Village Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, he's here.

Recording in progress. Okay. I'd like to call the February 17th regular council meeting to order. Mr. Clerk with the roll call.

Let's roll call. Mayor Salver. Here. Vice Mayor Wolf. Here. Councilman Fremark. Here. Councilman Levy. Here. Councilman Sklar. Here. We have quorum.

Excellent. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Requests for additions, withdrawals, and deferrals?

Yes, I have an addition.

Yes, is your mic on?

There you go. Mr. Mayor, I have an addition I'd like to add to discussion. We could just call it the beach house update. Okay. And zoning.

Perfect. So we'll call that R9E, but it will be before R9D. R9E.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

No problem. Any other additions or withdrawals or deferrals? Seeing none, let's proceed with presentations. Proclamation. This month is Black History Month, and I'm honored to present a proclamation. Whereas Black History Month is a time to honor and celebrate the achievements, contributions, and enduring strength of black people whose leadership, culture, scholarship, labor, and service have shaped the United States and influenced the world, and whereas in 2026 we mark a century of national black history commemorations, tracing the tradition from a weekly observance in 1926 to today's Black History Month, an enduring civic practice that affirms that black history becomes integral to our national responsibility, and whereas black communities have long preserved history through remembrance and observance, honoring emancipation and freedom traditions, and recognizing the African diaspora's shared struggles and triumphs, demonstrating that understanding the past is essential to building a more just future, and whereas Black History Month has grown into an internationally recognized observance embraced by governments, schools, libraries, museums, faith communities, workplaces, and households, creating opportunities for learning, dialogue, and community reflection, and whereas the story of the United States cannot be told accurately without acknowledging both profound injustices injustices black people endured, and the extraordinary contributions black people have made in every field, civil rights, public service, education, labor, business, science, the arts, literature, sports, and culture. Now, therefore, I, Seth Salver, Mayor of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, do hereby commemorate February 2026 as Black History Month. Let this month be a time not only of recognition, but reflection, not only of celebration, but of education, not only of remembrance, but of renewed commitment to the unfinished work of equality. Thank you. Is Danielle here? Oh, there you are. So we will proceed with PA2, Coastal Management Program Update, with Danielle Irwin, our favorite coastal engineer.

This is our routine report back to you on all of the things that we're working on with respect to climate, environment, coastal, etc. Danielle is here to fill you in. And in her presentation, we're also bringing to you the update on the Bayside channel marker conversation. And we have some videos that we want to show you as well. But let her start.

Great. Good evening. It's very nice to be here. I hope you're all doing well. Thank you for having me. I'm going to dive right in, and please interrupt me if you have any questions along the way. So as you know, the FCCE project has been completed. This is old news now. The good news is that there's still quite a bit of that material left out on the sand. We did just recently see a topographic survey from December that showed that. You'll see that on an upcoming slide. And so this project is now in our rear view mirror. We, as you know, go out quarterly to take a look at your beach and do some beach inspections. You can see some of the site after the FCCE project was completed. The Army Corps replanted some areas that had been disturbed. That's what you see in the upper left. And you have a nice wide beach berm that has resulted from that. So moving off of that project into the Sargasm update, your hotspot, this is a nice aerial shot showing you a difference between August 2025 and December 2025. There's a lot less material out there. And the data shows us that as well. So this is a time series from 2019 to 2025 by month. You can see how October, November, December, January, February are our lowest months historically in recent years. And we have been seeing that there is a potential for a lot more sargassum to be coming in. This season, once we get into spring and summer, so you may be experiencing more of the same challenges that you have experienced in past years. One new difference this year is that now the village is going into sargassum season with a field permit. to clean up any of the accumulated debris on the sand if the county cannot keep up with their contracts or if the volume is just overwhelming and it needs some additional support. I will note that the county, through their contractor Beach Raker, also has a field permit that is set to expire. on the 17th of March. These are one-year field permits, so typically they get reissued every year to either Beach Raker or the county. Both Beach Raker and the county have their own field permits. Yes?

While we're on this point, George, isn't it true that the county has cut back on their services going forward.

Yeah, we have a separate conversation. The folks from the county are here, actually. Christina White and Chris Bumpus are here, as well as Chip from Beachwaker in the back there. He's listening. But we're going to have more conversation because Commissioner Steinberg is coming. Put her there for now. But she's coming, and we're going to talk about that because that happened at your last meeting.

Well, and that's really great that Chris is here. Hi.

Make note, March 17th, Chris.

That's for Beachbreaker. The county one expired already in January, so I imagine it has been, it's already renewed. Good, good. And that's somewhat of a ministerial action by DEP at this point as well. And this data that we just showed you on this slide, that is also compliments of Chris. We coordinate with him every month on this data, so we're very grateful for that information. Thank you. I will note that there has been some additional publications that have come out in the scientific literature regarding the economic impact of sargassum, including the economic impact to coastal Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands worldwide. where this has been a substantial challenge. So there's an acknowledgement that there is an impact in the billions of dollars along Florida's Atlantic coast. And so I think with this type of additional study and additional recognition of the economic impact, that will open up more doorways for management of this nuisance. It is a nuisance once it comes into the shore in an inundation event. The EPA has also identified sargassum inundation events as a shift from when it goes from being an essential fish habitat and this really great resource out in the open ocean to one that becomes very environmentally detrimental once it accumulates on shore. So we've been kind of watching the policy shift happen over the past couple of years, updating you as we go along when we note changes. Okay, so moving off of sargassum onto some more nourishment information. There is a small upcoming nourishment project later this year that the federal government is doing in combination with the Florida Inland Navigation District. So you can see the intercoastal waterway is marked on the graphic with the red arrow. in the shaded area where the dredge is expected to occur. This dredge is for navigation reasons. But the benefit to the village is that the material that they're dredging is beach compatible and matches with the sand on your beach. So you will be the recipient of approximately 40,000 cubic yards. This is a dredge project, not a truck haul project. So this project has happened in years past as well. The estimated timeline of it for this year is to be during the June to August time frame of when construction would occur. Now that time has been slipping month by month as most Army Corps projects do. They put their pie in the sky prediction. It doesn't always work out that way. The delay this time is because the Army Corps needed to modify a DEP permit And DEP gave them the notice of intent with their draft permit and then said, now Army Corps, go forward and publish it. And the Army Corps said, wait, what? So they've been kind of stalling on this whole publication of the permit issue. The final permit is expected at any moment. So that is the update there. Now there has been some coordination also, I believe, with other folks in your staff regarding the Jetty construction project to make sure that those two projects don't conflict with each other and can go forward without disturbance. So here's a graphic of how that dredge project will bring material onto the beach. In the top graphic, you can see the dark line that is a series of arrows. That's where the pipeline will go up over the jetty and then onto the beach into the placement area. The areas in yellow that you see on those graphics, those are the staging areas that the Army Corps has identified. So this project will continue to be coordinated both with the Army Corps and your Jetty project. So you were going to have an additional nourishment project that was going to put an additional 21,000 cubic yards on your beach. In my opinion, that's kind of a baby project, considering your last one with the Army Corps was an order of magnitude larger than that one. But that project has now been postponed to 2027. If you'll recall, that project was to put... essentially trucked sand from an upland mine, an approved beach compatible sand source, onto your beach in a thin veneer of roughly 18 inches across the beach. We had expressed to the developer who was providing the sand, they were required to provide the sand by their permit, their state permit. And so we had expressed to them that we'd like them to put it in hot spots of erosion. Well, so they did a survey in December, and what you see on the bottom part of the screen is the survey. The colors represent the different areas volumes and elevations of what the beach profile was in December, and I'll draw your attention to the pink and the red, and those are areas where you have had some erosion. That's not much of a hot spot. It's really a very small deviation from the areas adjacent to it, but those are areas where we were encouraging the developer to focus some of their sand. In the end, they decided to postpone that project until 2027. So I'll probably be chatting with you about that one next February.

Let me just comment on that. That was in direct response to some concerns that were raised by Primarily Majestic, but other condominium associations along the beach. They've just completed a major renourishment, and we're facing, again, some disruption. Not as long, of course, but still impacting them. And it was targeted for like February and March during the peak season. And I worked with the folks from the RIVAGE, and they agreed to bring it back this time next year, if you will. We'll coordinate that a little better with the residents so they're not as adversely impacted.

