Village Council - Regular Meeting

All right. We're going to get started. Good to see everybody here. All right. The regular council meeting for Tuesday, March 24th is called to order at 7.01 p.m. We're going to have a moment inside of meditation followed by a pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance.

and justice for all.

Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, may I please have a roll call, please?

Roll call. Mayor Nickerson.

Here.

Vice Mayor Martin. Present. Councilperson Erbom.

Present.

Councilperson Lightfoot Ward. Councilperson Winters.

Present.

Also present for the record, David Roseman, Village Manager, Janice Jacoby, Village Clerk, and Attorney Geller called that he's running a little late. You have a quorum.

Thank you very much. May I please have approval of the agenda?

So moved.

Moved by Councilperson Irvine. May I have a second?

Second.

Second by Councilperson Winters. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Hearing none. Next is Good and Welfare. Anybody who wants to come up and speak, you can talk about anything that you would like to speak about. Three minutes. Say your name and address for the record.

Hello. Good evening. My name is Kelly. Address 269 Northwest 86th Street. Wanted to start off just by thanking you guys. Excuse me? Oh. Just want to start off by thanking you guys for all the good things you guys do for the village. The speed bumps, the trees, all the stuff you did at the park. So thank you for that. Because I think sometimes these meetings go off the rails and it's all negative stuff. So thanks for that. I came today because I had someone come knock on my door, a little bit upset about a school that's being built down the road from here. And I more so wanted to get information about it to understand. I guess someone bought the property, then they knocked down the church that was there. A, if that was okay to do, to knock down the church, if that's just, you just buy the property and you can knock it down, I would like to have some clarity on that. And then as of today, just what is the plan for that area? Or is it going to be only for homes? Is it allowed to be for commercial property? What's the plan overall for that?

Uh, yeah, thank you. So we're going to hear the, um, we'll hear how public comment, then when we close it, then we'll have responses to what we can respond. Okay. All right. I got your question. All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Next.

noel pace 206 northwest 91st street um i second the the first gentleman's there uh uh comments about the council thanks for doing what you do thanks for looking out for the village and and that is definitely what i uh would advocate is that um i participated in the community plan drafting and codification and the entire process a number of years ago and that was a multi-year process along with the charrette process and so that plan all right with all stakeholders involved both within the village and outside you help give input to that we got experts we had you know attorneys we had urban planners, we had suburban planners, we had people who had an environmental side to them and so on. And so we came up with that codified community plan and our current zoning. And so with that, know sort of in response to the gentleman's comment about what is happening you know he said a school is being built at the old raider church site that's not exactly the case a school has been proposed at the old raider church site um it requires many exceptions many variances uh all kinds of uh changes to the community basically that are a contravention to our community plan AND SO WHAT I ADVOCATE IS THAT I AM NOT ANTI-SCHOOL. I AM PRO EL PORTAL, OUR COMMUNITY PLAN, AND OUR CURRENT ZONING. AND MANY TIMES I'VE SAID, ON THE RECORDS, GOING BACK TO NOVEMBER OF 2025, NOW WE'RE HERE IN MARCH OF 2026, SO FIVE MONTHS, THAT PROPOSED SCHOOL AT ITS SIZE AND SCALE WITH ALL OF ITS EXCEPTIONS AND CHANGES THAT ARE REQUIRED JUST DOESN'T FIT THERE. SO WHAT I HAVE PROPOSED TO THE DEVELOPER IN MY PRIVATE MEETING WITH THEM AND IN OUR PUBLIC FORUM HERE IS THAT THEY DO OWN THE LITTLE RIVER FARM AS WELL. It's properly zoned for that type of school. They can put their school there. If they really love the community, if they really love and want to be part of El Portal, they can easily do that at that location. And then the Raider Church... area can be developed within our current zoning without any exceptions, either commercial, office, retail, community housing, a combination of all. I mean, that site is big enough. The last thing I know a number of people suggested is that these developers are going to be developing a large swath of El Portal anyway. They're probably going to want exceptions to height restrictions and so on. Hey, they have the means. the raider church site now as as a central park for el portal geez they could even name it after themselves or whatever i think everyone would be happy with that uh and then that will provide probably what i would consider sufficient green space because i do know the developers also bought a whole bunch of other properties along northeast second avenue um that are probably going to get developed i think they were originally talking about parking lots but i'm sure they're going to develop them into some sort of live local or workforce housing which hey I came from the workforce, okay, before I became an attorney. Hey, I was a soldier right before that. You know, people are soldiers, firefighters, nurses, community workers. They need a place to live. I think those are great, you know, things to do for them. We need those people in society. So I don't see workforce housing as some sort of negative. I think it helps our society. So I just thought I'd bring that to your guys' attention. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

I'm up. Greg Sear, 120 Northwest 86th Street. I want to echo some of those comments. The Soulful Projects, and I'm glad to see the full council here. That's a change, nice change. And it's important because there's a lot going on. This Soulful Project is really just the tip of the spear. It's just the tip of the iceberg. And the project seems to have hit a wall. Where is the back and forth discussion about the actual developer agreement? Are they still not ready after a year? What does that tell you? The only thing they've managed to do so far is to turn Raider Church into a pile of rubble and divide the community into warring camps. There's no consensus on the parking, probably because there is no parking. nor on the impact on our traffic or the real viability of a sewer connection. Still in question is the amount of public benefit they are willing to offer in lieu of paying their fair share of property taxes like the rest of us. The developer continues to spread misinformation and stoke fear about Live Local, which is not a slam dunk. It's very much a moving target, but it's a very convenient scare tactic. And are we really against affordable housing aimed at teachers and first responders? Does a K-12 school on a two-acre site with virtually no parking really make sense? Or is this just another pipe dream like WeWork's IPO, all hype, smoke, and mirrors? This is one reason we hired Amanda Hand, a land use attorney, because I think we deserve a seat at the table to weigh in on what gets built and what doesn't get built in our community because we actually live here. Adam Newman doesn't. Ken Barrington doesn't. And El Portal is not up for sale or shouldn't be. Why is there not a single resident on the Planning and Zoning Board? Sometimes it feels like we're flying blind. What is going to be left of El Portal after Adam Newman's little farm gets built out? Tonight we have a full council considering the construction of a single home. Yet there's no discussion about the repercussions of 2,500 homes and 4,000 new residents. Effectively doubling the population of El Portal. and tripling the number of residences. Soulful is just the foot in the door. Little Farm is 10 times the size and 20 times the impact. So my question is, are there or have there been any discussions by anyone, council or staff, about Little Farm with Adam Newman's people? Or are we going to get the silent treatment and then you spring it on us at the last minute like Soulful? Sometimes I wonder who's really in the driver's seat, who's in charge. There have been no village manager reports since October of 2025. No SOFL updates, no police reports, no budget updates. We're six months into the budget. What have we spent the money on? Are there any reserves? Meanwhile, we're forming this advisory board, this committee, that committee, meeting after meeting with no real authority. And finally, I don't understand why we have this convoluted open mic night process where we come up and rant and rave, and only the mayor responds. Don't council members have their own voice? You have your own vote? I, for one, would like to hear from each one of you tonight where you stand on this soulful project. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, Council, thank you for the time and good and welfare.

My name is George Alvarez.

I live at 165 Northwest 88th Street. Rather than echoing some of the points that I heard Mr. Pace and Mr. Steer mention, to which I agree. I'm going to phrase it a little bit differently. I'm very much looking forward to hearing what a new proposal is going to be like from the developers of the proposed project. I think that some of the divisiveness and some of the tactics that I've come to learn about recently some of which got truly personal to the mayor himself and some of which uh got very impersonal to the rest of the community i think that's a sign of of of something that's wrong if not with the process then with the process regarding this project i'm going to until given a much, much better reason than anything I've currently heard from the developers of this project, who, as of now, have not changed one iota of their project. It's not enough to hear that they have been meeting with certain residents, because we can't take that on faith until we see things on paper. So I'm hoping that at this time, that each and every member of the council and of the parallel planning and zoning board will vote no on this project, especially at this location and especially as currently and technically proposed. I know that there's a lot of conjecture out there and probably some people are a little bit more in the knowledge than others, but what I witnessed at the second town hall meeting which this council very um intelligently suggested happened was i witnessed a threat our our community spoke in meetings since december and then the final results of all those meetings over two and a half months was that the developer came with a an AI generated photo of something that after the meeting even he admitted was erroneous and could not be built on the site. it had no parking, it had incorrect frontage, and it also had no retail, because the truth is, live local or not live local, anybody who's gonna build a mixed use is absolutely gonna want the revenue that one gets from shops or services, restaurants, craft stores, art museums, as it were, at the bottom of the mixed use building. That's where the most money is. The other thing that they're not going to do is make everything live local because that would be leaving a lot of money on the table. Things are different in El Patel. We are now market rate, literally and figuratively, if you'll pardon the metaphor. So on top of all that, I'm hoping that the council is aware of the sheer number of properties that have now been purchased by legal entities attached to Mr. Newman's group. There are several on Northeast 2nd Avenue, a couple in Sherwood Forest, and at least one Sherwood Forest adjacent. And I'm still unclear about what the status is of the proposed pocket park area. This is another way of saying that if we're going to go forward with any project and we're going to make covenants with someone who may, after a couple of years, either take those covenants to court or challenge us to enforce them Or perhaps, which would be more holistically powerful, have an entire new council of people who currently probably don't live in El Portal and may be renting in new structures that are built. And that council will... Possibly negate all the covenants that we make because if they're buying those properties and some of those properties are adjacent to each other or are very close to other properties that they also own what's to say that they're not going to try to build a live local or other properties there that will indeed increase our population for better or for worse. Growth is going to happen. But there's smart ways to kind of governor that growth, especially with the traffic impacts that this current project, as currently proposed, going to have and it's not just traffic its impacts on our natural environment its impacts on public safety which will only be expanded as things move forward east east of here in in the old little farm so I'm asking I'm asking this council to please look out for our interests I'm urging you to vote no on this proposal when and if it comes up If they truly want to be a part of El Pratel, they'll go back to the drawing board and make a few compromises that we could live with. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much.

Daniel Rojas, 16 Northeast 86th Street. So I kind of sound like a broken record every time I come up here and I ask for ethics, for conflicts of interest and ethics disclosures. But usually our lawyer, at least the last couple of times, he hasn't been here to advise if there's anything we can do about that. I'd like to, again, propose that everybody on the council clearly states if they have any conflicts of interest, also if they've had any private meetings with the developers and what has been discussed in those private meetings as we are trying to all push for transparency and regain the trust that we have, that our village needs to have in our council. Also, I want to bring up what everybody else brought up. We need to be aware of what's happened around the county. We've seen another city that did not allow Soulful to be a part of their community either, based on numerous issues that they had with their proposals, as we all do right now. And then also how we see the football stadium, soccer stadium, They're already backing out of some of the covenants that they had built into it. So they had said they were going to build a certain amount of soccer courts, and they're already backing out of that. So any deal we do with our developers, we have to be conscious that they can back out of it, like legally or whatever we do with them. so the more time goes by the more i learn the less i am inclined to support this project and the more i'm going to ask every single member of the council to vote no on this issue thank you thank you very much mr

Hi, my name is Warner Dreher. I'm at 486 Northeast 87th Street. I just want to tag along his comment. I remember him asking the same question during our last meeting. So my question is a follow up question in regards to having and I have brought up this question to Mayor Nickerson, having a mediator or negotiator with the Adam group, Adam Newman group. Right I keep hearing also. Oh, we have a specific council person who's negotiating or there's the rumor right out there with the neighbors. So we're you guys are politicians. So I would recommend having somebody a negotiator who can help out negotiate the terms that they have been brought up by the Adam Newman group. I understand. Attorney Geller, he's just making sure it's all legal and he's not going to negotiate on our behalf. So, again, I asked me kindly. See, my question can be follow up as far as having a negotiator. Also, the 2nd question is regarding the demolition of the church. i know we met with the director of the building code inspector uh perhaps just an idea maybe we want to have the building director attend those meetings here or all those people involved regarding the approval of this project with the adam newman maybe participate here in the meetings as well just to make sure if there's any questions from the residents they can help answer Uh, here directly, so I, I did meet with mayor Nickerson on, uh, maybe twice and thank you again. Mayor Nickerson and to the code director, but maybe that would be just a small humble recommendation just to have them here as part of the meetings as well. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Hi, good evening. My name is Ramona. I live on, um, eighty eight street, a hundred thirty six Northwest. My concern, um, besides the fact that this property. That they want to build, they apparently are not going to be taxes and they keep buying other properties on airport towel, which they are not letting us know exactly what are they going to do with those properties. and using different LLCs, which it makes very hard to investigate and research. It's all connected to the same person with different names. My concern is with the school that's gonna be adjacent to 87th Street and the Second Avenue. And I'm very concerned because we also have our police department at the end of the 87th Street. This is a very narrow street, presidential. And I'm really concerned that the traffic is going to create, is going to put our residents like unsafe. We're not going to be able to get our police cars and department fast enough if that street is blocked. because of the school traffic created by kids crossing the street, parents parked waiting for their kids, school buses, and plus everything else that is going to happen on that area. And the police department, it sits all the way at the end, close to Biscayne Boulevard. it's not going to be able to reach on time the rest of the residents in El Portal. And if for any reason we have an emergency and a loved one dies because of this, because the police car was not able to make it on time because there was traffic or blockage on that street, I do not want to see that happen. And this situation is in your hands. All the councils, the vice mayor, the mayor, you are the one voting for this on this project. And open up this situation that we're gonna have concessions made for a developer coming from outside that really do not care about the residents of El Portal. He doesn't. He might have offer So many things, a kayak lounge, some other money and vouchers for other people. It's not real because he doesn't really have on his heart this community the way we have. He doesn't. He does not. And I really do hope you guys reach this idea that i'm trying to bring to you guys here my concerns and vote no on this project another concern that i'm having here also is i don't feel like councils are present and are supporting this community i don't it feels like we have no support from you guys our lawyer where where is galler right i don't know where is him I have watched also another video from a past Ball Harbor video that SoFlo was trying to put their school in Ball Harbor. Good job, Ball Harbor, that turned these people away. Good job for them. And guess what? Our lawyer and Ben and Adam, they were in the same meeting, the three of them together. And we have it on record, Ben saying that he has a relationship with our lawyer. Isn't this a conflict of interest? This is like super concerning for me. Another thing that I'm very bothered about. that I heard from the grapevine that there were a meeting with this developer, a private meeting from people that want this school to happen. And none of the residents were informed. And whoever organized this meeting is a very close family member from the council. I mean, this is just wrong. Where is the transparency? Where is it? There is no transparency in this committee. Nothing. Very, very concerning.

Thank you. Just a follow-up. Thank you. A quick follow-up. Just so that there's no question marks. Whom from the council? Who arranged a meeting?

I would like to talk to you in person. Okay. I actually wrote you an email, and you never responded. Okay, so can I ask you now?

I mean, since you're saying it in public, I know that I've never met with the developers. I just want to know. I just don't want that question mark hanging out there as to whom it is you're referring to.

Well, I heard that Council Winter's wife was involved.

All right. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

Yeah, let's try to get through good and welfare, you guys. I appreciate it. Who's next?

