Posted on Sat, Oct. 29, 2011

As the superintendent of Biscayne National Park, I would like to offer a different perspective than that in the Oct. 23 article New federal parks plan for Coconut Grove waterfront would hinder views. The headline and article stated that the plan would block waterfront views and concluded that a study conducted for us was actually a development plan.

This study was not a plan. We asked the consultants to compare Dinner Key and Virginia Key as possible locations for a new visitor education center. The study did that — and only that.

At this point, there is no plan. Biscayne National Park has approached the city of Miami to begin discussing the possibility of placing a visitor facility somewhere in the Dinner Key area. But this discussion has just begun.

In my short presentation to the City Commission two weeks ago, I showed a slide with a possible location for a Biscayne National Park building and explained that the slide was conceptual only.

It showed a large expanse of landscaped lawn between South Bayshore Drive and the proposed building, and even more lawn between the building and the bay.

The park is also looking for open areas and clear vistas to Biscayne Bay. Bear in mind that more than 150,000 square feet of convention center and hangars will come down, and the building being proposed by the park would be between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet; less than 10 percent of the existing footprint.

All of us together can design a building that enhances the beauty of the Dinner Key waterfront without hindering the view; one that fits into the concept of the Coconut Grove Master Plan; one that provides an opportunity for the park to interact with the residents of Miami and one that offers Miami another attraction for visitors and residents alike.

Mark Lewis, superintendent, Biscayne National Park, Homestead