City Commission - Regular Meeting

Mr. Clerk, you ready? Yes, sir. Sir, good morning.

Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to the October 28, 2025 commission meeting. As always, it's a pleasure to see so many employees and staff members and residents and business owners here with us today. As I've stated before, we have a reasonable opportunity to be heard. We welcome everyone to come and speak about issues that pertain uh to the city of Coral Gables. We look forward to your ideas and anything that can help us make the city better. As we get started, I'd like to welcome you and thank Father Adam Tokahishi from St. Augustine Catholic Church who is here with us today. Father, good morning. Father, we would like to extend our best wishes to you and your congregation. Thank you for being here with us as always and as a member of your parish. It's always an honor to have one of our distinguished pastors from St. Augustine Church. Thank you.

Thank you.

It's a privilege for me to be here and for the invocation. I wanted to recite Psalm one and then have a moment of silence and prayer. Blessed is the name, the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for infinite love and mercy for calling these fine young men and women, your beloved children to be public servants to serve these wonderful people in Coral Gables. I thank you for calling me and worthy as I am to serve your your people here. We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all of us. We pray for wisdom that we may never depart from your word from your commandments which are life. Your word as long as we don't depart from it. Leave us lead us to streams of living water. So I pray for wisdom, for courage to always reject darkness and lies and to wholeheartedly pursue truth, justice, mercy, grace.

And we pray, Lord, continue praying for healing, for renewal in this city and the entire world. And we offer this prayer in the most holy name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Amen. Father, we'd like to extend our best wishes to you, your congregation, and worshippers on behalf of the city. It's truly a pleasure to have you. If I may take a personal point of privilege, um I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not sure what day it was, but I went to visit the blessed sacrament around 8:30 at night, and I was taken aback by a full church. It was full of students. Uh there was a three-piece band in the back and they were worshiping for about an hour prior to uh mass. I think mass was at 9:30. I left right at the beginning of mass uh to head home. But I thought it was I wanted people to I wanted you to give us a little bit more background. It was full of students. They were praying the rosary. They were they were enjoying uh the band. Can you tell us a little bit more about that because I saw you there also. You were in the back a few rows away from me. Yeah, this was

Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. Tuesday, Wednesday. We always have uh I'm I'm the chaplain at Catholic chaplain of the U. Yeah.

So, I work with a lot of college students and this I would say a strong revival. A lot of the young people are coming to church in search for deeper meaning for for God because they know that without God uh there's too much uh chaos, violence and as Catholics we all we are all for for love, peace, harmony, truth and the young people especially they're in search of community too. So I'm deeply privileged to be there and I see a lot of people coming to St. Augustine. As I said, I'm truly privileged to to serve there. But every every Tuesday, we gather for for mass with the students at the Catholic Center at the um at the university. Every Sunday night, if you have opportunity at 8:00 PM at St. Augustine, you will see the church packed packed with college students talking maybe 700 people uh every Sunday night and on fire for the Lord. not only Catholics, a lot of people from different religions are starting to uh search for for something deeper than the world can offer them. So again, something is happening. So I'm I'm glad to to be part of it. I'm from Lima, Peru, and I think uh God is doing amazing things here in Miami in Coral Gables. Probably know Father Viggoa. He's a great pastor, great leader at at St. Augustine. So, I'm I'm truly happy to be part of the of the team.

It just happened to be a coincidence that you're here today and I and I just on the way home from work, I stopped by to see the bless sacrament and it was beautiful to see the church so many young people. So, I want to congratulate you. Thank you and always send our best wishes to Father Vgoa. He's a dear friend, a person who I hold in very high regard, a person who's been transformational, not only for the church. I mean, obviously, you see the changes uh but for this for this community. He's been he's an incredible asset along along with yourself. Thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you for your service.

I just want to also echo um the mayor's sentiments and his observations and yours and I commend you and at St. Augustine. You know, my my daughter was at 8:00 mass on Saturday and she Sunday night and she also told me it was absolutely filled with um everyone worshiping and a lot of young people. So there is I think throughout necessar not necessarily just a city but perhaps throughout the country uh a resurgence in spirituality and young people in particular finding the way and focusing and um not to leave out the other parishes. So St. Teresa as anybody and everyone here should know the pews are back and starting with this uh Saturday's uh first mass um it's going to be back in the in the main church. So um plenty of places to to express worship and serve. So, thank you very much for all that you do,

Mr. Mayor. Um, uh, my wife and I, our first parish was St. Augustine. It was at 8 PM mass. In fact, I proposed to her right after mass one Sunday. Uh, so that's where we started. But we've also seen that renewal at St. Teresa as well, the Church of Little Flower. Uh, for the first time in many years, there's a youth group at the Church of Little Flower, and from what I've heard, it's been very uh, very positive. Uh, I've spoken to Catholic leaders from around the country and they've also been talking about that renewal that you're talking about and the the youth really coming back to the church. I know there's always a discussion about the traditional Latin mass and it seems like that the youth is calling for that more and more. We'll see what the holy father decides on that. But thank you for the work that you do.

No, thank you. I went to the church of the holy little flower for the first time a few weeks ago. Feast feast day was October 1st. So to pay my visit to the church's beautiful church of course. So the you know I'm just going [clears throat] to cap this off by saying I last night's u vigil demonstrated the unity that we have among people of many different faiths

and uh I know that in my congregation and our church uh the youth is a very driving force and they're always looking for a way to make an impact on many different issues not only with you know spiritual issues, but how we can put that energy to positive use in our community and and abroad too because they have food banks, they have, you know, areas that they can help in. You know, for instance, Jamaica is, you know, tragically going to be impacted very seriously today. So, if we can all put our energies together and do some good for others um with our faith, I I think it's a positive thing and I I enjoy that in the congregational um aspect that we work together. So, it was great.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. Father, as always, thank you so much. A privilege to have you. Thank you. It's my honor. God bless you. Thank you. God bless.

Uh before we before we do the pledge of allegiance, I'd like to brief uh a quick uh comment into the record. Today, as part of a tradition I started a couple of years ago, it is my honor to call upon a veteran to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. We do this in recognition of their service to our country and in celebration of Veterans Day, which we will mark on November 11th and in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corpse on November 10th. Tonight, we're proud to welcome firefighter Orlando Santana. After graduating high school, a Rolando enlisted in the United States Marine Corpse just after his 19th birthday in August 2014. He served in the elite fourth a naval gunfire liaison company known as Angelico, a special operations capable airborne unit trained for advanced fire support, reconnaissance and joint operations in high-risisk environments. In November 2019, Santana deployed with Angelico to Afghanistan while he served in Operation Freedom Sentinel as part of the Team Delta, a quick reaction force. Over the course of more than 100 missions and operations, he was the team's solo radio chief and communications adviser, as well as his primary machine gunner. During his deployment, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and he went on to complete eight years of honorable service in the United States Marine Corps. Today, Rolando continues his service here at home as a firefighter with the Coral Gables Fire Department, where you're serving as the department's PIO protection, protecting our residents and our community with the same courage and dedication that marked his military career. Please join me in welcoming firefighter, United States Marine Corps veteran Santana, who will now lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Sir, thank you for having me. If everybody could please stand while we recite the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance 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. Thank you,

Sergeant. God bless you. Thank you for your service. It's truly an honor to have you here in the city. And thank you for what you've done for our great country, the United States of America. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I really appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Mayor Coleman, speaking of churches uh that are doing wonderful things, I'm wearing my Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry shirt um which is housed at Christ um Christ Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove. We have they have a very robust pantry serving 225 people um uh every Tuesday. So just thought I'd mention that as we celebrate our centennial the Merrick House brings to the commission the Merrick moment. Little tidbits that add up to a remarkable story. I'm Joanne Maher Merrick House dosent. The board of governor's members include Genevieve our chair, Mary Beth Burke, Carmen Kase, Alexis Arinha, Christina Onen, and Bonnie Cypal. [singing] I will hold you in my arms. Composed in 1924, When the Moon Shines in Coral Gables was a promotional piece for George Merik's visionary new city. The song blended romance, marketing, and music to sell not just land, but a dream. To promote his creation, Merrick used every available medium of the day, brochures, films, advertisements, newspaper stories, and of course, music. These

pieces were crafted to appeal to northern investors who longed for sunshine, palm trees, and the promise of paradise in a place where your castles in Spain are made real. The sheet music features a photo of Coral Gable's Plaza and an image of Plymouth Church, interestingly enough, with a couple in Spanish attire in the foreground. Popular orchestras embraced the tune, including Jan Garber and his orchestra, who performed it frequently at the Venetian pool. The California Ramblers recorded it in 1925 for Edison Records, helping the song reach a national audience, while other bands like the Red Rose Ragtime Band also kept it in circulation. The st the song stands today as a lyrical reflection of Coral Gable's golden age. A time when music, moonlight, and Merrick's dream all came together to create one of America's most distinctive planned communities, a city worthy of preservation. As part of the city's centennial, the Merrick House board has commissioned an arrangement for brass quintet. And you will hear it and be able to sing along with Miami's Top Brass at the Saturday, November 8th concert honoring our veterans. Festivities begin on the lawn at the Meric House at 100 p.m. and the concert commences at 2. Thank you

as always. Thank you for your insight and your dedication to the city. Beautiful. You never cease to impress me. I had no clue that you were this talented. [laughter] I will I will not uh I won't you you really always know how to start it off on a pro positive note, but if I were to endeavor to even sing, I ruined [laughter] I ruined the morning. So well let me tell you that takes a lot of courage.

A [snorts] lot of courage. [laughter] A lot of courage to do that. You run you run. I would love it if every if every student at every Coral Gables school um would would eventually know the our city's song. So that's that's one of my goals to kind of get it out there so that every every child will be able to sing the Coral Gable song. I love it. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Uh I think all my colleagues have um enjoyed the pumpkin judging context. Do we have a do we have a winner or are we going to do that at the end? Oh, no. We're still missing some of them. We're We're still missing some. Some of those came in a little later.

We'll come back and we'll do it after after the uh presentation protocol docs. So, item A1, presentation proclamation declaring October 28, 2025 as Coral Gable's crime watch program day in Coral Gables. Madame Mayor, who is here with us? I can I cannot see you over the uh the teleprompter. Madame Mayor, will you please join us? It's always a privilege and honor to have uh Mayor Thompson here with us. She wanted to say a few words prior to Commissioner Fernandez reading the proclamation. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And right off, I'll tell you I'm not going to follow Joanne.

I would not even try that. That's that's very brave of her and very lovely. As a matter of fact, Joanne, thank you for the moment um on talking about crime watch. I know we'll have a proclamation being given this morning, but before we did that, I thought it would be um um interest u if I would just lay out the um actual basis the beginning um of our crime watch that started in Cory Gable was so many years ago. Ordinarily, I speak extemporaneously. See, the mayor is leaving my speech already. Okay. Um, excuse me, Madame Mayor. I want to know. Did you take that picture last week?

Because it it looks like it I haven't seen that machine. Well, somebody just switched it. Well, there you go. That's the one I'm referring to. Go back to that one. Where's the other one? The other one before this one. There it is. I know who that is. This is why you can't invite the mayor to speak the commission [laughter] have this guy and and more there's more to that story another time we don't want let's not give

le thank you for anyway [clears throat] um as I as I started to say ordinarily I would speak extemporaneously but I have so many things I wanted to make sure I did not leave now. So, if you'll forgive me and my age especially is getting to that point where I really don't have a retention of everything I want to say. So, I will start off by saying okay, as a matter of fact, this is my own written little speech because my my son came into my uh home last night and said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm writing a speech for this morning." He said, "Why don't you go on AI?" I said, "I don't know how to do those kind of things." So, this is from my heart. Okay? [laughter] And I'll read it now. I said it it has been 45 years and some of you weren't even born I guess by that time but 45 years ago since the Carables Crime Watch organization was formed in 1980. It started with a phone call um to to me by Carol Fuel. Carol Fuel who at that time was the chairperson of the cultural affairs committee for the Coral Gables Board of Realtors of all things. She called me. I've been on the commission for about one year at that time. Um, I was serving on the commission at the time, but I had not yet met her. From that call so many years ago, we became and still are good friends. And Carol had the idea to form a crime watch in this city. And why was that, you may ask? Why was that? Well, in 1980, it was a year in history when there was much angst in in our local areas as Cuba's Fidel Castro And where is Commissioner Castro? She's gone for here the same name. Um, Fidel Castro emptied Havana's jails of untold

numbers of dangerous criminals, sending them by boatloads to Miami shores. Hence, the Mario boat lift era and the term the Marolitoss. At the same time, there were other crime watches being formed and the police across the country were skeptical. skeptical of their purpose. You've been here. It is very true.

Ours at the time was no different. The police departments understandably they were opposed to civilian groups, you know, civilian people coming up and possibly interfering with the police work that belonged to the sworn police officers. And that skepticism was understandable. I know of one group locally who originally when being formed was calling itself the vigilantes. The police didn't like that one bit. Well, our own Cora Gabriel's group was not that one. Our purpose was to be additional eyes and ears of the police, which continues to be the case and so much more. As the proclamation will indicate when it's read in a few moments, our crime watch group differs from others in that its members represent various clubs and organizations of Corables and beyond. And that club or organization member reports back to the group that he or she represents. Thus, one person disseminates an up-to-date report effectively to many. This morning, there are a number of these Crime Watch representatives present in our chambers. I'll get to them in a moment. Why don't you rise so that we can know who you are? Rise before gave us Crime Watch members, please. Excellent. This morning, um, as I say there, these number are are present. Um, first there is our president, Aaron Glasser, who's been our president for several years. Aaron, would you stand please?

You. All right. And we have our executive director, Anna Lamb. Would you please stand, Anna? See, even our our police are applauding. They've accepted us. Thank you [laughter] all these years.

Okay. So, we have them. Oh, thank you very much. And and we've seen the others who are standing. And as I say, we have representatives from all our local organizations, but there are others like for instance, we have um Angie [clears throat] from the state attorney's office. Angie, where else is there? Anna.

Yeah, Carl Prime from our u little Gables area. Not a gable. Yeah, Golden Gables. Yes. Um, yes, we have from other we've expanded sort of. Well, lastly, I want to thank the mayor and the commission for the proclamation which commissioner Fernandez um who we represent who represents the commission to the crime watch will read it. Uh, we the crime watch especially thank Chief Ed Hudac again. Chief Ed Hudachak for the Coral Gables Police Department's continued support. I have not forgotten that you, the department, respected our origination those 45 years ago and that you still do. Thank you so much. Please, please, Chief Ed. You have in your ranks now a sergeant whose father a former M public safety director or a police chief Henry Christensen who was our staunch supporter in those early years. I'm sure that he is proud that she watches over today's crime watch. It's my pleasure to introduce Cora Gable's police sergeant Michelle Christensen. Michelle. Sergeant, she's very good at watching over us all the time and I really appreciate her. We all do. Um, and with that, Commissioner Fernandez, uh, you can fill in the blanks that will highlight how far this strong Corables Crime Watch has matured, expanded, and become a legacy in the city's annals of history. Thank you,

Madame Mayor. I have to start by thanking you for the invitation to become a member of crime watch. Uh at the time when we had the conversation, the commission did not have a sitting uh board member on the crime watch and I think it's been very beneficial. Uh it's probably I've sat on many boards. I think it's been the funnest board to sit on. Uh it's also the board where I think we have members of every large organization in the city and where we can all come together, throw ideas around or discuss what's going on in each of our organizations. And I think it's extremely important. Um our meetings are not very long. Um but we get to the point Aaron keeps us on uh on point making sure that we're on schedule. Um but it's it's a great place to to be. And if if any members of the public would like to be uh at one of our meetings, we meet on the first Friday of the month at the police and fire headquarters. And you're welcome to participate in in our meetings as well. Um thank you for your leadership uh in setting up the crime watch and stewarding the whole process over the last 45 years. Uh because had it not been for that probably would have fizzled like many other organizations have. Uh but it remains strong today and with the commitment of many of these organizations still today. Uh it's also a testament to um the great legacy that the Fuel family has had in our city uh because they have done a lot for Coral Gables over the years and this is one of the many things that they've done that has endured uh for many years and is still around today.

Through the mayor before we begin with the proclamation.

Um so I also wanted to echo uh what Commissioner Fernandez said. Thank you, mayor, very much for your, as always, um, personal, heartfelt remarks. No chat, GPT, no AI involved. Um, but I also wanted to mention that I had the honor, the privilege of meeting yesterday in my office with Anna Lamb. And Anna is one unbelievably passionate and committed individual to this crime watch, Coral Gable's crime watch. and she took the time to come upstairs and go over with me um all of her um wishes uh for increasing awareness, promoting safety, especially for children. I I got that definitely from our meeting, Anna, and all the wonderful things that you go out of the way to try and find. It's not a very um uh financially uh robust organization. In other words, there your coffers are not overflowing with money and so you do everything that you can to try and get grants and things for free to help pass out to the to the residents and especially the children. So before the day ends and after the proclamation, if we could please make known to the people watching on TV how to get a hold of the Coral Gables Crime Watch um either via an email website or a telephone so that we can raise the awareness further and and outreach more of the scope of your mission. So I commend the mayor Anna and all the members of the crime corals crime watch. Thank you very much for all you do.

And and Anna's work is not a nineto-five job. Uh every city event she's out there with a tent giving out uh in pamphlets, information, uh things that she's been able to secure through Miami date county funding that we've gotten from the city. Uh always raising awareness, helping children. Um, so we appreciate the work and the dedication that you've had to to crime watch and to the city of Coral Gables, Anna, children and seniors. And seniors as well. Exactly. That's right. We have to talk about the the Kinetta party that takes place at the adult activity center that you spearheaded as well. And I know the chief loves dancing to that one. [laughter] Mayor,

yes. I'll just add that on top of that, Anna takes the time to fill out grant applications for all these things, reaches out to FDOT, um, and as you said is at a table with every single event, whether it's the pumpkin patch or the literacy festival or, you know, the adventure day f uh event that we have come upcoming and as a very energetic and happy um, exuberant individual for each and every one of these events. She loves the children. All right. So whereas this the Coral Gable Citizens Crime Watch was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in the summer of 1980 after resident Carol Fuel, chairperson of the Coral Gable's Board of Realtors Cultural Affairs Committee was flooded with concern from realtors that homes would not sell due to soaring crime rate caused by the rapid increase in population and dramatic cultural shift. and then commissioner Dorothy Thompson and husband Jack Thompson, Coral Gable's attorney Marvin Winer, and many community activists combined their efforts to take a stand against crime. And whereas for 45 years, the Coral Gable Citizens Crime Watch has served our community with hundreds of residents looking out for each other in their neighborhoods, keeping tabs on police reports, and reporting unusual and suspicious activities, acting as the eyes and ears for the police department. And whereas Crime Watch has forged strong bonds among residents while improving citizen and law enforcement relationships through collaborative efforts with the Coral Gables Police and Fire departments. And whereas the organization is governed by a board of directors formed by representatives from more than 20 local organizations including the Kowanas Club, Garden Club, Coral Gable's Woman's Club, Rotary Club, and the University of Miami demonstrating broad community support. And whereas Crime Watch conducts extensive community outreach through partnerships with the city at events and

civic activities including but not limited to the farmers market, pumpkin patch, Halloween at city hall, national night out, self-defense and CPR classes, active shooter presentations, crime prevention meetings, stop the bleed education, safety material distribution, and securing grants for safety equipment. And whereas the organization sponsors self-defense classes, arranges for home security checks, and the and informs the community about fraud alerts, senior safety tips, fire prevention, drug abuse education, graffiti prevention, and homeland security issues. And whereas Crime Watch makes regular presentations regarding crime and fire prevention, and public safety information to neighborhoods, civic groups, and religious organizations throughout the city. whereas the dedication and vigilance of Crime Watch volunteers has made Coral Gables a safer and more connected community. Now therefore, we the city commission do hereby proclaim October 28th, 2025, Coral Gables Crime Watch Day in Coral Gables. Let's get our friends from Crime Watch up here and let's take a photo. Yeah. Would you ask

Good morning. I'd love to. one of You guys can't remember.

It's just sheer sheer strength doing this, you know. Madame Mayor would uh like to say a few parting words until next meeting.

You know, mayor, thank you. Um they they say they say they say it's dangerous, you know, to give a microphone. They never we never you released it uh from a from a politician or was always will be. Um, I would be remiss and I speak not only for the Coral Gables u crime watch proclamation that was given today, but all the proclamations that come uh before you each month on your meetings uh for the city clerk's office because they do a champion job and many times overlooked because the proclamations come along and they're beautifully done but there's so much work going into it. Um, Yoli especially. Where are you, Looney? Yoli, stand up. Stand up. You see you see the you see the city clerk here and he's very visible, but the one that's invisible is the one behind the scenes. Isn't that correct?

Miss Davis is never invisible. worked so hard [laughter] along along with her cohorts in the office to put all these words together that you always enjoy so much, but they're unsung heroes. I just want to bring that to your attention. Mayor, thank you for that. That means a lot. Yoli is amazing and so is the entire team. We're blessed to have amazing employees. Yes, we are. Thank you for joining us today. We love you. Thank you all for everything always. Thank you. Thank you. Just out of personal privilege, I'm going to jump around just one second to get our police out of here early. They want to get back to what they do best, fighting crime. A6 chief.

A6. Good morning, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Uh, at this point, I'd like to bring up officer Michael Clark [clears throat] on Saturday, July 19th, uh, at approximately 9:00 at at night. Uh, call from service was uh, dispatched to the Whole Foods and Red Road. Uh, one of the things that plagued our city on the time when crime is our shoplifting events and they go on. On this day, we got a call to the, as I [clears throat] said, the Whole Foods on Red Road. The individual uh who was running from the store had been there several times and a April and June and we had multiple times we were looking for the individual. As officer Clark arrived, the individual on foot took off. As you can see, I wouldn't run from Officer Clark either. [laughter] Uh, he was able to catch the individual. Actually had a physical confrontation uh with the individual until he was safely able to put him, wrestle him on the ground. All along keeping his calm demeanor on the radio that responding units could assist and take the person into custody. This is a crime that although it does not rise to the level of violence, it does impact our residents, our citizens and our economy from things that u that actually can turn into a violent crime. And we have seen that because of his actions that directly led to the swift arrest of this repeat offender, he was nominated and received the officer of the month for July 2025. I appreciate you having me here. Thank you, Chief, for the kind words. Of course, um, for those who know me, they know that I'm a man of very few words. So, with the commission here, I want to

say thank you. And that's also the end of my speech. [laughter] That's the most I've heard him say in years. Officer, if I may, how many years you've been in serving the city? Since 2020. So, five years.

Because I know how it's been for us. We're blessed to have you and today's a prime example of that. I know you're incredibly tenacious. You're hardworking. Uh you leave no stone unturned to make sure that you're always protecting the residents and the business community. You're making us look great. Uh you're the reason along with all the officers who are here why the city Is the city beautiful? So, I want to thank you and always make sure that you're aware this commission appreciates your dedication and your hard work on behalf of the community. You represent everything that's good with the city. Beautiful. So, thank you for that. Appreciate it. Want to take a quick picture? Yeah, we'll take a quick picture. And I'll just add to sometimes the people have the fewest words make the biggest impact. So, thank you. That is true.

Thank you. Okay. Moving on to item A2, presentation or proclamation declaring October 29, 2025 as Nicholas Children's Hospital Day in Coral Gables. Can we have our friends from Nicholas Children's Hospital here with us?

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor Lago. Commissioners, thank you again for this wonderful recognition. My name is Ariana and I serve as a president for the Miami Dade Market at Nicholas Children's. It's an incredible honor to be here before you accepting this proclamation on behalf of my team and the more than 4,000 employees that work at our hospital. For the past 75 years, Nicholas Children's as we celebrate our 75th anniversary alongside the city of Coral Gable Centennial. Um, you may know us as Variety Children's Hospital and I was just chatting with Mayor Thon earlier who recalls it as that or Miami Children's which is my generation or for our kids now Nicholas Children's. But for 75 years, we have served as a beacon of hope and pediatric excellence, serving generations of families with compassion, innovation, and dedication. For years now, Nicholas has been ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation by US News and World Report. And this is a testament to our unwavering commitment to building a pediatric health care system that reflects the highest standards in medicine. And so as we stand here today in the city of Coral Gables, a city that has shaped the cultural and civic heart of Miami for over a century. I feel an immense sense of pride, one that belongs to our entire community who have throughout the decades built this city brick by brick, moment by moment, and believed in it well before the world did. For too long, Miami stood and watched from the sidelines as other cities across the nation were recognized as centers of excellence. But today, we've built excellence here. We've built it in

our hospitals, in our schools, in our neighborhood, and we're proving that worldclass care, leadership, and innovation can and should thrive in our own backyards. The future's bright and I'm really excited to see what we'll build together in the next 100 years. Thank you again. Thank you. Do you have other members of of I do. Can they please come up here? Please join me. How are you, sir?

Good to see you, Madam President. Please stay up here. So that this is special for me and I and I one of the privileges of being mayor is I get not many privileges outside of running the meeting and a few things but I get to choose uh who does the proclamations and I wanted to read this proclamation because I have a debt of serious gratitude towards this hospital and I was able to a few weeks ago tell a little bit about my story in regards to Miami Children's Hospital obviously Nicholas Children's Hospital our generation.

I will always call it Miami Children's. Um, as you know, my father's a physician and so is my grandfather before he passed away. He lived in Coral Gables since coming here in exile. Um, no one ever thinks that a child, a young child under 5 years old will be stricken with a disease that could potentially take their life. Um, I was born with renal artery stenosis. I required a kidney bench surgery, kidney transplant surgery at a very young age. Uh, And I and I woke up in the middle of the night on many occasions basically having night terrors. As a result of my father being a physician, eventually he realized through the help of his friends at Miami Children's Hospital, Nicholas Children's Hospital, uh that it wasn't about night terrors. It was about obviously high blood pressure. I was referred to a gentleman who saved my life by the name of Felix Ramirez who's a nephrologist who still works

at Nicholas. uh that individual that Dr. Ramirez was able to immediately diagnose me and use the common the good judgment to send me for surgery immediately saving my life. Um it was a 10-hour surgery, very complex surgery, especially at that moment. I was the youngest person in the world to receive that surgery at that point. And my life was spared, my life was saved by God and the hands of the physicians at Nicholas Children's Hospital. So to me, I will always support this institution. While not in the city, it is a block away. Uh we claim it for our own. And if we could, I just I would just annex uh the hospital itself and bring it into uh the city. Uh what the hospital does, what you do, what the administration does, you do it out of love. Yes, we all need a paycheck, but you could work anywhere you want. And working with children is one of the most complex things to do. And I want to commend you, your staff, all of you, for getting up every day and saving lives. And I want to make sure you send that message to the physicians, the nurses, from the person who cleans the bathrooms uh to the CEO and president, everyone plays a vital role in saving lives. And I want to thank you for that. If I may, I'd like to read this proclamation onto the record. Whereas Children's Hospital, formerly Miami Children's Hospital and founded as Variety Children's Hospital, has provided world-class pediatric surgery care to families throughout South Florida for 75 years, establishing itself as a region's top rated children's hospital and a nationally recognized leader in pediatric medicine. And whereas since its founding in 1950, the hospital has remained dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of children through innovation, compassion, and excellence in specialized medical care, research, and community outreach. And whereas for generations, the families of Coral Gables have benefited from the exceptional care provided by

Nicholas Children's Hospital, whose physicians, nurses, and staff have treated thousands of children from our community with skill and kindness. And whereas as the hospital celebrates it 75th anniversary, Nicholas Children's Health System is expanding its presence by relocating its administrative headquarters to the city of beautiful, further strengthening its ties to Coral Gables and reaffirming its commitment to serving our community. And whereas this milestone marks not only not only decades of service, but also a continued dedication to the future health of South Florida's children and families. Now therefore, I Vince Lago as mayor of the city of Coral Gables and on behalf of the city commission to hereby proclaim October 29th, 2025 as Nicholas Children's Hospital Day in Coral Gables. Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And thank you, Mayor Lago, for sharing your story. Um, as I I go around um at different events, there isn't a person that I meet uh every single day that has a very similar story. Unfortunately, uh we never want to hear of our children's uh facing these types of conditions, but it is real. It does exist and we're so happy and blessed to be able to provide that care here close to home. So, thank you for sharing your story. Thank you, Madam President. The mayor, vice mayor.

So, I wanted to thank you for inviting me as well as other um state leaders and local leaders to the advocacy event back in August. It was eye opening and I hope that you know the state leaders who were there heard your requests loud and clear so that we can serve the community even more efficiently and more and better in the future. Now, I do hear from residents about how in awe and in debt they are to you for everything they do that are going through their own journey now uh with their young children at Nicholas and very very thankful for everything that you do and the care and the love that you also give them and their children. So, thank you.

Thank you. I guess we don't know how lucky we are to have an organization like yours here in our hometown until we hear stories from other people. I was talking to a friend from South Carolina this past week who was telling me that his grandson had to be airlifted to Atlanta to uh the nearest Children's Hospital because they had nothing in their area. Yet here in South Florida, just blocks away from Coral Gables, we have this treasure uh that is Children's Hospital. And the few times that we've had to go there, I can tell you your staff is not just welcoming, they're loving. And I think that's the one thing that children need when they're not feeling well. And the children that have gone in there that I've seen in really dire situations, you can see how they transform when the staff starts talking to them. they relax, they open up, and they realize a solution is coming, and you guys are going to take care of them. So, thank you for the work that you do, and thank you to all the staff at Children's Hospital.

Thank you. Let's take a photo. Give me your phone. Give me your phone. All right, moving on to item A3, presenting of a proclamation. declaring

October 20 through 26, 2025 as Florida City Government Week and Coral Gables.

Commissioner L.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Whereas city government is the government closest to most of its citizens and the one with the most direct daily impact upon its residents. And whereas municipal government provides services and programs that enhance the quality of life for its citizenry, making their city their home. And whereas city government is administered for and by its citizens and is dependent upon uh public commitment to and understanding of its many responsibilities. Whereas Florida City Government Week offers an important opportunity for elected officials and city staff to spread the word to all citizens of Florida that they can shape and influence this branch of government. And whereas the Florida League of Cities and its member cities have joined together to teach our citizens about municipal government through a variety of activities. Now for now therefore the commission hereby along with other members of the city do hereby and proclaim October 20 through 26, 2025 as Florida City government week in Coral Gables.

Thank you Gabby. Good morning mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Um to summarize our proclamation, Florida City Government Week is organized through the Florida League of Cities um every year in October. Uh it's to um recognize government employees for their service and dedication to their communities. So last week on Thursday, we celebrated bringing the Stoce Churro Truck here to city hall and public works. Um so it was just a nice moment to recognize our employees and just get together and socialize for a moment.

Thank you very much. Want to take a photo? Moving on to item A4, presentation or proclamation declaring November 6th, 2025. Aselia Cruz Day in Coral Gables. And we have our friends from the museum come up. Elvis, it's always great to have you in the building.

I guess nobody liked my joke. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. Wow. I was back. It's good. It I get that a lot. I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it. Yeah. Elvis, how are we doing, my friend? Very good. Thank you so much for having me. No, thank you. So, before I read the proclamation, would you like to say a few words?

Sure. Um I rather short introduction and the city of Corables proudly joins communities around the world in celebrating the centennial of Selia Cruz the legendary queen of salsa by proclaiming November 6, 2026 Selia Cruz day in Koragabus. This is the day that we're going to open an exhibition honoring her legacy at the Corabus Museum. A global icon of music, culture, and resilience, Selia Cruz transformed the soundsscape of the Americas and became an enduring symbol of the Cuban spirit in exile. After being banned from returning to her homeland by the communist regime, Cruz found in Miami a home that embraced her voice, her address, and her message of joy and freedom. Even today, the Cuban government is still censoring Selia Cruz. that you can see the news of Cubans trying to homage her and being censored in Cuba. So it's really important that we do this. Her unforgettable cry of aukar transcendent music to become a rallying call for identity and celebration particular I mean the Cuban diaspora that shaped the heart of South Florida. Corable with his deepest tie to Cuban culture, artistic expression holds a special connection to Selia Cruz's legacy. Local lore and this is something that you know has been around recounts that her famous Asukar story originated in a Cuban restaurant in Kora Gables, forever linking her story to the city's cultural history. Many of her most iconic photo shoots took place at the historic Bilmore Hotel, chosen for its resemblance to the National Hotel in Havana. A poant reminder of the homeland she could no longer visit.

Sorry. Others had said, "I'm in the majestic royal palms, a cherile tropical garden, the same tree that symbolizes Cuban identity and pride. To honor this meaningful bond, the Cora Gables Museum is proud to present Happy 100 Birthday Selia, a photographer exhibition by Allesis Rodriguez Dwarte in collaboration with Tiko Torres, opening on November 6. The exhibition celebrates her unparalleled career, ribbon personality and lasting influence on Miami and Cora Gables at Cusher Center of the Latin Diaspora. And I have to add that Alexis Antico were her photographers, the only photographer that she allowed really into her intimate spaces for 15 years of her life. So, thank you so much.

Thank you, Elvis. If I may, um, Mr. Manager, I'd like to work with Martha Banting on this effort. I'd like to also have the museum engage in an email that we can send out to the residents inviting them to see this show. I think this show is critically important, especially as a Cuban American for myself. Um, I had the pleasure of meeting Celia a handful of times and it was always around one event and that was La. Uh, I've been on that board and serving as a candito since I was a child as a result of my father serving on that board. My brother has been involved. Uh, it's been a longlasting tradition in my family to be involved and serve that board. my gala. A portion of the proceeds, 50% of the proceeds goes towards LA with their cancer. The other goes to the community foundation which helps individuals with scholarships for college. This is one of the best organizations. Why do I bring that up? Because Selia never said no to La Liga.

I [clears throat] had the opportunity to meet her a handful of times and she was coming off stage having a long day always smiling. Chiki, come here. Let me meet you. How are you? how you doing? She loved what she did. She loved what she represented. She knew even later in life as as you know, she knew she was failing in health. She took such great pride representing Cubanameans cuz she always had a passion for Cuba, but she loved this country.

She loved that. She spoke about this country if not better than she spoke about Cuba because she understood what this country, the United States of America, did for her and for all the Cubans who came to this country. and all the immigrants who come to this country. So, I want people to see this show because it's important. And if you ever had a chance to meet her husband, it was even a better treat because he was amazing, you know, an amazing human being. Reminds me a lot of the Dorothy Thompson kind of story. Uh you have to know both of them to kind of get that kind of, you know, that kind of feeling. So, uh I think it's amazing what you've done. Elvis, I want to congratulate you and the museum and the board members as a as a board member. I'm very proud of this exhibition. Uh I want to make sure that we spread the word as much as we can. Uh because this is part of who we are, not only as Cubans or Cuban Americans, but as Miamiians, you know, as Coral Gable's residents. This is important. And I want people to really understand who Selia was and you know what she stood for

to the mayor. Yes, sir.

So, um very tough to follow up um the mayor because you summed it up so very well and so so comprehensively, too. But I wanted to congratulate you, Elvis. you know, I've been giving you support on this exhibition, you know, from the heart. And I echo the mayor's sentiments that we have to have everybody come out and celebrate uh this exhibition for Celia Cruz. So, a point is just personal recollection here and and privilege. Years and years ago, my wife and I were at an event at the Billmore Hotel. Celio Cruz is like really indelibly connected to Coral Gables in many ways, but for me, we were walking through the uh hotel attending another event when I heard through closed doors, you know, the screams of aukar, you know, and I go, "This can't be." So, we went and we crashed this event and the doors opened and the electricity and the vibe was absolutely incalculable. She was on that stage with her husband, Pedro, and I just electrifying the audience. um a uh a symbol of of hope, a symbol of what once was in Cuba. She's connected to all of us, the Cuban Americans here. And not only that, but she is and was and always will be the queen of salsa around the world. So to celebrate her legacy and to enjoy her music which is eternal and to celebr um an ambassador to the Exilio here in the United States and particularly in Miami and specifically Coral Gables. I encourage everyone to come to the exhibition. It is going to be one that will not be forgotten. So thank you very much Elvis.

Thank you so much.

