Greg Bush and Mabel Miller tour Virginia Key Beach Tuesday. Photo by Mitchell Zachs / Magicalphotos.com.

Bush, the director of the Institute for Public History at the University of Miami, is one of a few community leaders who have helped spearhead a movement, originally started at the turn of this century, to preserve and revitalize Virginia Key. The area is one of Miami-Dade County’s most precious natural resources, yet has no permanent human inhabitants and contains a bewildering mix of land uses controlled by the local, state and federal governments, along with private interests. It is also host to a sewage treatment plant that will probably remain there permanently.

Not only is Virginia Key a unique ecological treasure — home to everything from hardwood hammocks to turtle nesting beds — but it also has a lot of history, especially pertinent to the local African-American community. Following a demonstration in 1945, Virginia Key became the first black beach in the South. Members of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust are currently hashing out plans to build a museum that will commemorate the site’s heritage and exhibit a historical perspective on African-American contributions to South Florida.

Meanwhile, loosely organized under an umbrella organization called the Virginia Key Public Planning Coalition, alarmed community members have taken it upon themselves to make sure the key retains its integrity and doesn’t fall victim to incongruous development.

Early in 2005, the city of Miami launched a master plan for Virginia Key, hiring as consultants the Fort Lauderdale-based EDSA firm to examine the island. According to city officials, EDSA is nearing completion of its analysis phase, so the plan is still in its early stages, although the city hopes to complete it by the end of July this year and adopt it by the fall. 

As stated in a city document, “[The proposed plan] should emphasize the opportunities for mixed-use waterfront development, including the redevelopment of the properties along the Marine Stadium, integrate and recommend improvements to the existing Sewage Treatment Plant, integrate and preserve the historic Virginia Key Beach Park, as well as make recommendations for future island-wide improvements and the protection of the remaining public beaches, parks and conservation areas.”

While the public has been left somewhat in the dark till now, EDSA will present its summary of analysis during a presentation on March 29 at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School auditorium.

“We really need a better public process to make this work,” Bush stresses. “If you look at other cities like Portland, [Ore.] there are workshops, focus groups, events and curriculum modules in schools to prepare for something like this. While here, there have been decades and decades of raping this place, with no continuity of keeping a plan going.”

Bush first became interested in Virginia Key in late 1998 when he heard from longtime Key Biscayne resident and activist Mabel Miller that a task force had been formed to look into the “future” of the historic black beach and the marine stadium. Bush, who has always been an advocate for public space, was worried that the land might be leased to private enterprise — namely, some sort of eco-resort.

“The people on that task force were clearly cronies of [former Miami Mayor] Joe Carollo and the developers,” Bush explains. “I didn’t trust them and I thought we should really preserve the area. So I became a facilitator in the process. I went back and created a list of principles that I thought we should adhere to.”

And, of course, those principles included natural preservation and restoration.

According to county stats, only 128 acres of the type of ecosystem found in Virginia Key — composed of mangroves, coastal hammock and a dune area – exist in all of the United States. Hence, it is categorized as “endangered vegetation,” with six native plant species also listed as endangered. Even more, Miami’s District 2, where Virginia Key is located, has the highest percentage of green space in the city, and the island encompasses by far the largest proportion of that.

“No one has approached me about development over there, but even if they did, I’d tell them I’m not the right commissioner to start talking to about high-rises on the Key,” says Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents District 2. “I would like to see those natural habitats preserved, so that we can actually walk around the area, interact with the nature and put in some good uses for people, such as bike paths.”

“This is a happy place,” adds Mabel Miller, who has lived in Key Biscayne since 1972 and has been active with the Urban Environment League in the past. “There’s a feeling of well-being when you’re here.”

During a recent tour of the island, Miller, who was formerly a specialist in environmental education with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, points out the variety of flora — buttonwoods, sable palms, sea grapes, strangler figs and many rare species as well.

“You can really fall in love with the nature, and we should be taking people on caravan tours to show these areas that are truly irreplaceable,” she says. “The idea is to have closer communication with the city and county, as well as the potential developers. We really need to educate them about what we have here.”

