Virginia Key's Wheel of (Mis)fortune

Spin the wheel and land on yet another development proposal for Virginia Key.

Airport. Freight port. Blimp base. World’s Fair. Hotel. Sports stadium. Trade-mart. And shopping centers - marine-themed or otherwise. Lots of marine industrial stuff, from mega boat-storage stacks to marinas.

A lot of things didn’t happen over the years because of public outcry. Some things happened in spite of it.

Here’s the story so far: two public beach parks, marinas, restaurants, a sewage station, a garbage dump, a historic Marine Stadium and a whole lot of wilderness. In fact, 700 of the roughly 1000-acre island is comprised of the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, which contains the island’s largest amount of unaltered, submerged land and unaltered mangrove forest. It is also the cradle of wildlife seen in the area by air or sea- from rare hawks to manatees.

What’s next for Virginia Key?

On Saturday, March 27, the Urban Environment League will host a Public Design Workshop on Virginia Key from 8:30 am. to 11:30 a.m. at the Rusty Pelican restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Virginia Key. Hopefully the public will get a say on the island’s future.

Up for grabs: the historic Miami Marine Stadium and surrounding public lands and commercial areas, the lagoon, the City of Miami landfill site, Northpoint, Jimbo's,  and all natural areas, including the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area and the Tropical Hammock and restored dunes.  

University of Miami architecture students, who have been working for months under the guidance of UM Professor and Friends of Marine Stadium Co-Founder Jorge Hernandez, and Hilario Candela, architect of the Stadium, and the watchful eyes of City of Miami planning department officials, will present their plans, too.

The public will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the proposals presented and offer up their own ideas. There will also be information on a recently released biological evaluation of the island and a proposal for a Biscayne National Park Visitor’s Center on Virginia Key. 

Those who can’t attend the UEL Virginia Key Design Workshop and still want to offer feedback can send comments to the Urban Environment League at www.urbanenvironmentleague.blogspot.com or uel@bellsouth.net.

And the big wheel keeps on spinning...