Miami Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Sidewall, roadway reconstruction, the driveways, and drainage to resolve flooding in the area, which is actually part of a larger project in the Auburn Hill area.

Neighbors in the area had said the roadway really needs to be repaved, been torn up for a long time, and there's a lot of speeding on 32nd Avenue, so we went ahead and we did a raised intersection. So you've got beautiful new roadways behind us, you've got caved brick walkways, you've got things that slow you down and keep the street looking beautiful, and residents could not be happier.

Thank you.

During its July 9th meeting, the Miami City Commission approved several measures focused on housing, public safety, economic development, transportation, and environmental sustainability. The Commission approved the acceptance of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to finance affordable housing and community development programs. The funding includes community development block grants, home investment partnerships, housing opportunities for persons with AIDS, and emergency solutions grants. Commissioners also approved the acceptance of federal funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, providing rental assistance to eligible residents and funding program administration. The Commission also approved funding for housing assistance and related services for low-income individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus. In addition, Emergency Solutions grant funding was approved to fund homelessness prevention, emergency shelters, rapid rehousing, and related services. Additional Community Development Block grant funding was allocated for neighborhood improvements, affordable housing, public services, and economic development projects across the city. Furthermore, the commission approved an allocation from the District 4 Anti-Poverty Initiative for Sunshine for All Incorporated. This grant provides financial support for the Senior Meals Program, ensuring that elderly residents have access to healthy food. To strengthen the local economy, the commission approved funding through the Miami for Everyone Program for the Alapata Collaborative Community Development Corporation. The program provides business training, individual coaching, and financial assistance to eligible

🎵 🎵 Thank you. Thank you. you

Good morning, my name's Patricia Arias. I'm a senior assistant city attorney for the city of Miami. This is the first committee meeting for the TRIA Advisory Committee. Because technically we don't have a chair, I'll need everybody to say their name and say present so that we can do a quorum There's something that I have to state before the meeting begins, and then the presentation can start. So we'll start on that end and get to me.

Andy Parrish.

Do they have to say the word present?

No, obviously once they say their name. Okay.

Thomas Lawrence. Ian Wogan.

Dena Belle Llewellyn.

Mariela Lopez-Delver, over to you.

So we have six, so we have a quorum. Okay, so, let me go ahead. Any person who's a lobbyist pursuant to chapter two, article six of the city code must register with the city clerk and comply with related city requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the tree ordinance advisory committee. A person may not lobby at a city official board member or staff member until registering. A copy of the city code section about lobbyists is available at the city clerk's office or online at www.munico.com. Any person may be heard by the committee for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the committee, unless otherwise allowed by the committee to have them speak longer. Additionally, the city will accommodate any speakers desiring to appear in person. When addressing the committee, the member of the public must first state his or her name, his or her address, and what item they'll be speaking about. Obviously, there's only one set of item here right now, which would be the trees, presumably. But if at any point in time there are different matters, that's why we set it out as items. A video of this meeting may be requested at the Office of Communications or viewed online at www.miamigov.com. Please silence all cell phones and any other noise-making devices, and any person with a disability requiring existing auxiliary aids and services for this meeting may notify the city liaison. Please note, committee members may have generally been briefed on the items on today's agenda. Today, the agenda is, in essence, a meet and greet. Hello, how are we? How is this all going to comport? In order to ensure that the public has the ability to view the meeting, the city's communications department will broadcast the meeting. The meeting can be viewed on Miami TV, miamigov.com backslash TV, or Comcast 1077 within the city of Miami. The broadcast will also have closed captioning. With that, I have finished my preliminary notes.

Andy, you had a question? No. Come on. We'll review the agenda and the process and give you each a chance to formally kind of introduce yourselves in just a minute. But I think we're going to turn and let Ed was going to do a welcome first.

Good morning all, Ed Santamaria, Director of the Building Department. I want to thank you all for your participation in what I'm sure is going to be a very robust and very productive set of discussions moving forward that will involve a lot of community engagement. I think that the Commission has selected a very strong diverse panel with a world of expertise and a set of different perspectives and I fully expect that you're going to come up with great advisory input into the discussion for the community and for us. I also want to thank the Consensus Center and Florida State University for their engagement here as the facilitators of this discussion. And I think that their role here is invaluable. And together, all of us here will have some good and productive things to input into this very important discussion right now in the city of Miami. With that, I turn it over to the next person on the agenda.

Thank you, Ed.

And again, before I go into more detail, those of the public, I think, who may have arrived after I said this, there is a sign-up sheet over here if you would like to say something at the end of the meeting. There's also agendas over here as well. We're going to do some introductions. Let me start off by pointing out, especially since there are some here who may not know, and Ed alluded to, We're with the Consensus Center. Raphael and I are based with the Consensus Center that's based at Florida State University. We are not subject matter experts. We're not here, that's what your role is to be. Our role is the facilitators. We're the process guys to help you have as constructive and effective conversations over a series of meetings that we've designed for you as we can. So Raphael, you wanna add anything to that before I move on to them?

No, I think.

And you'll get tag teaming kind of things. And I apologize to public. I'm turning my back to you as I try and kind of help the committee as a facilitator. So I'm going to start over here with you, Andy, just ask you each to your name, kind of your name, rank, serial number, uh, what your role in life is. And if you could give us like a one or two sentence kind of hope for, for, for the committee.

My name is Andy Parrish. A long time ago, I was the chair of the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. Until last year, I was the vice chair of the Planning and Zoning Board, so I'm pretty experienced with how the city operates. My career has been, I'm a reformed lawyer, and then I began building homes for first-time homebuyers in the West Grove. I joined this committee because I think the city's in a tree canopy crisis, and I hope this committee will go a long way. My hope for this morning is that we will take note that because this is of great public importance and an emergency for the trees, that we can set our goal to wrap this committee up by the end of the year, not middle of next year. That's a goal. If we can get there, that would be great. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Andy. Tom? Good morning. Tom Lawrence. I'm a... Tom Lawrence, District 4 resident, civil engineer with a background in stormwater management. Looking forward to the opportunity to help advise the city on improving the tree ordinance and ways which we can manage the tree canopy going forward. Looking forward to working with the fellow board, city staff, and the community to help support informed decision-making and offer a fresh perspective. Thank you.

Good morning, Ian Wogan, husband and father of three from Coconut Grove. I was born at Mercy Hospital. I'm an arborist by trade, professional arborist, and I've worked with the city of Miami for over 16 years directly on managing tree canopy and understanding the dynamics of utilizing trees in the built environment for the betterment and the improvement of our city. I think we have a unique opportunity here where we're at this sort of crossroads where the city of Miami has some of the most stringent ordinances if you look on average across the country. But we're still in this sort of crisis mode of large trees being removed and our canopy dwindling. And I think we can really leverage this committee to establish best management practices for integrating trees as infrastructure in our built environment.

Great. Thank you. Tina.

Good morning, I'm Dena Bell Llewellyn. I am a licensed landscape architect. I'm also a certified arborist. My background is I have a private practice in the city of Miami for landscape design now for 35 years. I'm currently the assistant public works director for the city of Coral Gables, directly responsible for green space management, which is 40,000 trees in the city of Coral Gables and close to 400 park sites. So my goal with being in service on the committee is to bring maybe a balanced approach. As a landscape architect, we understand development, we understand Zoning, we understand city planning. And as an arborist, I understand trees. So I think I can bring a balanced perspective.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Mariela Lopez-Delbert. I'm a pioneer of Bayside historic neighborhood. I came in in 2000, restored two historic homes that are 110 years old each. I'm also an activist for Upper East Side, MIMO, and the planet. I also am VP for the Bayside HOA. I'm president of My Street, one of the oldest streets in Miami, Elmira, Northeast 68th Street. I'm also with the friends of Legion Park that we had the North Gate opened from 67th Street that was closed for over 20 years. And we also fought very hard for Adela 3 not to go up and abutting a historic Legion Park, but it is what it is. I think it's very, very important that we understand our environment, that we live in a planet, that we don't live in a zip code, and everything around it is important, especially the trees. The climate is only getting hotter, not cooler, and we have to realize the importance of the oxygen that the canopies bring us. That I am for progress completely, but we must educate the architects. We must educate the developers to work with the green spaces and not destroy them. And this is what I hope that the committee will be able to engage and embrace. Thank you.

Hi, Ava Jane, probably most well-known for historic preservation and the motels on Biscayne Boulevard, about eight of them. Maybe not everybody knows, but I've also saved a lot of trees. And with Ian, we did full green infrastructure build at Factory Town, a lot of large specimen trees. I don't think there's a citizen that would disagree that tree canopy is good. I also sit on the CRC Climate Resiliency Committee as part of resiliency. I'm actually here because I'd like to see how we improve process and transparency. So I think one of the issues we have is How do we process in transparency so we build trust in the community and that process so that, to your point, there's a balance and that things can happen in an efficient way. I would encourage everybody to think about best practices. I did some research on that before joining the committee, and I think there's some good things we can learn from some other municipalities.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate that. You should all have or can see the agenda. These are the same materials we sent you ahead of the meeting. But the agenda, let me just walk you through kind of what we're going to try and do here. The objectives reflect each of the items we're covering in the agenda. We're going to go ahead at the very beginning and kind of review the charge, process, roles, the product, the work plan document that we sent you to give you a better sense of what before we then talk about the how we're going to get you there. And I think, indeed, that's when we get to that how. That's when I think we can take up your idea. We'll also stop briefly. We need to give you a sunshine briefing, answer any questions you may have, because it does apply to you, and it's your responsibility, I think, as she'll point out to you. We'll give you a very high-level overview, because we say trees. That's not just Chapter 17. That's quite a few things. So we're going to give you that very high level and ask you to ask questions, clarification, not necessarily the details, because we are going to come back in greater detail to each aspect. But we want to start with a common overview for all of you to understand the breadth of topics before we then come back to each of them individually. We'll then take a break. We'll also, after the break, kind of build on conversations We talked to each of you and others, I think, I'm not sure, maybe even some of our audience, a wide range of folks trying to get a sense for our sense better. We're not the experts, but we did want to get a sense of what do we need to be trying to cover. We're going to review a summary of all those interviews that we did with you and other stakeholders. And you'll have a chance to ask questions for clarifications. We're also more substantively going to take some time to review. We're kind of doing this organizational meeting first. But then the very next first step is to go out to public workshops to get a broader set of initial input from the broader public on things they want you to be looking at and considering. So we'll review both that workshop schedule and the questions we're going to be asking at those workshops and how we're going to run those workshops. They're not just a public meeting of here's a presentation, come make your three minutes of comment. We want to engage folks in conversation. And for all those who cannot get to a physical meeting, we're going to have an online comment portal that will allow them to answer the same questions. And we've got an organization that Raphael will go into greater detail with on this that has a tool that will analyze those and kind of build the themes and conversation coming out of that. for you then to take up in consideration at your second meeting. So, and then we will, I think as the attorney said, we will offer at the end of the meeting, we've set some time aside for any of those of you who want to make a comment and register over here so we'd be sure we get your comments. So, anything on the agenda you think that I may have missed, Raphael? Any questions any of you have in terms of the agenda? Okay. Then I'll turn it over to Raphael, let him do the review of the charge, et cetera.

Okay, so give me a moment here to switch. So what we want to do is go over how we see, at this point, the process working out. So we'll talk about the charge, your process and decision-making, some roles, and the ultimate product that we think it'll be helpful for you to aim for. So let me make this a little bit larger here.

So the charge is...

You're all aware of this in some form. We just want to emphasize a couple of things about it. We're not going to read everything on the screen. Here we go. Maybe, here we go. Maybe. Doesn't want to let me get the title on there. Okay, so... So the core of your charge is to review and recommend improvements to Chapter 17, the ordinance that governs a lot of aspects of tree issues in the city of Miami. You'll see here revisions and related policy measures for the protection, maintenance, and equitable distribution of the trees canopy. Basically, anything having to do with trees and canopy, urban canopy in the city of Miami, is within your purview. So you're not limited to the ordinance. It's going to be fairly central, but you're very free to, and expected actually, to broaden your scope beyond that to talk about tree canopy generally. Here we go. Stop me at any point if you have questions. You've all seen this material and we've talked about it a little bit, but want to make sure it's clear enough. The note at the bottom of the charge, once you deliver your recommendations to the city commission, unless the city commission chooses to extend your charge or the time you can work for whatever reason, you'll dissolve as a committee at that point. So it's not a date certain, it's when you're done. We have some thoughts on when that'll be, we'll get to those in a moment. One other bit about the charge, we'll be talking a little bit, as Hal said, about the workshops later. Part of your charge is to oversee the public involvement process and review and think about and integrate into your own deliberations the input that comes through it. So we will be helping pull that together for you to work on as we go through. And we'll be asking for your input before we go out to workshops, your input on what those workshops will look like and particularly what it is you want to know from the public. We have some flexibility in what we ask and how. So a little bit later today, we'll be asking you, what is it you'd really like to know from the public about their thinking on these issues?

