##VIDEO ID:uMxQLJ2KSa0## make sure to silence or turn off your cell phones it would be greatly appreciated uh if you're here to speak on any of the items related to Sunset Place we typically have public remarks at the beginning of the meeting we're going to take that item fairly early in tonight's discussion so uh with your Indulgence and your help let's leave public remarks to everything but Sunset Place uh and then we'll hear public comment contemporaneously with the Sunset Place items okay thank you very much e e yours yeah good evening everyone today is Tuesday October 15th we'll call to order uh a regular meeting of the city of South Miami commission at this time again please silence or turn off your cell phones Madame clerk if you could call the role please yes mayor Fernandez present Vice May B here commissioner Leman pres commissioner Corey pres commissioner Cay here you have a quum thank you madam clerk if we could all please stand for a brief prayer and then follow by the Pledge of Allegiance yeah Lord God give me the faith I need to know your will the hope I need to accept your will and the love I need to do your will even when I don't understand it knowing that your way is better I ask this through your name amen lead us to The Pledge please please be seated Madam clerk we have presentations this evening yes if you could please read them in the record please yes we have a proclamation for Fellowship house 50th Anniversary great was there a sponsor for that item um vice mayor would you like to introduce the item and vice mayor the fellowship house is actually within our city limits and they're celebrating their 50th Anniversary they're actually going to be celebrating it on the 25th and they're here with us this evening I believe there they are if you could come on up to the microphone and tell us a little bit about yourselves good evening welcome if you can give us your name and address for the record please sure my name is Rosemary Smith hle um my address is 1784 Southwest 88 Court petto Bay uh 33157 um the president Fellowship house Hi how are you I'm Christy Martinez I'm the Executive Vice President and coo my address is 9221 Southwest 166 Street P Bay 33157 good evening I am Amy Miller I'm the vice president of Behavioral Health Fellowship House address 21437 Southwest 87 Cutler thank you could you share a bit about Fellowship house with the US in the public please sure um Fellowship house is a Behavioral Health Organization we serve um adults with in persistent mental illness um you know our goal for them is that they reach the maximum level of community integration we provide an array of services from housing to education about basic living skills social skills uh case management therapy um we find them employment um we have a large Continuum of services that's designed to to help individuals who are experiencing mental health issues um get back on their feet and and just find the maximum level of community integration um that that they can that they can achieve and share with us exactly where you are here in South Miami for the people who don't know sure we're actually um we our our address is 5711 South Dixie Highway which is a little bit misleading it's it's one of the older addresses it's a two-story Coral building um that's our that's our main building um and then we have um you know two progress road buildings um and then we have a a building on um on Commerce Lane um as well so that's I mean our programs are are are all over this is just one of our sites we have programs in in petto Bay and and Broward and things like that but this is our original um this is our original site it was actually we what we we were Incorporated in 1973 but um you know it came about because you know there's something called the institutionalization where we where we um people came out of state hospitals um and we tried to put them in the community um into a group of parents who had uh who didn't have any services or resources found a home in South Miami um and they um bought the 5711 Celtic SE Highway building and we actually always celebrate the the year bed on when they Incorporated and bought that building in in South Miami um and so we we've always done we've always done that and we've had a fantastic relationship with with the with over the years we invited the vice mayor out she comes out we you know our our safety person gets her on the phone I mean we we've always um enjoyed a super positive relationship um with the city for as long as we for as long as we've been here great colleagues any questions and again they're going to be celebrating their 50th Anniversary tell us a little bit about that sure so we're celebrating our 50th anniversary on um October 20 October 25th um here in South Miami we have different things we have like a week of that but our main event is at the as at the main C is at the main campus on October 25th anybody on the commission is is welcome to attend um we try to make our our things the the people that we serve we call them members we don't call them patients we don't call them clients the idea is that we get a Buy in from them that they're a part of something that they're working to achieve their own goals and and they're doing that so we try to make any event that we have um you know inclusive of them um we um so we do it during the day when there so we're going to have you know some speakers we have founding board members so board members who've been on the organization for 50 years are are are going to be there tell the origin story um you know we have some member testimonials we have employees I've been at the organization for 27 years like yeah so we've had people who've been around for a really long time so we're just gonna you know we're just going to celebrate that with good food old stories um some some dancing for the members and and a DJ um and that kind of thing just because um you know that's what they like to do you know a lot of times you only some of the people we serve get are the ones that the ones that we do so we always try to to make it something that that's enjoyable for them what time does the fun start so it starts at 11 um we actually are just gonna have um you know just uh we have an art show some of the members did some art pieces that they're going to show um and then we'll do like mini tours and then we're we we'll do like a like a like this like a presentation probably somewhere around 11:15 11:30 as soon as we can get everybody situated and and get a program started fantastic it's going to be awesome comments go ahead sir recognize congratulations on your anniversary and thank you for your service I want to ask you where do your members traditionally live in a mile two mile five mile radius so they live all over um you know our our our catchment area is all of of Miami day County um we actually put one of the services we provide is housing we actually don't have housing at the moment within within the the city of South Miami so we have like um we have group homes uh just two that are 24hour tempor not temporary transitional housing designed to teach them skills again the goal always being getting them to the highest level of community integration so we have these 24-hour group homes that teaches them skills and then we have um like supported uh supported housing in the community we have some apartments in Coconut Grove some in in nanja um some in in Kendall some in Cutler Bay um where where they actually are living independently but we have people who go out and visit them and just check on them and we like encourage them to be involved in in what they're doing so literally as far south as Florida city where we also have um we also have a a duplex that we that we own that provide housing at all the way up to the day and Broward line in terms of who we serve here and then we also have programs in in Brower County commiss K you recognize congratulations on 50 years uh maybe you can let us know what the next 50 looks like how can we help what's the progression look like what it you know how are things evolving changing what do you see in the future um so I mean you know when when you when I think about even when I came 27 years ago just how we've evolved has been you know um been amazing because we're a nonprofit organization the culture of our organization has always been provide the services and then chase the money because the money always is you know it has to guide you um but it's not a medical model it's not a business model we're really just kind of After figuring out the best way we can serve the most amount of people so primarily our funding comes from the um the State of Florida via DCF and a managing entity and then from AA for like hmos and things like that um and then um so for us the goal is um you know what we are focused on right now is is housing is uh I'm sure you know this that housing in Miami in general is is really very very difficult um it is unaffordable if you if you think someone with a with with schizophrenia for example that's disabled by their by their illness um they're probably getting a check for I'm G to say $940 um there's nowhere in South Miami in Florida City in Cutler Bay anywhere that you can live independently um for that so we have we we've gotten some legislative budget requests from the state that's how we own these duplexes we have some funding from the miam county homeless trust and Coconut Grove to provide this permanent housing so for us one of the things I'd really like us to to to do is I would like us to um figure out ways to find to to provide more affordable housing to the people that we serve because if you're housed that's you know that's the that's the basic of where you needed where you need to start um to get stable with your with your mental illness but in addition to that you know I mean we are we we like to consider ourselves early adopters so when a when a fun comes to us and says hey we have this this population that fits within your mission is this something you'd be willing to consider is there something that that that you can do with that we always like to say um yeah we'll try it if it fits within what we do and and what we're trying to to accomplish in in our mission then then we'll try to do it so in terms of just like expanding our services in terms of um you know having opportunities for for people to to just recover how you specifically could help is one of the things that we really that that is a struggle is um employment um we have a lot of individuals who are interested in becoming employed um but we are not talking about people who are going to you know go work full-time and get a 401k and do all of those things we're talking about individuals who are on disability who have you know the capacity to work but not as a not as a full-time you know thing that they're doing so whenever we have an opportunity to to to talk to individuals like this who who may work at different companies in the community and things like that um any opportunity you can think of for us to find employment for the people that we have that want to work that kind of can fit into a business that that you know is not a full-time role or something like that that's a that's a way that that people in the community can can definitely a tangible way that they can help the small business owners people who who run larger companies things like that um you know that that's a way that that can be assisted thank you further questions nope okay I I'll just say thank you again congratulations and with respect to your ledge appropriation request let us know because if we can certainly adopt it as part of our priorities we're happy to do that and when we up in Tallahassee we're happy to do our bit to put in a good word with the members as well thank you so much let's come forward for a quick picture and a presentation the proclamation you [Applause] Madam clerk could you read the next presentation please yes employee of the quarter for Q3 officer Marcus cther Chief Hatfield oh sorry madam Deputy manager good evening we'll introduce Chief Hatfield got it so we had several employees that were nominated for employee the quarter for Q3 But ultimately the recognition goes to off Marcus pther who was um nominated by Sergeant Rodriguez so I'm gonna bring the chief up so that he can provide some background on the nomination and provide him with a certificate thank you Chief you're recognized good evening uh mayor vice mayor Commissioners city manager uh I want to take a moment uh while we're honoring one individual tonight for his uh employee of the quarter I don't like to take a moment to recognize our officers who are up in Tampa uh helping out with the uh Dev station in that area so we had six officers up there deployed uh to assist and doing God's work up there as well so officer Mar sorry Chief would you mind mentioning those officer names Tampa would you mind mentioning our officer names that are in Tampa yes uh melis Lopez um rob buin you caught me off guard here uh who else do we have up there um Jose Salgado and um officer Bur thank you sir uh on Friday September 27th 2024 officer prer was uh responsible for enforcing uh camping ordinances and homeless engagement uh ensuring city parks were within his Zone were empty after sundown at around 9:55 p.m. officer Prather observed three individuals sitting on a bench inside of Marshall Williams Park upon interviewing the individual he discovered one of them was a convicted felon with an arrest warrant uh for resisting police officers without violence uh he arrested that individual and in that individual's possession was crack cocaine and two loaded Firearms through the diligent investigation officer prayer determined that one of the Firearms had been reported stolen in 2022 from a vehicle burglary in South Miami furthermore officer prather's report revealed that the arrested individual matched the description of the suspect who committed the vehicle burglary this case was forwarded to our criminal investigative division for further followup congratulations to you for [Applause] off officer fraer the floor is yours if you like put him on the spot thank you um this isn't just my award I believe I believe it's also my squad I got a great sergeant that uh encourages us to be pretty proactive and I couldn't have done this with without the rest of my squad so I think this is all us thank you thank you for your excellent service let's come forward for a picture pictures outside okay okay thank you again for that uh Madam clerk if you can read the add-on item please yes add-on one a resolution of the mayor City Commission of the city of South P ratifying their purchase of emergency repairs for a garbage truck from PTO for in amount of$ 13,939 thank you colleagues any objection to adding this item on to tonight's agenda no no hearing none we'll consider it added on uh is there a motion to approve the minutes of November sorry September 17th special meeting September 17th regular meeting and October 1st 2024 regular meeting I'll move it second have a motion by the vice mayor a second by commissioner Corey Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner C yes commissioner Corey yes commissioner Leeman yes V Bon yes mayor Fernandez yes and it's pass 5 thank you Mr manager your report please yes sir Deputy manager will present Madam Deputy manager recognized thank you homecoming weekend for South Miami great G and the cheer program is scheduled for Saturday at Palmer Park so aside from their scheduled games there going to be community activities to celebrate um the children in both programs we also have a few upcoming activities and events we have Duncan for pumpkins that's at Murray Park Aquatic Center on Wednesday October 23rd from 5:00 to 6:30 we have the state of the city that's Tuesday October 29th at area stage Halloween party for our active adults October 31st that's going to take place at the senior Plaza at 10:00 a.m. and Safe Streets Halloween which big Halloween event that happens on Sunset Drive we invite everyone to come out to that one from 4 to 7 and as Chief mentioned we do have four officers a sergeant lieutenant and chapl deployed to Tampa so thank you to the police department and those officers for for that initiative colleagues any questions regarding the report okay let's move on then thank you madam manager uh Mr City attorney your report please thank you mayor very briefly uh just you had asked for an update on the mandle stam litigation um as you may recall Mand uh Mr mandl Stam uh sued uh based on a uh telecommunications facility that had been put up on his land uh through an agreement with him as it were uh so for some reason he had a he had a disagreement with Verizon uh over that tele telecommunications facility and following uh that the after that contract dispute uh he received a judgment against him in favor of Verizon and then he promptly turned around and sued us for allowing the telecommunication facility to be there and sued Verizon for I I forget what uh but the the where we are right now uh there are two pending motions to dismiss Verizon filed one and the city filed one uh this is all handled by Insurance Council uh the the city's Insurance Council those have been pending since March there was a status conference in September and they are trying to get a hearing date to to hear them it looks like the judge may just wave the hearing date because there was a brief hearing of sorts on the last motion calendar at that status conference and it looks there we are awaiting uh a a ruling from the judge on those two motions dismiss uh we do have uh our insurance Council has an appeal ready to go uh uh in the event that that there's uh it's an adverse decision we are colleagues any questions n u I have one question it relates to an item that was on the manager report we we have an issue at Don park with respect to emergency Eis or fire and I know that one of the Alternatives was possibly approaching mandal about access given that we're I mean it would seem likely that we're going to Prevail yes on those two motions to dismiss yes I don't know if the board has any interest in approaching them about some sort of a negotiated settlement um that might provide them some relief in exchange for some access rights so we could solve two respective problems I don't know if if we all have any sort of a any any any thoughts on that what would that mean yeah so I mean I provide some yeah I mean city correct can I can I suggest a shade meeting yeah let's have a shade meeting for the next meeting like before that one uh for November 4th that's advisable so again I think that might be worth we do have that issue I don't I look I'm I would imagine he was had consented to the application that resulted in the tower being placed on his property correct uh there's some dispute over what the extent of his consent okay yeah okay mayor yes sir do do we know that the all the options have been verified on what possible solutions we can have for the ESS issue yeah I I believe there were two Alternatives that were studied and there were and that were summarized in the Manders report were there not we we've looked at multiple um Alternatives just for for purposes of uh what the mayor has made reference to is in the design of the new building for Dy pel there's a requirement by the fire department to provide access to that building within 50 feet uh also hydrant has to be within certain uh distance as well uh and looking at Alternatives trying to find the alternative that is least disruptive to our park facility um there was this one potential idea that we we use the adjacent property in this case mandon property as the means of access uh to to be able to satisfy their requirement um we would have to so those options I'm pending talking to the fire department uh to to discuss those ideas at the fire marshal level it was a a plans review something that was picked up to the plans review and and we've been working on ideas so it would be one idea that we may be able to pursue depending on the outcome of the shade meeting thank you okay so if we could have direction to the to the uh clerk to advertise a shade meeting for I guess November the 4th correct at 5:00 or 6:00 should be a quick shade meeting I would imagine I don't think it'll be so 6 p.m. 6 p.m. okay 6 p.m. on November 4th thank you yes sir just I guess remember that we have the the sunshine meeting the first of the month Sunshine meeting as well that day so I think since the last time we canceled it I think we should probably go ahead and announce the cancellation of that Sunshine meeting and substitute it with the shaying there's no objection for my colleagues no objection okay so uh mayor just so the record is clear uh the this is the this is the Public Announcement there will be an executive session uh meeting uh November 4th at 6m to discuss the mandle stand litigation okay thank you thank you for that and thank you for your report uh moving on then to public remarks uh again as I mentioned uh before the start of the meeting if you're here to speak on any item related to S of place which are items 15 and 16 on tonight's agenda which we will take up very shortly I would ask that you hold your public remarks till we call those items and the presentations are made um I do have a list of folks who did register for public remarks if you are in that category just wave at me and will we'll we'll hear you uh concurrently with those items uh the first name on the list is Pierre Essex sir are you here on Sunset Place okay thank you uh Raymond Hernandez Raymond Hernandez going once Raymond Hernandez going twice okay we'll move on to Alvaro Rodriguez sunet place as well thank you sir anyone who's here thank you who's here uh on any item other than sunet Place who'd like to address this commission or any item that's not on the agenda again this is an open Forum okay see please come forward Miss Fisher thank you good evening sunet place is only one thing that I want to mention so I don't know if I should speak no please you you can you can again any other item please go ahead and address it this time thank you okay Sunset Place I'll mention that first since that's what you we're calling people up for no no we're no we're not calling people for Sunset Place we're going to take up public comment for that item when the item is called okay if you want to address all your other items please go ahead and do so at this time okay thank you okay uh well I came here tonight to because I want to hear the discussion about projects uh that will Poss they are possibly going to be done through the bond issue and um I'm very did in that bond issue I got the mail out at home and uh there was no disclosure whatsoever about how that bond issue how the bonds will be paid off okay uh I understand that municipal bonds are actually a loan and there's a type called revenue and then there's um General obligation bonds so as far as Revenue I don't know what your planning that would produce so much revenue that taxpayers would not have to any additional M fer if you'd like we're going to take up that item uh after public remarks the presentation and I'll recognize you for questions at that time if you like that way you can have the benefit of the presentation you can ask your questions thereafter okay okay sure may I bring up a few other things please go right ahead yes okay I live on Southwest Adat Street I've lived there formally registered as a voter since 1995 and I live uh pretty close to um fukes Park it's only about six blocks up the road something like that and I pass by fuches Park very often and it it used to be full of people enjoying the park it was a very popular Park then all of these workers came in and they did a redo on the park and the park is like a ghost it's a ghost park now it's like there's no no one I never see anyone there I've seen a few homeless people taking naps on the grass and I don't even see them anymore we used to have flocks of beautiful birds there Ibis and we had all these ducks and it was it was beautiful and wonderful I would see uh grandparents bringing little children with them uh to enjoy the birds and I don't know I don't know what happened but ever since that redo it's just it's just gone dead it's really really sad to me because that Park was always such a treasure the park I think we're going to need some kind of workshops including the public if there's going to be any improvements on Parks uh going into the future uh because something you know something happened that just killed the park off there is it was had more of a natural Ambiance and a natural look it was there were little spots that surrounding the park that looked forested uh now it's very very manicured and it has a very sophisticated type of uh landscape around the pond and there's that beautiful walkway and no one uses it you know I I don't have the answers to these questions of why what happened why it went dead like that I don't know but it's very heartbreaking to me after all these years living here so we have to be very careful going forward as to what we're going to do to our Parks uh and I hope that you will be listening to input from us residents who have been here for years and and know the parks very well so I see that my minutes are over and I'll be speaking a little later thank you have anything else you wanted to address I'll give you another 30 seconds if you had another item uh I'm gonna P I'm gonna I thank I'm going to thank you very much oh I have one thing to say okay thank you for offering that about the old don't make me regret it please I'm gonna