Andrew rattled South Florida in 1992. However, city officials said they did not have the same luxury of time when Lane’s lifeguard stands were damaged just before the 2005-2006 tourism season.

“After Wilma we lost 11 lifeguard stands, and the lifeguards didn’t have stands to work in. We didn’t have time to be unique; we set up an assembly line,” said Public Works Director Fred Beckmann. “We are more than willing to work with any artist” the city recommends, he added.

The replacement stands cost $27,000 apiece to design and build. Board member Gabrielle Redfern said the design effort should have been more thorough. “It’s a shame our needs couldn’t come together with those of the lifeguards,” she said.

Since the stands are east of the erosion control line, noted Luce, the board cannot order new design guidelines for the stands, only make a recommendation to city commissioners.  Board Chair Peter Chevalier said he was in favor of having design standards for the lifeguard stands.

Lane, in town for Art Basel Miami Beach, attended the meeting and recounted how he had worked for free to design his stands. Lane said he would be willing to do so again if asked by the city, and said he saved his lifeguard stand designs on computer disk.

Luce said she was encouraged by Lane’s response. “I thought it was very generous of Bill Lane to work with the city,” she said.

Board members also approved the city’s proposal for a waste-water pump station on a half-acre site at 95 Alton Road. Board members praised efforts of city officials and residents to address concerns over noise and odors. As described by Todd Tragash of the STA Architectural Group, the facility would convey waste water through underground pipes 14 feet beneath Government Cut and on to a treatment plant in Virginia Key. He said the facility would be a “closed” system with no above-ground sewage pumps or wells that could generate odors in the neighborhood.  The firm explored the possibility of an underground station, but found that option not feasible.

Tragash also said the station’s operations will be inaudible, and that the biggest noisemaker will be an emergency power generator that will kick on once a week during mid-day hours. The generator will be encased in a “box within a box” construction, and building walls will be made of solid masonry, said Tragash. “It would not be audible from the outside,” he said.

Also, the utilitarian design of the station removes any potential hiding places such as overhanging landscaping or awnings or thick vertical columns for vagrants or criminals.

Local activist Frank Del Vecchio said his concerns about noise, odors and the station’s location were allayed by the proposed design.

Roger Le Blanc, a Yacht Club resident, urged city leaders to keep noise levels to a minimum. Fellow Yacht Club resident Perry Isenberg said he first thought of selling his home when he heard about the proposed project, but agreed that it was a necessity.

The city organized field trips to nearby pump stations so residents and city officials could familiarize themselves with their operations. Board member Steven Lefton praised the design team for addressing residents’ issues.

In other business, board members approved a proposal by the city for an 8,500-square-foot golf cart storage facility for the Miami Beach Golf Club at 2301 Alton Road. Lefton suggested planting larger trees and landscaping than presented, and Redfern suggested the city put up signs that identify the golf course as a public, city-owned course.

Board members also discussed “green buildings,” so-called because they are designed to be environment-friendly and energy efficient. After a presentation on the concept, Redfern suggested the city adopt an industry trade group’s green building criteria. “Why do we have to re-invent the wheel?” she asked. But Lefton argued against any wholesale approach. “Let’s give the city some latitude to apply green standards, rather than just adopt standards that might not all be perfect for South Florida,” Lefton said.

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