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Lockdowns with the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily put on hold the Town of Cutler Bay’s plans to design and develop its Legacy Park and Municipal Complex Visioning Project that will be created on the vacant parcel located east of Old Cutler Road and north of SW 212th Street. It was the result of a search for available properties within the town that might serve as a site for a new Town Hall.
“One of the parcels in our town that was identified in the property search was the 16 acres that is commonly referred to as the potato field,” said town manager Rafael Casals in a video address to residents. “At that point we actively started negotiations with the property owner to try to secure that location as one of the possible future sites for our municipal complex park.”
In January 2021 the Town of Cutler Bay finalized the “land swap” deal, exchanging the existing Town Hall building and adjacent property at 10720 Caribbean Blvd. for 16 acres of vacant land located east of Old Cutler Road and north of SW 212th Street.
Besides reducing costs of maintaining the old Town Hall, the goal was to prevent the property, which could have had up to 480 residential units on it from being developed, increasing density and traffic on Old Cutler Road. It can be accessed three ways.
“The entrance to our 16-acre municipal complex will be on Old Cutler Road from the Gulfstream Circle right now,” Casals said. “Another way from the south side on 212th Street, and we’ll also have a little access road on the rear of the new Publix that’s being built, as well.”
The goal is to create a complex that is very “walkable, golf cart friendly and bicycle friendly,” to further reduce the traffic going into the park. If the new bond is approved by voters, Casals says that, fast tracking the project from planning to permitting to construction, the time involved would be three to four years. He expects the longest amount of time to be from getting the feedback from residents about what features they want in the complex.
“One of the items we have been stressing in our public involvement meetings is that it’s going to be more open space than buildings on the 16 acres.”
There will be a mail-in ballot in March for a general obligation bond to provide funding for development of the site. The funds will go directly for capital improvement items within the 16-acre parcel. Instead of $40 million the cost will be $37 million for a specific design including municipal buildings, a community center, the policing unit and a park.
Important dates:
● Tuesday, Feb. 1, 6 p.m. — Public Involvement Meeting, location has been changed to Cutler Ridge Park.
● Monday, Feb. 21, — Last day to register to vote to participate in this special election. Register at registertovoteflorida.gov.
● Wednesday, Feb. 23, 6 p.m. — Public Involvement Meeting at Town Hall.
● Late February/Early March — Mail-in ballots will be mailed to registered voters in Cutler Bay.
● Monday, Mar. 7, 6 p.m. — Public Involvement Meeting at Town Hall.
● Mar. 22 — Last day Miami-Dade County Elections Department will accept ballots. Ballots must be received by Miami-Dade Elections on Tuesday, Mar. 22, by 7 p.m.
A free booklet about the project showing some of the possible designs of the complex can be downloaded at:
www.cutlerbayfl.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community/page/9746/16_acres_public_involvement_meetings_booklet.pdf
To find what the bond costs might be for individual homeowners, go to: www.cutlerbay-fl.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community/page/9746/go_bond_faqs_document.pdf.
