##VIDEO ID:MtekZMWGS5A## all right let get ready to get started all right here we go shout out to Full Moon the uh regular council meeting for Tuesday October 22nd um it's called to order at 7:01 p.m. right now we're going to have a moment of silent meditation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance FL United States have nerson here vice mayor Pella here council person urbon president council person like fo W would not be in today council person Martin present also present for the record janobi Village clerk Chris Village manager and the attorney is running late you have a quorum thank you very much mam quier I appreciate it next is approval of the agenda do I have a motion to approve the agenda so moved moved by council person urbom do I have a second second second by council person uh Martin all in favor say I I I post say nay hearing none next is good and Welfare um this is the time right here where you guys can come up and talk about anything on the agenda but when I get to any when I get to every single item you guys have a chance to talk then anyway so um and then there's one another one at the end of the meeting also uh seeing hearing none moving on to consent agenda do you have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move move by council person Martin do I have a second second second by council person bbom all in favor say I I post say nay hearing none moving on to the resolutions the first resolution G oh he's not Madam clerk you want to read into the first resolution G1 uh Madam clerk um is going to read into the record attorney Geller says he's on his way but he's late G1 a resolution of the Village Council of the village of elportal of Miami day County Florida providing for the approval of the critical facilities Grant Construction contract between the village of elportal and panisa Construction Services Corporation providing for incorporation of resital providing for an effective date thank you very much this is something that we went through before you guys um we're just validating the contract right now uh does anybody have any questions or comments hearing none any questions or comments I'm sorry uh mayor I do um for the contract over here um I don't have it on uh on right now but on the uh on the contract that was presented to us it's uh it's just okay so we're looking at the uh manager we're looking at the as per the RFP that was conducted and that's is basically the work because when I was looking at the contract over here it site three items which is the the the windows the um okay the generator and uh in the cleaning of the um air docks that's all but on the U I don't know what's happen with the microphone over here but uh okay there you go but on the RFP uh we it's a more in extensive uh scope of work which is the replacement of of the AC unit um some some duck work and um is that contemplated within this contract with the $80,000 that was removed from the um finalized contract those are service the RFP went out in 2023 um since then prices have ES escalated we weren't able to come to an agreement about a price um because the only um proposer um was panisa and they proposed the work that was uh contemplated in the RFP at $100,000 the grant is for $50,000 okay we just don't have 50,000 so we worked with them as well as HUD to see what we could a the agreement could be within a price range we still weren't anywhere close to the 50,000 but we were able to negotiate less work and these are the items that were approved by Hud for us to still receive the grant so we have a $50,000 Grant from HUD and we will have to contribute the additional 30,000 got it Al on the $80,000 is only for these those three items yes wow found it very excessive it is for for a 25 uh uh 100 um WK um yeah generat generator and uh I know installation might be expensive but three windows and no AC and and just cleaning ducks I I don't know if that was negotiated I know they were the only ones um yes it showing up for the RP but okay again it it was definitely negotiated um as well as you know we had to stay within the parameters of the federal um grants that we received so it was highly negotiated um because of of that as well and I was researching about the the the the P pacy Ben Beni uh they've been in business for almost 30 years they've been working with all other municipalities um hopefully they don't do what you know we had to go through with the shed police shed and the and the bathroom yes um so uh but um to me it's a little excessive $80,000 for those three items that's all I have to say thank you very much mayor parella anybody else from the council um yeah that kind of triggers one question from me which is um just in terms of the generator the 25 kilow um it's fine if you don't have an answer I'm just curious as we're sitting here talking about it um do we anticipate that that 25 Kow generator will still be fulfilling our needs even in the event that we do get further grants for further development of Village Hall and the police station in ter and meaning you know as if we do replace the AC we do bring other you know modernity technology and things like that in here is that 25 kilowatt generator still going to serve our purposes you know 789 10 years from now that's that's my question I guess I do not know that answer but I will ask our engineers but I but I was looking at I mean um if we had wanted to do you know like a solar generator right that was to accomplish 25 kilow we'd be looking at $70,000 just for that solar system so um solar uh generator right so um so I think you know the most of the cost I imagine is this uh it's a gas generator right and so we'll have a a fuel supply that will be you know also we'll be storm ready basically right and so yeah so um I do think that most of the cost of what we're talking about here is that generator specifically and this and