City Council - Special Meeting

You guys are going to beat the hell out of me again.

We want to acknowledge all the parents too.

I know that without you, a lot of you getting into the practice, getting in that moment, encouraging them, they would not be here. One of the parents here tonight, a critical part of the team and their success. And on to the program, what was it? And we want to come back and display whatever banners, ribbons, and trophies you've earned.

Please come back after July, and we'd be happy to celebrate with you again. Thank you to my colleagues who have joined in this funding.

Am I next?

You're next. We'll give you the real check. Don't take the fake check. Take pictures with it, but don't take it.

Good evening everyone congrats again boys and best of luck definitely take the mayor up on that and come back and share all of your accomplishments because i'm sure that regardless of what you win or lose it is going to be an amazing experience. So next up sorry. It feels like we haven't had an artist in the spotlight for a while, but it is my pleasure to introduce this month's artist in the spotlight, and he was well worth the wait. We have a little video, but in the meantime, I wanted to invite Rodney Royal up. He is this month's artist in the spotlight. is amazing with color. He highlights the power of creativity through storytelling and art. And we're just so excited to be able to tie this in with all the amazing Black History programs that we have going on, as well as Art Walks, Art in the Park, which is this coming Saturday, the 28th. So the 24th is the Artists in the Spotlight, Seminole Theater, don't miss it. And if you want to come join me, we've got a brief video for you to see a little more of Mr. Royal's work. So sorry. I misspoke. It is the 26th, the 26th at 6pm Seminole Theater. If you haven't joined us for one of the artists in the spotlight, it is really nice. We have partnered this is going to be 16 years. Previous Councilman Shelley started the program. I was so honored to take it over. It's been 16 years now that we're supporting local artists. So if you haven't been out, please do. And without further ado, I'll let Mr. Royal tell you a little more about himself.

Good evening, everyone. As you were told, my name is Roddy Royal. I'm a local artist born and raised right here in Miami, Florida. I'm a self-taught artist. And I'm also one half of a nonprofit that my wife and I started titled One Royal Effect, which stands for Reaching Out to Youth Through Art and Literacy. I'm excited to be the artist in the spotlight. I can't wait. for you all to see the work that I've put together. And as you told, it's going to be on display for three months. So and also on the 28th, I'll be doing a live mural at the Arts in the Park right here at Larsen Park. So come on out. And, you know, I'm excited for you all to see the work that I've put together. And thank you again.

Thank you. Councilman Roth.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening, everyone. That's better. There's a lot of youth in here. There's like no excitement. I'm going to be doing a proclamation of condolences for a gentleman I got to spend some time with on his 99th birthday a couple of years ago. I'd like to invite Jason Neimark to come up here. Jason, you're the commander of the American Legion. OK, good. So I'm going to put you on the spot. I'm going to let you read this proclamation of indulgences for Frenchie.

The City of Homestead proclamation of condolences. Councilman Larry Roth and the City of Homestead would like to extend our deepest condolences for the loss of the late Hilo Frenchie LaChapelle, most remembered for his contributions to the betterment of our city that will be remembered for years to come. His passing is a loss, not only for his loved ones, but for the entire community. Whereas, born February 16th, 1925 in Newport, Rhode Island, Frenchy was more than a long-time member of our post, he was family. Just last year, our post and the entire community proudly came together to celebrate his 100th birthday, a milestone that reflected a life lived fully boldly and with joy. We were already in the midst of planning his 101st celebration and the thought that he will not be there in person is deeply felt. by all who knew him, whereas Frenchy was a regular and cherished presence at the post, usually with a screwdriver or a glass of wine in his right hand, up until the week before his passing. He never met a stranger, only friends he hadn't laughed with yet. His quick wit, endless jokes, and unmistakable smile filled our post with warmth. His vitality and love of life were an inspiration to everyone around him. Whereas, Frenchy's life of service to this nation is nothing short of extraordinary. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 as a seaman and trained in Newport, Rhode Island, before deploying to Nova Scotia and then Iceland. There, assigned to a PWI Catalina aircraft squadron, he patrolled the North Atlantic, hunting German U-boats, successfully engaging and sinking several in defense of freedom. He later continued anti-submarine patrols from Wales and the English Channel in preparation for D-Day, flying those dangerous missions and against striking enemy submarines.

Whereas, Frenchy went on to serve as a B-24 bomber, waist gunner, before transferring to the Pacific Theater.

From an aircraft carrier, he flew combat bombing missions in support of the invasion of Okinawa until the end of World War II. His courage earned him numerous awards for valor in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, including a presidential citation. Whereas, when war again called, Frenchy answered. During the Korean War, he served as a B-29 gunner with the Army Air Corps, once again earning awards for valor. After his military service, he continued a life of hard work and leadership as he joined the U.S.

Merchant Marine, rising from mate to captain.

Whereas in retirement in Homestead, Florida, he remained active, working on private yachts, joining the Woodworking Guild, and crafting beautiful wooden gifts for members of Post 43 that will now stand as lasting reminders of his generosity. Whereas, Frenchy upheld the highest traditions of honor, service, friendship, and patriotism. He was a veteran, a hero, a craftsman, a storyteller, and a friend to all. President Ronald once said, heroes may not be braver than anyone else, they're just braver five minutes longer. Frenchie LaChapelle lived those five minutes again and again, across two wars, a lifetime of service, and a century of living with heart and humor. Though he has answered his final roll call, his legacy will forever live on in this post, in our community, and in the freedoms he helped secure. Now, therefore, I, Stephen Lozener, Mayor of the City of Homestead, Florida, do hereby proclaim August 20th, 2025, as a day of remembrance for Hilo, Frenchie, LaChapelle, and Homestead.

Good job. So I'd like to bring up all your American Legion family to take a picture with us. This was his family. I'm sure he spent many, many days there. As you said, he had a screwdriver or a glass of wine in his right hand. Was there a reason for the right hand?

No?

He was writing.

He was writing. OK.

Yes, in the VFW. Oh, in VFW, if you're here. Yeah, sure.

And then my colleagues, if you'd like to join us for a picture. Present this to you guys. I was going to do the patient. Great, thank you.

I just had on a personal note I met Frenchy several years ago in the context of him being a client and then many many times after that at various Memorial Day and Veterans Day events both in our park downtown and at the VFW and invited him and he actually led the pledge of allegiance here at the swearing-in ceremony for the mayor and council in 2023 it was certainly our honor to have someone of his distinction and longevity and service to our country lead us in the pledge to the flag that that evening so it's uh very meaningful for all of us here So again, thank you all for coming and congratulations to all who we have recognized and their families and friends and coaches and parents, however you're related, however you do, any of the folks that we were recognizing this evening and certainly the artistic talent. So this will conclude the presentation ceremony and we will convene first our local planning agency meeting in just a couple of minutes and then move into the council meeting. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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Thank you. Thank you.

Ready, Madam Clerk? Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome. I'd like to call the City of Homestead Local Planning Agency meeting to order. Today is Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, and it is now 5.45 p.m. We have a roll call, please.

Here. Member Canabal. Board Member Roth? Here. Board Member Konske? Here. Board Member Fletcher? Here. Chairwoman Bailey? Here. Chairman Lozner?

Here.

Ex-officio Lawrence Ventura?

All right, do we have any additions, deletions, or deferrals from this LPA agenda tonight? Seeing none, Mr. White?

Yes, moving on to your quasi-judicial agenda, you have one item this evening. Please be advised that this item is quasi-judicial. If you wish to comment upon this item, please. Please indicate the item number you would like to address when the announcement regarding this case is made. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swearing in, 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 either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given to DOE. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the local planning agency to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Full agenda packet on this item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the Quayside judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with Code Section 2-590, any lobbyists must register before addressing the local planning agency on the following item. At this time, the local planning agency members must disclose any ex parte communications concerning tab 1, card number 4915, on this evening's quasi-agenda.

Well, in unanimity as to disclosure with respect to tab 1, yes, indicate all.

At this time, I'd ask the clerk to swear on any person who wishes to testify on any quasi-judicial item. So anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak on tab one, please stand, raise your right hand to be sworn.

Do you hereby swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help me God? I do. Thank you. You may be seated.

Tab one, car number 4915. It's an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida approving the rezoning as requested by Bama LLC and Penco LLC in approximately 62.35 acre parcel land from agricultural AU zoning district to one family, one half acre estate, A2 zoning district. for the property generally located south of Southwest 296th Street, north of 302nd Street, and west of Southwest 192nd Avenue, Tower Road, as legally described in Exhibit A, providing for conflict, severability, and providing for an effective date.

Okay, thank you. Let's let the record reflect that Board Member Canabal has joined us. Do you need to disclose ex parte discussion with respect to Tab 1? No? Okay. All right, so if there are no objections, let's waive the staff report and go directly to the presentation by the applicant. Yeah, okay. Cannonball is disclosing on tab one.

Good evening. Good evening. So, obviously, this, uh, you are the 7 and 1 Berkeley Avenue joined today by my partner, Alex areas as well as, uh. Team members from when our homes, thank you all for your time. Obviously, this will hopefully, um. Take place or take the place of the next meetings presentation. This is the same. Uh, presentation, um, that we've walked through all of the walk through with all of you earlier today and yesterday. Um. With the next site, so this is an approximately 62 acre site on the Southwest corner of 192nd Avenue 296 street, going all the way out to the Western edge of this property, which is the Western edge actually your city boundaries. And so we're right at the edge. What you see up there as an aerial is somewhat fitting. What we're seeking to do is very similar in. Character nature to the community that's under development just South of. Our parcel, um, which was approved by this council a couple of years ago, and it's under construction currently, um, both that community in this community consists of the state homes. Um, and as I'll walk you through, we're not seeking any change to the underlying land use. We're seeking. Density beyond what your master plan already provides for today. We are simply seeking your 1st reading approval to rezone the property consistent with. The property to the South and the properties to the East and the more established part of. Homestead consists of 2 parcels, 2 separate owners. That's why you see the panko and the parcels are owned by 2 different entities. Um. Existing future land use designation state density again, your master plan permits for up to 2 and a half dwelling units per acre. That's there today. We're not asking to change that. We're not asking to increase that. We are living within the, the. Confines of that, which has been in your master plan since at least 2000. 5 or 6, which is the most the last big rewrite that I can see online for your master plan. Existing zoning classification is agriculture. That obviously happens all over both your city and the county, the land uses for residential development. Until the properties reason for a development until there's going to be homes on it, or in other cases, when something's going to become a business or shopping center, whatever the case may be. Many folks maintain the agricultural zoning that. You know, has been on the property for a long, long time. And in fact, these properties were farmed for a long, long time. And I know some of you have experience knowing that some of the farmers and the folks that work this, but obviously these farmers have not decided to enter the contract and wish to sell. And so we would seek to change that zoning classification from the existing agriculture to the A2 category that your code provides for. Again, no proposed changes to the land use. Curiously, even though the community to the east that you see there in the darker yellow is low density, which would actually allow up to six units to the acre, the zoning there is consistent with ours. So even though that Underlying land use provides for up to 16 to the acre. The zoning is actually a 2, the same thing that we are asking for. In a different time in the world, that community could have been developed or that area could have been developed with greater density, but it was not. Um, we're not seeking to match that 6. we're staying within the 2 and a half billion units per acre. And in fact, we're closer to 2, 1.98. Um, a lot of what I'm going to tell you this evening. Refers specifically to the land use change the 1st reading of the land use change, which is just the 1st vote on on rezoning this property to a 2. We have obviously taken the opportunity to sit with you and we've talked a little bit about what you'll see in the concurrent forthcoming applications, which is going to be the 2nd rezoning the site plan approval tentative plot. We'll get into those details next month. Um, I know we've had some conversations and some valuable feedback over the last couple of days. We'll, you know, get to work on some of those answers and whatever. Um, you see next month will hopefully reflect some of those conversations that we've had. But again, today for 1st reading, we're, we're, we're focusing our analysis on what you have before you is an analysis to change the land use. Um, you also have that tab 6 is the reason you also have to have 7, which is the city approval. Of a school proportionate share agreement, which is. Correct right? No, no, I'm sorry. Correct. That is not on the agenda, but since I don't think they're going to want to hear from me entirely, I won't get into it when tab 7 comes up. I'm happy to come back up, but it is. The same piece of property, and I have one presentation, so I wanted to just highlight that for you here. Um, here is, um, again, you know, similar aerial in here. We, we kind of do math. I had someone else do it because lawyers don't do math. But I can tell you that for the property that we're proposing 119 units for our density is just a tick under 2 that community to the South is just a notch over 2. So, again, very consistent, nearly the same kind of density, if anything, very, very slightly less density. But again, compatible and consistent, which is the. I think the framework within which we're discussing this application today. Some of the your own staff's, um, acknowledgement of where we're at and then what is around us and again, um, what is around this principally to the South and to the East, which are your cities only categories, the 2 sort of middle lines there and say, South and East. You'll see that the zoning that we're adjacent to is a 2, which is what we're asking for. So we're asking for the exact same Sony. Category that your own city properties enjoy and then the county has a different. Uh, terminology, and so there are other properties, but they're all the state homes and we noted previously to some of you and in the aerial there is a, an additional parcel that is outside the city limits that will be part of this development. It'll also be developed with the state home. So when I show you some pictures, it'll be the same homes being developed. So, again, um, this is the approved aspen estates, um, development. And what you'll see next month of the additional approved applications is the same request that you'll see from from us that that they got approved. And the same that we're seeking 1st reading approval for today is exactly. Um, they got exactly what we're requesting, uh, previously. Um. The compatibility again, that that buzzword obviously is fairly simple to make here today. We're actually matching exactly. So sometimes compatibility can be a little more nuanced. You are here and you're trying to argue that what we're proposing is. Close to, but maybe it's not the same. And in this case, it actually is the exact same category. And I think your staff report for that reason. Does recommend approval of the proposed rezoning. Based on consistency with a comprehensive plan, um, obviously all of your departments have weighed in. Um, we have no, no issues with water and sewer availability. We have no issues, um, addressed any traffic concerns. We've, we've gone through that exercise before even being able to get the 1st reading. Although many of those, of course, are going to be more site plan related. Um, but, uh, nevertheless, we, we couldn't even come to the 1st reading until we knew that we could address all of SAS comments. And so, um. just because pretty pictures are better than listening to me, just some of the homes that will be on this site if this project moves forward at first reading today and then next month and some of the architecture and we'll dive into this in more detail next month and be able to show you any of the questions and maybe drill down a little bit into anything else that you want to see. Pretty straightforward, you know, the one request this evening to rezone the property. And so I'm happy to answer any questions, reserve any time in case there's any questions from the from the audience. Otherwise, I would urge you to follow the staff's recommendation this evening and vote on first reading to recommend rezoning to A2 and happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Arza. Are there any questions or comments from the members of the board on this rezoning application? All right, so let me open public comments on this item. Is there any member of the public, either online or in the audience, who would like to speak to this item? Okay, seeing none. Go on down and give us your name and address and you keep it under three minutes. You can pull the microphone down so we can hear you. There we go.