Good evening, everyone. My name is Karen Roberts, and I live at 29 Northeast 90th Street. And I feel like I'm kind of should have been much more aware of the situation, and I'm kind of getting in late, but... I've lived in this village a long time, a really long time. I admit, I actually attended service at Raider Memorial. I wasn't a member, but I definitely attended service. That's how long I've been living here. And it has made me sad to see it sitting empty for so long. Because it's like, well, our community has changed. You know, there aren't people that want to go, you know, to the church there. You know, they didn't have enough activities for kids or families or something to make it a community place. And that made me sad. And I was always wondering what was going to happen with it. And so I'm to understand that someone's buying it for a school, but a rich school, like a private school where it will not be our... It will not be our residents, our kids, our grandkids going to this school. It's like they're going to be coming from somewhere else to come here to go to a rich school. And okay, I mean, that's life too sometimes. But then I heard that it's 300 students. That doesn't make any sense at all. I go to the gym on 69th Street, and that's only 20 blocks from here, from my home. And do you know how long it took me to get home from there today? God forbid it's a drop-off or a pick-up time for school. 300 cars dropping off their kids, 300 cars picking up their kids, Northeast 2nd Avenue. I'm not going to gym anymore. You know, so how local do you have to be to be local so that you can get to, you know, around to where you want to get? So it's, it seems unreasonable for that. And so this is a question that I just don't know. Maybe someone can answer it to me. So if If 300 students obviously don't fit on that land and they're buying adjacent properties, these are single-family homes, and it's a free world. Someone can sell their home if they want to. But now does the school no longer pay tax to our village? I mean, is our village losing property tax if the school buys single-family homes? That's counterintuitive to our village's financial health, isn't it? Um, so if, if the school doesn't pay taxes, but the church didn't, so same, same. But then this new school is mushrooming to more properties, and they're not going to pay tax on those. I don't understand the financial decision there. And it doesn't serve our community. But I'm totally concerned about the traffic, and I know that other people have talked about that. But I'd love to see El Portal be a community and have more things where whoever's moving in, That's fine, but, like, we do things together. Or that it's, that, I don't know. I'll stop talking now, but I just wanted to put that on record.

Thank you very much.

Oh, and I wanted to say thank you, Mayor, for putting that letter in the, you know, I looked it up and I read it and that was sensitive. So thank you for that.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. 1110 Northeast 87th Street.

Say your name for the record.

Maria Serrano. Thank you. So I work in banking, and I see financial models every day. I work in lending. So I understand financial health in companies, individuals, entities, whatever. So I came here because I want to ask a question to my counsel. Our taxpayer base continues coming down. At some point what happens if we, the villagers, cannot continue paying more taxes? What will the village do to cover that gap? Will we be annexed to Miami? city because we cannot even pay police department. I have heard that we are one of the villages that pay the least for police officers. I don't know if that's true or not. Probably you can enlighten me. Other villages pay $70,000. We pay $50,000. And we are now paying full taxes. And every day if we allow for this school to come, or not even school, let's say a business not paying taxes. It's a business not paying taxes, period. What will happen? So are we going to lose our police department? I purchased my house in 2022, and the things that I loved about this community was our own police department. I love living in 87th Street, even with all the traffic. I feel very safe there because of my police department, the organization. But I'm really concerned that if we allow to change our codes, our zoning for this school or whatever this developer wants to do, Have you heard about the precedent in law terminology? I work with that every day because I work with lawyers every day in lending documentation. Once we let this developer change our codes, that's just it for the village. We're going to disappear here. We're going to be Miami. New developers, even if this developer has a good in their heart, even, we're opening the window for new developers to come. And they're going to say, why you approve changing code to that developer and not to me? That's the problem. So remember, I'm not the English-speaking person. It's precedence or precedent. So remember that. Go to Google, ask for that, and you will learn more about that. So I hope the village can respond to my concerns.

Thank you very much.

Hi, everyone.

Hello.

I'm Edna Edelman. I live at 301 Northeast 88 street. Um, as some of, you know, I do support, uh, this project soulful. Um, there have been a lot of comments about taxes. Um, you know, I mean, they have offered, um, to pay money to the village in lieu of taxes, but I, I think the majority of the taxes are probably going to come out of the. the little farm project i mean that's where i would expect the majority of it to come but the reason that i came up is this whole thing about adam newman and his private meeting it wasn't charlie's wife who set up this meeting i did and i asked to meet with adam newman because um i had questions about the project And Adam Newman was this mysterious Personality that I saw on Wikipedia. I watched we crashed. I wanted to meet him in person And he was quite forthcoming. He actually showed up And we sat and talked for a few hours. I Invited my neighbors because there is a real discrepancy in what's going on here those of us who live in Near this project support it. Um, those of you who live. Further away do not, um, and and and here you go again. Um, you're talking about transparency. You're talking about community, but you heckle. um you bully um and you you make it really hard um i mean we we come in groups because because you guys are bullying those of us who support the project um and you know i i want to echo something that ramona said i emailed every person on this council only two people replied the mayor and Charlie Winters. You did not reply and you do not reply. And it feels like you don't represent us. And I want you all, there's something I wanna say to everyone. We can disagree. If I support the school, it doesn't make me evil. If you are against it, it doesn't make you evil. There's no reason to scream and heckle. I've heard people scream, you don't live here. It's inappropriate. We're a community. You know, when this is over, we're still going to live here. We're going to walk down the street and hopefully say hello to each other. I mean, there are people here. in the back who who screamed at everyone you don't live here they turned to the people sitting next to me and said you don't live here um when they don't live here um it's it's i mean remember we're going to exist in this community for the foreseeable future unless we all move out um and and it's not right to act as if someone on the other side is an enemy. That's it. Thank you, Sarah.

Hello, how are you?

Hi, I'm Erin. I actually wrote something this time, so I'm not just speaking off the clock. I came a little prepared. I'm also incredibly impressed that I was able to escape bedtime with two kids and school. Say your name and address for the record. I'm Erin Mara. I live on 88th Street across 2nd Avenue, directly across from the church. This is my neighborhood. I've been here since 2019. I think, as I said in one of the prior meetings, I'm a local ER doctor. I work at Aventura. This is my neighborhood. And I say that only because I think it's important that we also know our limitations. And one thing that I always tell my residents is that... Am I not talking into this thing? One thing that I always teach my residents is that you have to remember to know what you don't know and make the best possible decisions with the available evidence that we have. And also... I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a land developer. I mean, we have a lawyer here. We have other people that we can hire. You know, getting caught up on changing zoning and all these things, I'm going to assume these people have done their due diligence. They're billion-dollar pockets. They are developers. They would hopefully know what they're doing. And just like you wouldn't ask me to perform cardiothoracic surgery, like, I'm going to stay in my wheelhouse. This is actually kind of a letter that I devised to you guys. It's more to you guys on my opinion. I had sent something, but y'all are busy, and I don't think anyone read it. So anyway, I decided to write this letter addressed to you guys, the council members, our vice mayor and our mayor, to ensure that my, as well as many of my neighbors on 88th Street, who couldn't be here because we have kids and jobs, our voices could be heard at a meeting where I know there is a lot of loud opposition. Okay. So like I said, I live across the street on 2nd Avenue from the proposed site of the school. This is very much my neighborhood. I drive down 2nd Avenue every day to take my kids to school. I have a kid at St. Rose, and I have a baby at daycare at Presbyterian. I take all of my walks through Sherwood Forest and the Tot Lot. I run every day past there. You probably have seen me running through this neighborhood. My quality of life very much depends on what goes into that site. That's why I am deeply invested in this, and this is why I am here on a chaotic night where my husband is... probably not so happy I'm here. Listen, I initially was deeply opposed to the school, deeply, deeply on the negative side. I was concerned about the traffic. I thought an eight-foot wall would be ugly to look at. I did not want to run past that. The school was frankly not really a school that I was going to use. As I told you, my kids are at St. Rose and Presbyterian and soon to be the second one at St. Rose, hopefully. I was disappointed by the loss of potential taxes. I did not like the concept of the parking structures on 2nd Avenue because I also do walk down 2nd Avenue. It sounded horrible. And probably most upsetting was a feeling of the loss of what it could be. Ever since I've been here, that church has been abandoned and there's always been this feeling of maybe it's going to be like shops and restaurants and a place where the community can gather. A downtown, a true downtown. That potential. I was sad for that. And also not to mention the documentary of Adam Newman does not really paint him in the most flattering light. But I have very much changed my mind. And I have since come to realize that a very deep pocketed developer has bought this land and the little farm trailer park. And if it's not just Adam Newman, there are developers buying tracts of land everywhere, everywhere they can get their hands on. And if we pretend that we can wear T-shirts and protest and complain that they will go away, that they will turn it into a park for us, that they will put in some cute little mom and pop shops because we all see how well that's going in Miami Shores when those shops have all basically gone under. I think we would be gravely and detrimentally mistaken for the village of El Portal. He owns the property. We can stand up here to the train of development and pretend that we can stop it, but we cannot. And if it's not him, someone else will come through. So the question really is that we have to ask ourselves is how much do we want to be involved in the decision of what's going in there? If we keep saying that we do not want a school, he has very much said what the alternative is going to be. And frankly, I don't question that because, again, we do what we can with the best available of evidence at hand. And if I were a deep-pocketed developer and I wanted to make money and everyone opposed my good intentions for a school, damn well right I'm putting in a live local building. so anyway i know there was some concerns about like people meeting with the developers i also reached out to the developers and the reason being is that as i've learned and going to school for a million years and practicing medicine when you don't know something just ask So I just reached out and I asked and I complained and I complained a lot. And I actually kind of couldn't believe how willing the developers were to listen to my complaints. And although I like to think that some of the things that they conceded were because of my ideas, I'd be flattering myself. I'm sure it wasn't just me. um every concern i brought up or almost every concern they were willing to work out a solution the eight foot wall which i have heard over and over is an issue they said they would cover it in beautiful plants up lighting they even offered to let one of our landscape designers from el portal who works here to work on the project and they said that we as a community could be involved in the development of the landscaping around that They won me on that because now when I go on my run and my walks with my kid, I'm going to be walking by beautiful landscaping. Done. They also agreed to move the parking and bus the staff in. Perfect. They changed their traffic route and agreed not to use 88th of the thoroughfare. Perfect. They are repaving some of our direly needed roads. And instead of taxes, they have offered to pay $100,000 per year into a fund for El Portal in lieu of the taxes. Furthermore, they have a part in the trailer park development, which will probably generate millions and millions in taxes if we work with them the right way. They are offering two more full-time police officers, which I think is fabulous. Also, I know some people worried about a security guard. Frankly, I love it. I'm sorry, but the other day I was walking down 87th and somebody's house there, there was a man passed out on the street, on your grass, and I went to go wake him up. He then threw up on the side and then teetered off. Listen, another security guard and more police officers? I'm fine with that. And even if the school is not for my kids, I don't really mind. We all know that private schools have an incredibly long wait list. I think your kids are at Cushman. Cushman, I have friends trying to get into Cushman. I have friends trying to get into Country Day. The wait list is abysmal. There were 75 kids on the wait list for second grade this year, two spots. The PK3 class at St. Rose had 200 people sign up exactly at 7 a.m. when the registration opened for 30 spots. It is officially more competitive to get into kindergarten than it is to get into medical school here. So what does that mean about this school? Listen, if that takes some spots from Country Day and from Cushman, that's kind of good for everybody else too. That helps open up some more spots. We can't pretend that schooling isn't an issue. Now, why is there this debate on why everyone in Florida doesn't want to go to public schools? I don't know, but that's not to be solved here. I don't really understand it. I went to public school in Wisconsin, but that's for another time. I did mourn the loss of the idea of a community center, but they have offered to build us a park and they bought a house next to the park to turn into a community center or a park. They offered to put in a coffee shop on one of the little houses here. And I think it's because I literally just asked them for one. And they said they're going to hook up sewer all on Second Avenue, which would be wonderful for development. I also was sad that the church went down. But I'd like to remind everyone, if you didn't know this, my friends actually used to own the church seven years ago. Their kids go to St. Rose. They're in the same grade as with me. My kid. They said it was not fixable unless, and there is a pretty funny story of my friend saying they went to go check it out and they found homeless people living in the basement. It was not rehab-able. They tried to rehab it to make it something for the community, the sanctuary, and it didn't happen. so i don't think there will be any developer that will go to such lengths to try to fit in right now i'm actually impressed and like i said i was very much opposed a bit in the beginning you might be calling me naive maybe i am naive but i think if someone is coming in here and buying and turning something it's better to work with them than what the alternative is And I know everybody wants the alternative to be small shops, maybe a few condos, but they paid $15 million for this. And we can see how much development has happened in Miami Shores. It's not a lot. And at $15 million, they're putting in something that makes money, and it's probably going to be live local. And if we don't like that, we can take it up with Tallahassee, but that's how it is. Whether it's going to be two or three stories or four stories or six stories, again, I'm not a developer. I can't read that stuff. I don't know. But you know what? That's going to dump 100 families into this neighborhood on these small streets with people going through Sherwood Forest, going to our little park. That changes my life. People coming in for school is wonderful. Kids are wonderful. They're the meaning of life. I don't mind another school. And I have to say, I came to every meeting for Crystal Ray. You know, when Crystal Ray was going to come in here in 2019, I did come to all those meetings. Where was everyone that was opposed to Crystal Ray? I don't really understand. Crystal Ray was, I think, a 450-student high school that also wasn't really our community, and it was a commuter school. So I'm not sure what the difference was. So... Even if it was turned down, I came to the meetings. Where was everyone? So the point being, I am in favor. And I want you guys to know that. Because I think if you vote no on this, I think what will happen is they're going to put in a mega atrocity. And even though I know a lot of people here are going to say, we can't act on fear, what is wrong with an elite private school? They've offered concessions. They're going to make it beautiful. I don't see a problem with it, and I live directly across the street, so that's it.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

If anyone has questions, concerns, or complaints, they are more than happy to hear from you.

Thank you very much.

