Miami approves controversial change for city parks — and residents lose right to appeal
The city of Miami has scaled back the requirements for installing recreational facilities like golf courses, basketball courts and small sports complexes in city parks, removing a process that required nearby residents to be notified and allowed them to appeal certain park improvements.
The citywide policy change — which has outraged residents and was unanimously rebuked by the city’s planning and zoning board — was created for the purpose of allowing gym equipment linked to Commissioner Joe Carollo to remain in the downtown Maurice Ferré Park.
On Thursday, the Miami City Commission voted 3-1 to approve an amendment to the zoning code that allows the city to build recreational facilities “by right” in parks, meaning the city won’t need to obtain a certain type of permit — called a warrant — for those uses. The change also applies to the installation of “community facilities,” excluding cultural facilities like libraries and museums.
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In practice, the change means the city is no longer required to notify abutting neighbors and registered HOA groups of certain changes, like the installation of a new pickleball court, for example. It also means residents no longer have the ability to challenge such installations through an appeal.
“People leaving here today would leave with less rights than they did coming here this morning,” Commissioner Damian Pardo, who was the only no vote, said during Thursday’s discussion.
The city has said eliminating the warrant process provides a legal avenue to remove the fence around gym equipment in Maurice Ferré Park that was installed last year at the behest of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a city agency chaired by Carollo.
Last year, downtown resident Steven Smith challenged the gym equipment’s installation through the appeal process — the same process that the City Commission eliminated Thursday. In response to his appeal, the city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board concurred with Smith, determining that the gym equipment did not comply with proper permitting and design procedures, reversing the city planning department’s approval of the gym.
Then an August ballot question sponsored by Carollo complicated matters. The question, which asked residents if the gym equipment should stay in the park, received 79% approval, with an approximately 18% voter turnout. However, a group of residents has sued over the ballot question, calling it “misleading.” The matter is still pending in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
During Thursday’s discussion, Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela said he wanted to open the gym in Maurice Ferré Park while also protecting the warrant process.
“I am not in favor of removing the warrants, OK? Period, for me,” Gabela said.
However, Gabela ended up voting in favor of the item after city staff, including City Attorney George Wysong, argued in favor of the change.
“I’d love nothing more than to snap my fingers and say, ‘Remove the fence, open up the park, whatever,’” Wysong said. “But we’re trying to do it the right way.”
Carollo and Commissioner Christine King joined Gabela in voting for the zoning change. Commissioner Manolo Reyes was absent.
The city has argued that the policy change will streamline a bureaucratic process that can delay simple park improvements and that it is considered best practice among large cities in the state. A staff member in the city’s planning department stated at a meeting in the fall that less than 1% of warrants are appealed.
City Manager Art Noriega said Thursday that his administration is also in favor of the change. He called the gym equipment in Maurice Ferré Park an “anomaly.”
“As a general rule, it’s good public policy,” Noriega said of the zoning code change, calling the warrant process “cumbersome” when it comes to installing recreational facilities in parks.
City officials have maintained that the change does not remove resident voices, saying there are still opportunities for Miamians to weigh in on new parks and other park improvements.
“Public input is garnered in every park we build,” Noriega said.
Wysong agreed, saying, “The public will still have [a] say,” and that there are “potentially other opportunities for permits, approvals, variances, etc.”
“This does not divest the public of any and all say regarding parks,” Wysong added.
But members of the public feel differently. Dozens who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, as well as the prior City Commission meeting in November, expressed opposition. At both meetings, speakers asked for anyone present who supported the change to raise their hand; none did.
Edgewater resident Benjamin Gordon said the change “represents a direct attack on our rights as citizens to have oversight on the use of our public lands.”
Downtown resident Claudia Roussel said Carollo is “looking for a way out of the mess he himself created,” in reference to the gym equipment.
“The last time I checked, the U.S., Florida and even Miami were not a dictatorship,” Roussel said. “In our country we value checks and balances. I understand life for the ruling class would be so much easier without those checks and balances. After all, voters are pesky M&Ms, as you made clear to us,” she said, referring to comments King made earlier this year saying residents are “mean and miserable.”
Resident Vanessa Conde said the proposal “would set a dangerous precedent allowing decisions to be made without accountability or transparency.”
”Decisions about public spaces should never be made without the people who rely on them,” Conde said. “... If parks are repurposed, expanded into or altered without community insight, the very soul of our neighborhood will be at risk.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
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