Good afternoon. My name is Jessica. My address is in Homestead, zip code 33030. Sorry, I get a little nervous speaking in public. I object to converting agricultural land to residential Because agricultural zoning is not interchangeable once farmland is lost. It is effectively permanent and the city of homestead agriculture land. Provides flood absorption, food production, capacity and land use balance. That dense development cannot replace before eliminating 64 acres of agricultural land. The city, the city should demonstrate a clear public necessity and show why existing residentially zoned land cannot meet meet growth needs. Without that showing this rezoning is not in the long term public interest. What this analysis shows is that land is expendable rather than essential to the city's long-term resilience. Thank you.

Thank you, uh, let me give Mr ours of the opportunity to respond and then we'll open it if he chooses to do so. And then we'll open it up for further questions or comments from county mayor.

I'll be brief. I mean, and I touched on the topic because of the zoning category that exists today. Um, but, um, again, I mean, your city has actually conducted. The need and feasibility study, the property has an estate density classification. Um, it's intended for development up to 2 and a half 20 units per acre. That's been in the books for 20 plus years. The property has not yet been developed. This reasoning is required to do so, but the property is not long term designated for agriculture. In fact, there is no property within the city borders that are long term agricultural. They may have zoning on them, but your master plan. You know, provides for within your city limits for there to be commercial and residential development and the like at different densities for this parcel for, um, over 20 years, this parcel has been designated for the state density. No, more than 22 and a half dollars per acre. So, um, that analysis that needs analysis and it's, it's, you know, it's a good question actually has been done. That is your adopted master plan that designates and says, in this area, when it gets developed, it should be developed consistent with. This master plan, and that is what we're doing. We're not seeking to change the master plan. We're seeking to build within it. So hopefully that addresses the question. And but obviously, if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer.

Okay, thank you. Council or board members any questions? Are you there? the objector or Mr. Arza. Just out of academic curiosity, and if you can't tell me, I get it. Obviously, this came into the city by annexation in the early 2000s, at least 20 years ago. Obviously, it came in as agriculture. Did the county have it planned under their guidelines for residential? Yes. It came into the city with that overlay, with those rights attached.

And I can say that with academic certainty because the county only has one location in the entire county where there is agricultural land use, and that is forest country. So if you're between Byrd and Sunset, between the Turnpike and 127th Avenue, And you look at a master plan map of Miami-Dade County, that is the only land inside the urban development boundary that is land use ag. So there, you would have to change the land use to allow residential and then rezone it. Here, both in the county's records previously and when the city annexed it, it was always intended because it's at the edge with the state density. I mean, it wouldn't be a good location for high density.

I just wanted to put that on the record that it came to us With those with those rights attached right like it or not those those rights were We're attached if there's no further questions from members of the board. I would entertain a motion on this item I'd like to move the item moved by councilman cannibal We have a second by the vice mayor. There's nothing further from members of the board. Let's have a roll call vote on the rezoning.

Board member Canabal? Yes. Board member Konski? No. Board member Fletcher? Yes. Board member Roth? Yes. Board member Avila?

No.

Vice chairwoman Bailey?

Yes.

Chairman Lossman?

Yes.

The motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Arza. All right, tab two, Mr. White.

Yes, moving on to legislative matters this evening, 1 item tab to car number 4876. It's an ordinance of the city of homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 30 zoning article for supplemental district regulations. Division 2 off street parking to modify regulations and standards related to the temporary parking of boats. and further establishing regulations concerning parking within the private right-of-way permitted within private residential developments, providing for severability, providing for inclusion of the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Board Member Avila, I think this is your item. Would you like to present it, please?

Thank you, Mayor. This item is essentially putting the power and authority for enforcing parking and boat storage within gated communities into the hands of the residents and the homeowners that it affects. As most of us know, homeowners associations have secondary levels of rules and guidelines that residents have to abide by, some very strict guidelines, to say the least. And so we find that in specific to parking and boat storage, that there's an incompatibility with regards to our code and what are the needs of the association, because in addition to THE CODE REQUIRING OR ALLOWING FOR BOAT STORAGE IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE PROPERTY, THESE LOT SIZES ARE TYPICALLY SMALLER THAN WHAT MOST AREAS LIKE IN THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST HAVE. SO WE NEED TO HAVE LIKE A MIDDLE GROUND. SO ON BEHALF OF THE ASSOCIATIONS, I'M PRESENTING THIS CODE AMENDMENT CHANGE TO ALLOW THE ASSOCIATION BOARD OF HOMEOWNERS TO BE THE AUTHORITY AND THE the say in the end as to any code violations for boat and parking so that's what this item is for and i would love the support of my colleagues and this code this code change effectively would would only be a challenge for those within gated communities and it is again giving more power to the people there thank you thank you uh any questions or initial comments from the the board vice chair thank you mayor

i see the need for that i think that the only concern is um and i'm picturing the few gated areas that i frequent is where that parking would take place i've heard often that the garbage trucks can't get through or once in a while the emergency vehicles so i just want to make sure that that's been looked at well and that we don't see there being an issue an issue with that

Good good point vice mayor so, for example, in one of the communities that i'm aware of that has had issues with code enforcement they don't allow both storage. In front of their homes Okay, however there's no room in the side or in the backyard to store the boats either and that's also not allowed for the association. But during a small period of time during the summer when voting is typically popular the associations will allow them to park their boat in their driveway, which becomes a violation of code. So simply that example where they are not blocking anyone on the street, any emergency vehicles, it's a code violation. So this would provide the solution for that.

Any further? I don't know that that answered your question. I mean, we've got two separate silos here. We have boat storage. And we have general parking on private rights of way, which I think you were focused on, which is not seasonal. Right.

Thank you, Mayor. I can I can talk to the parking as well. So in addition to parking, street parking is actually the requirement when you don't have enough room in your parking in your driveway to park. So this would actually relieve on street parking because it would allow more vehicles to park in their driveway without being ticketed or cited for being partially on the sidewalk. And so in these In these gated communities, it's safer, there's lower traffic, and there's more regulation. And oftentimes, off-duty police monitoring speeding and traffic flow, there's no issue within these gated communities. So it doesn't preclude or foreclose the opportunity for associations to or residents to come back and tell us that this is an issue, that they're having a problem and their association is not responsive to it. And so that we can always go back and revise. Okay.

And this is first reading, correct? So I think we can dish out any other questions that we might have. It'll probably be a little different between the various HOAs. But yeah, just as long as the HOAs are also aware that if a garbage truck can't come in, they are missing out on collection that week, right?

Correct. And I encourage my colleagues and members of the association communities to help us design this if it does need to be tweaked between then and second reading and into the future as well. It can always come back.

Thank you, Mayor.

So this talks in terms of parking on a private right-of-way, which doesn't really delineate sidewalk obstruction. So, well, but let me back up. It seems that there are, and let me ask you, to your knowledge, what HOA, what communities Where do these conflicts lie between city code and HLA rules?

Well, these roadways are oftentimes private roadways, so I think that's what it's referring to, private.

Well, let me get to the boat issue, okay? So we've got two separate and distinct issues. Are you aware, I mean obviously you brought this or someone brought this issue. I'm gonna assume someone who got a ticket for boat storage brought this to your issue and you did some research and determined that some HOAs permit front yard boat storage.

So for example, the code requires you to not have your boat exposed. And James, if you can help me find where the specificity is for the boat storage. But it doesn't allow you to have the boat out for longer than a certain.

Yeah, we're talking about temporary boat storage.

No, no, I get that. And we do generally provide a very short window. But I thought I understood that there are some HOAs that permit, are more permissive

in front yard boat storage than city code regarding temporary boat storage they are more permissive when it comes to the amount of time but there is no association that i'm aware of that exists today or that's coming with the upcoming association approvals that allow permanent boat storage

No, no, no, I completely understand that.

We're specifically talking to seasonal temporary boat storage where the effects are seen within only the gated communities where it's regulated oftentimes more strictly by the association as it is and that allows for those regulations to be amended and to be revised for the benefits and for the use of the residence to which it governs.

Okay, so in the HOA that you're aware of that allows longer term temporary storage, what is that timeframe? that the HOAs prevents, and which HOA is it?

I've heard of two weeks. I've heard of it being for the summer period only. I don't want to specifically designate or disclose an association at the moment, but we have at least one, two, three, four, five board members here that have associations in their community. So I think if there's any opposition or any concern, they would also be able to speak to their association representatives bring more light to the table other than what my knowledge base is.

Okay, but not all associations, I'm assuming, I think it would be fair to say that not all associations permit the temporary boat storage in a front yard or in a driveway.

For the number of associations that exist, I'm sure there are some that allow none and this would still give them the power to have the no boat storage option that currently exists.

Okay, so i've got two issues, let me stick to the boat storage and like just saying you, you may have seen, I think it was circulated. I asked for the reports for the residential areas of your particular district of waterstone and Malibu Bay and the last year, there have only been five tickets issued citations issued for improper boat storage. It doesn't seem to be a prevalent thing now throughout the city, at least in the gated communities. There are literally hundreds of sidewalk obstruction tickets in the gated communities. So let me ask code enforcement. Generally speaking, can you tell me, through the manager, when we issue these citations for either sidewalk obstruction or improper boat storage, Is that typically proactive or reactive to either a neighbor complaint or an HOA complaint? Or are all your officers really in the HOAs looking for these things?

Well, in general, it can be a mix of everything. It can be the code officer is there for another reason and then sees another violation. They have an obligation to cite it. So to say they're 100% complaint-based, that's not accurate. Is it a mix of self-initiated and complaints? Sure. There have been complaints historically of the boat storage. Whenever that comes up, there is the obstruction of the sidewalk, which some people are concerned of. But in general, it can vary. By complaint, it can vary. By case, it can vary.

I understand that. I just, you know, whether there was a prevalence of one scenario or another.

Our code is a little more restrictive because we did look up neighboring cities. Our code is a little more restrictive than in comparison to neighboring cities too. So if you wanted to consider that as an option where it affects the whole city. Our restriction is two hours. for parking, temporary parking. Other cities and including the county and our neighboring cities are 24 hours. So there's also an option of that too for the whole city.

Mayor, if I can just add to that and thank you for the insight, but this is not changing anything outside of gated communities. If we wanted to consider that, I'm sure people are doing that already. We don't necessarily need to change our code and just be maybe flexible in our judgment calls, right? But what I wanted to say is that I can guarantee you that the first call for defense on a resident is going to be to their association board member. You're not going to call code when they can call or send an email to the association that's charging them every month. People in gated communities will gladly complain and shell out concerns to their representatives and there are no issues that I'm aware of, of issues that have not been able to be satisfied with in-house, for lack of a better term.

So, big picture, my concern is, and I get, you know, there are lot size and access restrictions for boat storage within gated communities. And again, let's take the boat issue first. We have enough problem keeping up with other code enforcement issues outside of gated communities. And my fear is that we're creating two standards, two different qualities of life, one for gated communities and one for non-negated communities. And many times you've heard me say, that we and our code enforcement and our police department are effectively acting as an HOA or in substitution of an HOA for those neighborhoods who don't have them. So in the future, how are we going to respond to a homeowner in Northwest Homestead who receives a citation for improper boat storage and that owner can then say, but you allow a different time period behind the gates, why am I treated differently? And I think we certainly do not have the personnel in code enforcement now, or I think ever, to start keeping tabs on ungated communities as to whether boats have exceeded their lifespan in the front yard. That's my concern, that we're creating two set of rules and treating different neighborhoods differently. Mayor, can I respond? Sure.

Thank you. I think that this actually will help to relieve the burden on code enforcement to having to identify... assistant city manager said that there's a there is an obligation to report these things so this will free up time free up focus for them to give their time and attention to the matters that are really really plaguing the city and um if if the majority of the city right if we start to receive calls and we want more boats in our yards because we're a boating community and it turns into that culturally then then they they make the request and we pass our laws and make our code at the pleasure of the residents and the voters. But that's not what's on the table today. Those are not the issues and the concerns being affected today. This is to provide the associations with the authority that they already do diligently execute within the gated communities to serve their residents. So with that, I'll make a motion to approve this resolution. But I'm happy to continue the discussion. And like I said, I encourage my colleagues and residents of the board associations to give us your insight. Tell us if there's an issue that you're dealing with with regards to parking and boat storage that is not discussed in this resolution so we can maybe add it or alter it.

Well, go ahead and get your second, and I'll, you know, continue my discussion and my concerns about these items, you know, much to your chagrin. Do we have a second on this item? Do we have? Well, yeah, I'd love to, if I might. Okay, so I really think that we're setting a precedent to opening ourselves up to, and, you know, Councilwoman, with all due respect, you said it. It's something I've always feared. Culturally, I think this moves to an anything goes scenario. You said the words culture and you said loosening things up. Moving toward anything goes. As we try to build a cleaner, nicer, more affluent and desirable community, I believe this heads in the wrong direction. the wrong direction. Five boat tickets in the last year in your neighborhoods are not burdening code enforcement. You know, and at the very least, I'd like to see this deferred and let's have somebody compile all the HOA regulations and see who allows what. Are we talking about one gated community or are we talking about several? I think For myself, we really need more information. But also, as to the sidewalk obstructions, I think we're going to the quality of life. I mean, my wife and I walk in my neighborhood, two and a half miles at least, every morning. And I really get aggravated, I think, It's aesthetically unpleasing, it looks trashy, and it obstructs the sidewalk and walking. So, you know, that affects both sides. So I don't know why we would do anything that would diminish the quality of life within any neighborhood. So, you know, without more information or any more guardrails here, I can't support this.

Board Member Fletcher.

Mr. Mayor, I just have a couple of quick concerns.

One, are there any other municipalities that have a similar type law in place?

