County eyes land for 167-acre park

BY SHERRI C. RANTA

Miami-Dade County is expected soon to purchase 167 acres of undeveloped land near the Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport for development as the new West Kendall District Park. Some five years away from opening, the park will be the largest of its type in the western section of the county.

The $10.2 million deal is expected to close this summer and ends a five-year search for a large tract of land suitable for park development in an area of the county bursting with residential and commercial development. Once opened, the park, similar in size and nature to Tropical Park, will serve a population of some 350,000 people.

Initiated by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, the project was a collaborative effort between various county, state and even private agencies.

"This is a classic case of how government should work. By uniting several different agencies, departments and organizations behind a common goal and working together for the benefit of the public, we were able to make the acquisition of this park a reality," Diaz de la Portilla said.

The Miami-Dade County Commission gave final approval for the purchase on May 9. Some 152 acres will be purchased initially, followed by another 12 acres once title disputes have been cleared. Funds for the $10.26 million project will come from the Safe Neighborhood Park Bond and the Quality Neighborhood Initiative Bond programs, along with impact fees.

The land is located at approximately SW 157th Avenue and 120th Street and is bounded on two sides by South Florida Water Management District canals and on one side by the airport.

"This will be a district park that serves all residential communities within a five-mile radius of this site. In type and character, it will be very similar to Tropical Park, with the same types of facilities, like lakes, softball fields, soccer fields, areas for picnicking and swimming," said Howard Greg, chief planner, with Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department.

Development of the park is at least five years away as county officials must construct roadways and bridges to gain access to the site. One of projects includes the extension of SW 120th Street, which now dead-ends three miles from the site.

"Generally, we're looking at five years before we can expect to see anything out there," Greg said.

In addition to the parks department, other county departments including the General Services Administration, Planning and Zoning, Aviation, Public Works, along with Metropolitan Planning Organization,

South Florida Water Management District and the private, not-for-profit Trust for Public Lands also contributed to the project.

The Trust for Public Lands helped identify tracts of land, their owners and funding sources for the park.
"It was excruciatingly hard. We started in 1995 to try to put this project together. We looked and talked to hundreds of people that own hundreds of tracts of land. This is one of our last large parcels of undeveloped property [in the western area of the county]," Greg said.

In addition to helping find the property, the Trust for Public Lands is expected to buy the land and sell it back to the county this summer, said Bob McClymonds, senior project manager for Trust for Public Lands.

"Often governments cannot act fast enough to acquire land before development. We're a national non-profit organization and part of our mission is to preserve land. We get site control through contracts or options.

"When the government is going to approve the purchase, we go ahead and purchase the property and then sell it back to the government," he said.