Brett Moss says he wants to preserve the unique spirit of Key Biscayne, and it will take “foresight, clarity and purpose” from the Village Council to achieve that.
With that in mind, the 49-year-old award winning architect and former two-term Council member is the first resident to enter the mayoral race as Mayor Joe Rasco’s second term expires in November.
Moss, who served on the Village Council for eight years and is currently serving as Chair of the Zoning Ordinance Review Committee, told Islander News, “I thoroughly understand the intricacies of our local government and the specific issues facing our island.”
Three Council seats also will need to be filled this year, with incumbents Vice Mayor Oscar Sardiñas and Fernando Vazquez able to run for re-election. Ed London is termed out after serving two terms.
Moss was on the dais when the Village’s stormwater plans, developed by AECOM, was presented, and his opposition led to, at times, contentious discussions. He, along with London, questioned the need for such an expensive project, showing through graphics how effective smaller-sized pipes would be, for example.
The next seated Village Council continued that process, and eventually, Mayor Rasco appointed a three-member Ad Hoc committee to re-evaluate the first choice and make a comparison, which resulted in a less-expensive shallow injection well approach. Even those costs might face a likely referendum vote in November, after efforts by the Key Biscayne Neighbors Association were successful in collecting enough qualified signatures to place the issue in the November ballot.
While Moss was on Council, and even as a concerned citizen, his approach to many agenda items was questioning items with standard logic and detailed analyses. Much of that scrutiny comes from his experience not only as an architect, but also as a longtime resident.
One of those examples surfaced when several established shade trees in his neighborhood were chopped (against the Village’s code). At the time, Moss said he came home from work and “was shocked and upset at seeing where four large trees had been across his West Mashta Drive residence due to a construction project.
“We planted these in 1991 when we became a city,” he said of the mahogany and oak trees, one as large as 26 inches in circumference. “I was very, very upset about it,” he said back then. Regulations were changed to not let that happen again.
When he was on the dais, Moss was never at a loss when it came to pushing back on proposals or actions he opposed. In 2023, for example, as Council Liaison to the Vision Board, Moss deferred the Vision Plan agenda item that January.
“I deferred it because the Village administration mistakenly placed an unfinished document on the agenda that I had not reviewed and without my approval,” he wrote in an April Commentary in Islander News. At the time, Moss wrote that the document presented “was not proofread and, more importantly, it did not include the many items that the Vision Board had asked to be clarified, corrected, removed and added.”
In December 2024, Moss suggested pausing the entire stormwater project for at least a month (until another Council discussion could take place in January) since it was costing more than $400,000 a month just for the design and engineering concept from AECOM and Black & Veatch.
In a statement Moss e-mailed to Islander News this week, he listed a three-pronged initiatives approach to his decision:
1. Efficient and Proactive Governance
I intend to pursue a clear five-year strategic plan tied directly to our annual budget, ensuring that our administration’s direction is firmly guided by your elected representatives. This structural alignment is designed to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, establish clear operational priorities and efficiencies, and reinforce accountability across village management and staff.
2. Responsible Infrastructure Planning
We must approach infrastructure projects in an intelligent, fiscally feasible, and responsible manner. I will actively advocate before the county for a new, resilient Bear Cut Bridge and a practical reconfiguration of the Rickenbacker Causeway to ease congestion. I will prioritize steady progress on undergrounding our power lines and implementing scalable flood management solutions. Our objective must be to fortify our vital links on and off the island, strengthen our power grid, and mitigate future flooding.
Brett Moss (right) with family outside the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. Moss is running for mayor of the island community he has called home for decades.
Courtesy Nicolas Maza
3. Protecting Our Community and Its Character
Our council must always put community preservation, public safety, and our unique quality of life first. I will support efforts to stabilize enrollment at our K-8 center, defend our village’s home rule against state-level preemption and revenue shifts, and promote our youth programs. We must also preserve our neighborhood character through thoughtful zoning policies, beautification, and consistent code enforcement. This approach ensures we maintain a safe, well-preserved community with exceptional services.
“Key Biscayne is a magical place, an island defined by natural beauty, a close-knit community, and a shared commitment to community-led governance,” he wrote. “As residents, it is our duty to protect this unique spirit.
“I am running for Mayor of Key Biscayne to preserve our core values and uphold our founding principle of self-determination.”
As of this post, no other candidate has qualified to run for the office for Mayor of the Village of Key Biscayne.