make it very brief is I don't know if everyone is familiar with the hometown plan but the creator of the hometown plan is here this evening and I just greeted him and and his wife they are both very active with that and the hometown plan was an awesome thing and I hope that as you go forward and you start looking at different projects that you will consider re retaining certain elements of the hometown plan that made this city a very friendly uh Community oriented with a sense of community uh we've had you know we've developed that over the years and the hometown plan should not ever really be discarded it should be taken into consideration when you make plans for the future and that's all I'll say thank you for the extra seconds thank you Miss fer just so you know we we did budget money in this budget for a Parks Master Plan update so we'll be going through another public process around all of our Parks here shortly okay thank you and mayor a little institutional knowledge we removed invasive Australian PES from that Park yes sir thank you for that okay uh further members of the audience who'd like to address this Commission on any topic other than Sunset play okay seeing No One in the Chamber is there anyone online Madam clerk anyone online would like to speak um doing public remarks other than Sunset Place please raise your virtual hand okay seeing n we're going to close public remarks uh colleagues I'm going to quickly take the add-on item and then the consent agenda items and then we'll move on to S place so that's okay um can I get a motion uh to adopt items 1 through 10 and 12 on the consent agenda unless there's any other items you'd like to pull I have to pull item 11 because I have to recuse myself that matter so items 1 through 10 any objections to the adoption of items 1 through 10 and item 12 on tonight's consent agenda give me one second may let me read take your time you want to pull four no I item four is the landscape art unless there's a desire to award it to the second rank respondent I I I I'll accept a motion to adopt items one through 10 and 12 so everyone had a chance to review the agenda if so I I move consent items 1 through 12 not including item 11 okay I'll second okay so we have a motion by commissioner Leeman and a second by the vice mayor Madam clerk if you can call the role please should I read them or oh I'm sorry yes if you could read the resolutions yes my apologies yes I short commercial break item one a resolution approving and authorizing approaches of 2020 for for Transit T 3505 passenger van from duall for LLC for the parks recreation and culture Department pursuing to bra for County Sheriff's Office contract number 22-27 D 1.0 in amount of $568 57 52 declaring existing Vehicles as Surplus property item two a resolution of the city commission authorizing the purchase of a new three station portable restroom trailer from ready to go restroom Trailer Sales LLC in amount NC 63232 utilizing the terms and conditions of the competive viid Source word contract number 0929 22- AO item three a resolution approving and authorizing the purchase of a 20244 F-150 pickup truck from Duval for LLC for the pars Recreation and culture Department forer braford County insurance office contract number 22-27 1.0 in the amount of $573 20178 declaring the existing vehicle Ser property item four a resolution selecting Miller leg and Associates for landscaping master plan Services pursuing to request for qualifications number PL 20249 in amount of $200,000 item five a resolution confirming the Declaration of state of emergency issued by the city manager resulting from Hurricane melting item six a resolution approving in SE public transportation Grant agreement with the state of Forida Department of Transportation regarding funding assistance for the city's own demand transit services item seven a resolution approvement authorizing the purchase of electric utility services for the city facilities from Florida Power and Light and amount not to exceed $102,000 for fiscal year 2024 2025 item eight a resolution approving and authorizing the purchase of solid waste disposal services from the Miami day County Department of solid waste management an amount not to exceed $935,000 for fiscal year 20 2024 2025 item nine a resolution approvement and authorizing the the purchase of water and waste water services from the city's facilities from the M day Warden store Department an amount not to receive $60,000 for fiscal year 2024 2025 item 10 a resolution approving and authorizing the purchase of electric utility services for Street lighting from qu Power and Light that amount not to exceed $150,000 for fiscal year 2425 item 12 a resolution resetting the first regular meeting in November 2024 to November 4th 2024 thank you madam clerk um we're gonna need to call on a pinch reader for the next part of the meeting um again we have a motion by commissioner Leeman and a second by the vice mayor if you can call the role please yes um commissioner Cay yes Commission Cory yes commission lemman yes V bones yes mayor Fernandez yes passes 5 thank you Madame vice mayor I'm going to turn the meeting over to you before I leave Mr C attorney do I have to make any disclosures regarding my recusal on item 11 I think you've already disclosed it you you will have to fill out the uh recusal form okay for the benefit of the public I uh item 11 is approval of a contract with Sunshine gasoline Distributors Inc I represent affiliate entity on a land use matter in the city of Miami I think it's inappropriate to vote on the item for that reason so I'm going to step out of the chamber and all my clients to deliberate the matter in my absence thank youit just going to walk I'm sorry my college okay so in his absence we're going to vote on number 11 so can we have you read number 11 and then we'll move on it adem 11 a res was approving and authorizing the purchase of B Fuel including gasoline Diesel and equipment from sunsh Sunshine gasoline Distributors a terms condition and pricing of Miami day County contract number ebn 01442 for the city's vehic Fleet and amount not to receed $339,100 for fiscal year 2024 2025 okay is somebody interested in moving it I move item 11 I'll second well okay we'll have a second from commissioner Cory can you please call the role yes commissioner Leeman yes B yes commissioner Cory yes commissioner k yes item passes supp zero okay all righty we'll bring you back in the room thank you colleagues uh on item 12 colleagues I know we um announced the reset for our November meeting did we want to consider giving staff direction to explore cancellation of any of the meetings in November Andor December so we do have that option of the charter either the maybe the November 19th meeting or the December 16th meeting yes sir sorry um yeah i' I'd like even though I won't be here yeah really well I'd like to uh I think it's a good idea to keep the November 19th meeting that way the newly elected can participate in a meeting yeah we may have I think we may have an installation meeting so again I'm not I'm not saying that we take definitive action on that item tonight I'm just ask if you want to give the manit direction to explore a cancellation of either or both of those meetings and and make the prepare the announcement for the next agenda okay okay fair enough okay for you guys like my my kids come home so I'm I'm okay well my my children come home like in November it makes no difference to me and in December my kids come home for Christmas but I don't know what you calendars are like for Christmas vations again just we have the chart of flexibility I wanted to raise the issue since we were talking about a meeting that dat let's just have the the clerk kind of pull us and and pull the staff to make sure that we're not going to also interrupt any business that we have to you know have to execute during those two months okay okay moving on to the add-on item very quickly Madam clerk if you can read that item for the record please yes add on a resolution of the mar City commission ratifying the purchase of emergency repairs for garbage truck from P for an amount of $1 13,939 thank you madam Clerk Mr manager do you want to quickly enter this item yes sir uh mayor vice mayor Commissioners uh this item is a ratification of an emergency uh purchase uh in this case repair to um uh our one of our garbage trucks uh this is a the spare truck we have two Frontline trucks one of the two Frontline trucks uh went down and we had to uh send it in for repairs and we brought in our spare and that one had issues and we had to get it towed so uh I authorized an emergency repair of this uh vehicle and to the tune of $1 13,939 so this would be a ratification of that emergency uh uh action taken uh to get this vehicle uh repaired thank you for the explanation Mr manager colleagues any questions if not going to have a motion on item F1 please I'll move the motion okay is there a second okay second by commission Cory so motion by commission Kai second by commissioner Corey Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner K yes commissioner Cory yes commissioner Le yes Vice May B yes mayor Fernandez yes it passes great uh Madam clerk with respect to item N1 which is the appointment of Israel Rado to serve on the historic preservation board is there any action required by this board yes we need a vote okay if you could read the item please yes Israel Rosado has been recommended by commissioner C to be appointed to serve on the historic preservation board as per City Charter Article 2 Section 8A for a 2-year term ending October 15 2026 or until a successor is appointed ever occurs first this is a vacancy on the board K would you like to move the item I'll move the m is there a second second okay Madam Clark quick question why why can't we make this term coterminous with commissioner Kai is because has appointment on the board and is okay no more further explanation required thank you okay we have a motion and a second Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commission Kay yes commissioner Coran yes commissioner Leman yes Vice May B yes mayor Fernandez yes item passes by Z okay great so colleagues without objection I want to take up items 15 and 16 M Mr City attorney I believe one of these is a quad judicial item do you want to read the disclosures and confirm advertising yes thank you thank you mayor uh item numbers 15 and 16 address Sunset Place item 15 seeks approval of a development agreement under Section 163 uh. 3220 through 163 3243 Florida Statutes and section 20-1 12.13 of the city's Land Development code it is the second of two public hearings the first public hearing was held on October 1st 2024 that's item 15 item 16 is an application for initial site plan approval under section 20-1 12.13 of the Land Development code item 16 is a purely quasi judicial item the Quasi judicial procedures require this commission to consider the evidence presented to it and base it base your decision on the applicable law and primarily on the evidence presented Ed whether by the applicant staff or members of the public the staff report and the resolution provide the applicable law and criteria for approval in this case the general site plan criteria and specifically the criteria in article 12 of The Land Development code the evidence considered must be substantial competent evidence this means testimony or other evidence based on personal observation a relevant expert testimony that a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion it is not a popularity contest it cannot be based solely on non-expert opinions no matter how fervent those opinions might be now in contrast to item 16 item 15 the resolution for the development agreement is a legislative or at best a quasi legislative item it is nevertheless a public hearing under the statute because it's a public hearing under the statute and in abundance of caution and and for efficiency um without waving the city's position that the resolution is in fact legislative in nature the city should consider the development agreement together with the initial site plan as part of the same public hearing that would mean the procedure would be that of a quasi judicial hearing that would entail a brief staff presentation uh the applicant would make a then make a presentation the public would then be given an opportunity to comment um and then the developer May address any public comments at that point the public hearing would be closed and this commission could deliberate uh the commission is of course free to ask any questions at any time during that process as we have done sever many times uh everyone who seeks to speak on on the these two items should be given an opportunity to speak during during the public comment portion if you intend to provide test testimony on E on either or both the initial site plan or the development agreement considered tonight you you will be sworn in before your testimony is taken please know if you do speak you may be subject to cross-examination if you refuse to either either to be cross-examined or to be sworn your testimony will be considered in that context and given its due weight the general public will not be permitted to cross-examine Witnesses but the public May request the commission to direct questions on their behalf to either staff or the applicant at this time anyone who wishes to speak should be sworn in I'd ask that you please stand if you wish to speak and raise your right hand uh and if you are online and you wish to speak please turn on your your camera and raise your right hand can anyone who registered on this list and wants to speak please stand up and raise your right hand to be sworn in please thank you and anyone on camera please turn on your camera and raise your right hand anyone on Zoom okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth great thank you thank you all Madam clerk please confirm uh that the advertising requirements and notice requirements for this hearing have been complied with yes great thank you and then uh mayor vice mayor Commissioners as to the initial site plan approval have uh which is item 16 have any of you had any expart Communications with the applicant or any member of the public either for or against uh this application just go across the day so commission leben I I have spoken with the principal but now regarding the site plan I I have spoken with them as well I have all spoken with the principal about both the development agreement and the site plan when we say the principal we're talking about talking about I'm talking about his architect architectural team his Council and Mr viia thank you thank you I have I've spoken to the principal regarding the Seline I have spoken to principal architector same as mayor okay thank you okay great uh so the last thing uh at your pleasure you can either hear from staff on the initial site plan or so let's let's go through a staff presentation followed by a presentation by the applicant and then we'll open up for the public to speak and and at some point I'd ask for for the record to to uh to mention the things that that have have changed in the development agreement so let's why don't we happen why don't we why don't we take that up right after the staff presentation here okay hold on one second yes Madam vice mayor you're recognized and I'd also like as we did previously for our City attorney to take us through the process so that everyone has the benefit of knowing from beginning to end how many meetings have happened how much public engagement has happened when we started and where we're at because at the last meeting when we did this before everyone was able to speak I think it was beneficial so that people who have maybe not had the benefit of being here from the beginning who maybe either joining us now or joined us at the last meeting have the benefit before they speak of knowing where they're jumping in in the process if they're just getting here now no objection so what we'll do is we'll hear from our our planning staff we'll hear from the city attorney as to process and context and then we'll hear about the modifications to the development agreement or or the site plan which I I guess staff will summarize uh and then we'll hear from the applicant and we'll open up for the public so have the benefit of all that information before they render their opinion okay any objections okay seeing none uh Mr manager who from staff is presenting on our behalf yes sir Mr Alvarez will be presenting Mr Alvarez you're recognized some work good evening mayor and Council Mark alvers of the cardino group we are Consultants to the city staff for the review of the Sunset Place preliminary plan um we've completed the review and gone through the in detail recalculating all the numbers the overall recommendation is that we um recommend to approve the initial site plan as it is consist generally consistent with the um with section 12 of the code we have seven um conditions they're very minor um and I'm going to go through them very quickly the first condition is that the roof toop amenities and mechanical structures which are all now marked TBD and we find that to be a detail that would be very detailed at this level since each of the buildings has not been designed in in depth yet um but we would just condition that none of the root top ameni be over 20 fet so that they meet the code and that none of the excess of the um mechanical structures and their shielding be over 18 ft number two that um building are three as as it was presented the um set of drawings we we understand now from the applicant that it is a an error scer error on the on the drawings but building R3 showed 26 floors instead of 2 one of the double floors one of the floors had a line through it um but we would still regard that as something we should have a condition for um floor plates in the 10th floor of building R six is um number three uh do exceed 20,000 Square ft I took the assumption that building R7 would be the 25,000 ft floor plate building um and that we would condition that when the building comes for full for complete design um for permitting that the building R six would be at floor plates that are under 20,000 Square ft that's outside wall to outside wall um the parking ples uh typically typically parking planes would have a typical dimensions of spaces they were missing um we have no problem with it but we would require that as the plant excuse me the plans come in that there would be a condition that those typical space dimensions are shown um we would also add to that that with each building that's permitted we know this is a phased plan that as each building gets permitted that the we would have the opportunity and the information to re-evaluate the parking sufficiency it is sufficient right now but we know that as markets change over the years there may be a slight difference excuse me in the mix of uses and that we would re-evaluate the parking as we go along and finally um I missed one I'm sorry um number five was that the impervious area be compliant with the requirements of section 20-1 12.9 um again that has been complied with we uh found the was a very small note on sheet ls200 they are compliant they're at 68% um for the open space but we again because actually we could we could delete that one but it is on your report and then finally um prior to the time so the regarding the master signage plan the code requires a master signage plan and as I UND as I recall from from the code changes that were amended on this that was something of a vestage from when this was was a more of a shopping center um and I think and we we all think that the master excuse me the master signage plan is a little premature at this level of site planning but we would um have a um a requirement or I should say a a condition that before the first building comes in for its actual site plan review that the master signage plan be in place that would be sufficient time to get that in place those are the uh seven conditions I would delete the one about impervious area so we would have six conditions recommend to approve if there's any questions I'm happy to answer colleagues questions of Mr Alvarez no qu no questions okay did you sorry you had a question not all do you want him to repeat the conditions one more time you sure okay thank you Mr Alvarez okay U Mr City attorney do you want to go through again the context request from the vice mayor and then if you could speak to the changes to the development agreement please thank you Ju Just One minor clarification to the record the resolution you guys have in front of you includes a couple of legal conditions if you could if you are packed on if you could just share those for the record as well to yes so thank you it's got all of the conditions that that Mark mentioned and then there's one that that requires execution of a and recording of a development agreement which is item 15 before you and then uh regarding the expiration of the site plan approval that it's as per the code okay thank you sir for that clarification okay so you can proceed yeah thank you mayor in terms of process uh this States back the the uh I guess the the public hearing portion of this process I I guess some context the regulations that were in place here before uh for downtown somi that predate uh this commission consideration and indeed this this owner uh owning the the property those those regulations were already in place uh they provided for uh a significant amount of non-residential floor area uh to the tune of of something on the order of like 1.4 million square feet um the and uh roughly 660 units uh for the entire uh property uh when this owner uh a took took control of the property uh he came to the city to to approach the city to try to revamp those Reg ulations uh through a collaborative process those regulations were revamped and that was presented to this commission uh starting actually starting with the planning board in September of 2023 okay since that time there have been two public hearings before the planning board four public hearings including this one now for the uh for for the with the city commission um and what has been approved well in at that time frame in the fall of 2023 there were four things that were approved there was a comprehensive plan Amendment there was a change to the zoning regulations there was a uh change to the comprehensive plan designation of the CVS parcel what everyone knows as CVS parcel at the southwest corner of the site and the change of Zoning for the CVS partiel basically to make it consistent with the rest of the site that was in place adopted roughly uh November of 2023 late November 2023 since that time the applicant has been working on a site plan they they formally submitted that site plan I believe in Late July uh early August uh that site plan is now before you but before it got to you it went to the planning board uh for a public hearing and then last commission meeting October 1st this commission considered the first hearing on the development agreement so tonight what you have is the culmination of that process which is the initial site plan approval before the commission for approval and a development agreement on the second public hearing so all told it's six public hearings and then I you know I counted at least three Sunshine meetings but I know there were more because it was brought up many times at at at sunshine meetings at the at the monthly Sunshine meetings that that this commission has had so that's that's the the public process these were noticed public hearings and noticed Sunshine meetings Comm questions as to process yes okay thank you mayor recognize thank you mayor in layman's terms Mr City attorney for the Public's benefit we're not here to discuss height or density height and density have already been approved they were approved as part of the zoning regulations okay thank you okay further questions yes Madam vice mayor recognized something else that I think that is of benefit that you mentioned the last time is and I'm gonna I'm gonna kill it and I I know I am is that no exactly you're so bad is that they actually had the ability to do much more than what they are doing they've actually done less with the footprint that they have so I I think is so the question is do you want do you want the City attorney to clarify what their rights were before yes versus what they're proposing to do now or what they're authorized to do now yes okay attorney can you address that question sure sure so uh as I mention it's it's uh under the previous code they had the ability to build at a a 3.0 F which comes out to uh actually was 1318 million square feet of non-residential um under the co the code as it was adopted last year uh that was dropped to a a maximum of 791 th000 square feet of non-residential um that was a drop of 40% uh the proposal before you actually is at 5 48,000 Square ft roughly um which is about just rough numbers approximately 40 to 43% of the of what was allowed before this commission um acted uh now in terms of uh density the density was increased um from 65 units the acre to 150 units of the acre um so they went from the ability to do 650 six units up to the ability to do approximately 154 units they are proposing 1513 units as part of this um the height uh the base so the height that was permitted under the older rules the previous rules was 17 floors um just 17 floors the when the rules were adopted last year the base height was reduced but there was an ability to bonus up to 33 floors so the base height was reduced to 