The Big Dig died Wednesday night, but the end of a mammoth effort to replumb the island in a fight against climate change has left a daunting and costly set of challenges ahead with no clear roadmap as seas continue to rise. The decision means at least $8 million in sunk costs without a shovel ever hitting the ground, officials said.
Mayor Joe Rasco, who will see a campaign promise go uncompleted, warned the decision may wind up costing residents more in the end.
The project, led by the engineering firm AECOM, faced an impressive array of opponents at a special Council session: two former mayors, several former council members, and residents astonished that the plan called for removing and replacing more than 500 trees.
Rasco, who was noncommittal until Wednesday, said he knew how to count votes and decided to get the tough decision out of the way first: a 7-0 vote in favor of a completely different stormwater approach using a web of shallow injection wells instead of pipes pushing water to Biscayne Bay.
There were flashes of anger: Vice Mayor Oscar Sardiñas, who along with Rasco had been trying to stay the AECOM course, tried to push back on the proposed tree removal outcry, saying many were non-shade palm trees. The crowd started booing — and Rasco threatened to clear the room.
Williamson had arranged a full bench of staffers ready to make the case that the AECOM plan was actually less expensive in the long run than the alternative plan from GIT Engineering.
The remainder of the meeting was about how the Village could pivot to the modular injection well approach and where the funds would come from. Not mentioned was another related resilience project — burying power lines.
Sunk Costs and “Money on the Table”
According to Chief Financial Officer Benjamin Nussbaum, the Village had spent the following through March 31:
- $5.8 million on AECOM to design the Zone 1 system that was ready to go to bid with a cost estimate of $82 million.
- $2.6 million to Black and Veatch, which was acting as the manager of the project
- $209,282 to a communications firm, HML Public Outreach
- $147,325 to GIT Consulting to bring the alternative concept forward.
Even more significant, however, are funds that were tied to the AECOM approach and cannot simply be reassigned to the GIT concept, which Williamson said was at least 36 months away from starting.
“We are leaving $76 million on the table, full stop,” said Colleen Blank, who manages grants and loan applications for the Village. She said that includes a $60 million low-interest loan from the Florida State Revolving Fund, and $16 million from Resilient Florida and Biscayne Bay water quality grants.
When asked why agencies wouldn’t pledge the same funds for the new approach, Blank sounded skeptical.
“They don’t consider injecting water into the ground [an] improvement to water quality for the Bay, and that grant was to improve runoff into the Bay, so that’s no longer available to us,” she said.
As for the $60 million loan, she said a new loan application can be made in 2027, but said state officials will have to start from scratch and compare it against proposals from competing municipalities
“It’s about who else applies, and how well we’ll score,” she said.
“Wouldn’t we score better, if we’re not dumping water back into the Bay?,” London asked.
“You’d have to ask them how they score it,” she responded.
Defending the Big Dig
Rasco ended the meeting with a long speech about his frustration with criticism of AECOM and the Williamson administration. “We have vilified this one company,” he said, saying the costs of the GIT plan, when outside funding is considered, may leave residents with higher bills.
“I hope to God we are able to make some change,” he continued. “I don’t think we were completely off. I don’t think staff was completely off.” He cautioned that residents need to accept that infrastructure to protect against flooding is not cheap.
“We have to swallow hard, because that cost ain’t going down.”
This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
