Park and Recreation

(a) As all property in all parks is County property no person entering or being within parks or areas operated and maintained by the Park and Recreation Department shall violate the provisions of by offense against property.
(b) No person shall vandalize, deface or destroy any park property or equipment within a park site. Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Art. 5, § 2, 6-16-59; Ord. No. 86-64, § 1, 9-16-86; Ord. No. 95-82, § 1, 5-2-95)
(c) No person shall damage or remove plants or plant materials, trees or parts thereof or any flowers, nuts, seeds, or fruits whatsoever, except that park personnel may be empowered to make such removals and scientists and students of botany may be issued a Special Permit for specimen collecting by the Department Director or his/her designee.
(d) No person shall excavate or remove any artifact from any archeologically sensitive areas. Of particular concern are Native American burial grounds and living sites.
(e) No person shall make any excavation by tool, equipment, blasting, or other means or utilize metal detectors or shall construct or erect any building or structure of whatever kind, whether permanent or temporary, or run or string any public utility into, upon, across or over any park or recreation lands unless authorized by permit or easement.
(f) No fires shall be built by any person against or adjacent to any park building, structure, tree or plant or near the property of others or in any area of any park except in such areas as are specifically designated for fire building, nor shall any person drop, throw and permit to be scattered by any means, hot coals, lighted matches, burning tobacco products or any other flammable material within any park area or any highway, road or street abutting or contiguous thereto.
(g) No person shall build, light or cause to be lighted, any fire upon the ground or beach or other object in any area except in an approved grill, stove, fireplace or other suitable container, nor shall any person starting a fire leave the area without extinguishing the fire.
(h) No person shall use a grill or other device in such a manner as to burn, char, mar or blemish any bench, table, or other object of park property. (Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Art 4, 6, 6, 6-16-59)
(i) No person shall stand or sit on any fence rail or on any picnic table or any other structure not intended for such use in park or parkway. (Ord. No 59-14, Rules, Art 3, § 2, 6-16-59)

Rule 9. Protection and preservation of wildlife

(a) No person shall molest, harm, frighten, kill, net, trap, snare, hunt, chase, shoot or throw or propel by any means missiles at any wildlife roaming free about a park or in captivity in a zoo cage, nor shall any person remove or possess the young of any wild animal or the nest or eggs of any reptile or bird or to collect, remove, possess, give away, sell or offer to sell, buy or offer to buy, or accept as a gift any specimen dead or alive of any animal within a park, unless specifically authorized by the Director of the Park and Recreation Department. This provision is not intended to limit any program for the purpose of control of nuisance wildlife as set forth in Rule No. 10 below.
(b) No person shall disobey posted notice prohibiting feeding zoo animals, birds or reptiles.
(c) No person shall place, dump, abandon or leave any animal, reptile or bird, either wild or domestic on the grounds of any zoo or park. (Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Art. 3, § 3, 6-16-59)

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Rule 10. Control of Nuisance Animals

(a) Definitions. When used in this rule the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:

Exotic Animal: A non-native animal species that occurs in South Florida, as a result of direct or indirect, deliberate or accidental actions by humans, which shall include, but not be limited to, all domestic, semi-domestic or feral animals.
Native Animal: An animal species that occurs naturally in or is indigenous to South Florida.
Natural Resource Park: A Natural Resource Park shall mean any of the current so designated parks and any park acquired or opened by the Department after the effective date of this ordinance that contains more than two (2) acres (cumulative) of pine rockland, hammock, freshwater wetland, coastal wetland, or scrubby flatwood plant community.

(b) The introduction by any person of any exotic animal and the placement, abandonment or leaving of any animal in a County park or in public areas immediately adjacent to a County park is strictly forbidden.
(c) The feeding by any person of any exotic or native animal in a County park or in the public areas immediately adjacent to a County park is hereby strictly forbidden unless specifically authorized by the Department Director.
(d) Exotic animals, with the exception of those authorized by the Director, roaming free in County parks are hereby declared to constitute a nuisance. The Park and Recreation Department Director has the authority and responsibility to establish process and procedures to control and remove from the park, the species which are declared to constitute a nuisance.
(e) The Director of the Park and Recreation Department is hereby authorized, in consultation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to declare certain native species located in identified parks to constitute a nuisance. Native species shall be determined to be a nuisance when, in the discretion of the Director of the Park and Recreation Department, in consultation with staff of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the number, location, behavior or other characteristics of the native species or the remains of deceased animals constitute a hazard to human health and/or safety or to the resources of the particular park.

Rule 11. Domestic animals

(a) No person shall be permitted to take any domestic animal other than a horse, as provided in Rule 21 below, into any park whether on leash, in arms or running at large, dogs in particular being excluded from parks, and provisions of Miami Dade County Dog Control Ordinance No 58-28 [Sections 5-3—5-15] shall apply to any and all park property, except for those areas specifically designated for dogs or other domesticated animals. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the use of a service animal, which means any dog guide or other animal individually trained to work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.
(b) Cattle, horses, mules, swine, sheep, goats, or fowl shall not be allowed upon park property and all owners or attendants of such animals are charged with the duty of preventing such occurrences. This prohibition does not apply to animals and fowl kept by the Park Department or under its direction. (Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Art. 4, § 10, 6-16-59; Ord. No. 96-95, § 1, 6-18-96)

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Rule 12. Aircraft

(a) No person operating, directing, or responsible for any airplane, helicopter, glider, balloon, dirigible, parachute or other aerial apparatus (excluding kites) will take off from or land in or on any park land or waterway, except when human life is endangered or written permission has been obtained from the Department Director. Take off from and landing in any natural resource area, and the environmentally sensitive Deering Estate at Cutler is specifically prohibited except when human life is endangered.
(b) No person operating any aircraft shall do any stunt flying over or fly lower than 1,000 feet above the highest obstruction located in any park or recreation areas that are considered to be populated areas requiring compliance with Federal Aviation (FAA) Administration regulations regarding same. (Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Art. 6, § 1, 6-16-59)

Rule 13. Closing of parks

(a) No person shall be or remain in any part of any park that is fenced in or provided with gates between the closing of the gates at night and their reopening on the following day; nor shall any person be or remain in any park not fenced in or provided with gates, between sunset and sunrise or as specifically posted, except in areas designated as twenty-four- hour boat launching areas, and except that persons and vehicles may pass through such parks without stopping, on the most direct walk or driveway leading from their point of entrance to the exit nearest to their point of destination. The provisions of this section shall not apply to police officers or department employees while in the discharge of their duties nor to persons having a permit in writing issued by the department to be or remain in any part of the parks between such hours. The Department Director has the authority to establish exceptions to the closing hours as set forth above when it is in the interest of the public health, safety or welfare and such exceptions shall be posted. (Ord. No 59-14, Rules, Part 2, Art. 2, § 1, 6-16-59; Ord. No. 72-8, § 1, 2-1-72)
(b) No person shall enter upon any part of any park, which is in an unfinished state or under construction or withheld from general public usage in the interest of public safety, health and/or welfare unless specifically permitted by the department Director. (Ord. No. 59-14, Rules, Part 2, Art. 2, § 4, 6-16-59)

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