City Commission - Regular Meeting

Mr. Clerk. Mr. Clerk. Second, Mr. Mayor. We're ready.

Yes, sir. We're ready. All right. Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to the February 10th city commission meeting. As always, as we mentioned at at the beginning of every commission meeting, thank you for being here. It's great to have a nice crowd. Uh we're going to talk about a whole diverse group of issues, concerns, and ideas here in the city. Beautiful. I want everyone to know that we are that you are available and we are requesting that you please engage yourself in the conversation whether it's via Zoom, via email, or in person or through a phone call. Everyone is welcome and we look forward to hearing from you at one point throughout the meeting. Uh with that being said, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite Father David Sako from the Church of Little Flower. Please join us. Father, thank you for being here with us once again. It's always a pleasure uh to welcome you back to the city. Beautiful.

Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. And I also would like to thank the the commission for the help that they're giving us for the for our centennial recognizing the mission of church flower in the city of Coral Gables. We know that uh the source of all injustices is the heart of men. That's why the greatest political act that we can do is to proclaim the gospel to celebrate the Eucharist that changes the heart of men because the change of the of external structures is totally useless. So thank you for recognizing the importance of this mission of our church in uh in this city. With this being said, we can begin in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Lord, we give you thanks for this day. We give you thanks for uh for the gift of life. We know that you you know us Lord. You know our sins. You know our poverty. You know our weaknesses. Yet you know that we know that the resurrection is greater than any kind of death. That you can fill us with your grace and give us discernment. We pray Lord for this commission meeting. We pray for the commissioners and the mayor of this city that you may give them your spirit and your wisdom. We pray this through Christ our Lord.

Amen. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Father, as always, we'd like to send our best wishes to you, to your congregation. Thank you for making the time for being here. Thank you for being such a beacon of hope and light uh in the city. Beautiful. It's always a pleasure. Thank you, my friend. God bless you. Thank you very much. And now we have a true privilege. As we move on to the pledge of allegiance, I'd like to invite one of our very own, one of the most respected officers that we have here, Sergeant Thomas Aloo. Uh today, we're going to do something a little different. Today, not only are we having an officer uh lead us in the pledge, but also a veteran of this community. And I'd like for him after the pledge just to say a few words about his service, if you'd be so kind. Thank you. Please rise.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Sergeant, please join us. Morning everyone. Good morning.

Uh thank you for having me here today. Um didn't know I was going to come up here, but I appreciate it. Um I uh want to thank I was thinking about this and I appreciate um the commission and the city honoring veterans. Um I know it's going to be a new program trying to do this every month, but um I've been in the city actually believe next week it's going to be 23 years. Um total it's going to be 26 in law enforcement. Um and it's been a great experience. I've um pretty much been in almost every unit in this department and um I enjoy the city and I love working here. But thank you all for having me here today. Sergeant, outside of your your time here in the city in regards to law enforcement, can you talk a little bit about your military background?

Um, joined the Marines actually at the age of 25. A lot of people there um are actually 17, 18 years old. I was one of the oldest one in my platoon. It's something I was want to do. I was raised by my uncle and I'm from Colombia. I was raised by my uncle in Colombia. He was in the army over there. So, he was a paranoid in the army. So, I pretty much grew up around tanks and military people um when I was a kid. So, it's something I always wanted to do. And then I'm glad I did it. It's it's a great honor. And then um it's it's a great experience. And then from there, after I um actually let me go back a little bit in the military, I was an amphibious crew amphibious assault crewman which used the Amtraks. They're an Amtrak is an infamous vehicle that goes out the back of the ships. It's uh they're over 26,000 tons which and it's a troop carrier. They go underwater and then pop back up and then carries troops. Then I became uh a scout for a anti-tank platoon which is like a forward team that goes out and observes looks for enemy and all you know um but back to law enforcement I got here at I believe I joined the age of 29 in Pinerest and then I came over here to the city which um and everyone always asked me why why I want to come uh Corables. Corable was ever since I remember was one of the most highly respected police departments around and I believe you still. So I you know to me that's an honor. So thank you guys again.

So before we conclude and we move on to the rest of the agenda, I want to thank you for being here. But I also want to thank Martha Panting uh for working with my office to put this new program together. Uh, we had a very nice write up, but I kind of pivoted and you did an amazing job without knowing that I was going to pivot uh to allowing you to tell your own story. I think that when a person tells their own story, uh, they add certain details that again we may forget or not be as important, but at the end of the day, they're they're important. I mean, and it was very well covered. So, I think it was a great way to start this new opportunity here to allow veterans in our community uh, to lead with the pledge. I think it's a beautiful opportunity to pay the ultimate respect to individuals like yourself uh who gave so much for this country and at the end of the day the ones that allow us to have the freedoms that we have every single day. So I want to thank you so much uh wish you the very best and thank you for your service not only with the with the Marines but also uh with the city beautiful police department.

No, thank you all. and I've engaged with you a litany of times out on the street uh when you're dealing with residents, you're dealing with chaotic issues and you're a breath of fresh air and a constant professional. So, thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Martha, for everything. Have a wonderful day. Thank you, officer.

Moving on, one of my favorite moments of the day, the Merrick moment. Thank you for being here. Well, I'm here uh representing two organizations today. One, of course, the Merrick House, but also proud member of the villagers who will be weighing in on the pro the U project at 110 Venicia Phoenicia throughout the day. The Merrick House brings you the Merrick moment. Little tidbits that add up to a remarkable story. Our centennial year will technically come to a close on April 27th, 2026. George Merrick's vision visage hangs proudly in these commission chambers, but he wasn't always venerated as he is today. In fact, he was forgotten for a time. We have historian Arvamore Parks to thank for reintroducing us to our city's founder. And here are some of her words. When I moved into a historic Coral Gables home in 1970, I never dreamed that someday I would write a biography of George Merrick. Many thought the purchase was a mistake. By this time, the city had lost much of its historic ambiance, and George Merrick was largely forgotten. The home, which I later learned was designed by Walter Darmmo, one of Coral Gable's most vaunted architects, was a bargain because it was rundown and in what was then considered a declining neighborhood. The move opened my eyes to what was around me and marked the beginning of my study of and love for Coral Gables. In 1974, I was recruited to lead the new City of Coral Gables preservation board. With no model to guide us, we forged ahead. Fortunately, the board included many who had known George and others who had grown up in Coral Gables. We learned

fast and soon focused on the Meric House, which was in serious disrepair. Our crusade to convince the city to buy it from the Merrick Manor Foundation, put me back in touch with Ununice Merik. She introduced me to George's brother, Richard, who became our most valuable resource as we struggled to restore his boyhood home and open it to the public. Although considerably younger than George, they were very close. Through his eyes, we were almost able to re-enter the past and to get to know his remarkable family. So, there'll be more from Arva in future Merrick moments. And of course, for more of the story, please come to the Merrick House. We have tours on the weekends at 1, two, and three o'clock. And as always, tours are free for city employees.

Thank you very much, as always. Uh, Mr. Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to let the commission know that Commissioner Fernandez is not here uh this morning. He did send me a text message early this morning. Uh, and he wanted me to tell the commission that he has been dealing with acute bronchitis over a week and it has gotten worse the last 24 hours. He was on his way to urgent care, but he still intends to be here later today. Okay. Just want to let the commission know. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much. And as you can see, there's something a little different on on our on our commission here. I want to thank again Martha Banting, the city manager as we move forward with America 250. I think it's a beautiful act of patriotism and to really showcase uh the city, not the city, excuse me, this great country. It's about to celebrate 250 years. So, it's a beautiful moment. I think you'll be seeing that. You're seeing it on our on our logos, our letterheads, our emails. Uh and I think that uh the commission agrees with me. I'm sure the commission agrees with me on the fact that this is a time to celebrate. 250 years is a monumental moment in our history. Um, so you'll be seeing a lot of that logo and a lot of that celebration over the next year as we lead up into July 4th. Uh, moving on to items in regards to our presentations and protocol documents. Item A1. Good morning everybody. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to read the proclamation.

Yes, sir. So whereas Snow's Jewelers has been a beloved independent familyowned business on Coral Gable's Miracle Miles since its opening doors on March 1, 1974, earning generations of loyal customers through exceptional craftsmanship, custom design, diamond engagement rings, fine watches, and expert repair. And whereas owners Eddie and Judy Snow have embodied the spirit of personal service and community stewardship, transforming their storefront at 270 Miracle Mile into a welcoming gathering place where families celebrated engagements, anniversaries, and life's most meaningful milestones. And whereas Judy Snow made history in 1978 as Florida's first female graduate gemalis gemologist inspiring women in the in the jewelry industry and exemplifying the city beautiful's tradition of leadership and innovation. And whereas Snow's Jewelers has earned distinguished honors including the Albert H. Freedman Miracle Mile Merchant Award twice and recognition as best jeweler in South Florida by both the Daily Business Review and Coral Gables magazine. And whereas after more than five decades of distinguished service, Eddie and Judy Snow announced that the Coral Gable storefront will close in April 2026 while they transition to personalized concierge jewelry services, continuing to serve clients with the same trusted expertise outside of the traditional retail setting. And whereas the city of Coral Gables wishes to honor Snow's jewelers for its contributions to the vitality of Miracle Mile, its exemplary customer service and its positive impact on the econ economic life of our community. Now therefore, I Vince Lago as mayor of the city of Coral Gables and on behalf of the city commission do hereby proclaim February 10, 2026 as Snow's Jeweler's Day in Coral Gables. In observance thereof, I hereby encourage all residents and visitors alike to recognize the

extraordinary legacy and personal service that define Snow's jewelers over five decades in the city. Beautiful. Please join us, please. Sir, good morning. Good to see you again. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. Just the way I wrote it. Just the way we practice it, sir. Good. If you're happy, we're happy. That's all that matters.

Exactly. Perfect. Really. Anyway, Mayor Lago commissioners, thank you very much for designating today a snowstor day. It was really quite an honor. You know, Judy and I have been residents here in Carl Gables for over 50 years. Our children live here. Um, I'm lucky to have my oldest daughter JJ and her husband Christopher, my youngest daughter Mary, and my grandson Teddy here today. Judy and I were very proud and we have a couple other granddaughters and Lucy and Charlotte couldn't make it today. They're in school actually, right? Yeah. But anyway, we are our our family. We're part of Carl Gables. I mean, this is important to us. Uh and interesting over the 50 years we've seen a lot of changes on Miracle Mile right Peter with the uh re reinventing miracle mile the exciting times in the 70s and 80s. We survived some some um recessions. We survived CO. We survived an armed robbery that I was lucky enough to beat the crap out of this guy. We've had some really great highs and lows and we're still here. And then like anything, it's not about any one person. It has to do with the team. And not unlike sports teams, everybody contributes. And this morning, one of our longtime employees, Vicky Pasarelli, she's been with us for on and off for over 40 years. she was here and a couple of the other girls couldn't make it today but very played a very a very important uh role with us. Um the other thing is we couldn't have done this without the so many friends and loyal customers that have supported us over the 50 years. It was really incredible um just great. So, as we come

and kind of draw to an end here, uh, our lease runs out April 1st. I turn 82, the lease runs out April 15th. I turn 82 April 1st. So, we figured it was time to drop back and punt a little bit. So, we're going to open a conc building Publix and um, you know, that's going to be a new challenge, a new adventure for us. But here's the good news for everybody in the room. Valentine's is Saturday. You still have a chance to come and take advantage of our retirement sale. Anyway, thank you very much. We are our whole family very honored. Thank you very much.

Oh, thank you very much. Mr. Manager, will you do me a favor? Will you do the city a favor, please? through through Martha Panting. Will you uh provide this video for our news our next newsletter

and also with a little bit of an explanation of that the Snow family is not leaving us. They're just transitioning to a new location. I want to make sure that we offer them the best runway to be as successful as possible. Their partnership to the city. Again, I'll just a quick anecdote. Um my grandmother who passed away um about 10 years ago who lived on Minorca shopped at Snow's Jewelers. Um, you know, my grandmother lived in the city for long time. It was basically the first home. It was it was the first home that we bought in the city of Coros. Uh, and my father gave it to my grandp gave it to my grandparents, his parents. Uh, very small home basically about two blocks away from here. And it was where I grew up. And I remember going with her and walking Miracle Ma, one of the places that would walk with Snow Shooters. And then I had the privilege and honor of not only meeting this family and everything that they do, but also spending a lot of time with Mary. Um uh Mary was a catalyst uh to getting the mayor's gala started uh and making sure that money went to the foundation before she moved on and also she brought me in uh to chair the wine auction which is we just celebrated a fourth year u under new leadership after Mary stepped down and moved on to bigger and I don't want to say brighter but just bigger responsibilities maybe brighter um but at the end of the day uh this family has a long-standing legacy and it's it's incumbent on us to do everything we can to make sure that we provide any way that you know any opportunity that we have to make sure their business continues to thrive and whatever we can do and it's no skin off our back to just promote them promote them and make sure we do that.

Mayor, may I have a moment for a point of personal privilege? So, I just want to re-echo or echo I suppose what I just had read. Um the Snow family is incredible each and every one of you. But I really really want to focus on Judy Snow for just one minute because I learn something new every day. and uh the first female gemologist in the entire state of Florida. I mean, that is an amazing um achievement.

Uh but it's just such um I'm a father of three daughters, right? And so the first female anything, right? I'm working to eradicate such a term because we're done with the first of female because everyone should be everything they can be. And the last quick personal point of privilege, I want to um just note that in the audience today, we have a near and dear friend of mine and of the snows, retired detective, homicide detective John Butchko. John Butchko, you are a hero. Thanks for being with us today, looking as handsome as ever. I want whatever you're drinking. I'll have a have a double. Thanks,

Madam Vice Mayor. Uh, and one more point of personal privilege. While while uh the face of Miracle Mile won't have Snow Jew Jewelers, I am very excited that you're going to be on the same floor in the same office building. It's very convenient, folks. It's on Lun and Valencia, fifth floor. And there's a great set of receptionists out there that will tell you and reach out to to contact whoever has an office on that floor. It's within walking distance of City Hall. So, I'm very excited that you're going to be in the building as well. I already have Mary Snow in the building. It's it's one happy family there. So, very excited for the next chapter.

So, Mr. Mayor, before we take a picture, be so kind. Just hopefully we can we can do everything we can in the next newsletter to to explain to the residents and to the business community that they're not leaving the city. They're just moving a few doors down. Yes, ma. All right, let's take a photo. You have a mom like this. You have a mom like this. I've seen you all with her.

Daddy, what's up? right there. survived that renovation. I survived.

Okay. Mr. Clerk.

Mr. Clerk. Yes, sir.

All right. We'll be moving on to item A2, a presentation or proclamation declaring February 2026. Give me one second. I want to pay the the proper respect. All right. A2, a presentation of a proclamation declaring February 2026 as Black History Month in Coral Gables. I'm going to read the proclamation into the record and I ask for our friends to please join us after. Whereas from its earliest days, the city of Coral Gables was shaped by the labor, skill, and perseverance of black settlers, including Bohemian workers and families from the southern United States, whose contributions were essential to building much of the city beautiful. And whereas two historic neighborhoods, McFarland and Golden Gate, were originally established by those early sellers and have remained vital parts of the Coral Gables community for more than a century. And whereas the McFarland neighborhood is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in recognition of its historic significance and its preservation of much of its original architectural and community character with descendants of many of its earliest settlers continuing to call the neighborhood home today. And whereas the McFarland and Golden Gate neighborhoods stand as enduring reminders of the cultural heritage, resilience, and lasting legacy of Coral Gable's black residents whose history and contributions are inseparable from the

city's identity and development. And whereas Black History Month provides an opportunity to honor and celebrate the achievements, contributions, and influence of black Americans both nationally and within the city of Coral Gables. Now therefore, I Vince Lago as mayor of the city of Coral Gables along with the members of the city commission do hereby proclaim February 2026 as Black History Month in Coral Gables.

Good morning. Don't be shy. If anybody wants to join us, we're more than welcome. Everybody can come up. Come up. Come up. Don't be shy. How are you doing today? Fine.

You're doing well. Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Madame Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Mr. City Manager, Madame City Attorney, Mr. City Clerk, and all those present in the chamber. Thank you for the city of Coral Gables's recognition of Black History Month. The national theme for this year's celebration is a century of Black History commemorations. Allow me to reference certain significant events that occurred in the city of Coral Gables in the last h 100red years as they relate to black history. The founder of this beautiful city, Mr. George Merrick, purchased about 20 acres of land from school teacher Flora McFarland around 1925 and that area was home to black families who migrated from the Bahamas and the American South. That area became known as McFarland Homestead Divi division as after it was in next to the city of Coral Gables. The area also provided Mr. Merrick with the workforce necessary to build, develop, and beautify this city. Additionally, in the 1920s, blacks lived among the Pontelion Boulevard corridor west of Lune Road, but were resettled into what is now Golden Gate subdivision because the land on which they occupied was needed for the expansion of the University of Miami. Some of those residents were also among Mr. Merik's workforce. It has been reported that the earliest structures of St. Mary's first missionary Baptist Church, which served as the spiritual beacon to many black Coral Gables and adjacent Coconut Grove residents and was established in 1924, were built by the hands of its male members on evenings and weekends after completing their duties at the homes and

grounds of their white employers. The Coral Gables Improvement Association was formed in the late 1940s by several residents of the McFarland Homestead subdivision and that group appealed to officials for services at the same levels of the Coral Gables as white residents. That organization was reformed in the late 1980s as the Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association of Coral Gables by Mr. William A. Cooper and Mr. called Prime and was incorporated under the the laws of the state of Florida. Mr. Cooper served as its president until his death in 2008 and was followed by Mr. Prime's widow, Edwina Prime, who served as president until her death in 2021. The Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association is now headed by Mr. Carl Leon Prime, who's present today. And that organization was responsible for McFarland Homestead receiving its historic designation in 1994 and being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Lola Walker Homeowners Association also established a Donald R. Hopkins and William A. Koopa Scholarship Fund in collaboration with the the city of Coral Gables for graduating high school seniors. We are proud to acknowledge that this scholarship opportunity has resulted in careers now being enjoyed by a school principal, an accountant, an attorney who recently became an Episcopal priest, and several educators. The city of Coral Gables renamed Industrial Avenue as George Allen Avenue in 1994 in honor of Bahamian native George Allen who had worked for George Merrick and became a successful businessman and real

estate investor. Several city of Coral Gables parks bears the names of its black residents who work tirelessly to improve the quality of life in their communities, namely Nelly B. Moore, Lola B. Walker, and William and Leona Cooper. Last year, a historic marker was placed on the site where Grand Avenue and US1 converge that commemorates the two historically black subdivisions in Coral Gables being the McFarland Homestead Historic District and Golden Gate. What is remarkable about the two subdivisions in their current and everchanging landscape is that some of its descendants of the earlier families still reside within those boundaries, namely the Scarboro, the Andrews, Payne, Rayfoot, Wild Goose, Major Prime, and Cooper families. We remain committed to upholding the hard work and dedication demonstrated by our ancestors in preserving their legacy. And I thank you.

No, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Prime. Good morning.

Good morning. All members of the uh DAS there. It would take forever to acknowledge everyone. So, do it all at once. just like to say that the city I appreciate all of its efforts in maintaining and preserv preserving the heritage that we've have worked for and in helping us to keep it. If we forget our history, we have no idea where we're headed for the future. And I must say that the city of Coral Gables has definitely demonstrated that it wants to preserve its history and not only just for Black History Month, but throughout the year. We appreciate that from the centennial and to now. Thank you.

Thank you, Carl. Thank you, Mr. Prime. Um, if I may, I also wanted to have other residents who are here. We're very proud. We are very proud to have you here. If you'd like to say a few words. I see my friend in the back over there. She's hiding. Don't be so shy. Come over here. Come over here. And I see another friend over there in the back that she doesn't want to get up here, but I get it. I understand. Can we have some words? Uh, can you tell a little Can you tell people number one who you are, who you are, and who you're the who who you are the granddaughter of? I think people need to be not reminded, but I think it's important that we continue to remind to remember the people about the legacy that your family has played in this community.

Sure. Sure. Good morning everyone. Um I'm Lee Cooper Willis. I am the granddaughter of William and Leona Cooper. Um I currently live in the Golden Gate subdivision with my husband Alfonso Willis and who's here today and our son Logan Willis. He's a student also in Coral Gables at um George Washington Carver Elementary. He's just in kindergarten and we are so excited for him to grow up as the fourth generation maybe maybe fifth. I have to get it right. Um in Coral Gables and it's just a beautiful thing for him. It's a legacy and we're proud to take him around to show him everything all the streets and we're excited about the park that is named for my grandparents. When he goes by he's like oh that's Mal and Dei's park is what he always says. And so, um, we are honored to preserve the legacy of our community in the Golden Gates and McFarland districts. And I'm not as involved as I should be, but I will be more involved just so that we can um continue the legacy.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here so much. Thank you. Good morning, young lady. How are you, good to see you,

mayor? Good to see you, too. Thank you for recognizing our community and Black History Month. I call myself Black History because I'm a part of Carg since I was 12 years old. So, I've been in Car Gables for 61 years. I've seen it grow and it I'm very proud to be a resident of Car Gables. So, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the my kids who've been to the schools we were raised in and I've seen it grow from when at Miracle Mile had woolworth there and the single sewing machine and Carol's jeweler. So I know every crack and corner and with the Builtmore Hotel I've seen it when it was a hospital. So you know I've seen all of Carvers and everywhere and every school and I've been a part of it and I'm still proud to be a resident of the city of Cargos. I think it's now 61 or 62 years that I've been here and I thank you for all the time you all in being inclusive in whatever's going on and I thank you for what you come and listen to what we have to say and that's very important that you hear what we have to say and you listen to us and you respond to what we have to do sometime negatively most of the time positively but that's Good. That's what you're supposed to do. You have to agree or not agree. And I've been very happy to be a part of city. Thank you very much for this morning. And I thank you again for what all you do for our community.

Thank you. Um just want to touch on a few points that I think are important and we're going to highlight more this year in 2026. uh because there's going to be a very proud moment for the city of Coral Gables coming up in 2026 in September. Um through the leadership of of I think this started about three years ago, three or four years ago, we started the prior commission. Uh we started having conversations about truly honoring the legacy of the individuals who played the biggest role, the most important role in ensuring that George Merrick's vision became truly a reality. And those are the members that live in McFarland and Golden Gate. Uh so in in 2026 and September through the leadership of the individuals that you've just heard from and many others in that in those neighborhoods we will be putting up a beautiful sculpture and the conversation was had whether that sculpture should be in McFarland in Golden Gate. And one of the comments that I made I said under no circumstances will that sculpture be in McFarland and Golden Gate. And I remember having this conversation with Carl and uh we came to the consensus that that that that sculpture should be front and center in front of city hall across the street in where America is. Uh to me that is incredibly important. So when for example when people come to the city and they see a beautiful sculpture if you haven't seen it uh Martha Batine has and and the manager have really exhibited it when this when when it was chosen it was selected through many artists that that contributed uh through the thoughtful contributions and and ideas of the members of our community in McFarland and Golden Gate. We are going to put something up that's going to be beautiful and make everyone very very proud. But the intent of it is to really showcase and highlight the families the families that are the reason why Coral Gables is here today because George Merrick had a vision but he wasn't sure exactly how to implement that vision and that and that implementation came

through the leadership of members in that community. So that will be here in the city. It's in a beautiful sculpture. I also uh would be remiss if I didn't mention a lot of the things that happened here over a few years ago which played a big role in unifying our community. I think there was a very unifying front. One of those, for example, was our trolleys used to never go across US1. And I remember sitting down with Leona, um, Edwina, all the members of the community and talking about we want to see the trolleys connect on the other side so the young kids can ride the trolleys into Coral Gables. And what's that's one of the things that we worked on with the city of Miami and then uh, Commissioner uh, Suarez and we were able to connect the trolleys and we were have more not only more connectivity but also making sure that our communities were connected which to me I think is incredibly important and that came through the leadership of the residents in that neighborhood. So um we've done many great things with St. Mary's Baptist Church. We've done things with the parks uh a lot of things in celebration of of of of the history of that community of our community uh more importantly. So, I'm excited every time we get to really honor Black History Month because at the end of the day, our community has a lot to celebrate, has a lot to be proud of. And like I saw you this past week, you know, it's interesting when you're walking into the manager's office on a Thursday or Friday morning and you see members of Golden Gate and McFarland walking out having a meeting with the manager, uh, talking about their concerns. You're active, you're vocal, and at the end of the day, that's why it works, right? That's why it works. Like you said, listening and doing the best that we can to deliver on your vision and what you see is in the best interest of the community as a whole. So, I commend you for staying active, for engaging, and for leading the way in making sure that we're one community. We're not two communities. We're one community. Thank you very much. Can we take a quick photo or if anybody would

else would like to add a few words, please? Vice Mayor, I just I like the way um and I especially appreciate the way you participate in the community. Don't stop. Just keep keep doing it.

It's true. Thank you. Hallelujah. How are Thank you.

All right, we're moving on to item A3, keep America beautiful declaration of action for greatest American cleanup in honor of America's 250th anniversary.

Good morning, mayor, commissioners. Uh we're here today to um basically do a declaration of action for the greatest American cleanup through keep gave us beautiful. We participate in the greatest American cleanup every year, but this year will be extra special uh in celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Um and as such, we are going to commit to doing at least three cleanups, uh two recycling or beautifification events, and one celebration event in honor of America's 250th anniversary. And just to let you guys know, Greatest American Cleanup is from March 20th through July 1st. And we are already planning or have planned 12 events uh including uh we're going to be hosting a sustainability village at the last farmers market. So we're inviting uh environmental vendors uh from around the the county to come and be a part of the last um farmers market of the year. We're also going to be hopefully planning with parks a bring your dog to the new bark park uh and do a cleanup um event as well. We'll be partnering with Historic on doing a Pinewood Cemetery invasive species removal and we have our plugging event. We have a bunch of Earth Month events including showing an environmental film at the Coral Gable Cinema as we do every year. Um so we're excited and we will it'll be a culmination of the recycling drive-through event at the end of April in honor of Earth Month uh on April 25th in the city hall parking lot. So we have a lot planned. our team here with me will be busy. Um but we will we're excited and um and be able to do this for for our community.

Madam Vice Mayor, so before I read the declaration, I'm just going to highlight a couple other things because you know you and I are going to do a duo on the farmers market. What when is the last date uh that we're going to 20? I think it's the like in the 20 28th I think. 20th. Yes, I believe so. It's a Saturday. Yeah. And the last Saturday March. We're going to do it at what? 10 o'clock. Yes. Okay. And then because I've received a lot of questions from residents, why don't we teach more about recycling, but there's a lot more that we can teach about as well. Um, we're also going to be bringing a compost bin over at the library. Uh, staff has been working on this for months. So, uh, we'll have our ribbon cutting sometime date to be determined

sometime in April for Earth month. Well, for Earth Month. So, but you can come learn more about it.

Yes. at the March 20th um farmers market at 10:00 a.m. and we'll have additional information for you there as to what you can bring to compost at the library and the method to do it. And it'll give us a great opportunity to reduce uh those methane gases and so forth that come out of the landfills and and make it into productive soil. So, um all excited about that. It's been in the works for at least six months. Um so we'll be able to launch it this year. So the declaration of action for the greatest American cleanup uh declaration is whereas the people of the city of Coral Gables are dedicated to enhancing the beauty and cleanliness of our community. And whereas we recognize the importance of preserving our environment and fostering civic pride among our citizens. And whereas we acknowledge transformative power of clean and green spaces to support promote and promote the well-being of all people. And whereas America's 250th anniversary on July 4th presents a historic opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to sustainability and community beautifification. We, the city of Coral Gables, do hereby proclaim our support and for participation in the declaration of action for the greatest American cleanup. As such, we commit to do the following on an annual basis. One, organize three new community cleanups to inspire our citizens of all ages to work together to remove litter from our streets, parks, waterways, and public spaces. to hold two reduce, reuse, recycle, or beautifification events each year, enhancing our community's appeal through reduced waste, public art, planting trees, flowers, and creating, improving or maintaining our green

spaces. hold one event to celebrate our progress and achievements to help America look her best for the 250th anniversary celebration by declaring our support for the greatest American cleanup with keep America beautiful. We intend to make the city of Coral Gables a shining example of environmental stewardship in community engagement as we work together in our community uh to make our community greener, cleaner, and more beautiful for generations to come. So, I'm going to add a couple more things to this as to what we have been doing to improve our environment. We've reduced the permitting fees for u the living seaw walls which clean the water in the waterway and provide food for the manatees because you have the good stuff growing on on the seaw walls and it's made out of a cement that doesn't damage the water. It's more compatible with the water and that's why it's it's being promoted. Um, we also have a micro forest in the works and I think by next commission meeting, uh, Dino will be ready to present the final drawings, uh, to the commission. Uh, there is a fundraising effort by the Coal Gable's Garden Club to help support the planting of the trees that are going to be coming in there. A micro forest is an amazing uh feature that cleans the air, supports wildlife, and reduces noise and pollutants along heavily traveled um highways, which is why you see the dense plantings that you do along um the underlying. So, this is very exciting and I hope everybody comes out and participates.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um I haven't done this in a while. I can't remember the last time I did. I think it was probably about a year ago. You mentioned three cleanups, right? Yes. At least three. So, I would like to personally again uh provide a cash check as we've given in the past um award or prize, whatever you'd like to put for the person that collects the most garbage. Okay. Can you talk a little bit about what we've done in the past and how how that's worked out?

Yeah. So, mayor, through your your donations, we've been able to at the uh downtown cleanups that we do with the Coral Gables Chamber in partnership with the chamber, we've been able to award prizes uh to those folks, whether it's an individual or a group that collects the most amount of litter during that event. And it gets very competitive out there, as you all have been out there and seen. Um uh it does get very competitive and folks are able be able to go out there and have a huge impact in a very short period of time. I don't think I've done it in about a year. What what what's the most we've been able to give to to to an individual? I think you've been making a $500 donation, I want to say. Yeah. All right. So, I want to give the $500 donation again. What should we split it up to like 300 and 200 for the second or something? However you would like to do it or maybe 250 and 200 and the third place gets the remaining balance.

Okay. That way everybody gets something. We get as many people out there. And you're going to do three of them, right? We're going to do three this year. Yeah. So, we the next one will be on we're between April 6th and April 20th. We're finalizing that date now with the chamber. All right. So, I'm committed to that day and I and I'll be out there. Perfect. Thank you, mayor. We appreciate your support at all. Looking forward to trying to get as many people out there. Thank you very much. Thank you. Take a photo.

A photo. Take a photo. Let's do it. Moving on to item A4. Congratulations to the Plaza Coral Gables on receiving the 2025 commercial beautifification award.

Good morning Perez with the economic development department. So we're closing the 2025 commercial beautifification awards in a big way. The Plaza Coral Gables has um received is receiving this award. The commercial beautifification awards is a um it recognizes businesses that have gone above and beyond the beautifification and maintenance of the storefronts and surrounding areas. And so we have a PowerPoint here. And by the way, we have Matt Anderson, assistant director of mobility and sustainability. And we also have the Chamber of Commerce, Jorge Aisu Pieta, um here with us as well. But as you can tell, I'm the plaza has done an amazing job of keeping the area maintained well. The landscaping is impeccable and um there's always someone cleaning the area and so this is something that they are they're great stakeholders, great partners and we can learn a lot from um their best practices and and and you know it's just enhancing the surrounding areas as well. So I also want to thank the sustainability advisory board who votes on these every year and also the departments that partner with us on recognizing the businesses uh code enforcement obviously the chamber our residents that submit applications block byb block that is out cleaning Geralda and Miracle Mile and also I want to recognize the plaza because they actually achieved lead certification on all nine of their projects within that that footprint. So, um, not only have they been a leader in beautifying, but they've also been a leader leader in building environmentally friendly, uh, facilities there on on there. So, congratulations on that achievement for them as well.

And we have, uh, Jose Antonio Perez who has come to receive his wonderful award plaque. Good morning, sir. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you.

Just want to thank thank you all, Mr. mayor, vice mayor, all of you, many commissioners leader, most of you, almost all all of this in this room were part of this big endeavor, including your mom back then 12 years ago when we started this. And we just very proud of what we did, the legacy that we done for for the city, of course, for for my principles, the owners in Mexico, the Begman family, but um for all the communities. I just saw Chie outside and I told him that I miss him already, you know, for like four years. It was every day with all his beautiful stuff. now as you know we have the the chie police facilities there. So just to reaffirm that that project is for us is a legacy for the city for anything the city wants to use for events special things now with the park close close by to come just to reaffirm that it's it's a pray for the city and we are very happy and thankful for all these years that the city supports. Thank you.

Here's your flag.

Thank you. Well, I just very quickly, Jose Antonio, thank you for your team. Every day when you drive by uh your property, there's somebody cleaning the exterior uh not only by hand, but also with machines. I mean, your sidewalks look impeccable. Everything is clean. The landscaping is beautiful. Uh the artwork looks first class. There's always somebody working on it, making sure it's very presentable. And that's why again you're hitting record numbers not only on the commercial on the residential but also on the restaurants that are opening up there. And I think that the investment that you've made along with all the incredible work in regards to the upkeep and the maintenance as Beli says is paying off. Uh thank you for you know putting your best foot forward because it really helps the city a lot. you set the example for everyone else and I continuously use it here as an example for you know what other other um entities should be doing the city should be doing should be following your footsteps in regards to maintenance and quality control and you're doing an amazing job and it's obviously paying dividends for you so thank you very much for making that investment in the city

thank you Mr. President

thank you Mr. Mayor, just use the opportunity to on behalf of the Corable Chamber of Commerce commend Jose Antonio and his entire team for as you said, Mayor leading by example. Uh not only is the entire facility impeccable uh day and night, u it just uh a phenomenal u uh you know, location that has actually reinforced the reality of our downtown. um expanded our downtown a little farther south than perhaps it was at one point and it's just really been been an incredible addition uh to to that area and with what's planned for the uh the future of Pon Park. It's just exciting to see what's ahead for that area, not to mention some of the other developments that are coming out of the ground as well as those that are already out of the ground, including Mr. Codina and the Mercedes-Benz. That whole area is just really exciting to to see at any time of day, but especially at night when you light it up as beautifully as you've done. But again, congratulations on once again leading by example and putting uh uh your money where your mouth is, right? Uh you know, again, leading uh and and you know, lead leading uh this community with uh everything you do. Thank you.

