Library Saga Reveals Divisions On and Off Village Council 

Key Biscayne Library and pond, home to many of the island’s ibis, Oct.7. (Key News/Annali Hayward)

Depending on who you talk to, Key Biscayne either has a Village Council responsibly working pro bono publico, or working without transparency, in secret. 

Reasonable minds may differ and often do, but recent conversations about the local library have scratched at the surface of discord, raising questions about the Council’s forthrightness  – and misinformation may have played a part. 

When Key News reported on Sept. 16 that the County had taken legal action to adjudicate its rights over the existing library property by negating a library-only deed restriction, it surprised Councilmembers and residents alike. 

Councilmember Ignacio Segurola was prompted to call a “sunshine” meeting with Councilmember Katie Petros, the de facto point person on Council for future library plans. 

Council Members Ignacio Segurola and Katie Petros met to discuss the library early Monday morning, Oct. 7. (Key News_Annali Hayward)

The Oct. 7 sunshine meeting, though respectful, featured a grilling on the Village’s course of dealing with the Miami-Dade Public Library System, and Petros’ involvement. Approximately 10 islanders attended, many of them Key Colony Homeowners’ Association (HOA) board members. The Key Colony developer deeded the former Key Colony sales office to the County expressly for use as a library in the 1970s. 

Key Colony resident and HOA board member Louisa Lincoln Conway filmed the meeting, telling Petros that the condominium represents 23 percent of the Key’s population.  Evidently, Conway and others felt that Council has not been fully communicative about library plans.  

“We would have appreciated being asked,” she said, “15 years into a conversation.” 

Key Colony resident Carlos Garcia agreed. “It’s not about the legal thing to do, it’s about the right thing to do,” he said. 

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Conway has herself participated in meetings with county officials and attorneys to represent the Key Colony board’s concerns about the future of the library site, noting, for example, that a bigger building, with an extra story, could obstruct views and worsen already congested local traffic. Rumors of three- or four-story structures have circulated on local chat groups, but evidence of any such plans has not been provided.

Emerald Bay, part of the Key Colony complex, towers over the Key Biscayne public library parking lot, Oct. 7 (Key News/Annali Hayward)

“I am definitely not looking to take over the space and create a large, multiuse building,” said Petros, reiterating her position stated both in the Oct. 7 meeting and in an open letter Friday. “That’s not what Council directed, and I don’t think anyone is interested in that.”

Ray Baker, head of the Miami-Dade County Public Library System, said his hands were tied when it comes to discussing the specifics or timing of the County’s request for a declaratory judgment negating the library-only deed restriction. He did confirm, however that the process originated with the County.

“We’re going through the proper channels and waiting to have a conversation with the County first before we do anything,” added Petros.

Mayor Mike Davey said that when he looked back at the December 2018 council meeting in which Village Manager Andrea Agha received directives regarding the library, he realized the Council “may be the reason the County filed the declarative action,” but that there was “nothing nefarious” in Petros’ or Agha’s actions. 

“All we’re doing at this point is going through a process that we hope will result in an improved library branch and services for the residents of Key Biscayne, just like we are doing for other branches,” said Baker, who has been in close contact with Petros, Agha and director of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Todd Hofferberth. 

Hofferberth confirmed there have been no recent plans, drawings or proposals for a library on the existing site. Petros did recall plans made around three years ago by the county architectural team, at Baker’s request, of a preliminary rendering of what the space could look like. The 2016 concept showed a two-story building on approximately the same footprint.

Does Davey think it was a mistake not to mention ongoing work on the project to the wider community? 

“Well, it was up on the dais,” he said, referring to the December meeting. “It’s not covered up. It’s out there in public.”

President of the Key Colony HOA board Antonio Camejo wrote in his own open letter Saturday that “a handful of people decide they want something and then negotiate in private…no local public input. Just backroom negotiations.”

But Baker contends that any future plans “will be in close consideration with Council staff and it will ultimately include a public process. We are just nowhere near there yet.” 

Conway says she would like to see some data on library usage as well as the fees Key Biscayne taxpayers pay into the county system, versus the costs of running the library. One idea, supported by Segurola in the Oct. 7 sunshine meeting, is to “opt out” of the county system and go it alone by buying land and building a new library. 

Legal challenge

Whatever plans materialize, they could be stymied by Key Colony’s lawyers. The HOA board voted two weeks ago to hire a firm to fight against the recent activity without a spending cap or a survey of owners, according to board member Matt Bramson. The goal is to determine whether the rights of the developers (Fininvest) that deeded land to the county can still be exercised to appoint someone to an architectural committee controlling what happens to the building, in order not to “violate the spirit of the deed,” as Camejo put it Oct. 7. 

This is despite Fininvest’s dissolution and the apparent lack of successors in interest or liquidating trustees – a point made by Gregg Rosen in Key News last week. 

Bramson says he made motions to cap spending and to survey owners. When both failed, his was the lone vote against hiring counsel. 

“We have the tools at Key Colony to poll our owners and the board refuses,” said Bramson, who, along with Camejo, is also a member of the 2040 Vision Plan committee. 

The 2040 Vision Plan committee – one of several special advisory boards appointed by Council – is itself the subject of some recent misunderstanding.

Councilmember Brett Moss, who is Council liaison to the board, said that the 2040 committee is meant to look far out into the future. 

“There is no reason for the Council to stop thinking about the library just because it also falls under the purview of 2040.” 

Petros agreed. “2040 is not about things we are looking to progress in the next five to 10 years.”

Petros also said she would like the community to understand the relationship with the County works both ways. “We are hoping to be cooperative so we can get funding on larger issues like beach renourishment, water quality control, planning for the Rickenbacker Causeway and Bearcut Bridge. This idea of pushing to leave the system is counterproductive.”