Any questions on that before we move on?

So in terms of your process,

We'll be trying, yeah, I'm sorry. You have a question. So it's important that the public is facilitated to have a communication with tree preservation and work with us as well, correct?

Yes, we'll be going over how many workshops, where, and how we'll run those a little bit later in the agenda today.

Thank you.

And again, as Al said, if you can't make it to those workshops, there's an online comment portal as well. So we're trying to get cast as broad a net as possible for that public input. Rafael, a quick question? Yes.

Is there consideration for the Senate Bill 180 that...

John, we'll talk a little bit about that later, about state law and how it impacts what you can do locally and what you can't. Yes, is the short answer to your question. Okay. Okay, other questions? Okay, in terms of your process, I think we've said this to a few of you, we don't think there's a whole lot of value in spending months talking about this and getting to recommendations that are supported by 51% of you. We are trying to help you build as much consensus as possible on the things you've recommended to the city commission. To that end, we will not be asking you to take votes as you go through your discussions. As ideas, possible recommendations are introduced into your discussion, either by you or by public input, as possible recommendations emerge, we'll be asking you to respond to those with a four-point scale. Wholehearted support, maybe what I'd do more or less. Nothing's going to be exactly what you'd do probably, but more or less. Support, this may not be what you would do, but it's good, you can support it. Minor reservations, you may eventually be able to support this, even wholeheartedly, but you need more discussion of it, more clarification. Maybe the item needs some refinement. It's not there yet, and you're not there yet. And then major reservations. As you understand it at that point, you probably can't support it. There are a couple of reasons for doing that. One, it'll help us highlight what the reservations are that you still have about an item and focus discussion on them. So after you've developed an item a little bit, we ask you to rate it. It'll be clear whether you already support it. And if you already all support it, we can put it aside. We don't need to keep devoting time to it. Time will be at a premium. If there are minor or major reservations, we'll ask you what those are, whether they can be addressed, and work with you to either provide the information, refine the item, discuss it further, whatever it needs in order for you to reach a firmer conclusion about it. So that's how we'll use the scale throughout your deliberations. And we expect that we will be asking you to rate any particular idea, any particular possible recommendation that you put on the table several times, at least twice, possibly more, so that iteratively you can get to a version of that item that enjoys the most support it can. At the end of your process, we will put together your report. We won't be saying the committee had some discussions and this is what Hal and I Alan Raphael make of the discussions. The report will have the items you've discussed as possible recommendations or ideas. It'll have your final rating of that item, and it'll have a brief discussion, if there are reservations, of what those reservations were. We will check our characterization of that discussion with you before finalizing the report. So it'll talk about the items you talked about, why you reached the conclusions you did, and then we will ask you to have an up or down vote on transmitting that entire final report to the Commission. But hopefully by that point, everything in it will be accurate. You won't be on board with all of the things you talked about, probably. There will be some that enjoy clear support, some that might get there, but Maybe it would take things the commission can do but the committee can't for those items to get there and others that clearly the committee did not think were good ideas. All of that will be in the report with the final rating and discussion of that rating to show which ones you stood behind and which ones you didn't. So let me pause there because that's important and it's a little different than most other advisory committees. Questions about that? That makes sense as far as it goes. And as you think about how you might do that, you have some questions or reservations about any of that.

OK.

Am I right? Good. Roles. Your role is to do everything we've been talking about, to digest huge amounts of material, think about how to address some of the issues you'll identify and stakeholders will identify for you, and in your deliberations begin to articulate ways that those might be addressed. So we're hoping that this will be a collaboration from start to finish.

There will be a support team.

your facilitators. There is staff, building department and other staff that will be providing you the information you tell them you need and helping you understand perhaps aspects of city regulation as you go through that aren't self-evident.

I'm not sure where the arrangement stands with FIU.

So we, FIU has stepped forward and they've offered to provide additional technical support in one form or another. The vehicle is still sort of being discussed, but they will be, a group of professors there will be available to provide additional information to you as well and to help you help you think about how you analyze some of the things that come before you. Again, at your request. So as we go through this, if it makes sense for you to pose a question to them or ask them for information, they will do that. Your point person for a lot of that staff work is not here today, or will be here a little bit later today because of a family medical issue. Melissa Fernandez-Steers will be working with the committee as the point person for city staff in this process. And you have our role there. We've talked about it a couple of different times. Our role is to be impartial, neutral facilitators and designers of the process with you, hopefully helping you have a constructive process and a product that accurately reflects your discussions and conclusions. So any comments or questions about those?

Can I add one thing real quick, Raphael? Yeah. Again, I think as Raphael walked you through how we'll operate, it's not kind of the classic board. We're hoping, and again, and as I think I told each of you as you came in, we're hoping not to make you sit up at a die and have this presentation vote kind of process. We'll try and find, if not this room, another room that we can do these recordings, that we can get you around a table so you guys can have this conversation as more of a conversation with each other in future meetings?

A couple of things to know about that. The meetings will still be recorded and probably video recorded. And whatever rooms are used will have accommodation for the public to observe the meetings in person if they so choose. So we really want a different meeting set up, but it'll be one that accommodates both of those needs. Yes?

It'll be more of a setting where it's more interactive with who's ever in the public and us, like a round table.

It probably won't be more interactive. It'll be open to observation. The public can offer comment at the end of your discussion and lots of comment in the workshops and community.

But what I mean, it'll be less, it'll be not as formal as this. It'll be more engaged.

And we're going to go over that process of those workshops. Because we want to engage the public more, give them an even greater opportunity of conversation and discussion and input than you would typically get at a meeting where you just make a comment. It's going to be interactive workshops to build discussion and two rounds of it. We'll get to that and even an online portal to go with that. So there will be plenty of opportunity. That's where we're really hoping public will give us a lot of input. And we'll cover that.

Okay.

Questions about any of that? The committee product language is up on screen. It's essentially what we just covered. Any questions about any of what we've just described?

Andy. Back to the public input. It's good to have the public prepared when they come to our workshops. So what kind of outreach is going to be made between each session so that they come prepared to ask relevant questions?

There will be on, some of the information we'll be providing, actually all of the information will be online and accessible from the comment portal and presented at the workshops. We will work with the city to disseminate awareness of the workshops. We are hoping that you will help disseminate awareness of the workshops. You're here in part representing different areas of the city, different perspectives, and we hope that you'll use the channels of communication you have to let folks know about them and urge them to come.

But we're subject to the Sunshine Laws, so we can't, two or three of us couldn't get together at a town hall, for example, without it being... We can speak to the public, we can write to our blogs, we can do whatever, as long as it's not two of us together.

Is that correct? I believe you're allowed to disseminate the, and we'll talk about this in a moment, the time and place of those meetings and say you all attend. You can say that at any point, at any time, to any group. Yeah, about sunshine. But yes, you can't then proceed to go to that meeting and talk about the issues before this committee.

Okay, any other comments or questions? Ian?

Yeah, I'm curious as to the avenue by which, say, we have meaningful public engagement. We agree on sort of reforms or adjustments. What's the avenue by which it actually gets implemented?

So it goes back as a recommendation to the city commission and to city staff. I don't. know at this point that we can say more until we know exactly what the recommendations are. But we can talk about that well before we get to the end. You are an advisory committee. Your product is advisory to the commission and to the staff. So implementation is not directly under your control. But one of the reasons the city appointed you is that this has obviously been a contentious issue over time with people feeling very strongly about about the issue and the hope is that you can bring together those perspectives and your recommendations will carry the more weight for that. Al, is there anything else you would say about that?

Another question. How does the committee approach the Tree Trust Fund?

It's clearly one of the issues on the table. Okay. We'll talk about that in a minute.

Any other questions?

It looks like you're maybe thinking about whether to ask a question.

Let's get down to some work.

Okay, it'll be a minute. Apologies. Okay, so a lot of the questions you've been asking go to the work plan, which is up on screen at the moment. I want to highlight a couple of things about the work plan. The city has explicitly asked for at least two rounds of public input. An early round focused on very broad questions. The questions we will, and we'll talk about them in more detail in a moment, in the early round of workshops will be, What do you all, in the workshop, think the committee should be thinking about? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to consider recommending? Broad, high-level input. What's important about trees? We'll talk about the questions again later in the meeting. The second round of workshops will be focused on ideas that you are considering. There may be possible recommendations, and we will be soliciting very specific reactions to those ideas rather than just broad high-level input. THE FACT THAT THERE ARE TWO ROUNDS OF PUBLIC WORKSHOPS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PROCESS MEANS THAT WE WILL NEED A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TO PROCESS THAT INPUT AND BRING IT BACK TO YOU IN A WAY YOU CAN USE. SO THAT INTRODUCES A PAUSE AT A COUPLE OF POINTS IN THE PROCESS. SO JULY, I APOLOGIZE, JULY 2026, It's an introductory meeting. We'll be asking you for a little bit of input on the questions to pose to the public. And we're going over the process today. The first round of public workshops, we'll go over the dates a little bit later, but the first round of public workshops will start in the week of, I believe, August 10th. Go over the schedule here in a moment. We'll need some time to bring that back to you. We will be working with the Orthon group based at Stetson University and a couple of other places. They do polling and survey research. They've helped design the tool, and they will help analyze the results very quickly. So we're hoping to come back to you with those results in September, early September here, and begin... Apologies, Avra, the more substantive work then. The process will proceed... I should have noted this earlier. You'll note at the top, the work plan that I'm reviewing groups issues in four broad categories. We'll go over those again after you've had sort of the overview of all the moving parts. It'll make more sense then. But preservation, relocation, replacement, mitigation, and planting requirements in the ordinance and plan and elsewhere. So the requirements. What do the rules require? One set of issues. The permitting and enforcement processes. How do you pull permits to do those things? That is a big set of issues in and of itself. The city's tree planting, tree canopy enhancement, and related activities. So what does the city directly do to plant and enhance canopy? And then there are some overarching issues that were mentioned in the... in the interviews that really affect everything. We'll talk about them in a minute. But the way that this affects the work plan is that beginning in early September, here we go, for each meeting, we will be bringing you relevant, the pertinent input from the public workshops. We will start those meetings with some more detailed information about that set of issues from staff. So if the first meeting is focused on what the preservation and mitigation requirements are, we'll hear about those in a little bit more detail. You'll hear about them at a very high level today, but we'll begin that meeting with more detailed information. The summary that we'll talk about in a minute provides a starting point for identifying what the issues, what the problems are. What is it that needs to be refined or fixed, depending on what the issue is, in that set of issues. So we'll look at the information, we'll look at the input, and we'll ask you to work a little bit further on what the problem is, and then start putting ideas on the table. This has been a continuing conversation in the city for a long time. And so there are ideas out there in the conversation for how to deal with some of these issues. You'll see them in the input without a doubt. You'll see some of them in our summary. That'll be a starting point. You can define the issues however you think is best. you can put whatever ideas you think are useful on the table in that discussion. We'll introduce a set of issues at that meeting. The discussion of that set will be ongoing. So after we'll have a three meeting sequence where we introduce the first three sets of issues and then you'll be taking them up at every meeting going forward. Let me stop there. So does that make sense as far as it goes? Once we get to the next meeting, it'll be all substance, and you'll start with information, you'll go to input, define the issue, and begin to put ideas out there on the table. It's a lot to do in one meeting. THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS FOR USING THAT CONSENSUS TESTING SCALE. IF YOU AGREE ON SOMETHING, WE'RE GOING TO TELL YOU, THAT'S GREAT. PUT IT OVER HERE FOR NOW AND LET'S FOCUS ON THE STUFF YOU MIGHT NOT ALL AGREE ON YET. SO FIRST SET OF ISSUES WE'LL INTRODUCE AT THAT EARLY SEPTEMBER MEETING. THE SECOND SET AT THE EARLY OCTOBER MEETING. WE WOULD LIKE TO SHOOT FOR A LATE OCTOBER, EARLY NOVEMBER MEETING.

And actually, we'll be introducing more than one set at the early October meeting.