Yeah. One of the things I forgot to mention, we we every time that we call upon you for one reason or another, we're you know, for philanthropy, uh for whatever that may be, uh you never say no. U

I had a I had a I had a crazy idea to watch the college football championship game at the park. Um and um we talked with staff, we we reached out to you. You said, "Listen, count on us." you gave a significant donation to make sure we could have, you know, everything done to a certain standard. And guess what happened when you look at the pictures? Look how many people showed up. Those people then when the game was done, they went to have dinner. They went to have a drink. They went to enjoy the amenities in your facility. So again, uh you never say no. We're very grateful. Very, very grateful uh for that. And the college football championship game was just a testament to that. that uh again you're a critical integral part of our downtown and you're always leading by example and we always thank you for that. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you all and we'll always be there whatever the city needs. God bless. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's take a photo. Moving on to item A5. Congratulations to the vision chief Louie Fardo, recipient of the city of Coral Gables firefighter of the month award for the month of February 2025. Chief, good morning. Thank you for being here.

Good morning, mayor. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the commission. Uh it's my pleasure to introduce our firefighter of the month and to tell his story and why he was nominated. I call on Assistant Chief Jones who nominated him.

Good morning everybody. It's always a good item to be able to highlight the great work that our firefighters do. this particular case, uh, division chief Louie Farardo is being nominated as firefighter of the month because about a year ago, he was, uh, in communications with one of his family friends in Abico, Bahamas, and found out about a call where a female and her daughter was involved in a car accident and trapped and was unable to be uh, extricated from the vehicle because the first responders did not have proper equipment. He has taken it he took it upon himself uh to locate vendors locally here in South Florida. Coordinated them donating uh tools that is similar to the jaws of life that is used to help people out of vehicle accidents. Coordinated the delivery of that equipment to the Bahamas and uh making sure that those firefighters there or first responders there has what it needs or what they need to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I think this demonstrates and continues to demonstrate the that the work of the firefighters of Coral Gables continue to go uh beyond the borders and not just being committed to our local community but being uh committed to the global community. So congratulations to firefighter of the month division chief Louis Farardo. Good morning mayor. Good morning commission. Um thank you. I'm honored to receive this award. I want to make it known it it was not an individual um accomplishment but a collective accomplishment with the individuals behind me and the rest of the members uh as along with the the vendors that that's supplied the the equipment. Um, ultimately my goal, my vision is to have our members um, extend this training to the our neighboring cities because I'm a

big believer that once you can teach a trait or a subject, you've mastered it and nothing more to protect our citizens and the residents of Corable. Thank you again. Thank you very much. Um, congratulations on your efforts. Welld deserved. The recognition, uh, again, that's what sets the city apart. Even though it's not in our backyard, we're still looking out for our neighbors. If our neighbors are safe, we're safe. Absolutely. So, I congratulate you on your efforts and leading by example. Uh, and I think that's a very selfless uh trait and obviously a very selfless act that you did. And any way that we can help you from the commission, from the city, we're here to we're here to assist you in that type of uh action. So, thank you very much for that.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, sir. Item 86. Six. Congratulations to emergency dispatch operator Monica Danescu, recipient of the city of Coral Gable's operator of the year for 2025. Chief, good morning.

Yes.

Good morning, Chief.

Morning, Mr. Mayor, commissioners, vice mayor. Monica, you go stand over there. There we go. Good morning. Uh on behalf of the police department, I am very proud to be here today to introduce you to our operator of the year. Monica Daescu has been with our department a few years, nine years altogether. Uh I want to take some excerpts of of what she has accomplished but also what she has done. And one of the calls we she had handled was somebody on the area of Atoria that was an emotional distress. It was an extreme mental distress crying uncontrollably about her husband and demanding to speak to the president of the United States. Uh Monica remained calm, composed throughout the call with her reassurance and active listening and was able to maintain control in the situation while showing genuine empathy. We know this because these as we know our calls are recorded and this is what it is to have a 911 center with compassionate people on that side of the on our side of the phone. uh she was able to redirect individuals and resources and help her get through that very trying time and that and that family's life. She's also been recognized by her peers throughout the year as proactively sharing information and conducting a thorough research. I can tell you from firsthand knowledge that when I've I asked for something of Monica, it comes through quickly, exactly and and extremely uh consistent fashion. According to her, according to her peers as well as her supervisor, she holds herself to the highest standard and expects the same level of excellence

from others. Monica takes takes her role seriously and continually strives for superior performance because of these attributes, because of the other calls that she handles every day and the supervisory tone of which she has continued to build our communication section into a worldclass communication section. Uh she was awarded the operator of the year for 2025. Thank you. I just want to say thank you. Good morning. Um, it's been a pleasure to work for the city for the last nine years. Uh, I want to say thank you to my supervisors, Sura and Michelle Babitz, for writing me up and, you know, always having the utmost faith in me and trusting me and, you know, to my whole team for all of the guidance and trust. I've received through all the years. So, thank you.

Congratulations. Great work.

Want to do both of you, then we'll do the pictures. Like, assistant chief. At this time, I'd have Theago Fala. Today, I'd like to introduce you to the officer of the year for 2025, officer Faka. Did I get that right? Yes, sir. Also doubles as Bad Bunny in Portuguese.

Portuguese. He sings in Portuguese. Uh some of the work that Officer Falca has done throughout this 2025 is when I mentioned this to you not too long ago, uh a hit and run at took struck down two of our Coral Gables residents and left the area. And if you remember when we talked about that, the work that Officer Fakau did at that time was between contacting the cell sites, using the ALPR's intelligence center resources throughout Dade County, was able to get warrants for the individual, talk with the family of the individual, and was able to take him into custody after using ALPR, SunPass, um, tracks, working with the Sunny Isles Police Department, and found the individual and was able to hold them accountable. In the synopsis of of the nomination, officer Fakao demonstrated extraordinary tenacity, dedication, and professionalism. His investigative and interrogative skills along with the collaborative work across multiple jurisdictions led to the identification, location, and arrest of a suspect involved in a serious hit-and- run crash in our city as well as recovered the vehicle and and used in the crime. And it was also at that time where individual wasn't taken into custody also was probably having some elicit drugs and things and got that off the street as well. It's because of this and what he does every day in our traffic homicide unit along with the rest of his team that he was awarded officer of the year for the 2025 Coral Gables Police Department. He wants to sing a song. That's why I use the bad money.

People normally pay me for this, so we'll save it for a later time. That would be good. Now, I just want to thank um God, my family, chief, my team, the commission, and everyone for the opportunity to be here. Um I'm very humbled. Like I said a couple months ago, um I happened to be here because I was the lead investigator on that case, but uh took a lot of hard work from the whole team and uh everyone involved to get it done. So, thank you. Officer, how many years have you been with the force? This is my fifth year. Fifth year. Yes, sir.

So, as you noticed before with with dispatcher Danesco, who was here, she was been here for nine. You've been here for five. The future's very, very bright. Uh and I want to commend you for your hard work for both of you. You are truly the front lines. You answer the call. You respond. uh you keep us safe at night. This is why people live in the city of Corables.

And I also want to commend the the command staff in the back along with the chief and the city manager. Thank you for preparing these young men and women to truly make this the premier city in Miami County in the state and in the country to live in. I have a deep respect along with the commission for officers and for the entire team around the officers. Thank you for your hard work. Don't ever, and I say this all the time when we have when we have u, you know, ceremonies to bring in our new officers. Don't ever, no matter how hard this job gets, think that this commission and the city does not have your back. Whatever you hear on the street, whatever is being negotiated in the back of a room in regards to a union contract, we adore, appreciate, respect the hard work that you're doing and we understand how difficult it is and what it takes out not only on yourself, but more importantly, your family. We're here to support you 110%. We back the blue unequivocally. And I want to congratulate both of you because to be recognized in your profession as the individual of the year means and it speaks volumes of your character speaks volumes of what you do, how serious you take this job. How you turn over every stone. Your shift ends. Let me just stay another five more minutes. Let me let me look behind that garbage can. Let me ask this question. I see a suspicious person. I see a person that doesn't maybe look right. Hey, I got to get home. I got a party to get to. I got a birthday. I got I haven't seen my daughters, my kids, whatever that may be. What do you do? You go and you speak to that person on the phone for maybe an extra two or three minutes. You stop that person. You say, "Hey, how can I help you? I've seen you do it on the street. I've seen a lot of you do it. And you're the officer of the year. You're the dispatcher of the year. But you can't do this without this incredible team that's here. These incredible ladies in the back right there. These officers in the back. the rest of the team. All of you are part of a team that makes the city look the best it can. So, I want to thank you for your hard work. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, if Monica wants to come up and then her mom, all right, let's take a photo. Mom want to get a picture too. We'll take them and then we'll get the rest of her team up. If they ladies, you want to come up and gent from communications. This is like

Yes. Wait. Oh yeah. All right. Moving on to approval of minutes B1. Mr. Clerk,

uh, may I have a motion? Move it. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Moving on to public comment. Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor. We have several speakers this morning. Okay.

First speaker, Maria Cruz. This is Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road, 305 323 2154. After the last committee commission meeting, a lot of people contacted me asking why I was attacked so many times. I explained what I thought was the answer at that point that since uh Commissioner Casher was not here because she was in Tallahassee, I was the target. And then I remember something that my Auela used to say. I'm going to say it in Spanish and then I'm going to translate it which means idleness does not bring good things. So later on I decided to go to my favorite book, the Bible, and I found under Proverbs 16:27 something that really fit very well. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. Idol lips are his mouthpiece. And then an explanation that says, "A worthless man devises mischief and in his sleeps there's a scorching fire." So after I read that, I felt much better because it really confirmed what I thought was the reason. So, all I have to say is it's time that the mayor finds something worthwhile to do and stop

attacking anybody who doesn't agree with him, especially me. Enough is enough. I thank him because according to my friends, I will never need a PR person when I decide to run for office because everybody knows me already thanks to my what did he call me that day? My dear friend. So enough is enough. Let's do business and stop attacking people, especially women. Gina Guilford.

Mr. Clerk, one second, please. As a reminder, I'd hope that we would have to do this, but at the end of the day, we have no other reasons and we continue to do it. Welcome. I was hoping that we had a little bit more respect in the commission and we're incapable of having respect. So, I have to read this every single time. I had gone days without reading this commission me commission. Just like her, I receive dozens of phone calls, dozens of phone calls as a result of this inappropriate behavior. The t-shirts, the content attacks, all that kind of stuff. So, I'll read it into the record again. I was hoping not to. Welcome. I'm going to ask everyone who comes up to state their name and address for the record. You will have three minutes to share your thoughts with the commission. As a reminder, these comments are limited to those items on the agenda. Let me let me remind you, as a reminder, those these comments are limited to those items on the agenda or within the scope of the city commission's jurisdiction. If you wish to speak on an item that is on the agenda right now, please remember that you will not be given an additional opportunity to speak again once the item is called. All comments should be directed to the commission as a whole. When the 3 minutes is up, the timer will beep. I ask you to please wrap up your sentence and leave the podium when you're done speaking. Most cities give two minutes. We give three minutes. None of those comments were on today's agenda and they were directed at me, not at the commission as a whole. Thank you and have a nice day. Ma'am, I apologize for taking up your time.

Good morning, Mayor Lago and commissioners. My name is Gina Guilford and I am president of the Villagers. The Villagers is the oldest historic preservation group in Miami and we are entirely run by volunteers. I am speaking today regarding 110 Phoenicia Avenue, agenda item E1. This 1 and a half acre property is a historic charming green space that has been part of the surrounding residential community for 74 years. 110 Phoenicia built as St. James Lutheran Church in 1951 was designed by noted architect Robert Fitch Smith. The former church is located across the street from the historically designated Coral Gables Women's Club and it tells a story of a peaceful mid-century life in the city of Coral Gables. The North Pon neighborhood conservation district overlay includes the greenway connection between Ponto Leon Boulevard and Douglas entrance, the historic northern gateway to the city of Coral Gables. This designation was created in 2016 by the city with the enthusiastic support of the residents to find a balance between the old and the new in the North Pon neighborhood. The commission at the time had the foresight to create laws to protect this historic northern corner against overdevelopment. According to the city zoning code, the purpose of the North Pines neighborhood conservation district is to preserve and enhance the garden apartment character of the North Pon residential neighborhood properties. The owner of this property purchased the land with the full knowledge that it was part of the North Pon neighborhood conservation district overlay. Current zoning codes do not permit an 8story 177 unit development. As proposed, the

building would require the approval of many zoning variances such as setbacks, F height, and open space. Allowing this project to continue would be ignoring the guard rails set in place to save historic areas in Coral Gables and would forever change the integrity of a historic neighborhood. This is not just about a church or a garden or even a 100-year-old tree. Voting against this project is about preserving the soul of this neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you very much. Kelly Child, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for joining us.

Mayor, commissioners, my name is Kelly Shield and I live at 905 University Drive. I am speaking on agenda item E1 regarding 110 Phoenicia Avenue. The question today is not is this property historic. The question is, does the commission agree with the design that was approved by the board of architects in 2023? 110 Phoenicia is in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Coral Gables, North Pants. In fact, the city took action to protect this corner of Coral Gables by creating the North Pon neighborhood conservation overlay district. This district zoning requirements was written to preserve and enhance its garden apartment character. The area includes the Coral Gable's Women's Club, founded by Ununice Merrick in 1923. And just a stones throw away is the Douglas entrance, the historic grand arch into our beautiful city. It is interesting to note that in 1966, the Douglas entrance was slated to be demolished to make way for a supermarket and parking lot. However, before the owners could proceed, the proposal required approval of a zoning change by the city of Coral Gable's commission. By a narrow vote, the commission denied the demolition. And today, we are grateful that the landmark was saved. People choose to live in Coral Gables because it's a historic lush city that is familyfriendly. But there is growing frustration with traffic congestion and overdevelopment. While growth is the sign of progress, some residents feel zoning codes are meaningless and often overridden. To proceed, this project requires substantial reszoning. The height and size of the high-rise development is overwhelming with more than twice the

allowed four stories and four times the F square footage allowed. To achieve this largecale project, the plans request the use of mixed use zoning typically used downtown along major corridors and on South Dixie Highway. The encroachment of a mixeduse zoning into this area could also set a dangerous precedent for future projects. Zoning codes should not be pointless. People vote to uphold the requirements. Please vote to place and to put protect and preserve this neighborhood and to send this project back to the drawing board. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Rita Daly. Good morning.

Morning, Mr. Mayor, Madame Vice Mayor, Commission. With respect, I don't have anything prepared. I'm here to ask for your help. Um, I've lived in Coral Gables my whole life and I'm used to having raccoons. I'm used to peacock mating season. Um, I'm But now we have a problem. We have an influx of coyotes. Besides all the pictures that I have sent to you all and to the police, I was just speaking to Mary Snow and her sister's house on the Builtmore Golf Course. She has more pictures cuz I I ran into the chief earlier and he had told me that they need addresses. Mayor, I ran into you and you told me that you're working on something with a county. I mean, if and that you don't necessarily have a team. I will be happy to volunteer to like be the liaison with whoever it is from the county. You know, I'll get my my neighbors there's four cats missing in our neighborhood. My my neighbor found half a squirrel in her yard. I have to go outside to my backyard every time I take my dog who likes to run the length of my yard. He can't do it anymore because my family room is all windows so I can watch him. Now it's not enough time. If I I got a one of those air horns and I have to go outside with him every time. He doesn't like it. I don't like it. It's a problem. There's cats missing. My neighbor found half a squirrel. I don't want to find half my dog, but I'm asking for your help. I honestly, like I told the reporter who showed up at my house, and I don't speak to the media, but I I need to bring attention to this because um we don't know what to do as residents. We just don't know what to do. This isn't like I have a raccoon invasion in my attic and I can hire a a a a company and they can come up. It's

it'solated. They can do it. This is citywide problem and these guys are predators. Like they will attack, you know, animals. I think Ron McIll had said that because they see them as competition for food. But in my neighborhood, people won't even let little kids out. My housekeeper is about to quit. She's freaked out. to you thinks they look like wolves and she's afraid they're going to attack her. Help.

First and foremost, it was a pleasure to talk to you this morning on the way into city hall. As I mentioned, the city has never been equipped and we don't have uh the proper measures in place to address with obviously dogs, cats or wild animals like iguanas and pythons and issues like coyotes. That is usually referred to the county. The manager and his team are currently working with the county. We've had conversations, multiple conversations with the DCM who's here also uh in an effort to basically coordinate with the county to see what our next steps forward are. As you can tell, you have people on both sides of the aisle. People who say leave them alone and then you have people who say get rid of them immediately. I don't trust me.

I'm doing this at the risk of being called the coyote lady or the one that wants to kill wildlife.

I understand. I give you, like I said, the DCM is right there. I want you to give me your information. We're we're working already with the county in an effort to address this concern. You're not the only one. We've probably received about 10 or 15 emails over the last few days to the point that we even put out a message on social media and through our channels here in the city uh to ensure that people knew the appropriate measures to take. Here it is again. As you can see, I want to thank Martha and her team uh for putting this together. U and we're working on we're working on an action plan to address it with the county. Again, this is new territory for us. In my time here, I have not dealt with something like this. Uh but we're going to find a resolution, a way that again deals with these animals in an appropriate measure u and and finds them a new home. Uh ensuring that they're not again competing or causing any more damage here in the city. Okay.

Thank you so much. Will you will you will you have give your information to the to the deputy city manager who's right there? I certainly will. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here, Mr. Clerk. No Cleveland. Good morning, sir.

How are you, sir?

Good morning. My name is Noel Cleland. I live 5990 Southwest 50th Street and I'm a member of Coral Gable's Congregational Church and part of an interfaith group that is concerned about conflicts in the Middle East. Here to speak about Ebon. Um, it is important we recognize our community as a mult multicultural diverse city where we allowed to celebrate our faith without fear of repercussions. In many countries, that's not the case. In fact, the list of that oppress religious freedom is long. So, I appreciate the efforts to recognize oppression in the world, but I caution the commission the impact of singling out Iran. As a local government that focuses on local issues that the residents are dealing with, trying to address international issues leads us down the road of what about Ism, what about Somalia? What about Yemen? What about Lebanon? What about Syria? What about the genocide in the West Bank? Uh what about the threats to take over Greenland? What do we do about Venezuela? If you want to make a statement, I would suggest that it be more inclusive of the oppression that exists around the world and even here in our country as ICE agents disrupt the lives of our friends and neighbors in order to achieve some sort of arbitrary quota. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Jackson Holmes.

Greetings. Um, my name is Jackson Holmes. Jackson Rip Holmes. I live at 35 Sidonia Avenue in Coral Gables. Um, I own property on Miracle Mile. So, subject matter of this will be um my um unhappiness with what Puma has done in trying spending $176,000 of our tax money uh to come up with um unworkable preposterous solutions. Whereas what I've said all along is that um the city if if we remember the old business improvement district uh was provably corrupt. They they uh could be said even to have corrupted uh their reelection vote here in the city commission. They were they were taxing people without representation. It's a violation of state law. And with all of their donations to various uh commission races, uh they were able to actually get the former city attorney to say it's legal to to do uh uh to tax without representation to violate state law on special taxing districts. Um uh where am I going with this? what what when the city, including Mayor Lago and Ariel Fernandez, uh uh rode to the rescue on getting the uh the bid out, right? Um now, what what they also did, what you, Mayor Lago, did was you stepped in and said, "We'll do the Christmas lights. We'll do the Halloween on the Mile. will do. Turns out the music uh and Geralda and on the mile uh the city cannot be expected to bear

these costs uh that that needs to be paid for by the benefited property. We do need a special taxing district to uh to take over the burden of the Christmas lights and and and the other things I've mentioned. And I think that comes to like $750,000. But what we don't need is all of the rest. I I thank you very much for listening. We the the Puma I I don't know. Are they on uh drugs or something? They're not helping. For $176,000, we can solve our own problems. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk.

Eddie and Marilyn Martinez. Good morning. Nice to see you again. Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning. I'm Eddie Martinez from Bliss Imprints and Gifts. And I'm Marilyn Martinez, also from Bliss Imprints and Gifts, and I want to thank all of you, Mayor Lago, Vice Mayor Anderson, and the entire committee for supporting our vision um and possibly making city. Beautiful.

And I also wanted to um thank you all very much for supporting us in Bliss Imprints and the initiative we've did with the Mark Trobridgeidge Chamber Foundation and the chamber. Um it's pretty exciting and we're here to show you a preview copy of which I like to call myself the game master. Thank you very much. Gable Zopoly. Um, uh, Bliss and Prince, uh, is also wants to recognize Christina Miller from the Chamber Foundation for leading the board and amassing a massive list of sponsors to make the initiative an overwhelming success. We have Bliss uh incorporated landmarks, community, and city organizations to and events to tell the story of living, working, and playing in Coral Gables. About the game, we have a rubber ducky token representing Mark. And like the original, you can buy and sell properties, build homes, and resorts. Now, with all due respect to these hallowed halls, in lie of a jail, Gableopy's main penalty is to lose a turn summons to attend a commission meeting.

But you might be lucky enough. Yes. Thank you, Vanna. But if I may interject, I intentionally purchased that site. It was It worked out pretty good. It worked out pretty well. I wanted to leave it go to jail, but uh it was a good it was a good uh it was a nice joke on and uh

but that's okay because you might be able to get the ditch the meeting pass which you can charge the commission and pull out of going. We'd like to invite you all to the public launch at Gerard Live on March 6th and we will have a large-scale playable landmark version of Gableopoly where players can win prizes including Gableopoly keychains uh for those homes and resorts. We have some of those here. Gable is available now for pre-sale and we are actively looking for retailers in the area throughout the city to uh provide the products to their customers. I sincerely hope you'll agree that Gablesopoly will be a quintessential promotional product for the city and a keepsake for snapshot that snapshots the Coral Gables area as it is today for locals and visitors alike. Thank you very much and we look forward to playing with you all.

I'd also like to recognize George from the chamber. Without his visit, it wouldn't be a success that it is. Um, and we'd like to also show you what the board looks like along with some of the community So, if I may add a little bit because I had the pleasure of of seeing this firsthand yesterday. Um, I remember when you came to my office discussed this and we talked about the city of Coral Gables uh being obviously the the main sponsor of the event and I obviously I obviously sponsored um one of one of the pieces here uh personally sponsored it u I think this is an amazing opportunity um you've ordered,200

to start to start we're almost halfway there in regards to pre-sales yep if we meet the 1,200 sales the number was how much in charity charity is is raised and we raised about $150,000.

So $150,000 for charity which net net not gross net which is a key word after expenses. Uh and the important thing is that when you came to my office to discuss this issue and the the first and foremost objective was to obviously memorialize Mark Trobridge and through Mark Trobridge is raise money raise money for the Mark Trobridge Foundation which again is going to be invested in our community and possibly and hopefully, God willing, uh, in the charities that he so loved. Mark will always be a very dear friend and a person who I who I hold in high regard and just a person who changed the landscape after 18 years of service uh, to the chamber. And now we're blessed to have George here leading the chamber. But this is a this is a very fitting way uh to not only I hate to use the word sell but kind of make people and promote promote the city uh but also raise money for charity which is the beautiful thing. So I want to thank both of you because this is a labor of love for you over the last few months uh over the last year excuse me since we first talked about it. I apologize and you brought it to fruition. uh you sold out completely in regards to the uh the opportunities for sponsorships and it's so tasteful and well done uh in regards to the city that I think that we're going to easily sell out on the 1,200. It's $29. It's a great gift and if you have a business and you're trying to uh get a client uh in regards to and they have an association with the city beautiful, this is a great opportunity to give somebody a nice little gift, a nice little detail that I think they'll really really enjoy. So I want to commend both of you for your hard work along with the chamber president and always remember that this is for fun. This is for charity. This is to remember Mark.

Thank you very much. Actually, yes, it is about Mark because we we Sorry. Sorry. He he was the first person that came to visit us when we opened our store. So it was very important to us to remember him as well.

Yeah. So I wanted to thank all of you at e Maryland uh of course George as well for what a wonderful idea and uh echoing the mayor's sentiments. I can't think right now of a better way to not only promote the businesses but also take pride you know the member the residents of the city um will play this game and will be reminded as they should time and time again of all the beautiful areas of the city all the things that make it so wonderful to be a proud resident of the city beautiful uh like the mayor and like the vice mayor I'm also a proud sponsor of the board so all of you know now where I live but representing ing the north historic coral away. Um, I hope that you you land on it often and I can't wait to own in my home the use exclusive use of the rubber ducky uh token icon because that sounds like the one is the winner in honor of Mark.

And if I add something I didn't ask you and I want to memorialize this. I didn't ask you but it was great that you put the the nice clock on it uh as one of the as one of the little features. I think it's beautiful uh and it's a you know it was a nice little detail really representing the city. Madam Vice Mayor I I'm enjoying looking at all all the spaces here and I did see that your house is pictured on far away. Commissioner Laura, I had always a target on my and I've had a lot of people ask me why didn't I live on Anderson Road. Now I do live on Anderson Road because I purchased it on this this one and of course it has a nice tree canopy. So it would be but thank you for Mr. President. Great.

Mr. Mayor, commission. Uh let me just real quick if I may uh first and foremost thank uh Mr. and Mrs. Martinez for this labor of love uh which is very uh very well displayed in that phenomenal board game. You we're not the first uh city uh in the world that does their own monopoly because it's happened uh across I think at one point I think you were selling New Yorks and maybe Cubas. We got Cuba, Miami, Florida, America. There's Puerto Rico, Mexico. I mean, I believe you're only selling four gables from this point, right?

But anyway, you could sell you could sell whatever you'd like. Uh I'm sure they all have a market. But my point in bringing this up is that the labor of love that went into producing what you're seeing uh by Mr. and Mrs. Martinez is just uh incredible. They they really put their entire effort and time and hearts into this. And I think that's the reason why it's the kind of quality that you see here. Uh so on behalf of our chair, Maria Garcia, the chair of the Margaret Fbridge Foundation, uh Christina Miller, and the entire chamber team, uh we want to first thank all of you because you all participated in this effort. If you look through that entire board, you'll see that every key stakeholder of this city is a part of this uh effort from day one. So, it's not just uh uh a a um a game uh that actually promotes the city. It promotes our partners. It promotes uh the reality of our history. Uh and it really is a great uh game that will be here uh in perpetuity. Uh that tells the story of the of the city of the city. Beautiful. I I think it's going to be a wonderful opportunity for us to not only uh give our friends these these gifts. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it in time for Christmas, but we're going to have more than enough of them uh to be given as gifts uh going forward. So, again, thank you, Eddie, for uh your your passion, which is what you always do and everything you do. If you haven't been to his store, you ought to go because, you know, stuff that you can buy at Bliss is pretty pretty neat, pretty unique. So, we thank you. And as the mayor said, this is going to be $150,000 net profit for the Mark Hero Foundation for all the good work that we have ahead of us.

So we have 51,000 residents in the city. Our city balloons during the day as a result of people coming to conduct business or coming to work in the city. So I I don't see why we can't sell two, three, four times uh and really raise some serious money for the foundation. U Mr. Manager, will you do me a favor on behalf of the commission, if the commission so deems appropriate, I'd like to have this on our next uh monthly newsletter. Uh I'd like to have an opportunity of where of where pre-sales where people can buy it, an explanation of of uh obviously where the proceeds go, have Martha put together something that details the foundation, that details the city, where people can buy, you know, great future Christmas gift, great future uh I don't know, birthday gift, or if you're a business, you should have this. So, and I also as always, you know, and it doesn't surprise me. It doesn't really surprise me, but I want to thank the vice mayor, uh, Ronda Anderson, and I want to thank Commissioner Lada, who every time there's an opportunity to give back to charity, they always say yes with their own personal money, and they write a check. Uh, they they never fail. I do it every time that I have to do it, just like I did it right now in regards to cleaning up in the downtown, but they always do it if it's the nativity scene or if it's the Girl Scouts or if it's an event for the for the women's club or for uh whatever it may be. Uh they never fail. They're always there and they're always interested in supporting uh this community with her hard-earned dollars. So, thank you to Commissioner Lada. Thank you to Vice Mayor Anderson for doing this. And thank you for allowing me to pick the first piece. Uh, and I when you brought it to me, I said, "I want to do this and I want to anchor anchor your opportunity to sell. Uh, and like the president said, when you walked in and you showed them what this what this was, literally when you walked in and you explained what was behind it and where the money was going to go, everybody said, "Yes, count on me. Count on me. Count on me." I spoke to people who called me and said, "You bought?" I said, "Of course I bought. I would have missed the opportunity." Anything that can memorialize the city, number one, in

a positive light. and number two, Mark. Am allin, you guys deserve all the credit. The chamber bliss, thank you so much. And you deserve the success that comes with this. Thank you for your hard work and always representing the city so incredibly well. You're at every chamber event. You're at the ribbon cutings. You are a class act and you embody everything that's great with the business community in the city of Corables. Thank you to both of you. There's no way to follow up what the mayor said. I echo everything, but I just want to emphasize again that while this is an amazing pinpoint uh project for perpetuity, a lot of alliteration there. Yeah. Um I want everyone who's listening to come visit Bliss on Miracle Mile because it really is George said. It's such a fun place.

It's it's kitschy. It's cool. It's unique. It's changing all the time. And you just can't beat the smiles that greet you when you show up there and say, "I don't know what to get, but I know I want something cool." Marilyn will be there, Eddie, to help us out. So, please come down to Bliss on Miracle Mile.

Invitations, events, your special events. Mr. Manager, please make sure please make sure through the approval of uh of the commission that we include Bliss that we include Bliss. They've worked hard on this for the last year. You know, I want them to include Bliss, promote them. Make sure they get the positive press because I promise you, they're not making money on this and they're losing money on this. All to all to honor Mark Trobridge and his amazing legacy and give money to a foundation. $150,000 is a lot of money and you deserve all the credit. One last one last comment. I've had a lot of fun here reading these cards and it's a testament.

That's what we did yesterday. That's what we did yesterday in my office when they showed it to you for the first time. testament to your creativity and your wit and the labor of love that you've put into this neighborhood hero Coral Gable's crime watch. You help Coral Gable's crime watch promote the community safety and you're now on patrol. The player to your left moves to your token to any space to continue your good work. These are fun. You you've got to you've got to get this just to read all this and all the detail that you put into this. Thank you very much. this promotional piece. Thank you. I really want to thank you all for supporting retail in the city. Beautiful. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. For your hotels and resorts,

that's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Little cute. I love it. Thank you. Well done. Well done as always. Thank you. Very detailed. Yeah, it's always about the details. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day, Mr. President. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. We take a picture.

Yeah. Turn around. Come on. What's that? Looks like good morning.

Thank you. Thank you for supporting us. Thanks for everything. Ready? All right, Mr. Clerk. Do you have any further public comment? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Um, I have one speaker on Zoom I believe to be Karia Garbonel, which I'm recognizing her to speak now. Good morning, Kelia. Good morning. Thank you for being here with us. Hi. Hi, everyone. Hi. Good morning. Can you all hear me?

Yes, ma'am. above all the excitement. Um well, uh good morning everyone. I just wanted to say that I am so excited about Gable's Oopsy because first of all, it is the perfect um just the perfect recognition for Mark Troage. He was such a game person and a fun person. And we um also uh the historic preservation association really jumped at the chance to be a sponsor. So you'll see on that board game that um we bought Riviera Drive and the reason is because our the Whiteway Lights there's a whole corridor of Whiteway Light fully restored and you know it was just the perfect opportunity to not only support the foundation and Mark Trobridge but also the city and our centennial and the light and it really just came together and I want to say Eddie Martinez is is a darling to work with. So, um, with that, I'm excited. We're excited and can't wait to see the game. So, thank you all.

Thank you. Uh, said, "Mr. Mayor, I do have, uh, one comment that I received from a resident and said he couldn't be here, but he wished that it be read into the record." And it reads, "Mayor Lago, as I'm sure you know, the First Amendment to the Constitution enshrines our right for free speech. And as I am sure you know the Olympics were be begun to be a peaceful restite for waring Greek city states. I am in complete agreement with you that what the Iranian government is doing is an atrocity. But why? When is I terrorizing the citizens of Minneapolis and other cities? Are you prioritizing support for protesters in Iran over support for protesters here at home? And why, when Israel continues to kill innocent civilians in Palestine, in the midst of a ceasefire, are you proposing a resolution solely in the support of the people of Iran over support of the people of Palestine and the people of many other nations in the world living in oppression? This resolution, if passed, will have absolutely no effect on the people of Iran and their pressing local issues to the city's commission should be devoting its time instead of entangling itself in foreign affairs. I encourage you to either modify the language of the resolution to universally support all peaceful protesters here and abroad or withdraw the resolution from consideration altogether. This is from Tom Carney 824 Cortees TV. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We done. Okay. Yes, sir. All right. Moving on to consent agenda. Uh before the vote adopting the consent agenda is taken, is there anyone who wishes additional discussion or review of any item on the consent agenda? If not, may I please have a motion? I'll move it. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. We have a time starting it for 11 a.m. We're going to take a 5m minute break, bathroom break, and then we'll be right back. Thank you very much.

Mr. Clerk, ready? Oh, yes. I didn't see that. Excuse me. Okay. Uh, Mr. Cler, ready? Yes, sir.

All right. Welcome back. Uh, we have a time certain item for 11:00 a.m. Agenda item H2, update regarding development services study. Long awaited. Uh, very excited to see this. I think we you kept a good time frame, a good timeline in regards to delivering uh the study and making sure that we did a lot of outreach. And uh, Mr. manager. I'm looking forward to the results and having a good conversation in regards to the future of the permitting department.

