Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Town of Cutler Bay's Town Council meeting. Today is Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. Mr. Clark, can you please take the role? Council Member Ramirez? Here.

Council Member Lord?

Here.

Council Member Duncan? Here. Vice Mayor Callahan? Mayor Mirabon? Present.

We have a quorum. If you please all rise and join me for 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. All right, thank you. I'm going to go ahead and open it up for public comments. Anybody wishing to make public comments, please come to the podium at this time. Lisa, do you recommend? Mrs. Greer? Just push it?

Keep talking. Okay, good evening. Lisa Greer, representing the Economic Development Council of South Miami Dade EDC. I just want to thank the Town of Cutler Bay for its longstanding relationship with the EDC. It's very much valued and we believe like we believe that we've done great things together and we hope to continue to do that. You have an item, a resolution on your agenda tonight that we respectfully recommend, a request that you favorably consider, which would codify our relationship as we move forward with a strategic plan that the EDC has put together and shared with you. So thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you. All right, anybody else? All right, anybody in the queue?

No one in the queue.

All right, public comments is now closed. That takes us to our board and committee reports. Any additions, changes? None, all right. Takes us to Ralph. We have a presentation from the AARP.

Thank you, members of council. Tonight, we have the honor of having Thyra Tai, Hausher, if I but your name, sorry, with AARP for a presentation.

Good evening, everyone. Like I mentioned, my name is Ty Hausher. I'm a volunteer with AARP South Florida and also a member of the AARP Florida Executive Council. And I would like to thank Mayor Bot, Town Manager Casals, and council members. On behalf of AARP Florida, I'm here to recognize the town of Cutler Bay for your leadership in making your community an even better place to live for your residents. Cutler Bay is one of the 46 age-friendly communities in Florida. And actually, you were one of the first ones, right? So come on. So the AARP network of age-friendly states and communities also comprises of 14 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are also over 1,200 age-friendly communities nationwide. And we are also part of a global network spanning for more than 50 countries. The Age-Friendly Community process represents a commitment to improving areas of community life and the built and social environment in which we live, we work, we play, and also we age. Today, we are here to celebrate a milestone of accomplishment in our Age-Friendly journey, the completion of our second five-year cycle. So thank you. Come on, give him applause. And I would like to list a few of the accomplishments, you know, for the age-friendly community here in Calabria. So improving the outdoor spaces, housing, and social participation. And one example is the Legacy Park and Municipal Complex that will serve as a multi-purpose center and aquatic facility for people of all ages. i also approve senior housing units will also help hundreds of all the residents aging in color bay and finally cutler bay activity active adult programming continues to provide many opportunities for all the adults to learn engage and remain healthy as they age in the community so we would like to thank you and present you with a beautiful plaque so thank you if the council join me down on the form there for presentation

And mayor and council members, we also have some members from the Age-Friendly Committee, if the new audience, if you can come join the council.

So just thank the town for you live in a beautiful and very mindful community.

Thank you so much. You get in the middle. You get in the middle. You're the plaque holder, okay? Get a better camera. One more. Two.

All right.

Thank you so much. I'm glad we were one of the first.

And we'll hold some.

Thank you for our community. He's one of the last. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it. All right.

Rick, can you stay here? Yeah. And we have another, you know, this month is Parks and Recreation Month. So I got to ask ET and Hirana to come down and join me or up and join me wherever we are. and uh and mayor we have uh we have most of our our staff here from the parks and recreation all right there's a lot more staff than this but oh i didn't bring my glasses I'm a little older than I look. Don't say anything about that. Wow. I just opened that one up. Okay. All right. First, just a casual, as you all know, Cutler Bay is known for a couple things, but one of the things we're known for is our events. And they bring people together far and wide, but most important are about how it brings community together. And so that's one of the things that you, it's not in the everyday, I mean, you do the adult activity classes, the STEM, all these other things you do, the football, baseball, all those things you do, but what you really do is bring the community together. And that's the heart of what we are.

So you guys, I'm going to call you the heart of our community. Okay.

So, all right. I just said everything that's in here right now. I don't know if I need to read this proclamation for you guys. Do you want me to read it? Again, it's so many, many things that you do. I don't want to read this only because it's just like written words, but it's from the heart felt what you do for our community and how you bring it together. And if you ask anybody in anywhere, not outside of Cutler Bay, we're special because of you guys so thank you very much guys we owe you our debt and your honor thank you you have a great staff thank you a little photo here come over here et you get in the middle there in the middle okay hold it thank you all right now i'll take my glasses off ready one two one more all right thank you so much By the way, one of the oldest staff members of Cutler Bay right there. I mean, not the oldest, okay? Has the longest longevity, okay? She started when she was 14.

I thought you just thought of your concerns. Fight on.

thank you mayor members council i think you know point of personal privilege elizabeth and i started the same day right in this very same room in october 1st 2006 remember that elizabeth yeah yeah so that makes us both old then

All right, that takes us to the talent manager report. Ralph, the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you, Mayor, members of council. Tonight we have Ms. Emma Jones from Stantec to provide us the monthly report on our status of the design for the 16-acre Legacy Park and Municipal Complex.

Good evening, everybody. Emma Jones with Stantec, owner's rep for the town of Cutler Bay. I have to say we've had a very exciting couple of weeks and a lot of movement on the project. So I'm personally incredibly excited. All right, so project updates. Here are some pictures of the current site. Some of you may think it's a volleyball tournament, but no, no, this is our site. And we are actually going to start building things. So the big news really truly is that we received DERM's approval of our soil verification report. So this is basically DERM saying that we have done everything right in the remediation of this site and we can move forward. So I have a lot more gray hairs, but I'm very relieved that we finally have this. in hand. And we are moving forward to close out phase one so we can really start charging into phase two. So this is a big week. Last week was a big week. Apologies. Adding on to this, we also have received DERMS approval of our exfiltration trench locations, which allowed us to finalize our civil plans for stormwater management and our exfiltration trenches. And now those permits, those plans have been resubmitted and we are moving forward and fingers crossed we'll have the permit um in the next few weeks so all incredibly exciting work um a lot of long hours put in by um our design team and a big big uh kudos to ralph for pushing this through um on-site activity as you can see we've got um mobilization to site. We've got a couple trailers on site, etc. The fence has been tidied up, and we're just really awaiting that permit at this point. We will be starting work to remediate. If you look closely at some of the pictures along the edges of the fencing, there's sort of a swath that still needs to be remediated on the east and the west side. So the team's going to start to work on that, as well as digging down for the pool and remediating that soil. As we dig deeper, we have to remediate again. But yes, we're moving all of that forward. So while we're waiting for the permits, we are not sitting idle. We are charging forward. And then offsite activity, there's procurement and process for power, switchgear, all that good stuff. And then moving forward to the next phase, I showed this image just because this was where we will be connecting that through a road, which is 212. So GMP3 is for the vertical build. And we are still doing all of the coordination between Kauffman-Linn, South Michelson to address any outstanding comments and really moving those permits to a final completion. GMP3, value engineering ongoing. Our goal is to get GMP3 finalized and approved by the council at the end of August. And we are also in the process of compiling the RFP for art in public places. And we have a couple of locations in not only the town hall on all three levels, but also the community center for floor murals, et cetera. So we're very excited about that. Phase four, as I was referring to the sort of the circle, if you, that circle will be connected to 212, so that's sort of the reason for this image. And, whoop, let me go back, apologies. We are, that is what we call GMP4, and that is gonna be the coordination of adding that roundabout to 212, slowing that traffic down, and really creating a slower corridor through there, and we're very excited about that as well. So looking at the project timeline, we are here. We are in the middle of July. And, you know, we really we're excited at this point. You know, things are going to really start moving forward, especially with GMP2. I heard you guys had a tremendous Fourth of July celebration. I was a little jealous that I wasn't there. But, you know, if we'd had, you know, we could have probably had a volleyball tournament on the site. But, you know. um probably best to just keep it to construction and uh the pool timeline which is you know near and dear to everyone's hearts we are moving that forward like i said we're going to start to excavate for the pool while we are waiting for um that permit uh for the underground utilities and um we're doing that final remediation and keeping things moving so that is a summary of my report and um It's all very exciting and it's all moving in the right direction.

All right. Thank you very much. This is very exciting. This looks like a volleyball court right now.

Thank you very much for the update. Thank you. Thank you, Emma. Next, we have an update on Frander Road. We have Angel Turbin as well as Janet Delgado from Kimberley Horn Associates to provide an update.

