The City of Miami Beach is committed to preserving the welfare and safety of its residents, visitors, and businesses. One way that the City meets this goal is by adapting its infrastructure to sea level rise and climate change.

Low-lying areas, such as First Street, are vulnerable to tidal and rainfall flooding. The First Street corridor experiences constant flooding during extreme high tides and heavy rain events. As a result, the City decided to implement improvements to the stormwater system that will provide the neighborhood with a higher level of service. Thus, a neighborhood project was developed for First Street between Alton Road and Washington Avenue. The project would also provide drainage infrastructure to address flooding in the broader South Point Neighborhood. The improvements included the following:

•Installation of a robust drainage system comprised of a major stormwater pump station and major stormwater pipes along Alton Road, Washington Avenue, and First Street.

• Elevating First Street and providing streetscape enhancements such as new sidewalks, pavement, lighting, landscaping, etc.

The First Street project was developed as a conventional design-bid-build project. Conventional projects provide many benefits including a fully designed project that provides a well defined bid set that provides the contractor with strict parameters to deliver a high quality product. However, design-bid-build projects are not as flexible as design-builds to changes once a project is awarded.  Modifications to the project, usually by change orders, can be very costly and add time to the original schedule of a design-bid-built project.

In order to ensure that the community’s interests were accounted for and to limit changes after the project had been designed, the City engaged the community and project stakeholders to allow public input and stakeholder concerns to be addressed. The community engagement effort commenced from the project onset and continued over more than a three-year period where staff held 28 meetings to address community and stakeholder concerns.

PUMP STATIONS ALTERNATIVES:

The City evaluated a total of six different pump station locations and six different outfall routes into Biscayne Bay and Government Cut. These include:

1. The First Street Park at the southeast corner of First Street and Alton Road

2. The Miami Beach Marina south parking lot

3. The Commerce Street and Jefferson Avenue intersection

4. The Pilot Boat Basin behind the Apogee condominium

5. The South Pointe Elementary School parking lot

6. South Pointe Park

Alternatives 1 - 5: These locations were eliminated due to site constraints, such as lack of easements, construction disturbances, impacts to the marina operations, and limited space. Additionally, due to the site constraints, a second pump station would be required to provide a full 10 year storm event level of service to the South Pointe Neighborhood.

Alternative 6 - South Pointe Park: The community has always considered South Pointe Park the “jewel” of the City, as it attracts visitors from all over the world. After careful consideration of all potential alternatives, the community agreed that the pump station should be located within the park. Conceptually, the underground components of the pump station can be located underneath the parking lot and the above ground components can be dressed with greenery just south of the parking lot.

The major benefits to this alternative are:

•No easements are required

•Construction of pump station does not disturb residences

•There is ample space to install a pump station that can service the entirety of the South Pointe Neighborhood. Therefore a second pump station would not be required, assuming the ability to install pipes with enough capacity (this will need to be defined during detailed design).

•Designers have the ability to use vegetation and trees to screen the pump station’s above ground components

• The pump station will discharge to Government Cut, thereby eliminating the possibility of impacts to the marina’s operations.

TYPICAL SECTION ALTERNATIVES:

Although the community generally agreed with the urgent need to implement a reliable stormwater management system within the South Pointe Neighborhood, there were differing views regarding the configuration of the First Street corridor.

A total of nine different typical sections were presented to the community for consideration. Some included water features and greenspace separators for valet parking. Others included large iconic medians with dramatic greenspace and enlarged pedestrian promenades. The major functional differences for each typical section are as follows:

• Divided vs. undivided typical section.

• One-way vs. two-way traffic.

• Dedicated vs. shared bike lanes.

SOFNA selected the two most representative typical sections and developed a survey in April 2020 to document support for each. The options provided in the survey are described below:

Option 1:

• Divided two-way traffic (median)

• Dedicated bike lanes

•On-street parallel parking adjacent to the sidewalk and on the median for the residential side only

Option 2:

•Undivided two-way traffic (no median)

•Shared bike lanes

•On-street parallel parking adjacent to the sidewalk

A significant majority of residents reportedly voted for Option 2. Out of the 308 final votes received from the residents, 64.9% were in favor of Option 2 and 31.4% for Option 1.  3.5% responded but did not check off a preference.  As described above, Option 2 will be an undivided roadway with parallel parking on both sides of the road, shared bike lanes, and equal greenspace and sidewalk on both commercial and residential sides. Compared to the existing conditions, the new typical section will provide wider sidewalks and more green space. However, due to the removal of the median, 24 parking spaces on the median side will be lost.

DESIGN EFFORTS AND PROPOSED CHANGES

In March 2017, the Mayor and City Commission approved Resolution No. 2017-29759 accepting the recommendation of the City Manager to negotiate with Wade Trim, Inc. for the Architectural and Engineering Design Services of the First Street Project. On June 16, 2017, the City and Wade Trim entered into an agreement to perform said services. Over the course of the following two years, Wade Trim and staff coordinated with stakeholders to define the appropriate design criteria, including typical section, pump station location, outfall location, etc.

During this time a change order to the original scope was negotiated and subsequently approved (Resolution No. 2019-30987) to address a change in the City’s design storm criteria from a 5-year, 24-hour storm to a 10-year, 24-hour storm. However, since the project’s typical section and pump station location remained in flux, Wade Trim was not approved to continue design efforts beyond the 30% phase.

Due to major changes in the design parameters and the lack of advancement in the project design as a result of continuous redesigns in the conceptual phase, the City terminated the original design contract with Wade Trim Inc. for convenience.  The Administration intends to incorporate the First Street Project into its integrated water management strategy.

Although staff has originally recommended Option 1 as the preferred typical section, the Administration recognizes the substantial importance of commencing this project and providing the South Point Neighborhood with a reliable stormwater management system. Thus, in order to proceed with the project, staff recommended that the Committee accept the location of the pump station at South Pointe Park, the outfall discharge point at Government Cut, and Option 2 as the roadway typical section. Furthermore, staff recommended the item be presented for formal adoption at the City Commission.

This adoption by City Commission will enable staff to finalize the design of this project and initiate the permit applications to the regulatory agencies.

The City will continue to use the design-bid-build procurement method. The design will include the following changes in accordance with the blue green strategy provided by Jacobs Engineering:

•Implement new strategies related to Blue Green Stormwater Infrastructure

•Implement the latest stormwater level of service and design criteria

•Develop a hydraulic model that includes the latest stormwater criteria

•Attempt to design a single pump station to serve the entire South Pointe Neighborhood at the new proposed location (South Pointe Park). The feasibility of this item will be fully determined during detailed design.

•Implement requirements for water quality treatment to include a hybrid solution (water quality wells, pollution control devices, and outfall discharge) to address concerns raised by the regulatory agencies.

The preliminary budget estimates for this project is approximately $25 million. The current budget is approximately $26 million. In addition, there will be a future allocation of $5 million as part of the General Obligation (GO) Bond for the above ground infrastructure. However, to comply with DERM water quality requirements, it is expected that this estimate can be 10 to 20 percent higher, dependent on what be accepted.

At its May 26, 2020 meeting, the Land Use and Sustainability Committee approved a motion to proceed with the location of the pump station at South Pointe Park, the outfall discharge point at Government Cut, the typical roadway section associated with option 2; proceed with the project design and to bring it to the full Commission for approval.

Results from the 2019 Resident Survey show that 50% of residents rated efforts to manage stormwater drainage and flooding as excellent or good. In order to continue maintaining excellent standards in this area, the City recommends accepting the recommendation of the LUSC to approve the location of the pump station at South Pointe Park and continue with the design efforts.