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South Miami adopts 10-year Parks and Recreation Master Plan aiming to expand access and maintain facilities
Summary
The City Commission accepted a 10-year Parks & Recreation Master Plan on April 7, approving phased priorities for maintenance, new facilities and site-specific projects with a focus on access, safety and fiscal feasibility; staff will return with implementation steps and funding requests.
South Miami’s City Commission voted 4–0 on April 7 to adopt a Parks and Recreation Master Plan that lays out a 10-year roadmap for capital investments, maintenance and programming.
Hadley Peterson of Kimley Horn, the consultant that led the plan’s development, told the commission the plan is the result of a system-wide evaluation and “robust community engagement” that reached more than 5,000 residents and stakeholders. “The parks and recreation master plan is really a 10 year road map for guiding investments in this city,” Peterson said during her presentation.
The plan divides work into three phases: near-term stabilization (1–3 years), medium-term growth and connection to schools and redevelopment areas (4–7 years) and long-term transformational projects (8+ years). It recommends maintaining the current system standard of roughly four acres of parkland per 1,000 residents while shifting facility composition toward 65–75% active recreation to better match community needs.
Implementation guidance in the document includes a prioritization framework, level-of-service standards, facility programming recommendations and a menu of funding strategies — grants, bonds and sponsorships — intended to support both capital and increased ongoing operations and maintenance costs. Peterson said the plan also includes site‑specific recommendations for South Miami Park, Welsh Junior Park and Palmer Park and a joint-use coordination piece with Miami‑Dade County.
Commission discussion touched on dog‑park capacity and geography. Peterson said the plan preserves equivalent dog-park square footage and provides site-selection standards intended to make future siting and design decisions easier. Resident Matthew Sussman urged the commission to keep dog‑park users’ needs in mind as the plan is executed.
City Manager (speaker 13) and other staff said the plan will inform budgeting and implementation choices; staff will return with items that translate those recommendations into specific project and budget requests. The commission’s motion to adopt carried unanimously.
The commission also directed staff to track implementation, report back on funding options and consider how to sequence near-term plantings and design work alongside larger capital projects such as intersection and sidewalk improvements.