The um it's interesting to see that it's not just Cuban Americans that have been honoring her her legacy. uh the United States with a coin. Um SiriusXM actually has a channel that is the Selakru Sauer channel right now. I think it's going for the next three months. Uh but it's refreshing to see uh how here 100 years after her birth. We're still celebrating her music. Uh she has been a staple to not just our Coral Gables community, but the United States. And and the mayor summed it up. I mean, her her passion for Cuba was huge, but her love for America was just as big. And um she really appreciated the open door policy that the United States had for her and the opportunities that were provided to her here in the United States. And uh it is great to see that this country is recognizing uh this immigrant who who came to this country seeking freedom and um work to build a better America uh through her music and uh I appreciate what the the museum is doing. I look forward to to coming out and seeing the exhibition.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And I want to read the proclamation. So whereas Selia Cruz was born on October 21st, 1925 in Avana, Cuba and rose to become the queen of salsa, one of the most beloved and influential artists in the history of Latin music. And whereas Selia Gru's remarkable career spanned more than five decades during which she recorded over 70 albums, won multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, and brought Afrouban rhymes, rhythms, and joy to audiences across the globe. And whereas after the communist regime in Cuba banned her and her music, forcing her into exile, Zelia's triumph beyond borders, earning an even larger stage as the most iconic Cuban singer of all time and a symbol of freedom, resilience, and the enduring power of the art. And whereas her electrifying performances, radiant personality, and the exuberant cry of Aukar became symbols of strength, pride, and celebration for generations of Latin Americans and music lovers worldwide. And whereas the origin of Selia Cruz's famous exclamation asukar, a playful yet profound celebration of life and identity is said to be linked to Cuban restaurant in Miami or Coral Gables, forever tying her signature phrase to the city's cultural history. And whereas Coral Gables also holds a special place in Seliaak Cruz's story as she was photographed as some of its most iconic landmarks including Fair Tropical Botanic Gardens and the Billmore Hotel where photographers Alexis Rodriguez Dwarte and Tiko Torres created some of her most celebrated portraits. And whereas the Coral Gables Museum will open the exhibition happy 100th birthday Selia on November 6th, 2025 in honor of the sentinel of Selia Cruz's birth celebrating her life, her artistry, and

her enduring connection to Coral Gables in partnership with the Selruz Foundation led by Omeid. And now therefore, I Vince Lago as mayor of the city of Coral Gables and on behalf of the city commission to hereby proclaim November 6, 2025 a sale day in Coral Gables.

Thank you so much. And I I I want to add that we're very very lucky, very happy that Tel Ava Univision is one of the percentage sponsor together with the US Century Bank. So this of course is as you can imagine a project that a lot of people are embracing and it as I said it becomes really more important now that that Selia is still cancel and censor in Cuba and that people are voicing their their respect and their support for sale in Cuba even under the dictatorial regime. So thank you so much.

So Elvis I want to again reiterate my thanks to you. You're doing a great job in the museum. This to me is a very important show as a Cuban American. As I said before and along with my colleagues on this commission, whether you're CubanAmerican, you're Cuban, you're Hispanic. She embodied everything that was right. She was amazing, an amazing person, strong woman. She had character. She had conviction. And you know, she was out of the box. Out of the box. Hairstyle, nails, her appearance. It was just amazing to see in person. And uh I want to I think this is long overdue. I know the 100 years obviously makes sense, but to do something in Coral Gables to me as a Cuban American uh it's amazing and I can't wait to see this. And I hope I hope through the effort of Martha Martha Banting and and the city and you know all the the radio and TV that we can really push this as hard as we can to get people to really understand and and appreciate a genius of this magnitude. Thank you. We got some members of the board. I got another picture of myself.

is the exhibition.

Yeah, of course.

I just want to take a moment. I apologize. Um, Nicholas Caber, I'm the secretary of the board of the Coral Gables Museum, the chair of the Young Associates. I apologize um for speaking impromptu, but I just wanted to take a moment uh to let you all know that since this exhibition opens on November 6, there is a fantastic opportunity to come and see it for free. All members of the public can come and see it on Friday, November 7th at Gallery Night at the Coral Gables Museum. Um this is an incredible program uh and it's free entry to the museum. Uh and proceeds from the cash bar and donations that evening go to support the museum and all of its endeavors. So great opportunity for our community. come see this incredible exhibition that Elvis and museum staff have worked so diligently on on Friday, November 7th at 6 p.m.

If I may, I just want to add some a personal point of privilege and since you came up and spoke, um I had the privilege of sponsoring this weekend's doggy costume contest for Halloween that Nicholas Cabera put together at the museum and it was a huge success, amazing success. Uh, I want to thank my colleagues, uh, the vice mayor who was there, uh, along with George Adisua, the new president of the chamber. Uh, people love it and I want to thank you, Nick, uh, for again, you do these things for the love, for the love of the city of Coral Gables, and all I heard was great things about that event. It keeps growing and growing, growing, and um, it was an honor uh, to sponsor that event on behalf of myself for the museum. I think it's amazing.

Mayor, thank you for that. and and you're absolutely right, but I would be remiss in not saying that it was all museum staff. Um Mary Rose George, who is our development coordinator, she worked so hard on this event and I had the fortune of working alongside her on this program. Uh and because of you, because of the hard work of the museum, uh we have one of the best events uh in on Halloween season at the museum. We had over 40 participants this year. um and a record and our and our winners were the the burglars from the Louv uh in Paris and so it was uh move it or leave it was their motto. So it was excellent. It was excellent

and that's why look I wanted to leave that to you because I had spoken to Elvis and when I tell you that you know you with the young professionals are taking this to the next level. You're bringing people into the museum and so that's something difficult because people sometimes are are intimidated to walk into a museum. Yes sir. and what you're doing with young professionals, college students, that's amazing. And to see that this event keeps continuing to grow. When you called me to sponsor, I said, "Let's do this. It's a no-brainer. We want to get more people involved." And this was a beautiful event. Highlights the great things that are happening in the museum, and I want to congratulate you all. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Uh I just want to commend uh both of you and the board uh for the changes that have been made in programming uh increasing the foot traffic of your non-traditional uh museum attendees. Uh I think you usually you know rely on tourists and you know folks who who have enjoyed uh uh visiting museums for years but you're attracting a new a new crowd. you're attracting children uh to the museum and uh I think that's something that has been needed for some time and I think it's refreshing to see the participation that the community has had, the engagement the community has had in the programming that that has been brought about. Uh and I appreciate the the work that the two of you and the board have been putting into these efforts.

Thank you, Commissioner. Through the mayor briefly. Yes. So great to see you, Nicholas Cabera. Thank you, sir.

And representing the young associates and all things that are wonderful for the the museum. I think since we have everybody up there at the at the podium in the dis over here supporting you. Um I encourage as you do both do as well all young people to please come out to gallery night on November 7 in particular because not only is that a free access as you say to witness and experience the Celia Cruz exhibition but it's an amazing night in and of itself um where it's the place to be on on on that particular Friday night is at the museum Coral Gables Museum Gallery night. My daughter's also one of the young associates and a big supporter of you and all that you you do, but I like to see even more young people from Coral Gables come out and connect. It's an amazing organization. It's a great way to spend a really fun evening November 7.

Thank you, Commissioner Vice Mayor. I just wanted to uh dovetail on the compliments that have been given to you on the programming uh diversity that's been added to it because at a certain point you know yes it was a wonderful historical museum but fewer people were coming because there was nothing new. So now you can see something new you can see something old and you can revisit the old because you keep changing it into something new. the the exhibit that ends at on the December 2nd, I think it is, goes back through the history of Coral Gables. And if you haven't seen it, better hurry up. It's a it's a beautiful exhibit. Now, for next year's doggy costume, folks, you're really going to have to step up your game because it was tough judging this time. the the folks that won first place, uh, the little two bank robbers for the Lou, actually had a newspaper print of the two dogs in a picture, [snorts] move it or leave it, you know, wanted poster. It was over the top. I mean, the creativity was immense. So, and then there was a little bit of heart melting type of thing with the little kid with the bubbles in the car wash. So, a lot of lot of tough decisions were made. We had probably about six or seven people scored the same and we had to we had to do a last minute vote on which one of those with the same scores got third place. But it was it was a blast. Lots of fun.

Thank you very much through the mayor. This sounds like such a beautiful event. Congratulations for that. I would love for next time to maybe get invited because this is right up my alley. Maybe I can invite some extra dogs as well. Everybody is always invited. I we always welcome all members of the community. Uh and it's it's just such a great opportunity. Um it always takes place on the same day as trick-or- treat on the Mile. And with that, um my compliments to the city for a spectacular event on Saturday. So many people in downtown Coral Gables. And I spoke to a couple business owners that were ecstatic with the with the turnout and and the support that they were given.

Uh Commissioner, you did mention it. Your daughter is a member of the young associates of the Coral Gables Museum and she's been a big supporting gallery night as well. And I thank all of you and I hope that you will join us this Friday. The core of Gallery Night is fantastic live music in downtown Coral Gables. It's the place to be. Um this Friday we'll be have having a performance by Blood Moon Mafia. Forgive the name. It's it's a little out there. Um but you know I I I'm a big fan of classic rock and they do a lot of Led Zeppelin and uh we've had Joan Mah perform with LLP before. Um but this f November 7th will be a very great time. Thank you for all thank you for giving us this time. I know this was impromptu. I I I just wanted to add that um on that day we're launching the the project of the time capsule. Remember we've been talking about time capsule that we are going to do a 50-year time capsule. We are working with the schools. We're working with a lot of organizations to make sure that there is a strong representation and really a snapshot of the city today for people to learn about what the city was at you know 50 years I mean today of course 50 years from now. So thank you so much again all commissioners for for your support and also of course the city manager Peter Les thank you so much for your support as well.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Moving on to the final item on presentation and protocol documents. Item A5, presentation proclamation declaring November 15, 2025 as America Recycles Day in Coral Gables. Good morning, sir. Morning. Recycling injury running. I got a lot of jokes today. I got a lot of jokes. Good morning. Oh, wait. Elvis has left the building.

I don't know how I followed that up. Um, good morning, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. We're here today uh as we do come to you every year uh with a proclamation just celebrating America Recycles Day um and highlighting all the uh incredible programs we have here in the city to diver divert waste from our landfill, educate our community about recycling. And we can't do that alone. Um I have my team, Nicole from my team, we have uh Joe and the sustainability advisory board. Joe is the board as a whole appointment to the sustainability board and we could not accomplish what we accomplish or implement the programs that we implement without the support of you all as the elected leaders, the manager's office, our city departments, solid waste. A special shout out to our solid waste team. They're out collecting and making sure the recycling is all um in place. Uh and what you see in the proclamation is just an update and a highlight of all the programs we have going on. And we'll be hearing later on in the commission about potential some new programs. But um thank you all for your continued support uh for all the uh recycling efforts we do here in the city and our sustainability efforts in general.

Well, it's uh wonderful to see you here. I mean my my journey through the sustainability board started when you started your career. So how many years ago was that? 10

10 years ago. Yeah. And uh so that that was uh a very energetic and always has been a very energetic and innovative board. always looking to move our city to be a better place to live. So with that, I'll I'll read the proclamation. Uh whereas America Recycles Day is celebrated annually on November 15th to help increase awareness about the importance of recycling and conservation of our natural resources. Whereas all people, regardless of race, gender, or income, have the right to a healthy environment. And whereas the city of Coal Gables continues to take steps and create programs aimed at decreasing litter and increasing recycling through the keep gables beautiful program which over the last five years has hosted 270 events with over 34,000 participants and volunteers that have collected over 975,000 pounds of litter. [snorts] Whereas in partnership with the city sustainability advisory board, Keep Coral Gable's Beautiful hosts bianual recycling drive-thru events since 2016 and April and November, which had diverted over 650,000 pounds of hazardous and e-waste, paper, plastic bags, and clothing from entering landfills in our environment. And whereas the city in 2022 also launched the BIS business recycling drive-thru to give local businesses the opportunity to recycle right. This initiative collected over 4,600 lb of e-waste and 9,600 lb of paper within three years advancing sustainability efforts of Coral Gables businesses. Whereas the city was the first municipality in 2016 in Miami Date County to implement a prescription drug

disposal program and in 2021 launched a year-round battery recycling program for its residents, businesses, employees, and visitors, which to date has collected over 5,225 pounds of for proper recycling. And whereas through Next Trek's plastic film recycling program, the city was awarded an honorary recycled material material bench for successfully recycling 1,000 pounds of plastic bags and film and is progressing towards a second successful year with over 300 pounds collected to date. Whereas the city also continues to maintain a below 8% contamination rate in its single family residential recycling program through its continued education and awareness. And whereas the city was awarded a grant for a second year in a row by Keep America Beautiful organization to continue to implement the cigarette litter prevention and recycling program throughout the city to reduce cigarette litter. And now therefore, I Vince Slago as mayor of the city of Coral Gables and along with the members of our city commission do hereby proclaim no November 15, 2025 as America Recycles Day in Coral Gables. So this is amazing amazing organization. I was proud to be a member. I know that the drive-thru recycling was the brainchild of Marlon Ever. And you know we owe and indebtedness to her on that and each and every one of the members on that board have added to this program year after year and we'll we'll continue to add. We'll as you said we have another thing coming on the on the agenda today. So with that you want to

let's take a photo take a always leading doing a great job. It's only growing which is great. Let's do it.

Take a picture. to continue. Um, it would be so Mayor, and I just want to mention uh the next recycling drive-through event does fall on America Recycles Day this year. So, November 15th, 9 to 12 in the city hall parking lot.

I love it. So, I have uh the results for the pumpkin contest. Our clerk says that there has been collusion here, but is not willing to face the facts that he did not win. Even though I thought I thought the pumpkin was really good. So, with 24 votes, the winner and champion for 2025, public works. Great job. second place. He did try to convince me that the one in 21 was a four, so he would get a first place tie, but I said obviously that that doesn't look like a four. The city clerk

and passports. And coming in third place, rounding it out, public public works green space. I love it. Congratulations. I demand a recount. [laughter] We had a tie for fourth place and um sixth place was city attorney's office. Wow. But it was very tight. It was very tight. Very, very, very tight. But I think, Mr. Mayor, this year there was really an elevation of the of the content that was provided. These pumpkins were were hard to judge this year. Yeah. But amazing work for a centennial. We got we got our money's worth.

Congratulations. Um, can I get a a motion for approval of minutes regular city commission meeting September 25? All in favor? I. Thank you. Uh, moving on to public comment.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Uh, first speaker this morning, Miss Maria Cruz. Good morning, Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I had something else prepared, but this morning I was a little concerned when the invocation came up and I thought there was a priest coming from St. Augustine, Florida because and then I saw that it was Father Adam from St. Austin and I'm very grateful that Commissioner L knows the name of our parish and uh the name of the parish is St. Augustine's St. Augustine is the name of the city up in what is in North whatever Florida. Okay. So it was very nice to have father Adam here and explain how great the things are going in St. August under Father Beor and I'm sorry but some of us will not be at the museum on the 7th because we have the homecoming block party at St. Augustine because it's homecoming week at the University of Miami. So all of you that are alums, it's all free fun. We have the

homecoming block party there. Sponsor the food is hooked by the Knights of Columbus. The CCW, the ladies group produce brings the desserts and after we have fun and the activities for the kids, we go and watch the fireworks. So if you so wish to come and join us, you're more than welcome. Mr. Jackson Holmes.

Good morning.

Greetings. Uh my name is Jackson Holmes. I live at 35 Sedonia Avenue, Coral Gables. Um I want to mention something uh that I wasn't planning, but um it's just too striking to omit. Um while I was the the celebration of Nicholas Children's Hospital uh is very uh important. Thank you. Um while I was talking with the fellow in the audience, um this almost makes me want to cry. I asked him if um Trump's Medicaid cuts and cuts to the Affordable Care Act will hurt uh Nicholas Children's Hospital financially. And he told me yes. Moving on. Um the um I'm I want to speak in behalf of uh Commissioner Castro's ethics ordinance. I may not be here later today, so I wanted to go ahead and address this in public comments. Um um we have a new code that is basically censorship of public comments. So I'm like walking a thin line. Uh but I totally 100% support uh this ordinance and um I I guess I talked too much, but I believe that there's uh the the violations that she's trying to prohibit have been occurring and need to stop. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. That's it, Mr. Mayor. All right. Perfect. Moving on to consent agenda. 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? I have a motion. Move it. I'll second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Moving on to the first item that we have uh in regards to time certain item E1. Good morning, sir. Mayor, I'll read the item. Yes.

And some introductory information. Um, so item E1 is an appeal to the Coral Gable City Commission from the decision of the Historic Preservation Board on September 18, 2025 to deny a claim of undue economic hardship and a certificate of appropriateness for demolition for the property located at 1258 Obby Avenue, a contributing resource in the Obispo Avenue historic district legally described as lots one and two, block 3, Coral Gable, section E, according to the plat thereof as recorded in platbook 8 at page 13 of the public records of Miami County. This is a quasi judicial item. Mayor and commissioners pursuant to section 14-208.6 6 of the city zoning code. This appeal is based on the record of the hearing before the historic preservation board and shall not be a denovo hearing. What that means is that no new or additional testimony shall be taken. It's an appeal based only on the record. As a reminder, your role in considering this appeal is whether due process was afforded, whether the essential requirements of law were were followed, and whether the historic preservation board's decision was based on competent substantial evidence. After the city commission's review, the city commission has four options as provided in the zoning code. The city commission can affirm the decision of the historic preservation board. The city commission can affirm the decision of the historic preservation board with conditions. The city commission can override the decision of the historic preservation board and the city commission can remand for further proceedings to the historic preservation board. 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 appellant will be allowed 15 minutes per presentation which shall be limited to the record before the historic preservation board. Next, a deputy city attorney as councel for the historic preservation board and historic preservation staff will be allowed 15 minutes for presentations also limited to the record below. Next, there will be time for questions by 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 denovo, public comments shall not be considered testimony in this case. And finally, there will be time for additional questions and discussion by members of the city commission. And as a reminder,

because this is a quasi judicial item. Um, any inadvertent exarty communication should be disclosed. Thank you, Madam City Attorney. Thank you for mentioning the rules and procedure order. Mr. Appellin, you have 15 minutes. Thank you. Good morning. Morning,

Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Caesar Mestree with offices at 8105 Northwest 155th Street, Miami Lakes, Florida. I'm here today representing Javier Aila and Jennifer Ruiz, a Coral Gables couple that are the owners of this property. The property in question is a 15 square foot lot at 1258 Obyspo Avenue. I'm going to change a little bit of my presentation because I think that once we go down the rabbit hole of this is historic, we lose sight of what's kind of really going on here. One of the documents that's part of our presentation, a city historical structure form, has very, very pertinent information for this. And it states, "This building lacks sufficient architectural merit and historical import individual local designation or NRHP listing, but it does contribute to the Abyispo Avenue Historic District as an example of domestic architecture from the district's distinct periods. of significance. So although this property is not enough to be designated itself as historic, it is part of the Abyspo historic district. The reason I mention that is that this is not the first time the owners come here before you for a certificate of appropriateness to demolish. It's the second time. And during the first time, the mayor very lucidly

asked a question over and over. What makes this property historic? What makes this property historic? And throughout the entire record, you will not see anything that gives you the details of why this is historic. And this is very important because this is what gets us to the criteria that the historic board used to deny the application. You have eight criteria that the city has. Once a home is designated designated historic, you have to follow these criteria to see if you qualify to get the certificate of appropriateness. But I'll give you a perfect example. The first criteria is does the property to the degree and I'm quoting now number one the degree and that word is s super important which this building structure improvement or site contributes to the historic or architectural significance of the historic site or district. The degree staff's response to that is the building is a contributing resource with the Abyspo Avenue historic district. Its removal would in irreversibly and negatively impact the historic and architectural significant of the distance. So under that thought once it's designated part of this then you'll never be able to come in and challenge it or try to do something like they're trying to do with their property. They don't tell you the degree. I went back there and I made this argument to the board. There's approximately 124 houses in this district. How many of those houses have the same architecture that we have? We

didn't get into that. How many of these houses will be able to supplement whatever void the demolition of this property does? We didn't get into that. Nobody wants to talk about the the exact nature of this property. They just want to say it's historic. You can't touch it. I don't think that was the intent of the commission when you passed this code and this legislature. This property was also here back like I told you for certificate of demolition back in 22. It was denied. So my client found out that there was another criteria, an additional criteria, which is financial hardship that was not argued at the first one. I can tell you that this property has already received two certificates of appropriateness for expansions of the property. One in 2014 and one in 2019. They were going to add like 4,000 square feet to this property. The one in 2014, we don't know. It was never done. It uh expired. The one in 2019 is very interesting because they came before the board, the owner at that time, and the board at that time said, "We're going to go ahead and table this. We're going to move it to another day, but come back with a structural engineer to see what's going on with this property." This was for an addition. That owner never came back. A few months later, they buy the property. They come to city hall. They speak with a gentleman by the name of Warren and they confirm that it has been approved for an addition. They buy the property for $1,25,000

back in October of 2021. A few months later, as they get into trying to do the addition, they find out, hold it, this has some serious issues here, which are structural. Perhaps that's why they said a structural engineer has to come in and tell us what's going on with this property. They buy it, they find out. Now, they go, uhoh. to repair it to bring this property up to where it would satisfy the code is going to be $675,000. Just to repair the floors alone is $175,000. They've already put a,25,000 would take 675,000 to bring it up to code. We have an engineer that goes to the property and this is part of the presentation. The engineer says, "Whoa, hold it. This property is structurally unsound. You cannot just repair this. This is a danger. This is uninhabitable. Nobody can live there." And I think that's a very important point when you're considering the financial hardship. They have not been able to live in this house since they bought it in 2021. They've been carrying the cost of maintaining it. They paid a million25,000 to buy the property. They've been paying $30,000 in taxes for four years. That's $120,000. The debt service on this property is $99,000 a year. That's another $400,000. $675,000 to repair. So, they would have to have about $2.2 million invested in this property just to bring it up to code. We're talking about a property that is a 21 about 1,200 square f feet. The appraisals that were submitted with

the application show that the land is worth about a million dollars and that the structure is about $25,000. So obviously it would make no sense to do this. The other problem they're having is once they tried to see if they could fix the property, the contractors that came out said, "Wait, hold it. We're not going in there. This place is about to fall down. We cannot ensure our safety, our employee safety, so we're not going to do it." So, they're caught between a rock and a hard place because of this historical district designation that nobody wants to define or that hasn't been defined as of yet. So instead of going into every single criteria, I will tell you that as the first one, instead of giving a degree, staff just gave a conclusion. Instead of analyzing it, they just said, "Does it do this?" Yes, it does. But they never explain why. That's what the big problem is here. They do admit that this isn't the last of this type of home. They admit that there's other ones um here in Coral Gables that have the same uh architectural importance which we really don't know what it is. In the record, we have the February 24th, 2023 professional engineer Antonio Canelas recommended that the repairs necessary to restore the structural uh uh integrity of the house would exceed the cost of new construction. told you about the degree. Uh there's

other buildings that are uh the same type. Again, criteria number three, would the loss of the building adversely affect the historic and architectural integrity of the district? And they say yes, it will affect it. That's it. There's no other explanation. Um, we submitted and it was shown to the board uh plans, renderings of a substitute structure that would be placed on the on the property if they were allowed to demolish it. It it tries to trace the architectural nature of this property as much as possible so that it doesn't change the character of the neighborhood. Interesting. The property right next door. This is a corner house. The first property on the on the side was demolished is being rebuilt and that one was okay. That one's being looks like it has two floors plus a a third story terrace. So that neighbor immediate neighbor was allowed to do something with their property. Other criteria have to do with eminent threat to the to the area or public policy. I would represent to you that this house, there's photographs that are part of the application, has torn floors, broken windows, the roofs you can see out to the sky, is a actually a public nuisance. Why it hasn't been declared unsafe, I don't know and I don't understand. But children have a way of gravitating to places like this. Halloween is a perfect example. They want to go in there and

see what's going on. If somebody goes in that property, they are going to get hurt. So, I would argue to you that the best public policy under these circumstances would be to allow the demolition of this property. Again, I think as as the mayor asked during the first hearing on this, what is the importance? [snorts] What is the architectural importance of this property? Your own report says it lacks the necessary criteria to be individually designated as historic. So, I would ask you to please allow them to demolish this property. Don't force them to have a property that they can't do anything with or they have to invest over $2 million to have a 1,200 foot home that um won't be able to sell for whatever they have invested in it. Um, we'd be happy to answer any questions at the end, but we ask you respectfully for a vote of approval of the certificate of appropriateness for demolition.

Thank you. Madam City attorney,

thank you. Good morning. Stephanie Thra Martin, deputy city attorney on behalf of the historic preservation board. If you all recall about a year or two ago, you on the urging of the historic preservation board requested that our office represent the decision of the historic preservation board to provide you all with a little bit of context. Um I will go through this presentation very briefly and then address a few of Mr. Mystery's points. So first thing as the city attorney pointed out, what is before you today is not a reconsideration of the designation of the property. It is not a reconsideration of the district. What is before you today is an appeal of the historic preservation board's decision to deny the certificate of appropriateness for demolition. As the city attorney mentioned, there are three elements only that you should be looking at. It's not a denovo hearing. Was there due process? Were the essential requirements of law followed? And was the decision based on competent substantial evidence? To give you a brief uh history of the project, Mr. Mystery covered most of this, but I think it's um useful to reiterate that the district was created in 2008 and it was noted as a contributing structure. The time to challenge that designation was in 2008. In 2014, there was a special certificate of appropriateness for a large one-story addition. In no way does the Historic Preservation Board or the code require them to keep the house as is or restore it to um its current size or condition. In 2019, there was another special certificate of appropriateness for addition and alteration approved as Mr. Mastery pointed out, it's a large 4,000 foot addition that was approved in July 2021. And I just want to correct some of the dates that were mentioned earlier. A revision to that 2019 COA was suggested to the Historic Preservation Board. The reason that there was a discussion about the structural integrity of the home is because the request at the time in July of 2021 was to remove and I'm going to I'm going to say the words incorrectly because excuse me I'm not a structural engineer was because there the um there was a roofing that was being done and the framing of the floors. And so because of that request of the revision that's why there was a request for the

structural engineer. It was not a concern about the structural structural integrity of the property. In December of 2022, there was a request for demolition that was denied by the Historic Preservation Board. And as mentioned before, it was appealed to this body in February of 2023, where that decision was upheld. Um the decision of the Historic Preservation Board was upheld. Since February of 2023, there have been no applications for new certificates of appropriateness um for additions or alterations to the property. The only application has been a renewed application for demolition under the financial hardship criteria. Um, as mentioned, that's the certificate of appropriateness that's being appealed to you before to address some of the legal standards, the due process. There was a full hearing held before the historic preservation board in September of 2025. The property owner, his two attorneys were present. Um, there was a full opportunity to um cross-examine, present information, and present information. So, I would like to note that according to the historic preservation board, there was due process followed. the essential requirements of law. You've already heard them. I just want to highlight them for you. Um 8107 is the demolition [clears throat] section which refers to section 8115 of the code. As mentioned, there are six criteria for demolition. As Mr. Mester pointed out, is it the last of its kind? Is it a contributing structure? Those factors, those were all considered in 2022 and considered before you and also considered twice by the historic preservation board. What was not considered until this um current COA was the financial burden section which is written for you here. An exceptional financial burden that would amount to the taking of property without just compensation or failure to achieve a feasible economic return in the case of an incomeroucing property. They have not claimed that this is an incomeroucing property. For the record, um, as clarified multiple times by our office and by previous commissions, the standard for this is a constitutional takings juristprudence that was

explained to the historic preservation board. It was explained to the property owners during the hearing. Um, and I I'm happy to explain it to you all again, but essentially you have to look at whether or not the economic regulation has interfered with the distinct investmentbacked expectations, the character of the government action. Is this a physical invasion of the property or is this just a regulation? So those are the standards as mentioned. These are the eight standards for demolition. The degree to which it contributes to the district, the last remaining example of its kind. As mentioned by Mr. Mestre, all of this was considered in the staff report and considered by the historic preservation board. So I put to you on behalf of the historic preservation board that the essential requirements of law were followed. They applied the correct standards. These are the demolition standards. They also considered the substantial competent evidence and the essential requirements of law for the undue economic hardship prong which is one of those factors. These are those factors all laid forward here as Mr. Mestre alluded to the amount paid for the property, the assessed value, the real estate taxes. I note that the annual debt service was mentioned below and mentioned here, but there was no evidence provided of the annual debt service. All appraisals within the previous two years of purchase of the property were not provided below. Listings of the property for sale. The property was listed for sale but not in its current condition. It was presented with plans um and it was noted as a five- bedroomedroom, fourb house, a much larger house than currently exists there. Um consideration of profitable adaptive uses that was not provided. The historic preservation board noted that they have twice approved large additions to the home. So there is clearly profitable adaptive use to be had there. They did provide the appraisals of the property as Mr. Mestri pointed out. Um, so there was substantial competent evidence provided by both the property owner and city staff considered by the historic preservation board. The historic board found the following that they rejected the claim of undue economic hardship because it has not been established that the owner was denied all reasonable beneficial use or return on the property

and they adopted staff's findings. So that's the substantial competent evidence on which they based their decision and they denied the issuance of the special certificate of appropriateness for demolition. Just very briefly before I turn it over to Anna Paris, the historic preservation officer, just wanted to address a few points. Um, first of all, as I mentioned, the time for reconsideration of the designation of the property is not now. That's not what's before you today. What's before you today is the issuance of a special certificate appropriateness. Um, Mr. Murray mentioned that because the property is historic, you can't touch it. That's not clear as evidenced by the historic preservation boards um twice having issued large certificates of appropriateness for additions to the property. Um the amounts of money to repair the property to code that were mentioned um the property is not required to be restored in its current condition or shape or size and a historic homes often have flexibility with dealing with the current building code. Um what is before you only is the designation I mean is the demolition of the property. As mentioned, there have twice been approvals for large additions that would of course be more than the amount of money for the repair and it would not require them to keep the home its current size and condition. Um, we have been provided as a city or as the historic preservation board no evidence about structural safety or integrity issues at the property. If it's an unsafe structure ready to collapse, I'd hope the property owner would report it so that the city can assist in taking action and securing the property. Um the staff did say in their staff report that its loss would hurt the district. That is the substantial competent evidence on which they base their decision. Um the Mr. Mestri mentioned pictures of the new house. I just want to mention that that was not an official um uh item before the historic preservation board. It was not consideration of a new addition. Um that was not brought before the board at the time. Only what was brought was the demolition. So, there was no full

presentation about a new certificate of appropriateness for a new addition. Um, I'm not aware of the structure next door, whether or not it was a contributing structure in the district. I'll defer to staff on that. Um, if the property is a public nuisance, it was purchased as a public nuisance. There's been no work done to the property since 2021 and the property owner is responsible for the current condition of the home. So, if it is a public nuisance, I would hope that they would address that as well. I will turn it over to staff to address any of the details, but I'm happy to answer any questions on behalf of the historic preservation board and what their findings were.

Good morning, Anna Pernes, preservation officer. Um, again, I'm just going to give you a little brief history. I think Stephanie did a good summary of the facts that were presented to the board and um before Mr. Meyer and his the applicants for the property. Um, a little bit of background on the property. So 1258 Oispo Avenue. In May 2008, the Obyspo Avenue Historic District was listed in the Coral Gable's Register of Historic Places. Um it is a distinct example the 1258 Oispo Avenue is considered a contributing structure within those Bispo Avenue historic district. It is a distinct example of domestic architecture and recognized a contributing structure by a GI consultant um consultation cons sorry [snorts] consultant um survey that was completed in 2007. So this survey was actually done by a third party um company that did a survey of the entire Obispo historic district. Um they claimed that the building as mentioned by Mr. Maestry was a distinct example of the historic um of the domestic architecture and that has undergone minor alterations over the years and retains a high level of historic integrity. Um the property has extensive list of approvals from the past as kind of we've gone through a few different projects but essentially no work has been done. Uh as mentioned before the property was purchased by the current property owners in October 2021 for 1 million2 um $25,000. uh as presented before you under sworn testimony by the previous preservation officers, staff did meet with the applicants prior to their purchase of the property to discuss the applications, the previous applications that were in place uh of the property, the significance of the property and the condition of the property. There was a structural engineers report that was submitted that was completed actually prior to the purchase of the property that did state the condition existing conditions of the building and then a following structural engineers report was completed by um Mr. Canelis who um

also stated in his report that the property was repairable but that it would take extensive um measures to complete that repairs those repairs going through if we can go back to the presentation please. Thank you. So I have these up for you all to refer back to. So in addition to all the provisions of the article, the board shall consider the following criterion in evaluating the applications for the special certificate of appropriateness for demolition of designated properties. As mentioned again, number one is the degree to which the building structure and improvement of site contributes to the historic and architectural significance of the historic site or district. The building is a contributing resource within the Bispo Avenue historic district. Its removal would irversibly negatively impact the historic and architectural significance of the district. To respond to Mr. Mistre's comments, we don't have a degree of which buildings um contribute more or less to the district. Um the buildings are not and contributing in a rating system. So we look at it as any historic fabric loss is historic fabric loss that's not that is irreplaceable. Um number two, whether the structure the building structure improvement or site of one of the last remaining examples of its kind in the neighborhood in the country or the region. the building is not one of the last remaining examples of its kind in the neighborhood of the country or the region. Number three, whether the loss of the building structure, improvement or site would adversely affect the historic and or architectural integrity of the historic site or district. The loss of the building would adversely affect the historic and architectural integrity of the district and would result in one less contributing structure. Number four, whether the retention of the building structure improvement or site would promote the general ware welfare of the city by providing an opportunity for study of the local historic the local history, architecture and design or by developing an understanding of the importance and value of the particular culture and heritage. As the building retains much of its integrity, it provides an opportunity for the study of local history, architecture and design

and by developing an understanding of the importance and the value of the particular charact culture and heritage. Uh number five, whether the architectural plans have been presented to the board for reuse of the property if the proposed demolition were to be carried out and the appropriateness of said plans to the character of the historic site or district if applicable and demonstration as well as the posting of a bond requirement that there would be sufficient funds in place to carry out such plans. Uh the applicant has not provided plans for the reuse of the property as part of this application or future or past applications. So, the board has not reviewed any new construction or addition applications by this applicant, but has reviewed others um in 2019 and 2014. Uh whether the number six is whether the building structure, improvement or site possesses an imminent threat to the public health or safety. I'm going to leave that one a little bit open-ended because I think per the uh discussion here today and Mr. Maestry mentioned that is an unsafe structure that has not been reported to the city. So, we may need to look into the conditions of that site. Um but at the time at when this report was completed, the building does not impose an imminent threat to the public health or safety as it has not been determined to be an unsafe structure. Um number seven, whether the applicant has demonstrated the retention of the building structure and proven or site would create an unreasonable or undue economic hardship as described in section 8-115. And I'll go through those items next. Um number eight, whether there is a compelling public interest requiring the demolition. So again, that kind of goes back to the comments presented to you before you today about there being a public nuisance, but there's no compelling public interest requiring the demolition as demolition would negatively impact the historic district. Um, in addition to um the application today, you have you the applicants are claiming an undue economic hardship. Um, as a minimum, the applicant shall provide the time of the application the following information. So the amount paid for the property, the date of the purchase, and the name of the previous pre property owners, the property was purchased uh from Mr. Igor Nunees on

October 1, 2021 for a total of $1,25,000. And the executed document, sellers documents are provided in your attachments. Number two, the assessed value of the land and the improvements thereon according to the two most recent Miami date county property assess assessment records. Um those were attached the real estate taxes for the previous two years. The applicant provided the real estate taxes for 2021 and 2022. The annual debt service, as mentioned, no um no copies were provided. Just since we've got just a few seconds left, I just we we went through all of these before, but one thing I just wanted to mention is that the six other characteristics besides the undue economic hardship were considered by the historic preservation bureau before and considered by the commission previously. They were um mentioned again and in the staff report, but what is really before you today is that claim of undue economic hardship.

Thank you, sir. Two, I think you had a few extra minutes for rebuttal.

I would just like to point out that although there have been two approved additions, they haven't been done. They haven't been done for a reason. prior owners. I'm going to say wasn't economically feasible. The one thing nobody can change and is uncontroverted is that my clients have not been able to use this property since 2021. They have spent money, time, effort bringing it before you now for the second time to see if they can make use of their property. It would be unfair to burden them with over $2 million investment to end up with a house that's 11-200 square feet, two bedrooms, one bath. That is uh our part. And again, I would respectfully ask you to vote in favor of the certificate of appropriateness

through the mayor. Thank you, Mr. So, a question. Thank you for your presentation today. Um, is it your understanding that all of the issues that you've raised before us here today were previously raised raised below? They are all either part of the application or were argued directly to the board. But today's proceeding is not denovo. Correct.

Correct. Understood. Would you agree that our hands are tied then to that extent that you know just trying to be fair we have we we sit in a limited capacity with limited oversight and limited jurisdiction to review nothing that's denovo and to see whether there was anything that was frankly procedurally improper. Do you have anything that you can tell us today that was procedurally short or improper or not properly um afforded an opportunity for you when you argued before?

