Florida college to redo vote on land transfer for Trump library

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(The Center Square) – Miami Dade College’s Board of Trustees will hear from the public on Tuesday before taking a second vote on transferring a valuable piece of property to the state for a planned Trump presidential library.

The board previously approved the land transfer in September, but a lawsuit that accuses trustees of violating open meetings laws has temporarily blocked it. 

At issue is a 2.63-acre parcel near the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami. The parcel is currently being used as an employee parking lot for Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus and is estimated to be worth at least $67 million. 

The legal complaint, filed in October against the college and the board, led to the court granting a temporary injunction and scheduling a two-week trial to begin next August. 

“I think at this point, given that it could drag out a full year, we might as well go ahead and call for a meeting and vote on it as a board,” board chair Michael Bileca said during the board's November meeting. 

The board is scheduled to meet again on Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Marvin Dunn, a retired professor who researches and records local Black history, filed the lawsuit, alleging the board broke the state’s Government in the Sunshine law by not giving the public enough notice for its meeting or stating its purpose when the initial vote occurred. The board has denied wrongdoing. 

Dunn wrote on X that a second vote won’t change the outcome but will “make them do their dirt in the sunshine.” A petition he organized that urges trustees to vote against the land transfer had generated more than 11,900 responses as of Monday morning. 

Board trustee Marcell Felipe said the lawsuit would lead to a taxpayer-funded legal fight that would be “wasteful.” He said he plans to explain during Tuesday’s meeting how the presidential library would benefit Miami.