The Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter is pleased to have reached an agreement with the developer of the Reefline, an artificial reef and public art project proposed for South Beach in Miami, Florida, and has therefore withdrawn its appeal of a local permit for the project.
The Miami Chapter had previously appealed a permit issued by Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management for Reefline’s phase one deployment. The permit had been issued while the Chapter was in the midst of discussions with Reefline to address Surfrider’s concerns on potential impacts to South Beach’s south of Fifth waves.
Surfrider has continued engaging in discussions with Reefline’s developer Blue Lab Preservation Society and is pleased that the parties have reached agreement on key terms to avoid adverse impacts on South Beach’s waves. Blue Lab has agreed not to deploy Reefline south of Fourth Street under any circumstances. The project will be deployed between Fourth and Fifth Street, and Blue Lab has agreed to contract and finance wave modeling at the University of Miami’s Alfred C. Glassell Jr. SUSTAIN Laboratory, which will take into account specific South Beach surf conditions requested by Surfrider. Reefline has further agreed to resize and/or reorient the project to minimize impacts to the waves, if any, shown by modeling. Surfrider appreciates these commitments Reefline has made in order to protect South Beach’s waves.