Okay, so let's move on to your lagoon side or back bay side issues. This is the flood shoal, the southern lobe of the flood shoal. And one of the ideas that we had been exploring at your request was the possibility of converting this customarily used channel into a marked channel to be able to keep boats away from the shoreline and the navigational space along this channel. So we did review that and came up with this sketch you have seen in a past presentation of mine, what we've added into it at your request with a rough order of magnitude costs that would be associated with doing this type of a project. So the design and permitting of it, and that includes the field work that would be needed to prepare the applications for these navigational markers, would be roughly $90,000. The installation is roughly $80,000. That assumes there would be 10 channel markers along the channel. you know, the green for your starboard, the red for your port along the way, and we are assuming that lighting would not be required. Now, these channel markers would be piling-mounted channel markers, not floating buoys, for a couple of reasons. One of them, because it's a little easier to maintain the pile buoys than it is the – or the pile markers than it is the floating buoys. which can get moved around and you're having to drag them back to their location. It's also a way of minimizing environmental impacts to the seagrass areas that are growing around the edge of the channel. And we'll... provide some longer lifespan. So if we do have to light, which based on our preliminary communication with the Coast Guard, we would not have to, but if we were to have to light these, it would be roughly another $7,000 per piling. That's for both the ladder to service the light and the light, sort of a combination deal there. These are rough estimates. We did speak with a contractor to gut check these estimates as well. So the smaller the number of pilings, the kind of outsized fee the mobilization and demobilization becomes. If it was a really large project, the MOB-DEMO would be not so big a percentage of this, but the smaller projects end up becoming a little bit more costly per pile.

One question about the seagrass mitigation. I thought we said this area, there's no problem with seagrass. That's why the boats are actually allowed to stay there and dock right there.

Well, that would have to be confirmed by the field survey. So we would get in the water and confirm it as part of the preparation for permitting. The seagrasses are ephemeral. They move around. So while on this aerial you can see large patches of open sand, more recent aerials show that there may be some additional growth. Not concentrated within the flood shoal itself where you have a lot of vessel activity, but on the outskirts. Also, when you do the survey in the summertime versus in the wintertime, you'll have either an expanded or a contracted footprint, depending upon how cold the water in the season has been. So we will confirm that in field measurements. However, I want to mention that that's not necessarily going to achieve your hope of minimizing the negative interactions between vessels that are day users of the shoal. and the traditional navigation in the customary channel as well as the proximity to private shorelines. Another solution that we have put forward already, and I will still just bring it to your attention, because I've had recent communications with the Army Corps and the county about this, not Chris. This would be with Mario Lopez at the county, and also with Chris McNeese with the Army Corps, who's the project manager for Miami-Dade County. So we let both of those entities know just in the past two weeks now that the village would still like to have this flood shoal dredged. There's a lot of beach-compatible sand that the Army Corps has been eyeballing for years there, The seagrass is a detriment to them, you know, going forward and actually modifying their permit. If the village is a partner in that and helps provide some additional maybe support, then the Army Corps and the county would be willing to discuss the possibility of entering into permitting. So we're in the very early conceptual stages with them. If the council would like, I can continue those discussions and formalize them and see if we can get some momentum behind the Army Corps and the county submitting a permit application with DEP. The permitting process does take, you know, for something like this, would probably, between the preparation of and the processing of that permit, you may be looking at another, you know, year and a half, two years worth of getting the permits in place. That would give you enough time, though, in between the last FCC e-project and before the next major dredge project. If you recall the last one that the Army Corps dredged in... Gosh, 2020 or 2022, I'm sorry, I'm forgetting my years. I'd have to go back and check, so don't quote me on that year. But the last one in recent years, they dredged the northern lobe of the flotial. That's what created an unintended consequence. Yes, indeed. Okay, so the village, meanwhile, has been collecting some data. They've been taking their drones out to check out, you know, where the vessels are in relation to the channel, the navigational channel. And we, you know, did a – this is a very rough estimate just in terms of looking at an aerial and counting vessels. But it looks like in recent months –

i'm going to ask a question while we have people from miami-dade here because i've been dealing with the state on how the restaurant boats out there are licensed and the state has no clue so from a miami-dade perspective i'm going to throw this at you guys to find out how these restaurant boats are actually permitted as a restaurant as a food truck and That has been a major, major problem of other boats gathering there because of these restaurant boats. So while you guys are here in the room, I'm going to throw it at you guys to look into. Thank you.

Okay. So just a few counts. On this date, we counted an estimated 84 boats using the flood shoal, the southern lobe of the flood shoal. And note the dark areas in the water. The dark areas are indicative of submerged aquatic vegetation. That could be a combination of seagrass and attached macroalgae. And so that's why I mentioned the comment about the seagrass needing to be verified. December, about 75 boats out there. I think that's the last one.

We have a couple of videos, more recent as well, so you can see. Because we continue to collect the data, and the data is important to make the decision. As Danielle said, right now the data points to naught. But this data is being collected during a period in the year where it's not as utilized. And so we should continue to collect that data before you make that decision. But I would not suggest that you definitively make a decision today on proceeding with the buoy solution. I think we should proceed with the permitting to see if we can't get that area dredged, because that's the solution that really will correct this once and for all. But I'm not sure who's running that. And just for reference, this sign that you see here on the right is 55 feet off of the seawall. Where this dock is, that's that first sign that you see there. But you'll see that the channel is usually clear of vessels.

So you can see that's a very loved, customarily used channel in your community.

So again, it's pretty clear. It's winter, so there's not the same volume of traffic and boating. And so we should continue to capture that data. But if it's going to be similar to this, it really begs the question whether the buoys are going to add anything to it.

And generally, the Army Corps and the county in their design of a borrow area, so using that flood shoal as a borrow area to collect sand for the beach, they're going to want to design the edges of it to try and avoid existing resources. So there will be the need to get in the water and map out where the resources are growing right now. And then see if you avoid all those resources, is there enough sandy material available to make it worthwhile to go into the permitting of it?

This is the same one. You want to change this one? Yeah. Again, this sign here is 55 feet off of the seawall.

The channel was 110 feet wide?

Probably. About that, right there.

We were proposing to make it 150 feet wide. That would bring you a little bit into the shallower sandy edge on the offshore side.

The light green. So we can continue to collect the data and see if it's different as the weather gets better and boaters are out there with more volume. But right now, I would tell you that we should explore that and let's see if the data turns. But if not, this is really not going to solve your problem.

And this data helps us get a handle on whether or not there is adequate justification for establishing a channel. If navigation is being threatened, then making sure those channel boundaries are clear to the public is a benefit. But if there's not that encroachment, and we're judging winter conditions, so we'd have to continue seeing throughout the year if those conditions change, anecdotal information suggests in peak season that there is encroachment in the channel. So we'll just have to keep watching that.

Yeah. It looks like a lot of sand there. Yeah, exactly. That's the conclusion.

Yeah. Well, and ironically, the last time the flood shoal was dredged on the north side of the inlet, the Army Corps wanted to dredge the flood shoal on the south side of the inlet, but was concerned about public outcry because of all of the users of that shoal. So in the end, the public outcry still happened when they dredged the northern Yep, but they still moved forward and did it anyway.

It is.

Well, since the dredge. Yes. Since that dredge.

Since that dredge.

That's when they were sent south.

Yes, it was a direct consequence.

And there's your pontoon boat. Yeah. And now you have jet skis that will Uber Eats to your boat. No way, really? Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

Nope.

I've been dealing with Melissa Griffith.

Okay, great. Any other questions?

So on this, as far as, I mean, unless you say otherwise, I think we should just keep gathering data for now.

I think that's right. Information is more information. Great.

Okay. Well, speeding right along. We're recently through your king tide season. And so for the past few years, we have been collecting your king tide water levels. We did deploy our tide gauge again throughout March. October and November. And what you see here in purple is what NOAA tide prediction is. And what you see in blue are the actual real measured numbers. So this is really conclusive evidence that king tides are significantly higher than NOAA tide gauge, predicted tide gauge here. In some instances, as much as two feet underpredicted, the NOAA tide gauges. So this is not indicative of year-round conditions, but indicative of your king tide conditions.

Now, if you look at year by year – Can you share that with them so they can fix their predictions better? Yep.

That's one behemoth that we will not be moving. They have their methods that are applied, you know, countrywide. So this gives you a snapshot of year-over-year, the periods of time that we collected king tide data for you, going back from 2020 on the top to 2025 on the bottom. And the red line is the National Ocean Service's minor flood threshold. That flood threshold is defined as 1.93-foot NAVD. So what you want to draw your attention to are any times the water levels go above that minor flood level. That's when you're going to start really seeing some nuisance flooding occur in your community. So just something to be aware of. The frequency, yes. In years that we have abbreviated data sets, there were other activities going on. You had the construction of the dock was happening at one point, and there were, you know, some sort of – so we don't necessarily have a complete data set for every king tide season, but that is always our goal every year. Yes.

Why do we have different – say that again. Why do we have different data time gatherings?

Well, we track the king tide season, and so it doesn't always start at the same time of year. Each year, sometimes it's a scheduling or availability thing. Sometimes it was not being able to get the equipment onto the dock because the dock was under construction. The dock? The village park. Right here outside the dock. Yep. So these get measured on your back bay area, not on your coastal side. Remember, you've got more susceptibility to tidal flooding on your back bay side, so on the west side of your community. On the east side, you've got the protection from the coastal ridge where all of your beachfront properties are. So they're naturally higher elevation.

George, do we ever get any word on the backflow valve at the Hall Overcut?

I believe that they have said that we're looking at backflow preventers on our own, but the FDOT one, I think they've basically rejected it.

Yeah.

They've rejected that, right?

June.

All right. June of this year.