12 floors and uh the at the and I say 33 floors as the maximum and that is only up on the the the the northern most part of the site the southernmost part of the site is 12 stories that graduates to 15 which graduates to 25 and then you get to the 33 floors as you go from south to North and that's only with bonuses um yeah and guys yes start up but if we if we if we want some clarifications please ask what's on the record sure we'll let the City attorney address it please just so the public can hear some sidebar conversation I just want them to able to hear what we're discussing thank you understood understood so uh sorry about that mayor the um so what I was saying was that from from Sunset Drive as as the As you move up on the property to the north the heights of the buildings go up the more uh the closer to us one the uh the building are the open space uh under the previous code the requirement was 10% which equates to approximately 44,000 Square F feet of a requirement for open space under the code this commission adopted last year that was increased to 15% uh and that was uh that that comes out to approximately 66,000 squ feet of open space uh in terms of what has been proposed it is uh more than double uh what the requirement is they are proposing approximately 33.5% uh which is a a 147,000 squ feet of open space um and then in terms of the lock coverage the lock coverage allowed under the previous code was 90% that's about close to 400,000 square feet the under the current code uh the the one that was adopted last year it was 80% that so that was reduced uh that would allow total lot coverage of about 350 ,000 uh Square fet uh and then the the what is the before you the proposal is uh approximately 66.5% uh lot coverage so it's it's under it's 292,000 square feet so so it's it's been reduced okay questions as to context process Mr Kai I know you'd want it to be recognized you're good okay you see no further questions Mr C turn if you can now walk us through yes thank you if you can walk is through the changes to the development agreement between its last reading and and the present one okay so thank you mayor you you all have a supplemental uh memorandum and for the benefit of people in the public for the first time if you can explain the requirement and the purpose of of a development agreement just very briefly sure a development agreement is intended uh to provide for the long-term development of a site it is a requirement of our code um and it is allowed by Florida statute so uh this applicant has uh has sought a development agreement as required under the code and under the statute and it's um it it basically sets forth the the the additional ground rules in addition to the Land Development regulations for developing the property so that's what you have before you uh and this was uh considered by this Commission on October 1st since that time uh based on commission Direction there were uh several things that several uh revisions that were made to the agreement uh that agreement has been distributed to to you all um and there was a uh supplemental memorandum which described what the changes were uh so the first is that um actually yeah the uh there has been language uh added regarding dedications on Sunset 58th Avenue um any dedications that may be required uh there are Provisions regarding a minimum development threshold that that was uh clarified um just to recap the development threshold is a requirement that they uh build at least a minimum of 200 units 30,000 feet of retail and commit a certain amount of money to the project in terms of improvements uh by uh 10 years by by a certain date so there are two dates that are that triggers there's a 10year mark where the city can terminate this agreement um and terminate the site plan if they haven't uh gotten to that level of of development uh there's also a six-year Mark where uh they start paying Parks uh Parks impact fee contributions so that there's there's there's a um some uh Financial impact to not moving forward uh in addition the applicability of the sorry Mr attorney and so let me just for the benefit of the public in my own since we discuss this at link if those thresholds are not met in year six they pay they pay the park impact Fe they would have otherwise been obligated to pay correct over a term of years correct they start playing a quarter million dollars a year okay and if they if they if they had not met the $250 million threshold yes Andor the program whichever I'm assuming is greater yes okay and completed the public improvements at the 10e Mark the 10 which is the sidewalks the public Plaza right that essentially the subdivision improvements we can terminate and all their rights are resed that's correct correct okay that's correct I just want we have a question by the vice mayor what does that mean what is all of their rights everything in this agreement and their their site plan and and so then basically it's they start over they have to start again they have to start again okay yeah they have the idea is that they uh execute okay and this $200 million in improvements what do that equal in tax dollars it's probably north of two and a half million dollar just rough rough numbers so then if by that time they have invested that then we're seeing that we should start seeing in year 10 $25 million of recurring Revenue that's you know again we we we tried to move this project along the goal here is we've we've re you know reallocated density right reduced the intensity there's more height in exchange for those concessions they're agreeing to move a program along so we can start see the benefit of it everybody asks us they want to go enjoy sens of place we want that to happen sooner rather than later so this has been the negotiated resolution of that request is a 10year drop dead date they lose their right okay okay some some additional revisions that were made uh there was a 65% uh 65% of the frontages on any streets uh were required to be active uses that has been fleshed out uh so that there are active uses along all of the internal streets all the public rights away and the public Plaza um the extent of the sidewalks that are to be constructed red as part of the first phase of development this is the first phase that we've just been discussing uh that has been uh fleshed out it was originally uh first at the first hearing it was a minimum of six feet that has actually been expanded to basically be all of the sidewalks and there's an exhibit F that is that has been uh submitted to the clerk that contains all of that information and the sidewalks range roughly from about 20 feet deep to uh six feet deep where there are uh parking areas but in a lot of it is in the 15 to to 20 feet uh width yes Madam Madam Vice May you're recognized I I so that we bring everybody along on the ride with us the the reasoning that you had for the sidewalks and the ride of Bo and everything being done on the first phase and the all of that happening was that it solidified yeah it's it's a commit it's a commitment by the developer to execute the plan as presented so that this community is not renegotiating with them every so many years about what's going to happen on the site we have some through their investment of probably north of 25 to $30 million they're affirmatively committing to executing the plan that's being presented this evening okay so then essentially in doing that we're saying hey every all of these buildings the footprint is this the streets exist the parking exists the so if the building takes 15 years to build in the second phase we can at least walk through the property property have access to it and what would be the typical proposed improvements to that subdivision and then obviously in doing that we're saying all of this already is complying with the zoning that is in place correct they still have to go through a review process for each building correct Mr attorney yes administrative I'm doing this for the benefit of all of us appreciate it not everybody was sitting here last time sure so so I just have a few more and then I'll get out of your way the uh the public Plaza area um has been the the size of the public Plaza area was always going to be about 17,000 sare ft um they have committed in that first phase to build out 15,000 of that 17,000 square feet the the reason for the the difference is that they have to make it uh integrate with the buildings that they build around it um the uh commitments they have made certain commitments regarding the activating the area around the public Plaza uh that is from the time that it is built to the time that it is uh that their construction finally proceeds around it uh they have committed to certain temporary installations and I I'll go into those in a moment um the the number of Palms was a topic of discussion last hearing uh the original number was that 45% of the trees would be palm trees uh that has been reduced to 20% of the trees uh that is far less than than what is allowed under the code uh the there's been a new section added regarding local opportunities uh that has to do with local employment opportunities um including job fairs and uh and you know abilities for for residents to to apply for work during construction during the retail phase and then uh also for local businesses to uh participate in the retail uh opportunities that will be constructed on the site just a few more uh there's a provision that has been added uh to keep open the possibility of a structural tie-in between the signature Tower at the corner of US1 and red and a future pedestrian bridge should this commission determine that that's a good idea and then and and move forward with with that uh so there's a possibility for integration of that basically the pedestrian bridge would connect to that building um the uh there's a provision extending any unique technologies that they employ within the site out to Sunset Drive um that was a discussion last time um there's also turning I think I think the vice mayor has a question about what that means in English yes well I I had the same thought yeah any so any kind of um like interactivity kiosks uh any Wi-Fi Wi-Fi public Wi-Fi um the word you know uh sustainability Concepts that are that are brought in into the public realm that that be extended out to Sunset Drive uh the that that's what does that explain that so if they do something on their private property we're asking them to extend it out to the public property we're just making we what we're asking them to do is make it cohesive with Sunset Drive so so if you have something neat there like technology wise that you that you extend so if you have free Wi-Fi within to to have that that come out to Sunset Drive are you serious right now I am okay can that would be nice to ask them but I don't think age they agre they agree they agree to do it Jesus you know what strong army they no they agreed to do it yeah I would agree to do it too if you were holding my feet to the fire only yeah I know it's only money let's move on let's move on let's move on all right uh they have uh subject to fdot approval they've agreed to make uh crosswalk enhancements uh to basically so they had previously agreed to for a connection point between 58th Avenue and the internal part of the site so that people don't have to walk around the entire Park Garage uh there's you know to the extent that that that fdot will allow any kind of crosswalk enhancements so that people coming for the metral can get to the site and then uh there's been a clarification as to the tolling and EXT exension of permits uh that was a legal issue uh they were they under state law they're allowed to to toll and extend certain permits they have the the agreement is that any of these deadlines for the development thresholds the six-year Mark and the 10-year Mark are not subject to any of any of that tolling okay last part of this uh this is clarification so those were the changes that were in here there have been uh some some additional I guess late late changes I just want to bring those up for the record uh first of all exhibit a which is a legal description has been submitted to uh the clerk uh to be part of this and exhibit F which is all of those uh streets and rights away uh the sidewalk widths all the public open spaces that description has also been submitted uh into the record and then there are a few uh minor changes there four of them okay first of all the definition of active uses which is section three of the agreement page three in your red lines that definition just so that the record is clear is uh right now it breeds uh an it's it's a use that attracts pedestrian activity provides access to the general public and conceals uses designed for parking Andor other non-habitable spaces if present and what's been added to that is comma including through the use of art panels or art walls on uh on facades facing US1 the the idea is that the the one tower on US1 and Red Road uh will have some parking uh most of the rest of the site does not have any any parking integrated into the buildings it's it's it's all at the uh parking garage so that one building will have some parking uh in order to make the parking circulation work uh they've asked that uh on us one that they be uh allowed to do art facad as opposed to habitable spases uh so that's one change the next one section 4B and that's on page that has to do with the development threshold uh the development threshold in terms of the monetary commitment to the site has been increased from 200 million to 250 million uh minimum and then they would have to uh they can um yeah it's $250 million okay the next one section 5G on page 15 which deals with interim uses the interim periods between Construction there were Provisions there I had mentioned them earlier regarding uh regarding activating the use of the plaza around when it's an interm condition um and they have uh the last sentence of that section which says until such time as Construction commences in the areas around the public Plaza uh the developer shall comply with a temporary activation plan that's the that's the new language and any period of non-compliance exceeding 60 days shall be deemed a repeat violation and subject to uh fines accordingly that's the language that has been you want to explain that for the benefit of the board and the public certainly um so this whole provision deals with the public Plaza and how it's going to be activated until the permanent uh buildings are constructed um so there will be temporary activations they include uh temporary or permanent structures uh any kind of code compliant uh vending units basically to allow uh for some period where and it could be a lengthy period where there are uses around this public Plaza that are not necessarily the permanent full-time uses um this is let me help I think for for the benefit of the public what we're trying to avoid here is a repeat of some history that some of you may be familiar with I recall the day when Bakery Center was open and the northern part of the property that was supposed to be improved with two 25 story buildings never got built and we had an asphalt parking lot at that condition for a very long time until Sunset Place was built we're trying to avoid that site being used as just being construction fenced indefinitely or some other use does not provide a very nice Gateway into South Miami so these interim uses this activation plan that this modified section is requiring is intended to create some activity on that very focal point at the entrance to South Miami and the and the developer to his credit has graciously agreed to to to AG agree to this modification so that's the intent of the intent of the modification thank you mayor and then did you have a question uh Mr Mr leben you did I'll wait okay no problem okay and then one last uh change just for the record on page 25 that's section 10A uh the this is what happens if there's if they are in non-compliance uh the it refers to section two 25 of the city code we're going to just clarify what the the monetary penalty is and that's the maximum statutory uh uh penalty of $500 a day again that and that ties back to the last item yes it ties back to the last item where if they haven't put in uh those uh those uh temporary supporting uses for longer than 60 days that $500 becomes a ,000 a day okay thank you okay is that it Mr C attorney that's it m okay thank you Mr Le you recognized yes uh thank you Mr Mayor I have a question for City attorneys and then a question for uh you mayor and the the Commission in terms of maybe mixing up procedure um so my question for the City attorney is one of my concerns which I know we discussed in the previous meeting regarding the developer agreement is disruption of current current business because as we know right can certainly disrupt the businesses which are currently struggling on Sunset Drive so what I one of my concerns was I'd like to see the building raised from US1 towards Sun towards Sunset Drive to use that existing structure as a wall and then one thing that that didn't happen with the um next use Market project The windix Fresh Market project is now it's a much smaller site I'd like to see the site sprayed we discussed this in previous meeting to try to minimize the amount of uh the amount of dust which will disrupt both visitors to our commercial area as well as well businesses themselves a lot of outdoor dining there so this is about construction period yes requirements okay and then my question for the the mayor and the commission is I know this may not be traditional but there a lot of people here for public comments maybe we could start with a presentation from Mr heatherwick and go to I want I want to get to the exciting part so I know we're killing everyone with a contract I apologize um further questions mayor one yes sir you're recognized Mr City attorney if um it when you just spoke about the um failure of performance uh and it reflects per the code to the code right per the document to the code right so we wanted to modify that we just need to modify that legislatively so yeah we're going to be limited statutorily yeah there yes we're we're I think we are at the statutory maximum for a first violation and a repeat violation so whatever modification if you wanted to make one to the code probably would only be down if we want to go we can go below the state statutory maximum which at today correct yes it's 500 and a th000 we can't go below that number or above that we can go below that number we cannot go above that number correct correct thank you okay okay see no further questions okay can can we keep the comment till after presentation okay we'll do that so Mr peris shows yours thank you oh he's got a binder yeah sorry to disappoint you I'll keep you waiting for Mr Heather for a second so uh my name is Richard Perez with offices at 571 Sunset Drive South Miami Florida um I am uh I work with Midtown development uh I'm joined by a number of people too many to uh to properly acknowledge but in the audience is is Alex Vidia principal of miton development and of course Mr Thomas heatherwick of heatherwick Studios who you'll hear from in in a few minutes um today culminates four years of a lot of really hard work to reimagine both Sunset Place and the future of downtown South Miami we are far from the end but this is u a very very important milestone for all of us and we think for the city when we closed on the property in December of 2020 if we can recall it was in the middle of the covid era and um Alex and I and a couple other people sat outside on tables on Sunset Drive and we looked around and we took in what we had inherited the legacy of holon Bakery the failure of the bakery Center the initial popularity and the ultimate demise of Sunset Place the struggles of downtown South and two controversial and unsuccessful efforts to reimagine Sunset Place but at the same time we inherited a property that is intertwined with the DNA of all of us that grew up in central B County grabbing late night drinks at parallel bar Dan marinos walking under that fake banion tree trying to avoid that fake lightning as we try to get our kids into um Rainforest Cafe going up to Barnes & Noble and reading magazines without paying for them uh sitting in the back of the AMC movie theater with your significant other this is the reason why I left my job to go work with Alex because this project is so meaningful to all of us that grew up here it's meaningful to Alex and I know it's meaningful to everybody in this room and to everybody on on the Das but as we sat around that table that night like we knew that to succeed we couldn't follow the same path that had led to failure after failure we needed to knock down the mall and start fresh start new knock everything down except of course the parking garage um which I know a lot of people would want us to knock down as well but the previous attempts to reone this parcel was just adding Li lipstick to the proverbial Pig right they were keeping the regional Mall and they were just adding a couple of highrises at the end and why did they do that right why would they try to repeat the same failure it's because the task to unlock Sunset Place was nearly impossible and we were about to go where no right sane human being would go we needed to renegotiate dozens and dozens of leases with big companies with armies of lawyers right and it was just you know Alex me and goog over there we need to negotiate with dozens of owners holding 40 condo units that were inexplicably added along Sunset Drive 40 owners that we needed to negotiate to get those cond we needed to depopulate a regional mall and absorb millions of dollars and lost revenue and we needed to partner with the city that historically had been very much against growth frankly as we started this process we thought that the toughest thing would be to forge a new political consensus with our local Partners you guys but we were wrong together we found Common Ground a clear consensus about what went wrong with Sunset Place and what had gone wrong with downtown South miam and as we all talk three points of consensus emerged open the project incorporate the existing Street Network consensus Point number one the project requires real streets and cannot close itself off to its neighbors it must form part of a community and can't stand apart from that community and it's I was reading a couple of the Herold articles that came out there was a quote from Beth Dunlap who was the the Harold architecture critic about the bakery Center and I just like to share it with because it's it's incredible she said it will probably be a popular and profitable place she got that part wrong but it will always be an inward turning Island within a city not an integral vital part of the city that's what she said about B she was spoton we agreed with her we couldn't repeat that mistake and we all agreed to that point SE the second consensus point was we had to create a neighborhood not a regional mall right this location doesn't work as a regional Mall twice proven it doesn't work it's an inward looking retail project does very little for the community except Drive traffic that's what it does really really well but it takes strong political self-confidence to admit mistakes right and again that Herald article and the comments from ex- mayor Stoddard I think were right on point he said he noted that South Miami failed to build dense new residential buildings AB buding low-scale commercial centers and failed to make streets and sidewalks more appealing and the deser friendly and here's his quote in that Herold part quote South Miami did not do that and we're we are suffering the consequences we gave we've got a lovely downtown but we have a basic problem and that is we don't have enough boots and Wallets on the street we agreed that was a consensus Point amongst all of us including the ex political leadership of this town the third point of consensus was activate Red Road and respect sunet Drive the project the existing project inexplicably turned its back on Red Road it simply invited no one from anywhere around to cross the street and come to South Miami the previous again as we said the previously approved Redevelopment plan repeated this same mistake keeping a big portion of the existing buildings along Bird Road and how anybody could look at the largest and most visible Frontage of a project and make it tumble weeds is is beyond anybody's real sense of logic or what you would do with this project and so you made it clear to us activate Red Road but at the same time Sunset Drive needed to be the least dense part of the project and respect the overall charm and character of the historic street again we agreed with that consensus in November of last year we took this new political consensus that we all met here room full of people and together we drafted a new zoning code mentioned to you we always view that as the canvas for Sunset plates and this new canvas created incentives and bonuses for us to come back with a plan and that's what we're here today and what were what were the bonuses and incentives they were bonuses incentives to open up the project so that it faced outward move it from a regional mall to a neighborhood by trading the retail square footage drove traffic and and give that up residential square footage and encourag activation along Red Road while pushing density from Sunset Club so now with that long introduction um I want uh to introduce Mr heatherwick to walk you through how that canvas that we sat here in November of last