Miami Beach kicks site of fire station back to a community center

The Miami Beach City Commission voted unanimously Dec. 17 to approve the relocation of Fire Station No. 1 to a new fire station that will be constructed at the South Shore Community Center site.

Miami Beach Fire Station No. 1, built in 1967, is currently at 1051 Jefferson Ave.  The vote to relocate to the initially chosen location at Sixth Street and Meridian Avenue came after an intense discussion among the mayor and commissioners, who heard from residents and fire department officials.

“We do nothing but risk our lives every day, and all we ask are for conditions to sleep in,” Adonis Garcia, president of the city’s firefighter union, told commissioners. “We wouldn’t even have prisoners sleep in it.”

Mr. Garcia also said the nearly 60-year-old station has an issue with flooding.

City Manager Eric Carpenter said 24 sites for a new station had been reviewed in the last 10 years, and the selection had been narrowed down to the South Shore Community Center and at the edge of a running track at 11th Street and Alton Road in Flamingo Park. The two locations were excluded from further consideration as potential sites for the fire station earlier.

Commissioner Alex Fernandez asked the city administration to weigh in with a professional recommendation, raising concerns about services for seniors, the daycare center and transparency. The decision was ultimately left up to the commission, which was told both sites were viable.

“I’m very disappointed in our administration because this should be a professional item, not a political item,” he said.

Flamingo Park and the South Shore Community Center were both respectively met with pushback as potential sites. Commissioner Joseph Magazine openly opposed putting the fire station in the park, calling it the “lifeblood” of the community.

Several commissioners and the mayor said they didn’t want construction of a new station to be delayed any further. The optimum response times for residents in parts of the southeastern-most point of the city in need of fire rescue service was also cited as a compelling reason to vote in favor of the South Shore Community Center site.

Mayor Steven Meiner supported the decision to move the station to the community center.

“Our residents need this, our fire department needs this, and that’s why I’m gonna support this today,” he said.

As previously reported by Miami Today, the Fire Station No. 1 project dates back to 2015. A resolution document says “the city administration commissioned a professional evaluation of Fire Station No. 1 by Borrelli and Partners, and the final report issued on May 6, 2015, indicated that existing site conditions and minimum code requirements warranted a full demolition and site reconstruction of Fire Station No. 1.”

The community center, which will serve as the site for the new fire station, was designed by acclaimed Miami Beach architect Morris Lapidus and is now slated for demolition.