Okay, that is all I have for you. Well, let me actually backtrack for just one statement. In February, there is the Florida Shorebird Alliance survey that is a citizen science project. And for the past few years, we have been sending our field biologists out onto your beach. One day each year, it occurs in the beginning of February when everyone around the state in beach communities is doing the same thing. And we did monitor the birds, the shorebirds that we saw and uploaded that data into the Florida Shorebird and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission data set. You had significantly fewer birds this year than you have in past years. So it's just something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It could be temperature-related because it was chilly, windy. So environmental conditions will sometimes influence that as well.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Excellent, thank you.

Yes, it's always very informative and it's nice to have you here in person as well.

Thank you, anytime.

Thank you. So PA3, I'd like to recognize our county commissioner, Mickey Steinberg, who's here with a special presentation. And right after PA3, I'm going to take up item R7A, where we're going to recognize some other county officials. So...

Hello, everybody. Good evening. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. I am here with a special check presentation. Miami-Dade County, my office, is awarding your city with $25,000 for the Harborway Playground Improvement Project. And so I want to thank you all for the partnership, and I wanted to present you with this. So that's, you know, switching gears a little. And thank you, Manager Gonzalez, for reaching out and letting us know what the needs are in the community.

Should we take a picture with the big check?

You signed it, so you get to open it. Okay, one, two. All right. Thank you.

Melanie Griffin is the head of the DBPR.

She's the one I've been dealing with.

I met with FWC on this.

Okay, well, thank you for that, and we will put it to good use. I'd like to take out of order R7A, which is also affecting Miami-Dade County. Mr. Clerk, can you read that for us?

This is R7A, a resolution of the Village Council of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, urging Miami-Dade County to restore the level of service that has been historically provided and provide adequate funding for the beach cleaning and sargassum removal performed by Beach Raker LLC on all identified hotspots on the shoreline in Bell Harbor Village, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Manager? Okay, Mr. Mayor, thank you. This is the item that Councilman Sklar had initially referenced. You'll recall that last month we were here to award the contract with Beach Raker for our augmented service to the beach. And at that time we became aware that there was also a hiccup at the county relative to the level of service in the contract that they were engaging in. So you asked us to reach out to the county and also bring a resolution to encourage the county to to restore the level of service. The funding apparently is there. It's really just making sure that the level of service is sufficient to meet the hot spots, and there's four hot spots in the county. Christina White, Mickey Steinberg, Commissioner Steinberg are here, as well as Chris. They all are partners with us on the beach and work closely with us, so this is really... Hopefully something that we can assist them in getting what they need done at the county level for this. This should be an easy one, hopefully. So, Christina, welcome.

Yes, good evening, council members. Again, Christina White. I'm the director of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department for Miami-Dade. So I want to thank you for this item. It does help, in a sense. We understand the concern. We share the concern. And we are actively working on doing some sort of contract amendment for That will help to restore the level of service that we're all used to. It will have to go before the Board of County Commission. So just keep that in mind. But it is something that we are acknowledging and we are going to be putting forward. And it does have Mayor Kava's full support.

Thank you so much. Yes, of course. We spoke about that at length. So I appreciate you guys coming out here. Do we have any questions for the director?

Why was it reduced in the first place?

You know, the simple answer is that we have expenditure authority. The Board of County Commission gave us $13 million in expenditure authority. And so the level of service is commensurate with that, as we can all understand. And so we are going to come back, hopefully with a contract amendment to revise the scope and the ability to spend the additional dollars that is required to bring back the prior level of service.

Is there anything that we could do to help?

I think you're doing it tonight. I think this urging is great. So thank you.

Appreciate it. Chris, did you have anything to add? Or Commissioner? Yeah, Commissioner.

Is the champion trying to help preserve this all along?

Yes, I have been a strong supporter of the levels that you would like to see it returned to. We were $3 million. I think that was the delta that we need to get back up to for the five-year contract. And that resolution, obviously, I'm in support of, and I'm hoping that my colleagues will support it as well. I do understand the unique issues that we're dealing with in the coastal communities, especially with sargassum. So anything I can do further to help, we will. And Director White said, By the way, he's the new director of this department. And so, you know, she got onboarded real fast, and she's been hitting the ground running, and this is an issue that's also important to her. So we're working together, collaborating on the best way to bring it forward, and we are supporting the resolution. So thank you.

Thank you. And if you need, I think there was a good, Danielle put in the economic impacts of sargassum. So if you guys are not aware of that, I mean, definitely take that from Danielle's report. I think it would really be compelling. Eye-opening at that point. Yes, because those are...

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I remember George and I were closely working on this with the Ritz-Carlton. When it got so bad, they literally had 50% of their guests check out due to not being able to use the beach, the smell, so on and so forth. So we're seeing direct economic impact on this.

As does the county. I mean, Convention Development Tax, TDC, all of that is affected by those cancellations.

Yep.

Yep.

Okay. So is there any further discussion from council? Any public comment?

Seeing none, is there a motion? I'll make a motion.

Is there a second?

I'll second it.

It's been moved and seconded. This is a voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Passes unanimously. Thank you all for being here. We appreciate all your hard work and support in furthering this effort. Thank you for coming out here. Yes. Appreciate it. Thanks, Chris. Okay. We're going to continue with C6, council minutes or the consent agenda, which is just the council minutes. Is there a motion to approve? I'll move it. Is there a second? Second. The minutes have been moved and seconded. All those in favor of approval say aye. Aye. Approved.

Okay. R5A, Mr.

Clerk.

R5A, an ordinance of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, amending Chapter 21, Zoning Article 4, Supplementary District Regulations of Bell Harbor Village Code of Ordinances to create Section 21-367 to establish procedures. for the review and approval of and reasonable accommodation for certified recovery residences or other federally protected residences in accordance with the state law, providing for conflicts, severability, inclusion in the code, and providing for an effective date. This is the second reading ordinance.

Thank you. Mr. Manager.

Mr. Mayor, this is second reading. I'll ask the village attorney to walk you through the specifics of this. It's consistent with what you had at first reading. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As we talked about at first reading and at your recommendation of approval from the local planning agency in January, This is an ordinance that's required by a 2025 bill that was enacted by the Florida legislature. It simply requires us to have a process that meets minimum standards. The background ability of these uses to exist in communities, however, is pursuant to longstanding state and federal law and is not being changed by this ordinance. We recommend that you approve it on second reading this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. Any discussions from council? Do we have any public comment? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the ordinance on second reading? I'll make the motion. There's a motion. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been seconded by, I don't know. Okay. Dwight, you pick. This is a poll vote, so.

Yeah. Yes, Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. Mayor Sauer? Yes. Councilman Sklar?

Yes.

Councilman Fremark? Yes. Councilman Levy? Yes. The ordinance passes on second reading 5-0. Thank you. R5B. Yes, RFIB, an ordinance of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, amending Chapter 10, Marine Structures, Activities, and Ways, Article 2, Use of Public Beaches, Section 10-31, Prohibited Acts, and Chapter 19, Traffic and Motor Vehicles. Excuse me. Article 2, Operation of Vehicles, Section 19-27 of the Village Code relating to the operation of electric bicycles, motorized scooters, and other motorized mobility devices on paths and sidewalks. Amending Section 2-191, Schedule of Civil Penalties of Chapter 2. administration to create related penalties providing for severability, inclusion in the code, conflicts, and for an effective date. This is a first reading ordinance.

Thank you. Mr. Manager.

Mr. Mayor, sometimes they say the third time's the charm. This item, as a result of a discussion item you held last month, e-bikes and scooters and the like have become more and more ubiquitous throughout the community and not just our community. And there's a lot more effort to try to rein it in and regulate it to make sure that it's safe. What this ordinance does specifically is tied to the beach path. the Cutwalk and the Connector are just south of the Oceana. It's not sidewalks. We can do this and as a result, it's here for consideration for first reading. We're not preempted by the state or FDOT in regards to those areas. And what this would do is prohibit the motorized vehicles other than ADA type vehicles in those locations. In addition, there are some authorities that the state granted last session relative to, I think it's age and helmet, pardon me, that they have to have a government ID of some sort. And there's also a bill working its way through the session this year that will expand upon that to also address perhaps speed limits, minimum age, and the like. what i would suggest if you're inclined to approve this is to approve it at first reading um and instead of bringing it back to you in march we bring it back to you in april by then we will know what the state legislative action was and we can amend it for second reading to incorporate anything that comes out of the state this year that allows us to do more than simply this um What I will say is that it appears that what the state is considering is regulating, which would imply you can't ban it on the sidewalk. In other words, you can address the age, you can address the speed, you can address the notification of bell or whatnot, but you can't say they're prohibited on sidewalks. We might know better a month from now or 45 days from now. So we're ready for this one, and I suggest you go ahead with this now. It gets the ball rolling and allows us to see what happens in Tallahassee, and then we can bring back to you any recommendations from that.

