The Waterfront Advisory Board approved the revised Virginia Key Master Plan last night in a 9-0 vote.
Conditions included a ban on hotels on the 1,000-acre, publicly owned barrier island, and development of a transportation plan to reduce automobile use on the key. The board also endorsed an administration recommendation to create an “implementation committee” to figure out how to make the plan, which is unfunded, a reality.
The board also recommended putting back in the plan one element the administration eliminated, but that appeared to enjoy broad public support — installing mountain bike trails and a BMX bike run on the key’s North Point. City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and Miami-Dade Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, whose districts include the island, both sent aides to the hearing to express support for restoring biking to the plan. (Herald)
These are all good improvements. Kudos to the many activists who helped shape the plan and reach a consensus on some of the more contentious issues. While everyone might not be happy with the outcome, it is a reflection of a balancing act between many different groups and their needs. My main beef remains (as with most urban planning projects in this town) the total lack of defined public space. Garages (where they remain) are unlined, and buildings are scattered around with no particular design or reason. EDSA should know better (although that is what we get when we hire a landscape architecture firm to practice urban planning). Sigh.
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