From my brief overview today of the codes, they don't defer to associations. They just have a blanket city code that says, I looked up our neighboring villages and cities next to us, and some of them had a 24-hour period for temporary parking and boat, and then after that 24-hour period, the storage is just like ours in the backyard. Miami-Dade County is the same way. They have that 24-hour temporary parking in the front yard. and then after that it either has to be theirs is a little different side and backyard i think the most maybe restrictive of the group besides our two-hour limitation within the 24-hour period south miami makes you register your boat with the city so they know it belongs to that property and then you're allowed the 24 hours for that boat and then that boat after 24 hours has to be put in the backyard

To me, this just seems like we're creating some additional burden for our city employees. I'm happy to let this go into second reading and have some additional information compiled, but without that further information, I don't think I'm going to be able to support this item at this time. I don't want us to be in any type of conflict with any county regulations that may be in place, and I think we just need more data. before we move forward with this. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. Look, I live in a gated community. You have three days, you can park your boat there. You have to get it gone or they will send you a fine from the homeowners association. City never gets involved in that.

i've seen that happen time and time again in my neighborhood so i don't think this is that big of a deal personally thank you are you uh board member rabble i think you had a comment in response thank you just to respond i never said anything goes for the rest of the city and if you want more affluent communities affluent communities have voters in it and this is um In your scenario, Councilman Fletcher, the city would issue a code violation for having a boat out for three days in this particular case. So it defers to the association's guidelines, which I think are more representative of the needs of the community. And in other areas outside of the gates, there is more land where you can store your boat on the side of your house, where you cannot do in these gated communities. The other example, Mayor, that you gave with regards to walking on sidewalks, the alternative is to park on the street, and that blocks emergency vehicles. So the associations, at least the ones that I have interviewed, prefer for the residents not to park on the streets. They have more narrow streets, and the narrow streets actually reduce speeding. So that's why a lot of these communities also have narrow roadways. So the the changes or the experiences that are that are occurring currently, which would be continue to be against code unless this is changed, are actually promoting a more affluent community and safer roadways. I'll rest. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Any time that there's a change in the code, you know, sometimes it's great ideas that end up working, I would suggest to defer and let us be able to sit down more, because if there are areas that allow it, then we should allow it. There's no reason to not allow an area that has the space. So I think it's it's definitely worth looking at whether it's passing it forward now in first reading. But just to make sure that we do have that time to think through which area specifically will be affected. And to make sure it's the right call for all of them. Maybe a deferral would give more time for it to be worded and explained better.

Thank you, I'm happy to make all the amendments that are fitting in second reading. And that essentially gives us the deferral on the time period that we need. It's not going to come back till next council meeting. Not it's not coming back to the cow or a special call. So I'm not I'm not sure what additional time staff might want to please the mayor for more data. But I think that four weeks is sufficient.

To clarify, the request is to get all of the HOAs that we have in the city, their bylaws.

If we can do that to determine what each HOA permits or not.

Specifically regarding the parking and the boat.

And I don't know, maybe you could probably educate me on this. You've got the master association and sub associations. Would those rules be found in the master, or can the sub deviate from the master? Are we going to have to look at both sets?

So the master association should probably have that information, and those are recorded. Those bylaws are recorded.

And the sub associations are stricter or not?

They can be stricter, but if we're looking for just general guidelines.

Are they more lenient? we'll look into all of it and and that's for boat storage and for the right-of-way parking i mean my main focus is on boat parking but i i think

My gut tells me you're going to find that every HOA declaration provides for not blocking sidewalk access. That just might be.

So this is not inclusive of street parking? I just want to clarify.

Well, and again, I think maybe the language, if this goes forward, the language needs to be cleaned up because to me it wasn't clear are we talking about obstructing sidewalks because private right-of-way includes both sidewalks and on-street parking. So we need to really, I think, tweak down and really clarify what we're talking about there. So we would need to see what, just to get a snapshot of where these associations are. If there's one association that is more permissive on boats than the city code, then maybe this is a solution in search of a problem. If it's widespread, maybe it's something we need to look at, but we don't have that in front of us. So yeah, everything.

Thank you. I think the task at hand is almost an impossible task because I think that as you start to review the masters, it's going to defer to subs in some areas. These are the kinds of things that I think in practice will serve to be a better teacher and guide on what's ideal in these situations. Again, the opportunity to reach out and get the feedback. If the data is not a service, but in fact a disservice for the city and to the communities, then it won't pass on second reading. But I do encourage staff to get as much data as possible with regard to the associations. This is not about allowing sidewalk blockage, it's about giving the association the authority to amend the rules and to enforce the parking for the way it fits best for the design of their community. SO THIS IS AGAIN NOT TRYING TO CREATE A PROBLEM WHERE THERE IS NONE. THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE ACTIVELY BEING CITED BY CODE WHETHER IT'S SIDEWALK OR BOW STORAGE IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND IT'S COME TO MY ATTENTION AND THESE ARE THE NEEDS OF THE DISTRICT RESIDENTS THAT I REPRESENT AND THAT I THINK YOU WILL FIND will not make a huge difference to maybe all of the associations but that will provide relief and not just relief for the for the residents that are being affected but relief to the code enforcement department to focus and to work on things that actually are plaguing the city thank you okay so that's a really interesting description but i don't think it's true at all this says that our code is amended to allow these things

that are not allowed citywide to allow them within an HOA if the HOA rules are more permissive than our rules. And they can enforce their rules. But that does not delegate our code enforcement authority away from us to the HOAs. So let me just say, well, Councilman Fletcher, in your communities, in the district that you represent, are you aware, clearly I think sidewalk encroachments are across the board. Boat storage really an issue? You don't have an active HOA. Nor do I or Councilwoman Konski. Boat issues in Oasis?

how about the villages is kind of a mixed bag yeah and then our streets are different too because we have private roads and we have HOA owned roads so it's a very deep conversation to have but my question since you brought me into the conversation is to the attorneys is can HOAs in their bylaws that are approved by the state of Florida allow more permissive rules than what this municipality or the county's codes are.

The HOA could have whatever they have, but if we as a city have a regulation, that's the law that applies, irregardless of what the HOA regs are, unless you specifically state an alternative.

Yeah. That's why we have to change the code, because basically the HOA rules as they're represented to exist violate city code. And that's why we're writing citations at whoever's initiative. So with that then, so Councilman Canabal, are you okay with staff not compiling the OASIS area HOA rules to determine what boat issues are?

I want to know.

You'd like to know, okay.

I want to find out what the issues are.

Yeah. Yours may be more permissive than the city. I'm just trying to get a feel for, you know, I just think it's bad policy because it's going to bleed over to West Homestead where folks are going to say, if you don't write them tickets, why are you writing me a ticket? And I know that, you know, we're making a difference that of

And it's like we do something like this, it has to be for the whole city, not only for the gay community.

And that's the slippery slope. All right, so we don't have a second yet.

And Mayor, just to say, there are plenty of rules that apply to the gated association communities that don't apply to the areas outside of gated communities.

Which makes them attractive to many, many homeowners.

But the point is that there are things that apply within a gated community that doesn't make sense outside the gate and vice versa.

I would rather paint my house whatever color I want and not have a vote in front than the other way around.

Right. So there's a give and take. Nothing is like mirrored when it comes to the HOA rules to the city code. And so trying to say that we have to do for one versus do the same for the other or that we can't have a deviation in the code that allows for an authority to be given to on certain items to be called for by one entity versus another, that's within our discretion. And again, I think that this would be hashed out between first and second reading and I'll be happy to participate in research and study and ask for more input as well.

So do we have a second on board member Avila's motion to move this forward to second reading?

You're the LPA, so you'd be making a recommendation as the LPA to move this forward onto your council meeting for consideration at first reading. Then there you can... Let me do that if you want to.

Gotcha. Around 1130 tonight. Let's go ahead and move the meeting to 930. Okay, so we have a motion and a second to move this on to the council agenda for first reading. Before I go forward, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak to this item? Anyone online? What's that? Yeah. Okay, so I'm gonna close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote on the motion to move this to the council agenda.

Board Member Roth. Yes. Board Member Konski. Yes. Board Member Avila. Yes. Board Member Canabal. Yes. Board Member Fletcher.

Yes.

Vice Chairwoman Bailey.

Yes.

Mayor Lawson.

Nope.

The motion carries.

All right. I believe that it concludes the items. concludes the items for this agenda. But before the hour draws too late, and I'm sure it will tonight, I want to recognize the members of the Mayor's Youth Council who are with us tonight. If you would stand and be recognized. Mayor's Youth Council. Thank you for sitting through this and getting a peek inside of our own little sausage factory here. A few minutes ago between the meetings, I went upstairs and heard a lot of laughter and people having a good time and peeked in the doorway and there they were. But thank you for all that you do and taking an interest in our city. Thank you. Vice.

And tell your colleagues that they all missed that, that you guys got to stand up and be recognized and they left early.

All right, so do I have a motion to adjourn the LPA? If it's been moved and seconded, all in favor? Any opposed? All right, we'll take just a moment and we will convene the regular council meeting.

So it's just the...

you

I already talked to everybody.

Amen. Amen. There we go. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Hello? Hello? Time to go.

um

Good evening, everyone, and welcome. I'd like to call the City of Homestead City Council meeting to order. For the record, today is Wednesday, February 18, 2026, and it is now 6.46 p.m. This evening, we'll have the invocation by Reverend Robinson Pierre of the New Vision Church of God, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance with Councilman Roth and the Homestead Police Explorers. Pastor, and if everyone could please rise. As we

Father Lord, we thank you. We thank you for everything you have done in our life. Thank you for being here. Almighty God, we come before you today with grateful hearts for the privilege of serving our community. We thank you for the gift of leadership and the trust placed in these council members. Grant them wisdom that is fair, vision that is clear, and courage that is steadfast. Bless every discussion, decision, made here that may promote justice, peace and the well-being of all people. Help us to listen with respect, speak with kindness and act with integrity. We ask for your protection over our city. guidance for our leaders, and unity among our citizens. May all that is done in this place honor you and serve the common good. In your holy name we pray, amen.

Thank you, Pastor.

Left, left, left, right. On you go. Hold. Right face. Breathe in, hold.

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.

Order arms. Left face. Forward march. Left, left, left right.

Thank you. Please be seated. Now a roll call, Madam Clerk.

Councilman Fletcher.

Here.

Councilwoman Karnski. Here. Councilman Canabal. Here. Councilwoman Avila. Here. Councilman Roth. Here. Vice Mayor Bailey. Here. Mayor Lawson.

Here. Okay. Our first item on the agenda this evening is public comments. There are a few people who have clocked in. I believe one has already spoken. If the others who have clocked in are still here and still wish to speak, I will recognize them, followed by anyone else in the audience, followed by anyone online. With the exception of quasi-judicial items, If you would like to speak with respect to any matter on the agenda other than a quasi-judicial item, this will be your opportunity to speak as a member of the public with respect to any other agenda item. We will not have public comment on any items later in the agenda other than quasi-judicial items. All right, the first individual who clocked in was, let's say, Selena Visayo. I think you hear Ms. Visayo? Come on down. Thank you for coming tonight. I know you've sat through the earlier part of our evening. You can pull that down.

Good evening. First time I do this, so I am here. Because I got to sit, I got a citation. No, well, the thing is the making short, I've been in my property for over 20 years, maybe a little bit longer than that. I have a big yard. I have my boat, my RV set and back of my yard, my fence. I've never had any problems. And now they sent me a violation to move either one. And that's why I'm here because if it was outside sidewalk in the street, but it's in back of my yard part, they're welcome to come any time. And check if anybody, because I know they used it for rent. My properties paid off. I don't use it for it. I use it for my hobby, my boat, my Harley. And my RV. And that's why I'm here.

So just so we know, was it noticed that you can't have both? It's one or the other?

That I can't have both. I've been having them for more than 20 years. I don't have them in front of my house. I have them on my fence and back of my yard like they always have said. You know, and I use it for me for my vacation. You know, it's not for me to rent or to have them welcome to come anytime they want to. I can open it up for them. They can come in my yard. But it's not fair that I pay so much taxes. It's my property. I have a yard. I follow the rules. And then they come and tell me now that I can have the boat or the RV.

Have you tried to speak with anyone from code enforcement before tonight?

Yes, I've called them. And what they told me was that from October 15, 2025, the rules change, you gotta have either one. And it's not fair, I didn't even send a letter, let you know what's going on, anything. I mean, and I'm on 302 Northwest 20th Street, I have the biggest street, I mean, I have a big yard. And I have the fence, I have my yard in front of my house, I have the fence, I have parking in front, and it's in back of my house, parked. And to see my boat, you have to go like this, because I have a white fence, So you have to really look. So they're only going to see my boat and my boat and my RV and then I'm going to see next door. So it's what? It's only me? It's not fair. I went all over Homestead and it's true what I've heard here. They're in front of the house and the street, everything. But in back of my yard, the way it's supposed to be, I don't think it's fair.

Okay, so here tonight, we can't really resolve your issue. You know, we can put you directly in touch. Of course, this raises issues, but I want to clarify one thing, and either to the attorney or our code enforcement, either director or assistant city manager, the code has always been one or the other, but not both. Isn't that correct? There weren't recent changes in quantity. I don't recall that we made that change.

Hialeah, Dade County, because I searched it. Dade County, you're allowed a boat and RV. Hialeah, you're allowed a boat and an RV. And here in Homestead, we have more yard that we have more comfortable. You can't have a boat and RV. That is my hobby. It's registered. It has a tag. I mean, if it was abandoned, ugly, making my neighborhood look terrible, I agree. that you come and check you know but it's registered with the tag the boat everything works i mean it's not fair those are my hobbies i'm already 62 years old retiring from day county that i work for day county and i have to move either one to go pay when i have a yard i don't think it's fair

Okay, and these are some code issues, but let me... You can look into it and follow up with me. Yeah, if you'll get them and they'll be in touch with you and perhaps clarify whatever.

I, myself, did a flyer and I passed it all over Homestead. Everywhere I saw a boat and RV, I did it myself. I didn't have, and I was pushed, but they said a boat and RV has to be removed.

Okay. Look, we have a real problem with RVs that are occupied. I understand. That we're trying to work through that.

They have to come in, check, make sure that it's closed, that it's not connected. I agree. I'm fine with it, but that I can have it to take it when I go on vacation, I don't think it's fair. I don't think I need to go pay anything anywhere else when I'm about to retire and pay more money when I have a yard.

Right. Okay, so if you'll step over here, somebody will get in touch with you over here. And Councilwoman?