Thank you, Mayor. I I think we we've done extensive study uh with with Mr. Dios and uh and we've implemented a number of things uh actually very very very quickly and I would like to for Mr. used to start the presentation and uh a very thorough actually mayor it's a very thorough examination of the of development services and specifically the building department.

Mr. Dios if I may before uh first and foremost thank you for meeting not only with me multiple times in the city and out of the city. Thank you. Uh number two, thank you for meeting with my colleagues on the commission and meeting with residents, concerned residents uh in regards to our permitting department. You've done an amazing job and I also has a sense of pride that you're a resident of the city. So, you have skin in the game and I think that is uh an important an important aspect to the efforts that you've made in regards to this report. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Uh good morning, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. George Studios with JRD and Associates. Our firm was hired um a little over 10 months ago uh to conduct an assessment of uh permitting operations uh looking at staffing process technology uh for the building division within the development services department. Uh we've worked over the last 10 months on a two-phase uh project to address these um these operations. The first phase was to uh listen to the voice of the customer. So it was a customer outreach uh effort that we conducted. And the second phase was to do a deep dive into uh the the building division. And uh I have a brief presentation here this morning. Uh thank you for the opportunity to present. Uh, first thing I wanted to do is just kind of um lay the groundwork as far as workload and um where the city is as far as um permits issued and and activity and workload. So, we combed over um almost 25,000 uh permits over the last three years. On average, the city issues about 8,000 permits uh per year over the last three fiscal years. The breakdown of those permits is approximately 64% residential, 36% commercial. And this is to give you a a perspective on the number of permits. City of Dural issues about 4,000 permits per year. Uh city of Miami about 27,000 and Miami date county around 60,000. City of Coral Gables is at about 8,000. Um when we looked at one year of activity in uh fiscal year 25, we tried

to look at where the construction and the permitting activity is happening and 73% of your permits in the last fiscal year were for projects under $10,000. So there's a lot of small work going on in the city of Coral Gables. 94% of permitting activity occurred for projects that were under $100,000. So there's a lot of small work going on in the city. Uh the remaining 6% are the bigger projects, those that um really cause um uh the the the length of uh permit issuance and and those things that I'll talk about in a in a minute. Um but 6% the remaining 6% of these permits account for 85% of the total value of construction in the city. So that's to give you a breakdown. Um in order to go in and and do the analysis, we also wanted to look at the workload because we addressed uh staffing as well as um process issues, technology issues, organizational issues. So, we looked at one year of of um of data and we looked at plan review cycles um because um and I'll talk I'll talk about the the customer survey that we did but um one of the things that we heard from the customers was you know it it takes it takes a long time in the plan review process. Um so we wanted to look at how long a set of plans takes in in the review process. So for a year's time, we had almost 99,900 what we call plan review cycles. These are all sets of plans that went in. So it could have been a u just a a a building plan review for a fence or something very small or it could have been a set of complete plans with structural building all the trades for more complex items. So, so this is what

we call the first uh cycle of plan reviews and then looked at how many of those go on to a second review. Uh so a little over uh a third go on to a second review cycle. So that means that within the first review cycle um very uh small percentage or a third go on for a second review. Those are um plans that had some comments from the plans reviewers. uh for corrections or or the permit applicant wanted to make some changes to the plans and and got them back. Then we looked at um here you see that 81% of plans are reviewed by the second review cycle. Uh consistent with the data that I showed as far as uh the small projects that are uh coming through the department and the city for plan review and for permitting. This is consistent with that data. those that go from the second review to the third review approximately half of them. So um half of the uh the issues are being resolved by the second plan review uh but half are going to a third plan review and then uh almost all of those are coming back for a fourth. So there's something going on from the third review cycle to the fourth where um the plans are are still being rejected. The average time across all of these review cycles uh varies, but for the first review cycle, the average time in plan review is just under six days. Um when we get to the second one, it's uh a little over six days and then it just goes up slightly. So, if you've had uh a set of plans that have been approved on uh two cycles, have gone through two reviews, you're at about 12 or so days in the plan review process.

Then we look at per building permit turnaround time. So, we wanted to take a look uh in the same period of time, how long is it taking for the city to issue a permit? So this is approximately 7,500 permits over issue issued over this time. You see that 49% of the permits are issued within the first uh two weeks or within two weeks. Then within four weeks almost 70% of permits have been issued. This is from the time the permit application is received uh by the city to the time the permit is actually issued. And then be the rest of the time is is beyond a month. This is uh in in the red box. This is this is where we focused a lot of our review because this is where things uh might get held up. It's important to note that there are a lot of players in in this process. There's obviously the city uh doing the plan review. There's the city the building uh division for the building permitting process. There's also um public works, historic preservation, fire. Um then there's also those outside the city. So these plans are probably the ones that are taking typically longer. Uh they're going to go uh probably to the county for water and sewer. Durm might go to the state for HRS if there's uh septic tank reviews. And then of course there's the the plans that go back to the developers um or the the uh design professionals to to uh take a look at the comments that were made and address those comments. So, um we focused our analysis on the building permitting process and what could be done uh from the city's side. So, I mentioned that we started off this project uh reaching out to your

customers. Um we took multiple approaches there. We spent uh a week at the development services department conducting face-to-face interviews. uh five days in a week in April last year. Uh received a lot of good feedback from 66 of your customers there at the building. Uh then we uh received the email addresses for uh customers that have pulled permits uh that had closed permits over the last five years. We sent 5,000 emails. We received 186 responses. So we had 250 survey responses and we also um conducted a series of focus groups to um have a more uh focused discussion on issues. So uh three key themes that came out of uh of the surveys were timelines and predictability. This is the customer feedback. Um, and these three themes, this was the most discussed themes and from the customer perspective, it's that the the initial plan review is uh is commonly perceived as taking longer than it takes. It's interesting because our data showed that um that uh almost half of these um plans are are turned around within two weeks. But this is the customer's perspective on this. and they also express uncertainty around um the timelines for plan review and also real-time inspection notification. So in some municipalities um the inspections uh a homeowner or a contractor can tell where the inspector is in the route in the city of Coral Gable. That's not um available right now. It's something that the city is working on with uh with Energgov the uh

software provider um to address. But this was a this was an a repeated comment. The second one was staff and tools. So staff was rated uh highly. We had uh some questions on our survey that were on the linker one to five scale. Uh staff uh was rated at um somewhere in the low fours out of five. So they were rated highly for their uh professionalism, their ability to uh and willingness to help and uh being courteous. Uh but then there were uh issues regarding um phone access system usability uh which is a very repeated item here is the ability to use the interg software and they were cited as opportunities for improvement. And then finally customer value emphasis. there was um a big emphasis on the lack of clear um instructions and step-by-step requirements up front and also u the lack of consistency across staff within uh the department and across other departments uh in the city. So this is customer feedback that um that we took uh to our second phase of our report which was to uh conduct a deep dive into the operations. We wanted to make sure that we took into account what the customer said um because we didn't uh want to we wanted to make sure we didn't miss on those areas. So in in phase two, we spent months um analyzing uh quite a bit of data from the intergov system permit times um and some of the data I showed already. Uh we interviewed uh leadership in the department uh as well as other departments throughout the city that are involved in the permitting process and um and did write alongs with inspectors, sat with the permit counter

personnel to look at their activities uh on a day-to-day basis as well as uh sitting with the plans examiners to look at their review process. So we had a a good understanding. So we um we put these findings basically into three uh three buckets. First one is people and leadership. Um these are findings that that we uh came up with based on our assessment and the first one is a shortage of staff in key areas. This includes um permit counter plan reviewers. Um the city uh has taken some action and Mr. Ramirez is going to uh present after I am uh on what the city has been doing. We've worked collaboratively with uh with city staff from the beginning. So um they have been uh proactive in addressing some of our findings and implementing some of our recommendations. This is one of them. Uh loss of technical expertise. Uh this is something this is a very small pool of um uh particularly plans reviewers and uh and inspectors. So everybody's competing in the same pool um not just from other municipalities but also the private sector uh some of the um the firms that that do this type of work and some people have left which of course uh creates a gap um and then the span of of control uh challenges uh the the department when we start started this study uh did not have an assistant director of administration it didn't have an assistant director of IT these are important positions to run this operation efficiently. Um and those those positions have been added. The second um area of findings was on systems process and governance. Um energov implementation has been u a big

issue. Uh the the uh the change in in uh the turnover in leadership in the department. Um the the u software was implemented during co so there were disruptions. Uh some of the folks that worked with Tyler Technologies, the uh this the software company that owns Energgov that were working on the implementation for the city left. Uh so the city is is just starting to catch up on some of the some of the issues with Energ that um need to be addressed. And when this system is really the um the enabler of an efficient permitting process, it's really important that um everything be working as as well as possible. Also, uh incomplete standardization. Uh there are gaps in uh standard operating procedures in in the building division. That's being addressed right now. and the shift to electronic uh permitting has really created um what we call workarounds uh to try to um get plans to where they need to be routed um and um and that's being addressed also and then there's limited system uh administration capacity um the intergov administration as I mentioned um issue resolution uh I think the the city of Coral Gables is one of the the the leaders at least in the state of users of intergov that creates tickets for issue resolution. Um so that's good in the sense that the issues are being identified and being brought to the attention of um of intergov but it's not good in the sense that when you're issuing uh hundreds and hundreds of uh help desk tickets uh that there are a lot of issues. So um the third one is uh the customer navigation

and support demand. This is uh a a lot of time spent in uh with permit counter folks helping the public navigate the system, how to pull a permit, what they need to do, how to navigate the website, how to create an account on Intergov. So um so there's a big demand and our our recommendations address some of these these issues. Um I uh will mention that uh we have a series of recommendations. We'll be providing a report to the city in the next couple of weeks. So um while plans uh are are being turned around in about six days, we still identified 25 areas for improvement that will be detailed in our report. So these are the three buckets of our assessment findings and we group these into five core uh finding areas. leadership gaps and span of control constraints, workforce capacity and retention uh pressures, disrupted systems implementation, lack of SOPs and customer demand and support burden. So we took these findings and we created a our recommendation framework with five focus areas that address the root causes uh of these findings. So when we look at these focus areas uh and when we submit our report u the recommendations will be uh centered around these focus areas and here are some rec representative recommendations under leadership and structure establish assistant director roles create and fill key positions um as I mentioned we've been working on this analysis since uh last April or so. So, uh, some of these, uh, recommendations have been already addressed by the city, and I'll show those in a minute. Workforce capacity

and enablement, um, adding permitting related personnel, that's plans reviewers and inspectors, and establishing an intergov task force. The city is actually working on a task force to address these intergov issues with other municipalities in the county that use this software. uh Dural, Miami Beach, Hyia, the county is actually looking to get away from their system and is looking potentially at Intergo. So all the municipalities are sharing um uh not just their pain points but also their best practices because some municipalities have been able to work around some of the issues under process and policy standardization. uh conducting business process re-engineering, looking at the business process and seeing how it can be streamlined as well as creating some standard operating procedures because none exist uh at this point. under systems and data building performance dashboards. This is a management tool so that uh the leadership in the department can assess workload and assess where there might be gaps in either staffing or performance and developing comprehensive permit tracking reports. This is to to uh have the ability to show um either on a permit by permit case or in in general as a whole where permits are in the system. Where are they in the city? Are they being held up in the city? Where are they outside the city? Um are they with the design professionals? Are we they with the county? Right now that the city is not tracking that and it's really important to show where that is. And then finally under customer access and communication uh developing customer perspective process maps that's something that we heard from the customer outreach that there is really no mapping to uh tell a

homeowner or developer what is the process we need to go through. So we think that's uh that's a good idea that should be developed and to develop the real time inspector tracking tool that I mentioned before. So with the implementation of of these recommendations um the city will be able to achieve predictable, transparent and efficient permitting. Uh the recommendations that are outlined in blue are those that the city has already undertaken and is currently working on. So, as I mentioned, uh it's been a very very collaborative effort over uh the last year working with the city and um they're not waiting for our report to be finished and submitted to take action on some things that they could have taken action on already. So, these are some of the ones that they have already implemented. And then uh the next steps as I mentioned the um we will be submitting a report within the next couple of weeks detailing all of our um findings and recommendations and also the city is is working on an implementation plan uh to address the recommendations we've made and I believe uh Mr. Ramirez will follow up with some information on what the city has done so far. Uh but at this point I'll open up to questions comments.

Uh first and foremost, thank you for your hard work over the last 10 months. U you can see that you've put in all the hard work. Um we're excited about the opportunities we have. The we have u we have the consensus uh to invest a significant amount of money not only in manpower but also in training and in software as required uh to make sure that we provide world-class service. So I want to thank you for that. Um you want to hear from staff the commission and then we'll come back and open it up or how would you like to do it? If we could present mayor and then certainly we can open it up for for discussion. Thank you. Thank you sir. Great work. Thank sir. Mr. Ramirez, how are you?

Good morning. Doug Ramirez, acting development service director. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give you this update. Mr. Dios uh has been very helpful. He's given us a lot of recommendations. Uh we're very excited to report on what we've done so far. Uh this is not everything. There's a lot more that that we will be doing. Uh but we were able to start early on in the process when Mr. Duos got here uh and began his process. Uh we've been collaborating with him and the city manager and we've uh gotten quite a bit done. So um I would like to walk you through what we've done so far. So first thing as uh he mentioned uh the the workforce uh we've created quite a number of positions since uh the middle of last year and we've been in the process of filling them. I'm very pleased uh to introduce Miss Lette Lopez and Gene Dolmuse who are in the room here. Uh they are our new uh assistant director of building administration and assistant director of information systems respectively. They both come from other uh jurisdictions and they bring us a lot of experience that that we needed and I am very happy to have them here. Uh since they've gotten here, we've been able to start moving things along quite rapidly and I couldn't be prouder to have them on our team here. We've also uh found a senior admin analyst uh that that we promoted from within uh as well as a development service ambassador that we also promoted from within the city. uh QC analysts and uh we've we were able to also hire two permit counter staff as part of the additional positions and to date we've uh hired a total of nine reviewers and inspectors. We are currently continuing to uh look for a permanent director for development services as well as a deputy

building official, a structural engineer and three reviewers and inspectors. I did not include on the slide uh vacancies that might have opened up along the way. Th this slide only covers all of the new positions that we're hiring as a as a result of the recommendations of Mr. Duo. Uh also, as a result of all of the additional staff, we we looked at our vehicles. We met with the city manager and we we discussed it with our our uh personnel over at public works. Uh we will be getting eight additional vehicles and 13 replacements for some of our more aging uh vehicles that are circulating the city. So Mr. Duos had mentioned a couple of times the implementing technologies force. We've identified uh eight people within the city that will be responsible for this. uh they're going to help us to implement all of the changes in the technologies across the board across different departments and we will uh we will respectively have uh assigned people to certain tasks so it'll be easier to follow up uh on all the all the different uh projects that we're working on. We've also uh continued to make improvements in our processes. This has been going on since day one. Uh for as long as I've been here, we've been improving processes, but uh lately we're we're going to begin working on the creation of SOPs. We have we have established some checklists for plan reviewers and and right now we're we're trying to see if we could bring in a consultant uh service to help us with uh using AI uh to provide customer service using all the information it will compile from our website from whatever we feed into it so that it can

answer questions from many many customers that we we get phone calls every day. We also have done a lot uh because development services doesn't work in a vacuum. We are part of a city with other departments. We have fire, we have public works, we have historic uh we have so so many pieces of this that extend beyond the walls of 427 building. Uh so we we realized early on that we were going to need to do things uh to kind of bring all of this together in in a more uniform way. Uh so you know recently we we assisted uh and worked with the fire department to create a simplified permit process for some of their smaller projects. Um we also noticed that there was uh in discussing it with our colleagues over at Ardan Public Places that there was an automation that that wasn't working as intended. If if an applicant, for example, would have applied for a project that had a construction cost below a million dollars, but then at some point in the process, we realized that the construction cost was actually going to be above a million dollars, it wasn't triggering that review automatically, we have corrected that. So now, if if the construction costs are changed along the way, uh art and public places will automatically be brought in to to look at the project. Uh we're also uh going to be working with our capital improvements projects team uh so that there's the more cohesive uh understanding of how a applica application for permits happens and we are constantly training and meeting with our reviewers for plan review processes to be uniform. Uh there are plan reviewers throughout the city not only in 427 building. So it it's it's uh always interesting when we bring the different the different uh subject

matter experts into the room. Uh so because we get different perspectives and we're always working on making sure everything is consistent so that the applicant will say get the same information from development services that they would have gotten if they had discussed it with public works. We want to make sure we're always on the same page. And uh in addition to that, we've we've been able to bring into our fold at development services. Uh to date, we we we have a a landscaping reviewer that works very closely with uh Dina Bell uh at public works and and we've been able to bring a public works reviewer that that actually we she came from public works and she's extremely knowledgeable. Very pleased to have her. And then also historic uh we have we have uh a team member now from the historic team. So, we actually have people in our building now. If customers come and they want to ask a question about public works, uh, I can walk them right over. I'm I'm I'm looking over here because I did that last week. Um, and they have answers from somebody who's very knowledgeable in our building. We don't have to send them over to 72nd. And and it's proving to be very very useful to have all those people in in our building. So we have also been working on system process improvements. Uh one of the things Mr. Duels mentioned that has always been a concern is that the applicants were having a hard time applying correctly. Uh our as he mentioned our our portal is not user friendly if if you haven't used it before. Um and a lot of our residents are applying for one permit every 10 years. So it's not like they do this every day. Uh so we we've been developing better descriptions uh on the website so people will know exactly what type of permit they they should apply for depending on the work that they're doing. This minimizes a lot of work later on for the applicant and for staff

if people apply wrong. Usually they end up making a payment that we have to refund. That that involves two different departments. Uh so just fixing this so that people apply correctly the first time is a huge step. It's going to help a lot of people all the time. Um and then we we've also uh been able to automate the extensions of masters and sub permits uh once the inspections are approved. Uh this wasn't always working correctly. So we we've been uh we've been correcting that so that now when you get an approved inspection, not only the inspection for that permit that you called will extend that permit, but now it will extend the the master and and everything simultaneously. Um, we've also uh created a process where the any any permit revisions that get submitted automatically get finalized. This was this was creating flaws in our data and our tracking because it would look like we had all this unfinalized work even though it was an approved revision from years ago. And uh one of the other things that we're always trying to find ways not only with fees but with everything anything that we can automate that we can get our hands off of it so that it will work without anyone having to touch it is always good if if it's done correctly. Um and there were a number of fees that were being manually calculated and of course anytime you have to calculate numbers manually this leads to mathematical errors. So, we've been correcting these and uh

it's okay to say it also leads to fraud and uh I'm happy that you took care of that because I I once you'll probably see an uptick uh in regards to the receivables u now that we're doing it not allowing it to be done manually. I think that's important. So um we saw that the other day for example when we had um the leaders from from um Antigua that were here correct was

where they used the example of uh these were newly elected elected officials and they they basically did the same thing you did after it not being done for 10 years and their first project where they reviewed the fees the first project where they reviewed the fees uh that were collected in that one project were more than all the fees collected in the last 10 years of projects. Uh and they did the same thing when they automated uh the parking revenue. They used to collect the parking revenue by hand. When they started doing an automated system, they were astounded that they collected three times more parking revenue. So that's something that we we we had conversations and they were talking about technology and how it's playing a major role now in South and Central America. So, I think it's a great move and I'm going to commend you on a few other things that we've been working on together that I think that your team has done a great job on and I'll leave that to the end, but I wanted to make sure that you it wasn't just you were very kind to say that um you know it ensures that less errors are made. Yes. But it also stops fraud uh because will people will put you know the values of certain things to be a lot less than what they are. Yes, Mr.

M. Mayor Thank you, Mayor. Uh since you've mentioned that we've also uh for the larger projects there's also a manual check before they go out. So, it's double it's through the automated system. And then for the larger projects, we check to make sure the square footage and and the costs are are correct. Yeah. And by the way, that's contested and that's contested, but at the end of the day, the numbers are the numbers. You know, I think it's important.

So, yes, the manager actually got to my next bullet. Uh he mentioned it, so he beat me to the punch on that one. Thank you, Peter. Um we're we're very excited about that senior level overview on the highv value projects. uh we we've been doing that now and uh we have very high level people looking at it to make sure that the construction cost aligns with the scope of work and uh it's it's been interesting. So we we we have appreciated that that's started to happen. So the one of the other things that we started to notice is that the up until recently contacts on a permit could could bypass notification to the other contacts simply by changing the changing the defined contacts uh at any time. Uh so this was this was done at the beginning. It was a decision that was made that would enable the applicants to be able to do their own work. Uh and then some cities have done it that way and then other cities have chosen to to not allow that. Uh we realized that it it was in our best interest to go ahead and and not allow that here. Uh the applicants at the beginning can can create their contacts and now we made a change where once the contacts are initially created uh then if they want to change a contact they will notify us and staff will make any changes after that. Uh there there were owners that were being removed uh from contacts and then of course this creates a problem because the owner won't know what's going on with their permit. There were contractors that would be removed as a contact and then of course this creates other issues because there's an actual formal process where the building official has to allow uh contractors to be changed as as you know Mr. Mayor that that that cannot just happen willy-nilly. So, in an effort to protect the integrity of the notification

process, not only for the people on the permit, but for staff to be aware of what's going on, uh what we did is first we we clarified for applicants so that they're fully aware what the contact roles should be uh so that they don't confuse themselves and put themselves as the owner if they're just working as a project manager. We we clarify those roles on our portal uh giving them guidance so that they do it correctly and then as I mentioned earlier uh when they want to make a change it could still be done uh only now they would reach out to staff and then staff will make the change for them. Uh they're only allowed to do it at the very beginning.

So if I may add I think it's important uh I want to I want to provide a little more context for residents who are asking why why did we do that? Okay. So, a permit expediter would submit a permit to the city and then what they would do, which I I I saw it happen for some reason, they would immediately when that permit was submitted, they would remove the general contractor within an hour, two hours. And we're still trying to figure out why. We're still trying to figure out why. But this happened dozens and dozens and dozens of times with just one or two permit expediters that were doing that here in the city. And then that general contractor was immediately the same one was reinstalled into the permit right before the permit was pulled. And you know that was all done through the back door of the program. And I want people to understand the back door of the program has been closed. There's no more access through the back door of the program for permit expediters. That's been closed. Now what we're requiring is very simple. It's the same thing when when I submit a permit application to the city. I have to put all my information, my address, license number, everything has to be provided and you put it and you submit it to the city. If you want to make a change to that permit application, you're not allowed access to the back door changing what you'd like. It has to be done through the manager staff. So to me, to me that is a transparent way of doing business. I don't think that anybody should have access to the back door of a city software where they can change or add whatever they like, change numbers, uh, you know, certain things that at the end of the day could number one hinder the ability for the city to conduct business in a transparent fashion. Uh, and that was happening that was happening here in the city. So, that's one thing that I think is critically important. I'm going to bring up some other issues that I think are

also commendable on on regards to staff and the manager and things that I've done in regards to my own industry that where I have already received calls from general contractors that told me, "Vince, this is the second time you do this." The first one that I did was when I wrote legislation that stopped Saturday exterior work. I got phone calls from multiple agencies and organizations here that are uh Associated Builders and Contractors, the Latin Builders, who I love them both. I've been a member of those organizations. Um they've called me and said, "Vince, this is hindering our our our ability to do business, but it's in the best interest of the city. We do not want to have our residential neighborhoods having exterior construction. People want to be able to live and have a quality of life on weekends. You can still do work in the interiors, but you just can't be making, you know, hot mopping a roof. Someone's in their pool, they smell that in the neighborhood. Or, you know, putting uh thousands of of uh nails into a frame or on a roof or, you know, laying concrete. Again, there's noise, there's smell. People are people have worked all week and at the end of day, they want to be able to relax. Similar change. Why do I bring that up? Because the second thing that I did was I also requested from the manager which has already been implemented due to your leadership. Thank you. And then the team over here, but I'll be codifying it in the next commission meeting. I already told a few of of the general content they were not happy about it. Um and that is that is the simple fact that if you have an expired permit, you will not be able to take out another permit. Our city was not doing that. Where did I learn that? I learned that in the city of Miami when I had to deal with the manager because I had an issue with with a permit that was expired in the city of Miami. Not at my own fault. It was an issue where we're waiting for a fire alarm and we forgot to call an inspection and the and the inspection uh excuse me the permit lapsed. I went to the manager and the manager told me you cannot pull another

permit until you reactivate that permit and u you move forward. That's the law of the city of Miami. That was not the law here in the city of Coral Gables. Now, that is the law. General contractors are not happy about that. But at the end of the day, why is that important? Because think about if you're a homeowner and a general contractor, let's just say, forgets to close out your permit or they thought they closed it out when they did a TCO, but they really didn't get their CO for one reason or another. They didn't submit a document. Happens. It falls through the cracks. Happens to the best. You now go to sell your property. You have a lean and that lean has been running for two years, three years, four years, and there's thousands of dollars that somebody's responsible for. What happens if that general contractor ceases to exist? What happens that general contractor retires? What happens if that general contractor moves out of the state? What happens if that general contractor loses their license? Who is held responsible? So, this is an accountability measure to ensure that general contractors are following the rules and putting their clients and the residents first. So these are simple things that are coming out of the George Duo's effort where you're seeing things you're like wait that's not right. Let's hold people accountable even if it is my own industry. So in the issue of the permanex expediters they had backdoor access to the city pro the city program and you could change figures you could change addresses. We're still trying to figure out why they were removing why they were removing a general contractor at the beginning and then putting that that same general contractor four months later. Was it a notification issue? Was it that they were doing something else? But this was happening especially with one general with one permit expediter here in the city. So that is no longer the case. The back doors closed and now you and your staff have the ultimate the ultimate say in regards to a permit is touched here in the city because that's transparency. We want to be we want to make sure that we protect the homeowner. Mr. Manager.

Uh thank you, mayor. Uh it also is something that can violate the uh the building code. If you have a back door completely open, you can actually change a general contractor after the permit's issued uh which violates the building code and then you have to have a a change of contractor approved by the building official. So that back door has been completely closed. Now any any work that any change to that has to be done by city staff and any change of contractor has to be done per the building code which is as the change of contractor through the building official.

And another thing too that I've requested and that I'll be implementing is that remember on a on a permit, not that you need to be reminded, but just for the residents understand that um when you pro when you do a permit card, there's only three licensed individuals on that permit card. Number one is the architect, number two is the engineer, and number three is a general contractor. Those are people who have licenses. A permit expirator does not have a license to do business. So at the end of the day, I believe that there should also be a little spot where a permanent expirator puts their name as a per as because other cities have that. Who's running point on these plans? It doesn't have to be a permanent exper. It can be the general contractor. It could be the architect, but also be the person running point on these plans. There has to be a point a point person uh to ensure accountability on on all these permits. Even though we've changed the we we've now closed the back door, which was an issue before, um there still should be a point person or a contact information on every single permit. Not on the file, not on the file, on the permit card that says this person is responsible for handling this permit. Commissioner,

thank you. So both Mr. Diaz and Mr. Ramirez, just to make things simple, right? Would you agree, you know, that the uh the ultimate goals for this particular development study, development services study, is to simplify for the residents the permitting process? Would you agree? That's that's one of the goals. Yes. And in doing so, speed up the process from application to the issuance of the permit for the residents, right? Yes. And that to make make it easier for the resident who's not familiar with this process to make it easier for them to successfully apply and obtain a permit. Right. Yes.

And uh to reduce the errors that otherwise in the past may have occurred through as uh Mr. Ramirez was saying implementation of things like AI and to reduce the human element that could be contributing to any errors ultimately speeding up the process. Right. So would you say that ultimately the goal is to help the resident not only get the permit but maybe even save them money because this should maybe one of the goals is also to either eliminate or at least reduce reliance on permit expediters if all of your goals are met. Is that right? Um well the the simpler the process is um for anybody pulling a permit obviously the the better it's going to be for the public whoever is pulling the permit. So um there is that we noticed um and again talking to the customers some of the the complications within the city of um available information process maps as to how to um get a permit. So sometimes they go out and they hire somebody to do it for them um because um they know the process better. So the idea is that um the process is um available, easy to understand, transparent um again available on the city's website, maybe posted in development services building um so that that folks know how to get through the process on their own.

Right. So I would think it was a rhetorical question but you know in making the process simpler, easier, quicker with less error. All of it should bode in favor of the residents also saving money. If all of your goals are met, then you would have less of a dependence or a need to go to expediters to do the process. Isn't Isn't that the goal of what we're trying to do here is to make it easier for the residents to maneuver a process that needs to be improved. And you you sound like you're on that path. Yeah. The mayor. Yes. Um M like to answer that question,

please. Um we have we currently we are reviewing plans at a rate of of the first review at at six days and 81% of the plans are are reviewed and approved in two weeks. So I I do think that the additional staff so uh to say that we are doing dr that we are that we are in in a in a bad way it's not it's just not it's just not there. The effects bring bring that out. What we are doing with with with with the fact that it is an enterprise zone and we're putting additional people is to assist the residents into in and and and create a uh a more a a building department that that can provide our residents which do not pull permits all the time a much better experience uh really uh to the next this will be a next level building department once we get once we get every all the staffing done. However, we are average amount our average review time is six days. I think uh the mayor who's who's a who's a contractor understands that that is a very fast review time and 81% of of the of the drawings of the uh permits approved within two weeks. That's a very fast review time. I think what what we what the the new system is going to do, it's going to really help those that are doing this for the first time or only do it one time. and and that's where our extra staffing is going in and that's why we have that that that enterprise zone. Uh and I think I think it it will take us really to that next level. We we by one of the things that what we were uh uh lacking was a a a administrator and a technical person in in that department and we have that those two now. Those are ext I can tell you they were extremely helpful having that in in the city of Miami. We couldn't function without it. So, so, uh, the city of Miami was a much larger department, but the functionality is the same. It's still a building department.

Well, to the mayor. So, with respect to what you just said, Peter, and thank you very much for that

and also for answering my questions. Do you feel at this stage of your study that the the path is clear that the way that the city should be going with addressing permitting and to improve systems is through uh the enterprise fund to add the personnel, upgrade the software, integrate by AI and eliminate these back doors that the mayor was referring to that apparently were open. Um all of this in lie of exporting it to a third party to handle uh permitting for an additional fee. Uh if you recall that that was one of the things that was being considered by the city. Do you feel we're on a better path versus that alternative?

If if you are referring to the uh the proposed um expedited uh permitting program, I think the data shows that at six days that's a very good turn around time for plans. Um with the addition of staff that six days will come down by some number. Um don't know what that is. Um but um you know we also took a very comprehensive look not just at staffing but but things that will expedite the process and make it more efficient such as the development of standard operating procedures which don't exist. So everybody in the department is, you know, going by the same playbook. Um because right now there's a lot of room for interpretation because it's not documented. The technology issues that we both talked about are are a big issue. um uh a lot of workarounds um because of the way the system has been designed um and the way solutions have not been provided either internally or by um by the software company. Uh so again we have 25 recommendations. Some deal with staffing, some deal with leadership like the addition of assistant directors which the uh the department already has has hired. Uh so it's a very comprehensive look at how to um make the the process more efficient, how to improve customer service and it's something that should be continued to be measured. We also recommended as I mentioned development of uh performance dashboards for Mr. Ramirez and his leadership team to use to see um again are there internal controls that we have built in from either um how long is it taking to um get permit applications from intake to plans review. How long is it taking

for plans reviewer to review different types of plans whether they're simple or complex? How long is it taking for inspector to conduct an inspection? So all these things that we talk about documenting and messaging out there uh from a dashboard perspective as well as the per the uh the reports the permitting tracking reports that we mentioned because um and we've worked in a lot of of building departments city of Coral Gables is is not unique to these challenges. There's um we hear this all the time. It takes you know a year two years to get a building permit. And while that might be true, uh, when you look at it from a time perspective, you have to look at as to why and where where along the steps of the process are the plans. Um, a lot of times they're with the design professional or they're with the county. We know HRS takes at least 30 days just to look at your your permit application. So there there are factors outside the city that can't be controlled in this, you know, how long does it take to get a permit discussion. So we focused on what the city can do.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, the vice mayor. I'm sorry. You can go first. I can probably feed off of what you

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh we need to look at a little a little historical perspective as to as to where where we're at now. Uh, one of the key issues of of of uh, building 427 was that we had to we had to get the building department out of out of city hall. It was just dysfunctional here. We're working uh at at the mezzanine at the third floor in our cars and and also we needed to to move it because of the restoration of city hall. That was item number one. Uh, that that project was done. We we made the move as quickly as possible. We got hit with COVID with a pandemic uh while implementing interg which by the way is not my favorite program uh commissioner but it's it's the best one out there unless we do it ourselves like we did in city Miami with ibuild which is a much superior program but we don't have access to that. Uh and and and then we we lost our building director. We we we we got other issues. We are we are now at at the point where Mr. where Mr. Duyo's recommendations will be implemented because it only makes us better. But so that that's a little history behind it. So we here's where we're at now where we maybe we should have been here a year and a half ago. Okay. Actually two years ago. Uh however uh if you look at a six day review process that's considered expedite in many cities that's considered expedite in many cities just to just to just to just to say that but I wish we' have been here two years ago but we are here now we will we will we will make uh because it is an enterprise program it allows us to provide a better product and and I think but I think right now we're working at a very high level we working at a superior level uh for our residents once we implement ment uh the

the the new staffing which we did last year because because we we are an enterprise fund so we are not subject to the general fund vice mayor. So, I've got uh three points and my first question to you is, you know, we have an appeal this afternoon on a particular development and when you're talking about the timelines to issuance of permits, um are matters such as that where there's been appeals to the board of architects decision on architecture, is that part of that same timeline that expl helps explain some of the anomalies for the longer time to get a permit? It it does um because if the permit has been already applied for um and the board of architects you know factor which we didn't assess the board of architects process or timeline just once permit application takes place to issuance of a permit if board of architects appeals things are in there uh it would be reflected in the timeline and will probably be on the on the right side that one two months plus that you know could take months and months to resolve would be included in there.