We'd like to shoot for late October, early November meeting to keep working on the issues that have been introduced and to prepare for a second round of public input in early December, workshops and online comment portal. Come back in January, firm up the ideas you've been working on in light of the input you get. and then wrap up in February or March, depending on whether you need a couple of meetings to pin down what you agree on and what you don't. You could wrap up in February. You could wrap up in March. If you need an extra meeting, we can. It'll be up to you, and whether you have one will probably depend on whether it seems to you that there's value in that. Have you taken this as far as you can, or would an extra meeting actually let you get a little further down the road? But the hope is that by March of next year, you will have your report, actually earlier than March, that in late January or February, you'll have a draft report. And by March, you can finalize that and send it to the commission. It is a fairly intensive process. We would like to ask you for three to four hour meetings. And it'll still feel probably pretty forced. It'll be really helpful. We'll send information out to you before each meeting. It'll be really helpful if you can review the information from staff, if you can review the input, and if you can think ahead to the ideas you want to introduce at that meeting. It'll make just for more productive discussion if you're not starting from scratch at that meeting. We're not homework monitors, we can't make you do that, but we will ask you to do that if you possibly can. So it's a significant commitment of time you're making. Thank you. Questions about that? Andy.

This is a very motivated board that you've got that's going to be working on this. However, we've got summer coming up. We've got all kinds of uncertainties. So I'd like to talk about quorum because a lot of times, even on the planning board, we didn't have a quorum. So my questions are, are Zoom participation going to be allowed? and also whether a flexible quorum can be, so if we have five members show up instead of the required, then the quorum will be however many members show up where we actually have a minimum. I'm just saying flexibility, because if we start missing any of these deadlines that you're laying out, then everything will be pushed back. And that's what none of us want.

Let me give it to you for quorum in a moment. Let me say a couple of things that we didn't really introduce earlier.

Unfortunately, the way that the resolution was entered, it is by majority. So unless there's some change in that resolution, no. and it cannot be by Zoom because unfortunately, it cannot be by Zoom because this is a committee, it's advisory, it meets the same way all the other boards and advisory committees meet. It doesn't matter. That is correct. My understanding is no. The way that the resolution was entered is a no.

We'll ask you to confirm that, but we have no reason to think it'll be different, just if you'll double-check that.

So the minimum is five members? Six. Six members.

For voting?

For quorum?

It's six for quorum because you're 11. So when you divide 11 by two, you get five and a half, so you go up one, so that's six. So we need six. We have one, two, three, four, five, six right now. There is no voting. We don't have a chair. We don't have a vice chair. There is no voting.

There will be one vote at the end of the meeting.

Well, understood. But the way that this is working, since you are doing it by recommendation and you are trying to build a consensus, and my understanding of how it's going to run, it basically works as you're gonna be asked the question, how likely, not likely? Do you like, not like? So there isn't, yes, the committee passes X. No, it is more cumulative and more organic of a resolution. Correct, because you're still a committee and you're still meeting and you're still doing business of sorts.

So there's six people in person. Correct.

And maybe then we should have, like a planning board does, have either one or two alternate members that can then also... Again, unfortunately, the way that the resolution was entered and how this committee was established, it does not have alternates. There are no alternates.

Can I point out real quick, I think Raphael's getting ready to get to this. The six today is awkward. I don't think the six is going to be a problem. There were special circumstances that occurred last minute today that made the six the minimum. And I don't know if you want to speak to those or do you want me?

Well, I think all we probably need to say is we had two members who had to step back On Friday afternoon, who would have been here today.

Does that make 11 or 13? 11.

No. 11.

So they were part of the original 11, so now we have...

They are still counted as part of the 11 under the resolution, and so we anticipate trying to get those two replaced. We have a member who is very committed to being here. He couldn't today. And the city council or commission has decided they wanted an at-large. That's the 11th member... but they haven't appointed that person yet. They will do that at their next meeting. So I don't think your six is going to be a problem. It just was a unique situation that occurred today where at least three just by nature couldn't be here, so you were down. So I think you're going to be fine on the six. We just...

The other thing I will say is we haven't done this already because... There are appointments outstanding. But as soon as we've got everybody, we're going to send you a seven-month calendar. A version of what we sent you in preparation for this meeting and ask for your availability and pin the meeting dates down well in advance. We understand things happen. There will be things that come up that you simply can't avoid. But we hope that we'll... Pitting down that calendar that far in advance will help everyone make as many meetings as possible. And the in-person, even if the resolution were drafted to allow it, we do think in-person discussion is absolutely key to this group.

One other thing that we were committed to is if you know you're not going to be at the meeting, or if you unfortunately miss that meeting, we'll touch base with you. Be sure you're up to speed. And if it's pre-meeting, maybe even get some of your input to then share with the group.

Other questions about the work plan? OK, so we will come back. In just a moment, we'll have the Sunshine Law briefing. There are things some of you are familiar with, others are not. It's information you're going to need to know. When we come back, the sequence is Sean Smith, the acting chief of environmental resources, is going to give you an overview of the moving parts. We talked about the ordinance. The plan is involved. There are other moving parts as well. So today is a very high-level overview. We'll... give you more detail as we go forward. We'll then go to a review of that summary of what we heard in the interviews. We think it'll make more sense once you have the overview. It tends to mesh. And we will wrap up by talking in more detail about the workshops, the online comment tool, and what you want to know from the public. Al, did I miss something?

Okay, so...

The break is somewhat flexible. We'll probably go to break after this.

I do ask Patty to do the sunshine, then do the break.

Okay, so Patty, over to you.

We're ready to complete. Okay, so just to be clear. Closer to the mic, if you would. The Florida Constitution, Article 1, Section 24B, and Section 286.011 require open, noticed meetings of collegial public bodies when official acts are taken or public business is discussed. This is the reason why we are in the setting that we are in right now. There's three basic things. The meeting must be open, reasonable notice must be given, and the minutes promptly recorded and open for inspections. So clearly what's going to happen is everything we've done today, that's going to go up. So this piece of paper that you have in your hand, we're going to go and post it up so that everybody has it. The meeting is a gathering of any of two or more members discussing matters foreseeable coming before this committee. So that is why you cannot meet any two of you or more without there being an actual meeting occurring. And the covered communications include anything in a formal gathering, circulating in writing, member comments, phone calls, emails, chat rooms, any use of a liaison. One-way oral communications between members about committee business are prohibited, and any two-way electronic or written communications are prohibited. So again, no chatting, no emails, no texting.

You didn't know Jon Stewart was on the committee.

Say that again?

You have a picture of Jon Stewart.

Members may not use third parties as conduits to communicate with other members about the committee business. So obviously no, we're not playing telephone. Social gathering of members are permissible. So obviously if you happen to be somewhere where you both happen to be or three of you happen to be, I mean that's going to happen. Just do not discuss anything that has to do with whatever is going to come before this committee. That is the

OPTIMAL THING.

STAFF MEETINGS ARE GENERALLY NOT SUBJECT TO SUNSHINE UNLESS STAFF SERVE AS DELEGATED COMMITTEES EXERCISING AUTHORITY AND WHEN I SAY THAT IS THAT OBVIOUSLY YOU KNOW WE DON'T HAVE A CHAIR IN PARTICULAR BUT NORMALLY THERE ARE BRIEFINGS OF WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WITH SOME OTHER COMMITTEES LIKE IN EFFENCE YOU TELL THE CHAIR HEY WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THREE MATTERS THAT ARE GOING TO COME OR THERE'S GOING TO BE THREE ITEMS. This may work a little bit differently, but the concept is that if you're given material from staff, there's no issue with that, okay? Meetings, though, between a member and a non-member, right, can implicate sunshine. So the concept is that if there are pre-agenda meetings of any sort or anything where what's going to happen is going to be discussed, it should be amongst the members and not quote unquote members of the public. That would be an open meeting. Commissioners may attend the board meetings and comment, but multiple commissioners may not discuss among themselves the issue. So obviously we could have any one commissioner come or all five of them come. Again, they would also be subject to the same sunshine rules. So fact finding, okay, so advisory committees may conduct inspection trips. I don't necessarily think that we're gonna have any type, I don't know that we're gonna go out to any sites, but presumably you could if you wanted to. Sunshine, again, covers discussions, deliberations, workshops, and collective inquiries even without a quorum or agenda listing. So that is the concept of not having more or two of you discuss anything in particular when you are not in the open setting. Organizational sessions, officers and members are subject to sunshine and may not use secret ballot. So obviously, any of the recommendations on how this is going to happen, the concept of do you agree, do you disagree, how likely, not likely, all of that has to be out in the open. It's not going to be done in secret. So each one of you will see what the other one opines or doesn't opine at the time of making that inclination. Exempt public records do not by themselves authorize closed meetings, absent any specific sunshine exemption. So obviously, even if some of this may be exempt from public records, that does not necessarily eliminate the concept of sunshine and that, again, we need to be in an open setting. So obviously, reasonable notice is gonna be required for all these meetings. As we did today, there will be media and public attendance. There'll be time, place, agenda, and subject matter that will be generated. Typically, the guidance includes posting in the agency office, a website, and it's seven days before the regular meetings, 24 to 72 for any special. I don't believe we're gonna have any special meetings, so all of the agendas and when, when meetings will occur should happen seven days beforehand. They're going to be all held in publicly accessible buildings without restrictive entry requirements, right? Agencies need to accommodate for large turnouts You know if there's a possibility of like let's say that this was overflowed We would have to have had provided some video for the outside not the case today Maybe not the case in the future, but if it happens we would be prepared for that The public must have reasonable opportunity to be heard on propositions obviously there is subject to decorum rules time limits group representation forms and So again, we don't have a chair, but if the public were to speak, normally it's two minutes, unless somebody on this committee would like that person to speak more. Do I think they should give a discourse of 20 minutes or more? No, obviously, we're within a timeframe of sorts, but there is flexibility in how you would like to hear or entertain comments from the public. There's no recording, meaning no disruptive recording during the meeting. Obviously, we have media. Anybody can go back and watch it. So this is not quasi-judicial. This is advisory. So we don't have any issues with regards to the introduction of evidence, per se. So I'm not going to go ahead and cover that.

I'm trying to catch up to you here.

Right, sorry, I know. You gave me a time frame, so I'm trying to beat it. You are. There is no voting, as we have discussed, but obviously we will have some form where that also follows norms on how we would actually present that information. because there are voting conflicts and things of that nature. So if a member does have a conflict of some sort, there's several disclosures that need to be made and they need to follow those rules. So Miami-Dade County bars advisory personnel from voting when directly affecting and having a specific relationship with the parties. Presumably, at this point, that doesn't exist. So any conflict that exists or doesn't exist would be a conflict that one has just generally and typically with some type of business that they have with the city. For example, if there is a hypothetical or a specific project that comes up that is a point of discussion or a point of example, and any one of you has any interest in that project, because they happen to pick the one that you have interest in, that would create a conflict. You would need to then step away and not be part of that conversation. As we did roll call, roll call will be necessary only to establish quorum. So there are penalties that are involved with any type of violation of the Sunshine or any of our code of ethics, right? So those remedies of something that could happen is somebody can seek injunctive relief, There could be fines for non-criminal infractions. Some of these things carry mandatory attorney's fees. There's also the possibility of second degree misdemeanor or willful violation of any one of these laws, right? And the potential removal from the committee. So we all have to be very clear that all of the ethics And all of the codes and all of the statutes that control this do have some form of enforcement. Some of them are a slap in the hand, some of them are more serious. So just keep that in the back of your head. So both Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami has its own ethics rules. Miami-Dade's ethics code sets minimum standards for officials and municipal personnel in relations with their governments. Contracts involving any officials or immediate family, financial interests are voidable and willful violations may cause forfeiture of the office. Again, if any one of you has any particular business with regards to the city and you have not disclosed this, this is the moment in time to do so. If you have any questions as to whether or not you should disclose that, please go get an ethics memo from Miami-Dade County. They will provide it to you and they will give an opinion as to what they believe the ethics is or isn't or if there is an issue. So highly recommended if any of you have any doubt. The county and the municipality cannot award contracts to employees or immediate families controlling interest or absence any ethical opinion or formal waiver. So again, if you believe you have some type of issue that may be in conflict or any contract or any type of business that you think will be had with the city now or in the future, then please go get that memo because obviously it does create a problem for everybody. You cannot exploit the official position or solution gifts by being a member of this committee and giving or accepting gift tithes is also unlawful. Advisory committee members may not appear before their own board or on behalf of third parties. So obviously you couldn't now come off the dais and make a presentation, right? And you cannot do it by third party either, right? City of Miami requires designated officials and board members to complete any ethics course within 90 days or within one year. So there will be an actual ethics course that you have to take. This is just me giving you a summary of it, but that information will be provided to you as to where you get it. I think we have them every month, every 45, 60 days. And if we can't, we'll get you in touch with somebody who can do that. City of Miami prohibits officials and family and employee members from contracting or appearing before the city bodies on which they serve. So obviously, again, that's all part of the concept of a conflict. So if you are a local officer, you must file financial interest statements within 30 days of the appointment by July 1st annually and within 60 days of leaving office. Certain Miami-Dade filers must annually submit tax returns, certified financial statements, over 1,000 or sworn income statements. This is an advisory board that is going to end in a year, right? So the concept is to try to do this in a year. Those forms are more likely now will still have to be filled out no matter the timing of it, just because you've sat on a committee. All city of Miami lobbyists must register, complete recent ethics trainings, disclosure relationships, and city officials and staff must ensure that all the lobbyists are registered and may not knowingly permit unregistered lobbying. Now, this... quick summary of what I just did is in this presentation that's been floating in the background. That's going to be provided to you. You will have access to it because it does have all the statute sections, all the code sections, and a little bit more detail than what I gave in my effort to try and do this as quickly as humanly possible. The most important thing that I have to, and I think we've discussed it and so that it's clear, is that two of you can't get together Two of you or more of you, you know, cannot get together and discuss anything that is going to come before you, right? That's number one. And number two, if you have any doubt with what you may or may not be doing and how it may or may not influence or not influence anything or around you or in your business or your property or whatever it is, go ask for the ethics opinion. That's what they're there for and they're very thorough and it will give you peace of mind with regards to whatever you're doing. And if you have any issues, as usual, we are always here to, you know, allow you to ask us any questions or give you guidance if at all possible. Go ahead.