you know the installation of and setup so um if that is something that's going to be serving us well you know for the foreseeable future then then I it is a good investment honestly um especially in the light of we don't have that now is that correct yeah that's correct yes for and it's a critical facilities um police station hardening Grant right sadly 50,000 I mean I don't know go far far at all for anybody but for sure we're grateful to have the money but absolutely but with that generator uh in the event there would be a storm we would essentially with that generator we could open up Village Hall as an air conditioning spot for elderly who might be out of power things like that is that no the critical facilities aspect is meant only for the police St police station not for theall but there would but there would still be some air conditioned area where if we did have elderly citizens who were without power they' at least get some respite within the area or no yes it will Air it will air condition this but it's supposed to be for the police station got it's just that we are connected so we I got you okay okay fair enough okay I appreciate the clarification thank you very much coun anybody else from the councel hearing none anybody from the audiance hearing seeing none Madam clerk oh go motion first do I have a motion to approve resolution G1 so moved move by counc do have a second second second by Council M CL pleas have roll call please roll call council person Martin yes vice mayor pel no council person bbom yes mayor nerson yes motion passes 3 to one thank you very much appreciate it attorney Geller can you read resolution um G2 in and I think we have to do oath also swearing in okay let's do the swearing in first will anyone who's going to provide testimony on the uh variance request please uh stand raise your right hand your staff report I and state your name I Adam Simon do hereby solemnly swear do hereby solemnly swear that the test Tony I will give tonight testimony I give tonight will be the truth will be the truth the whole truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and nothing but the truth either so help me God or you may take an affirmation help me God thank you thank you very much all right I'll read the resolution mayor thank you then we'll go to the staff report a resolution to the Village Council of el pel Fara authorizing the approval of a variance to front yard setbacks and lot coverage for a pool at 360 Northeast 85th Street is requested by Adam asson providing for incorporation of recitals providing for an effective date thank you very much how you doing hi how you doing Miss Hammond um from when we had this in pnz were there anything are do we have any changes um is there anything that he had to do uh was there any you know accommod anything like that um no this is what we you you saw as pnz okay same exact thing nothing okay same same application thank you any questions or comments from the council yes I do have a question uh Hi how are you um Sim you can come up too if you want to um as I was reading some of the codes from day County um do we have in our code what's the do we have any any setbacks for pools because uh reading the county is uh 75 feet from the frontage of the house or is it from the street is that something that we are going against it or our codes permitted or so um what this setback really is about is the um the the pool is considered a structure that is needing to accessory structure that is required to have a certain setback from the front Okay so that that's that's causing the the need for a variance and um the the applicant is is requesting to um be closer to the front yard setback than what's required by code for for a structure which is a pool in this situation now once the pool is uh in place do they have because I know they were talking about um safety net which is just a few steps from the edge of the pool right what about fencing it would be a fence yes and a a security fence around the pool just around the pool not in front of the house right no okay and we're talking about please Adam correct me if if I'm wrong but that's that's your intent correct that's my intent now yeah exactly how you laid it out yeah but I mean I could put a fence in you know if that's you know no the issue is the fence being in front of the house so no I wasn't planning on putting a fence but if it's hey you need a fence I'll put a fence right cuz I know the pool is just going um and and to secure the pool yeah just for safety reasons yes exactly just because you know children could wander into the yard and get into a pool yeah okay and we're talking about just a few eight eight um 8 ft above the uh if if yeah if you if you recall I have no backyard right my house is way set back right um so yeah it would be a little bit in front of it's almost even on the side but like uh plus servia said if you were to you still have the right you can still build up where you have your garage you can send that out and so the pool will be actually behind this front set correct correct okay sounds good mayor did you want me to read um the the actual application in the record or no we're good okay okay any other questions or comments in the council yes I have a couple um so um so I remember these discussions from previous meetings um what I'm curious about is what I'm curious about is where the approval comes from on exceeding the lock coverage right um so it is um very fractional and it has to do with his pool equipment that's that's the only thing that that is triggering that but we're talking 7% right sorry no it's 1% 1% yeah over what he has right now and and he's agreed to why did I read 47 something per in the I will own that if should be 44 that's my notes sayfe okay um yeah no it's 44 he's going so the the requirement is not to exceed 40 he's currently at 43 he would like