Alexandra Baza, 120 Northwest 86th Street. Well, I am here because This is affecting all our quality lives, not just the people on 88 and 87th Street. We live in a very small village. So yes, we feel for the people that are going to be next to it, but every single person here is going to be impacted by this project. whether it is through traffic, through the lack of taxes, who, you know what, my life, my quality of living depends on the street that I, you know, have to drive through every single day, which is completely destroyed. It's in pieces. I have no sewer. That is all supposed to be paid through taxes. But what is happening here? Every single project that is coming into this town is paying less and less taxes. Yes, they're offering $125,000. Every single new single-family home that is being bought today pays between $25,000 and $30,000, one single-family home. How does that pay for all the extra services that this project is going to require? So yes, I wrote a couple of things here. One thing I also want to address. This is not about religion or about bullying, and I honestly consider myself a very inclusive person. But when I tried to be in that chat where is the pro school, the first one that I was bullied by was Edna's husband, really bad. He treat me as from death to everything else. So it's not about, you know, who is pro or not. I agree with Edna. We need to remember that we're going to continue living here and that we're neighbors. And that is one of the biggest losses of this whole mess, the community that we're losing. So, yes, I agree. I'm begging you to start participating more in these meetings because we feel completely lost here. I'm going to read this. So this conversation is not about being against development or school. It's about alignment. between scale infrastructure and long-term sustainability of a village of El Portal. We're a community of roughly 900 homes with limited infrastructure, high millage, existing debt, and very little commercial land. Regarding the proposed school, no one can argue against the needs for safety and security in school these days. That's a given. But those requirements come with real physical impacts, controlled access, concentrated traffic, in this case, an eight-foot perimeter wall that is not allowed by our code. The question is not whether a school is valuable. The question is whether is the right location and scale for a school of this size with those operational and security demands within a small residential village. Because it's not just about one project. When we look at the four most recent and largest projects, Cavista, the launch, the proposed school, SOFL, and the Little River project, we're looking at a significant shift in El Portal. We're increasing population, traffic, and demand of infrastructure and public services multiple times over. At the same time, many of these projects benefit from tax exemptions or incentives. So we ask a simple question. If demands of services increases but the tax base doesn't grow proportionally, who carries that burden? The answer is the existing homeowners. That is a structural issue, not a political one. Now, I also want to address the Leave Local Act, because there has been some confusion. The Leave Local Act is not the same as traditional subsidized housing, which is what they're trying to scare us with. It is designed for workforce housing. We keep saying that we are an inclusive community. It's for people like teachers, nurses, city employees, and young professionals. It's not inherently a negative outcome. In fact, it can provide some level of tax revenue, can be designed to be self-contained, and still requires a quality product to be marketable. And yes, it can also have a coffee shop and a parking lot. But it is important to recognize that presenting it as an undesirable alternative doesn't change the core issue. The priority being presented is the school. And regardless of the alternative, the fundamental question remains, what type of development is compatible with the scale, infrastructure, and financial reality of El Portal? Because one of these decisions are made, they are not easily reversed. That's why precedents come. So before moving forward, we need to evaluate not just individual proposals, but the cumulative impact in the future of the village. I also want to talk about the eight foot wall that is supposed to be covered with plants. The idea of the charade was that was a community center. Now the alternative is to have a big, huge hole at the heart of El Portal. The police salaries, that's an extra expense because they're offering to cover some of the salaries. But what about all the pension, the cars, everything else that we needed that we still have not finished discussing from the budget last year? And yes, 350 students and also 350 more cars in our roads. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Michele.

noel pace 206 northwest 91st street also um business owner at 8661 northeast second avenue uh about 10 feet away from the proposed uh project site uh and so i just want to correct the record i think a prior speaker said that oh um that people who are pro-alportal or anti-school or whatever don't have property near the school uh proposed school actually i do i have it right across the street directly facing that area. And my question is, and a very nice speaker before mentioned about precedent, and I think that is very important. Okay, if you've heard me, I have definitely said I'm not anti-school, but I think the right thing at the right place at the right time is the most important thing. Our community plan and our zoning was created for a reason, with all stakeholders involved, I think it's very important that this council reinforce that, especially in negotiating with this developer or any. Follow the rules. Develop your projects within the rules. And if your proposal doesn't work at that site, then move somewhere else. Because, hey, now that I think about it, hey, if an eight-foot wall is proposed at that property, I would definitely like an eight-foot wall around my property right across the way. And I'll have nice landscaping and I'll hire urban environmentalists to put nice landscaping on it and so on and so on. And you know what? That sounds actually probably pretty good for my house too. So maybe that'll happen as well. So that's what I'm saying is we don't want things to devolve here. And I appreciate the sentiments about disagreeing or not being disagreeable. Well, saying that people are anti-religion or discriminatory and stuff when this is really about business. I mean, hey, I pay my taxes here. Our property pays our taxes here. Nobody else pays our bills here. Only we do. So I appreciate some of those sentiments. But at the same time, let's get real. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

hi again edna edelman 301 northeast 88th street um alexandra i did yell at my husband um without me in the room he does heckle um so i do apologize for that but i have a question for mr geller um and that's about hb 833 which was incorporated into SB 182, the Senate bill, uh, which was passed by the legislature last week, um, and basically allows, um, a school that's 150 students or less. Um, to, um, go into a commercial space, um, and avoid local zoning.

So, if you can address that, um, I'd rather wait until we're done with the comment to answer all the questions.

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you, man.

I'd rather wait till we're done with public comment to answer all the questions.

Jason Vanderpool and Stephanie Vanderpool for 280 Northeast 88th Street. We have been in the process of building our dream home in El Portal. And this is a neighborhood that we've long dreamed about. living in forever my wife has been in this neighborhood since she was in diapers she has been first on the west side then grew up on the east side and we bought her aunt's house and it's been a long process and for the entire time of us making this this dream into a reality We were always hopeful of a downtown. We were always hopeful of there being more vibrant walkability in the neighborhood. And we talk about how amazing it's going to be when there's shops and there's... restaurants for us to walk to, just like we see out the street in Miami Shores. And the proposed plans that we're seeing does not only align with that, that was what the charrette laid out for that corridor, but it's kind of taking things in the opposite direction. We're not against private schools or education. We're just against the hostile takeover of our beloved village. And, you know, we just wanted to see... a better use for the main commercial property that we have in this very finite space that we can eventually turn into a downtown opportunity. If it goes in the wrong direction, we all fear. And that's why people are so passionate. That's why everyone's here. If that goes in the wrong direction because we make the first wrong step, then certain things are not easily changeable. You can't just put the biggest, most prominent property, turn it into a private school, and then suspect everything around it to become a thriving downtown business area. So if that's where this thing is heading... Just say that because if we're still thinking that we can be oblivious to real estate patterns and development patterns, certain things don't turn around. Like you see with the school up the street, nothing thrives around it. And that's what we're afraid of. and that's why people are so passionate the lady in the back that mentioned my wife when she said people were screaming or not in the back i think she was just up here before me she mentioned us because she said we were screaming at people saying you don't even live here um no one screamed we were dragged into a conversation so i'm going to defend my wife we were dragged into a conversation when the two ladies behind us were filming Very undercoverly and for whatever reason, I don't know where they're posting the video, but very undercoverly and talking crap about every person that had an opposing opinion. So sorry, not sorry. We're all passionate about how we want this city to be developed. We don't have much room for error. We don't have much room for expansion. And if this school is allowed to expand and take over the entire corridor, then it will become the village of that school, not the village of El Portal. So that's our two cents.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Ian McKenzie. I live at 8950 Northeast 4th Avenue. I've lived in Miami for over 43 years.

23 of these years have been in Alportale.

Audrey Edmondson was the mayor when I arrived here.

I fell in love with Alportale because it's very quiet.

Nice community. Traffic wasn't crazy and so forth. I live on 90th Street, the corner of, and I can tell you 90th Street is very busy. It's probably one of the most busy streets because everybody comes down to go to Publix. So everything from the shores and everything cuts through there. This is going to happen when the school, if a school does get built there. I don't want that. I'm against the school. I'm going to be flat out, I'm against the school. I hope you vote against the school. Um, the school does not benefit any of our community either. And that's a problem for me. Um, we need to build stuff that's going to benefit the villagers of Alpertel. That's why we're here. That's why we love Alpertel. Um, Someone mentioned that the traffic for a live local would be 100 families or cars. Well, think about 350 to 600 or 700 students being dropped off twice a day. You're looking at over 1,000 cars. They're going to go down Narnia Street. 89th Street, 87th, they're going to cut through from where they're coming from. And from the south to north, congestion is going to be horrible. Imagine that. So I really, you know, if you don't know what the traffic's like in the morning, get out to the corner sometime and just watch the traffic. Maybe we should put in traffic sensors right now to determine the load. I only wish that the previous mayors from years ago had the vision to buy the land and build a park in it. I don't know if that's possible now at this point or not, but I certainly would like to explore that. I ran some figures on that and we'll be talking to the mayor and so forth, council members about that. don't trust the developer they came in speaking very sweet and sugary and uh i've been in business for many years i work for a major company here and i can tell you um wolf in sheep's clothing beware everything that The actions don't match what they're saying. That's really important. You've got to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. So I just want to go on record. I support people. For Live Local, that's a better option. I'm sorry for those people if it's going to be built, but it doesn't have to be built like a state penitentiary either. There could be done things with tier levels. With hanging gardens, they could make it beautiful with a beautiful architect. I honestly never cared for the design of the school anyhow. I thought it looked like a Tahitian village or something like that. And we're not in Tahiti. We're in El Pertel. We all love El Pertel. The only other thing I'd like to mention is that I've been working on with the tree board with Commissioner Urban, Anders Urban, and we're scheduling a Sunday, April 12th, Villager El Portal Arbor Day Festival, and we hope you all attend. Anders Urban will probably speak more about it once we get more finalization on it, and We're going to be doing a walk from here to the nature trail where we'll have the event. So I'm getting the word out that's April 12th. So save that date. We hope to see you all there because really this is what the community is about. Our trees and so forth. And we don't want to see our trees go away.

Okay?

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Chantal. I reside at 48 Northeast 86th Street. And I want to begin by saying that Living here at El Portal and commissioners, the mayor, I feel that everyone present and maybe not present elected you to represent us and what is always in our best interest. And if that's not the case, then why do we have you here? Things that will benefit El Portal and will continue to benefit El Portal. looking at this proposed project, I don't see in any way, shape or form how that is going to benefit me. This is a school. Yes, private, and I'm not against schools. Sure, you can have more schools in El Portal, but this is a school that will allow other children who reside in El Portal or in the neighboring areas to attend. But this is a school that is strictly for children of Jewish faith. They don't reside here. They will come to school here, and they will create all the chaos, all the traffic, and then at the end of the day, go home. So how is that benefiting me? I'm going to pay their taxes. Is that a benefit? No, not at all. We should be doing things to basically, I just feel that all of this is creating a separation in El Portal, where before we had just a lot of things, just a lot of common interests and things that people, yes, they want to participate in, they want to be part of El Portal, but this is definitely creating a separation because we don't know, first of all, what side you're on. Are you on our side or are you on their side? And if you are on their side, how is that benefiting you? You are here to represent us. And I don't feel that representation because I've heard so many different stories and I'm not sure who to believe. And for sure, as this gentleman said before, I do not trust this developer because he went and he basically brought down the church without even having anyone's knowledge. No one knew about that. How could you trust a person like that? He doesn't care about Alpertel. He doesn't give diddly squat about Alpertel. It's all about money. And he is benefiting from that. And we are not. I'm sorry. So I would just like to have someone to see all of you just to basically think about what are you going to do for the residents? Are you really listening to them? Are you hearing what they're saying? I'm beginning to doubt that because I feel like a broken record that what I'm saying is redundant. It's the same thing over and over and over again. And we're not getting anywhere. Actually, we're taking one step forward and three steps back. So please think about the residents. They are the ones who are important here, not the developer. It's not about the money. This lot has been empty for the longest time. Yes, we can find something else, but put the residents first, please. Please.

Thank you.

Hi, everybody. Joni Hector, 260 Northeast 88th Street. have been very vocal that i am in favor of the school as the immediate next door neighbor we talk about traffic well it's much easier for me to plan my day around two times when i know there's going to be a lot more traffic at drop-off and at pickup in the afternoon. As far as the possibility of live local or a large apartment building or condo being built, what's that going to do to the traffic? That was mentioned by you. I think that's going to be worse because it's going to be traffic nonstop. All the time. And the big thing for me also is what I enjoy most about this community. Well, actually, there's a lot. We have a lot of nice people here. We have a lot of very nice people that live here. And it's very disheartening to see the amount of venom that has been expressed, I can say on both sides. I don't believe that I have, but it's been going around. It's very disheartening. And I just am very concerned. And also, like Edna Edelman brought up before, I'm very curious as to the effect of this bill that passed in the Florida legislature and what that would do as far as the project is concerned. And then the other thing is, if they also own the little farms area, you know, I'm worried to a certain extent that perhaps we might be focusing so much on this and there's gonna be way bigger fish to fry later on with that property. And we need to be careful about that as well. And that first and foremost, what we need to do is, some of you talk about we're getting no benefit from it. Well, I think it's a benefit if they're willing to pay 100 grand or more per year in lieu of having no property taxes. And I'm sorry. Am I interrupting you? Thank you. So they are coming up with alternatives as far as making some of this more palatable to us. And I feel that it's really important that we make the best decision. And it might not be what we all want. This is not a perfect scenario for us. And A hundred percent. This is something that years ago, it would have been wonderful if somebody else had come in and built a townhouse complex there where we would have had property taxes that we were collecting. You know, it would have been a great area for that. But the church was a hot mess. And I can tell you that because I've been in it multiple times throughout the years, including while it was abandoned, called the police numerous times when people were squatting there or hanging out. And I just would like to say, as far as everybody having such impassioned pleas to say no, no, no, no, no, that everybody's being thoughtful enough to really consider what is truly in the absolute best interest for the village. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hi, my name is Desiree Fernandez. I'm at 161 Northeast 89th street. Clearly. I was not expecting to speak today. I just came from the gym and I apologize for my appearance. I just have been coming to some of the meetings lately and I feel compelled to speak up to make it clear that. to make it clear that there are several members of this community who are in fact in favor of this school. And I feel that every time I come to these town halls and to these meetings, it's this disproportionate, no, no, no, us versus them mentality that's getting portrayed and communicated and conveyed. especially to council. And I just want to dispel that notion. This has given me an opportunity to get to know my neighbors in such a new way. I've had so many conversations with neighbors. We've had meetings. I've met with Lauren. I've had just it's been an incredible opportunity. It first came on my radar because I live at pretty much Northeast 89th Street and 2nd Avenue where that parking lot was originally going to happen. And that's really what got me invested to come and learn more about what was going on. Since then, they've decided, my understanding, not to pursue that anymore, thankfully. But since I've been at my home, that church has sat empty. And I'm excited for there to be something new and vibrant and beautiful in that space to drive by. I think that it's not an us versus them. They are our neighbor. They have purchased property in our community. They want to develop it. And I think that we should be, I agree. I would like for you all to represent our interests in those negotiations, but that does not mean it's us versus them. That means having the conversations and working with the developer to get what is going to be beneficial to all of us which is what i think we're all aligned on we want to make sure that whatever is done is going to benefit the community what does that look like for traffic that we need to decide and that's something that you all will need to represent us on what does that look look like as far as capacity and offsetting the costs and tax you know tax revenue that would have come in from that property because this is a 501c3 there's a lot of things to discuss and to work work through but it's an opportunity for you all to represent our interests and to make sure that we're getting what's right for our community while also allowing this property owner to be able to develop on a vacant land that's been sitting the entire time i've lived here so i just wanted to come up here i just feel it's very important that you know that it feels like a silent majority of this community is actually in favor of the school from the conversations that i am having and we can have this this When people come up to actually voice that opinion, to actually voice from the silent majority, people are discouraged from coming up and speaking and voicing their opinions because of this reaction. I've seen people and I've seen the you don't own property here and you don't live here and all of these, the reaction, it's just disrespectful. And I think that we should be able to, as neighbors, engage with each other respectfully and have different opinions. And I see that I'm inviting more people to come up and say the same thing over and over again. But I just wanted to express to you all that that voice that narrative is not the only narrative it's it is a narrative and there's there are several people in our community who are anti-school that is what it is but i just wanted to make it clear that that's not the only position here i hope that we're able to work forward together as a community and have you all represent that as we're developing if we move forward with this project as we're finalizing that agreement with the developer thank you thank you very much i appreciate that thank you

problem say your name address again um chantal 48 northeast 86th street to my point um i don't think it's a problem it's a thing of being against the school it's be being against a non-for-profit school where the amount of the tax that they're supposed to pay they're only paying half of that so i My, what I, how can I put, how can I say it bestly without being too insulting or anything? I feel that anyone who is pro for the school, Add those taxes to their tax roll at the end of the year. Let them pay for it. And then I have no problem with the school, but I have a problem with paying even if it's $100,000 of their tax. Why should I pay the tax for a very wealthy developer where children are coming to this property, they're extremely wealthy, multi-month coming from families that are multi-millionaires, and I have to cover their tax? If you want it, You pay their taxes.

Thank you very much.