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to just say that I think it's ridiculous that you're having to deal with that kind of situation. And the problem is, is that we are experiencing where we have had code that has not been enforced for a long time now being enforced, rightfully so. There's a duty to do so. They're doing their job. But it's a great opportunity, specifically tonight, based on the conversations we just had on my item, for the district representative to discuss with you, to inquire, and to have a chance to look into it further. The item I brought does not affect your area, but this is something that maybe it should get looked at. And it's also a good opportunity for us to take a look at the RV issues. There are still plenty of RVs that I see out there that are in bad condition that are clearly occupied. Right. And open. So let's maybe get, if I can ask through the manager office an opportunity to kind of get an update on the enforcement of RVs, where they are, you know, problem issues that we can...

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be snitching or talking about anybody, what they have in their yard, because I mind my own business. I don't pay nobody's bill, like I said. But I did take pictures where there's a mess, open, parked. But if they need to come in... And they go by and they see it open and they say, you have your RV open? Fine, you know, you can come in.

I don't care.

You did the right thing by coming to your council meeting and expressing the opportunity.

I am nervous, you know, even if I work with publics and kids, you know, like, but I said, somebody has to do something. I mean, we say something. Well, thank you very much for hearing me.

And I hope this issue takes care of it. So Mayor and Council, I'm asking the Assistant City Manager, Crystal Oliveira, to take care of this situation. and we'll provide an update to council. Thank you.

Mayor, sorry, do we need to request for a deferral of any action on her item until... We'll administratively take care of our situations.

I don't think we have the authority to do that at this point. Thank you. Okay, next up, Stephen Paulson. Mr. Paulson, are you still here? Okay. I think we had a sidebar and that was... And then... Jessica, I believe this was, Jessica, I think you spoke earlier on the land use application. Is that correct? Is Jessica still here? I'm sorry, I can't make out your last name, but I believe you were the speaker earlier. Okay, is there anyone in the audience who would wish to speak with respect to anything or any item on the agenda at this point? Yes, sir, come on down.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening. Welcome. My name is Diego Rivadeneira. I reside at Northgate at 625 Southeast 25th Lane, Homestead. I'm a Florida real estate broker with 35 years of experience in property acquisitions, valuation review, and complex real estate transactions. I retired after a 35-year career with the Department of Transportation. and right away in public property acquisitions where I negotiated and analyzed commercial, residential, and environmentally sensitive properties. My background includes evaluation of land value, assessing risk exposure, reviewing acquisition strategies, and working with government entities. I'm speaking from both a professional expertise and a resident taxpayer committed to with responsible fiscal stewardship. I will be direct tonight. You're being asked to approve a $2,666,000 purchase of 406 Washington Avenue. This is a significant use of taxpayers' funds. I have serious concerns about the structure and logic of this transaction. First, we are purchasing a property that is expected to be demolished. If demolition is the plan, the value of the improvements is effectively reduced to zero. Why are we paying a premium price for a structure that will not remain? Second, the property carries environmental contamination assumptions. By purchasing it, The city risks becoming a responsible party for the cleanup. Why would we voluntarily assume environmental liability exposure? Third, this agreement includes owner financing of 4.75 interest. Why is the city of Homestead paying interest to a private seller when municipalities typically have access to structured public financing options? We are not only purchasing the property, we are committing to long term interest payments to the seller. Fourth, the agreement allows the seller to rent the property back for $10 per year. For two years, we are paying $2.6 million and then leasing it back to essentially nothing. That's not market transaction. That's a concession. Now, let's talk about priorities. Our streets need repair. Our sidewalks need replacement. Our storefront corridors need revitalization. Our tree canopies need expansion. Our drainage systems need improvement. $2.6 million could produce measurable citywide benefits. Instead, we are concentrating public capital into a single property, assuming environmental risk, reducing value through demolition, paying interest to the seller, and providing below-market leaseback. This is not about opposing development, folks. It is about disciplined stewardship of public funds. Before approving this acquisition, ask one fundamental question. Is this the highest and best use of $2.6 million of taxpayer money at this moment? Infrastructure is first, public safety first, broad public benefit first. I respectfully urge all of you to reconsider this allocation and place visible citywide improvements ahead of speculative property acquisitions. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me ask you in the spirit of transparency, are you an active real estate broker or agent at this point?

I'm a consultant.

You're a consultant for?

Florida Property Acquisitions in Tampa.

OK. All right. Have you taken the opportunity to look at the phase one and phase two environmental reports and the structural reports that are a public record and in our agenda package tonight?

No, I have not.

You have not. So if you had, you would find that it is a sound building with zero environmental issues. I don't know that anyone has ever said that the building would be demolished. Furthermore, the early conversations indicated that the proposed sale price takes into account a reduction for a couple of years of rent. So no, we're not renting this building if the transaction occurs. ten dollars a year furthermore i don't think that the the city could go out anywhere and borrow money at at this kind of interest rate and it eases the burden on the cra look this council a council a prior council already made the decision to to purchase this property and we'll have the final tonight But I think it's very, from my perspective, it's very disingenuous for you to come make allegations about this property without being fully versed in what's in this council agenda. This council demanded the city manager spend a lot of money to go out and get a second appraisal and a phase two environmental report that all came back compatible.

From what I understand, Mayor, The city obtained an appraisal originally for $480,000 or $90,000 and then the owner came up with an appraisal for $2.8 million.

That's just not true. There was an appraisal done for land value only and that was internal. That was, I would call that a clerical error within the former CRA department, okay? Two appraisals that are within just a few bucks of each other. for the existing situation.

What are we, what is the city's plan for this parcel?

Well, for at least two years it will be occupied by the business that is there now and possibly a third year. And I think at the state of South Dade, and I think it's the flavor of a prior council, the membership of the council and demeanor of the council has changed a little bit since this transaction began, but The idea was, and Mayor of Cutler Bay expressed it very well at the State of South Dade, if you don't own it, you can't control it. And certainly the perspective in the past was is I don't know that a tire and auto repair shop is something that we really want far into the future across the street from City Hall.

Mayor, we need infrastructure first, public safety first, and broad public benefit first. This is not a Good use of public funds.

You're mixing bank accounts because this is the CRA. And no one here disagrees with you with the other. And we are moving forward.

We have a downtown that needs to be revitalized. We have Washington Avenue that we need to revitalize. We don't need to be spending all this money in one parcel.

We are going forward. You know, we have almost $9 million to deploy on Washington and Chrome Avenue. Are you just trading signals with Councilman Roth? Because it sure looks like it. And I understand that he's been an opponent of this from day one. So why don't you be fully transparent and tell us why you're really here opposing this?

I'm here to urge the council to reconsider voting on this. I don't think it's good for the public. I think we can use $2.6 million and other resources areas that need more improvement.

What's not good for the public are folks standing up here and spouting willful falsehoods. But thanks for coming out tonight. Is there anyone else from the audience who would like to speak on any item tonight? Good evening, Mr. Hayes.

Council Vice Mayor Bailey, I haven't said that yet. Um, 1st, all cardio Hayes, 3910. Northeast 13th, right? I want to say, thank you to the city of homestead. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was surprised a few weeks ago. I was recognized for black history month. Um. That's truly an honor. And I wanted to come here personally to say thank you. I didn't want to send out some DM to the mayor or vice mayor. Oh, thank you guys. So being here is an honor. And the work that was recognized Is South Bay connections, the organization that has supported community over the past 4 to 5 years, particularly post code. I was telling Leslie and Jared when we started, we started off just trying to bring people together. To do something good, something good for the community. And it ramped up to something more support and small businesses and organizations here in far South Bay, even better. The council here at Homestead supported us each and every year. Everyone, including Tom Davis, Julio Guzman, Farrah Claw. I'm saying the names of people that are not here now, but have always supported us. The time has come as we continue to grow South Dade. South Dade Connections is taking a minimalistic approach to programming, but continuing to support. I am so happy that the City of Homestead is continuing to do the good work for Juneteenth and all the other programs that is necessary for the community. There is one more. We will not be able to do black business month. As an organization, so I am going to ask and I can have the sidebar conversations with the right people for the city of homestead to look into this. And to see that having an event in the month of August supporting all. Businesses organizations and participating from black business month is something that would be great for all of us. Now, I'll be honest, many of you have always heard me say, my grandson. And so that conversation is going to continue because I'm spending a little more time with him. And so that's one of the reasons for the minimizing of the organization. I'm looking to do some things different. So I want to tell you thank you again. Truly, truly honored. God has blessed me and everything that we've done. So thank you guys.

Thank you, Mr. Hayes. Perfect timing. Appreciate you sitting through this tonight. Anyone else in the audience wishing to speak on any matter? You've had your time of it, Mr. Rivendare. On down, Mr. Guzman.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm here to serve as a translator.

Hola, muy buenas noches. Voy a hablar en esta oportunidad en español porque hay varias personas que me conocen aquí. Vivo muchos años en la ciudad de Homestead. Mi nombre es Ariella Díaz. Vivo en la 288 de la ciudad de Homestead. Pero vengo indignada por muchos temas que están pasando en la construcción y sobre todo en las vidas humanas.

Okay, she's saying that she's got a lot of things to talk about in regards to things that are going on in Homestead and the quality of life.

How do we intend to take care of the traffic in the city of Homestead? Within one month, her car has been hit twice. And I would like you, as representatives of my city, my beautiful city, as the Mayor just mentioned, I would like you to put an order strictly for zero tolerance to cell phones.

she would like you guys as policy makers to take into consideration how wonderful the city is and she wants you guys to pass an ordinance to make cell phone use more strict uh

she'd like you to work with the homestead police department and put boots on the ground to make sure we get that ordinance passed so that we can live a better quality of life

Before you go away, let me defer to the attorneys. Do we have that kind of jurisdictional authority to enact or enforce that kind of ordinance on behavior while driving?

It's generally preempted to Chapter 316 in the Florida statutes, but I'm happy to take a look and see what flexibility we have. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you, Julio. Anyone else? Is there anyone online?

No one online. Last call for anyone in the audience for any matter on the agenda with the exception of a quasi-judicial matter. So I will now close the public comments section of the agenda. Mr. Manager, do you have any additions this evening?

Yes, Mayor and Council, we are going to withdraw card item 4927, which is tab 19. Okay. And also, it's my understanding that car item 4881.22 is being deferred to the next council meeting that is on the .

As the sponsor of that item, that is my request, and I'd be happy to go into a little bit of detail.

So we also have one addition, which is I believe the package was a little while ago distributed. We received communication from the state this afternoon, about 1 o'clock, that there is an allocation to the city of Homestead that probably will expire soonest, and they needed an executed agreement by a certain date, which was February 23rd. We pleaded for an extension, which was granted to March 19th. In the interest of time, this is simply to receive money. for the victims of crime crimes advocates for sos is for 105 000 there's no much this is something that has routinely been done on a yearly basis so we think that it's appropriate to bring this up as a non-agenda item tonight so that we can receive the funds on an expedited schedule so i'm asking for your cooperation and consideration of this item

Okay, so first we need, and this is an indefinite deferral or a total removal of the item under tab 19?

It's going to be indefinite, I'm going to withdraw this when we are ready and when the councilman is ready, we'll come back.

Okay. Mr. Perl, do we need separate votes on 19 and 22?

Now, you can take a vote on this collectively. I believe you're looking for a motion for the removal of 19, the deferral of 22, and the addition of the addendum item that was presented by the city manager. We can take that all in one motion.

We have a comprehensive motion by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Is there any discussion on this? What's that? We're going to do that right after this. Okay, so we have a motion to defer indefinitely, defer to next month, and then add the grant item. All in favor? Any opposed? So what we'll do, Councilwoman, is after the presentation and before the consent agenda, we will deliberate on the grant item.

All right.

All right. So, Mr. Manager, we now have tab one, a presentation on the water and sewer upgrades and the roadway project presentation.

So Mayor and Council, this is your last chance to look at the design completion plans for Crom Avenue improvements. flagler avenue improvements as well as the these are for warren sewer projects then there is also chrome avenue roadway improvements inclusive of sidewalks the beautification aspects that comes with the fta grant so more or less this is a multi-project that is being combined into one solicitation and one presentation tonight

And before you go forward, Mr. Guzman and Ariella, I think, Mr. Guzman, this presentation kind of goes to some of the issues that were raised by Ariella, also with respect to projects and other needs that were expressed by Mr. Rivendera. So I'm glad that all of you are still here to see this presentation to be a little more educated on what we are doing. Thank you.

So I'm going to ask our consultant, Kim Lihon, as well as our public works director to walk us through the presentation. Make it brief.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As the manager mentioned, I'll try to make it brief. If for any reason you need me to slow down, feel free to do so. As you all know, my name is Kyra Kangas. I'm the public work director. And with me, we have Cesar. He's with Kimberly and Horn. And Nikolai, he's with CES. And they are representing the signers for this project in its entirety. so first we want to point out where the project is going to take place the construction is going to take place and why we are doing this project the the project that we are going to be putting out for solicitation this coming friday is going to be just one Construction contract, and that construction contract is going to incorporate 3 design contracts that we have been working on for the past year and some change those projects encompass. As you can see, the 1st, 1, the chromatic waters who are upgrades from Lucy street to South of North 5th street. The chrome Avenue, transit, accessibility and roadway improvement project from north of South a transit way. We call it the NBC busway as well. To north of North 4 street. And last but not least, the flag, your avenue, water and sewer upgrades from chrome Avenue to Campbell drive. why are we doing these projects well because the chrome avenue transit accessibility is a project that the city has been working for some time as part of a grant that it received from the fda to improve chrome avenue the downtown area to beautify it and also to make it more accessible to pedestrians as we all know the sidewalk currently has a french a trench drain in the middle which makes just a small segment of it ada compliant while the other is too steep and it's not The other two larger projects, the one in blue and orange, are needed because of capacity improvements for the water and sewer components in order for us to be able to develop the city further. Here you can see a rendering of what the project hopefully will look like. This is what we designed. As you can see, the sidewalk are now continuous. Without a break in the middle on either side, and they will make use of the entirety of the footprint of the sidewalk. Uh, compliant, you can also see that we will be improving the landscape. And, um, I'm making some changes to the intersection, um, in front of the last part. Um, hopefully to also. To traffic calming as part of this project. So, what are the objectives of these 3 projects being built together?

We want to complete the construction according to regulations and designs. We wanted to do it without the laser of major issues and we were very.

Intense in making that happen, we coordinated extensively. Within reasonable costs without any major change orders and as short as possible duration with least amount of interruptions to the community. And this is also one of the primary reasons why we decided to put all these projects out together.

Well, this is one of the reasons why we decided to do these projects to begin with and not just do the FDA and then think of water and sewer in the future. It's because if we do it once, we do it once and we don't have to do it again in the foreseeable future. So the impact to the motorists and to the businesses is only once.

