Cutler Bay delays master plan vote as council weighs arsenic cleanup and funding options

The Town of Cutler Bay Town Council on Jan. 7 deferred a resolution to adopt the final master plan for the town’s 16-acre Legacy Park and municipal complex after lengthy presentations and discussion about arsenic contamination, remediation costs and how to pay for cleanup.

Stantec owner’s representative Emma Jones gave the council a detailed status update and a costed menu of six build options for the park, community center, pool, town hall, police facility and parking. Jones told the council the project’s schematic and design-development phases are complete but that the construction-document phase is paused until the council decides the project scope. She said the design team and contractor Kaufman Lynn provided pricing and that the soil-remediation plan — approved by the contractor as a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) in December — is on the project’s critical path.

The council heard that the original master plan adopted by resolution 23-68 envisioned roughly 4 acres of buildings and 12 acres of park. Jones and staff described sites and cost changes driven by environmental findings: a planned 1.5-acre lake was removed because arsenic in groundwater made construction unsafe; the community center design shifted from a raised two-level solution to a single-level community-center building after geotechnical review found soils lacked required bearing capacity. Jones presented per-item estimates: community center about $10.0 million and pool and pool building about $4.3 million (roughly $14.3 million combined); two-story town hall about $13.8 million (three-story option about $18.2 million); a three-story, 300-space parking garage about $7.0 million or surface parking about $0.5 million; park and open-space improvements about $4.8 million and a stage/pavilion about $700,000. The presentation also listed six package options with total build costs ranging from about $57.5 million (most expansive) down to $37.7 million (most limited).

The funding picture framed the council’s discussion. Voters approved a $37 million general-obligation bond by mail ballot in March 2022, the town manager said. The town has obligated $6.5 million in ARPA funds specifically for soil remediation and reported an outstanding remediation GMP with Kaufman Lynn of $12.8 million approved earlier. Town staff said about $6.3 million more would be needed to cover the remainder of the current remediation estimate; staff gave council three broad ways to fund that gap: (1) use a portion of the GO bond, (2) draw that amount from the town’s general-fund reserves (the town manager said reserves were about $26 million), or (3) fence and defer development of half the park while spending less now. Staff also said the town has applied for an EPA grant of $4.9 million and planned to pursue state and federal funding opportunities and Brownfields cleanup tax credits.

Council members repeatedly said fencing off and not remediating half the park would undermine voter expectations. “If we were to wall it off 8 acres, unusable, untouched…you’re gonna have all of our residents thinking that we don't know what we’re doing,” Councilmember BJ Duncan said, urging full-site remediation. Mayor Marabod framed the contamination as a long-term public-health and stewardship issue, calling the problem “our Love Canal” and saying the town must address it now rather than delay and increase future costs.

After discussion the council gave staff direction to pursue full remediation of the park (including coordinating Blue Heron Park work and pursuing grant reimbursements) and to return with formal budget and drawdown language. Councilmember Ramon Ramirez moved to defer action on the resolution adopting the final master plan (item 11a) so the council could consider funding-language and midyear budget adjustments; Councilmember Lord seconded. The motion carried unanimously; the town manager said staff would present a resolution and budget amendment for a Jan. 15 meeting that would include language allowing for reimbursement if grants are later awarded and would address Blue Heron Park remediation as well.

Ending: The council did not adopt the master plan on Jan. 7. Instead, members asked staff to prepare a formal resolution and budget adjustments for Jan. 15 that would authorize drawing the necessary funds to complete remediation now, while preserving options for build scope depending on final funds and grant awards. Staff said final remediation work remains contingent on approval of the remediation plan by state regulators and on grant outcomes.