Okay. My my second um point is one of the comments that I got from a number of folks is how long it takes to from approval to invoicing. Is that something that you looked at? We looked at the the entire u process of um once the application is in all the way to permit issuance and uh the invoicing is in there. I think that's something the department is addressing as part of the process now uh because I believe it's a manual process right now and they're trying to go automated with the invoice. So as soon as the uh plans are approved, the invoice can go out so that the permit can be issued.

So maybe the assistant director can answer that question better to where are we on expediting the invoicing process? So right now the the the process as it works is when once they have all their approvals, the the the permit gets routed back to the permit counter. They need to combine the the actual construction set the equivalent of in the old days when they would have to stamp everything. that part still needs to be done digitally.

And then at that point, they also do the the they make sure that the contractor's information is current, that it hasn't expired at some point along the way uh since they first applied, that the insurance is there, that everything is up to date, and then they do they do create the invoice. So all of that does happen at the tail end. And also I mentioned earlier the the the the highv value projects those also we we added that extra step now that wasn't there before where we verify the construction costs and all of that. Unfortunately that does take time those those processes do take time. Uh we strive to like in as he mentioned all the small permits it's much quicker that it's very simple. There's very few things to be done and those get done within a couple of business days. Right. But the bigger projects might take a bit longer. They might take a week. They might take time for for all of it to be done correctly.

Yeah. No, I mean through the mayor, are you done? Are you done? I I have uh one more question. Related you you have an answer to the question? Uh yes. Yes. Through the mayor. Yes.

Uh yes. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh we will be we will be adding the additional staffing to expedite that. We we understand that that that's an issue and we are we are looking to uh to automate as much of that issue as possible. In addition to that, the the additional staffing. Uh we'll take care of those of those of those issues that we cannot automate. Uh I'm not really keen on the inner grove program. Uh it's the best one out there though. That's why people people are going to it unless you have a proprietary program. I mentioned I built that we did at city of Miami. It was that was I left 10 11 years ago. Still a better program than what we have now. I wish I could use it. uh so so we will automate as much as possible and and then the the additional staffing will will will help that along so yes we are definitely looking at that also I think one of the things that if you look at what Mr. do in his in his slide is that you have some projects that extend a long time. Uh those those are projects when you have a project that goes over four reviews that tells you that there there could be a technical problem. Uh that's what that's saying. It it's also it's also an issue. For instance, uh when you go to to the state for a septic tank, there's six months behind. So you're adding six months to that schedule of that home. That's there's nothing we can do about that. Uh so so when you're dealing with outside agencies, that is something that that that we cannot control. Uh for that that six month period is is so so if you have a house now on a septic tank that doesn't have sewer, then you are you're adding six months delay on that permitting because we cannot issue a permit with without state approval on that. So, so the outside agencies are are are an issue and then when you get to multiple when you get over three or four reviews that tells you that there might be a technical issue too in in my experience as a building official.

Madam vice mayor, last point we currently require notorized signature from the homeowner um and electronic signatures are well used across industry. We looked into implementing docu sign or some other electronic signing program so we don't have to physically move paper to the owner to sign under with before a notary. It's a it's a very time consuming process sometimes. So we we have had that conversation with it. Uh we're trying to find the the best mechanism because there is a legal aspect involved in that as well.

Yeah. Uh certainly we've already years ago we the engineers and the architects figured out a way that they could sign and seal plans digitally. Uh unfortunately the the world of notoriization uh is perhaps a little bit slower and and we we aren't there yet but we are trying to find a way because that will make everyone's life easier. the applicants, the residents and ours.

If I if I may, Madam Vice Mayor, just to give you a point, there was an issue a few years ago where signatures were fraud fraudulently obtained. Um, people get desperate. Uh, they've got to meet deadlines. Uh, they're being paid based on completion. They've even they've even falsified inspector signatures. when you used to have an inspector signature on the plans. Remember, you used to have a stamp and you would you would see the signatures and that's the way that the inspectors would come on site eventually everything was inputed into the computer but on site you would have a site copy and a city copy. So, um it's it's a I agree with you Harley. I'd love to find a way to do that. Uh I just don't know if there's technology right now which makes all parties especially the licensed parties feel comfortable uh that things are done appropriately. Um, another point that I wanted to make, uh, which I think is critically important and and I'd like to see it implemented as long as my colleagues are fine with it is I would like to see on Fridays, I know all of you do it anyways already, but I would like to see an office hours for Fridays or for Thursdays or for Mondays, whatever is appropriate. Um, maybe a two-hour window where staff is set aside and anybody can walk in and address their issues. Staff doesn't have to be sitting there waiting for somebody. They can be called down, but You can have one person who's a liaison that's there and says, "Okay, there's a plumbing there's a plumbing question." They can call the plumbing inspector. They can call the plumbing uh director or they can, you know, and so that people can walk in and say, "I have an issue." Why? Why do I think that's important? I think it's been successful the office hours that we run as elected officials because while we may not be able to address every problem, we can at least get they can the individuals can get face to face to face um with with the residents and the elected officials. And I think we could do something very similar. Maybe it's an hour. You have one hour a week or maybe two hours a week. And I know we do certain things that are similar, but I'd like to see, you know, a program time if you think it's appropriate and makes sense.

Yes, sir. Yes, Mayor. Uh, we're looking at at a walkthrough time, at a walkthrough period, which is what you're talking about. As you know, from a construction point of view, we we're looking we have appointments now and we're looking at at as we move on to have a certain certain times as walkthroughs. I think it pays dividends and I think it's an it's an opportunity to uh just get face to face because a lot of things that happen on these plans they there's just a miscommunication on an item and it just once you get there it can be addressed very quickly. Okay.

We also have the ambassador which we recently hired and that's going to help us quite a bit as well. But I think the difference between the ambassador I think the difference between the ambassador and having a office hours is that you have a professional not saying that the ambassador is not not a professional but you have a licensed professional who is who is uh doing reviews and can be called down and maybe we can coincide with the times that they're there for the permits. I don't want it to be four hours because then they're just, you know, they're dealing with those issues for hours. They're not reviewing plans, but I wanted to make sure maybe we have an overlap with something with that. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Anything else for the good unless the commission has any other questions?

No, I think it's great. Uh, congratulations on I know it's a long a long haul, 10 months. Great work. Um, I've already asked um my staff to put together a presentation so we can share with the with the residents uh through the manager. Um, and I know that we're having a meeting hopefully in the next week to discuss um, getting further information in regards to the back door and the permits and a lot of the changes that were made without authorization uh, of of staff and get a better understanding of why why that was done, what was the intent, what was the reasoning behind it. Yes, Mr.

I'm sorry. I just had one more question or just a little clarification. It sounded interesting, kind of exciting. you were saying Doug that when all the information along the way is inputed you're going to be looking into using AI so that someone can call to ask really in any way I guess natural language you know what is going on with X and the AI should know the way AI works right how to answer that question based on one based on what it has already inputed in the system right

well right now we we are trying to get a a software ware brought in that will assist with the phone calls. That's just the start. Obviously, AI is moving in many directions that we can't predict right now. uh and then that particular uh platform the way it works is you feed into it all the information that's in your website or that you want it to have so that it'll know how to answer things like what do I need to submit if I want to right like and it's like an AI ambassador almost or like like another way that people can maneuver and a um

or demystify a process they're not used to doing right and and I just know that that's going to be a really helpful tool for the residents because there's an interesting thing that your report also suggests, right, is that there's a perception that has taken longer a perception that's taking longer than it than it should or that it or that it is taking, right? So between that and AI to help, you know, answer questions of the most common type, I'm sure, right? It's like many many different people might be asking the very similar type questions, you know, and so what's in the database should be able to give them an answer, bring down the frustration, help with the perception um or the misperception, I guess, right? And uh just overall, we're just looking to make the process just so much better for the residents, right? Because that seems to be one of the biggest concerns if not complaints that I receive from residents when I speak to them about smaller jobs in particular. So

good. Sir. Yes. Uh, Commissioner, just to answer your question, our we have a tremendous IT department. They have in the IT lab, they've they've developed a a system to do that. We'll be implementing. It's our own development. Uh, I can't say enough about our IT department. They realized what that what that need was, which is, as you mentioned, a fantastic tool for for artificial intelligence. And so we'll be implementing our own system, our own system now in the building department and and hopefully generally throughout the city. Thank you very much. Thank you. Great work. Let's see if we can run through a few of these items. Oh, I'm sorry. We have a public comment. I apologize. Excuse me.

Uh first speaker, Maria Cruz. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. The comments are very short. Um, I understood this to be an update regarding development services study. I'm not complaining. This was a very good study, but it was not about development service. It was about a division of development services. Development services has several divisions. So I thought it was going to be like 15 hours uh ser um report because if they were reporting about everything in development services it was not. It was just building there other uh divisions of development services that need to be addressed. Okay. Maybe there's another report to be another assessment or report or whatever you call it that could be put together so you can get a picture of the whole the complete development services not just building. Okay. And uh that's the comment number two. I love to hear all the things that we're doing. I love to hear how we're doing it. But now the The proof is on the cake because we talk a good talk but necessarily not walk a good walk.

Lucy Lopez.

Good morning, mayor, vice mayor, city manager, and members of the commission. My name is Lucy Lopez, resident at 5005 Ordunia Drive, and I am an owner rep for residents solely within the city of Coral Gables. I basically hold homeowners hands during their construction process all the way from permitting to obtaining their seal. Uh thank you for providing such an insightful report. I use Energ every single day and I am here to briefly comment on a few items. Um in terms of feedbacks from my clients, the homeowners within the city. Um, I would like to venture and probably say that upwards of 20 to 30% of all requests received by the commission are probably residents wanting to know what's going on with our permit or why it's taking so long. Which leads to my main point. Aside from all of the technical advances, technological advances that we've been implementing, I think it's very important not to lose the personal touch, which is what sets the city of Coral Gables aside from other cities. the friendly smiles, the handshakes, the availability, and the staff at development services really embodies that. From reviewers to permit clerks, the staff is really wonderful. I think there are just a few rules and regulations that they must abide by that seem to deter away from this personal touch that we all really need to keep in mind. And I just want to bring a couple of things up that deserve attention. Um, I think that all of the wonderful updates online, having transparency for ownership is key, but I do think that there needs to be some more transparency from the city side. Um, at the inception of the permitting and at invoicing where basically when a permit is checked in, two permits are submitted, same date, one goes into review two days later, the other one takes a week to be reviewed. Who has the permit during this time frame? Why is it taking one, you know,

when at two days, the other one went in at a week. Um, that needs to that needs to be shared. That information needs to be shared um I believe to the people that are running the permit or the homeowners um because it does create frustration. The homeowner has awaited all of this time to receive their plans to sign the permit app to do everything and then you input the permit and it sits there in a queue waiting for somebody to take um on the permit. The other item is, as Rhonda discussed, the invoicing portion, which I'm super happy that um everything is being worked to automate the process, which is wonderful um because the permit has taken x amount of time and then you are sitting waiting in another three, four, five day queue to receive the invoice to be able to pay your fees, which homeowners are glad to do to receive the permit and actually commence their work. Um there is one other item um that is quite frustrating and it is the upload of the narrative. I'm sorry.

Finish. Okay. Finish.

Um so the upload of the narrative which seems to to hinder again this personal touch. We are there in the city. Sometimes we're accompanied by a homeowner and we must get an approval from a department. All of your trades have already been approved. And now in the ninth inning, a narrative has to be uploaded to say, "Hey, yes, we received owner builder approval from Mr. Lopez or whatever the case may be." It adds an extra layer of frustration for homeowners and just an extra time and it just seems like it creates more time for the city staff and more time for just the homeowner to be able to obtain their actual um permit. Um, the other thing is that I'd like to just say that I'm available to share input at any time with anyone. I'm happy to do so. Um, please count on me for help with anything. I am ultimately here to represent homeowners. Um, so thank you for your time. Thank you for listening and thank you for the in-depth study. We super appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Lucy, by the way, you're a resident, correct? Yes. Okay. Have you ever have you ever used the back door uh that we shut that we shut down now in regards to city regards to city or no? In terms of changing permit information and stuff in the back in the back of

No. So I have never removed a contractor. I have added people but I have never removed it. Yeah. Never removed it unless of course it was at the request of an owner you know who changed their owner's rep or something like that but very very minimal. uh maybe one time in the whole entire process as a request from the owner, but never no I I'm actually very glad that that's being implemented because you know it's it's wonderful. I think it's a transparent measure. Um thank you very much. Of course. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Anyone else? That's it, Mr.

Okay. Well, I'd like to just clear up just a few comments uh that were made. Number one, um number one, the comment of the fact that this is about a development service. This is not about development services. development services a catchall. Uh this is about permitting. The reason why this came up 10 months ago was very simple was because we were about to implement the process that thank God we did not which is going to be an express lane uh so that certain people could get their permits done faster. They paid more. I believe everybody should get their permits done faster. That's the part of government. So let's get everybody what they want. So it was about permitting. At the end of the day the study was we brought in Mr. duos to give us a study on how we can be the most efficient hermining program in the country. That's the intent of it. So, let's not deviate and try to, you know, uh cast shadows or aspersions uh in regards to what's going on uh here in this process. Uh number two, uh it's the proof is not in the cake, it's in the pudding. The proof is in the pudding. Um that's that's what it is. And I want to congratulate staff. I want to congratulate staff. you have done an amazing job over the last 10 months and let me tell you why I think you should also be congratulated unlike the individual who spoke before Lucy. Um when I started here 13 years ago um a lot of people talk I have experience but this is what I do for a living. Okay. Uh I didn't hire permit expediters. I just came and addressed issues myself in municipalities. This municipality used to run permits on the third floor. So, let me tell you a little bit about what the manager did along with Surami Cabrera and other members of our staff who are here with us today who deserve all the credit. Thank you. We removed everybody from the third floor and we built a brand new building. We renovated an existing building, but we built a brand new everything is in the interiors. I mean, literally, we just left the shell basically.

We were no we went from accepting paper plans to now going fully 100% paperless. And we also digitize millions and millions and millions and millions of pieces of paper. So if you walk around the development services building, you'll see that there's no file cabinets barely except for whatever's been working on at that moment if they have something that deals with paper. That's a huge accomplishment. And not only that, I don't know the exact number, but I think it was about 7,000 expired permits.

That's correct, Mayor. We closed 7,000 expired permits. and Surami Gaba uh before she was basically you know pushed out of here um left here with I think it was about 10 left 10 or 15 expired permits pending to to close I think it was out of out of they're all closed there

they were all closed sorry about that so a lot has been accomplished by staff in the last years a lot and they deserve to be commended I know we want to tear people people down because the people didn't get what they wanted. But at the end of the day, we also have to give credit where credit is due and we're going to get better. That's why we're taking this additional additional effort and we've done the study and staff is working hard. We're bringing people in. So, I want to give credit to staff. I want to give credit to the manager's office. I want to thank Lucy for coming here and speaking her mind, providing positive feedback. Hey, we can do this better. This is not right. We need to move forward in the right direction. And that's what we want. We want feedback whether it's positive or negative. But to say that we haven't done anything here in the city, as you can see, look at the amount of work that we've done here in the city. Okay? A lot. And then the numbers, the numbers are there. I'm going to take this and I'm asking the manager to share with our residents and I'm going to share with our with our residents also on behalf of my office. So, I want to congratulate everyone. Thank you, Mr. Dios. You've worked very hard over the last 10 months, and we look forward to implementing uh your ideas, your concepts, and seeing how we can better. And thank you to staff. You deserve all the credit. Thank you very much. Uh moving on to item E2. We don't need to take action. Correct. Just an update.

Okay. Moving on to item E2. E2 is an ordinance of the city commission amending chapter 2 administration article 7 finance division 1 generally to create section 2-353 of the city code to formally establish ongoing priority capital projects and capital matrices funding programs providing for severability clause repeated provision codification and providing for an effective date. And vice mayor. Thank you. Um there's been no changes since first reading. Y um and this is to help us uh maintain our budget in the way that we've been doing so um and make sure that it happens going forward. So I'll make a motion.

Mr. Cler, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Mayor Logo? Yes. Moving on to item E3. E3 is an ordinance of the city commission amending chapter 74 traffic and vehicles article one in general section 74-3 riding of bicycles upon pedestrian sidewalks generally and chapter 74 traffic and vehicles article 4 bicycles and skateboards scooters shared mobility devices and other similar devices section 74-239 definitions to amend the city code definition of electric bicycles and prohibit the riding of electric bicycles on city sidewalks providing for severability clause repeater provision codification and providing for an effective date are there any changes

good afternoon no there have been no changes and we continue to work closly with our lobbying team and with the chiefs on our efforts in Tallahassee regarding the same subject. Thank you very much, Mr. Cler. Do you have any public comment?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Go ahead. Maria Cruz. This is Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road, 305 323 2154. very very supportive of this. For those of us that live near the University of Miami and we see the students rush into class, um you have to look both ways and sometimes look again because the electric bikes do not look. They just go fast. So very very good,

Mr. Clerk. That's it, Mr. Mayor. All right, I'll move it. I'll second. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Lago,

yes. Item E4. E4s and norance of the city commission amending chapter 10 105 buildings and building regulations of the code of the city of Coral Gables by amending section 105-30 construction staging plans to modify construction fencing requirements requiring visual displays and multif family mixed use and special use and preservation zone districts establishing standards for temporary store barricades and by creating section 105-33 demolition standards to establish requirements for demolition activities providing for repeated provision serability cause modification and providing for an effective date. Good afternoon director Garcia, planning zone director. Um, this addresses construction issues in our city codeex amendments. There's basically four issues that we're trying to resolve here. The first one being requiring a parking plan for any construction uh site. Um, this is a recommendation directly from the landscape beautifification advisory board. Um, this would require that a construction um parking plan would be submitted at this time of construction um and reviewed by staff obviously. And then after construction, they be required to then restore any swale or rideway or any off streetet um areas. The second one is deals with construction fencing. Um right now we have a very limited um linear feat that we can um allow a visual display or advertising of future developments um in our city. Right now we only allow 50% of a linear um street frontage to um allow for a visual display. the rest would be exposed um dust barrier. So, we're expanding that then to be 100% of the linear footage and also increasing the streets that you can make a little to front on. Um that would be a requirement for any any uh commercial uh construction um and then basically making it very clear that we're prohibiting that within a residential areas. They have to do the construction um construction um u dust barrier. The third item deals with construction um

storefront barricades. Um basically modeling off of our window uh wrap that we have in our zoning code and allowing that for in case one needs to replace a storefront or they have an arcade to be able to um require that they have some kind of covered uh plywood um and not have it exposed to the street. And then the fourth item deals with um demolition. So demolition, we're clarifying in our code that we're only allowing demolition to be part of a master permit or a standalone permit. And standalone permit would be demolition of property and they have to restore the property, take away the fencing and have it be saw. What does that

quick question if I may? Um, when you talk about commercial property and these and these enclosures, the walls, the fences, they still have to be approved by the city, correct? Yes. The architect. Okay. and if they're not approved and they put up their own fence with their own signage because I see a lot of construction signage again going back to my own industry uh that is outside of of the scope uh in regards to the design the size the color and again uh I don't see code enforcement really pushing back what I what I told the manager um just like just like um we're doing now with the tree with the tree barriers which are in rough shape

uh that I gave I brought it the other day to commission. Um, an inspector that goes onto a job site, as you're parking your car, the first thing you see is the tree barrier, the existing condition of the property. Is the condition of the property clean? Is the silt fence torn? Is there graffiti? Is there construction sign the size of 5t x 5t when it's only allowed to be a certain dimension? But I just see that over and over and over again. It just continues to proliferate. And the DCM will tell you because I sent it to him all day. I sent it to him all day. I sent it to him that construction sites are not up to the standards. Residents don't stop calling me and telling me that it's a requirement. Why do certain people get away with certain things when we don't get addressed? So what I would like to know is once something is approved, how do we have a mechanism in place to make sure that they don't deviate from that approval? You understand? because you have an electrical sub or a plumbing sub or a structural sub that are coming and put up a giant signup but then again it just takes away from the beauty of the city. Do we have anything that we can

Mr. Mayor Doug Doug Mayor's acting development service director. We actually have a presentation later today to answer this specific set of questions. Uh if you wish to do it immediately after this item, we can I just Why don't you bring it up? We'll do it later. We we we have it's there's an overlap of departments and and we have implemented some new uh procedures for addressing these concerns. That's my item F2. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, Mr. Cruz, do you have any public comment? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Maria Cruz.

Thank you, Madam Director. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. Let me pick my words very well so I do not get corrected. Uh, cake, pie, whatever. Um, I agree with this uh this ordinance. My only question is the use of the word temporary because you go through places and at the beginning they're good and then they do not look good anymore. So what is temporary? How much time during the construction during what time? Because what you just said was real. you know, they get the permit to do whatever and then they slack off and nobody catches it and that's what the problem is that we have. Thank you,

Mr. Mr. Mayor. All right, I'll entertain a motion. I'll move it. Commissioner Lada, Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Mayor Lago, yes. Okay, moving on to item F1. F1 is the resolution of the city commission expressing solidarity with the Iranian people in their pursuit for freedom, human rights, and economic justice.

Thank you very much. I am the proud sponsor of this item. Um, and I'll tell you why I put this on the agenda. Just as we have stood in solidarity with the people of Cuba and Venezuela in their pursuit of freedom, democracy, and economic stability, I believe that we must also stand with the people of Iran. We must support the fundamental right of the Iranian people to peacefully protest and to seek a government that respects human rights, democrat principles, and the legitimate role of political opposition. Latest reports have shown that tens of thousands of protesters have been killed in the street, mowed down by machine guns, and over 42,000 people have been arrested. Countless are missing, never to be found again. Oppression is not an option, and we must continue to stand with those who seek liberty and justice. If you hearken back to the days of Iran 30 plus years ago, 40 plus years ago, it reminded you of a city in Europe. What has it become now? So I ask you to please support this in an effort to spread democracy around the hemisphere, around the country, around the world. Thank you very much.

Mayor, yes. I move to defer this item and I ask the sponsor to please reconsider the language to be more inclusive and universally support all and avoid from taking sides. And and I say this respectfully after receiving various phone calls and emails and with the public comment that was here. I really um appreciate if you consider maybe changing some of the language here and I would support it.

My language is completely inclusive. It's talking about democracy. It's talking about human rights. If you'd like to present your own legislation, you can. Madam Mr. Clerk, um I'd like to make a motion. I'll pass the gavl on to the vice mayor. I'll second it. Anything else? You're the mayor. Yes, sir. No, the vice mayor. Through the vice mayor. That's right. Um, you know, so so typically, and I I previously made this point when we were talking about an earlier resolution seeking to raise the state of Israel's flag, which I which I was against at the time, so we never really voted on that because it was deferred by the mayor and it came back in a different format.

If I may, may may I interrupt you, sir? I apologize. I just didn't I didn't know that I I knew that I didn't have the vote, so that's why I didn't want to push the envelope.

Uh, but nevertheless, I think that what you did was um diplomatic, right? Because it was trying to seek inclusion. you didn't want to do something on a 3-2. Um but but but but my reasoning for that at that time and it remains the same today is I don't believe it's the business of the city to be involved in what could be seen as choosing sides in a political or a military conflict which is how I perceived the issue with with respect to the state of Israel flag being proposed as being flown outside of city hall. However, in this instant, I think it would be virtually impossible to find anybody who would be in favor of the reprehensible, unethical, criminal uh behavior acts being perpetrated by um this regime on its own people. So, I don't see this as taking sides in a military conflict. I don't see this as taking sides in a political conflict. I see this as siding on the side of humanity, on the side of decency and for that type of solidarity that's the takeaway that I feel you get from the resolution is drafted. In any event, so while I I repeat I believe that the business of the city uh should typically be limited to um local issues, I feel that um there is something much bigger, broader and one that won't be polarizing in any reasonable um uh interpretation of the resolution amongst the residents of the city because no one could be in favor of the acts that are uh documented uh being taken against uh innocent people, expressing their their their views and and expressing their their their thoughts. That's what

Madam Vice Mayor, may I say something in response? Yes. Um, I think the commissioner hit the nail on the head, but at the end of the day, whether it's one side or the other, when people are being innocently killed just for taking a political stand and asking for free elections, especially when many when many of them are women who are oppressed in a country. And as a father of two girls, I find it pretty shameful that opposition for this opposition for the simple resolution, this gesture just because I bring it forward. Um, at the end of the day, um, we should stand with these people. We should support these people. Um, I think it's the right thing to do. I think that more countries can serve can be served well with democracy, human rights. You're talking about young children that are, you know, being married off into slavery at 14 years old, 10 years old. Read the information that's happening in this country. People that are being shot in the head in the street for having a different opinion. I will always stand in opposition of that type of behavior. So, at the end of the day, you can sit there and laugh and giggle and, you know, do the ridiculousness that you do. You're on TV. everybody can see you. Uh, but I'm proud to bring this forward and if I get criticized, it's perfectly fine. Perfectly fine with me.

So, um, I'm going to add some additional comments as to why I seconded this uh, motion. The United States, we do have a process. We do have due process. We do have investigations. uh and when law enforcement in our community does things incorrectly uh they will face the consequences. This is never going to happen in Iran. This is never going to happen in Cuba. It is never going to happen to Venezuela, you know, where you have the spread of communism with no process and no recourse whatsoever. Um if this resolution was, you know, similarly placing it uh reprehensible acts of the government of Cuba. Um this would not have been in my opinion something that you would hear this community saying, well you didn't include everybody else in the world. This resolution focuses on one thing based upon recent acts outside of our country, but we do have individuals that live within our city that are from Iran and with respect to that. Uh we should honor that. Um by the same token, we respect every other group that lives within our city. um you know with events and recognition and um interfaith events and I think that's the appropriate thing to do is to uh foster peace, foster love and uh recognize that humanity is an important thing in our community and this is about humanity. So um with that uh do we have any other public comments?

Yes, ma'am. Uh, first speaker, Maria Cruz. This is Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road, 305 3232154. I was not going to speak on it, but then it got so deep that I have no choice. We are concerned about Iran. Let me tell you, I took the time to look at um 13 years of uh minutes and videos. And you know, it's very interesting to me how 13 years ago, 12 years. Every year from the point this way, there have been other places where there have been abuses, where there have been human trafficking, where been everything that we're using today. And yet not till recent time, not even in this chamber anybody thought of talking about the abuses in Cuba, in Venezuela, in Haiti, close to home where we have people that came from there. But today, we're now in a different mode. Today we have to defend the world because there's yes there are people that are from Iran in this city but there are people from other countries too. Every is rare the weekend that I don't hear about Christians being killed in Africa. Okay. And guess what? We're not making it a a big thing. You know this is a political event. This is I want votes and this is

the only time that's why we're doing it. And I'm sorry, not all of you, look for that. Not all of you are doing it for the same reason, but there's obviously some that do. And I'm going to tell you, if you're gonna talk about freedoms and abuses, talk about talk about a whole bunch of other freedom of abuses because let me tell you, 30 over 30 years ago when the Ayatollah went into Iran, I got in trouble because in my class, I talked about the abuse when they went into the embassy. So, I'm not a newcomer. I didn't just think about it because I'm running for office because even though people have asked me, I'm not running for office. What's right is right. If you're going to do it, do it for all the places, not just for the people that and there are people in this city that object to that because we're not talking about everybody. Just was convenient for us.

Jackson Holmes. Madam Vice Mayor, may I respond, please? Yes.

Okay. First and foremost, in typical fashion, it's the tear down mentality and the the lack of real information. Um to mention to mention to mention uh not all that that she's mentioned there has nothing to do with what we're dealing with today. Literally taking a attacks at me and shots. It's just the amount of ridiculousness is absurd. To call into question and say that I'm an a Johnny Kumle in regards to Cuba. My grandfather was a political prisoner in Cuba. Okay. Number one, I've been a member of El director and I've said it here and I've been a member of KUD since inception. So I will always stand on my principles in regards to human rights and free elections in Cuba. Number two, read the legislation instead of just trying to find something to put on the blogs. The legislation is very clear. It says that the city commission expresses solidarity and support for the pursuit of freedom, fundamental human rights, and economic justice for the Iranian people and throughout the world. It's very clear. Read the legislation. Stop looking for a reason to get on a blog, please. And by the way, remember there's cameras looking at you. So all the laughing and giggling, it makes you look absurd. And 100% I do stand with the Christians that are being killed in Africa. If you want to write a piece of legislation on that, a resolution, I'll support that, too. But the idea is to say that now I'm interested in human trafficking. Let me educate you real quick. Okay. Madam City Attorney, Mr. Clerk, when did when did uh I write the legislation stopping hourly motel and being the first in the state of Florida to do that? What is the reason why? Because of human trafficking. Yes,

I think it was Mayor 2017. 2017. I'm going off memory.

So there's no there is no Johnny Kleyle. What's Johnny Kumley is the the conversation about running for public office. I pray on bended knee that you run for public office. Please, I pray. I hope that's the case. So when we talk about human trafficking, look at my record in regards to uh hourly motel taking it to the city of Miami, then taking it to the state of Florida and getting it banned in the state of Florida. going on night overnight raids with the police, city coral Gables, city of Miami, uh Kathy Fernandez Rundles, human trafficking division. So before you before you come and say something, I don't see your resume. Uh number one, it's so easy to stand from the grand stands and make comments like that, but it sure seems to be that it's easy to tear down, but it's very difficult to build things up.

Sir, I apologize. So, I have a expect I I think that you are all going to agree with what I'm about to say. Um, we have suffered in our hemisphere the failures of so many administrations to liberate Cuba. We have suffered. Finally, we're getting some action on Venezuela. But as you may know, uh, my wife's Peru has been communist for the past five years, and people don't even know that because Biden covered it up or whatever, you know, uh, covered it up, right? But anyways, uh, we got five communist countries. Here's my point. Here's my point. One of the things that I found is that that somehow our country gets committed to fighting wars in the Middle East when what we really should do I mean there's do you know that the population of Cuba I think has has uh tumbled from 11 million people to 10 million people. And who's the fault of that? It's the government. It's the communist system. Uh, and so what I fear with with the thing of of falling into a trap of talking about the Middle East is we can't let them uh divert our attention like how about sending the Marines to Cuba right now. Thank you. Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. That's it for public comment, but I did receive an email during the uh the meeting. It says, "Good morning, Mr. Clerk. I'm unfortunately unable to leave work and would like to the following comments could be read into the record regarding the mayor's resolution on Iran. I agree that all protesters deserve to have the same freedom both to speak out in advancement of their own freedoms and to be freed from government action that encroaches upon their human rights. This is the same whether in Iran, Palestine, on colleges campuses across the United States or in Minneapolis. What we do not wish is to see our government make statements in our name that lend support to military action either directly by the United States or from this country's allies like Israel. Whether we have seen unfettered military support be used to massacre civilian populations, journalists and healthcare workers in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. This city commission must consider its responsibility and role to the community that it serves and whether it will be similarly supporting protesters who have been brutalized and killed at the hands of our own government. Therefore, I would like to request the city add a provision to the proposed resolution. One, clarifying that the resolution does not support military action against Iran. and two that in addition to Iranian protesters, the proclamation lends support for protesters across the world and in America who stand for freedom in the face of tyrannical and oppressive government action. Thank you. Thank you, Katherine Shabbat. Shahad, 11:33 North Greenway Drive.

That's I think I call the caller for a vote. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Castro,

before I take a vote, I want to go ahead and clarify that absolutely I stand with the people of Iran, but at the same time, I want to put on the record. I asked the mayor to go ahead and amend the language, not to single out just Iran, to support all that would make me more comfortable after hearing public comment and from having residents reach out to me that live in this city. So, I will not be supporting this. Um, I don't know as a local government where we draw the line and we're getting ourselves involved in in aspects of the world that we really have no jurisdiction of. But, um, I do support the the people from Iran. I just don't support this exact legislation. We should be really supporting everybody universally. So, no. Commissioner Lada, for the previous reasons that I stated, yes.

Mayor Lago,

um, very clearly, we'll read it again for the record, that the city expresses solidarity and support for the pursuit of freedom, fundamental human rights, and economic justice for the Iranian people and throughout the world. We cannot be afraid to stand up and voice our opinion for democracy, for free elections, and for the positive and correct treatment of human beings, especially women and young children. Turn the TV on, and you'll see very clearly what's going on all over the world. And we need to show support. And for the people who have contacted me, called me in regards to who are residents here in support of this, I thank you very much. Thank you for always educating and thank you always for bringing a positive light to all causes. Yes,

Vice Mayor Anderson. And for those reasons as well, because it supports peace uh and freedoms throughout the world. Yes.

Thank you. All right. Hopefully the next one doesn't take that long. F2. Hello again, Deborra Mayor's acting development service director. Thank you, mayor, for giving me the opportunity to talk about tree protection and construction fences and silt barriers. It was very interesting to see something that had so much overlap between public works and development services. Once you start asking around trying to figure out who's doing what, uh, it was very enlightening. I have some answers for you. I will try to be as brief as I can with the presentation so we can get to your answers. All right. Waiting for them to put it up for me.