year has materialized into the initial site plan that he has put together from us and from the first day that we met with Thomas and this wonderful team we knew that they were the right fit for this project and the right person to bring kind of our Collective Vision to reality we are honored and frankly grateful to have Mr Heather here with us and with that like to give us some thoughts on the um members of the public Commissioners mayor um it's a great privilege to be able to stand here and on behalf of the design team share our thinking that we've had the great chance to to put our minds to and uh sort of represent the collaboration that has been this bigger conversation we recognize that this is a uh a significant major development uh by any standards and the context in Our Minds when we started work on this was that there's hardly any mixed developments that we have seen in the world which is a whole District not an individual building not an opera house not an art gallery but where you go along and can actually say this is characterful so often new places the words that get used are repeatedly again and again sterile characterless soulless and to us that is the massive uh challenge an opportunity that if we can find the way to do that here we will uh not only do something really meaningful here but kind of try to break a cycle of soulless places that have being built again and again all over the world and to show the sort of sincerity of of our efforts I thought I would just start by showing a couple of projects that we've worked on before where it to to show what a responsibility it is to and an honor to be asked to make a public place and we don't take that lightly at all our studio is based in Kings Cross in London which is relatively Central and it's all based around not thinking of our theorists or anything it's based around a workshop and a a belief in trying to think about emotions and what really motiv motivates people to want to be somewhere at all and uh we've had had the chance over the last 30 years of the Studio's history since I started it as a graduate and I didn't know who to work for because it felt like there were very established ways that people architecture and it felt that there was a great Gap and so our work has ranged from the smallest scale you'll see a very strange looking bridge in the bottom left corner that rolled up into a ball uh which is a very boring Bridge otherwise but when it opens it has character to the Olympic flame for the London 2012 games Google's headquarters in California uh to the in the middle on the right but at the has been trying to think about Human Experience uh at whatever scale we experienced that we finished a district in Tokyo just before Christmas and uh last year and I just wanted to share it it's right in the center it's right near the Tokyo Tower and some of the things that we are are thinking about and are that matter in this project uh mattered in this project in Tokyo and uh it's very very different context uh there was a a site which was approximately 30 40 acres and it was where the old post office for the city main post office of the city was based and there was agreement from all the owners who were on the site of the existing buildings to be part of the development and it had taken 27 years for the developers to bring everyone together and gradually sort of a vision and agreement with everybody and our job was to make the place that people might want to actually be and at the heart of that were three towers one of which was the tallest tower in the whole of Japan and which we didn't design we designed the whole of the rest of the public realm and the business model was that that Tower enormous Tower was what would fund the making of place and I think at the heart of the conversation today is how do we actually make meaningful places not do we H not how do we make buildings and the thinking that drove that the our response on that project was really noticing how the city of Tokyo has hardly any parks and we were convinced that nature must play a key part in that but we Al needed to make housing School a new Temple we needed to make shopping spaces working spaces so our idea really grew from looking at the idea of a Pergola structure and uh I love pergola structures where plants grow through them and that led to us but but they are based on a rational uh Square grid so that led to us developing a scheme that was a gigantic perlar scaled so three dimensionalizing that so that it could be landscape as well as building and so it could make accessibility so you could walk up onto that landscape in this image here on the left there is the staircase up to a historic Shrine that's right next to our site uh and here you can see some of the smaller parts of the project which you can walk on the on and through and the Heart of the project is making human scale detail not gigantic scale detail actually small elements of Fascination and surprise that Pera begins just at the back of this image is actually the beginning of the whole Pera structure of the whole District which is where you arrive from the subway and you see that and the the whole project grows up and out from that basement level uh beginning of the project but the project equ encompassed Furniture how do we make benches and small scale details that will connect with people and give love where you so often don't get it particularly on big projects even if uh it's nooks and crannies is a word that you might hear us use a few times on this project over the years coming forward it's really important to make a landscape that is a playful landscape uh and not just for wedging me in the corner of it but making places that uh we are all children inside and so many new projects do not build joy into themselves so we're we know that the opportunity here at Sunset Place is to make somewhere that you can explore and make discoveries and feel protected from the elements but most of all how do we make something that is human scale and but but is also full of life and that's the interesting thing that we are fascinated with um and this this project has many different elements I've just shown you the food Hall but Al which had extraordinary craftsmanship to make the the rofs of this work with this fan vaulting which only Japanese craftsmanship which is quite formidable could do um we also made performance spaces where you can have uh theater and or fashion shows as well as local markets uh there's also a school for a thousand children at the heart of the project to the right is the biggest tower in Japan and there coexist the coexistence of very human scale School uh right next to the tallest building in Japan seem to uh teach us that you really can layer up a place and that the best places are full of Discovery and surprise um and the the play areas for the children are raised up uh and even though it's the huge Tower you you kind of don't notice it your eyes are on the human scale and that's really what I want to talk about about Sunset Place but first I thought i' just show Mr hea can I can I ask you a question before you continue by me we we all have a couple residents that are AR Landscape Architects Architects one of them shared an article I'm not sure if everyone got it from the guardian and it was actually a very pointed criticism of that last of that last project which I I find to be strikingly striking aesthetically right and I think the guardian article described it as neighborhood crushing and so I I just wanted to I have I don't I rarely will have the opportunity to talk to you about it so I figured I would ask you what did you make of that criticism in terms of uh with respect to that project because I I get the opposite impression looking at the images every every other article doesn't say that that that one particular journalist um is particularly um read all his other articles about us okay and then but do go the most important thing is to go there in yeah it's phenomenally successful in Tokyo that's I going to ask it's something that's accepted well by the neighborhood was my followup question yeah well the thing with the thing with um Tokyo is that it's it doesn't have one district with just all the tall buildings one district with the short uh lower things like London does in instead that's it's um much more mixed and that makes the the the potential that we we saw within it was to layer up both both the new Temple that's there the old Shrine um the new Temple that we would build into our development that so you get many things coexisting um so uh I mean look at the 9 sorry to take you on that digression but I was just curious to get your perspective follow shair please thank you uh by the way Mr heatherwick I was expecting to arrive with a guitar because a couple weeks ago I told everyone that we were expecting a rockstar today and and to that to that point we're we're looking at Little Island in New York you also designed the vessel one of the most iconic structures in the US designed Google Google campus so these two projects are a little island and the vessel or public projects yeah Google is essentially all private it's a office campus would Sunset Place be your first private project for public use in the in the United States um close to it yeah I mean SC Hudson yards is a private project for public use okay on uh it's it's actually sort of a new piece of land that was created by a developer there yeah this this what we're really be one one of two in the US right here in South Miami yeah very exciting the um the Google building does have the ability to walk that was to walk through it so there's a public route through one of the four buildings um but in fact security has become so uh intense in recent years that unfortunately it isn't open but um thank you our passion is driven by public facing projects excellent and in big part because when I was growing up one main thing I experienced was that private Realms you to a rich person's house surprise surprise it's really nice and you go inside an art gallery it's really nice an opera house it's really nice but the why was the bus shelter why was the bus itself why was the hospital why were why were the bits we shared as Society more broadly why were they so bad and so um in our projects take years to do so you you kind of we're working on all sorts of things gradually um but it's I learned that the reason public projects facing projects are so bad is because they're so hard to do and so it means you have to work harder you know it's like sort of Smashing your head against a wall but it seemed but eventually it's so much more satisfying if you can make Improvement in a place that we share together so and after co uh the fabric of society feels more needed than ever when we been so many people have been isolated where digital technologies have meant that you can lie on bed and get a PhD you can do all your shopping from bed uh you can work from home uh we and we know that online people can be pretty toxic to each other as well so where do we see each other it's when we get out of our car and actually see see the broad range of all of us and surpr surpris people tend to be uh civility breaks out a bit more when we are just with each other so um I I think public life is a a beautiful but precious and endangered thing and so for me an opportunity like this at Sunset Place is uh is very precious socially and we talk about fabric of society but where is it if we're all just in our cars the time and if we're at home and online and scared of each other all the time so trying to make a public realm that will feel safe and and in New York the little island was really important to try and make somewhere that people would feel safe we weren't actually asked to do this originally it was a competition for a structure that would be on a remade um Pier that would be which wouldn't really be a here it was going to be an enlarged bit of the wests Side Highway in New York and they were going to spend this money on this pier structure that you wouldn't feel and we proposed that we didn't bother making a separate iconic thing but instead spent the money that would otherwise be spent and get more emotion for every visitor by pushing it out into the river and making it this special feeling place with a threshold so you feel you're arriving to somewhere um and so this project really was came out we presented it on the day of hurcan Sandy so we we ourselves got kind of marooned and flooded and stuck um but that showed the urgency of making a a structure that could be resilient for um the centuries ahead but it's a space that's free and open for everybody and sits in the river the the gang planks that go across to it were very much so that you build theater and and we mustn't underestimate that the public realm I I think is an opportunity for theater and joy and it isn't just about selling stuff to people and it certainly shouldn't just be about back doors and fire exits and so many iconic buildings when you stand next to them you're next to fire exits and you're next to um dead facades so what we're really interested in is how you connect with people and places that are engaging and fascinating and part of the reason we made this Archway was so that people feel they're leaving behind the nine Lane Highway and noisy New York and sort of are they going to a new island a new place I don't know um but the heart of it is also a performance space for 700 people looking out across to New Jersey which has uh which has been protected from not being able to be hired by Gucci or anyone like that so it's really it's a kind of community for the city uh and uh and does festivals that are have been funded for the next 20 years by philanthropist who really wants this project to uh connect with people and be a gift to the city but I just the reason I chose to show this was that we're trying to learn about what I mean you are you asked about the project in in Japan um other than that one biased journalist particular that by the way Little Island spectacular having been there multiple times great well we we we're also interested to try and understand our projects better so we go back to them now and uh this was an social impact study that we did looking at what were our intentions and what actually happened and asking commissioning um a polling organization who then works and spoke to the employees spoke to the different visitors from and really understand which barers in New York were actually going there was it really just people from Manhattan and uh how how it really worked what were the reasons for going there and so because we we selfishly we want to learn in order to be able to make even better places as we go forwards so it's looking at perceptions and sentiments and it's it was largely reinforcing as well as a few surprises um uh all the things we really wanted to do with the project and finally before just talking about uh Sunset Place the I just wanted to show that um normally normally architecture and design firms do books about their own work uh we recently published a book which is not about our own work but is about this problem which is that we've had dehumanized environments over the the last 7080 years years particularly after the second world war and there's an enormous opportunity to make places that are more engaging and that's led to that's the reason why I've got this funny thing here which is uh the campaign humanized campaign that um a group a group of us are leading that came out from this book which was also speaking to neuroscientists and trying to stop conversations about architecture being about Style Style you either like modern Square stuff or you like oldfashioned stuff but it's much more complex than that of what our brains needs to make places that are nutritious and so we're on a journey of trying to discover that and understand that which is it's crazy that an industry as big as oil and gas globally has been has treated itself as an art that treated the public as if they were ignorant and they just don't understand than being really interested in the notion of kind of um Ser servant designers in a ways that our job is to design a place that serves the public and so there's there's a whole lot of things that are there and to Us Sunset Place is the most incredible chance and there is a as far as we can tell the most committed client that we could want to to go on that journey and and really try to make some will be meaningful for people uh so the the brief really is to try to make it a new heart of South Miami that can be a landmark on Highway one and at the heart of it is the belief that real streets create a different kind of emotional engagement that a mul uh can't do and after online retail it feels like the time of the mall is Maybe end and walkability is I mean we're coming from London it's it's deeply shocking some of the environments that people live in uh in in the US that we witness where you don't feel safe to walk and that's uh shocking from a yeah I know we've a little little country but how do we how do we make the walkability um with vehicle connectivity prioritizing people rather than cars and at the same time making homes with great views and but it it there are a number of challenges that we have to see as the opportunities of the project but the the existing plan really feels like it it was it's its own bubble and barely related to the surrounding area and we do know that Highway one is loud and unfriendly so we've got how do we Place new buildings and how do we make accessible streets and walkability while also acknowledging that there is something you want to defend yourself from the as Rick said earlier um the engagement with the Red Road uh is just not there and it feels token and it feels like this surrounding Street grid is just ignored and then there's fake internal streets second level retail that just doesn't work and it just doesn't feel like a a real piece of City so that that's that's exciting to try and see whether we can Judo that the other way into something that can um be meaningful for people so we started work with Alex and the team at Midtown two and a half years ago but at that point they they didn't Midtown didn't own the whole site so we were going on Journeys studying things and and trying our best to look at all sorts of different options but it was really a game Cher when it was possible to get the the main the other main bit of the site to facilitate some more comprehensive bigger scale thinking while retaining the car park and retaining the car park in big part because there there still needs to be car parking provision but there also so much carbon embodied in all that concrete to to support the hundreds of cars it seems mad to knock it down and build another structure to support hundreds and hundreds of cars so the root of it is just saying let's not mess let's not mess around let's make real streets Street real streets of different widths with different materials different scales different atmospheres and with a sense of Discovery because the places that we tend to love have variety just as we talk about biodiversity in nature it's like how can we create a streetcape diversity that feels like you can always see something new and we've got a critical mass we've got a big enough project that it should be possible to make somewhere with Fascination and that's Fascination is the thing that I get pissed off when I go to new places and you're just quickly bored and you know it looks good in a postcard but it isn't actually a great place to walk around we rather that that we're the other way around no offense but that maybe we don't look so good in the postcard but we're brilliant place to be um but we'll try to make it look good in the postcard as well don't worry um so we we have our site um and the scale of bit of this 900 feet 575 feet you know it's it's a big piece of property and so it then comes down to human perception and there's a a really great urbanist called Yan gel who's re really one of the lone voices who really thinks about feelings when you're in a place and how how you feel what are the distances where you can smell and touch what are the distances where you can still see clearly what's around but equally what's what's the limit where you stop feeling that you can uh take in the your surroundings and feel intimate and that's approximately 300 foot so if you take our over 900 foot sight and take that 300 foot as the sort of limit of scale where you start to lose the humanness we end up with three divisions to the site which kind of lines up with the street grid that we have there so if we look at the surrounding streets that we have around and think well rather than being a dead bit at the end of the streets um whether that's Highway One or Red Road or Sunset Drive why don't we build in to that I mean one of the things I know that was a question in the um last hearing that happened was about well why is there not a main public space on Sunset Drive and the the reason we think it's not the right thing to do is because we think that the it's really important to keep the intimacy Sunset Drive and that if we bust it open with a big Plaza on the side of it we'll actually lose energy um and so and we need to keep to have energy on Sunset Drive but also Sunset to to have energy within the development to pull people through and make those streets feel uh energized and genuine so we're looking at that we should have a a public space just here on the corner of the car park um lining up with the street that comes straight into Sunset Drive um and so the red is the vehicle route but then equally how do we take people through to the most hostiles I say hostile but the the highway is is a noisy strong presence we think it's important that we do make a public space there but make it feel protected and so and so we have this network of streets so these are the vehicle streets but we add through covered walkways we start to get something that's much richer and it gives us the chance to have different scales of spaces and it's so important that we have these different sizes because your feelings are different when you're in a street when you're in a square when you're in a the equivalent of a poo um and so our our thinking really is to try to make the biggest range of atmospheres that we can create and also in conversation with the city we've in included a new cut through which can again have its own atmosphere in character so we start getting a richness that we think adds up to uh something that's getting the right kinds of variety but also having a meaningful relationship with the surrounding streets um and when we compare I think key thing for us is the idea of frontages so the this is in red is marked out the current active frontages in the existing shopping mall sites and our our new plan uh is 70% more Street Frontage and the places you want to go to are vibrant and they have stuff going on and so we're really committed to trying to maximize the frontages and particular on the external streets too which have particularly Red Road has been just dead um and so that once you start in integrating the Landscaping that starts building into a rich story and we're really committed to that but the key part is that to really facilitate and make a development happen there have to be enough people but what as soon as you start saying having enough people and having many people living on site you quickly start needing bigger buildings and before you know it streetcape gets squashed by big buildings and so our we think it's an innovation is to decouple the vibrancy at the street from the buildings above so our number one priority is how do we make streets that are interesting engaging and we think that's by making them be part of the buildings above but in effect build a village of Village scale buildings below but they are facilitated by buildings above that kind of don't touch them so the buildings above are like up on stilts so you get an air break between the two so whatever you make the building above from you don't have to make the retail units and shopping spaces and restaurantes and spes and Community spaces below you don't have to make them from the same material and you don't have to make them the same size as the building above and you don't have to even align them with each other it's like these are these are the um Giants stepping across and around them necessary to get the density at the street but facilitating and kind of keeping out of the way of what's happening at the street so in terms of the zoning constraints as as Rick and and people were speaking about before we have the differing Heights as we go north so we get a zoning envelope that we're building in that's stepping down to Sunset Drive uh which is the most intimate in human scale but we're determined to keep that human scale going through the whole project however much we're building taller massing above that and so this is just trying to talk about the sense of surprise Discovery difference diversity experimenting it means that you can have food trucks you don't have to just have walls of glass and I think we're all very used to Big developments with walls of glass the the the street bit is like the last bit it's the leftover the assumption that you just throw glass down there Chuck shops in and it'll be fine and the problem is you so often have shop units that are big and then because they're so big it might be handy for the developer to let out very big shops but the problem is that you then get uh Only The Familiar names and we really want to have