A group of activists are having a community meeting Wednesay night to try to stop a developerfrom taking over part of a Miami Park so they can take advantage of special zoning regulations that would allow them to build a bigger and taller building than is currently allowed.

Negotiations with the city are reportedly ongoing for a coalition of developers to build a 10- to 17-story (more than twice what’s allowed), 1.2 million square foot mega complex with more than twice the number of residential units as are normally allowed and 1,000+ parking spaces adjacent to bayside Legion Memorial Park. The developer has promised to give space to the American Legion, which owned the post that was demolished to make room for this development. They also promised to make improvements to the park.

These improvements are a bait and switch carrot. They want the city to give them a slice of the public park so they can have the nine acres total to qualify fo the “special area planning exemption” that allows them to upzone, like Brickell City Center did.

So basically they don’t have the nine acres to qualify for the special plan exemption. And they want us and Miami city commissioners to believe that by effectively “borrowing” a couple of acres of park land to “annex” it to their site plan they can qualify for this bonus. Really?

Let’s forget for a minute that any improvements would be offset by the negative impact the development would have on the park and the surrounding neighborhood: The dust at the Farmer’s Market, the noise during morning yoga, the impact to the walkability of the space, the traffic, the pollution in the bay and, most notably, the shadow that a 15 to 17-story building would cast over the park. What kind of precedent would that set? Would that make all lands adjacent to parks suddenly more valuable because they are more buildable?

An early rendition of the planned development for Legion Park

Ladra bets developers are already poring over maps, looking for the next park to hit up.