to um have a little bit of leeway with um installing his pool equipment and he also has a agreed to remove some concrete um yeah that that's existing right now to to to still maintain um just a minimal over 40% okay I see it now um all right and then um as far as the uh guard goes fence or otherwise um uh you don't have a firm plan on what that will be at this point only that I'm I'm imagine insurance is compelling you to make sure that it is yeah well that's that's part of it plus I have a 2-year-old so I want to make sure so you have your own personal yeah okay okay gotcha um so so do we know at all in terms of height design material or otherwise what that will be we have no it's not yeah I mean I it's was submitted so she would probably have that right and um I believe it's 6 feet is what is allowed and it's it's not within a setback it's there's no issues with that um so it's it's we talking about a removable um sort of a yeah the the type of of fence that would that would secure a pool okay so with the how much space between the fence and the pool are we talking um whatever is required gu within the pool I mean whatever's you know he'll have to apply for a permit for that so we can we can definitely make sure that that it's complying with code as far as the fence permit but right now you don't have any fencing or anything like that no I have 500 trees yeah so I mean it's going to be very hidden it's not you can barely you you you can't see my house from the street yeah no no no I'm not worried about seeing it I'm just concerned about the pool being an attractive nuisance I'm sure you'll do your part to make sure that your 2-year-old is well aware that they shouldn't be near that pool but I'm worried about another toddler who is walking along bicycling along traversing the street and whether or not having a pool in the front of a property um poses an attractive nuisance to they wouldn't be able to see it um number one and number two they'd have to go through a forest to get to it mhm um so I have like I said almost 490 plants trees yeah from the street to where the house is I have a four and six-year-old they're pretty determined yeah but um but good news is that you know like I said it's I have a 2-year-old we plan on securing it um you I haven't looked into you know what material you have to you know cover it with but I've been to houses and I've seen the screening that they have the plants in the ground that you have to some more some more solid than others I've seen plexiglass and then I've seen like more of a mesh material so yeah well I'm not an expert on these things levels I mean I I care about what it looks like too so I'm going to do you know something that's visually appealing as well as safe so um but I I mean that's you know I had the pool guy engineer the pool itself the materials how it's built where it's going to be built the dimensions what we're utilizing in terms of building the pool I haven't you know looked into the what fence I'm going to have yet obviously I know I have to have a fence around it but I haven't seen like exactly what I'm going to do yet until it's kind of being done and your lot Rises an elevation from the canal up to the street is that right uh what does that mean I don't I'm not I mean like the I mean I mean uh the street level is higher yes oh yeah yeah yeah my house goes down downhill do you experience uh have you experienced any floating with the yeah no well L it's weird I'm not in a flood zone so I find that very strange being as though I live on the river um I have and near the bin no less near the bin no less yeah well the I think for Irma mhm it came up a little bit onto the back but I haven't had problems but a couple doors down they have right so they're closer to the you know they're like basically on top of the river I still have so going back to Irma Irma was really the only event that you had where you had a little flooding a little flooding in the back okay A little but I wouldn't even call it a flood it was just I got the water level was a little bit over the wall sure but the way the way the way that it the water flows is it goes it just goes down okay like you know it's not coming the other way so I'll just tell you for me personally I greatly appreciate the amount of thought that you've put into this yeah um I know we've been back and forth through previous committee meetings and you know hashed out things but from the beginning it seems that you came into this thoughtfully right yeah and so now for me personally going to cost me $100,000 so I I better think pretty clear on it so um so but in that regard um uh all that's left for me to figure out is where my comfort levels set with two issues the first the first being um lot coverage um uh that we have our lot coverage established you know for extremely specific reasons it's not you know arbitrary and it's not strictly aesthetic either right um and then additionally um uh are we saying that if he does choose a six-foot option for enclosing the pool that that 6ot fence would be within the parameters where it would be allowed correct yes okay um and then and then the only thing left for me to to parse essentially is um uh is that setback variance right and so um then the calculation begins on exactly how unique a situation it is we're talking about so I'm sure we'll find out in a couple minutes what my decision is okay that's all I got thank you very much anybody else from the council all right hearing none anybody from the audience questions comments okay hearing none from the council um do I have a motion to approve resolution G2 I'll ask two more times do I have a motion to approve resolution G2 it's not my intention to motion but I will if someone will second I would I I'd like to give the opportunity to the applicant for a vote I'll I'll motion motion made by council person bbom do I