Miami-Dade County hit the pause button on an escalating fight with the nature center founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, saying in a letter Tuesday that it was rescinding an eviction notice.
“This letter supersedes and effectively rescinds any prior communications from the County on this matter,” Parks Director Christina White wrote, saying the center could remain on a month to month basis until a new deal is hammered out.
But the Stoneman Douglas nonprofit remains wary, said board of trustees chair Mark Diaz.
"Is it completely settled? Stand down, everyone to their corners? I don't think it’s that," he said. "We’ve cleared this hurdle. The sort of Damocles (sword). But I would argue that the month to month is some sort of junior version (of the eviction). Again, it’s a month."
The county parks department sparked the fight in August when it notified the Biscayne Nature Center — housed in a building that Douglas helped raise money to construct — that its programming license was due to expire this month. The letter to the center’s longtime director, Theodora Long, ordered the nonprofit that provides free environmental programs to school kids to pack up and leave.
In the months that followed, tension escalated. Long said county officials refused to disclose details about plans for the building located in Crandon Park that overlooks a protected coastal hammock leading to Bear Cut. In a budget approved in September, the county said it hoped to boost yearly revenues from the small center to $1 million with expanded services. The center has traditionally provided free or low-cost camps, hikes and other programs for students.
After Long said she asked the county to withdraw the eviction letter, the county instead offered to extend the deadline by 45 days, further angering Long and her board of trustees.
Long and Diaz argue the county has no authority to order the center to leave the building, which is owned by the school district, which in turn leases the park land from the county. Last week, Long provided WLRN a copy of a contract between the school district and the center entered in 2006 to provide alternative environmental programming. Long said the agreement remains in effect . School district officials did not respond to a text asking about the contract.
White said the center will now be allowed to continue operating under a “holdover” provision in the agreement as the county works to reach a new programming arrangement.
“The County is committed to working towards a new agreement to allow the continued beneficial relationship between the County and the Center,” she wrote.
Uncertainty over future
The uncertainty over the center's future is beginning to jeopardize the nonprofit center's funding, Diaz said.
In a letter sent to county officials last week, attorney Alan Fein — hired by the center to defend it — warned the county was overstepping the powers of the programming agreement.
“Neither the License nor any other document empowers the County to evict the Center from the home it built,” Fein wrote. “The letter fails to cite a single source that remotely suggests that the County has a scintilla of power or authority to evict the Center from the premises it built and has operated from for decades.”
Fein also warned that the county could face costly legal fees.
“We will seek damages to compensate the Center for the profound effects of the County's strangely lawless behavior,” Fein wrote.
This story was produced by WLRN, South Florida’s only public radio station at 91.3 FM, as part of a content sharing partnership with The Biscayne Times. Read more at WLRN.org.