Maria Serrano, 110 Northeast 87th Street. I'm not opposing the school. What I'm opposing is change in code to any development in that corner. If they want to, they can do a school, that goes with our codes. They can do it. They can do whatever they want. But they need to pay taxes as well. You need the people in favor of changing code. It's not in favor of the school, it's please, in favor of changing code. Presidents, finally I learned it. Presidents, you're opening a can of worms, please. Next developer is going to want to do a funeral house there, if you want, next to your house. Do a bar. Ah, but why you let Adam Newman, the billionaire, do a school and change the code, why you're not letting me do that? That's the thing we need to think about. And I trust my council people. I trust you in making the decision, because I love the village. And I know that you love to keep representing us. So I don't like when people come here to say that the largest majority of neighbors in the village are silently like supporting the school. I'm afraid last time I came here to talk about against the project, against the change of code, I came back home walking and I was afraid of having someone from the developer like hitting me with a car because I'm speaking here against a billionaire. So I'm also afraid of speaking, but I love my village. I'm very passionate and I'm speaking here. Now I'm really concerned about what I heard that there were two people filming the discussions held by opposing people. Now I'm more afraid because I'm opposing. So let's set that in record, please. So again, they can build whatever they want. I love the school. I love kids. I have an eight-year-old. I would love not to have to commute one hour a day, one way, to a high school because we don't have schools around the area. But again, they are welcome to do a beautiful school following our coach. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Ian McKenzie, 8950 Northeast 4th Avenue. I just want to address two issues. I'm not against a school. I'm against a school that doesn't benefit El Portal residents, particularly since we live here. All residents. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's Jewish, Catholic, or Hindu, or whatever you want to do it. I want our kids to be able to go to school locally. I grew up in a town where I could walk to school, and there's such a benefit for that. Also, the other thing I want to make a statement about is, yes, there are people who are not here, the unheard voices, and I can tell you, two of them, a doctor and a lawyer, support my position. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.

Hello. Elida, 12 Northeast, 90th Street. It's kind of interesting that... I'm a little bit confused like why this school project is so normalized as an idea to come to a residential neighborhood. It is a residential neighborhood. Our Z4 code was done specifically to cater to a residential neighborhood, not to cater to Miami as a city, but to a residential neighborhood. So I'm a little bit interested to know why you're so obsessed with the destruction of a residential neighborhood. There's very few left in Miami, very few left. And you can see how passionately Miami Shores protect their residential neighborhood. You could see what they actually, how much they oppose the Berry University expanding into their neighborhood. how much they are involved and how much they are united. We're talking here as normalizing, just allow a school of 350 students, let them drive through our homes. Please let's open this because we're going to make Miami a better city. You can make Miami a better city by allowing the residential neighborhoods be residential neighborhoods. We're here. We cater to this city. We work this city. All of us, we have an impact on this city. It's not just like coming and go through our city and just do whatever you want. No, going back, just drove today through Surfside, which is another neighborhood that has the infrastructure, that has the commercial area where you can have... have a drink or they have multi-condos happening there. But again, the single residential area was completely not impacted by the traffic, by all of this nonsense that we are suggesting so casually to come to our neighborhood. Another one, Bay Harbor, 6,000 residents living there. They proposed a school there of 18 students. Did you know that? And they said no. And it was a lease term. It wasn't even actually a permanent school there. And to see my residents come in here and say, why are you against the school? No, I'm against someone running through my neighborhood, running through my street. It is a residential neighborhood. Every morning, so they can get to the place where they need to go. That's what I'm against. And also, let's not talk about the tax impact that we'll have towards us. And I love the opinion that the lady said. If you love the school so much, then carry that bill that you want to put on someone that has been here long enough. So another point that I had. How can you say that this is not impacting the residents when this person is purchasing at every single corner of El Portal, in every single strategic corner of El Portal is purchasing here? How can you decently say to your neighbor that it's not going to impact my neighborhood? How can you say that? And then you wonder that why people are bullying you? But I want to turn back to, again, because I find it very interesting that this optic that is, oh, let's, that our village, a Z4 zoning in our village is allowed for a school to happen. As far as I read, and as far as a bunch of professionals read, no educational institution is allowed to be built in a Z4. So why are you normalizing this idea to this developer to come here and say, like, I can build a school? That's what I don't understand. Who's changing the optics here? Why are you changing the optics? Why all of a sudden we change rules? Why? And since we have here the building representative, I would like her to let us know. Can we build an educational institution here without special exceptions?

We're going to get to all the answers a little bit later.

We'll get to all the answers. So that takes me back to the question. Why are we not having our staff members to be seated aligned with you to actually answer these questions? Why are we acting like, I think we have like six or 10 meetings confused what can we build in El Portal? No. We are not allowed to build an educational institution in El Portal. It's very clear in a Z4 zoning. It was specifically, I haven't lived here long enough, but I can guarantee you it was specifically, this Z4 was specifically built for residents of this neighborhood, not to collect everyone from Miami to come through our streets. So again, I would like every single council member to please make it very clear tonight. Can an educational institution be built in El Portal specific to Z4? Could you please reply to that question? What are your findings? What is the staff has suggested? And to add to that, can you please have every single staff member with building director, with the financial director, with the attorney, with the city manager, please have them on the stand to answer the questions directly to us as residents? like Miami Shores does, like Bay Harbor does. They don't have the council member answering an attorney question. No, attorneys should be answering. But we never hear from this. So please, can we switch until... So I want to make it... I want to be very focused on this particular... I understand. The emotions are so high, it's not even funny. But I want to make it very clear what are my questions. My first one is, can we build an education institution in a Z4? I want a very clear answer. What is your understanding as a council member? The second question is, can we please have our staff members sitting and replying to us and answering the question directly to us? We understand, and you can tell, the emotions run really high just because there's such a confusion, there's such a normalizing of this idea that a school can be built in a residential neighborhood. And it's such a gaslighting idea. And I'm sick and tired listening to all the fear mongerings, leave local and this and that and that. Those are all lies. What our code allows. Please reply to that. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hi, I'll keep it short and sweet. My name is Joni Gomes. I live at 269 Northwest 86th Street. I am recently learning about all this, and it seems like the negatives far outweigh the positives. So I urge you to follow our community plan and zoning laws and grant no exceptions to the developers and vote no on this project. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ramona, 136 Northwest 88th Street. I just have a question. I, again, back to Ball Harbor meeting last year, that I became aware that we already knew that they were already working on the application on El Portal for this school back since before July of last year. My question is, how come none of the residents knew about this? This was actually set on record on the Ball Harbor meeting by the attorney Ben Fernandez, directed to attorney Geller. And Adam Newman was present on that meeting as well. And he repeated after that, that yes, they already had the El Portal situation already organized and we were going to be next. How come the residents of El Portal did not hear from this from the council? That's my question. Another thing that it's very concerning on that same meeting, the developer Aldo Newman said that they were not going to take advantage of the religious exemption to not pay taxes. He said that for Ball Harbor that they were going to pay taxes to their city. So how come they are not paying taxes to El Portal? That's my question. What did it change? between Ball Harbor and El Portal? And how come this is being already arranged since last summer? And nobody was aware of it, at least not me. Thank you.

Daniel Rojas, 16 Northeast 86th Street. Daniel Rojas, 16 Northeast 86th Street. Thank you. So I just came back because I've heard this argument that a silent majority is for this school and I was curious about it too. And so we have a community chat in my neighborhood with 53 members. The chat had nothing to do with this project or anything. It wasn't created to be pro or against. It was to share information, to keep each other informed, keep each other safe, and it's been around for a long time. It's been very useful. So we had somebody join the chat and start with their fear mongering. which caused me to do a quick informal survey. First of all, I am not against the school, I'm pro El Portal. So my survey was, do you agree that the school should get an exemption and should have variances approved for it? Yes, no. I got 17 responses total, which is 35% of the group. In a regular survey, that'd be a great turnout. And 95% of the people that responded said no. So I don't think it is a silent majority that support the school. I think the very loud majority is against it and for a reason. They're not against the project. We're pro-El Portal. Thank you. Thank you.

velvet connelly 355 northeast 87th street um i have a different perspective on the whole situation and just seeing how this whole thing has unfolded my concern is not the school or not the school it's the way that i've seen us behave as a community the way that people have treated each other the way that people have behaved at these meetings. I think the bullying is an issue. I'm a taxpayer. It's not a favor. Nobody's doing me a favor letting me come up to this podium. It's my right to do that. And every person that lives here has a right to come to this podium not only to speak whatever their opinion is, but they have the right to also come to these meetings to be informed. And a lot of times when we come to these meetings, it's so hard to get information or understanding because of how things have devolved into chaos. Before I lived here, I lived in Bay Harbor Island. I lived there for many years. My children went to Ruth K Broad. the elementary school there. I knew Geller there because my son was a police explorer in Bay Harbor Island. And I can tell you that the meetings in Bay Harbor Island, it's no need to compare El Portal to Bay Harbor Island. They have decorum. They have a very large budget. They do things in order. And a lot of the things that need to happen in this community are not gonna happen until we bring order to this community and we start to treat it with seriousness. And that starts with our government, but it also starts with us as residents. Everybody has a role and an accountability here. I saw the meeting with Adam Newman, and I'm very clear that he presented himself the way he needed to present himself in front of a body who wouldn't accept anything less. He couldn't come there and run roughshod over Bay Harbor Island, and he knows that. But El Portal is a different story. And I think that's something that we all really need to look at and be accountable for is what kind of community are we having here? I'm confused why it's so hard to get information. We have our attorney. We have our counsel. We have a village clerk. Every meeting, people come up here and mention a charrette, and then some people say, oh, but the charrette wasn't finalized. The charrette is only a suggestion. The charrette is legal, and it's the Bible of El Portal. Why is it so hard to get a definitive answer on does the charrette matter or does it not matter? Why are the residents doing all this research about live local and going back and forth about what's legal and what's not legal? Why is it so hard to get a definitive answer on what is the law on live local? Can they build live local there or not? That should be a simple, easy answer to get to get. the fact that we cannot get answers about simple things that leads to the chaos and the breakdown that's happening in this community and for me that's my biggest concern because whether a school goes there or not i'm still a resident here and i have to live here and i don't want to live in a community that's devolved down into chaos i can't even get basic information people come to the meetings don't come to the meetings i mean this is ridiculous this is ridiculous and i don't know what we think is going to happen if we continue to go this way When developers are coming into our community, developers look for communities like this. That's the benefit to a developer. If we really care, then we would start raising the bar. If we really care, we would be up at Tallahassee demanding why did they put Live Local as the law? Why did they make that even a potential? Because any developer could come here and build Live Local. That's the law right now. There's also another law that we're waiting to hear from our attorney about tonight. I'm waiting to hear the information. They said that it's gone into law now that schools can now be built under live local and they can bypass local zoning codes and municipalities. That's my understanding of the law that's going into effect in July. So this all might be moved. They might be able to build the school without getting an approval from our council at all. I don't know, but hopefully we'll get an answer about that tonight. But these are like the real issues. It's not about school or not school and the way people are treating each other and behaving in the community around this project is not helpful. Don't get a school. We're going to still be here in this community. And if we don't take it more seriously, we're going to be back in this situation and worse and worse and worse off every time. People are watching. How many of you have seen these reports on the news talking about El Portal and the chaos at these meetings? You think developers are salivating at that, waiting to get a bite at this apple? I think we gotta see the bigger picture here. And every time people ask questions, I know me. I'm a concerned resident. I come to these meetings. The more questions I ask, my own neighbors have cast an air of suspicion over me for asking questions, for meeting with a developer. I'm going to meet with anybody who brings anything here. I'm going to meet with my mayor. I'm going to meet with these council members if they'll meet with me. I'm going to meet with developers. Why is that something that we're casting suspicion over each other for? It doesn't even make any sense. Why aren't we all at the meetings with the developer? Why aren't we all asking the questions? I'm not clear. I'm not clear, and I don't see how this is helpful, and I just want to be honest about that. I don't see how it's helpful. I don't see where it's really going to take us at the end of the day to keep going on like this. Me personally, I was honest from day one. I came here wanting to support the school. When Lauren presented a presentation or her team presented a presentation that I didn't see a benefit to, I told it to her face. I disagree. And I've seen them try to work with the community since then to try to come to the middle. Whether or not we do that or not, they have been good faith players in my opinion so far. Every question I've asked, any meetings I've wanted to have, And so I don't understand. If there's people that oppose the school, that's no problem. But why not come and talk to the people? If it's in good faith, why not come and try to have an understanding about what's going on? And then make your own decision. But there's a lot of misinformation going around. And that should be a problem to all of us. So for me, that's what I care about in this situation. Whether we have a school or we don't have a school, I hope that we'll have a community when this is over. That's what we need to have. And I disagree that El Portal is about trees. I like trees. I came here. I think trees are beautiful, but I believe El Portal is about people. That's what I think it's about. So I hope that we as a community can like raise our own floor, raise our standards of how we're handling each other. And the purpose of doing that is so we can hold our government accountable. We keep saying we want them to represent us, but if we're tearing each other apart, how can we get good representation? Like it's not even making any sense. So for me, that's the bigger picture. That's what matters to me in all of this. And I do want to understand from our council, and I don't know who's the right person to ask. I looked at Geller, but maybe anybody can give an answer. Why is it so hard to get a definitive answer about the charrette? I just want to know, is the charrette the Bible or is it... a piece of paper that didn't matter, I don't know, right? Like sometimes people say it's legal, it's not legal. I don't understand what's going on with the Charette. I wanna understand what is the law around live local. And the last thing that I wanna say that also is something that's really troubling to me is what appears to be the politicization of our council. As far as I know, these are nonpartisan seats. And around this issue, I have seen people taking sides on the council. And I don't understand that. It's okay. Everybody can have their perspective. You can be for the school or against the school, but you're all elected to represent the community. I don't have to share your same opinion. I still have a right to your representation. And so I'm not clear why that's a standard that we're accepting. I don't think that's acceptable. I don't think we have to agree about everything. I do believe we have to respect each other, and I do believe you have a responsibility to represent me, and I have a responsibility to be active and engaged. And so I'm just not clear where the meeting in the middle is on that, of us just being able to count on our council to support us, to represent us, even if we see things differently. to be able to have conversations, to be able to have discourse. To me, that's the community. And if we don't have that, I'm not sure what we have at the end of the day. But I'd like to know about the Charette. I'd like to know about Live Local if possible. Like just in general, can they build Live Local there or not? And I'd also like to know about the law that has been signed now. I believe if I read it correctly with the schools, can schools now bypass the council and zoning to build? Thank you.

