Dec 18, 2007 11:46 pm US/Eastern
County Approves Downtown Miami, Stadium Plans
City of Miami Approved The Plan Last Week
County Voted 9-4 In Favor Of The Plan
Special Property Tax Money Collected From Downtown Will Fund Projects
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
It happened in a matter of second, but a vote at Miami-Dade Commission Chamber Tuesday night will change the face of Miami forever.
Miami-Dade County has given the go-ahead for a plan ironed out secretly behind closed doors, which will allocate money for the building of a new Marlins stadium, a tunnel leading to the Port of Miami, and several Downtown redevelopment projects, including a streetcar project.
Tuesday county commissioners debated the multi-prong package of public works projects for Downtown Miami during a special session. By night, the commission had voted 9-4 in favor of the so-called "global agreement" that would use money from new property tax revenue collected in two Downtown neighborhoods. This would take a strain off the county's main budget, because it wouldn't be pulling money from it.
Among the items included in the package are money to bail out the new and struggling Performing Arts Center and $130 million to renovate Bicentennial Park, the future site of new art and science museums.
Last week, Miami commissioners approved a city-county pact that calls for the city to expand two Community Redevelopment Agency districts as a way to collect more than $2 billion in CRA money. More than half a billion dollars of that money would then go toward building a new baseball stadium at the former Orange Bowl site. A 25-thousand seat soccer stadium would then be built next to the baseball stadium in an effort to lure Major League Soccer to Miami.
"Our goal is to basically have the baseball stadium ready for opening April 2011, and for that to happen, we're a little behind the eight ball," said Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez.
Marlins president David Samson said his team was the closest it has ever been to securing its own ballpark.
More than $900 million of the CRA funds would go toward the Miami Port tunnel project, with the rest being used to fund the performing arts center, affordable housing projects and other projects.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who has not publicly commented on the plan, addressed commissioners during the special session. His spokesperson says the Mayor has privately expressed support for the package proposal.
Commissioners Joe Martinez, Natacha Seijas, Rebeca Sosa and Javier Souto voted against the agreement. Sosa and Souto argued strongly against the project, in particular the port tunnel. Some have taken up concerns with the secretive manner in which the plan was ironed out by top city and county leaders.
Still, some technicalities need to be approved on in order for the plan to go forward, but politicians say this was the main hurdle they needed to overcome for it to move forward.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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