![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/MIA_01UNDERLINECOSTS.JPG\" "\\"Construction")
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Construction crews work on the Coral Gables section of the Underline, a 10-mile linear park and urban trail beneath the Metrorail, on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026.<\/p>\n
Carl Juste<\/p>\n
cjuste@miamiherald<\/p>\n
As they head into a potentially difficult financial year, Coral Gables commissioners on Tuesday agreed to redirect $500,000 meant for city projects to help support the operations and maintenance of The Underline, a 10-mile linear park underneath the Metrorail.<\/p>\n
Negotiations ran right up until the deal was unanimously approved during Tuesday\u2019s marathon City Commission meeting and budget hearing, with Underline leaders agreeing to the city\u2019s various asks. That included giving the city a seat on the Underline Conservancy board that oversees the park\u2019s operation, with the City Commission having the power to select its own appointee.<\/p>\n
The funding is half of the $1 million that Underline Conservancy Chair Meg Daly and Friends of the Underline CEO Eulois Cleckley wanted for fiscal year 2027 and will require supporters to come before the Gables commission again for future funding. The city will also be giving the Underline its requested $180,000 for fiscal year 2026.<\/p>\n
The Underline\u2019s construction is expected to wrap up by December, years early thanks to a substantial federal grant. Even though supporters ramped-up fundraising as the project progressed, they didn\u2019t anticipate the full bill for operation of the trail to arrive so soon.<\/p>\n
Annual operating costs are expected to come in at a total of around $9.5 million once the entire trail is finished.<\/p>\n
Cleckley and Daly say Friends of the Underline, the nonprofit\u2019s fundraising arm, has a goal of meeting 60% of estimated operating costs through private donors and sponsorships next year. Miami-Dade County has agreed to provide several million dollars to the Underline Conservancy in ongoing operational funding for three years, with the amount tapering down annually and no guarantee of continued support beyond that.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the new Gables money, along with funding from neighboring Miami and South Miami, will kick in, though Daly said she hopes the substantial support from the three cities will be necessary only temporarily. Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias and his staff will now need to figure out which projects to cut funding from, or delay, in order to support the Underline.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n
Key terms of the Gables-Underline deal<\/p>\n
City leaders continue to say they were blindsided by the Underline\u2019s funding request<\/a> for nearly $4.5 million over five years. Commissioners insist they were promised by Miami-Dade County that maintenance costs would not fall on the cities the linear park runs through.<\/p>\n County and Underline leaders dispute the claim and said they can\u2019t find record of that promise. It\u2019s become an agree-to-disagree situation that led commissioners to scrutinize the Underline\u2019s request more closely.<\/p>\n The amount the Conservancy sought from the three cities represents about 30% of the total cost of operating, programming and maintaining the lushly landscaped and heavily amenitized trail and park, which runs from the Dadeland South Metrorail station to the Miami River in Brickell.<\/p>\n And Gables officials played hardball, including during Tuesday\u2019s final stretch of negotiations. Underline supporters needed to get a deal before commissioners finalized the 2027 budget that night.<\/p>\n Some of the city\u2019s nonnegotiable terms included more financial transparency, audited financials, an annual meeting between city and Underline leaders to negotiate terms for a new deal, and voting power on the Underline\u2019s board.<\/p>\n Under the agreement, which still needs to be signed, Friends of the Underline will give the Gables one of its seats on the nine-person Conservancy board, with the City Commission having the authority to decide the appointee. The board currently consists of five representatives from Friends of the Underline and four members appointed by Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n \u201cThe approximately three miles of The Underline that run through Coral Gables need to be maintained, and I want that investment to succeed. At the same time, we have many other critically important projects and services competing for taxpayer dollars,\u201d Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago told the Miami Herald in a statement Friday. Lago is a longtime Underline supporter who crafted the initial deal years ago that gave the county millions in Gables funds to help construct the linear park.<\/p>\n \u201cThe funding approved this week reflects the need to address maintenance while balancing those responsibilities,\u201d he added, noting that it was important to secure a seat on the Underline\u2019s governing board to give \u201cour community a voice in decisions affecting this investment.\u201d<\/p>\n What the Underline wanted, what the Gables gave<\/p>\n The Underline\u2019s full request was for $4.49 million over five years.<\/p>\n Gables commissioners had already agreed to pay up for this year. On Tuesday, the commission also voted to give the Underline $500,000 for fiscal year 2027. Commissioner Melissa Castro was the sole no vote, stating she wanted to give the Underline more money.<\/p>\n The mayor, vice mayor and other commissioners said they wanted to give more money too, but felt there wasn\u2019t any more wiggle room as the city prepares for a possible future with millions less in property tax revenue if Florida voters approve Amendment 3.<\/p>\n Lago, Anderson and Lara said they would have voted for more Underline funding if they hadn\u2019t made a last-minute deal with Fernandez to secure enough votes to maintain the city\u2019s current property tax rate for fiscal year 2027. In return, they agreed to Fernandez\u2019s ask to reduce garbage fees by $75 and to continue funding relief programs for seniors and veterans.<\/p>\n The deal is estimated to take about $800,000 from the city\u2019s expected surplus, which Lago and the others said could have gone to the Underline. Castro argued they could have given the Underline more money, and avoided affecting city projects, by reducing the city\u2019s additional payments toward its employee pension fund. Lago says the city\u2019s extra payments are part of a strategy to pay off debt faster and have more money available in the future.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too soon to say which Gables projects might receive a funding cut in order to support the Underline and accommodate other changes to the budget made Tuesday. However, during the discussions, Coral Gables Finance Director Diana Gomez pinpointed some possible projects the city could decrease funding for in order to accommodate the Underline funding.<\/p>\n Some of those projects include new sidewalk and crosswalk installations, citywide traffic-calming measures and sidewalk extensions. Commissioners noted that many of those projects were meant to address residents\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n It will now be up to city staff to figure out which projects to reduce funding for, delay or even potentially cut.<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante<\/a><\/p>\n Miami Herald<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health\u2019s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald\u2019s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.\u00a0 An overview of The Underline\u2019s construction phases and amenities was presented on May 19, 2026 during a Coral Gables City Commission meeting. Screenshot of City of Coral Gables presentation <\/p>\n
![\"Families](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/MIA_203aSomiUnderline15NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"MIA_203aSomiUnderline15NEWPPP.JPG\\"")
Families and kids enjoyed the nice weather playing in the new playgrounds during the Nikki Spoelstra Play Forest Grand Opening ceremony, in South Miami’s section of The Underline, sponsored by Mrs. Spoelstra, on Saturday August 15, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
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