Ten Things to Do on Virginia Key

For the tourist, transient and truly curious (willing to venture past the neighborhood mall), here are ten things to do on Virginia Key:

Eat. There are several restaurants, a few arepa/hot dog stands and a smoked fish joint: Rusty Pelican, the new Rickenbacker Fish Company, Bayside Hut, Jimbo’s and the  Hobie Beach stands. Or bring a picnic lunch. Best views are just about anywhere from the island out to aquamarine waters that surround it.

Sail. Hobie Beach has the rental boards. You’ll see the bright sails rustling in the sea breezes along the Rickenbacker Causeway. Or bring your own kayak, canoe, paddleboard. The water is crystal clear and teeming with fascinating critters.

Run/Walk. This is not just for the Brickell crowd. Park you car anywhere along the causeway parking lots and hike up the William Powell bridge (top of the Rickenbacker) and marvel at the Miami sky line to the north, the expanse of Biscayne Bay blue to the south. Particularly marvelous at sunset but inspiring anytime.

Hike. There’s an amazing Tropical Hammock to be discovered on Virginia Key and you don’t need a botany degree or birder’s eye to appreciate. Entrance off Virginia Key Beach (windsurfer’s beach across from the Miami-Dade South Water Treatment Facility - but don’t let that bother you from hiking).

Marvel.  At the icon of modern architecture, the Commodore Ralph Munroe Marine Stadium. It’s a sad mess right now but with lots of potential.

Amuse yourself. On the historic carousel and seaside train ride operating on weekends at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (entrance at the light across from University of Miami’s Rosensteil School just before the Bear Cut Bridge).

Fish. The fishing pier (old, closed bridge off the causeway) is open again. Can’t guarantee a catch but you might regain your serenity waiting for a bite.

Swim. OK it’s winter but if you’re from New York you won’t mind the surf temps.

Bird. As in check out the migrating songbirds in the hammock, shorebirds on the dunes.
   
Relax. It’s an island. A wilderness. A world away from that neighborhood mall.

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Virginia Key as a great civic space

On the road, in the buildings, and through the landscape, Virginia Key is a great civic space that has the potential to build community. 


But only if the community is not shut out.  

A  Virginia Key of great civic spaces is a place where public areas are protected - public shorelines among them.   It's still possible on an island that is publicly owned, filled with wild and open spaces,  and possessing an extraordinary public shoreline that is raw but beautiful in its simplicity.  

Virginia Key is also a place filled with  buildings of civic significance:  the historic Miami Marine Stadium, the Miami  Seaquarium, the science complex (University of Miami’s Rosensteil School and the various NOAA buildings), and the segregation-era buildings  of the Historic Virginia Key Beach. 

And there’s the road in -- the Rickenbacker Causeway -- designed as public parkway by landscape architect William Lyman Phillips in the 1940‘s. 

Restoring these civic buildings and spaces would go a long way to restoring a sense of place in a city that is apparently short of civic “centeredness” by design.  

“In this city, we don’t have a lot of public infrastructure,” architect Allan Shulman said Tuesday at a presentation on Miami Architecture, a new guidebook he co-authored with Randall Robinson, a landscape architect and James Donnelly, a historian. 

The book not only documents buildings of architectural significance but also places them in context.

Robinson, writing on the city’s history, describes how Miami sprouted into existence like a Wild West “gold rush” town, “with little regard for the creation of civic spaces.”

That can be remedied by making Virginia Key the new civic center, a place everyone feels they have a stake in protecting and preserving because it is kept in public hands, not parceled off to private development.

Photo: courtesy of University of Miami archives

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Study, Part 2: How Virginia Key fits into Biscayne National Park’s “Story”

A good visitor center tells a story.

In the case of Biscayne National Park -- which is considering placing a northern visitor center in the Virginia Key area -- it would be the story of its inception.

Biscayne National Park was created in 1968 to protect “a rare combination of terrestrial, marine and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty.”

What makes it special is the “interplay of the mainland, Biscayne Bay, keys, reefs and the Florida Straits...The land is filled to overflowing with unusual trees, ferns, vines, fowers, and shrubs,” according to the National Park Service brochure.

