City of Miami election results: Did voters approve massive Watson Island redevelopment?
While Miami residents will need to wait until 2025 to vote on the city’s elected officials, on Tuesday they weighed in on four ballot questions about a major redevelopment on a city-owned island, the rules governing elections and residency requirements for candidates.
Here’s how Miamians voted on the city’s four ballot questions during the November 2024 election.
Referendum 1: Qualifying for elections
PASSED: Miami residents overwhelmingly approved a charter amendment that requires City Commission candidates to have continuously resided in the district they are seeking office in — or anywhere in the city for mayoral candidates — for at least one year “immediately preceding qualifying.”
The city’s charter currently requires candidates for office to have resided in the district they are running to represent “for at least one year prior to qualifying.” The charter change makes it so that their residency must be continuous and immediately before qualifying.
Referendums 2 & 3: Watson Island
PASSED: Voters passed a pair of ballot questions that sought approval for two redevelopment proposals seeking to transform Watson Island, a city-owned piece of land located in Biscayne Bay.
Two separate teams sought to redevelop the south and north sides of the island. On the north side, where Jungle Island is currently located, Ecoresiliency Miami plans to turn the tropical theme park into space for two high-rise condominiums fronted by a massive public park. Under the proposal, Ecosresiliency will purchase 5.4 acres of city-owned land for $135 million and convert the other 13 acres into a public park. The condo towers would include about 500 to 600 residences between the two of them.
On the south side of the island, BH3 and Merrimac Ventures want to create a development known as Watson Harbour. The development would have two towers: one that’s approximately 40 stories tall with up to 105 condos and 150 hotel rooms, as well as a standalone “lifestyle hotel” that would have up to 350 rooms and be about 30 stories high. The plan also includes shops, offices and restaurants that would replace the sliver of land next to the Miami Children’s Museum. Under the proposal, the team will also purchase 3.2 acres from the city for a minimum of $25 million (the land value is still being appraised).
The developers have agreed to provide the city $2 million a year for park maintenance.
Now that the ballot questions have passed, the projects will need to go through the city’s planning and zoning process. As part of the deal, the developers also agreed to give the city a combined $24 million to be spent on affordable housing and infrastructure. It will now be up to the City Commission to decide how to divvy up that funding.
Read more about the proposals here.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, a representative for the developers behind Ecoresiliency, which plans to develop the north side of the island, said they are “honored that the residents of the City of Miami trusted our proposal to transform Jungle Island into a true community treasure.”
“While this is a first step in the process,” the statement continued, “we look forward to working with both City of Miami officials and the City’s residents to bring a transformative public park to our community, all while generating positive financial benefits from the plan’s residential component.”
The developers for the south side of the island, BH3 and Merrimac Ventures, said in a statement that they are “thrilled that the community shares our vision for creating a vibrant lifestyle destination on Watson Island. Now that voters have supported Watson Harbour, we are eager to work with the City as we bring to life a transformed waterfront along Biscayne Bay.”
Referendum 4: Extending runoff election date
PASSED: Voters approved a charter amendment that will give the county Elections Department more time to prepare for runoff elections in Miami.
Runoffs in the city have occurred on the third Tuesday after the first Monday in November. They will now take place on the second Tuesday in December.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:53 PM.
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