Miami-Dade County moves to acquire PortMiami's sole fuel depot, initiating a legal battle

Miami-Dade County has initiated a significant legal challenge regarding the site of PortMiami's sole fuel source for ships, with commissioners voting to acquire the land on Fisher Island through eminent domain.

The county's move to use the government's power to take private property for public benefit comes after the nearly 10-acre site was sold to a private developer last year.

Deputy Mayor Roy Coley addressed the oversight regarding the property acquisition, pointing to internal staff decisions. "What's worth noting is that there are 29,000 employees in the county who make thousands of flawless decisions every day," Coley said. "Occasionally, they make a mistake. They should have called the boss, but they didn't."

The administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava rejected a reported deal to pay the new owner $400 million in port revenue, a figure more than double the purchase price paid by the developer just months ago.

When asked about the timeline of her awareness regarding the proposed price, the mayor noted, "I've been apprised of the negotiations but not at that level of detail because it was still an ongoing conversation."

Commissioner Oliver Gilbert defended the vote, citing the developer's stance. "These folks that bought this property with the understanding that we needed it and then they held it hostage," Gilbert said. "There are courts for that, so if they can't negotiate a lower price, then we will just have a court and jury tell us what it's worth."

The property's owner, HRP Group, which planned to develop the site into a project called One Fisher Island, vowed to contest the acquisition. In a statement, CEO Roberto Perez said, "HRP will aggressively fight this unconstitutional seizure of our property, and we will build One Fisher Island. The only question now is how much of the public's time and money the Mayor is willing to waste to obscure the numerous poor decisions her administration and the County have made for decades."

An engineering firm commissioned by the county to investigate alternative locations for a fuel depot estimated potential costs between $733 million and $1.12 billion.