Here you can see a project timeline as is being anticipated and requested in the solicitation for phase one, which is the Chrome Avenue water and sewer construction from Lucy to the busway. We would want to start April 2026 and we project and hope that it will go through October 2026. Phase two would then pick up where we left off in the water and sewer and instead start going Along Flagler from Chrome all the way to Campbell, and that should run from October, 2026 to January, 2027. And the last piece is phase 3. this one is more intricate. This one goes from busway all the way to 4th on 5th. And that will include. A lot of improvements, water, sewer, drainage, road, reconstruction, lighting, signalization, setting, and marking, et cetera. That will run from January 2027 through September of 2027. And just as a point of note, FDA grant period of performance is through March 30th of 2028. So we will be fully within the period of performance for that grant. Now, I want to mention some of the scope items that I have already mentioned somewhat, but let's start with the water and sewer upgrades along Chrome and Flagler. For Chrome Avenue from Lucy all the way to North 4th Street, we're going to be upsizing both the water and the sewer lines. the sewer line is our trunk line currently is undersized this restricts our ability to grow and allow more developments to happen so currently we are the 30 inches that you see on the second bullet is just a little piece the majority is 24 inches we're upsizing the whole thing to 36 so that it matches the trunk line that runs from lucy and chrome all the way to the wastewater treatment facility Then we're also replacing the water line and we're going from 8 inches to 12, which is the standard for the county and industry standard for industrial and commercial areas. For Flagler, we are also outsizing the water from 8 inches to 12. Same reason and concept. but the gravity is the one that makes the most impact in this case because we are currently at capacity there's no more growth and with this change it was modeled to allow us to take in the flow from you may have not been here uh councilwoman but the charrette and the the zoning that was allowed these improvements would allow us to to do that in the future Now, for the transit accessibility roadway project, I mentioned some of the improvements, but please note that the FDA grant is only for transit and accessibility improvements. That's the scope, and that's the only thing that that grant can fund and are matching dollars. And those are the sidewalk, the landscape, lighting, and drainage within the sidewalk, which would then eliminate any flooding in the sidewalk and mitigate flooding into the businesses. The non FDA grant eligible product scope is the roadway reconstruction, signalization, signing and payment marking, those things that are from the curb and gutter to the roadway itself. I just want to remind you what Council approved back in January of 2025. These are the proposed furnishings and amenities. As you can see, those are the ones that Kim Lee Horn brought forth and were approved by Council, as well as the bus shelter. It shows the bus shelter that is seen in the right hand side. The four-post is where right-of-way is not restricted. The cantilever, which means that it only has posts in the back and it hovers over, that is wherever we have restricted right-of-way in the sidewalk.

Here we're showing where those bus shelters will be located.

If you see on the upper right-hand corner the N with the arrow, that means that north is that way, so you would have to... flip it a little, rotate it, and you'll see that that is Chrome going east-west, right-left, and that's Maori. So those are the locations where the bus stops are being proposed. Here is just a copy of the tree disposition that we wanted you all to have to look over to see what was being done as far as the existing trees. This is also a list of items that were brought forth by Council during a workshop that took place back in June 18th of 2024, to let you know that all those items were taken into consideration during the design. And now we're going to talk about the most important part, which is the maintenance of traffic, so the construction sequencing. This is what most people care about when there's major construction. we uh for chrome avenue water and sewer we will start from lucy to the busway and that work we're estimating will take about 135 days for the flagler avenue water sewer which runs from chrome to campbell we anticipate that it will take about 105 days Again, this is all subject to the contractor's schedules when they bid on the project. For Chrome Avenue, and this is the roadway portion that goes from the busway to 4th, we have segmented the project into these different segments because, unfortunately, those areas will have to be closed 24-7 while the work is being done. And I will show you in another slide why that is, the impact to the roadway itself. But these are the segments that we're proposing, from the busway to Mari, then the intersection of Mari, from Mari to 2nd and the intersection of 2nd, from 2nd to 4th and the intersection of 4th, and from 4th to 5th. We believe that this will take about 240 calendar days. There's a little more detail as to what is being done and how it will affect traffic. So the phase 1A, which goes from Lucy along Chrome to the busway, we will be eliminating the parking. There's currently no bulb out there, so we would be using those spaces to always allow for one lane in each direction as it currently flows at the moment. So we eliminate the parking. We're going to maintain one lane of traffic in each direction. and work will begin at lucy and go until it completes that phase uh the busway this is for the sewer component which runs mainly more or less in the center of the road well the new the new sewer so the anticipating construction duration just for this phase we you know as engineers we think 60 hours Phase 1B will be closer to the east side of the road, and it will maintain the same one-lane-ish direction, except now the lanes are shifted a little, but the traffic pattern remains as is today. One lane north, one lane south, and we will be doing the water on the east side of Chrome. That one, I believe, is said we anticipate 45 days for that, subject to contractor means and methods and proposed schedules. Then we go on to Flagler. We do the same thing. We are going to start the construction with a sewer, which is closer to, I would say, the north side of Flagler or west, whatever you want to call it. And this one is going to be, since the right-of-way is a little more constrained, we will have areas where the traffic is going to be restricted to one lane only with flagging operations. the way that we ensure that the project does not rip up the whole city at once is by restricting the open trench area to no more than 750 linear feet at any given time meaning that if you see there one lane travel with flagging operation at each trench segment that is that space that we're talking about and that gives us a good A compromise between the amount of trench that we want to see open at any time and the amount of work that we know that the contractor needs to do in any given time. So that project duration we think will be 60 calendar days, then phase to be. Same as with chrome now we're working on the water main, which is on the South or East side of flag. Same traffic pattern, one travel lane with flagging operation at each trench segment, and we anticipate the duration to be about 45 calendar days. Now, this is where it gets more interesting. This is the area of Chrome from the busway to 4th Street. We wanted to show a sample roadway segment depicting the typical utilities. And by utilities, we mean underground features. So you see why it is that we need to close these segments completely to traffic. We still maintain minimum five foot sidewalk on either side of the road at all time for businesses. All this has to be done by the contractor and it's not something that they can do in one work phase. Close it up, open the traffic and open it up again. Because, uh, you know, we talked to multiple contractors and they said that that wasn't feasible. They would never be able to do something like that. And that is why we are going to. be proposing that MLT pattern for this segment. We wanted to show you also a typical section which is as if you were looking at the road and cut it and flip it so you can see what it looks like of all the underground features that are going to be there and you can see on either side of the hashed area there's five feet that is depicting the area that is going to be always accessible to pedestrians in order to patronize those businesses. Phase three, we'll begin the work from the busway and move all the way to the north, which is north fifth street, depending on which project we're talking about. Here you can see that when we go from the busway to Mari, we're gonna be doing this work, we anticipate 30 days, then we'll move on to the next segment, same thing, next segment, same thing, and then next segment, same thing. And then lastly for phase three at the very end, we go back and the contractor does all the finishing touches. So they mill and resurface the whole road, they go back and they do the temporary pavement marking, and 50 days later they come back and they do the thermoplastic. So that is the last phase of the project. I wanted to go back to the slide one last time to show you more or less where our anticipated schedule is.

and i i think that's a record any questions thank you long overdue i mean i learned during the tenure of manager estrada many years ago that we had that ft money in hand and there was just never never seemed to be any forward motion so this is uh

you know much welcome and long overdue and thank you for bringing it uh bringing it to the floor i think there's one important public point that needs to be made uh prior to commencement of work prior to construction there will be a series of public outreach meetings sharing of flyers, engagement of businesses in the CRA area, as well as having public meetings with residents of Pioneer Village. The construction sequencing is going to impact the businesses in downtown. We need to be sensitive to that, which is one of the primary reasons why construction phasing is limited to short lengths of time and short spells of the run of the streets, no more than a couple of blocks at a time. The one and another important point is traffic will always be maintained in both directions at all times. only biggest challenge i see here is that the entrance to pioneer village is going to be impacted for a short period of time upwards of a couple of weeks and the administration intend to work with the vice mayor with the residents of pioneer village for alternate access into pioneer village for temporarily perhaps open one of the rear fences so that folks can utilize that area There's no other way you can do this construction without shutting down that location, because you are digging up four trenches, four different trenches on the street, and that's a life safety concern. So again, prior to commencement of work, there will be a series of public outreach measures being taken. Thanks.

Thank you, Mayor. If you can go back to segment that includes Second Street. I just had a couple questions. I understand the splits in how the construction is going to happen, but just to get a little more of a visual. So that was a relatively small piece that includes 2nd Street to close to 4th Street. When that piece starts, okay, let's say right before that piece starts, would Pioneer Village be able to come out and go north? Yes. And once that piece finishes, Pioneer Village could come out and go south?

Correct.

So what is your guess as far as that one segment being completely closed?

So it's what's going to impact Pioneer Village the most at its axis is the work at the intersection itself. Right. So that one we anticipate that should take anywhere from two to three weeks max, hopefully.

Because that is only for the sewer, that's more in the center of the street. The sewer and the drainage. Yeah.

and at that time there will be a lane open that pioneer village could exit through north second street no north second street intersection itself will be fully closed so the entrance and the exit would be somewhere towards the the back of the of the neighborhood we have identified So the fences in the neighborhood, they have columns, right? And in order for this to be only an MLT-related pay item and not need additional construction from the contractor or engineering services from them, which typically contractors are not good at, what we want to do is avoid touching the columns and only focusing on opening the gated area. Because of the width that we have between columns and because of safety, what we are anticipating is to have two openings, one that is in and the other one that is out. that will also be wide enough for um solid waste trucks emergency vehicles and whatnot and those we are proposing to take place at north second and north third at the roundabout what place or street um so it's not the main entrance with the street it will be the next one on the there will be a the plans call for landscape arbors to do some minor trimming uh of a tree on second on third there there are no trees affected so second place and third street are your recommendations both going out to the west side nothing well one would be in and the other one would be out

so that there will be no entrance or exit going out towards the east because then you're going to have the same issue with the construction correct yeah thank you very much so you may want to point out that we intend to have

Expedited construction schedule. The contractor will be allowed to utilize multiple crews. The contractor will be allowed to work both day and night. And weekends. And weekends. This is the only way we can get this aggressive schedule accomplished. The more you delay this type of construction, you pay more. So in order to minimize our budget exposure, we want to give them the ability and flexibility to work multiple timelines, daytime hours, nighttime hours as well. However, during the daytime hours, there will not be any open trench. It has to always be covered with plates. Thanks.

Mr. Manager, and in that regard, not to belabor the point, I know we have a long night ahead of us. Have we looked at how the calendar falls? Is this going to impact being able to have Winter Wonderland in Lossner Park? Do we need to look for alternate locations for the coming year?

Something to think about. Yeah, we'll think about that. It's too early in the construction schedule to predict when we're going to hit Lossner Park on Chrome.

Council Fletcher.

Yes, thank you. I just want to make sure we're also communicating with Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue and other agencies that will be having to use an alternate egress access point for Pioneer Village. I know our police will be very knowledgeable of it, but we need to make sure the county's aware.

Whenever construction of this type, we have to coordinate with them as well as any hospital services so that whenever they dispatch, they know not to hit a roadblock.

Well, the fire station is on the west side, so they would have quicker access to us.

Thank you. Anything? Yes, Councilwoman. I'm sorry, Councilwoman and then Councilman.

PB, Lupita D Montoya, Thank you mayor i'm great presentation love the design love the expedited expedited construction, I just would like to. PB, Lupita D Montoya, get some clarification, because I recall the walkthrough on chrome avenue I recall the discussion we had about inquiring regarding removing the parking. PB, Lupita D Montoya, And, but then, this is what I recalled next. Do we have the finalized plan on how we're going to provide alternate parking for what we're removing from downtown? Is that something we can discuss between now and the time construction starts? I think that's kind of prudent, right, for the businesses?

I think what the President and the Public Works Director mentioned was elimination of parking during the construction time.

but the design has the parking on parallel parking on chrome avenue removed does it not but you didn't construct some of it some but the final the final plan is what the council does or does it not remove parking that's existing today on chrome avenue so on this um so chrome avenue parking that we have today we will continue to have after the finalization of this project yes so that was an adjustment to the plan that we did during the walk through Okay. So also, can I please have an updated copy of the presentation? I noticed that some slides that we're seeing here are not in the packet. So just to clarify for those business owners that have been very concerned about what they're going to do with parking, they're going to continue to have the same amount of parking on Chrome Avenue that they have now as a result of finalizing this project.

Correct. At the end of construction? Yes.

Correct. I understand during construction, there's going to be phasing and moving around. But the rendering pictures that I saw here, I don't recall seeing... Yes, like, let me show you parking lines and whatnot on from Avenue.

So they don't have a parking line differentiated. This is only a rendering, but here you can see.

That one includes those are the pictures we reviewed and approved for the light poles, but the, the one where you have the rendering of what it's going to look like that.

That one also includes the all set for the parking.

All right. Perfect. Thank you.

And remember, we're building the parking lot behind Jacobsons.

Right.

That's.

moving forward yes okay but thank you for clarifying that very good thank you all all right thank you yes i'm sorry councilman sorry yeah and that was kind of my concern because originally we had taken out the parking along chrome avenue in certain places yeah and i think it was more so to allow for outdoor dining purposes and things like that um and you're mentioning that we're going to have the exact same number of parking spaces along chrome avenue after construction and then we're at we're able to adjust that if restaurants come in and then want to do uh expansions of sidewalks for outdoor eating we have to get to the exact number there are some eliminations due to uh comments that we received from the county but um that might

off the top of my head. That was a while. I think it's about maybe five in total out of 60 something.

Then we're going to reconfigure some of the side streets to accommodate more parking so that they don't have to walk all the way from the parking garage to, let's say, you know, second drive or, you know, beyond north of that to fourth. So that was just my concern because people have been calling me like, what are you doing with the sidewalks and the In the parking spaces, I said, well, I'm not sure. I think I mentioned that in my one-ons the other day.

Can you state on the record what is the final status of the sidewalks? You're going to maintain the exact width of the sidewalks?

The exact footprint, but not the width. The usable width is the whole footprint. Whereas before, the usable width, if you're ADA, if you have some sort of... disability, your width is restricted to that one, which is 2% across about five feet or six feet on either side. Now we're making the entire footprint ADA accessible, which is now fully usable sidewalk, that will go anywhere from I believe, at the narrowest point, very few areas is about eight feet, the majority is about 10.

Because of the planters also.

So the width is coming from the removal of the planters.

There is some with augmentation because of the planter removal. Okay.