So, uh, looks familiar. I picked that beautiful tree protection. I picked that picture because someone else used it in a presentation not too long ago. Love it. Look how beautiful that is. Okay, so

I'm proud of that. It's how you do the little things. This is an example of how they should look. Um, it's like kindergarten. That's what we want. Um, okay. So, all joking aside, required by section 8232 of the code, uh, the the protective barriers among other things shall be a minimum of 4 feet above ground and shall be constructed 2x4 wood post, crossmembers, etc., which shall remain in place until development is completed and the tree preservation agency has authorized their removal. So, there there's a lot more to it. I shortened it just so that it would fit on the slide. But uh with regards to what we're talking about here, we want to make sure that they they they are in good condition. Uh that they're made out of 2x4s, we've we've found that sometimes people use metal stakes. That's very dangerous. Uh a child riding a bicycle can impale themselves with that if if it's done incorrectly. Uh and of course uh within you're only supposed to have hand digging and hand grading uh so that you can protect the roots and and not damage the tree itself. So construction fences uh there was another item earlier that that uh Jennifer presented and we realized we had some overlap today in that as well. Uh but this part we're not changing. Uh, a construction fence shall be covered with a visual dust barrier. Uh, they shall be kept clean, undamaged, and without graffiti. And all information shall be prior current as develop as determined by development services. We have some pictures there. One of a residence and one of a very large commercial property a block away. So, in Coral Gables, most demolitions, new construction, and additions do require a construction fence. uh it needs to uh it's there to keep people and the general public out of a might what might be a very dangerous working

job site. Uh the building official ultimately determines what is required based on the type of construction project. Um and then in addition to that uh we we we wanted to mention pedestrian protection. Uh it's it's an unsung hero. It keeps people safe when they're walking near these job sites. And chapter 33 uh provides uh pedestrian protection pedestrian protection requirements uh that account for the height of the construction that's taking place and how far from the property line it's occurring. And I put a couple of pictures up there so you can see what it looks like. Sedimentation and silt fences. So they're needed when there's a potential for runoff. Uh this goes from the federal government. uh section 402 of the federal clean water act. Uh then it's also uh thank you Hermes for joining us. Uh then it's also in the Florida statutes which references that uh the NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. He's here on Q. Uh and uh it is also in our city code regarding waterways and storm water management systems that it shall be unlawful for any property owner or entity performing construction activities to cause lead, allow, discard, permit or suffer runoff, erosion, and sedimentation into any storm water drains, inlets, catch basins, all of those other things. Uh uh designed to convey storm water runoff within the city. We did include a a detail there uh so you could visualize what that is. When when you're at a job site, they they if there's a potential for runoff, they will put this at the bottom of the fence in a manner similar to this detail shown here. Okay. So, now that the educational part is done, now I can answer your your question, Mr. Mayor. Um Hermes and I discussed this with staff uh in both of our departments and we discovered that yes there is indeed an overlap of

responsibilities here uh for permitting and inspection of these items. Uh what we decided to do uh working together is that inspectors from both departments will inspect the condition of installed fences and tree protection and withhold approvals in cases of non-compliance. Um, so yes, you get called out for an inspection. We see that it has deteriorated. As it was pointed out earlier, it starts out really nice,

but then as time goes by, it might deteriorate and deteriorate and deteriorate to the point where now it doesn't look right. We will fail the inspection, tell them, hey, you need to fix this. It looks terrible, and until they don't fix it, we won't approve the inspection. Uh in addition to that, um obviously code enforcement, it is their daily duties to patrol their zones and to discover this sort of thing and to address it appropriately. And they do have tools in their toolbox for that as well. uh proactive patrols, education, citations, and in extreme cases, they can even bring in uh the building official and and he could use his authority to uh motivate them to fix the construction fences and the tree protection. Um, in addition, in the interim, since you're the last time you brought it up, um, we we've we've prepared some handouts, uh, to educate applicants. And what we're going to do is we're going to send these handouts with the permit out to the to the applicants so that when they obtain their permit, they'll get the handouts for the construction fences and the tree protection, and they will uh, also be aware of what the requirements are that I kind of went over in the presentation. I don't know if Hermes wants to add anything to that, but that's Essentially what what I

the one thing one of the things that we found was through the exercise there was some gaps between between you know their chop and ours when it comes in this you know like for example you know generally speaking poly works we we look at the rightway the folks look at the inside um especially when it goes down to single family homes where maybe some of the tree protection may be happen on the outside but poly works may not necessarily be invited to the place until the last minute so I think we kind of work something out that we provide coverage for each other so moving forward Um, you know, we should we should be able to do a better job at this. Okay, perfect. Thank you. All right. I appreciate your hard work. Thank you for Thank you. elaborating. This is a key. That's a that's a good sign. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Uh F3, Madam Vice Mayor,

uh this discussion regarding state law and city's ability to regulate leaf blowers. I've asked staff to update us um and both the legal aspects and the practical aspects. Uh Dina Beluan here as well. Um so staff take it away.

Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Stephanie Thromorton, deputy city attorney. As you all may recall, in um 2025, at the end of the 2024 2025 legislative session, there was a preeemption built into an appropriations act that was line item vetoed by the governor then, which by operation of law meant that that preeemption was also vetoed. Um but what is pending right now at the state legislature? So we are free to act in the um world of gas powered landscaping equipment at the moment. Though I do note that there is a bill pending um at the legislature this year moving through the house HB433 which would preempt to the state all regulations about gas powered farm and landscape equipment. Not specific to blowers generally but all gas powered equipment. There is a move to do that there. So at the moment um that's something we can regulate though um as attempted in the past and again in this legislative session there is a move for preeemption at the state legislature. As far as the details of how they work and effectiveness I'll I'll turn that over to Dena. That's our area.

I'm going to ask you a legal question off the cuff here and I don't expect you to know the answer right now. Um, let's assume for a moment that there is some kind of muffler system that comes into play to muffle the sounds of the gas blowers. Um, I want you to look at whether or not the preeemption that's proposed uh would prohibit us from um trying to require something like that. My understanding of the current language is that the definition of gasoline powered landscape equipment um is what's preempted to the state and it doesn't include as far as I can tell at the moment any um exceptions for um noise u muffling additions. It's the regulation of gasoline powered landscape equipment generally.

Well, I'll turn it over to Dina. Thank you.

Okay. Dina Bel Llewellyn. I am assistant director of public works for green space management. And so what we do is we maintain all the landscaping sites in the city. We have a combination of in-house staff of 30 people more or less working mostly the downtown sites. Our downtown sites meaning Miracle Mile and Ponds and most of the the streetscapes in the urban area. We're already using the electric powered blowers. They're effective in these small areas in downtown where you have a lot of pedestrian traffic, you have a lot of car parking. Um they they of course help with noise and help with um keeping the streets clean. The downfall to them is the batteries only last less than two hours. So, we're constantly having to switch out um by either bringing two or three different blowers in a truck per day just to create a shift or go back and forth to charge the machines. Okay. So, they're not as powerful as the gas blowers. So out in the I guess the hinterland I call it the rest of the neighborhood the rest of the cities where most of the residential homes are where we have our larger parks and our big medians such as look at Alhhamra median for an example that is full of the large fus trees with very large leaves. These leaves get wet. It's very difficult for staff to get um the leaf volume blown off of those streets using the electric blowers. So, they continue to use the gas blowers just for efficiency. Now, if we were to go to 100% electric in these areas, um, our vendor, who is currently SFM, would most certainly increase the cost

of service to give the current level of service delivering a site on time because what it would do is just obviously make landscape maintenance take twice as long. they would have to go to rakes and, you know, do a lot of manual leaf blowing and removal of debris. So, with that said, those are the pros and cons. All right. I mean, I just wanted to get the full commission an update. I know there was an at least one email that had come to all of us and I thought it would be best that we all receive the uniform information across the board so we know how to respond. That's it.

No. Well, thank you, uh, Madam Vice Mayor. Um, we've been receiving, I think, like probably two or three emails in the last week. I think we got as a commission in regards to this and, um, I appreciate the update as well. Okay. Thank you.

And anything new that comes out, for example, just like we're waiting for leap lowers to become more efficient, we're also waiting for trolleys. We've been talking about electric trolleys for 10 years. We've we've actually done tours. We've actually uh take bit on a trolley on an electric trolley but one of the concerns has been where is it manufactured? They were made in China. So we were not able to come close to even purchasing those. We could have bought it but again um I asked the manager not to and I know that my colleagues also agree with me on that front. So uh we have to be very very uh careful that we get ourselves into something that again we lose efficiency. We're trying to balance that environmental stewardship and also be as efficient as possible. U so

it's a tough balance. So, I'll add to that. Mayor, we also been looking at electric garbage trucks, you know, and again, you have to look at performance and uh staff has to evaluate that. Is it going to function for the purpose that we're using it for? Is that an easy answer? Okay. Uh moving on to G1. Thank you, Dina. Great work as always. G1 is a resolution of the city commission confirming the appointments of Carlos J. Castillo nominated by commission as a whole and a name to be determined to serve as members of the firefighters pension trust fund for a 2-year term that began on June 1st, 2025 and continues through May 31st, 2027. May I have a motion? I'll move it. I'll second. So, the motion, I guess, is just for Carlos Castillo, but

I was going to say, uh, does the commission have any other names they would like to include at this time? I do. I do have a name. So, for the firefighter pension trust fund, a CPA that lives in the city, Alex Suedo. Okay. I can get over to the commit uh to the city clerk. Okay. Thank you, sir. We need one more. No, we have the other one. We have the other. So, Carlos Castillo and Carlos Castillo and Alex. We're good. Yes. All right. Perfect. That's perfect. Um, that's what I was looking for was someone with that type of background. Y volunteering. May I have a motion? We have a motion, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Lago, yes.

Thank you. Uh, moving on to H1. H1 is a resolution of the city commission authorizing an amendment to the fiscal year 20252026 annual budget to recognize a transfer of $3 million from the parking fund reserves and two uh $2,500,000 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development grant for the mobility hub project and appropriating the funds for cost for cost for the mobility hub capital project. Mr. Manager, uh Mayor, yes, this is for this is all for the mobility hub project. The $3 million comes from the the parking reserve fund which was which is for the mobility hub. Yes.

And the $2.5 million is a housing uh and and urban development grant that that we maybe will probably be using uh for the uh design cost. When did we get that grant? Four years ago, right? Yes. Yeah. I remember I went up there with Rhonda, the vice mayor who went to Washington. And so I just want to say make sure that we thanked Congresswoman Maria Salasar uh who played an integral part in getting getting us that grant uh along with our entire team uh who came through big. So uh is there any further comment? I entertain a motion. I'll move it. Second. Commissioner Lada.

Yes. Sorry, sir. Yes, sir. Jackson Holmes public.

Bravo. Um, so my name is Jackson Holmes. I live at 35 Sedonia Avenue. Um, I think you all know by now that uh I've learned through bitter experience, no parking, no income. And so for me, um, I'm hoping really, uh, maybe I'm putting too much pressure on people, but I'm hoping to see if we can come up with enough money to break ground, uh, because I'm afraid of a potential recession. And, uh, but and that's why I want to get us locked in. Right. So, now we have uh, $5 million plus. And uh I don't know how much you all feel is going to be the trigger point where we can break ground because then then there's no parking there, but but then at least we can't ever be dislodged, right? Uh so um what I'm about to say is controversial. On the other hand, if I'm dedicated to getting this done because no parking, no income, uh we could my analysis is there's like let's just say 97 city property. Um if we need to, and maybe we do, uh we could see which of those 97 are less sacred than others. We never want to lose a property, right? But if it's a little uh backwater duck pond that's filthy, we might be willing to sell it and then do the mobility up. Now, thank you for listening. Thank you for getting this done. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk.

Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Uh, moving to J1. J1 is a resolution of the city commission granting permission to the city clerk to proceed with preparation of the municipal election order form in conjunction with Miami date county elections department for services materials and support to be rendered in connection with the crowg gable special mail ballot election of April 21st 2026 to procure the necessary ballots and other forms to assist in all aspects of the special mail ballot election and canvas of returns from our designated precincts within the city of Coral Gables. Mr. Clerk, anything like that for the record? No. Okay. Uh, may I have a motion? Move it. I'll second. Uh, any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Mayor Logo? Yes. Moving on to J2. J2's resolution of the city commission making provisions for holding a special mail ballot election on April 21st, 2026 for the consideration of certain questions amending the city charter, further designating and appointing the city clerk as the may as the official representative of the city commission with respect to the supervision of said special mail ballot election. Mr. Clerk, do you have any comment that you'd like to add? No, sir. Okay. May I have a motion? I'll move it. Have a second. I'll second. Mr. Clerk, any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes, Mayor Log.

Yes. Uh, I'd like to adjourn for lunch. Uh, we have one item remaining on the agenda if I'm correct, Mr. Clerk. Yes, sir. Item E1, which is time certain. So, I look forward to seeing everyone here. Please have a nice lunch. See you at 2 o'clock. Thank you very much.

Mr. Clerk. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Are you ready to commence? Yes, sir. Uh, welcome back. I'd like to thank everyone for being here. It's always great to see democracy in action. Uh, we're here for time certain item agenda item E1. Uh, Mr. Clerk, you'd like to put an item on the record first? Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Fernandez is on Zoom, but I believe in order for him to be able to participate in this meeting, the commission needs to make take a vote uh allowing him to do that. I'll entertain a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. All in favor? I.

Thank you. Moving on to item E1, an appeal to the city commission of the board of architects special master decision on January 13, 2026, affirming the board of architects October 19th, 2023 design approval for property located at 110 Phoenicia Avenue, Coral Gable, Florida 33134. Madam city attorney,

thank you mayor. Um, so pursuant to section 14-208.6 is the city zoning code. This appeal is based on the record of the hearing before the board of architects. special masters and shall not be a denovo hearing. What that means is that no new or additional testimony shall be taken. This is an appeal that's based only on the record. And so, as a reminder, your role in considering this appeal is one, whether due process was afforded, two, whether the essential requirements of law were met, and three, whether the decision by the panel of special masters was based on competent substantial evidence. The commission's role is to determine whether due process is afforded, whether the zoning code was followed, and whether the competent substantial evidence supported the decision of the special masters. After the commission's review, the commission has four options as provided in the zoning code. The city commission can affirm the decision of the special masters. The city commission can affirm the decision of the special masters with conditions. The city commission can override the decision of the special masters or the city commission can remand prefer the proceedings to the special masters. And to be clear, uh, affirming the decision would be affirming the approval of the design. Um, the mayor as chair of the city commission with me as parliamentarian has issued a procedural order that was provided in advance to the commission and to the parties. Pursuant to that procedural order, the appellent will be allowed 15 minutes for presentation, five of which can be uh reserved for rebuttal and it that presentation shall be limited to the record before the special masters. Next, the assistant city attorney as council for the special masters and the city architect will be allowed 15 minutes for presentations also limited to the record below. Then the property owner will be allowed 15 minutes for presentation also limited to the record below.

Thank you madam city attorney. Sorry mayor if I can just kind of go through. Okay. So next will be a time for questions by the members of the city commission to staff or the parties and then public comment will be allowed but will be limited to two minutes per speaker because the review of this appeal is not denovable. Public comments shall not be considered testimony in this case. And then finally, there'll be time for additional questions and discussion by members of the city commission. And as a reminder, this is a quasi judicial item. So any ex party communications should be disclosed.

Madam city attorney, just for the record, can you discuss and put it on the record what we as a commission are considering today? Exactly. I want to make sure I put this on the record so everyone here understands when you're giving testimony, you're speaking on the issue that I want you to be able to use use the time as wisely as possible and as effectively as possible. So, I want you to talk about issues that again could be considered or could be discussed in an effort to swing or one way or another in regards to what you're advocating on behalf.

Yes, mayor. So this is an appeal of the approval of the design by the board of architects that was affirmed by the special masters, the board of architects, special masters, a panel of three. Um, and so that that it's the design approval essentially, the architecture, the design approval. And so that is what's before you today. But again, you're basing it on the record below. So this is not a brand new hearing. There's no new testimony or any testimony. This is presentation for you all to review the record below and base your decision whether to affirm or override the decision. Okay. So, for example, are we talking about uh the tree in question? Are we talking about the park? Are we talking about anything to do with landscaping? Limited to to the design approval.

Limited to design approval. Perfect. Are we talking about the zoning in regards to the property? No, mayor. If this project continues No, ma'am. I'm being facitious. I want to ask this question. So, I want to I just want to make sure I put this all on the record. There are no zoning requests before you today. There will be if this process moves forward, there will be a time when those items would have to come before you, but that is not today. This is solely limited to the design. So again, the mayor. Okay. So in following through with the mayor's questions, let me make the public understand and everybody present today that our um position our posture here on the dis today is of a limited review quasi judicial limited review. Right. Correct.

And can you just say once again what it is that we are to be looking for that is um based on the record below that would empower us authorize us legally permit us to change a decision rendered below already.

So there's there's three prongs that you are um supposed to consider. The first one is whether the due process was afforded. Due process is notice and an opportunity to be heard. Um the second is whether the essential requirements of law were met. In other words, whether the correct law was applied by the special masters in reviewing this matter. Um, so the correct uh uh provisions of the zoning code. And finally, whether the decision by the panel of special masters was based on competent substantial evidence. So on that point, it's important that you're not supposed to put yourselves into the shoes of the special masters. You're supposed to just review whether there was competent substantial evidence upon which they could have based their decision. Um, and that would be sufficient. So we So on that point, like you're saying, remember on on the advocacy point, you have two minutes. Let's try to be effective as possible. We're dealing with a design issue today. I know everyone wants to talk about a line of different issues. I want to talk about a linear different issues, but at the end of the day, to be a to be effective, I'll be here as long as it takes, but to be effective in regards to advocacy, let's really focus in and dial in on the board of architecture and the effort in regards to design. Okay.

Yes, madam vice. Uh we received a lot of of comments on both sides of this issue and my question for you madam city attorney is with regard to issues that were previously considered and uh voted upon by uh the commission previously uh whether it be the garden of our lord issue or historic preservation of a garden um are those issues before us today? No, that is not before you today. What is before you today is the approval of the design by the board of architects.

And if I may, I'd like to put it on the record. I know my colleagues would also like to put on the record that we've been notified by both sides of the aisle in regards to this issue uh via email, via phone call, via text message. Uh there's a whole host of uh discussions back and forth uh with both sides of this issue. Okay. Anybody else would like to say put on the record? Yes. There's been party communications regarding this item. Yep. Yes. I I think that's across the board and acknowledge here. Commissioner Fernandez. I also added communications. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Madam City attorney.

Yes. So, next we're we're ready. Mayor, if you're ready for the presentation by the appellent.

The appellant, please come forward. Good afternoon. David Winker, offices at 4720 South Loun Road. Thank you, mayor, commissioners, city attorney, city clerk, uh, this opportunity to be here today. As you guys carefully spoke about, we're here today on appeal of a board of architect decision approving the design of this project. We are here today and appealing that decision because the substantial competent evidence is clear. The proposed design is incompatible with the surrounding garden apartment communities aesthetic standards particularly regarding harmony and proportionality. We're asking that you review the evidence below and we believe that you will find that it is clear the evidence this project is incompatible with the neighborhood and it's incompatible with the overlay that was put into place in 2015 in this garden apartment district. We often talk about Merik's plan for the city and what we expect our neighborhoods to look like. And again, I appreciate you being here. Residents so value their ability to have a say in what their neighborhoods look like. And you're you you will see from public comment today and the public comment and the evidence that was put on the record that residents are pushing back. This project

is simply out of harmony and incompatible with the neighborhood. So often residents are here and the commission has to tell residents, our hands are tied. We can only do so much. This is the opportunity for the commission to carefully consider the evidence and help make a project that is compatible with the neighborhood. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to my client, Bonnie Bolton, to go through the evidence. And uh for a procedural issue, I wanted to bring up that during the special master's hearing, and it's proven by the transcripts that the the developer received double the amount of time that I did. And um the transcripts prove that incontrovertibly. All right. Good afternoon. Um

may you please state your name and your address.

I'm Bonnie Bolton. I live at 42 Phoenicia Avenue. Um, good afternoon. As you This is an appeal of the special master's decision to uphold the approval of the plans by the BOA. The plans for the Garden of Our Lord must be denied because they dramatically deviate from our code. 110 Phoenicia Avenue has two extraordinarily unique features. The garden of our Lord and the 200year-old tree. The garden was one of the first three biblical gardens in America. It is a military memorial, community memorial, and religious memorial and a cemetery. Some of the trees and bushes which grow in the garden today came as seeds from Gethsemane. The garden was designed by acclaimed architect Robert Fitch Smith and it was designed to complement the historic women's club which is immediately adjacent to it. The proposed project seeks to demolish the garden, remove specimen trees from the swale uh with Spanish moss and move the 200year-old tree. Experts from Visaya, Fairchild, Montgomery, and the Gford state with authority that the ancient tree will die if it is moved. And uh for that reason, a lawsuit has been filed against the city to preserve the tree. And the photos that are being displayed are of Phoenicia, Antia, Galliano, and East Pon. and they they demonstrate the character of this residential

neighborhood. Our city charter clearly and succinctly defines the responsibilities and obligations of our special masters pursuant to the city charter section 14-103.2 and 103.3. The special masters are a design review administrative board created to ensure that the city's architecture meets the design review standards of the zoning code and is consistent with the city's regulations and to preserve the traditional aesthetic character of the community. The special masters must adhere to three different criteria. The first criteria that they must follow are our design review standards. Design review standards are concerned with issues such as context, compatibility, scale, massing, style, density, height, facades, and setbacks. These design review standards are clearly explained in section 5-103 architectural style letter B. The code says, quote, "The architectural context of an area includes height, scale, massing, separation between buildings and style in regard to how buildings and structures relate to each other within a specified area," unquote. In our code, the word context appears nine times and the word compatibility appears 12 times. Article 16 from our code explains that quote compatibility means the characteristics of different uses or

activities or design which allow them to be located near or adjacent to each other in harmony. Some elements affecting compatibility include height, scale, mass, and bulk of structures, pedestrian or vehicular traffic, circulation, access, and parking impacts. Compatibility refers to the sensitivity of development proposals in maintaining the character of existing development," unquote. Um, the photos being displayed demonstrate conclusively that this project is out of context and incompatible with this neighborhood. On Phoenicia Avenue, there are six historically designated structures and on Antia there are three. This project is incompatible with these structures. This project fails to adhere to the design review standards, most especially context and compatibility, but also scale, massing, style, density, height, facades, and setbacks. The second criteria which our special masters must adhere to are our city regulations. The most important regulations are our city ordinances. There are two ordinances which apply directly to this project. Coral Gable's historic city plan is an ordinance unanimously approved by the city commission to preserve Merik's vision for our city. It specifically states that the Douglas section, which is what that area was referred to in his plan, be quote low in height and remain in the

same scale as the single family homes unquote. The other ordinance which applies to this project is the North Pond Conservation District Overlay. The North Pines Conservation District overlay ordinance was created for the preservation and conservation of the traditional garden apartment fabric of the North Pon neighborhood. This ordinance was written to quote quote preserve and enhance the character of the neighborhood unquote. Also, you must remember that this residential neighborhood is currently being studied to potentially be designated the North Pon Historic Garden Apartment District. The architecture of this project flagrantly violates the most fundamental tenants of our building code. The project received the Mediterranean bonus because the standards for it were very lax at the time of its approval. Under the new and revised standards, it would not be qualified for it. It is also important to note that this residential neighborhood lacks the infrastructure for the project. It seriously ignores our codes requirements for setbacks. And even though the project seeks planned area development pad in exchange for public green space, it only provides an insufficiently small interior courtyard which is to serve primarily as a playground for the school which is to be located on the property. Thus, they will only be providing an occasional green space which will only be available to

the public Monday through Friday after 400 p.m. The third criteria which the special masters must abide by is that they preserve the traditional aesthetic character of our community. This city was founded under the precepts of the garden city movement. No other neighborhood in this city exemplifies the core principles of the Garden City movement better than the North Pon Garden Apartment District. And nothing threatens this neighborhood more than this project. There are a plethora of reasons why this project must be denied. It utterly disregards the sacredness of the garden of our Lord and the 200year-old tree. And it is an abomination and repugnant violation of our code. And I'm going to save the rest of my time rebuttal. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Winker. Is anything else you'd like to add? I'm just wondering why Rhonda has not recused herself. She had recused herself when it came before the commission during the her historic preservation designation.

I will provide you I'll provide you an explanation on the record. The issue on historic preservation is whether or not the garden itself was historic because I had personally walked the property because I had personally seen the property for decades because I had in-laws that used to own the prop property across the street. I had personal knowledge that meant that I could not sit on that particular issue. The issue here does not deal with the historic preservation of a garden. It deals with the architecture of the building itself.

Thank you very much, Mr. Winger. Anything further? Okay. Uh, Mr. City Attorney, good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners, assistant city attorney Gus Sios. um before you uh as the attorney for the board of architects and the board of architects special master. I will keep my comments very brief. They're mostly procedural in nature just to give you some bit of a background. So this project originally came to the board of architects for preliminary design review back in August of 2022 and was subsequently heard again December 7th of 2022. It came before the board for the first uh full hearing on December 15, 2022 and was deferred. In February of 2023, it came back again and it was approved for Mediterranean bonus. Mediterranean bonus and the design approval are two separate approvals. The design was again deferred for a second time. In April of 23, it once again was deferred and again in June 29 of 2023, it was defer deferred for a fourth time. On the fifth time that this project came before the board of architects, it was approved with some conditions specifically to the um FPL vault doors, arch trims, and some finished materials. It was then in October of 2023 that it was appealed by the appellant, Miss Bonnie Bolton. A conflict resolution was held on January 30th of 2024 as required by our code. We had a subsequent conflict resolution meeting in April 26 of 2024. No resolution came of those meetings. A subsequent BOA meeting was held with a slightly modified design. That was something that the property owner and the applicant brought forth in August of 2025. It did not move forward. It did not get an approval. Did not get denied. They withdrew their application. So, their existing approval remains. A special master hearing was scheduled

for December 8th of last year. We had to cancel that at last minute and it was rescheduled for January 31st, 2026 at 2 p.m. That special master hearing was held before a panel of three special masters as the city attorney indicated before before you today is whether the three prongs are being met. Meaning, was there due process? In essence, was there notice? I haven't heard anything that would indicate that there was a lack of due process or notice. uh Miss Bolton's comment about uh different times. I kept the time as the commission is used to. The clerk may keep time, but it is up to the mayor to regulate how that time is controlled. Everyone got the same amount of time. If someone spoke longer, there was more interaction between the special master and them. That's outside the time of their original 15 minutes. But my my recollection is that nobody was cut off at any point. Neither public nor the applicant nor the appellant nor the city staff. The second prong is whether the essential requirements of the law were followed. The review of the design was based on the standards of article 5 of the Coral Gable zoning code. And the third prong was whether it was common substantial evidence. The determination as written in the order was based on the competent substantial evidence that was presented by both the appellant, the applicant and city staff. Also to note, it was a unanimous decision by the special masters to uphold the decision of the board of architects. Myself and the city architect are available. If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Just one one request. Uh you mentioned the vote for the special master was a three-0. Correct. Correct. What was the vote of the board of architecture? I have to defer to the city architect on the specifics on that particular vote. Mr. city architect if you have that information just to put it on the record because I know that I'm going to get asked later and I want to make sure I have that that is the October 19th 2023 decision madam vice mayor quick question for staff so for the benefit of the community um 3 four years ago were there three special masters required

no this was a decision that was made by this commission to change the requirements so that when any commercial or MX use um review went through the process that it wouldn't be a single special master but a panel of three. This is the first one we've ever held in that way. May I add some more color to the vice mayor's comment just to just to give you a little bit more understanding. Before it was just one, now it's three. What when was that? Do you know what year that was in that was instituted that that change? Either 2023 or 20. It was in either 2023 or 2024. It was recent. Okay. Uh it was a an ordinance I sponsored uh because I was the first uh individual that appealed a special masters decision. and it was based upon a single opinion and for projects of this magnitude I felt it would be best that we not have a single individual weigh in.

Thank you very much madam vice mayor. Mr. Architect I I do not have the information available for the meeting. I can have somebody look it up if you That's perfect. I we're going to be asked. I just want to have it on the record. Thank you very much. I'll follow up on that. I appreciate you. Anything else for the good of the order? Mr. City Architect, Mr. City Attorney, excuse me. All right. Perfect. the applicant. Yes. Now it's uh the property owner's present. Property owner. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. You give me a second before the timer. We have a presentation as well. Just give us a minute to set it up. Okay.

Okay. I think we're good. I got the thumbs up. Uh good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, commissioners. George Navaro with offices at 333 Southeast Second Avenue. I'm here uh this afternoon on behalf of the property owner and on behalf of Crystal Academy uh to defend the BOA's and the special master's approval of this project. There we go. Thank you. You can go in the next slide. The project uh and the design of the project proposes ground level live work units. If you go to the next slide. uh upper level residence and a new 5,500 square foot educational facility for Crystal Academy fully funded and fully built by the owner and leased back to the school rent free creating a permanent home for this important community resource and the family it serves. If you go to the next slide, please. What makes this school so unique and special is the combination of academic and therapeutic programs that it provides. in one setting for children with development delays. Over the last few months, we have had the opportunity to meet with many residents within an eight block radius, and we have obtained 400 signed petitions of support in favor of this project and its design, demonstrating the strong community support for this project. As we consider this appeal, you could go to the next slide, please. It's important to clearly define what is before you today and what is not. This appeal is limited by law and by your code to a review of the existing record to determine whether the special master's decision unanimous decision to approve the project is supported by substantial competent evidence. This is not a rehearing of that proceeding.

May I ask you a question sir? I apologize for interrupting you. Everything there at green obviously shows support. What is the red? Is that the project? The red is the project site. Mel, if you could go to the next slide, please.

As reflected in the record, the majority of the appellants presentation focused on items that are not part of the architectural review criteria under the code and respectfully fall outside the scope of this appeal. Items such as reszoning and land use policy, tree relocation, alleged impacts to adjacent properties, historic designation and preservation of private green spaces are all governed by a completely separate set of regulatory framework and approvals and under the jurisdiction of different boards and departments, not the board of architects. So for purposes of the record, I would like to clarify a few points. If you could go next slide, male. First, Miss Bolton's characterization of the North Pines overlay area as a low-rise area is factually and legally inaccurate. The MPCD is a broad overlay, as you could see here, that applies to a majority of the North Pines area. While the MPCD was adopted to encourage the preservation of existing garden style apartment buildings by giving them additional development incentives to be able to develop when you have an existing apartment building. It did not eliminate lawfully existing MF2 zoning. If the intent was to require low-rise development, the ordinance would say so. Instead, and if we could go to the next slide, the overlay actually expressly allows buildings up to 97 feet tall. And here's an area that shows the height context in the area to show this is all in the MPCD uh what the height in this area actually is. Um the MPCD allows a height of 97 ft. This project is 93 feet. If you could see as we go through the uh photos here. If you can go in the next slide, there are multiple high-rise buildings in this area directly adjacent to this property that range in heights between 130 to 190 ft in height, which greatly exceed the 93 ft that our project is

proposing. The BOA and the special master carefully considered this context and ultimately approving this project for architectural compatibility which is the only appropriate compatibility standard under section 5-102B of your code regarding the concerns regarding the project's proximity to the women's club. There is no rule, criteria, or regulation or other requirement in your code that allows or requires the board to evaluate the building size, massing, or impact to nearby historic sites. It does not exist, especially across the street. In fact, as you can see in this image, there are numerous comparable projects in the city and in this immediate area that are closer to or taller to historic structures than our project is. For example, Fin Studios right down the street in downtown Coral Gables is flanked by high-rise buildings. This shows that proximity to a historic structure is not a relevant consideration in your code for architectural design approval and is not something that has been done in the past and is inconsistent with past practices. Regarding the tree relocation which has been discussed at length in the record, if we could go to the next slide please. Tree preservation and relocation are also not listed as an architectural review criteria in the code. These are also governed by a completely set separate set of city and state permitting regulations. That said, our project does provide a robust tree preservation plan. We're preserving a large mahogany that we redesigned the building and the design to preserve and we are also relocating a mature oak tree to make it a prominent feature of the project. As you can see in this image, there's been much to say about the vis about Miss Bolton's letter from Visaya, but I would like to respectfully move to

disqualify that letter that was submitted by Miss Bolton's from Mr. Simpsons from Mr. Simpkins that she relies on to support her claim regarding the alleged age of the on-site oak tree. This letter is not credible and it does not constitute expert testimony. It provides no indication that Mr. Simpkins ever visited the site, nor does it address his qualifications or credentials, and he was never properly qualified as an expert in these proceedings. The appellant has used this letter to suggest that it reflects Viskaya's official position on the treaty, but that is misleading and inaccurate. As confirmed by a letter that we received from the CEO and executive director of Viskaya, which I would like to read into the record, the statements of Mr. Simkins are his personal views and do not represent those of Viskaya. Dear Coral Gables officials, please be advised that the attached letter written by Visaya senior director of horiculture and sustainability Ian Simkins on November 22nd, 2022 represents the personal opinions of Mr. Simkins. I was not aware that this letter had ever been written and it should not be construed as representing the views of Viskaya Museum and Garden. And I will be submitting this letter to the clerk at the conclusion of my presentation. On the other hand, our certified arborist, Mr. Michael McCoy, who has over 25 years of experience with tree risk assessments, impact evaluations, and tree relocation planning, who has been qualified as an expert, and actually inspected the tree, provided a detailed assessment report that's part of your record, confirming that this tree is an excellent candidate for relocation. Mr. McCoy, along with Mr. David Bryant who also has 40 years of experience in relocating large specimen trees such as this are here to answer any questions that this commission may have at the conclusion of my

presentation. If we could go to the next slide. I also want to address the issue about the private garden which has already gone as you could see here through a separate and extensive re review process. Your historic preservation officer, historic preservation board, this city commission and two courts have reviewed this and all categorically denied this request to designate this property as historic, finding that it did not in any case meet any of the criteria to require designation or preservation. This architectural review process cannot be used as a vehicle to relitigate or reopen historical designation issues that have already been settled and addressed. You could go to the next slide, please. Having clarified what is not at issue today, let's talk about what is. Article five of your code sets out clear and specific set of criteria for architectural design approval, which is the only standard that we are talking about here this afternoon. Your BOA, which is comprised of highly experienced professionals who know the city well and who apply this criteria weekly, reviewed this exact plans on five separate occasions, provided input, requested refinements, and ultimately approved the final project, finding that it fully complied with the requirements for architectural design approval in article 5. Your special mast's board, an expert body made up of three architects that each has four decades of professional experience in architecture, carefully reviewed the testimony provided and the evidence presented and unanimously denied the appeal. Our lead designer, Mr. Albert Cordovz, and our expert witness, Mr. Bob Chisum presented our project to the board in detail, walking through each design element to demonstrate how the project meets and exceeds each and every one of the required code criteria. And I'd like to

invite Albert Cordovz up, our lead designer, to provide a brief summary of his testimony and the materials that were presented to the special master so you could have that as part of uh as part of your background.

