2004 Framing paper for the planning of Bicentennial Park

FRAMING PAPER FOR THE PLANNING OF BICENTENNIAL PARK Presented by: The URBAN ENVIRONMENT LEAGUE The MIAMI ART MUSEUM The MIAMI MUSEUM of SCIENCE The HISTORICAL MUSEUM of SOUTHERN FLORIDA INTRODUCTION The City of Miami is rapidly developing the kind of vibrant urban core that is essential to all great cities. Its unique assets include Biscayne Bay , the Miami River , Bayfront Park , Bayside, the Lyric Theater, Bicentennial Park , Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the Cultural Complex, Miami-Dade College , the American Airlines Arena, the Port of Miami and the Performing Arts Center. These entities, combined with a new, growing resident population, provide the concentration of people, amenities and activities for a rich urban lifestyle. The City of Miami has limited park and museum facilities that do not compare to other major cities. The reuse of Bicentennial Park provides an opportunity to develop a user-friendly park melded with great cultural facilities. Because Bicentennial Park is a magnificent asset and our last underutilized and misused downtown public bayfront property, it must be restored and re-energized with great care. With this vision in mind, the City of Miami spearheaded a public planning process in the spring of 2000. This process has produced a number of actions concerning the park. In parallel, following public consultation, Miami-Dade County has put forth, on the November 2, 2004 ballot a Building Better Communities bond program. Item number eight of the GOB adds significantly to the downtown cultural offerings while creating a “ Central Park ” that will draw residents from all corners of Dade County . By helping fund quality facilities for the Miami Art Museum , the Miami Museum of Science, and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, Greater Miami will finally achieve the kind of first-rate cultural facilities that we have aspired to since the city’s founding. Opportunities exist to carefully and sensitively develop a major urban park with cultural facilities similar to those in major cities like Chicago , San Francisco and New York . EXPECTATIONS Bicentennial Park will become a great public park that relates to the surrounding communities and integrates superior cultural facilities with open park space. Because City of Miami parkland is scarce, Bicentennial Park is unique and precious. Land that is provided for the museums should be adequate to effectively serve the purposes of the museums while maximizing open park land. Because waterfront parks are important community assets, the development of open green space should be given equal consideration to the development of the museums. Because the museums will contribute to public use of the park and the park will in turn enhance the museum experience, planning should be integrated. The planning process should not begin with predetermined allocation of land for specific purposes but evolve from a planning process with structured public input. The greatest care must be taken in planning the park’s infrastructure, including parking, so that in does not intrude or detract from the park and the museums. Because the new Bicentennial/Museum Park is a critical element in the reinvention of the urban core of Miami , planning must consider the park and the museums in the context of neighboring communities, the surrounding development and waterfront planning. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION The planners have suggested a process to receive input from a broad spectrum of constituents. These valuable activities will add important information into the planning work and create broad public ownership. The above expectations should be widely discussed and refined and then serve as the basis for planning. Stakeholders representing different interests should actively participate in the planning process. A steering committee shall be established to guide development of the project. It must include representatives of each of the museums, who have a full understanding of the vision and needs of those institutions and members of the Urban Environment League, who are knowledgeable about parks and open space. This steering committee should also include representatives from the City of Miami government, Miami-Dade County government, neighborhood communities and other involved constituencies. THE BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES BOND PROGRAM In addition to the museums, question/Item number eight of the GOB adds substantially to the City’s total cultural offerings by helping fund other treasures located throughout the City of Miami including the: African Heritage Cultural Center; Joseph Caleb Center Auditorium; Historic Hampton House; Lyric Theater; Dorsey Memorial Library; First Miami High School; Hubbard- Alvarez Bungalow; Vizcaya; Virginia Key Beach Park; Miami-Dade County Auditorium; Cultural Center; Coconut Grove Playhouse; Florida Grand Opera Theater; Carver Theater; and ten libraries.