Miami-Dade ready to drop Venetian from causeway privatization plan, keeping Rickenbacker
Miami-Dade is ready to drop the Venetian Causeway from a privatization plan centered on the Rickenbacker Causeway. Miami Beach mayor urged County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to drop the idea.
After objections from Miami Beach leaders and residents, Miami-Dade County plans to drop a privatization plan for the Venetian Causeway and accept bids for the Rickenbacker Causeway alone.
The demise of the Venetian Causeway privatization push came Friday, when a county commission panel unanimously passed a resolution to drop it from a county proposal that currently includes the Miami Beach link to the mainland as well as Key Biscayne’s link over the Rickenbacker.
The administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava had pushed the Venetian plan but switched positions and on Friday endorsed the legislation by Commissioner Sally Heyman, who represents Miami Beach.
A final commission vote is needed to pass Heyman’s resolution, but that appears to be a formality. Eight commissioners on Chairman
José “Pepe” Diaz’s powerful Policy committee voted for the resolution, and it only takes seven votes on the full board to pass legislation.
Commissioners approved Heyman’s resolution without debate, advancing it to the full board. Rachel Johnson, communications director for Levine Cava, said Friday that “the mayor supports” the Heyman legislation.
The Venetian privatization plan’s looming demise caps an effort by Miami Beach leaders and residents along the causeway to halt the county from imposing a private operator bridge system as part of a long-standing effort to privatize the Rickenbacker.
Architect Bernard Zyscovich proposed the Rickenbacker redo several years ago, including a mini bridge over Biscayne Bay for bicycles and pedestrians alongside the existing bridge and overpasses for cycling along the beach parking lots.
When he and his private equity partners submitted a proposal to the Levine Cava administration, it also included a pared-down proposal for upgrading the Venetian.
The administration formally endorsed the proposal and submitted it to commissioners to form the basis of the bidding process that launched in August. Proposals are due in December, including a new plan from the Zyscovich group.
Under the plan outlined in the request for proposals (known as an RFP), a private developer would take over toll operations and manage the beaches and other public lands along the causeway.
In exchange for the new revenue streams, the developer would replace bridges along the Venetian, as well as Bear Cut Bridge on the Rickenbacker, and build some version of the cycling improvements in Zyscovich’s original “Plan Z” for the causeway.
While Key Biscayne leaders have objected to some elements of the county’s plan, they haven’t tried to block the privatization push from proceeding. Not so in Miami Beach, where the Venetian plan was instantly unpopular.
Residents who opposed the idea noted Florida’s Transportation Department was at the tail end of a study that began seven years ago to study replacing the bridges, and questioned why MiamiDade was rushing to launch a new process that would be tied to another set of bridges elsewhere.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber sent Levine Cava a letter this week criticizing the county’s inclusion of the Venetian in its request for proposals.
“It felt as if we were included in the RFP merely as an afterthought,” Gelber wrote on Sept. 15. “Further, no one has even begun to make the case that this idea works financially.”