I would argue that a part of what you need to do today is find that they had substantial competent evidence for the findings that they had. And my argument to you is the ele the criteria your elements were wrongly applied and not thoroughly studied when they did their examination. For example, the degree your criteria says the degree that this this uh property not being in the historic district affects the historic district. It's not a yes or no. It's a degree. And the reason that that's there is because again, just because it's part of the historic district doesn't mean that you can't do something with it. That's why they put this criteria to see where does this property fall in to that because if we go by staff's argument, that answer will always be yes. It will affect it by definition. It's part of the district. We're trying to demolish it. It will affect it. And so is the same thing with the other criteria. It's not just a matter of does it affect will it will it uh will it um will it affect the historic district? Yes, it's to what extent and I think very important is that there are other structures that have the same architectural details or importance as this one does. I think that the proper thing would have been there's 124 houses in this district. How many of this are there? I think that's the proper methodology to follow to properly apply the criteria. So my argument to you is they did not apply the criteria

correctly in this case. So that is not part of what they know. That is a review of what actually happened there. So no, thank you for that. So you're asking us the commission today to substitute our judgment for what you believe was an incorrectly reached judgment. Yes. And I believe that is within your purview. So madame vice mayor

I have a a few things. I mean um I think counselor I'm a practicing lawyer. I've done appellet work. um arbitrary choices, you know, would I think fall within a standard that doesn't comply with substantial competent evidence. I haven't seen that argument. What I have seen, and I want you to also think about this is not the only historic district we have in our city. We have some magnificent pieces that have been neglected on Hardy Road and um have to be remedied. And what we don't want to do is encourage people to neglect properties in order to qualify them for demolition. what I don't see in the record and looking at it from a standard that of evidence that should be presented. There's no appraisal. You're relying upon Zillow reports. Zillow report, you know, we we'll get through this. Zillow reports are not accurate. I've shoed for homes before, too. It doesn't go inside and look for anything. inside it assumes a lot of fact. It's an algorithm. That's all it is. You do have the property appraisers report. I doubt seriously the property appraiser went inside this residence. I know the lion share of the value was the land and a tiny bit was the house itself. So there appears to be some reflection of that. I don't see where there's an engineering

report to support the uh assertion that of the cost. I have no idea what the tax savings would be for historic property and I don't see any evidence of other options that were considered like a partial demo, maintain a historic piece. There's zero discussion about that in the record at all. So, as Commissioner Laura said, our hands are tied. There wasn't the effort made. If you wanted to show the evidence that there's an undue economic hardship to show the annual debt service, there were no records provided. Appraisals weren't done. um listings of this property for sale in the condition that it's in. Those listings considered the improvements or the new drawings or something else other than this property as it is. Consideration of profitable adaptive reuses were not presented. So the burden is on the applicant. Correct. Yes, it is.

Okay. So, I see I think you see where my vote is heading.

So, if I may just want to I want to reiterate what I said before the last time that this came before us. I was the only elected official that was here when the South Cleaners came before us. Um, wait for our firefighters. So when LA cleaners came before us, it came with a negative recommendation from the historic board. They were granting the demolition. If you're familiar with that site next to the Davidson property, that property should have been deemed historic, but it was not because it had been touched and multiple renovations have been done to it. But the his historic significance of that property, this is one of the arguments that I made. Should have made that property historic. George Merrick used that building as he worked on the city of Coral Gables and got us to 100 years today. So that property had an important architect had the founder make it his personal office is my understanding. and have our friends here who are wellversed in regards to the historic nature of this city more than I am. But that property in itself was significant was historic and I think that that was the only vote to preserve it and we can ask the clerk, Mr. Clerk, if you could find that vote, please.

Yes, sir.

I'd really appreciate it. So this is what's perplexing to me and this is why I stay firm on this vote. I have voted to save the Whiteway lights. I have done many significant things. I have brought properties here to the city. For example, the Fin Studio to have the Fin Studio purchase from private hands and have the city purchase. I brought that property forward because I had a broker reach out to me. I was interested in purchasing it myself, but I believe that that property deserved to be in the city's hands. probably the top three most important designs in the city. That was brought to you by a broker who lives in Google Plum. So, this is very difficult for me and this is what we have to be very careful and I'm going to tell you why. You're seeing an aggressive approach at the state level in regards to preeemption. Massive. Anybody that denies it, you know, doesn't want to see reality. You're seeing it in regards to our trees, our canopy. Never before in the city proged to cut a tree down on your own property. Now there many of those restrictions have been removed and the city's hands have been tied. Now you're seeing properties that are in the flood plane, historic properties be allowed to be demolished. We have one of those major demolitions happen here in Gable's Estates by a historically significant home that was designated. Who's the architect of madam city attorney? Do you recogn this is a property that is not designated historic. Not designated historic. Let me repeat that again. Not designated historic. But it is in a contributing historic district.

So that's why I'm in favor of allowing this and I continue to be firm because I believe that something here could be designed that would be appropriate with the neighborhood that would bring value to the neighborhood. And if you drive by this property, you'll see that the neighboring property, the neighboring property is using every last square inch of the F that's allowed to build a pretty large piece of property on their lot. And we can have that confirmed by staff. They can look over the plants, but I'm pretty sure that every last square inch is being used. And I know that many of us have been approached by that owner of that property and that property was demolished. Then a rear house was left vacant for years until they were able to get their ducks in a row. I don't know if the property was sold. I don't know if the property was bought by a developer or that individual ended up building his dream home on that property, but we were all approached by that individual. So to me, look, I'm a I'm a I'm I'm I'm in a in a very tough situation here because I believe that this property, which is not historic, people have property rights. We have to be very thoughtful and very careful about their property rights. And I just cannot and I cannot tell somebody, hey, your home is not historic, but you're in a historic district, and I can't allow you to move forward when you're advocating to allow these individuals to build their dream home. So I'm a yes in favor of this. I continue to be a yes. I was a yes before and I am a yes now because this is not a historic home and I think that these individuals should be allowed to build their dream home here in the city of Coral Gables.

Commissioner,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Mr. Mister, we've known each other for many years. I've always held you in high regard. Um, and I have to agree with the vice mayor in this. I just don't see a way where we can approve this. Um, I believe that, um, there are possibilities of remediating some of the issues that this house had prior to the application for demolition being filed. Uh, I don't believe that that was done. Um, but as Commissioner Lara asked very prudently, I don't see anything that the Historic Preservation Board has done that would merit us over uh, turning their decision. Um, so I I I just don't see how I can support it. Um, I do believe that there was knowledge of this being in a historic district at the time the home was purchased. So, um, the property owner should have known at the time that this was part of, uh, what they would have to go through. Um, and it is a historic district and I agree with with the with the historic preservation board and with staff's recommendation that um, it would affect the district. Um, I I drive past this home on a regular basis. Uh, and I've seen the condition that it's been for years. Um, I I think part of the factors of uh just seeing what the financial impact would be is also seeing where the property values and properties in this area are. If this house were to be properly be restored, uh, I think the value of this property would be there. Um, and I agree with the vice mayor. I don't think that Zillow is is the best place to um best source to get the information on property values. I think Coral Gables in particular always f falls outside of Zillow's recommendation on on valuation, sometimes as much as 50 or 60%. Because our property values are as high as they are. Um so I I I cannot support uh overturning the historic preservation board's decision today

through the mayor. Yes. Um after After listening to the mayor, I um I concur with a lot of the ideas that he had, but unfortunately after also reading the transcript, I cannot support this. Um I'm curious, when was the last time somebody lived in this property? I know that there's been three sales in the last 10 years, I believe, but I don't have the answer to when somebody lived there last. I just know that my client hasn't lived there. There was two additions that were approved. Yes.

Okay. And I believe that if you were to consider some of these and um engage in the construction, the comps would definitely match the surrounding properties and it won't be 1,200 square feet. For that reason, I will not be supporting this. Any further comment from the commission?

Mayor, I concur. Mayor, with all your concerns about preeemption, uh, and I would not be surprised if on contributing properties, it is something that the, uh, Florida, you know, legislature takes up, of course. Okay. And that's something I want the historic preservation board to keep in mind, try to work with this applicant on what can be done with this property other than the two previously approved ones without the engineering drawing. Is there a piece of this facade that is so important to the historic fabric of the district that it should be preserved while the rest of the home is not because usually it's the skin of the home that they declare is historic. So if we could focus on that and allow you know this property proceed rather than be the vacant lot basically that it is because the concern of the Florida legislature is housing and when we are using our historic preservation code to force a particular result without working with applicants to try to find a resolution that could work This is something that I think the board should consider versus the alternative that could happen that we don't get to preserve any of these anymore.

Understood. We'll pass that message along to the board. Thank you. So, if I may, thank you, Vice Mayor.

So, I think the vice mayor hit the nail on the head. You've seen that not only are they concerned about housing, but they're concerned about property rights. and property rights has played a major role from reduction in homestead exemption taxes to trees on people's property that we used to have a much larger say um in regards to whether a tree could [clears throat] be knocked down or not. Uh now any arburous report in a neighborhood will get you a tree knocked down. Um, also discussing issues again in regards to property rights. Like I mentioned before, when would you have ever thought in a city like this that you would knock down an Alfred Brian Parker house of that magnitude which is in books is studied in major universities when you talk about architecture. We have a uh an individual I've had the pleasure of working with in the past, one of the most respected historical architects here in town. Um, and I'm not going to call them and put them up not put them up on the not put them up here on a on a on the hot lamp,

but this is the type of concern when you tell me that a property is not historically designated, but happens to be in a historically contributing district where you end up voting against it. I have voted in favor and against projects in the past. I'm very proud of my historic voting record, but I think that we need to be very very careful because people have property rights and whether they're going to do an addition, whether or not obviously we have a structure engineer says that this is an issue. U in this case, they'd have to knock down demolish the property, redesign it, build a new exterior. with the cost of today's construction as everyone knows. Um, again, the costs are through the roof. [clears throat] And are they going to be profitable? I hope so. I mean, that's the plan. I mean, you invest in Coral Gables so you you can live a city beer lifestyle, but also so that you can have a a home that appreciates in value, something that you want to design. So, I I'm still going to vote yes uh in support of the applicant. But what I want to do, what I want to do is I'd like to put something out to my colleagues. The vice mayor talked about the skin. Obviously, that's the most important thing when you talk about historic preservation. That's why when I bring up an issue like Lasal Cleaners, and I use it as an example every single time, if that building, which was designed by an important architect and George Merrick used that building as an office, but exterior portions of the skin were changed and that was talked about when it was brought before the commission. I still voted in favor of designation even though the historic preservation board voted for demolition. That property we wish today was around and the city would have bought it. I I tried everything in my power like I did with the Fin Studio to purchase that building and have have the ability to rehab it and maybe use it as a city-owned property, but it was worth saving due to the history. I want to make sure that we can we have another

choice and I don't have the votes of the of my colleagues on the commission. Um, I want to see how we can possibly expedite the process, figure out a way that we can help them out in an effort so that they can save that piece of skin or that facade that's required, which by the way, again, has no is not historically designated. That's what I keep trying to make people understand. It's not historically designated. Let's make the historic board happy and the commission happy and allow them to build their dream home. Mayor, I'm sure staff is happy to expedite anything and all possible to get any additions or remodels happen um in front of the historic preservation board at a timely manner.

Here's a question. I know that you mentioned that we can send it back to the historic preservation board. Are we able to send it back to the historic preservation board with the instructions to work with the applicant on So, so the way the process begins is the applicant would have to file an application for certificate of appropriateness pro proposing what they would want to do and that's the way the process begins. So, your role today is just to decide whether there was you know uh uh whether to uphold or or override the determination that there was no undue economic hardship and the denial of the demolition permit.

Okay. And I guess the other the the second question would be would our vote to affirm affect their process in any way? In other words, if they have an appetite towards preserving the facade of the of the residence and working with the historic preservation board to find a solution that would work uh on a historic preservation side, would our I guess denial affect their application process? Would it be better for them to just withdraw their appeal and and

No. So the the the board has already denied their application of undue economic hardship and certificate of appropriateness for demolition. They were seeking a total demolition of the property. If they want to submit a certificate of appropriateness for a a different remodel or a different addition um that will be reviewed on you by by staff and then of course the board

commissioner if if if in your findings today you want to give direction about um expediting I think that would be appropriate to the board and staff. I think the key to understand if I may is being in construction is you have the cost of the land what they purchase it for right you have the taxes you have the the carry at the end of the day they have a mortgage on the property I imagine um then you have the cost to repair the existing facade I'm not even talking about the additional construction to for the addition obviously because you're going to have to do an addition you're not going to live with a 21 I mean maybe they will but I don't think That's their plan. Um, so you have a situation where they're well over 1.5 $1.6 million just to this moment. And then you got to talk about the work that's got to be done to repair the existing structure. And then now from there, you got to move on and then do an entire construction project. You have to do design documents. You have to do the construction to take a property that now your basis is $1.6 million. And how much are you going to spend on construction? Let's say you build a 5,000 square foot home and let's say you spend about $500 a foot, which is not crazy in Coral Gable standards. Okay, let's put $500 a foot. You're talking about $2.5 million on top of the almost $2 million you spent. Are we talking about homes, and I hope and pray that one day it is at that level. Homes in that area are selling for $4.5 million. I don't think they are. I haven't seen that. And I'm involved in real estate also. So, uh, it's it's a significant cost and now you got to make a decision. You got to make an investment. And you can easily say, I know what the response is going to be of certain people here. Yeah. Well, they knew about it. They knew what they were getting themselves into. Also, when they bought the house, you have didn't have construction costs spiral out of control like they did in the last in the last four years. I mean, construction costs have doubled in certain cases, tripled

uh as a result of just the cost of materials, the cost of labor. So, I have a little bit of a different understanding of of Yes, we want to hold them. We want to hold this building as a historically contributing structure, even though it's not designated, but when you add construction, when you add correcting and holding as you've had to the last four or five years, um I think the cost is just way too much and you can't get the value out of this property once it's done in regards to a resale if they go eventually everybody resells their property.

Mayor, there were two approved COAs. So to the extent that the applicant wants to work with staff on bringing back those two approved additions, making alterations to those and bringing those, I think that would be an expedited way to to get things done, but I'll defer to staff and the applicant on that. So I just wanted to give the reason why I mentioned because I wanted to give some reasoning behind my thought process and where and where like when you start adding numbers, you're talking about real real numbers here. You're talking about someone's money.

Someone's money. Somebody made a decision. They say, "Okay, I want to buy this." They didn't expect to get into all these kind of situations. uh they didn't expect for construction cost to spiral out of control like it has. So, um I'm pretty sure if you ask the applicant, hey, do you think you're going to be in this situation five years ago? You'll be like, no, I thought I was going to be able to build my house and I wasn't in this situation. lawyer fees, all the things that you've had to that you've had to um you know, basically accept and and and again, the last thing I want and I would hate to have you guys leave here with a bad taste in your mouth and be in a position where you're five and by the way, everybody here knows that construction costs have overruns and we're not even adding what the carry would be during that time when you can't even can't even live in your house. So, um and you got to live somewhere else while you're building this house. So, we'd be over five, we'd be close to $5 million on a property that, as we all know, as residents in this community. I will North Gables would be at that point one day. But there's realtors here in front of me. They're going to tell you there isn't $5 million homes in North Gables at the present moment. Madam, Vice Mayor,

so I'm going to and I I see the applicants up there. These are some tough decisions. He'd like to talk to the commissions.

So, you know, some things for you to think about. Um 1021 Hardy has been described as a movie set because all that's left is the front facade inside. Everything else is empty inside. And that's a historically designated piece of property and it's a special piece of property because it goes back to the 1920s, one of the George Frink designed homes. You have some choices to make. You want to go back and supplement the record to continue on the undue hardship route or do you want to preserve the essential walls that the historic preservation department wants to do and and start a new with a new application saving, you know, like the front facade. That's it's your choice.

If it were up to me, I'd light it on fire, but that's You don't want to put that on the record. No, I I I understand these are hard choices, but do you want to supplement the record with an engineering report and proper appraisals?

We have that we we and we we gave them two rounds of appraisals. That's why I came up here to explain. We gave them two rounds of appraisals. Not one, two. the reason why it took so long I' and you know I get and I had a baby but I've got numerous emails that I can see I'm going to be honest you if it wasn't because of my relationship with this city I could I could literally scream intentional torturous interference okay I've gotten numerous emails to to historic preservation that have gone unanswered for weeks and months numerous. So you know why I had to give two rounds of appraisals because the first round I gave expired. So then I had to give a second round. So, I mean, it it's a lot of this is not pointed at us. There's a lot of delays that have happened on on that end, which is why we're in this situation. We're not going off of appraisals from from Zillow or Realtor. We're going off of real appraisals that we've provided. I've got engineering reports. So, I don't know when we're saying we don't have an engineering report. We have an engineering report. Engineering report states that the the the property has has structural problems. The the the the main problem that we're having is that nobody wants to fix it. I had to beg a structure a gentleman Atlas Construction to do me the favor and go out there and take a look at the property. His remarks were I'm going to give you an estimate, but in my writer it's going to say that no guarantee. No guarantee. So it's, you know, it's not that it's not that simple. It really is not. Um, a property I think uh Mr. Fernandez mentioned about, you know, that if you fix the property that you can get your No, you can't. The property's got a,200 under AC. properties are selling in in that area for $1,000 a square foot. So, fixing the property and investing all the money into the subflooring, the the the joist, the roofing, uh electrical, plumbing, every you're not going to get your money back. You're not going to get your money back. Look, I've got my I've got my realtor right there. He's tried the only house that that man hasn't been able to sell in the Gables. We tried selling it. Only one only only house that he's listed that hasn't been able

to sell. So if I if I just may add something, Vice Mayor, and I think it's important to to put it on the record to give you an idea on the golf course. We are going to right now, Mr. Manager, how many square feet are we looking at right now in regards to the golf course renovation of the historic structure the one that we got a million dollar grant from the state? Oh, gondola. The gondola building. Yeah. The Gondo building is about um 700 800 square feet. And how much is the budget for that? Almost 1.5 million to 2 million.

So just to put it into context, you have a gondola building that's historic that fell 700 square ft and it's $1.5 million. That's the budget. And these are revised budget estimates, correct? Yes, sir. So this is what we're talking about and this is why I keep bringing it up. This is what I want people to understand. very simple to say, hey, this building is historically significant because it contributes, but it's not designated. When they bought the house 5 years ago, they bought the house 5 years ago, they didn't expect construction cost to be where it's at today. I mean, can we can we all agree on that? Well, the cost of skyrocketed.

So, when you look at this situation, this is why my vote hasn't changed. It's you have 1,100 square feet. You have $1.6 6 million right now of acred purchase, carry, all the, you know, maintenance, all the things that don't have taxes. So taxes. So at the end of the day, if we're going to vote against these homeowners who are trying to start their life here in the Gables, which I think is a great idea, um, fine, but let's move forward. If we're going to say that we need to save a facade of a building which is not historic which is a first for me by the way but we're knocking down Lassau Cleaners. We knocked down Lasassal Cleaners which had a important historic architect and George Merrick used that building and I know that I'm looking at my dear friend um you know it's a important building and we're not designating that building. We're allowing it to be knocked down because the exterior facade had been remodeled. Correct. Is that the appropriate word? Anna. Anna. Altered. The exterior was altered. So, we knocked that building down. Sometimes we have to face the fact that we have we're talking from both sides of our mouth. And um my vote hasn't changed. My vote continues to be the same. So, mayor, I I do agree with you because it's very difficult to follow the um differing interpretations and that's that's generous what I'm going to say that happens from the board and happens from the department. Your presentation said that there all appraisals provided within the past two years were not provided. you have

my understanding that that was pre-purchase appraisals. So no that that that was not provided. There were appraisals provided. Stop. Stop. Yeah, that is correct. There were appraisals provided. If we go back to the presentation, we can note there were current appraisals provided. What was not provided was the um item about um all appraisals within the previous two years of purchase that were not provided. Let me ask you a question. So if you'll notice appraisals within six months, those were provided. Why is that relevant? Yeah, that's it's my understanding that that that's been a consideration in the code um to deal with when you purchase a property before it was designated perhaps. So, this was already purchased when it was designated, but to the extent that you purchased a property which was then designated, that may be useful information to the board. Madam, that makes no sense.

Madam City attorney, if I may to to agree with my to agree with the vice mayor, that makes no sense. Let me tell you why. Your appraisal, your comp is your sales price. And that was included, mayor. Yeah. No, but I'm saying you paid 1 million. Correct. You paid for it. You you you you have the you set the valuation. You bought it. I would just note I don't know that that was a um key determination for the board. But if I may, if I may, if I may, and again, I'm going to admit that I didn't catch that. Thanks. Thanks for the vice mayor for catching that.

Those are things that to me, you know, again, why is that relevant? I'm giving you I'm I know we're here supposed to really focus in on one issue on economic hardship. I gave you the economic hardship. What is the price of construction five years ago versus the price of construction today? And this is a non-historically designated home. So, it is designated, mayor. I just want to clarify for the record. It's not individually designated, but it is designated.

But we're really working on on on words here. And it's if you're going to tell me that pre-appraisal versus post appraisal, you're going to hang on that I'm going to hang on the property is not designated. Mayor, I don't know that the board um focused on that as one of the criteria. It is just an element of the packet in the code that is to be provided by the by the applicant. Okay. Well, I think we've we've unless my colleagues have anything else they'd like to add. I I know how I'm voting on this issue and we can move forward. Um madam, so I'm sorry. I'm I'm I'm a little stuck on this. Yes.

You know, 38 years of law practice. I know what substantial competitive evidence is and I know if there's an arbit arbitrary or capriccious choice on one document over another that tips the scales in the other direction. Why why was this in the presentation as not being provided? So again the it was not provided. So just for the record that's two appraisals current appraise current appraisals that was noted in the presentation and in the packet that it was provided. So the current appraisals were provided. It was noted in the presentation. It was noted in the staff report that the current appraisals were provided. What was not provided was

previous to the purchase property assessment values previous to the purchase. But if I may and I I understand the relevance, but to me to me that's irrelevant. That may not be relevant to you. I'm just the criteria and the application materials come off of the code. So those items, those one through eight like we said. So I think what we're getting caught up in is number five. All appraisals obtained within the previous two years by the property owner applicant in connection with the purchase, financing, or ownership of the property. So no copies were provided previous to their purchase. As per an email from the property owner, they do not have the appraisal prior to the purchase. Number eight.

No, no, I I can read. I have it up in front of me. The problem is this. What is relevant evidence is the only thing that should be presented to us. You can go back and say that the lawn was mowed consistently for the last 50 years. Irrelevant appraisals on this property prior to the the window of time that we need to analyze undue hardship is irrelevant. So why are you representing to us as a basis to support your finding that there is no undue hardship irrelevant evidence?

Vice Mayor, that was included as part of the essential requirements of law section of the presentation. If you'll note, one of the questions on appeal is whether or not the um historic preservation board applied the correct criteria. The criteria are set forth in the code. Those are the eight criteria in the code. It may not have been relevant to the historic preservation board's decision or yours, but when we were looking in the presentation, as as you noted on appeal, one of the items is was the correct law applied. This is the correct law. It's one of the elements of the presentation. So, it's not meant to imply in any way that they didn't provide um evidence that was required. It's just noted that that was one of the elements of the application that was considered by the board and nothing was provided for that section. That doesn't mean it was relevant and required. it just wasn't provided and that's one of the requirements of law that they were to follow.

So let me ask you a question. Okay, maybe I misunderstood and I'm not a lawyer. The way that I took it and tell me for my non- lawyers here, did you not understand that an appraisal was not provided? That's what I understood. So if we can go back to the presentation, I just want to I want to be clear. No, but but no, but I want to be clear and I and I have the floor. I want to ask a question of my colleagues, not of my not of staff. Did you have the same understanding that an appraisal was not provided? Correct. I did. And I think that was the part of the problem was we kind of rushed through that that pertinent part of the of the of the presentation. I wouldn't have figured out anyways. No, I'm going to be honest with you. So, I'm happy to go.

Wait, but wait, but wait. I'm not done yet. We finished. Okay. Look, what other item did they say was not provided? Remind me. I'm I'm happy to go over them again. Wait, wait. A structural report, Mr. applicant was a structural report provided by signed and certified engineer structural engineer. Yes, sir. There is a report and it was part of our presentation also. Yes.

Thanks to the clean of the record. I misspoke before and I want to make sure I get this right and the clerk kindly corrected me. It's been a long years. Mr. Clerk, when did when was the South Cleaners brought before us? Just want to be clear because I don't want later to somebody say I misspoke, you know,

2018. Give me the seven years, you know, I can't remember everything. It's been a long time. Okay, that structure went before the historic preservation board. They voted against it. It was never brought before the commission. I put the item on the agenda and said to my colleagues, "Is there an appetite to bring this back?" because I think I spoke to the attorney back then and said, "Guys, this is an important building. You know, this the the the historic board doesn't want to designate this because as our city attorney said, the exterior skin has been altered and and I went through and I can't remember all the fine points on why I believe that building should have been designated and why, by the way, much to the chagrin of the owner of the property at that point. Remember, Mr. manager. They were not very happy that that was that that I had brought that up in an effort to try to get my colleagues on the commission to designate that building and then at the end of the day purchase the purchase the property like we did with the Fin Studio. So there's a little bit of confusion here and I wanted to clarify the record on my on my end and also on what the applicant presented and staff's response. I think it's important. This is on the record and we are talking about people's lives here who have been for five years dealing with a home that again is not designated historic but is in a is a contributing structure.

Yes, Madam Vice Mayor, I don't feel vote uh comfortable voting on this record right now. I'd like to spend more time going through this. Okay. So, I' a deferral. I' I'd ask for a deferral. have an opportunity to go back through this with a fine tooth comb because when I'm relying upon a presentation, it says there's there were not any not provided all all appraisals provided within the past two years not provided and it's not pointed out that there was other relevant evidence provided. Uh I just don't feel comfortable with this at all at this point. I don't have an issue with that at all. These are people's lives at stake. I'd like to go through this record more carefully.

Okay. If you move for deferral, I'll second. Okay, I'll move for deferral. Mr. Clerk, we have a motion, a second. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Castro, I'm sorry. Can you repeat the motion? Move for deferral. Yeah. Before Before I vote on this, I believe that the transcript and and I went through the transcript. I I believe the transcript did say about the the appraisal and the engineering, but I'll go ahead and um I think maybe we need to review the transcript again. It was somewhat extensive. Um, I'll go ahead and say yes to deferral. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Mayor Log,

let me correct the record again. I did go through the transcript like I've done for the last 13 years. I go through every transcript. I review every single board. I review every single item that becomes for the commission. I don't remember that. Number one, uh maybe they discussed it on the commission floor, but what I'm going by is by my city attorney telling me the contrary and it needs to be flushed out. We need to have a conversation up here and have a real conversation to get to the bottom of it because we are voting on something that will in perpetuity affect somebody. And I think it's appropriate that we do that.

And mayor, if I misspoke, I apologize. I just want to be clear that the presentation was correct. So, I just want to be clear. If I misspoke, I apologize. But the presentation was clear. Madam City attorney, I just cleared corrected the record that I said that I voted on something in regards to the South Cleers. I also correct the record. We all make mistakes. It's not a problem. You're I want to apologize if I misspoke. You have a much higher batting average than I do in regards to stating things correctly. Okay? Don't worry. Don't take Don't take offense to it. Um Yes, please. Mayor, sorry. I I would suggest that we defer if possible to a date certain. Otherwise, we're going to have to renotice and and the applicant will have to mail notice again. So, if we want to do a date, if we want to do November 18th or we want to move go to the December meeting, uh, November,

whatever you prefer, November 18th, November, what I recommend, a little bit of advice is that you sit down and you have a conversation not only with staff, but you meet with all the elected officials and you explain in detail the situation. Okay, that's just my advice. Yes, sir.

Um, I think the last couple not not about yours. Um the last couple of appeals that we've had before us, we've had questions about the criteria, we've had certain items in the criteria that perhaps made sense when they originally passed and maybe not today. I just wanted to put it out there. Maybe it's time for us to consider a blue ribbon panel to consider the criteria for historic preservation for appeals to update uh our our criteria uh and make sure that they're up to date. Obviously, when when that was passed, maybe those two years of uh appraisals were important. Uh they are not to us today, but just something to consider. um or just giving the uh historic preservation board the directive to revise the uh uh the process. I think we talked about it last time. We just never really took action on it.

Yes. So just to with respect to that um request for information as part of the application for the two years of appraisals prior to purchase, I think that the presentation was just to indicate that that was not information that was part of the record. It hadn't been provided. So, I think that the transcript fleshes out that that wasn't something that the board hinged their decision on. But, of course, we can review it and we can consider all of that the next meeting, but I just don't want it to be um interpreted that that somehow we were saying [clears throat] that was a a you know, the decisive factor. Um it was justformational that that had not been provided

through the mayor. This is a quasi judicial case. So, I know that the mayor recommended that you guys come meet with us, specifically me. I would refrain from that. Exactly. because we really shouldn't be having ex party communications. Madam city attorney, madam city attorney, am I allowed to meet with the applicant? Mayor, as you know, um our our office always says that in exarty and quasi judicial matters, you should avoid all exarty communications. We can meet with them. Correct. As long as I put on the record. So we actually our advice is that you avoid those u meetings. If it's an inadvertent exarty communication, then you disclose it. if it's in.

My recommendation, and we're we're now listening to Melissa Castro, is that you meet with anybody you need to meet with because as you can see by now, you have to get two appraisals uh as a result of waiting on staff in an effort to get a response. How much was each one of those appraisals? $500. That's your money. Shouldn't be the city's money. So, at the end of the day, I want to make sure that we respect your process because you've been through this process for a long time. I apologize uh for today's endeavors. We will see you at the next commission meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Uh moving on. Uh items E12, E13, E14, and E15 are deferred. Uh moving on to item E17, time certain. E7 is a resolution of city attorney. At the request of Commissioner Fernandez, we're taking a five-minute break. Thank you very much. You beat me to it.

E23. All right, gotcha. Progress. And welcome back. We're going to go to E17, which is time certain. E17 is a resolution of the city commission pursuant to zoning code article 1 general provision section 1-104 jurisdiction applicability amending resolution number 2021-334 that granted site plan approval of the mobility hub located at the site of parking garage 1 legally described as lost 29 to 42 block 2 craft section Coral Gables Florida providing for repeal provision severability clause and providing for an effective date this is a quasi judicial item so everyone who will be uh providing testimony in this matter should be sworn in

those who will be appearing Hearing on this item, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm the testimony you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth? All right, Mr. Manager. Mr. Mayor, uh we have uh the presentation for the mobility hub. Okay. Based on the prior selection of the of the city commission.

Okay. And this is just further along to see if we can finalize the uh the project and move on with uh with the uh final design and then of course construction phase. We'll be looking at a construction manner manager at risk uh as soon as as soon as the project is approved by the city commission. Perfect. Thank you. Do we have a presentation from staff or anything like uh yes Gendler is here to provide the uh presentation. How you doing? Good morning.

Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, uh, vice mayor, commission members, city manager. Really happy to be back to present the updates of the elevation and facades that were selected from our last meeting. Let me see if this is working. Yes, it is. Just a quick reminder of what was selected out of the three options last time. What was selected was the option of carved by nature, which was really focused on u the abstraction of nature on the actual facade itself. These were some of the inspirational images that we had uh to guide the overall design. You remember these initial conceptual elevations and I'm going through these fast because you've already seen these and now is the development as we've looked at it further. So, uh this is the Cheesecake Factory on the bottom right hand corner that you're seeing. Uh you're looking at the elevation updated now with more detailing uh into the specific metal panels. Um what you're able to see here as well is the kind of specific location of the art display. As you remember the idea of biophilia landscape um art was all part of the facade and design of this project. So this is one art niche that we've developed for a future sculpture that would go into this particular area. This is another view that you probably hadn't seen before. Uh this is looking right at the entry off of Ander Lucia. One of the things just to take into account is the coloring of the facade now has a kind of an off-white or a champagne color to it so that it blends in to the overall feel of the downtown area. Again, the pattern of the facade really does represent kind of a lush foliage, if you will, as if you're almost looking through the foliage of a canopy of a tree. Um, the insertions that we have of the

landscaping are very specifically placed so that they're above any obstructions. So you can see on the left hand side you can already see uh the landscape insertion above the Miracle Mile Theater and on the right hand side it's still above to as you're walking down towards the main entry you can still see the views of that landscaping. So really the idea is focused on nature again just highlighting the integrations that we're seeing. This is another view from Miracle Mile. If you remember, previously we had a bird's eye view which literally nothing but a bird would ever see. We wanted to actually make it more realistic in terms of what you would see at the corner looking directly at the building itself. You can see it blends in uh quite well here. Uh the Miracle Mile Theater, it takes up kind of a lot of the facade that you were seeing before, but again, the way we place that landscape insertion is in a place to where you can still see above it. So that really what you're seeing is a lot of the the landscaping and the biophilia that we've actually incorporated on the left hand side where we've opened it up right at the ramp is another insertion for art. One thing uh that I wanted to know specifically for Vice Mayor Anderson is you can see here we've updated that with a twoft crash wall.

So that's incorporated into the design. And again, just the art mural area again on this part would be something that we'll go through a process of of selecting in the future. And again, the biophilia integration on the miracle mile facade. This is that main entry uh that we've created off of Lucia that takes you directly through that po and connects you to Miracle Mile. We believe this is a really important urban planning concept to connect that main retail artery to the rest of the city. Uh you can see that there's uh lots of biophilia at the canopy level directly above the main entrance. The patterning of the sophet ceiling that we've created through there also kind of represents the pattern that we have on the facade itself. Uh there's a moment for uh a large piece of artwork at the ground where you see that staircase and of course a lot of uh retail and activation on the street. So it's not just a dead facade in a dead street. And again this is where that specific art display would go front and center again the artist to be selected in the future. Uh this is one of the my personal kind of favorite renderings is what would happen at night. Uh, it's a really beautiful almost veil looking facade on this with a soft glow. It really looks like you're looking through kind of a lush canopy of a tree. We're really trying to connect this facade and this building itself with what we think is the most important thing about Coral Gables, which is the lushness of the area, the trees, the foliage, the patterns that you see in the oolites and the limestone. And that's what we've really tried to create here. This is just a closeup again. So, we've looked at the detailing of what each metal panel would be. As we get closer into dealing with the actual metal manufacturers, we'll get even more details to you. But one of the things

that we're really excited about is what happens on the interior. So, you can see on the right hand side, that's the view after you've parked your car. You can see the amount of beautiful light that actually comes through. Um, again, this is a safety issue, but it's also an aesthetic issue in terms of being able to look out, allowing the light to come in and the beautiful pattern that actually falls on the ground floor as the sun shines through this thing. Again, is a constant reminder of this idea of landscape and foliage. This just kind of shows you some patterns that we've been looking at. This is a second pattern that we looked at to try and optimize what we've showed you in the previous one. and on all the facade renderings is this one. So, this is just another one to show you that we've been really looking at studying what that pattern could actually be. This is both of them together. [clears throat] This is a a detail. Um, basically what we're trying to show is how the entire system connects back to the structure itself. One of the things that we've tried to do here is to expedite the construction time by having the metal panels actually connect to two floors so that when it's under construction, you're actually putting up this building much faster than you typically would. So, we're really trying to expedite the construction process as well. Uh the rooftop activation was something we didn't quite touch on last time. So, a little bit more detail for you here. This was what it used to be before. Uh you can see that there was stadium seating as part of it. There was an interior community space of about 2,300 square feet. Um and then the middle portion uh where we're calling kind of multifunction space was really focused on a children's park area. If you remember the parks department was actually involved last time. This is kind of what it looked like before.

From what we've heard and what we've seen, there's a lot of green spaces and parks that have been constructed since that time. And so maybe the idea of a children's focused park on the roof didn't make as much sense uh given the the recent developments that we've seen around the city. So this is uh one option that we're proposing for two reasons. One to really keep the rooftop activated and two to monetize it as much as we can. So expanding that restaurant/ community event space to 3,800 ft² so that if it becomes a tenant for the city where it's a restaurant, it's a much larger space and a space that could actually accommodate the restaurant. We would have outdoor seating. The seating would also spill out into the multi-function space which is basically just a green turf area. It's much more simplified now. In front of that where you're seeing the purple is what we're calling an activation space. You'll see in more detail. The idea is that it'll have a cover on it so that there could be kind of green on the screen. You could see movies uh kind of projected on that wall. You could actually have performances there of bands. So, it really becomes a space that becomes multifunctional and a draw to get people up there. The second option, not too dissimilar, was uh really expanding that idea of the restaurant and a much larger community space. In this case, 6,000 square ft. Uh we really imagined this idea of that outdoor terrace area would actually have sculptures that could be part of it as well. Uh but still having that activation space. This is just a a view of what that rooftop would look like. This was really focused on the trelluses. If you remember, we actually had photovoltaic cells to reduce the electricity bill for

the building itself and sustainability for for the uh project as well. So, this just kind of shows what was there before. And this is a conceptual rendering of what that rooftop could look like. So, to the right would be the restaurant space or the event space. You can see that there's outdoor seating that spills out. The green turf is directly in front of it that could be set up for different types of events. In this case, this is uh projecting a movie so that there could be a movie night on the top of the rooftop. And that is what we have for you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Looks like you've made a lot of progress. I know you've been working hard. Thank you for that. And thank you for your team as always uh you know being so considerate and working together on behalf of the city. Uh Mr. manager. Do you have any further questions before I take it to the commission?

Uh, yes, mayor. We we've looked at the at the roof differently now that we're going to have a 20,000 foot park in front of Publix and a 10,000t park right across from the Cadina project. So, that's why the kind of different activation of of that roof. We have two different designs that that have come up and we would like to get the uh the opinion of the of the commission. I think we like them very much. If we could go back to those And I wanted to like to see if we can uh if we can move forward with

I'm happy you brought up I'm happy you brought up the the park because one of the things that I worked on with your guidance when we were negotiating with public the last four years was when I told I'd love to see a 20,000 square foot at park and we were able to negotiate 20,000 feet that opened us up I think gave us a lot more flexibility in regards to uh the programming for the parking garage and I think having that park I mean while we would have liked to have it on obviously anywhere but having it on first floor I think is going to pay significant dividends. It's going to be a better amenity in my opinion, something pretty special. Yes, mayor. Uh your your your dealings with that park uh were were really what what motivated us to look at that that differently because it's 20,000 square feet right diagonally across.

