FIU rallies support for commission meeting

Rebeca Piccardo / News Director

Although the University has the second largest enrollment in the state, it has the smallest main campus.

“We are running out of space,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Lunsford. “We service South Florida—we don’t want to stagnate their opportunity to stay home for school.”

On Wednesday, Sept. 3, the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners will discuss whether or not to let the county voters decide on Nov. 4 if they want the fairgrounds to move and let the University continue growing.

“FIU has reached its capacity at its current location and needs to expand to continue to provide a quality education to our students and contribute to the South Florida community,” said Lunsford in an Aug. 25 memorandum.

In the preliminary agenda for the meeting, the University needs two items to pass in their favor—a memorandum of understanding between FIU and the Fair and the county-wide referendum.

To create this Memorandum of Understanding, the University submitted to the county their plans if they receive the fairgrounds.

Among the items listed, the University wishes to expand their Engineering Center, add another Academic Health Center for research space and build more housing.

Also listed is “support space,” which according to the Media Relations office, means parking structures or spaces.

Lunsford said that nothing is set in stone as far as planning, and that parking would have to be considered when making the decision of building these other structures.

“There are no absolute plans,” Lunsford said. “We mentioned what we would like to see there.”

The MOU is a pending agreement between the county and the University Board of Trustees to work with the Miami Dade County Youth Fair and Expo. to relocate the fair and allow the University to move into up to 64 acres of land.

The fair currently occupies 86 acres of land, and has a 99-year lease with the county, through 2040.​

Despite these obstacles, the University lobbied for years to expand onto the fairgrounds, and gained more confidence when the Florida Legislation granted $10 million for the University’s Strategic Land Acquisition initiative.

The MOU outlines specific steps the University must take, along with the county, to relocate the Fair without invoking the cancellation option of the Fair’s county lease.

For one, the University has to pay for the entire cost of relocation, and according to the memorandum, they intend to seek the rest of the money from the Florida Legislature or private donors.

Additionally, the University agreed to give $20 million to the Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces department to make improvements on Tamiami Park and lease a title to the Bird Basin Property. The county’s lease to the University depends on whether they get the Bird Basin Property or not.

The agreement also sets a deadline of March 1, 2015 for the county to present the University with a relocation site for the fair. Once a site is located, then the University will have a better estimate of the costs they are responsible for.

With so much on the line next Wednesday, the University will provide shuttles to the commission meeting in downtown miami to rally up support, according to Lunsford’s memorandum.

Lunsford plans to attend and hopes students make it as well.

“We would like to see a large constituency of students, who, hopefully, want to expand,” he said.

rebeca.piccardo@fiusm.com

About Post Author

About the Author

Camila Fernandez
A FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communications Student - Began working with Student Media in 2013.