Perfect. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members. As the manager stated, this is the very similar ordinance to what you considered a couple years ago. It bans it on the hard pack, the Oceana Access Pass, and the Jetty Cut Walk. That will make it easier for us. Even though enforcement could be a challenge, it will help us cover the areas where we get the most ingress into that area. The recommended fine would be $50. It would be a code violation. And if this would pass, we'd ask for direction. We recommend a 60-day educational period to have some signage and some educational material. But other than that, it's very similar to what you've considered in the past.

Thank you. Any discussion from council?

Just from a signage perspective, I think Miami Beach did a really good job on their – Miami Beach did a very good job on how they sign it on their walk, the beach path all the way down. I say we never want to over-sign, but if we're going to have to do it, I think I would use their signage package as a good starting point.

Any further discussion?

No, I would just say again thanks for all the work and effort to bring this back. I hear what you're saying. I would hate to just continue to move it down so my I would like to see that if this passes on first reading, we do bring it back in March and get it passed and moving forward. And if we have to change something or we modify it to add additional things later, we add it. But again, I would like to see us get it done quicker and start getting some signs up. I think it's a big issue, and I know it's been an issue from before, so that's the only thing I would say differently to what you were mentioning.

I concur.

Yeah, I mean, I guess let's get the signs up before they take away our ability to outlaw it.

Well, no, we won't put signs up because we want to make sure that we put the right signs up.

But to clarify, when would the signs go up? They should go up upon second reading. Upon second reading. And when does session end?

I believe it's like the first or second week of March. March 17th is like five or six days after the session.

We're going to now.

Okay. But just to clarify, the question is, there's not going to be anything that's going to prevent us to do this on the heart?

No. Yeah, the state's not going to affect you on this. It's just whether you have more prohibitions or more other restrictions for second reading, or you just start a new ordinance at that point. So that's what I say.

I'd like to move forward with it and put it on for March. Again, if it passes... to continue to put on for March, and then we move forward with that. If we can add additional stuff to the sidewalks based on what happens in Tallahassee, then we can go from there.

So, Mr. Mayor, just to add to what the council is saying, I looked before the meeting, and the Senate bill has passed all three committees and is on its way to the floor of the Senate, and the House bill matches. So there's a pretty high likelihood that we know where we're going, as is set forth in the agenda memo and mentions from it.

Pardon? Can you give us some highlights from the Senate?

Yeah. We talked about it a little bit earlier, but we went through it pretty quickly. So let me tell you. First of all, it says that on a sidewalk, you cannot operate an e-bike above 10 miles per hour if you are located within 50 feet of a pedestrian. Secondly, it talks about paths. that are not parallel to a roadway. And on those paths, you must give a signal when you're on your e-bike and yield to pedestrians before overtaking and passing. You have to make yourself known. And then the bulk of it is to set up what's called this e-bike safety task force that reports back to the legislature by October 1st, 2026. And it creates obligations for our police department and all police departments in the state to gather data in a certain kind with certain attributes and get it to them ahead of that time that will feed into that report. So they're clearly looking towards additional regulation next year.

So that seems contradictory because you just said that we can pass it on our right-of-way, but now this seems to allow it. Like we can ban it versus...

If I can take that question, this is not yet law. Once this becomes law, we can certainly look at that question of whether this is a state minimum standard that can be exceeded by those governments with jurisdiction over the affected roadway or if it is... I'm not sure it is preemptive, but it's dynamic. Like anything else in session, we don't know for sure until it's over.

Okay. Okay, so I think there's support here to just hear it in March, right? That's my understanding. Okay. Is there any public comment? No, we got two. Kind of you come up.

Penny Sepler, 102.75 Collins. I really hope we can do a lot about this because last week I was walking my dog on the beach path and I'm telling you, some guy almost just like, he didn't care. I mean, just tearing down the path. It's terrible. But did you say that you can't ban, that it won't be, we could not ban it. We could just modify, you know, have stipulation, but you could not ban these things on the beach path or on the sidewalk?

Beach path we can.

I would love to see people have to just get off their minds.

We'll address your comment as soon as we're done with public comment. Thank you. Thank you, Penny.

Well, I have 128-4 Drive. My comment is regarding the enforcement. I don't want the enforcement to become a nuisance to the police department. I mean, really, to 10 miles an hour or something, how are they going to radar it? I mean, there's going to be a difficulty. And when they're doing the education, I suggest at least the first-time offenders, if they are the first-time offenders, to be given sort of like a warning system, so then the second one. I know sometimes the education might not reach the maximum amount of people. And we want to educate people, not really punish them. So I think take that into consideration when you are passing this. And I think a bird in a hand is better than two in a bush, so might as well do it as soon as possible and whatever happens afterwards, afterwards. Thank you.

Thank you. Or did you want to address any of the comments?

Yeah, just to clarify that. We can today, we'll know if we can't later, but we can today ban it on our beach path and the jetty and the, I'm going to call it the consultario path. We cannot ban it on sidewalks. And so there were two different discussions last month. We proceeded with the one that we could work on and we left the other one behind for now.

Yep. Susan, did you have something to add?

That's basically it.

So just to be clear, this ordinance will ban e-bikes for those listening and watching.

And e-scooters and other mobility devices. It looks different from the ordinance two years ago because the statutory definitions change. They're constantly changing on what these devices are. So this definition matches what's out there now.

Yes. Okay. Okay.

So it's been moved in second. Is there a motion? Yes. Okay, it's been moved by Councilman Sklar. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Wolf.

Roll call? Yes, roll call. Councilman Fremark? Yes. Councilman Sklar? Yes. Councilman Levy? Yes. Mayor Selver? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. The ordinance passes on first reading 5-0.

Thank you very much. We've already done R7A, so let's move into new business and council discussion, R9A. That's me. Wait, where are you all going?

Maybe you should stand back up. Yeah, I think they were walking out.

We almost didn't see you. It's okay. So the elephant in the room, we all live here, obviously, and we've all experienced – a lot of delays trying to traverse Collins Avenue at all times of day. This Sunday, I mean, I thankfully told my wife I was very tired and I wanted to stay home and I picked the right day to stay home because I heard horror stories from people being stuck. They can see Bell Harbor from out of their car window but not able to reach the promised land. So I know that wasn't our fault. But regardless, my emails have been blowing up about this. Everyone giving me their suggestions on how we can address this. I've received several calls as well from residents and people just passing through. I'm sure you guys have all heard a lot. So I wanted to put this on just so we can have a discussion, just so we can, you know, see what the pain points are. I know that there's been a lot of progress from when this closure started to where we are today. So perhaps, you know, I don't know if it's the chief or the deputy chief that can give a presentation. I did ask also for some drone footage, and maybe we got some of that. So let's see. Let's have a nice discussion and see if there's anything that can come out of this that can, you know, be positive.

You guys want to see the drone footage first? Sure. Yeah. See the drone footage.

Describe what you – it started and then you reacted, so you implemented – the improvements that you implemented and then we can show the drone so they understand what they're seeing.

Okay. So what you're about to see is when we, on February 2nd, when the initial MOT was set up, You're going to see several lanes north and southbound, two of the lanes, only two lanes of travel going southbound. And then right around the St. Regis, you're going to see that turning lane that goes into the St. Regis blocked off, thus forcing that lane closure on that first lane closure right next to the turning lane going southbound. Since then, what we did was we sent one of the patrol supervisors and myself and DC went out to the intersection of 9700 and 9800 Collins Avenue. When we went out there, we realized that when the light cycles read from south of 97 or south from 98, there was an opportunity for us to man that intersection. put an officer at 9,700 and an officer at 9,800 and waved those cars through, even though there was a steady red.

They had the steady red, but the other lights were green, so we were able to flush that traffic.

Since February 2nd, we've committed two officers, one officer at the 9,700 intersection and another officer at the 9,800 intersection, doing what we described. Additionally, D.C., met with the shops, the contractor, and right around where the founder circle is and where the... that turning lane is when you come around it, they had that lane kind of extended, blocked off. So what we were able to do after consulting with them, we were able to get them to give us a little bit more runway. Now, since then, I think it was Monday, if I'm not mistaken, Oh, no, I'm sorry. Yeah, it was Monday when they put the permanent barricades up. Since then, they've placed the permanent concrete barriers along that roadway. Now, in the next, we're hoping by this week, and the D.C. has really been getting them to move and come up with great ideas to get the traffic flowing. The turn lane going into the St. Regis, we're hoping that we've gotten that accelerated and they should be done with that lane. That lane should be opened back up. hopefully by the end of this week, no later than next week. Now, when that happens, now you don't have that lane closure next to the Turner Lane going southbound blocked off. However, if you go a little further south, it then merges right around Founder Circle. You then lose another lane because they're going to be working in that area where the concrete barriers are. So in the video, you'll be able to see that, exactly what I'm talking about.

As you're further south, you get the four lanes again, including the right turn. There's your pinch point right there where it's two lanes. And what the chief is talking about right now, it's about two blocks worth. By the end of next week, it will only be from this crosswalk south, opening up this one again. You can see this one has the left turn here that creates the two lanes of travel, pinch point.

