The plan to build an elevated path for runners, bicyclists and pedestrians along the Collins Canal and Dade Boulevard cleared its last� hurdle Tuesday when the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board gave its blessing.
“They approved going forward completely with the plan,” said an ecstatic Michael Jarboe, a proponent of the path who lives in the historic Palm View neighborhood adjacent to the canal.
The project will provide a safe pathway along the canal from Belle Isle and the Venetian Causeway to 23rd Street and Park Avenue near the Bass Museum.
The board’s unanimous vote means work can be done before a federal grant for the construction is due to expire in July.
The project had run into opposition from Miami Beach’s Green Space Tree Advocacy Committee because a 650-foot section of the 2,900-foot path was too narrow to accommodate adequate landscaping because of the location of the canal seawall and the required width of the path.
In that 650-foot stretch — south of the intersection of Dade Boulevard and Michigan,� across from the old Publix — there is no room for replacement trees if the path is built.
But the historic board backed the proposal from city staff, despite the opposition.
“They approved our plan 100 percent today,” Jarboe said. “The seawall repair is already going forward and the path is right behind it — and the project should be done by July.”
