Key Biscayne Mayor Joe Rasco, who ran for office on the platform of replacing the aging stormwater system, vigorously defended the Big Dig infrastructure project as his coalition on the Council got a key $897,000 contract over the goal line in a special meeting on Wednesday.
The estimated $310 million Resilient Infrastructure Adaptation Program is aimed at protecting Key Biscayne from increased rainfall and sea-level rise predicted due to climate change. It includes burying utility lines, fortifying the coast, re-pitching roads and replacing the stormwater system.
But Wednesday’s meeting was mainly about moving forward on the first phase of the project, known as Zone 1.
The contract allows the engineering firm Black & Veatch to start preparing contract designs, bid documents, and coordinating with burying power lines for replacing the aging stormwater system in the oft-flooded neighborhood around the K-8 school.
In a 5-2 vote, Rasco was joined by Council Members Oscar Sardiñas, Allison McCormick, Fernando Vazquez and Frank Caplan. Rasco noted he and two others on this Council — Vazquez and Sardiñas — ran on getting the infrastructure project launched.
Rasco and Co. were again intent on somehow persuading Council Members Brett Moss and Ed London — just like during the extra workshops and the hours of discussion on the dias. The special Council meeting was called because Moss and London had bucked approving the Black and Veatch contract at the regular Oct. 15 meeting.
The mayor said from the time of the Village’s incorporation in 1991 there was acknowledgment that flooding was an issue.
“What was very obvious to all of us back then and it is very obvious to all of us today – and that is the issue that we flood,” Rasco said. “We can’t hide the flooding. It happens all the time. It happens today. It has it will happen tomorrow. So we need to deal with it.”
Moss and London were supported in public comments by critics who said the project was too expensive and over-designed, that burying power lines needed to be prioritized and the current system — if maintained — could do the job.
Former Council Member Luis de la Cruz said the Village doesn’t even know the state of its current system because it has failed to maintain many of its gravity wells. Resident Steve Simon was in favor of the Resilient Infrastructure Adaptation Program but wanted it halted because of a pump station proposed for Harbor Park.
It was the last Council meeting for Moss and Council Member Allison McCormick, both of whom are term-limited from running again. Rasco pushed back on one of the chief arguments from opponents like Moss — and echoed by some Council candidates — that burying utility lines should supersede stormwater.
“We have a fundamental disagreement. I see water and I see flooding as a much more affecting our property values,” Rasco said. “We are going to have a better system on a normal day.”
In many ways, the meeting was a version of the movie Groundhog’s Day — without the comedy.
The ghost of Council workshops past was conjured as Tom McGowan, senior project manager at AECOM, the other engineering firm hired by Village, went through eyeball-glazing science and engineering.
Moss and London did a bit of revisionist history. Moss denied he was ever against the science and London said he supported the engineering firms hired by the Village.
Moss, an architect by trade, may have forgotten the meeting where he challenged the science of climate change — that past rainfall amount is not indicative of future rainfall amount — by bringing homemade charts.
London has said numerous times he didn’t understand why the small Village staff couldn’t just handle the duties of Black & Veatch.
Sardiñas told his colleagues that they voted – including Moss and London – for the level of service, the speed with which pipes and pumps remove water. The Council adopted NOAA’s Intermediate High prediction on sea level rise in 2022. The current gravity system cannot operate during high tide because to remove water from the island it needs to be pumped into Biscayne Bay.
“Now we’re suggesting that we want to go back and change the level of service, and that’s effectively going back and changing everything that we’ve ever done on the dias,” Sardiñas said. “We’ve made a decision, we’ve committed, and we’ve only made that commitment to Zone 1.”
“Zone 1 is what we need to get right,” Rasco said.
Moss said that the VIllage has yet to secure the property for the outfalls. “We don’t even know if we can do the project.”
Even London said that dog won’t hunt, saying if push comes to shove the Village can take the land needed by eminent domain.
“You want us to make sure that we do everything that we got to make sure that we get the best deal that we can make sure that we look at everything,” Rasco said, raising his voice to Moss. “But we don’t want to hire a person to do that?”
Two other properties are being considered as alternatives to the Harbor Park outfall where residents are upset over the pumps being placed on a beloved greenspace. One property owner wants to resurrect the use of the helicopter pad that was installed for President Richard Nixon when he used to winter on Key Biscayne.
Manager Steve Williamson said offers will be made on two of the properties while negotiations continue on the third. “I’m starting that in the morning,” he said.
Former Mayor Mike Davey said during public comment there are always naysayers to public works projects on the island, such as the Village Green or Community Center.
“The Village Green was a boondoggle, $11 million, and it was just going to be a gathering place for the homeless in Miami-Dade County,” Davey said. “I saw a lot of the homeless kids out there last night playing soccer.”
De La Cruz though raised the flag of the Big Dig opposition that he has led.
“Why can’t we wait? What’s the hurry?” he said “Let’s fix, let’s repair and let’s maintain. Let’s observe it over three or four years and then make a decision. That’s the only way that you should handle our money.”
As Moss walked out the door at the end of the 4 ½ hour meeting, he turned to London and said, “Hey, did you ever think that I’d be voting with you on the last vote?”
This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
