Cutler Bay ready to define its new municipal complex

Now that Cutler Bay voters have approved a $37 million general obligation bond to develop a park, community center and municipal complex transforming 16 acres into the heart of the community, public meetings will begin to define the vision, including its features and amenities.

Town residents would see an estimated property taxes increase of $89 per year for 30 years. Nonetheless, it is possible that the bonds would not be issued all at once, and instead in series over several years. The town currently doesn’t have other general obligation bonds.

Officials have been working on putting the project together since October, Rafael Casals, town manager, told Miami Today. “We’re certainly excited,” he said the day before the vote.

The Miami-Dade County Elections Department results show that 3,341 residents (66.28%) favored the bonds, while 1,700 (33.72%) were against. Only 5,057 residents, 17.53%, cast their vote by mail out of the 28,840 registered voters.

 

The development is to be on Old Cutler Road at Southwest 212th Street. Town authorities estimate the project will open within four to five years.

“The project’s first year would be for the design phase, followed by a year or so for the bidding and permitting phase and, finally, the last two to three years for the groundbreaking and construction,” says a press note from the town.

After the public meetings and authorities work on the final design, the town is to receive bids and secure construction permits.

The Town of Cutler Bay is run only by 32 full-time employees while serving 45,000 residents, Mr. Casals told the newspaper. “We want our residents to know that we’re an extremely financially-prudent town,” said Mayor Tim Meerbott.

The town partnered with the University of Miami’s School of Architecture and with Professor Erick Valle of Valle Valle & Associates to design nine different conceptual site plans, based on resident feedback collected at public involvement meetings prior to the vote.

The property was previously zoned mixed-use, allowing 480 more units to be developed. The town acquired the parcel in 2020 to prevent the potential development and is now aiming to provide more green spaces to the community.

The designs already put together by UM students to conceptualize the vision for the project include amenities such as an amphitheater, event spaces, water features, a dog park, a kids’ playground, and parking. Other designs use the Everglades as an inspiration, with educational and recreational features and a trail.

One design includes buildings raised to provide a safer space during high floods, stormwater infiltration through the use of an aquicludes to drain water, a recreation of the Florida pinelands, and a demonstration garden that serves as a learning lab.