Port of Virginia Key?

Map of North Point of Virginia Key under review. In the past, the land was used as a deposit site for bay bottom materials produced by channel dredging operations of the Port of Miami.  

The North Point of Virginia Key, where bicyclists want to create a mountain bike trail, and which has been closed to the public for years, was once slated to be a new airport or port facility.  

The City of Miami purchased the land from the State of Florida in 1942. The deed states that “the lands are to be used by the City of Miami for the purposes of harbors and airport constructions and development.” 

It also had this proviso: should the area be used for any purpose other than harbor or airport construction, the state would automatically get the land back. 


Of course, the City is no longer in the business of running airports or ports. In 1945, the City of Miami transferred to Miami Dade County the ownership and operation of the airport; the operation of the seaport was conveyed in 1960. 


Today the North Point is considered an environmental gem, though parts of it must still undergo significant ecological restoration.  Most of the North Point, which is next to the state-designated Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, is  zoned conservation under Miami 21, the City's new zoning code. 


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Take a lead from bicyclists

Cheers to the bicyclists who have apparently taken it upon themselves to open the North Point of Virginia Key -- forging trails in the backcountry of Australian Pine detritus where tons dredge material has sculpted a terrain of ledges and hills perfect to pop some wheelies.   

A story this weekend in the Miami Herald states a bicycle group with a little donated cash and a lot of will power, is carving out the bike trails. 

Maybe this will start a trend: 

Hikers will blaze trails. 
Park enthusiasts will plop down benches.
Kayakers will launch en masse - and proclaim the spot the public boat ramp.  

And a public park island will emerge. 

Cheers to the bicyclists.  Enjoy. 

And cheers to many others who find this island beautiful, rare and wild. And want to keep it that way. 
Take a lead from the bicyclists and forge your own path to parkland.


It may be the only way it will happen.

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Urban Paradise Guild's Idea of Paradise on Virginia Key

“Recreation through conservation.”

That’s an approach Sam Van Leer, director of the Urban Paradise Guild, an environmental advocacy and volunteer restoration group, would like to see on Virginia Key.

Van Leer has helped craft a tangible plan for just what that would mean on Virginia Key’s North Point. He says this can be accomplished in a short time with just a modest investment of public and private funds plus the sweat equity his organization harnesses so well:

1. A public beach shared by people during the day, nesting sea turtles at night.

2. Mult-use paths enjoyed by all.

3. Native vegetation selected to preserve the stunning views of the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlike Area, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and the city skyline.

4. A large area set aside for mountain biking.

5. Picnic areas along the North Point Beach.

6. Walking paths that allow people to explore different native habitants found in coastal and inland areas.

7. A primitive campground on high ground, with exposure to cooling and bug-abating breezes.


The Urban Paradise Guild was founded, in part, to defend Virginia Key from commercial development, Van Leer states.

As a member of the Virginia Key Coalition, he and hundreds of other citizens participated in the September 2009 public planning charrette that took a closer look at each part of the island and crafted sustainable and public recreation-oriented plans for the island.

Which is very much in line with the UPG’s motto: “creating sustainable paradise in South Florida, one Habitat at a Time.”

TO LEARN MORE: http://www.urban-paradise.org/

Photo: Sam Van Leer and UPG volunteers help replant dunes with native vegetation on Virginia Key beach

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Deed Restrictions: North Point of Virginia Key

Some people feel the North Point is such an environmental gem that the entire peninsula should become a wildlife refuge. Others want to pave over the beach for a public dock or a ferry launch to Fisher Island. Previous city master plan proposals had placed a corporate retreat center with overnight lodging in the area. And still others envision public beaches, primitive camping and hiking and biking trails.

But what will ulitmately happen may be decided by the State of Florida, which originally conveyed the land to the City of Miami during World War Two.

A latter deed for the area dated February 20, 1953 between the State of Florida (“Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund”) and the City of Miami for the North Point, including uplands, submerged bay lands and tidal flats, stated:

“This conveyance is made on the condition that the area above described is to be used by said City of Miami for harbors and airport constructions and development and should any of said area be used for purposes other than that of harbor and airport constructions and development the title to said land is automatically reverted and becomes the property of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida, the grantors herein.”