George, the problem is they have that lane closed and there's nothing being done. If you back all the way up to where Founders Circle is, that lane is closed. And the major problem is people in the right lane that are not making the right on 96th now have to get over. So you're basically taking three lanes of traffic down to one. That's the problem. Yeah, that's what I think.

I think if you see now in the latest videos, those concrete barriers are up, and it prevents them from opening that.

So that's a way they could go back to non-permanent barriers.

Well, remember, when we started this procedure about a year ago, we asked that this MLT be removed at the end of every night. That was our initial request. And then as we went through this process with FDOT, they said as soon as there's excavation and there's a certain drop, the FDOT standards require that these concrete barriers be in place. And there was no room for negotiation.

But they're up now and they don't have the dropping yet. That's the problem.

No, today they have everything out of founder circle. It's already torn up. The other issue that was happening where that turning had to go in is for a while there you had no crosswalk at the 9700 block and you had people trying to cross from them from the same regions where there was a crosswalk So with that curb cut that's being put in this week that crosswalk will be reinstituted and there'll be a way for people to cross safely at that intersection so once that turn lane opens and And it creates a little bit more room. You know, 5, 10, 15 cars at a time gives us time to kind of move it a little bit more. So that was part of the issue with that. I'm meeting with them again tomorrow morning, and as you'll see in the future ones, we had further areas from the south part of Founder Circle move back, so it creates more stacking, as the manager described. And they're going to start working, you know, the work is going to go from Founder Circle north.

There's your police officers.

The first phase of founder circle will be the first half of founder circle. Once that part is open, then it gives them the ability to open that part up, and it will be less of a pinch point.

Turn to the side wall.

The sidewalks, as you remember, during the holidays, they weren't going to be working for about a month. We had them do temporary patching of the sidewalks and other things to keep it accessible during the holidays. They're anticipating that those sidewalks will be fully open by the end of this week, early next week. And then there's also certain areas that right now they can't do work during the day because they haven't gotten to that point of the project. But as I meet with them every day, I explore with them every week. I explore with them things that they can leverage during the day to try and push this forward.

So during those peak times, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., we have an officer out there, and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and sometimes a little bit later, depending on the volume of traffic, we have an officer in those two intersections that I told you about. Yes, sir.

Who's paying for the officer coverage?

we're using one off-duty officer from the shops that works the 9800 Collins Avenue, and the other one we use either on-duty resources or we backfill it with overtime. So one officer is the extra duty officer at the 9800 that we're using, and the other one is either on-duty or an overtime officer.

Yes, sir. How can we prevent it from going to... one lane in front of the shops, like Seth and I were just discussing. The problem is if cars are in the right lane and they're not making the turn, they're trying to get over, which is causing traffic.

You mean getting back into the left lane?

Or they're not even coming straight.

What this guy just did, he cut out.

So they're all trying to get over. And you have this one lane only. So basically you have everything converging to one lane to go south.

Yeah, one of the things I was thinking of approaching with them is they currently have a bike lane that's closed. So I was going to get with them tomorrow to see if we can do some temporary striping in that area with two lanes so we can get people that are going to turn off to the right sooner and then keep the people that are going to go straight. And maybe that's an option that we can do. as I've been looking at this and trying to see where I can gain some space. There's not a lot of room there, unfortunately. And the way this is set up, if you send that turn lane straight, you know, if I ask them to re-stripe that and make it go straight, you know, straight or right turn, then, you know, it could create issues there. But I'll address that with them tomorrow. They still have to get over it.

Right. Even if they're going straight, they still have to.

I'll address that with them tomorrow and see what other options we can come up with.

Great.

Thank you.

On the brighter side, northbound on Collins is looking phenomenal.

Yeah, then you aren't here this weekend.

Depends.

Yeah, it depends on the day and time. But that's not our issue, though. That's further up.

So as you see on the video, the bulk of the traffic congestions or delays are during our peak hours, during our busiest times.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I just want to add, so again, thank you. I've been bothering you guys a lot and I appreciate the efforts. And I will just say that two things. I think the guys in 97th and 98th blocks are making some good progress by moving people through. You definitely see that happening, so that's great. Some other just constructive thoughts are I know that we have police everywhere in front of the village. I've seen for the past week a couple of guys sitting in the front of the village, you know, right on Harbor Way there. But they're just sitting there and they're in their cars. I'm not sure what they're doing to help traffic. I don't think that's doing anything to help traffic. I would suggest as one of the things that we talked about, the other stumbling point is the 96th Street, where everything is stopped in all the directions. And we talked about that. And I think that if we could move the cars through there as well, while all the lights are red, like you're doing here, for that time period would significantly help. So what is your thought on being able to add that additional movement in there? Because I think that's, you know, everybody gets through here, but they're still stopped at 96th Street. That's the ultimate stopping point.

Check that. Didn't you guys go back and look at the cycles and tell me that there isn't a cycle where there's...

Yeah, the problem, and I'll tell you that one of the issues that we're probably going to have with that, and we'll have the county take a look at it, is, okay, if we funnel traffic south on 96th Street, that means we've got the whole east and west.

No, no, no. There's a time, I don't know about the exact time, 15, 20, 30 seconds, where all the lights are red. That's the question I have, guys.

No, we went out there, and DC and I, we went out there. I'm not sure if that's on the Sabbath schedule or whatever, but we went out there last week, I think. Right after we spoke. Yeah, right after we spoke, and there wasn't a period where there was a 30-second delay. There you go. Yeah. I don't know why Shabbat would be different, but... Because it cycles on its own. It's automatically cycling. It's an automatic stop during Shabbat. During Shabbat.

So you don't have to trigger. But when it's not Shabbat, you were saying that if there's a cross on one, it's flowing on the other. It's not a four-way cross, which is what you were talking about.

So if you're going north and south... and did the light activate, whatever, then the opposite direction flows and the crosswalks simultaneously.

Okay.

Before you go, I have a question because I also noticed when, I don't know if this is what you're talking about, when I'm at the light to, on 96 heading east, and the pedestrian signal to cross on the, I guess, north crossing is already showing like a red hand. But it's red for me, but it's green for the opposite direction, going on 96th Street from east to west. They have a much longer green signal than the eastbound, even when the pedestrian crossing has already been closed. Okay, I'll take a look at that. Yeah, and it's like we're talking about like 15 seconds at least.

So westbound is moving, eastbound is still stacking?

At the beginning of that process, that's right. At the beginning of that process, they've got the white crosswalk, the ability to walk on the northbound side across from CVS. Yeah. A crosswalk across from CVS. That has the pedestrian walking, and that's when east to west is allowed to go, west to east is not allowed to go. So there is a longer green. The mayor is right. There is a longer green going westbound.

Yeah, but even after it already – I agree with that. Yeah. So I don't know. There's something – It's the south.

Sorry, it's the south.

That may be having to do with the left on Collins because there's that –

on the Collins side.

There's no left on Collins going west.

No, no, northbound Collins. Northbound Collins going west.

Right.

Northbound Collins going west, and it's a short stack. That block is a short block, and so they may have it signalized so that it doesn't create block-to-box and other concerns with that short stack from Harding to Collins.

Yeah. Usually it's empty, so maybe it's just too long, but that could be a reason. Yeah.

But we can go explore some more.

Maybe they can take a look at it during peak hours.

And are all the discussions, because I know even Surfside recanted, so all the discussions to eliminate that crosswalk, because I still think that is causing all the backup on 96th Street. So all the discussions to eliminate the southbound CVS to whatever the... The bank across the street, I think. The toddler is dead.

They said they would study it.

Right.

But Surfside has said that they're not interested in losing that crosswalk.

No, no, they're going to. On March 17th, we'll rehab the conversation. Okay.

Now that we have an officer on the 9800 block the exit from the shops I Implore them to not allow cars going south blocking the box It's been a major major major problem trying to exit the shops and you can't get out I sat there for three light cycles and literally trying to make the left to go north on Collins because they kept stacking and blocking the box the entire time. So if they could be very cognizant of that, it would be greatly appreciated. Okay, not a problem.

Yeah, and sorry, one last comment since we're just laying it on you. I don't know how it's being triggered, but something is triggering the pedestrian walk signalization where for the 9700 block, that crosswalk that's being eliminated, and that right now it says don't cross, all the things are bagged, somehow that still is getting activated. I don't know if it's because they didn't bag the little button and people are pushing it.

And the left turn is still activated all the way north.

Yes.

So that's stopping a lot of traffic.

I'll check on that tomorrow morning when I meet with them, but the mast arm, That you see as, you know, because 9700 now is entrance only. There's no exit. So that mast arm that has the lights that you see as you look towards the St. Regis, that's going to be removed in the upcoming weeks. And the new timing is going to be installed into the new mast arm. So I told Whiting-Turner that when they do that, I'd like to be involved with their traffic engineer so I can connect the county and them. Because the way it works is the contractor usually does the timing according to what the plans are and what has been planned. given to them through the permit, and then they have to show the county that it's working as intended, and sometimes we aren't involved in that process, so I've asked them to be involved in that process.

Yeah. I mean, I think the takeaways are let's try and see what we can do to make this better. I know that we've come a long way from February 2nd. Do we have any idea of where they're at in the project? Are they progressing? Do they have?