Great. Great location. And if we could look at the the facade at the skin again. Okay. Just waiting for it to come back on the screen. And I can't remember the last meeting, but I think when you came back, I think there was pretty pretty pretty good consensus on the skin. I think it looked great. It's it's carved by nature, but we have a couple of two final designs on the carve by nature. Uh just just slightly different. We uh it's hard to pick between both of them because they're both uh quite u Yes. Yes.

So these are the side by side. Um the first one which is what we're calling option one is what all the renderings were actually based on uh because obviously we had to pick one for the rendering and then this is the option two which is a slightly different scale um for the actual pattern itself. So we wanted to bring this up to you for your comments.

Commissioner very beautiful, exciting, very um vivid imagery and and and I think this bodess very very very well going forward for um the mobility hub. As far as the two choices, everyone's got an opinion. I really like the first one the most only for me because um the the bigger uh size I suppose of the of the of the shapes uh versus the other one that has to me a little bit more of a a webl like view because there's like a thinner

I think there's like a thinner um pattern on some of the um structured skin there. Yeah. Um the first one just feels to me a little more tropical jungle kind of like motif and especially when you see the sun coming through on the inside and it creates the space uh the little geometric geometric spaces on the floor with the shadow and the light. Wonderful. It's great. Anyway, I just like that. They're both beautiful. I prefer the first one. The mayor vice mayor,

I would say I like the the first one better, too. It's a little more lacy, a little more flowing in a way. Um you know, great great concept. So, I like the fact that you brought, you know, some choices. That that was a good idea. Um, only thing I I hope in in the um and I appreciate the wall is if we find some way to get that artwork or architectural expression of art more visible in in the ramps. Is there any way to bring that forward

um so it would be more visible as opposed to behind a wall or cars? So, um, not that I'm an architect, but there there may be a way to do that with a a screen. I don't know. You know, some something else similar. But you've done a great job. Um, we had a nice presentation last night at the Co Gables Garden Club. An individual from uh the Florida um Native Plant Network came forward and spoke about what Singapore did. Um, and you know, when I expressed what we were doing here, they expressed a willingness to collaborate. So, you might want to reach out to them. They may have some suggestions on how we can support the biopilia even better. Uh, because I'm certainly not the expert.

Yep. But I do know that, you know, right plant, right place is a critical piece. Yeah.

And what you choose to do. Um and I know we have an engineering [clears throat] additional amount needed for this uh this project. And it was something that um you know I always had voiced in the in the first iteration of this um mobility hub in in the past was the fact that you know weather is increasingly getting worse. Um my heart goes out to the folks in Jamaica. Um, I compared the top speeds of wind in Andrew, which we experienced here many moons ago now, 30 some odd years ago, to what they're facing now. It was 145 mileph storm with top speeds around 175. This one's 175 with the gusts coming in at 200. So, we need to seriously look at engineering on this. It's money. well spent there. We have in our recent history that we all can remember times when money wasn't adequately invested in on the engineering. Uh my first year in office, we had Champlain Tower. We've seen the FIU bridge go down. We've seen parking garages at campuses go down. The Fort Lauderdale police station experience problems. So I think it's, you know, I don't want to say pennywise pound foolish. would rather put the money into properly engineering uh this building and every building going into our city. And I I know with uh our city manager u we'll make sure that that that gets done. And then I I shared some additional ideas with the city manager regarding additional areas that we could possibly do activation or uses uh in the building on dead corners that can now become active generating corner areas. I know you haven't had time to explore the market for those things,

right? Uh so I look forward to um hearing those from you in the future. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anything else? I like number one also. I think it's great. Okay. I think it's soft. I think the building looks great and we need parking. So, I think it's a a good move forward. You need a motion that we need. Uh uh yes mayor. Okay. So we will we will uh man through the mayor. So we will proceed with option number one and uh and we're going to okay

and move forward with with the project if we could deal also u uh with H4 along with this with uh with this uh with E17. Mr. Clerk, any public comment?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. First speaker, Miss Mary Cruz. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. I cannot understand how anyone can say that this building blends in with what's there. I like the interior. I I like the first floor that that so far that is no issue. But when you look at the monstrosity, the height of that building compared to what's there. I mean when I was looking at what the presentation, every building next to it, across from it looks like a a little compared to this monstrosity. I think the problem in my eyes and I think the problem in the people's eyes is the height. If it were lower, it would be much better. And I know that we're convinced that it has to be high, but let me tell you, poor Miracle Mile and the Miracle Theater is horrific the way it looks.

Mr. Clerk, Jackson Holmes. Greetings. Uh Jackson Holmes. I live at 35 Sidonia Avenue in Coral Gables. Uh till I say praise God we're here. Um and the mayor has told me I only have three minutes. So I want to get to the heart of this. But I'll start out by saying that I prefer uh design number two. And my reason being is it it and now I get into the safety message. Uh we will have according to Kevin Kenny the former parking director the safest parking garage in the country. Now part of that is do do we have that picture that I sent you is the transparency of the garage. If uh no other garage that I All right there good we have the picture. Now, if you look at that, imagine you're walking on the street with the photo behind me, and you see a woman being mugged by some mugger, presumably a male, right? You can pick up your phone, call 911, and the Coral Gable's police can meet the mugger on his way out of the garage. You can't even get out of the garage. This is one of the elements that makes this the safest in the country. What I'm worried about is that design number two, no, design number two is consistent with that. Gives plenty of transparency, right? But design number one that was pre preferred by you, honorable uh vice mayor, is more obscure. It it I think it reduces safety. Um how am I doing here? I still got 100 one minute uh and 20 seconds. So, getting back to the safety issue, uh, as I focused on these garages, and I was published in the

Miami Herald in 1998 talking about these garages, uh, so I followed this maybe more than anyone alive. Um, what am I getting to here? Uh, with no parking, Miracle Mile dies. We need the parking. And give me a second because I'm losing my train of thought. Women are the people who like to shop. Uh that's a fact of life. If if the city's going to make money off a Miracle Mile, we need to make those women safe. And if we do make them safe, and this does make them safe, then we as a city get more money. Uh we get to take care of our unions and we get to pay our bills. And I got 20 seconds left. I I'll include myself in this. I'm an adjoining property owner, so I have a unique perspective. My I think we're the oldest property owning family on Miracle Mile. My grandfather knew George Merrick. Um the property owners will make more money, too. Thanks for listening.

Thank you so much, Lisa, the attorney. Good afternoon.

Hi. Um, good afternoon. Lisa Daytona, 10 Aragon Avenue. Um, I'm up here. It's a little frustrating because I've been up here many times and I've addressed this issue as well as some other large development. Um, I feel like the city should lead by example in that we are allowing a certain amount of height to be built, especially if there's a Mediterranean bonus, but I think we should keep our heights down as low as necessary and and not to project what we might be using something for in the future. This is supposed to be a parking garage. So, I think the the top floor should be for parking. That way, we could to fit all the cars that are that you said are required. that we could reduce at least one floor, something like that. I don't like the height, especially compared to the block right on Miracle Mile where the maximum is four stories, I believe, and next to the Miracle Theater. So, I wish that everybody who's always spoken about lack of building higher and higher in this downtown area so we don't look like a brickle. I wish we could all be heard. This actually sounds like it's kind of a done deal. So, that's why I'm disappointed. I'm lucky I have a flexible work schedule that I could take time off to come in here, but I I hate to be after u after the vote as well. Thank you.

Whatever. Uh just very briefly, just for the record, I think it's important. Um Mr. Manager, what is the currently allowable height as per the zoning code? If there's no changes to the zoning code, what is allowed currently by the zoning?

That that area mayor is MX3. So it would be with med bonus it would be 190.5. We are not seeking a med bonus. We are under 150. So we do not need the med bonus to to to reach uh this height. This is a very difficult project. It's it's a parking garage. It's uh we um we if we look at the minor at the Monorca garage has been very very successful because we have not gone to a Mediterranean style that provides a very closed very very difficult uh force ventilation garage. So uh this will be clear heights that that uh that can be uh from adaptive view reuse can be used for either either a commercial either a uh office or a or multif family uh future occupancy. So, we've dealt with a lot of issues on this parking garage uh to to deal with the present and and the future.

So, two quick points. Um when was that zoning change made? Just for the record, I I've repeated this probably a dozen times and I'll keep repeating it. When was the zoning change made? Mayor, that was years ago. It was before I was Was there ever office? Correct. Anyone here? Yes.

Want to make I just got to put things clearly on the record because later it'll be said that we changed the zoning code and we didn't change the zoning code. We're actually not even seeking med height. Uh number number um number three. The reason why the building the structure has to go vertical is because of the depth of the lot. If we had a if we had a deeper lot, you know, due to the parking and due to the configuration of the ramps, you would have a much smaller building in height. But due to the fact that it's a very thin lot, you have to go vertical. There's no other choice. Uh if we owned obviously um before Steve Battel uh wanted to uh have 10 10 floors on Miracle Mile, I stopped that. I made sure that was not allowed. uh if we own the properties on Miracle Mile, we did change the zoning, then you would have a much smaller parking lot because you would you would have more depth all the way into Miracle Mile, but I would never allow a parking structure to be Miracle Mile on Miracle Mile. I stopped that. I stopped 10tory buildings from being built on Miracle Mile. Just want to put that on the records. I know that sometime we forget. And by the way, you're always welcome to join us. Um it's always a pleasure to have residents here. Thank you for being here,

Mr. Sir, that's it. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.

To the mayor. Um, a couple things I I wanted to note, too, because I had received calls from residents, you know, behind the plaza about the fan noise from the the plaza uh area, parking garages, between the belts and the bearings making noise, plus the forced air ventilation noises. Um, that is avoided by having the high ceilings that are in here. But yes, it does add some additional height, but getting away from that noise which is annoying residences is an important factor, too. So, it's roughly 40 a little over 45 ft shorter than what is allowable on that site. Um, and as I've said before, I hope this is the last parking garage that we need to construct so that, you know, we have other options on other pieces of property that don't require this type of height. And it's right in the center of the downtown where it is easiest for folks to be able to travel. But 45 ft below is a big reduction in height. And without that noise, I think but those two factors um compel me to say that this is the best choice for for this parking garage.

So the mayor. Yes.

Uh mayor, the the additional height that the vice mayor was talking about is also very important from our adaptive reuse perspective. We use a a typical parking garage height of 7 ft and you cannot use it for anything else. Uh and so we we have this parking garage through the adaptive through adaptive reuse can be used as I mentioned for either either office or multif family. And when you have a regular parking garage with a 7 foot height which would be this garage has at least three additional feet at at every story. It is you cannot use it for anything but storage the storage of cars or storage of refrigerators one or the other. But but it it really doesn't doesn't lead to any adaptive re uh reuse. We have the uh speed ramps and these are flat floors. So, and and we have areas where where we can have uh the MEP come up vertically. So, uh this garage has been has been looked at from a a current use and certainly a future use perspective.

Thank you. Any other comments from my colleagues?

Maybe just a quick quick comment. Um Mr. Mayor, it comes up often comes up often in the uh commission meetings. It comes up often when you speak to residents when they come to office hours. um when when when you read about it online as well, but it's it's worth repeating, right? We know we have zoning and we have the code which establish in every particular section maximum height permitted. So when a building comes before um us and it's within the permitted height um it's implicit that that height is is also ensuring compatibility with the surrounding areas that have been zoned that way. I'm talking about the way it currently not as it is you know would be proposed if there's a variance or some sort of a departure from the zoning designation. So while many would prefer as a matter of their you know taste um to to keep buildings no higher than two, three or four floors, that's fine and it's great to hear um those views, but it would be a misstatement uh to say that uh permitting or allowing a building to be to be erected uh that falls well within uh the maximum heights permitted by the zoning as being either at best um in bad taste or at worst interrogation or contrary to the law because that would be that would be false. So um if there's a concerted desire to change the heights of uh what's permitted uh by the MX designations, then that's a conversation that we should have with the residents for another day or a different um mission. Right. But when we're talking about a building that is is, as the city

manager stated, isn't even being sought with a Mediterranean bonus to be higher, it's it's um it's it's a misstatement to say that it's uh either overdevelopment or out of control based on the height alone. So, I I just think it's it's a conversation that we're going to be having over uh the course of time with the residents where we take into consideration their views. But I think it's important also to say that in many respects um when you talk about property owners and being able to build as of right that's what we're talking about when you fall within uh stated height restrictions. Anyone else will go to the order?

Um I still believe this building is too tall even though it is within the uh the height that's allowed. You are correct. it is within but I still believe that it is above what residents have been asking us to do. Um I appreciate the changes that have been made to the design. Uh I still do not believe that it falls in line with the Miracle Mile side of the building. I would have liked to have seen something that may have been more in line with or at least on that side more in line with with what's on Miracle Mile. Um those are just my comments. Uh I would be a no vote today on this

through the mayor. Yeah. So, I have four points. Um, from day one, I have not supported this. I've tried to stay with with an open mind, not put my guard up or biased. I will not be supporting this design for the mobility hub or the comp plan. This is not what I promised to people. And I will follow through with what I promised them. I agree that we do need a garage. Absolutely, we do. I'm not opposed to that. In fact, I think we need two garages, not only there, but in the other parking lot as well, that we're planning to sell to a developer with an MX3 zoning. So, you can only imagine what's going to go there. Ultimately, the plan to sell the other garage to a developer, I can definitely not agree with that. The plan is here, as stated in previous commission meetings, it was to go ahead and help fund this garage. But most importantly and most importantly, I will not support the fact that we are going through the approval of this mobility hub, the comp plan and the design without voter input at all. We are not talking to the neighbors and I completely disagree with that. Now, I do want to be thankful for Gansler. The design is pretty. Now, I don't think it's still I think they went a long way. I like a lot of the aspects that were there. It doesn't fit in back of in back of the actor's playhouse. I think we need to it it's out of character. However, the design is beautiful. I will be a definite definitely noble as the same as day one

through the mayor.

Yes. So, I too have heard from many residents, Commissioner Castro, who are very much in support of this, including the the enhanced design that has an activation on the top on the roof um with a proposed restaurant, outdoor venue for live events as well as uh movies, right? These are all ways that I think will help generate business, drive the economic engine for miracle mile, which we all I think we've all we desperately need that needs it, right? Um but in terms of uh voter input and resident I should say correct that resident input, you know, this is at least the second time in in the last you know 30 days or so that this has been on the agenda. We've uh had the renderings available. Uh today we've had three um members of the of the public come to speak on this issue regarding public comment. Um one was quite vocal, Mr. Holmes in support of it as well. I think that um um opportunity and uh process have allowed for what your concerns are. And um and I think that um one can make a very strong compelling argument that um you know we we're right on the right track on on the basis that um I will take the the lack of individuals appearing here today against the mobility hub is actually a tacit or implicit endorsement of it. My view [clears throat]

the mayor if I may. Absolutely. Thank you for the privilege. Uh, Mr. Manager, I've heard Commissioner Castro say that that she doesn't support this comp plan change. I'm confused. Can you We're changing the comp plan here. No, mayor. Okay. So, I just want to put that on the record. That was three. That was mentioned twice. There's a comp plan change. It's on the record. I literally just heard that that we're not changing the comp plan. Um, so that's number one. Number two, that's the fact. Are we are we changing the comp plan?

No, mayor. because I have someone looking at me saying, "No, we're not changing the comp plan. We are not going to MX3. We're not seeking med bonus." I know that people want to have smaller buildings in height, and I perfectly fine with that. I voted against Gable Station when they asked for seven additional floors in height. I voted against the plaza. I voted against the then parking garages. I voted against Miracle Mile to make sure it was in 10 floors. I've done my due diligence. I've done my work. And by the way, I love the rhetoric of anti-development and I asked the clerk to provide documentation and I will be sending it out. This commission has voted lock step on every single project except for one where Melissa Castro voted against it. But on every single project, we're batting over 90% in regards to projects. Mr. Clerk, am I incorrect or no? From my recollection, you are, sir. Okay. I want to make sure. So, we can do we can do this political rhetoric back and forth, this game of anti-development and heights and all stuff, but this commission has voted lock step in regards to projects. Don't forget projects that come before us come before us is because it's required by the zoning code because they're mixeduse developments. And sometimes you're able to work with a developer in an effort to get a park. Case in point, Publix, case in point. um a constellation group in front of Nordstrom's uh case in point AIA which we got a 15,000 foot park what it require we had to tweak their project. So there is some good things when you come and you negotiate

through the mayor. I'm not done yet.

So I'm all in favor of having a robust conversation. But let me tell you the biggest problem and why I'm voting in favor today. So, my mother is a legit is legitimately a person who requires a handicap parking space. She's had dozens of surgeries, spine fusions, uh multiple hip surgeries, a litany. I could be here for hours talking about her her issues, but I don't want to violate all of her hip all of her hippo rules, okay? Without due respect. My mother who loves to go to downtown just like my grandmother before she passed away 10 years ago. Marahulia tells me I don't like to drive around and look for parking and I won't and I won't park in the parking lot because I don't feel comfortable parking there. I don't feel it's safe and my car is too big. She has a standard Volvo. It's not like she's driving an escalator or anything like that. I don't feel comfortable and it's not appropriate. So, I find myself driving around or eventually having to spend more money and use valet, which is something that I don't want to use. I should be able to park in a in a in a in a parking lot that is of the same quality as, for example, the design district has or Dayland has. We don't have that here in our downtown. If you look at the Andalusia parking garage, excuse me, the the uh not the Andalusia, the Mediterranean one

museum museum, excuse me, the museum parking lot. When you're in there, it is pitch dark. The lack of ventilation is unhealthy in my opinion. And the design is a shoe box with some roof tiles on it that makes it look Mediterranean. I have spoken to the architect because I worked for that architect for four years, Willie Bomeo. He even says, "I follow the criteria that was set forth by the city, but it's not something that I'm super uber excited about." Okay. I was told this is basically the way that it was supposed to be. small little windows with roof tiles. So, we have confines. And why do I say that? Because a parking garage can only made can only be made to look so Mediterranean. You really don't have the articulation to make something that everyone's going to agree with. But I think we have softened up this parking garage as much as we can. We've lowered the height and it is something that is going to be an economic driver. Like Commissioner La said, 27% of our tax base comes from the downtown. We have to stop kicking the can down the curb and make this investment. We're not going to make everybody happy, but this is an investment in our future, one that'll be funded by revenue that comes from parking. So we can go back and forth and talk about development and you know kind of you know do all these beautiful sound bites so that the blogs can go out there and fire away and but at the end of the day we need to do what's right for our downtown and finally deliver on a parking garage that will bring relief. The current state of our two parking garages are embarrassing. we can do so much better for the business community, for our residents, and for the people who come to visit our downtown every single day

through the mayor. Yes.

And I wanted to go ahead and um respond to Commissioner Richard La. Um I've had plenty plenty of residents and I have had this and I respect [clears throat] um Rip Holm's opinion. I very very much do. In fact, I I do want parking garages there, just not at this scale. Okay. In fact, I don't want one parking garage. I want two parking garages because I think from this whole commission, I spend a lot of my time on Morocco Mile in Geralalda. I could tell you I don't like to park on a ninth or 10th floor. I'm I'm just I'm not going to. And I prefer to park on the street close to the restaurant I'm going to or if I don't find close parking, I'll park valet. I don't love going into garages and going around and around. Now, when you're talking about MX3 and that we're building according to Cody, yes, we are. But I want to keep something in consideration. This is our property. This is city property. Do we really need to exercise the zoning code? Do we really need to build as far as we can build? I know we're not using met bonus. I appreciate that. But at the end of the day, this is in our hands. I would be happier with this garage being a little lower. I would be I I I wouldn't even care so much about the design, but I do care about the fact that I promise the people not so much height. I'll be willing to compromise, but not in this manner. This is huge. And and that's that's it. Respectfully, that's it. for the mayor.

Yes, ma'am. And so we can because comp plans are complex things for people to understand and I've had to sit down with some folks sometimes and explain what it meant. A change of comp plan would mean it would exceed the height of 190.5. That was my point.

We'd have to exceed the height and we're not doing that. If we had proposed a garage at 190.5 ft and in done a reduction of over 45 feet, then people would be happy. So last night I attended the garden club meeting and I talked about this garage and the biophilia and getting input. Not a it was a packed room. I had to sit back behind the plants that were being raffled off because there was no other seats left. Not a single person said they don't like the proposed design. I reviewed my emails again today. Not a single email has been received contract. You know, we always usually receive some nothing that they don't like this proposed design. the flat floors. You know, if you if you like the existing garage we have, the people that are disabled, the people that have an injury are going to have a hard time navigating on something with a sloping uh type of design. That's the way you pack more cars into a shorter garage. Then you have the noise. If you really want to experience it, go to Trader Joe's. The fans running and then the auxiliary fans that they have to push out and it's still noisy and it's like a dungeon in there with the lack of light. Not a good experience for folks. I've received plenty of complaints about the fan noises on these other garages. People don't like it. So for the ambiance and being able to enjoy the experience on the mile and shopping, would you like to have the buffeting fans or would you like to be able to

hear the birds? Would you like to be able to hear the music? So I'm in favor for all those reasons. It hasn't maximized the height. I think it's a the design has improved dramatically. Um, I was here five years ago. I opposed that design and you've listened and you've made something that's much more compatible to the art deco design that exists on that block. We're respecting the past and reflecting it in the future design of this. So, thank you for your hard work. I'm ready to move this one forward. I'll make a motion to um approve this.

If I may, just before we vote, uh I've heard from multiple residents. Obviously, they're in favor that it's not 190 ft that we brought it down to what it's at right now. Mistake that we made, Mr. Manager, and it's our fault. We should have come here today with 190T building. Exactly. And we should have negotiated right on the DIS here today. Of course, we'll give you 140 ft. You want to be you want to be 145 ft. Look at us. We would have been heroes. Now we're villains. It's okay. But we're finally getting it done through the mayor. Yeah. I disagree with you. The residents of Coral Gables and I know you're being facitious. Okay.

But I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion.

Mr. Manager, I'd like to have it 190 ft. Let's make it to 190 and then we'll lower it to 150 here and then we'll be heroes. We'll be heroes. You know how many residents have come up to me and how many business owners have come to me and says, "Vince, please, this is enough. The design has been thoroughly discussed. We've worked on this. This is a no-brainer. Let's move forward. Let's not play politics. Let's just get this done. Enough is enough. This is an investment in the future. Investment in the future. So, we got to help and we got to help now." So, I'm I know I'm joking around trying to have a good time because everything is so serious, but at the end of the day, we have vetted this since I got here and this is an opportunity to move forward. Go ahead.

So, I I guess question for the manager. Um, I've heard about the reduction in height. What was the original proposal and where we at now in comparison? The original proposal, we are at the same height. So, we haven't reduced the height. No, we're under 150 ft and we are at the same height. We redesigned the the in the bottom floor. We're redesigning the skin, the uh bottom floor, and the activation on the roof. Those are those are the the design changes. As far as the adaptive reuse, it requires a certain height for each floor. What is that height?

The height is over 10 ft. What happens with parking garage? The parking garage are normally done at seven feet and they're not designed and you can really not adapt them to to uh either multif family or or office space because it just it's too low. So uh with this with this garage we can we can adapt it to to either multif family or office space.

Right. So I guess the what I had and I guess we haven't been able to discuss it because we haven't discussed this on the uh on the days when when I have been president. Um what I had asked I guess about a year and a half ago was the potential of reducing the number of floors that are created for adaptive reuse which would naturally reduce the height of the building. So if we reduce it by three uh floors that are we're building to the 10ft height back to the seven um feet we are now reducing the height of the building by about 9 ft. Um, so it is a noticeable difference. Um, that was the conversation we had had because my opinion is I think we'll still need certain number of floors for parking regardless of of the need in the future. Um, so that's that's where my conversation had been. Uh, I know that you all have had conversations yourselves and you're okay with the height. That had been my request uh in the past to try to address some of that height that we really probably won't need uh and a change for adaptive reuse that may be 50 years down the road.

But if I may, and I I understand your comment,

we've had this conversation on D before where no one can look at a building and tell me that building is 9 ft lower [clears throat and snorts] than it was supposed to be because we've had this discussion when it comes to parts and you say this building never had a park but to maximize and allow a developer to be able to give us a 20,000 15,000 foot park 10,000 park we have to shrink the footprint of the building shrinking the footprint of the building stack that intensity density and f with an additional floor so we can make them whole I would rather see green space more foliage more beauty on the first floor then just have a a property that's set back to setback we also have to respect property value so we have for example In the in the area of Bar Park, we have gone above the zoning code and allowed for an additional floor, but now we have multiple different parks that are popping up. And in the downtown, when I started here 13 years ago, we have one park, Palm Circle Park. Now, we're scheduled to have half a dozen parks coming into the downtown. That's a game changer. Those are the type of negotiations that we have to do. Case in point, the Kodina Cadre building, we had to allow 17 additional feet, but we got a piece of property that What do you think the value of that piece of property is, Mr. Manager?

Mayor, it's in the It's in the millions.

The millions and it's going to be a beautiful 10,000t corner park adjacent to two blocks away from a 20,000t park. So I think [clears throat] that those plazas, the open spaces, I know what you're saying, commissioner, and I don't disagree with you, but I think that we have to sometimes take into account looking at a building and saying, "Is that 150 or is that 141?" And then you think to yourself, I really can't tell. What did you get for that? Well, you got the opportunity for in 5 years potentially to do adaptive re reuse or you got the opportunity to uh put a beautiful park on the first floor and you didn't go set back to set. So, uh, some of the things that I've asked, um, the architect to look at and through the through the city manager was additional uses of the dead spaces in the corners. You know, I did a simple search uh for various things that don't exist in the city of Coral Gables or anywhere nearby, such as rock climbing gyms, top rope climbing gyms. you know, now's a time to play with the usability of some of these corners in in the building. So, it brings more people in, not just to use that, but then to go down and dine and go down and shop. You know, you're talking 6 in here and 6 in there. Pennywise, pound foolish, what some people would say. But if you can bring in I mean, my my daughter from who's not even here now sent me this video of the kids in a mall basically doing bungee jumping on a trampoline. The kids were having a blast. Everybody was having a blast. You know, we can bring that kind of life. They need they need time to do their research.

And um I understand that there was mailed notice on this this project. There was mailed notice. We've followed the process. So, um, the motion is on the floor. I I imagine we should just take a vote. Go ahead, Mr. Mr. Mayor.

To the mayor. Uh, yes. What we've done is something different. We have not done a Mediterranean garage, which is dark uh very short ceilings. Uh, high sounds for high noise for as the as the vice mayor said for for uh for force ventilation because you do have carbon monoxide there. Th this will be a a light eerie uh airy uh very very very high garage. The the usability is there. As a matter of fact, we we've had very very good uh uh uh reports on our on our minora garage because we've done the same thing. This is at at a much higher level. Uh what we've done be what we are doing is forcing a design that doesn't work on a parking garage. And as the mayor said, uh, the architect of the museum garage has told me that the only reason he did that because he was forced with the programming and and so we're forcing a design that does not work. We're forcing a design that lacks usability. We're forcing a design that people do not like and that's why they do not use it as effectively as they should.

Thank you, Mr. Fred. We have a motion, a second. Yes, sir. Commissioner Castro, no. Commissioner Fernandez, I think you've made very compelling arguments, but I'm still not there, so I'm a note today. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Lago, yes. Moving on to H4.

H4 is a resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the city manager to approve a change order to contract RFQ 202021 for design consultant services for the state-of-the-art mobility hub and with Arthur M. Arthur Gendler Jr. and Associates, Inc. in the estimated amount of $750,000 or not to exceed the available budget pursuant to section 2-764B of the city's procurement code entitled change orders and contract modifications. Mayor U, commissioners, we are trying to finish the the project. This project was started prior to the pandemic. It's been mothballled and and it's it's back. It's back. U it's back. Uh we we have a structural engineer that has uh retired. We need to get a new structural engineer uh which is which is part of this work and we are redesigning the the the bottom floor the skin and and the activated roof. So this is these are additional services for Gendler to to finish the project so we can uh hopefully start building uh next year.

This is to get us to construction documents to finalize the construction documents. Correct. That is correct, Mayor. Okay. Do we have any public comment? Mr. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Go ahead. Mia Cruz. All right. Uh, Mr. Clerk. Mr. Clerk.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. No. No. Mr. Jackson Holmes. Yes, sir. Mr. Holmes.

Uh, thank you very much. Um, forgive me. I'm just going to extemporate here, but uh first of all, they've earned every single penny. Um the um Vice Mayor uh Anderson uh needed a different design and I I'm just extrating here. So, but but if if you want the the tiebreaking vote, then you got a lot of work to do to come up with a different design. I didn't expect that uh that um my hero behind us uh was going to pull a rabbit out of a hat. I I thought we were at an impass. And then uh at the last meeting where he he appeared, I realized that he had done it. Um, and it takes a lot of work when when you do the redesign of a two, you know, I again I'm exemporating here, but I asked this my my hero, Mr. Ahmed Zadean, uh, how did you come up with the nation's safest parking garage? I said, "What inspired you to to do what no other parking garage has ever done, come up with the safest parking garage in the country?" And he hemmed and haw. So I asked him again, right? And then I finally said, "Oh my god, trade secret. I won't ask you a third time." Um, so he's done the impossible and he needs to be compensated. Thanks.

Thank you. That's it. Mr. Mayor, I'll entertain a motion. I'll move it. A second. Mr. Greg, we have a motion in a second. Commissioner Fernandez, no. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. As much as I feel he needs to be compensated, I don't agree with us moving forward. So, no. Mayor Lago, before I vote for the record, just got to make sure we get on the blogs. Uh, Mr. manager, will you provide us with regards to the the average percentage for for a project when you're in construction that around 6% is used for design? Where are we right now on this project? We we would be between 60 and 70 million. So, it' be 3.6 to 4.2 million.

So, we're well under the standard uh in regards to what the industry standard is. And I recommend that before before the blogs type something up, they they make sure that they review this. They can Google it and they can see what the industry standard is in regards to design fees for construction projects. Mr. Mr. Mayor, that's based on state standards. Yes, state standards. Thank you very much.

Yes. Moving on. Item E2 and E3. E2 is an ordinance of the city commission amending the future land use map of the city of Coral Gable's comprehensive plan pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-213 comprehensive plan text and map amendments and samosas amendment procedures from religious or institution to multif family low density for lots 15 16 17 and 18 block 33 coral gables built more section coral gables Florida providing for repeated provision severability clause and providing for an effective date E3 is an end or the city commission making zoning district boundary changes pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 13-212 zoning code text and map amendments from special use to multif family 3 for lots 15 161 17 and 18 block 33 coral gables more section coral gables Florida including required conditions providing for repeater provision severability clause I'm providing for effective date this is a quasi judicial hearing item so I would ask the clerk to please swear in anyone who will be testifying today and mayor if we can consolidate E2 and E3 for purposes of the public hearing

thank you those who will be testifying on this item please stand and raise your right hand do you swear affirm testimony I'll you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you. Uh has there been any changes uh from first reading? No changes both on E2 and E3. Correct. Okay. Okay. One second. Mr. Clerk, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Close of public comment. Do my colleagues need to see any presentations? No. Okay. No. I'll entertain a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Mayor Lago? Yes. Moving on to the next item. We're good. We take a second vote, right? E3. Yes. E3. Motion. Move it. Second. Mr. Kirk, no public comment.

No, Mr. Mayor. All right. We have a motion, a second. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Mayor Log, yes. Thank you very much. Time item H5. H5 is a resolution of the city commission directing the city manager to proceed with the restoration plan for city hall. How we doing sir?

Thank you mayor commissioners. Uh we are uh presenting uh uh through architect he has bottle the uh some some uh issues concerning concerning city hall. We are looking at uh the the concept of revitalizing city hall from an interior and exterior perspective. We are looking at uh doing work on on on this on this room here and we are looking at uh maybe some changes as far as the courtyard is concerned. So we would like to get the uh commission consensus on how to move forward as far as city hall is concerned. We have we have some issues that it's it's very difficult to to the city has grown so much it's very difficult to get all the all the um uh offices inside city hall while maintaining the historical character of the interior. So we are we are looking at uh at really removing uh the finance department from city hall and using all three floors for for the for the commission for the city manager, city clerk, and city attorney. and we're looking at at probably and some issues as far as as a courtyard is concerned. So we there was so much there is so many issues that I think it's it was best to present to the commission and get some guidance on how to move forward.

Good afternoon Mr. Heisento and good afternoon. Thank you for being here with us Mayor Lago. My pleasure. I think we should have happy faces on here today. You got two tough items to deal with. You've got you've got something that's a lot a lot easier and a lot more joyful as it relates to historic preservation. Um, these are happy faces. We'll work on that. They are. They are, you know, but but you're between us and lunch, so [laughter] I'll work on that then. [clears throat] I'll work on that. Okay. So, uh, there should be a button, a clicker button over here for me. Oh, it's not there.

Okay. Good. Well, thank you all for uh one for the opportunity to to be the preservation architects for the restoration of this amazing building. We have really just completed uh a very comprehensive assessment of just about everything you could ever imagine uh assessing uh in the building. And and we've come up with u with some things that are that are critical for us to move forward. And we want to show you what some of those are today. Um, first of all, I'm going to start out with a little summary of a quick history of city hall and and its physicality. You know, the there was once upon a time a garden courtyard behind us on on this side. Uh, and we're also going to talk today about the exterior repairs. They are incredibly extensive, as Peter and I will will will tell you. The most extensive of those is the columns and the semic-ircular colonade that that is is right behind both of you. And then we're also going to talk about the commission chamber and what we've proposed for the commission chamber. So with without further ado um take a look at for for the fun of it uh some of the historic photographs of city hall that that in this case date back to 1931. Uh, you know, note the car is on the right hand side over there and and the mayor's balcony. I'm not so sure the mayor knew that he had a balcony, but but there there it is. And it's going to be important as we discuss things going further. Uh, and and then of course we all know the the stairway right next to us and and how grand uh the mural is at the top of the stairway and also how much it needs work because water intrusion has done such damage to it. Um, we also went back and we looked at the back of house areas, so to speak. Not the not not not the the glamour

areas so much, but but um the back of house areas, the area on the on the ground floor in 1952 and where staff worked behind the counter. Uh, and and and we also did historic research on every bit of the building. We know more about the building than we ever thought we could could know. Uh so so let's start by talking about the garden courtyard for a moment. Um it doesn't look like a garden courtyard today, does it? Uh well, it's historically uh it was it was a civic and ceremonial space uh that Pace himself uh designed and it featured four wide rectangular planters uh intersecting caststone walkways. It was aligned with key architectural elements of the building. The mayor's balcony being one of them, the central stair, the clock tower, the council chamber itself is all very symmetrical and all of that played out in the design of of the courtyard. Uh and and what happened? Well, what what happened is that during we had some midcentury additions here that disrupted the symmetry uh and and the open space and the original planting beds were paved over in the 1990s and and and an additional building, a non-historic building, a non-contributing building in in every way uh was added. And so one of the things that that that has happened because of that its its civic role was quite diminished. This is what you're looking at right now, the paste plan for that courtyard. The green the green space uh if you will, the four quadrants that that originally existed and the public toilet that that are uh behind it. I think all of you know that that u today when we have an event, whether it's the market or the car show or any number of dozens of other things that we have right out front on Builtmore Way

all the time, um we have to bring in uh toilets for for the public. Well, there were public toilets right there in that in that little building and and commission meetings were actually held out here. Now, now I really want to see um Mayor Lago wearing knickers like that outside someday. I'm um you know, we um might have to get you. [laughter]

Wow. Uh anyway, we can imagine how hot they really were because this building was not originally air conditioned. Anyway, understand that we had we we we've had use of that courtyard for public events for a very very long time. And so we have some recommended interventions here. We want to remove the midcentury additions that uh auxiliary building that you see there to restore the bilateral symmetry of the open space. We want to reinstate the planters as green area to temper the bright sunlight and support rainwater infiltration. We want to remove the abandoned septic tank that is sitting out there. It is how old?

100 Yeah, close to

close to very close to a 100-y old septic tank sitting in the middle of that courtyard. Uh we want to repave the walkways in keeping with the historic design. We're going to show you that in a second. We want to plant flowering trees at the perimeter to further cool the space and enhance its vitality. Uh and and and of course all of that leads to its future potential to reinstate the courtyard as as an urban garden space. So this is the space if if we did not uh remove uh the auxiliary building that I keep talking about. Um, we could we could certainly uh take out some of of of the uh concrete that has been poured in there and make it a lot better. That space would look something like this rendering that we've uh done of it. But I see personally no redeeming qualities to keeping this space when you consider what the potential is for what this can be. Um, let me let me show you what that potential is. And I and I and I thank my my partner here Rick Lopez for actually doing this sketch himself to illustrate this. Um, now we had the four quadrants returned to exactly what they were uh when uh when Phineas Pace designed this and and this is what it looks like when you enter the space from the parking lot on access with the mayor's balcony, what will be the main entrance to the building and and of course uh the tower up above. So, so our recommendation to you both all is that we proceed with a little different direction than we had before. It is simply to remove that space that really does very little for us. Uh and and to return this to its historic character, which is what you see on the right hand side. Um we pardon.

