Virginia Key Master Plan: A Closer Look

Our friends over at the Urban Environment League Blog have been doing a great job of covering the latest on the Virginia Key Master Plan. Check out the complete May 20 presentation here.  Given the upcoming Planning Advisory Board vote, I thought to highlight some of the good and not-so-good aspects of the plan.

The Virginia Key Master Plan is divided into 7 areas: the Fishing Pier, the Marina and Sports Stadium Basin, the Bill Sadowski Critical Wildlife Area, Rickenbacker roadway changes, the Regional Active Recreational Area,  Shrimper’s lagoon and a coastal hardwood hammock restoration, and  Northpoint Recreational area.

As you can see from the aerial above, most of the key is comprised of natural areas that  surround a WASD plant.  The large area of recreational fields to the south of the water plant is part landfill/part impacted mangrove habitat.

The pedestrian connection under Rickenbacker looks nice, as do the improvements to the marina.

Regional Active Recreation Area

The Recreational area is over-programmed as a Regional Recreational facility. If anything this area begs for environmental remediation, and passive uses such as nature trails. Apart from the 7 multistory parking structures arranged haphazardly around areas called ‘mangrove habitat’, it looks like the planners had their way with the baseball field/tennis court template.

Basin Area Properties

This area has great possibilities, but in its current form is still off. With the recent push to make the Marine Stadium a historic landmark, the plan rightfully uses the stadium as an entry focal point. The big problem with the area is not the size of the development, but the tenuous relationship between the buildings and the public space they try to form.  The development fails street-side by turning its back on the Parkway, rather than having an active street-front with shops that hide the parking and provide a destination for pedestrians.

The ambiguous public realm continues once past the entrance as you veer off of the main axis to enter a circular open area. A simple rearrangement of  the structures around the park would yield a much better definition of public space, while also creating active places people will want to visit.

I hope the Planning Advisory Board and City Commission both think carefully before adopting this plan.  EDSA Planners and city officials should take a ‘less is more’ strategy with Virginia Key, and let nature do most of the heavy lifting.