They're progressing as planned. I'll have a better update tomorrow. But the, as I said, the sidewalks are anticipated to be open. I know that doesn't really affect traffic, but it's going to make it safer. The crosswalk will be in, which will make it safer. And the total time for that founder circle is four months. So they're still saying four months, but hopefully we can gain some efficiencies through there and we don't have any, you know, sometimes there's things that come up as they do explorations and they find stuff that's where it shouldn't be and then they have to come up with a solution. And sometimes that creates a little bit of a delay. But I'm religiously meeting with them every Wednesday at 1030 in the morning.

And usually with the D.C., he'll come up with some, let him know, hey, look, if there's some work that you can do during the daytime to, you know, to expedite this process. They've been pretty receptive to that. And sometimes we have to, you know, he has to point out, well, you can do this during the daytime and that during the daytime, and then the next day you'll see the crew out. So, you know, we're actively involved and actively engaged because just like you guys have received the phone calls, we do too as well. So we really want to make this traffic, do our very best to mitigate traffic here.

Thank you.

Let me make a comment as well. We've gotten a lot of questions about, you know, why is this being done now? I think it's important to remember that this project started in August. And it was a 15 or 16 or 18-month project. And so whether it was going to cross over a season. whether it's this season or next year's season or whatnot, it was going to cross through that. And so we're kind of in the middle of it, and we're feeling it because it's peak season now. But, you know, we're doing everything we can to keep it flowing and doing the best we can and making sure that the contractors do what they're supposed to do.

George, also we have to make sure things that we can't control we do. Like the project was dead for a month and a half because of a pipe issue. So the things that we have to be able to try and control to keep the project moving, if that was a dead issue at that point, then we've got to move them to the next step so we're not losing a month and a half. And that's what's pushing it more into season also.

Yeah, and they found some conflicts with gas, and they've had two cut-throughs from FPL. When you're building in the road and you don't know what's under the road,

That's why we have to try and move them to whatever step B is, if there's someone stepping up.

Yeah. Two to tango there.

So I appreciate the drone footage, the discussion, and I think the charge is clear, and we know that you're doing your best, and just continue to do that.

Thank you. Okay.

R9B, Vice Mayor Wolf. Yes.

So I don't know if you guys all saw the LTC on this subject. Obviously, Alejandro, you brought up the issue of the crosswalk and safety, obviously, which is a big...

safety, which is obviously a big concern.

But from my perspective, the FDOT proposal, which is to add a new light there, is absolutely unacceptable from our perspective. You know, when I look at it, that crosswalk is not a significant crosswalk. It really actually only is a block, kind of like a block north. If you look from that crosswalk north all the way, there's no other crosswalk for most of Bell Harbor until you get all the way to Harbor Way. And that one's not too far from just the more southern crosswalk. My perspective is we get rid of that crosswalk, but to add another light that stops traffic again for no reason, if nobody's even there or whatever, who knows if it'll be signaled or whatever, I think it's a bad idea for us. And I think just would significantly impact traffic even further. And so, again, I don't know what our... Ability is to tell FDOT we don't want it and to remove it, but I think it's not a good thing to add what they've proposed. Let me clarify.

Councilman?

Mike and myself met with FDOT quite a few times about this, saying that what's there is definitely faulty and it's an accident waiting to happen. They never proposed until just now putting a full traffic light in. What they were originally going to do is put in like on, you see on 86th Street? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where someone walks and it just stops.

Yeah, they just came up with this, exactly.

I was just as shocked as you when I saw this because this was never the plan. This was never discussed. It was always supposed to be the overhead mast arm with the stop. So, yeah, I'm in full agreement with you.

Before you guys jump to conclusions, let me explain to you what this is proposed because you might – Conclude differently. Those that were described, like at the Publix, FDOT isn't really a big fan of those anymore. They don't seem to be as effective, primarily because they're confusing to the driver, and secondly, they're not synchronized with the rest of the grid. So they do stop traffic when a pedestrian requests it. What this is supposed to do is connect this crosswalk, synchronize it with the other signal, so it will not turn red until or unless there's a red at Harborway

But George, right now it would only turn red the other way if a person is walking, and there's not as many people walking there.

But listen to me. This will not turn red unless a pedestrian calls for it, and then it will only turn red when there's a red at Harbor Way. So it's not going to be an interim red, not connected and synchronized with the grid. What those other lights are, are not synchronized, similar to the mid-block over here on Surfside. Those are not synchronized with the rest of the signals. And so in this instance, this is what they found to be the safest solution. I concur that it's either take it out or put a signal. Anything in between is an unsafe condition. They identified enough usage to do it because they don't just do it. They will come back and say we're not doing anything and remove the crosswalk. But this According to what they've described to us is we'll be synchronized to the signals and we'll have a Shabbat setting on the Sabbath similar to what's on 96th Street. So it'll cycle at the same time as well. It's not supposed to, pardon me, and so it's not supposed to be an interim red between greens going on either direction. however to the question you had uh councilman um we can it's an eftar road so at the end of the day they have to make the determination and you know this may be a bell that can't be unwrung because they now have a report that suggests that this is a an unsafe condition they should improve it we could ask for them to remove the crosswalk if that's something you guys want um For as long as I've been here, the desire has been to take that crosswalk and enhance it in its safety, and here we are. And so I'll take your direction, whatever you guys want us to do.

So I had the initial, I'd just like to jump in, I had the initial same reaction that you seem to be having right now, where, oh, my God, that's all we need, another traffic light. But when I thought about it, having one that is synchronized with the lights will have less of an impact than having one that's on demand. This won't change unless you push the button anyway. It's just going to delay the stop to be in sync with the other lights. So I think this is the golden standard. This is how you make a safe crosswalk. And I think if it is our desire to have a crosswalk, this is the way to do it.

Mike has been involved in it.

I believe, unless the deputy tells me I'm wrong, but it's going to be green, the pedestrian crossing, green light always, unless someone pushes a button, unless during the Sabbath, it will be synchronized with the traffic lights. But green during all the time. Unless it's on demand. That is correct, on demand.

Which is what the other lights are as well, except they don't then wait for the next light to turn red. They'll just stop it right there.

Yeah.

And so this is an improvement to that condition.

That's a recommendation right away. And just today I had to give some of our as-built plans for Sewer Force Main and Collins Avenue because they're moving to modify the one in the Publix also with the traffic lights. Oh, really? It just happened today as well. So just for you to know.

So just a question. So you said that there's usage. Is there data that we can see? I mean, I never see anybody crossing on that crosswalk. Is there some kind of data?

They had a traffic consultant. We can provide that to you. But they based this decision on they hired an outside consultant to do the traffic counting. That would be great. That would be great.

Number one.

Yeah.

Why? Where are you going?

from the shul, from whatever the shul I go to, to my house.

Why aren't you crossing by the Bal Harbour shops? Why are you walking further down the road?

In a few other reasons, because Bal Harbour shop, the Etrin crossing is closed. Whoa, okay. And that's going to be another year.

But this isn't going to be fixed for a year.

On the other side, if I want to go to visit friends at the beach, or if I want to go to the other side, I'll have to go on the opposite direction. or go all the way down to the Valhalla shops. So not just me, which I'm a healthy 40 something years old man, but you know, you're talking about the elderly people who live on the buildings in the West, that's another story.

Yeah, I don't know about the data besides you. No, we'll provide it. We'll provide the report. They provided the report as part of it.

And let me say, this project is moving fast during the design purposes right now. It's moving extremely fast.

And are they going to have to close the roads to put the new lights in and stuff?

Well, yes, there's going to be some modification. Well, yeah, but it will be all night work. Same thing as the traffic mass on 96th Street. All that was done at night. No roads closed during the day? No, no, maybe one lane, you know, do whatever. They have to do something in the median, but it's going to be all night work. Is there a timeline for the project? Completion by end of 2027. Oh, so that's a year and a half away. Well, but the design is moving extremely fast. For FDOT? For FDOT, yes.

So what is our timeline?

I mean, if we want to petition something different, the sooner the better.

The sooner the better because, like I said, the project is going really fast design-wise. Right now it's in design and investigation as well.

Okay.

So you have the data now you could share with us. I will share it tomorrow to the manager and the manager will forward it to me. Perfect.

Mr. Mayor? Yes. I think there's also a question of how many people don't use that right now because it is so bloody dangerous. And I hear a lot from people in my building, for example, that want to go down there. want to get over to the west side, either to get to the shops or to go elsewhere to see friends, that that is a vital crosswalk to them, but only if it's safe. So I hear that a lot from people.

That's all in the report. The report is several, several pages, so everything is there. Great.

In the school days, you see the kids. Yeah. I have to put my life in silence for this. There's almost one kid. No, no, no.

Well, there's no question it's dangerous.

That's not the question for sure. Even when the lights are going off, I stop, and then a car right next to me just zips right through, and I start honking like – but they have no idea what's going on. So, yeah, I think the only way to have it safe is having an actual signal. Or remove it, yeah. No, but I think even if you remove it, it's still going to – look like a crosswalk and people cross.