Biscayne Bay, which is within the park’s boundaries, is home to brilliantly colorful tropical fish; its shallow waters filling with light.

These are, of course, characteristics it shares with Virginia Key and the surrounding waters of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve.

Two locations on Virginia Key -- one near the Miami Seaquarium and the other next to the Miami Marine Stadium -- were recently examined by Bernadette Rabb, a graduate of Florida Atlantic University’s Urban Planning Department, as possible sites for a Biscayne National Park Visitor center.

According to her report, these are some of the reasons either site on Virginia Key would be an attractive location for a National Park Visitor Center:

(Virginia Key) has many similarities to Biscayne National Park’s protected areas in that it is an ecological land flourishing with vegetation and life...The Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve is the bay area around the island..that eventually meets up with the waters of the protected areas of Biscayne National Park.

Virginia Key is a place that has history and ecological significance. Most of the properties located on the island have cultural, historical or ecological significance and environmentalists argue that these areas and the rest of the island should be preserved. On the island there already exists a 700-acre state-designated Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area...Virginia Key Beach Park, once an African-American beach, is now listed in The National Register of Historic Places....

The report also comments on the historic Miami Marine Stadium, an icon of modern architecture that is part of Miami’s mid-century architectural heritage. The siting of a visitor center near the stadium would not create much additional environmental impact since this land has already been developed. In addition, its waterfront location with an adjacent marina would provide ideal access for marine tours.

In conclusion, the report states: “The island that is already appreciated by nature lovers seems like a good place to represent Biscayne National Park.”

Good for lovers, fishermen: Miami 21 guidelines for city’s waterfront.

When it comes to planning codes, it turns out the City of Miami has created the very model that all Florida communities should follow, according to the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, which just awarded Miami 21 the Award of Excellence in the Best Practices category.

Consider it a kind of "Design Bill of Rights" for the public, which should come in handy when the City puts together plans for reviving the Marine Stadium basin waterfront on Virginia Key.

For example, the best practices that should be followed for public waterfronts, according to Miami 21, ( “Appendix B: Waterfront Design Guidelines”) state that public access waterfront walkways shall:

Feel public: No one should feel as he or she are intruding on private property...
Be usable: Young and old, handicapped and joggers, lovers, fisherman, business and men and women, everyone should find the waterfront usable...
Provide visual access. The attraction is the water...enhance maximum visibility to the water.
Enhance visual quality. Parking and service areas must be completely screened...Materials, color and forms should complement the natural shoreline environment.
Connect to other public areas.
Take advantage of waterfront setting. Where practical, boating and fishing activities should be incorporated into waterfront designs.... Boat access from the water to the land is encouraged.

The guidelines go on to talk about meandering shorelines paths, natural shorelines and borders of native plants. In this idyllic landscape, even the public benches are required to have backs.

Best of all is the recommended signage: “All public access waterfront walks shall be marked with the standard “Public Shore” sign.

Miami 21 represents the “Miami of the 21st Century," according to the City of Miami Planning Department website, which states: "The Miami 21 Zoning Code is a Form-Based Code guided by tenets of New Urbanism and Smart Growth principles. For more info: www.miami21.org.


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Will economics "whittle away our heritage" on Virginia Key?

As both Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami mull over proposals for development of Virginia Key, the words of the stadium architect, Hilario Candela, captured in July 1993 in a letter to the Miami-Dade Commission, are prescient.

He was writing to commissioners to save the stadium from demolition at a time the City of Miami was facing economic difficulties and wanted to raze the stadium to make way for commercial development of the area.


In the letter, Candela refers to the "economic equation" that might be used to justify razing the stadium.

That same equation has returned-- with a slight twist. The stadium is not slated for demolition for now but pressure exists to introduce commercial development of public lands surrounding the stadium as a way to both pay for its restoration as well as provide a quick fix to solve budget shortfalls.

