Residents sue to keep Ferré Park gym equipment off ballot

With only a week left until the Aug. 20 election, a group of Miami residents sued the city seeking to remove a referendum about keeping gym equipment at Maurice A. Ferré Park, asserting the ballot language is misleading.

Referendum three asks voters if the city should “keep already installed gym equipment like in many of our parks” at Maurice Ferré Park “to enhance recreational facilities and promote community health and fitness for all our residents.” On Aug. 11, six residents sued in Miami-Dade Circuit Court alleging the ballot question “omits vital information” and is “unclear and misleading” as well as in violation of the city’s zoning code.

The controversy arises from an October 2023 decision when the Bayfront Park Management Trust, the city agency that runs Miami’s two downtown waterfront parks, moved to install outdoor gym equipment in Ferré Park. A month later, residents filed an appeal with the Planning Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) questioning the warrant approval process, stating the equipment was installed without providing adequate time for community feedback.

On Nov. 15, 2023, the appeals board voted 5-2 in approval of the residents’ appeal, reversing the decision of the planning director who granted the warrant. The trust then appealed the PZAB decision to the city commission in December. The item was subsequently deferred four times, mainly at the behest of Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is chairman of the trust, until it was ultimately heard May 23.

The appeal failed by a vote of 3-2 at the commission, thereby establishing a directive to remove the gym equipment. A permit for removal was issued at the end of July and the trust is now carrying out the task.

Meanwhile, the referendum item regarding the equipment was heard at the city commission on May 9, sponsored by Mr. Carollo. It passed 4-0, while District Two Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents downtown, was absent.

“This started in the fall of 2023 when Commissioner Carollo installed a gym, not following procurement at the City of Miami. He just picked the vendor and popped it in the middle of Maurice Ferré Park,” Mr. Pardo said. “The residents, already upset over many other things, saw this and really took issue because the one message they’ve been trying to send over and over is that they want to retain Maurice Ferré as a passive park with minor commercialization.”

Mr. Pardo said there wasn’t sufficient public input informing the decision to place the outdoor gym equipment in the park and it was made before the warrant period had elapsed within the permitting window that allows for resident feedback.

“Carollo deferred it month after month after, and if he could have continued deferring it, he would have because his ultimate strategy was to put this thing on the ballot and get his way,” Mr. Pardo said. “That deferral was finally brought to an end on May 23 and I forced the vote on the commission and the residents won 3-2, so that normally should have been it.”

“The equipment should be being removed right now. They installed it in weeks, but the city hasn’t been able to get rid of it in two and a half months.

That’s ridiculous,” he continued. “That’s Carollo applying pressure to delay, delay, delay. It’s everything bad in our government.”

The lawsuit filed Sunday night by city residents echoes Mr. Pardo’s concerns and alleges that the language is “unfair, unclear, and misleading, thereby violating Section 101.161’s requirement that referendums contain ‘clear and unambiguous language’”.

It continues to argue that “the city has put its thumb on the scale” through ambiguous wording that may “lead to potential results not intended by the voters.” The plaintiffs seek temporary injunctive relief to remove the referendum from the ballot and prohibit officials from tabulating the results.

A spokesperson for the county elections department told the Miami Herald that the agency will review the complaint and proceed accordingly once the lawsuit is received, according to an Aug. 12 report. Mr. Carollo also told the Herald that the lawsuit is an “act of desperation” and that the public was informed about the proposal to install gym equipment as it was discussed at several public meetings. He said the ballot question is clear and not misleading, but if the referendum fails, the equipment must go.

If voters choose not to keep the gym equipment at Ferré Park, the city will house it until it is redistributed to another park.