Angel Turpin Hi, good evening, Mayor and Council members. I'm Angel Turpin here on behalf of Kimley Horn to provide you guys with our July 2026 update for the Frangio Road Improvements Project. So for our construction activities, we continue to hold our biweekly construction progress meetings. with the contractor, the town, the EOR, and ourselves as the CEI as well. In terms of our work zones, work zones one, two, three, four, and five have been completed at this point. So these areas are open to the public and the MOT for phase five has also been removed. And that's running along the whole project corridor from Southwest 184th Street to Old Cutler Road. I'm sure you guys have seen last week we started our installation of the final lift of asphalt. So the team is making their way through. I think they're about almost at the halfway point, so making a lot of progress with that. Still just want people to keep in mind that there will be changing detours throughout the remaining duration of the installation of that final lift of asphalt. and we are also working on wrapping up the outstanding items that we identified during our latest site walkthrough in conjunction with the final lift of asphalt so there are a few items that are being addressed and these will include the light pole installation and removal and some tree and sod removal and installation is ongoing as well In regards to the light poles, we continue to coordinate with the county and FPL on having those up and running soon, hopefully. We still do not have a specific date or timeline on when those will be in operation, but we are in communication and continue to work with them on that. And for our project duration, we still are on schedule for this. And ATI still has only declared seven total rain days at this time. So we are nearing the end on this project. And I think the contractor has really done a great job. But now I'll pass it over to Janet, who's in the audience there to provide you guys with a public information update.

Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. These are exciting times, right? We're almost there. And I have to agree with the mayor. You guys are the it on parties and events. So we were at the 4th of July event. which was very good Angel stepped in for me and she was telling me that she did have people come by praise the entire project and also like always when is it going to be over right so that was very good so let me give you a brief update on the final phases so we are moving very closely on to caribbean with the asphalt so i'm not sure if you guys know the logistics of of doing the asphalt versus like attacking material which um it's about an hour and a half for it to dry although after like 20 minutes you could probably drive on it but you stand the chance of getting it on your tires and maybe into your driveway so if it can be you know there's workers out there helping people move in and you know and entrance and and exit and then the asphalt so they do one lane they turn around and do the other lane and it takes about an hour for it to dry So if anybody out there needs to know, you know, time frame and all that, that's what we're looking at. One other thing is that after the asphalt is poured completely, there's some remaining items, the installation of the bicycle wraps, the loops, and the activation with FPNL. So does anybody have any questions for me? I don't know. This might be my last time here.

Those lights turned on on there because those are beautiful lights.

Yeah.

We met them in person and they were like, oh, we'll get on it. And we haven't heard anything.

um thank you for your your updates and um we will not be sad not not to get the updates anymore because we have a video thank you thank you so much bye-bye thank you janet thank you angel uh next mayor members of council uh we have andrew fearman who's going to be presenting our 2025 annual comprehensive financial report uh as we call it the external auditors and andrew is uh will join us virtually and then we'll we'll go through the presentation the 159 page audit report is a document that's attached to our agenda and folks at home could you know see it here but also the folks that could actually look at the report and download it as well so andrew

time to read all 152 pages is he yeah all right we got him okay okay all right andrew you're on thank you very much um mr manager uh for the record my name is and Andrew Fehrman, and I'm the partner in charge of the town's audit. I'm going to provide a presentation on your annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year, September 30th, 2025. The first item that I'd like to point out within the document is within the introductory section, and it's the table of contents. basically i want to point out the table contents that's broken up into four sections the annual comprehensive financial report introductory section you have the financial section the statistical section and the compliance section and i'm going to point out a few things within within each section is the certificate of excellence for financial reporting And the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting is a prestigious award that's given by the Government Finance Association. The town received it for the 2024 Annual Conference of Financial Report. This one is also gonna be submitted and we expect that it will receive the certificate once again this year. The next thing that I'd like to point out within the document is moving into the financial section.

the first item within the financial section is the independent auditor's report andrew can i just interrupt you for a second because the clerk's trying to catch up with you with your with your presentation can you just make reference to the pdf page number so we could we could follow you all right here correct so we're going to page 20 page 27 my apologies thank you thank you andrew

Thank you, Ralph. So page 27 is the independent auditors report. It's broken up into various sections. The first section is the opinion section. It's the most important section. It states that the town of Color Bay has a clean opinion for this year, once again, and also that we've audited the financial statements of the town. The next section... The next section gets into under what standards we've formed our audit. Oh, no, please go back to the auditors. My apologies.

Page 27.

The next section talks about that we've formed the audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as well as government auditing standards. The next section gets into what management's responsibilities are for the financial statements. And the last section I'd like to point out is the section that gets into what our responsibility as auditors. And that states that our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinions. Now I'd like to go, now this goes to page 31, which is the management's discussion analysis. The management discussion analysis, what I always tell everyone is if you don't read anything else in this document, you should definitely read this. It talks about the year, it compares current year to prior year, and it provides provides explanations for those changes it's similar to what's to what's including public company financial statements and as as as the manager said is 159 page document and this is then this and this section includes a great summary of what's within the document and a lot of explanations in the with with the financials and then also gives narrative explanations so it's a very very good um summary of what's in the document So now continuing, we're going to go to page 59 of the document, which is continuing within the financial section, which includes the financial statements, the actual financial statements. And this includes the government-wide financial statements, as well as the governmental and proprietary fund financial statements included within this section. Main thing I'd like to point out here is actually on page 61. which is the governmental funds balance sheet. You'll see here in that first column, The third line from the bottom, you'll see that the unassigned fund balance was approximately 27.4 million at the end of the year. That's a very healthy fund balance and it's well within and well above the 17% basically that's required. That's pretty suggested by the government finance office association. So very strong unassigned fund balance for the town as well. I'd also like to point out, and you'll note on the next page, on page 62, this will show the reconciliation between the government-wide and the governmental funds. And then on page 63, You'll note that there was a decrease in fund balance of approximately $988,000. I'd like to note that this decrease is due to the town's planned utilization of the fund balance reserves for the solar remediation in Legacy and Blue Herring Parks. So there was a combination of funding between fund balance as well as ARPA funding that was used for this project, and it was planned by the town. So there was that slight decrease in fund balance this year, but it was all planned by the town. If this funds had not been used for the project, the town would have had an increase of approximately 3.2 million in reserves. So you can see there that the town had planned for that change. I'd like to move now to page 65 of the document. And this is a stormwater fund. Would like to point out that this year, we had discussed this in the prior year as well, that this will be the year that the unrestricted net position would move to positive, and it is a positive $916,000. And if you look on the next page, on page 66, you'll see there was positive operating income of approximately $578,000. So again, we had this year, as we discussed last year, the town was working towards this and had planned towards this, that the elimination of that deficit under strict net position would happen in 2025. And as you can see here, it did. Now moving on to page 69. Page 69 starts. the notes to the financial statements. There's nothing specific that I'd like to point out within here, but I would like to explain to everyone that these are the required disclosures which provide additional information on the town, as well as the numbers that are presented within the financial statements. It basically tells the whole story. So you really do want to read the financial statements themselves in conjunction with the notes that provides additional narrative information, as well as detail of the numbers that are presented with the financial statements. I'd like to move over to page 119 of the document. Now, page 119 is a statistical section. And this section includes a lot of really good information. It's one of the components that's actually required for the town to prepare an annual comprehensive financial report and to be eligible to be considered for that certificate program. And this section includes a lot of good information on the town. It includes numerical information, information on debt, operating information, and it shows 10 years of data. So you can really kind of see where the town has come from over the last 10 years. so a lot of good information there and the town works really hard to put all that information together for the readers so i suggest you know looking at that section as well um the last section i'm going to point out within the document is page on page 138 Page 138 starts your compliance section. That's the fourth section of the document. So now we've gone through all three and now we're in the fourth one, the compliance section. The compliance section includes the reports that are required under generally accepted government auditing standards, as well as the single audit act. and the rules of the Auditor General of the State of Florida. And we are pleased to report within all these, within this entire section, is that we did not have any significant deficiencies or maturities in internal control, nor did our test find any instances of noncompliance. So that means within here, we have all clean reports in the back as it relates to the financial statement audit, as well as the federal and the Florida single audit. So that's very good for the town as well. There's no findings. And the last thing I'd like to point out now is actually going back to page one of this document. And page one is the communications letter. This is a letter that there are certain matters that were required to discuss with you as those charged with governance. These are all standard communications required by our professional standards. And bottom line, there's no findings. There were no adjustments, which that's very big. That's a testament to the financial reporting and the work that the town's finance department does, that they provided us with the numbers. And we went through our entire audit, and there were no changes based on our audit and our testing. We did not propose any adjustments, whether they were material or immaterial, there were no adjustments. We had no difficulties in completing and forming our audit, and we had no disagreements with management. Overall, it was a clean audit. It was a smooth audit once again. We come in, we ask a lot of questions. We asked for a lot of information. We received that information. Then we asked for more information. We asked more questions on that. And that's a back and forth that happens over a few months. And the town was once again up to the task of answering all our questions for us to be able to be here to present our Clean Report to you today. Overall, just to thank Ralph, Robert, the team there for your assistance and cooperation throughout the entire process. I'd also like to thank the council for the faith that you have put in me, my team, and my firm to perform the audit. It truly is an honor and privilege to be of service to the town. i guess with that i'll leave it there and uh open it up to any questions anybody may have at this time and if you don't have any questions you can always feel to reach out to me through through the manager and we can always set something up to go over any questions that you have because i know it is a rather large document and i know you have a you have a busy agenda tonight so with that i'll leave it there thank you once again for the opportunity

