MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Miami-Dade County commissioners on Tuesday voted 12-1 to pursue eminent domain to acquire just under 10 acres of land on Fisher Island.
The land holds the fuel facility that supplies PortMiami.
Commissioner Raquel Regalado was the only dissenting vote.
Ahead of the vote, she expressed concern that with eminent domain, they would be inheriting a “dinosaur,” due to the aging facility.
Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, on the other hand, said he believes it will be less costly to upgrade the existing site than it would be to build a new one.
“Last fall, the board of county commission authorized the administration to enter into negotiations for this property and should those negotiations not be successful to enter into eminent domain proceedings,” Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Roy Coley told Local 10 News after the vote. “Since that time, and the mayor has determined the negotiations to not be successful, it has been identified that the legal description of the property could be reduced to a slightly smaller footprint than our original resolution. And so, it’s really a cleanup item that reauthorizes what’s already been authorized with a more accurate legal description.”
The fuel bunker on the exclusive Fisher Island has been the subject of several lawsuits and a high-profile dispute over its future.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county’s goal is to ensure a reliable fuel supply for PortMiami’s operations.
As for the next steps in the related federal case, Coley said the county will now pursue eminent domain and Florida law “requires negotiations.”
“There’s a 30-day statutory negotiation period where we hope we can sit down with the new property owners, the developers, and negotiate out a final deal that the mayor can support,” he said.
Coley said he wouldn’t be able to say whether the plaintiffs who have filed suit will have a seat at the negotiating table.
“Well, Fisher Island has sued us, as you know, and they’ve also sued the developers,” he said. “And so, any negotiations would be confidential in nature, just like all the negotiations up to now that we’re talking about are confidential by requirement. So whether or not everyone’s willing to sit down at the table together, we’ll find out after we file our eminent domain.”
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