Cutler Bay council approves $12.8M site‑work contract and monitoring to begin Legacy Park remediation

The Cutler Bay Town Council approved contracts to begin Phase 1 remediation of the 16‑acre Legacy Park site and to monitor soil removal after staff reported elevated arsenic in soil and groundwater.

The council on Tuesday authorized a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) of $12,800,000 for site work and approved a purchase order for environmental engineering monitoring. Town Manager Ralph Casals introduced the update and Emma Jones, owner’s representative from Stantec, detailed an analysis of brownfield cleanup alternatives and recommended full excavation and off‑site disposal with a clean‑fill cap as the preferred approach.

Why it matters: Jones said testing showed arsenic concentrations "higher than recommended and [that] could potentially expose the community to health risks" if people traversed the site. The selected approach—excavate roughly 2.5 feet across park areas, export contaminated soils and import two feet of clean fill—aims to remove exposure pathways and prevent off‑site migration during redevelopment.

Jones gave quantities used to build the GMP: roughly 102,000 tons of exported soil (about $30 per ton) and 76,000 tons of imported clean fill (about $25 per ton). She said the GMP1 scope covers excavation to groundwater (about 2.7 feet), import and compaction of fill, erosion controls, a vehicle wash station for outgoing trucks and a documented, long‑term maintenance plan for the engineering controls.

The contract came after a bidding process for the earthwork: Jones said four subcontractors bid the site‑work portion, two of whom are specialists that submitted bids around $10.1 million and two others submitted significantly higher bids (about $20 million) because they lacked similar experience. Jones said she considered the $12.8 million proposal ‘‘relatively tight’’ given current market conditions for fill and hauling.

Council members raised concerns about total program costs. Vice Mayor Mary Callahan said she would "feel more comfortable if we could tighten up phase 2" so the town does not spend the remediation dollars only to leave a vacant parcel later. Mayor Marabont argued the site must be remediated "either now or later," adding that starting now preserves tax credits and other funding opportunities. Jones said the design team has removed a parking garage and reduced the community center to a single story to lower vertical‑build costs.

The council also approved a purchase order for Kimley‑Horn to provide on‑site environmental engineering services during construction to verify exported soil quantities and approved sources for clean fill. Town staff said monitoring will track soils exported from the site and document compliance with Miami‑Dade requirements.

The project remains phased: staff said they aim to begin Phase 1 before the end of the year to qualify for tax credits but will postpone if the council is not comfortable with costs. Final construction documents for vertical work are roughly two months out, staff said, and additional value‑engineering work is underway to reduce Phase 2 costs.

The next procedural steps are permitting for the initial phase and continued design work for the buildings. The council approved the monitoring, the Kaufman Lynn design‑assist/GMP amendment and related procurement items during the meeting.