All right. Thank you very much. And again, Ralph, Robert, just excellent reporting. It's been consistent through all the years. And we've been in a very positive financial state for a number of years now, which is great. It's nice to know that this audit kind of confirms what we know is going on. So, Robert, thank you very much. Ralph, thank you very much to your staff. Questions or comments from the council? No? Ralph, during our January 27th Legacy Park meeting, our Gap Financing Workshop, I proposed to help modify the town's existing fund balance policy. The state requires we have 70%. And that sounds great, but a lot of things to consider is you need to keep enough in your fund balance to maintain and to improve our bond rating, quite honestly. So when we borrow money, we get a better rate and we can make improvements for our town going forward. And not to mention, we also need to develop an investment strategy going forward so we can earn more interest for our fund balance. And those are two things we had not considered before. So I don't know what we need to increase our minimum reserve to, but I would like to do a couple things. Bring, I don't know if it's a resolution or ordinance forward, so we can kind of codify what our future plans are. And again, develop an investment strategy, set a reserve balance, which is better than the 17% minimum the state requires. And also, If we are in excess of that amount, I would like to go ahead and use those excess fund balances specifically for land acquisition. You know, we've done a great job of acquiring green space and everybody seems to like that.

Yeah.

Um, so if we, we have more money in the bank and there's any money, any green space available, let's jump on it. Or we could also use it for capital improvement projects, whether it be building a bathroom, A bell park or bell air park, or maybe someday future building a parking garage at legacy park, something like that. Or at the very least for environmental remediation, improving our environment and then we kind of find. So, if you could with the council's support and agreement, if you could kind of work on that, whether it's an ordinance or resolution forward. So, we can discuss what that and really the only thing we really need to do is if we are in general agreement about the idea of a, if you have access, here's how you spend it. or what should the minimum be for our reserve? And again, 17% sounds great, but you're not going to get a very good bond rating with 17%. So we've done a great job of sticking to a financial plan for the last six years at least, and we're in a great situation because of that. So with no objections, if you could work on that, I'd appreciate it.

And thank you, Mayor, Members, Council, and I'd like to also echo what you said. You know, Robert and Mildred did a great job with this audit. I mean, we're doing a balancing act. You know, we're implementing a new software program and balancing act with Andrew and his firm. And I think going back to your response, your question regarding the fund balance, we do have a fund balance policy. You mentioned 17%. That's our high standard policy. We actually were fortunate enough to have that type of high standard and what we'll do mayor now that we know We kind of drew the line in the sand right for municipal for Legacy Park 49.9 million We know we have a 37 million dollar bond that we haven't drawn down yet But then we also did the gap financing So as I briefed the council we have enough money now to build our house, right the complex now What do we do with the money that we have now? You're absolutely correct. I think we could have more safe aggressive interest earning income there from that. And we will develop an investment strategy. It's going to be a collaboration with our financial advisor, our external auditor, as well, believe it or not, with our town attorney's office, right? With our legal bond counselor, as you know, you know, Lori Lala, as well as, you know, Frank DiCarlo. So, Jeff DeCarlo, sorry, Frank. Jeff DeCarlo. So, those folks were part of the team for us to have that AA2 rating and we'll bring back that investment strategy here and it'll be in a form of an ordinance. So, but, you know, thank you, Andrew, for your presentation and Robert for all the hard work. And I think it took a little bit of time for Andrew to explain it, but I wanted to make sure that the public understood how to read the report, right? Sometimes you put these reports out, here's 160 pages figured out. we want to go step by step so you understand what sections to read the numbers of the numbers they're there and as as uh andrew mentioned if there's any other meetings that you would like to have individually with him we'll be more happy to coordinate so uh thank you andrew thank you robert okay um all right councilman lord you recognize i'm sorry i just i thank you so much um one i would love if i can have an individual meeting

Can arrange that for me, that would be great. I'd like to have a better understanding of those 162 pages and he has a way of walking me through that. And I also wanted to point out, just take this moment to say, I remember clearly at I think it was our last open mic night that our town manager stood there on the microphone and said, as soon as we have money to build Legacy Park, as soon as we have the money to build the house, we are going to start investing the other money that we have. So I want to point out that transparency. You said we were going to do it, and here we are doing it. So I just thank you so much for that.

Thank you, Mayor, Members, Council. Thank you. All right. Okay. Next, Mayor, I know it's not on the agenda, but I think it's important since we have a lot of our park staff here. We have Etienne Beharon, our parks director here. We also have Alan Hughes, our parks operation administrator. E.T. has been with the town already, you know, 12 years and Alan, 13 years. So we have a lot of great experience here. i take this opportunity if we get maybe 10 minutes just to kind of run through a lot of different updates that are happening in some of our parks is important for the public to understand and i figured what a great way to recognize all the hard work to doing with a parks and recreation proclamation so now that now actually 17 years three times

So, yes, a rehire director as last week. So, but I'd like to take the opportunity mayor members accounts, but thank you for the recognition on the proclamation. My staff work very hard and very dedicated to what they do. And I'm very proud of all of them. So I'm glad that they're here in the stands with us. Some couldn't make it, but they know that they were getting it and they'll be able to see the proclamation or office. We have Alan here. I'd also like to thank the Vice Mayor for allowing us to come up to, I guess, you guys, brief you guys on some updates on what things are going on in the parks. I think it's very important that you guys understand what really is going on. And Alan's here to do that.

So. Yeah, good evening to the mayor vice mayor who's not here and council members in town manager in our June 1st meeting with the parks committee. He heard some things that he wished for us to share with you that are very encouraging and positive from the parks department versus us saga bay playground. That'll be our 1st update. we recently commissioned a cpsi certified playground safety inspection to evaluate the condition of the current playground that is on site um the background on that is we i was here in september prior to a council meeting um for a fur dap grant that we are still waiting for funds to be allocated for um with the intention of building a inclusive playground at saga bay park um so the the update moving forward to today is that as of right now um the the current playground is in bad enough condition that it was deemed uh necessary that we remove it um we will begin the process in doing that um you know relatively shortly uh you have my click on the clicker Oh, right. Oh, sorry. I didn't see that. All right. So, yeah, there's our inspection report that we was done on June 10th of this year. At that point, they found enough things and items that they felt were unsafe. It is about 17, 18 year old playground. So at this point, you know, patchwork isn't going to get it done. So the playground was officially closed on Thursday, July 9th of last week. once we receive the report. You can see some pictures of that here. There's a couple pictures of the deficiencies that will be addressed. And then here's a little information on the grant. So, rather than simply replacing what currently exists, we are pursuing funding through the grant as previously mentioned. I don't know if I hit anything there. Oh, there it is. And so basically, that's through the Florida recreation development assistant program. What we know as of right now has recommended the project for funding contingent upon the approval of state budget. The state budget allocated $63 million for parks in total. However, it does not identify how the money will be broken up between the state's various grant programs that fund the parks. It is in a FDEP, Florida Department of Education Protection allotment. We need time, I guess, for them to sort through that and send out their award notices or updates. Our fingers, toes, and everything else is crossed at this point that we can... move forward with that so here with that being said this is a this was a playground that they built at cooper city park this is so if you notice we have a trade structure in place at saga bay park this um is a little bit along the lines of what we will be looking to put um at saga bay if the opportunity arises as you can see there's ramps for wheelchair access um There's going to be a communication board. We're looking at the swings that you can put a wheelchair in and lock in and they can be able to have that. They'll have accessible slides and all the inclusive features that we could possibly make it so that it's usable for people with disabilities in addition to those without

So if we have any questions about the soccer bay portion, I can elaborate. And I think just a couple comments of what Alan mentioned. We do know that the governor approved the budget. We've had our grants coordinator literally like once a week contact FTP to find out where that pot of money is. From the business standpoint, in our existing budget, we have a $200,000, our match would be for that. So as we move forward, if for whatever reason it did not, if it got cut, then we'll come back to council with a smaller playground because we do have our matching funds here. But at the same time, you know, Lakeisha, our grants coordinator, has been checking with FDEP. So if something happens between now and our next meeting in September, you'll see it on the September agenda.