Oh, sorry. If you've taken the ethics class... You're good.

You're already good. I don't have to do it yet. Yeah, right. But normally you do it every year. The ethics is usually every year. So whenever you did it the last time, like if you did it within the last year, you're covered for this one.

Okay. But if I didn't do it within the last year, then I... Then you got to do it.

Yeah, I wanted to know why is this advisory board being terminated in one year?

Because that is how it was set up. It sunshines in a year. The whole concept is for it to get to its business and not run longer than what it should. So it gives incentive to get it done. Other questions?

Ian? Yeah, can you clarify the site visit?

Right. I mean, I was being, obviously, in other boards and other panels, and I'll give a perfect example.

Code enforcement, right?

So when somebody sits on a code enforcement board, they're going to give their address, and they're going to say the address is XYZ at Southwest XY Avenue. Mentally, Everybody sitting there may know exactly what that address is. They may drive by it. They may see it all the time. You understood? So obviously you have a concept of it. Has anybody actually gone out to a site? No, I don't believe that we've had, at least not during my 10 years, on or off, have we done that. But the concept is that you're going to know, right, what, Certain places look or don't look like. Are we actually gonna go out there? No, because it's not quasi-judicial. That whole issue of evidence and how that is presented is not going to affect how you make your recommendations or how you think about it. But that's kind of what it was. It's more an issue of we all understand that we live here. You all have a knowledge of what the city and the layout is and what addresses are and what locations are.

So as committee members, we're expected to do all of this work within the committee time frame, and we can't have discussions independent of all being together.

With each other, correct. Meaning you cannot speak to somebody else that's sitting on this committee about something that's going to come before this committee without it being in this arena. Understood.

Andy?

So some of us have been on boards before. I've always followed the rule. I wouldn't ask by the Herald or by the local spotlight that I can say whatever I want as long as I say I'm not speaking for the board. Is that still the rule?

Yes, because you are a citizen of the United States and you have First Amendment rights. But when you are speaking, you need to be very clear that you're not being asked in an official capacity. And if you're being asked in an official capacity, then obviously that person needs to figure out how to make it to one of the public meetings.

Could I add one thing?

Wait, wait, can you clarify that? So if somebody calls up from, say, the spotlight and says, ask a question specifically about something that's on our agenda,

You need to refer them to staff and or the city for them to be able to give a response.

So what, again, hypothetically, what question could the spotlight then ask me that I wouldn't have to refer to the staff about trees or the tree committee or anything?

If it is specific to the tree, this committee, right? So somebody asks you something specifically and couches it in those specific terms, right? then you cannot or you should not respond. The better course is if you're asked any question that you have a doubt, do not answer. Any doubt, do not answer.

Thank you.

I would like to add One other thing to what you said about not speaking for the board. This is probably not a sunshine issue. But we would also ask you not to characterize the perspectives or the participation of your other colleagues on the board during the time this board meets.

Go ahead. Given my entire professional practices around consulting as an arborist, and practicing arboriculture. A majority of my work exists in the city of Miami, Coconut Grove, downtown. It seems like there's going to be...

But you're not doing it for the city of Miami, correct?

We're doing Morningside Park, but that's for MCM, but it's for the city of Miami.

So then, therefore, I, as I stated... If there is, if you have a, or any one of you has, right, a direct contract with the city of Miami with regards to something that is ongoing right now, then you should go and obtain an ethics opinion to see how that is categorized, whether or not that creates a conflict. Now, obviously, if you are hired by somebody in the public that happens to have a property in the city of Miami, That's your business. You're not contracting with the city of Miami in that case.

So it's exclusively with contracts directly with the city of Miami?

Correct.

Understood.

Other questions? Okay, we will send you this presentation. Addie will be here at every meeting if you have questions. So for the moment, I think it looks like we're done. We're really right at break. So if you can take a 10-minute break, we'll come back. And Sean will take you through all the moving pieces. And Hal, is there more?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Just wanted to give Melissa, who unfortunately couldn't be here this morning, a chance to introduce herself and she'll be a key staff contact for us.

Good morning, everyone. Melissa Fernandez-Steers, Assistant Director with the Building Department. I apologize profusely for my tardiness here today, but I'm happy to be here now, and I'm happy to finally be in this setting with all of you who have been so patient to get this process started. I thank you for your engagement. I thank you for your passion on the topic. I look forward to what is going to come of this committee and the work that we have to do in the months ahead of us. And I also want to offer my special thanks to Ralph and Hal, who have been very willing to steer the ship and steer this discussion. And I am thankful to have them along in the process. So thank you. And I will be your liaison on the staff

in the process so please feel free to reach out to me with anything that you may need okay go ahead and take a 10 minute break if you can and i think we're okay on the agenda i know that we were hoping we'd get to at least part of sean's morning but i think we'll be fine with the time we've got thank you

on your laptop here and then I can kind of go through the slides or?

As you come back to the table, it's pointed out to me that for those of you who need to, there is a virtual training. This is tomorrow at 2 o'clock, ethics workshop meeting, virtual training at 2 p.m. tomorrow. And I've got a link here that maybe we can email out to you at the end of this meeting so you have it in case you need that.

Is it tomorrow or Wednesday?

I've got here that this is Tuesday, July 14th, 2 p.m. tomorrow.

I registered for one on Wednesday.

I'm not sure if there's a... Okay, maybe Wednesday. My sheet only had Tuesday's events.

I have it for tomorrow as well.

It is for tomorrow, according to the clerk's office. Okay, we've got us tomorrow, so we'll send this to you. Okay, Tina? Tina?

I was going to ask, if you can't make tomorrows, is there another one in close proximity, or should we make sure to make tomorrows?

If you could make tomorrows, it's probably the best. I know that they have them regularly, only because I get the email, but since I don't longer have, well, I technically never had to do it, because as an attorney, we get our own set of ethics that we have to renew every three years, right? And it qualifies. but I do get the emails, so I know that they have them regularly. I just, I don't pay attention, I apologize, I don't pay attention to it because it's not something I need to take.

But is, question, is it going to be Zoom or is it going to be, do we have to come here? I think it's virtual.

It just says virtual.

Right, right, yeah, I have to Zoom tomorrow. Okay, thank you.

It's just virtual. I'll send you this link online. I don't think it's a formal Zoom meeting, but I think you can. Okay? Okay. I'm sorry? We'll send you that link. Okay, great. Okay. I'm going to let Sean introduce himself in just a second, but again, I want to reiterate something I said during the agenda review. This is really a very high-level overview, kind of think 20,000-foot level here. So what I'll ask you to do is if you have there'll be some stopping points, but make a note of your question, make it for clarification of what he may be presenting. There may be moments where he says, well, okay, I'm not that department. I'm going to, we'll get you that department person in the future. We're going to go into greater detail on some of these in the future. So I don't want to try and I'm trying to find that balance of giving you a chance to ask clarification questions. So you understand what's being presented, but not dive down into specific details. And so, We'll try and help you as we go through that for our purposes. Sean.

I actually have a question for you before I start. Should there be something that I do not have the answer to? Is it okay for them to reach out to me directly and I can provide it at a later time?

Yeah, I think so.

Okay.

Directly as in one-on-one.

Yeah.

Yes. One-on-one. Correct. Individually to you. Correct. Okay. Thank you. So good morning, everybody. My name is Sean Smith.

I am the acting...