How far will it go? And what is the real cost of giving away public lands? In 1993, Candela urged that we not give up what is uniquely ours:

As the architect of the facility, both on a personal and professional level, I would be extremely disappointed to see this landmark razed primarily because the "economic equation" didn't work. It seems to me that there must be other creative ways we can take advantage of this unique facility, ways that could improve the financial picture to the City and its taxpayers as well as enhancing the quality of life of citizens by the concerts, shows and special events which could take place at the Marine Stadium. In a City and County where we have too few civic structures which have been preserved, it would be a shame to lose a facility that has been the center of so many happy memories for so many people.

...(T)he people of Miami and the surrounding communities need a structure like the Marine Stadium. Its very existence celebrates the public assembly of the various cultures that make up our unique community along the waterfront. It is this celebration of the waterfront and its various recreational activities that define us, not only in this community, but in truth throughout the entire world. It is synonymous with Miami and an intrinsic part of our community. It is my belief that the destruction of the Marine Stadium would accomplish the exact opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. We need to accentuate our uniqueness not whittle away our heritage.

Video: Great shots of Miami Marine Stadium, today and in its heyday.

Lost World of Miami Marine Stadium

It’s hard to believe it now, given the condition of the Miami Marine Stadium - an abandoned shell on Virginia Key’s waterfront - - but this was once touted as one of our community’s preeminent entertainment venues.

"The Miami Marine Stadium is a unique public facility with few counterparts anywhere in the world...a masterfully designed waterfront outdoor stadium with full visibility...offering a beautiful skyline view of Great Miami and Miami Beach over the sparkling waters of Biscayne Bay."

That world lives on in the Florida Collection of the Miami Dade Public Library in a marketing brochure that, judging from the photos of the (modest) bikini-clad ladies, was circulated in the late 1960's.

“Days and Nights” the stadium pulses, according to the marketing materials that boast of a floating stage with acoustical shell anchored 30 feet from the grandstand, strategically placed loudspeakers that are part of “one of the finest outdoor sound systems in the country,” and a built-in concession balcony in the grandstand.

Public Park Should Open First at Marine Stadium site

The recently approved Virginia Key Master Plan envisions a restored and reopened Miami Marine Stadium but how long will it take to bring back the historic structure into operation and the public back to the waterfront?

Shuttered in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew’s winds whipped through the Miami Marine Stadium, the venerable stadium has sat unused, neglected and vandalized behind a sagging chain-linked fence ever since.

But that wasn’t the first time it closed.

In 1967 - a scant four years after its opening -- a Miami Herald photo showed the stadium behind a chain-linked fence with a “No Trespassing” sign. Apparently the place wasn’t making enough money from boat races alone to keep it open.

Under the headline, “An Insolent Sign,” the Herald lamented the public being shut out of valuable waterfront land:

The public has come to forgive the feasibility reports and the enthusiasm that generated the spending of $2 million for a stadium that was supposed to be filled each weekend with 6,566 screaming admirers of roaring motorboats...But it is impossible to forgive the hand-wringing at City Hall over past mistakes and the failure to allow the public to use this stretch of bayfront. .. Everywhere else along Rickenbacker Causeawy, the people of Miami crowd fender to fender and blanket to blanket to enjoy the waterfront. But not within the shadows of the moldering white elephant that is the Marine Stadium. There is nothing the public can do about the Marine Stadium being a profitless place, but there should be an effective demand to end the insult of that fence and locked gates.

A preliminary engineering study of the Miami Marine Stadium released earlier this year by Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium showed the concrete restoration costs to be between $5.5 - $8.5 million, exclusive of renovation costs for new seats, bathrooms, etc... Still unknown is the condition and costs of renovating the underwater concrete pilings that prop up the nearly 50-year-old structure.

Despite good intentions and a solid commitment from City Hall, it could take some time to finish the engineering studies, raise funds and complete the renovations.

In the meantime, the public is, once again, being shut out of its beautiful waterfront land.

Why not bring down some of those ugly chain-linked fences, plant some sod, install park benches and call the whole place a park?

The need for waterfront parks is just as great - if not greater - today as it was in 1967. Bring it on.


Resources: http://www.marinestadium.org/