The public records shows that in 1994, the City of Miami sought to have this deed restriction lifted. A project review by State Agencies ensued. The following comments were made in a memo dated December 9, 1994 from Gary Cochran, Planning Manager, Bureau of Land Management Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection:

“All lands administered by the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (Trustees) are lands held in the public trust. The Public Trust Doctrine imposes a governmental “servitude” upon certain lands and water areas that are to be held in trust by the government for the benefit of all the people. (Their) impairment or disposal is not done without the utmost discretion. The City of Miami is under the false assumption that because the Trustees specifically stated that these lands could be used only for either a harbor or airport that because they were never used for the stated purpose the lands should now be relinquished by the Trustees to the City for other uses......
....The control of the State over this property for the purpose of the trust was never lost.....These lands should not be relinquished by the Trustees to the City of Miami as to do so would impair the public trust and the intent that it was provided by the Trustees....The City of Miami and Dade County are presently in violation of the covenant of the deed as the site is now used as an dredge material disposal area. This was clearly not the areas intended use expressed by the Trustees and the land should revert to State control.”

Indeed. Let's see if the next set of proposals by the City of Miami pass muster with state officials- or maybe we'll be looking at the next State Park. Which wouldn't be such a bad outcome really, considering some of the alternatives.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

What a “Green” Master Plan Looks Like: Trails, Public Beaches, More Trails

During the five years of “master planning” for Virginia Key, there was lots of talk of creating a “green” plan for the island. But doubts set in after one early proposal showed 11 parking garages.

The inclusion of “bioswales,” “green roofs” and “green recreational opportunities” didn’t do much to sway a skeptical public from the impression that the plan contained a tad too much concrete.

A June 2009 Miami Herald editorial summed it up this way:

Residents don't want to tart up Virginia Key with retail complexes and parking garages. They want a beautiful place to play and relax....A place to walk through nature preserves, hang out at the beach or take the family on a spin along a biking trail.

That eco-friendly vision might come to fruition first in the North Point. Miami-Dade Environmental Resources Management restoration expert Gary Milano (with input of Tropical Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Miami Group and Urban Paradise Guild) has just submitted to City officials a “green” blueprint for the North Point.

The proposed plan protects restored natural areas while carving out space for biking trails, beachside picnics and solitary strolls through hammocks and alongside dunes and marshes.

The proposal, which includes a primitive camping area, reflects public consensus culled from many several well-attended public planning charrettes on the island dating back to 2007.

It's what a "green" master plan should look like. Let's hope the City agrees.

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North Point: hiking and biking in the "forbidden zone"

The North Point of Virginia Key - the point that faces Fisher Island - is a forbidden zone.

The 22-acre site is locked behind a chain linked fence that abruptly ends the joy ride through the island as it edges the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Station, just past the Jimbo’s parking area.

But this week about dozen people, including bike enthusiasts, conservationists, biologists and a handful of city employees, got together to tour the North Point to discuss how to best site biking and hiking trails through the Point.

The area has been heavily impacted by the dumping of dredge spill from a previous Port of Miami expansion. But that has also created rare South Florida bluffs - as high as 50 feet -- above Biscayne Bay, where visitors get spectacular views of the city skyline and the green tranquility of mangrove shorelines stretching to the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Refuge.

The undulating landscape also has bicyclists excited to roam through the wilds of an area free of vehicular traffic.

DERM biologist Gary Milano was on hand Wednesday to talk about the restoration work he has been doing in there since the late 1990’s.

“The area is holding it’s own,” he said, as he surveyed the landscape of mature sea grape trees he planted more than a decade ago. “Those trees started off in coffee cans.”

The dune area that faces Fisher Island has been restored, he told the crowd. Next up: recreating a wetland area through a tidal creek that flows all the way from the Shrimper’s Lagoon near Jimbo’s.

North Point contains some of Virginia Key’s most important wildlife habitats, according to state biologists who examined the area in the 1990‘s in response to the City of Miami’s request to waive deed restrictions. Manatees, wading birds, loggerhead sea turtles all depend on the North Point and its surrounding waters for their survival.

A 1994 report from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection stated:

“The area is highly productive fish and wildlife habitat, as well as a movement corridor for the endangered manatee...A narrow coastal berm on the north shoreline supports a variety of rare plant life and is documented habitat for marine turtles.”

Finding a clear path that protects the restored natural areas and steers clear of future areas marked for restoration was the point of the walk. 


Next step, drawing a road map that reflects a consensus among all interested users.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key