The Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board is now officially in conversation with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) about a world-class soccer field to be potentially propped up on public land in North Bay Village.
School board members voted unanimously to allow Superintendent Jose Dotres to discuss a potential deal that would allow Argentina’s soccer governing body to refurbish the fields adjacent to Treasure Island Elementary School (TIES).
(Argentine Football Association)
The Argentine Football Association wants to build a world-class soccer park in North Bay Village with five fields, multipurpose courts and a community center, as seen in this rendering.
The plan in its current form calls for one large field to the west of the school and four smaller fields to the north of it, as well as up to five padel courts, to be used by students during school hours. At other times, the fields’ use would be split between an AFA youth soccer academy, North Bay Village residents and members of the general public.
AFA would also build a dog park and a 15,000-square-foot community center across the road on village-owned property that would include office space, locker rooms, a cafeteria, public bathrooms and a gym.
In addition, 5% of AFA’s event proceeds would go to North Bay Village.
But those details could very well change moving forward. The school board will have to amend a joint use agreement it has with the village over the TIES property in order for the project to advance, and is unlikely to do so before laying out its own terms.
“There is an increase in discourse relative to board-owned property,” said Steve Gallon III, board vice chair, at the November meeting. “We are mindful and will remain mindful of our constitutional obligation to ensure that our properties reflect an educational mission.”
Playing Catch-Up
More than a year in the works, the AFA plan has been wishful thinking until now. North Bay Village first entered into conversations with the soccer association in October 2021, when it received an unsolicited proposal for the development. The city sought other bids the following month but received none.
(North Bay Village)
North Bay Village manager Ralph Rosado, Vice Mayor Marvin Wilmoth and Commissioner-Elect Andy Rotondaro (L-R) attended the Nov. 16 M-DCPS board meeting to speak in favor of the proposed AFA deal.
Since then, village Mayor Brent Latham and his fellow commissioners have voiced their support publicly and to residents, while village Manager Ralph Rosado drew up terms to present to AFA and later, the school board.
Those conversations – meant only to advance negotiations in preparation for final approval – are nevertheless in violation of an item sponsored by Gallon in August that requires school board members to be fully briefed on any potential transactions related to board-owned property.
The Nov. 16 meeting granted the green light for official negotiations to commence.
“To the extent that conversations may or may not have taken place prior to this action, they’re inconsequential, because the board makes the final decision relative to board-owned assets,” said Gallon.
Laying Out Terms
(Apple Maps)
The Argentine Football Association plans to build a community center across from Treasure Island Elementary School on Galleon Street, and rebuild the existing children’s park that’s now on the site to another location in the city.
Indeed, conversations have already taken place. In a letter dated Oct. 10, Dotres’ chief of staff, Jose Bueno, told village Commissioner Richard Chervony that “the plan will need to include project feasibility, a plan for profit sharing, and AFA’s willingness to assist with upfront costs associated with this project.”
Then, on Oct. 27, the village’s assistant manager, Leonardo Cosio, sent a letter to the commission that laid out terms he had received from Lucia Baez-Geller, the school board member whose district encompasses TIES.
According to Cosio, Baez-Geller was prepared to champion the project as long as it would be of no cost to M-DCPS. AFA will also have to cover approximately $75,000 of legal work that the school board will seek to evaluate the deal and provide adequate access for the community to the park and its facilities.
“It’s encouraging,” said Chervony, “but to me it says, ‘Hey, you have a lot of work ahead of you.’”
North Bay Village has also asserted its own wishes for the development, which include availability for public use in perpetuity and that AFA operates and maintains the facility on its own.
The village has agreed to invest $3.5 million in park bonds to be coupled with AFA’s proposed $6.5 million – $4 million for the TIES property and $2.5 million to the remaining portion on Galleon Street.
(Apple Maps)
The Argentine Football Association hopes to refurbish the land adjacent to Treasure Island Elementary School into a world-class soccer park and fields for student use.
Resident Pushback
But the plan doesn’t come without qualms. Village resident Robert McKnight addressed an email to our sister publication The Miami Times in September where he expressed concern over a lack of transparency, a loss of public property and money, and an unfair bias toward soccer players.
“The truth is we have another option, which is building our own multipurpose park,” wrote McKnight, a former candidate for village commission before he withdrew in October.
Mary Kramer, another resident, similarly spoke out against the item at the school board meeting last month. She stated worries that AFA’s world-class presence would increase traffic and pose a threat to students and children using the park.
“I don’t think public land should be branded,” she added.
(Argentine Football Association)
The Argentine Football Association is willing to invest $2.5 million in building a community center, depicted here in a rendering, on Galleon Street in North Bay Village.
Village representatives also in attendance at the meeting shared a different perspective.
“Treasure Island Elementary School is our only public school,” said Rosado. “We very much want to invest in it and make sure that the perimeter of the school becomes essentially a public park that everyone can enjoy.”
School board members attempted to assuage the concerns by reminding those in attendance that the plan is by no means a done deal. Still in the preliminary stages, AFA’s plans could be altered, improved or even shut down entirely at the school board’s hand.
“I do want to make sure that if there is an opportunity, if there is a way we can make this work, that we let our staff, the people in charge, our legal (staff) to make that determination,” said Baez-Geller.
Needed Improvements
Rosado spoke of the village’s “million dollars’ worth of deferred maintenance,” as he put it, including needed roadway improvements throughout the city. North Bay Village is also in need of a village hall.
“There’s a lot to be done, and our dollars only go so far,” he said.
For the same reason, Chervony said he’d “be crazy to say no” to AFA’s funds, but that he’s prepared to move forward even if the organization’s involvement falls through.
Richard Chervony, North Bay Village Commissioner
“If AFA becomes our partner, great, because it alleviates the financial burden on the city, but if AFA doesn’t come in, I don’t want to lose the park,” he said.
As it is now, the field next to TIES is uneven and prone to flooding. Chervony says without AFA, the village could possibly use community contribution funds – collected anytime a new building goes up in the city – to build a new park with proper drainage.
With or without school board approval, AFA still has the ability to at the very least develop the village-owned site on Galleon Street with a community center, where it may hold press conferences and events leading up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Miami.
The organization refused to comment on that possibility until discussions with the school board move forward.