Miami-Dade Commission to vote on water park near Zoo Miami
MIAMI - A big decision looms Wednesday when the Miami-Dade County Commissioners meet.
"If they want to come after me over this, fire me over this, I leave with my head held high," shared Ron Magill, who has spent four decades working at Zoo Miami.
He comes forward now as a private citizen. On Friday, he wrote a 25-hundred-word letter denouncing the nearly two-decades-long Miami Wilds Water Park Project on the county-owned zoo grounds.
"Zoo Miami, critical habitat, Pine Rockland is not the right location," added Magill.
The development site would be the parking lot spaces adjacent to Zoo Miami.
Magill wants the project terminated because he is concerned about endangered wildlife in the protected pine rocklands ecosystem in the forest bordering the project's location.
"All these animals to our general health," emphasized Magill. "When you eliminate one of those links in the chain, the chain breaks. Never know when that can become catastrophic."
Living in Pine Rockland includes the endangered Florida Bonnetted Bat, the Tiger Beetle, and dozens of other imperiled species living in protected land.
"Mind boggling, the county wants to plow all of this biodiversity away and replace it with a theme park," said Elise Bennett with Biological Diversity.
Bennett serves as lead counsel in the federal case against the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Miami-Dade County.
"Park Service completely failed to do these environmental reviews," said Bennett. "Park service's job in taking this action to remove those land-use restrictions was to make sure that it's not going to endanger the very existence of these species."
On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners will vote to create a new lease agreement with Miami Wilds. The executive summary reveals the National Park Service "admitted most of the allegations and conceded that they did not undertake the reviews required by federal law," in the 2022 amended lease with Miami Wilds.
"This is not a binary choice between water park and wildlife," said Paul Lambert, Miami Wilds manager. "We're confident that the wildlife will be protected."
Lambert showed CBS News Miami's Joe Gorchow the plans for the project, which is still waiting to break ground.
"We've mitigated [concerns] by shrinking the footprint of the project to just the parking area that you can see here," added Lambert. "Funding from Miami Wilds funnel some of that funding into the restoration of the forest, which is in very bad condition today."
Lambert adds Miami Wilds will not destroy existing natural spaces or green space.
Additionally, he says the project itself will be a county economic driver.
"Look at the numbers the day it opens," said Lambert. "It's going to be. It will be among the top 10 employers in this part of Miami-Dade County."
"I understand the value of a water park," said Magill. "There are other places in South Florida where it can be built. I will support it in the right location."