Yeah.

go ahead right additionally there saga bay park just to mention just some other aspects that we're doing that's non-playground related is we have a work order issued with a company that's going to paint the outside bathrooms um and we're going to match the frangio park color scheme we're just awaiting us them to provide us with a start date on that so you'll be seeing that soon when you're driving around the town that it will have a fresh coat of paint on both the outside inside the bathrooms and it will be looking nice with hopefully a new playground coming and and all the other things people like in there, it'll be good to go. Alright, yeah.

I do.

One, nobody likes to see our playgrounds get shut down. Right. But in this case, seeing those pictures and I had heard comments from a resident that they felt it was unsafe. It looked it looked unsafe for our little residents. And so smart, smart thing. We had to do it. I'm glad. I'm also I want to. I want to talk just for a brief moment. I have been championing the cause for an inclusivity playground for close to five years now working with a resident. I'm so excited that we're this close to having it. I had the luxury, the joy of watching Alan, Mr. Hughes here present perspective ideas at a meeting that we had with regard to this playground a few months ago and your passion is not to be overlooked. You were very passionate with your presentation, so I'm glad you're the one presenting to us. No slate to you, but this is his baby. And by proxy, I'm really, really happy to see that we're this close to it. You're making, we collectively as a town, your department as the parks and your employees are making a bunch of families who have a need, very happy. So I commend you for all of your hard work, your whole department. I thank you for that.

Thank you. I'm very honored to have the opportunity to try to provide that to a portion of our community that could really use it and be seen and have something that they can make memories at our playgrounds with with their families and going forward. So that'd be a really cool thing. But I'm not done yet because we got another one that I'm trying to get done, too. I want to do two. If we're fortunate enough, you know, the next playground project would be at Bel Air Park. Now this one I have actual renderings for that park. Again, with the given potential opportunity, this would also be an inclusive playground because why not do one when we can do two? And I've noticed that we have some people in that community I see when I'm driving around that really could use it. So this is just an overhead conceptual drawing, just kind of showing you how it would fit underneath the current canopy. it would have you know the the surfacing would change it wouldn't be the mulch there um it does have the sidewalk that would go up to that new surfacing um that would be installed um should we you know go forward with this um and you know we're working with manufacturers you know about conceptual layouts and that'll fit within the available space to maximize also just value but also the accessibility so I'm kind of picking apart some equipment evaluating different options that they have to make sure that we have some of the things that we heard at that meeting some things people that stopped me in my go arounds are like wins is coming we would like this X Y & Z so this is similar to Saga Bay but this is more tailored exactly for what we're doing in our space. So these renderings are conceptual, but they are demonstrating the type of experience we're going to hope to provide for the members of the town. And adding this playground at Bel Air would significantly expand recreational opportunities for families. currently could use it um so as you see there there's like a slide that is for you know wheelchair access uh there's all kinds of ramps this is gonna be a much smaller smaller space if you've been by there you you definitely understand and it also has amenities for non-disabled uh children to be able to climb and play and do all that stuff as well so there's some of that there and that's uh those are made specifically for that park If there's any questions about Bel Air.

Questions? You know, when I was a kid, we had these big rocket ships with these big, long steel slides that seemed to last forever. Yeah, they only got to a hundred and forty degrees, but yeah. That much. Yeah. Yeah. But thank you for that presentation looks really exciting and mayor members, council for Bella Park.

As you recall, we, we tried two different venues in terms of funding sources. We did a federal appropriation. And we also did a state appropriation it, the state appropriation passed the house and pass the Senate. It did not pass the governor's red pen as we. Right. So now that we know that, we know that that building there is an unsafe structure. It's been for a couple of years. So now we're going to start going through the demolition of that structure. There's a couple of steps you have to do. You have to take all the electrical components out of there because that's kind of the circuitry, the brain of the sports lights there. So you're going to see some action there. We've actually even had ET and Alan visit our friends from North Bay Villas that they just did like almost like a big event. Prefab bathroom facility water fountains that they just did at Paul Vogel Park that they went out there and visited So we're looking at different type of grants there because we know we tried doing the grants for that one But then at least we'll look at Starting to demolish the building now and then bringing at least a restroom facility at that point because right now we do have portable restrooms there and Right now that that for residents to to at least enjoy there. We do have a couple of small leagues at play there But again, I think you'll start seeing more action Bella Parker We kind of just waiting to see if we had any federal money or state money now that we know that we unfortunately don't then we'll go ahead and start doing some of the demolition then yeah, um the next park I'm gonna discuss with you is Veterans Park

So the update on Veterans Park, this project is continuing to move forward, although much of the work has involved environmental preparation that has been occurring. The town's environmental consultant completed additional soil sampling and Miami-Dade County and the soil management plan. The work identified areas requiring soil remediation due to elevated levels of lead and arsenic and before the property was developed. Staff so you can see that you can see it there and that's where all of it is so the town staff was awarded a Florida Department of Environmental Protection property cleanup and remediation grant it was awarded in the amount of $100,000 and one of the things that we've begun to do that's non-soil remediation related is we have put a new monument sign there so that people do know it is a park it is veterans park we have also installed some trees and begun the process of making it look like what will eventually be an awesome park for people to come by and be you know an honor to veterans hence the name um so that's kind of where we are um as far as that so i would conclude my updates on the playground initiatives and veterans park i can answer any questions there i know we have uh blue heron and some other stuff you're going to take care of for us yeah and i think with veterans park members council recall the the parks committee was developing uh

almost like a conceptual plan. And if you recall in this very same room, we took advantage of Veterans Day as well. We had some comments there. So now once we Have the sole remediation completed and that's the grant that animals mentioned that we received a hundred thousand dollar grant the state of florida with their own contractor come in and do the remediation of those sites that he mentioned there uh, then we'll start bringing in more of the construction drawings for the for the Passive park, right, you know, it's going to be nice nice walkways here with a nice centerpiece there So but at that point there I think the important point is that we had the carps community review it twice and we also had our veterans that looked at it as well so this is going to be more of a tag team now we're going to go into a blue herring park there we go as you know we designated that as a as a brownfield um right now um do you see a lot of piles of the the clean fill that's there you're going to see now within the next week or so the contract you're going to start spreading that dirt out part of the delay because i know a lot of residence calls is there Part of the delay was us negotiating with Miami-Dade County Derm. Yes, again. Regarding the 297 trees that we were able to protect there. At one point, we looked at mulch. It just wasn't feasible keeping 12 inches of mulch. So you know what happens with rain and mulch here. Then we said, you know what, let's go ahead and use some of that FlexiPave that we're going to use in the walk path. And that was an absorbent amount of funds because we figured, you know, tree rings 297 of that FlexiPave. And most recently we were able to negotiate with Miami-Dade County Derm to put in a mesh fence with decorative rock with sticky stuff on the rock, I guess, right? That's pervious. So that right now we're negotiating with the contractor so that way it won't be a negative impact on the amount of funds. We want it to be a wash. because we know that we didn't have to bring an additional fill so we know some savings there but now let's go ahead and and and have that the tree protection zone tpz uh for that so that's what you'll see that but the next couple you can see you're gonna see some movement there as well Another great news, the business side, the advantage of a brownfield, we were able to secure $802,000 worth of voluntary cleanup tax credits. The way that works for the audience is that we get 50% of the funds this year. Would you see that the voluntary tax cleanup credit certificate there? I think we have Brett Brumman there from the Goldstein Group there. Hi, how are you? You did our application for us. Thank you. And then the way this works, members of council, you're going to see this here in the next couple of months. We now sell those voluntary cleanup tax credits, that $401,000. This one is going to probably be $0.92 on a dollar. $0.92 on a dollar, we'll sell this in the open market. So you're going to see that happen in the next couple of months here. More importantly the remainder the remainder of the another 401,000 we received that in a form of tax credit at the end So to us is like yes, we've received a grant for eight hundred two thousand dollars for that As you recall the cleanup effort is three million dollars. So this just was this last calendar year There's more expenses this year as well. So again similar to Legacy Park. That's the reason why we designated this a brownfield Any questions? Yes, sir

Thank you. Not a question about that, but I have a comment for our park staff here. I just want to thank you all. I know that you guys have, in addition to the report that you just gave on the parks and the improvements that we're looking at working on, I know that your team has gone through and performed a lot of maintenance. on all of our parks within the past few months um so i just want to bring that to attention and let the public know the the amount of hard work that you all are doing and trying to upkeep our properties i've had the opportunity uh recently to go through and tour and kind of do a self-audit of just the conditions and you know when they're parked so they're out in in the weather and happen. And as soon as I inform the team, I inform Ralph, I inform UT, you guys are jumping on it right away and taking care of a lot of deficiencies, a lot of things that are really beautifying our parks and making them the types of parks that our residents deserve. So I just want to commend you all for jumping on and getting a lot of things taken care of. And

as more and more things continue to come up i'm sure we'll need to address them but i just want to thank you while public i appreciate that um you'll also be uh as you go out throughout the time we started to begin putting new picnic tables and like taking some that have been here since i've been here in the beginning and some new benches and stuff like that so there'll also be some cool new aesthetic stuff and anything that you give us we'll we'll jump at the chance to fix it so we're ready all right thank you very much brian appreciate it appreciate it

