JUPITER, Fla. -- Frustrated by holdups in the Marlins' stadium push, Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos Alvarez on Monday advised county officials to suspend stadium-related dealings until the matter is resolved at the city of Miami level.

Alvarez issued a memo to commission chairman Dennis C. Moss stating that he has instructed county manager George Burgess "not to expend or exhaust further resources or time into the Marlins Baseball Stadium agreements."

Alvarez's memo essentially places the fate of the project in the hands of the city of Miami commissioners.

The request from Alvarez comes four days before city commissioners are scheduled to vote on five remaining documents in the stadium effort.

Marlins officials declined comment on the latest development.

For the stadium to be finalized, it needs the approval of the city of Miami commission and then Miami-Dade County commissioners.

The city is slated to vote Friday, and if it passes, then the county is scheduled to vote next Monday.

Alvarez is a strong supporter of the stadium, but he's been frustrated by how the issue has been handled at the city level.

"The fate of the proposed Marlins ballpark is in the hands of the Miami City Commission," Alvarez said in his memo. "Until the city fully vets the Baseball Stadium Agreements and holds a comprehensive set of votes on all elements of the proposal, I cannot support the process moving forward. I would hope that we, as a community, demonstrate that we welcome investment and can do business responsibly, with the acumen, integrity and panache that a deal of this magnitude deserves."

The Marlins are seeking a 37,000-seat, retractable-roof ballpark on the Orange Bowl grounds in the Little Havana section of Miami. The building has been scheduled to open in 2012. To meet that timeline, ground must be broken in June or July.

The total cost of the project, which includes the stadium and parking sites, is $609 million. The push has been an ongoing process between the city, county and the Marlins. Major League Baseball has been heavily involved, with league COO and president Bob DuPuy attending a number of meetings.

But this year, the project has dealt with several delays. Initially, city and county commissioners were set to vote Jan. 22. That date was backed up to Feb. 13, the day before Marlins pitchers and catchers began workouts in Spring Training. The stadium needs the approval of four of the five city commissioners, but on Feb. 13, only four commissioners were present. The vote was deadlocked, 2-2.

"Sincere and earnest work and meticulous and deliberate negotiations have been hijacked," Alvarez said. "The best of intentions have morphed into unreasonable demands that have nothing to do with baseball.

"Political grandstanding, the dissemination of half-truths and intellectually dishonest assumptions are rampant. Is there room for further discussion, scrutiny and additional give and take? Yes. However, the art of negotiation is being mocked. It is wrong to exploit the public's keen interest in baseball in this way. The politicking on the stadium, frankly, has become a distraction."

After a series of switches, the city finally settled on Friday.

In the memo, Alvarez points out that city, county and team officials have spent thousands of hours negotiating in good faith the remaining documents that must be approved.

"The deal is good, but the politics are bad," Alvarez said.

The new ballpark is expected to create hundreds of jobs through 2012, the mayor notes. In a down economy, he views the stadium as a stimulus to boost the area.

The Marlins are under lease to play at Dolphin Stadium through 2011. And plans have been to change the name of the team to the Miami Marlins when they move into the new ballpark, which would have a 35-year lease.

Major League Baseball and the Marlins have repeatedly stated that the team can't survive long-term without a new ballpark.

Searching for a ballpark for more than a decade, the Marlins have never been this close to getting their own facility. In February 2008, city and county commissioners approved a Baseball Stadium Agreement (BSA), which advanced the project to where it stands now.

The five documents that commissioners will address are: the city/parking agreement; operating agreement; construction/administration agreement; non-relocation agreement; and the assurance agreement, where all parties are bound by all agreements.

These documents were scheduled to be voted on last summer, but they were delayed by a lawsuit from local car dealer Norman Braman, who challenged funding for the stadium. All seven of Braman's counts in the lawsuit were rejected, but because of delays created by the suit, the vote for the remaining documents has repeatedly been pushed back since last fall.