Thank you very much. you guys is that it for good and welfare are we

Hi, I'm George Alvarez at 165 Northwest 88th Street. I want to echo a couple of things that were said and perhaps nip and tuck at them a little bit. At a prior meeting, I asked the council, and I just heard it from Ms. Connolly right now, I'm going to reiterate I would like to encourage this council to join one of the many lawsuits that have been filed regarding Live Local against the state of Florida. Different lawsuits are seeking different clarification. Different lawsuits are attacking the law. You guys can decide which one is best. But I think that a community our size, currently of... 2300 residents up until very recently 1900 residents if a developer one developers investor group owns let's say 10 buildings over in little farm let's say they are 50 live local let's say they are 80 live local that means a 50 reduction or an 80 reduction in our tax base Let's say that developer does the same thing with all the properties he's now purchased on Northeast 2nd Avenue. That is more buildings, more services needed for a greater population with less of a tax base. So whatever the end result is. with all good intentions i hope that you guys will resolve to um ask of the village manager to see if that is doable possible and which lawsuits would be the ones advisable for us to be on because eventually that we're looking at fiscal crisis if we don't have if we don't have a proportional tax base if we've got Another 5000. I heard 4000, whatever. Let's maybe it's less. Maybe it's more new residents living in apartments. They are going to require services. Those buildings, if they are live local, they will not be proportional in a town this small with currently. ITS POPULATION AS IT IS. AND THIS WILL BE SIMILAR IN OTHER TOWNS, TOO, WHICH HAVE SMALLER GEOGRAPHICAL FOOTPRINTS AND OR ARE UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS. THEY CAN BE CRUSHED BY LIVE LOCAL FISCALLY. LET'S TRY TO GET AHEAD OF THAT. AND IF WE FAIL, WE FAIL. BUT TO NOT TRY SEEMS TO BE KIND OF THROWING IN THE TOWEL BEFORE WE EVEN REALLY NEED TO DO THAT. Secondly, because the issue of taxation is not just live local and not just what Blaze and Golia may be doing, it's a real issue and we are seeing it right here. And I think this is some of the divisiveness that we are seeing because there is information. So I would suggest that As much as we don't need certain levels of acrimony, some of that acrimony is happening because of a lack of transparency or a perceived lack of transparency. As I said before, I appreciate that the developer of SOFL came and gave two town halls on your request, for which I thank you all and I thank them. But compromise, schmopremise. We haven't seen any compromises from this developer. We've heard about a vague list of considerations, most of which I have come to know have existed since the fall. So to say that this developer has listened to us is really gilding the lily a little bit. Until there is a time when this developer is making tweaks, is making significant tweaks to their plan for a school which right now is a too large square peg in a too small round hole, we cannot abide. We cannot abide a project of this impact. We can get a lot closer But the way we get closer is that they move towards us, not just by, oh, first we were going to give you $25,000, now we're going to give you 100. Has anybody ever bought a used car here? I don't mean to be funny. We're going to be dealing with development, some of which is going to be live local. We're going to be dealing with it on Northeast 2nd Avenue, whether it's at the former Raider site or whether it's the other sites that were purchased by this developer. Whether it's in the former Little Farm site, to what degree is really just the answer. So you know what? As much as I, and I'm sure a lot of people here, believe in the utmost 100% sanctity of property rights, society doesn't work like that. Because if I build a flammable cannon on my house, it impacts my neighbor. If I build a giant house that blocks the sunlight from your house, it impacts you. I would love to believe that I'm allowed to do that. But I would also love to believe that I would have the restraint to not do that to my neighbor. So what I have... from the information that has changed or not changed from December until now is that that restraint has not been shown. A few little crumbs have been thrown our way, but I don't believe it's worth it. I don't believe it's worth it. So I would encourage the council, again, to reject this current proposal. I would encourage the council to think about the tax implications of a building, which I got to tell you guys, 42,000 square feet school. That's easily a $42 million valuation, which would normally be like close to a million dollars in taxes. Right now, the current owner of what used to be called Raider pays more in taxes for rubble-strewn fields or for an old church than they're going to pay. So 100,000 is not anywhere near worth us even starting to listen to. As much as I believe in the perhaps idealistic take on property rights to all people who own property, It just can't work that way in a small town and a small society. We have to get a little closer. And I would argue that the developer is admitting that that this can't be the way it goes because they're requesting multiple special exceptions and a whole hog change to our comprehensive plan. If that's not enough for all of us to say, Hey developers, We're not against your school. We're not against you. We are pro-El Pertel. You guys need to be pro-El Pertel. Also, please kindly reconsider your proposal to something that actually meets our current codes and laws. Thank you for indulging so much time in good and welfare. I appreciate you guys very much.

Thank you very much.

All right, do we have any more good and welfare after Ms. Baza? No, no, no, after you, you're good. So after Ms. Baza, you guys, I'm going to close good and welfare. We do have an agenda, and we have two individuals for the agenda that have been sitting here, all right? I'm going to go to them. It should be fairly quick because this is the second reading for their two items, so we've already heard it, all right? So I'm going to do that for the individuals who are here, and then I'm going to come back, and we're going to ask your questions, all right? Okay. Go ahead.

Yes. Alexandra Bassa, 120 Northwest 86th Street. I'm just going to state the obvious, but you are our negotiating team. So please be aware, be mindful of that. We're counting on you. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ms. Bassa. All right, you guys. Real quick, Ms. Connolly.

So George, I'm really glad, where's George? Okay, hey George. So I'm really glad that you said that. My proposal regarding the school situation, I also think we should be asking for a lot more from the developers, from what I've heard so far that's gone out there. I've made that clear from the beginning. I don't think we're asking at the right level. I think there's a lot more that we can get. Again, that's if there is a school bill. And my proposal is that everybody be a part of the conversation of what they would like from the developer in the event that the school is approved so that everybody, we can have a strong negotiation base. the school may not be approved and that's totally fine. If the school is not approved, then it doesn't matter. But I would implore everyone to not be a part of the conversation just because you don't want to see the school. Even if you don't want to see the school, be a part of the conversation of if the school is approved, this is what we want to see. That's what I think is going to ultimately be in the best interest of the community. All voices being heard and considered, us coming up with a package that everybody is amenable to if that ends up being the case. And if it's not the case, no problem. There's no school. But if there is a school, be a part of the conversation of what we can present as a strong, unified community of what we want to see in that agreement. That would be my proposal on that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right, you guys. Um, we're gonna close good and welfare for now. Uh, for the consent agenda. Do you have a motion to approve? Moved by Council person life award. Do have a second second by Vice Mayor Martin. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Hearing none for where did Geller go? Clerk Jacobi. All right, so for G1, first of all, we need to swear everyone in, and then he needs to read it into the record. Mr. Manager, do you have a report, or is your report, or anything you want to say really quickly? I'm going to go to reports right now. You're good? Okay, everybody sees my report there. This is Village Attorney report, but that's my report that's there. Clerk Jacoby, H2 is in the Village Attorney reports, but that's my report there. Yeah, we're good. And then we'll see if Village Attorney has any reports when he comes out. All right, Attorney Geller, we're at the place right now where we're doing the second reading for the two, the garage enclosure, the two residential properties and the site plan. So we need to swear in whoever's gonna speak, and then we need you to read G1 into the record for us, please.

Are you providing testimony on either of these items? Please stand. and raise your right hand. If you're not sure, but you think you might, please stand and raise your right hand. Okay. Repeat after me, please. I, say your name.

I.

You hereby solemnly swear that the testimony I will give tonight will be the truth, the whole truth,

Thank you very much. Do you have G1 in front of you, Attorney Geller, so we can read that into the record, please? Yes.

This is... Did you do consent already, Mayor? Yes. Okay. This is item G1. Resolution, a resolution of the Village Council of El Portal, Florida, granting site plan approval for an addition as well as variance approval for a garage enclosure to a residence at 12 Northwest 86th Street in Zone 3 Suburban Residence in the Village of El Portal. An application by Elizabeth Montealegre, providing for findings, providing for conditions, providing for appeal, providing for violation of conditions, providing for an effective date. Thank you very much.

Ms. Hammonds, since the committee approval, has there been any adjustments, conditions, or anything, or is it exactly the same as it was?

There has been no changes since what was approved for planning board meeting.

All right. Thank you very much. Counsel, do you guys have any questions or comments? We've done this before, but do you have any? Seeing, hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve? Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Martin. Is there anybody in the audience that has any questions or comments about G1, garage enclosure? Okay. We're good? All right. This is all good. I got you.

I got you.

open it nobody in the audience has any questions or comments as far as i see or hear closing it all right thank you very much uh madam clerk is that roll call please roll call staff report was accepted into evidence thank you very much madam clerk roll call council person winters yes council person lightfoot ward council person erbom yes

Vice Mayor Martin. Yes. Mayor Nickerson. Yes. Motion passes 5-9.

Thank you very much, Attorney Geller. G2.

Item G2, Mayor. Another resolution. Resolution of the Village Council of El Pertal, Florida, granting site plan approval for new construction of a one-story residence at 157... northwest 88th street in zone 3 suburban residence in the village of el pertal an application by elizabeth monte alegre providing for findings providing for conditions providing for appeal providing for violation of conditions and providing for an effective date thank you very much uh miss hammonds uh since the passing the first passing any changes conditions there have been no changes this is exactly the same application that was approved by the planning board

much except the staff report I will any questions or comments from the council Hearing none, the staff report is accepted into the council for evidence. Being that, do we have any questions or comments from the audience about this? All right, seeing, hearing none, closing that back. We have a motion. Do I have a motion, you guys? I say I motion to approve. Motion by Councilperson Winters. Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Second by Councilperson Urban. Madam Clerk, may I please have a roll call, please?

Roca, Councilperson Winters. Yes. Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward. Councilperson Erbaum. Yes. Vice Mayor Martin. Yes. Mayor Nickerson. Yes. Motion passes 5-9.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Thank you. Have a great day. All right, you guys, let's come back over here. Okay, so I'm going to answer what I have, and then I'll open it up to the council for anything that they have also. All right, so as far as the Why are no residents on the PNZ committee? That's in the charter. The charter has where the elected officials are on all of the committees. So that's the reason why we don't have residents on our official committees in the Village of Elbert Towers per the charter. You guys know the charter is like our constitution, basically. I've done things recently to give the people more power and kind of not get around that. But as far as having residents officially on our committees, it's just not allowed through the charter. As far as the process for the school. As far as the process for the school, right now, the school has to go through about four different meetings. They haven't gone through one. So. Even if they were to get not saying this is what's going to happen, but even if they were to get. majority three votes you need majority three out of the five here even if they were to get majority three votes for the first three meetings if they don't get majority three votes for the fourth meeting the whole thing is is dead there but we haven't had the first meeting so the first meeting has to be a pnz meeting where we will then either vote up or down majority vote um if they move forward to the second meeting or if the if it dies right there the site plan Now, as far as the question about why is this coming to a residential neighborhood? How you doing, Miss Alita? Why is this coming to a residential neighborhood? understand you all even if you're even if we're against something we can't control somebody applying anyone can apply for anything right doesn't mean that they're going to pass right like you can apply for anything you come to the front desk you go through the application process we can't deny you and say i don't like that project or i don't like that person i'm not going to give them a hearing that's illegal Once you go through the application process, you pay the application fees, we have to give you a hearing. Now, it's up to us to vote it down if we disagree with it, but we have to give you a hearing legally, okay? So that's the only reason why this is coming to, and I understand, and I don't disagree with you, Mr. Leader, but I'm just asking the question about why this is here in this community, and that's the reason why. As far as the special exception, where did Ms., where did Scarlett go? okay all right so i'm going to come back to that the special exception and all that oh okay all right all right thank you very much okay if we can yeah we can please if we can get miss hammonds um all right so the little the little farm site plan you guys and there's another reason why she needs to come back in really quickly also we get just like we did for those two homes that we just did on the agenda this is the second reading for them the first reading went through pnz we get them when they go through the building department when they go through the painting and zoning consultants then we get them they contact us and say the application is ready to go to a pnz committee Before that, we'll hear about, like, for example, for the Adam Neumann things, right, the soul for the little farm and all this type of stuff or whatever. Of course, like, you know, we heard about it. Of course, it was all in the news, right? When he purchased the property, we heard about it, right? But because somebody purchases the property and because we hear about it doesn't mean we have – We're not in on their development meetings at their offices wherever they are. It's not until they go through the application process and they get approved that they have everything that they need as far as the building department, as far as the planning and zoning department. They have everything that they need, Mayor. You can give them a meeting. Then we start to get their information. So it's not until they go through that. So the idea of where's the little farm site plan or what's the little farm? The only reason why I even have heard like, oh, they're going to be 2,000 residents or 1,500 or 2,500, that's through the media. That's from the articles that I read, right? But we don't have any inside information until it goes through that process and then we get the information. Okay, so that's where it is with that. As far as Mr. Rojas, you guys, is there anyone up here again with a conflict of interest? Anyone? No conflict of interest.

Yeah, okay.

I don't have one. Okay. The next thing, I know that Attorney Geller, as far as I know Mr. Dreher brought up about a mediator, a negotiator. I know that Attorney Geller, in your law firm, you have many individuals who are experts at this. And so we'll be talking to you. You know, we mentioned it before, but we'll be pushing more for that to get some expertise when it comes to something like this, okay? Because, you know, we do have your law firm, Greenspoon Mater. As far as Mr. Ramona, I don't know if she's still here or not. I don't think she's here anymore. But for her, I agree with her about the traffic. And for me, the two things were and I think this kind of is very quickly when it comes to how we feel about it up here. My two concerns, anybody I've ever spoke to about this, and I appreciate all of you, and a lot of residents have reached out to me individually, right? And I have the same two, my two concerns have been the same from the very beginning, which is traffic and quality of life. I've said this to everybody. Those are my two concerns, traffic and quality of life. I mean, I remember early on, right, when this first came to us, I remember I asked them, I said, well, I suggested to them, I said, well, you guys, why don't you, because remember at first they wanted to put the parking lot on 90th Street, right, on Northeast 2nd. And I said, well, why don't you guys purchase? I mean, you know, don't disrespect them, but you guys have the money. You guys could probably overpay. I said, your school is on 87th right there. If you just go south right over the bridge on the northbound side of the street, there's a slew of businesses that are right there. And even like they have some apartments in the background that look half abandoned. I said, if you put your parking there, you can shuttle the people right over that little, right over the little hump to the school right there. And you don't even have to like bother the inside of El Portal, you know. They didn't do it. But that was my suggestion. I think they could have got that property. They still can get that property at a pretty decent price. It's falling apart over there. And so my two things have always been traffic and quality of life. Now, that being said, as far as being for the school or being against the school, the only way that I would give the school a yes vote as if they gave us contingencies that were worth what I feel is the quality of life depletion, or they give me an answer for the quality of life depletion that I see. If I feel like we don't get the contingencies, which I don't think were anywhere there, If I feel like we don't get the contingencies of the improvements to our community, well, then they don't get a yes vote from me. If I feel like I don't have a good solution for traffic and quality of life, well, then they don't get a yes vote from me. i've said that from the very beginning my two situations with them is the traffic increased traffic on our residential streets and how that would affect our quality of life and those are my two things as far as and that also answers that's mr ramona but that also answers uh miss roberts um how you doing karen been back um uh okay so All right, so I answered that with the same, so the same answer because Ms. Ramona also asked the, why didn't we get the site plan? Why did we get the site plan when we got it? And that's the same reason why a little farm, we don't get it until it goes through the process. Right. So even though they said, I guess, Adam Newman or whoever said in a meeting about Harbor that they they started the process or whatever last summer, we didn't get it until going into what was that October or November, December, around that time. No, I'm saying the Bay Harbor, the Bay Harbor meeting was in in the summer or whatever, June, July. But we didn't get their site plan for the school until the fall. And that's when we first saw it. That's when we got it. OK, that's when we received it. As far as taxes, you guys. I'm with everybody when it comes to the problem of them paying no taxes. Now, I did in my in December. during the holidays, and a lot of you guys have got this, and I did send out what for me was the beginning of negotiations for conditions that I wanted them to do for us. And the very first one, and this was sent out, I sent this out to the developers Monday, December 29th. I sent it to Lauren, their attorney, Ben Fernandez, Joseph Geller's on it, the village manager's on it, Clerk Jacoby, and myself. So good afternoon all, I hope your holidays are going well. Concerning possible contingencies or conditions that I believe should be considered are, number one, my number one is, in lieu of asking for property taxes, with the majority that will go to Miami-Dade County, the percentage of taxes that would have been sent to the municipality of El Portal, that percentage is to be paid to El Portal annually. Whatever that tax would be, If it's 200,000, if it's 900,000, if it's 400,000, and property taxes, they fluctuate over time. So I don't even want it at a set amount. Whatever it is in 2027, 2028, annually, 2029, 2035, whatever it would be that comes to El Portal, that's my first contingency on my thing. I sent this back in December to them. On this paper, I have 10 contingencies. That's just number one. so and that goes back to kind of what i was saying before if i feel like they're not giving us enough i feel like they're not meeting contingencies that we should have then my vote is no so i think that's a huge deal because a lot of the tax situation got brought up a lot that's my number one you give us the full taxes that come to el pertal every single year, annually, whatever level it is. And I don't want to lock us into 100,000, which I think is too low anyway, or 500,000 or whatever it is, because property taxes fluctuate. So that's where I am as far as my voting and things like that. Ms. Serrano, property taxes, so we spoke about that also. So Ms. Serrano had a great point about Individuals, which came up again later, individuals like us kind of paying for their impact that they bring to our community, which is a great idea. There's even a bigger discussion with that. And I think that I'm going to put together, because this is going to be really, really big. I think I've been planning on putting together in the next couple of months going into the summer, like a town hall about this. A lot of you guys have probably heard about the property tax situation in Tallahassee. That is humongous. Like that will affect everything. And, you know, I know it's gonna pass through the legislation, most likely, I'm pretty sure. And Governor DeSantis, it doesn't even have to go to him, it goes to the voters through referendum, okay? And for those who are trying to get rid of property tax, Their argument is very simple. And it's gonna be very, very appealing to a lot of voters in the next election. Because their argument is, I mean, we've known for a long time, we've heard these catch phrases. Government is wasteful spending, right? We've heard that for decades. Government is bureaucracy. Why should you give your money to the government? You know what to do with your money better than the government knows what to do with your money. So this may pass the next election. Because it's appealing to voters. We're going to have a huge issue. Now, some of you may know I'm currently the president of Miami-Dade County. And there's ways that I've been in discussion to start to fix this and get around this. And that's why I'm gonna have the town hall to talk about all our options, okay? That's in the future. But yes, that's very, very important, Mr. Rano, which is property tax and us, you know, their impact on us and how that would affect us paying taxes on their impact to our community. That's very, very important. As far as changing code for the developers, I understand, and I'm not saying that you guys are wrong in the sentiment which you're saying, but just like officially, we wouldn't be changing the code. They're asking for special exceptions, like variances. So it wouldn't be a permanent change to the code, but it would be precedent. It would be precedent still. So even though it's not, I'm just trying to get the official language, right? Even though it's not an official change to the code to where like we change it forever, it would be a precedent because if we vote them through with a variance or a special exception that they're asking for, well then yes, of course, who's to stop us from voting, you know, not voting for the next person that comes in, next developer. I will say though that a variance and the purpose of a variance is to look at that individual case, right? So if you want to do a variance for a garage conversion at your home and we approve it, it doesn't necessarily mean that another garage conversion for another home, we have to approve. That's the purpose for a variance, but especially with developers who have deep pockets, They can, you know, maybe a resident won't think it's worth their time to sue the village for a garage conversion variance that we didn't approve when somebody else in the garage conversion got approved before a developer with deep pockets. They have the money and time to sue. So I do understand that sentiment and I agree with that also. Miss Mara. Miss Mara. The only thing I said, Miss Mara, I don't know if she's still here. Only thing I said to her is she said that she was for the school, but she said that she sent all of us an email. I looked while she was here and I just want to apologize for her for missing her email. She did send me an email a couple of weeks ago. um miss baza yes again i agree with you when it comes to quality of life and those things have to like i said those contingencies those have to as you said when you came up here the last um thing that you said miss baza um you said you know you guys are counting on us to not only represent the village of el portal but to do what's right for our community and that does take place in the negotiations for this, and like I said, if I feel like we don't get enough, my vote would be no for that. Mr. Pace, again, spoke about the precedent with the code. I covered that. Ms. Edelman, okay, Geller, this is your time up. Ms. Edelman, this is for the Live Local Act. So you have two bills. You have the HB, which is the House Bill 833. And that was brought to my attention. And then you have Senate Bill 182. And it seems like House Bill 833, which is the House, you know, the Senate is the higher, you know, the higher office. The House Bill 833, I think that language was put into Senate Bill 182. I don't know if you had a chance to look it up. Well, you know, whatever you know about it. Attorney Geller, the floor is yours on those two.