Thank you members of council. I think one more item just as a while we're still in the theme of parks. Oh, wait, I think I still have. Is it clicking? There we go. Coastal reserve. Okay. How could I forget coastal reserve? What we refer to as eight and a half figures, right? So this one's very exciting as well. As you know, we've adopted a master plan. for the Coastal Ridge Reserve. But at the same time, we are negotiating with Miami-Dade County EEL to what we call it, see that little mustard colored there, that little two acre perimeter there to negotiate with Miami-Dade County EEL. As you recall, we were on the B list and we went to the A list. Again, another citizen driven initiative that we did. So now we came through with that. Now we are officially on the Miami-Dade County EEL A list, which means we will receive 100%, 100% of the assessed value. Appraise Valley, sorry, Appraise Valley. So you're going to see that pretty soon here. We also are pursuing a grant for FDEP. Why? And because, you know, we received $856,000 already from Florida Communities Trust, another $250,000 plus RMATCH. These are just giving you a summary of all different grants we received. $30,000 with another $30,000 match for a forestry grant. And then most recently, the $250,000 direct appropriation from the Board of County Commissioners. Thank you, Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, for funding that project. So again, that's something that we're moving through with this aspect as well. In terms of the pool, Mayor and members of council, and thank you, Alan, E.T., thank you, guys, and thank you, the park staff, the folks that you see out there working right now until almost, what, 11 o'clock at night? Last month, we adopted resolution 2641, was for the commission for decommissioning of the pool. And we authorized the stone hedge construction at a cost of $7,600. Two weeks later, the company informed us that they were going to be closing down. So instantly, yeah, so instantly I had ET and Alan to start negotiating with the second lowest responsive bidder, which was Miller's and Myers Inc. And they did a great job that we were able to negotiate a price of $74,000, which is $4,600 less than the original contractor. And the reason why I mentioned this tonight, because our next council meeting is going to be in September. I did not want to wait to go ahead and start filling that pool to create right now as a safety hazard. So I would like to see if there's a request and a kind motion to proceed. And we'll have a ratifying resolution at our September 16th meeting for Millers and Myers for $74,000 for decommissioned pool, which is $4,600 less than we approved just a couple weeks ago.

All right, looking for a motion to approve the ratification with Miller and who was it? Meyers. Meyers.

Millers and Meyers Inc. in the amount of $74,000 for decommissioning as per the decommissioning plan approved by Miami County's Health Department for Cutleridge Pool. All right, looking for a motion.

We have a motion, looking for a second.

I second. We have a second by Councilman Lord. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion moved.

I know I got like three minutes before a public hearing, so just a quick little great news. Mayor, members of council, as you know, we were notified that we received a $4.1 million grant from FDOT for Marlin Roadway expansion. And that requires a match for a $4.1 million that we're going to be matching through our PTP. And just if you're keeping score at home, that so far we have received over a million dollars worth of grants for the design. Design $1 million. It's 95% completed. The construction phase, we have received $4.4 million direct appropriation through Congresswoman Salazar, federal appropriation. We then also received another $1 million FDOT LAP grant. And with this recent grant of 4.1 in our match, that means we have received $13.6 million for a roadway that's a county-owned roadway that the opinion of probable cause is approximately $24 million. So now we're negotiating, as you recall, almost about a year and a half ago, Mayor, remember, we met with Commissioner Cohen-Higgins and her staff looking for the rest of the funds for a joint participation agreement similar to what we've done with Frangio. Well, we're making the jobs a little bit easier, right? Because now the ask is only $10 million because we raised $13 million. So we're going to continue this conversation. It's been very, very positive with staff. And I know I've got another 30 seconds. I just want to thank Alfredo Quintero and Yanir and our team and our grants coordinator. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Ralph. All right. We have to go jump to our quasi-judicial hearing now. So, Mitchell, are you going to please read the quasi-statement?

All right, both of these quasi-judicial matters involve the same property and the same property owner. So I'll read the quasi-judicial statement, and then the clerk will swear the witnesses. Please be advised that the following items on the agenda are quasi-judicial in nature, and those are items 6A and 6B. If you wish to comment on any of these items, Please indicate the agenda item number you would like to address when the announcement regarding quasi-judicial items is made. An opportunity to speak on each item will be forwarded to individuals after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. All testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to be either cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given its due weight. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request that the council ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Full agenda packet on each item, town code of ordinances, and the town comprehensive plan is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the quadjudicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. Any lobbyist must register before addressing counsel on any of the quadjudicial items. Disclosure of pre-hearing transactions. Pursuant to Section 2-237, the Town Code of Ordinances, all applicants are required to disclose on the record whether any consideration, monetary or otherwise, has been paid or offered to or requested by any person or entity in exchange for any promise or agreement to support, oppose, or refrain from supporting or opposing any quasi-judicial agenda item or application. The disclosure shall include the person or entity to which such consideration was paid or offered or by which such request was made, whether the consideration was received and the position such person or entity agreed or promised to take. At this time, the clerk will swear in any persons who wish to testify on any quasi-judicial item.

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth to the best of your knowledge and belief? Thank you.

All right. The town clerk shall confirm receipt of any ex parte communications or disclosures that were received prior to this public hearing. Members of the council should disclose any ex parte communications that have not been previously disclosed for the record of this time.

Mr. Clark, if you could please, we'll take these two items up together. So if you could please read items...

6a. Resolution of the Mayor and the Town Council of the Town of Cutler Bay, Florida, approving a variance application by Gladelmis M. Martinez to allow a reduced interior size setback of 1 foot and 7 inches, where 5 feet are otherwise required, for the property located at 22042 Southwest 95 Place, property folio number 36-6016-010-0330, providing for conditions and providing for an effective date. 6b a resolution of the mayor of the town council of the town of cutler bay florida approving a variance application by gladys m martinez to allow a minimum spacing between buildings of two feet and six inches where ten feet are otherwise required for the property located at two two zero four two southwest ninety five place property folio number three six dash six zero one six dash zero one zero dash zero three three zero providing for conditions and providing for an effective date julian sir

Members of Council, tonight we have Julian Perez, our Planning and Zoning Director, to make the presentation.

Good evening, Mayors, members of the Council, Town Manager, Town Attorney, Clerk, members of the audience. My name is Julian Perez, and I'm the Planning and Zoning Director for the Town. As indicated by the clerk, there's two items here, two variances here. One is for interior size setback, and the other one is for minimum spacing between building setbacks. The analysis for the two items are very similar, except for when we look at the criteria, there's a section in the criteria that the interior versus the minimum spacing between building is a little bit different. So what I'm going to do for the record is I'm going to go ahead and do the first one. And then when I'm done, I'll go ahead and bring in the second one. I'll move all the information on the first variance into the second except for section b to maintain the record all right with that i'm going to go ahead and start my presentation something happened there here we go okay just give us a second here The presentation entails four, six sections that I want to cover. Number one is the interruption. Then there's an aerial photograph, then location map, feature line use, category, zoning district. This is all part of the record. Then we have the interior size setback variance request. This request is very similar to the minimum spacings between building. And I'll get to that in a second. And then obviously the variance criteria evaluation and if there's any questions and answers. The resolution as indicated by the clerk for this specific variance request is the request of this resolution is approving a variance application to allow a reduced interior size setback of one foot and seven inches where five feet are otherwise required for the property located at 22042 Southwest 95th Street. The public hearing, this public hearing for both application was advertised in the Miami Herald on July 5th on the neighbor section. Courtesy notices, unfortunate here, were not mailed out, but under Section 3-30, 11 d although the notices were not mailed out which is very important because nowadays you know not everybody is reading the paper like we used to some years ago uh the notices become uh very important so but at the same time this section also allows the council to move forward uh with uh listening to the application and you know doing your delivery as uh required by the variance process So, I just want to put that on the record in case there's any questions.

Julie, 1, 2, please. You mentioned street, but it's actually 95th place. 95th. Okay. I'm sorry. No, no, no. Okay. And if you can, the requirement for the notices, is it the applicant or the town?

No, it's the applicant that is responsible and for the records. Let me read the section. All right. The. The applicant shall mail the property owners a record within a 1,000-foot radius of the subject property scheduled for zoning workshop and public hearing before the Town Council. A courtesy notice. The failure to mail or receive such a courtesy notice shall not affect any action or proceeding taken by the Town Council.