And it makes sense that it would not be detrimental if it synced with the other lights. And if it's set on Shabbat, the same manner as the 96th Street lights, it shouldn't impede traffic. But it should make for a safe place to cross.

Yes. So I guess the consensus is that this is going to proceed. We're not going to try to stop it.

No, we're going to get some data and look at the data. Well, there's no motion or anything so far. I know, I know.

So right now it's happening.

Yeah, FDOT is proceeding. We have the data that their consultants concluded that led to this proposal or action. First of all, it's not our decision. So the other thing we can do is send them a letter saying that you need to speak as a one voice on that. And, you know, there's no action today. So I guess if after the data you want to put another discussion in, that's a conversation that, you know, you'll need to have. But, you know.

George, I recommend for Ramon Sierra to come to the next meeting. There's been discussion. Matter of fact, we met with him with the engineer record probably a week and a half ago, where it's going to be up to that time to see if it's going to be a direct crossing like it is now. or come to the median and then do like a little zigzag, like a 96th Street, and then cross again. So I think it's better if you're gonna make it.

Let's let them finish their design, or finish that conclusion. I think the important question is, do you even want this at all?

Correct, yeah.

And that's that, the data will... Show you what you mean.

We're talking about sinking in the southern direction, but then we're stopping again and pushing backtrack. If it is fully and we're waiting for somebody to cross the entire thing, then we're stopping northward traffic as well.

They'll all be synchronized. And that could happen just like 96th Street. I mean, I'm sorry. If it's red north, it's red south.

If it's red north, it's red south at Belle Bay.

Right.

Right now I'm talking about going south. It doesn't matter. If it's red, it's red. If it's red north, it's red south.

You're correct.

When the light turns red, it turns red going north and south.

Correct.

Which light are you talking about? The one in front of Oceana. This signal or the Oceana one? It's Oceana. So if Oceana is red going north and south.

Why would it be synced to Oceana? It should be synced. I thought it would be synced to the southern light, the 96 light. It's just part of the grid. But what you're saying is right. They're not synced today. Like, Belle Bay, Harbor Way, and 96th Street do not go red at the same time.

No, no, no.

No, no, but there's a flow. Right, so they're not all going to be red at the same time.

No, no, no, but Belle Bay, if you're going north or south at Belle Bay, it's red either way. Yeah, yeah, of course. So this will be synced, let's say, the same as that.

Okay, well, I think that it seems like this decision is not really ours, and I don't see that there's a desire to try to effectuate the decision that was made by AFTA because it seemed to me like we have three that are in favor of seeing this proceed.

I mean, the option is still there. I mean, it was their proposal. I mean, if you want traffic, the pedestrian, the way it is right now with the diamond signal, that's fine up to them. But they made that recommendation more for safety.

Their consultant has told them that that's an unsafe condition. That is correct. They are proposing this. I don't agree with that. Or remove.

Correct.

And now that that's in writing and that's out there in the environment, it's hard for them to now say, well, we'll just leave it the way it is.

Yeah, of course. That's right. Yeah. It's not an option, right.

Okay.

So we'll send the information out.

We're not traffic engineers, so I don't know what that information is really going to do. Like to override an FDOT decision, you know, this is all they do day and night, but I guess you can share that with the council if they want to see it.

And the information is only going to be of that which is occurring. Right. What we don't know is those that won't use it. Right.

Now let me ask, before the meeting, before next meeting, if they have a decision by then to do a straight walk or the zigzag, would you like to have them here? We'll report that.

Like at 98, how you zig, go and then cross?

It's not a straight across. Many of those intersections or crosswalks are like that. Even the one at 9800, I think, is a little off. It's just offset. It's not like it's a... Great distance.

Like for traffic, like flow purposes? Excuse me? What's the benefit of the zigzag?

It's up to them due to safety standards as well. Okay. And it's more like, it's more of what they explained to us, the straight walk will be much longer as well.

Correct. So the lights are not all red at the whole time somebody's walking the entire way across. Okay. Oh, so you'd have to stop.

They have a safe haven, you know. Yeah.

Yeah.

We stop in the middle. Okay.

So I guess all we can ask is for just regular updates on this. I mean, it doesn't have to be its own discussion item necessarily.

I mean, ideally, if they come to you, we would want to zigzag because we don't want to have all directions stopped while somebody's walking the entire way. I mean, if that's what the reason and purpose is, that would be the best scenario. Again, what they're trying to do is do to safety.

Yeah, it's the same thing. You got to see how much space the median is so that they can, because you need to be able to stand there and it's got to be a safe stand, safe haven.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okie doke. Thank you. R9C, Vice Mayor Wolf. Yes.

I ride my bike every two, three days a week down south and ride through the beautiful park in the 70s.

Is that the new bike?

No. On 10 miles an hour, right? No, no speed limit, unfortunately, for the manual bikes. But anyway, there's beautiful equipment and stations there. We have a huge walkway. Besides stations, one of the things I was going to bring up before is I think we have just a couple of benches and a couple of blocks. So for me, I mean, I would love to see us enhance, I mean, the beauty of Bell Harbor and the – you know, I think this fits right in. I don't know if you can bring up the pictures that I put in the thing, but I think this is an exceptional improvement for us to be able to add some equipment along our walk in multiple places. I mean, it's one of the places that gets mostly used by our residents. And I think from a health perspective and a recreational perspective and visitor perspective, I think this could be a huge improvement to our neighborhood. And so I wanted to bring up the subject for conversation.

Did you stop and use these machines?

I did. Really? Yeah.

I think it's a great idea. I brought this up many, many years ago. We also know that the Oceana has already funded this to the tune of $150,000. That's been sitting in our coffers since then for this purpose. So the money's there. It's just a matter of where we would cut it out sort of in the median between, I think, the jogging path and the hard path. I was told that let's wait to see the design of the jetty. and see how we could get something that sort of would fit in with the same look feel. But I think it's about time we make some decisions on this.

To clarify on the dollars, the original consultatio development agreement contemplated that. When that was amended, that restriction was released. And so the monies were granted to the village for any use that the council wished to use, not exclusively for this. And then at different times, this has come up. And so this is just, you know, it requires the direction. One of the things we've been hearing is that the congestion on the path is as tight as it is with bikes and pedestrians and walkers and riders and so forth. We'd have to really explore where they would – on the jogging trail, you mean.

Right.

Yeah, and so we'd have to explore where and – but from the locational so that we don't just create more of a nuisance unnecessarily. But that's something that we'll take your guidance.

So, Mr. Mayor, I would be supportive of us asking the staff, the team, to take the lead in terms of assessing where equipment could be placed. I'm in agreement that I think that would be a great add to the beach area in some way. I don't know anything about the spatial considerations and so on, but I would certainly support council direction to the staff to assess this.

Okay. Any other comments?

Okay.

I mean, these seem like very large pads. So I don't, I mean, I guess that's.

Is this the open space park? Yeah. Yeah. So the difference is that it's a park, not necessarily the walk necessarily, but I'm not sure where they're located in the park.

No, no, it's just 79th, that whole big park. Yeah, south of 80.

You have a big park there, and so there may be extra space. But we can look at locations and see what makes sense, at least to identify, before we get into the actual equipment, what the locations and stuff would be.

And I concur with Councilman Fremark to you guys to look at it. So just one question for me. All of the trees and stuff that are between the hard path and the walking path, Yeah, the sea oats, or not the sea oats, the sea grapes.

Is that protected space? The sea grapes are.

But we also want to see grass.

The sea grass, the oats are, those sea oats, where the dunes are, those are protected.

And you're also, the dunes are on the further side.

Yeah, the dunes are further east. Those are protected for sure. Then you've got the jogging path. And then you've got the center corridor, if you will, that is sea grapes. And those, we need to kind of verify what we can and cannot do with those. But some of those are protective. So we'd have to see if we can't. There's a lot of main areas. Potentially there's a lot of good area there that might be happening. So hopefully.

Okay. If you guys can do that research.

We just recently, within the last year, we cut back a lot to widen the path because all of the utilization that people are encouraging. And it's great. We want people out there.

Okay.

Great. Thank you. Very good.

You can have something back for the next meeting. Is that possible? I don't think so, sir. Next week we're in retreat and we're focused on that. So give us a little more time.

Okay. R9E, which is not here but was added earlier. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Just wanted to bring up some things about the Beach House project and their condo conversion and it being allowed to basically short-term rent. And what we've seen in a lot of other condominium buildings here in Miami-Dade County, whether it's in Brickell or downtown, when these condos convert and owners buy and there's really no supervision, This is where problems have been running pretty rampant in a lot of these buildings that are short-term rental eligible that have been condo conversions. So I just want to try and get out in front of it before these problems start to occur with us. They're seeing problems of, you know, 10, 15 people staying in an apartment, fights, so on and so forth. You can look it up in the Herald, and it's been really a rampant problem. and the problem that we're having here is that since we've tried to deem it a hotel but there's still no front desk they're now saying that they're going to have an on-site person living in an apartment but again I see, I'm trying to just be very proactive on this. I see problems coming down the road in buildings like this. We've seen it throughout Miami-Dade County, and I just want to figure out a way that we don't let it happen in our backyard.