Very very nice. Very good. Yeah. You actually get to see the building more. Yeah. Yep. Um Yeah, you actually get to see the building and and it in its full breath. A quick question, mayor. So, in the option B on the left hand side, it looks like there's a structure there. Is that the structure? That's the structure that we're talking about tearing down. No, A. You That's A, right? But I'm saying B. It looks like to the left there's like B. B is What is the little building then? Like there to the left.

That little building. Let's go back. That little building is not so little. That is where the two public toilets were back in the day. If we go if we go back to to the the PACE plan, we see those public toilets. Now, the room behind it is all is electrical room frankly. Uh but but we might also think about putting those two public toilets back there so that there they are used when we have activities out on built more away and then we don't have to keep going back and forth and and bringing in portable toilets that nobody ever liked. Anyway, but you have that included in option B.

That is in option B. That would consider that part of of uh option B. So let me ask you a question. So when did they make when did they make that transition from a public toilet to more office space to office space? Yes. Yeah. And extend the building. Um that's it sometime in the 1960s.

We're guessing as close as we can figure it 1963. It was a sad time for architecture. Uh but but somebody needed space. It was expedient and that happens. I I really like that option um where we put the bathrooms back, but I think we're utilizing that space for state rep right now. I think we would have to reconsider the placement of

we we've actually in in the plans and we've done schematic plans for the entire building and we've been working over those with with the manager for pretty much the last month. Um we have relocated CIP. DCIP's offices are in there now and now they would have offices in this building on on one of the upper floors. So we we didn't we didn't forget rest assure we didn't forget anyone. So um

so through the mayor through the mayor I mean I mean I had an opportunity to speak a little to you a little bit about this and um yes we talked about the spaces for the representatives on the the third floor. Um, I also had the benefit of attending, you know, the Mediterranean uh design uh presentations that were done and Raphael Portoando did a an amazing analysis and show just how important the garden spaces are to the buildings themselves and what it adds to to the building. uh together with what we plan on doing and I think u city manager you could give us an update sometime when the the trees will be added to the front on Builtmore Way. I think this will be uh quite an amazing space both for people in the building as well as people that are attending the farmers market other events on the mile to be able to have public bathrooms readily available in in an area that is shaded. Um, plus the trees in the in the front. Uh, Dina maybe can give us an update um, maybe the next meeting just to because I have a lot of questions from a lot of people when we're going to move forward on built more way

through the mayor. Yes. Yes. Uh, our our plan, vice mayor, is to is to uh move out of out of this building for exploratory demolition uh, either late January or early February. We are we are finishing the the space for the commission now. at the Minorca garage and we'll be moving to uh another space right near uh the uh Minorca garage and and at that time incorporate all all this work together into into one into one project that I think will be will be um we we certainly want to integrate whatever we do uh with our with our historical architect to make sure that that that everything we do is is um is done holistically.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry, I kind of went a little off topic because I've been getting questions about when we're going to break ground on putting the trees on Builtmore Way. We have not forgotten about the trees. Okay. So, maybe next meeting you can have an update on that. Uh, yes, Vice Mayor. Thank you.

And and and if I may just interject one more thing, one more thought here. Um, just be aware that this also allows us to resolve uh handicapped accessibility issues that the building faces right now. Now, I'm not going to get into that in detail, but but um we will have accessibility from both uh sides of the building built more away as well as the parking lot in the back that will be much more enhanced. As it is right now, uh the spaces near near your parking space and near near your assigned parking space is not even remotely accessible. If you parked if a handicap person parked there, they'd have they'd be very hardressed to find their way into the building. That won't be the case when we're done. Thank you. So, uh let's we we'll move let's uh let's go ahead and and move on. Uh the exterior repairs this is the biggest challenge of the entire project because they are very very significant. Um you just to just to give you an idea of of the architectural significance here. Uh this is constructed the building is constructed out of Florida Keys limestone. no longer available in the Florida Keys, but but generally available in the Dominican Republic. Um, it's made out of cast stone also, so not everything is real stone. Some of it is cast stone. Uh, and then it's also made out of stucco. So, you as you go further up the building, you see it changing from real stone to uh to stucco. and and and this all of this defines city hall's character and shields it from the environment uh and and exposure to the environment. Um but there are herculean documented failures that we have uncovered in the limestone in the stucco and in the cast. Uh, and so there's cracking, spalling, uh, binders have have been lost, a corroded

reinforcement. The list actually goes on for a week, so I'm not going to bore you with it, but I am going to show you some of the photographs so that you understand the magnitude of the of the repairs that we're going to have to do, the masonry repairs that we are going to have to do to the facade. That cornice in the middle over here is particularly scary because it could fall off. Um, we we actually documented every one of these very meticulously on the elevations, noting the kind of repair, noting the seriousness of the repair, noting the the the how we intend to correct the repair both in our keynotes and and uh and um other notes all all over the drawing. So the the building has been thoroughly understood and and this is just a number of areas that that need to be need to be repaired. Some of these are simple. They're easy easy to patch and other ones are not so simple. Why is why is this cracking? How are we going to stop it from cracking? How are we going to stop it from leaking water into the building causing more damage, which is what we've had. Um particularly, you know, serious areas include the area at towards uh the top of the building. You'll see some red on here if if if you look closely enough. Um those areas are are serious enough they are causing serious leaks into the building uh at every rainstorm. Some of the cracks you see next to the windows over here. The in the middle this this wonderful ballastrade that that is on the third floor. You see the big heavy crack across the ballastrade and and the other ballastrades by the way. Well, every one of them is cracked like that all the way across. So, so we have serious challenges to to repair these and and we've documented how to go about doing doing those sorts of repairs and we've done that virtually on every every elevation. Um sometimes it'll be

patching like what we have on the left. Sometimes u uh sometimes it will it will be complete replacement. Uh and so each one is assessed individually. We also have roofing issues o over here, especially on on the the top of the dome over there where where we had some roofing done before, but it still leaks and and that is a major challenge for us as well. So, um cracks like this one, I'm not going to get into the details of each each kind of repair, but just just know that that these are virtually all over the place. We've documented every darn one of them, we think, uh although I'm sure we'll find more as we go forward. And our restoration goal here is to preserve and defined uh and the defining architectural features and prevent further water infiltration and material loss as as we repair all of these. Now the bigger question the bigger the bigger challenge than those little cracks we were just looking at or or reinforcing steel cracks are the columns that stand behind us. every one of you and and on this das you've had discussions about this um these columns before um we've researched everything there is to potentially research relative to those columns. We went back and we looked for the original structural drawings and we went through those um with with with the manager uh and and what we've decided that we have to do here is to actually remove four of these columns. uh you can you'll you'll see I think that's their 47 49 52 54 they are so severely cracked uh that they're not really capable of holding the loads that they're holding we're going to shore the entire arcade and then we're going to go after repairing repairing those columns which

will require here uh each one will require the installation of a steel column inside the stone and That is going to be a very big challenge especially as as we try to do that and save the the coral rock uh at the same time not not you'll you'll see why in just uh in in just a moment. So we're going to correct all the cracks and the spalling uh and and remove the embedded steel hardware. We've hired we've hired a specialty firm to assist our structural engineers with that. a firm that um Atkinson and Nolan that that truly have a specialty in dealing with historic stone uh and uh and they've been out here on the site with us writing all of the uh the reports. But as you can can see from looking at this photograph, especially the one on the right, there's a degree of urgency here. We've we've ordered uh the installation of Kraken monitors so we know if this is moving. um will that they should go in within the next week. Uh and uh and and if you just get close to each one of these, you'll see major fissure cracks that that are are downright scary. uh we intend to if if we cannot save something we're in advance going to have it scanned um and and and a and a 3D model made of it so that we can CNC machine fabricate it to exactly what it was. So all that scanning process will go on in the not too in the not too distant future also here. Uh and the idea on on the uh the column capitals themselves, we see one crack on the one on the upper right. Um but the idea on the capitals themselves is to also salvage those. We believe they're [snorts] going to come apart, God bless. Um they're going to come apart in four pieces. Um and we'll

uh and hopefully we won't lose any of those. But I'm not betting I'm not I'm not betting highly on our ability to uh to save the other columns because of the sheer magnitude of the of the cracking. So, but we're going to do our best. Um let's shift over to this room. We've all sat at this das for a long time. I sat at it as chairman of your preservation board for a while. Uh but as we relooked at this room, um Rick and I came up with the notion that this has to change. Uh and and we want to we want to show you uh that what we think uh we should do going forward with this restoration because there's nothing remotely original about what about what we have in front of us outside of the cornis moldings at the top. everything else has been either covered over um plastered over uh even the floor is not the same floor uh and and and there's nothing worthy of this city uh in the design of the existing building. So again, what did what did we do? We went back and we took a look at what this chamber was like back in the day. What did Pace and Merrick and the rest of of of our early leaders um and forefathers uh what did they view this as? And we and we note that the the desk that is in Peter's office, the conference table. Excuse me for calling you Peter. Peter, [laughter] but I know um he's too close to me not to um but um it's it's usually that is the same one that is in this photograph. And of course we'll we'll be trying to keep as much of the existing furniture and

original furniture as we can. But we're we also notice uh what was on the wall behind us over there. What was it uh the way scoding was like? what the lighting was like back in in the day. And it was truly magnificent that there was actually a a stone floor underneath what we're seeing right now. So we propose to remove everything that you that we see in the current configuration and reconfigure the space. In reconfiguring the space, we get additional seating, significant additional seating, good handicap seating. Uh, and we reorient the room back to the way the room was originally oriented. It was oriented so that everyone in the room looked this and that the mission was there. Take a look at what that that is. Of course, where we are today, this is how we view the commission chamber going forward. We would rep replicate and uh and or restore the Wayne scope all around the room. We've done a little exposure window. It's hiding behind the flags over there to see what that what that would look like. Um we propose the mill work that would match the oak the dark oak mill work that we have everywhere else in the building. uh and and and and a and we propose what I think is a very distinguished uh dis uh with with dises on each side. No. Um left and right. You can see them over there for for the city attorney, the city clerk, the city manager. And so what and and in fact we're even putting back we're proposing to put back the original light fixture that was in uh on the uh drawings that were prepared

uh by Frink. So um what do we do with the windows? We think we should open the windows up. We should drape the windows and we should make this room look elegant again. And I and uh and there's a couple things that stayed the same. Um Merrick's Merrick's portrait behind the mayor and and our city our city emblem. Our city um what's the proper term? Seal. Seal.

Seal. Thank you very much. Um um uh all all would be part and parcel of this virtually new interior. We'd have new new seating. Uh, I assure you it will be comfortable. We've done this seating before. We did it at the we did City Miami Commission Chamber seating. You could sit there for a few hours and you won't feel bad. Um, but but the the good news here is that we're increasing the capacity of the room as well as bringing back its historic character. So, this is this is another major change that that we feel that we need to um get your buy in on. So, um, so with that said, we'll I'll I'll open this up to any questions you might have and and, uh, and we can discuss the whole thing.

All I can say, I've had the privilege of working with you on multiple projects. You've outdone yourself. This is amazing and I don't see any need to change anything because you're bringing back the original glory and splendor of this building and it's a privilege to work with you. This is an amazing presentation. It's uh thank you for the trust that all of I know that I know that you work I don't I don't have the luxury of calling him Peter. I call him Mr. Manager.

So uh by the way he he wants me to call him Peter but I will always call him Mr. Manager out of out of respect for what I have for him. Um and I have gone over this presentation not in this magnitude but just kind of very quickly just certain things that that you were working on. And I know that you and the manager along with your team have been working on this for a long time and along with Anna ACM, the DCM, all of the staff. So I want to congratulate everybody who played a role in this. This is a very well done. I know it's been a labor of love and you've really dug in and peeled all the layers to find our true history. So congratulations. Thank you for this. You're amazing. Well, thank thank you. I'm I'm honored. So yeah, I was a little scared and skeptical and and I have to say I'm amazed and I'm very happy with what I saw. Good. So that's good.

Thank you, commission. That's good to the mayor. Yes. I'll do uh repeat those remarks. And I did leave you with a challenge. I know you don't have an answer to it yet. Oh, no, no, no. We've solved it already. You have? Yeah. You want to share? We've got the handicapped accessibility worked out for the DAS. Okay. You We went back to the office and the two of us looked at each other and we said, you know, if we just do this and this, we Okay. So, so how do you and it's not I'll I'll have to show it to you individually. We don't have a drawing of it here to to kind of illustrate. But the good news is that it's really a a very simple thing without having to store anything in a closet, without any list, without plugging something in. You know, it's you'll you'll see.

Okay. I will I'll look forward to um did this before and and the discussion was well now that we raised the D, how do how do we get handicap accessibility to it? because if you had a ramp it would take you know six feet or 12 feet and we don't have six feet or 12 feet here. So So anyway, we've we've resolved that um that ar that minor architectural challenge. All right. Anything else for the good of the order on this item before we vote? I'm I'm impressed by what I see. Um

it's hard to envision this room as anything else. And if you start looking at pictures, you see how much this room has changed over the years. From the wood panels that they had blocking off the entire thing back in the 1970s and 80s, uh to the pictures of Merrick and and company sitting around a table here in the the middle of the room. Um but I'm impressed uh by what I see. Uh, I'll be honest, when I first heard about the courtyard and changing the courtyard, I was a little h questioning, but the design is incredible and I think it'll really uh elevate the exterior look of City Hall, which we have a great garden out front. This would bring it to the front door of the building, which is incredible. Great work. Great work.

Right. So through the mayor, thanks um uh to you and to Rick and to your team. Bravo. Bravo. Because this is something that is inspirational. I had no idea what to expect. I read uh the materials. I've been looking at it as close as I can and it's uh it's inspirational what I see. I have the the great honor and privilege of living in a Phineas Paces designed home. So I'm even more excited at the at the uh concept that we're going to try and hue as closely as possible to his original vision. So with respect to the courtyard uh in particular um the exterior the meticulous care that you have on that and and you know and all and all of this really has to go to you know how special do we feel is the city of Coral Gables the city that we we live in that we all strive to live up to its ideals refer to it as the city beautiful that it is so the seat of the government where the elections are done the the the people's house is what this is right should reflect that, you know, it should reflect um the work that's done here and the special privilege that it is for us to be elected for a finite time and for those who work here every day and labor on behalf of the residents. So, you two have done and the rest of your team uh something truly unique and spectacular in this design. So, thank you both and your teams very much.

Our our privilege. Thank you through the may through the mayor. I wanted to note that um I really prefer option B. I really do. The second one is the fact that the natural light's coming in and you would put the DS over there. It just gives me a vision. Especially we're going to look better. All of us are going to look way better with natural light coming coming in and looking at the blank wall over there. Yes. Yes. I I love that idea. My question is how long do you think this whole process would take?

Yeah. you. We've actually done a a preliminary schedule um that has us looking at a two-year construction period. Um we're going to do everything we can to shorten that construction period. Um, we're the manager has us working on a um a fast track, let's accelerated fasttrack schedule to to get this out uh and um and under construction hopefully late June. Um that is a huge challenge. It's a challenge for all of us both administratively at the city but but but but here I the good news is that you're in the process of choosing the construction manager at this point well along in that process. So, so we're, you know, we've um we'll as soon as a construction manager really comes on board and really understands the product, the next uh schedule will be done by the construction manager um with with oversight by um by by the city manager and myself, of course. Uh and and then we'll be able to give you a perhaps a better date. But right now, figure out a a two-year construction period with with hopefully a start uh depending on permitting also uh in u

through the mayor. Through the mayor. Yes. Yes. So, we're we've we've uh have dramatic accelerated the uh schedule. We're looking at starting next year, probably third quarter of next year. Uh and we uh item uh actually H3 is selection of the construction manager at risk for for this project. And uh so uh the architect has done an excellent job. We've accelerated everything and try to make sure that we start this project uh third quarter of next year. All right. So let's take the next step. Mr. Clerk, do we have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. We'll close the public comment. Uh may I have a motion? I'll move it for option B. Option B. Commissioner Castro.

Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Mayor Log. Yes. Congratulations once again. Thank you very much. All right. Uh moving on to we're going to do two more items before we go to lunch. Item G1 and then we'll we hear F5 after.

G1 is a resolution of the city commission accepting a proposal from Latin Art Corps for acquisition of a sculpture by artist Augustine Gardinas Leopo uh 1991 recommended by the cultural development board. Approval denial of vote 7 to zero authorizing the city manager or his or her doesn't need to enter into an agreement with Latin AR corps authorizing an amendment to the fiscal year 2526 amended budget to recognize as revenue a transfer from the art and public faces reserve and appropriating such funds to put toward the cost of acquisition installation and related expenses toward the regarding the artwork.

Good afternoon mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Katherine Cather's arts and culture coordinator for the city. We do have a presentation if we can have that up. So, I'm going to provide a brief presentation about the item. We did have a representative, Barbara Perez, who is here um on behalf of the cultural development board. I believe that she still left some remarks that that may be read by the the city clerk after the presentation. So, um we want to initially just go over the options. The city does have various methods of acquiring works of public art and for this particular item a direct selection of artist and artwork was used. Just to review the process that was used, Mayor Logger forwarded artwork proposals for consideration. The cultural development board reviewed the proposal of artwork by artist Augustine Cardennis and forwarded it to the arts advisory panel. And per our process for existing artwork, staff had the artwork appraised. The arts panel reviewed the proposed artwork and made a recommendation to the cultural development board who requested an assessment for further information and then made a motion recommending acquisition of the piece to the city commission today. This is an image of the artist and some of his other artwork. A little bit about the artist. Um, sorry about um the Apologies here. I think I'm skipped a slide there. So, a little bit about the artist um Augustine Cardanis who was born in 1927 of Cuban heritage and also passed away in Cuba. He was a sculptor of AfroCaribbean descent and known for his organic fluid forms that bridge surrealism, modernism, and African artistic traditions. He became an active member of the surrealist movement of the

50s and from 56 through 97 he exhibited extensively in group shows and solo shows around the world and also worked around the world in France, Canada, Austria, Japan, Israel, Korea and Italy, finally settling again in Cuba. He's widely regarded as I said as one of the most important sculptor of the 20th century and his work is in major museums and collections throughout the world. And here is his image again. Okay. So, a little bit about the artwork. Uh, this the piece is um called Laool from 1991. It is a white Carrera marble sculpture that stands at about 59 in tall by about 24 by 24 1/2 in in. It is a unique uh individual work and if we choose to do so, we can use a separate uh tapertine base that's available for the for the work. So the artwork itself um has been described as an exceptional example of Cardennis's mature style and it's marked by an elegant abstraction and rich symbolic content. The artwork ser stands out not only for its artistic excellence but also for its cultural re relevance within the broader context of Latin American art closely aligning with the values that Coral Gables promotes diversity artistic excellence and cultural enrichment. It's another uh image of the artwork and also one in the gallery. Show a little bit of the scale. Can we have the next slide please? The uh clicker is not seeming to go along with me. Okay. So, we took a look at different proposed locations. Two

locations at 427 Builtmore Way, including an interior lobby in the development services department and also within the Garden Po outdoors, the Coral Gables Museum Loia on the north end, the Country Club uh entrance, and also on the Art Museum Plaza. So, we're just going to review some of these locations. And if I can have you I'm sorry this clicker is not working. So um if I can have uh uh CGTV uh scroll through them I'll just talk a little bit about them. So based on the assessment and feedback from the arts panel the preferred placement is indoors at this location. Uh however the assessment did state that an outdoor location is feasible with a preference for placement under some sort of cover to minimize the effects of the elements. The Cultural Development Board reviewed all locations and made a motion recommending placement at 427 with a preference for the interior space. However, we would like the commission's feedback on the locations and permission to work through the city manager's office on a final location. If you can just scroll through the remaining slides, please. Thank you. You can just keep keep going. These are the the two within 427 Builtmore Way. Can you keep scrolling, please? Thank you. Outdoors at the PO.

Can I May I say something? Of course. I love that location. [laughter] Next one. Go back if you don't mind. Which one? If you can go back to the garden one at And I like that location, too, by the way. That one right there is really good. Beautiful. So, that that's a beautiful location also. But if you look at this location, look at this. Keep going. [snorts] You going a little bit by the way. You're gonna you're gonna have another sculpture which is a melon by a worldrenowned artist that's coming to the museum. So you're going to have you're going to have two world world class sculptures. We go. Oh okay. You can u I also I don't I don't have an issue with 427 also but I think obviously having it exposed to the public

in my opinion is something that would be beautiful. Look look at the location. Can we go back to where the Celia Sanchez is next? One more. So look look at that. compliment each other and I think you also have a little bit of protection from the elements because you have the building next door. Um I think it's a beautiful a beautiful we could have maybe a little sculpture garden. We can have two or three pieces there. Maybe put something in the future. Um and I think it's something that again is very emblematic of of the city, something beautiful. Just just give it air.

You know, I like it outside as long as we keep it coated with whatever to avoid the impact of acids exhaust on it. So, it does have a high polish uh finish to it. So, the recommendation is that it's just regularly washed and cleaned maybe twice a year uh would be our recommendation. Um, if we would in order to maintain that very high polish, it is possible to do it on occasion. We would not want to do it very often because that actually takes off some of the the material of itself. Oh, yeah. I also like this location a lot too. This location is amazing. And this is another location that we may consider for the other

where the people where the people can see it. There's nothing. And by the way, I think it could be something that where we could where we could work around, you know, get rid of the tree planters, make it a focal point, the garbage can. There's things that are in the way, but there's things that you could do that could make it look really beautiful. Um, and be inviting. Maybe you could add another piece in the near future and you could be something. The goal here is to have multiple locations where where we have that. But, you know, come people have people come discover the city gables based on our beautiful art. So I would finally just like to mention that funding for the You can just stop the PowerPoint. That's fine. Thanks. [laughter and gasps]

Uh so funding for the proposed acquisition and related items is being recommended through the art fund which is generated through art and public places private development program.

So if I may just personal point of privilege. So I'm a huge fan of Autinad. I've always been a huge fan. Uh I don't own a work I don't own a work by this artist but I wrote a memo for you to read and I sent it to you a while ago to my colleagues on the commission and this is the memo that I wrote along with some background. This gentleman's story is an amazing story and I highly recommend that people have the opportunity to really understand a little bit more about this this worldclass artist. He's a Cuban artist but he's not really Cuban. He belongs to the world. I also wanted to show you this book called the life of forms which is an amazing book where if you look at the artists that are that are that are that are covered here you have Arp Asawa Vosi Calder Gardinas Hepworth Matis Maro Moore Naguchi Pallet and Turbul you have the 10 best sculptures of the last 20th century and to say that a you know a Cuban uh a person of this magnitude is is considered to me it carries a lot of significance. If you go to Paris and you have the opportunity to visit the museums in Paris, you will see this artist proudly exhibited in Paris. He's represented by two galleries that are in our Baso and they always bring his sculptures. So to me to be able to bring one of these sculptures back to Miami and show it in its glory is a real feather not only in my cap but I think in the city of Coral Gables similar to what we did with Celia Sanchez an amazing Cuban artist who just recently passed away. She was in Puerto Rico uh represented by u Leong Leong I think Leon correct

uh gallery in New York and just one of the many exceptional uh Cuban artists that have received world recognition. Uh, so I think this is an opportunity for us to do something incredible and continue to elevate the quality of the work here in the city of Coral Gables. By the way, you never see works of this magnitude. He worked in smaller scales, which allows the window for collectors like myself to hopefully one day be able to buy maybe not a marble, but maybe a small little bronze or an addition, but these works are you don't see them that often. Madam vice mayor, you know, uh, the area in front of the art cinema I think would get some exposure to folks that, you know, aren't going to the 427 building. Yep.

Um, so I think we need to kind of spread I like that this amazing artwork around and I uh I mean I liked 427 building location as well, but I think the art cinema would be an experience for folks that otherwise wouldn't be able to see it. I'm in favor. There is another piece that we'll be talking about that uh we feel may be a good fit for the art cinema also. You'll be seeing it today. You'll be seeing it today. So maybe we can see it right after this one if you don't mind and then we'll hit F5 after. Okay. We we can talk location later but no beautiful piece. Do we have any public comment, Mr. Clerk?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. What? First speaker, Mrs. Mayor Cruz. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. I just had a question and I think I just heard the answer. My only concern every time we go we get pieces like this and they go outside is what the maintenance would be. I think she answered it already, but our concern is we've gotten other uh art pieces that we were stuck with the maintenance. So this is my only concern. I like it, but I think we need to be very careful that we put it in a place where we don't have to spend lots of money keeping it up.

Mr. Mayor, I'm going to go to Zoom next. I have Barbara Perez from the Cultural Development Board who wanted to speak. Okay, Miss Perez, thank you for being here with us.

Miss Perez. Hello. Yes, ma'am. The floor is yours. Sorry. Sorry about that. Um I just wanted to I I am not watching but um because I'm driving but um but I just I know that the board on behalf of the board we also agreed that the PO at 427 next to the development We lost you. Mr. Kirk, you want to you want to come back? See if we can I have no one else.

Okay. Then we'll close the public comment unless Paris comes back before um if not if there's no further comment. I entertain a motion. I'll move it. I'll second. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner L. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Castro. Yes. Mayor Log. Yes. Thank you. You want to talk about uh F6 also before we go to F5 and then we'll go to lunch. Thank you. So is F6 attorney is the same as our G3. F6 is that correct? Okay.

So there's an item also G3. So I think G3 and F6 are related. They're pretty much the same. An update of the art acquisitions and requested. Okay. So, I think you'll knock two out. Done.

Y um we also have a presentation for this, but as I said, I don't know if the battery is uh not working on this, but um let me see. Oh, okay. It's working now. Okay. So, at the mayor's request, we are providing an update of the other of another potential acquisition and of the art the upcoming art week project intervals. So, we're going to start out just by talking about Sky Landscape 2. This is a piece that we've been requested to consider. It's by Louise Nevelson. And Louise Nevelson is another highly recognized sculptor of the 20th century and a staple of museum and public collection. So, it's another very important artist and important work. She was influenced by pre-Colombian architecture and known for Cuba's constructivism uh based abstraction which you can see in this piece. The proposed artwork Skylandscape 2 is one in a series of similarly titled sculptures created over seven years. The sculptures are all black, a color that the artist thought of as relating to night and the passage of the hours of the day. So, we're currently working on getting the piece appraised prior to bringing forward to the arts panel and cultural dep uh board for a recommendation before coming back to you with this artwork. I did view it over the weekend. It is a very uh largecale work. It stands about maybe close to 10 feet tall. Maybe it's a a very large scale. And this is one that that we think may be a possibility to have at the art cinema or somewhere else um within the city. So this is the dimensions of it, the title 1976. It is a direct welded aluminum painted piece and again is a unique work. So then we also wanted to talk about an update on our intervals project for

Do you mind if we just talk about No, it's okay.

Just want to talk about this briefly. Um, I propose this work and I and I would request that um, our director provide a little bit more information from my for from my colleagues on the commission so they have a better understanding on Luis Nevelson's work and on the fact that she's in every major museum in the world. She's represented when you go to Arbasle, probably six or seven galleries are representing her work, her estate. Uh New York-based artists who um is one of the most respected artists of the last hundred years. Uh an amazing female artist. And you know, I think again this takes this continues to elevate the level of work that we have here in the city. This is amazing work. Um and the great part about it's located here in South Florida. Uh when I saw the work for the first time, again for the record, I I do not have the privilege of owning a work by Luis Nevelson. I wish I did. Um but this is just an amazing an amazing art amazing artist that in my opinion would also require a little bit of potential protection also from the elements in regards to an overhang of some sort. So and I think it would contrast well with a white card sculpture, black and white. I think it' be very nice maybe, you know, something interesting and a different a different look. Um, so I wanted to bring it to your attention as something that's being considered. Um, and uh, again, I bring these works because I think that it continues to elevate our profile in the art world. And I think that I want to make sure that the works that we invest in. And I don't want to look as art as an investment, but let's be honest with ourselves, it's an investment. It has to be done appropriately and it has to be curated in a way that uh, really shines a positive light on the city. And I think this work is exceptional. And I hope um, Mr. manager, will you have your your team put together a small memo just so my colleagues are educated. I didn't have a book. I didn't I wasn't prepared to talk about, you know, the work, but I wanted to, you know, make sure they

understood the work, the artists, the museums, the galleries that represent this artist, uh, all all that comes along with this incredible artist and all the major major retrospective shows that she's had all over the world. This is a very serious artist. Yes, mayor. We'll we will provide a report to the commission. Thank you very much. I'm trying to remember where I've seen Nevelson work and I can't remember. I thought it was at the Vatican Museum, but it wasn't there. Whitney, the Guggenheim, you've seen it everywhere. Yeah, I know that I've seen one recently. Um, the only thing I would say is when we're thinking of location,

somewhere where it's protected from little hands trying to climb because it does look like something that that would be fun to climb. Um, so just buffering would would be ideal. Anything else? You want to move to the next item, madame director?

Okay. And then an update on our intervals project. So, first of all, I just want to say um I want to acknowledge the the work of arts advisory panel member Adler Gary. He's been instrumental in working on this project and has helped tremendously with all aspects that are being presented. He is not here today. Um he is in Paris showing work. So we're very happy for him. Um but definitely wanted to to do a shout out and and thank you to him. You know what Paris show he's showing at? He is in a gallery show. So but yes very important week.

Can I ask you a question through the manager? I made a request to have Mr. Adler Garer provide us with you know an opportunity for work for a permanent collection. Yes. And the commission from what I remember took a vote on it and we asked this to move forward. Do we have any update on that? I know he's very humble and he didn't know that we were going to do that but at the end of the day I think he's an exceptional artist that is again in our own backyard and we have to we have to celebrate somebody of his accomplishment.

He's very thrilled and was very honored by that. Uh we have had conversations about it and he is enthusiastically waiting to start that project until after his term is completed with the arts advisory panel. Okay. So we have a deadline of an idea because if not it'll drag its feet and he he'll hope that we forget. He is not forgetting. Believe me, we we talk about it frequently. Okay. All right. He's very excited and honored. Make sure make sure make sure he knows that we mentioned that we're looking forward to I will. I will. We'll just have to knock them off the board. That's what Commissioner Fran said. That's it. Done. That's a solution. Off with your head. [laughter]

Oh, you you'll see why I made that reference on Friday. [laughter] Director.

Okay. So, Intervals is a series of timebased encounters with contemporary art, specific sites, and thoughts are beyond the everyday of Coral Gables, Miami in the world. Within intervals, artists respond to the richness or limits of unccharacteristic spaces to lead toward new situations in which contemporary art intervenes in the rhythms of the city. So it is uh featuring five artists in five public spaces. They are all site responsive installations open and publicly accessible. It is done in partnership with hotels and other public spaces and in partnership with galleries represented at Art Basel Miami Beach. open to professional working artists. So this is our current and final listing with um um our artists and their gallery representation. We have Emil Lucas represented by Pierro Auguri Gallery, Pepe Mar with David Castillo Gallery, Troy Simmons with Frederick Snitzer Gallery, Mariel Plar with Frederick Sner Gallery and Ricardo Alcaided with Von Bartha and his work is being uh coordinated and represented through Mindy Solomon Gallery. These are the locations uh that they will be installed at the hotel colonade the aloft on the plaza of our pink studio and two locations within the plaza and this is our marketing piece that you'll start seeing around in some advertisements and um we are uh we have an ad coming out in Coral Gables magazine and also art forum along with the art newspaper paper every day of Art Boss in Miami Beach along with some other electronic uh digital media. So the artworks are actually being installed starting the first week of November, most of them within uh um the first two weeks. So they will be on view by mid November with an official launch for art week. They will be uh

highlighted on the city's dedicated art and public places web page. tours will be coordinated in partnership with the economic development department and we are also partnering with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau on celebratory events at each of the locations throughout January. So, we're really excited because not only is it um going to be our featured exhibition during Art Week, but also that we're able to extend this until the end of January and invite more people to be able to see the artworks and uh Coral Gables. Thank you very much. Exciting news. Thank you. Doing great things. Thank you for the update.

All right, final item before we go to lunch. F5. F5 is a resolution of the city commission setting forth guidelines for determining the placement of new sidewalks.

Commissioner, you ready?

Hey, this is this is basically a resolution just setting forth um a practice we've done before. I think we need to clarify that um when we are placing sidewalks, yes, we should be surveying residents asking them if they want a sidewalk. But moving forward, I think there needs to be clear guidelines to the fact that it should be the professionals, it should be public works, and it should be engineers where they decide where the appropriate um sidewalk should go. usually goes closer to the to the property line. However, there could be situations that we need to go around trees or whatever the case is. This in reality is just setting forward um that we will let administration take care of this. This shouldn't be a debate going back and forth all the time. This should have the safest placement protecting the trees closest to the property line basically. So, if everybody's okay with this, I'll go ahead and I'll move it.

No, I'm not okay with it. Um, I'd like to have somebody from staff explain it to me in detail.

DCM. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor Lago, Vice Mayor Anderson, commissioners, deputy city manager Joe Gomez. So um in designing um for sidewalks um the all municipalities are guided by certain design standards. Um in Florida um what is commonly referred to as the Florida green book uh which is officially known as the manual of uniform minimum standards for design construction maintenance for streets and highways. is the guiding principle by it and that's an offshoot from from the state of state of Florida's department of transportation. So in essence it it provides guidance and standards for minimum for for uh designing of sidewalks, streets and so forth. In the case of sidewalks, while the desired always is as is is as close to the edge of the rideway as possible, there are it also provides clear guidance that says that if there is issues with terrain, uh environmental conditions such as trees and so forth that the engineers can can make uh make make substantial changes in order to be able to accommodate the side walk in doing some research for this today to prepare myself for this today. I also I I took I took a deep dive and went back to my DOT days and the the Florida Department of Transportation um has what is uh what they have the the Florida design standards and in doing that they have one particular and and this is very important to this discussion because the they have a standard which I actually brought a copy of uh to demonstrate but this is from the standard index of plans from the Florida Department of Transportation. It's index 555-01

001. And it here it clearly shows a a standard for a sidewalk without a utility strip, a 6ft sidewalk with curbon gutter. Now, the reason I bring this up is if this is a what is referred to as a minimum standard and it's safe for state highways, it's most certainly safe for local municipal streets as well. So the point is that while we always try the desired is always to move the sidewalk uh close to the rightway, there are cases and and in this city particular because we have roads that have been there for at least as long as the city's been around almost 100 years. Granada is a perfect example where you have um rideaways that where the trees have grown over time, the roots have grown out and it's and the canopy you have beautiful canopy simply impossible to be able to accommodate a sidewalk to the edge of the rideway. So in those cases as engineers we look at practical solutions and practical solutions indicate that we can use uh curb and gutter as opposed to putting a flush sidewalk on the rideway. So I guess what I'm trying to say is we do this as a normal course of business. Commissioner, we we our our our engineers are trained and uh we follow design guidelines. Um this come from the Florida Department of Transportation. The green book is actually published by the Florida Department of Transportation. So it's a standard that municipalities use. So, it's very important that when we look at these sidewalk projects, particularly in the city of Coral Gables, which is, as you know, has a lo canopy of trees, we have to be able to achieve the two important goals, preserve the canopy while also providing for pedestrian safety, and that's that's the mission. So,

yeah. But I wasn't I wasn't done yet. So, my point was my point was just want to be clear. We're already doing this, correct? Yes, sir. So when I've dealt with Mr. public our public works director and our other public works director Melissa uh we already apply these standards. What we have here are issues where we have cities that there's not one uniform condition. Correct.

We have certain roads that are tight, some roads that are wider. We have trees that are in the way. Uh we have monuments or sometimes entrance features that are in the way. We have roots that are in the way just to name a few. We have to find solutions. Correct. And we go back to the Alhambor project that for 10 years was an something that we discussed and we're missing three blocks of sidewalks. Just this week alone, uh I I saw an older lady um you know, walking with a cane on the middle of the street. Again, that to me, we're not always going to be 100% perfect, but putting a sidewalk, even if it has to meander and it has a curb, is much better than what we have right now. And it is currently accept acceptable by the standards that you mentioned there in regards to FDOT. Um, Madame Vice Mayor, you got a question? Well, I just I was going to add some commentary because, you know, as a individual that's walked a lot of the blocks around here and you're dealing with the shrubbery that people have next to their property line and a hedges growing over the head, over the sidewalk. Um, this is why you see people walking on the streets a lot of times. And the other reality is it can actually be dangerous to put a sidewalk next to a property line when you have a wall or a hedge that's blocking visibility from a driveway entrance. So, and we have some very wide um uh swailes and areas where it would actually be more um beautiful if you had a meandering sidewalk because you have the space to be able to do that. You see that when you go visit other towns and so forth and go, "Wow, that looks really nice. It's a welcoming sidewalk. You could go and travel down." And some of the sidewalk areas too, you know, where we have the space, you could do a shared use path instead of a five

foot sidewalk or a sixoot sidewalk or an 8ft sidewalk that's 10 feet. You've accomplished two things at the same time. You can have the ch you can have people on the bicycle and you can have people walking and plenty of space to keep them off of the street and crowding everybody out. So, there's just no need for this. We need to let staff do their job and they're doing a magnificent job uh of doing that and to be able to uh preserve the tree canopy that the residents want to keep.

