LTC 198-2005 North Beach Oceanfront Parks & Public Spaces - A Two Day Workshop
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 198-2005
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To:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez l v-'~'
City Manager ' U
Subject: NORTH BEACH EANFRONT PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES - A TWO-
DAY WORKSHOP
Date: July 27. 2005
From:
The Planning Department is coordinating a two-day place evaluation and placemaking
workshop to help generate a community vision for oceanfront parks and public spaces
in North Beach, including North Shore Open Space Park, Altos del Mar Park, Ocean
Terrace, North Shore Park (east of Collins Avenue), and the Beachwalk.
The workshops have been scheduled for Thursday, October 20, 2005 5:30 PM - 8:30
PM and Saturday, October 22,20059:00 AM - 2:00 PM, which includes lunch.
The Thursday workshop will focus primarily on North Shore Open Space Park. The
Saturday workshop will focus primarily on Altos del Mar Park, Ocean Terrace, and
North Shore Park (east of Collins Avenue). However, all the parks and public spaces
will be covered in both workshop segments so that citizens who can only attend one
segment will have the opportunity to give input on any portion of the study area.
The goal of the workshops is to discuss the problems and opportunities of different
spaces in the oceanfront parks system and share ideas for improvement relative to the
types of activities and uses that the parks could accommodate. We intend to involve a
large number of stakeholders and community organizations in a meaningful way,
Hopefully, we will gain a better understanding of how the North Beach oceanfront public
spaces are currently used today, and reach consensus on a vision for the future.
The workshop will be facilitated by Project for Public Spaces, Inc. (PPS), a non-profit
organization based in New York City, in collaboration with the Planning Department and
Capital Improvements Office. PPS is a world-renowned expert in the design and
management of public spaces (http://www.pps.orq/). They assist communities in
transforming public spaces into vital places, with programs, uses, and people-friendly
settings that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs. One of
these communities was the City of Miami where PPS conducted a place evaluation
workshop of the Miami Bay Walk in the summer of 2004. The Bay Walk was treated as
one element of a larger project that included the redesign of Biscayne Boulevard,
Bayfront Park and Bicentennial Park, all of which are planned to link with one another
and with the Miami River Greenway. This study has been credited with helping to
generate additional political support and funding thus expediting the process of moving
the Bay Walk project forward as an element of a waterfront master plan.
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LTC NORTH BEACH OCEANFRONT PARKS AND PUBLIC SPACES
07/21/2005
Page 2
The outcome/product ofthe North Beach oceanfront spaces place evaluation workshop will
be a report of the findings to be presented to the Planning Board and the City Commission.
This will provide an approved program for the design of Altos del Mar Park by the
Landscape Architecture firm of Falcon and Bueno. It will also provide priorities for use of
Miami-Dade County bond funds in North Shore Park, as well as a blueprint for future grant
applications. Furthermore, the study has the potential to inspire and stimulate more
interest from the private and public sectors to fund further refinement and prioritization of
recommendations for implementation in a holistic way.
JM~~\~\KMH
c: Jorge Gomez
Jorge Chartrand
F:\PLAN\$ALL\Meyers\PPS Study\WORKSHOP L TC.doc
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