At the September 12, 2018 City Commission meeting, a discussion to initiate the process of naming the mid-beach community park, formerly known as the Par 3, was referred to the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee (“NCAC”).
At its October 31, 2018 NCAC meeting, the Committee directed staff to involve the Bayshore Homeowners Association (the “BHA”) in the process and attend an HOA meeting to gather naming suggestions and referred the item to the Parks and Recreational Facilities Advisory Board.
Following direction of the NCAC’s October 2018 meeting, the Administration reached out to the BHA and invited its members to attend the Parks and Recreational Facilities Advisory Board’s December 11, 2018 meeting to gather naming suggestions.
Prior to the December meeting, the BHA provided the following name suggestions via email correspondence: Banyan Park, Fairgreen Park, and Bayshore Park.
At its December 11, 2018 Parks and Recreational Facilities Advisory Board meeting, the Board passed a motion requesting an outreach campaign for the naming of the Par 3 property, and noted that naming recommendations should describe the area, neighborhood, municipal history, and special features of the proposed park.
At its January 9, 2019 NCAC meeting, the Committee made a favorable recommendation to name the Par 3 “Bayshore Park”.
At its June 5, 2019 City Commission meeting, City Commission referred a discussion to name the former Par 3 as “Bayshore Park” to the NCAC.
At its June 19, 2019 meeting, the NCAC discussed and moved the item to City Commission with a favorable recommendation to name the Par 3 as “Bayshore Park”.
The Par 3 is located within the Bayshore neighborhood, which is bounded on the north by 41st Street; on the south by Dade Blvd.; on the east by Indian Creek, and on the west by Biscayne Bay. Public Works’ official GIS mapping tools designate the Par 3 as falling within the geographic boundaries of the Bayshore neighborhood. Results from property searches conducted on the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s website refer to the Par 3 as the “Bayshore Municipal Golf Course” (Exhibit A).
Section 82-503(a)(8) of the City Code provides that a referendum for the renaming of a city park would not be required where a public facility is to be renamed solely for the name of the city, the geographic area or physical location of the facility and/or the street or portion of the street where the facility is located, the function of the facility, and/or the current name of the facility.
Therefore, based upon the Administration’s representation that the name “Bayshore Park” is intended to reference the proposed park’s location and geographic area within the City, the City Attorney has opined that Section 52-503(a)(8) would apply, and no referendum would be required.
Pursuant to Section 82-503(a) of the City Code, after receiving a recommendation from the NCAC on the proposed naming, the City administration shall call a public hearing to consider the proposed naming.
At the July 17, 2019 City Commission meeting, Resolution 2019-30881 (Exhibit B) was adopted setting a public hearing for September 11, 2019 to consider the proposed naming of the former Par 3 as Bayshore Park.