County voters say yes to new fire station in Miami Beach’s Flamingo Park

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami-Dade County voters weighed in during Tuesday’s primary election on a county park issue impacting the residents of Miami Beach.

Those voters overwhelmingly approved the construction of a new fire station on a section of Flamingo Park.

The measure received 75.71% “yes” votes, or 197,381 of the 260,723 ballots cast.

Miami Design Preservation League Executive Director Daniel Ciraldo says the proposal mitigates against the demolition of the historic South Shore Community Center, which had been considered as the city scouted site locations.

“That got a lot of residents upset because our seniors use the center, there is a children’s daycare, so not a perfect solution,” he said. “But the community is asking to save the community center and put the fire station somewhere else to allow both to exist since they are both very important.”

Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez is part of that community.

“Since 2017 I have been fighting to save the South Shore Community Center with operations day care which has a senior lunchroom that was closed during COVID, so this really is about it takes a village to save this community center,” she said. “This is really a win-win for everyone. Saving the community center, the day care, keeping the senior lunchroom and we get a new fire station.”

Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt said election results show the majority of votes included voters in every precinct in Miami Beach, even those in the Flamingo Park neighborhood.

Commissioners unanimously approved the project proposal in June.

“Now the work of design things begins,” said Katzoff Bhatt. “Ideally, we will do it in a way where we don’t have to move the track and field where we can maximize the green space and the park landscaping.”

That design conversation is scheduled to begin next month.