David Beckham needs one more vote for soccer stadium. Miami’s airport has concerns
Safety concerns from airlines and Miami International Airport are the latest headwind for David Beckham’s proposed soccer stadium and commercial complex, with the objections threatening to delay a key city vote to let development begin on a public golf course next to the airport.
In recent weeks, Miami-Dade County zoning and aviation officials told city administrators that the Miami Freedom Park project still needs a required green light from the county’s Aviation Department, which runs MIA and reviews construction planned in special safety zones created to limit growth around the airport.
The $1 billion project includes a 25,000-seat stadium, hotel, retail shops, office building, playing fields and a park that would replace the 131-acre Melreese golf course. The stadium would host home games for Major League Soccer franchise Inter Miami, co-owned by Beckham and local businessmen Jorge and Jose Mas.
While the proposed stadium sits outside the county’s “outer safety zone,” planned restaurants and other businesses do not. County rules allow new construction in the zone, but ban operations that would bring large numbers of people to the area, such as theaters and nightclubs.
In a July 12 email to city planners, county aviation administrator Jose Ramos wrote that “Within the [Outer Safety Zone], new residential construction, educational facilities, hospitals, religious facilities, and other buildings for public assemblage, shall be prohibited.” He used a bold typeface to emphasize the phrasing barring buildings for public assemblage.
“In no event shall these prohibitions be varied,” he wrote.
Airlines operating out of MIA also are raising concerns about the stadium plan. Those include construction cranes that will go too high for some flight paths during a building phase expected to take a few years to complete, and permanent issues with stadium lights reflecting off roofs and other surfaces and distracting pilots.
“It is likely that construction of the stadium will require the use of cranes whose height will exceed that of the final lights,” wrote Sandra Cisneros, a liaison between the airport and airlines, in an April 8 memo. Final lights referred to the height of the lights at the top of the stadium.
Records show the city has moved the government review process for Miami Freedom Park at a pace faster than the airport would have liked.
Ramos wrote in an email earlier this year that under an ideal timeline, it would take most of 2022 to resolve outstanding issues and move the project through various public hearings. The project’s zoning plan blazed through two committees in June and July, and the City Commission gave initial approval July 28. A final vote is expected on Sept. 8.
Miami administrators and lawyers for the Beckham group say time remains to address the concerns, since county approvals would still be needed after the Miami City Commission vote. Those approvals include building permits and airport clearance for individual construction projects.
But county officials would have to agree with Miami’s timeline and interpretation of county laws. If the city approved the zoning plan without the county aviation department’s blessing, it could put the city and county at odds and open the door for a legal challenge.
The issues with the county have emerged weeks before the City Commission considers approving the soccer team’s request for a “special area plan” that would provide broad rules and plans for how the complex would be built. In an email to the city, a Miami-Dade administrator said the plan “should not be approved” without written approval from the county.
City and county officials are scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss Miami Freedom Park. Inter Miami’s land use attorney is expected to attend.
On Tuesday, a Miami spokesperson said City Hall officials hope to resolve the standoff in the next two weeks.
“The city is meeting with the County Aviation Department this week and we look forward to addressing any comments or concerns they may have,” said Stephanie Severino, the city’s communications director. “Hopefully, we will have this review completed in time for the September 8th vote.”
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 3:51 PM.