Thank you, George. Mr. Mayor, by may vice mayor, commissioners, good afternoon. Uh Albert Cordov with Coral Architects at 4210 Laguna Street, Coral Gables, Florida. Um first and foremost, I want to thank you for your time in reviewing our application, our project this afternoon. Uh this is one that we have been working for quite some time with our client city staff um in a incredible and great collaborative effort with the board of architects which ultimately approved what we felt and we feel still today is a great project for the residents to be and for the community of the city of Corables. Uh project uh constitutes 200 units in nine levels, nine stories. um a unit mix ranging from studios to threebedroom units. Um we also have a 5,000 square feet uh special needs school which is one of the uh uh theater and prides of this project. Uh and in addition to that we're housing 301 structural parking spaces within the project. So from the onset when we looked at this project we found an incredible opportunity an opportunity to design a small city block in the city beautiful and that opportunity was really to take what's existing there today and creating an amazing and gorgeous pedestrian road and we started doing that. That's what we set out to do and it was an incredible collaborative effort with this city the board of architects. Um so in starting to do that what we did is we we actually went ahead and took that perimeter of that particular city block and developed it with almost 95% of active truly active use spaces. In addition to that we felt it was really important to create quality of life in the pedestrian realm by increasing the landscaped areas in that realm. And for that reason you see that in our perimeter we established uh distances

greater than the required setback by articulating the porticles along the facades where you have the lift work units and adding additional landscaping. We felt it was also important to extend that quality of life to the interior of the project by creating beautiful open space. Uh the central point of our of our project is a beautiful courtyard with almost 6,000 square feet and it's linked in addition to that not required by code but it's linked through a pedestrian passage through block that links pedestrian with ability to go and visit the courtyard as well. Uh again maximizing the uh uh pedestrian quality of of the entire project. Um the next thing we did is we wanted to minimize and increase that quality by introducing only two curb cuts and introducing an internal vehicular drive north to south where we have access to the school functions as far as drop off is concerned. We have access to our our internal parking circulation and most importantly access to internalized loading functions of the project. Therefore minimizing any impact on the pedestrian rail itself. All in all, I think we increased uh from the 20% required open space uh required by code to almost 32% of the open space. forgot to mention that we also have the northeast corner of the project uh anchored by an open space for the school but also allowed to be used by residents on non-school hours in addition to so from what we have today we have developed almost 30 something% of open landscaped pedestrian areas uh that we think establish incredible quality to to this particular project. Our upper levels are housing the balance of the units and as you can see the one of the main things again it was to shield the parking garage as you can see it's totally shielded with active uses and and essentially units from uh from the

streets. Lastly, we have our culminating uh culminating at the last level with an open beautiful deck which essentially brings the project volume from an eight story to a ntory volume and I think it articulates the massing very well. Um in in the exterior components uh we absolutely uh through the efforts of design with a board with staff with our client designed this building in purely Coral Gables Mediterranean style complying with every single guideline element of the code. Uh we feel very proud of it. Uh I think this is going to be an an amazing project for for the city, for the community, for the residents to be. Um and um we are here to answer any any questions, any comments that you might have.

Thank you very much. In closing, reserve I know we had a question in the middle as well in a few seconds, but I'd like to reserve a minute for rebuttal. Okay, awesome. Thank you. Thank you. For the record, Mr. Clerk, 17 seconds. Thank you. All right. Don't worry. I'll give anybody a time. Don't worry. I I had a quick question. I know. Well, we'll do questions. I just want to have Mr. Winker, do you have anything you'd like to add for the record? Okay, just for the record. Just for the record, I want to be clear because there were some things that were said that were not correct, factually correct. Would you like provide the time that they have available? 3 minutes and 58 seconds. You can take the time that you need. Go ahead.

Okay. I want to state um that the transcripts of the special master hearing incontrovertibly demonstrate that my due process was violated. I received much less time than the developer. They received double the time. Don't take my time. Mr. here to object.

Also, the chair of the special masters, contrary to what the city, the assistant city attorney stated, cut me off and said, "Come on, wrap it up." And the transcripts demonstrate that. Additionally, I want to reiterate that the Mediterranean bonus that they received is not the bed med bonus that currently exists. Now the standards were strengthened. It's completely different and this project would not qualify for it under the the new standards. Additionally, the green space that they're offering is a box. They received pad planned area development in exchange um for the additional um square footage. However, um they are only providing occasional shared green space and never before in this history of this city has there ever been um this kind of negotiation where the green space is only occasional and that uh they've been granted the planned area development pad. So yes, uh uh additionally um I want to remind the commission that this project violates the North Pants Conservation District overlay. Many of the photos that Mr. Navaro showed included uh Pon DeLeon itself which has a completely different zoning code and it's not applicable to the to the garden apartment district which is uh inset

from um pon and um also I want to point out the fact that I have 12 different architects who've spoken out against this project. Um, Maria de Laagia, Raphael Portoondo, Elizabeth Platter Zyberg, um, Joanna Lumbard, and, uh, Robert A.M. Stern additionally wrote letters uh, in opposition to this project. And Liz Platter Zyberg even uh allowed one of her employees, a landscape architect, Mariana um Flightus to uh come to participate in this meeting today because she is so against this project and she understands the NPCO code, the North Pines Conservation District Overlay Code and sees that this is a major violation of it. So um yes, this project must be denied. It flagrantly violates two city ordinances. It violates our standards for scale, for massing, for height, for density um for uh infrastructure. It that area has no infrastructure to accommodate that project. There are only two tall buildings in that area and um Phoenicia Avenue it's uh 99% of the buildings are one or two stories. One building on Phoenicia's four stories on Antia every building on that street is two or three or one stories. So it's completely out of context and incompatible.

Oh, take your You don't have to end there. You can take a few extra seconds if you need it. No, I want to make sure you get all the time. Thank you so much, Mayor Lago. And yes, I just want to reiterate my due process was denied. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, I'd like to put on the record what our city Mr. City attorney, would you like to respond to to her statement about uh the time? I think you put it on the record, but maybe you want to put it on the record again to be clear. I think it's important, especially when you're talking about due process. I think it's important. So, as I indicated before, um, like most meetings, in this particular case, the city clerk keeps times and the alarm goes off and the mayor has the ability to ask somebody to wrap things up. Same thing happened in the special master hearing. I kept the time, the timer went off. The transcript doesn't indicate when the timer goes off, but the transcript does indicate that Mr. uh, the chairman does ask him to please wrap up, and she proceeds to then provide more input. And at no point is she ever asked to stop speaking or any of that. At the end of the day, she the last comments before she sat down was good. Okay. Good. Good. She was perfectly satisfied with everything she had presented. Nobody prevented her from presenting anything else. And then the opportunity was given to the um city for Mr. Reesco to speak at that time.

Okay. Is that on the public record? Is there a public record of that? Yes. Okay. Mr. Mr. Clerk, uh, please provide that for anyone that would like to have a public record of that to make sure that obviously the the city attorney's comments are on the record and everyone understands that no due process was violated. Mr. Mayor, are we in the question mode? Yeah, I'm just going to go back to to uh the council for the property owner. He has a few. I think he said he needed a minute. I wanted to see how much mayor while he comes up I just want to say that what what um Miss Bolton was referring to and what the assistant city attorney was reading from that is the transcript that is part of the record. It's on the agenda item um and it's part of what you it is what you are reviewing today.

Yeah. I just want to make sure we put on the record even though I know again at the end of day it doesn't matter. Uh people can say whatever they like to say. Uh but I think it's critically important that we put things on the record especially when you're talking about due process and you're saying you violated someone's due process. Go ahead sir. So before I start my rebuttal, I just wanted to put an objection onto the record. Just if I may remember when you go into your rebuttal, every moment you go over your rebuttal, I'm going to give her the same amount of time.

Of course, that I think that was uh what also happened at the last proceeding. So just the issues of infrastructure were not raised as part of the special master meeting. So those should not be considered here. I don't going off the record, but I wanted to just put that objection on the record regarding um the prior hearing. And I'll talk very fast for this minute, but Miss Bolton essentially used the entire public comment portion of the special master meeting as part of her presentation in chief. She was personally selecting witnesses and bringing them up and having the clerk uh put up exhibits as to what they were speaking and coordinating with all these witness. So, she almost had double the amount of time that we had. And I want to just make that clear because uh it was a a concern that I had on my side representing the property owner during those proceedings. I'll conclude with this because this has been a three and a half year process of appeal after appeal. The right to appeal is fundamental, but it comes with a responsibility to make arguments at with accuracy and good faith representations of fact. In the past several years, many of the claims advanced by Miss Bolton over the years have been carefully reviewed and conclusively found to be untrue. The first that this site is a cemetery which the state confirmed to be untrue. The second is that the trees on this site originated from the garden of Gethsemane which multiple arborists including the city's own concluded that that was not true. and most recently that an oak on site is 200 years old, which is also unsupported by any professional analysis of the record, but also highly improbable as prior to the development of Coral Gables in the 1920s, most of Coral Gables consisted of pine rocklands, not mature hidewood forest. So, uh that would be uh quite impossible to have an oak tree that's 200 years old. At some point, when appeals rely on unfounded assertions, they can no longer be viewed as good-faith efforts to resolve legitimate

issues. Instead, they risk transforming a protective process into a mechanism for delay. And those delays have real life consequences not only to the city that has to expend time and resources not only to my client and the property owner who has to absorb uh additional cost but in this case to an important critical community that is not able to have certainty as to its future in this community and that is Crystal Academy. The record before you is clear. The project's architecture complies with the code. It's undergone an extensive review by two expert bodies who both found the project complied with all the requirements in your code. Your city architect has also reviewed the project independently and has reached the same conclusion. Personal disagreements with policy or design preference by Miss Bolton is not a legal basis for referral for reversal. We ask this commission deny the appeal based on the substantial competent evidence of the record and allow this important project to move forward without any more unwarranted delays. Thank you.

Thank you very much. U Mr. Winker, you have two minutes and 26 seconds. Yes. I I'm just gonna read I can see already a few head shaking about the two minutes and 26 seconds. Um so go ahead, but make it count. But like let's make let's talk about the design. Let's talk about the design. Not about the tree, about anything else. Let's talk about the design. Let's make it count.

Okay. But I I do want to reiterate that my due process was violated at the special masters and there is proof of that in the transcript. So I just want to reiterate that. Additionally, one of the most fundamental rights that we have as American citizens is the right to to appeal a decision. And I am so grateful and thankful to live in a country and a city where I have that right. And so I'm I'm so happy to exercise that and I will continue to do so. Um the project is a major violation of our code for not just our ordinances but our design review standards. And I'm gonna pass the mic over uh to Maria um DeLeon Flight who's an architect and urbanist and she's going to get up the minute and a half.

Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Maria De Leon Fletes. Um I am an architect. Um I've lived in Coral Gables for 43 years at 825 Messina Avenue. Um I am practicing architect. I'm also a new urbanist and I'm also adjunct faculty at the University of Miami. Um I'd like to say that we need to speak with fact and that is very true attorney Navaro. Uh first of all starting with the fact that the rendering that is presented to all of us uh first of all in January I understood that the building had 177 units. Now today the architect is saying it's got 200 units. Um the rendering that is shown to all of us in public shows the building on an island. really there is no buildings adjacent to it. And it frustrates me very much to see this building is not part of an island. It is not isolated. It is part of a very tight-knit community, a community that is composed of one, twotory, and threetory uh buildings. And I have a presentation that I can talk to you about later on, but I want to specify that right now that it's not truthful. And if we need to be truthful, then your images attorney and architect should be truthful and should show the neighborhood adjacent around it. You're not building this building alone. There are buildings and there is a community that that I saw it. Yeah. And there's no buildings on your rendering. So your rendering shows your building as an island and it is not an island. So please consider that because it's not factual and it's not truthful. The buildings also that he talks about are on ponds and they're farther away. They're not within the neighborhood. So, I'll continue this presentation if you allow me to. Thank you so much.

Okay, for the record. For the record, you've had 16 more seconds than anybody else has. How about we call it a win and we call it a truce in regards to the war the war the war of the seconds. Okay. So, just for the record, I'm not This is not I have to clarify the record. 5 seconds. I want him to win. I just want to object to that being considered expert testimony as the prior testimony was provided as public. Sit down, please. Both of you sit down. Look at you. Look. Yeah. How about that? Right. 10 seconds. We did it. All right, Mr. Clerk. Yes, sir.

To my colleagues, would you like to have a conversation amongst the commission or would you like to hear public comment first? What would you like to do? It's it's designed for us to have conversation first, but I'm more than willing to hear public comments out of respect for the residents who may have believe through the mayor. I would prefer public comment first. Perfect. Vice Mayor. Um, what would you like? As far as discussion, that's one thing, but how about if we have any questions? Of course. Because it may help weigh in on public comment as well. Okay, not a problem. I see it. I see it.

Because uh, you know, I've seen I've heard a lot of concern about the tree. We have some staff members here. We have other um witnesses here that I think can help uh enlighten the parties regarding the health of the tree, the movability of the tree. And the other is the compliance with our code because we've have a city architect who's also looked at this and whether or not the Mediterranean bonus itself is compliant with our current city code.

If I may, I don't have an issue with that. We'll we'll do the the Q&A now, but I want to put it on the record just to be very clear again because I know the city attorney is jumping at the bit to press the button to step in. We're not here to talk about the tree. The tree has no standing in today's conversation. I love trees. No standing. No standing today. Okay, remember. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. I'm sorry, mayor. And one other thing, the the approval of the Mediterranean bonus is also not being appealed. Is not I was going to get there. Sorry. I was going to get there. We love trees. This is the commission that loves the trees the most. We've done everything we can for the trees. Okay. We've actually done everything. Okay. We're not going to discuss then I'll withdraw my questions.

We're not going to discuss about the memorial. We're not discussing here about the memorial. We're not here to discuss whether it's a cemetery or not. I would like to discuss live local and what are the opportunities in regards to live local on the site, but we're not discussing that either. Okay. What we're here to discuss is what we've had 35 minutes of conversations on by both sides who handle themselves incredibly professional. More than 35 minutes, excuse me. I'm here to have a conversation now amongst my commissioners. Madam Vice Mayor, would you like to discuss any issues in regards to the design um moving forward? As I had mentioned, um I brought the ordinance change that we would have three special masters on projects of this magnitude because I did as a resident appeal um the design of a a project one time and it was one special master and it felt on something of that significance. We should have more than one opinion. So that's my first uh comment on that. Can I can I add something to that if I may? I just want to commend you on that because since you did bring that legislation up. I think it's brought a different a different kind of um how do I put this u objectivity and opportunity for have multiple people in the room having a conversation on the issue. But it's also uh allowed us to to review things have three different professionals in a room having a conversation about whatever the issues at hand. So, I commend you for bringing that legislation forward and I think it's paid dividends when we're trying to work on on on issues of this magnitude. I called the city architect up here just in case if you have any questions. I think this is the person who has the most knowledge in regards to the process and the issues of of the design.

So, my second comment is I I worked for several years with our city architect, our staff, board of architects, etc. on revising the Mediterranean design bonus uh so that we had stricter requirements on on the design bonus and having sunk that many hours into it because it took years um I don't see anything glaring on this that u would cause this project to be not in compliance with the design requirements. Am I correct here? The project at hand was reviewed based on the Mediterranean standards at the time and was approved based on that. We since then have modified the Mediterranean standards and as you said uh after several years of back and forth we've made the standard I think better and better is probably stricter and and has more compliance requirements than was previously in place when this project was approved.

So does that answer your question? It it does. And for the public that didn't go through the laborious task of those revisions, uh, we had buildings with birds on them that were very modern that were being approved with a with a Mediterranean bonus. And instead, we eliminated other architectural styles and we we limited Mediterranean bonus to only those who met the Mediterranean standard with high quality materials.

That that is correct. And that was the sole largest change that we made to the zoning code at the time with regard to med bonus standards is the original code had a caveat that it was Mediterranean style and other styles. That last part of that sentence was removed based on the will of the community and and the commission and we are now enforcing Mediterranean style only. So that's why the previous projects, the ones with the birds were approved because other acceptable styles were allowed back then

to receive a med bonus. We've since made the change. We understood the ramifications of what that zoning code implication had and again there was some push back on architectural style and buildings that were being built under the previous code and that's the reason we made the adjustment. We had all the meetings and we had all these exchanges with the community with the commissioners and we modified the code to address the concern that is prevalent in the last I would say two or three years where we were able to make that adjustment and now moving forward we are doing that it has to be a med style building. It cannot be another style if you're going to receive a med bonus. That was the the agreement that was made across the board and based on the changes to the code. When was that approved?

I don't know. The final vote was January of 2020. A year and a half ago. Well, 25 2025. The final vote was The final was last year. January of 2025. A couple of years ago. Well, no. And it went through a couple of iterations and and we made some adjustments and we finalized it. I'm not sure of the date, honestly. Right. The the material standards on this building extensive changes to the code, extensive to table one, table two, table three. Um, so we went through word by word of the zoning code for months at a time, but it ensured that we used high quality materials. Absolutely. Okay.

That was one of the benefits of the changes that we made to the code was to guarantee that the materiality would be high-end and not just substandard stuff that we were getting. So, I'll ask you this question. the the design that was approved by the board of architects and affirmed by the special masters does it mean meet the quality standards material-wise? Yes, absolutely. of the current.

The building has high quality materiality throughout. The building complies actually with a lot of the standards that were triggered in the change and and I think the building uh it steps back, it steps in. It it has volume changes. It has Mediterranean features that are that are known and prevalent for that style. Uh it has high-end materiality. I it complies with a lot of of the code changes that we have made. I I would say that. Okay. Does it comply with the setback requirements? Yes, it does. Um

even though again I'm board of architects. I'm not zoning. So setbacks are a zoning condition, not an architectural condition. No, I I understand understand the difference. There's a difference in an architectural setback that's based on a volume or a mass and then there is a zoning setback that says you got to be 10 ft away. Okay. So, this project applies for that. Okay. And there were some comments about massing

and that buildings are in the neighborhood two to three stories in height. Um, I took a a look at the map of the neighborhood and I see buildings eight stories on Galliano within a block. Is that your um when you've reviewed the neighborhood, what you saw as well?

Yes, that that's our consideration when we look at context. As we look we look to the south, we look to the north, there's there's multi-story buildings north of us, there's multi-story buildings south of us. There's multi-story buildings to the east of us. I'm sorry, to the west of us. So, contextually, there are multi-story buildings that are part of that area and that that's how we base our compatibility. So, there are multi-story buildings. Yes. The zoning in the area allowed for those multi-story buildings. Yes. Is that correct? To my knowledge, I wasn't here when they were built, but they they've been around for a long time and I'm sure they complied with the requirements at the time.

Right. So, we're not here for zoning, but I just wanted to bring that up since it was mentioned by someone that there were no other multi-story buildings in the area that exceeded two to three stories in height. So, do any of my other colleagues have any questions? Yes,

through the mayor. Yes, I have a question and this is for Miss Bolton. You said that your due process was violated. Can you go ahead and guide me to where in the transcript you feel or it proves that it was violated? Um, yes, in the transcript, and I apologize, I don't remember the exact page numbers, but you can see where I began to speak and where I end. It's about 20 pages. And then where the developer has an opportunity to speak, it goes on for approximately 40 45 pages. So that incontrovertibly demonstrates that they got more time.

But did at any point anybody stop you from talking? Yes. Um chairperson um Willie Burmelo specifically said to me, "You need to wrap it up and I did continue speaking for like another minute and I wrapped it up early because I was asked to." So, are you telling me your due process was violated because of the amount of time you spoke?

Yes. And the amount of time that the developer received, they received at least double the amount of time as I did. They had architect Chisum come up and speak. They had, I think, a Mr. McCoy and the other um arborist come up and speak. And you can see that if you look at when I started to speak during the transcript when I finished and you compare it to the number of pages that the developer received. Are you trying to tell me that you had more testimony or that you had more things to say and you weren't able to say them or do you feel that you were able to state your case completely?

I there were certainly additional comments that I would have made but I was told to to stop. So yeah, my my due process was violated in a major manner at that hearing. Thank you. And also I just want to mention this here was not available to the public um during the special master's hearing. I couldn't see it from where I was sitting and I was well aware when the developer was speaking that they they received much more time but unfortunately I did not have the foresight to begin timing them. So thank you. Are you done?

I'm done. Okay. Just uh it was on page 68, line four, where chairman Burmelo says, "Can you wrap it up?"

Again, for the record, that happens at every commission meeting. That happens at every meeting here when there's testimony being given. I ask people to they could please wrap it up because as we go over time and there's discussion, we have to move on because we have to respect the entire agenda. There's many items on the agenda. We want to make sure that people can speak. So again, I think you've had a fair amount more time than the the individual individual who was uh Mr. Navaro to speak and his team. You've spoken more today. So I don't think your rights have been have been in any form or any way uh trample but please please sit down. That may be used against me later because I asked her to sit down uh uh respectfully. So, uh, you've been given ample time, more time than council, uh, to, but you've been given more time. You've spoken. You just got up and spoke again. So, my point is that it's been very fair and I want to keep it that way. Commissioner Lada, just a quick question. Mr. Winkler, can I ask you some questions, please? Sir, were you present during that particular um meeting that Miss Bolton claimed that she was deprived?

Special master hearing. Yes. Okay. Did you object? No. Did you ask for more time? No, we we we took our aotted time. We you know we we we she was cut off within the aotted time and the issue is the developer was allowed to do almost double the talk. That's what was the allotted time. Do you remember what the allotted time was? Yeah, I know. I don't Sorry, Commissioner. I don't remember the amount of time. Are you saying that she was deprived a minimum amount of time that was allotted for the presentation?

No, she Let's be clear, the issue is not her amount of time. It was the commissioner. I mean, sorry, it was the developers amount of time. The issue is it looks like we didn't have a timer, but if you look at this transcript, it's approximately double the time. So if I understand maybe what you're trying to say is like if you put it on the scales right there's more time that one side took to present because they maybe had more to say and less time for your client devoted to speaking but if you feel I think that's your your point right that you feel that she was cut off I think you already answered my question you didn't object. No, let's be clear. We complied. We used up our time.

Okay. The developer went well over the time. And that's the issue. Mr. Winkler, did you object to that? No. That's my point is so we sit in a quasi judicial appellet capacity. I've litigated for 30 years. Maybe you have as well. What you don't preserve below I can't hear again today. Correct.

No, it's that's the issue. The issue is you are reviewing the record for due process. There is no necess necessity of preserving. This isn't an objection such as hearsay, such as relevance. This is a fundamental how how it was conducted. The hearing was conducted. And I'm on that point. Gave twice as much time to the other side. Whether I've objected or not, the facts are the facts. But you sought no more time. Correct. That's correct.

Okay. On to the next issue. Can you please just tell me what is the essential requirement of the law that you contend was not met as pertains to design that was approved by the architectural board? That is my specific question. Well, I think it's it's it's mixing two elements, right? There's there's three elements. appeal due process. No, just excuse me. I have to interrupt you because I asked you a very specific question. The essential element of the law as pertains to the approval by the architectural board of the design of this building you contend uh was missed. It was not compliant.

So what is the essential element of the law as pertains to the approval of the design of the building that you want to bring to my attention? So that is not our contention. Our contention is that the competent substantial evidence makes clear that when you apply the law which requires compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood, harmony with the surrounding neighborhood, the evidence is clear that the project is out of compliance with that. So no one is arguing that the wrong law was applied right the essential requirement the law was applied

laws applied right there was no evidence sorry the evidence is clear that the project fails to comply with that so the so having gone through prong number one due process now prong number two essential requirements of the law now we're on to number three was there competent and substantial evidence to support the finding of the architectural board that the design of the building

that's our that's the contention that's why we're here today that's that's the the appeal is due process and then three the evidence and it's our contention that when you review the record and as you will hear today from other people that are speaking that will talk about what happened at the meeting the evidence is clear that it is incompatible with the neighborhood it fails to meet that standard.

So that I understand then are there any arguments that you're raising here today that haven't been raised before as pertains the approval of the architectural design both and among the board of architects and the multiple review bodies that reviewed the decision initially made by the board of architects. Are there any new arguments or new facts that you're bringing before us today? No. And I I would agree with the the city attorney is that's not why we're here today. We're going to go over what happened below and that's what we're arguing the transcript below.

So from the board of architects to the various appellet reviews which includes a unanimous vote of a special master. Your contention has to be right that each of those bodies got it wrong in each in each of the opportunities that you were given to present your case.

Exactly. And that's what I said earlier on. We're so often here where the commission says our hands are tied. We can't help you residents with what's happening here. This is a unique process. You can have input on the design of this building. This is a opportunity for the commission to say what do we want this to look like after hearing the resident input about what the issues are with this building. One of the examples that was said below. It's unprecedented in Coral Gables. We live in a in a in a tropical environment where we can grow trees. We can grow we can have open spaces. This is a silo within a building. When you're in the green space, you're surrounded by four walls. The sky is above it. Basically, it's like this. The the the garden, the open space is surrounded by and I don't want to misspeak. I think it's four story walls at a minimum that you're in. We've never had it's a coffee can on it. So, those are the things that you can consider whether we want to set that precedent.

Right. Well, I I disagree because I believe that the commission sitting here in this quas judicial appellet review of the decision bar is limited to due process essential requirements of law where the comp the substantial evidence was provided below and the only criteria with respect to compatibility is the architectural compatibility and I think we've heard unless you disagree evidence below and today that the design that was approved by the board of architects falls within applicable zoning. But again, we're not just answer that question. Is that true what I just said? Well, first of all, we're not here on zoning, so I don't know how to answer that question. We can answer it yes or no because I asked that question.

Okay. So, if we're going to get into zoning, well, do you agree with my question is whether the architectural compatibility is the only criteria that's to be reviewed with respect to your argument that competent substantial evidence and due process was was violated. The only incompatibility you can refer to is where the architectural design is incompatible. Absolutely. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about design, right? But do we want to have buildings that have silos? It's it's reminiscent of the plaza, right?

But you're going off again. I'm asking whether or not with respect to architectural compatibility, right, the design. I think you're suggesting that we can sit here and substitute our view with what was rendered as the opinion and decision of the board of architects. Are you asking me to uh put my view in substituted for theirs? Absolutely. you, your job as the commissioner is to review the evidence to determine whether this design is compatible with the neighborhood.

We're not talking about that. We're talking about whether I was asking whether or not there's any architectural code or zoning provision that has been violated with this design having been approved. Just identify that for me. Okay. So, I mean, I guess we we're gonna get into zoning the show. You're talking about zoning violations. Talking about any architect. No, no, no. He's not talking about zoning, but but he is. He's talking about designing whether this design that was approved by the way by the BOA and then reaffirmed by by an independent panel, right, who has three members, was any law violated?

Yes. Okay. And I don't mean to jump into Commissioner L. Oh, I would have just asked then, you know, just quote to me the section. The code requires that the architecture be compatible with the neighborhood. That is the standard. So you sit in judgment when you see that massive building within the context of this garden district. Is it compatible and is it in harmony? That is the question before you. Madam city attorney, you like to Sorry. I just want to clarify and remind the commission of the standard that that you were supposed to be following here today.

So, you are not supposed to make a judgment as to whether the design satisfies the criteria in the zoning code. You're supposed to be determining whether there was competent substantial evidence relied upon by the special masters in making that determination. I don't. So, you're not supposed to step into their shoes. You're not supposed to make a judgment on that. You're supposed to review the record. Was there substantial competent evidence? And if there was competence, substantial evidence to support the decision of the special masters, that is sufficient. So, that's that's what you're determining today. Was there substantial competent evidence? Do you agree with that, Mr. Winkler, that that's the correct review?

Yes. And so, let me quote the law. Section 5103 architectural style letter B says the architectural context of an area includes height, scale, massing, separation between buildings and style in regard to how buildings and structures relate to each other within a specified area. Then we talk about what does compatibility mean? Compatibility means the characteristics characteristics of different uses or activities or designs which allow them to be located near or adjacent to each other in harmony.

So your guys today and I think the city attorney has said this and made this clear. You have to see if the evidence supports the conclusion that this is in harmony with the other buildings. So you're not substituting judgment. You're not, you know, you're looking is there evidence that this is in harmony based on what happened below.

Right. Well, just a couple things real quick and then I'll pass the the the gavvel, I guess, or the the DAS over to the mic to my colleagues. Mr. You said a couple of times you referred to us here as guys and I would I mean I'm not trying to stand on ceremony here but we're all commissioners and if you refer to us that way I doubt you would say to a judge hey folks or something like that or you might but that's that's I'm trying to maintain some decor in that respect

and and second I think that we're all on the same page since we are not and I think you agreed to substitute our view of what the evidence below would have been had we sat in the issues of the board of architects, right? All that we're looking at is whether or not what they did see is substantial and competent evidence for the decision they made. Correct.

Absolutely. So, the idea is you can look at that picture and you are able to determine that picture is evidence. Is that building in harmony? That's the decision you have to make to say that substituting judgment. You have to sit based on the evidence before you and we believe that the evidence is clear. It's not compatible. It's not in harmony.

I know your position, but I I disagree that I can look at it and decide differently because I can look at the same evidence and come up possibly with a diff different interpretation. But my limit is whether or not when they looked at it, what their decision was is it support it. You would have to make the argument that there is no way that they could find that it complied with applicable law. Correct. No, I do not believe that's the statement. Okay, we'll agree to disagree that. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Wink, if I may, I haven't said a word yet. Um just a few points that I think it's very concerning and as you can tell for the record I think we've uh you said that there was about double the amount of time that was spent going back and forth uh during the special master. I think we have surpassed that by far in regards to the amount of time that you've gotten here today. I think that's critically important because it's one of the fundamental principles of your argument and Miss Bolton's argument uh that due process was violated and you're the one standing up here for the last probably 30 minutes. So, you've had the floor um to really state your case. On that point, I think you infer that the city's fingers were on the scale uh in regards to what has transpired over the multiple different boards from the BOA to the special master and that you were not treated fairly. Um, Commissioner Lada very eloquently uh brought to light the fact that there was no objection on your part, zero objection. And as the attorney, I imagine you're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart. You're being paid to be here.

Well, actually, that I'm not being paid. Congratulations. At least you're getting some good publicity out of it. You're getting you're getting some good publicity out of it. That's beautiful. I believe in charity work also. Um, why didn't you object?

I don't think it was appropriate to interrupt. You know, at the end of the day, the hearing is the hearing. Um, this is not a Under law, this is not a violation that requires preservation below. Whether people were given equal time is a fact to be determined by this board. So, let me ask you a question. If I vote in your favor today, does that mean that Mr. Navaro and his clients have some claim against me for not providing enough time for them today? This is when you said there's you don't want to you don't you said you don't want to interrupt but your client has interrupted think it's about the third time that she interrupts which is perfectly fine. I understand there people are a little overzealous on issues and I get it but my I'm not a lawyer but when you're brought in to represent somebody you should do everything in your power within the confines of the process to make sure you represent them. So, when you tell me you didn't object, but then you're going to come back a few months later and say or a few weeks later and say, "Hey, you know, we we our due process was violated. We were not afforded the same rights as uh Mr. Navaro and the owners of the property. You know, I want to help you." And that's why if you notice, I'm giving you a really a lot of time to explain yourself up here. I think we've been more than fair. So, you got to give me something that can that I can really hang my hat on. So you tell me the D because you've really talked about due process and due process and due process, you know, that it was violated. So I want to make sure because this will hit the blogs later and I want to make sure that at least on my account I feel comfortable when they write an article that spins this off the rails, you know, that at least someone can go back and look at the transcript. So I want to understand

you feel that you didn't want to object because you didn't want to the process, you know, it's like the idea of that I'm going to tell the city how to conduct that hearing. The hearing is the way the hearing is going to go, right? There's questions asked just like you're giving me more time today. This Bolton raised the issue and it's there was no timer. Let's be clear first of all, right? There was no timer available to us. Here we have a timer when but that's not an excuse. There is a timer. The person is no timer,

sir. With all due respect, there is a timer. In the meetings, you're given time. The clerk or the person who's running the meeting is going to tell you you have 15 minutes. You have 15 whatever the time may be. And there's a timer. Whether you see it or you don't see it, there is a timer present because both you have time on your end and I have time on my end over here as I can see. And then it's very clear. So there is a timer. Just to be clear, at the meeting we were at Maybe you didn't see the timer, but there is a timer. No, there was no timer. All right. But at the end of the day, you should still object. If you feel you did not get enough time, you should object. That's the bottom line.

Mayor, if I may, as well. So, as I asked and you just brought up again, number one, the basis for your lack of due process, I think, is that she wasn't afforded the same or relatively the same amount of time as her adversary. But you didn't object and you didn't ask for more time. That's what I was getting. But but in the end, right, that's the basis for coming here today and saying that I was deprived of something then as the mayor is saying, help us understand if you didn't object or didn't ask for more time, how can that be considered presidential? So I'm going to again I'm going to get to the final point. Okay, which Commissioner Lada as a good attorney basically made my point literally was. So you feel you didn't get sufficient time?

No, but you didn't. Let's be clear. Not that we didn't get effic but that's my

they got double the time. Okay. But then why are you making an argument today if you didn't object? And then also you didn't seek out additional time. So at the end of the day, I think that you're you're not you're not focusing in on what I believe is the important facts here. And that is do you have any competent substantial evidence for me to review not on time due process violations that are somewhere uh in the nebulous the nebulous state. Do we have something here that you can show me that will overturn what the special master clearly voted on unanimously? Our competent professional board at the board of architecture which are all architects. I need you to tell me something. And it can't be just in real, you know, mumbo jumbo legal terminology to try to confuse me because I'm not a lawyer. I have lawyers all around me, okay? They can iron this thing out and, you know, take it all apart for me. I need you to do me a favor, please, and explain to me, and I'm going to really simple. Do you have any competent substantial evidence that will render the decision by the special master invalid? And I can move in a different direction. I need you to tell me that.