So some of the information that has been passed back and forth tonight that people spoke to is really not accurate information. I'm happy to try and clarify. But I do was it Ms Edelman? I think that you asked about some other people also asked about that. And, um, the mayor's description was basically accurate. Um, there was a bill that was called.

House Bill 833.

That bill... which was specifically about where private schools could locate and under what conditions. That bill did not pass. But language from that bill was amended onto Senate Bill 182. Senate Bill 182 is a very large bill. It's not just about this topic. It's what they called the education train bill. bill because it had so many other different things in it. It had to do with not only when and where private schools could be, but it had to do with everything from charter school dismissal requirements, changes in the voucher system. It's a bill that requires elementary school students to be taught cursive writing. It's a bill that requires pictures of President Washington and President Lincoln to be posted in all public schools. It is a bill that has to do with a teacher training and mentoring program, and onto that bill, they put some provisions from the House bill. The Senate bill, While the House bill did not pass, the Senate bill with that language did pass. And that bill has been what's called enrolled and engrossed. I'm sorry, backwards. Engrossed and then enrolled, which means it's eligible for signature by the governor. It talks about the fact that private schools have a right to operate on property owned or leased by libraries, schools, museums, churches, theaters, and colleges. I do want to mention, by the way, I thank one of the council members for helping call this to my attention. There are many hundreds of bills, and I don't necessarily follow each of them as I used to when I was serving in the House for eight years. Private schools under this bill can operate without rezoning without obtaining any special exception or any land use change, and even without complying with mitigation requirements or conditions. If it's a county with as many as four incorporated municipalities, and of course we have many more than that in Dade County, then they have the right to not only operate an existing, but to construct new facilities, temporary or permanent, on property purchased or leased by a library, museum, church, theater, or college. If the school has 150 or more students or is located within an unincorporated area, so that would not apply to us, they can use and occupy it in a commercial or mixed-use zoning without rezoning or obtaining a special exception or a land-use change, and again, without complying with mitigation requirements. The one thing reserved to local governments is that they can require traffic and pedestrian safety mitigation, but that has to do only with the additional burden that's put by the school. However, there's a pretty big loophole there. Instead of complying with the local government requirements, Private schools may instead provide their own traffic study from somebody suitably credentialed to do that to show the school will not cause a disproportionate impact. And they're also permitted for schools of 150 or fewer can occupy existing daycare, assembly, mercantile, or business occupancy as long as it meets the Florida Fire Prevention Code. Now, please understand, because I've heard, again, some misinformation. This bill is not the law. This was passed... by both houses of the legislature. But it is subject to being signed or vetoed by the governor. I happen not to be a big fan of this governor. That's personal. But every once in a while, he gets something right, almost by accident, I think. Someone said, I don't remember, I don't think that one was Ms. Connolly, but maybe I'm wrong. about, well, where are you in Tallahassee? And that takes us back just to live local as well. I happen to have served in the legislature. I understand the purpose of live local. People can't afford to live. And it's to try to make more affordable or workforce housing available because we do have a problem. But that doesn't mean that this is the right solution. Florida legislature has a history over the last 10 or 15, maybe 20 years of taking power away from local government. And they have the ability under our system of laws to do that. So when you say what the law is in El Portal, what our code provides, understand that our code can be preempted by the state legislature, and that's what Live Local is, taking away power from local government. Because in some cases, frankly, there were some local governments that abused their power and wouldn't approve anything, not in my backyard stuff, that would allow people to have homes that could be affordable. but that still doesn't make this the right solution. I happen personally to have fought those laws, but they pass overwhelmingly. And this bill passed overwhelmingly, at least it got adopted, But it's not a done deal. So whoever said be in Tallahassee, you don't have to physically go up there. This bill, again, Senate Bill 182, get everyone you know to write the governor, to email, to call, and ask that this bill get vetoed. It is not the law yet. Will it be vetoed? Can it be vetoed? I guess that kind of depends on how many people around the state raise their voices. So if it's signed into law, then someone acting in compliance with this law will have the right to do a facility including a school, a private school. However, you know, again, it's a brand new law, as I think it was Mr. Alvarez talked about suing. Certainly there is an ability to sue if this law is signed into law to overturn it, but I think he phrased it right. That's not something this little village with this little budget afford to do but the suggestion that he made that we can look for other lawsuits to join where some bigger city with deeper pockets is already bringing a lawsuit and look to join in it at theoretically we would only do it if it was a very significantly reduced expense and That's a possibility. And because this is a new law, we could try to say, well, but this isn't really a mixed-use neighborhood, although I, to some degree, defer to our planning consultant. I mean, as you heard, it is across the street from... what is not a residential property which is the the the school for children that exists directly across and we heard from one of the owners so to say this is a purely residential neighborhood and not necessarily something that would would be successful for us All of that is a way of saying that if this is signed into law as of July 1st, the landscape may change. It is not only what our local code says. State law. And frankly, for some circumstances, federal law preempts state law as well. If I might, Mayor, just one other question that was asked very quickly. And there was questioning, and I talked about this at a recent meeting, about the charrette and what does it mean and what is the force of it. So as I said at a recent meeting, I was here when that charrette happened. It is not the Bible itself. of El Portal, as someone inquired, okay? And I suggested that you might want to think about updating it. The Charette is like 13 or 14 years old now, and things change. You know, even though this village has changed less in the years that I've been here, and I've been here a long time, there are these changes in state law including not just this new Senate Bill 182, but live local. These are new sets of circumstances. They're new sets of facts. New people have moved in, and there's still a lot of people who have been here for a long time. But the charrette is intended to... It got a lot of buy-in, a lot of people from the community, but it does not have mandatory force of law. It is a guide. It is a guideline. It's a reflection of what the people who participated in it all those years ago wanted to to see but that doesn't mean that it's binding on all of you or on this council and who lives here now and so it can say we'd like to see this and we'd like to see that but you have the right to say we don't like what it said on some point and so does The council is not obligated to bind it. And last is to live local. Understand live local is still a very new law. And it changes so far every year. I mean, they had consideration again this year to fix it. I believe something passed. But I mean, we're talking a week ago. when this happened, a week and a half, and things were flying back and forth at the end. A little difficult, frankly, to keep track sometimes. But they change it every year. They did what they, you know, cleanup bills, glitch bills. The law says what you can and can't do, but it's interpreted differently. based on cases that go to court where judges rule and then appeals courts decide if the judge had it right. Because this is a brand new, relatively speaking, law, and because it's changed each year, there are actually very few cases binding precedent cases. That's binding precedent. As the mayor said correctly, if you grant a variance or if you grant a special exception, that's really not in most cases a binding precedent. Someone can argue that you're supposed to follow it. That's pretty questionable. Mayor said it right. But when the courts rule, that's a precedent. We have very little precedent on Live Local, and it depends on, to some degree, on what's built around you, what's within a mile of you. I mean, you... Some of the development happening in the city of Miami may be close enough to impact what happens here, but it's not just what the law says. You have to actually measure how close it is and see how tall it is. Generally speaking, Live Local gives rights to develop large residential buildings that are not governed by local zoning codes, but it's not unlimited. There are rules, there are restrictions, but they're still being fleshed out by the courts. Anybody who tells you absolutely, they can say, oh, I'm going to build live local, and they can do something in compliance with it. But exactly what that permits is, in a particular location is something that's why we have people like Ms. Hammonds and the Corradino group to analyze these things and lawyers like me to look at them. It's not as cut and dried as sometimes people make it sound, but yes, it does allow you in the right circumstances to override local zoning codes. I hope that all those many words, and I'm sorry, but it's just not as simple as sometimes people would like it to be. I hope that provides some clarity and some guidance, and through the chair of the meeting, I'm happy to answer other questions, but they have to be directed first to the presiding officer, and then if he wants me to go ahead and answer that, he'll direct me to do so.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. So a couple of things. first of all, I think where we're at, right? So we have that, that's not law yet, but I think, and a couple of weeks ago, Ms. Hammonds will tell you that I had a meeting, I had a Zoom meeting with her and in the Corradino group, they have a specialist that does Live Local Act. Like he's a specialist with Live Local. It's meant for all that type of stuff. He's about to become the president for that discipline for the county or the state. Is it, he's about to become what president? For the state, for the state. And so he's really, really good. His name is Mr. Eddie Ning. Mr. Eddie Ning. And so we had a Zoom meeting.

Mr. Yang's a very smart guy. Very smart guy. He was our acting planning director up in North Miami Beach where I'm the attorney. And Mayor, by the way, I should mention, by the way, since you referenced that, I should have said when people talked about what happened in Bay Harbor Islands, I think some people had facts wrong. I was the attorney in Bay Harbor when that happened. Bay Harbor did not vote that school down that Mr. Newman was doing. The Bay Harbor council voted five to zero to allow it to move forward. And subsequently the developer decided that it didn't work for him as well as he thought. And he decided not to move forward. The people who said, Oh, that would never, they would never approve that in Bay Harbor. It was five zero in favor.

So hold on, hold on, Mr. Leader. Hold on, Mr. Leader. Thank you. Mr. Leader, hold on. Hold on. Hold on, Mr. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Thank you. I appreciate it. Hold on. Hold on. Let's not have, let's not, hold on, you guys. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We just can't have talking across like that, you guys. All right? I appreciate it. I appreciate the passion. All right. So, but I think the question is, and like I was saying, you know, I had that meeting with Mr. Ning, and since then, yeah, and since then, no, I understood what you were saying, Mr. Leader, and I understood your sentiment around it. I understand. I understand. I understand. No, I understand. No, I... Ms. Alida, I understand, I understand. I understand, I understand, I understand. Let me get through this, let me get through this, I understand. No, let me get through this. All right, so I've had that meeting with Ms. Hammonds. And so from that, what I'm trying to do, and I'm gonna be honest with you guys, what I'm trying to decide is how I wanna go about doing this because I wanna have, I'm either gonna bring him on like a webinar type of thing where everybody can kind of listen to what he's saying and maybe like I can be the conversation with him. Or I'm going to bring him to like a virtual town hall. But, you know, I don't know how that's going to go because we could be there till three in the morning, you know, or I might bring him to an in-person one or I might try to divide it up like with the sections, like a town hall with like, you know, this section between, you know, Northeast 4th and Northeast 2nd and then another town hall between Northeast 2nd and North Miami Avenue and another town hall between, you know, so that it's not, so we can get a lot of the conversation out because he's really good and he can answer, like put it this way, I was asking him questions right and left and we were on for an hour. Like I was like, what about this? And what about this? And what about, but he really explained and what I was gonna get to with Attorney Geller, he really explained what we have to look forward to and what our options are right now when it comes to Live Local. and i think that's a lot of the confusion that's going around which is because some people are like they can't do it they can't do it six floors three floors like you know it's all over the place and he was really able and this is without him diving deep in our code he was like well look is this is that is this is that And he was like, give me a couple of weeks to dive deep into your code and things like that. He was like, I'll have it down to the science of it. But even with him not even diving deep, he had answers about parking, about all type of intricacies that we're not even thinking about. So he's really good. And so I'm going to do one of those two things. I'm kind of like formulating it within my mind. But that's going to be coming up soon also when it comes to that. Miss Alita, I understood exactly what you were saying. Attorney Geller, you know, it's difficult for me to. when I wasn't there right it's difficult to me to for me to kind of say one person's right one person is wrong whether who was correct or who was incorrect I know that your sentiment of what you were saying whether your sentiment and you were correct I still feel the sentiment if it was your sentiment and if the details were off a little bit I still understand exactly what you're saying and I agree with you either way all right but I understand what you're saying I understand what you're saying Um, to her point, uh, before Ms. Hammons, before you leave, um, if you can maybe start out and then maybe we can have attorney Geller jump in. Uh, one of the large questions that, uh, Ms. Salida had, Ms. Salida had was, um, the special exception. Can a school be built there? So by right, on Northeast 2nd and 87th Street, by right, Ms. Hammond, you might want to come to the microphone. Can a school be built there by right, or do they need an exception?