Thank you, Jim.

You're welcome. The property was posted as required by the code on Thursday, July 6, at July 6, 2026. Here's a copy of an aerial photograph. And as you can see the white spot that is the pergola that is in question. go to the next slide that's the uh the uh the engineering site plan that was submitted to the department and that's where you see the uh the setback issue it's a little uh red box as we move forward uh you can see that the there's a general location of this property there's the flume category which is a low density and then the zoning district which is sr Now the intent of this variance is basically a request to legalize the construction of an existing pergola that was built without appropriate zoning and building permit approvals and resulted in a code compliance violation case number 022615026. If the variance request If the variance request is granted, the property owner will be allowed to initiate the process for and after the fact zoning and building permit to legalize an existing pergola into full compliance with section 355 of the town's land development regulation. With that, the department is required to evaluate the request based on the following variance criteria that are provided in our code. So the first criteria looks at the variance, whether the variance will result in a condition that maintains and are consistent in all materials respect with the intent and purpose of these regulations and that the general welfare stability and appearance of the community will be protected and maintained. The staff evaluated this criteria and for the record, the staff conclusion on this evaluation of this criteria reads as follows. Allowing encroachment into the interior site setback located on the rear of the property will impact the adjacent property owners due to the pergolas location near the shared property line could increase the potential for stormwater runoff until onto the neighboring property based on the information provided in the map of boundary survey prepared by online surveyors inc the subject property is in a a e flood zone part of fema special flood hazardous area And when we have a situation like this, we're very, very careful as we look at any variance, we look at any application, any site plan, any accessory use, because once you build in a special flat hazardous area, that can have multiple impacts on your surrounding area, as well as your own property, especially from a flood perspective. And that was a very serious concern that we had as we were looking at this request. Another impact is noise related noise related when you have a structure like this that is very close to your next door neighbor okay and you have an event any social event or anything like that and noise become starts becoming an issue for your neighbor then that's when we begin to have a lot of problems among neighbors and and so forth so we went ahead and we looked at that we looked at that distance between that boundary a property line and the next door and where the pergola was located so especially when property owners is having a social gathering okay this is where it becomes a problem or other events that generates more than normal noise levels from the pergola area which can become an issue for adjacent property And again, this is a concern that we try to look at when a project like this comes before us. And that's where we advise the property owner as to the design, as to the setbacks, and how can you build it in a way that you would avoid those problems later on. Because it becomes then later on a co-compliance issue. It is important to note that the property is not impacted by any unique features that would create a hardship upon the owner's ability to make full use of the property. This is another area that we look at very, very closely because if it's an irregular shaped lot or there's a problem that would prevent them from being able to build this pergola, then it's something that you can come before council, you can come before us and be able to justify that. The recommendation at this time regarding this criteria is as follows. For the foregoing reasons, the variance will result in conditions that do not maintain and are not consistent in all material respect with the intent and purpose of the town code and the general welfare stability and appearance of the community will be detrimentally impacted again with that you know it's looking at how something like this how we set precedence by approving something like this will have now an impact and how later on you know someone with the same issue will come back to us asking for the same thing criteria b is probably one of the criteria that we look at the most and let me go ahead and read that to you the variance will be compatible with the surrounding land uses the word is compatible the word is land uses okay and otherwise consistent with those with these regulations and the comprehensive plan the comprehensive plan and will not be detrimental to the community. Detrimental, that's the other word, okay? So the staff evaluation regarding this criteria will read as follows for the record. The proposed variance is not consistent with the SR zoning district setback requirements. Therefore, it is not compatible with the surrounding land uses. As indicated, the proposed variance impacts the adjacent property owner due to the pergolas proximity to the shared property line. All residential properties around this property must all abide by the minimum interior size spaces requirement. The recommendation, and this recommendation is the one that I just spoke about a few minutes ago, that it's going to be different than the next one coming up. And again, for the record, I want to go ahead and read this recommendation. Approval of this interior size setback variance will create a precedence. that compromises the reasonable setback requirements established by the town to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff from one property on to adjacent property. Also, it will negatively impact the existing natural drainage patterns that help water flow where it is intended. And this is one of the reasons why we want to make sure that you're meeting the log coverage requirement. We wanted to make sure that the rear, especially if you have a canal on the back, that the rear you have the sufficient amount of space for that water to be running up running right into uh the canal all right or be retained within the property also it will be negative impact the existing sorry it will negatively impact the existing natural drainage patterns that help water flow where it is intended rather than causing erosion or a nuisance flooding on adjacent property owner especially in an AE zone which is the which is one of FEMA's high risk flood zone designations the next criteria and final criteria that we look at and we evaluate pretty much has to do with the request of the variance is not based on economic disadvantage to the owner or occupant of the property upon which the variance is sought. All right. And again, the staff evaluation for the record is that the request is not based on an economic disadvantage to the owner or occupant of the property. The recommendation, again, as indicated, the purpose of the variance request is to initiate, and after the fact, a zoning and building permit process to legalize the existing pergola into full compliance with Section 3-552 of the Town Land Development Regulations. With that, that concludes the department's presentation, and the department's recommendation is denied. the second the second variance again uh pretty much and it's right it's part of your package and uh basically where the big difference is and again uh for the record uh will be criteria b and the reason why there's a difference it's not the same presentation this is another presentation but let me go ahead the reason why there's a big difference between the two here is that one is the interior size setback and the other one is a minimum spacing between the building setback variants staff evaluation for the record the proposed variance is not consistent again with the SR zoning district setback requirements therefore it is not compatible with the surrounding land uses as indicated the proposed variance impacts the adjacent property owner due to the pergola proximity to the shared boundary line. All residential properties around this property must abide by the minimum interior site spacing requirements. It is the recommendation that is the difference here. Approval of the variance will establish a precedence that compromise the town's compromise the town's minimum spacing between building requirements. The purpose of these requirements are to ensure the reasonable physical separation between homes and protect the previous areas that help control some water runoff and reduce flooding. Flooding or the concentration of stone water runoff against the adjacent neighbors foundation. Again, the department's position on this variance is also denial. At this time, if you have any questions, we'll be happy to address those questions. The applicant is here and probably would like to make a presentation.

Thank you very much. Can the applicant come forward for the presentation, please?

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. I would like to thank you for your time. My name is Gladys Martinez and I reside at 22042 Southwest 25th Place. I'm here to obtain a variant and obtain approval to legalize the pergola. When I had it installed, When I had it installed, I made sure to comply with all engineering code for the exception of the setbacks. I went out of my way to install gutters and a sod to ensure that the water runoff was in my property and it was not detriment to any of the neighbors. um i have a small really small yard and if the setback these setbacks i wouldn't be allowed to have a pergola i have a medical condition as you can see i'm fluorescently white i can't get any sun i have skin cancer and i get rashes so in order to be able to enjoy my backyard I need a pergola. I can't get any direct sun. So there's many structures like this similar in Cutler Bay. I have, they've been permitted and approved by the county and I'm granting, I'm kind of asking for an approval so that I can legalize the structure and be able to enjoy my backyard and grant me the after the fact permit approval so that I can legalize the pergola. and I greatly appreciate your time and your consideration.

All right. Thank you very much. Council, questions?

The pergola was done with, it's very elegant. It's not an eyesore. It's done with the utmost highest quality materials and all considerations for water runoff and all that was taken into consideration when it was installed.

I'm going to open a public hearing on this item. We shouldn't speak on the side and come forward. I'm closing the public hearing council questions. Councilman Susie Lord.

Hi, good evening. Thank you for coming before us with this. When was the pergola built?

It was built maybe six months ago.

Okay. And did you know that these setbacks were, so you didn't, I did not know the setbacks were required. And you had someone install this and they didn't check on the setbacks for you?

They didn't. That's why I'm here. I hired a contractor, a legit contractor, and he told me that all permits were pulled. almost i didn't know that had happened until i got a violation and i'm trying to here to legalize it because i'm already your contractor said that he pulled permits to do this pergola okay but everything was done to code and i submitted all the applications with our code compliance to the county of how it was installed and all the materials that it's called compliance the only thing that i'm not in compliance is with the setback but the pergola itself is code compliant

Right. I recognize that. And I appreciate that.

And the water runoff is also in compliance into my property.

Who says that water runoff is in compliance? It runs into my property. Who says that? You or an engineer?

No, the engineer that installed it. He installed it. He didn't pull the permits?

