On April 30, 2014, the Mayor and City Commission approved, via Resolution No. 2014-28584, changing the use and designation of a portion of the Par 3 Golf Course, to accommodate greenery and open space adjacent to the Scott Rakow Youth Center.
On March 11, 2015, the City Commission accepted the recommendation of the Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee to authorize the Administration to utilize the conceptual park plan with open recreational play areas prepared by the Planning Department as a basis to prepare a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for final design.
On May 19, 2016, the City executed an agreement with Savino Miller Design Studio for the Landscaping, Architectural, and Engineering Design Services for the Bayshore Park Project.
Bayshore Park, located at 2300 Pine Tree Drive, will include 19 beautiful acres of public recreation space. The park will boast several marquee features such as an outdoor amphitheater, an iconic water fountain, a children's playground, and tennis courts. The current total project budget is approximately $21.1 Million, including $15.7 Million from the General Obligation Bond Program, project design, and contingency. Although the project will greatly enhance the Bayshore Park neighborhood, it will also create conflicts between many of the park’s key elements and the existing underground utilities.
The current construction budget is $15 Million. The project has experienced protracted delays related to the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) permitting of the planned soil mitigation. Consequently, cost overruns are expected. In an attempt to mitigate the overruns, the project is currently being value engineered. However, during the design phase it became apparent that conflicts with the underground utilities would need to be resolved during construction.
The relocation of the underground utilities was not accounted for in the current budget. In general, Utility Master Plans are high-level planning tools, and therefore do not consider project specific details, such as the planned park renovations when programming the replacement or relocation of utilities within Bayshore Park. In order to complete the project and protect the existing utilities, additional funding will need to be identified and approved.
At the February 19, 2021 meeting of the Finance and Resiliency Committee, Public Works presented a request to add a funding source for the Bayshore Park (Former Par 3) Project utility relocation. Committee members were in favor of the request, however, made a motion to have the conversation continue to the next meeting for further discussion and recommendation.