have a second second second by council person Martin Madam clerk can I please have a roll call please roll call council person Martin no council person bbal um I was 100% convinced I would be coming in here voting no I'll vote Yes council person bbom is that a yes it's a yes vice mayor Pella yes mayor Nickerson yes motion passes 3 to one thank you very much congratulations thank you Mr May Mr Mayor if I could just make a statement I for the benefit of the count for the benefit of the council my colleagues on the council um I do have a concern that this will open Pandora's box of applicants however in the spirit of the variance application um I really do find a unique situation here which for me qualified as a yes vote on a variance but I do want to voice on the record that I do have serious concerns about the door that might have just been opened and acknowledging that I might be responsible for that so mayor if I might let me just if I might address the concern that was expressed by the councilman um these are individual applications there are no two that are identical there are no two lots or homes that are identical and different situations present so I just want to assure the council these are subject ones like this are subject to your approval and at least in my opinion I mean some somebody in a black robe can disagree and they have that right and God bless America but um I do not believe that you are setting what is really a precedent because each situation is different and if the next one presents itself to you differently you can vote differently and the council can express itself differently so just for the record at least in my opinion this is not a precedent it does not require you to vote uh in the same way on any other application that's presented to you because they're all different yeah I greatly appreciate that because um that's how I've been approaching all these variance applications is on a strictly individual basis and um and so uh here I surprised myself tonight I got to be honest I was I was set to vote no walking in here I got to say thank you very much council person herbal um moving on any last questions or comment you guys good good uh moving on to the reports Madame major if you can do a quick report please okay thank you mayor um good evening I will keep my report short um it is on the Village website for anyone's um um review but I do want to just bring attention that the village Survived Hurricane Milton in October 8 um and luckily so did all of our area of South Florida here but um you know our our hearts go out to those other cities um within um the state that suffered but thanks to our emergency management team um we were able to respond and prepare appropriately um we have a lot of protocols that we follow and Emergency Management plans and everyone has their roles but I um so Chief Mendes and his team did great work our public works department as well but I do want to um just give a special um thanks to Mayor Nickerson who you know did a literally did a lot of heavy lifting um with the sandbag um distribution to our residents and so um we uh distributed over 1,200 sandbags to El Pell residents and you know that was done through careful coordination of Mayor Nickerson with the public work staff and with um clerk jacobe because she also put out a lot of Community Information to make sure that people were aware of what wasen happening um so that was a a boon in that way and we were prepared so hopefully we will not see any further action this hurricane season and we can move on to a a a more peaceful off seon um also good thing that has happened is through this time um the North Miami Avenue Bridge has finally been completed and is opened and uh it it seems to be very functional and lovely and we're happy to have that finally um the street lights are being repaired according to Miami day County in that area um they've been out for a couple of years now but the county has informed us that its maintenance contractors were able able to carry out repairs on the lights and that it was a circuit um issue um but it's now operational and they're still uh trying to fix some lights but that uh their their project is moving forward so that should be lit well hopefully it's been years so we're happy to have that and um our Police Department continues to make excellent um work uh in protecting the Village um again eleral detective Renee gueras made a huge arrest of another publicized arrest um of Gelman Nam Richard love after several several months of investigating um a grand theft uh stemming from from a approximately $42,000 in liquor taken from the big dad Big Daddy liquor store um here in our annexed area um after several months of evading arrest Mr love was was located and arrested by detective Gutierrez with the backup from the city of Miami Police felony um apprehension team so again detective Gutierrez is he's solved another one so we're um giving him a big congratulations for that and recognition and um finally I just want to bring to the attention of the residents that our next bulk pickup is Tuesday October 28th through 30th and unfortunately a lot of people did put out a lot of bulk uh when word of hurricane Milton was coming and that is the worst time to put out bulk um you know those are propelled or trajectory you know um the potential fora um for trajectory um is when you do that so we have to stop doing that you know no bulk no item should be on the curve cu the you know waste um Solid Waste uh company is not going to pick that up they picked up regular trash but we did get a lot of bulk so there are quite a few um piles out too soon now and luckily we didn't have any uh issue with the weather but that continues to be a problem and we want to address that and make sure that residents know that it's not the time to put things out um um but there will be bul pickup on