Yes. The easy answer is yes, it's by right, but with a special exception. So the special exception is not to say, is a use permitted or not? It's just to say, how does this particular use fit into this exact area? So what we do as planners and, you know, working with the community, working with you guys, we just kind of go into okay, exactly what is this use? How will it impact this exact location? But it is absolutely allowed by right. Just to also clarify another point that has been brought up erroneously, Several times tonight, this particular applicant has asked for no variances. Everything that they're doing is to code, including being a use that is allowed in this code. The only thing, they are requesting a rezoning and a land use amendment, but it's only for a very small, small, small portion of the single family lot.

The residential home that they purchased?

Yes, on the east side, the east southeast corner. But it's like a very, very small portion. It's not the whole property. It's not like they're not allowed as a use. They're not asking for a rezone of the whole property. They could even do the school entirely without if they just didn't even want to go through the rezone or land use. They didn't they don't have to. They could still basically build the school.

So if they didn't purchase the single-family home that's on the southeastern end and they just went in and wanted to do the school as is, they could have just did the school as is.

Absolutely, they could have. Yeah, they could just make it a little bit smaller. They could have definitely fit it in. But yes, so the special exception is just to – it's just an opportunity for you to really dive in and say how – Do we make this actual use fit into this neighborhood at this location?

So the special exception is kind of like another catch that we have to give us control over, so that somebody just can't come do the building department and just go and start doing construction right away. Right. Special exceptions for us to review it.

It's like compatibility. How is it compatible with the neighborhood? How can we make it really... So that, you know, we catch all of the maybe the inconveniences that would happen of any use that would go there. So, yeah. So that's what a special exception is. But it is definitely a permitted use. Okay.

by right it's not prohibited there it is allowed there um it is a permitted use to use ms hammond's term not a variance but it does give the village more negotiating power because you do have to approve that special exception

All right. I really want to flush this out. Just give me, you know, just bear with me because if not, you guys, next meeting is going to be the same thing all over again. So just give me a chance to flush this out. Ms. Alida, come to the microphone. Say your name and address for the record while Ms. Hammonds is here and ask her the question you want to ask her. Let's get this.

Alida, 12 Northeast 19th Street. So two things were not, again, we always play, we're, The sentiment and the emotional high that you see here is because the optics are always converted here. Again, you did not mention 350 students. you said the school is allowed. Now, what type of school? Are we talking learning center or are we talking educational institution? Because this is the code of El Portal, which very clearly the checked box, and this comes from an architect that went in, let's say she was hired by the school to actually look at the plans. She would go to our code and she would open Z4 learning center, That's the only box that is being checked here. And many of us did exactly the same thing. We went into our code and we're looking at it. So we're very surprised that our building director is not mentioning two things. First, the 350 students, that's a huge difference when you say learning to educational institution. So education institution versus learning center and the number of students, which is another, you know, completely.

So Ms. Hammonds, Ms. Hammonds, the school, as they applied with the amount of students, could they do that by right?

Yes, we're not considering this a learning center. It is considered an educational facility, and it is allowed, with a special exception. There's no, in the code, it does not limit the number of students. That's not a consideration in the code.

Okay. Go to the...

this screenshot was taken by our code so what does this mean do me a favor do me a favor it says here g educational child care with special exception college university with special exception in z5 i'm sorry z5 and c elementary school could be in z4 z5 and c with special exception Middle, high school could be in Z4, Z5, and C with special exception. Preschool could be in Z4 with special exception and Z5 without special exception. Learning center could be Z4, Z5, C without special exception. So, I mean, it's very clear. So that's why we are very surprised.

Yes. Confused and surprised. Absolutely. Let me do this. Let me, what section of the code is that? Do you have, or can you send that to me when you get a chance? Yeah, absolutely. Can you send that to me? Send it to me. And she's planning. I'm going to get with planning and the building department. And I'm going to get like an official answer. Let them look into it so we can give you like an official answer. Because right now on the spot, you may be missing some of the information.

That's why I was asking you that what kind of information we wanted to know as a residence, what kind of information has been given to you? Because even with crystal ray, it's exactly the optics we're changing them. We're saying crystal ray has been approved. From whom? From PNC? So they just receive the plan and they send it to you? Are they giving you a thorough research? Are they giving you the law? Are they giving you the details that you need to make your decision? Or are they just simply saying like, here's the school plan and go ahead and apply and add the special exception and then approve it? No, that's, I'm sorry, but that's not, it means that the building department is doing the correct job because you cannot just say, so here it says very clearly the educational institution it's not so what other details that's why we might be missing what other details might we be missing i understand no i was asking specifically to each of you because i wanted to understand what kind of information was given to you in order for you to make a decision based on the special exception

Yeah. So the information given to us and like I said, send that to me so I can get to the bottom of that. I mean, you don't have to, but make sure you send that to me though. Send that to me. But the information that was given to us was the package, right? Like the application package that we get. Like to all of us. Like to all of you guys. And that's what I always try to say. We get the same thing that you guys get. We don't have any inside information to a lot of this stuff when it comes to, we get the same thing you guys get, and we don't get it until it passes through the application process. So we get the same thing you all got. And that's what we got.

But what does our expert think? I mean, I understand the developer would say yes, because that was given to, the question that we had during the town hall, it was exactly, yes, it's allowed, because they allowed it. I understand. Actually, Lauren, I'm sorry, the developer representative has said that they actually suggested that the number should be 350. So we went, well... All right, so let's do this.

Let's do this. No, I completely understand.

So I'm saying that this is where the optics are changing and this is where... So if the developer says that, well, they suggested 350 and our code does not say that, so we want to see... Don't worry about the optics. Maybe we're...

We're good. What developer says, you all, remember, doesn't matter to me. I could care less. It's the site plan.

Well, they might be right because, you know.

But don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. Send that to me. And we have the application packet, right? And so I can look through that and I can compare that to parts of the code that you might have questions about. And whatever the developer says or the way they look at things, it doesn't matter to us.

But it makes me concerned that the building department is not giving you this information. I understand. That you don't already have it because we have been, how many meetings so far?

Five, six? I understand. So you send that to me.

I'm sorry.

No, you're good. You send that to me. When I go through that with them, if I find... that there are some discrepancies, then that will allow me to then start to look deeper and question maybe other things through there. But send that to me. So let me start there. All right, send that to me.

And maybe a better question will be like, how did the building department actually... What was the reason they actually brought it up to you? Or what kind of thorough process did they go? Maybe you can clarify that process.

That's the reason why I want you to send that to me.

Or maybe she can clarify. Absolutely.

Because we have planning and then we have the building department who there's not a building department representative here tonight. She's planning and zoning. So I want to get everybody in the same room with me and send that to me and let me take care of that. I understand that.

But, you know, I would like to. I mean, this is a huge impact that is happening in our neighborhood. So, you know, I mean, sorry, I don't mean to.

She understands.

No, but I don't mean to. I see all the time. I mean. I understand that this, this emotion and this, but this is a huge impact that is happening. And I mean, we will change completely the face of to, you know, so I don't mean the lady to feel offended or to feel like it's not about being attacked. It's just clarifying who is, who is pretend, I mean, who, who approved the project to start with that was given into your desk.

Absolutely. Thank you. No, thank you very much. Ms. Hammonds, do you want to close out really quickly?

I would like to say a few things in defense of my review. Absolutely. I start off with every project that I ever bring before you with the basics. I'm a professional for almost 30 years doing this, and I don't bring projects to you that I don't review the code for. I know the code. I know what it says. I know that this is allowed as a special exception.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Is this okay, Ms. Hammonds? Is this okay? When they send me the information, we understand.

Yeah, and you get staff reports. You get all the background, all of the information, all of the code sections, all of the – we have, I don't know, five or six criteria that we look for on special exceptions. We review all of those criteria. We give you answers for how we review it every single time. Yeah. This has been vetted by many people. We have other staff members as well that are doing it. So yeah, we have reviewed this per code. And if you want me to, I will also give you the code as well. We have reviewed this thoroughly.

The number of students is what the developer applies for. That is not something that comes from our planning staff.

Not something that I come up with. No, absolutely not. That is incorrect.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

let me i'm gonna let me i'm gonna bring you give me one second give me one second one second all right so we have the um question about the live local act you guys um we had the special exception um question all right i'm gonna wrap this up then i'm gonna bring up miss serrano and then i'm gonna go to if you guys have anything you guys want to say so uh mr mckenzie I'm in full agreement with you. As a matter of fact, I've told them that they should do another traffic study. And they should do it when the time is, the time and the time of the week and the time of the month really reflects what you were bringing up and what we go through. And so that's one thing I'm really kind of waiting for them on is another traffic study for that. Because like I said, traffic and quality of life is big. Ms. Chantel. um you're absolutely correct every time you get up and you speak i agree with you 100 and yes we definitely represent the residents of el portal and the best interests and which is why if i feel like things are not in the best interest of our community then i don't give it a yes vote so i agree with you 100 miss chantel you're always on point um thank you for coming to us from the gym we appreciate everything you had to say We appreciate you. And we know there's many on both sides. There's many people. I've gotten many phone calls. I've talked to people in public who have stopped me. I'm like, man, I got to stop going to Publix on Saturday at like 12 noon. Maybe I should wait till 9.30 p.m. But I've gotten stopped at Publix many times for people that are for it and people that are against it. And this is very important, you all. And I'm almost at the end of these questions. But this is very important because I've told a few residents that I feel like what we're dealing with right now in El Portal is, and even in South Florida and in Miami-Dade County especially, is that we're like at like the place where we could either go this way or this way. And that's what a lot of things happening in Miami-Dade County. A few weeks ago, myself and Mayor Levine Cava, we organized a press conference for the urban development boundary. Because there's a lot of people in the county, they're trying to the county commissioners, the urban development boundary is a line, it's an invisible line. And everything east of the line, you can develop urban development. Everything west of the line is considered the Everglades. There's a big movement now And a lot of county commissioners that want to take that urban development line and they want to move it west into the Everglades so that people can start to build on there. And, you know, I don't have any beef with them, but the individual that's financing that is Lenar, the developer, the home developer, Lenar. And paying a lot of money for that. And so rambunctious that Even before that's being done, Lennar is buying up land west of the urban development boundary, just assuming that eventually one day it's gonna move. And so myself and Mayor Levine Cava, we put together a press conference a few weeks ago about that. And we even got one County Commissioner, Raquel Regalado to flip, because this is what happened. A while ago, the County Commission voted to move that line. into the Everglades. Mayor Levine Cava, who's a strong mayor, vetoed it. And now it's come back to the county commission to see if they can get a two-thirds vote to overtake that, supermajority vote, to outdo her veto and still move it. And that's what's happening. But as president of the county, I've been talking to them. And we even got five minutes before the press conference started, we had a meeting with Commissioner Raquel Regalado. And we started a press conference. She comes downstairs. She joins our press conference. She's flipping. So that's a good sign. But that just goes to say that in Miami-Dade County, South Florida, we're dealing with a serious situation right now where if we don't hold the line and we don't decide to maintain our tranquility and serenity, 30 years from now 50 years from now a lot of these neighborhoods are not going to be recognizable and you're going to have people sitting there saying man i remember when this place used to be so calm and nice and so walkable and things like that and so this is very important and it's happening all throughout our county right now at all levels um the last thing is uh miss hector i appreciate you i have you um on here and that's all for my questions and comments that i've had um you got oh uh my brother in the back i'm also with you as far as a vibrant downtown definitely want a vibrant downtown uh a vibrant downtown that still has that small village feel right like 1950s or 1940s type of thing you know but still a downtown right um so i'm with you on that i'm with you on that also uh anybody from oh no miss serrano you you still have something you're going to say come up really really quickly and then i'm gonna go to the council and if they have anything you want to say anything that's it miss buzzer line up behind her

I'm just talking on behalf of a neighbor. We have many neighbors on YouTube right now watching all this. So the name of the neighbor is Cara. When Mr. Geller was mentioning the student numbers, she's saying, It's a question regarding the density of the proposed school. The school proposes 350 students in an area between 1.8 and 2.1 acres. This means the student density would be between 194 students per acre and 166 students per acre. This is beyond the density of almost any other school in Florida. Typical density is between 20 and 80 students per acre. Under 33... A 350-student K-12 program has an outdoor space requirement of 118,000 plus square feet depending on grade distribution. This is the county code. While the municipality may have its own minimum lot size requirements, it should not contradict the minimum requirement of the county without good reason. Because this proposal will affect county-operated infrastructure across both Miami and Miami Shores, the county code requirements should prevail, correct? So that's a question by Cara.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll see if we can get that answered. I was just told you guys that if, and that's wonderful. I appreciate you, Ms. Serrano. If somebody's not here, they have to be present to be able to question, you know, even if they're watching through that. But thank you very much. I appreciate that. And no problem. No problem. No problem. And if you can, I'll give you my number. If you can text me or whatever that question so I can get the answer and I'll email you guys back the answer for sure when I get it. Ms. Baza, come on. Say your name for the record, please.

Alexandra Bassa, 120 Northwest 36th Street. I have a follow-up question for Mr. Geller. You said that we were due to update the charrette, but my understanding is that we cannot do much now with SBA 180. Would that contradict that?

A charrette is not a law.

Okay.

So that law that you're talking about says what kind of law we can pass. The charrette, as I said, does not have the force of law. It's a guideline. It's an expression of how people feel, and it's a guideline. So you can adopt... guideline that you want now as far as what that law does or doesn't allow us to do there's some controversy about that you know again it's a brand new law and the courts haven't really interpreted it yet as just a small example of Some people said, oh, well, we can't do anything. Because that law exists, I don't agree with that. Now, that's my opinion and I'm not a judge. But, for instance, we've had residents who've come and want to be able. To park on their own swale. And not be ticketed I think that we could. Do something to address that problem. If we said, well, you can't. Have asphalt or concrete, but if you had it permeable with. With gravel or permeable papers, you could do that. Some people say no, because of that law. I don't agree. I think doing something on that small scale. would be permissible if we were challenged in court i think we would win and allow residents to to park on the swell but also that same law was also up to be changed in this past session i can't tell you sitting here because they just finished like a little over a week ago what if anything new was adopted to change that law that they're talking about. But if it was, again, it's still up to the governor whether it's gonna be signed. So to me, It's premature to try and say what that law used to require, whether that law is going to be changed, and whether there are some things that we could do, but I don't believe it would apply to our adopting a new charrette because that's not a law.

Understood. And the second question is, how can we modify the process, the submittal process? There has been, unfortunately, a lot of bad press for El Portal, like we have been portrayed now with anti-Semitism and whatnot. And one of the, I believe it was in the Herald, that it was said that the project was presented to the community back in April of last year. You are saying now that you guys didn't hear anything about it. So I don't know if they're saying, oh yes, because we presented to the Corradina group and then therefore, so what I'm trying to ask is this is not a garage conversion. large projects should have a different process. So what can be done to adjust the process to the impact and the scale, you know, That is, thank you.

Yeah, I mean, we can discuss that, but so because the developer, you know, you guys, when you're talking about the media and they're interviewing different individuals and different entities, the developer is going to say things that spins it in a way they want it to be portrayed. So, I mean, I'm not sure. I'm just, you know, I'm just guessing here. So maybe the developer is saying that to say, oh, what are they complaining about? We introduced this to the community in April. Now they might be saying that because they first came to fill out their application in April. You know, I don't know, I don't know. But that's just what that is. It's difficult to be able to control when the media is asking different questions of different entities, what that entity is going to say, especially if they're opposite of you, especially if they're trying to spin a narrative against you, right? So that's just what that is. As far as the process, we can discuss that, but the process, Until it's done, we don't get it. And I think that if we were to get the information piecemeal before it was complete, I think that might be something that would even cause us more confusion throughout the community. Because things can change throughout the application process all the time. Because throughout the application process, the applicant, just like a residential applicant for anything that they're trying to do, they talk to the building department back and forth. Because the applicant usually doesn't understand the code, right? So they're like, oh, well, can I do this? Oh, I want to do this. Well, you can't do that. Or this is going to be a variance. Or you can't do this. Or this is a special exception. Or you can't do this. So that all happens before it even gets to us. But we can look at that. We can look at that and see what we can adjust to try to streamline it more and do it like that. All right. I appreciate all of you guys. Do I have any questions or comments from the...

