A resolution to implement park fees at Key Biscayne’s Village Green for non-public educational facilities conducting business there, such as training sessions, passed 5-2 last Tuesday night with councilmembers Nancy Stoner and Michael Bracken voting no.<\/p>\n
Some Council members didn’t see many conflicts with the training programs since most are being done during school hours.<\/p>\n
Parks and Recreation Director Todd Hofferberth noted that “We haven’t had conflicts.”<\/p>\n
The biggest park occupancy usually comes after 3 p.m., when the Village Green is being used for athletic activities. Opening the door for more commercial purposes could possibly create more conflicts, some said.<\/p>\n
“I have a very serious problem with doing this,” Stoner said.<\/p>\n
She said she’d be against opening the door to the floodgates to simply monetize the Village Green.<\/p>\n
Councilman Ed London said that for the past 12 to 14 years, the talk has been all about not having enough fields.<\/p>\n
“I don’t have a problem with others using (the space when it’s not being used),” he said.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Oscar Sardi\u00f1as, like Frank Caplan, realizes the demand for trainers and such classes is growing. Sardi\u00f1as suggested maybe putting a limit on how many classes could be taking place, by limiting permits “to keep it manageable.”<\/p>\n
“There are times I want to walk out to the Village Green with my kid, but I can’t because of soccer (training),” Sardi\u00f1as said.<\/p>\n
“We can say no,” Village Manager Steve Williamson said. “This gives us the ability to control.”<\/p>\n
Stoner pointed out that this would not only open the door to soccer academies conducting training sessions, say, in the mornings, but also could open the door to discrimination, “if someone says it’s unfair because we didn’t let this one (group be allowed).”<\/p>\n
Bracken was concerned with the issue of the Village taking on liability when school kids are escorted to the Village Green, whether they are residents or non-residents. But Village Attorney Chad Friedman indicated that under a “sovereign immunity cap,” if a formalized agreement is in place with each group, “that would shift that liability to that entity” (they would assume the risk).<\/p>\n
“I don’t understand why it’s in our best interest …” Bracken said.<\/p>\n
Under a formula used by the County, child daycare centers, etc. are all required to have access to public green space.<\/p>\n
Training sessions have been going on for years at the Village Green, Hofferberth said.<\/p>\n
“Like we manage commercial use through the trainer program, so we don’t have conflicts and the park remains open to the general public. … if there was (a conflict), we could amend agreements,” he said.<\/p>\n
To establish the fees, Hofferberth looked at similar-sized communities to see what they charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A resolution to implement park fees at Key Biscayne’s Village Green for non-public educational facilities conducting business there,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49786,126,123,125,124,99261,25521,13579,908,109289,28396,109288,18696,1584,38455,6343,127,11840],"class_list":["post-249413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-educational","tag-key-biscayne","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-michael-bracken","tag-nancy-stoner","tag-parks-and-recreation","tag-permit","tag-personal-training","tag-public-park","tag-recreational-space","tag-soccer-field","tag-steve-williamson","tag-todd-hofferberth","tag-training","tag-village-council","tag-village-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}