unfamiliar names we want small units which means they'll be more affordable which means that more types of of retailer bar owner restaurant cat sandwich space weird smoothie place whatever it's going to be is can afford to be there and also doesn't have windows that are so big that they can't afford to change the windows because it's they're so big they can't afford it um more than once every three months there should be this should be an activator um and that's really led to these images we're at an early stage of what these the actual streetcape would be but these are trying to show our commitment and and um demonstrate that what's above doesn't need to drive what's below and so these are some of the cover this is an image of a covered walkway going through so where the street ignores the buildings above it just goes through and the small the small scale architecture can be evolved and grown below and our hope is that we will work with many many artists and uh collaborators to make that street come alive and we really want somewhere that is full of imaginative things and that really will depend on artists uh children theater designers our job really being to facilitate that um kind of cornercopia of diversity that at street level this is a view of the cut through next to the existing car park um and where we really do want to squeeze it you know some of the I've ever been small they're not big and we've got this giant car park huge amount of concrete in it so we want to take that but we're not going to just leave it like this we don't want to knock it down but we know from our past experience with our project the one in the middle or different things that exist around that there's no reason that we need to knock it down we can transform that car park and use creativity as a way to make it be an asset and part of the diversity of the the development and another part of this so there are some wider pieces of Street and it'll be as you can see the buildings above and what's below are disconnected but it will should also make some exciting spaces when you go up on the roofs and some of those spaces where you might be able to go and have a drink or go and sit with your laptop or whatever it's going to be it's not a a mle where you walk along at ra level but you can in the different uh units many of them we hope will be we'll be encourag them to encouraging them to use their rooms get people up there so it feels theatrical and engaging to be in and wanted to talk about nature some of our projects are are superpowered by the Quantum of nature that we put into them and Miami you've got such amazing weather for growing things and the banan trees that you have we we don't want to just resort to palm trees we really do want to try to get a a richness of planting and uh the Soulful plants themselves that in themselves are sculptures and we we know that that counterbalance to the man-made design things is is just as critical uh to the success of the project and so the heart of the project will will be this larger Square that's further in and we really want to we're talking about how we can move some terrifyingly big trees or terrifyingly move some big trees um using the amazing technologies that can exist and if the victorians can do it why couldn't we uh so we are determined to make this whole project be based around people and the residential is necessary to super activate the place and the final thing I was just going to say was that um the the the reason that we we know we need this density is because uh otherwise you can't sustain uh a vibrant place and one of the things in our conversations that we saying is the reason there isn't the vi the sign that there isn't the vibrancy here is the just AR which is an interesting one for us uh was dogs that there aren't enough dogs and that if there were more dogs that would be a sign that there are enough people and the the example that was used was that there's a business called 911 poo and that the fact that there isn't 911 poo needed means there aren't enough dogs which means there aren't enough people and we need a company like n 911 poo I have no interest in 911 poo but the point being with that success will be that we have that diversity including animal life not just plant life um so thank you very [Applause] much colleagues we can take questions now or do you want to open up for the public okay let's open up to the public then so I'm going to use the list of folks who signed in before so again starting with uh Pierre asex please come forward and yes sir I'm sorry there should be a lot of people speaking this yes so it with yeah let's let's take it down to two minutes if we can and uh we ask you to be as brief as possible in the interest time uh followed by Raymond Hernandez and Alvaro Rodriguez if you just want to line up at the podium we'd appreciate it again pr6 you're you're recognized sir yes thanks what can I say it's such a such a privilege to be here tonight I mean this presentation was uh my mind I'm a long time resident of Coconut Grove and I'm sort of jealous to be honest with you guys but I I'm here actually to give you an idea of how Coconut Grove got you know it's uh it's Lifeline two major things happen they created a space where people could U come together which is you know they revent Coco BL they revitalized it and and the second thing that happened they they all those highrise beautiful high-rise Towers on South bore Drive which got you know a lot of new uh investors to come down and invest and buy and we have them coming from all over the country and even from abroad so and all of that made you know what Coconut Grove is today and I think what Mr heatherwick is doing here he's giving you the whole package and um it's it's a plus for South Miami and I think it's a plus for Miami I mean this is a you have a world class architect in a studio that you know we've seen some of their uh previous works it's just mesmerized and um you know I would urge the board Commissioners the mayor to really consider this project it's a it's a world class project thank you thank you for your comments uh Mr please if we can if we can if we can reflin from uh having any Applause let's get through all the comments and if you want to wave your hands we'll take that as a sign of support thank you Mr Alonzo for the suggestion uh Raymond Hernandez please come forward and again followed by Alvaro Rodriguez and I have a Maurice uh I can't read abix Al Raymond Hernandez no one here okay Alvaro Rodriguez please come forward followed by Maurice habex and then EJ Martinez U good evening even uh commission mayor uh this is actually pretty exciting um I uh I don't I no longer live in South Miami uh but I started my career um that's driven by purpose and design uh I'm I'm in the porch Automotive business and to be part of and seeing everything that's happening in South Miami is actually pretty inspiring and thank you thank you guys for bringing this uh to town um I think for me it's very interesting how design and purpose impact and Inspire others so I think we're all talking about experience we're talking about how how this could get us involved and I actually think it it's it's actually greater than that is how does it impact everybody else around it and what it inspires so you know coming from a from a car show that was we rented a parking lot in First Bank for 500 bucks 20 years ago to having a pretty spectacular Automotive business uh again driven by the purpose of of driving and and and design um it's it's pretty exciting so for me it's it's I'm looking forward to being part of it uh our uh event started here uh 10 years ago uh like I said with a couple uh couple hundred cars we had a thousand cars 15,000 people $300 million in cars on the street uh it's it's pretty awesome to to see what's happening so I'm excited to to see and thank you thank you for the support thank thank you for your comments sorry May um Mr Rodriguez you did not mention your event uh uh DRT it's a DRT South Miami DRT South Miami uh and and uh and it's a it's it's again it's a Porsche event uh based on on on the brand on the vehicles uh and uh it's grown to be a national event uh and I and I think it's it's this is gonna this this Landmark will create what I believe could be the the home to a world class event not just in South Miami and in the east coast but worldwide thank thank you for your comment sir appreciate it again no please no applause no applause please thank you uh Maurice AIG please name and address for the record Maurice in 6833 verin Street Coral Gables Florida 33146 thank you sir so thank you for uh thank you for your time thank you for considering this project I'm a native miamian I have many fond memories of the bakery Center then Sunset Place after I live now just east of Sunset Place in southern Coral Gables with my my wife and two sons and one of the things I think I lament most or have lamented most about the last 10 years I've lived at where my home is now is we don't go to Sunset Place much and it's really a shame it's such an amazing central location in the city of South Miami and it looks and it feels like a St Augustine Spanish Fortress you walk around you don't you don't know what's in there and I'm so excited to have seen this plan which I think is fantastic that it opens it up and I'm just so excited to have a place that my sons as they grow up can go with their friends and go visit and enjoy the area and enjoy our neighborhood um so selfishly as your neighbor just to the east I would love to see this come to fruition and really activate this area as we see all of South Miami and all of this part of Miami in general continue to grow so thank you for considering the project and thank you for your time thank you for your comments again no applause please M Mart Mr Martinez you're recognized good evening how are you guys great great so EJ Martinez um been a business owner here since 2005 power Pizza subies and I'm excited that this is finally moving um yet concerned because I think we need to move and just build it because guys what what everybody's experien is is it's dark it's really dark in Sal Mii and I've been here for a long time we're doing great with subies because we're doing a lot but our other business that relies on traffic is not and if we keep I know everybody's moving fast but if we keep kind of like not building this thing there's not going to be anybody left um so I'm excited to listen to what your plans are I think it's amazing I thank you guys for finally making this happen because I know it's not been easy but um anything that I can do to help to get this thing going happy to do it because we do need boots on the ground as you said and you know like Miss fiser she left but you know I was going to talk to her and you know talk about the par and it's the same thing it's the same concept as nobody going to the park it's the the dogs aren't there the people aren't there the the friendliness isn't there like if you remember South Miami way back in the day when gardeners was here and there was people walking in South Miami and there was dogs for 911 poop and there there's nobody here so so you know thank you um I like some candy if possible cuz I see you guys have C you're have please take as much as you like thank you for your time thank you for your comments oh but seriously take some candy so we don't eat it there no EJ no candy for you uh Sultan alberg please come forward to Halloween pre party up here yeah good evening sir good evening uh my name is Sultan albark I grew up at 6021 Southwest 88th Street that favorite strip of the Commission in South Miami that you guys trying to deal with but um you know I used to walk to Sunset plays as as a kid and and you know when you guys ran you ran on you know the platform and I heard my friends a lot of my friends that live in South Miami and I've been trying to come down here but you guys ran on revitalizing the area and every neighborhood anywhere in the world needs a heartbeat and soul and and Sunset Place is that reference point and you know this project you know the the team that's been assembled clearly has demonstrated that they're not only capable but committed to the project not only that but you know it's the proximity to to to the transit zone right here with with the the subway Metro you know and buses it's GNA alleviate a lot of the traffic it's it's my personal belief um but furthermore you know I think it's it's important that the community comes together and supports this project South Miami is dead there's no reason for me to come down here I have no incentive to come down here I'd have to drive gr I mean of course but you know I I I want to I'm I'm happy to see the commitment not only from the development side the commission side but also the community support and I think you know this will be a an exemplary project that will go beyond just South Miami I think will be just a real mark on on Miami and put it on the pedestal where it belongs thank you for your comments sir appreciate it appreciate hey next up Mr Ed Boaz please good evening mayor vice mayor Commissioners everyone else gathered here um my name is Ed Boaz I'm a merchant in South Miami um and I've been through all of the other shopping centers and I remember Wholesome Bakery but I think that the developer and Mr heatherwick see something in South Miami that was invisible to the prior Mall developers they see that South Miami is and has been a community that folks love and want to come to people want to live here they want to raise their families here folks want to make this their Community they want our downtown to flourish they want to be able to shop to dine to go to the movies to play in their Community to accomplish that we need people living in our downtown we need as the saying goes feet on the street Envision South Miami a few years in the future when several thousand people live downtown people strolling meeting neighbors and making our community a wonderful place to live and work people will no longer drive through South Miami to go to other destinations people will come to South Miami because we have so much to offer Sunset shops will be transformational for South Miami and we will enhance what we already know is a wonderful place to live thank you for your time and just one more thing to everybody voting in November in the South Miami section of the ballot referendum number three the general obligation Bond hold on yeah we can't we're not allow we appreciate we appreciate yeah we can't we can't allow you to do that here but thank you for the thank you for the intention okay so uh moving on with Mamud sa I apologize I've been butchering your name Mr Saul s a l l okay we will move on uh Ramone fernandz please come forward good evening good evening my name is uh Raymond Fernandez I reside at 4920 Southwest 73rd Street I am a native as well and I'm um uh very excited about this project because I I realize uh heatherwick is is a gift for Miami which we must which we need it because he's bringing he's bringing something with soul this South Miami needs the soul to come to wake up again and with his gift and the way I seen his his designs and bringing nature and and and humans together I think is a wonderful thing that we need we need a lot of um he call I like his book name humanize and we need a lot of the human soul to be here presid we need people to get together and share and just just experience each other because we're missing that in life and South Mami and this uh this project I think would be a wonderful thing for for an example for Miami Florida and the world you see that Miami can it has a big heart and it's a big gift to the world uh I want to keep on raising my child here and I look forward to the project to be completed so thank you very much thank you for your comments uh moving on to Mr I think it's Jonathan Smith oh sorry John Edward Smith I couldn't read your handwriting I'm having one of those days I'm sorry I'm going to each the meeting here shortly actually some people do call me Jonathan so that's great too so um they say third time is a charm and Sir you're bringing us a lot of charm and thanks for to Alex your vision for your determination to to bring this forward I really appreciate that um um I moved to Miami South Miami in in uh June of 1974 and have been spent the better part of my life living and breathing South Miami uh in 1982 I opened my marketing Consulting business and had an office on Sunset Drive in the sunset professional building and I would go and make my copies in the wholesome office building right down the street so my familiarity with that property goes back some many many years uh Morty morges came in with a plan to redevelop the wholesome property initially called uh South Park but in deference to the property history it was changed to Bakery Center however the smell of baking rad has long gone uh as the mayor had noted it was to be two 25 story twin office Towers a 13 story hotel in the center and a vibrant artsy ret and entertainment Zone a hanging cold or mobile was an interior centerpiece Bakery sent to us the signal A New Beginning for the city of South Miami coming out of the Sleepy 1950s being lulled to sleep with the smell of bread it was the only stop on metro rail that had a built-in Hometown it was to generate new taxes etc etc etc U it didn't work it fail and there were a number of reasons for that uh financing and a lack of retail moral experience doomed the project the AMC Theaters with the most successful part of the project and actually the AMC theaters in South Miami was the number one AMC Theater in the United States and So eventually there was a demolition number two first the wholesome property second the bakery Center in the interim the city redid their zoning no longer were the height limits eight stories it was litigated however the city prevailed up next was the shops at Sunset Place with an expanded AMC Theaters Nike Town FAO Schwarz uh Virgin Records IMAX theater it was not built to be a mall but an entertainment complex with restaurants retail and a Barnes & Noble even excuse me it was make believe like the Disney main streets with false facades a fake banion tree at the entrance and faux Limestone faux streets faux everything uh it was it was U I think the most realistic thing about Disney was if you drove through the parking garage when it was raining it was like going through It's a small world uh with all the water uh when Simon divested itself of the property those retailers who were not in his stable pulled out and so it died in slow and exhausting death a new vision was put forth which included a hotel apartment towers and re faad of the retail it took a couple of years to finally get City approval and then the property went on the market the uh but we have here before us as I said is the third time is a charm experiencing the history of the property demolitions and street closures I'm excitedly awaiting the Redevelopment of Sunset Place no more false facades you can feel the textures you can feel the Human Experience no more turning your back to the rest of town through streets breathing life like blood flowing through the arteries it's an exciting time for South Miami and I congratulate you all for advancing it over the last couple of years and again to our developers um and U to the team from the pond over the pond thank you very much thank you for your comment sir uh I have no one else registered to speak is there anyone else in the audience who'd like to come forward this time sir please come forward please if you just line up at the podium we just need your name and address for the record please get come up all at once please thank you good evening good evening um real quick my name is George Ramos uh one 111220 Southwest 128 Street uh Miami Florida I'm not uh I don't live in South Miami but I got kids out of boies enough time to be part of the the southam crewp um I'm the chef order of SAA rooftop uh Vice City Pizza and hope foring a couple weeks uh barbella in the old Taco craft location um let me start by saying that from all my locations from Pine Crest cores under County I have never experienced a city like you guys so thank you city managers vice mayor mayor reaching out every week to make sure they're okay so for me and my family we're very grateful thank you for your investment one thing I hear every time I tell people that I'm coming to sou miam is what are you doing you're crazy it's a great neighborhood great City what you guys for my future for my family's future I am very grateful to you guys I'm grateful to I can't wa to be a part of it so thank you so much thank you George sorry um Mr Mayor yes sir George just a quick question for you you mentioned you'll live here but you are a new investor you're opening a restaurant tell us the name of the restaurant again when is it opening so restaurant's Barb um it's named after my daughter um hopefully will open next week think have retirement party for one of your members I get my perm okay week week or two week hopefully um but we're close we're almost there um and we're very excited um so again we're very very happy of thank you for everything again thank you for your best we look forward to it sir good evening hi uh my name is Matt chers uh I do live in Coral Gables at 1330 Sano but I'm also a homeowner in South Miami 6440 Southwest 63rd Terrace I've lived here for eight years before recently moving if you ask uh Urban economists uh how you Revitalize a downtown uh they'll tell you to do exactly the kind of thing that was just presented and so I won't go I won't list all the reasons why it would work because Mr Heather work uh very eloquently describe all that and urban planners will tell you to do also the exact type of things they're doing here so I just urge you please to uh please do this uh the benef the long-term benefits are going to greatly outweigh maybe some of the shortterm pains and annoyances from the construction and so forth so thank you very much for your time please thank you for your comments and your brevity good evening good evening sir my name is Andre Lara I live in 6501 mayor Lane South Miami um uh well my husband and I we have been living here almost 10 years we decide to B to buy a house here because we wanted to live in a great City and to grow with our kids you know as a family in a city where we have amazing Services amazing Police Department um great great job from the city and we were missing something very important for us to have their their place to go as a family and for my kids maybe they cannot um enjoy to be as a teenagers in a place rather than to take to them to Coco walk or to marry park or to any other place they will be enjoying in the city you know a great place so maybe our kids they're not going to be because they're already teenagers but I hope for the rest of the families a lot of young people they are leaving they are moving to South Miami with that hopness to to have the family to grow the family here and to have everything in the in the in the city so I hope that that those families will have the you know the Grateful part to have the place and I would like to say thank you for the developers thank you for your project it's amazing it's beautiful and I would like to say thank you for all of you to push this you know Amazing Project to get you know reality in our city and thank you for everything that you do thank you for coming hi good evening my name Isa 61 Southwest 64 Court um just want to know is this appropriate time to talk about the development agreement yes it is absolutely okay um so just a little backstory my family's owned property in South Miami lived here for over 50 years I'm the current Homeowner of this uh address I mentioned um couple of questions is this agreement transferable to a future developer or owner yes the agreement is it's a covenant running with the land so it's a it's a contract and it does run they could sell not complete this project and they they could and that's part part of the reasons why we have some of these thresholds okay so second question is about the threshold if our goal is really to move this project forward to get the tax revenue to get the downtown going why is there a 10e wait until we can cancel this contract 10 years is a long time the only requirements are 200 per 200 units permitted not even completed within the 10-year Mark that represents less than 13% of the proposed project only 30 30,000 sare fet which represents only 5% of their retail so again ask you why is there a 10year window where they only have to apply for a permit and not actually fulfill construction um uh commissioner Fernandez you mentioned that on year 10 we should recognize $2.5 million in tax revenue I'd like to see it much than that yeah I and so the best thing just respond by saying we all want to see it I think the developer is incentivized to see it so I think we we we went back we went back and forth I think realistically when I talk to people on street because they ask me about this project all the time I think the earliest any of us are going to get to enjoy a new remade space is if we're lucky five years if everything goes perfectly right because they've got they've got they've got C up Coco walk went up pretty quickly yeah but Coco walk years Coco walk is not nearly as ambitious as his project respectfully I mean again but so again I just I want to give you the facts as I understand them so and I think if the commission wants to weigh on this comment you know certainly it's it's it's an important question so I think realistically