Richard Hoagland also commented that he will stand in front of a bulldoze=
r
if they move in.
also Robert Ghost Wolf has more info at
http://www.wolflodge.org/rising/sacred.htm which contains numbers to fax =
to
help stop any decimation of what could be a highly important historical
site.
Two stories from Miami Herald 30 Jan 1999.
=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=
=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB
Miami OKs building on circle site
Developer tells scientists to clear out by Monday
By ALFONSO CHARDY
Herald Staff Writer
The City of Miami has cleared the way for the construction of twin apartm=
ent
towers on a downtown parcel where archaeologists discovered a mysterious =
and
possibly ancient stone formation, the head of building and zoning said
Friday.
``We issued the foundation permit,'' said Maggie Genova-Cordovi, interim
director for the city's Department of Building and Zoning.
City officials released the permit to developer Michael Baumann late
Thursday, shortly after City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello said the city h=
ad
no legal means to block or delay construction.
With the permit in hand, Baumann can begin laying the foundation for his
$100-million residential and commercial complex just east of the Brickell
Avenue bridge. On Friday night, the developer asked the archaeologists to
leave the site by Monday, said Robert Carr, director of Miami-Dade County=
's
Historic Preservation Division.
Unless Baumann redesigns the project, a parking garage will rise over the
enigmatic 38-foot-wide circular carving, according to plans filed with th=
e
city in 1995 when commissioners approved the development.
Project designers have contemplated 49- and 39-story towers of luxury
apartments, businesses, shops and a parking garage on the 2.2-acre site o=
n
the south bank of the Miami River. The garage would be built in the middl=
e
of the parcel between a west and an east tower.
Flexibility on site plan
Some city staffers familiar with the project have said the developer has
expressed a willingness to preserve the Miami Circle, perhaps by
incorporating it into redesigned site plans.
``He said that he will continue to work with us toward preserving the Cir=
cle
itself, cutting it out or molding it or whatever we can do,'' Carr said
Friday.
Baumann has not publicly committed to such a course of action.
Precisely when the work will start is unclear.
Neither Baumann nor his attorney, Vicki Garcia-Toledo, returned telephone
messages left at their offices.
Cast being made
Archaeologists were still at the site Friday making a cast of the circula=
r
feature for posterity in case construction destroys it.
Discovery of the Circle has attracted wide local, national and internatio=
nal
attention. Uncertainty about the structure's fate has prompted dozens of
residents, mostly young children, to urge City Hall to save the circle.
Some environmental and urban activists also are scrambling to see if any
county, state or federal authorities can step in to prevent construction
legally -- short of seizing the land and paying the developer millions of
dollars in compensation.
In fact, some activists want the entire parcel preserved -- not just the
circle -- on the grounds that it is archaeologically significant. Most
experts believe the formation was carved into the bedrock by Tequesta
Indians, a group that disappeared hundreds of years ago.
The Urban Environment League of Miami-Dade passed a resolution last week
urging city and county commissioners, Gov. Jeb Bush and the state
Legislature ``to do all in your collective powers'' to preserve the circl=
e.
Indicators go back 500 years
Carr said Friday that preliminary studies of some of the relics found nea=
r
the circle suggest that the site was populated permanently as early 2,000
years ago and that the circle itself could have been built 500 to 700 yea=
rs
ago.
Archaeologists discovered the circle during a routine survey of the site
required by Miami commissioners in 1995. It was discovered on a site
believed to have been a Tequesta Indian settlement.
The circle had been hidden from view for nearly 50 years by the Brickell
Apartments, which were demolished last year.
The circle consists of stone carvings and post holes. Some of the formati=
ons
resemble the shapes of sea animals. Some of the archaeologists familiar w=
ith
the circle speculate the structure could have been used to measure time o=
r
keep track of the seasons.
Photographs and information about the circle are now available on the Wor=
ld
Wide Web at www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/parks
=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB=AB=BB
City can't halt project on archaeological site
By ALFONSO CHARDY
Herald Staff Writer
Despite dozens of letters and calls to Miami City Hall urging commissione=
rs
to save the mysterious ``circle,'' the city has no legal way to delay or
stop construction on a downtown parcel where archaeologists discovered an
ancient stone structure.
In a two-page legal opinion, City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello said
developer Michael Baumann could have strong legal grounds to sue if the c=
ity
withholds the final building permit for the Brickell Pointe residential a=
nd
commercial project.
The developer, he said, has complied with a key condition of the original
1995 permit that called for an archaeological survey. Even though that le=
d
to the discovery of the circle, the finding alone is not reason enough fo=
r
further delay, according to Vilarello's legal opinion. Under state law, a
project may be halted only if ancient human remains are found. No such
remains have been found at the circle.
In addition, Vilarello argued, Miami-Dade County's Historic Preservation
Division already has issued a final report saying that ``building permits
should not be delayed.''
``It's absurd that the city does not have the power to at least seek a
moratorium on construction,'' Commissioner Tomas Regalado said. ``All I'm
saying is, give us more time.''
City Manager Donald Warshaw said Thursday night that the city's building =
and
zoning department was getting ready to issue the final building permit th=
at
would allow the developer to break ground.
But the issuance of a building permit doesn't mean workers would immediat=
ely
tear apart the structure. In fact, city staffers have said the developer =
is
willing to redesign the project to preserve the circle.
In addition, a cast of the stone structure is being made, and archaeologi=
sts
have considered moving the circle elsewhere.
Robert Carr, director of Miami-Dade County's Historic Preservation Divisi=
on,
told the developer in a letter Monday that archaeologists planned to wrap=
up
by Feb. 26.
Carr also asked the developer to give archaeologists at least three days'
notice to complete the survey and vacate the site.
Neither Baumann, the developer, nor his attorney, Vicki Garcia-Toledo,
returned telephone messages. Neither one has wanted to comment publicly o=
n
the circle.
Vilarello said a drastic legal option available to the city would be the
confiscation of the land under eminent domain laws -- a potentially
expensive proposition.
The city might have to shell out millions of dollars to compensate the
developer, who plans a $100 million residential and commercial complex at
the mouth of the Miami River just off Brickell Avenue.
City administrators say the cash-strapped city, recovering from a 1996
financial crisis caused by a $68 million budget deficit, cannot afford to=
pa
y.
In his memorandum, Vilarello outlined another possible option: a court or=
der
presumably sought by a third party.
The specter of construction has galvanized the community to save the
structure known widely as the Miami Circle -- particularly young children.
Some of them have spent hours writing letters or carefully drawing elabor=
ate
posters about the circle, which they plan to display when the commission
takes up the issue again during a special meeting or at the Feb. 9 regula=
r
meeting.
Andrea Smith, a Miami Shores Elementary School first-grader who turns 7 o=
n
Tuesday, said she wrote a one-page letter to the commissioners because ``=
the
circle is neat, and I want to know what people before me were like.''
John Klingner, a 9-year-old fourth-grader also at Miami Shores Elementary=
,
said he wrote to City Hall because ``whatever the stone circle is, it's a=
n
important part of Florida's history.''