According to the Miami Herald, the development firm Related Group has put together plans for 35-story luxury condo on Terminal Island which is home to Miami Beach’s fleet maintenance and sanitation buildings, a gas station for city vehicles, a utility plant, the Fisher Island ferry terminal and a Coast Guard Station. The island is zoned industrial and the developer has promised to build Miami Beach a new fleet maintenance facility. But the real obstacle is the U.S. Coast Guard.
But while that might be a tempting offer for city officials, the U.S. Coast Guard is strongly opposed to the project, which it says would “negatively impact” its ability to “safely and effectively carry out existing operations” and expand its activities.
The Coast Guard worries that its future neighbors would complain about the constant, noisy activity at its station — which includes ship repair, cargo loading, and forklift operations as well as unloading drugs seized offshore — and that their yachts would get in the way of maritime operations. The agency said it also fears that the residential tower could provide a lookout point for criminal organizations seeking to monitor the Coast Guard station, which is located on a neighboring island, and that the tower could interfere with communication systems.
Last week, the Miami Beach City Commission referred the proposed development to its land use and development committee, which will begin vetting the project before commissioners vote on whether to approve it. The proposal is one of several development plans in Miami Beach that exchange a public benefit — in this case a new fleet maintenance facility — for the right to build a structure that wouldn’t otherwise be allowed. Developers Russell Galbut of Crescent Heights and David Martin of Terra Group recently got approval to build a 519-foot condo tower on Alton Road at the entrance to the MacArthur Causeway in exchange for building a three-acre public park.
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