Mr. Um, I understand what both of you have said. Um, but I think if we can increase the standard, not just go with the minimum standard, um, I'm okay with it. So, I'll be happy to second your movement. Thank you. Through the mayor. Yes.

I think we're getting a little confused here with what I'm proposing because what I'm hearing from my colleagues is way off. I am putting full faith in the city. That's exactly what I'm saying. The only thing I'm trying to clarify here is that we should not be going back and forth with residents. We should accept what they want. They want a sidewalk. It's perfectly fine. We will give them a sidewalk, but it should be up to the city and the design professionals, public works to where that sidewalk goes. This is not about having a sidewalk on the curb or not having it on the curb. This is about us putting our faith in your expertise basically. So, um, this is not the standard that we've been following. You know, we during this whole hammer, I know there's a resident right there. There was a resident that hired their own arborist report, their their own arborist um guy. We should not be going back and forth, especially when it has to be best practices, when it has to be the safest. And I think we need to put our faith completely on the city. That's basically it. Commissioner, I would love nothing more than to agree with you, but then we would be both wrong. So, the issue at hand is very simple. You talk about resident input, resident input, door hangers. I think that's your monumental piece of legislation in almost three years. Why not have input from the residents? Why are we afraid to have a conversation with the residents? I think it's a great thing you were talking about. There wasn't enough input right now in regards to uh the the parking garage, which has been talked at nauseium for 15 years. So my point is, like I said before, let's stop politicizing sidewalks. And the issue is this meets the standard. And what we did here was not just the minimum standard. And correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. DC, this is not a minimum standard issue. We found a solution, right?

And the solution was there was massive, massive 100-y old trees. We weaved through the trees in an effort to not cut the roots, which would destabilize the trees. And we had also issues with resident driveways and we found a solution. This application has been used in front of my house on Santa Mar. This application has been used on Blue Road. This application has been used throughout the city as a solution. Curbs, as you said, right now are completely acceptable. Absolutely. We try our best to do the highest standard, but this is completely safe and within

engineering standards. So, uh, Commissioner, would you like to say anything before I make I open up the public comment? I'd like to add. Yeah. Um, and more of a question perhaps because I I might have been confused, Commissioner Castro, but I thought you said that this is not about sidewalk placement. Did you say that? Yeah. Okay. So, you know, I wanted to clarify your question or do you want me to or do you want to continue?

Well, because well, maybe clar I can clarify my question. Right. So it because since I believe that's what you said what you're proposing here in section two is that the city commission is directing the city staff you know to determine follow these guidelines to determine the placement of sidewalks. So, right right off the bat, right, you're proposing that this will limit um where the city staff places the sidewalks by determining its placement to be uh in number one of section two as close as possible to the abuing property line. So, okay. Well, I'm just reading this and I know you're you're shaking your head and I have a few other comments, but let's just start with that first one. So, are you trying to determine through this piece of legislation for the city staff that when when when there's any discretion that would be removed um in the first place because it has to be as close as possible to place it on the sidewalk to the abuing property line?

No. No, that is not the point of this legislation. The point of this legislation is to give complete faith to the city for them to determine where it goes. Usually, the standard would be to the property line. That is not something I am imposing. That is the standard. Now, given given the fact of how we function, given the fact that we are a tree city, there's certain things that we need to respect. Now, when I when we talk about resident input, there is resident input. We're bal we're sending ballots to the residents to find out if they want a sidewalk or not. I'm just clarifying that moving forward, we should leave this to the city to decide. If they think the safest place is on the curb, then it's on the curb. It's up to the city. They if you want to save as many trees as possible, it should be up to the city.

Well, if I may clarify, okay, because this is what we call redundant legislation and an effort. We have a lot of this today here. Redundant legislation. Mr. DCM is what is being requested to be voted on today already the standard for the city? Yes, sir. So, there's no need for this. There's no need for this. Maybe to send out an email or or or put on social media saying you pass this. We already do this. We already do this just like the next one that's coming up with kickbacks. And we'll get that to that one soon. You were saying,

right. So I while to respond to you while it may be redundant okay I would just quibble with that a little bit I agree that it's we already cover this already but what I where where I I my concern comes from is paragraph one is with the affirmative command right sidewalks shall be placed uh as close as possible to the abuing property line is not even aspirational or suggestive that is determinative you that's a direction to the city staff. And then number number and then the other one concern I thought right is um the the position you're taking in this legislation about residents and their input. Quoting you from paragraph number three the placement decisions must again when you use the word must that's that's um quite specific and it's a command right must align with best engineering and safety practices. Certainly the word best h when you use those kinds of terms just opens up everyone's opinion as to what that might mean and we can have a debate from here until kingdom come and we've actually seen some of that before when you've actually had residents show up and provide their positions right as to what is the safest or what is the best but you conclude paragraph 3 by saying all of this alignment in terms of what's best it m it must align fine with that and not with the resident preference. I find it surprising that you're legislating elimination of residents pres preference when coming um to a determination about the placement of a sidewalk. It seems to me with all respect to be going everywhere. you're determining here. It must be as close as possible to the abunding property line, but I don't want to hear from the residents if in their opinion it doesn't align with what the city would say is the best engineering or safety practices. In addition to all of that, as the mayor brought up, it

seems that we already covered and as the city mentions, we've already covered. So, thank you, Commissioner. Mr. Clerk, can we hear public comment, please?

First speaker, Mr. Mayor, Mrs. Mary Cruz. Mrs. Maria Cruz, 1447 Miller Road. Here we go again. We can never do anything without bringing politics involvement. I understood what she was saying. Yes, I understood what you were saying, too. But the two did not conflict. I didn't see a conflict. It could be she explained exactly what she wanted. And it makes sense to me. I've sat in these chambers many times when the engineers, the people that know, the experts say this is what we should do. And then we have to listen to 555 people. No, I want it this way. I want it that way. what she's saying and it was very clear to me it I didn't see any politicking involved except for the major that has to bring it up the past the future the present what happened 500 years ago etc what she's saying and I agree with that the way she explained it was very clear in my mind if I didn't have a sidewalk in front of my house I do and I wanted a sidewalk the city should say okay all of you want sidewalks we're going provide your sidewalk, but we should not say where do you want it. It should be where is the best place to put it according to the experts. I don't think that the issue is, you know, whether we're going to give you a sidewalk, but why should we have different people say, "Oh, I want it next to the trees. I want it behind the trees. I want it in front of the trees. I want it by the curb. I want it by," you know, it should be where the

experts, the people that get paid to know what the best place for it and they'll take into account whether there are trees, whether they're shrubs, where whatever it be up to them to come back and say, "Okay, for this three blocks, the best place to do it is here because of this and that and the other thing." That's all she's saying. There's no, it's a very simple. We do not have to go the convoluted way and try to see, you know, what happened in 1492 when Columbus came to America.

So, let me set the record straight because again, absolutely all over the place, not making any sense, just trying to confuse as many people as possible. What Maria Cruz is talking about is the issue of, and what's happening here is we're trying to remove resident input. You had certain residents on Alhamra that were not in favor of sidewalks. I walked, knocked on doors. So did the vice mayor. We explained to them the importance of finally connecting this area, especially when you have the convergence of traffic on the bridge. We were able to have this conversation with staff present. We talked about different alternatives. We said, if we add the sidewalks, we're going to have to remove the trees. The residents were adamant about not removing the trees because they were mature 100-y old trees. They did not want to leave those trees. So, we found solutions to save the trees and work around in an effort to make everyone happy and deliver on pedestrian safety. So, the idea the idea of saying that we want to limit input would have resulted in these residents not coming together and delivering sidewalks on this much needed area. We built consensus. We found a solution. It's not perfect, but it's much better than what's currently there. So, I think that's what you're trying to you trying to make a point and what this commission is saying that we're finding solutions to not make everyone happy and not make everyone upset. And these this sidewalk wall not perfectly placed where certain people in this community would like it. We're not here today for Miss Cruz. But at the end of the day, they make all the residents who live in that area happy and there's connectivity for everyone in the community to enjoy and they don't have to walk on the street anymore. They can use a sidewalk. I think that's appropriate. Mr. Clerk,

Rodriguez.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Rand Rodriguez, 3010 Hammer Circle. Um, I've I said over two years of my time going over this sidewalk issue and I still don't have a sidewalk. Um I know we're three minutes so I respectfully ask just a little bit more leniency on my opinion. Um sir, what do you do for a living? I'm a civil engineer, professional engineer. Okay.

Uh I completely agree with with Commissioner Lara as far as the statements. Shall you're when you use shall engineering, you're telling the engineer you need to do this in a certain direction. must with uh safety practices uh rather than resident pre uh preference. She's framing resident preference uh rather than input. It was our input, not a preference. Complete faith in your staff. Yeah, you have complete faith in your staff, but then you bring up the issue of safer or safest. So you you're you're you have the the opinion of a professional and you're saying, "No, but that's not safe. I want the safer opinion." You you can kind of like twisting twisting the the result of of uh of what you're asking for. So, I prepared a short statement. Um, this proposed resolution is unnecessary, misguided, and fundamentally dismissive of resident participation, the very foundation of good governance. It is presented under the guise of guidelines, but in practice, it restricts meaningful public input and undermines the collaborative process. Commissioner Castro has continuously implied that there are varying degrees of safety, safe [snorts] versus safer, in engineering design. This notion is both inaccurate and misleading. Engineering practice does not recognize a safer option among compliant designs. Licensed engineers adhere to established standards, manuals, and professional guidelines that ensure all approved options meet safety criteria. Professional engineers make determinations based on existing conditions, data, and technical judgment, not subjective or political preferences. By suggesting that deviations from prescribed alignment could compromise safety, the resolution introduces a false false hierarchy of safety and ironically increases the city's exposure to liability by disregarding professional judgment in favor of arbitrary direction. The resolution directs staff to place sidewalks as close as possible to to the abundant property line. This respective

language ignores the fundamental purpose of engineering evaluation, which is to adapt design to field conditions. From personal experience during the Alhhamra circle process, qualified engineers and arborists reviewed every alignment alternative and selected one that balanced safety, accessibility, and prefer and preservation of mature trees, an approach consistent with the best practices and community character. The resulting alignment was safe, engineered, and approved. To characterize that decision as anything less is to undermine the integrity of city staff and the professional expertise on which the commission rout routinely relies. The resolution's final clause that placement decisions must align with the best engineering and safety practices rather than on resident preference is disingenuous. Resident input has never overruled engineering standards. It has complimented them. Residents are not demanding on safe sidewalks. They are asking for solutions that preserve the character, trees, and integrity of the neighborhoods within the bounds of safety and sound design. Framing resident participation as interfering interference sets a dangerous precedence. It replaces collaboration with control and transforms the city's public process into into a political one. In conclusion, the Ohio Circle alignment represents a successful balance between safety, engineering, and community values. This resolution seeks to reop seeks to reopen that settled process under the pretext of guidelines, effectively punishing collaboration and stifling the voices of those who live with the outcomes. [snorts] Rather than adopting a policy that limits resident involvement, the commission should strengthen strengthen opportunities for collaboration between residents, engineers, and city staff. Public input is not an obstacle. It's an asset to better governance. At the end of the day, commissioners serve for prescribed terms. Residents live with these decisions for decades. True leader

leadership listens. It does not silence. Thank you. Just for the record, because M. Cruz was desperately staring at the time. It was 1 minute and 12 seconds that he went over. This is an example of collaboration. This is an example of a licensed civil engineer coming up here and speaking the facts and the truth. This is what happens when you have Maria Cruz come up here and say, "Don't politic. What you see that's behind this resolution is pure and utter politics." That's why my comment was, "I would love nothing more than to agree with you, but then we would be both wrong." And as I look around, I see all the residents that shake their head because it's the truth. Enough politicking. And let's do what's right by the residents. We deliver a sidewalk. The sidewalk is already going to be built. We just finished the drainage. We're going to do the median. and it's something that's going to be only beneficial for the neighborhood.

Mr. Clerk, I have an additional speaker, Mr. Mayor. It's going to be on Zoom and it's Mr. Robert Ruano,

Mr. R, the floor is yours. Hello. Yes, sir. The floor is yours.

All right. Thank you. trying to start this. Uh, good afternoon. I just found out about this item, so uh I don't have a uh a slicker uh prep prepared statement like Mr. Rodriguez, but I'll tell you one thing. Uh the Alhhamra situation was the preferred uh route for for four residents. Uh after that, I met with Commissioner Lara with about 10 residents of the area that did not like it. Most people that unless th that those four that want the sidewalk against the street really want it where it goes against the property line. I think the resolution makes a lot of sense. The state's green book itself says it should be as close to the property line as practical and even other cities like the city of South Miami say it should be as close to the property line as poss as practical. Um, you should also note, and I don't like to say people's name because he's he's mentioned mine many times, so I will, but um, Mr. Rodriguez's property with the new proposed uh, plan that would go against the property property line would not remove any of his trees. So, the fact that he's proposing it against the street where it's the least safe, especially as a civil engineer, it's very concerning. And whether this is a collaboration, Mr. Mayor, this is not. This is based on your wish to get a sidewalk against the street. Uh last October, the commission, the previous commission voted for a modified version that would have half of it against the property line, but then you came back several months ago and with your new commission, voted against it. I fully support this ordinance, uh this resolution, and the politicking is yours, Mr. Mayor. Let them let the engineers decide and it will go against the property line. Thank you very much.

In response to U Mr. Rano, just to be clear, Mr.

Okay, Mr. Ronaldo does not live in the neighborhood. The one that has driven the politician here has been this gentleman here. Um, I don't care, and I've said it before hundred times, whether the sidewalk is on the curb or the sidewalk is against the property line, I just want to deliver a sidewalk. That's it. And by the way, all the residents realize it. If it takes me meandering a sidewalk to save some trees and make some residents happy so we don't have to cut down their canopy, at the end of the day, we deliver the sidewalk. It's just like we had to do in Blue Road. In Blue Road, we had to meander a sidewalk around some trees and a portion of it got on the street and we had to build a curb. But guess what? We delivered sidewalk on two bridges where people used to have to go up the bridge because there was no sidewalk. So we're delivering results. We're not politicking at the end of the day. Commissioner Lada, uh just briefly, so um I uh just responding to the comments made by Mr. Roano and I really enjoyed meeting with him and um yeah approximately 10 other residents during my office hours uh to discuss their preferences as the residents regarding the placement of the sidewalk. What I find surprising, and I'll just make this comment, is how he says he wholeheartedly endorses this proposed legislation because were it to be enacted in paragraph 3, the placement decision of the sidewalks would be done based on anything really other than resident preference. So, his statements as well as the other 10 residents that I met with would be given short shrift if this was in fact enacted. And um and then we would we would be left with the resulting debate regarding whether or not a best engineering or best safety practice was actually um implemented. Um when enacting legislation, it is not a

good idea to create more questions, introduce more uncertainty uh than if you never did. So for that, I'm not supportive of this resolution. through the mayor. Madam, Vice Mayor, so um of those residents that you met with, some of them emailed me and I went through the choices that we had and then I offered to meet with them and I said it's not necessary. You made the right choice. So, I mean that that was the end of it.

And by the way, I want to back up the vice mayor's comments. I didn't know she had also spoken to them. Um when I exa when I explained in detail that we had visited visited the residents who were most affected, we had sat down with staff on multiple occasions. We explained the arburish report. We explained that we had um had several meetings with Dena that we had had multiple meetings on site with everyone involved where Mr. Rano basically held up a camera in everybody's face filming everybody like this. You know, again, we're talking about a sidewalk. Talk about sidewalk. That's what we're talking about. like let's get beyond this. There's so much more to do here. Why are we even bringing this back again? Mr. Manager, is the sidewalk going to be installed?

Yes, mayor. And the sidewalk will be installed in according to engineering, good engineering practice. Thank you very much.

Through the mayor. Yeah, I want to clarify this has nothing to do with the Hamra sidewalk. Whatever was decided is what's going to happen there. This was moving forward. Um, another thing is, and I want to make it very clear, this is not about suppressing vote, resident input. Resident input is going to be collected by ballots. The only thing that I was changing was the process and how we were doing it in that debating of back and forth. It just should go where the city believes is the best way, not specifically next to the to the property line. I know you, [clears throat] Commissioner La, I know you said you're not in support of this, but is there and I know that you have certain concerns with some of the language and I'm wondering if maybe I could count with your vote if I amend some of the languages some of the language in which you had concerns.

Commissioner Castro, if I may, Mr. Mayor, the changes would be so replete that the best course would be just to vote it down. If I may add something, please, just for the record, it's a public document. I know we want to backpedal now, but the item number three, placement decisions must align with the best engineering and safety practices rather than on resident preference. Mr. DCM, do we not use placement decisions must align with the best engineering and safety practices already? Yes, sir.

We got to continue to say that because you know before you know the blogs get it and before you know it, we're we're doing whatever we want. And when I talk about resident preference, when she talks about resident preference, yes, you are correct. residents will have the ability to vote. It's a it's what happens. It happens with sidewalks. It happens with circles. Correct? But at the end of the day, I want a resident that votes no on a traffic circle to be able to have a conversation with that individual and say, "Hold on a minute. Don't vote no. Don't vote no on that sidewalk. Don't vote no on that traffic circle. What how can we find common ground? What can we do so we can deliver traffic, Mr. DCM?" Because I don't want it to be from me. You know, it's very there's a lot of faith and there's some people that don't have faith. uh elected officials when we speak with individuals and they say no on a traffic caling we try to have a conversation and say how can we meet in the middle

I mean we try right we too we we work with the residents as much as we can and to be able to accommodate for example when we place the speed cushion sometimes uh when the balloting is done once we go out there to place the speed cushion we find that the resident didn't realize that it was going to be a speed cushion so we tried to adjust as much as we can within the limits of what we can do. So we always work with the residents.

We try to find some preferences, some middle ground in an effort to just try to deliver traffic calming, sidewalks, tra, you know, traffic circles. I mean, I think these are important things and it just can't be you can't have the rigidity. So at the end of the day, you know, again, they don't say it's about Alhamra, but you have Mr. Rouano here who has been the number one antagonist in [snorts] a neighborhood that he's not even a part of. and you have the residents are in favor of it over here. One of who's a civil engineer. So, let's move forward. Let's deliver on sidewalks for all the communities and find solutions in areas where people don't have connectivity because they want to make they want to maybe save a tree or they might want to see a sidewalk meander. So, I think it's a good thing. Mr. Clerk, we have a motion and a second on the floor. Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Yes. Commissioner Lada. No. Vice Mayor Anderson? No. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes, Mayor Lago. No, Mr. DCM, as always, I don't need to tell you. Please continue to follow best practices as licensed engineer. Thank you, sir. All right, we have I don't know if we should do lunch or should we do the time certain E8 and E9. My stomach is voting in favor of lunch. Lunch 20. All right. I don't think so. Let's want to do a Let's do 310. We're back.

[clears throat]

Mr. Clerk. Oh, you are a prince. Recording in progress. You're welcome.

Good. Thank you, Gabby. Thank you. What number? We're going to go to E8 and E9. Mr. Clerk, we're ready. [clears throat] Yes, Mr. Mayor, we are.

All right. E8 is an ordinance of a city commission amending the future land use map and mixed use overlay districts map of the city of Corable's comprehensive plan pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-213 comprehensive plan text map amendments and small scale amendment procedures from commercial low-rise intensity to commercial high-rise intensity and to create the university station rapid transit district overlay for blocks 155 and 156 corable to various section part A track a reply of crogable to various section part 8 which are the properties bounded by south Dixie Highway Gabayo Boulevard maduga and churin street providing for repealed provisions of ability clause and providing for an effective date. E9 is in norance of the city commission providing for map and text amendments to the city of Corable's official zoning code pursuant to zoning code article 14 process section 14-212 a zoning code text and map amendments by amending article 2 zoning districts to create section 2-408 university station rapid transit district overlay for promoting the use of mass mass transit facilities and pedestrian activities along transit corridors and near multimmoal stations amending appendix A sight specific zoning regulations to remove inconsistent site specifics amending article 14 process section 14-204 transfer of development velment rights to expand transfer of development rights receiving sites to the University Station Rapid Transit District Overlay and making zoning district boundary changes from mixed use to mix mixuse one to mixuse 3 and including within the University Station Rapid Transit District overlay boundary for blocks 155 and 156, Coral Gable area section part A and track A repil Coral Gables area section part 8 which are the properties bounded by South Dixie Highway, Gavayto Boulevard, Madruga and Turin Street and to create the University Station rapid transit district providing free repeal provision severability clause codification providing for an effective date. These are quasi this is a quasi judicial item. So I ask that we consolidate for purposes of the public hearing and that everyone anyone who will be testifying today be sworn in by the city clerk. Please

those who will be testifying on this item, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm the testimony you'll provide today will be the truth and nothing but the truth.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. Uh, good afternoon, Jennifer. Garcia, planning and zoning director. Um, so what's before you right now um is a city initiated um overlay district and I'll go through that right now. As you know, the county did approve their expan ex uh expansion of the rapid transit zone for the county on September 3rd and they created in effect the gable coral gables and universities sub zone. So the RTZ expansion um as they've approved legislation right now is at as each property is added to the RTZ sub zone it go through a very um streamlined process. It would start the pre-lication conference which two staff people from the city of Coral Gables can attend and then it would go to their rapid transit development impact committee the RTDIC along with two um individuals from the city of Coral Gable staff and then it go to their BCC their borrow county commissioners for adoption. um this RTZam expansion for the county did grant them um regulatory jurisdiction over properties as they're added into their sub zones. Right now there's only one property that is in their sub zone. That's a property that we know as the university uh shopping center. So as a result the city started in June I believe to look at this area holistically and not property by property. And we're looking at the area between Cababayto and Turin um facing uh uh US1. So you can see here the area highlighted in yellow is the the study area between Cavayto and Turan um facing US1 directly across street from um the University of

Miami and of course a budding multif family to the south or to the east. This is the area. You can see it's mostly two blocks, two mega blocks. Track A and then block 155. So the future land use map shows this area is um um variety of land use, but it's mostly commercial lowrise intensity with such a mixed use for the PO project which is down by Cabayto. And the zoning map shows that's mostly MX1 which is our lowest uh mixed destination with MX3 um being for the PO project. The request right now for the city is we're requesting it to change comprehensive plan for the future land use map as well as a mixed use map um as well as our map zoning map changes and then the zoning code text amendments and I'll get to each of those right now. So the future land use map um right now as I said is commercial low-rise intensity and that is proposed to be changed to commercial high-rise intensity to be more compatible with the mixed use of the PO as well as the existing high-rise that's on the Gables one tower right now. The other map to be amended with the comprehensive plan would be the mixeduse overlay district map and that'll be adding a new overlay district for mixed use um in the same area between Cababayto and Turin facing US1. The zoning map amendment would consist of changing those um zoning designations from MX1 to be MX3 for those four properties there. And this is showing a graphic of the existing uh zoning and land use on the upper part of the slide and that's showing that that low um lowrise intensity um as well as MX1 and then the second the bottom part of the slide is showing the proposed which would be high-rise intensity of a maximum height of 120 ft.

So as you know this was um reaction to the county's uh RTZ sub zone. So this is a a table comparing our current regulations on the left side, the county's RTZ as adopted in the middle and then the proposed city um overlay district is on the green on the right side. So as proposed the review would be very um limited as far as internal staff review and then before the city commission as a resolution um site plan approval. The height would be 120 feet with additional allowance for up to 147 feet if they provide additional 5% um public open space. The density would remain the same to be 125 units an acre. The F would be 3.0 zero with a option to have med bonus to allow for 3.5 F total and then allowing TDRs to be uh received in this area for a maximum of 4.375 F. The setbacks would be the same as we are today with 20 feet off the front facing US1 as well as 25 feet in the rear for those larger deeper properties. And the open space remain the same to be 10% on the ground level which also includes the setback areas. Um and the setbacks would be up to the city architect based on uh whatever makes sense for the size of the property and to be more compatible with the adjacent residential districts in the back. the parking would be required for residential although not required residential for the county. We would we would require that except for 50% reduction as well as 25% parking reduction um if they have a parking plan and it would make sense as far as being compatible with the area. So this is showing the the review processes compared to the county RTZ sub zone on the [clears throat] right side on the left side and the city's overlay

process on the on the right side. So the county as you know when they adopt legislation they adopt um property to be added in um each property at a time. So once that property is being added in they go through what they call their site plan approval for a special exception approval. So they do the pre-lication conference the rapid transit development impacts committee um review and then their board of county commissioners then adopt the the site plan. What's proposed for you today is not our usual process but actually a very um streamlined process of internal review by staff provide comments and recommendation to the commission and the commission would then adopt would review and adopt the site plan. So this was reviewed by planning and zoning board in July of this year and here we are for first reading. We did send out mail notes within 1500 feet of the uh proposed overlay district as required by code and that was sent out twice once for the PCB mean in July and also for today's meeting. The property was posted as well. The website was posted. There's a newspaper advertisement in July and we even had anformational video that was um made by our communication staff um that was I think broadcasted but shared within I think e news a couple of times as well as on our website. staff does determine that this to be consistent with the comp plan as a comp plan does say we want to encourage uh development and intensity near our um transit areas and transit corridors and does comply with finance facts and sif I said thank you

thank you so much Mr. manager.

Yes, mayor. This is a a proposal to try to u work through the RTZ process. The RTC's up zone was created at the University of Miami. It does encompass the MARK project. Uh it does encompass various various other projects. We will be looking at uh this is an MX proposal. We will be looking at an MF proposal that would that would expand this zone later. The the idea is to try to bring this project back under city review, which I think we were we are much better off than under county review. We would lose uh permit fees, potential impact fees, and potential uh control of of of the project from a use perspective, from a CU perspective, and and even even from a from a signage perspective.

So, let me ask you a few questions just to put it on the record. I think it's important. We understand that certain behaviors have consequences. on the planning and zoning board when the mark went the project was presented in the planning and zoning board. What was the height that was being proposed? It was about eight stories. What did the code allow? It it uh it was it was two stories over over code. Okay. Now, as a result of it was denied at the RTZ. Maybe we could have negotiated out to seven. We could have done some some different things as a result of the treatment in in the the planning and zoning board. It went where where now they're going the RTZ route. Correct. The county route which could be up to

they're circumventing the city completely. We lose all power and now they're going the RTZ route. That is correct, mayor. Which they have uh no limit in F and have 150 ft. So 150 ft. How many stories is that? That's anywhere from 14 to 15 stories.

Okay. So let's put this on the record because I know that nobody wants to talk about it because it's just not a good thing to talk about. Nobody wants to deal with that, you know, the results of this of this blow. The two biggest proponents in opposition of the mark were Felix Pardo and Sue. Okay. They were denied the approval, not even left to negotiate. I've been dealing with the Mark now with you for the past three months. Next week I'm going to meet with him with the manager in an effort to see if we can scale back and bring this bring this back into the city in one form or another. I'm not happy about the design. I've already had conversations with the Markx representatives. They're coming to negotiate on multiple different fronts and hopefully mitigate some of the RTZ. What do I mean by that? Okay. I mean that we're losing millions of dollars by them going the route of the RTZ in regards to impact fees. And now instead of having a project that could have been seven stories, maybe one floor outside of the zoning code, now it could be 14 or 15. Signage we have no control over and usages we have no control over. And the design today looks nothing like the one that they were profering to the city gave us. Did I say anything that's not in line with what you agree with? Everything you said is correct, ma'am.

Okay. So, now we have to agree. Now we have now we're going to negotiate from a position of complete and utter weakness. And the purpose of the RTZ overlay that we're doing here is to offer profer developers uh something that says the city, you can go to the RTZ, but don't go to the RTZ. Go the city of Coral Gables RTZ. It's not as lucrative as the county RTZ, but we'll expedite your permits. We'll try to do things. you're going to develop the project anyways, but let's try to stay within our standards so that we can control the beauty and the breadth of the project. So these are examples. We had two major examples in the planning and zoning where we had an encounter with commissioner Raquel Regalado from district 7 and then we also had the encounter with the mark. So there are ramifications to our behavior especially on the planning and zoning board. So again, it's not me talking about it. You can watch it on video. I've watched it multiple times on video and it's been played for me. So, I I I'm going to be meeting with the Mark representatives next week. They're going to fly into town with the manager in hopes that we can come to an agreement to present to the commission so that you don't see a 150 foot building there. So, maybe you see a building that may be lower in scope and in scale. And I also want to negotiate in regards to the impact fees. If you go the RTZ route, we lose millions of dollars of impact fees. So, we want to promote other projects that are already going to re be redeveloped anyways. For example, the project at the 3acre site for the University of Miami adjacent to the mark to come through our RTZ, not the county. Let us keep the impact fees. Let us use that for good things in the neighborhood. Let us do great things with that money. Also, consider our design standards, our signage standards, things that are emblematic of the city. Beautiful. Not

go outside and follow the county's RTZ. So, this is a Hail Mary. Don't think that I'm It's a Hail Mary. Hail Mary. But, by the way, we had the project approved at eight stories. They came here with eight stories. The code allowed six. It had the setbacks. It had the Mediterranean design. It had everything. Now, they don't have to adhere to any of that if they go the RTZ county. So, we're in a very tough position. I will do my best. Um and uh hopefully we'll bring be able to bring something back. Madam Vice Mayor, we have some Yeah, we have some tough choices to make. And I'm just going to, you know, for the purposes of some folks that don't know what we're referring to by impact fees. These are park impact fees.

Yep.

These are the fees that we can use to, you know, develop new parks. We have Phillips Park. We have potentially new parks coming in. Um lots of money for our community. uh being ripped away and put into the county's hands. On top of that, you have the permitting fees and next to zero in a way of architectural review, you know, no quality architects there, no quality, you know, I I they don't have the staff that we do in a way of engineering and so forth to to be able to take care of this. The setbacks along US1 are horrible. No one's going to want to walk along there. I mean, between a 10-ft sidewalk and an arcade underneath of 20 feet being um pushed back to the minimum, you know, with 10 ft of planted area, that's a hedge. So, lots of difficult choices we've been left with. I've encouraged residents to embrace development that is, you know, I understand you don't want it that is reasonable because if you allow reasonable development, then you avoid this type of scenario like we have on the mark. I know when their mind was changed and it was after that planning and zoning board meeting and they were done with us. They said they're not going to go to the commission. They're not going to go to another planning and zoning board meeting and be treated the way that they were treated in that meeting, not before the planning and zoning board or have a extended process back then uh the way the commission was. Um at that time when I came on and I was

elected, there was no live local act. the RTZ zone for the county had not been yet adopted. I know that it was a much more expansive RTZ that was proposed after I got elected. You know, many people along Pon were extremely nervous about it going up uh the rest of Pon. Um the Markfolio was brought in as a you know a direct and approximate result of the treatment that folks received at this planning and zoning board. meeting and um unfortunately it wasn't enough to cause particular members to uh adjust their behavior accordingly and the same bad treatment was given to the commissioner when she came to speak to the board to explain why you know Cole Gables needed to embrace a rapid transit zone adjacent to the rail. This is not as some people have written an opinion piece on is going to bleed into the residential neighborhood. That is not what this is is about. This is not what this is for. This is to be the lesser of two other evils. The local or the county RTZ where you have zero control, zero ability to control the uses of the property. So we have three choices. The first is, do you want to see a live local projects next to your home? Would you rather have a county RTZ project next to your zone? Or would you like to have this commission and our staff have the best possible option for you available? Um, I'm in favor of this because it

gives us the control we have. on these particular lots. So they're what 325 ft deep roughly what 25 feet I think is in in the rear to create create a planted buffer. Is that the right number? That's that's about about the right number, Vice Mayor.

All right. And in that 25 ft, which is uh full depth of a a handsome front yard in most of our our homes, you can have an amazing planted buffer, not a 10-ft hedge. So, these are the types of things and choices that we can make to make our our city better to be able to control the signage and where it goes and and and the type of uses that go into those properties. Um, we really have no other choice right now. We don't. So, I'm in favor of this. Yes, sir.

So, I think the mayor phrased it perfectly with the phrase is a Hail Mary. Uh this is our way of trying to retake control over this project and I think every commission meeting we have the conversation five or six times about the preeemptions that we're getting from outside. Uh somebody doesn't get what they want from the city, they're going to go to the county or to the uh or to the state. That's that's the reality that we're facing. It's always going to the other parent to figure out if they can get from the other parent what they can't get from this one. Um, this presents us with an opportunity to try to bring it back, give us some say in the matter. Um, because right now we really don't have a say in in these projects. Basically go through the county and the county makes a decision and the completely out of Coral Gable's hands. So, um, I think this is a solution that makes [clears throat] sense right now. Uh it'll present not just the the funding component, but also the opportunity to have a sit down like the mayor is going to have with the developer to try to find solutions on on projects which we've been able to successfully get in other projects. We've had numerous projects that have been considering live local uh and through sitdowns and getting resident engagement, they've scaled their projects down and made them something that has worked uh for for residents. Um, I think this is the opportunity that we have. It's really, I think, the only one we have at the moment. So, I'll be voting in favor of this uh just to make sure that we are able to bring this back uh give ourselves an opportunity to bring those impact fees back uh and give the city a bit of a say while still having a project there that doesn't have as big of an impact on uh the residents

who live close to it. Yes.

So, you know, this is not politicking, but I think it's a lesson to learn so that we're not going to be doomed to making the same mistakes again and again and again. Um I I I think that the the planning and zoning board um appointees are critical. um the these are not um positions to be taken lightly and one really needs to understand the person's qualifications, their background and more importantly their vision for for the city with a very important position they hold with the PNZ and and I believe that um there while there may be blame to go around because the process is taking too long um when they are in front of the PNZ we must accelerate the process the review process we need to be much more of a of a uh efficient body at the PNZ um in order to strategically solicit and obtain the best outcomes for the city um of Coral Gables um rather than what the past has shown. And with respect to, you know, Felix Partardo and Su Carowurski in particular, I think there was a lack of strategic vision, a lack of understanding in the worst of scenarios of of what exactly uh delay kicking the can down the road at best and insulting a commissioner from the county coming to visit uh to help explain to the city how the RTC works and what they would be willing to to do to assist us at is, you know, was shortsighted and destructive and incredibly counterintuitive to what it is that the the the small but vocal group that are anti-development

in every sense of that misnomer against development, which I've said many, many times. What exactly are you saying when you say you're against development? you're you're not saying really anything other than exhibiting some profound level of ignorance. Obviously, development can and should be a good thing when done responsibly and intelligently rather than than condemn the word as being a pjorative just the word development. So in this case, Mr. Mr. Mayor, when you were recounting the history, Vice Mayor, where we had it within our grasp, a proposal of eight stories that you understand that that that that's a starting point. You could have negotiated that down to seven. But looking back on it all, you never you never pass up a good deal looking for the best deal. Because if all you can do in your life is say, "Geez, all I've done are good deals." Well, God bless you. Okay? But but in this instant, it's turned out to be a really really really bad deal. Um and uh counter counterintuitive and counterproductive to what um the vocal group will say they want no development of any kind. Now now you're getting development off the off the scale, right? When we really uh had that mismanaged. So when you say you've got a Hail Mary to throw, mayor, you know, you you've got a Hail Mary in another stadium that you got to be able to land in the end zone because we really have it stacked up against us. But not only with respect to the mark, but I fear the domino effect going down the line. So we have got to think outside the box. We have got to be proactive. We've got to be strategic in everything we do because the uh the folks all the way up in Tallahassee, those in the county are going to outgame us because in the end with the power of the pen and the legislation that grows more and more um

[clears throat] encroaching uh onto us where home rule and home decision erodess every single day, we got to be smarter than the way this game has been played. So when we make appointments to the PNZ, when we make appointments to these special boards, we better be sure about what we're doing because the impact and the and the repercussions are material and they're long lasting.

I think commissioner, one of the things that and we as a commission decided to take an initiative on this is informing residents about the RTZ, informing residents about live local because I think a lot of members of our community weren't really aware of what it was and how it worked. I remember when we were discussing the Almria project, a lot of the residents who were opposing the project originally were just saying, well, you know, we'll we'll fight the project in Tallahassee. Well, that's not how live local works. And we had to go through a process of explaining how live local works. And you know, like the vice mayor was saying two years ago or three years ago now when she was elected, uh live local wasn't even a thing. The whole conversation of development has changed over the last three years because of the fact that now we have state and county who are now saying you know what we can make decisions for you

commissioner but it's even got it's even gotten worse than that okay and this is what I tried to state at the beginning of the meeting today with the issue that we dealt with historic preservation when would you have ever thought a home of the magnitude that was demolished and gave the states by such an exceptional. All our architects here are amazing. You know, F pace, all of them are amazing. But you're talking about a worldrenowned architect. They just bulldozed the house. Not because it had structural issues. No, because the law has changed. We're preempted and it was in a flood area, potential flood area.

