Playtime at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park

When the ocean water is too cold for a dip, there’s still lots to do at the historic Virginia Key Beach Park.

Kids, especially, will enjoy a seaside carousel, mini-train and elaborate playground with seaside theme. There’s also a boardwalk (accessible from the parking lot) that overlooks restored wetlands. Beachside picnic tables with grills dot the palm-shaded landscape.

The Virginia Key Beach Park, which reopened to the public in 2008 after a major renovation, is located at 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, at the entrance closest to the Bear Cut Bridge across from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. (RSMAS). It is one of two public beach parks open on Virginia Key. The third (undeveloped) beach is on the North Point).

In 2002, Historic Virginia Key Beach Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a place of significance in African-American history. More on the history, including photos and videos, are posted on the park’s website, www.virginiakeybeachpark.net.

The park is open from sunrise to sunset 7 days a week (except Thanksgiving & Christmas). There is an entrance fee for parking.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Photo Friday: Three Virginia Key Beaches

Photos 1-3
North Point Beach
Virginia Key Beach (Windsurfer's Beach)
Historic Virginia Key Beach Park

North Point video tour - restoration and renewal

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

Will public have a say in Marine Stadium Basin's future?

Does the land around the Marine Stadium belong to the public? And will it have a say in what happens there in the future?

The Friends of Miami Marine Stadium announced this week that University of Miami students in Town Planning, Finance and Land Use Planning classes will be looking at alternative plans and designs for the Marine Stadium and the land around it. That is, an alternative to the Oct. 2009 proposed master plan, which was deferred by City officials until May 2010.

A showing of the students' work will go on display in late March to be followed by a planning charrette where members of the public can provide their feedback. The exhibition is part of Dade Heritage Days. *

Will the students treat the publicly owned waterfront land as a private development? If so, the highest and best uses for valuable waterfront land might very well be a hotels, shopping centers and “signature” restaurants.

But this is not a private development. The land is owned by the community. And it was given to the City of Miami for the use of “a Marine Stadium and allied purposes only,” according the 1963 Deed.

The County Deed states that if that purpose was “abandoned,” the County retained the right to take the land back.

Perhaps someone in 1963 foresaw the day when the land where the Marine Stadium sits would be coveted by private developers or be steered away from community purposes.

As early as 1967, there was a movement to introduce pari-mutual boat racing, according to news reports.

A Miami News Editorial responded: “Keep the Gamblers Out of Marine Stadium.”

“(T)he stadium, an attractive one-of-a-kind structure, is designed for the enjoyment of the community....It seems more logical to turn the Marine stadium into a public park, with picnic tables, barbeque pits, and swimming areas to accommodate the public. Perhaps a combination park-stadium would enable the city to recover some of its finances...Open the doors, just keep the bettors out.”

And keep the hotels, shopping centers and and entertainment strips out, too.

It’s not South Beach. Or Bayside. Or Las Vegas. But does it have to be?
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*Miami Marine Stadium/Virginia Key Planning Charrette
Saturday, March 27, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Rusty Pelican Restaurant, 3201 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne For more info, call Dade Heritage Trust, 305-358-9572
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Photo: Marine Stadium and basin land as it appears today.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Miami Marine Stadium basin: what's in its future.

In 1963, The Miami Marine Stadium opened with much fanfare and hope for the future:

“The Marine Stadium is daring in design and concept and gives high promise of becoming one of the community’s most valuable assets, both as a tourist attraction and for the entertainment of residents. (WGBS Radio, Editorial, December 26, 1963)

And that it did. Over the years, boat races, operas, rock concerts, church services, all made use of the stadium.

But it struggled financially. Often, the stadium and area around it was closed to the public. As it is today.

As early as 1965, newspaper articles noted and lamented that state of affairs.

“We rode across the Rickenbacker Causeway the other warm afternoon, and it was sad to see the doors of the new Marine stadium tightly padlocked,” stated a July 20, 1965 Miami Herald article.

The article suggests the land around the stadium should be transformed into “landscaped picnic areas.” And asks a question that lingers today: “Why shouldn’t small boats be launched - for a small fee -- into the bay at this point instead of at Crandon Marina?”

Indeed. The public boat launch in the Marine Stadium basin has been closed for years. And there is no public boat house for the renting of canoes, small sailboats or kayaks.

So what is the best use of the Stadium and the acres of land around it?

In a series of public meetings and charettes, hundreds of interested citizens weighed in: refurbish the stadium. Even make it the official visitor’s center to Virginia Key island. Bring back boat races, concerts, public events.

As for the area around it -- acres of defunct parking lots -- the consensus was to return it to public uses - boat and bike rentals, parks, a waterfront promenade. Make it accessible. And keep it free of commercial intrusions.

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On Facebook: Friends of Virginia Key

Miami Marine Stadium: beauty amid the horror

The World Monuments Fund has just announced that a new engineering study of the Commodore Ralph Munroe Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key shows the concrete restoration of the shuttered stadium could cost between $5.5 - $8.5 million - less than the City of Miami’s earlier predictions of $15 million.

That doesn’t include renovations of seats, bathrooms, ticket booths and everything else vandals ripped up or damaged since the City of Miami closed the stadium after Hurricane Andrew.

But it’s still good news and a first step in restoring the public uses of the island.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the President of the World Monuments Fund, Bonnie Burnham, will tour the site with City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. It will be her first look at the stadium. And it’s encouraging and truly amazing that a City of Miami official has taken an interest.

Regalado has in fact, gone as far as calling it “one of the Magic City’s crown jewels” and vowed to make restoration of the stadium one of his administration’s priorities.

Not too long ago - say during the City of Miami’s last go round on developing a “master plan” for Virginia Key - the iconic structure wasn’t even in the game plan, having been wiped off the map of Virginia Key by the master plan consultants. Thanks to a public outcry (how come the previous city administration didn’t see that coming?), the stadium later appeared in the proposed master plan.

Now the hard part begins. How to fund the restoration and how to restore the public’s use to all the land around it?

What will the dignitaries see on their tour Tuesday? The stadium sits abandoned and vandalized, locked behind a decrepit chain-linked fence in a sea of asphalt. The setting has reached a ‘World without Us’ stage - small cracks have turned to large fissures and weeds transformed to trees. Faded ‘No Trespassing’ signs give the area a creepy, horror movie feel.

And yet, there is beauty. The shoreline here is rich with new plant life and the view of the Miami skyline is sublime.

Across the blue basin lies the mysterious Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Refuge, where flocks of birds come to roost in the comforting darkness of mangrove forests and manatees spawn and are nurtured in its folds. What an amazing place. And what poor stewards we have been.

Until now. Maybe the tide has turned.
After all, the Mayor has joined the fight to save the stadium and Virginia Key.



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Why restore the Marine Stadium? The World Monuments Funds answers:
“For the citizens of Miami, the stadium represents the modernity of a growing city and the international cultural influences that helped shape it. Miami Marine Stadium defined a significant shift in American architectural style from staid civic buildings to exuberant structures reflecting changing tastes and a desire to project the city as a forward-looking place.”

More info:
http://www.wmf.org/project/miami-marine-stadium