everything goes perfectly because between design designing the the construction documents the perming of those documents the physical construction the pre-sales and leasing necessary of the financing to build it it takes it takes some amount of time we had I had asked initially for a six-year window they have by Statute a development agreement is typically a 30-year term I certainly didn't want to wait till year 20 or year 30 we settled on 10 we settled on I think it's $250 million of investment or that program and that includes them having to deliver the entirety of the infrastructure sidewalks public Plaza with any first phase so that at least the pro the basic elements are in place so to give you a comparable Community where they've actually been a significant investor in Midtown uh it happened over time certain core elements were built but the program of what was going to be built there was defined from the beginning so the community is not guessing over time how it might change if someone else were to succeed them because they can't finish the development those are the trade-offs it's not a perfect document but from my perspective again and I don't want to get ahead of my comments right now I think perfect is the enemy of good and we've had over the years a push to be perfect and the result has been nothing so I'm just hoping that we give them the green light with something that's responsible and hopefully the benefits flow much sooner than the worst case scenario in this document which would be 10 years of inaction and a recision of the document okay thank you good evening you recognize sir good afternoon thank you guys for having me here thank you guys for presentation and the hard work you guys have put put in my name is Jes sa and we own a chocolate store on Red Road and we've been there for seven years and we've noticed that the foot traffic is is very limited in fact people come into the store this year and ask how long have you guys been here when did this open questions like this and believe it's because of the lack of foot traffic and and I would love for you guys to allow the creativity that the team is bringing to progress this Pro this project forward and and build the new Sunset Place to instill the soul of the community again and have teenagers moving and interacting with each other again not just all digital because unfortunately for us our marketing has only been digital and only been and we would like to be able to interact more with with humans and I think this project and the creativity will will allow for that thank you guys thank you for your comments you have a question mad vice mayor what is the name of your sh Garcia CH say no more you have the most amazing chocolates I love your place she brings the candy the me so there you go I I am the candy holic yes thank you for your thank you for uh your thank you for the work you do in the city sir you're recognized good evening hi good evening my name is Kenneth Hamel I live at uh 6530 Southwest 57th place here in the city of South Miami uh I raised concerns at the prior meeting I think that was October 1st um and um I understand you all started out by saying that the uh parameters of this project are no longer uh up for question the 1500 uh units residentially and the 550,000 plus or minus square feet of uh business space um and my concern is how th this is going to fit in uh I realize that everyone has been speaking Pro and in favor uh and I have uh some major concerns here about it um and I'm wondering if this project is going to be uh fitting in or complying with what they call Leed certification leadership in energy and environmental design certification uh and uh is that something that has been taken into account with regard to the proposed development so so aity attorney if you can confirm are they required to satisfy any sustainability criteria uh pursuant to either the code or the development agreement yeah the the the lead standards apply to every building over 50,000 square feet which is every one of the the major pads um and they have to be constructed to a minimum lead silver or equivalent certification um and then they they have there are bonuses available for Exceed exceeded those silver that's correct which if I could ask which lead um uh gu sign is that because there's versions one two three and I think it goes up to version five I mean this is something that's going to be around for decades Generations it should be the most current uh lead certification in my opinion it I think we all concur so if it's not drafted that way Mr City attorney we would ask that the document be revised to reflect that yeah but the idea is to meet today's lead silver certification standard If the product is being delivered to market today at at minimum again I I forgive me but I remain skeptical about this uh project I think it it doesn't fit the parameters it's too big it's too ambitious uh there's a lot of uh it's it's not pleasant as a pedestrian I'm a pedestrian every day in the city every single day I walk across US1 and it's dangerous uh the the culture here is different than in other cities uh that are very walkable and you're trying to create an island that is surrounded by frankly uh a situation it's it's almost downright hostile to be uh between vehicles and pedestrians if someone lives on the north side of us one and is trying to get the Whole Foods it's it's rough uh and uh there is absolutely nothing that is 33 stories between Coconut Grove and uh uh D land nothing it's it's too big and it's too ambitious and I'm I'm here to state that point and I I wonder if this is actually going to comply with uh uh lead certification and uh I think it it ought to thank you for your comment sir we appreciate it sir you're recognized thank you for the opportunity my name is Andrew kerit I've been a member of uh the Miami Community since I moved down into Coconut Grove from with from New York City Manhattan with my family in 2017 I firsthand got to witness the effect that Coco walk had on my life um having young children in Miami having a Vibrant Community Hub to go to has completely revitalized our entire community given us an agenda a purpose and truly just an energized community in which we've now live um South Miami to me as now a Miami resident with seven years of tenure so I hopefully have enough you know experience here to talk about it has always seemed like the proverbial center of the donut people are always talking about Coral Gables they're always talking about Coconut Grove Pine Crest is getting you know touted as having the most expensive homes in the area Barry Stern's going on CNBC talking about if I was a smart investor I'd be buying the homes in Coral GS I think that this is a legacy defining Redevelopment here and this will certainly Propel South Miami and put it on the map where it's going to be at the Forefront of what any individual who is not from Miami thinks about when they first you know think about Miami and conceptualize it in addition to that it's quite obvious with how it's currently constructed that South Miami is in need of some sort of injection of livelihood of uh you know a revitalization I remember the days ofing my kids to Splitsville to going downstairs the umbrella even bought a couple pictures from Z Gallery back in the day a minute but I don't really spend much time at Sunset paa anymore and that's really terrible um this is an unbelievable opportunity I feel that we are truly blessed to have a development team an architectural team such as this and uh hopefully the proverbial saying of the High Tide Rises all boats will apply here and uh we'll get a little kick and Coconut Grove too with uh you know this development as well thank you for your time thank you for your comments Mr Alonzo oh were you recognized I gu my better judgment 5 5809 Southwest 64th Place and 5975 Sunset Drive and I'd like do like to thank the vice mayor and chip for providing us some candy in the back for the people in the back I really appreciate it uh you know as as the vice mayor walked and I walked uh 1500 homes back in 2022 um every single comment was when a Sunset Place to be done and uh we we've have a fantastic team with uh Thomas heatherwick and the Midtown Development Group that are going to do a phenomenal job and I can't wait to make some awesome memories with my grandkids and my and my children at the same time I'm going to make the vice mayor cry right um in in regards to uh some comments that were made uh Crossing us one is actually really easy and I think uh Steve Cay and um myself has cross passed multiple times while I cross us one all you got to do is wait for the little white guy to turn white and you walk across the street and there's about 24 seconds to get across have a nice night thank you for your comments sir you're recognized good evening good evening my name is Michael Bond and I live at 431 vaba Avenue in Coral Gables which is about two miles away from here um I frequently go to um you know this area a lot I go to sports grill or I don't even know if it's open anymore but I used to um still still open still open we encourage you to go even though it's in Coral Gables um but I do we we order a lot of food from this area so you know at least once or twice a week I'm in the area but I will say that in the past 10 or 15 years I haven't stepped inside Sunset Place more than five times I don't think you know in that in that bunker that that that's there um so um you know I have two kids under nine I grew up in the area I grew up in Cor was near mat and hammock and um you know I would as a child I would go to Sunset Place a lot so i' would love to have the opportunity to take my you know my kids there and my family there and I appreciate the work that you're all doing um you know and I'm really looking forward to this project so hopefully you know thank you thank you for your comments sir you recognized good evening good evening uh my name is Andre slen I've been a Florida native and uh lived in Miami for the last 19 years um I've seen all the neighborhoods emerge in Miami from Brickle to Windwood Design District um you've seen the re revitalization of coconut growth um I think this is an incredible incredible opportunity for South Miami um combining the development team with uh Heather Studio what they're proposing is different from all the other projects in Miami um my first job was here in uh Sunset Place and and the only reason that would drive me here was coming to the movie theaters but other than that the mall doesn't really offer any connectivity um it's not really a fun place to come anymore compared to the other projects in other neighborhoods Miami um and I think what they propos prioritizing connectivity um prioritizing play I think that ultimately is what drives people to go and experience places and want to there as well so um I think what you guys are doing is great and really excited to see what uh what it turns out to be thank you thank you for your comments Sir Mr arila you're you're recognized sir good evening good evening uh my name's Andre arila um offices at 6915 Red Road as of today for the last day um I actually moved to that space which is considered Coral gaes eight years ago when I moved there I moved there because partly because of Sunset Place we like uh the mall and also the convenience of being able to use the garage which we still use today um when I first moved there when people would ask where's your office I would say South Miami over the last few years as things have sort of uh not gone very well for Sunset Place I reference Coral Gables um so I've seen the history of uh Sunset Place and what's happened throughout the the last couple of years um but obviously we have a a great development team we have uh one of the best designers in the world uh which also speaks to the commitment of the developer to bring the best to South Miami um so with that I do believe in the vision that they've brought forward and as of today I got my new keys for my new office which is official in South Miami um one of the historic buildings uh 5875 C of Drive um and I look forward to staying here as a local business owner in South Miami and seeing this project move forward thank you welcome thank you Andes yes uh what no sorry if you spoken once before we we're gonna I apologize we're just short on time it's it's I apologize sir yes ma'am you're recognized please come forward online hi I am from Maria to you're add just very briefly ma'am I am not a merchant I am not a restaurant daughter I'm a grandmother that would love to have that place for my grandchildren to go because Sunset Place used to be the place we used to go a long time ago um it that's that that's why the architect I mean the architect it's just amazing plan amazing uh development and I would love it to have the city to have it because we're so close and we would enjoy it that's just it thank you for your comments thank you for coming anyone else in the chamber who wouldd like to address uh items 15 and 16 please come forward okay see no one in the chamber Madam clerk is there anyone online anyone on Zoom please raise your virtual hand we have uh Laura face can you can unmute yourself guys guys guys guys please I want to get through this okay let's uh recognize Miss Laura bonich if you can unmute yourself and turn on your camera please I am but I cannot turn on the camera it's disabled on your end okay so um Laura bonique I'm a business owner at 5975 Sunset Drive and I just just want to give a big thanks to the commission um to Alex to Rick uh to Residents such as Ramon Fernandez for standing up and really bringing vibrancy um back to our community as someone who weekly frequents anything from balleta to Boom Shanti Sunset Tavern M and of course lanita and doing a lot of business there I really look forward to having more spaces to come together so I fully support what you all are doing thank you thank you for your comments m Madam clerk anyone else anyone else please raise your virtual hand on Zoom no okay so seeing no one else online we will close uh the public hearing Mr perz anything you want to add by way of quick comment just uh three clarifying points we'll move real quickly right for the record on the development agreement certainly in agreement with uh the condition that that commissioner Le then indicated in terms of watering down a clarification on the activation definition that would apply all along us one all along us one um the conditions just one point on the condition related to the activation of the of the rooftops U instead of using all that language if we could refer back to the code provision that deals with it because there are some exceptions can you refresh our recollection the language you're talking about the the height of the uh mechanical equipment on the roof and and thees there there are some exceptions that are built into the code already dealing with elevator overhangs and stuff and it's not picked up in that language but I think if we just refer right back to the code provision which is 20-1 12.8 I think Mr Rio do you have any objection to that I don't that's Mr Alvarez fine as well okay so I think let's just add the appropriate cross reference back to the controlling code section and and just for completeness of the record we turn in a letter from kimy corn that talks about traffic impacts and how this development is actually reducing the traffic impacts as compared to the existing development and the proposed development I was going to get into into the details but it's in the record and if we want to have a discussion about that we're happy to but uh I just wanted to make sure that it was clear that it was I'm sure you'll be available for questions so okay colleagues uh thank you for your thank you for your presentation thank you colleagues any any questions about either the development agreement or the site plan for the applicant or staff Mr K you you're recognized um I I just had one question one of the things that we added um to the provisions was the landing I saw a landing that we have going across us one along 57th Avenue but I also saw one that we have going across on the southwest side where the new Corridor is according to the side plan what what's the vision there roughly or I think the vision is that we don't know what the vision is right we don't know what the proposal is going to be if there is going to be a proposal with regards to it but you know one one example could be what they do in Las Vegas right where they integrate the bridges across right into the buildings I mean that could be one possibility I mean there there's there's many I think we're years away from having a design for that pedestrian bridge so what we did was we permitted for the possibility for it um but that possibility needs to materialized before we go in for a building right um so you know there was a sort of a give and take so that we we had a place that we could a Mark that we can come back to but since we don't know that's kind of a compromise that I think we yeah so I think commissioner K we we had heard some comments I think we thought it was wise to at least leave a placeholder where if we had a concept that we wanted to explore we had an opportunity to do that in conversation with the developer up and through the day that they submitted a building permit for that last phase so um again maybe Mr heatherwick and team will Design something as cool as a roll of bridge across us one that would be absolutely amazing so uh looking forward to what their imagination can you know unleash that location yes you recognized M vice mayor who's going to pay for that who I'm sorry I I'm I'm always the money who's going to pay for that we we don't know no one knows that's I mean okay maybe maybe the bond will oh sweet Jesus um okay but just because that's an ear Mark in there that doesn't mean that we're expecting and nobody's there's no so let's clarify what the language does is allow us to initiate a conversation with a developer about that connection up through the day that they file a building permit for that Tower if we have not engaged them have not profer the design do not have a finance plan and they bring forward a proposal for that site that option essentially terminates okay so so it's not it's not I don't think it's creating any sort of affirmative obligation on their part it's just allowing that we both have some mutual desire to possibly create further connectivity in the form of a bridge or uh to that building possibly okay so nowhere in there is saying we'll pay for it they no obligations for any part for anybody conversation okay then other than the items that we've disc discussed there's nothing else because I know that we've thrown around a million and one different things including um items of philanthropy public things all kinds of things none of that then is going to be included we're done adding things everywhere what is in the agreement with respect to community benefits is that a profer on the part of the developer to host a series of job fairs for each phase exactly try to get people working on construction jobs on the site we can we can initiate any number of other complimentary programs to refer people to get people trained in advance of that development on the permanent job side same thing right they're going to offer opportunities we can decide you know what we choose to make of those opportunities with their support so but then other than those things that are that we've already discussed that are on there there's nothing else that we all need to to know about think about unless you have another idea you want to put on the table certainly not removing moreal palm trees it's funny that we we've gone on the palm tree thing and there's a palm tree behind your head palm trees and arcades yeah yeah right no commissioner Corey I think you had some questions yeah actually I was uh going to mention uh the the local benefits that were discussed between the first agreement and this one and then of course just I haven't had the opportunity to thank uh everybody for coming here tonight um and sharing your opinions and thank uh the development group for the work work that they've done with the city and the work that they've done with us and I just wanted to also thank you between that first and second reading we mentioned that we wanted a stronger local component and and you did add that we also appreciate you operating within the rights that that that you're given not requesting any exceptional variances anything like that so um you know I wanted to hear more elaboration on on local but we did sort of discuss that a little bit here um in the local benefits so I'm I'm happy for now thank you questions colleagues commiss gay commiss Li Liber commission commiss lean I'm just playing with him commissioner lean you know that's traumatic for me man I know I know I know I know you gotta thank Rick for that Rick teed me up for that one I know thank thanks Rick don't worry I'm sorry I just realized what I did you're not the first one right well I might be the last one so so um no no questions just comments sure go right ahead we we'll if you want to close we can start closing close but make some comment first want to thank everyone for coming this is unlike me but this is my uh my last regularly scheduled meeting so I I really want to thank the two people that provided a different perspective that we're necessarily in support of the project 100% And ask some very good questions I don't want to scare you I'm not firing back at you but th those are usually the seeds for people that consider running for office down the line um and we have to give all of you another reason to come to South Miami other than commission meetings and uh to Mr heatherwick's Point certainly something more Dynamic a more Dynamic reason than uh than commission meetings and for all th those you spoke tonight I heard very few that actually live in South Miami so maybe in a couple years you too will have an opportun opportunity to live in South Miami and you can move into uh to Sunset Place when uh when condos go on sale or at the time that uh that the apartments start start opening um another thing I want to say is that uh I mentioned this in the last meeting that I've been here for almost 12 years and nine months and I was 12 years and nine months old I used to volunteer at the bakery Center at the Miami youth Museum so as I mentioned this is my last regularly scheduled meeting and it's it's really an honor and just a wonderful privilege to uh to vote and support of this this project which is going to be transformational for South Miami this is the anchor tenant of our city and nothing else will put feet on the street like um like this project and I I touched on this a little bit last week so when when people support progress and you may have um a contingent that says you're you're supporting private interest over public interest well by supporting private interest we're supporting public interests I'll repeat what I said last week 2third of our budget comes from our commercial district and for such a tiny City 2 and a half square miles we have the richest services in the county out of 34 municipalities we have our own police department and the very best police department at that and we have the richest garbage services in the in the county we're on par with uh with Cor Gables and if any of you were wondering which no one touched on tonight just at the very bare minimum um which was a clause that was touched on in the developer agreement that this group has to construct over 200 million in hard costs that will generate just shy of $2 million a year in net revenue that's not gross the city receives about 20% of the overall uh tax bill that you pay will receive 1, 930,000 so you just round that up to 2 million our our base budget not including CIP is is 24 million when the Project's finished that number will be well above 6 million closer to 7 million but even if you take six million that's a 25% increase to our budget and you hear people speaking about bonds if you bond that that's a hundred million in improvements and improvements to the city um so yeah with that said I just uh want to thank everyone the commission the audience um Development Group and M just I'm can't tell you how excited I Mr heatherwick that uh they that you decided to come and make a very special place in South Miami and to the point earlier I think it's the only or one of only two places in the country that will be a uh a private public um project so it's it's just super exciting and we're all really looking forward to it uh thank you thank you everyone thank you thank you for your comments um colleagues for their comments okay so I I I'll just add a few comments to close then um you know I'm I'm most excited when I look these plans about uh I think the round level proposed landscape because I think it it best encapsulate that for anyone who's interested at home in the future she g1013 because I think what it shows very clearly is just how open the site has become I think someone used the word an Old St Augustine Spanish Fortress to describe the improvements there and I think that's exactly the sense I've always had driving by uh and around this property very very rarely did it ever entreat me to want to step into it from the street and so um the vision here is uh as demonstrated on this page I think is the most exciting part I I will challenge the group because I think you guys you know again Alex thank you for your confidence in South Miami um I'm most excited about this project not just for