Okay. Mr. Manager or Madam Attorney, anything?

Yeah, I am. The... First of all, the zoning is only limited to the three buildings that make up the Beach House complex. Back in 2010, 2011, that RM5 was changed so that that could not happen beyond. And then we also have our current... short-term rental ordinances that put whatever restrictions are from a short-term rental perspective. But these three buildings are kind of exempted from that. They're grandfathered in as condo hotel and Susan, correct me where I go wrong here, when they were First, Corso and Beach House, they – Corso, the original building on the water, the Corso property owned all but five units and could do short-term rental. And so the company owned a number of the units, and there were five individually owned units within. It seems like they're working back that way. They're capitalizing the asset, I guess, and cashing out. We did get a copy of their condo docs. I haven't seen them. I don't know if, Romero, you were able to find them, where they assured us that any buyer is prohibited from individually short-term renting their unit and that they would have to put it in the condo hotel pool to be managed by a beach house hotel. I'm going to come up and see if address that, because that was one of the concerns we had. As it relates to the operations, excuse me, and so forth, the security, the staff on site, they are now compliant with what our code requires of them. But that's the piece that I think gets to Councilman Sklar's question on the short-term rental. Let me see if he has that answer.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Manager. It's Over 1000 pages, so I'm coming through it. I just got it not too long ago. It does say that the section that deals with occupancy of units. States that each unit shall be in use only in accordance with all applicable village, county, state and federal codes, ordinances, regulations and so forth. So, whatever. Code we have in place, of course, would be notwithstanding. Councilman Sklar, to your point about the number of people, there's a provision in the bylaws that state that Notwithstanding the foregoing subject to applicable laws, codes, ordinances, except for temporary occupancy by visiting guests, which is defined as family, in no event shall occupancy of a studio unit exceed more than four people, of a one-bedroom unit exceed more than six people, and of a two-bedroom unit exceed more than eight people. And there's other language I'm going through, but in the conversation that the Deputy Chief and I had with The owners of the Corso, their intent is to, you know, obviously if an owner purchases a unit, that they would be able to, subject to whatever our codes are, allow it to be rented for, you know, as part of like a hotel.

That's where the inherent problem falls. Since there is no supervision, there's no front desk to check in. It's all done via code. That's what's happening in a lot of these other buildings. They might say only four people. Next thing you know, it's occupied by 15 people. And because there's no check-in process, because we're allowing them to just have an on-site person, and we're saying that that's okay. I don't feel personally that's okay. If they're going to operate as a hotel, operate as a hotel.

Yeah, well, their front office, as we were told, would be open from about 8 to 6, I believe. So there would be an office where people can come and check in, so it's staffed with whomever they've got on staff. In addition to that, what they will be doing now is the manager of the property will be living on-site 24-7. They're expanding the security system. the private security that they have that will be on site from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. So according to them, they will have people on site 24 hours, seven days a week.

I appreciate that. I'm just being proactive based on like use cases that are going on throughout Miami-Dade County. So, I mean, it's all only sounds well and good until it's not.

Could we... Do any ordinance, would this be triggered by Senate Bill 180 in any way? If we were going to amend the code, would Senate Bill 180 affect this?

Ask me in March because the DeSigley bill is tied up. It's not moving forward. So if it doesn't pass, if it does pass, we get our power back July 1st. If it doesn't, we don't get our power back until October of 27. And on that point, the SB 180 challenge, which you're a plaintiff of, We went through the hearing in December. Preliminary injunctive relief was denied, but the case continues. The judge is considering the motions to dismiss, appears to be waiting it out to see what happens this session. So that litigation is also ongoing. The two bills that are matched up and are both moving forward in the two houses are the ones that just carve out the panhandle counties. And so they don't really address our concerns. So if this could be considered more restrictive or burdensome, There would be an argument potentially, yeah.

So what can we do?

We can enforce what we have, which is what we have been concentrating on and what Ramiro and Mauricio have been dealing with the property owner to enhance and document what it is that they are doing. the council approved pursuant to the request of this operator the set of operating standards for grandfather department hotel uses it doesn't say an operational front desk it says a management personnel on staff 24 7 and a security personnel i'm paraphrasing but two separate things so um They've provided an approach, which our staff is judging to meet that. And on the face, it certainly seems arguable that it meets that language. The language doesn't say a traditional front desk. So that's what I can tell you about the current situation. I wasn't able to open the link.

It's very difficult to open.

I'm looking at your pictures and going blind. It doesn't work either. I don't know what it says in there. Yeah. But, you know, if they are forcing everything to be rented via their pool, that probably is a significant improvement because there's centralized control over what's happening.

But we don't know that because even like back in the day at the Ritz, you know, they were able to put it as part of the hotel program, but they were also able to rent it. Privately.

Yeah, that's what we're looking at at the condo docs. Because if it's mandatory that it be part of the pool, then that's better. It still doesn't have the concern you have about the front desk reception area. That was never their model, but that's where we are. But if it isn't mandatory, then you have the other concern about individual unit owners just putting out an Airbnb or whatever. Yeah.

And I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I thought one of you said that it was actually their desire to make sure that everything went through the pool. So it's not that we're, like, looking for something that they're fighting. We're just looking to see if they've documented what their preference was, which I guess is a minor step in the right direction is all I'm pointing out.

His best interest is to be able to rent them all and not own them all.

Mm-hmm. But not all, because at bottom, at the end of the day, all that our zoning requires is at least one regular residential dwelling unit and at least one, it has to be three units, but it doesn't have minimums. It doesn't say 50-50. I know everybody keeps asking questions that presume that view of the world, but the old, old zoning definition that we grandfathered in 2009 or 2010 just says more than one.

of a residential unit and a hotel unit so it's what we've got to work with okay thank you for bringing it up and we will keep an eye on it uh public comment penny

Henry Seppler, 102.75 Collins. I just want to talk a little bit more about the Beach House. I think it's absolutely outrageous that they can have four people in a studio. Every condominium, I mean, I know they have restrictions. I mean, to think that there could be eight people in a two-bedroom apartment, it doesn't seem right. I mean, it's just, it sounds awful. It sounds like what goes on in South Beach. That's what it sounds like to me.

I have a comment. I know we concentrated on the traffic pattern, north and south, but that east and west of West 96th Street is miserable. I mean, it's like I leave in the morning at 8 o'clock. you see all the way to Sunny Isle something traffic is black. So now I have to go all the way 163rd Street to come back to Biscayne Boulevard because this way is all blocked up. And when I get here, then you have the traffic on the 96th Street. And I want the chief and I think if they could look into the timing of Bal Harbour Shop exit on the 96th Street. Because many times when you see you're coming, that thing stops while the other is going and the traffic is backs up. So that exit from Bal Harbor Shop Garage on 96th Street, that causes a lot of traffic because it's not sync. It's not sink at all. And then that backs up to Bay Harbor. The other day, it took me 45 minutes. I know we had a problem because the bridge on 163rd Street, unbeknownst to me, went out of whack and it was closed. But it took 45 minutes from the toll... To the back gate. It was ridiculous. This was, yeah, this past thing. So as far as improving the traffic, beside the signals that the surface site claims and they push it and it all has to be adjusted, but please check into the... Bell Harbor shops exit. It does affect it. It's not sink at all. And that causes a problem. Thank you. I think we've addressed that before.

I don't know what the current status is, so D.C., you can come up and speak. The garage is still under a TCO, temporary certificate of occupancy. One of the issues that is tied to getting the CO is fixing this problem.

Correct. There was a video system. I've been working with the vice mayor on this, and the video system didn't correctly capture the vehicles, so the county had to put the light on minimum recall, so it means it cycles no matter what. They tested a radar system that works. And as of two weeks ago, I was given a four, the parts have been ordered to fix it. The county permit is ongoing. And they told me within four weeks it would be corrected. And what that will do is as you're coming in the morning, if there's no vehicles in the shops, the radar will pick up. It's clear and it'll have the timing synced so that cars don't have to stop.

A year later?

Deputy Chief, until that happens in four weeks, can we discuss, which I think maybe they made some modifications just to reduce the timing of that?

Yeah, they've reduced it as much as they can. I will call in with the county timing, the engineer, hopefully he'll get with me this week. I've had a message to him since last week to discuss that and several other issues. Great. Thank you.

Okay.

Any other public comment? Yes, we have an email from Richard Wolf with two Fs. And he writes, this is for pedestrian lights. At some crosswalks, most people, especially visitors, do not press the button to cross. Therefore, it never changes to white so they can cross safely.

Okay. Thank you, Richard. I think, did Yona's email also go to? I mean, you disseminated it, right? Did that go to meetings? It did.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Village manager's report? Village clerk's report? It's in your package. Village attorney's report?

It's in your package along with your annual report, which is in front of you.

Thank you. Okay, no further business. Motion to adjourn.

Thank you.