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Neighbors push back on Meridian Avenue path over golf‑ball risk, trees and aesthetics
Summary
Residents objected to the Meridian multiuse path proposal, citing frequent stray golf balls, potential netting across views, mature tree removals, liability worries and frustration at timing of neighborhood outreach.
A string of residents told City of Miami Beach staff they oppose the proposed Meridian Avenue multiuse path, with many centering objections on the adjacent Miami Beach Golf Club and the prospect of visible netting and tree loss.
Dylan Yalas, a resident who said he had raised concerns in email, told the project team there was "a course of disapproval" among neighbors and questioned spending on a path where a sidewalk already exists while chronic drainage issues remain. "We have a lot of people on the street who are cyclists... So the idea of spending millions of dollars... on this particular street is just hard to understand," he said.
Longtime golfers and other residents argued that mishit golf balls are frequent along the corridor. One caller who said he had played the course for 15 years told staff there is "not 1 place along that entire pathway stretch that's proposed that is not in danger of having golf balls fly through it." Former Miami Beach Mayor Neeson Kazan warned the encroachment would harm a "premier" golf course and called netting "plain ugly."
Mohsen, the project's senior project manager, responded that planting and hedges are the first line of defense and that any netting under consideration would be limited. "In regard to the netting... that is gonna be actually only high enough to close the gap between the trees canopy and the top of the hedges. It's not gonna be actually torn to the point where the houses will notice even the netting," Mohsen said, adding that final locations and heights are still to be determined in coordination with the golf course.
Other objections raised by callers included potential reductions in property values, increased foot-traffic on what residents described as a private-feeling street, light spill from new path lighting, and loss of mature trees at the Dade Boulevard entry. Peter Salomon, the landscape architect, said the team proposes mitigation for removed trees and that some replacements could be installed at larger sizes after arborist assessment.
City staff did not commit to a final netting approach at the meeting; they said coordination with the golf course and consultants would determine specific mitigation measures. Staff also offered follow-up meetings with HOAs and residents and said they will publish a meeting recap, slides and a recording for continued input.