So, they can change the laws for one minute. When would you have ever believed that somebody would tell you that a resident could cut their tree down an oak tree, a perfectly fine oak tree because on their property how that type of preeemption exists as a result of Tallahassee. Again, you know, I I try to limit what I say about Tallahassee because at the end of the day, we have to go up there and advocate and I have the utmost respect for our senators, our state reps, and our and our governor. But we have to be very thoughtful, very thoughtful, be very careful because nobody would have said and this RTZ was going to come down the pipe. Nobody would have thought Liblo would have come down the pipe. And now we find ourselves in a position where we have to be careful and we have to negotiate negotiate on deals. Like Commissioner Lana said, let's get a good deal. May not be a great deal, but it's a good deal. And you know, when you're talking about an eight-story building when the code allows six, okay, well, let's negotiate expedited permits, maybe we'll maybe we'll uh give you seven stories. We'll give you a little additional intensity outside of the code, but we limit the height of the building. We've been able to do that before. We've done that before for green space. We've done that for other things. But here now, we don't even have any power whatsoever. Now, we're even losing revenue, impact fees. So, uh it's only going to get more complicated. mayorship.

Yeah. Through the mayor. Okay. So, number one, I want to congratulate the city manager for putting this together. Um, number two, I want to stand by Felix, Partardo, and Sue. I know everybody here has been talking about them. They're not really present, but I'll go ahead and speak on on their behalf. um they were there to represent the planning and zoning board. And I think what residents expect is for us to not just rubber stamp things and to fight for what we know the community wants and I believe that's what they were doing. I'm going to go ahead and defend them. That's my position. Number two, I'm not ready to take this vote. I do think it's in the best interest of the city, but I'm not ready to take this vote because I believe I need to reach out as commissioner, as myself, to the community, maybe do a town hall because the residents that have reached out to me do not understand and I have referenced them back to that video that we proposed that that that's out there with the live local and um RTZ, but I will not be supporting this. I do not feel comfortable. And um yes, the vice mayor said it doesn't really encroach in the residential zone homes. It actually does because most of the most of the residents that have reached out to me are basically in South Gables. They're right next to that rapid zone, that rapid um the RTZ. So I do I I I thank you. I think we're on the right track, but today I'm not ready to make this vote

through the mayor. But if I may first um just to put a little clarity into regards to Commissioner Castro's comments, let me read between the lines so I can tell all the residents. Number one, I will not be voting on this so that I can later say that I didn't vote on this. Remember, a developer can say, "I don't want to use the Coral Gables zoning code. I just go RTZ." This is like RTZ light. Please pray to God that you do it. Please, like, there's no reason why not to support this. This is, again, I want to put on the record, this is a clip for social media. This is a clip for media, for a future campaign ad. We have our hands tied. We have to support this. There's no other choice. We want developers to accept this. That's number one. Number two, in regards to Felix Part, Felix Part, it's unexcusable. He's an architect. He knows very well what he was doing. He knew where the RTZ was. It did not catch him off guard. He knew exactly what he did when he grandstanded along with Sue. Sue works with the county. She's well aware of what's happening and what was coming down the pipe and it had already been approved by the county. Yes or no, Mr. Manager?

Yes, ma'am. They knew what we were what we were there to do was to hold hands with the developer and say, "Please, let's negotiate so that you can come our way, not go towards the RTZ." And what we did, we took we missed an opportunity and we decided to grandstand and just re, you know, push back the developer along with Commissioner Raquel Regalado. So, at the end of the day, it was a foolish mistake. Uh, and we're paying the consequences for it. So, the mayor. Yes, sir.

Thank you, mayor. The project that was that was presented, the original project was with a mark. Uh, that area is MX1. It came it came as MX2 97 ft. the the county now is MX3 with 150 feet. Uh it was a two two two buildings with a a 50 50 foot linear plaza which was quite nice. This this current project has nothing like that. This current project is one box compared to to two to two buildings with with with which are architecturally much much better than than what is proposed now. So uh in in in hindsight we went from from from MX2 to MX3 from a from a from a beautiful project really compared to this it's it's it's not comparable to to what to what the proposal is. So this is critical that we accept this now and give us a fighting chance to get this project back which is the intent of of of what we're trying to do.

Commissioner mayor. Yes. So, Commissioner Castro, I would urge you to vote and not punt. What we need, and I think it's crystal clear, and I think it's self-evident, but I'm trying to convince you, not only to vote, but to vote for it. This should be unanimous from this DAS. The ship has sailed. We're trying to turn the rudder hard and see if we can point it in the 180°ree different direction. You want more resident input is what I understood, right? Because you want a town hall to discuss this in support of you deferring voting on this item. Am I right? Correct.

Okay. Unlike your proposal for guidance for the for sidewalks, you know, where you you're looking for something to be superior to resident preference. Right now you're urging resident preference. It's hard to keep track of what you where you really place resident preference, but this has been timely noticed over many, many months. I don't believe this is a situation where the residents are unaware. Sue Carillerski on the record said, "I was unaware. The residents are unaware." Well, that's just a bald-faced lie. Incorrect statement of facts. The truth of the matter is that she was wrong when she said that before we in the commission voted her off that board. What we need to do is try to focus on the problem at hand. And one of the things I mentioned when I thought we had a problem was delay. The PNZ delayed. And if you are going to be deferring your vote on this, at best you're delaying. At worst, you're abdicating your obligation as elected official to vote. I would urge you not only to vote, but to vote in favor of it because as much as I have all the faith in the world in our mayor to be able to negotiate,

hell, Mary, it is he's going to be blindfolded, too, when you throw it, it's just going to be a real shot in the dark. And I'm not Doug Fluty, but it's the only but it's the only option. And I like to think outside the box, but I can't think of another way to go. We need to also provide the mayor with the ability to go and negotiate knowing that he has the five votes in support. Unity on this is important, much more important than a sound bite. Through the mayor,

madam vice mayor. So, what got us here is exactly what you're doing. You're trying to punt. You're trying to delay the delay that the that the planning and zoning board did. The first time around when they had the opportunity to salvage the mark project was a delayed. The decision was made to go to the to the county RTZ. we have additional projects coming down the pike that can make that same choice, too. So, if what you're voting for is you're voting in favor of more projects to go to the county RTZ by failing to vote on this or voting against it, just remember that's what your vote is going to be for. Bigger, uglier, with less setbacks and less resident input. What I expect out of my planning and zoning me board members is not what happened on the mark project. I expect constructive discourse, suggestions for improvements, not stonewalling a project to make sure that it supposedly doesn't get built because you did exactly the opposite. And that was patently obvious that Mr. Ardo understood the consequences of his action when Commissioner Regalado came and supported this very ordinance that he voted in favor of. He voted in favor of this and after this through the Gable's good government, Director Garcia, myself and two others had a symposium where we explained to people the law,

what does the live local act allow, what does the RTZ zone allow, and what our options are. It was eyeopening for everybody in the room at the Coral Gables Museum. Madam Vice Mayor, I was there. You were there and it was a packed house.

It was a packed house and it was very eye opening. Many people thought we could preempt the state or preempt the county. We have zero ability to preempt anybody. What we can do is we can offer them options and that's what we're going to be able to do. What we can do with these options is try to discourage our county commissioner from bringing additional folios into the county RTZ. And if you fail to do that, you will be encouraging her that because we're stonewalling once again to bring additional folios into the RTZ, you will cause the same result and history will repeat itself. If you stonewall

through the mayor, this needs to have a vote today.

Through the mayor. You know what? I'm very surprised on how passionate my colleagues talk to me. It's fascinating, but that's totally okay. Everybody here, this is such a great commission. You know why? Because we all have different ways of thinking. And I think that has to be respected. Number one. Number two, no residents are not aware of what is happening. We've tried to advocate a little. We've tried to put out information out there, but they are not not a not a lot of them are aware of what is happening. So, no, I'm not going to defer this item because I would have to motion to defer and I'm not going to have the support. So, yes, it is my duty to vote on this item. And I will tell you one thing, I will not vote to upzone to MX3 at no circumstance without reaching out to the people I represent, to the people that I promised I would never do this. So, no, my vote would be definitely definitely not. I will not support this. But there's no worry, guys, because I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure we have all the votes here. So, you don't have to convince me to vote yes. My vote will be no. This will not be deferred. I don't have the support to defer this. And that's that.

May I if I may. Sorry. I'm just sorry. Just so frustrating. I apologize. I know that Marmet at uh the Coral Gables Gazette is just chomping at the bit to include that sound bite, but I want to reiterate this so everybody understands because they understand it. Everybody doesn't understand how you don't understand it. You come in,

you come in as a developer. Let me give you an example. The 3acre parcel next door which the University of Miami owns and is right now selling. They're going to sell that. It's going to be a huge number. The new owner of that project is going to come and have two options. Option A would be use the Coral Gable zoning code or option B go to the RTZ. That's what that's what's available. That's what's available right now. The RTZ or the Coral Gables zoning code or live local. Those are your three options. Two out of the three are not in benefit of the city of Corables for multiple reasons. We lose signage rights, usage rights, we lose millions in impact fees. We lose our design control of the exterior facade of the building. Can't it doesn't have to be Mediterranean. And we lose and we lose control of the zoning. At least before when you gave somebody a benefit, you could say, "Okay, let's negotiate. You want an additional 17 feet like Golina and Kad wanted? Perfect. We would like to see a beautiful park contribution. We would like to see traffic come. We would like to see lighting in the neighborhoods. We would like to see sidewalks. We would like to see trees in the neighborhoods. We've done it. We did it with agave. We did it with pl with a plaza. Even when I voted against the project, we got trolleys. We did a bunch of things. Now we cannot negotiate. The purpose of this is to plead and beg through this legislation that the developer will use this vehicle to achieve their goal at a much lesser scale because we're offering them different opportunities to reach their end goal at a much faster opportunity. So at the end of the day, it's not about resident input. Residents

know this. We're trying to avoid a catastrophe where you have a project that is and I see how the residents who are in the room, they shake their head because they they're agreeing with it. You're trying to save and to save development sites that hopefully would be lesser in scale and in mass by using E8 and E9. If not, why would it? And I leave you with this. Just think about this. If you're a developer and you own and you just bought the 3acre site from the University of Miami, why would you use the city of Coral Gable zoning code when you just go to the RTZ? Save yourself money, save yourself time, not have to meet our our zoning requirements, not have to meet our design standards, which are a lot more expensive when you build, if I may, Madam Zoning director, may I ask you a quick question through through the manager? Is it more expensive to build? Would you say Mediterranean? Yes or no?

Yes.

Okay. So, these are all reasons why a developer would say no to the Corable zoning code and yes to the RTZ from the county. Commissioner Lada, briefly. So, Commissioner Castro, I know you are saying that you're surprised, but I I speak with the same passion towards you and towards any other my fellow colleagues in the commission because I'm very passionate about us being up here and doing what we're doing, which is such a privilege to do for the residents of Coral Gables. And your voice matters. That's why I'm spending I I would assume we have sufficient votes to pass it, but your vote your vote and your voice matters to me. That's why I've been spending this time trying to see if I understand you so that I can better convince you. When you say that you will never vote for MX3, do you understand? You're not voting on whether this goes to MX3. You're I hope you're not proceeding from the false premise that the RTZ is going to go away or that this is already MX3. I mean, do we can we you and I agree on that? That it's already MX3?

Why? because of the RTZ. Do you want me to answer you? Well, to the mayor, please. I'm almost done. I think it's rhetorical, but we do agree that whether you vote or not, it's RTZ is deemed an MX3 already. I mean, can we agree on that? No. Okay. Well, then I have a different opinion.

Understood. But today, my it's not just my opinion, okay? It's a fact, okay? is that it is MX3 and what the mayor and I hope a unanimous vote from us and the commission are going to hope to do is to control that process so that we can do it through this overlay which by the way was voted 5 to one in favor of it by the P&Z. Okay. So, I don't understand how anybody can be against it if what you want to do is bring back to Coral Gables some say, some control, something that we have influence over because to vote either against this ordinance or to not vote at all on it, is to literally hand it to the county. And that I am against and I'm urging you to reconsider and vote for it

through the mayor. What I said is that I'm not going to vote to upzone to MX3. I will be responsible with that vote without going to a town hall and without letting people know from my side of the story how this benefits the city. I haven't gotten the chance to do that. So, if I would have gotten the chance and I'm pretty sure they would understand it, I would feel more comfortable saying, you know, this is something that I promised I would never do, okay? and my name would not be on this right now without people understanding why I'm doing it. So, no, I appreciate you trying to convince me. It's not going to happen. But guys, don't worry. You have the votes. Just go ahead and vote. That's it. What's the problem? Why are you trying to convince me so bad?

So, two quick things. Uh, number one, I agree. Don't try to convince her. Um, I'm sorry. U Mr. Clerk. Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Will you make a public record request and send it to my colleagues in the commission how we voted on the last I think the last projects over the last two years? I already made that. I think it's we've all been unanimous except for one where uh Commissioner Castro voted against. By the way, all those projects required a zoning change just so you're aware. So, you have voted against projects that do not that do not confi do not conform with the zoning code and we've done it because this is the betterment of the city, parks, different things that are appropriate. So, you have voted against, you have not been a strict uh adherent to the zoning code. Um, I just want to put that on the record. I know it won't make the gazettto or political, but I still got to put it on the record. We got to move forward. We got a long agenda today. Okay. Uh, this makes more sense than I'm tired of explaining it. And I think Commissioner Lada put it best.

So, through the This is not MX2. This is MX3 already. It's already done. Nobody in their right mind who's a developer would pay tens of millions of dollars, 80, 90 million for a property say, "You know what? I'm going to I'm going to accept less. I don't want to build more. I want to I want to design a Mediterranean because I want to spend a ton more money. I don't want to have control over signage. I want to pay more impact fees." If you don't see that, then you're just being disingenuous. At the end of the day, playing politics. This is in an effort to throw a hail mary and negotiate, which I will do. God willing, we have the approval today. Commissioner Fernandez,

um I just wanted to echo the the words of Commissioner Lara. I respect your opinion and I think you should be allowed to vote however you want. This doesn't have to be unanimous vote. Um but I do see it as upholding the code that's already there because the county has already changed our code for us. um this just gives us the ability to have a say in the matter. It gives us an ability to bring the impact fees back. And that's the way I look at it. Perhaps a suggestion is hold the town hall between first and second reading so that you can get their input and maybe we can make it a unanimous vote in November uh or December whenever it comes up for second reading. But for me, I'll make the motion.

And by the way, another thing too uh Commissioner I think is we have to point out uh You could have held a town hall meeting July, August, September, October. This is been going on since July. We've had multiple discussions, multiple meetings on the DAS. We've we've discussed it at multiple different levels here in the city. Uh at the end of the day, I hold two town hall meetings a year to have the residents. We can put together a town hall within a week. Um, why would you wait to make a statement about putting a town hall the day of the vote? It just it just seems like political posturing in my opinion. We have a motion and and a second.

I'll I'll second it and um reiterate, you know, for folks that want to learn more um about any issue. There's many times that the Gable's Good Government uh does these type offormational sessions. We had a packed house. People learned a lot. We all learned a lot during the process and and thank you Miss Garcia for participating in that. It was very informative I think for everyone. Uh we need to move forward. Yep. That was if I say that was a a packed uh GGG meeting packed packed that you and and Jennifer as well attended. We had a developer there. We had somebody from the city. Um we we we had the most learned room only

most learned people coming at from different angles to to do what I felt was the big takeaway. The big takeaway for me was must think outside the box. Negotiate. Right. Right. That was the big takeaway. And Commissioner Regalado's chief of staff was there. Yep. Negotiate. many many many people that didn't understand the true power and impact of the RTZ zone in our city and they understand that we must take action if we don't want our zoning code taken over. All right, we have a motion and a second. Do we have any public comment? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Go ahead. First speaker, Mrs. Maria Cruz.

Mrs. Maria Cruz. It is Mrs. I will refuse to answer to anything but Mrs. whether the mayor wants it or not. Very happy 55 years of marriage. No fooling around. No affairs. I refuse to be disrespected. If he cannot find a way to call me by my real name, then you know what? I will call you by a nickname instead of mayor. Here we go again. This all could have been avoided had this city, this administration taken the time to do what they did after the fact. This is what happens very, very often. I thought we were over that because in the past it happened, but now we're back at it. People need to know. We talk about transparency. Most residents in this city did not know the options. Nobody took their time to tell them. I think I come to commission. I think I hear I had no idea what was going to planning and Sony that day because planning and Sony people heard it at the last minute that this was coming up. Okay, this is what happened. You all decided that you knew best and you were going to cut deals with the county without letting the people know. And let me tell you something before I get cut off because I know somebody had a minute over but I won't get it. You're talking about the mayor is going to go negotiate. There's five of you. In order for the mayor to go negotiate because he's not a strong mayor. is one voice of five. You all need to ask him and you need to move it and you need to give him permission

to do it in your name. You cannot just say I he cannot stand here and say I am going to do I will do. No, you need the consent of the other people in order to do it because you're not a strong mayor. Sorry, you're one of five. And I didn't see on the things that the mayor can do, negotiate for the city without getting somebody to nominate him and vote for it. That is what's wrong. People need to know. I I'm telling you that if the residents do then what they know now, there would have been no issue. But this administration chose to get together with the county, decide with the county, tell the county how much we could do before they talk to the people. And that is what's wrong. The people in this city want to know. And I'm running because I know I'm not going to get any more time and the bell is going to ring because you know what? Nicka, Nicka could come up and talk without even being called. The other man spoke for a minute something, but Maria Cruz has to go by the rules. Okay,

Roberto Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

As I read in the beginning of the meeting, as a reminder, these comments, public comment, are limited to those items on the agenda or within the scope of the city's commission jurisdiction, half of the items in the beginning of Mrs. Maria Cruz's comments are not items on the agenda. That is your first and only warning. Next time you make an accusation or you make statements like that, you will not be allowed back in the commission agenda. You will not be allowed back in here. That is the end. Okay? You're not going to disrespect me and you're not going to disrespect this commission. Yes. I don't want to hear about your wedding. I don't want to hear about about uh affairs and all kinds of stuff. It comes to an end. That's the 10th, 8th, ninth time that you've done it here. Right? If anybody would like to contest it, you can contest it, commissioner. Now, in reference to any Well, I'm not done yet. You just you just addressed me. Okay, I'm glad you're not done. You just addressed me and I'm going to talk. Let me finish.

No, you're not going to finish. City attorney, can you please clarify on the things that the the man the the mayor was talking about? So, do you want me to clarify that his ability to remind speakers to stick to the agenda item? He can. So, the when public speakers are coming up during public comment, you're supposed to limit your comments to the item that's being discussed. Okay. So if he's addressing a resident, you're not done. I'm I'm done.

So if he's a Oh lord. Oh lord. So if he is addressing a resident in a unpolite, disrespectful way, suggesting that, you know, she's not married anymore when we know very well her husband has just passed. You're trying to tell me it is inappropriate for her to go ahead and address that.

Commissioner, you can play the game all you want. Again, listen. You got one warning. The next one you're out of you're out of the halls. Okay. You will respect You will respect the commission. You will respect the city of Coral Gables. Bottom line. Let's do this because I I would like to make it formal. I was doing the city a favor and meeting with with the um with the developer and the manager and his team to have a conversation on how we can bring back millions of dollars of impact fees. Uh Joseph, if I may, just me. Okay, we did this game before in Tallahassee when Melissa Castro went up to Tallahassee and Commissioner Commissioner

came and they came back with zero dollars after the year before the vice mayor and I had gone up there and gotten over $3 million when we didn't go up there. So, if you don't want me to be the person that negotiates this deal, that the commission have somebody else. I have no problems with that. I was just trying to help out and try to build some consensus after the disaster that was created uh at the planning and zoning board. So, does it does the does the commission want to take a position on me representing them having a meeting uh which has not been set yet by the way? Uh we've been in conversations. I'll still move I'll move that that the mayor conduct the negotiations. I'll second

mayor if I may. I just want to clarify section 2-28 of the code says that among the mayor's duties includes to represent the city commission in negotiations, meetings and functions. So obviously those negotiations are subject to commission review and approval. It doesn't mean that you know you you signed I understand that but it's the constant contempt. It's the constant effort to undermine me. This was common place under Amos Rojos. It's not common place here. We're running a real a real meeting here. So at the end of the day you may not like the fact that you don't have control and can do as you please. fire and hire and bring in competent people here to run this place like a clown show. I think that we're going to run it the right way. I want to even have more authority from from my colleagues from my colleagues

where they have the faith and trust that I'm going to do everything I possibly can like I've done when I've negotiated FPNL deals when I've done other things here when I negotiated uh the Merrick Manor deal years ago in an effort to bring that to a close. We have a motion and we have a second from the vice mayor in regards to me leading the effort to try to correct this disastrous situation created by Castro's appointment. I have another motion on the floor. But that's fine. Let's hear mine first. We would have to withdraw the other motion. Withdraw the other one. Let's go. We can do it. I don't ask for much. Do you still [clears throat] want to continue the public comment before you vote on this?

Look, you know what we're going to do? We're going to do it after. Let's finish the public comment here and then we'll come back. But I want to I want to make sure we address them because entirely undermining effort that we have here going on here. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next speaker, Robera Newway.

Hello. Robera Niway, 1236 South Hamburg Circle 33146. I'm a half mile from the proposed overlay, so it definitely affects me. And to me, this overlay is the best way to ensure that the development harmonizes with the established neighborhoods. And it's also the best way to ensure that impact fees are used in such a way that we the residents benefit from the development. And that's it. I could go off topic, but I won't. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Can I ask you a question, Roberto? May I? because you're pretty well connected amongst residents and different organizing to understand a little bit more about the RTZ and the impact of the RTZ. I think the people in my neighborhood do the ones that pay attention. Yes, definitely. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm going to go to uh Zoom next. The speaker is Lisa attorney. Lisa, the floor is yours. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. We can. Okay. Lisa Douri, 10 Aragon Avenue. You saw me earlier this morning.

Um, I have a property in that area and my house used to be in that immediate area as well. So, I'm pretty familiar with the residents, the the local. But what I want to say is there were so many resident meetings with the developers about this project being held from May 2023 through February 2024, at least five of which I attended. And the room was packed with residents every time. I don't recall any Coral Gable city commissioners attending any of those meetings to express your opposition and but the residents were heard. At least we thought so. We had concerns as to the height, the density, the parking and the traffic. Um because after the thesis was built, that neighborhood has been inundated with horrible traffic trying to get out uh especially in the mornings get out on US1. So, I even remember seeing the property owner roll his eyes as he walked out of the meeting because he was so fed up with the resident's concerns. Um, after that, the meeting stopped. One time they brought up live local like everybody's threatening live local, [clears throat] but I don't think they would have qualified since they're primarily aimed at students uh going to U of M. Anyway, then let's go to the July 20 uh 2025 when commissioner Raquel Regalto attended the city commission meeting to announce that the developers had decided to pursue and had been granted the RTZ status in Miami. Um the planning and zoning meeting came after that. So, please stop blaming Sue Kavalurski for what was happening already before that meeting came. And uh as well it's a shame that none of you were being more proactive two years prior when all of this was starting. We were very civil. We residents we asked them for simple uh decreasing one floor. Everybody was very congenial and we

thought that that was the end of it. So anyway, that's where we are right now. And I just have to make another comment. Mr. Laura, you weren't there during this period of time, so there's nothing to say about you, but I really I am hurt by the way that you speak down to to Ward residents being ignorant or not informed of so many things. I'm a doctor. I show a lot of respect and and concern about what's happening in my community. I've been to Coral Gables for 35 years and um I just I think that people deserve more respect than you're giving them. And Mr. Loggo, Mayor Loggo, I'm sorry. You may not raise your voice, but you did campaign on on bringing back quorum and and civility to these meetings. You don't raise your voice, but your comments are hurtful toward people and sarcastic toward Commissioner Castro. I just like to see I would like to see all of you working together rather than fighting especially when somebody comes up with proposals that are supposed to be for the betterment of the residents. Um anyway, well, thank you for listening.

May I respond to you? May I respond to you? Of course. Of course. Just I just want to put on the record, were you at the meeting at the public meeting that I held uh in your neighborhood at that resident's house on the water? No, I was not at that meeting. However, wait, the one Yeah, but that was the Mahi Canal you're talking about before the election. The election. Yes, I was at that meeting.

I was invited I was invited by one of the residents to go speak about the issue of the RTZ. I'm just The reason why I bring that up is because a lot of the residents in that meeting um I was able to explain to them the what the forthcoming RTZ and what was happening. uh we did have a meeting and there was many of the residents in that area uh were involved. Uh in regards to being collegial and respectful, I'm more than willing to listen. I'm willing willing to engage, but at the end of the day, I have a difference of opinion than Commissioner Castro at the end of the day. Um I don't believe like for example, raising my salary 101% is appropriate, giving myself a car allowance, you know, hiring Amos Roouse. Uh but I mean you ask you ask me you ask me questions uh you know $20 million cola you know indebting the city uh doing a lot of these things that are are just inappropriate uh in my opinion. So yes if having a difference of opinion in regards to Commissioner Castro and and um being vocal about it makes me wrong, then I'm fine being wrong. Uh but at the end of the day um I have always done my best uh to serve this city. Yeah, I'm vocal. Yeah, I'm outspoken. But at the end of the day, I think that's people want. Uh I think people want uh individuals that are going to do the right thing and they're going to serve this community. And I've done my best over the last 13 years. Madam Vice Mayor,

so uh doctor, I just wanted to add because I know a lot of time has passed and you know memories fade that the meeting that I was referencing in which it was punted or stonewalled by the planning and zoning board preceded this matter going to the RSTZ, preceded the encounter with Commissioner Regalado. And at that meeting, Miss Cowanski referred to the potential residents of the mark as locusts. And it was a very contentious meeting. And because of the manner in which they were the uh applicant was treated and the extending delays, they made the choice to go to the county and have this RTZ zone put upon us. It was because of that. And I can't turn back time. None of us can turn back time. Those choices were made. Those words were stated and they proceeded and they expanded the RTZ zone to where now we have a county RTZ zone in our area. What was then just a possibility is now a reality and now we have to deal with it.

And I think that and Vice Mayor, I think I'm very happy you stated that because

people want to forget that fact. People want to forget that we were negotiating using our zoning code and that the RTZ was used in an effort to get an upper hand and move on. Um, nobody wants to face the fact of what happened at the planning and zoning board meeting. It was very clear multiple times the way that the commissioner was treated in the county along with the applicant. So, we can blame other people if we want. It's perfectly fine. But we're facing the fact that we don't have control and we're trying to get some control back. Trying to see what we can put at our side. Control the design, control the signage, maybe get some money back for the impact fees. So, we're just trying to do the best that we can and not antagonize the county because, you know, we don't really win when we do that. Yes, Commissioner.

Briefly, um, is, uh, the doctor still on the line? Yes. Yes.

Okay. Doctor, um, pleased to meet you over the the Zoom. I invite you to, um, meet with me for a cup of coffee. I have office hours um every single Monday here at city hall or I will be happy to meet you wherever you like at a time that's mutually convenient. I try my very best to uh be respectful of all people that I speak with. In fact, I spent quite a bit of time earlier in this meeting emphasizing the importance of residents uh being heard and preference with respect to a prior proposed ordinance. And I spent a lot of time during this particular discussion item to convince one of my colleagues respectfully, Commissioner Castro, referring to her as a voice that's important because it is and a voice that matters because it does. So, if um you know, if I wasn't an elected official when all of this began, I I certainly am aware of what's going on. And as an elected official, I brought it up what occurred during the PNZ meetings with those two individuals in particular and I stated it and I repeat it because we got to be sure we don't make mistakes again. And here we have a unique opportunity, however long shot it may be, however difficult and steep the hill is to climb that we should embrace because it's our only opportunity to try and take back what we in my view squandered away.

Mr. Clerk, anything else? That's it, Mr. Mayor. Okay. So close that to not be to not face the fact that we are facing an RTZ and the other option is our zoning code is reckless. Looking for other options is just facing reality. To not face reality is reckless. Sir, we have a motion and a second. Mr. Mayor, just to be clear, we're uh voting right now on appointing you uh to negotiate on behalf of the city. Well, I said first let's take let's take the one that was on the one that was uh first and then we'll come back and we'll do that after E9. Understood. Thank you, sir. Vice Mayor Anderson.

Yes. Commissioner Castro. Number one, Mayor Lago, I'm not your friend, so I'm going to ask for some respect. And you call me Commissioner Castro. And number two, I'm going to be gracious enough gracious enough to not move to censor you. You will not continue to disrespect residents, okay? Nor will you continue to to say I'm incompetent and that you've lost 50 brain cells by listening to me. So, I'm going to ask you for a little respect and to really think a little before you talk. Right now, I'm going to be gracious. I will not be moving to censure you, but consider this awarding. My my vote is no.

Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Mayor Lago. Just want to make sure. Censure or censured? Just want to make sure we're on the right page. Sure. Oh, okay. Just censured. I know you're having a hard time listening to No, that was actually I took that off your off your Instagram. It's called It's Yeah, it's called That's I know you're looking at my Instagram like you're obsessed with me. No, no. Somebody said, you know, you stopped following me, but you look at every story I post. How does that make sense? How does that make sense? Like, stop it. Worry about your family. Make a motion to approve E9. Second.

Commissioner Castro. Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Mayor Lago. Yes. Uh, I'd like to be appointed even though, as the city attorney said, it's not required. I'd like to make sure that we make a statement as a commission. I'll move it. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada, just a comment. You know, I I I think this is well within your purview. I know, but we need to do it again. It's well within your purview. And here we go again through unnecessary motion and vote. Let's do it. But while we're at it,

you have my my confidence and you have my vote is yes. But if you need any help or just let me know, let any of us on the dis know. We can help you with that as well. Yeah. Thank you, Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Castro, before I vote on this, I thought we were voting on this one. My previous vote is no. So, I think she means on E9 she wants to record her vote as no. Okay. Okay. And on this motion, I know you guys almost caught me there. I'm sorry. It's a no. On this one is a yes. Mayor Lago I just I know I just want to let I want to let her have her moment so we can enjoy it. Uh I'm enjoying it too.

Yes. Um what I ask my colleagues please we're probably going to meet next week. We just got to schedule for them to fly down. It's they're flying down to me. I want to make sure that I have all your input. Please send it through the manager. Uh if you have any guidance, any input that you'd like to address. Are there any questions, any statements, anything that you feel is pertinent and important uh moving forward on this issue? any items of negotiation that maybe we haven't talked about today, please bring it forward to the manager so I can make sure I address it all. If if the manager would be it would be possible to set up a short meeting just to go over things before your meeting, I'd appreciate it.

Okay. Uh, perfect. Thank you. Moving on to item E4. E4 is a norance of a city commission amending city code chapter 2 administration article 3 boards commission committee section 2-79 order of business to amend the city code to add a financial cap for items placed on the consent agenda and further clarify what items may be placed on the consent agenda providing for severability clause repeal provision codification and providing for an effective date.

Good afternoon again. This item is sponsored by Mayor Lago. There's been one small change at the request of this commission between first and second reading reading to increase the um expenditures on the consent agenda from 350,000 to 500,000 for non-cont controversial items as set forth in the code and to allow for the acceptance of all grants and revenues um on the consent agenda. I'll move it. The intent is just to streamline the process. Mr. Cler, do you have any uh public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Log, yes. EA, thank you. E5, sorry.

E5 is an ordinance of the city commission amending the code of the city of Coral Gables, Florida, chapter 26, fire prevention and protection to add a new section 26-7 to require electronic reporting of fire protection system reports providing for severability clause provision configation and providing for an effective date. Good afternoon. How are you, sir? I'm good. Thank you. Uh Cliff Freriedman, assistant city attorney. Uh this item has had no changes since first reading. It again it requires electronic reporting of fire protection system reports to the fire department. Perfect. Thank you very much. Uh Mr. D, any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor, I entertain a motion. I move it. I'll second. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Mayor Log,

yes. E6. E6 is is an ordinance of a city commission amending article 16 definition city of Cro Gable's official zoning code by amending the definition of freeboard to modify minimum and maximum freeboard requirements within special flood hazard areas amending section 2-101 single family residential district subsection B height to incorporate required freeboard and flood plane management standards for residences in flood hazard areas and adding garage floor elevation standards that align with flood resistant construction requirements proving for repeater provision severability clause codification and an effective date any changes from first reading no changes Mr. Mr. Clerk, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. I entertain a motion. No movement. Second. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes.

Mayor Lago? Yes. E7. E7 is an ordinance of the city commission providing for text amendments to the city of Coral Gable's official zoning code article 5 architecture section 5-510 trusted raft trust rafter rafters to provide requirements for metal trustes providing for repeated provision severability clause codification enforcability and effective date. Any changes? There is one clarification. We did add a reference to the American Institute of Steel Construction. So, it's very clear that any hot rolled steel is manufactured per those standards. That's it. All right. Mr. Cl, do you have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Okay. May I entertain a motion? Move it. Second. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes.

Mayor Lago? Yes. Moving on to E10. E10 is an ordinance of the city commission amending the city code to create chapter 62 streets, sidewalks, and other public places. Article 7, special events and parades. Division one, generally section 62-265, prohibition on use of plastic related or metalized decorations and release of balloons to amend the city code to add a prohibition on the use of certain plastic related or metalized decorative material and prohibit the release of balloons by special event permites in the city providing for severability, repealer, cotification, and providing for an effective date.

Good afternoon. Again, this item is sponsored by the vice mayor. Um, as the city attorney stated, it generally provides that those special event permites or um, rental facility permit holders should not have any organized release of balloons and are prohibited from using outdoors um, certain plastic or metallicized decorations that may release, disperse or scatter outdoors. I'm happy to answer any questions or I think we have staff as well to answer any questions. Vice Mayor.

So, I'll share with you all that on International Coastal Cleanup Day, Matt Anderson, I and a bunch of others had a joyous time with little plastic pieces of what is it? Confetti along with other things around. So, that was the impetus for starting to write this because there was impossible to remove all those by hand. This is step one. Would you like to add to that? You covered it well. I mean, it was just maddening and everybody that was there from the youngest to the oldest just said, "We have to stop this. This is crazy." Perfect.

Vice Mayor, we may um with your permission take a look between first and second reading of the definition of prohibited decoration items. It may be um viewed a little bit more broadly than I think it was intended. Um and Miami Beach is tweaking a similar definition as well. So, if with your permission, we'll discuss with you between 1 and 2 to make sure it's very clear the intent. Sure. Sure. and and there was another area that we wanted to um see if we could resolve some problems on that are not city park areas and see if we can do some control there. So, in the interest of time, I'm going to move this second. Mr. Cler, give you any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. All right. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro,

yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Log. Yes. Thank you. Moving on to item E11. E11 is an ordinance of the city commission amending chapter 2 administration article 5 conflict of interest and code of ethics of the court. I had I'm sorry to interrupt you. I had deferred this item for next meeting. I I I I told the city clerk. Correct. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Okay.

All right. Moving on to item E16. E16 is the resolution of the city commission accepting the police department's 2024 to 2025 red light camera survey responses and written summary after a public hearing and presentation at the October 28 2025 city commission meeting in accordance with Florida statute section 316.0083 subsection 4. Chief, gentlemen,

mayor, if I can, just a point of privilege. Um, I want to express on behalf of our police department to the Miami Beach Police Department. This afternoon, they lost one of their own uh in a traffic accident. One of the motorcycle officers went down going in to work, uh, father of three young children. Um, you, some of you have met, uh, Chief Jones from the Miami Beach Police Department. Uh on behalf of all the members of our police department, uh I want to wish them uh our condolences. Uh we talk about traffic, we talk about so much in meetings and what we do. We honor our heroes, especially on today's appreciation day. And um the reality sets in. A lot of you have asked me independently, what is it that keeps me up at night? It's obviously the safety of our employees. And um this is something that hits close to home to all of us. Our motor unit is actually at the hospital now as they take the body uh to the medical examiner's office. Uh it's something that we do every day um with great heavy heart. So on behalf of the police department, I know uh their commission and entire city is grieving right now uh for who was a a very funloving man and worked a lot of the commission meetings such as these over there on the beach. So uh I just wanted you all to be aware of that if you hadn't seen it. I know we've been tied up in everything here, but the reality uh for for the officers that we serve uh is somewhat monumental at times. through the mayor.

So, chief, that's terrible and very tragic news. Um, it's difficult to hear that because there's a there's a father that went to work today and won't be coming home to his family. Um, an employee of his city and and I just got to say because I'm kind of caught up in this moment right now that it really just puts things into perspective, you know, when we're doing here what we do at this DAS and then we have to hear that somebody who also went to work today working for their city won't be coming home. So, it's very difficult. my my my condolences to the family and and and my my heartfelt um feelings for his colleagues as well um on this tragedy.

Thank you. So along those lines uh are required this is a required written report in accordance with section 3160083 subsection 4 of the Florida statutes. The following is a written summary of the Coral Gables Police Department's red light camera program for 2024 2025 to be read aloud at this commission meeting October 28th, 2025. Um, this summary will be transmitted to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles along with the accompanying resolution for the city commission. Major John Babitz, who oversees this program, uh, we will give the actual report.

Good afternoon, everyone. Between July 1st, 2024 and June 30th, 2025, the city of Coral Gables issued 10,313 notices of violation. 44 were consist contested, excuse me, uh, which 25 were upheld. 15 are pending final outcome and four were dismissed. 1,223 were issued as uniform traffic citations and 119 are pending issuance of uniform traffic citations. 6,794 notices of violation were paid. The city red light camera program collected a total of 1,276,17657 was which was dis disputed distributed uh as follows. Um remitted to the state of Florida Department of Revenue $617,271 paid to Redspeed 464,278 and retained by the city of Coral Gables 194,62757.