portend on its own which is going to be transformational in its own right uh with the team that you brought the brand that heatherwick studio brings to the city I think it's tremendously value creative to us as a jurisdiction I think it's going to help Market South Miami to the rest of the world and really put us on the map in a very uni unique and different way but I think it's also going to finally unlock what has been a strangle hold on people's confidence around investing in the city when I talk to people about investing in other projects in South Miami the biggest inhib hibitor the biggest thing they're looking for the guide star for them making their own investment decision is what is going to happen at Sunset Place right so I think just the mere approval of this whether all of this happens whether a portion of it happens and we hope all of it happens right and is executed as wonderfully as it's represented in these drawings but I'm excited about all the other uh Collective imagination and investment it's going to unleash by virtue of us hopefully approving this here in a few minutes um I've been fortunate over the last 25 years to work in the public and private sectors on some pretty amazing projects starting as a young staff person to a mayor at Midtown Miami uh where we you know with with a private with private sector reimagined uh an old rail yard that was a blight not only on on that property but also a blight that you know basically kept down the areas of Winwood and the joining areas of the Design District and then as a younger lawyer was privileged to work on Bickle City Center and the Design District in terms of the entitlements for those projects and each is a magnificent place that had its own challenges not too different from the challenges that this property faces someone mentioned that Crossing US1 is hostile I will tell you that Crossing Southwest 8th Street and Southwest 7th Street to get to Bickle City Center is more hostile than Crossing us one think about the two major arterials in and out of brickl right with density already present on the Eastern end to get to I95 a harder Crossing I canot imagine I agree with Mr Alonzo I think the crossing at Sunset by by comparison is is relatively easy so I think you know U The Design District a for forone place no one could have imagined growing up here in Miami that an area that was with the home to some of the riots that divided this community along ethnic lines for decades could now be the number one luxury shopping district in our community right a place transformed not only by the investment in real estate but also through an investment in the art and I'm hoping my challenge to you guys is I hope you take some of the inspiration for the art walls that you're envisioning here particularly here on the West side of the project which is still the most massive because of the existing garage uh that you basically imbue that art and really animate those facades with the kind of activations that you see on the garages in the Design District the John baldari murals what what I've taken from all those experiences and I'm hoping to hopefully have the same feeling that when I walk through this project in the future is that you know if we can imagine it we can achieve it right um a lot of us are challenged by the fact that we've grown up here and our imagination is limited to what we've understood and experienced here I think we have the the the great blessing of a an inspired development sponsor married to an inspired design firm right that has the ability to imagine things that we don't we we probably don't even believe are possible for the site and so I'm I'm really excited to see what their Collective imaginations unleash not only for this par parcel but also for the surrounding town center and I'm excited to support it this is not everything I ever wanted in in the in this in this project you know we've had disagreements about different elements but again as I said before perfect has been the enemy of good in South Miami for too long and I think this is excellent in its own right and I think it's worthy of our support and my sincere hope is that in a few years when I'm getting most thinking of commissioner lean here excuse me that we will walk through this project in a decade and feel much the same way I feel about my experience walking through ble City Center and the Design District they're places that are engaging transformative and have shaped uh have changed the image of Miami across the world and I hope that that is true here in s of place as well thank you okay with that is there mayor yes sir that was perfect okay with that is there a motion item 15 please we'll give Josh the you go ahead should I read all right I move item 15 should I read it first she should item 15 a resolution approving a development agreement with sunset opportunities B1 LLC and sunset C1 LLC for the 10 09 acre property known as Sunset Place located at 571 through 5795 Southwest 72nd Street Sunset Drive in the downtown somi DS District pursuing to Section 163 3220 through 16332 43 Florida statues in section 20-23 of the Land Development code authorizing the city manager to execute the development agreement and all other supporting instruments required by the Land Development code for the development of the property Comm like to move move the item as amended okay I like to move the item as amended is there a second can I yes sir can I just clarify commissioner lean's motion just to make sure that it includes all the stuff it needs to include uh it's the supplemental version that is before you correct with the uh six items that I mentioned that's the two exhibits exhibit a and F uh plus the changes to section three section 4B section 5G section 10A and then the three things that uh Mr Perez uh mentioned which is uh the watering downt construction uh the clar the clarification as to active uses along uh U that the art wall would extend would be permitted along the US One Frontage and the language of activating rooftops uh to change the condition to mirror the code language which you'll hear again from me on 16 but and again the clarification on the uh lead standards as well correct uh the lead standards was already in there okay no problem okay so as amended commissioner as amended okay is there a second I'll second it Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner cayen yes commissioner Coran yes commissioner Leman yes Vice bonish yes mayor Fernandez yes item passes 5 thank you if we can read item 16 please yes item 16 a resolution of the mar City Commission of the city of South Florida approving or denying an application for ini site plan approval coning to section 20-23 of the Land Development code for approximately 10.09 acre property known as Sunset face located at 5701 through 5795 Southwest 72nd Street Sunset Drive in a downtown swimy DS district for a mixed use project consisting of 1,513 residential units and approximately 550,000 Square ft of nonresidential floor area including retail Hotel office and Rec recreation use providing for conditions enforcement of add conditions thank you madam clerk uh commissioner Le would you like to move this item as well maybe commissioner Cay or commissioner cor I'll move the motion is there a second I'll second a motion by commissioner Cay and a second by commissioner Corey Madam clerk if you can call rooll please pardon me mayor one one clarification uh just to ask you the conditions you're a little off your game today I got to say honestly a little slow condition two will be uh Revis to mirror the code language and condition six would be deleted great thank you for the clarification as amended sir a okay thank you and we have a second by commissioner Cory Madam clerk if you can call the RO please yes commissioner cayen yes commissioner Cory yes commission Leman yes Vice bonish yes mayor Fernandez yes item passes 5 Z thank you so again thank you uh all future questions about the timing of suns in place are to be referred to Mr peris since we have done our work please go ahead and make us proud we appreciate your investment okay thank you sir thank [Applause] you can I just say one thing can Viber you recognize I just like to say one thing in in saying congratulations to Mr viia I think Mrs via and Mrs via also maybe deserve some congratulations congratulations you guys have to put up with them so congratulations to you too thank you we we're going to stand a journ for five minutes thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e folks if we can if we can take our seats please so we can start it folks if we can clear the chamber please Commissioners if you can come back to the Dan pick up someone loc commissioner Kad I appreciate it thank you okay Commissioners uh commissioner leben did you want to move to defer an item yes okay which item would you like to defer sorry I don't know the number of the item but it is the item 14 okay I move to for uh sorry item 14 okay to a date certain or the to the November 4th November 4th meeting you just want to have a discussion about which we could do now but where we could do then brief discussion when whenever you well we want to defer or not okay so let's defer it to 114 is there a second second have a second by commissioner Cory a motion by commissioner Le lean I almost said Le you going to say a second by commissioner Cory m clerk if you can call the role on the deferral please yes commission Leman yes Vice yes commissioner Cory yes mayor Fernandez yes thank you Adam great thank you um Mr manager do you want to quickly run through the bond uh [Music] presentation and again we'll keep this if we can keep this to five minutes I think what I want to do is just make the public aware that we have had a list of projects again they're not approved projects but I've gotten a lot of questions about the kinds of projects that we want to fund so Mr manager if you can run us through your presentation very briefly uh and then we can direct the public who's watching uh to reference uh the the available information on our public website thank you yes sir um Mr Mayor that the item uh that you have in your agenda has a memorandum obviously uh elaborating on the ballot question for November 5th which is I I won't read the question but it's uh regarding the general obligation Bond authorization not exceeding 65 million um this commission has discussed over time during Capital project during discussions during budget discussions how uh such U revenue from a bond would would be utilized and we've had provided couple of um sample documents that have shared suggestions and recommendations certainly the list that's before you equals the 65 million but I would say that in my opinion the city's needs you know exceed that uh that amount uh we were trying to work within the the specified amount um the bond project list that's before it's a draft the commission have never formally authorized a set of projects U but it's before you for for your discussion and and they typically uh would fall in different categories in this case that we must you know live within the confines of the language which is you know financing the cost of acquiring constructing reconstruing improving and equipping various Capital Improvements real property and infrastructure for parks recreation Public Works and Public Safety in furtherance to that uh the list uh has a series of recommended projects and or purchases that are would be uh would happen over time a bond program you know could could be a 15 or 20 year program and um some of the ideas that are on this list um would would be for example land acquisition and there's a pot of money that has been identified as a suggested amount that would in the future and this would be part of a master plan process when we do the parks master plan that maybe identify the city's needs uh currently and in the future and so funds uh in that category could acquire uh Green Space to to add to acreage based on recommendations from the master plan there are other line items in this recommmended uh uh bond list uh of projects uh arts and Parks installations uh there's some money to improve the property that is known as little house preserve uh for restoration improvements also known as grow Scout property uh Aquatic Center resurfacing to our the current facility and pool that we have uh we're also addressing some potential improvements to the current Community Center uh there's $500,000 allocated to that there's a project that would be an expansion um or a mirror image if you will of our current Community Center to expand and maybe provide additional uh recreational spaces like another basketball court or multi-purpose Court volleyball court Fitness area um there's a general category that would fund uh the implementation of any recommendations that come as a result of of the master plan and the master plan uh was conducted previously uh I think it was maybe 10 years ago I believe and so it it has such a forward-looking approach of master plan identifying current needs and future needs based on the city and its growth and changing demographics potential programming needs and and physical spaces uh to support um the interest of you know the residents and the stakeholders um there are other uh miscellaneous and obviously Fleet uh there's some funding potentially for Fleet which is always uh today we dealt with an item having to repair so maintaining a fleet uh also that it's on the ready and and reduces waste and inefficiencies U so through this program that you could see in the foreseeable future our need to replace certain uh Fleet within parks and lastly in the Parks category there's a blueway access point which is a something that would be studied as to how do we best leverage our waterways from a standpoint of activating that and and from a recreation standpoint which would be a very unique feature uh given given our canals uh currently in the city and and they're really not necar neily utilize or leverage but the blueway access points would would do that from a police standpoint there's some ideas potentially uh the more you know Capital nature of a command vehicle that could be used for special events and and other events and potentially a uh a response vehicle for U any incidents in the city that labeled a rescue response vehicle so that would be a a purchase from an in infrastructure and beautification uh as we discussed we have a number of needs the city has from a bridge and Culvert and these are things that that are currently in in in design and dealing with uh infrastructure issues that sometimes are not you know visible to the public but it's it's at the core of what government is supposed to do which is maintain infrastructure and and there we have some things that that are in need of uh refurbishing and uh replacing uh we talked about the bridge where we have one lane closed on the bridge as as required by the far Department of Transportation so it's important that that you know these sorts of programs look longterm and invest in that infrastructure uh because they're large scale uh large scale and and big money items that exceed our ability to to go at pay as we go on an annual basis and what what it does is it takes away money from other improvements um so we have also uh $6 million for placemaking this would be for the implementation once we finish that study uh we we do not have a a budget yet for that because that that process is ongoing and then roadway lighting improvements um that's has a $2 million allocation lastly from a public work standpoint um there again some Capital replacement in a solid waste truck and or a couple trucks uh fuel tank replacement and trash truck uh so these are not things that that people see on an everyday basis necessarily from a visual standpoint but there are the core of our operations and our uh you see the price tags of some of these things and very costly the last line item is is an allocation towards uh uh City Hall Redevelopment of $16.1 million and as you know we're currently in negotiation with the proposer and that is not necessarily the cost of that facility but it's a portion of the cost of that facility and that has been identified as a potential uh possibility of using a bomb program to help uh defay some of the costs not necessarily defay but Finance some of the cost over the long term through a bond program so these are not necessarily projects that have been formally approved they for your discussion and ideas we've had some of your suggestions in the past uh but as you mentioned mayor there have been questions about how would the city how would a city and how would this city go about spending this money that that would happen over a long period of time not necessarily all at once so these ideas are before you and certainly we could take any other thoughts or comments that that you may have as it relates to this list yeah and so I let me give a little bit of back I wanted just to bring this item because I've got gotten I've seen I've gotten questions from numerous people all this dayas former elected officials uh residents about what Our intention is here so I want to just be clear at least to what my intention is with this referendum and bringing this item forward again I just want to make sure that people understand that we have been talking about these needs for the better part over a year we do not have a plan to finance a lot of these needs we can prioritize whether these are all needs Necessities or or wants these certainly conversations to be had about about that because there are varying degrees here but uh what we're discussing I just want to be clear is not something that's new Under the Sun even in South Miami now the last time we had some public comment about this in early September a couple former elected and members of the public came and said what we're doing we're we're not doing our job collectively in pursuing Grant dollars uh that things were built without debt before they were built with grant funding exclusively and I just want to clarify that that's not accurate right in part the bethl Gibson Center was funded with debt approved through a local bank loan uh that was used to match uh a safe neighborhood parks Grant which was a county Bond program that was in existence in the 90s and funded a lot of improvements in neighborhoods Parks sidewalks uh we've had conversations at the county level about a possible 2026 Bond authorization so this would give us the potential to be prepared to possibly draw down dollars from a similar program that could be created in a couple years like was the case that led to the creation of the current facility um Prior Street improvements of Sunset Place were funded with a combination of Grant dollars local uh special revenues here PTP Etc storm water funds fdp grants um the parking garage was funded with Grant monies was funded with debt right uh was funded with local resources so again I don't I just wanted to demystify the fact that what we're doing is really nothing new Under the Sun I'm happy to circulate an email to all of you through the clerk about how those projects were funded uh but debt has not been something that the city has not utilized in the past what we have not done has had a general obligation bond which is different in kind but I think we did have a conversation over a year ago with our fa and and while I my preference was certainly to be to pledge non-ad valorum debt and our full faith in credit I think it was obvious in that presentation that our capacity unless unless there's significant growth in those revenues is limited right where we know we're going to have capacity over the next year or two years is with the retirement of existing debt within our budget and we can pledge those General revenues to support to support a future issuance and so to to the exercise around this is to say to folks Mr manager where can they find this list of projects corre and new development that's correct which will come from through ad revenues as well so Mr manager is is this list available publicly on our on the city's website we were waiting to have this discussion but we have a frequently asked questions or information on our on our website that we would you know add this and you know label it draft because it's not formally approved I I think it is I mean again I don't want to give anyone the Mis impression that these are projects that we have approved because what I for me what I see is a an opportunity to create some flexibility and a new tool we can use to attract resources the flavor of the month in Tallahassee the federal government may be septic to sewer dollars you know we can Finance some of those needs with matching dollars through this program there may be a safe neighborhood parks Bond equivalent that could lead us to getting some new parks facilities financed in part through matching dollars that's my ambition with this authorization I think what I hope is that in after November four of us and a new colleague we have the opportunity to discuss what projects we really want to prioritize knowing that in 2026 we're going to have hopefully capacity to go to market and then begin to release our team to design what those priority projects are as opposed to what we've done in the past which is design and never get to figure out how we're going to finance it so um again I just wanted to make sure that information is in the record publicly and if Mr manager unless there's an objection by my colleagues I'd like us to publish that list again it's a draft list no commitments that list again can change over time based on needs and opportunities to get dollars elsewhere you had a question Madam vice mayor sorry yes um actually two things one do do you think it would be beneficial for people to understand the debt that is being retired so that they understand what our buying power will be without that so that when they see debt thing they understand where we stand without the ability to bond yeah so with with my understanding is October 1 2026 we retired I think just shy of $700,000 of recurring Debt Service payments and that in today's market probably translates into let's just say to be considered 7 and a half million right so depending on where interest rates are yeah so I think that people should be able to see both sides of that correct and then second this is a a me question because I'm I'm a little bit confused is we keep talking about a bridge and a covert did did we set aside any money to repair any of that we did we did did okay so we have the money that then is in the bond is for future repairs or better repairs I think to clarify we we we haven't finished designing those improvements so we have an estimate on what the costs we expect the costs are but they in fact could be more than that okay and so yes yes go go ahead sir you recognized we approved it in the budget so it's in the budget it's funded for for next year's budget at our estimated cost which may or may not be the real cost so okay what what it would allow possibly uh uh that's obviously such a long-term infrastructure that that maybe the funds could be diverted instead of you know using the CIP money for those projects we can fund other needs and then and then finance that because we know the bridge and a Culver is going to have a long life to it so it gives you the flexibility of diverting funds to more immediate needs U and then be financed a longer term needs okay perfect so yes we will in tandem with that show people what our spending power would be without a bond sure so I think I think well without a bond so there's there's the bond or we can certainly um pledge non- adalm revenues by a forist vote of this commission per per the recent change so there may be future pro project revenues I mean in the past I think the city had used the $150,000 had got on a recurring basis from South Miami Hospital to finance pay the debt service payments on the debt the 1.8 to $2.2 million of debt that they used to build the bethl GI Gibson Center so that's how that project was financed um so there are those opport unities outside of a bond program but again this again gives us some new flexibility with that if there any further questions if not we'll go ahead and move on okay yes ma'am can we defer number 13 which is mine sure uh you want to move it move the deferral I I'd like to move to defer number 13 to the next meeting please okay I was going to vote Yes oh well you can vote in yes next okay sounds good remember remember everybody he said yes M can we say yes for next we have a motion on to defer uh item 13 to November 4th is that your preference okay please is there a second a second okay we have a motion by the vice mayor a second by commissioner Corey Madame clerk can you call the role on the deferral yes I'm commissioner lean yes I Bon yes commission Cory yes commission C yes mayor Fernandez yes I see he did vote Yes did she say president bonich I don't know I thought can I tell you I was going to say no okay uh we have a second reading item uh number item 17 if you can read on the record V I don't know if there was someone that talk a particular item oh I'm sorry come on up I didn't realize you were here you wanted to speak on it please I I apologies my apologies no I'm just saying you know all the speakers that were um earlier are not citizens or residents of this area um just a general question is how is this Bond going to be repaid so we as we were just discussing we have existing debt it can be repa any any number of ways 65 million versus 700,000 is not no exactly so the the idea would be not to borrow what we