Yes.

Thank you. Through the manager, if I can just get a diagram of the parking spaces that will be removed so that I can speak more clearly and transparently to any businesses that call me, et cetera. Thank you.

Is that it, Councilman Roth? Okay. Good. Thank you. And thank you all. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, so let's move to the consent agenda and then we'll insert the add-on item. So moved and seconded, all in favor? Any opposed? All right, let's go to the added item, the grant, Mr. Manager. Or do we have a motion?

We have a resolution. Go ahead, read the resolution. It's a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, accepting a grant award from the State of Florida Office of Attorney General in order to provide victim advocacy services to crime victims. training of victim advocates, and approving grant agreement authorizing the city manager to execute and implement the grant agreement establishing a budget in the amount of $105,594 for the expenditure of grant funds and providing for an effective date.

Do we have a motion on this item? Moved by Ross, seconded by Canabal. We beat you to it. Is there any discussion? All right, let's have a roll call vote on this item.

Councilman Cannonball? Yes. Councilwoman Abula? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

Mr. White, the floor is yours.

Yes, please be advised the following items on the agenda are quasi-judicial in nature. If you wish to comment upon any of these items, please indicate the item number you would like to address when the announcement regarding the quasi-judicial item is made. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swear an end. All testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under author affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given in COA. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the council to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. The full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the quasi-judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with Code Section 2-590, any lobbyists must register before addressing the council on any of the following items. At this time, I'd ask council members to disclose any ex parte communications concerning Tab 6 and 7 on the agenda.

We had unanimity on 6. I didn't have anything on 7 that I recall.

Thank you. And at this time, it asked the clerk swear in any persons who wish to testify on tab six. Anyone in the audience is wishing to speak on tab six, please stand raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk.

Do you have I swear firm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help me God. Thank you. You may be seated.

Tab 6, card number 4915 is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the rezoning as requested by Bama LLC and Penco LLC. I'm an approximately 62.35 acre parcel of land from agricultural AU zoning district to one family, one half acre estate, ATU zoning district for property generally located south of Southwest 296. north of 302nd Street, west of Southwest 192nd Avenue, as legally described in Exhibit A, providing for conflict severability and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Orza. We spoke at length regarding this. Yes. The LPA.

Hugo is the 701 Burkle Avenue. In light of both how long it's taken us to get here and how much longer you have to go, I am happy to forego any formal presentations since I did so previously, but happy to answer any questions.

We'll take tab 6, which is the rezoning, and then the agreement separately. I just want to make a couple comments on tab 7. We'll just do that separately in the... In the next discussion, is there anyone in the audience wishing to speak on this item, on the rezoning item only? Okay, is there anyone online? All right, hearing none, I'll close the public hearing. Any final comments from council? Yes, Councilwoman.

Thank you, Mayor. On this particular item, I notate that it is pretty compatible with the surrounding areas. And my understanding is that without this rezoning, you would be having an incompatible zone use, right? Ag on residential. The rights run with the land. So I don't see how we could not You know how we could keep it from being developed. But out of principle, I will not be supporting this item tonight, but I do look forward to being able to provide comments and suggestions on site plan when it does come to us. So I appreciate that. But out of respect to Lenar in general, I know that Lenar is a great corporate citizen. They provide a lot of community benefits and They really do have great design and take into consideration and modify their site plans to meet the needs of the council members. So I appreciate the collaboration, but on this particular item, I will have to decline. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Vice Mayor.

I was going to save it for the next one, but I will put my two cents in real quick as well. Obviously, we as residents of Holmeshead want to hold on to that ag land. I am very happy that we had at least one person come out and still try to fight for things, but it is hard to understand what those rights are. One thing I would like to say now is, you know, as we spoke during our discussions, we don't have many of these types of lots left. These are the estate lots. This represents old homestead, at least in my eyes. So I would really work hard at not coming back with any variances. Mayor Mrakas, If it means getting rid of a lot or two and making sure that we are at least holding to what that half acre requirements are. Mayor Mrakas, I would really like to see that Thank you, thank me Thank you, Vice Mayor any further.

Council, I appreciate the Councilwoman's comments and clarification of your earlier vote at the LPA. Just out of my academic curiosity, look, I lament the loss of our open space. I'm not a big fan of cookie cutter homes either. I'd love to see that available for somebody. It's going to be built to do some custom architecturally diverse homes. But as many builders have told me, that's not reality anymore. There aren't any small builders left, much less any medium-sized builders. So I guess my question in that regard to either of my council colleagues who voted in the negative at the LPA, the thoughts just remain open, larger lots. um the just either of you the the thought process because i'm always struggling for that middle ground and the alternative so just curious you know would one acre lots do it or as is just thank you mayor i think this agenda item is only for the rezoning it's not for site plan on no no correct lots but this this rezoning allows up to two homes per acre

Right, and in discussion, my understanding is their plan is to not do the full amount, close to it probably, but it's currently being farmed.

Not that it matters, but for the record, it's my understanding that neither of the two parcels at hand are owned by farmers and haven't been for many, many, many years. These have been investor-owned. Are they being farmed? Yes. These are not farmers cashing out. To the extent it's relevant? I agree with you, Mayor. I think that's important.

I agree with you, Mayor. I've just reserved the right to make my comments.

Absolutely. Appreciate and respect that. Okay. So do we have a motion to approve tab six? Moved by Councilman Canabal. We have a second. Second by Councilman Fletcher. So let's have a roll call vote on tab six.

Councilwoman Avila. Councilwoman Kansky. Councilman wrong. Councilman. Councilman Fletcher.

Yes.

Councilman cannibal. Vice Mayor Bailey.

Looking forward to see your a game.

Yes. Ice meal. I mean, may lawsman. Yes. The motion carries.

All right, let's move on to tab seven.

Tab 7 is a companion item. This is card number 4917. This is a resolution of the City of Homestead, Florida approving a public school concurrency proportionate share mitigation development agreement between the City, Miami-Dade County School Board, Penco, Bama, and Lennar Homes, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date.

Okay, thank you. Moved by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey quick presentation. I mean, yeah, we've seen these in the past.

Yeah, this is standard fair and development. The school tripartite agreement between the city, the school district and the in the county. And so there's a school deficiency in the area. Any developer has to pay the money goes to the school district and then they you know and we enforce that through the permitting and co process Exactly, so um this will allow us and that payment has to be made obviously in connection with the plot process of the county But this will approve the agreement and um, yeah, I mean just part of the development process So there's nothing further from council.

Let me open this open the public hearing Is there anyone in the audience? Is there anyone online? No one online I'll just call for in-person discussion on this item. Okay, I'll close the public hearing and ask for a roll call vote on tab eight.

Seven.

Seven, I'm sorry. Looking at eight.

Councilman Konski? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Councilwoman Apulia? Yes. Councilman Wrong? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Arza. Tab 8. Mr. White? All right.

We're finished with that section. For the tab 8 is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida amending Chapter 19 of the City Code by creating Article 8 entitled Squatters by adding definitions providing for methods of enforcement. referencing sections 82.036 and 82.037 of the Florida statutes, and requiring information to be submitted to the city for enforcement against violations, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for severability, and providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Any objection to waiving the staff report on this item? Are there any questions from council? All right, it's been moved by Councilman Cannavale, seconded by Councilwoman Avila, There's nothing further. Let's have a roll call vote on tab 8.

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Gonski? Yes. Councilman Cannavale?

Yes.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Fletcher?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lassner?

Yes.

Motion carried.

All right. If in respect of the time of the tax collector who's joined us, if we could deviate to that item, which is tab 17, I believe.

Is that correct?

Yes. Any objection to jumping to tab 17? And we welcome our Miami-Dade tax collector, Dariel Fernandez.

Thank you so much. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Daniel Fernandez, Miami-Dade County Tax Collector. I'm here today in support of item CAR 4918 that creates coordination between the City of Homestead and my office to ensure that business tax receipts are issued and renewed in full compliance with the law. For more than 60 years, the Cuban communist and socialist regime has oppressed the people of Cuba and depended on support from other countries to stay in power. Many families in our community understand this reality firsthand. This is why full compliance with federal laws and authorization requirements is essential. The City of Homestead is taking the responsibility approach by promoting clarity, proper communication, and careful review of any businesses affected by federal restriction under the appropriate legal framework. I want to thank Mayor Loessner for his leadership and Councilwoman Erika and Councilwoman Clement FOR SPONSORING THIS IMPORTANT ITEM AND PRIORITIZING ACCOUNTABILITY AND COMPLIANCE. THIS RESOLUTION PROMOTES CONSISTENT ENFORCEMENT, CLEAR COORDINATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN THE LICENSING PROCESS. MY OFFICES STAND READY TO WORK WITH THE TOWN MANAGER, MAYOR AND COUNCIL TO SUPPORT COMPLIANCE AND PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THIS PROCESS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. GOD BLESS THE CITY OF HOMESTEAD AND GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I will say that the issue with Cuba is important because this is not just about policy. This is about national security for the United States of America. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Thank you for coming down and sitting through some of our process tonight. Mr. Pearl, let's get it started. The resolution before us.

Bear with me for just a moment. Sure. Tab 17 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida urging President Donald J. Trump to direct all relevant federal agencies to immediately suspend all applicable Cuba-related authorizations, general licenses, specific licenses, license exceptions and other approvals for exports, re-exports, financial transactions, services or business activities to or involving Cuba except as statutorily required for food and medicine pending comprehensive audits to ensure no support or benefit is provided to the cuban regime or its entities and review of the nature and use and ultimate destination of such activities urging the florida legislature to enact senate bill 1176 House Bill 1397 or similar legislation that would require any applicants for a local business tax receipt or renewal thereof to conduct transactions subject to a federal sanctions programs to exhibit an active license or authorization from the Office of Foreign Asset Control amending the city's 2026 legislative priorities is adopted by resolution 2005 1110160 authorizing and directing the city manager to work with and support the miami-dade county tax collector to ensure that all applicable federal state and local laws governing business tax receipts and related compliance requirements are properly followed and enforced providing for implementation and providing for an effective date thank you

That's almost as big a mouthful as the pension item. All right. Questions or comments from council? Councilman Monopolo?

Thank you, Mayor, I appreciate the opportunity to bring this item forward co sponsored by my colleague Councilman kind of body, and this is not going to affect any businesses that are operating justly and under the proper. regulations, it is to ensure that there's no support or benefit providing to the Cuban regime. or its entities, and it is authorizing the city manager to work with and support the Miami-Dade County tax collector, not to initiate their own initiatives, et cetera. So this is really just expressing that the city of Homestead stands for freedom. Thank you. And supports the county's unanimous vote to act on their resolutions, as well as the city of Miami, city of Coral Gables. And Coming from a Cuban family, this is something paramount that I really hope we'll have a unanimous agreement for tonight as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Canabal. Anything further? Appreciate your co-sponsorship of this item. Vice Mayor Bailey.

Thank you, Mayor. When I first read it, my only concern was, as I'm sure most people have friends, I have teachers that are that are Cuban. They're constantly sending their families things that they need, sending them money. We are 100% sure that that is not going to hurt any of our residents who are trying to help their families specifically in Cuba.

I'm glad you brought that up, Vice Mayor. I intimately know many friends, colleagues that use those services, and I specifically asked. And the reality is that they want this to pass. This is how you crush communism, is by defunding anything that supports their business. So it is possible that a business is identified by the Miami-Dade tax collector and could be pulled for doing business. but that is not necessarily an objection from the Cuban community. I hope that

No, that definitely clarifies a lot. And as I spoke with city manager's office that that information does end up coming back to us. So as we are looking at how it is specifically affecting or not affecting our local businesses that we just keep an eye out for our residents that are using some of those services to help their families that that need that need that help. So I just would appreciate any updates as you receive them.

Sure, I think our responsibility is to liaise with the tax collector and whatever information we receive on a monthly basis, we share with Mayor and Council.

All right, thank you. Again, thank you, Tax Collector Fernandez. So we have a motion and a second. We've had public input. Let's have a roll call vote. No, I don't think we can. But I motion. Yes, you moved it. I second it. You second it, yeah.

Councilwoman Karnski?

Yes.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lassman? Yes. The motion carries.

All right. Moving on to tab nine.

Yes, Mr. Mayor tab 9 is the 1st reading of an ordinance of the city of homestead, Florida, meaning the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 16, local business taxes and business regulations article 2, local business tax receipts section 16 dash 40 schedule of local business taxes by adopting the North American industry classification system manual to replace the standard. industrial classification system as the standard by which all businesses, occupations, and professions subject to a local business tax shall be classified, repealing, and replacing related provisions to reflect the adoption of the NAICS manual providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Any objections to the waiver of the staff report? Any questions or comments from council? Do we have a motion to approve this item on first? Moved by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Councilwoman Konski. Roll call please, Madam Clerk.

Avila?

Yes.

Councilman Rawls? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

And moving on to tab 10.

tab 10 is the first reading of an ordinance of the city of homestead florida amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 30 zoning article 4 supplemental district regulations division 1 generally to create section 30-405.2 entitled frontage definition for address addressing purposes establishing standards for determining official property addressing for interior lots corner lots vacant parcels commercial and mixed-use properties and double frontage lots, providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Any objection to waiving the staff report on this item? Didn't think so. We have a motion to approve. Moved by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey, and let's have a roll call.

Councilman Fletcher?

Yes.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Ponsky? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lassner? Yes. So motion.

Motion carries. All right. Tab 11, Mr. Perl.

AB 11 is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, amending the budget for the stormwater utility fund for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 and ending September 30, 2026 by increasing the total budgeted revenues and expenditures by $2 million, providing for severability and an effective date.

Thank you. Any questions or comments? We have a staff report. This is to provide for some additional funding. Do we have a move by... by Vice Mayor Bailey, seconded by Councilman Canabal. Let's have a roll call, please, on tab 10, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

And a second reading on tab 12.

Yes. Tab 12 is the second reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, amending the Firefighter's Retirement Plan at Article 4 of Chapter 22.5, Retirement Programs. Article 5, Firefighter's Retirement Plan of the City Code by amending Section 22.5-277 Reserve to be titled Funding Stabilization Reserve Account to provide for annual distributions to eligible members, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Any objection to waiving the staff report on this second reading? Do we have a motion to approve? Tap 12. Moved by Councilman Roth. Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Roll call please on tap 12.

Councilman Konski.

Yes.

Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilwoman Avila. Yes. Councilman Canabal. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carries.

All right, that takes us to a resolution under tab 12, Mr. Perl.