Now the next program that we have coming up is going to be the speed cameras. These were strictly for the red light cameras. Uh again what we have seen in this program since we installed it is not necessarily a decline in accidents but definitely a decrease in the severity of these accidents to these intersections where they have been. So thank you chief. You have any further comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Can someone make a motion? I'll second.

Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Mayor Lago, yes. Thank you. Moving on to city commission items. F1. F1 is a resolution of the city commission directing city staff to implement a needle collection program for city residents. Thank you, mayor. Um, I think a member of our staff is here. Matter needle collection. How are you? Good afternoon, everybody. the needle collection program. Uh we had some conversation about it. Uh can you explain it to the um entire commission and and for residents who are watching?

Absolutely. So this is a new program that is being uh sponsored, an item that's being sponsored by Commissioner Anderson. Uh basically uh there was a few needles that were dropped in uh the trash can at different residents. So, this program is going to assist individuals that may have uh leftover needles from medications in their homes. They can now drop them off uh starting next month at Fire Station 1. In the event that they are not able to get to fire station 1, they're able to put them in a plastic container uh and put them in their trash can. We are now a collection facility that collects these items and you're able to get them disposed of safely.

So, I'm going to add to that that since I have a cousin who's diabetic that the normal procedure is you put it inside of an opaque yes

container that you can't see. We normally tape it shut with some strong tape like duct tape to try to prevent injuries. But nonetheless, a lot of people want to have a place to take these so that they're properly, you know, incinerated and and deal with the contaminants that might be in there. So, we now have a facility within our city. Uh, and you're not going to have to go down to, you know, the health department to drop them off and and deal with the traffic to dispose of them. And I appreciate very much you you bringing that forward. Uh, it's a resolution, so we can vote on it. I'll I'll make a motion. I'll second. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Fernandez,

yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Mayor Log, yes. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate you. Have a great day. Thank you for this work, Madam Vice Mayor. Much needed. Uh, item F2.

F2 is a resolution of the city commission authorizing the annual placement of a nativity set at city hall during the holiday season, directing staff to coordinate installation, maintenance, and removal, providing for an effective date. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. I sent you a memo uh with u what staff believe was the most tasteful uh nativity scene is around $8,000. Uh it's being paid with by private by by private entities including myself. I'm also very uh grateful for uh Vice Mayor Anderson and Commissioner Lada uh donating to the nativity scene. Thank you very much. uh none of the money is coming from the city just like none of the money came uh for for the uh for the minora that was donated by my family. Uh so I think it's a good opportunity again spirit of the season as a Catholic. I think this is important and I think that we should take pride and showcase a beautiful nativity scene uh that again can be put out every single year and show pride in the season.

Move it through the mayor. Yes, sir. I I must say that it is um especially um now following the interfaith vigil that we had and in the spirit of drawing a a communal um and broad reach um for the city at this time you you already provided the manora and now you're facilitating um the provision of the nativity scene and uh I saw it and I must say it's it's absolutely stunning. It's gorgeous. and I can't wait to see it um placed here in city hall and um and and and I applaud you for for that initiative.

Thank you. Um you know, the minora was something that after speaking to um Jewish members of our community, they wanted to bring the faith as close as possible to city hall. And so three years ago, it was about a $5,000 donation, personal donation. And again, half my family is Jewish on my mother's side. Um But again, I'm not Jewish. I'm Catholic. And then I waited a few years to, you know, bring forth a nativity scene, which I thought would be something, you know, tasteful. And through the help of of our ACM and Laura at my office and Nicole and, uh, other members, uh, we were able to find something that I think is beautiful, that is tasteful, uh, that that that will pay the Thank you to Fred and and our our and his team. Everybody gave some input and, you know, we kind of put it out there and chose one that was kind of in the middle in the middle. There was one that was like $16,000, but I was like, listen, [laughter] I want a nativity scene, but I'm paying this for my pocket. You know, this is a little bit too much.

So, you know, while in politics, we all get portrayed as something at the end of the day, I think this is an opportunity to do something beautiful. And at the end of the day, I'm very strong in regards to my convictions and what I believe is in the best interest of the city. But this is again just like the clock, which by the way is back Russ Commissioner Fernandez. I know those are important to you. Uh you know, uh another item that was a gift to the city. You know, these are opportunities to leave a true legacy. And I thank my colleagues, uh Vice Mayor Anderson and Commissioner Alana for your donations. Thank you so much for taking some of the burden off me. That was very nice. Very nice of you. Um, by the way, I welcome any if anybody else would like to do something in the future. They have any ideas of ways that we can beautify the city. Um, you know, I'm I'm I'm all ears. I think this is an opportunity. I had a conversation with a gentleman uh this week uh in in regards to my private business in the construction world and he happened to have a connection with uh with Rolex because they're from Switzerland. And I've said, you know, I've tried to reach out to them a line of times, writing them letters in an effort to see maybe we can put another clock in the city. I haven't had any luck. He says he's going to try. But if you see things like that, I think it's an opportunity, an opportunity to do something beautiful and just continue to elevate the cache of the city and do beautiful things that I hope that you know gets a lot of uh Instagram and social media following and then, you know, just continues to elevate the quality here in the city. Anybody would like to make a motion?

I think we already did it. All right, let's go. Yeah, we have a motion. Any public comment? No. Right. Comments, right? All right. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Mayor Log, yes. I love it. 5-0. All right. F3. F3 is a resolution of the city commission directing city staff to install a flag pool and fly an American flag at each city park. All right. So, this has changed a little bit uh since we put it up. Maybe the vice mayor wants to excuse me, the vice mayor. Maybe the ACM ACM wants to come up and talk a little bit about it. You want to come up because in my I I think I was the last one to have pre- agenda because I moved it from 8 in the morning till late in the afternoon.

And I invite the parks director up here as well if you have any questions. But what we're proposing, we do have about 11 sites currently between parks and facilities that already have the American flag and a poll. uh we did look at some priorities in for size of the park as well as uh public exposure to the park and specialty parks to prioritize those that really should look at intending to have a flag there. So we're proposing Coral Bay Park which is a larger size park, Pon Circle Park which there is a project in the future, Ingram Park, JC Park, Phillips Park, Sunrise Harbor, which was renamed the James and Sally Jude Park. And then this is a smaller park, but because it is named after Staff Sergeant Carl Ennis and it's also a veterans memorial park, it really should have an American flag. And then we also have the Kurdiken family park.

Yeah. I also wanted to, you know, I would like to put it where it's very like you can see it where it's very visible. Again, I'd like for my colleagues to see if there are any parks that they think could we should we should put one. I thought maybe on Blue Road or maybe on the one in Alhamra where you got a lot of traffic. I mean, it'd be beautiful. And part of this legislation is, you know, every six months, just like we do with the whiteway lights, we need to do a report. We need to follow up because I know we're going to get calls like Mayor Thompson called me about one of our flags, you know, being on the ground or being torn. We get calls about it all in front of time of city hall. It's not that we're not following up and maintaining. It's just that there's wear and tear. There's wear and tear. We got to be on top of that. It's a big deal. And I know it's a lot more work for staff, but I think it's important.

Thanks. One of the suggestions that I had was maybe we can incorporate it somehow into the city entrances. I think that would be a nice feature to have um and something in that uh in the Flaggler section, whether it's Rotary Centennial Park or that new area that we got right at the entrance where we still haven't put an entrance feature, but maybe we can put a nice flag pole with some landscaping and and start claiming that area and and making it nice. Uh but I think this is a phenomenal idea. Uh obviously, if we're having the flag overnight, it has to be lit,

correct? Uh, so we would need lighting. The other thing I wanted to to bring up is maybe there's a way of incorporating the AEDs that we've been trying to place somewhere. Maybe there's a way we can incorporate them to the flag pole itself so that we can have them available in the parks that we've been trying to to place them at. Just food for thought mayor. So, since we're broadly discussing uh locations, um regarding the Flaggler District near the entrance there, I mean, there there is an entrance feature that's been discussed and plan. So, I'm going to suggest that we do it holistically. Um it is also a site where there's a potential tree to come in as a donation. Again, I think we we do need to have a holistic discussion. Um and and regarding AEDs, um the other thought that came to me is uh and I'll ask staff to report back to us at a different point in time. Are there areas where you think there should be additional those lightning uh sensor warnings

detector? Yeah, that that exactly what I was trying to say. [laughter] So yeah, we can look at that. Look at that. Yeah, I think some what's actually

a couple of the projects that were just named, a couple of parks were just named are we're undergoing projects. So, it's it'd be a good time to integrate them in the project like the entrance way when we get to to do that project and also Rotary. We're in the process of getting started on that so we can add that as well. And those if you're building them into projects and the electric and the lighting is is is a lot easier. The reason why I said blue road is because it's a beautiful brand new park on the water. Would look really well and I like the idea of the entrance features also too. I mean again it's going to be impossible to put them at all but let's put them in the prominent ones. You know you have Corway you know you have uh we haven't gotten that house on Ber that' be amazing. Um you're going to end up having something on on Praau the entrance on 37th Avenue and Alhamra. You know they can be four or five that we can put them on. I think it would be something that again would be well done. They don't have to be huge flag poles. They can be something tastefully done.

So, the reason I brought up the lightning detectors is because FPO put a nice, beautiful cement pole across the street from me. Yeah. It became a wonderful lightning rod. Wow. Within a month, it got hit a direct hit and it blasted out some of the cement there. So, when we're putting in flag poles, I don't want them to necessarily be the next lightning rod. And let's at least get people out of the park. I've lost four palm trees this year. the lightning. So, I mean, it's just we do live in lightning capital of the world. So, staff, thank you for all your hard work. I I love the the idea of the flag pole. So, let's do it.

Can I have a motion? Commissioner, you have something you want to say? I think you already addressed it. Okay. Actually, this is your adding. You should move it. No, it's fine. Second, just to clarify. So yes, because as drafted mayor, as you mentioned, it was at each city park and now So do you want it to be the specific parks that were named today? Do you want to just be at the Want to be the specific parks were mentioned along with Blue Road and Alhamra. Okay. And the entrance features that we mentioned, there was one on 37th Avenue, the new space, Coral Way, there was which one did you pan Granada.

And I think that and I think that we may find if you see things that are tasteful, that are that that you say, "Oh, this is an easy one to do that that get a lot of drive that people go in front of." I think it would be nice. Um, you know, not saying that I don't want to put the intent was to put them in every park, but I also understand a hurricane comes, the maintenance, you know, I want to make sure we stay on top of these because we we're talking about potentially about 20 so far and we will look at lighting to see if we can do solar because that would be helpful so we don't have to raise and take down the flag every single day. Um, we're going to try that at the Girl Scout House over at Ruth Bryan Owen Park. There is actually a flag pole we found out that needs some repairs. So, we're going to do that one first and see if we can do the solar light and maybe that way we don't have to worry about electricity in those parts.

To give you an idea, look, I bought a flag pole. I have the foundation there in my office. I've been meaning to do it to install it at the women's club for like three months now. Completely dropped the ball. It's my fault. I'm going to get it done now with some of my shell guys. The flag pole, the installation is going to cost me the whole thing is going to cost you around $10,000.

Again, no electricity. I'm paying that myself uh as a gift to the to the women's club. Um I don't think it has to be of that magnitude. It's a really big flag pole and it can be something again decently a decent size and it can be something beautiful. Um, and I would love to have them at every park, but I also don't I also want to make sure that we do it we start staggering it. Like I'm not asking to do it in the next year all of them. And maybe we can do it over a two-year period. We can have do half now over the next year 2026 and the rest in 2027. I mean the Enis Park I mean makes complete sense. Yes, right. So I you know I would say the bigger the park the you know tall polls work the smaller parks maybe a smaller pole so you can actually see the flag.

I completely agree. We can provide an update in a future meeting if you like to allow staff to kind of draft a plan and put something together. All right. No issues. I also would like really quick little unrelated but related Enis Park Veterans Day at noon as we're looking to to to do the dedication. I just wanted to let you know put it all out to the community. Um, and it is the the park right off of Tisiano and No Cutler on Veterans Day the 11th on Veterans Day and staff will send me a uh make sure it's on my calendar. Just got the notice via email. Notice is coming but I I just while we're talking about Eden Park, I wanted to noted here that we're doing it. Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Commissioner L. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes. Commissioner Castro,

yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Log, yes. F4. F4 is a resolution of the city commission directing the city manager to develop a pilot program in conjunction with small business month through the holiday season in order to activate Miracle Mile.

Good afternoon again, Stephanie Throck Martin, deputy city attorney. This item is sponsored by the vice mayor and it's a direction to staff to create a pilot program to be developed in conjunction with small business month from now through the end of the year in order to activate certain vacant storefronts with pop-up vendors to prioritize existing businesses on Miracle Mile with the possibility of an expanded program focusing on retail and art vendors. I know we have um economic development director here to answer any questions or um let the vice mayor explain the pilot proposal. Well, the pilot proposal is to try to activate the the mile and also help out the existing vendors. Um, we have a wonderful economic development director here that uh I've spent some time speaking with about the focus of what it should be, but this is purposely drafted in a manner to provide the manager's office and our economic development uh department uh the best direction going forward. the focus is on retailers, not food establishments because we what we're trying to do is get the foot traffic going on the mile and hopefully, you know, people will feel comfortable then saying, "Hey, there's there's good traffic here. Perhaps I should rent that empty storefront right there." So, it it's an opportunity. Would you like to add something?

No, I I mean, I think you covered it. Um, I will also say that through the vice mayor, so you did bring us the uh an idea of activating the vacant spaces on Miracle Mile with art. And so we are working also with our property owners to give us those spaces. Um we have at least two spaces that are being used for that right now on Miracle Mile. And so um we're working with the person who's going to curate it to bring art um artists and galleries but also working studios which is great because people will be working in that location and um you know they'll be able to see uh pedestrians will be able to see the work that's happening inside.

Okay. So thank you for all your hard work on this and thank you manager uh as well for agreeing to take this up and uh work with our vendors. So I'll I'll move this I'll second. Mr. Clerk, Vice Mayor Anderson, yes. Commissioner Castro, Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Commissioner Lada, yes. Mayor Lago, yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Could we take up the actionable items first because I have to leave at 5 to pick up my son. So, if we could do G and the G and H items and then I'll I'll just phone in. We'll take the rest. G2.

Thank you. G2 is a resolution of the city commission appointing uh two members uh nominated by commission as a whole to serve as members of the Coral Gables trial board for two term for a two-year term which began on June 1st, 2025 and continues through May 31st, 2027. Uh Mr. Mayor, commissioners, today during the consent agenda, you accepted the appointments made by the employees of the city. I'm asking the city commission if they have any names they would like to nominate to basically represent the commission on that trial board through the mayor. Go ahead. I do have um a nominee, Joseph de Maria. Okay. I have another individual named by the name of Bob Martinez. Everyone knows Bob. If you'd be willing to do it, it'd be an honor to have also Marie. Anyone else?

I was also going to recommend Sandry Ferrer, who was on the board as well. Uh the manager and I were having a conversation about how well the the board had worked together. So, it'd be great if we can keep the board or as much of the board together. They did a great job on the on the last trial board that uh that was here and I think it'd be good if we have a trial board that has the experience to stay together. I have no issues with the vice mayor and the commissioner's requests. Okay. So, confirming we're going to nominate Joseph De Maria and Sandra Ferrer. Yes. May I have a motion, please? I'll move. I'll second. Commissioner Castro. Yes. Commissioner Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner Lada. Yes, Vice Mayor Anderson. Yes,

Mayor Loggo. Yes. Uh, could we I I forgot and I apologize. We just had the item uh and I wanted to see if if our esteemed new president of the board chamber could come up and and speak for a moment. He's been here. Good afternoon. Haris Hureta, president CEO of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce 2011 Al Hamburg Plaza Suite 100. Mr. Mayor, commissioners, we all learned that lesson in marketing 101, which is when you got what you wanted, don't oversell. So, well said.

The chamber supports uh your initiative. I think it's a great way to assist our retailers on the mile and we look forward to the pilot program uh and the manager team's efforts to make that uh through, see that through, especially during the holiday season. Well, we're looking forward to your assistance and participation in making it a complete success. Absolutely, Mr. President. Congratulations. I've known you for multiple decades and we're privileged to have you here in the city. Thank you. Thank you.

I second that. You've done a great job in the past in many, many different projects that I've been involved in and uh it's great to have you here in the city. Uh you have great shoes to fill, but you have so much experience, so much so many connections. I know you're going to do a phenomenal job for the chamber and for our city. Thank you. That's very kind of you. Thank you. While we're at it, you know, I going to just pile on and continue with the accolades and all, but remind you that now the real hard work starts. It has already begun. No pressure now. [laughter] You've got a ton of wood to chop, but you carry a big axe, and I know you're up to the task, sir. It's been a phenomenal whirlwind. Uh, but very happy with it. Exactly what I expected. Thank you, Mr. President. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Moving on to item H1. H1 is resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award RFP 2025-9 insurance brokerage and risk management services to Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services LLC the recommended responsive and responsible proposal pursuing to section 2-763 of the procurement code entitled contract award and request a proposal 2025-9. I'll move it. I'll second. You have no public comment, Mr. Mayor. Ju just your appearance [laughter] was enough to convince us. You are ready. Good. Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Mayor Lago?

Yes. Great work, Madam Director. [laughter] Thank you. H2. H2 is resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award RFP2025-22 disaster debris monitoring services to the three highest ranked responsive responsible proposers and rank order. Tetra Tech Inc. primary, Thompson Consulting Services LLC secondary and debris tech LLC tertiary pursuant to section 2-763 of the procurement code entitled contract award. I'll move it. I'll second. We have any public comment? No, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Commissioner Lada. Yes. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Fernandez, yes. Mayor Logo, yes. Item H3,

H3 is a resolution of the city commission accepting the recommendation of the chief procurement officer to award RFQ2025-31 for construction manager at risk city hall renovation and restoration project and negotiate a professional services agreement with Thornton Construction Company, Inc., the highest ranked responsive responsible proposer pursuant to section 2-763 of the procurement code entitled contract award and Florida statute section 287.55 known as a consultants competitive negotiation act. I'll move it. I'll second. It's 459. I'm getting you out of here on time. Perfect. Thank you. Vice Mayor Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Castro? Yes. Commissioner Fernandez? Yes. Commissioner Lada? Yes. Mayor Lago?

Yes. So, I just want to put it on the record. Uh, this is first and foremost, thank you very much for your hard work. I know you don't get enough respect for the work that you do and your team does. Thank you for that. Um,

this is the final piece that we needed. We have the architect. We have the engineer. We approved the design. We approved the windows. And now we approve the contractor. Now we're off to the races. We talked about it for two decades, for two decades about having city hall accomplished. City Hall is now underway. So I want to thank the finance department. I want to thank procurement. I want to thank the city manager, the DCM, the ACM. I want to thank my colleagues. This is a personal personal project for me. This is something that that I believe uh we've had many discussions back and forth in regards to whether the windows should be wood, whether they should be steel, whether multiple different things,

but we got to the finish line

and a lot of it and all of it is due to the hard work of the manager and all the employees. One of the last things that I forgot to mention and I'm sorry it was just c got caught off guard when we had a Heisen bottle here. I would like for my colleagues and I know it has nothing to do what we're doing right now but I'm going to bring it up anyways. I'd like for my colleagues to sit with the manager and have a conversation in regards to the stairwells of the city, excuse me, of uh of city hall. If you notice they're not real stone. They may look like real stone. And I think this is an opportunity if we're going to really redo this entire this entire building. Maybe we can just get a budget number. We can decide whether it's too much or not. But to do it in real stone, it's something that I've had a conversation with the manager as we've toured the B the building on dozens of occasions. have said, you know, you have some of the treads, some of the risers um that are actual stone, but then you have after I think the first floor, they become um you know, poured. They look like they're real uh coina, but they're not. Uh you have a lot of the ballasters that are not real stone. So, I think that this is an opportunity that if we're going to do this right, let's do it right for real.

We will be pricing it, mayor. Yeah. So, I would just like to see a price you can bring it to the commission. Again, it's going to be pricey, but I think it's an opportunity to pay true homage to this building. I think it deserves it. And if you speak to the historians and the people who are serious advocates of historic preservation, that's the highest respect that you can pay. Correct. Through through the mayor. Yes, sir. Uh now that we have the construction manager, now we can do start doing some some of these things and pricing things out and looking looking at value engineering and different and different uh design techniques uh for repair for city hall. Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Great work, Madam Director. Thank you for bringing up and thank you for your very thorough memos. I mean, this is this is why you didn't have to stand and convince us.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. F7 uh property tax proposal issue and we have a presentation. We need to get staff in here. Paul,

there we go. I thought this was an important piece for us to understand from the impact the impact to our budget and which proposal uh on property taxes um is something that is helpful for residents and uh workable by the city and others that would set the city considerably on its heels. So, since I am not the finance director and I've asked you to do an analysis on the numbers here, I'm going to ask you to do the presentation.

I'm logged into Zoom so I need to share my screen. Um, let me know when I'm sharing my screen. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, I'll bring it up in just a moment, but you asked me to prepare a couple of slides on the impacts of each of the proposals um from the house. And so, I have some information that I'll share with the commission as soon as they let me know that I'm able.

So, there was a memo that I issued to the entire commission. It is attached to the agenda on F7 if residents want to take a look at it. It consists of a, you know, the house dee memo summarizing the various proposals that the house has for decreasing property taxes um in various different ways uh either for total elimination over directly or over a period of time or increases in homestead exemption. um addressing the portability issue. Um so since you are the expert in the finance department here and not I I'm going to ask you to take it forward here.

Thank you. I am one of various knowledgeable people in my department but thank you for that. Um so I thought I would start off by sharing some information some general information about property tax revenue. Um, you haven't seen me in a couple of months, so I'll refresh your memory. Um, so our property tax, the revenue generated by property tax, um, property taxes in the city of Coral Gables represents 63% of the city's general fund operating revenue. Right? So property tax revenue goes towards our general fund operating budget and it represents 49% of our total operating revenue which would include storm water, sanitary sewer, other other um services. Um the re so each of the proposals that um is provided in the memo that was shared by the uh vice mayor um focus only on homesteaded property tax. of the House's proposals are essentially only focused on eliminating, reducing or providing additional benefits to homesteaded property uh tax. And so homesteaded property tax is 45% of our property tax revenue. So just for some context of how that um how the impact really uh looks to our city. And so the pie chart just breaks out for you that property tax is 63%. Other city fees and taxes represents 33% of our general fund operating budget revenue. So what are other fees and taxes? They're like our parks fees, business tax licenses. Um other fees that we have control, franchise fees, things of that nature. So fees that we set uh we could increase, lower, eliminate. uh solid waste fee um things of that nature. And then 3.5% of our re of our uh general fund revenue is from intergovernmental revenue. So revenues that we get from the state essentially. So state revenue sharing which is um the

city's portion on a based on a specific calculation, population, things of that nature. um of state sales taxes and other use taxes that they share with us and our portion of the halfsent um tax sales tax. So then um to focus on the House of Representatives proposals um the first proposal and it's a little bit out of order from the memo but I'll go through them. The first proposal eliminates non-school homesteaded property taxes. The impact, the estimated impact to the city would be a reduction of 63.8 million or 45% of our total property tax revenue. So that is a significant impact. Our property tax revenue, as you saw on the first slide, is 137 million. This would be almost half of that. Um, the next proposal creates a new homesteaded exemption for non-school property taxes equal to 25% of the assessed value of the house. That would be a $16.8 million impact to us. So, not as much as the first one, but still pretty significant. Represents 12% of our total property tax revenue. Um, the next one would create a additional $100,000 exemption to the non-school um property tax that represents $6.1 million or 4% of our total property tax revenue. I had to assume that all homesteaded property tax owners have insurance, right? I'm sorry. So, this is for homesteaded properties that have insurance. Worst case scenario, all homesteaded properties have insurance. 6.1. Whoever doesn't lowers that number a little bit. The next one is actually the second on the list, but I put it out of order

because the table is a little large. Um, so this proposal eliminates homesteaded property tax over 10 years. Um, creating a $100,000 exemption for essentially the first nine years and then the 10th year completely wiping it out. So you can see here that each year that represents about a $7.8 8 million um just about seven eight to7 million uh a year until you get to the fourth year and of course it goes down because it starts to wipe out. But the cumulative effect is the next column. Um you can see um how that would affect us. So by year 10 that would represent $83 million because we're assuming that property values go up by the allowable 3%. Um so you can see here that those are pretty significant impacts to our ability to budget in the city. um while maybe beneficial for homeowners s certainly a a big impact here for the city. I also listed here the other three uh proposals which are the reform proposals. These are a little bit more complicated to calculate and so we discussed not uh necessarily calculating these um really focusing on on the proposals that um were set out. I don't know if there's any questions. So, uh, I just wanted to have a little more discourse. Now, the city would have [clears throat] to find revenue from another source such as fees. Um, and the obvious, but maybe not so obvious impact of that is to the homeowner is there is no more homestead exemption from fees. You're going to pay paying a fee, whether it's, you know, the police vehicle fee for maintaining the police vehicles or additional parks fees for running the parks. uh it would have to be a feebased system. Is that not correct?

I mean, there's many ways to get there. There's not very many ways to make up 63 million loss in our in our budget. Um the proposals were clear in the memo that they would uh require cities not to reduce the funding for public safety. And so the decision we would have to make if this happened tomorrow is how would we budget? Um so the first thing that we would have to fund would be police and fire services. Um and then we would have to look at all of our other services and determine what we could afford and um if we wanted to continue services how we would generate revenue. And so yes um it could create a um the word we talked about was like pay for play, right? So, if you want a service, we would have to create a fee to cover the cost of that service um because there would be no other additional funding to cover those things.

The mayor. Yes, sir. Uh this assumes that the homestead exemption stays at 45%. The fact that when you have these large discounts for for have for having a homestead uh house, I think that that homestead exemption uh percentage may rise, which would mean that these deductions would rise. So this is something that can be that can be a vicious cycle generated for a continuous reduction in in property tax. It it could and but some of the proposals have include portability.

So if you have somebody that is essentially locked into their home right now, if you increase the port portability so they can move into something smaller, that larger home then could be resold to a family that needs that kind of space. But this could but the percentage could increase and it's probably going to increase because the incentives are there for for for purchasing.

Yes. for purchasing. But as far as the hit to the budget and the actual impact to residents, the impact could be worse for those who need the help the most because you don't get the homestead exemption uh incre you know you don't get the homestead exemption ability on fee on a feebased system and you have to either pay for it somehow else with fees or eliminate the service or reduce the service that you're they're offering. I also covered in the memo and I didn't ask you to outline that um was the um the fact that we the property insurance rates are going up and there are things that we as a commission uh can advocate for with our state leaders to try to improve you know the uh and decrease windstorm coverage across the state. So, I'm hoping that, you know, if you have some thoughts on that process that we can be impactful um with our legislators when we speak to them either locally or or up in Tallahassee. I'm going to ask if you can take the presentation and attach it to the agenda.

Certainly, Mr. Clark, so that the residents can, you know, have an opportunity to analyze these numbers as well without having to view the tape. Okay. Any other input from my colleagues? I think it's great. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Very informative. Thank you. F8.

Thank FA is mine. But before I do, I wanted to give a a little quick message. Um Carmen Jim Kase's um wife asked me to go ahead and let everybody in the city know that they found the kidney for him today. and in the morning he walked into Jackson Memorial Hospital and it's looking very promising. She wanted everybody to know um about F8. I had um a town hall with Gable's good government and um there was several things that the members were really passionate about and Belus I copied you on this on this email. They want to see like a signature day for the central business district. And they were giving several ideas. I kind of wrote them down, but I think we could work on something to see maybe like a pilot program. Not right now, but let's go ahead and brainstorm a little bit. Take your advice. Um, they were talking about like wind down Wednesdays, encouraging after work relaxation and dining downtown to referring more to like the days that business is really slow. There's a lot of concern with a lot of the vacant storefronts and I think vice mayor was trying to work kind of on the same I think we're on the same page when it comes to Miracle Mal and and Deralda. It's a big concern and residents are noticing it as well. So, one of the other things was downtown Tuesdays and I think what they were referring to was like a flexible inclusive theme for all CBD areas for Miracle Mile and Geralda or they were thinking like Geralda nights but I know that we have something similar similar to that already. Um, the Gable's Hour, a coordinated happy hour concept promoted city citywide. Maybe that would work. I don't know. Let's let's think together as maybe a commission. I put this up as a discussion, but maybe we can make it go a little further. The whole thing here

is let's promote our residents and outsider neighboring outsiders to, you know, come shop and um and dine locally. Basically, that was it. Do any of my um colleagues have any they want to say about this?

You're the mayor. I think it's um important for all of us, you know, to be focused on that. I also met recently with Puma and um shared a lot of my concerns, a lot of my ideas and a lot of the ideas that I got as well from the residents. So, you know, we all should collectively be focused on, and I know the mayor, the vice mayor has also been very focused on this too, just with the earlier solution, um, to see how we can drive not only economic traffic to, uh, our downtown central business district. Um, but also do so in a way that elevates the experience and and maybe a little something for being a resident here in particular is something that that resonates with all of us, you know, who live here. So, um, I'll continue the conversation. So, through the mayor, I'll just share, you know, I had my meeting with Puma as well. Uh, I did speak to them about expanding um, you know, I'm going to call it the the new bid because I don't know what else to call it right now.

New bid. Yeah. The new the new district, whatever. What do you Well, that's a general generic district.

The new district. expanding it so that we're including not only businesses on the mile, but we're including businesses along the Pon corridor and we're looping in a cultural arts establishments because what I've observed and what I've heard is the cultural arts is attracting people to come here to experience the shows whether they're on the east or the west side of Lun Road or up and down Pon. And then people stay overnight in hotels. They dine, they shop. So it only makes sense to include all the cultural arts entities in our city to be able to have a cohesive experience. And they all then can have some say or skin in the game as as far as being able to promote our city, being able to promote the activities, being able to promote the retail establishments and showcase them in the future. So that that was my overall type of a outline, but I do think that the the city needs to be an active partner at the table in order to be able to help guide it uh and guide this ship in a a clear direction.

May I briefly respond? And to that end, we we seem to have a lot of similar uh ideas when discussing our respective meetings with Puma. Um, but that was one thing that I emphasized as well and I think you echoed that before that the city needs to have a more a bigger seat at the table right in a public private coh coalition partnership um in order to really make this have the greatest likelihood of success right so I'm glad to hear we're all page we're on the same page and we didn't even know

next item F9 F9 is discussion regarding the 100 block of Romano Avenue. I had several residents reach out to me. There's safety concerns in this block. I know that um Chief Hudac would probably want to mention that this is a delicate situation. I'll leave it up to him what he wants to disclose or not.

Thank you, Commissioner. Um yeah, this block is very familiar with the police department, has been for a few years. It's been going on for a while. Uh there are currently ongoing investigations, not just us, with code enforcement, uh with other entities outside the city. Um the one thing I can say that has worked marvelously from this neighborhood is the use of our safer watch app. Uh we have every time that they've noticed us on something, we have that documented uh and we've responded appropriately. That's really about all I can get into. Uh but it is uh part of the police department plan. We are and have been over there uh over the course of years. We have made several arrests out of that specific area.

I appreciate your your input and I'm going to go ahead and just drop it at that then. Thank you very much. I um if I may, we all get phone calls from Romano. Um there's no need to put this on the agenda. Uh this is under investigation. We should let the police do their job and hopefully everything works out. Uh the residents are well aware. We all speak with them. I know that because they've all told me. They've spoken to all of us and we've all spoken to you about that. Moving on, I don't think we should be talking about the issue. Um item F10 to the mayor though, I just have to

make a respectful suggestion. Ask ask police chief if he wants to put on the agenda next time because this does not help out the situation. Yeah. Um through the mayor. Yes. I my promise was to these residents that I would be on the agenda. Now I'm leaving it up to the chief how much he wants to disclose. I did speak with him before and he did understand where I was coming from. When I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. I'm going to follow my promise. I understand it was a delicate situation. Therefore, I did not ex I did not pressure him to say anything else.

I'll I'll just respond briefly. Yes, we've all been contacted. There are times we have to let our residents know that that is not a wise option. Period. And if I'd also like to add on something to the chief, I don't think that the chief would get pressured into uh into making any statements at all. I don't think he's that number one, is that into what? because she said she she wouldn't pressure you into making any statements. I go, I don't think the chief's going to get pressured into making any statements. So, just the idea of pressuring the chief of police, I don't know, doesn't doesn't bode well with me. Uh the only pressure I truly feel is at home. Yeah. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Moving moving on to the next thing. F10 update on bike master plan. This is my item as well. This is another subject that came up very often in the gable's good government committee. Um just a brief update where we are right now and what the future is looking like. I think that's being basically what they want to know.

So so if I may commissioner so so the thing about this bicycle master plan that um most of our attempts to build bicycle infrastructure in the city have resulted in significant opposition um from the abing property owners. Um, and this goes back even before I started working in the city. There was some temporary backlings that were done on Salo. You know, a lot of the business in that area uh expressed significant opposition to do the impact to on street parking. There was an attempt to put back on Riviera. The the commission put a stop to that because of significant opposition from the auding property owners. We had the bicycles on a section of Amber Circle. It ended up being um same result. We are actively and this was something that was done through a petition process from the budding property owners on South Ambra south of US1 and that's something that there's some details that we're trying to finalize with the plans but we expect to get working on that next year and that is one thing that we're we're we're implementing but unfortunately um our current experience has been that you know anytime you bring up uh bicycle you end up having a significant opposition from the property owners that are immediately adjacent to that area.

So, through the mayor, I'll add to this. Because of your prior experiences and so forth, rather than have [clears throat] staff do a shiny presentation, I went door todoor along with some other volunteers and we got signatures on particular streets between Blue Road and basically US1, which is pawns. And we do have support Riviera near the high school. Okay. We do have support on South Hamra between University of Miami and Blue Road. Um there's been no opposition, but we need to update the the plan in this section here so that we can have an east west corridor going where people were asking from the adult activity center, past the parking garage, past the Publix and designed because it needs designed yet to go on Builtmore Way and then either turn up Hernando or turn up Siggoia. However the traffic you know the the bicycle engineer feels it needs to be the current plan which was done by back in 2014

correct was before the aloft went in before Villa Valencia went in

and because of that it was planned to go on Valencia from Douglas Road all the way through. It's incredibly dangerous to take that route now because of the AOT hotel. It wasn't encompassed as part of the bicycle plan. So, that needs to be revisited. I asked my appointee on the board to revisit it. They've had trouble ma keeping making form. So, hopefully this next time they'll be able to make form and and start moving forward on it. So uh those are some of the thoughts on that. But this commission has voted on the east west next to Publix has voted on the section on Saledo uh going north south in particular sections. So you have, you know, for future development to encompass it, uh, because it's some of the most dangerous corridors and areas to be able to bicycle through and it's some of the densest areas where getting people out of their cars would be beneficial. So I do think there is a future, but we have to do it in a phased approach. U, we need to get the engineering done first. If it's shovel ready, perhaps then we can get some some grant money to support it, you know. But we got to start somewhere, right?

Thank you for the update. Thank you very much. All right, moving on to F11. I'll go ahead and defer that one.

Beautiful. Moving on to F12. Okay. F12. Um, this is actually not a memo. I did attend the second meeting in in Orlando for the Florida cities, but this one in particular is just to inform the commission that I was appointed to um the advocacy committee. This one in particular goes on behalf of the Florida League to advocate for policies mostly um home rule. And um I'm very honored once again, very very honored. The day after I that was the day after I got appointed to another one uh which is the fast which this is representing Florida and Washington. I'm also very very honored to to be able to represent not only Coral Gables but um Florida in a bigger capacity. That's it.

Okay. Uh, moving on to item F13.

F-13. Um, been working on because I've had a lot of very passionate residents contacting me about doing some composting in in the city. Um, because county commissioner indicated that she wanted to have a composting site somewhere in our city trying to make that happen. And one of the obstacles that I was told was that the library didn't want to do it. So I uh communicated with the library and that is uh being um as far as I know is a favorable response that they would have a composting site there. It's an area that you know like Pinerest Library they have a composting site there as well. I also explored with uh Fertile Earth, who is the the group that's doing uh the composting for the county, whether we could add a uh composting container or they would be interested in putting a composting container at at the Sler Park during adventure day. Um

I thought those were going to be um something that they'd be willing to do as part of what they're doing with the county. However, there's a price tag on it for their one day appearance would be $1,000. Seems a little steep for uh just doing punking recycling. And I will update you all in the future if I can get this uh proposal moving forward to have a location in our city where the composting can be accomplished for the residents that have been contacting me and wanting very very passionately to have a composting site uh to drop off like Pinerest does. Thank you. I love it. Great idea. That's it. F14. Same thing. I did two in one.

All right. F15. F15. I There's going to be another packw walk. I composed a one minute video of the what happened last time and then I'm just basically letting people know there will be another packw walk. If cable TV can please put the video. It has sound.