Closer? I thought that was pretty loud. Okay. Good morning, everyone. My name is Sean Smith. I am the Acting Chief of Environmental Resources. I'm a certified arborist and the president of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Landscape Inspectors Association of Florida. I am honored to be here before you, and I thank you all for your service. I think this is an amazing thing that's happening, and I also thank the community for being here. and for your passion and concern about protecting our tree canopy. So with that, the presentation I'm going to be going over has quite a bit of material. Some of the material, as mentioned, pertains to some other departments. And so I won't be going into really anything in regard to those. There will be meetings in the future where those subject matter experts will be here and be able to provide additional information. But today's just an orientation and primer on the Miami Tree Regulatory Framework. And I'm just gonna go through here some of the things that we'll cover. And I think you can see what a tree is under Miami law, why it matters, what triggers a permit, where the tree money comes from, meaning tree trust fund, layers of regulation, how we plant and manage and track urban forestry, and the rules as they compare to county and state. And again, I'm not going to go into super great detail with some of these things. It's just quite a bit of information. So I'm going to skip ahead a little bit here to some of the more specific things and how they're layered. So we have our comprehensive neighborhood plan. That is handled by our Resilience and Public Works Department predominantly when it comes to planting of trees in public right-of-ways and city properties and public spaces. We have Miami 21, Article 9. That pertains more to zoning within properties, right? Commercial residential properties, the Urban Forestry SOP. The county's chapter 24, we reference that a little bit in regards to tree protection. That's the tree protection fence that we use or go by as a guideline. Also in regard to some of the prohibited species, we're more stringent than the county. So there are things that the county would allow for removal that we do not in that regard. Of course, Chapter 17, which is going to be my main focus. The Tree Master Plan, the Tree Trust Fund, and then Florida Statute, right? And just briefly, we do not opine on Florida state law. We uphold Chapter 17. And I can explain a little later what that means. So I'm going to skip through this section here in regards to the... Tree canopy mandate and... Go ahead. Sure. So it's to maintain, protect, and enhance the city's tree canopy and significant trees to beautify neighborhoods, provide habitat for wildlife, capture greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce urban heat island effect throughout the city. Okay. So let's see here. Chapter 17. Okay, so chapter 17, you can find that online, the City of Miami website, or just by doing a search. The purpose is to protect, preserve, and restore the canopy by regulating removal, relocation, pruning, and trimming. This applies to all public and private property within the City of Miami. There are some areas where there are either state roads or county roads where trees within the right of way may be regulated by another municipality or governing body. So it's done through, we are part of the building department, environmental resources, and so tree permits are administered or applied for through the building department, and it's enforced by code compliance. Here are the definitions of what a tree is and what we go by. So any hardwood tree that has a diameter at breast height or a DBH of two inches and an overall height of 12 feet is considered a regulated tree, even if it's dead or prohibited. For a palm, it's six inches in DBH by 16-foot height. A little bit about specimen trees. Specimen trees are hardwood trees. This does not include prohibited species. It does not include fruit trees, and it does not include palms. And that would be a hardwood tree with a diameter at breast height or a DBH of 18 inches or larger. And some of the common, obviously, live oaks, mahogany, black olives, royal poincianas, things of that nature, right? And then it says on the bottom, exception, and it says non-native ficus trees that would not be considered specimen trees. Non-native fruit trees, cultivated as a growth trees, that's from our code. So when is a permit required? And this is broader than you might expect. For tree removal, a permit's always required for regulated trees. So we want to always keep in mind regulated. For tree relocation, a tree permit is always required. For pruning of more than 25% of the canopy within a one-year period, it is required. For root pruning of 10% of the root system or any roots that are one inch in diameter or larger, a permit's required. And all of that pruning has to be done in accordance to best management practices, following industry standards. Removal of dead or prohibited tree species requires a permit, right? And then planting on private property does not. You can plant whatever you want on your private property. We prefer you not put prohibited species. Okay. So here in regards to tree abuse, right? And unfortunately, we do see quite a bit of this. This is... Any action damaging a tree beyond ANCA 300 standards. So we're talking about things like hat racking or topping a tree, lion's tailing, girdling of the trunk, spiking trees, like putting nails and things like that into the tree, destabilizing by root pruning that's done improperly, removing a tree without a permit. There's also lollipopping. There's different things that we do consider tree abuse, right? So replacement requirements and mitigation. So the first step is that we add up the total amount of DBH for every tree that's being removed. And then as a replacement, we use 17.6.1.1 to find the required replacement trees. And then in step three, the total DBH removed, if it exceeds 60 inches, it's replaced. The replacements are done cumulatively, right? So you start back up at the top of the chart. So if it's 64 inches total DBH, you go down to the bottom, you look, it's 20 trees, you go back up to the top, a couple more trees are added for the four inches or six inches or whatever it may be. The replacement standards are that it must be a native or non-invasive species. Not more than 30% of the replacements may be palms. We push very hard for hardwood trees. Minimum of two inch DBH by 12 foot height, as we mentioned earlier. And if there's more than 10 trees that are proposed as a replacement, then there's species diversity. So let's see. Something I wanted to mention on that. Replacement alternatives. So when a property cannot accommodate all required replacement trees, right? So we have on-site planting. And so first... Planting must be done on-site to the greatest extent possible. Then we look into off-site planting in nearby right-of-ways, parks. We do have to coordinate with other divisions for that. So that does take a little bit more time. We have to get plans for that, whether it be through parks or Resilience and Public Works. They'll let us know locations, species, sizes, things of that nature. And then the last option is a tree trust fund contribution. So after we have looked into whatever can be reasonably planted on site or off site, if there's still a mitigation shortfall with what is proposed to be removed, then that can be made as a tree trust fund contribution. So when palms are removed, one two-inch by 12-foot hard palm excuse me, one two inch by 12 foot height by six foot spread hardwood tree is required, or two palms at six inches of DBH by 16 foot height, keeping in mind the 30% rule that I mentioned earlier. For homesteaded properties, there's a hardship exemption. Owners meeting this criteria may apply for a full or partial waiver of replacement or tree trust fund requirements. So we have, in regards to appeals, notice appeals and enforcement. So first, it would go before the HEP Board. There's a 10 calendar day period for the appeals within which someone can appeal a project. And the fee is $315, reduced to $157.50 for abutting owners, nonprofits, or HOAs. And the HEP Board may affirm, modify, or reverse the decision. And then the second tier is for city commission. So for city projects, that appeals period is 15 days rather than 10 days. The fee is $525 and 450 notice to the owners within a 500-foot range. The city commission decision is final. It's a final administrative review, right? And then for fines for non-homesteaded properties, It's $1,000 per tree for trees removed. Or when there's tree abuse, let's say that there's pruning, canopy pruning that's done improperly. Let's say hat racking is one of the most common things we see. We will require an arborist report from an ISA certified arborist, which indicates whether that tree has been effectively destroyed or whether it can be restored with a corrective pruning plan, maintenance, and monitoring. And we require that that arbor support have specifics on that plan in regards to whether soil amendments are suggested or watering or not watering. And then selective pruning for the epicormic growth, things of that nature. So... Homesteaded properties is $500 per tree removed or abused without a permit. Repeat violators within five years up to $5,000 per day per violation. And then the enforcement tools, CO can be withheld, the building permit can be withheld, and a stop work order may be issued. All right. So the scenic transportation corridors, extra protection for designated roadways. So what they are, these are streets identified by the state or city commission as having unique landscapes, expansive tree canopies, or significant environment or scenic value. The enhanced scrutiny trees within these corridors receive enhanced scrutiny during the permitting process, and the HEP board, Landscape plans for properties within these corridors are reviewed not only by the Office of Zoning, but also by the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. This is in reference to Miami 21 Zoning Code Article 9. So as I mentioned earlier, this will be something we will be discussing in upcoming meetings with individuals with planning or zoning. So how Chapter 17 works with Article 9. Chapter 17 protects the existing trees, right? As mentioned before, it regulates the removal, the pruning, the relocation of existing trees, and it triggers a permit and replacement obligations. And then Article 9 requires new trees, and there's minimum landscape requirements for new development and redevelopment, and that's reviewed by the Office of Zoning. So typically there will be on the landscape plans a chart, a Miami 21 chart, and it will allow the... the property owners to know what it is that they are required to plant or green space and things of that nature. You know, shrubs, palms, hardwood trees, et cetera, street trees. So here we have a little bit more information requirements and native preference in T4, T5, T6. Zone street trees should be in a regular, excuse me, regularly spaced with shade canopies clearing the first floor at maturity and landscape plans required with vegetation survey conditioning existing trees and species selection aligned with South Florida conditions. So, and then it says what gets planted matters, and so I mentioned this earlier, prohibited and controlled species may not count towards the minimums and must be removed. Landscape should consist primarily of native species, requiring minimal irrigation and fertilization. Cypress mulch is prohibited and where feasible drip irrigation or micro sprinklers should be used. And then we have our tree master plan here. And so this is in regards to right tree, right place and the citywide streetscape. And this is something that I think maybe resilience and public works would be commenting on further detail in one of our upcoming meetings. So I'm looking forward to that. Here's more information on, this is the Southwest Streetscape and Street Tree Master Plan and what's proposed there. That covers the neighborhoods in Auburndale, Citrus Grove, the Latin Quarter, Little Havana, Pastoria, Parkdale, Coral Gate, Shenandoah, the roads, Douglas Park and Silver Bluff. And this is one of the city's most, excuse me, densely populated regions with tree canopy.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Forgive me, I'm sorry. Sure. So sorry. So this is the Northwest Streetscape and Street Tree Master Plan covering Northwest 71st and 79th Street, Miami River South, I-95 East, and Northwest 22nd, 19th, and 17th Avenue. And then we have the Wynwood Streetscape and Street Tree Master Plan, obviously covering Wynwood. Windwood's transitioning from industrial to active mixed use. 50-foot right-of-way and non-conforming parcels make balancing development with pedestrian environment a significant challenge. And so the plan clusters trees, not equal spacing, open views for buildings and facades while creating shaded areas Shaded zones and encouraging root systems to intertwine for hurricane resilience. So here we have the recommended species and city planting practices, right? So for extra large swales, trees like live oak, mahogany, wild tamarind. For large swales, gumbo limbos, paradise trees, mastix, Jamaican dogwoods. There are other species, these are just some examples. For medium swales, green buttonwood, sandleafs, bali, and fiddlewood. For smaller swales with overhead utilities, like a five-foot swale with FPL lines, something like a Spanish stopper, Simpson stopper, or silver buttonwood. And then we have bump-outs and tree grates, and we have lignum vitae, crabwood, and marlberry. for the urban forestry SOP and how the city plants and manages trees in the public right-of-way. Again, this is one of the topics where resilience and public works would be the subject matter experts and would be providing further detail on this. But the procedures for planting in public right-of-way and key goals for the short term is to plant 500 trees per quarter and to increase the canopy coverage by 20% over five years citywide. in regards to the roles and responsibilities for the urban forestry team is to scout, plan site assessment, and species selection. So one way we do work with Resilience and Public Works is what I mentioned earlier, where there may be a mitigation shortfall. And when they're planting back mitigation trees, they'll scout locations for us. And they'll usually provide an overhead aerial latitude and longitude coordinates, and they'll let us know what they would like to see in that area. And whenever possible, we always push for larger trees to be planted to restore the canopy more rapidly. So this is their SOP from the request to the tree, right? So they receive a request. I don't know if anybody's familiar with 311, but that would be a number that residents can call and get assistance. They'll get routed, and that's the proper way to get routed to the Resilience and Public Works Division. An onsite assessment will be done, and I will tell you that it works because I did it. I live in the city of Miami. I have a five-foot swale with power lines, and they put two silver button woods in front of my house. So it's wonderful. There's bid solicitation, right? So it goes out to bid to see what nurseries that will be providing the trees. There's notification to the residents, inspection and proper documentation. They do a good job with this, they really do. They're planting quite a few trees. And then in terms of some of the ongoing maintenance and practices, it includes mulching, pruning, pest and disease monitoring, watering schedules, and then we have a little section here, residents or partners, and so some of the things maybe that can be Better coordinate is adopting newly planted trees, assisting with the watering during the establishment period. Avoid damaging trunks and roots, and report issues through 311.

Can I get you to pause for just a second? Sure. Lots of material. Yes. Lots and lots of material. Any quick question or clarification before we move off into some other topics? Real quick. I'll come over to Ian, then I'll come over to you.

Who's on the urban forestry team? That would be under Ralph Gonzalez. And there's Etienne Hernandez. Abel, I believe his last name is Fernandez. I'm not 100% sure about that. And there's a new gentleman as well, I believe, that started there. I don't have his name. Okay. Avra?

Yeah, so public right-of-way is a little confusing for me because the city's done a taking on most properties that goes 10 feet into everybody's property line on the major streets, the DBL line, the BBL line, do you understand? The base building line? Yeah, the base building line. So I don't know if everybody realizes it, but there's basically a taking from most properties 10 feet into the property. So who's responsible for... Thank you. Who's responsible for the tree in front of the base building line?

So Arva, that base building line determination is made by Public Works. Now it doesn't really affect most properties in the city of Miami. It only affects the properties that are fronting a substandard right of way width, which is typically 50 feet. And even some streets that don't meet that requirement are still allowed to remain at the substandard dimension. That varies from place to place.

So on Biscayne Boulevard, there's a taking of 10 feet into everybody's property line. Even though it's a 50-foot, there's a big setback. And there are trees that are in that base built that are the city's right away. And in one particular case, It's an invasive tree and I'm thinking it could fall down at the next hurricane or whatever. Is that my responsibility or is that the city's responsibility? I think we need to be clear because who's responsible for that property?

So just to be clear, Biscayne Boulevard is a state road. So FDOT, the Florida Department of Highway, right? The Florida Department of Transportation I was about to say highway safety, I'm sorry, has control, has some control over that too. Some control, just some.

I have to deal with public works. It's just unclear, so I'm just putting it out there.

I understand, and probably we're going a little bit more into the weeds that we had to, but just so that everybody understands, right? There are state roads, there are county roads, there are city roads, right? For the most part, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I should know this, but sometimes even I get confused. Within the county, technically, all the roads are still county roads. What changes is the maintenance and who controls it, right? So some of them remain county, some of them are then city-maintained. City-maintained includes the right-of-way. Some of that right-of-way on a county road, we have to defer to the county. On a state road, you have to defer to the state.

Right, so we're getting in the weeds.

I'm just saying that for purposes of right-of-way and the trees and how it is, it's kind of intertwined as to where and what road we're speaking about. So just to be clear.

Right, but my permit, if it's a county road, is my tree permit county standards.

So for purposes of our meeting today, we treat that as an issue that's been put on the table for future clarification.

Right, right, right. I just wanted to make sure that it's clarified so we don't put, we don't disseminate it, you know, so everybody understands there's different types of roads.

Okay. Thank you, guys. And Greg, continue. Keep your voice up, too. Real quick, Andy.

Real quick. Yes, sir. First of all, I want to say that's an excellent presentation. I really think the clarity of it. So if I want to go online tonight and go through this again, where would I find it online? If I'm a member of the public and I just want to pull this up.

So that presentation hasn't been yet made publicly available, but we'll make sure that it is so after this meeting and potentially it's something that we could add to the website that will host the public gathering information.

Because I now see where we're heading on this committee Because when we finish our work, maybe there'll be a similar excellent presentation of what this committee achieves. So that's why I'm bringing it up. The public needs to see this. This was really excellent. Thank you.

As she said, we'll make it available, and we'll let you know. We'll give you notice. I'll send you an email when it becomes available so you know. Okay.

Good? Yeah. I wanted to go back to Ian's question, too.

And keep your volume up a little bit. I'll do my best.

Sorry. So earlier you were asking about who manages or handles some of those things, and I was referring to people who I deal with in regards to coordinating the off-site plantings. So there's a few other names I would like to mention. First of all, I deal a lot with parks. So parks would be Lazaro Garcia and Omar Bayona, and then Quatisha Aguntayembo Rashad is responsible now or assisting with the streetscape master plan. Okay, so any other questions? Okay, let's move forward. So the Tree Trust Fund, okay. So how do we turn mitigation payments into canopy and how is it funded, right? So the Tree Trust Fund monies are received from property owners who pay into the fund to satisfy the tree replacement requirements under Chapter 17 when on-site or off-site planting is not feasible. In reality, what happens most often, as I mentioned, is that planting happens first within the property, right? There are obviously challenges to planting the right tree in the right place and going by best management practices. With zoning laws and people being allowed to build as much as they are, that obviously creates some challenges, but we always do our best to make sure we get back as much as we possibly can and as quickly as possible, right? So pushing for larger DBH trees that provide canopy more rapidly. That's like a pet peeve of mine. So how funds are spent. So 80% goes towards tree replacement, restoration, and enhancement of the tree canopy. 10% is for surveying, site inventory, landscape architectural design, and inspection services. And 10% is for training, for educational purposes. And then there's some cross references here under chapter 17. 17-6 authorizes the tree trust fund contributions when on-site or off-site planting is not feasible. And it sets the contribution amounts. So you see that it's basically $1,000 per two inch by 12 foot high tree. Under 1710, authorized tree trust fund contributions and lieu replacement trees for unpermitted removals. That number's doubled. And then 17-8 talks about additional $500 fine payable to the tree trust fund for a removal during the pending appeal. And then 17-46, tree trust fund contributions for unpermitted removals within environmental preservation districts, right? I'll try to stay closer.

