Key Biscayne Dukes it Out With Miami Over This Site

MIAMI—The Village of Key Biscayne and the City of Miami are duking it out in a legal battle over the Marine Stadium site on Virginia Key. The City of Miami wants to convert the public waterfront land to year-round commercial event space, which would include the Boat Show. But Key Biscayne's mayor argues that plan would choke off the land and the boat slips from public use and create the potential for a traffic nightmare of epic proportions.

GlobeSt.com caught up with Mayor Mayra Pena Lindsay, the village's first female mayor, to find out more about why she objects to the plans in part one of this exclusive interview. In part two, we'll look at her vision for the Marine Stadium site and how Key Biscayne is balancing population growth in nearby Downtown Miami with its status as a destination.

GlobeSt.com: The Village of Key Biscayne has been making headlines lately for its lawsuit versus the City of Miami. What's the nature of the suit and which property is in question?

Lindsay: Our Village is suing the City of Miami because its plans for commercial development on public land surrounding the Miami Marine Stadium conflict with the site's allowable use and will cause irreparable harm to Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, including cutting off access to the islands for the millions of Miami-Dade residents who visit each year. A deed transferred from Miami-Dade to the City of Miami in 1963 specifies that the property can only be used for purposes tied to the Marine Stadium—a far cry from the City's plan to commercialize the site with for-profit event space.

The City's proposal will spend $16 million in taxpayers' dollars without renovating the Marine Stadium itself, which should be a priority. This is a money grab wrapped inside a land grab, and the biggest losers are the residents of Miami-Dade.

GlobeSt.com: What does the village hope to achieve through the lawsuit?

Lindsay: The City's plans to bring moneymaking events to the Marine Stadium site are logistically impossible, financially irresponsible and simply incompatible with the property's allowable use, so our goal is to materially change the scope of the proposal. The Boat Show is signed on as a major tenant, but making the financials of the development work will require many more events each year and that will lead to an onslaught of traffic.

GlobeSt.com: What do you consider as a possible alternative venue for the Miami International Boat Show, which is slated to be a major event tenant?

Lindsay: A number of viable alternatives exist, such as Marlins Ballpark, Sun Life Stadium and the former Bertram Yacht boatyard near Miami International Airport. Finding an alternate site would mean the City of Miami no longer has to spend nearly $18 million in taxpayers' dollars for the commercialization of publicly-owned land at a time when waterfront public space in our community is at a premium. And finally put the publicly funded $550 million dollar Marlins stadium to work for a public purpose.