Reimagining Fuller Street: Who Decides?

The developer tapped to lead a public effort to redesign both Fuller Street and Kirk Munroe Park in Coconut Grove is promising an open, inclusive process to reach consensus on a final design.

The company chosen by the City of Miami to lead the redevelopment of Fuller Street and Kirk Munroe Park expects design work to begin in earnest in late January, after the city approves a development management agreement (DMA) for both projects.

“With the DMA’s adoption, we intend to commence the design process with stakeholder involvement,” Javier Fernandez, an attorney for Allen Morris Company, said in a written response to questions from the Spotlight. 

“I would envision a few large public meetings (at least two before any City Commission hearings) to solicit feedback and get people’s reaction both in terms of programmatic needs for the park and the preferred design aesthetic,” Fernandez added.

“In between such meetings, we would envision working with a subgroup of neighborhood stakeholders to refine the design for further comment and ultimately approval by the City Commission.”

That smaller group might include the parent teacher association at Coconut Grove Elementary School, the Village Council, and others, Fernandez said, with the final composition to be decided by the community and Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo.

“From our perspective, we do not believe we should dictate the composition of that cohort,” Fernandez said in an interview this week. “It’s not our decision. We will take our cues from the city and the public.”

Likewise, Fernandez said the final design for both projects will be driven by a “shared conversation” between the company and select stakeholders, the public at large, and the city.

“What we want is the enhancement (of the park and the street), for our benefit, and the community’s benefit, and that requires this conversation and we’re prepared to have it,” Fernandez said. 

“We have a point of view, but it’s not our point of view (that will determine the design), it has to be negotiated with all the other stakeholders, right? Because it’s not our park. It’s that simple,” he said. 

Allen Morris approached the city last year to suggest improvements to Kirk Munroe Park and Fuller Street, two public spaces that flank the company’s proposed Ziggurat mixed-use development at the corner of Grand Avenue and Matilda Street.

In response, the city negotiated a preliminary agreement, approved last week, that allows the developer to take the lead on the design and construction of those improvements, subject to public review and commission approval.

The city has said its partnership with Allen Morris will save time and money, but that relationship – and some early design work by the company – have fueled community concerns that the final designs will favor commercial interests over public good. 

Fernandez acknowledged those concerns this week and, in response, promised an open, inclusive design process, with “multiple opportunities” for the public to participate.

“I know there has been some (concern) about our leading the effort, right? The absence of our leadership (means) that nothing happens quite as quickly as it otherwise could,” he said.

“While we are leading, it is not a ‘our way or the highway’ kind of a conversation,” he added. “We want to work with the city to uplift the quality of the neighborhood for assets that we neither own or will own… And so, because it’s a shared public asset… we think it’s important to have this kind of a shared conversation.”

Under the terms of the agreement approved by the City Commission last week, the completed design for both projects must come back before the commission for final approval.  

The agreement also requires Allen Morris to work with local residents, businesses and the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID) to complete the design plans. 

To fund the proposed improvements, the city has agreed to contribute $3 million. Allen Morris will kick in an additional $2 million, and take responsibility for the construction work that follows.

Fernandez said he expects the second agreement – the DMA – to come before the City Commission in January, at the second meeting of the month on Jan. 22.

“The design will follow the approval of the DMA.  No design will be presented at that meeting,” he said in his written response to the Spotlight. “It would be our hope that we could conclude that design process by early next summer.”