Tab 13, sorry, yes. Tab 13 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, acknowledging and formally adopting direction provided to city staff at a council workshop regarding uncollected utility fees, directing the city manager and appropriate departments to implement specific remedial actions, providing for implementation, providing for reporting, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Any objection to waiving the staff report? Do we have a motion to approve this item? Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey, seconded by Councilman Roth. Any comments? I just want to say this is the one we talked about where we're going to start. The process.

The process. Long time coming. I HAD A GENTLEMAN, I SPOKE TO A GENTLEMAN TODAY JUST AS A BACK STORY TO THIS. APPARENTLY HE DOES A LOT OF EVICTIONS ON PROPERTIES IN THE CITY OF HOMESTEAD AND HE'S SURPRISED AT HOW LONG AFTER THE TENANT HAS BEEN EVICTED THE POWER AND WATER STAYS ON. SOME CASES SIX TO EIGHT MONTHS. KNOWING WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET PAID FOR ANY OF THAT. SO THIS WILL HELP THAT PROCESS AND HELP ELIMINATE SOME OF THOSE situations where we're not receiving monies for utilities provided so thank you to staff for for doing all this work because it's going to be a big push to get some of these uncollected revenues brought back to the city hopefully it'll help into the enterprise yeah into the enterprise and help us with infrastructure issues and things that we can eventually start paying for so thank you to staff for all the work you did on this thank you thank you thank you councilman roth councilman thank you mayor i had the same conversation with i'm assuming the same gentleman because i can't imagine this is happening um often but in that particular case what is the issue or can you identify the break in the process and

how is this you know the action items we're approving tonight going to help avoid that from happening or do we already have a process we just have to implement it so the first phase is the mailers that started on the 13th to notify customers that their past due balances need to be made up to date or come into a payment plan the second phase is the tagging process which will start after march 16th which will give a full month so all customers are notified After that, if you are past due balances, you are subject to disconnection. So that is the piece that is missing. The actual disconnection of past due balances. Got it. Okay. Thank you so much.

Very good. Thank you. Does that conclude the questions or comments from council? So let's have a roll call vote on tab 13.

Councilman Cannonball? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Rawls? Yes. Councilwoman Tonski? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lozner? Yes. The motion carries.

moving on to tab 14 tab 14 is a resolution of the city council the city of homestead florida concerning authorized signatories on city checks wire transfers and related financial instruments superseding a portion of the prior resolution 2011-10-104 on the same subject matter providing for implementation providing for an effective date thank you any questions or comments from council we have a motion to approve

Moved by the Vice Mayor. Second. Second by Councilman Canabal. Roll call, please, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Avila. Yes. Councilman Canabal. Yes. Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Councilwoman Konski. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lozano. Yes. The motion carries.

And Mr. Pearl, tab 15, please.

Tab 15 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving a purchase sale agreement authorizing the execution of a triple net lease agreement authorizing the issuance of a note in an amount not to exceed $1,666,812 to secure a loan for the purchase of a property from the sellers of the property located at 406 Washington Avenue, providing for a covenant to budget and appropriate non-advalor revenues for the payment of the loan, providing for security for the note, approving and authorizing the execution and delivery of a loan agreement authorizing... A note in such other documents as may be necessary in connection with the loan, providing for severability, providing for a repealer, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. For the staff report, I'll let staff address any questions that members of council may have with respect to this item. Are there any questions or comments on this item from council? Councilwoman?

Thank you, Mayor. I still stand in an objection to this to this item in general, and I can't see myself approving financing the acquisition of it. We have properties already in our coffers that we can't get deals done with and adding another property to our inventory, especially this one that land value. As is is is what we want it for and. This price is just way beyond price per square footage is just not in my professional opinion where we should be investing our money and the gentleman that spoke earlier. He he had sound comments and he had the right to speak the items that he was speaking and the reality is is that. This is not providing a return. It's not for an immediate plan. It's not adding to the livability or the profitability for businesses in downtown. There's no public benefit. It's for a future plan that we don't have. And this is just not a good investment in my opinion. So I will be not supporting this item again.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Anything further? Thank you, Vice Mayor Bailey.

Thank you, Mayor. So we have obviously had many discussions on this. As I mentioned at the last meeting, I was greatly inspired by the Charette's at the State of the City with Mayor Mirabot speaking about acquiring land. I do believe that there are specific places that we as a city should hold on to. And I have always prided myself in voting honestly and with my heart, I am apologizing right now I am really embarrassed to say this, but I was always sure that the parking lot next to. The good year was part of the deal so having frontage on chrome and having frontage on. Washington avenue was one of the bigger. pieces that I was hopeful for. Not having that parking lot really changed things. You can ask staff. I almost cried. I think that it is incredibly, I can't even apologize enough that somehow that fell through the cracks for me. I typically take my time and look at things. I was 100% sure that that parking lot was included. And when I was speaking with the CRA director and talking about other opportunities that we would have in the meantime, of course there's concerns with not having the marketplace taking off yet. Not having that parking lot honestly was a big deal for me. So I don't know if I can support it without that. I was really hopeful with a vision to be able to do something great on that corner. But just on the corner of Washington Avenue, like I said, from what the CRA director says, the person who owns the parking lot is absolutely not interested in selling. That was another question that I had right away. Are we able to at least then acquire that lot? So I'm sorry, but I am going to have to change my mind not having that parking lot. Thank you.

Yes, Councilman Fletcher. Yes, thank you. And I appreciate everybody's comments so far. One of my major concerns is what other properties do we still need to get to for the long-term plan of the downtown Charette planning process? I too had the question in regards to the parking lot. I know there's some adjacent properties that we're also going to be looking at in the future. A couple of basic questions were answered for me. I've always asked this question in the past, and a lot of these times these things become very political. But I actually have a recommendation from city staff to approve this purchase and long-term plan. But I would look at the manager or the CRA director and say, if this was your money, would you buy this piece of property? You're telling me you're requesting us recommendation for us to approve it. If this was your money and you're going to buy this property, would you do this? No answer. That gives me a little concern, but it doesn't change my resolve on what I think we need to do. Is this necessary to complete our vision for downtown?

this piece of property can someone give me an answer to that this one particular this one particular piece of property like all of the core downtown has a future place in that vision that was formulated by the community and accepted by the board is it absolutely critical no no no piece of property is critical in that vision It is a part of the overall fabric, though, of that future plan for downtown. Okay, thank you for that.

And for some of the adjacent properties, again, I understand the parking lot is not for sale. The current owner is not interested. But some of the other properties around it, have we discussed that with those property owners, and are they willing to look at that in the future?

At this time, we have not had those discussions, and I would would share with the board, as I think I had shared with you, Council member. The discussions that we had initially had with the parking lot owner was was not for this purpose. It was related to potential acquisition for expanding parking. We have not, however, had any conversations with any other adjacent property owners.

Okay, and finally, just for clarification, the gentleman that spoke earlier talked about expending taxpayer funds on this purchase. Although CRE money is taxpayer funds, it's specifically for a certain area of the city. We're spending taxpayer funds on Chrome Avenue doing a whole lot of upgrades. We just saw that earlier tonight. I think this is a benefit for that process. I will be supporting this item tonight. It doesn't look like long term that I think it's going to be occupied for someone for some period of time. maybe longer than the three-year period. So I think we can get some of our investment back long-term. With that, I'll yield for any other comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Fletcher. Vice Mayor, to your concern, for me, parking is a really big concern. I don't think the parking garage is sufficient. It's not centrally located. know we're going to have a small parking lot behind jacobson's and we've you know i think we're all kind of getting a little bit of mixed signals on sidewalk width and his parking coming out as a in the the chrome issues and i've kind of cast about and and spoken with the manager and the cra director together about finding parking islands and one thing one thing i can to your point in the parking lot one thing i came up with and i don't know that it's been addressed with the corner of the parking lot to the west of this property. Clearly, that has to travel with that building. They have no parking but for that lot. I mean, as far back as I can remember when that was a big cafeteria there. Up until Andrew, the sign still said Barnett Cafeteria Parking, but let me come back to the point. I think we're at the point in the life of this city where we can get really creative and perhaps even in the future, go to that property owner and acquire air rights where a parking garage is done, where the owner still retains the surface rights and we can acquire air rights over that corner for a parking structure. So I guess my point to that is we're not totally wiped out there that that is is not not off the table and you know certainly you know had it been connected to this that that that changes a lot of things i i think that this did you know it became political that's you know my colleagues right to make it political but i just want to say you know for the record the council asked for deep environmental studies they were provided they came back clear structural studies came back solid pardon pardon the pun so this is not about slandering this property or these property owners this is a policy decision You know, my problem with the speaker earlier was is that he made allegations that were not borne out by the facts and by the homework that apparently some of his colleagues here, you know, asked to be done. So it's just a policy. Are we going to control our destiny or not? I think we missed the boat on Palms Plaza right across the street. You know, the words of Mayor Mirabon, if you don't own it, You don't control it. We know that three years in the future, at the furthest, there will no longer be a tire and auto repair shop at that location. When we look back and see how things have changed in Homestead for the better in the last 18 to 24 months and what the future may bring, I still feel, and look, the CRA director brought this item to the table. Am I friends with the owners? Absolutely. I've known Mr. Pedersen since the mid-1980s. Am I their attorney? No. Do I have financial dealings with them? No. Don't judge them by me or where they are politically. Judge them by what's right or Homestead. And I think we've, you know, previously, and we all have the right to change our minds, but, you know, technically we've gotten all the information that this council asked for, and I think we can be certain that for the next 24 to 36 months, we're not going to have another vacant building, and I'm confident that the next council will be able to find a really good tenant or use without demolish, perhaps without demolishing the building that's not even on our radar today. But without that, without ownership, we don't get to control it. So with that, do we have a, yes, sure.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to clarify, it wasn't the fact that I wanted the additional parking. It was the frontage of Chrome Avenue. Any successful downtown, that parking garage is close enough. People complaining, those are Miami complaints. You have to walk half a mile. I don't think that's an issue. If it's an area where you want to visit, we went to a Boys and Girls Club thing in Wynwood. yeah you have to park far you have to walk if it's something that's worth visiting so it wasn't that i was looking for the parking i saw it as a great investment having chrome and washington so i just wanted to clarify that thank you mayor right i don't think there was a motion on the table was there i'll move it moved by second by councilman fletcher seconded by councilman cannibal uh and this is tab uh was this tab 15.

15, tab 15, the purchase, car number 4829. So if there's no further comment from council, let's put this to rest. A roll call vote.

Councilman Roth? No. Councilwoman Avila? No. Councilman Fletcher?

Yes.

Councilman Canabal? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? No. Vice Mayor Bailey? No. Mayor Lozano?

Yes.

The motion fails.

Thank you. My deep personal apologies to the property owners. In my opinion, you have been significantly wronged by the majority. It's their discretion to do so, and you act in the manner that you need to act.

I'm sorry, given that this has failed, if I can, we now have no funding somewhere within the due diligence period, and the manager is going to have to take some action to Exercise the city's rights under the due diligence in the absence of the funding to terminate in the city's discretion right move forward Can I have a motion to direct the motion to direct to terminate direct the manager to terminate that okay?

move by councilman Avila to terminate We have a second second by councilman Roth. Let's have a roll call vote on the direction to terminate I

Councilwoman Koski?

Yes.

Councilman Cannibal? Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Fletcher?

No.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson?

Not a principal, no. In reality, there's no funding, so it's got to be terminated. Motion to terminate to direct the manager to provide notice of termination passes. All right, let's move on to tab 16. 16.

Tab 16 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the award of a contract to Blue Island Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Corp. and JCR Mechanical Contractor, Inc. for ITB 202601, HVAC repair and refrigeration equipment maintenance and providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

thank you if there are no objection we'll waive the staff report and we'll open the floor to any questions or comments from council on tab 16. mr mayor yes council pleasure yeah just uh as a side and and my one-on-ones with staff again uh

I wanna make sure that we're getting the message out to local business owners that we need them to engage in our process if they wanna be involved with the city. I asked where this current business is located and it works out of a house in the city of Homestead, but their business address is their home address. take a picture of their trucks in front of the house. So I'm kind of glad they live here in the city of Homestead, but you know, they're doing business out of their house. So, you know, this is a lot of money we're spending with a small company. I think that, are we sure they have the capability to perform the actions needed?

Okay. Appreciate that. Thank you for the, with the due diligence. Okay, any further?

Mr. Mayor, just on the record, we subsequent to this conversation with Councilman Fletcher, I asked the Procurement Director to carry out additional due diligence measures. So I'm going to ask the Procurement Director on the record to state what our findings.

Good evening.

So yes, we performed a due diligence on both of the vendors and reached out.

Can you hear me better?

Okay. And reached out to their references and all came back with good references. Let's see. So for Blue Island, we reached out to several of theirs, which were Puppet Joe's Waterfront, 15th Street Fisheries and Lakeshore Community Association. They all came back with good reviews, as well as for JCR. We reached out to several of their references as well, and again, they all had good references.

Thank you.

Okay. Yes.

In case I forget later on under Council comments, could you remind me please to talk about we work, which I think is a solution that might satisfy Councilman Fletcher's concerns and mine as well. So you make a very valid point and but I just don't want to forget. Thank you.

So I just wanted to add, Kamar just reminded me. So what we're going to do, the end of the month, we're planning to, beyond just the advertising that she asked me to bring up. So South D Chamber of Commerce, we are now advertising with them as well to get the word out to the local vendors. But our plan is to also host an event the end of the month to our local vendors to sort of like a roundtable to ask what it is that maybe why they're not bidding on some of our projects, and so we can work with them to get them to participate more often.

Mayor, if I can make a comment on that as well. Certainly. I really love hearing that that's going to be an initiative. Several years ago, I was designated as the council liaison to the South D Chamber of Commerce, and it wasn't really formalized, but going to those meetings and sharing information and bringing back, you know, sharing events, etc. It's really key, and that type of participation is necessary. I would really like for someone to be designated again. I volunteer to re-engage as a member of the chamber as is. I am already participating, but not having that authority to be representing the city and bringing back would be a disconnect in some cases.

We can perhaps do that under my business if time allows and we all remember. Thank you. Yes, Councilman.

So just a quick thought to Ms. Brown. On our community calendar, would it be appropriate to post city bids?

We are able to add a designated tab for city business that would redirect. So yes, we can explore that opportunity.

OK, so that's an opportunity. I'll discuss a little bit about our community calendar in my business, but something to think of. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, do we have a motion on this item? I don't recall. Was it on the table? Do we have a motion? Okay, so moved by Cannonball. Do we have a second? Second by Vice Mayor Bailey. Does that include the comments on tab 16? Yes, Councilman Roth.