Yes, absolutely. Oh, wait. Hold on. And you cannot tell me about a coffee can. I wrote this down. A coffee can and a park. Sir, listen. No, please. Please come forward. Let's We're focusing in on the park. No, no focus on the park. It is about design. It's about design. I need you to explain to me the design and where it falls short and does not meet the criteria, please. Yes. Okay. Go ahead. The applicable law is section 5-103. So, we went through this already. Well, give me tell me tell me

the architectural context of an area includes height, scale, massing, separation between buildings and style in regard to how buildings and structures relate to each other within a specified area. Article 16 of our code explains what compatibility means. Compatibility means the characteristics of different uses or activities or design which allows them to be located near or adjacent to each other in harmony. Compatibility, harmony, the evidence before you, the comments from the public, you're going to hear them again now. This isn't in harmony and it is not compatible. This is a giant building within a garden district with an overlay. It's across the street from the women's center. It is jarring. You can see from the pictures, it's jarring. But the evidence below, the resident's testimony is what matters. and the resident testimony, the competent substantial evidence is that it's not compatible and it's not in harmony. That is the evidence.

So, Madam City attorney, I've heard, can I consider any of this jarring women's club? Any of that makes a decision, helps me make a decision. So, mayor, the uh there was my understanding from reviewing the transcript is that there was various um evidence that was presented and you know if the property owner wants to review what was submitted or just kind of summarize it for you, but in addition to whatever the property owner submitted in terms of plans and specifications, the testimony of their architect, um in addition, I know there was a staff report by our city architect,

read all that everything. Um, and so if there was testimony by residents, lay, you know, lay opinion, let's say, that is not competent, substantial evidence. So it's happy you said that. So if there's factual testimony by any of the residents, if there was factual testimony in the transcript, factual testimony, then that can be considered substantial competent evidence. But if it's just opinion testimony by a lay person, then it's not competent, substantial evidence. So you have been asked multiple times by myself, by Commissioner Lada, by in regards to show me competent substantial evidence. You will continue to repeat the law. And let's be clear evidence.

And hold on one second. And you mentioned a coffee can and a park. All that doesn't come into Sir does not does not it does not come into play here. It does apply. Sir, it does not. That's listen that'll all be taken up on appeal. But the idea is the factual evidence before you is the resident factual testimony about incompatibility and out of harmony. That's what you have to focus on.

I'd like to put this on the record since you already mentioned this is going to go to appeal. I don't know how you know that. You must have a crystal ball. Um I'm just I've given you every opportunity, Mr. Winker. Every opportunity produce something to produce something. You've gone off. You have it. Your it you have it, mayor. It's in the record. Your job is to go through the factual statements from the residents regarding facts that go to compatibility. You're now going to hear public comment. What are they going to talk about? Compatibility and harmony. I I do need to clarify just kind of just to follow up on what I had said previously.

If the record reflects that there was competent substantial evidence supporting different outcomes and the special masters who were there and heard the testimony, heard the evidence, considered the evidence, they were the ones who are responsible for weighing that evidence and making a decision. So, as so long as there was competent, substantial evidence to support their decision, it doesn't matter if there was other competent substantial evidence that would have supported a different outcome. They're the ones who weighed the evidence. So, your job today is to see whether there was and to make the determination whether there was competent substantial evidence to support their decision, not whether there was other, you know, they're the ones who weigh the evidence.

I'm just hoping and praying that you could come up with some sort of item or argument that makes me see something differently because at the end you're going to hear public comment from the same people. Just so you're aware, just so you're please and I I don't I try not to interrupt you. Just give me one second, Mr. Winker. I apologize.

You've interrupted me maybe half a dozen times. Um I listen to all the public testimony. I was there, okay, listening to the tape. It's fine. We've been very clear on this. I'm going to hear and listen to everybody. I'm going to give them the time they need. So, but this was your job to put forth an argument that would explain your case. And I'm sorry I I I don't think I'm the only one up here that doesn't see it. So, um, yes, Commissioner

through the mayor. My last question here is for you, Mr. Winker, or maybe for the representation of the developer. At any point during the last hearing, did the chair ask the developer to wrap it up? No. Okay. So, you're telling me the developer got half the time? Well, two times more. And the chair didn't ask them to wrap it up. Correct. No, no, no. We're done. We're done. We're done. We're done. We're done. That's it. Mr. Mr. Clerk. Mr. Clerk. Yes, Mr. Mayor.

I'm not going to get into this game back and forth. I'm not going to. I know I know where this is going. I know where the commission is going. I'm not going to allow it. I'm not going to allow it. I'm not going to allow it. Okay. I'm not going to do that. But But hold on. Hold on. Commissioner, hold on. At the end of this commission meeting, Mr. Mr. Clerk, at the end of the commission meeting, I ask you to please I want you to put the comments by both sides. How much time? And I want to make it a public record. I want to show very clearly the amount of time and the leniency that was given to Bonnie Bolton and her attorney. I want to make it very clear because we keep going back to the due process and the due process and that the finger had their the excuse me the city had the finger on the scale. I will not stand for that. And for the commission to even imply that and continue to say that is not the way it should be. No commissioners to say that. None. That is that is that is an assault on who we are as a city and we would never do that. Whether we're on one side of an argument or an issue or the other side of an issue, we respect everybody's time here. Okay, Commissioner, let's wrap it up and then we'll and then we'll uh we'll uh we'll have our our public comment.

Mr. Mayor, since since there's been suggestion by Mr. Winkler that he may be seeking depending on the outcome today an appellet review, I think we should grant three minutes to Mr. to at least get on the record some rebuttal to these points raised by Mr. Winkler. I would ask that. Okay. Appreciate that. All right. Commission Commissioner. Jesus. Now I'm even confused. Okay. Uh councelor Councelor Navaro, I'm going to give you two minutes and 45 seconds. I will be less than that. I would just like to clarify and I mentioned earlier that there was an allotted amount of time. Each side had 15 minutes plus there was a one hour of public comment.

This is exactly what I didn't want to do. I am just setting the record straight. I'm just going to read from the record.

This is from page 21 of the record. Miss Bolton, it seems like you're using the public comment as part of your presentation and your public comment is limited to 15 minutes. Throughout this record, if you look, while the public speakers are speaking, Miss Bolton's name pops up saying, "Please put up these photos." Uh, I'm introducing someone. At the conclusion of where Mr. Winker says that the chairman asked him to wrap up, Miss Bolton was able to read five five letters into the record after that point. Uh, so there was plenty of opportunity to speak. No objection on the record and no ask for additional time and the record speaks for itself and I appreciate.

So if I may, if I may, thank you very much. That was uh that was uh 52 seconds. So put that on the record. Okay. Stop the clock. stop the clock. So, I want to make sure that we add this up. By the way, Mr. Cler, I'm not kidding. At the end, we're going to do this and we're and we're going to we're going to get down to the second and we're going to post this because this is again the idea the idea that we're saying here that the city has their finger on the scale and gives preference to one person over another. It's not going to happen here. The key the key here the key here was to have a conversation whether it's on one side or the other to talk about the competent substantial evidence that was provided by the special master. That's what the intent was, right, madam city attorney? Correct. Mayor is to review the record below to

And what have we done? We have spent over an hour and a half not talking about that. Talking about due process, talking about trees, talking about open space, talking about we've literally exactly what I didn't want to do. You did it. Okay. All right. Well, with that being said, we'd like to move it now so hopefully we can people can get home to to deal with the issues that they have. Okay. Even though I love the fact that all of you are here, I'm excited about, you know, continuing to push forward our democracy, but I know you have better things to do. Mr. Clerk. Yes, sir. Let's open the public hearing. All right. First speaker, uh, Cheryl Acriman. Okay.

You see, that's why we have to do it because people have to leave. Oh, can I wait? Just for the record, please. We need to be honest and transparent. Did she leave a comment there? She did. Yes, sir. What is it? She She just said she needed to leave early. That's all her comments.

Well, sorry about that. Uh, Maria Cruz. Yes. This is Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road, 305 323 2154. Um, first comment, Winker got up because he was asked to get up and to answer questions. He didn't get up on his own. He answered where he was asked. Okay. Number two, that project is incomp incompatible with the rest of the area. Very clearly that has to do with design. Massing is absolutely out of the park. in massing height. This is what they were supposed to be looking at. The project is out of context. And um once again, this is this project should not be approved as it is. They should be they should go back and do it the way it's supposed to be. Thank you,

Joan. Mayor Hello, Joanne Maher, 1225 Valencia Avenue. I'm not here to talk about the tree. However, I will talk about the design of the interior courtyard, so trees in general will be mentioned. The children of Crystal Academy currently play in the grass under the shade of trees that have lived in their school home since well before they or their parents were born. Those who drive in the neighborhood see mature trees rather than more concrete. Those who walk by, even if they don't currently have access to the Garden of Lord, while all of this plays out, benefit from a tree canopy that shades the sidewalk, lowers temperatures, and contributes to a sense of well-being. Do these students deserve a new facility to enhance their education? Absolutely. Do they deserve an outdoor environment that is robust? One that allows them not only to play, but to explore, to get into the dirt, to to observe birds, bees, butterflies, and to listen to the of of squirrels working on a live oak acorn. The green space courtyard in this proposal, which is surrounded by nine stories, falls very short of what these children, the neighbors, and the people of Coral Gables deserve. Studies have linked nature exposure with restoration of cognitive processes and increased capacity for cognitive processing in children and adolescence. During the January meeting of the board of architects special masters, the developers rep representatives spoke of a shade study but offered no details. I'm wondering how many hours of sun that courtyard will get each day. What kind of trees will thrive there? Will they just put in palms? Um will the grass thrive? My prediction is when they discover it will not. They will install artificial turf for the children's safety. Goodbye birds. Goodbye butterflies. Goodbye of squirrels. The green space will become merely a space.

It is hardly green and will have nothing to do with nature. We are told that residents will have access to this green space when school is not in session. My question, which was not answered during the special mast's meeting, is how will residents even know that the space exists or that it is available to them? Will the trees planted there tower over the nine stories? I believe not. I encourage the commission to take very uh careful consideration of the Pon neighborhood overlay and George Merrick's master plan for the city when it votes and I urge the commission to vote no on the project at it is as it is currently designed. Thank you. Thank you very much. Only 20 seconds over. Okay,

James Berlin. Maria Christina Longo will be next. James Berlin 737 Tibidavo. I've been before this commission several times and I've been on the Zoom and I've done emails. My concern is addressing uh development of high-rise which are not to the benefits of the community. And if you heard this discussion today, I don't think we're asking you to nitpick over the law or to look at the fine point. There's a lot of things historically on this case that are smelled. We've talked about the historical. We've talked about the religion. We've talked about the trees. But as part of it is we've elected you to represent us and the community is upset over high-rise development and the resultant traffic and crime. So we challenge you to look beyond that and say is this position your position serving the public by cancing a project which is not desired. Thank you.

Thank you sir. Maria Christina Longo.

Good afternoon. Maria Christina Longo and I live in a beautiful twostory house Mediterranean but Italian with is Italian inspired on Fenicia just one block east of the proposed project. And um I just want to say something very fast regarding the amount of times that the project went in front of the architectural board. If the project would have been good, it would have passed with flying colors. The project because it's so controversial, it went in front of the BOA six times. the last meeting and unfortunately we did not have the revised med bonus which I actually participated I was part of the community who participated in the rei revisions of the med bonus. So, one thing that happened in a special master that I want to bring uh to tell you is that um they said they were going to uphold because it went six times in front of the BOA but it went which makes no sense because that's what we have a special master and to me it was a little bit absurd to hear that because it went in front of the BOA six times. If again if it would have been a good project it would have passed with flying cooler. So, I just want to tell you that the applicant's request for MX2 zoning is unreasonable, and I'm here to respectfully request the proposed project at 1110 Finnish Avenue be redesigned in strict accordance with the MF2 zoning district regulations that govern the residential North Pines neighborhood. We're not saying that I don't want development. I just want the zoning that belongs to design the prototype that belongs in this

neighborhood. MF2 zoning is specifically intended for residential context. The problem that we're having here, sorry, the problem if you can give me please because I live in the street. Go ahead.

I live in this street and I am vested very vested. So the the the the MF2 zoning focuses on multif family development that is compatible in scale, provides smooth transitions to surrounding neighborhoods and includes substantially more green and open space and the setbacks requirements are different. One of the difficulties with this project is that they brought the MX2 setbacks that are is commercial into a residential area. And that's why when you have and it's not the height. I want you to tell you that I don't mind. I love New York and I like high buildings, but when you have a mega block project with that height and no setbacks, that's the that's the issue. Um, important. Also, the MF2 requires 25% of the law to be dedicated to green and open spaces. This neighborhood, as you already heard, is protected by the conservation district overlay established to prevent development of this type. Ignoring standards and guidelines of the zoning code and overlay district would call into question the value of having them. And this is an unreasonable request. The MX2 enables a development prototype that is incompatible with the residential context. That's why we're having this problem with incompat incompatibility is the prototype allowing intensity and setbacks that do not they're not in contest and not compatible. Resorting to MX2 especially with commercial uses could also open the door to leave local act zoning greatly expanding development rights beyond today's proposal.

I I know that I paused. Excuse me. You've doubled the time. Please, please. No, no, no. But please, please, please, please, please, please. Okay, but what this? Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, you double, you've doubled the time. Just give me one more second. I want to tell something. 15 seconds. That's it. Okay, 15 seconds. 91 letters were submitted to the special master by residents along with several letters from renown renowned architects. I want to tell you that one of those architects was Maria de Lauardia which has never ever written in opposition to a project and she agrees that the project should adhere to MF2 zoning and she's willing to meet with the commissioners. Okay. Thank you very much. I am very vested. I I am very frustrated. It's been a long time. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay. So that is 2 minutes and 23 seconds over. Okay. Kelly Medani Mariana Fleetus will be next. Thank you very much for being here.

Hi, my name is Kelly Vadrani. I'm a resident at Coral Gable's 10,0001 Fairchild Way. Uh my son is Miles Vadrani who will be turning 13 this Saturday and has been at Crystal Academy for eight years. It is his home away from home and I'm here to speak on behalf of some of our most vulnerable residents who are caught in the middle of this ongoing process. This special these special needs residents and their families are waiting to move forward because Crystal is the only school of its kind in our city and it and the neighboring community. It is a place they all consider home. We cannot recreate this in our town with the current real estate costs. We ask the commission to consider how important it is to move forward with these plans because we need to be able to provide our children with predictability and these families who are living with the insecurity of this situation every single day. That's all I have to say.

Thank you very much. You still had a minute and 5 seconds. Mariana Fletes.

Hello. Good afternoon. Thank you for your time. My name is Madana Fletes and I live at 114 Andia Avenue directly across the street from this proposed development. I graduated from the University of Miami in 2024 with a bachelor's of architecture degree and I currently work at Dwani Plater Zyper & Company, an urban design firm founded on principles of placemaking and human- centered design. A former professor of mine, Joanna Lumbard, conducted research with the University of Miami Built Environment, Behavior, and Health Research Group and found that neighborhoods in Miami Dade County with higher levels of greenness experienced an 11% reduction in Alzheimer's, 13% reduction in hypertension, a 14% reduction in diabetes, and a 28% reduction in depression. Research on green schoolyards further shows that children thrive in large tree canopied spaces that regulate heat, support mental health, and encourage positive social interaction. Reducing Crystal Academyy's outdoor space removes those benefits and replaces them with smaller, more constrained areas that are far less comfortable for children. I see the children at Crystal Academy every day. Their mornings begin outside playing in their garden. The school currently has approximately 20,000 square feet of green open space, if not more. This proposal offers just 4,138 square ft for the school, which is not even a quarter of the allotted or what will be lost. The proposed park would also be planted with 22 pigeon plum trees, which is a species of dense bush-like canopies that do not branch outwards or cast wide pockets of shade. They attract lots of bees for most of the year, especially when in bloom, which is the majority of the year. Without additional canopy trees, this is not an appropriate or comfortable environment for children. The children regularly walk around the block as a group activity. With 177 new units, what

I thought was 177, might be 200. Minimal setbacks along Antia Avenue and a loss of existing trees. this block risks becoming overwhelming and overstimulating while also jeopardizing century old trees. I really just beg that there is some sort of redesigning of this development. I know it's ine inevitable for the lot to be developed, but there can definitely be a way to benefit everybody and especially the school. Thank you. Thank you very much. 17 seconds over. Maria de Leon Fletes. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. How are you?

Good. Uh Maria de Leon Plate is 825 Messina Avenue. We've already talked a little bit before. 43 years residents of Cor Gables. Uh I am an architect and I feel strongly in the preservation of George Merrick's vision for a garden city. The North Pon Conservation District and the History City Plan ordinance are meant to preserve the character of the neighborhood which specifically states it to be low in height and remain in the same scale as a single family homes. Um, I have a I'm I'm glad that Commissioner Anderson brought up the um surrounding area in terms of the height of the buildings because it is misleading to say that there are buildings that are 12, 16, 20 stories high. Yes. But this is the adjacent area and you can see the site uh in yellow. The two buildings that are directly adjacent to this site are six stories and eight stories. Everything else on this picture here, including the buildings on the east side of Pon, are less than four stories, including the Chateau Blue Hotel and everything else. Now, to the west of Pon, we do have the high-rise buildings, the the multif family buildings that are taller. That is west of Pon, that is a four that's a four-lane road, which we know is a very wide road. Um the ninestory building really has no place um in this area. Uh it is directly surrounded by one, two and threetory single and and multif family buildings which you see here. These are the street sections. The streets are narrow and will have difficulty supporting the traffic caused by 177200 units. I know we're talking about architecture, but architecture is a complete package. Architecture is not building a building in an island. It has to do with a neighborhood. Has to do with the context. It has to do with the scale. So, it's important to consider the materials. It's important to consider the windows that are going to be placed here. But it's also very

important to see where the placement of this building in is. Do we have do we have a traffic impact study done for this area? Um, I confidently can say that this building can be redes redesigned in a manner that would accommodate the school, the tree, the garden, and fit within the scale and context of the neighborhood. Please favor the history and beauty of this neighborhood by voting against this project. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Thank you, Victor Fleetus. 24 seconds. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Victor Fleet is uh born and raised in Miami. My family moved to Coral Gables when I was 5 years old. I attended St. Teresa Dearbornne, class of 83.

What is your address, sir?

When we married, my wife and I purchased a home at 825 Msina Avenue where we still live. So, I've lived in Coral Gables just over 60 years. I'm no stranger to construction industry. I'm an FPL engineer. I negotiated and provided service to several developerdriven projects from Miami Beach to West Chrome. I've seen a lot of change, some of it welcome, some not. I recognize the needs of progress and I respect that developers need to maximize profit. That said, I regret not hearing about this project earlier in order to voice my concerns regarding the neighborhood surrounding one. I've had the privilege of walking the neighborhood along Antia Galliano and Pon since my daughter, which you heard from just a moment ago, moved to 114 Antia last year. The character of the neighborhood welcomes pedestrian traffic. During the last meeting I attended, I heard the road to approval for this project was not easy and multiple design iterations were submitted for review before approval was given. I'm grateful to the core gables board of architects for their rigorous process. However, the propos the proposed project at 110 Phoenicia will dwarf anything in the immediate area. There must be an alternative that better reflects the character of the surrounding neighborhood. I'm surprised the board of architects moved this project forward in its current form and I respectfully request that you take action to prevent the construction of this project as it is currently designed. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Lisango.

Hi, good afternoon. Yeah, bring it down. Thank you. 4152 Southwest 18th Street Coren we all talking about the importance of Crystal Academy it's the best for the core gables and especially for the children it's just better than a private garden at least that's what I think I don't know what you do thank you so much for your time thank you very much

James O'Neal Good afternoon. Want to thank everyone uh here for the opportunity to speak, especially the clerk for letting me do it. I have to go pick up my granddaughter Miriam O'Neal at Crystal Academy. So, they have after school. Um uh I just want to say, sorry, sir. What is your name and your address? I'm sorry. James O'Neal, pardon me. 521 Peruji Avenue, Coral Gables.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Mayor and Commission. Um, my granddaughter, Mimi O'Neal, has been at Crystal Academy now for five years, and change in her, the nurturing environment, and how it has let her blossom as an individual has been quite dramatic. And I'm here um to speak really for Miriam and her friends, her teachers, her aids, and the literally generations of families that now benefit from Crystal Academy and the wonderful environment there from the support that we're given in Coral Gables and from the potential for generations to come to have this action, this development, this um commitment by the developer and uh to Crystal Academy to have such a benefit of a 99 lease uh without any disruptions, without further developments, without uh the uncertainty and cost that would be concommatant with this project not moving forward. There are benefits to it about housing uh and building a stronger Coral Gables community, but I'm here to talk about the kids and to focus on them. And I hope that I know I'm out of bounds on architecture and I'm not trying to be inbounds on that. I am trying to say it's been four long years and I think what the commission and this uh this issue should focus on is the joy that this great school brings to its students. The gratitude that we feel as the families of those students for the opportunity presented and for the pillar that it forms in our lives and securing that for the future is not a zoning or a preservation question. It's a lifeaffirming moment and you have the great and rare opportunity directly to support our community, Crystal Academyy's families and those who come in the future. It's a moment to act and I hope you support moving forward. I'm sorry I ran over.

7 seconds over. Javier Rotalde.

Yes, my name is Rotal. Um my address is 104 Antico Avenue 6. Um basically um this area has been developing for years and growth is isn't new for Corables. What it's important is how that growth happens. This particular project respects the corables look and architectural style and many other developments have already been approved. So that's my point of view on Okay, that's it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you for being here, Nicholas Cabera. Good afternoon.

I'm glad that uh exparte communications were disclosed because that uh performance between Miss Bolton, Commissioner Castra was well rehearsed. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Nicholas Cabrera and I reside at 45 Antia Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida. For context, my building is located directly across the street from the proposed project on Phoenicia. During the special master's meeting in early January, I made the statement I made the following statement during public comments, modified, of course, because this is in the past tense. As a resident, I would like to express my concern and frustration regarding the misuse of the appeal process for the purpose of opposing a project that is not only compatible, but will contribute to the city of Coral Gables in a multitude of ways. Many of the comments spoken at the special masters meeting in January in opposition to this project were outside the purview of the special masters board and further demonstrate the misuse of the appeal process. This board was organized in order to address architecture and architecture only. However, however, much of the opposition did not focus their comments on this aspect and use the special masters meeting for a purpose other than what it was designed for. There are many reasons why this project is compatible in this neighborhood. Most importantly, the following. The northeast quadrant is probably the last and most ideal area for development in our city. And here are four reasons why. Number one, it has little to no historic significance. Number two, it is the most accessible area with Southwest 8th Street, Douglas Road, and Leune Road as its perimeter and accessible roadways. Number three, it is also the most transient section of our city with mostly rental apartment buildings and very few single family homes. Number four, this developer has worked hand in hand with the city to ensure their project is smart development, not development for the sake of development. Aside from the factors stated above, the value this project will bring to Crystal

Academy is unparalleled to anything any other developer has offered in our community. Each day, the students, staff, and administration of Crystal Academy wake up unsure of what their future holds. I apologize, mayor, if I may. The misuse of the appeal process has contributed to that strain. We're here today because the future of Crystal Academy is at stake. We're here today because of the immense financial strain that has been placed on a private property owner because of the misuse of an appeal process. We're here today because Coral Gables needs growth and all aspects of this project, contribute to growth of this neighborhood positively, responsibly, and intelligently. With all that being said, I'd like to express my support for this project in all aspects, and look forward to the vast contributions it will make for Crystal Academy, their community, my neighborhood, and our community as a whole. I apologize for going over time. Thank you very much.

39 seconds over.

Stephen Pearson, Alexis Santos will be next. Sir, thank you for being here. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. Uh, I'm Stephen Pearson. I don't live in this community, but my parents lived here for decades, and I care about it very much. Um, Commissioner Laura asked how you you could overturn this decision, and I have not studied the the uh statute, but certainly if this project is against the spirit or latter of the North Pond's overlay ordinance, that's grounds for reversing it. It's also grounds, I think, if it's against the spirit of your charter here. Certainly, Mr. Merrick loved trees and he tried to put many trees in there. I look at this project and it seems completely inconsistent with the other buildings and the whole nature of that neighborhood. So it seems like a glaring kind of contrast that should not be encouraged or allowed. But I also want to say that as the elected officials of this community, you're charged with the health and welfare of the citizens. And if you've ever studied the history of life, you know that our life comes from plants. Without plants making oxygen, we would not be here. No higher forms of life would ever have come here. And I submit to you that we've come full circle in that issue. Unless you don't believe that climate change and sea level is r sea level rise is real, I think we have a a duty now. And I know Vice Mayor Anderson, I applaud her efforts to encourage more trees, but I think we're

at the point now that every tree is is important. They're the the lungs of this planet. I think we're also at the point that every bit of imperous service surface we pour just encourages more of the heat island effect. This will cause the demise of our whole area if this climate change and sea level rise continues. So I think you have a duty to you actually resist anything that takes out trees and and en encourages more impervious service and heat island effect. And lastly, I would say since the developer tried to act like this was some narrow issue only about whether the architecture board or the the review board did their job properly, he also throws in that you can save that giant oak tree that's over there. I and a lot of other experts think that's a very doubtful proposition. Oaks are hard to move. We've all driven around the community where you see an oak standing there with a bunch of brown leaves on it. When that happens, the oak's gone. You can't bring it back. And even if they move this giant oak and it meets the criteria, it lives for a year, it's going to be just a shadow of itself. It's going to take decades for those roots to regrow, to be strong like they are now. So, what happens if a hurricane or a drought happens in the meantime? Yeah. One year later, maybe they water it and keep it going and then it's gone. That's a real resource that should not be squandered. And I urge you to do everything you can to make sure that the garden of our Lord and that tree is is kept and and is a viable thing in any development.

I didn't catch your name and your address. I apologize. I didn't catch your name and your address. I'm Steen Pearson. And what is your address? What is your address? 10665 Southwest 62nd Avenue, Pine Crest, Florida. Thank you. A minute and 15 seconds over. Thank you, sir, for being here. I appreciate you. Alexis Santos, Anna Hullman will be next. Good afternoon.

Hi, how are you? My name is Alexis Santos. I was told to read this letter for the record from a friend. Good afternoon. My name is Natalie Maris and my address is 45 Antia Avenue, Coral Gables. I'm the department head of academics for Crystal Academy, but for the record, I live directly across the street. Yes, I walk about 50 feet to work every day. My bedroom window will look at this new building if approved, as it currently looks directly at the entrance of our school. To be honest, I was concerned when I first heard about the building itself. It wasn't what I had signed up for when choosing my place of residence. Then, I saw the actual renderings and I fell in love with it. This could have been a place I would have chosen had I seen it and understand it from the start. Classic Coral Gables with all the amenities. I moved here from Kendo mid2025 and adore the rich George Merrick inspired feel of the project. In comparison to Kendo, there is no comparison. As for the benefits to the school, clearly it goes without saying how this upgrade will help generations of our most needy children. Enough said. As for our current building, it needs help. Although it feels like a second home, truth is repair after repair are costing precious funds that in that instead could go to the children and the ability to offer them more than we already do. As for so-called garden, I won't say it's rund down because it's cared for, but I will say it isn't anything to write home about. As a neighbor who wants to see what's best for our community, I believe this is a win win. a beautiful building and even more secure state-of-the-art beautiful school with all the needs for our students. Right in the same place where it currently is, the place our students also associate with the second home. Please accept this letter instead of my personal appearance as my health doesn't allow me to appear before you today. Therefore, I have asked an old friend and neighbor to read it to you. Thank you for your consideration.

Also, FYI, I was also at the special meeting last time and I remember the other attorney did get double the time. Just FYI. Thank you. You, Anna Hullman. Carol Smith would be next. Good afternoon.

Hello. Good afternoon. Anna Hman, 1400 Douglas Road. Um so I I'm here specifically because I truly believe that this is a great opportunity. Um Miss Architecture Fleet just mentioned earlier that this is considered a tight-knit community. Um so with that being said, I think it is important to for something to be built to build a future for kids that are going to be continue to become part of the community. They mentioned that there are massive buildings around yet this one is 93 feet as also they mentioned which is there are taller buildings than that. I think this is as I mentioned also that a great opportunity for the community for the kids for the future. Thank you.

Thank you Carol Smith. Good afternoon, Miss Smith.

Good afternoon. Just want to make sure we hear you. Okay. Thank you.

My name is Carol Smith. I live at 824 Galliano Street. Um, and for the last 20 years, I've lived a few blocks away from Crystal Academy, and I appreciate all that they do for the kids in our community. Um, I've come to read a letter from an engineer and longtime resident of Carl Gables. His name is Frank Gonzalez. I've been a resident of Carl Gables for over 20 years. I am writing to support the preservation of the garden of our Lord. I believe Bonnie Bolton presents a strong case for why this should be a decision that the city of Carl Gables should make, benefiting both the residents near the garden and the city as a whole. My letter aims to support her efforts to save the garden. Along with Mrs. Bolton's points, I think that from a community planning standpoint, it would be the right decision for the city of Carl Gables. The expected growth in residential development would benefit from the available open space. The garden would offer a planned increase in green, shady areas for residents to gather, which would help promote a healthy community. If we lose this open space, the additional buildings that will likely follow won't have much green space within walking distance. In my opinion, maximizing open green space in that part of the city would demonstrate the city's willingness to think of development in Carl Gables in a comprehensive way rather than the spot development we often see throughout Miami Date County. I respectfully request that you preserve the garden and its mature trees, not only for their historical importance, but also for their value to future residents. The alternative would be a

neighborhood resembling government housing from the old Soviet Union. Thank you for your time. Well, thank you. I believe the name is Kevin Kalis. Good afternoon, sir. My name is Kevin Cal. I reside at 1208 Salazar Street, apartment 18, 33134. And I mean, everyone's been talking about how it's going to further the education stuff and I just want to say 100% support, you know, the Crystal going in there and it's going to be a a great development and things got to move forward in the future. So, we should uh definitely approve it. Thank you, sir. Thank you, German.

Good afternoon, sir. As he mentioned, my name is Hermanino. I live in 888 um 888 and 37th Avenue. And I'm here to support the project. You know there is uh uh one main reason that moved me to come here and talk is the the academic that that helps the children with autism and um that number of children with autism in the past years has increased a lot is one of 31 children you know for um with autism in Miami or especially in Florida and this project is also is a beautiful project. It goes with the design, you know, according with the coral gables and that brings the know also the home opportunity for people live in the building and also you know the academy crystal academy to stay there for free for many years. Yeah. And that's uh something that helps you know especially for this uh uh for this concept. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. David Barb, is there a comment? No, sir. Just wrote Crystal Academy. Thank you. Edberto Rega, there's no comment on this one. Elena, good afternoon. Here,

ma'am. Ma'am, will you do me a will you will you use the microphone? Thank you so much. My name is Alina Mena. I come here for my beautiful grandson, Avery. As you can see, he's one of the students in Crystal Academy. Um, excuse me. Um, my grandson has significant support needs. He requires trained staff, structure, and environment that understands how to work with children who have complex behavioral development challenges. He's find he finds these things and we find these things in Crystal Academy that provided something that we have been searching for consistency trained professionals and learning environment designed specifically for children like Avery. The repeated delays surrounding this permanent facility do not just affect construction timeline. They affect children who depend on routine. They affect families who already live with uncertainty. Children with with special needs drive unpredictability. They do not drive in in limbo. This project has been approved. It has public benefit and most importantly it serves children who need stability more than most. As a grandmother, I am simply asking you and praying that you allow this project to move forward. No more delays, no more uncertainty for our children. Please give these ch these families and my grandson the stability they deserve. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Carlos Aguera. Good afternoon, sir.

Good afternoon, Carlos Aguera. 100 Southwest 44th Avenue, Miami, Florida, parent of um uh from my my daughter to Crystal Academy. 100% in support of this project. It's designed um is going to change uh the neighborhood very uh it it it really aligns with surrounding properties. I've I've worked in Corables 15 years. I live close by. My daughter's been going there for 14 years, so I'm very familiar with the area. Um, when Mary a couple of days ago, she asked me for once again parent support. Honestly, I was flabbergasted and disappointed. Another appeal, another hearing, another stalling tactic. How many more appeals are we going to have? We have a person here that likes the status quo and wants her backyard to look exactly like it was 100 years ago. This is 2026. This is not 1926. Um, I was there the last time at the board of architects hearing that the opposing group is not against the school. I think they're against everything. Uh what's more important a tree or 40 special need kids with 40 families that struggle dayto-day and have an opportunity to have a mother facility at basically zero cost. Also where's the care for the existing property owner that is current loan property taxes insurance investing millions of dollars to see a project stop and most likely losing millions of dollars at this point. Where's the care for the new buyer that will be investing millions of dollars in a new beautiful project in line with other similar developments in the area? It is obvious that if the project is st long enough, new buyer will drop the contract and move on. And that is the and that is what's most likely will happen. To close, the city beautiful must say enough with a delayed tactic. Enough with this nonsense and have a stronger hand allowed to see this project through. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sir, did I miss your address? What was your address? 100 Southwest 44 Avenue. Thank you, sir. Mary Palasio.