Do we know how much is in the three trust fund as of now, or no?

That's in the slideshow, isn't it? Yeah, we're going to get to that in a little bit. Thank you. You're very welcome. Okay, so then we have the Miami-Dade County's Chapter 24. the county ordinance and their definition of a tree. And we have a comparison. I don't know if you guys can see that, but the definition of a tree for the city of Miami is two inches. We have to be more stringent. obviously as a city than the county. So two inches by 12 foot height. For the county, it's three inches by 12 foot height. Permits are required for the removal, pruning of 25%, root pruning, relocations, even if it's a dead or a prohibited species. There is a difference between what we consider a difference between prohibited, controlled, invasive, right? So there are trees in the county that may be considered controlled or invasive that they do not regulate, that we do, right?

And just to be clear, when we say we have to be more stringent or we can be more stringent than the county. The county is the floor, meaning we cannot go below whatever the county standard is. We can go above it, but we cannot go below it. So just so that that concept is clear as to what, if we're stringent, that means we're going further up the ladder than the county, but we cannot go any below the county.

So you have, I was mentioning what we need a permit for, and then with the county, it's basically for removals. There are exemptions here. So with us, exemptions are very limited, right? There's very few trees that are, or like not regulated, right? We consider hardwood trees. So like a banana tree is not, it's a fibrous stem. It's not considered regulated. tree right as an example for the county exemption they have single-family non specimen trees and dead trees may even be exempt right specimen trees it's 18 inches for both replacement basis for us is regards it's in terms of total DBH removed and we go by the chart I mentioned earlier 17-6 And then for the county, it's based on the canopy area lost. The fines for us are $500 to $1,000 per tree and up to $5,000 a day for repeat offenders. And for the county, there is no clearly listed amount. Then we have public notification. We have our attended decision period, the 10-day appeals period for city property, 15 days, or city projects, excuse me. The county does not have an appeals period. And then the HEP board, and then if that is appealed by the property owner or the project is appealed, they can appeal the HEP board's decision and go before the city commission. The county does not have anything in place for that. Florida State Law 163.045. This is a state law that allows property owners to remove a tree on their private property. This is for residential, not for commercial. And this is based on condition of the tree, not on conflicts with structures and things of that nature, right? And so we do get a lot of emails and requests to remove trees without a permit or mitigation. And I mentioned earlier, we do not opine on state law. We uphold Chapter 17. So those are addressed by us saying, submit a tree permit. It's now been brought across my desk, and it's on my radar. So submit your tree permit and we'll review it. But we do not grant removals based on Florida law, right? There is a section in Chapter 17 that talks about high-risk trees, but that's a separate animal. I won't go too far into depth with that, but it does deserve more discussion for sure. So... Let me go over what we have up here. So this limits what municipalities can require on a residential property when a licensed professional certifies a risk. So it has to be an ISA certified arborist or a landscape architect. And they would provide a written document stating that the tree poses an unacceptable risk and the local government may not require a permit for the removal or pruning of that tree. No tree replacement or replanting may be required if the removal is justified under this standard Right What it does not do it does not define what counts as a tree it does not address fines or penalties It does not apply to commercial properties. It does not override city review and the city still reviews submitted reports For validity as I mentioned earlier so The practical effect that Florida Statute 163 does, 045, limits the city's ability to require a permit on residential property when a qualifying professional report is submitted and determined valid by the city. So the bottom line, if you're working with a tree in the city of Miami, Chapter 17 is where you start, right? Okay. Quick reference code sections. Let's see. Let me just take a little quick look at this. Let's see. Oh, I thought you were talking to me again.

No, no, just suggesting we note that this is, yeah, okay.

Okay, thank you so much.

And again, we'll make this available to you because I know it's a lot of material. Any questions from folks that we haven't covered? Andy? Yes, sir.

Is it the county that announced that the goal is, an aspirational goal is 30% tree canopy coverage by 2030, or is it the city or both? Both. Both. Both have announced that as their aspirational goal by 2030. Okay, thank you.

Ian?

Yeah, just to follow up on the urban forestry team. It's the first I've heard that term being used. So I'm wondering where it came from and when it was established and what sort of the governing position is of the urban forestry team. It seems like that would be a really valuable department to implement in the city level, to actually have a reference to.

That would be part of the resilience and public works conversation. And I think Ralph Gonzalez would be the point of contact. Cool.

Okay, quick, Marielle. No, back to my original question. Do we know how much is in the tree trust fund? Oh, I thought that was in there.

Is it like 1.8? As of May, it was approximately $1.8 million. I know that that specific sum has changed, but I will bring back that information. Okay, thank you.

Sorry, I thought it was in this.

I apologize. I thought it was in there, too.

One last comment. The only thing I saw missing here is FP&L's jurisdiction over tree trimming.

Good point. So I'll gather some information on that.

Thank you. Yeah. All right. Anything else real quick? All right. If not, we've got two more topics we want to try and get in for you today. And we'll turn it over to Rafael. Thank you, Sean. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Sean.

Thank you very much. OK. So you got a sense, if you didn't have it already, that there are a lot of moving parts to this set of issues. We will try, as we said earlier, to take them in pieces.

I'd like you to turn to...

It is probably easier to find it from the back. It's the page one that actually appears three pages from the back of your packet, because these are all stapled together. So it's the third page one in your packet. Oh, actually, I'm sorry. It's the fourth page one in your packet.

It's the page after that.

Let me pull it up here. The first thing I'm going to say about this is we do not aspire to produce prose for the ages, but we do aspire to basic levels of competent punctuation. The first paragraph of this, for those of you who may have actually read it in advance of today, was... Suppose the substance is unaffected, we will send you a grammatically correct version of that. We simply picked up the wrong draft to send to you. The rest of the material is the same. So, as you know, we spoke to all of you and to many other folks, as Hal said this morning, in advance of today's meeting. simply asking what are the issues you think the committee should address and maybe some of the things you think the committee should consider. This document summarizes what we heard as the issues, the challenges, the things people thought weren't functioning as well as they hoped they would. We'll bring forward the suggestions for ideas you might consider as we move through the next few meetings. at the point when you're talking about those issues. But I want to point out a couple of things about this. The wording is ours. First of all, I want to explicitly if that my comments didn't make it clear this is not a statistically valid survey of opinion out there we tried to contact a broad range of folks and folks with experience in these issues to get their perspectives we did our best to reach a broad range of perspectives but it's not a statistically representative sample of any population involved with this it's our wording And it is an attempt to reflect perspectives. We didn't do any independent analysis. What this summarizes is what we heard from the folks we spoke to. There are perspectives that are in tension with each other. Not surprisingly, people have different opinions around some of these issues, and we hope that this reflects the range of those opinions. THESE ARE GROUPED BY THE ISSUE GROUPINGS I WENT OVER EARLIER. SO THE FIRST, UNDER PAGE 2, THE FIRST SET OF ISSUES, STATEMENTS, IS ABOUT ISSUES RELATED TO RELOCATION, REPLACEMENT, MITIGATION AND PLANTING REQUIREMENTS. SEAN TALKED ABOUT CHAPTER 17, HE TALKED ABOUT MIAMI 21 ARTICLE 9, HE TALKED ABOUT SOME OF THE COMMUNITY PLANS, ALL OF THAT GETS WRAPPED UP HERE. And a recurring theme in our interviews was that the requirements as they currently stand aren't having their intended effect. People had very different reasons for saying that. So as you'll see below that, some people thought the requirements were really good, but they're not implemented sufficiently consistently to protect the canopy over time. A couple of different points under that, you can read them, but having to do with the required characteristics of replacement trees, sort of the uncertainty of their survival over time. Other folks thought that those requirements were unnecessarily onerous and particularly that they weren't the best way to protect or enhance canopy over time. You'll see some of the comments associated with that perspective there. The next item here is related to whether the requirements are enough to preserve specifically current levels of canopy in the short term and the long term. And then there were a series of comments made about the impact of these requirements on individual homeowners who may be trying to improve their property in various ways. So... And the last set of comments there was about the ordinance, Chapter 17 in particular, allows staff discretion at a couple of points, and there were different perspectives on how helpful that was. So... Take a look at those. Again, those are simply perspectives we heard. We tried to reflect them accurately. They don't reflect analysis. They reflect what the folks we spoke to perceived to be the case. But do look at those and look at that section particularly before we get to the next meeting.

The second section here is permitting and enforcement processes.

You heard from Sean, there are a series of requirements in Chapter 17, there are a series of requirements in Miami 21. So one of the things that we heard about was that, although those are concurrent reviews, that the input from them comes back at different times, and that presents problems for homeowners, it presents problems for developers, at least in the perception of the folks we were talking to. There were comments about permitting processes being particularly difficult and just difficult to understand for homeowners who are trying to navigate the process themselves, and there are those folks out there. And then enforcement being, in the view of some, not sufficiently consistent to produce the desired results.

And lots of reasons for that.

Some of it is reliant on people calling in issues. Some of it's reliant on the expertise of code enforcement personnel, It may vary when it comes to tree issues. So take a look at those. We will bring those issues in starting at your third meeting. So the next meeting will bring in the first set of issues. The following meeting will bring in the permitting and process issues generally. So how these requirements play out, how people interact with them. The process is all part of that second group of issues. The third group of issues here, you heard about this in Sean's presentation as well, tree planting. Some of the comments we received, tree planting on the part of the city, what the city does to enhance tree cover, canopy, etc. Some of the comments we received regarding this had to do with receptivity to that. It's different in different parts of the city. It has to do a little bit with the the perception of the folks we spoke to, the liability incurred by having trees on your in the right-of-way in front of your property. There were comments about missed opportunities to the extent that different city departments take part in these activities but don't always coordinate well enough, or don't always coordinate as well as the people we were speaking to hoped they would. And the opportunities that that kind of coordination would offer are... you know, fuller communication, oh, here we go, significant opportunities for synergy in localized impacts in a particular part of the city, awareness of city efforts, and public education about the benefits of canopy. The sense was that city efforts that are underway now and happening now produce more of those benefits if they were coordinated in particular ways.

The last section here is overarching.

The issue we heard most frequently was trust. This has been a controversial issue or difficult issue for a while, and that probably shows in relationships. The need for more understanding among a whole host of folks about the benefits of canopy and trees and what they provide And then from a number of different perspectives, the sense that the city has a lot that addresses individual trees, their preservation, mitigation if they can't be preserved, planting, canopy enhancement. There's actually a lot going on, but not necessarily, again, in the perspective of the folks we spoke to. An overall strategy, a philosophy of canopy, if you like, and that having that might help coordinate efforts, having that might also maybe de-emphasize the focus on specific trees to some degree. So our interpretation, our wording, I want you to please take a look at that between now and the next meeting and take a look at it after you've re-reviewed Sean's presentation because they do dovetail to some degree. relatively limited time, but questions about this? Any reactions to this? Andy?

First again, this would have been impossible probably for you to put in the summary, but somewhere along the line, I'd like to know the priorities district by district for trees. I know probably what the groves are, but I don't know what Allapattas is. I don't know what Wynwood is. Maybe some want all their trees concentrated in parks rather than on streetscapes. Maybe other districts are more concerned about the permitting application. But at some point, we're going to have to realize that this is a recommendation to commissioners who represent districts, and at some point, that very balkanized issue of one size may not fit all is what I guess you two guys are going to have to put together. So that was my only comment on that.

I think that's very relevant. I want to say two things about it. I didn't because of the limitations on time today. As you go through these different sets of issues, we're going to be asking you a couple of different questions throughout one is that does this play out differently in different districts and you're going to have a limited ability to address that that may be part of a broader conversation that you might recommend happen and the other is do these things play out differently for different i'll call them use cases you know the homeowner who wants to add a room or a driveway is working with the same regulations to some degree, or at least some of the same considerations as the developer putting in, you know, pick your building. Do these or should these play out differently in different use situations? So those are sort of themes that we think will run through your conversation.