October 28th that's next Tuesday through Thursday the 30th and um if anyone has any further questions so me they welcome to contact me directly and my report is on the Village website so that concludes my report thank you very much Madam maner appreciate it um just want to say about those lights that are on North momy Avenue and the lights that are around eler tow there's some other problems that are having lights 89th Street the residents have a lot of problems there where the lights go out like twice uh a week more or less and sometimes they stay off for like 24 hours I think the Transformer needs to be replaced and things like that the reason why these lights are being fixed um because Manel L and myself took advantage of an opportunity uh we had been asking them to come out for months to fix those lights um because North Miami Avenue used to be pitch black at night time and there was a lot of elderly residents over there that were like mayor Nickerson like I'm scared to come out like after a certain time it's just too dark and so we had been asked him to come fix and then we were in one of the hurricane meetings that week the hurricane preparation meetings with the county so everybody's there mayor LaVine Cava all of the mayor all the manager everybody's there and so they were like you know is everybody preparing okay is there anything that anybody needs I looked at manager Aloo I was like we're going to use this opportunity I was like um our lights are not working and if the hurricane hits it's going to be terrible because nobody's going to be able to see and it's not safe and and they were like so embarrassed that everybody was there they're like oh well so the next day in the meeting they were like um we looked and you guys should at least have half of them fixed like a day after that it was like everything's fixed except for like one light just like that and we have been asking them for months and months to come out but they wouldn't come out to fix it so um there you go use the opportunity you get things done I really also want to say that for residents if you do see lights that are out um continue to contact me uh because a lot of times s it's not FPL FPL used to control all the lights in miy day County but they started to give some lights over to the county so some lights of FPL some lights to Mi day County and a very minute number of lights are now Elber toes responsibility street lights talking about street lights when I firstov I was that the reason there wasn'ts come come to the microphone if you want yeah all right well I don't really I'm just yeah yeah just issue no it's all I was I was originally told that the reason why there was no lights was because of the bird sanctuary so you're talking about and you live in sh Forest yes so in sh Forest sh Forest is a little bit different in show Forest because even years ago when I was vice mayor we tried to put more Lighting in show Forest but the residents didn't want it because it's a bird sanctuary and because a lot of nocturno animals live in sh Forest so sh Forest doesn't have certain lighting certain areas because it resid want it that way we're talking about lights we're talking about the poles that already exist and the lights were just out that's what we're talking about yeah all right you guys appreciate that um everybody good okay uh the mayor report you guys can see the mayor report there U everybody knows how to get in touch with me if you have any questions or comments contact me attorney Geller V Village attorney nobody has sued us lately and uh we haven't sued anybody sounds good I appreciate that um last thing is good in welfare this is the time where anybody can come say anything about anything at all doesn't have to be things only on the agenda and your name and address first name and last name and address for the record good evening J Rivero 225 Northeast 86 Street few items um The Bridge North Miami Avenue glad it's done two years one year uh delayed the uh when the original Bridge was there there was a wider medium there were four royal palm trees that were very healthy and the county took it out are they going to plant new royal palm trees I will ask them are they going to also build the the the wall the Marquee that says welcome to elport toown I'm sorry I can't hear you the he's um J is asking for the the median the uh that's right off the bridge on Northeast nor North Miami Avenue and the in the little wall that had the elportal sign they welcome to El Portal I guess they counties decided not to day County told us that that property is not ours and they removed those okay and they said we cannot replace that what about the the the trees because I also heard they're not they're not they were not allowed and that they say they hindered the clearance needed for that um that we put those trees in without permission and they removed them and said they would not be replaced one thing I will say is that when the county does something um what maner Lou and I have noticed is that when they redo it or when they fix something or pair something and put it back it's always not as not up to the level that it was before a lot of times as far as the size as far as um the material use a lot of times um I guess it's just trying to cut cost and a lot of times they don't put things back to the right size uh or to the size that it was before see right size and a lot of times when things were done previously um things were done to a higher quality and now they just do things strictly to the limit to where they're able to get away with doing it it's the county does that's how it goes now right I I I will add to that I I agree with that um they will only do the minimum and we found that out with you know something else they did for us over at the nature trail like they're not going to do any so we have those jumbo limbo can we plant those they