KEY WEST, Fla. — The Key West City Commission voted 5-2 Thursday to postpone a proposed $188,130 agreement with Bender & Associates Architects for two months and seek more public input before advancing a sweeping master plan for Higgs Beach.
Mayor Sam Kaufman, Vice Mayor Donie Lee and commissioners Aaron Castillo, Mark Rossi and Chris Massicotte voted for the postponement. Commissioners Monica Haskell and Lissette Carey cast the only dissenting votes.
It marked the first time in more than a year that Kaufman, previously the District 2 commissioner and frequently the lone dissenter against the former commission majority, was on the winning side of a split vote.
The delay came amid questions raised by recent reporting from Above the Fold and a national investigation by Oliver Wu published this week in Rolling Stone examining the more than 100 unmarked African graves believed to be beneath and around portions of the park.
“I want to thank the speakers for weighing in and I think that we need to have at least one public meeting at Higgs Beach on a weekend (like we used to) to gather more public input,” said Lee. “And I don’t know that I can support AstroTurf for a dog park either.”
BACKGROUND
Key West Advances $188,130 Higgs Beach Plan with No Estimate to Build It
When Key West took control of Higgs Beach on May 1, city officials said local ownership would give residents a greater voice in the future of one of the island’s most important public spaces.
District V Commissioner Chris Massicotte, who will be spearheading the public meeting effort — agreed.
“I was on the fence about this item but I believe more time will help us gather more public input,” said Massicotte. “I know that there are specific types of turf for pet areas, but I also cannot support turf for a dog park. When I lived in Washington D.C. there was one near my house, and it was disgusting.”
Despite being described as a consulting contract, Item 14 on Thursday’s agenda would have approved a task order under the city’s existing general architectural services contract with Bender. It also would have authorized necessary budget adjustments and allowed the city manager to execute the documents with the consent of the city attorney.
The task order would have paid Bender and its consultants to transform a city-provided concept into a schematic master plan and shepherd it through the Development Review Committee, Tree Commission, Planning Board, Historic Architectural Review Commission and, eventually, the City Commission.
The concept includes 16 standard pickleball courts and a tournament court, a covered hockey rink, an artificial-turf multipurpose field, a pump track, a rebuilt playground and an artificial-turf dog park. It also calls for support buildings, landscaping, parking changes and other improvements.
But commissioners were being asked to authorize the planning work without a construction estimate for the overall project, a published recreation-demand study or a clear record showing how public input produced the proposed collection of amenities.
An Above the Fold investigation published before Thursday’s meeting found the plan began with a “bubble diagram” prepared by city staff. Available records did not identify who selected the proposed uses, why 17 pickleball courts were considered necessary or whether residents had been presented with competing concepts.
The reporting also found no recommendation on the plan from the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.
Additional concerns involved the proposed artificial-turf dog park, including surface temperatures, sanitation, drainage and the presence of graves within the project area. Planning documents acknowledged that improvements within the dog park would have to remain above the existing grade because of the graves.
Those concerns received national attention when Rolling Stone published Wu’s investigation into the African Cemetery at Higgs Beach.
Wu examined the decadeslong effort to identify and properly memorialize Africans who died in Key West in 1860 after being rescued from three illegal American slave ships. More than 1,400 Africans were brought to the island, where hundreds died from disease and the effects of their imprisonment.
Ground-penetrating radar has identified more than 100 probable graves near Higgs Beach and along Atlantic Boulevard. Only a small portion of the cemetery is formally marked and memorialized.
The report sharpened questions about whether Key West should move forward with an ambitious recreation plan before establishing the full boundaries and historical significance of the burial ground.
The Bender proposal also contained an apparent inconsistency in its fee calculations. Individual consultant charges and listed 10% coordination markups appeared to total $202,092, while the proposed task order and payment schedule totaled $188,130 — a difference of $13,962.
The scope did not include construction documents or construction administration. It also excluded or limited several potential permitting, survey and regulatory expenses, meaning the $188,130 represented only an early planning cost rather than the cost of designing or building the proposed improvements.
No comprehensive estimate has been released showing what the entire Higgs Beach concept would cost to construct, operate or maintain.
The city also faces significant existing needs at the park, including a deteriorating seawall estimated at approximately $3.7 million and the long-neglected Astro City playground. Those projects could compete for funding with the amenities included in the proposed master plan.
Thursday’s postponement does not kill the project or terminate Bender’s existing architectural relationship with the city. It delays approval of this particular Higgs Beach task order and directs the process back toward additional public involvement before the city commits to a formal design.
The vote also represented an early and unmistakable shift in power at City Hall.
Kaufman spent much of the previous commission term unsuccessfully challenging decisions made by the former majority. On Thursday, joined by two newly seated commissioners and two returning members, he assembled the five votes needed to stop the Higgs Beach plan from moving forward as presented.
For the moment, the future of one of Key West’s most important—and historically sensitive—public spaces will not be decided solely by a staff drawing and a consultant’s task order. The public will get another chance to weigh in.
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