So there is a challenge of fairness, consistency, but also flexibility where needed. Those are challenges. I think we're also hoping that you're going to get a little bit of taste of that. Hopefully one of the reasons you're doing a work, we're doing a workshop in each district for that kind of input. We're going to be curious to see if that gets reflected in those workshops or not. And we're going to cover that workshop, what we're going to ask and when we're having those in just a minute, but offers.

You know what? And I'd like to challenge the group to think about, are there solutions or recommendations? that can solve many of these things, right? Maybe there's some simple ideas that can solve for both the permitting side and the tree canopy side, and I think there are.

Thank you. Other questions or comments before we move on?

How extensive is the public outreach? You asked us to reach out to our networks, but what's the actual public outreach effort that's going into garnering feedback from these different constituents?

So funny you should ask that.

Let's go to the schedule.

Yeah. So I'm hearing two questions. One, how much opportunity will there be for public input? And two, how much effort will be made to get people to offer that input? Is that right? So let me answer the easy part first. So this is a tentative schedule of the first round of community workshops. I don't know if it's pinned down or fully confirmed. As soon as it is, it'll be posted.

So this is a tentative draft schedule that we've put together. We're still confirming the locations and the dates to make sure that they're available as we've requested them.

So you can see the locations here. Workshop one, Antonio Maceo Park.

Real quick. Do we have an estimated time when these will be locked down so that we can?

We're actively trying to pursue these, locking them down as we speak. So I'm hoping that by the end of the week.

Great. So you see there, there are three-hour workshops. I'll go over the agenda roughly. We will be relying on you all and the city to get the word out. So we will work with the city to have a... a web page for this process. It'll have those. It'll have the materials you've covered and additional materials as you develop them. It'll have a link to the online comment tool, which will accompany this round of workshops and the following round of workshops. So we're trying to be as transparent as possible and cast as wide a net for input as possible. The online comment tool will be open opened in conjunction with the beginning of these workshops, probably a day or two before, it'll be kept open after the end of the workshops. Not indefinitely, but probably at least through early September for the first round of workshops. So hopefully we can get those who actually come to the workshops to also spread the word about the comment portal and use it even if they're not able to themselves attend subsequent workshops. Ian, does this help? Does this go to your question?

Does the city know that they're responsible for community outreach? Yes.

We're working with them to use whatever channels are available to the city to get the word out.

Excuse me. Sorry. These workshops are going to be open to the public.

They are, yes. Yes, for the public, okay. For the public. You are welcome to attend. You are not welcome to talk to each other at those meetings, even though they are publicly noticed meetings.

And I should say, you're welcome to attend. If you want to come and observe firsthand what the tenor of comments, et cetera, is, we're not asking you to come speak. We're not asking you to do anything other than sort of listen at those meetings.

So are we allowed to speak at these meetings? Okay. Other than if you, I mean, you can welcome folks if you like.

It would be strongly urged on our part to let you listen to the tenor and understand what people are saying and how they're saying it. But we'd rather you really didn't engage in the meeting because these are focused on the public.

Is it a rather? Are we like legally not allowed to speak at these?

Okay, so. The way that I understand the structure is that you are an advisory committee. But you're going to take your input from these public settings and from what's being conducted there. Obviously, we're not telling you not to go. But for it to work, your interaction with them should be limited if zero. Because whatever we're going to get from these public workshops and these public settings is then going to be presented to you. If you actually were involved in the process, then you are not necessarily going to be advisory or recommending or the word is not neutral, but your focus is going to be different because now you participated in the process. Your function is different than that one. So, you know, like in Ghostbusters, don't cross the streams. We also don't want you to prime the pump.

Say again?

We also don't want you to prime the pump with your favorite ideas.

I'm just trying to understand the dynamics of the committee, because we were obviously selected to the committee for some measure of our participation in trees in the built environment.

But your measure of participation is to be able to take what... and I'm gonna make a hypothetical just because I'm good with those. So you got five people at a workshop, those five people have five different opinions, or maybe they have three opinions that all match and two that don't. That is going to be then presented to this committee. That committee then takes and basically digests what those five people came up with in an effort to then make a cohesive recommendation with regards to what should or shouldn't be incorporated into our code, the policies, the advice, right? So the concept is, I'm gonna start off over here, I'm gonna make some soup, right? The soup is gonna come off the stove and then you're going to eat it and then you're gonna tell me whether you liked it or you didn't. Concept, right? I still like the Ghostbusters one better. Don't cross the streams.

I guess I'm also just trying to understand where to best participate, and that will be in the committee meetings based on community input. Correct. Got it. Correct.

So, okay, the community workshops, but we are allowed to share it. with other people and say, hey, these workshops are going to be at these dates, so please attend. I'm not going to attend, but we circulate it. We can circulate it.

We would encourage you to circulate the information that the meetings are happening and where they're happening and the times, please.

And the format of these meetings, are they a presentation and then an open comment period, a come and go as you please kind of thing?

Okay, it'll be... Go to the next. You guys are really good at segways. This computer behaves differently when it's attached to the... Here we go. All right. So don't focus on this yet. The workshops will... have a presentation of initial information, a simplified version of some of what you've heard today. But the focus is really for the first round. Again, very different for the second round. For the first round, the focus for both the comment tool and the workshops is three sets of questions. And these are not, this is not the wording that'll appear, but it gives you a sense of the kind of question we'll be posing. So the three questions are, what about trees is important or should be important to the city of Miami? What do you want leaders and participants to know? What issues should the city try to address? As broad as that,

We'll try to give them at least a baseline of information to work from.

But people will be working primarily from their own experience, and that's the intent. What do you think the issues are? Why are they important? We will ask, and this is one way it might be done on the comment tool. There are other ways. So how's the city doing on those issues? What do you think of what's being done so far? And then the last set of questions will be around what should the city consider doing on tree issues going forward? What recommendations do you want the committee to think about making? So again, very broad questions for the first round of meetings, very different for the second round.

So for you today... Before you ask that question, in answer, I think, partly to the initial part of what I heard your question being, We're looking at a format at the workshops. We're going to put people at round tables and have this conversation because we want it to be that conversation and capture it that way. Not everybody come up and have their three minutes at a microphone. We think it's a fuller conversation they can have and a richer conversation that we can get. And again, I'll point out that the online comment tool will closely mirror this. So if you can't get to a physical workshop, you'll have the same opportunity via the comment tool. And again, that's another one that we'll want you to disperse the links to that comment tool, as well as the information and location of meetings.

And I will add, we will capture the table input, but we will also capture individual input. So if somebody happens to be at a, a couple of ways we'll do this, but if somebody happens to be at a table that thinks very differently than they do, we will still capture their input individually. So the question to you, what do you want to know from the public? What would you like to ask them? We have some flexibility. We'll still work within that framework. But as you think about the people going to these public workshops, what would you like them to tell you? And you came awfully close to your microphone and Ian first.

We want to check in with all of you on this. I think there's a number of different sort of constituents that we need to get information from in order to accurately reflect ordinances that make sense for the city of Miami. I'm thinking individual homeowners, homestead exempt homeowners from different communities, maybe from Coconut Grove, from all districts, developers, folks that are developing from sort of speculative capacity on residential properties, developers at commercial scale. I think we need an entire cross-section in order to accurately depict ordinances that work for the diversity that exists in the city.

Okay. Hi.

And I would like to see the developers also go to these workshops because I would think it would be great for them to hear from the residents that are being affected by progress and how they can work together to come to a consensus that makes sense for the progress of the development and protecting the environment and the canopy and the residential areas. And I would like to hear what is...

where they're really at where they really feel and and what they what they need what they want the city to do to preserve and to protect their environment and their canopy thank you i just want to and i just want to before just to be clear these public workshops are open to the public and they're being advertised correct correct and is there specific solicitations that are being sent out to some people to to attend not that i'm aware of so even though you want a cross-section of what the public is, the public is the one that has to attend.

But that's a direct...

I understood that completely. No, no, I understood that completely. Okay, okay. What I'm saying is it would be, sorry, I didn't mean to say so loud. It would be wonderful for also for the other side. I'm not talking about me, like developers and stuff.

No, no, I get that, but they also have to be willing to participate.

Oh, of course, of course. You can't make them, you know, you can't drag them.

Right, right, right. This does highlight that neither the workshops nor the comment tool are a statistically valid tool. sample of the whole cross-section.

So it's a caution. It's also the city's charge to provide that solicitation.

Well, the solicitation is because we are advertising it and we're making it known to the public. But again, you can hear, not a Ghostbusters one. I'll give you a different one. I can lead a horse to water, but I cannot make it drink.

We can encourage and we will reach out to and make sure that a a cross-section of interest if we're going to say builders for example will make it will hopefully they'll help us get that link out at least to the if not to the workshops and to the online comment form and that comment form does ask people to sort of identify a perspective that they're speaking from so you'll have some of that taste too

I'm still curious as to how that solicitation is being published and shared amongst the different networks and constituents.

Do you have thoughts about how to do that?

Well, there's like the South Florida Builders Association. There's the Latino Builders Association. There's a number of different networks that would really be beneficial to Target in that solicitation. And there's also the individual homeowners that are that are being burdened by some of the permitting considerations that we want to be able to consider. So I don't know what that looks like, that community outreach or providing that solicitation.

So our goal would be to use all the regular channels that the city typically uses to announce its public meetings. So we will work with our communications department to do media blasts. We'll include it in our social media platforms. And then within our department, obviously, we have stakeholder meetings that we will be personally reaching out to certain folks to make sure that they are aware of the workshops, that they're aware of the online comment form, and that they're aware of these actual committee meetings as well. I can right now tell you that we've had interest from the Builders Association in participating in these forums, so we will be providing them advance notice of when the workshops are happening to make sure that, like you referenced, Mr. Wogan, there is a varied cross-section of folks that have different opinions participating in these workshops. So we will make every effort to make sure that there is widespread publication across different types of interest groups of the locations and the dates of the workshops.

Okay, let me want to check in with each of you. I'm going to go to Dina first, then Avra, then Tom.

Okay, for the public meetings, I would like to know from the residents two things. For private properties affected by the state statute 183.045, what is it? What is it, 163 or 163? 163, private property removal of trees if a risk, an acceptable risk is identified. How many residents know about the state law? How many residents support the state law or how many are against it once they're educated about what it means? I find in Coral Gables, we lose a lot of trees inside private property. based on the state law. That's our largest area of tree canopy loss with private properties. So number two, public right of way. How much maintenance is done by the city of Miami for the public right of way trees? And would residents support increasing funding or staffing at the process level to further maintain and protect trees in right of way?

That second one, at least, let us think about the best place and time to ask both those questions. That second one, at least, is an idea for a recommendation that would go in the second set of workshops, probably not the first one, but important to ask.

I'd like a workshop with staff. Like, there's still no clarity. There's not enough clarity. I mean, the presentation was very good. And that's very clear. But again, right away, state laws... public works, when is it state, when is it county, when is it this? I think that in order for us to make thoughtful recommendations, and I'm doing it, and I have so many questions, and one department says one thing, one does another, when is it county? So can we organize something with staff so that... we have a better understanding, and then maybe there's a way to incorporate that better understanding. Because I've got a feeling a lot of times that some of the issues that the public's having is lack of clarity.

Let us, yeah, that sounds useful.

I think one of the things you may note, when we looked at the process, et cetera, there were like four different categories that were trying to break the topic down, because it is so comprehensive, into pieces. that we can take on as bites for you and provide staff to come in and speak specifically to those, answer questions and address those as we move forward.

Yeah, but I guess to me, there's an order question, right? So for me, it's like we're talking about trees, but if we don't understand process and have clarity on what's there, we may be talking about some things that we shouldn't even be talking, that are premature, right? So I think I'm not sure about what the order should be or the process, but I know for me personally, I'd like some clarity.

Okay. Okay. Let us work with staff one way or the other. Something like that could certainly be possible. Thomas? Thomas next and then, sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm just hoping that we get a lot of participation by the single-family homeowners. I certainly feel that the development community would be engaged throughout this process, but I think the greater impact would be made through the single-family homeowners understanding what resources are available, how they can participate, the benefits of improved tree canopy.

Okay, thank you. Andy? Ms. Llewellyn, just two of the things that I didn't know how to put into words. One is, how are you going to... I didn't even know about that 163 could be used in the Grove, and now I do. We have Katrina here. I mean, we still fight the tree demolitions in the Grove, but not based on... I almost hate it that this is out in the open now, that 163 in the Grove can take out an RV tree because the state says you can't. All you have to do is get an arbiter. So that's one thing we do. But the main thing that Ms. Llewellyn just brought up, somehow you have to, when we have these workshops, I would like to know, if you ask the public, where would you like to see the city put its money and rank those and see where the trees rank? Because there's going to be a limited amount of funding. The city's not just going to say, oh, we're going to have 30% canopy tomorrow. So I think she hit the nail on the head when she said, let's prioritize where the citizens want their money to go, and then we'll know a lot more.