Just this past weekend, the city of Miami and the Goody Clancy firm it hired gave a presentation about their long-term, comprehensive parks plan. The gathering was at Jose Marti Park during a hot and sticky Saturday afternoon. Fishing boats were docked on the Miami River and groups of pelicans were loafing under I-95, while a couple of families, a few bums and a lone swimmer doing laps in the public pool were the only people in the park. Inside the community center, about 50 or 60 residents, activists, journalists and city officials, including Mayor Manny Diaz, Commissioner Sarnoff and Commissioner Joe Sanchez, were attending the parks event.

Regarding the future of Virginia Key — and how it will be incorporated into the larger parks plan — Larissa Brown, Goody Clancy’s chief planner, told the SunPost, “Maybe developers see opportunities there, but the city has made a commitment to ecological restoration and also to implement more recreational aspects, such as athletic fields and camping areas.”

Enrique Nuñez, chief of urban design at the city’s Planning Department, explained that one of the most important results from the city’s master plan studies is figuring out how to create better public access to local waterfronts.

“While we live in tropical Miami with our bayfronts, oceanfronts and riverfronts, there are a lot of obstructions due to the way developments have evolved in our fast-growing city and, despite the mechanics, we have in place for setbacks and baywalks or riverwalks,” he said. “So when we have a regional asset like Virginia Key, the master plan will be crucial in helping to describe the problems that exist and telling us how to improve access and continue to preserve the hammocks and trails that are our connectors to the waterfront.”

As for the threat of development overtaking the island, Nuñez assures that the city is being as judicious as possible this time around: Currently, no residential projects are being considered for the area.

“The direction the city has given to all the consultants is to look at opportunities to increase and enhance the potential for recreation,” he said. “Look at North Point, a site where dredge material has been stockpiled, sometimes almost 50 feet above sea level. There’s definitely room for recreational activities there.”

Only dormitories or small-scale lodgings that support the recreational aspect would be built in North Point, he added. Other areas like the landfill (a brownfield where the level of contamination is being assessed by consultants) may eventually be converted into sports fields, while the Marine Stadium corridor could make way for marina-related retail complexes and amenities, according to Nuñez. He adds that the lagoon around Jimbo’s, a shrimp and beer establishment that has operated near the sewage treatment plant since 1954, could be used for low-intensity water activities, such as kayaking and canoeing.

“We have been receiving different calls and inquiries from developers — but not directly from them; it’s always their attorneys,” he said. “Still, our response is always that the city needs to complete the master plan before anything.”

Ever since the legendary Athalie Range passed away in November, Gene Tinnie has been chairman of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. A tall and thoughtful man, he has been involved in the fight to preserve Virginia Key since it began.

“Back around 1999, I had heard from Greg Bush that the site may be at risk, something about building eco-friendly resorts,” he says. “I was aware that the place has a lot of history that should not be bulldozed and forgotten.”

Now the Trust has its very own master plan (in addition to the one for the whole Key), which includes a historical museum, a mini-train and carousel, the restoration of the Beach House, and new concession stands that will bring back old favorites like corn dogs, conch fritters and Nehi sodas.

“The public process has been all right, but all these planning processes need to be more engaging,” Tinnie says. “If you want to get folks interested, you need to make a bigger effort to communicate with people…like with development. It’s a legitimate concern because we feel that resources of the city should be given to the residents, so it wouldn’t be right to give priority to entities that have less interest in the city and no commitment to the future.”

He adds, “It would be a very wise investment for the future to keep the whole island as a natural and open space where people don’t have to see tall buildings and can enjoy the environment.”

Additionally, small talks about making Virginia Key part of the National Park System have been circulating, although there hasn’t been any real public debate on the issue.

“There are very serious questions involved in terms of the amount of commercialization of the lands in Virginia Key and about who controls the preservation and open space elements,” says Greg Bush. “City controls are less stringent than national and state ones. Yet the National Park Service has serious funding problems. Without a real debate and what passes as community consensus on this issue, backroom deals and assumptions may rule the day.”

But Bush sees the present timing as critical, and says the community and government need to work together to ensure the most viable future for Virginia Key.

“Nothing seems to last around here,” Bush laments. “Everything is disposable, so you don’t really have a sense of place. It would be great for this not to happen with Virginia Key. This time, let’s keep with the plan.”

For more info on the Virginia Key master plan, visit www.edsaplan.com/Virginia_Key/progress.html.  For info on the Virginia Key Public Planning Coalition, visit www.floridacommunitystudies.org/vk. 

Comments? E-mail omar@miamisunpost.com.