I have a comment. Just to speak to, and I apologize, my voice sounds a little different. I had my wisdom teeth removed recently. It's been an experience, but I'm still here. So... someone asked about who's the negotiator so i definitely am not the negotiator because i haven't had any sort of meaningful interactions with the developers beyond what has been in a public forum as far as transparency is concerned same line i don't know the developers have only spoken to them In the public forum, where my counsel to them was to go back and hold those public hearings because I think that's that should be the process. What happened in this room during the 2 public hearings 1 of them I was able to attend for a short period of time is exactly what should happen. You should have the opportunity to say this is what I don't like about the project. They should be able to answer those questions candidly. Through that exchange back and forth, that process sounds difficult, but you should come out with negotiated terms. Just elements that the developer knows that you're not happy with and ways that they can improve and information that the village is able to obtain as to how we can move closer towards a solution that works. more or less works for everyone. So what you're experiencing now is like the painful process of progress. We are progressing along this journey of figuring out what should be on the site, what should it look like. I think the failure is that there is no framework for us to then analyze those negotiated terms that are coming from these meetings. So essentially it feels as though you are screaming into the same void over and over again, saying the same things and there is no progress. So with that being said, I have just a couple of questions. Has the manager had the opportunity to meet with the developers and talk about some of the more, some of the concepts or themes that have been repeated throughout these meetings? Have you had an opportunity to meet with the developers?

No, I have not.

Okay. Um, and then Mr. Mayor, you mentioned that you provided the developers with a list of conditions.

Yes.

Um, I just want an idea of like how those conditions or that list was compiled, um, and based on what input that that would be helpful.

No, it was based on what I felt that would be impacted, things that would be impacted from this development. So I put a list together that said that I think these should be considered. So I looked at that list as, like I said, I sent it back to them after we got the site plan. It was back in December. Okay. So I sent them that list as like the beginning of the negotiations, right? I sent them that list so that, you know, because they're not from here, so they don't have an idea of what anything we might need. Like, for example, my number nine, and I'm going to get right back to you. I don't want to cut you off. But my number nine on the list is street repair, street resurfacing on the streets that may be impacted by the increased number of automobiles related to the school. So I put... from North Miami Avenue through all the way east that 88th, 87th, 86th, 89th, 90th Street should all be resurfaced because of the cars that might be brought to the neighborhood. So that's my number nine. So just things that I thought about just picturing the school and what would be impacted, that's how I put that list. Like my number two is is about the Live Local Act. My number two is whatever the current zoning that they would need, because I don't wanna set precedent that this zoning would sunset, it would sunset if the project fails. so that it wouldn't just exist for somebody else to come in there and put some monstrosity. So if their project fails, the zoning was sunset. So I have different things and like my number, you know, different things. Like my number three is to bring the sewage down from Miami Shores, down Northeast 2nd, because they wanted to bring it down Northeast, they wanted to bring it down the alleyway or Northeast 1st or Northwest, Yeah, Northeast first. They wanted to bring out the alleyway or Northeast first because WASDE was telling them that's much cheaper for them because they're bringing out Northeast second. The way they had to disrupt traffic, you know, and Northeast second is busy in the daytime. No, no, I'm not.

I'm not. My assertion is that the list is not a good list. I'm saying that it's a unilateral one. So if you proffered the list in December, this would have been before there had been any sort of meaningful input from the residents as to what their sticking points might be, which, you know, it's a great list, but it might not be the list that moves you closer to finding what is that sweet spot that brings forth a quality proposal that has elements that works for everyone. I think we might never get there. We will never get there if there's only one person kind of managing that, that feedback. And on my end, um, I think that this is something that rises to the significance and importance that we need to have all hands on deck and specialists involved. So I do think it's a process that needs to be spearheaded by the manager, and inclusive of some of the professionals that are available to us through Greenspoon Martyr. And then there be a dossier created and discussed with the individual members of the council so that we can have one cohesive voice as to what it is the residents are saying that doesn't work, right? Because at the end of the day, the answer to the question is I represent you guys, right? I want you to tell me what doesn't work. I will never know it if you don't tell me. Or if we don't create the forum, we created the forum and you guys told us. So now what what do we do with that information? I feel the frustration in the room because you're like, hey, I told you, what are you going to do? So we need to now move on to the next level, which is take that information. And instead of having these ad hoc meetings with residents kind of just like I met with Adam, I met with Adam. Our negotiating position is weakened by that. We need to figure out what it is that is the big ask because it is not our job to make Adam Newman's business case. He already has. He's coming here for a reason. He's purchased the property for a reason. It is not our job to make ourselves more desirable. We are already desirable. It is our job to figure out what is our strategic interest and how do we advocate for that now and aggressively and boldly. And we need to do that with one strong voice. It is not up to a single resident or a single council member. It is a concerted action that needs to take place. And it needs to be one that's coordinated among members of the body, members of the community for us to find one voice. And what our big, big ask is, and it, in my opinion, cannot be $100,000. This is ridiculous. But there are multiple fronts where different people have told us entry points that might make them more amenable to the project. It is also not my job to make the project work for you. It is just to figure out, is there a middle ground? Is there a number? Is there a public space? Is there a number of spots at this school for kids that live here? Is it the financial contribution? Is it the built environment? What is it? But it needs to be a bold, big, aggressive ask. And it's not something that we're going to get to if there's One person creating a list. We need to all create the list. We need to have it be managed by a manager who's seen a lot of developments and also others who are involved in the development space. We need to talk to the live local specialist and we need to fear not because El Portal is desirable. The developer wants to build the project. We need to figure out what our terms are. So when we look back at this moment, we know what our interest was. We know that we advocated for it zealously and we got exactly what it is that we wanted.

Thank you very much. Let me just say very, very quickly. So when a developer comes into Elbertile, like I said, they don't have an idea of what our culture is about, you know, what we're focusing on and things like that. So that list was like a beginning point. for everything. And these developers, like I said, they have to go through three or four meetings. And these developers, they can speak to anyone, right? And anyone could say that they think there could be contingencies. There might be some that says that there shouldn't be contingencies. But once that gets out there, then through talking, everything starts to kind of come together. Now, developers from that list, They started to get their ideas. Now, they didn't come back to me and say they agree with everything. I haven't been negotiating from there. I just sent that to them. They didn't even give me an email response of, yeah, number one looks good or no, number two or no. The only way that I know they looked at my list was that when we were at the town halls and things and then there was like some slide that showed some things they're starting to willing to give. I was like, oh, it kind of sounds like my number five, but like half of it. Or that sounds like my number eight, but like a quarter of it. But regardless, this is a long process. And a development agreement, understand, is a separate vote from the site plan. It's a separate vote. So both those things need to happen simultaneously. But there are two separate things. But I agree with you, Madam Vice Mayor.

No, I'm just saying that sometimes when you create a starting point, you got to hit the right note from the very beginning. And I'm only saying this because we have had the experience with something that you negotiated prior where there were unintended consequences of that that were not appreciated at that time. So I just believe... That to make sure that we avoid those pitfalls in the future, we need to make sure that the right people are looking at the right things at the right time, lest we be here at some point in the future kind of lamenting what it is that was an opportunity that we let go by or a pitfall that we were not able to correctly perceive.

What negotiation were you talking about? The Kavista with the affordable housing? Yes. Yes. So the Kavista development, understand the Live Local Act didn't exist or the affordable housing aspect of that didn't exist when that came to be. When I was being negotiated, that didn't exist. Also, what I did with the Kavista was I existed or I negotiated and we did with the finances of it. which is the development agreement part. That has nothing to do with the developers applying for affordable housing. That's different. Through the Live Local Act part of it with the affordable housing.

It's not anything to get sensitive about. It's just for the people in the room. I think we are all better served. I think we should all ask our elected officials to be more collaborative. I think we should want this process to be guided by professionals. And that's where I stand on it. And I think it's not an out-of-the-box idea. And if you were to look at how other deals of this type are analyzed, it would be more in the fashion of what I'm describing. But that's my last comment.

No, I appreciate you, I appreciate you, but just for the record, understand that the Live Local Act wasn't in place when the Covista was negotiated, that came afterwards. Anybody else, comments, questions?

Yeah. So in the fourth hour of Good and Welfare, I just have to say this seems to me like a failed meeting. We are going to have another three hour discussion at the next meeting. We're going to absolutely talk about every single thing that was talked about tonight again. And I am beyond frustrated into other terms at how this meeting's gone tonight. That's my first 45 seconds. I'll take the next 45 seconds to let you guys know that I have no animosity whatsoever towards these developers. I met with Lauren twice. I met with Mr. Jeffries once and both individually with her, individually with him. And I let them both know all of my concerns right out of the gate and let them know what they were probably going to expect as far as pushback from the residents. So I'll just tell you that I'm the only person who's voted no twice to end this project twice and have gotten zero support. And the reasons for that primarily are honestly the wall. That wall is a problem. The president that that wall will set is all by itself a non-starter for me personally. Beyond that, in most of their public-facing media, they only mention Miami Shores. They do not mention El Portal. And in addition to that, one of the residential properties they bought had renting residents in it for more than 30 years in El Portal and they have been evicted and They don't even have a site plan approval for that site yet There is absolutely no reason to give those residents of 30 years 60 days notice to get out of El Portal that to me is is a stance by a developer that I will do everything in my power to prevent them from from from putting their will upon us, to be perfectly honest. So I have no animosity towards the school or the project, the design itself. I think the building looks beautiful, but no one's ever going to see it. It's going to be behind an eight foot wall. It's technically illegal. So that's where I'm at on that. And then I'll just remind everybody that As we talk about Tallahassee taking rights from people like this body right here to be able to govern for the residents the best way we see fit. I'm just going to remind you, your governor used eminent domain. to build a modern concentration camp in the county you live in with more than 1,000 souls missing. I don't even know what it is we're talking about or why we're doing anything right now other than rectifying that situation. So I have no animosity whatsoever towards the developers. I voted no twice. I will vote no again. That's it.

Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments? I have a few.

Oh, Mr. Geller, appreciate your interpretation today. I just had a quick question or a question about, can you not hear me?

It might be, I'll have to talk really close to it.

Is that okay now? All right. So your explanation tonight on 833 didn't pass, 182 did pass, but going to the governor's not all that. Appreciate that. I just want to get your interpretation on the language because I heard something and I just wanna make sure I heard it correctly. Will the school be able to construct a building at the radar church site circumventing the council's approval process and therefore development agreement through that law?

arguably if the law becomes law. Let's start with that. It might not, and maybe that jury is still out on that. If the law becomes law as it currently is, perhaps, but as I pointed out to you when I first got it, before even the research, there are two special sessions, maybe a third, coming up before the effective date of the law. And depending on how the public reacts to it, not just the public in El Portal, but across the state, at another grab of power by the legislature preempting local government, it is possible, maybe not likely, but certainly possible, that the special session call could be amended to include Another bill that clarifies some problems with this. If the bill has passed by the Senate, having been adopted, got through the House, if it goes into law, if it's signed by the governor, if there's not a revisitation of it during a special session, three big ifs, then possibly the answer is yes, but it talks about mixed use. It talks about commercial. I'm more comfortable discussing that with our planning consultants. even though I know a lot about planning and zoning law, but as to this specific code and that, um, particular sector, I mean, it is directly across the street from something that's not residential, but it, at least the summary of it I've seen, and I dove into the bill itself, but again, pretty short notice, councilman, um, If that zone is considered strictly residential, that might give us a handhold to try to fight it, but I'm not sure that zone is considered strictly residential because properties along Northeast 2nd Avenue Some of them are at this point already commercial, including the one across the street from them. I don't know that that's going to be a handhold or if you want to call it a quote loophole, but I don't give up on that until we do more research on it and see if that's the law that gets signed into effect. So the answer to your question is possibly yes, it would allow them to if the law passes the way it is to disregard our code because the legislature is preempting us, but I don't consider it completely a lost cause until we do more research.

So as the bill was written, it said it would be applied July 1st, assuming the governor signs it. But July 1st also means that if it does pass at that point, they can possibly move forward and we get no development agreement. We get nothing. They can just build it as if the way it's if it passes and the way it's written.

That is a correct statement. Presuming that it is. interpreted as the sponsors no doubt intended it to be, but just because that's what they expect of it, as was pointed out, we have a right to challenge these things in court. I'm not at the point of giving up hope on saying that we could not try to fight to defend our code, but yes, you're correct. If it goes that route, we would also lose what leverage we might have if that interpretation that they intend was upheld.

Appreciate that. All right. So I'm going to move forward with what I was going to say earlier. And first, I want to thank everyone who spoke today. It is important that the residents are always involved. But this item obviously was not on the agenda. And I want to let everyone know this is a quasi-judicial matter. And we were asked many times how we're going to vote on a quasi-judicial matter. Am I correct, Attorney Geller, that it's not appropriate for us to say how we're going to vote ahead of time?

That's correct. It would be people can make conditional statements, but quasi-judicial matters must be decided on the basis of the evidence that that's put into the record at the meeting. And so one should not state unequivocally how you're going to vote. However, saying that if due consideration is not given to residents' concerns, or if appropriate agreements or arrangements are not made that someone does not intend to support it is probably permissible.

okay thank you so much so I have three pages of one line each thanking every single person and talking to them about what they said I know everyone wants to get home to their families I'm hungry I just wanted to make a few really quick statements um it was said on the stand that my wife created a meeting thank you Edna for coming up and saying that we did not my wife created a chat group THAT EVERYONE IN ALL OF EL PORTAL IS WELCOME TO JOIN. SHE GAVE AWAY THE ADMIN RIGHTS TO MULTIPLE PEOPLE IN EL PORTAL AND THEY COMMUNICATE ON IT. IT ALLOWS THEM TO SPEAK WITH EACH OTHER. I WANT TO MAKE SURE IT'S ON THE RECORD THAT WE'RE NOT TRYING TO GO AROUND THE COUNCIL OR TRYING TO CREATE ANY KIND OF SPECIAL MEETINGS, BUT WE DO WANT EVERYONE IN EL PORTAL TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. Because we know that some people who were in certain chat groups were ostracized and kicked out because they didn't have the same opinion, even if they weren't vocal about it. And I think it's important that we learn to be, I mean, forget the pun, unneighborly against our neighbors, right? So Velvet said it great today, where we have to understand this is going to go a lot longer. After this whole soulful thing is over, we are still neighbors. We still have to be able to be accountable to each other. Lastly, I did watch the Bay Harbor meeting, which Attorney Geller was the attorney over there, and it was mentioned a few times tonight. I think the biggest issue I heard from their counsel was when they wanted to put the school temporarily in Bay Harbor, there was a police station in front of it, and if they ever had an emergency and the police cars had to leave, there might be buses in front of that police station blocking their exit, and that was why there was some opposition in Bay Harbor, and that was also on the record. Am I correct?

Yes, sir.

Thank you. Everyone here tonight, if you spoke, I would love to speak with you and tell you my thoughts here, but I know everyone wants to get home. Again, thank you for coming out tonight. That'd be all for myself.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. You guys good? All right. Attorney Geller, do we have any reports?

I think my comments covered the attorney's report. Thank you, Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot Ward, second by Vice Mayor Martin. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Hearing none. The council meeting for Tuesday, March 24, 2026 is adjourned at 1031 p.m. Thank you guys very much.