No. Right. All right. So here's my problem with this. And I'm not trying to beat you up on this, but I'm a military brat. We believe in rules. We believe in laws. Without them, we have anarchy. And I know that you feel like this pergola meets code, but it clearly doesn't, right? That's why I'm here to legalize it. I understand that, right? But... In the flood zone that you're in, one of our biggest concerns in Cutler Bay is flooding and water runoff and you're in a high flood zone area. We have a family in town that we have all dealt with on this council who feels like their neighbor's water isn't retained on their property and for years, years, she's been trying to get that fixed and she keeps running into walls. And so I'm I'm I have that knowledge of the other side of what your neighbor might might you know, maybe she hasn't he she he they haven't experienced that in the six months that this has been built. But it is a concern for us because we're here representing every resident, every home in Cutler Bay. We have flood mitigation rules and requirements in place for a reason. A piece of concrete that close to your neighbor's yard. I am not a specialist, but I can tell you in the work that we've done in flood mitigation, I would say to you that you're not retaining your stormwater. That's my personal belief. Also, the noise ordinance is a real issue.

I don't have any noise. I don't have any kids. I don't have anybody. I've been here for two years, and I don't have anybody come over my house. I have no noise in my house. When I get home, I want... peace and quiet i don't want any kind of noise the purpose of the pergola is so that i don't get any sun since i can't get any sun because i'm allergic to the sun and i have skin cancer so i appreciate the purpose it's not for any family events okay the noise ordinance is still there for a reason whether or not that you break it i'm not here the other thing is is i know perhaps you think you're going to be the

final owner of this home. Correct. Yes. But that may not be the cause. And then, you know, we're establishing a precedent here by potentially ignoring the very rules that this town has established to protect neighbors like yours. So your ask really undermines the integrities of our rules. And I understand your need for it. And I really hope that you can come to some sort of um arrangement in your backyard so you can get fresh air without getting direct sun i am a survivor of skin cancer i understand that okay so i'm i'm just not agreeable to it so i have pictures and permits of different properties that have the same pergola that has been approved on same size lots i have cases by cases

And they're all in the same municipality. They have the same flooding areas. So I wouldn't understand how all these, this is not one, these are several that were approved and mine isn't.

Julie, you want to comment on that?

Yes, I would recommend that she submit all that information to our co-compliance department. They will go out and investigate. At this time, I don't have any information regarding those burglars and whether or not they were approved. I mean, that's the only route.

Thank you, Mark. Councilman Ramirez.

Thanks for coming before us. There's several issues here that and the main 1 council member Lord said was was precedents setting a precedence because if if we were to prove this. We open up a floodgate of people doing whatever they want, whenever they want. And again, not blaming you. I highly blame your contractor and then whoever installed it and whoever gave you the information and told you that they got permits. Unfortunately, I'm going to use this word. They lied to you. Okay. That's something that you're going to have to deal with with them. My recommendation probably get them to move it to where it's supposed to be on their dime, not on yours.

It won't be able to. I don't think there's not enough space because 10 feet from the house puts the pergola in the middle of the lake. Well, there's not enough property line.

That I can't fix for you either.

So that means that a person with the property size that I have, I can't have a pergola because I have to put it in the middle of the lake? I don't think that's... I'm trying to hear my hardest to legalize this pergola.

I get it.

With all type of engineering work, I will cover all the costs with all kinds of reports that you would like regarding the runoff, regarding the structure. I can cover it. I just need to be given the approval to be able to legalize this structure.

The issue is more than just you wanting to pay to get all these things taken care of. It really is. And it's going to set a standard that that is going to hurt our other residents down down the road residents that have realized in the same structure and the same size property. He's already explained to you that you can submit that that information to him and will our code compliance guys will go out and they'll, they'll reevaluate that too. You know, maybe, maybe they do or don't have permits or whatever the case may be. We, we don't know that yet. And he doesn't even know that yet because he wasn't aware of that, but he will do his due diligence and he'll get people out to take a look at it. But I have a question for you, Julian. You said and it says in the writing there that the notification of neighbors within 1000 feet are required. But then down the road in that thing, it basically says if they don't do it, oh, well.

right correct that's the way that the uh the regulation is written um and uh i think that when it was written like that it was to create flexibility uh because sometimes you know like in this case over here that it was not sent it was not sent on time it was not sent but at the same time you know the council as well as the applicant you know have that also flexibility to move forward and listen to it and make a determination, yes or no, or let's defer, whatever determination is made. And I think that's the reason why they brought that flexibility into it. The other thing that I said was that courtesy notices nowadays are very important. Probably 10 years ago, it was not because everybody read the paper, okay? But nowadays, that's not the case. Everything is electronically, all right? And that gives an opportunity to that neighbor that may be impacted by this pergola to come here before you and state out their position. whether it is against it concerned or in favor and at least you know we have a neighbor that has expressed their opinion and if it's a yes you know that's another thing for the council to consider if it's a no that's another uh you know uh evidence that he puts on the record that you you have to consider in this type of form all right uh but uh but yes you can move forward that's that's my answer thank you all right councilman duncan you recognize thank you mr mayor thank you for for coming before us this evening um i'm very sympathetic to the situation that you find yourself in um

considering that you were taken advantage of by a contractor who essentially lied, said they pulled permits, because had they pulled the permit, then they would have known in that moment before any of the work was done that it would have been a violation of the current code within that property, within that neighborhood district, within everything. My big concern, and I will kind of echo the sentiments that my colleagues have said, The two biggest concerns I have with this specific application are setting a precedence, meaning that if this is approved today in this very specific instance, then in the future, this council or any other future council could be asked for the exact same variances in similar situations, and they would then have, hey, look, well, you approved this, even though it was completely, you know, we're looking at going from five feet to one foot seven or from 10 feet to two foot six. So these are very big variance asks. If your specific property cannot have that size pergola because of the limitations of the size of the yard, then had the process been done the correct way by your contractor, then perhaps they could have redesigned a smaller pergola or a different location. So I'm very sympathetic that this contractor has taken advantage of you um i'm also very weary of setting up a situation in which a neighbor whether it's your neighbor or in a future instance where perhaps a variance is requested for the same reasons and their neighbor uh has any sort of a negative impact to them that they have no say over you know so i'm very much so am for you being able to do what you want to your personal property But as Councilmember Lord, Councilmember Ramirez said, we do have to kind of stay within the constraints that the town code provides. And I hope that... no matter what happens here during this hearing, that you have the opportunity to rectify this with your contractor financially and or legally, because they're the ones that have really set you up in this situation and have kind of put you in this spot where now you're in violation of a code that it's going to be very difficult to kind of, from the town standpoint, to justify doing anything about. So thank you.

So you guys are declining for me to get an approval to legalize the program?

Go forward at this point. Is there any additional comments? No. All right. Thank you for your presentation. We do appreciate it. All right. With that.

For the record, 10 feet, you can't have any size pergola. So that means anybody with the size of my house can put not even an inch pergola. So that mandates is you can't, that means nobody can have a pergola in the backyard, which is not the case because, again, I have one, two, three, All these properties have a permitted pergola, exactly like mine.

Okay, I'm going to ask you to go ahead and submit those to Julian. We'd appreciate that. Any additional comments? With that, looking for a motion on this item, approve or disapprove?

So moved.

Motion to disapprove.

Is that a motion to deny the requested variances on both? On both. Looking for a second?

Second. So what do I do now? Do I get an attorney to fight this case?

Oh, that's quasi. Roll call vote, please.

So what's the next step?

We're voting on it right now. I'm voting over it.

Huh?

Voting on it right now and voting vote. You can speak with Julian or... to discuss what the next steps may be after this. Okay. After we vote.

Council Member Duncan? Yes. Council Member Ramirez? Yes. Council Member Lord?

Yes. Mayor Mayerbot? Yes. Motion passes. Motion passes tonight. All right. I suppose your item did not pass. You can talk to Julian about what the next steps are.

so if i find an exact pergola approved by the county and it was the same as mine would it be called discrimination i'm just asking for for records to get an attorney because if they have the same pergola again that somebody else has approved by the county please again the item's already been voted on and it is done you are more than welcome to talk to julian to discuss with the next steps and whatever you need to do thank you all right i'm gonna open the floor for public comments at this time comments

Is that? Yeah, I know. I'm going to do that.

Thomas Tomlin 1, 9, 6, 4, 1, Holly road over the weekend. I visited the culture rich park and saw several areas where the park was showing its age. I sent an email to the town council and manager Monday night and just passed by the park again tonight. When I visit again, I saw that town staff had already begun to paint the curbs and bathrooms, which were a couple areas that I identified. I'd like to thank the council manager and the parks interact department for the great responsiveness and for ensuring that our parts continue to be a great gathering spot for all color Bay residents. Thank you.

Anybody else? Barbara?

Hello.

Barbara Condon, 19641 Holiday Road. I was talking to someone last night who we were talking about the Towns Park Okay, what are we talking about? The town's park master plan. That master plan is like 15 years old or something. We didn't have a lot of the parks we have now when that master plan was put together. And I'd just like to suggest that you do another one. Thank you.