Just to back up Councilman Fletcher's comment. Do we have a performance kick out in case they fail to perform?

Yes, we do. We have termination for cause and convenience in our contracts.

You could have just said yes, but we're there.

She's on the tape. We can hear that. Thank you. All right, so I think we have a motion and a second. If that concludes the questions or comments, let's have a roll call, though.

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Cannaval? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lossner? Yes.

Yes. So I think it's that time of night when we need to do a couple of things. Move to extend this and any other meetings that are scheduled for tonight to 9.30, just as a safeguard and recess here for five minutes. So moved. All in favor?

All right, five minutes.

What? .

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Amen.

Thank you. Thank you. Now you can do big jobs.

Okay, it looks like we made it in five minutes or less and somewhere in the home stretch here. Takes us to tab 18, is that correct, Mr. Perl?

Yes, sir. All right. Tab 18 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the agreement with Crown Castle for private MPLS fiber network and activity and redundant internet service and amount to exceed $1,121,604 utilizing The General Services Administration Contract Number GS35F-465DA, exempting the purchase from competitive bidding in accordance with Section 2-411.12a of the City Code, authorizing the City Manager to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this resolution subject to budget appropriation and availability of funds, authorizing the Manager to approve a price adjustment of up to 10%, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. All right. So implicit in Councilman Ross' moving of the items, we're going to waive the staff report. And, Canabale, did you second? Yes. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments from Council on tab 18? Seeing none, roll call, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Aguilar? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Canabale? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson?

Yes.

The motion carries.

All right, so we have deferred tabs 19 and 20, correct?

19 was withdrawn.

19 was withdrawn. 20 we need to do it. 20 we need to do it.

Yes. Okay. All right.

Tab 20, Mr. Perl.

Tab 20 is the first reading of an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, amending the City Code of Ordinances by amending Chapter 30, Zoning, Article 4, Supplemental District Regulations, Division 2, All Street Parking to modify regulations and standards related to temporary parking of boats and further establishing regulations concerning parking within the private rights-of-way permitted within private residential developments providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date very good councilwoman

Thank you. If there's a way to mirror all my comments from LPA and just repeat them back play right now, I would. But again, I just seek your support in passing first reading and that we will do our due diligence and address as best as possible any items and issues and questions and discrepancies that come up in between. And as we heard tonight, there is opportunity and room to explore other issues relating to the same. So we'll see it again at second reading. Thank you.

So I just ask that whoever makes a motion that agrees that implicit in that is the compiling of the information we asked for at the LPA with respect to all the associations that we can locate to see what they are. Okay, so do we have a motion on this item?

I'll move.

Moved by Councilman Canabal. Second.

Do we have a second?

Who's seconded? Of course. Okay, so we have a motion and a second, so let's have a roll call vote on first reading.

Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lossner?

No.

The motion carries.

All right, and we have then deferred tab 22 regarding potential accessory dwelling unit legislation.

Mr. Mayor? What's that? I think you're skipping tab 21.

Did I miss 21? Oh, okay. Very good. Mr. Perl.

Tab 21 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, adopting the new official city logo, amending the city color palette, providing for the retirement and grandfathering of prior city logo, establishing use, regulation, and approval requirements for the new city logo, providing for administration and transition, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date.

Very good. Thank you. Obviously, this was was my request to go on the agenda. Matter of personal preference, I wanted to hear from the rest of you. I know that many of you on parade signage and other correspondence are now using the round seal, rather, that we adopted as an ancillary seal. We did adopt it, but we retained what's been referred to as the tombstone as the official seal. This calls for retiring that out and moving to the round seal, I think, for design purposes and style. My personal taste, I really like the round one much more than the... than the tombstone. It'll be around for a while. It'll be on these binders. It'll be on police cars. It'll be... You're what?

Yeah.

so that that was awesome yes thank you mayor i i think that the tombstone i wish there was a better word for that but i i i find this to be very formal and very respected and that the circle one is more casual more useful and for all intensive purposes of moving forward and on on branding i think that we should go with the circle one it's more attractive it's better but i i This is retiring it, but if we as council members or future councils were to prefer this, does this restrict them from being able to use this one in lieu of another one?

They could bring it back.

So like, for example, on flyers, maybe this actually looks better on a certain branded flyer.

So can we just leave for... Well, you know, and maybe the title here, and I'm sorry to interrupt you. we're adopting the primary city logo. So the round would be used primarily, but there may be times when each council member are given a design, we could still, future councils could revert back to Okay who's the geometry expert what's the official name of that show.

Would it require an active Council for. Okay, and and forgive me, but due to the length of this agenda I kind of skipped over reviewing the city logo one so there's nothing in here that would restrict us from being able to use this without any regulation or.

Because we are we were using around.

Right. Thank you. All right.

Moved by Councilman Cannibal, seconded by Councilwoman Alvarez.

Wait, just I want to clarify the point because the resolution with retirement and the grandfather states that notwithstanding the foregoing, the prior city logo may continue to be used for the purposes of exhausting existing inventory, material signage, publications, or digital assets that were produced or in circulation prior to the effective date of the resolution. No new materials, reproductions, or uses of the prior city logo shall be initiated after the effective date of By this by the city manager or designee so that delegate the manager has the authority okay.

City Council members designees because I think that's more so for vendors third parties that they can't use the document.

Whatever is necessary to allow it to seamlessly. be used as a secondary symbol? Secondary, okay.

Thank you.

All right, roll call. Yes, Councilor Roth.

Just a point, just so I'm clear. Does that mean I can still wear the shirts I own today?

Yeah.

And Zuri, you got me those hats, thank you. But I think they're outdated now.

No, no, no, no, no. They're collector's items now.

Okay, yeah, okay. So we'll need new hats with the new one. Yeah, all right.

And we've adopted, you know, so there's no question on the colors that's built into that. Well, I think that's the reproduction. It's not necessarily what's the real, yeah.

Okay, so let's have a roll call on that. Okay. Madam Clerk?

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lossner?

Yes.

The motion carries.

Let me touch real quickly on tab 22. There was a statute that was moving forward in the legislature that would have preempted all of our ordinances and would have mandated that by December 1st, we enact legislation to affirmatively permit accessory dwelling units in any single-family residential neighborhood. So just in the last couple of days, the advice we have, I have from our folks in Tallahassee, that that may be stalled. I'll tell you, I am not a proponent of ADUs. I was just trying to get ahead of state statute. So a month delay on 22 will give us a better feel Did that revive itself as the legislature went forward? So, you know, there's no, in my view, there was no need to go forward with this tonight because it's not really looming at this point. It may be next month, we'll see. Yeah, okay. Okay, so that moves to, I need to announce a vacancy on the Affordable Housing Committee for the Banking for Affordable Housing. Does this replace, is this Mr. Pruna?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay.

All right. So, just want to put on your radar that, you know, and there are very specific categories and eligibility, and it's one that is a mandated position. So, we need to find someone currently involved in banking that deals with affordable housing. Not exclusively, but that's in the wheelhouse. Now, and I'll ask you, Deputy Manager Brown, is Banking used in the traditional term or would it be other, you know, not mainline banking but financial services?

So the ordinance stipulates banking. Now, we can maybe speak with the city attorney to determine if banking and financial services, if there's an alignment. So I can follow up with the city attorney's office and we can make a determination and report back to council.

Okay. Well, we'll go ahead and advertise it as banking. I want to put that on all of your radars. for potential qualified folks with that caveat that it may or may not be very tightly defined. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor. If I am so appointed as the chamber liaison, this would be great to add to the list of things that I should share at the upcoming chamber meetings. It would be nice if I could have help creating the list of things.

So we will provide a succinct list of all the categories that were outlined in the ordinance. And then we will work with the clerk to put a flyer out, the clerk of the communications division, to put a flyer out, and we'll circulate it with the South Bay Chamber.

And this is the only vacancy at this time, and this is an absolute mandated category. That is correct.

That is correct.

Mayor, is there another vacancy on the pension board that needs to be filled?

I understand that I've heard out in the public that some resumes or applications have been submitted to the clerk in the last few days, at least one on the police pension board.

And it was forwarded to your staff, Mayor.

Okay, I haven't seen that yet. I got a phone call telling me, you know, heads up, and that was, I think, last night.

So Mayor and Council, this has to do with monies that come from the state. So I don't know whether the city attorney can independently opine on changing stipulation of eligibility for membership.

I'm going to have to go do a little bit of research here.

So my recommendation would be very simple, to be very cautious and on the safe side. Mandate us to come back on the car meeting as with a special call and change that language and bring it for second reading on March 18th within 30 days we're in fully compliance.

Okay, that's fine. After research and verifying the state and all that, sure.

And I apologize, I jumped ahead in the agenda. Councilman Fletcher, it's your time to shine.

Usually these are down in the bottom. Yeah. No worries. Thank you for the time. Page 15. I did want to, during my business, I did want to bring up, as we all know, FIFA World Cup is coming this year. They just had some big doings this week up in the county. But I wanted the staff to start looking at... watch parties here in the city of homestead with some of our residents and maybe uh coordinating with the the new folks at the sports hub uh some of the things we can look at during the fifa world cup that's coming up in june so if we could start looking at that i'd be happy to so councilman we through the manager we have actually started a planning to some respect for for um this

event or weeks long event for the benefit of council the world cup kicks off in june and then it runs all the way through july august i believe and we we have a two-prong approach we are intending and we'll we'll memorialize this with a memo once we have all the plans and the budgets and for council's consideration but The the loosely the plan is that we will we will partner with local businesses for early in June to activate a watch parties. One that comes to mind, I think we have a Mexico versus, let's say, Switzerland game. We will find a local restaurant. We will represent Mexico, they will host the watch party. As we get closer to, the team calls it the quarterfinals, right? We are looking, we're exploring the ability to establish a fan zone where it's now the city curating an event or the watch party events. We'll have to determine the location and then On the World Cup night, we will have the culmination probably being a larger event with a huge watch party, whether or not it will trigger food trucks and more or less some sort of an activation. But yes, that is something that the manager has given direction that we explore, and we have begun the planning to that end. So we will formally share with council the plan, the outline, any potential budget impact. for council to ultimately make a decision on whether or not we proceed.

No, that's awesome. And again, that's just incumbent on us to go out and look for some additional sponsors outside to help offset those costs and gain more notoriety in the community. That's all I was bringing it up for. Today, I did a little drive around in the southwest section of town. I haven't been there in a couple of months. And I got to tell you, the Homestead Gardens project blows my mind. from where we were to where we're at today. Although it's still under construction, it's just absolutely amazing. I'm happy we were able to help the community in that area. Even in the older apartments, you know, they have brand new air conditioners now that they didn't have any before. So it's just great to see that that's finally coming to fruition. Also, I hadn't seen the greeting card on the wall. And so I looked at that today, and it's absolutely awesome. I wish it was able to move closer to Chrome Avenue, because you got to tweak your neck a little bit to see it. But it's awesome. I did have the opportunity this last weekend to go to Daytona for the 500 race and look at their public safety and their traffic management systems and their security. And let me tell you, if you've never been before, and I spend 20 plus years since I've been to Daytona, but, you know, 150,000 people, the event was completely sold out. And right into it, they had to do rapid schedule changes at the beginning because there was a weather front coming through. So they moved the race up an hour to prevent having like a mass evacuation type event that I've seen at other events. But I can tell you they could still learn a few things from an old homestead cop about how to direct traffic. They need some help, but all in all, It was a great learning opportunity for me and we're going to share my insights with the chief and the manager. Spent some time with Guillermo walking around and envisioning what our fan zone can look like coming up for the 2026 championship. And I can tell you, people were there buying tickets for our race. We expect to sell out. So if you haven't got your tickets yet, you might wanna reach out and grab those because they're going quickly. next i just want to re-emphasize and have everybody take a look at the discover homestead website we do have the community calendar on there now it's right on the city of homestead website you can go to the link as we start building it there's going to be a lot of great information there about the community and with that i will leave for the evening thank you thank you uh we've still got cra

Councilwoman Koski.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. For those of you... right on cue right on cue thank you for those of you who could not attend the silent disco that the gfwc women's club of homestead was hosting you're in luck because it's been postponed so february 27th we will be hosting a silent disco mr mayor you said you were a little confused on exactly how you have a silent disco it's two genres of music being played simultaneously you listen in on your headphones so that you can Dance along with whatever genre you like. This is just a payback to the community to give you something, an alternative to do on a Friday night. So that's February 27th. You can find us on social media or Eventbrite for tickets. Also, March 8th is International Women's Day. So in honor of that activity, the GFWC Women's Club also hosts an annual Woman of the Year where we honor women in the community. for their outstanding service to the community and what they contribute their time and service so we ask that you would participate in that as well and also i want to acknowledge the fact that i've taken notice to the cleanliness and tidiness and the removal and the overall approval or um appeal of the city i don't i don't know what we've been doing but um it's visually noticeable um the the shopping carts the trash um the it's a it's gone you know it was all it was been my complaint to the mayor prior to being on council that the overall appeal of the city needed some attention and tending to so kudos to those who are taking initiative and action in doing so it is it has been noticed not just by myself but others as well so thank you moving on to councilman roth thank you mayor

just a correction to the date for the women of the year you mentioned the 8th which is women's day but the actual event is on march 14th march 14th thank you for clarification i think we're looking for more organizations to honor their woman of the year as well so we did not want to compete with rotary right so so we can be there to support you guys i believe that either for julio or for the mayor to talk about because that's coming up too um besides that i got nothing thank you councilman uh councilman cannibal let's go to the cra uh vice mayor

Thank you, Mayor. I'll make it really quick. Love the FIFA ideas. A couple of years back, we helped one of our local teams by the city advertising a watch party and Keg South donated money towards them. So it might, you know, we've got some time. We might want to sponsor a few of our local youth teams and allow some of our businesses who will obviously benefit from having so many people donate a certain percentage of what they make. A couple quick things, code related. There have been a lot of chickens around lately, in the southwest especially. It happens, I don't know, seems to be something that's like every five years there's like an influx. I don't personally mind them, but I've received a couple calls, I was like, I'm not sure what we do about that.

So if a chicken is tied to a particular property, we do cite the property owner for chickens, coops, and those. The free roamers are the ones that are usually the nuisance pests. We can't really, they don't come with a collar, so they're very hard to tie down, but we do our best to try to look at evidence for people that have food out or things like that. So, yes.