can't afford to borrow what it does is the authorization is indefinite in itation so if if we have more capacity within our budget we can borrow more Revenue if we choose to uh it's just an authorization mayor hey just a clarification the 700,000 is is not the amount the balance the 700,000 is The Debt Service payment towards that amount it's a larger it's a yeah it's a larger yeah the loan is a larger amount the 700 is that's the the loan payment can I can can I add that can I add 65 million is not going to be pulled off the gecko right so it sounds like a blank check it's not it's I'll explain what I've explained to a lot of people think of it as a line of credit it's not a mortgage it's a line of credit that's being pulled out as you go whatever we decide and the community decides and we're all in agreement to go ahead and spend the money on it'll be on that specific project so if a project for let's say City Hall is $15 million that's one check that we would go we would need to go make sure we can pay for the $1 15 million do in the obligation okay does that make sense yeah and and just and just to be clear I mean we could we could pass a resolution adopting that list of projects but in full transparency any future commission can change the list right by by act so we have we have an idea of things that we need and we're going to publish that information so you have the benefit of looking at it but no no action we take today would be binding any subsequent commissions so they could re rep prioritize projects even if we said we're going to use it for this specific purpose and nothing else if I'm not sitting this chair we're not sitting this chair whoever follows when they have the ability to borrow could say we want to prioritize something else so don't you think that's a little bit risky because you're giving a blank check to anyone that comes in the future and while the intentions right now might be really good as to what you're going to use the the money for um there's going to be no checks and Bal future whoever they might be well I think the checks and balances are always the voters number one and number two I think it's also ask one question once this is approved then what what say do the voters have in future projects well we all have to we all have to we're all going to be back on the ballot so that's the first check of accountability the second the SEC the second is the second is you know there is the reality if we were to borrow $65 billion tomorrow I'm going to raise your taxes 38% I I don't want to do that personally I don't want to pay any more than I pay today right so we have an internal check with respect to our the fiscal constraints of what we can afford to borrow within our current within our current fiscal picture and so that's why we're saying the first window that opens up for us is not tomorrow it's October 1 of 2026 now why are we doing this now which is a question I get all the time is that if we wait till 2026 to ask you once we have the capacity we lose 20 months of planning and design that we can start today and get refunded from a future issuance right so what we've done histor still nothing restricting how the money is spent correct and I and I would tell you there I don't there's no there's no mechanism for ever restricting a borrowing and and again we we could have people have borrowed historically by a - vote of this commission to borrow for community centers Street improvements you know uh through not going to a PL site and asking for permission right they've just basically gone to a bank gotten terms on credit and the board has acted we're trying I I think what we're doing in some ways is a departure from the past and somewhat extraordinary that we're asking you in advance to say is this something you think is a good idea and it may be that the collective wisdom of folks in South Miami is I think your skepticism which is we might not we maybe should not authorize this I agree we need you know we need money to operate the city and not you know against that 65 million is a lot of money just to add something you I through the life of a bond program uh um those issuance or each time there's going to be an issuance comes back to to this body for for discussion and approval so if a referendum is approved it doesn't mean that it's over necessarily each time that the commission is going to say we're going to do 10 million or 15 million whatever that amount will be does come through a public process to the commission explanation of how the money is going to be correct correct correct great um one other point it was briefly touched upon but um infrastructure was mentioned numerous times but I mean there's a big Federal that was passed for infrastructure are we reaching out to state and federal to see about that money we are we we've actively applied for Grants we just got a connecting communities Grant which is part of the infrastructure bill for improvements across us one we we started the seic toour project through a state appropriation that we got two years ago so this puts us one of the benefits of this is we can show now the ability to match other sources of funding where we've had kind I would say kind of a competitive disadvantage particularly when we're not when we're pursuing Grant dollarss when we're approp where we're pursuing State Appropriations it's really what can we convince our elected colleagues in Tallahassee to support or at the federal level but when we're pursuing competitive grants through FD for water projects or other sources it's essential to be able to show a match you're welcome Madam vice mayor you want you wanted to add something I hear you I agree with you $65 million is a lot of money I sit here I I struggle like you're struggling I say put it to the voters because we all are going to carry the debt and we should all collectively decide if that's what we want I I listen and I agree with our mayor when he says that in the past the decision was made up here and the debt was carried whether you knew about it you agreed with it or not does $65 million scare me you better bet it scares me because while we may sit up here and be somewhat judicious sometimes not judicious sometimes super conservative sometimes not conservative at all with your money we can only speak for ourselves we can't speak first future commissions and whether they may go Alo loal and decide $65 million is a great thing to spend your money on they go crazy to translate you know so so thank you so yes being wory is a good thing so everybody will have to decide for themselves if they think $65 million is necessary for our city if they get out and vote if they get out and vote and you know what does our city need a lot of things yes are there different ways to slice that cake yes do we need help yes it it all depends on how individually we look at how we need to do that one last U point because I heard the words 16.1 Bill Bill sorry million for City Hall Redevelopment and I would just ask that if one it will affect me directly I live directly in that line of you know path but if it does get redeveloped that we ask the developer to fund the majority of that project I don't know if you guys know about this church down the road that yes stay on the land developer built the you know homes and they got essentially a free Church from my understanding so something like that would be yeah and I think and I think what that's that's what we have been discussing I think one of the tradeoffs there and hear from the public the other side which is we don't want tall buildings I'm not I'm not saying we should do that there is a development and and we and we hear it and we we we live it I mean we're we're part of the community as well I mean some people will say different things about that but I think one one of the flexibility that a bond program creates is if we have more capacity can we choose to borrow to build our own improvements as opposed to R exclusively on having the development finances because that's going to require more development by necessity so these are these are the kind of options that we're just trying to create so we can have that conversation with you and other people and I know it's not an easy job so I thank you guys for your public service and we thank you for coming and holding us accountable thank and actually yeah I'll yeah he a few things this is coming from someone that didn't support the bond but one is South Miami taxes are only 20 20% of your tax bill right so so even if tax even if the taxes went up 10% in South Miami that's only going to represent 2% of your overall tax bill right because it's 20% of your bill the other thing is the the mayor mentioned um once we retire a debt payment in two years is 700,000 that'll give us 7 million in bonding capacity I'd argue over 10 million this is Municipal debt so without raising taxes without any impact for our budget go out there and make $10 million in improvements and just this is my opinion but I think the greatest the most important thing we can do this South Mi now is placem improving our commercial area which we rely so heavily on to keep for a small City we have very low taxes and I don't think there's a greater disparity in the county we have amongst the lowest taxes amongst the richest services and then um yeah then the other thing I'll say is with all this new development coming in you could just bond that revenue and reinvest that Revenue in the city and and I look at the place making not as an expense but I look as an investment as protecting our tax base because what you heard from just a couple people tonight you don't have to hear from anyone you can walk down Sunset Drive and see everyone knows who passes through our city how neglected and tired it is and it's we can't rely mayor ra as b as you have but after the sense that place doesn't happen we can't rely 100% on that to support our commercial area we as a city need to make an investment to attract that foot traffic and protect that tax base thank you okay um let's move to item 17 quickly if we can have that I'm R to the record please in ordinance comprehensively amending article 3 noise of chapter 15 offenses and missell provisions of the city code of ordinances to revise the noise regulations within the city repealing outdated Provisions in sections 1583 through 15- 92 section 1594 section 15- 95 and section 15- 97 through 15- 99 and deleting section 15-100 graffiti and graffiti removal areas from article 3 noise and amending article one in general to relocate the provision as section 15 there to thank you madam clerk Madam Vice may I know this is your item and there are some modifications made it was not your item I thought it was oh the city manager my apologies but you had you had you had requested some modifications be made I know they were Incorporated were you satisfied with those modifications I can't see them because this thing keeps popping up on my computer Mr Mayor we we made some tweaks to the decb yes so I know I know the they both went to 80 decb I think across some research director CA so those are those are the adjustments primarily there was a question about um if if it was too low B based on what um some you know ambient noise on other things day-to-day uh that you would find so ultimately until we operationalize this and kind of just get a feel for it you know hit a a sweet spot we we we won't really know exactly what would work for us but I think the director just did some further research and came back with these adjustments okay I I I I mean look I I'm I would fine with changing the deal reading during the day time hours but I think we now have the same standard for both day and night overnight I was wondering whether you thought it would make sense to have the overnight hours we get the 65 decel since we're talking about a noise standard that applies in residential residential neighborhoods correct because the Town Center is exempt from those standards so and can we tell I can't I'm sorry but I I was trying to open it again and I can't cuz something he's popping up on my across the board they went to 80 uhhuh you know we had two we had two thresholds one was at 70 and then I think at 65 there you go thank you yes okay so here we have it vice mayor do you have a garage band you know what no I'm loud all by myself um okay so 80 DB is somewhere between a normal conversation and city traffic so a a to 88 a.m. Monday through Thursday so busy City traffic and then Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to midnight 10 a.m. to midnight you can't have more than City traffic I think it's 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. yeah M that would be midnight okay you can never have more than City traffic you can't have a hair dryer sound yeah remember this is from this is from the receiving site it's not it's not the noise at the location where the noise is being made so it's got to travel to you at that at that deciel reading and again I think that's i i i my concern is not those upper hours during the day it's really in the evening where again if you're concerned about the town center it's exempt from these standard yeah no no I know I'm just thinking you're having a party in your backyard yes so the part in your backyard could be at 120 DB but if it gets to the it gets the receiver site and it's 80 that's when it trips the threshold right so during the day that sounds like it's fine to me my concern was at night at 65 D at 80 DB right it start starts to get to be yeah it's the same all day it's the same all day so all day and all night my thought was let's go to 80 DB during the day in the evening hours have the more conservative standard of 65 DB that that would be my proposed modification to the draft that's in front of us 65 which was the number we had originally just for the evening hours not from Midnight to 10: a.m. yeah yes sir which by the way is comparable to surrounding cities that's 65 at night yeah sorry go you're recognized thank you thank you mayor and yeah Director City and was just we don't have to just wonder if we should ask the police department how common noise complaints are what their position is because we don't want to put them in a position where they're getting calls too right is that wise to ask what would you recommend but we want to put you your department in position you're getting calls every satday night yes we have a quite a few calls service for loud noise I will say based on my experience using uh noise meters and using decel readings uh 80 would be extremely high and probably untolerable for most residential areas because you got to remember the police are taking this from a point of view at at a public Street area we can't go onto someone else's property unless invited upon to to to take those measurements so I think from my perspective I would agree more closely with the mayor that a lower decel reading after a certain period of time in the evening is probably more tolerable for for the for the residents of the South Miami okay so then from Midnight to 10:00 a.m. we should put it at 65 which is a normal conversation yes I I would recommend a and you got to also understand that base is not measured so that that base thump that you feel is not a decel reading measurement that you're going to capture okay all right there we have Itami your face you don't even have to talk well no because I mean what he's saying is true 80 is very high I mean I definitely it's 65 or five over ambient which is a very common standard um in the surrounding cities all right there we have it then so now we have an answer yes okay so so we we got it the night time we got 65 I I so I I'd like I mean if we're going to if we're going to change it I I would minimum want to make sure that the evening hours are capped at 65 decimal all right we got it we got it so I all right want to move the item moving it with what you just said with the amendment okay so uh the vice mayor is moving the item uh and amending the evening hours to six down to 65 DB no that came from is there a second I'll second okay so have a motion by the vice mayor a second by commissioner Corey uh Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner Le yes VI Bon yes commissioner Cory yes commission Cay yes mayor Fernandez yes item passes five and I just as the manager if we once we implement the standard if we can just track if we're getting more day daytime complaints because we've liberalized that a bit so if we need to revisit this weekend okay thank glad my kids are grown okay uh if you can read item 18 to the record please item 18 in ordinance amending Article 2 definitions article 3 zoning regulations and article other regulations of the Land Development code to establish regulations related to residential single family driveways great um colleagues this is an item that uh we had referred to the planning board they came back with some substantial modifications um my objective with this was very simple initially it's gotten a little bit more elaborate but I think it's a good piece of legislation I had basically wanted to re in what was runaway gravel in my neighborhood that was being deployed everywhere so that we may make the standards of other jurisdictions that required a a um an AG or trim uh there are a number of other items I don't know if the development services director wants to summarize the changes quickly or address any questions all of you may have regarding item 18 mam Vice may have a question you recognized thank you um we had had had a conversation regarding the width of the property do you remember um that we did this stay I have a circular driveway and you had said you had to have a a front yard we we made those um modifications okay based on your comments last time we agreed with the comments and we made the modification okay thank you further questions okay seeing no further questions uh I'll I'll move the item is there a second sorry sorry mayor had yes you recogniz sir um with the Border Lines of of gravel is that going to count as imp the borders the concrete borders would be impervious well it could doesn't have to be a concrete border it can be quick pav it can be it could be prvious P so I mean it depends on the material that you're using that's how I would answer the question just wanted en yeah you know what's happening now is people are tearing out perfectly good driveways because of the prior standards were too restrictive and and we're just dumping gravel uh in place of their former asphalt driveway and I think aesthetically looks Messier and what I've noticed walking my dog every day is more and more gravel strewn all over the RightWay which I don't think is uh a positive condition but I have another question though so yes sir right now do we have to pull a permit to pull gra put put gravel rock on the ground no so how how are we going to enforce this we right you well you know I would imagine if it's bleeding over to the right way I mean that's not a condition that's allowed so I actually need to check because that's you're not required a building permit but we may have a zoning permit requirement I need to verify no I guess because it's all perious I mean I mean we're just going to need enforcement code enforcement well I mean I think I think generally this is not I would say this is not happening on its own I'm not seeing I don't know if you guys are having a different experience my experience is not that the people are making driveway improvements on their own what the condition I've typically seen is you have an improved driveway that's where the where the Serv surface is changed to perious surface with gravel and it's typically done in conjunction with other improvements so if you have like grass yeah and you were to put gravel that wouldn't be a permit but if you had asphalt which is the conditions that we're having and you want to come in there and demolish that to reduce your impervious area and put gravel then that would require a permit doing demolition work that's typically what I'm seeing you know I could a couple examples additions Andor additions of pools year teris or whatever and they don't okay I will double check but it's okay okay okay so I'll move the item as there a second second okay uh yes sir question mayor you had mentioned the the 6 in curb uh around loose gravel yes if right now it says a concrete curb if you want it to open it up to other materials no I'm I'm I'm again I'm agnostic to the material I you know again I when I started this conversation many months ago all I wanted was us to replicate the standard that Coral Gables had adopted so if you can bring back a modification on second reading consistent with that language I think that that would basically solve the issue for me so let's adopted as it is and let's update it on second reading okay okay have a motion and a second uh Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner Le yes Vice B yes commissioner Cory yes commissioner C yep mayor Fernandez yes item pass first reading can I get a motion to extend the meeting 10 minutes please motion to extend the meeting 10 minutes with with the vice mayor's attendance a secondy okay so have a motion by Comm Le in a second by commissioner Corey uh hearing no objections we will consider the meeting extended uh if you can read item 19 please item 19 in ordinance amending section 2- 26.8 budget and finance committee of the city of code of ordinances to revise the purposes of the committee to add advice and recommendations on bond financing and projects and to revise the term of members thank you so colleagues very simply this item is intended to provide some citizen oversight over for the bond program since we had discussed that before um this was again an item I discussed with the former chair of the budget and finance committee who thought it was a scope of work they could handle um I think it provides some more transparency into the process and again another a check on any action that this commission might take or any projects that it might seek to finance with proceeds from any future Bond or bond series that uh would be authorized by um the referendum that's before voters should this should the referendum pass my intention would bring us back on second reading sometime in December to uh formally adopt finally adopt uh the scope of work for the for the budget finance committee which exists today so that that's the purpose of the item hopefully you'll give it your favorable consideration happy to take any questions um so sorry not to be disagreeable my position Remains the Same I know could still use it for marketing which I know was done but I just think it's definitively putting the cart before the horse Bond hasn't passed we haven't gone out to the market it's a long time away even if the bond passes so and then even if the bond passes decide we're going to go out we take out a loan and what that'll be used for so I just think it's way too early to create a a committee when there's there's not a need for a uh significant amount of time I just again I think it's putting the Park before the horse I just think it's it's really early but if everyone wants to vote for it I I'll support the commission on that yes sir you're Rec just to verify you said it would be on second read so it wouldn't be verified or ratified until the second no yeah the the intention here is to just signal Our intention to have more citizen participation through this committee and uh a window into what we're doing on spending and project approval so that's the intention not my intention would not to or I'm not planning to enact this on November 4th before the November 5th election so the idea would bring it back in December for final adoption then obviously you know expand the existing committee scope of work so they can help us in this process I just think it's premature before we know if the B I think it's premature until the bond passes understood understood further comments okay with that I move the item is there a second no second okay motion by myself and a second by commissioner C Madam clerk if you can call the role please yes commissioner Caillou yes commissioner Cor yes commission Leeman yes Bon yep mayor Fernandez yes it pass first thank you if you can read item 20 please item 20 in ordinance am menu section 887 con of Silence of chapter 88 code of ethics of the code of ordinances to amend the con silence confirming the city's oping of the Miami day County con silence as set forth in section 2-11 T of the Miami day county code and the inoperability of the provisions therein Mr Mander do you want to give us a one minute or 30 second overview on this item I can do it if you want specific again colleagues you recall that this is the item that would basically allow us to operate under a CO you know devest of the Code of Silence once the manager makes his recommendation that's the intention of the modification any questions of the manager or the City attorney I move the item we have a second a motion by commissioner leedman and a second by commissioner gay madam cler if you can call the role please yes commissioner cayen yes commissioner Cory yes commissioner Leeman yes vice mayor Bon yes mayor Fernandez yes I don't it's first reading and before we adjourn I just want to congratulate commissioner leben on his final uh regular commission meeting after 12 years of service well we have another one still but this is the the last regular order meeting so congrats and you have a heartfelt thanks for your years of service to the city thank you okay with that we stand a journ thank you everyone we um that e e e e e e