City waived about $783,000 in fees for 10 Lummus Park events, memo shows

Miami Beach has waived roughly $783,000 in permit and square-footage fees for 10 large events in and around Lummus Park, according to a city memo prepared for a commission committee meeting Monday, Nov. 9.

The list comes in response to the Art Deco Neighborhood Association, whose requests the commission sent to its Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee in May at Commissioner Laura Dominguez’s request. Among them: limit fee waivers, keep events at 11th Street and south, move long-running “grandfathered” events farther south, and turn stages and speakers away from homes.

The waivers

The memo lists these fee waivers, with the square footage each event used. Red Sidewalks added the figures; the memo does not give a total, and some of the waivers are multi-year agreements:

• Hyundai Air and Sea Show: $165,532 (442,520 square feet; agreement through 2028)
• South Beach Wine & Food Festival: $158,353 (398,870 square feet; 2023–2028 agreement)
• Wodapalooza: $120,000 (351,720 square feet; 2026 event)
• Adidas ATHX: $120,000 (86,000 square feet; 2026 event)
• South Beach Seafood Festival: $68,332 (148,450 square feet; 2025–2029 agreement)
• Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix fan festival: $41,465
• Winter Party: $31,756
• Miami Beach Pride: $31,195
• Model Volleyball: $25,000
• Art Deco Weekend: $20,975

In June 2025 the commission limited fee waivers and city-subsidized police, fire and sanitation services to an event’s first three years, with an exception for summer events facing financial hardship. Since then, only the Air and Sea Show has been allowed past that limit, as part of its extension, the memo says.

What else the memo says

Apart from grandfathered events, the city issues permits for Lummus Park only between 5th and 13th streets; moving the northern line to 11th Street would take a new law. Producers are told to point stages east, north or south, never west, and to aim speakers toward the ocean. The memo concedes that screening of back-of-house areas on the Lummus Park “spoil” lot may not satisfy people looking down from nearby buildings.

Every event on public property must offer a resident benefit, such as discounted tickets or, for events over 40,000 square feet, a suggested $5,000 donation to a city fund.

The committee meets at 9 a.m. Monday at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive. The city’s monthly Special Events Community Review meetings, held online on the third Thursday of each month, are where residents can question producers about upcoming events.