Miami International Airport raises ‘safety concerns’ over Beckham soccer stadium plan

The agency behind Miami International Airport opposes allowing David Beckham and partners to build a soccer stadium on the nearby Melreese golf course, citing traffic problems, light pollution and structures too high for comfort near flight paths for landings and departures.

In the January report released this week, authors said the proposed 25,000-seat stadium sits just beyond the “outer safety zone” designed to keep large gatherings of people away from MIA runways.

“The fact that it abuts a safety zone is concerning,” read the report from Miami-Dade’s Aviation Department, the agency that runs the county-owned airport.

The report also cited “serious concerns that the lighting associated with the proposed soccer stadium and numerous practice fields, including numerous LED screens/scoreboards, would create visual distractions for pilots.” The analysis said the Aviation Department “does not recommend that this stadium facility be located on the Melreese parcel.”

No fireworks at Beckham stadium

The Jan. 15 report from the Aviation Department’s Land Use Division, released to the Miami Herald through a public records request, is the first time the county agency said it opposed building a pro sports stadium and surrounding mall about 4,000 feet away from MIA’s main terminal.

Beckham’s Major League Soccer partnership, led by MasTec Chairman Jorge Mas, hasn’t yet sealed a deal with Miami to develop Melreese, the city’s only golf course. City voters in 2018 authorized Miami commissioners to negotiate a deal.

But talks have dragged on long enough that Beckham’s Inter Miami CF team played its first home game in August at a soccer training complex the franchise developed in Fort Lauderdale under a deal with that city.

Iris Escarra, a Greenberg Traurig partner and land-use lawyer for the Beckham group, said the venture has already agreed to some of the airport’s requests, including a slightly lower roof height on the stadium.

The final stadium plan will also include detailed lighting controls to comply with aviation requirements and address MIA’s concerns, she said.

“They have lighting standards, and we have to comply with them,” she said. “They were concerned about events with balloons and fireworks. We can’t have any of that — no fireworks, none of that.”

Glare problems in San Jose

In April, Escarra wrote the Aviation Department and laid out concessions the stadium group would make, including lower buiding heights and a lighting plan to comply with aviation rules. Aviation responded with a letter acknowleging the statement, and said it would make a final evaluation once the stadium group issues detailed plans.

Months earlier, a top planning official in Aviation pointed to problems the San Jose, California, airport faced from Levi’s Stadium, home to the San Francisco 49ers, about four miles away.

“I remain concerned that the proposed soccer stadium will provide similar or worse impacts and distractions (due to the proximity) to operations at MIA,” Aviation Planning Director José Ramos wrote agency director Lester Sola on Dec. 10.

“All of their promotional renderings do not shy away from emphasizing their large luminous LED panels and glowing lights emanating from the stadium,” he wrote. “The reflective nature of the roof is also a concern.”

While governed by city zoning rules, the soccer complex also must navigate federal and county oversight related to air traffic and development controls in place around airports. In its report, the Aviation Department laid out a series of steps the Beckham group could take to address concerns if construction goes forward.

Those steps include a permanent waiver of any noise complaints related to overhead flights, steps to reduce light pollution at the stadium, and restrictions on sports-venue staples that might interfere with pilots. Those include drones, blimps and fireworks.

The report also said the structures laid out in the Beckham plan would need to be slightly shorter to conform with county land-use rules surrounding the airport, with one structure about 37 feet too high.

The plan for the “Miami Freedom Park and Soccer Village” is a 25,000-seat MLS stadium next to 600,000 square feet of retail, office and commercial space. It would be one of the largest shopping centers in Miami, and include park space. City administrators had hoped to bring a lease to Miami commissioners by mid-year 2020, a goal partially derailed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Negotiations were paused for months as the city grappled with emergency measures.

Talks have recently resumed, but a lease is not ready yet. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s office is involved in the negotiations, and he recently told the Miami Herald he hopes to bring a lease to commissioners “before the end of the year.”

Any lease would require four of five commissioners to approve. Opposition from the airport could prove a new sticking point on top of other items that remain under discussion, including how to replace more than 20 acres of rezoned parkland, a requirement under city law.

The 2018 referendum set a floor of $3.6 million in annual rent to the city, though commissioners and critics have said that figure must increase significantly by the time the deal reaches the commission chamber. Part of that debate will involve the cost of environmental cleanup for contaminated soil underneath the golf course.

Will soccer in Miami delay MIA flights?

The site is located between Northwest 37th Avenue and 42nd Avenue, the two main roads leading to MIA from the busy State Road 836.

On Dec. 18, Ramos wrote a Beckham consultant with concerns about the proposed project. He warned of the potential for canceled flights if the stadium and commercial complex cause too much traffic at peak departure times at MIA.

“It should be noted that the airlines have expressed concern by the anticipated high volume of roadway traffic to Miami Freedom Park as well as the expected congestion that could impede or delay MIA passengers and airport employees,” Ramos wrote Katie Doyle, a project administrator at Capitol Airspace Group. “Flight operations could be canceled if crew or support staff cannot gain timely access to MIA.”

Escarra, the Beckham lawyer, said the county’s Transportation Department must review the complex’s traffic study before a stadium could get built.

With soccer games mostly happening on weekends and a road design to prevent backups, she said the sports and commercial complex shouldn’t cause issues for MIA, an airport that typically handles more than 40 million passengers a year.

For now, she said, the stadium plans aren’t detailed enough to merit a full traffic critique by airlines.

“I think they should look at the full concept, once it comes to fruition,” she said. “I think it’s a little early right now.”