W notice them right they're skinny for now not on the median but but we have plans for those yes well I remember when you know the initial discussion of them basically letting us know they were going to be redoing that bridge and the discussions I know initially took place about you know the median and what would happen to it with the tree specifically and um they had basically informed us that they saw that whole median structure as a additional risk for V like you know a car could get wrapped basically cut in half by a tree as opposed to just going over the median so I know that I know that that was at least part of of from the beginning they told us they weren't going to put those trees back I I remember I remember that discussion and from there I you know whether whether there's data behind it or not I don't know but I do know that what their response to us was you shouldn't have put them up and we're not putting them up and they're a safety hazard um the signage I'm not fully clear on that but I know that that was the discussion about the trees so okay um recommendation maybe put the sign on the corner of 85th Street uh on the properties or something um I mean you need to make the village more visible we're small it was and in order for you to have business come here and minimum business spaces that we have for you to collect tax revenue mhm okay so my suggestion so yes about that sign uh M uh manager um the sign that was actually there on the side of the of the bridge was also knocked down it was removed um we went and got it and we um having it fixed and it'll be replaced actually we we've been working on that um getting that replaced we just want to get all the street signs in but our sign makers are are finishing that up so we'll have the the welcome sign replaced okay second item I want to bring up is I know Milton didn't do any damage to us thank God for that prior to Milton there was a rainstorm um storm drains storm drains are on the swell of properties however the properties that have them do not bother to pick up the leaves in their yard the storm that came in right before Milton did Flood the neighborhood did Flood my house water does go in through the garage okay even though the mayor deliver 10 bags of sand that was not enough to protect my garage so I would like for you to consider something in Code Enforcement that mandates cleaning your yard and or maintain containing those storm drains those storm drains um that's partial I mean could it have been the one that prevented the the damage to my property maybe maybe not we don't know but all the leaves all the junk goes out to the street comes over to my property so that's something you need to consider okay thank you very much thanks yeah Mr robero he uh contacts uh me he contacted me about the storm drains of one of his neighbors and you know um manager L and I you know we do get the storm drains clean um periodically but but when a storm's coming sometimes we might not have cleaned them you know right before that particular storm we had have the people come out and clean them and so um when Mr robero contacted me I did contact the resident and the resident said that they would do it but uh they ended up really not really doing it so we have to stay on top of that in one way or another Madam man yeah I'd like to say that we maintain the storm drains every year um our Public Works um uh coordinator goes around the village I mean very regularly and especially uh When Storms are forecasted to ensure storm drains are clear to try to get them cleared but there are times when there's rain they're going to it goes right back into the storm drain so it's just we appreciate when you all report it so we'll run out and get it as soon as we we can um but sometimes we're not able to so we're asking our neighbor our residents to also help us out with that because you're right the storm drains when that those leaves and that debris gets on top you know we it backs it up but we appreciate you reporting that and anyone who hears us we ask the residents reported we'll clean it as quickly as we can but we ask that they too um help us by clearing off or not dumping on top of it yeah you guys are going to get a flyer packet uh soon I in my previous flyer packets I have put keep the storm drains clean um flyer in that flyer packet um I put it back in this one again that I'm going to be putting out um which all the the bulk stuff that's why I'm getting my my my flyers ready but um that being the case another thing that residents have to kind of keep in mind to remember is kind of when your lawn workers come out and after they finish cutting the grass and doing all of that please if you live near a storm drain do not allow your lawn workers to blow the leaves and the grass into the storm drain because what they try to do is they want your they want your yard to look nice but then they don't want to just blow it out in the middle of the street because they don't want because then everybody will know like this is from your yard they don't want to do that so then they don't want to take out the time to blow it like into a pile or rake it up and put it into a bag and take it with them so they look for the clear the nearest storm drain and blow all the leaves and all the grass into the storm drain with the blowers and so we're just asking residents if if you do um have your yard service please tell your your um yard workers your lawn workers do not blow the stuff into the um storm drains please that caused a major issue for us thank you for that anybody else anything good all right um next Noah good and Welfare you guys good okay do I have a motion to adjourn so moved move by council person irban do I have a second a second second by council person Martin the regular council meeting for Tuesday October 22nd is adjourned at 7:44 p.m. thank you very much you guys