Anybody else? All right, public comments is now closed. We're going to go back to Ralph. You completed your town manager.

Yes, sir. Yes.

That takes us to the town attorney's report. No report. That takes us to the town clerk's report.

Just a quick announcement. Qualifying does start next week on the 23rd at noon and ends on August 6th at noon. So for those of you that already have filed initial paperwork, you can come into the office and file whatever is left. For those of you that have not, well, now is your time to do it.

Thank you very much. All right, if you could please read item 11a, please.

A resolution of the Mayor and the Town Council of the Town of Keller Bay, Florida, determining the proposed millage rate and the date, time, and place for the first and second public budget hearings as required by law, directing the Town Clerk and Town Manager to file this resolution, if required, with the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, authorizing the Town Manager to change budget hearing dates if needed, and providing for an effective date.

All right, thank you very much.

Ralph, sir.

Thank you, members of council. As we do on an annual basis, this resolution is to set the ceiling millage rate. The ceiling millage rate that is being recommended to set is at 2.9143, 2.9143. And then also setting the two state mandated hearing dates and times. The first budget hearing will be held on Tuesday, September the 8th at 6 p.m. at this room, town hall, council chambers. And the second budget hearing will be a Tuesday, September 22nd at 6 p.m. So those two are the hearing dates and the ceiling is at 2.9143.

right and just a reminder this is the requirement that we set a ceiling doesn't mean we're going to be setting it at 2.913 um it's a requirement by the state that we set the maximum so any discussion on this item if not looking for a motion for approval so moved so we have motion by uh councilman ramirez looking for a second my second second my councilman lord all favor say aye all right it's just item 11b

A resolution of the mayor and the town council of Calgary, Florida, making findings and designating the real property generally located on Southwest 216 street between Southwest 88, Southwest 93rd path and identified as folio number 3, 6, 6, 0, 1, 6, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 7 as a brownfield area pursuant to. 376.80 Florida statutes for purposes of environmental rehabilitation, job creation, and economic development, providing for authorization, and providing for an effective date.

All right. Thank you, Ralph.

Mayor, as a council, we've heard before a couple times already, you know, the word brownfield, right? So this is going to be a case where it's going to be a privately designated brownfield. We have Mr. Brett Brumman from the Goldstein Law Firm here representing the developer. So, Brett, welcome.

good evening mayor members of the council town staff my name is brett brummond with the goldstein environmental law firm we have offices at 2100 ponce de leon boulevard and coral gables i'm here on behalf of the applicant treyo mp cutler bay llc so this is the first of two public hearings to consider a resolution that would create a new brownfield area at this property to address some of the environmental complications resulting from the historical use of both this property and the region at large We have provided notice in coordination with the town of this hearing through publication in the Miami Herald local section, signed, posted on site, as well as a notice posted on the town bulletin board. We've also held a community meeting on June 22nd at Cornerstone Church across the street from Legacy Park. We've had no community members attend that community meeting, but we did receive some email outreach from a neighbor who was walking and spotted our sign. So we provided some information to him by email. Again, the property is located on Southwest 216th Street. This council is familiar with the project. I believe a modification to a declaration of restrictive covenant for the development was approved at the June Town Council meeting. It is a single parcel, roughly 18.5 acres in size. It is zoned Neighborhood Center 2 with a future land use designation of mixed use. I'll be light on the Brownfields discussion as I know this council in the town is very familiar, but the Brownfields program was really established to allow property owners to address contamination caused by somebody else in the past with the assistance of state incentives that come in no cost to the town. And essentially it's a tool for property owners to leverage state funding and bring state funding into their project to mitigate the cost of doing the environmental cleanup and reinvest those funds back into their projects. In Florida, we have two definitions, a brownfield, which really describes the concept of a property that is contaminated and complicated, where redevelopment is complicated, and a brownfield area, which is what is created by resolution, sort of a mini economic development district within which property owners can access these state incentives. Now, looking back at the history of the property, this image is from either 1963 or 1968, and it really shows the extent of the row crop cultivation in the area. There was also this interesting use in the middle of the image that was possibly an agricultural staging area or a military facility for satellite tracking, although these contaminants that we're seeing here are really consistent with the agricultural use, but a very interesting use in the area back in the 50s and 60s. And now the site assessment here has been going on for a very long time and it's likely a major reason why this property has not been developed in so long. Just like many other properties we see in Cutler Bay, arsenic is the primary containment of concern, both in soil and groundwater. It is a naturally occurring, contaminant in Miami-Dade County, but it's also a component of historically used pesticides and herbicides. I do want to highlight that it is in both soil and groundwater here. The groundwater data does indicate the impacted groundwater is retained within the property and is not leaching into the lake or northwards across the street. However, during redevelopment Groundwater will be monitored to ensure that construction activities don't disturb the plume. And here we're fortunate that the grade of the property is being raised significantly. So many of these subsurface structures will be in that clean fill that's imported to the site. Soil will also be managed under a soil management plan that will be approved by Miami-Dade County Derm to ensure that any impacted soil that is disturbed during development is properly managed and either disposed off site or retained on site beneath an approved engineering control. And for any contaminants that will remain on site, Miami-Dade County will require a declaration of restrictive covenant or a deed restriction that ensures both the current property owner and future property owners maintain those controls, be them groundwater use restrictions or engineering control caps in perpetuity or be subject to enforcement. The redevelopment of the property is very exciting. The applicant is proposing a mixed-use project with residential, medical office space, and retail and restaurant. And modifications to that Declaration of Restricted Recompense were previously approved for this current configuration of the project, which has changed significantly over time from when the project was first proposed many years ago. So some of the more exciting components are the residential. We're looking at 322 total units with 120 units set aside for seniors. There will also be workforce housing available, as well as priority units for essential workers, which includes law enforcement, fire department, healthcare providers, and educational staff, as well as military housing units. We're also, the applicant's proposing 25,000 square feet of medical office space and 24,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. as well as a 3.4 acre linear park with lighting and exercise equipment. So this designation process requires two public hearings to consider a single resolution and consideration of five objective criteria that are set forth by statute. So touching on them all very briefly, the first is that the property owner or someone who controls the property must request a designation. They must also agree to redevelop it and they must enter into a cleanup agreement with, in this case, Miami-Dade County. The second requirement is that the rehabilitation result economic productivity and create at least five jobs. And here I believe the applicant expects to create up to 174 permanent jobs on site at the commercial aspects of the project as well as operation of the residential components. The redevelopment is also consistent with the town's comprehensive plan and the town's land development regulations. And that is the case here as evidenced by our June 17th town council meeting where that declaration of restricted covenant was approved consistent with the proposed development. Notice must also be provided in accordance with statutory requirements for publication and posting, and the applicant must give those receiving notice an opportunity to ask questions, provide suggestions, and here the applicant satisfied those requirements. We are also in communication with the Old Cutler Lakes by the Bay Community Association. We will also be forming a brownfield advisory committee that will be incorporated into the brownfield site rehabilitation agreement. We have two members currently from the community association who will be participating as well as a representative from town staff so we can ensure that information on the cleanup, the site assessment and the remedial action are conveyed to the to the community throughout the process. And finally, the applicant has provided reasonable assurance that they have sufficient financial resources available to complete the cleanup and redevelopment. The applicant has provided a summary of their funding sources and their uses of that funding in our application package. That I'm available. Oh, sorry. And then we have a, sorry, one more public hearing scheduled for the September 16th town council meeting. And that at that time would be asked, we would ask for your approval of the resolution. So the applicant can move forward to the cleanup agreement phase with Miami-Dade County Derm.

That can answer any questions. Thank you.

Council questions. None. Looking for a motion on this item. So moved. We have a motion by councilwoman Lord for a second.

Second.

Second by Council Member Ramirez. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

All right, just one real quick thing. We had our workshop last week, and after the, we had one item that was presented, and it was a very short item, and we had to wait until 6.30 to start our review because of our agenda just was very specific that our session would begin at 6.30. I'm just proposing, you know, I'd like to be efficient. We could have saved the 20 minutes. So, just want to make a proposal that we change the agenda for our workshops instead of saying that the review of the application will begin at 630. I'd like to change it to the review of the application will begin immediately following the public presentation. So, any objections to that? No, if we could go ahead and move forward the resolution on our own. I'd appreciate it. Consent agenda.

Do you want to just make a motion to change the agendas for

The workshops. Looking for a motion to make that change. So moved. Are there any motions for a second?

I second.

You have a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. That's changed. All right. Great. All right. The only item we did not cover, consent agenda. Any additions, deletions?

No.

If not, looking for a motion to approve.

I approve. I move it.

Motion to approve the consent agenda. Looking for a second. Second. Second by Councilman Duncan. All in favor say aye.

Aye. All right.