Okay. So that is a question. Thank you for reporting it. That is a question, a version of which we can ask at the first round of workshops. Where does this rank for you?

And maybe it could include a broad pie section of where the city's budget goes to currently.

That might be a little more challenging, but yeah.

And also, as for having staff being present in the workshops, Many times staff in the city of Miami, there's people, individuals that are on staff and they're lost themselves and they don't really know. So when staff is there, it has to be someone like Sean that really understands how it works and explain it, not just the assistant of the assistant that doesn't know what really is going on because that has happened.

Okay. Anything else in response to that question, whether directly or indirectly?

Okay, so... We've got four folks who have signed up for public comment. I know we're running out of time, but I want to stop, take time, and hear from those four folks before we kind of wrap up today. And I'll, I guess I'll call each of you up and ask you to be to the point. I'm not trying to make it, I've got two minutes and I'm going to shut a mic off, but try to be to the point specifically, specifically things you heard today are things that we addressed today. We've got a lot of more ground to cover. Uh, so if you could, and I think Katrina, I think yours is the first one and then it's going to be Silvio, but I think he just left. And then I have, is this Lindsay? Did I get that right? I'm sorry. And then truly. Okay. Hi.

I know this is probably very...

Sorry, you have to state your name. Please give us your name and address as part of the public... Sure.

Katrina Morris, 4130 Liebuyer Avenue in Coconut Grove. I know this seems embattled. I know that I sit here and I make noises and I'm upset because we are here because the developers have been overrepresented. I know you want to hear from developers, but we know what developers want. We know what developers want. They want to make as much money as humanly possible. OK? This is a city. It is not an investment vehicle. It is housing for people to live together as a community. We, together, you guys and us as the public, need to think about in the next 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, what is going to make this city the most livable for the most people, okay? Not the most profitable, not the most hip. I mean, that's important to a lot of people, so I'll put that back. Maybe living in a community that's hip is very important. I... One thing I will say is that in the schedule for the public workshops, I noticed that workshop five in my district, district two, which will be at the hangar at Regatta Grove, the address to contact the person is Obuday at Trio Group, I went to triogroup.com's website, and their portfolio is Vox Miami Phase 1, Vox Miami Phase 2, Vox Tallahassee, Bregada Harbor, TTG 57. I'm just saying, I know that this is feeling like a dog and pony show, okay? apologize if we put the person's contact no no no no not putting the person's comment contact so that we could see it was not a mistake was your mistake if the agenda for this committee is to change ordinances to help developers why is that person a contact to arrange the public comment public workshop why is the person I'm sorry okay that's the only reason that person doesn't have any influence on this or anything beyond that if I'm

OK, if I may. So we are in the process of selecting the locations. We're trying to accommodate a large location for this specific district, given how important this issue is here. And we were initially going to be in this facility. but we'd rather not be here to accommodate a larger group. That is when we turn to our neighbor next door solely based on logistics and proximity to where we are. That person's contact information there was a typo and should not have been included, and it is solely as a favor that we are using that facility to try to have some place that is large enough.

The reason the public is so angry is because the relationship between the city and developers is very cozy. And we do not have a seat at the table. I do not see, I see everybody here, except for Andy, who does, and I don't know you, and you're a resident, but the balance between developer and resident is way, way, way out of balance. And so just know that my representation of me right here, right, is we feel like we're under threat. We feel like we're being attacked. And so just know that the public feels this way. I know I am vocal about it, but I'm a representative of what that feeling is.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Lindsay cane i'm a resident of Miami date I live in three three northeast 24th street Miami Florida and I also represent the Miami tree preservation action committee. And I just want to say, I know this is the first meeting, but even in this meeting, it was confusing whether this was open to the public it wasn't fully listed. the website the time being at 9 a.m. on Monday is hard for a lot of people to make it so going forward I know they're probably more people and more engaged if it were at a different time and while you guys have this committee for one year there are some things I would ask and I would say, you know, I feel like this year in particular, the tree removals have been outstanding. There have been over 300 trees removed in Miami alone, and it seems like whenever somebody wants to remove a tree now, it's approved. But I've lived in Miami for seven years, and it was never as excessive as it is this year. So I don't know if your committee can investigate what happened, what changed. I know there were some positions moved around in terms of environmental resources and everything. Secondly, audit of the tree trust fund. I see a lot of removals. I don't see as many relocations or trees being planted, and I know the fund is for that. And in terms of the canopy goal being 30%, I would like to know... what it's at now, given all of the tree removals we've seen this year alone, what percentage is that at? And I've also been involved in the tree permit appeal process now as a resident who had to see a huge tree that got cut down in my neighborhood. Now I'm filing appeals on behalf of citizens who are donating funds who want to save trees. And I feel in the process, it should include the residents beforehand, because now we're working backwards, trying to raise money, going to hearings to try to save trees. And in that process, when we file the appeal, we have to pay to mail the residents about the hearing, but the city doesn't pay to mail the permit removals to the citizens. They have to find a sign posted somewhere, and then they have 10 days to try to file something. So I think That needs to change. In addition, I feel like there should be harsher punishments for the violations. Like, for instance, in Edgewater, we recently had two instances of developers pruning trees over 25%. I want to know what the consequences are for that. And even the fines developers have to pay for removing fees, in terms of developers, these are pennies for them to pay. So I feel like there should be stricter consequences for that. And I just want to say that sometimes it's sad that tree people are against development, and I would say that is untrue. I know so many people involved in environmental organizations have great ideas for development, but we've just seen too many trees lost in Miami, and it's a bit confusing, like, why... We need more apartment buildings, more condos, more concrete. So many residents are confused. My social media has thousands of interactions and comments from people who are upset, who are angry. There have been too many trees that have lost, and each tree is alive. It lives. It thinks. So it's like a graveyard in Miami to build all of this concrete, and we're feeling the physical effects. It is so extremely hot, especially this summer, and it's directly... correlated to the loss of trees. And I keep coming back to the Citizens' Bill of Rights. I say this in every meeting because it's supposed to protect our right. It says it shall be the policy of the city to conserve and protect its natural resources. And scenic beauty, which policy shall include the abatement of air and water pollution and excessive and unnecessary noise. So I feel like all of the removals this year have violated this. And, yeah, I agree with Katrina. I feel like the needs of the developers are given precedent, and we're figuring out ways how to work with developers. A lot of people don't want any more development. Like, we can put a moratorium on development for a few years, work with the inventory we have now. Like, every single green space in Miami, if it's not planned to be developed, it has a green sign for development. So I just don't know what this says for our future. Like, it's just going to get hotter. So, yeah, that's all I have to say here.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead and turn to Trulia. And I'll note, Silvio, you were not in the room when we started, so if I skip over, if you still want to speak after her. And to the extent you all can be concise, that would be really appreciated.

I'll stick to the two-minute rule. Good afternoon, I guess, everybody. My name is Trulia Burton. I'm the Executive Vice President for the Builders Association of South Florida. your enemy, theoretically, but I'm not. But I'm not, okay? I'm here to support, first of all, we are very, very happy to send out the information, and I will tell my members of the City of Miami Working Group, who are zoning attorneys as well as civil engineers, as well as arborists, and I did appreciate the arborists who I don't see here for the moment, but that was a very important presentation as well, to know to plant the right tree, in the right place at the right time. So please send me that information. I'll make sure to get that to my city of Miami working group. I think Miami is a very green city, greener than perhaps others might consider from my seat in the room. I'm wondering if the tactic isn't just to stall a homeowner from building a pool or something like that, or from a builder that wants to build affordably priced housing. If anyone has not realized it, we do have an affordable housing crisis. Housing affordability is an issue here. But neither that issue nor the other would work, I think, because you govern as a group from the center, okay? So we've seen multiple tree appeals. I think we need to kind of calm that down and see what the issues are, sit down and talk with people, Okay? And without being overly dramatic, just sit down and talk with Peter. I think that's really...

If we... I'm sorry. If we could... I know.

If we... Ma'am, I did not... Ma'am, I did not disrupt you.

Hold on. Stop. I'm sorry. Be... If you want to be respectful and be heard, you have to be willing to listen. And so, please, let's be respectful of everybody's opinions so that we can all hear everyone's opinions. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. I think the smarter posture is to make sure that we plant the right trees in the right place in the right amount. And we know we certainly do want to support good policy that reflects this and continue also, on one hand, on the other hand, to continue to construct affordably priced homes. Yes, there are more expensive places, but part of our goal, as well as the Builders Association of South Florida, is to make sure that everybody has a decent place to live. Thank you.

Silvio, you get the last word here.

All right. Good afternoon, everybody. Silvio Pupo here, resident of D1, Alapara. I'm the economics appointee as well to the Climate Resilience Committee, where I sit down with Avra. Avra, good to see you here. But I'm here in my personal capacity as somebody that is both a scholar and an academic, as well as an investment banker and a scientist. Over the last four years, I've been working quite diligently to learn what are the different issues as a non-subject matter expert. Four years later, I still consider myself a non-subject matter expert, but I do have an ask of you. I do understand that there's been an ask to appoint somebody at large from the Climate Resilience Committee to this committee. I would throw my hat in the ring, but that would be a disservice to all of us. Because as you heard today, Sunshine Law would preempt us from engaging with you. It's already been a huge obstacle for me on my committee with the Climate Resilience Committee to talk to my colleagues, to workshop with my colleagues. And so I come with you and to you to offer myself as a resource to work in parallel with you. And my ask is quite simple today. It is to have one workshop, of the many we've been promised, to be able to review two different proposals I've had, as well as other proposals that have come out of the CRC already. One such proposal is something called LEAF proposal. The LEAF proposal is focused on Community stewardship it helps address some of the operational shortcomings of the city of Miami. We cannot expect the city to do it all But the community can help they want to help they're ready willing able to help the leaf proposal helps address that and Then canopy is also used to address some of the reform again. These are also based on observations and many conversations and workshop of the last four years and Leaf, for example, is focused on the tree corpse modeled after trees in New York City's pruner program, open trees database, as well as a tree bank, which is recommended by my dear friend here, Ian Wogan, as well as Canopy, which is focused on supporting neighbors and all the different Chapter 17 specific conversations, including bringing transparency to the Tree Trust Fund and how we could exactly do that. So again, these are two different things. We have multiple issues here. One's operational. One is a bit legislative. also goes into operational and with these two I propose this workshop so I would like chair as well as committee members to note the request for a workshop whether it's through that with the CRC and the tree committee that could be one if not just that large thank you so much and my name is Silvio Pupo and appreciate each and every one of you for being here and for taking on the responsibility of being a steward for Miami's canopy

to decide who that appointment will be. Oh, yeah. I don't want it. Okay. Yeah. All right. All right. We're kind of at the end. Let me go over some quick next steps. I appreciate you all taking a little extra time because I think it's important to hear from the public at this point. I'm going to pass this down and ask you each one to take one. It's just sort of an evaluation form for us, for Raphael and I. Just things you think worked well today. I know this is kind of a new process for you. So I'm... Huh? No, you can do it anonymously. Feel free to say whatever you want, Andy. I'll make sure to pick yours up. So fill that out. What I really am most interested in is comments of what you think works well today, what may not have worked well, those things. We want to make this a process that's effective for you guys. Several things, and I'm going to ask then Raphael and I'm going to ask Melissa to be sure I get them all. We're going to be sending a poll out to try and help you set up a time for future meetings. We talked about that a little bit. So we can go ahead and get those scheduled out for you. We were going to make the presentation available to you that you saw today. What were some of the other next steps that I'm forgetting, Raphael? Or even Melissa, if you remember.

We need to firm up the workshop dates with the locations.

We'll form up the workshop dates and get those out to you as well. The other thing we will do is once... Probably go to the mic. You need to go to the mic. So, you're recorded. Thank you.

Sorry about that. After all the times I've said that throughout the day. Once we have the website set up for this or the page on the city's website, we'll let you know that too. You can use that as a way to get information out to whoever you want. And... I think that's it.

Anything else, Melissa, that you know of that we need to address before we adjourn for today?

Not that I can think of at the moment, but I do want to make sure that the committee understands that I'm available to answer any questions that you may have individually. So please feel free to reach out to me.

I did think of one more. We mentioned the ethics virtual tomorrow, too. We'll try and get you a link. this afternoon, so you have that for that. Any questions any of you have before we kind of close up for today?

No? Mariela?

Thank you very much for being our facilitators and for making this happen and for the public to have a voice. It's very important.

Thank you guys very much. Appreciate it.

If there's evaluation, you just leave them right there. We'll get them later. Thank you, guys.

The meeting was concluded at 12.18.

So,