Less than a week after most of them heard about it, Miami-Dade commissioners on Tuesday approved a multibillion-dollar deal to build a baseball stadium, downtown streetcar, museum campus and an underwater tunnel to the Port of Miami.

''You have to have foresight and you have to have guts to stand in front of these issues,'' said Commissioner José ''Pepe'' Diaz, who delivered a passionate speech about the need for the projects in the face of a movement to delay action. ``We don't have a GM plant here, we don't have a McDonnell Douglas plant -- we depend on tourism and trade.''

The 9-4 vote allows the county and Miami governments to set aside new property-tax revenue from a pair of downtown neighborhoods through 2030, reserving it for specific projects instead of dropping it into the general budget.

The so-called ''global agreement'' germinated for years in closed-door meetings of top government leaders but only became public last Wednesday -- the day before Miami city commissioners voted 4-1 to approve their side.

Many details remain unsettled, but the county's approval was considered the largest remaining hurdle to a plan that will help define downtown Miami's structure and soul through the next generation.

The no votes came from commissioners Joe Martinez, Natacha Seijas, Rebeca Sosa and Javier Souto. Sosa and Souto made their objections clear, primarily to the port tunnel. Martinez and Seijas objected to have so little time to review the package -- the final documents were not released until around 4 p.m. on Monday.

''The more I keep reading into this thing, the more questions I have,'' he said.

The vote came after labor unions asked for guarantees that local workers and contractors would win some of the work, and homeless advocates asked for guarantees of new affordable housing.

Specifically, the deal expanded the size and life span of Community Redevelopment Agencies -- quasi-governmental groups created to revitalize slums and blight -- in the Overtown/Park West and Omni neighborhoods.

That expansion allowed the county and city to plan long-term spending of some $3 billion. Most of it will come from the Omni CRA, including $484 million to pay off debt at the new Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, $88 million for the city's contribution to the $1 billion port tunnel and $130 million to renovate Bicentennial Park, where voters in 2004 approved a plan to build two museums.

The two governments would spend $370 million on the baseball stadium -- plus $155 million from the Florida Marlins -- by dipping into tourism taxes that can only be used on sports and convention facilities.

Marlins President David Samson attended much of the day-long meeting but did not address the commission.

Another $50 million will go toward a new soccer stadium next to the ballpark on the site where the Orange Bowl now stands.

Finally, the deal adds a projected $605 million to revitalize Overtown and Park West, likely targeted at affordable housing, infrastructure and job creation. An additional $326 million will go to the city's general budget and $196 million to the county -- but $20 million will come out of the county's share to fund a controversial streetcar project for downtown.

Many of the projects -- including the stadium and streetcar -- need additional approval from the two commissions. Some of those votes could happen later Tuesday, some not for years.

The County Commission's vote for the global agreement was widely expected despite calls from some activists -- and a few commissioners -- to slow down and allow more public input.

Some projects had short fuses that made a delay until January unappetizing: The private contractors building the tunnel had already waited months longer than legally required for local governments to commit their $452 million share, leaving the project in jeopardy of collapse from further delays.

The baseball team, whose president has suggested he will rebrand the club as the Miami Marlins, needs to start building a new home soon in order to be out of Dolphins Stadium when the current lease expires after the 2009 season.