Playhouse, Stoneman Douglas,
Spoil Islands — Oh My
Grove Village Council Voices Opinions on Issues Affecting
Their Part of the Magic City

Zilber also noted that $20 million is available from Miami-Dade County for rehabilitation of the Playhouse.

 
Grove residents are not exactly ecstatic about the idea of moving the Marjory Stoneman Douglas House out of Coconut Grove. Photo by Michael Maxwell Associates Inc./Courtesy of City of Miami Planning Department

By Ryan Brown

The Cocoanut Grove Village Council met on Tuesday, March 6 to discuss a number of pressing Grove matters.

First on the agenda was the struggling and heavily-in-debt ($4 million, according to a January Miami Herald article) Coconut Grove Playhouse, closed since April 2006.

According to the council vice chairman, Martin Zilber, $150,000 has been spent on management consulting since the summer of 2006, and a number of lawyers and accountants have offered their services pro bono to figure out a way to get the Playhouse out of debt, and hopefully reopened.

Zilber also noted that $20 million is available from Miami-Dade County for Playhouse rehabilitation and that many private businesses have expressed willingness to financially assist the Playhouse.

But other board members hesitated to put so much effort into the project without the Playhouse first creating a new “artistic vision” that would help it succeed.

Zilber assured the board that the Playhouse was working on its artistic content.

Also on the agenda: the Marjory Stoneman Douglas House. In November of last year, the Florida Division of State Lands announced plans to move the house, now located just west of Southwest 37th Avenue in Coconut Grove, three miles south to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

This created uproar among many of the Grove residents at the council meeting, who noted the historic/symbolic value of the home.

The City of Miami Planning Department describes the home as “significant for its association with Marjory Stoneman Douglas, well-known Florida author, historian, conservationist, and civic activist. The building is also a fine example of Masonry Vernacular architecture in Dade County in the 1920s. The house is particularly noteworthy for its roof type, half-timber details, and use of materials.”

At the most recent Village Council meeting, Councilman Ron Nelson claimed to have received an e-mail notifying him that a meeting would be held March 9, at which time the Marjory Stoneman Douglas estate and members of the Coconut Grove Land Trust would negotiate to release the property’s lease, currently held by the land trust to the estate.

“It will then be their responsibility to place a ranger or a staff person of some sort to be a resident at the property to make sure it’s maintained properly,” Nelson said.

Next up were The Spoil Islands. Harry Horgan, executive director of Shake-a-Leg Miami, a nonprofit group dedicated to “providing a universally accessible watersports facility for education and recreation,” presented Shake-a-Leg’s vision for, and updated the status of, the Spoil Islands.

Also known as “Dinner Key,” the Spoil Islands are a beautiful coastal area in the Grove that stretches from Peacock Park to Kennedy Park and includes all islands and anchorages.

In partnership with the city of Miami, Shake-a-Leg hopes to transform the tiny islands into a sort of celebration of nature, with numerous water activities accessible to the disabled, a learning center, even a replica Native-American village.

Shake-a-Leg has already made great strides on this project, Horgan noted, such as completing a clean-up effort last year and planting 50 mangroves.

Horgan estimates the rest of the transformation project will be completed in a year and a half.

Comments? E-mail ryan@miamisunpost.com.