Good afternoon. Mayor, commissioner, city attorneys, city clerk, city manager. Uh, thank you so much for all your comments. Um, I am Mari Palasio, 712 uh, Samura Avenue. I'm also the founder of Crystal Academy and I thank you for the comments and the support for the school. But every time I hear about this, it's not about the school, it's about the architecture, but it's really about the school because for us, for more than four years, we've been living this uh and every delay do have an impact. Um on planning, for us, on staffing, on fundraising because we've been denied fundraising because they don't know what the future is for us. Um and obviously for the families that are navigating autism like like the families that we represent and we have served for 16 years and plus at some point this continued appeals um stop being an oversight and become procedural roadblocks. Uh there's some you might not know but be before Century Builder uh bought the property was another developer that came and wanted to buy the property and the first thing that he said to us was but actually that was during the pandemic. Uh the investors do not see a return on investment and I said you don't see a return on investment in these children and it's like I they just don't. Um and they offer us $60,000 just to leave the property. Um I prayed I prayed hard and that was the best November in my life because that day that November was at Thanksgiving uh time and and the deal fell through. That's when century came in they visited the school and they say you we have to make an agreement because if something happens you left with that with nothing and that that agreement now is being honored by a third developer field uh doing the due diligence and like Mr. Cigreta said, "What about if they get tired because it's just been

too many years, too many delays, too many appeals, and somebody else has come and said, you know what, there's no return on investment." So, I'm asking that that upheld the decision that was already done at the board of architects for so many times and so we can move forward and we can have some certainty about the futures of the kids that we represent. Thank you. Thank you. 10 10 seconds over. Omar Packard. No comments. Judith Packard, Juliet Roas. Oh, yes, I did. Good afternoon, sir.

Uh, my name is Omar Packard. I live in 911 East Ponam Boulevard. I am a lifelong resident of Coral Gables and I'm here to speak in opposition to the proposed development at the Garden of Our Lord. This project does not comply with the city's building code. The code exists to ensure proper spacing, scale, and separation between structures, especially in established neighborhoods like this one. In this case, the developer is requesting deviations that significantly reduce the required setbacks and ignore longstanding zoning standards. This project is also not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood of historic low-rise h homes. Its size, scale, and design are completely out of place and undermine the character and image of Coral Gables. Quite frankly, the building looks cheap and generic, and it does not belong in this setting. Additionally, the plan jeopardizes a historic garden and centuries old tree that cannot survive relocation. These elements have culture, environmental, and community value that deserve full protection. Coral Gables has earned its reputation through careful planning and respect for its code. Approving a project that so clearly violates those standards would set a harmful precedent and weaken the integrity of our city. I respectfully ask that you deny this proposal. Thank you.

Thank you,

Judith Packard. Julia Roas Packer. Good afternoon. Please join us. My name is Judith Packard. I live at 911 East Boulevard. I live I've been a resident of Coral Gables for the past 42 years. And I'm here today to oppose the project the proposed project at the Garden of Lord. This development is fundally inconsistent with the city's building code which was adopted to safeguard appropriate setbacks, building massing and compatibility within established neighborhoods. The proposal relies on substantial departures from those standards creating a structure that bears little relationship to the scale and intent of the surrounding area. Such deviations undermine the purpose of the code and weaken the predictability and fairness of our planning process. Beyond these regulatory concerns, the project fails to respect the unique character of its setting. The Garden of Our Lord is not an isolated parcel, but a part of a cohesive neighborhood defined by historic low-rise buildings and carefully maintained open space. Introducing a building of this size and configuration disrupts that balance and diminishes the architectural harmony that Coral Gibbles is known for. The plan also places at risk irreplaceable natural and historic resources, including a centuries old tree that experts have stated cannot survive relocation. Once lost, such features cannot be replaced, and their destruction would represent a permanent sacrifice of the city's heritage for a project that does not meet our established standards. Coral Gables has earned its reputation through

discipline, planning, and respect for its history. Approving this proposal would signal a troubling departure from those values. I respectfully request that the city deny the application. Thank you. Thank you very much. Julia Roas. Good afternoon.

Hi, my name is Julia Roas. 31 Menotes Avenue, apartment 1, Coral Gables, 33134. I'm here representing Crystal Academy. Um, I wanted to say that this building is really well thought out and beautifully designed. It's not just being dropped into a neighborhood without consideration. It actually accounts for traffic flow, has on-site parking, and includes great amenities that are designed with intention. Instead of taking it away from the neighborhood, the school will generally add to it and improve the area overall. Thank you. Thank you, Vanessa Ramos. Okay. Is there any comment there? No comment, sir. Oruretta,

Mr. Clerk, for the future, when we have these many public speakers, can we request when they're when they're signing up, they can leave a little comment just in case they have to leave. Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor.

Jorgea, president, CEO of the Core Gables Chamber of Commerce. 2011 Alhamra Circle Coral Gables. It's important to recognize the broader housing needs of our community. Thoughtful development when responsibly designed and properly integrated play a role in addressing the evolving needs of residents, families, and families within Coral Gables. This project represents a transformational opportunity for Crystal Academy. The proposal provides for a brand new purpose-built facility along with a 99-year rent-free lease. Crystal Academy has served families in our city for many years, delivering an essential and highly specialized educational service, ensuring its long-term stability within Coral Gables is not only compassionate, it is responsible stewardship of a valued community institution. The architectural design as presented is consistent with the scale and character of many existing buildings in the surrounding neighborhood. Compatibility with the built environment matters and this proposal demonstrates attention to that standard. Finally, the development team at Ffield has successfully delivered well situated projects throughout Miami Day County. Their experience and track record reflect an understanding of quality development in complex urban environments. The Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce welcomes responsible investment that strengthens our community and contributes to its long-term vitality. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Thank you, sir. Carbonel,

good afternoon. Thank you for being here. Good afternoon everyone. And let me get my statement here. Um, so yes, this is about the building, but the building

and the design is not made in a bubble. So I am going to read a statement concerning George Merrick's city plan. Coral Gables is among a limited number of municip actually well Kelia Martinez Carbonel. I'm here representing the historic preservation association of Coral Gables. Carl Gables is among a limited number of municipalities whose city plan is a local historic landmark officially recognized in 2018 by a unanimous vote of the city commission in planning Coral Gables. Founder George Merik employed the concepts of the garden city and city beautiful movements of comprehensive planning. This type of planning took into account the philosophy of aesthetics which played a major role in the movements. Furthermore, the city plan's landmark status not only protects its carefully developed urban landscape from illconceived projects that detract from the harmonious existing attributes of Merrick's vision, but also safeguards against any potential giveaways or takeaways. specifically the greenscape uh features that are an integral part of the Garden City precepts. Today, the Garden City movement can best be appreciated in the area of the North

Ponds district where one can find beauty and solace in its green corridor, an enclave with sculpted fountains. You can give me another minute, please. Uh fountains um is an enclave and heritage trees and the lowrise single and multi multifamily residences. And to further understand Merrick's intention for the district, one must read or refer to the landmark city plan. On page 32 of the plan, Merrick goes on to stipulate exact instructions to preserve the trees in the area. quote, "The tree develop the new development also will take steps to save from destruction fullgrown trees when new buildings are erected in new structures." This is Merik as all of the fullgrown trees and old foliage will be kept intact. And to finish, yes, Merrick was a developer and yes, he developed a brand new city, but he also made sure to keep the old foliage intact. So, please consider that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Maria Essen Wagger, a minute and 10 seconds over. Good afternoon.

Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh, my name is Maria Sbangar. U my address is 240 um Salaman Avenue. Um this is where a public space the concern will be understandable but this is private law abandoned property. Crystal Academy has served autistic children for many years and an outdated facility. This project provides housing and most importantly security and support for one of Corable's most valuable institutions. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Person. Mr. Mayor, I'm going to be going to Zoom next. Okay.

The speaker is Thomas Mooney. Mr. Mooney. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, uh, Mr. Mayor and members of the commission. Um, thank you very much for um, spending all the time that you have um, on this. There I am. Um, my address is 601 Devar Avenue and I've been a resident of the city of Coral Gables since 2000 and I'm sorry that I was not able to be in attendance in person today. Um, as a lot of you are aware, um, and because the city of Coral Gables has always been a great host, my son, um, has been attending Crystal Academy since 2010. Um, and I say that for transparency purposes because I think a lot of the other speakers have underscored the importance of the school, but one of the things in my limited time that I wanted to stress was the importance of the process. Um what's before you as has been explained is an appeal of a decision of the board of architects and their decision uh which was very lengthy. It went through a number of hearings was very thoughtful. Um buildings such as this evolve over time. um areas such as this evolve over time and I think the board uh went to great lengths to ensure that this new building would be compatible with the scale, context uh and character of the surrounding area and their record reflects that. And um because of that, I would encourage you to um um uphold their decision um and to move this along. Um, and with that again, uh, thank you for your time on this matter.

Thank you, Mr. Moody.

All right, that's it, Mr. Mayor. I had one more speaker in person, but they had to leave, and they did leave a note. It's Lynn Bluestein, 4330 Southwest 15th Street. Uh, the note reads, "I'm asking you to pause before making a decision that cannot be undone. The garden of our Lord is shared community space. Even in time of war, the Bible gives this instruction. Do not destroy the trees. If restraint is required in conflict, sure, if it's possible here in peace. I respectfully request you to choose preservation. Please save the garden. Long after this meeting is forgotten, the legacy of this decision will remain either in what you choose to protect or what you allow to be lost.

That's it, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Let's close the public comment. Um, I need a motion from the commission or would you like further comment? I do the mayor. Yes.

I I have some comments and then I'll go ahead and I'll move it. Um, number one, I want to start off with the fact that this is this has nothing to do with Crystal Academy as it comes to this vote. It might be that after this commission meeting, things are going to be said in blogs or in um anonymous blogs that um I am against personal academy. In fact, I've spent most of my life treating young adults and children with with developmental disabilities. That's what I spent most of my life doing. Moving over from that, I'm just put it on the record before it happens. I also believe that due process was not met according to the questions that I asked the developer and um and Bonnie. Number two, I've lived in that area for over 10 years. I don't live there anymore. I lived in that area for over 10 years and I do not believe that what is being proposed right now is compatible with the deep pride. So that being said, what I'm considering and what I'm I'm thinking right now is volume, mass, separation between buildings, context, and scale. I believe it's uncompatible with the character of the neighborhood. And my job as commissioner is obviously to protect and preserve our neighborhoods here in Coral Gables. That being said, I will move to override the decision of the special master.

I will second Um, any further public comment from the commission before we take a vote? Mr. Mayor, question. So, the vote that you're referring to is on the motion that was just seconded. Yes. Okay.

All right. So, first and foremost, there was a comment made by a commissioner, and I think we have to be very, very careful and choice with our words. They just they carry a lot of weight. Um, madam city attorney, you're the attorney of the commission. I need a straight and thorough answer and you have your attorney in the back. If you'd like to bring him up, I'm more than willing to bring him up. I need an answer. We've been This is why This is why later, you know, people say, "Why did you keep tabs of every second that went over?" Because comments are made and like the commissioner said, they're used on blogs later to misrepresent the case. Was due pro process violated here. Yes or no? I I need an answer.

So, mayor, my my understanding is the argument that there was there was not due process because there was not equal time provided. So, whether there was equal time provided or not, it's my understanding from reviewing the transcript that Miss Bolton did not ask or did not indicate that she had more to say or more to present at the special mast's hearing. So if that is the case and I believe that she had the notice, she had an opportunity to be heard. I don't see any indication in the transcript that she had asked for additional time or for anything else. So I will ask assistant city attorney Gusio since he served as counsel to the special masters to give us any further information from the hearing.

Mr. Sevayos, was Miss Bolton's due process violated? Yes or no? As an attorney present there for the board of architects, special masters, I saw nothing that would have been a violation of anyone's due process at that meeting. There is an abundance of comment and and opportunity to speak on both behalfs. Um, if the transcripts shows more language, more verbiage on one party, as this commission knows, whenever you engage with a participant who is limited to five minutes, as soon as there's engagement from the commission, that time is no longer part of your five minutes. You're ask answering questions. So, I think that that may shed some more light on the back and forth, but at no point was anyone's due processes violated.

So, I want to be clear, right? So, the answer is no. Correct. Let me explain to you why. Because it's very reckless. Very reckless and a lack of professionalism to make those kind of statements on the record, especially coming from a commissioner. Because it gives credence that there we potentially have violated someone's due process. When I mean we, I mean the city. Let me give you an example. If you look at the record today, you look at the record today. Was the app was was the property owner's due rights violated? No, they were not. But if you're going to add up all the time, I'm pretty sure that they spoke for onethird of the time. And if you look at the time in regards to the public comment, I added it up. The people in opposition spoke extended 5 minutes and 54 seconds. I have it written down here over the time almost 6 minutes. The people in favor of Crystal Academy and obviously keeping and and re and affirming um affirming uh the board's decision spoke for an additional 56 seconds. I have it written down here and that's why I would always say at the end of the speaker additional time so you can go back on the transcript and you can review it. So, but no one's due process was violated. It just happened to be that it worked out that way that when we had a discussion back and forth, Mr. Winker came up and spoke for an extended amount of period of time because Commissioner Lada asked him questions. I asked him questions. Also, I think commissioners Castro and and the vice mayor as ask questions. So, at the end of the day, no one's due process. We have to be very careful when we say things. I know that things are said sometimes, you know, for the blogs like you said, you were very appropriate on that, you know, so that we can we can make a statement and say that nobody had the appropriate time, but I think we have been incredibly lenient. Right. Right. Uh, councelor Winker, incredibly I want to can you put on the record?

I'll put that on the record today. Okay. You have gotten extended a massive amount of time. So, your due process was not violated and we're and we're and this is your due process was not violated. You have an attorney here who was present who said it very very clear. We have to say things based on facts. We cannot just continue to repeat things and hope that they're true. They're not. Okay. Okay. Moving forward. Do you have anything else you'd like to add for the record? That was my motion. Okay. Perfect.

Commissioner, can I just give you the commentary? So, I find it curious, Commissioner Castro, that you moved for what you've moved, right? because we are here today, if I'm not mistaken, on an appeal of a decision by the board of architects, special masters of January 13, 2026. We have heard for hours now, testimony, public commentary, and argument from council. The vote will be, I assume, based on everything we've heard for all that time. And yet you're bringing emotion to create your own decision based upon you're framing the issue is that you're moving if I quote correctly to override the decision of the master as if you're creating your own um review body with no parameters and no uh guideposts. We are here to determine whether or not there was due process missing, whether there was a lack of substantial competent evidence. Right. And what you're you're trying to do here is flip it on its back and say, I just want to vote to say before we answer that question, I want my question to be whether or not we should override the master the ma the three unanimous master vote. I find it a waste of time. Respectfully, I find an attempt to subvert what everyone here has spent all this time to consider. If your belief is that you don't agree with what the master's decision was, then respectfully your vote should be no. I don't know why you feel it's appropriate

that before we take that vote, you want a different vote to make yours the um the decision to be rendered in advance of the one why we're gathered here with no parameters whatsoever. Perhaps you can clarify for me why you wouldn't just vote no, but prefer to bring a motion. And I'll open it up to anybody who wants to answer after you give uh your position because I al understand Commissioner Fernandez second, but maybe just for discussion. through the mayor. Yes. Yes. Well, I'm very Commissioner L. I'm very sorry that you feel so confused. I did say in the beginning what my reasons were and that is my decision. That's it. I'm not going to go back and forth with you. Well, I I I through the mayor. Yes, sir.

I asked the question. You may consider that to be going back and forth, but if your answer is it was already stated before I asked the question, it falls woefully short of everything I just identified. But if that's all you had to say, if that's your final word on that, uh, unless anybody has any anything to say,

I have a I have a point. I mean, if I may, the purpose of being an elected official is to debate. And when you're up here, you have a decision to make. I listen a little bit from here. I listen from a little bit, and then I make my own decision based on what I believe is in the best interest of this community. So, the idea that we're not going to engage in debate, we're not going to engage in discourse, positive, fruitful discourse, I think it goes against the spirit of what it is to be an elected official, um, we can disagree and I don't have a problem with disagreeing. I disagree. I disagree with my colleagues all the time and they disagree with me. Perfectly fine. But the idea that I'm not going to debate with you because I don't want to debate with you. No, that's not the issue. I understand if you may not have a handle of the issues and that's respectable. I understand it and if you want some clarity on them for the facts but what I was trying to make a point is that Mr. Winker and his client based their argument today the crux of the matter was that their due process was violated. That is the that is one of the main fundamental points that has been repeated over and over and over and over and over again. And that is something to me that I'm not an attorney. We have bookends. We have three attorneys on this dis. Okay. But I understand very clearly that when you talk about time, if your attorney does not request additional time, how is it incumbent on me? I mean, I'm not an attorney and I understand that very, very clearly. It's incumbent of the applicant or the individual who Mr. Winker is representing to say, "Hold on one second. I would like some additional time uh when you when you're in front of the special master." It's just common sense. It's not whether you want to debate it or not. So that goes out the window. And if you look at today's point, and you can go back. I've been very clear. I gave examples here. I wrote it all down. It's part of the public record. This is just the additional a loted time for public speakers. Forget the amount of time that was given through the back and forth that we had,

which is a public record. So I think it's good to have a conversation so people can understand your positions. But the idea that I'm not going to have a debate with you because u I just don't want to have a debate with you. It to me is um it's undemocratic in my opinion. Vice Mayor wanted to say something.

So I'm going to I'm going to go over a couple things on number one number one I want to cover due process. Uh because that's a fundamental thing that I've dealt with throughout my career. Uh I've done I did well in excess of 100 appeals in my first 10 years of practice and I've been practicing for 38 years. You cannot use pages to quantify time and it is fundamental in any proceeding. If you fail to object, if you fail to ask for more time, if you fail to complain, you've waved the argument. I think we've demonstrated today that not only was due process afforded, there was not a request for more time. If you don't ask, you don't receive. Okay? And I understand, Miss Bolton, that you're shaking your head, but the record doesn't bear you out. You cannot count pages. Some of us speak faster. Some of us speak slower. Some of us pause more between when we speak. That air time does not quantify into pages. So you cannot use pages that quantify time. You never can. Okay. compatibility talking about massing and so forth and height and and the you not only have to look at existing buildings but you have to look at existing zoning. You have on ponds buildings that are 16 stories zoned for 16 stories. They're not going to necessarily be there forever more. They might be there now. They could be gone tomorrow. The zoning is the zoning. 16 stories is almost double what this property is. The eight stories that is roughly about, you know, 500 600 ft away

from there um on the corner of Sidonia and Galliano is MF zoning of 80 to 90 ft. This project is 97. There's a 17t difference. Um there is more green space than the coffee can that was described. Okay, you have the green space that is the playyard area in the northeast corner that was not addressed. Okay, you have the green space that would be created uh because I know this has been represented that this u developer is willing to move the tree unlike what we experienced in another project where it was nothing but a fight to get trees moved and trees are going to be preserved. electric lines will come down and there's a historical record if you want to debate the tree issue which is not the issue before us today where you have trees been moved on the University of Miami fire station two across US1 you have the the property on Valencia in Cardana where another tree was moved another tree Mahogany on on Cardana as well you have Saledo Street in the 300 block of Catalonia All of them are living. The oak tree that we're talking about right now, if you look back in historical photos, wasn't there. What you had was pine rockland. All of it was taken down. So, if we were going to preserve existing trees, the pine rockland is what should have been preserved. This is the zone special use for a church. We cannot force people to keep a church. However, a charter school could be built on that land.

That would be a far different project than what we're looking at here. Um, in my personal opinion, which is irrelevant to this appeal, would be less compatible than what is proposed here today. So, um, on a no vote on the commissioner's um motion because I don't see that the confident substantial evidence has not supported the special master's decisions. Do the mayor. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I apologize for not being there. Um, I have I'm dealing with bronchitis and sinusitis. Um, I'm going to try to get through this. Um, I'm seconding this motion because I do believe there is evidence and it hasn't just been preented by Miss Bolton and her attorney. We actually had one of the witnesses who spoke from the other side who said that she agreed that the other side got twice as much time to speak.

I don't think the issue is about how much time was allotted um in the procedural section. It's for me about nobody was able to answer the question on whether the developer side was asked to limit their comments as Miss Bolton's side was. And I've had this conversation with the city attorney before uh and I I'm going to have a conversation with her again about potential uh legislation that can fix this. Um the fact that we do not record these meetings um leaves us as a commission at a real disadvantage because it's really hard for us to understand what actually took place in the room. Um I think you know from what I've heard uh you have the votes to uh affirm. I stand by my vote not to affirm uh the special master and I'm ready to vote. Commissioner, are you there?

He's ready to vote. He said he's ready to vote. I am here. Okay. So, uh, briefly, I'm wishing Commissioner Fernandez a speedy recovery. I hope you feel better very soon.

Thank you. Um I still don't um believe and I don't know and maybe it's a question to the city attorney um whether when we're sitting and convened in this particular body on an appeal if it's appropriate or permissible to bring forth a motion during the appeal to set aside the appeal and have the commission vote on the outcome of the uh special master's report below. So I I don't even know if that's something that can be done.

So the way I understood the motion, it's a motion to override the decision of the board of architect special masters. So that would result in the um essentially would be reject the approval. So the project would not have would not have its approval and then they would have to you know they could resubmit something new, a different application, etc. Right. But that's not what we're voting on today. No, that was the motion. There's a motion pending, right? So, a no vote would achieve that. But to to the to the appeal, what to the appeal? A no vote would achieve what you just said, right? If carried. No, it depends on the motion. So, the No, no, no, no. Let me make Let me be clear. We're sitting here in an appeal.

Mhm. Right. So, if the majority uh finds and votes to not affirm the master's opinion, it would be rejected. Correct. I think we would need a that would be a failed motion essentially if I'm not talking about the motion talking about us first sitting here in the capacity. So you have four options under the zoning code and it's set forth in our zoning code. You can you can affirm the decision of the board of architect special masters. You can affirm with conditions, you can override the decision or you can remand for further proceedings. That's what the zoning code says. Those are the potential motions essentially. So, we're sitting in a we're convened right now

open to anybody making one of four different motions. Correct. Okay. So, Commissioner Castro, your motion was to reject with no conditions the decision below. My motion through the mayor. Yes. My motion exactly as I stated before. I move to override the decision of the special master which that is option number three. Thank you. You're welcome. So with respect to well are we in the vote yet? Well, we have to first address address her her motion. Correct. Okay. Mr. Clerk, we have a motion in a second unless there's any other further conversation. Commissioner Castro. Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes.

Commissioner L. And I'll just say before I vote that the fundamental argument I've heard again and again was that due process was denied. to say that you were provided, Miss Bolton, with and Mr. Winkler provided with the minimum minimum time allotted for both sides and that you neither objected to the other side having more time or requested that you have more time to speak is indisputably a waiver of your ability to claim today that you were prejudiced, unfairly prejudiced. That's the same as saying that somebody is seeking leniency for being an orphan because they killed their parents. You can't use your failure to complain at a time when some corrective action, assuming there was corrective action needed um to be taken is the place of this body right now to put ourselves in the shoes of you, Mr. Winkler, who I believe should have objected if you feel that today there was a harm that wasn't rectified or recognized then. So I I believe that all of the record and all of the argument I've heard today shows that there was not only proper due process, competent and substantial evidence, no departure from the essential requirements of the law. It doesn't matter what I think. I am limited in terms of what my personal opinion might be, but I'm limited as the elected official to what the rules are for reviewing the lower body's decision. And there's nothing there to disturb that decision based on what I've been told, what I've been shown, and what I've reviewed today. My answer is no.

Vice Mayor, Mr. L. Vice Mayor Anderson, for those same reasons as well as I mean we covered the med bonus issue and the fact that not only did the board of architects and special masters meet the then current med bonus but the current requirements of the med bonus plus the onetory difference for the massing and compatibility. My vote on this is no as well. Mayor Lo,

in line with the comments made by the vice mayor and commissioner Lada, I also will be voting no. Now, now we've addressed that uh we've also addressed the issues that were mentioned before in regards to the time constraints. I'll entertain a motion. Move to affirm. Second, Mr. Clerk. Commissioner Fernandez. No. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, no. Mayor Lago, yes. Thank you very much. Uh, moving on to the next item, which is not on the agenda. Uh, for the good of the order, madam vice mayor, would you like to add anything else?

Reminder to everybody who's interested in green space. On the 19th, there is a meeting for the beautiful design that our staff has done on University Drive, which will include flowering trees, butterfly plants, and uh preservation of green space at uh the youth center 6 pm for the University Drive Dog Park. And for any of you who have children who would like to enjoy some compliments of the Coral Gables Garden Club, a coloring book on pollinator plants, we have that. And Crime Watch has also provided and is available to provide reflectors for indiv for individuals to be safer on the streets. and they've dropped some off to me. If you'd like some, I will have them in my office and my staff can hand them out. And if you go to the next Crime Watch presentation, they'll all show you how to do CPR. They have CPR training. Um, they have a doggy mannequin that helps make it a little more interactive. So,

that's it. Commissioner Castro. Yes. Um, city clerk, I have two two images that I wanted to go ahead and put. Yes. And cable TV should have them ready.

So, I am partnering with the Coral Gables Run Club on February 28th, Saturday, at 10 in the morning in front of the park. Um, we're going to do a run almost three miles around the golf course and I welcome all residents. There's already several residents that are there, but I think this is a nice opportunity to go ahead and meet your neighbors in a very healthy manner. This would be February 28th and I hope to see you there. You'll see me running those three miles with you. And then the next one is it has to do more with dogs. More dogs. Um the next packw walk for Coral Gables would be February 21st. Pet Supermarket SP Pet Supermarket partnered with us. The Miami Dade Animal um services partnered with us too. Bodega partners partnered with us too. A there will be portraits painting that are going to be painted during this event at the end of in Bodega. So I expect people to see us there as well. We're going down Miracle Mile showcasing all the stores that are there all the way down to all the way back. So, it's a two-mile walk with with the pups and there's going to be adoptable dogs there. So, if anybody's interested, that would be amazing. You can go ahead and remove that. I also want to give a little update about the the last dog walk that I had. There was several adoptable dogs there. It was very well attended. I was very happy. Um there was a lot of donations when it came to blankets. I had three full cars. I went into different occasions to go um donate blankets because because of the cold front. I also went ahead and I fostered a dog and um it was a wonderful experience for over for over a week and

I thankfully got that dog adopted. So I'm encouraging people to go ahead and um try to do the same thing. That's it. Okay, Commissioner Lada.

Right. So, the only thing I I really think it's worth um on my part mentioning today is um and it came up quite a bit during the last uh few hours of our last item is um what a special place Crystal Academy it is and uh Mary Palasios who runs it. It is um unique. It is a place that I have toured. It is a place that I would encourage uh residents if they haven't gone to uh meet with Mary to fully understand and maybe even experience what a gem that is, what a real service that is um from the heart that she does this for the most needy amongst us. Um, please do please do visit um Mary and um get to know uh a little bit about a place that's uh so small and so needy uh in need of support at this time for the neediest of us all. Um it's a place where love and magic and community come together. A big fan of Crystal Academy. Um, Commissioner, I can't thank you enough for saying that. I've been going to Crystal for years and um, you said it, it's magic. It's magic. Um, and we are blessed. We're blessed to have them in our backyard. Um, Mary will tell you, we have pizza parties there all the time. Um, and let me tell you, when I go there, I get more out of it than the kids get out of it. At the end of the day, I get more out of it than the kids get out. So, I'm happy that you brought that up because, you know, very unexpected. Yes.

Uh the mayor. Yeah. Thank you, mayor. Uh I just wanted to bring up the city hall. We are in construction documents. Uh the commission offices are ready. Okay.

Uh we our first meeting will be in March and I need the second floor to start exploratory demolition. And so if the commission can move at the end of the month if possible, I it would be greatly appreciated because we need to get to to exploratory demo on the second floor and we have less people coming in and the whole building will be really really almost a construction site in a sense from exploratory demo. We we have to get in here and find out what's what's in what's in this chamber. So uh we're we trying to proceed as fast as possible. So I don't know if that's acceptable to the commission but it it would be greatly appreciated. I think it's very acceptable

on that point. Um just an update a contractor will be selected in the next two weeks. Correct. Uh the Thornton has already been selected. Sorry. I apologize. We're select and this week and uh and we we are selecting the uh the uh construction manager at risk for the mobility hub. I apologize. I got confused. Um I wanted to mention on that you know what was stated before This is being done on my watch and it's going to be accomplished. I may not be able to enjoy the office as mayor, but at the end of the day, you know what? It's going to get done. It's going to get You'll always be welcome back. Ah, Commissioner Fernandez, uh, would you like to say anything for the good of the order since we're talking about

I just want to I just want to echo those comments about the Crystal Academy. I think if anybody has not had an opportunity to visit, you should. The welcoming the kids give you is incredible. Seeing how they interact and and and how they really care for our community is is a blessing. Mary and her team do an incredible job there. Uh and it's truly one of the highlights of of Coral Gables. All right. Get better. Get better, Commissioner. All right. So, if I just want to add a few things,

I'll add a few things here. Um so, a resident sent me a really interesting photo last week that I want to put up. I put it on my social media and you know it really encompasses how amazingly fragile our community is and why we need to do everything to protect the environment, our waterways. And Mr. Clerk, do you have that photo that I can put up? This is one of our waterways uh here in the midst of the cold front. It was probably about 40 degrees, 30 degrees that day. Um and that's right adjacent to M near the thesis and you can see all the manatees there. And you got a chance, you can even spot little baby manates. The photo is not that good. It's been sent and passed along, but uh I wanted to show show the community because we drive by this location in our cars on US1 and we never take a moment to really take a step back, get out of the car, maybe grab a coffee, maybe go and eat a snack and sit there and look at something that again is taken for granted. And it is a beautiful site. These are creatures that that are, you know, have to be cherished and have to be protected at all costs. And, you know, they're they're right in our backyard. So, I wanted to share that um and just highlight how blessed we are. Um, another thing that I uh that I wanted to talk about was the Bark Park grand opening recap. After 10 years of working on the underline, I'm very proud as a project that I sponsored and that I helped get funded and through the leadership of the vice mayor, uh, we were able to finally deliver on a beautiful dog park. And here is just a little quick recap video of, you know, a dog park that was delivered. Um, this is true legislation. You know, these are this is true efforts that take years and years to get done. Um, we had an amazing experience that day there. There was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people there. I want to thank Commissioner Lada and uh, Vice Mayor and Vice Mayor Anderson for being there. Uh, there was a there was adopting dogs, but

more importantly, it was about community. I'm very proud of that. Uh that's a project that I worked on for the last 10 years. Uh this is something that takes a lot of effort. This is a takes a lot of planning, you know, going to the county getting funding. We raised almost we raised, Mr. Manager, was it around $7 million? 7.1 million.

$7.1 million for the underlying. That was all done not with taxpayer money. It was done with impact fees. I wrote that legislation. And this is a pride that brings community together. There is no dark park that I'm aware of. tell me it's for dog owners that is of this quality that I'm aware of anywhere near anywhere near. So, I want to thank my colleagues, Commissioner Lada and the vice mayor for for being present and for all your hard work as dog owners uh to get this done. Thank you for that. Um and also the underline as you drive by, I'm very proud of that. It's going to be completed. Uh that's another another game changer, a transformational project here for the city. Probably in the next three or four months it'll be done. Uh, not only is it going to increase property values, which is important, but it's going to get people out of the get out of their houses, meet people, stop using electronics, you know, get on the street, go to the go to the underline, go enjoy yourself, spend time with your family, with your friends, work out, you know, I'm very proud. Those are one that's one of my legacy projects that I've been working on for 10 years, and it's something that again, uh, I'm I will always look back on and say, you know, this is a project that we worked on collectively and we got it done for the city, and I'm very proud of that. Um, I also want to uh talk a little bit about the Gablesopoly that that came here a little while ago. Order that. Order the Gablesopoly. It's $30. I personally sponsored um I think it was like $1,000 personal sponsorship or $1,500. I can't remember. I know that uh the vice mayor did the same and so did Commissioner Lada. As always, thank you for your support. Uh all the money goes to the Coral Gables Community Foundation which is being directed to the Mark A. Trobridge Foundation. Uh if we if we sell all 1,200 units, uh you're talking about almost $150,000. And I really think that we're going to sell in the thousands because it's such a cool gift that you can give to somebody, you know, you you go to a, you know, a dinner at someone's house and their Gables res, hey, I brought you something. It's 30 $29. I brought you something. So, it's really cool. It's something you can sit down. It's gonna be a nice gift. You can

give her for corporate gifts. I'm just telling you to go out there and and do that because it spreads the word of all the good things that we're doing here in the city. But more importantly at the end of the day it's all about the chamber and it's all about Mark A. Trobridge uh which again is a individual who embodied he was Mr. Coral Gables. So with that being said oh madam vice mayor

a couple couple comments I wanted to add on Crystal Academy the garden club has done flower arranging with the students and what you said about getting more back than what it does for the children. does do a lot of good for the children because they feel special, but participating in it is such an enriching experience that the garden club members continue to do that with the children. And the other note was you saw the videos of the dog park opening. All the dogs got along beautifully. Big dogs, little dogs, in betweensized dogs. It was quite quite an event. How many people do you think were there? Hundreds. thousand maybe. I want to thank Chewy.

Yeah, Chewy for their sponsorship. Amazing work. Meg Daily, your whole underline team, city staff did a wonderful job. Um, amazing work and uh I want people to go out there and enjoy it. That's that's another amenity in the city. Easily over Well, Burger had a thousand. That's where I'm my litmus test is. I mean, the people came and went and the dogs just got along great. So this although it's called the bark park, it everybody was having a great time. Easy work.

There wasn't there wasn't a lot of dogs. There was a lot of dogs. A lot of tails wagging.

Yeah. A lot a lot of good times. So um with that being said, thank you for everyone who came and showed up today uh and gave their gave their two cents. We showed what our democracy is all about here in the city. Beautiful. Uh we welcome you to the next commission meeting. Thank you to staff for doing an amazing job. Staff deserves all the credit. Mr. Manager, DCM, ACM, all the directors, all the staff, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for preparing us for this meeting. Uh we thought it was going to be a short commission meeting. It ended up being we're ending almost at 5:30. It wasn't the case. Uh but at the end of the day, I hope everybody has a wonderful week. Stay stay warm and God bless. I got to go to ribbon cutting.