MIAMI HERALD ON LINE - Wednesday, February 17, 1999

Penelas says county will confiscate Circle site

By MARTIN MERZER and DON FINEFROCK Herald Staff Writers

Striving to shield the Miami Circle archaeological discovery from power saws and bulldozers, Miami-Dade County seized the initiative Wednesday night and announced plans to confiscate the downtown site under the legal process known as eminent domain.

Mayor Alex Penelas said he will ask the County Commission at 11 a.m. today to authorize legal action that would temporarily block development of the riverfront parcel and eventually compel developer Michael Baumann to sell the valuable land to the county.

As Penelas made his decision Wednesday, two new teams of stone cutters from Broward County were assessing the difficult and sensitive task of removing the 38-foot-wide artifact. A spokesman for one team said it planned to cut up the Circle -- which many believe was a sacred site to the Tequesta tribe -- like ``a pizza pie'' or ``jig saw puzzle.''

Confronted by that possibility, Penelas said he felt ``an overwhelming responsibility to save this historic formation.

``I simply cannot stand by and allow an important piece of this community's history to be destroyed, he said during a news conference. ``I just cannot allow that to happen in good conscience.''

Miami Mayor Joe Carollo responded angrily to the county's attempt to seize land within the city. He called it an intrusion into Miami's affairs. He said the city might sue the county to recover $1.1 million in annual property taxes that could be lost.

``What he is proposing is the destruction of the city of Miami as an entity,'' Carollo said.

Preservationists in South Florida and from around the country have been working feverishly to preserve the Circle on the south bank of the Miami River. Penelas took special note of South Florida's schoolchildren, hundreds of whom began the letter-writing and lobbying campaign to save the Circle.

``This is a good moment to take a step back and listen to our children for a change,'' he said.

Penelas predicted he may face a tough audience today when he goes before the County Commission. A majority of commissioners have expressed support for tough action, but some have reservations about going to court without the support of the city of Miami.

``I believe this will obviously be a contentious issue, the mayor said. ``If we don't get the votes, I think this will be dead.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris plans to attend the meeting, though an aide said she carried no concrete offer of financial help.

Baumann paid $8 million for the land and invested an unknown sum in architectural plans and permit applications for his twin-towered residential and commercial Brickell Pointe development on the 2.2-acre site just east of the Brickell Avenue bridge.

A representative of Baumann characterized the developer as ``deeply disappointed'' by the mayor's action and said he would ``vigorously defend'' his legal rights. But the representative also sounded a conciliatory note.

``When any responsible government authority decides that public ownership of the Brickell Pointe property is the only way to preserve the Miami Circle and brings eminent domain proceedings to accomplish that result, the company will have to yield to that authority,'' attorney Vicky Garcia-Toledo wrote in a letter faxed to The Herald.

Previously, Baumann has strenuously rejected even the suggestion that he might sell the land, though some believed that was a negotiating ploy.

To qualify for an eminent domain ruling, the county would have to prove that it has a public purpose or necessity for seizing the land. If the county clears that hurdle, a circuit court judge would authorize seizure.

Baumann would be compensated for his land and expenses, with the price decided by a 12-person jury. Under the ``slow-take'' procedure selected by Penelas, the county would not have to buy the property if the price turned out to be more than commissioners were willing to pay.

Penelas said the procedure would provide the county with ``additional time to raise funds to purchase the property.'' He said ``countless sources of funds'' had been found, but he did not identify any.

Meanwhile, the request for a temporary restraining order will be filed today, Penelas said. If granted, the injunction would block Baumann from touching his land until the eminent domain issue is resolved.

The ire aroused at Miami City Hall seemed inevitable. Carollo and some other city officials favored the cheaper, less intrusive option of moving the Circle and reassembling it for public display.

A City Commission meeting on Tuesday yielded nothing beyond a general statement of support for preservation and tension between Penelas and Carollo.

``I no longer wish to participate in games of political gymnastics between the county and city governments,'' Penelas said Wednesday. ``While we posture and pontificate, a historical site grows closer to its last days of existence in its rightful location.''

Carollo said late Wednesday he now fears Penelas' action would discourage a West Palm Beach developer from proceeding with a $1 billion project along Miami's bayfront that could provide $11 million a year in tax revenue.

``This will have a reverse domino effect on the city,'' Carollo said.

After months of delay and eager to begin construction, Baumann had joined Carollo in advocating that the Circle be moved to a storage area.

Crews were poised to begin clearing sections of the site Friday, though Baumann promised not to touch the Circle for at least a week, until archaeologists completed a mold. Carved by early occupants of South Florida, the Circle is believed to be 600 to 2,000 years old.

Earlier Wednesday, a team of stone cutters from ABC Cutting Contractors of Pompano Beach examined the site.

``I'm not a proponent of this,'' a crestfallen John Ricisak, an archaeologist and the Circle's field director, told the team. ``I'm afraid it's just not going to be done in a realistic way.''

The other contender for the job was Speedy Concrete Cutting of Fort Lauderdale, which for weeks has been quietly evaluating the archaeological discovery on Baumann's orders, according to John Gunther, Speedy's vice president of sales.

Gunther said his company would have no choice but to cut up the Circle like ``a pizza pie'' or ``a jig saw puzzle,'' though it could later be reassembled with little loss of material. He described the job as monumental -- requiring 10 employees working 10 days to cut out 270 tons of material.

Ricisak and other archaeologists spent the day taking last-chance photographs and mapping final features of the site. The end seemed near.

Asked how he was doing personally, Ricisak looked at the stone cutters and said: ``Not so great.

``I'm not looking forward to the day when they begin.''

By nightfall Wednesday, he and other county archaeologists were feeling a good deal better.

Bob Carr, Miami-Dade's lead archaeologist, expressed gratitude for Penelas' action, though he said it was not clear when -- or even if -- his team could widen its exploration of the site.

``This could be excellent,'' Carr said. ``It certainly takes a lot of pressure off us.

``We've been under enormous pressure out there.''

Herald staff writers Tyler Bridges and Mark Silva contributed to this report.

Herald senior writer Martin Merzer can be reached by e-mail at mmerzer@herald.com