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Development
Cross Currents
A plan to revitalize the Miami River has put the marine industry on a collision course with developers.
Since 2004, more than 7,600 condo units along the river have been built or are under construction, mostly in the lower portion near downtown Miami’s Brickell Avenue financial district. Another 7,500 are in various stages of permitting, officials say. Restaurants are popping up along the river’s edge. New pollution controls are in force. The city and county, in conjunction with the non-profit Trust for Public Land, are constructing a landscaped walking path along both banks of the 5.5-mile river, transforming a long-blighted urban corridor into a destination spot for residents and tourists.
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The changing landscape is attracting young professionals eager to trade suburban gridlock for the rough edges of a working waterfront. “The view is spectacular,” says Raymond Jungles, a landscape architect whose office is perched on the river’s south bank next to a trendy new open-air restaurant. “The draw for me is seeing the life on the river — tugboats, manatees, kids swimming and fishing.”
Marine industry leaders say there is plenty of room for urban pioneers like Jungles. That’s the premise of a comprehensive blueprint for development along the Miami River compiled by the Miami River Commission, a clearinghouse for river policy that was created and funded by the state Legislature in 1998. The commission’s 5-year-old Miami River Corridor Urban Infill Plan calls for a mix of uses — recreational, residential and marine industrial.
Under the plan, the river is carved into thirds: The lower portion near downtown deferring to residential and commercial development; the upper portion, near the airport, serving the cargo haulers and other heavy industrial users; and the middle portion — where much of the battle is being waged — supporting a combination of uses.
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Miami River Commission officials say nearly three-quarters of the Infill Plan’s 80 implementation steps — everything from bridge repair to landscaping to security protocols — have been completed. The plan has garnered awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the growth-management advocacy group 1000 Friends of Florida. But Miami has refused to endorse the plan’s most far-reaching recommendations — land-use guidelines for future development along the river’s edge. Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, a river commission member, declined to say why, as did planning director Ana Gelabert-Sanchez, but other members of the commission say the city views the Infill Plan’s zoning guidelines as too restrictive. The City Commission, in a number of high-profile cases, has ignored recommendations from the Miami River Commission by approving proposals to rezone marine properties, paving the way for high-density residential development.
