Virginia Key Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

It's Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Virginia Key Advisory Board, thank you all for being here. And we'll promptly see if we have a quorum. And also, we have one new member who we will say hello to after we hear about the quorum. Excuse me, Monte. Thank you very much. Rafa, do we have a quorum this evening? Yes, we do?

Yes. Okay, wonderful.

Thank you, everybody, for coming. We will do a Pledge of Allegiance and then we'll move on with the agenda.

Thank you very much. And a call to order, please. Alejandro Martinez Esteve. Present. Peter Ehrlich. Here. Luis Casamayor. Steven Leiner. Lynn Lewis. Gary Milano. Vincent Richter. Monty Traynor. Nicholas Lopez Jenkins.

Here.

Jackie Collier. Carrie Johnson. Christopher Norwood. Chuck Ellis.

Here.

Thank you very much. Any requests for absence waivers?

Yes, the new board member, Christopher Norris, requested an absence waiver.

Okay. And just so everybody knows, when would be their next meeting? Will it be in August or September?

August. I believe it's August 25th. Let me confirm. August 25th.

Okay, thank you very much. If everybody can put that in their calendars. It's very close to Labor Day, but there'll be a meeting on August 25th at 5.30. And we're going to move on to the Virginia Key Advisory Board discussion items. And there's one item that's been on our prior agendas that hasn't been, that's not on this agenda, which is the chairmanship for this board. I'm currently the chairman of the Virginia Key Advisory Board, but I may be at my eight-year term limit. I may be stepping down before the next meeting. So the board members will have to nominate and appoint a new chair and probably a new vice chair. So I'm just letting everybody know, see how it goes. see what you think of who wants to stand up or step up and be a new chair. But we'll probably have a new chair at the August 25th meeting or certainly at the October meeting, just so everybody has a heads up. Stephen, any comments?

What's the protocol if no one gets nominated or accepts a nomination?

That you'll have to ask the city attorney, I'm afraid.

City attorney?

Yeah, we would have to go through the clerk's office, so hopefully we don't have to, you know, go through that protocol and we can come up with, there's a lot of board members that have been removed that, you know, the organizations are going to be appointing, so there will be a lot of new faces on this board, so hopefully we can wait until, you know, those appointments are made and then the new faces are already on the board and then they can you know, decide on a chair. I think that would be the best process since there's so many vacant seats right now.

I know in previous boards, there's always been one or two board members that are happy to be chairman or be the vice chairman. I'm sure that will be the case again. And I also would like to announce that Andres Rivero, who's been a board member for... two or three the last two or three meetings he is not a board member today but he may be a board member again representing a different group he was representing francis suarez through the mayor's office and he may be the representative of the urban environment league if he sits on the board again in august or october just everybody has a heads up anybody else have any questions on future of our board position, chairman position?

I believe Dade Heritage Trust is gonna have a new appointee for the next meeting.

Thank you, Vincent.

They have reached out to us already, so thank you.

Anybody else have any other questions or thoughts on that issue? All right. Since we have a representative here from Saviano Miller, the architect, the very well-known and renowned architectural landscape firm. We're going to discuss the landfill site. And I know the firm, and it was Mr. Miller who presented at a previous meeting some changes and the updates to a plan that's been actually years in the works. and we will see an abbreviated update tonight and the board members will have the ability to ask questions of city staff and also of the wonderful landscape architect who's present tonight at City Hall.

Would you like to come up, Patricia?

And we'll also hear from our wonderful professionals from the city staff.

Hello, good afternoon. Hello. Hello, good afternoon.

Yes, you're on.

My name is Patricia Matamoros and I'm a landscape architect with Savino Miller Design Studio. Trying to get the presentation on right now.

technical difficulties here.

And while we're waiting, Gary Milano, our board member, has been very involved in this site and this section of Virginia Key Park for many, many years. And we look forward to any questions you have you see updates to the plan. Thanks, Gary.

OK. Thank you so much. So as mentioned before, this presentation was given in length. Before, I don't want to bore you with the beginning of it. I'm going to try to do an abbreviated version. But we did go through a lengthy process of analysis of the existing conditions and all of the natural, physical, environmental components of the island. And they're at the beginning of the presentation. I'm happy to respond any questions about that later on. So basically, we were tasked with reassessing the consensus master plan that the city of Miami had for this contaminated site. which is also currently going through a process of minimum safety closures so that it can be open again to the public. We evaluated the existing master plan with all of its programming, recreational, and environmental components. And at the same time, we looked at the opportunities and constraints of the site currently as they exist today in 2026. They have to do a lot with disconnection, access to the plant and the recreational activities that are mixed, lack of pedestrian or dedicated access to that specific area. and some smells and uses that come from the wastewater treatment plant. But at the same time, there's a lot of opportunities for this site. It has spectacular existing specimen trees. a mangrove area that has been preserved. It has views both to the bay, the city, and the ocean, the Atlantic Ocean. It has existing trails. It's right across a very active recreational area that is currently in use. And it's an amazing location in the city. We looked at the existing topography of the site right now, which has an important change in elevation from 0, 10, all the way to 30, which isn't very common in Miami. And at the same time, we looked at the proposed rating plan from the current safety, minimum safety closure from Miami-Dade County. And then we overlap that with the requirements from the consensus master plan. And the results of our analysis is that, unfortunately, this is not compatible. So we looked at how could we work with both the plan that is currently ongoing for Miami-Dade County, the existing conditions, and the requirements of this program, and rearrange it on the site to make sure that we fulfill the master plan program within the context of the landfill closure requirements, that we are providing a sustainable, resilient coastal hammock habitat, that we can still provide active and passive recreation opportunities, separate the park or recreational access from the vehicular access of the wastewater treatment plan, and at the same time preserve and enhance the adjacent existing recreational assets. And we also looked at some inspiration reference projects where we've seen this recreational uses in great connection with this topography and how we can reimagine this football or soccer fields surrounded by nature and at the same time have bike paths and pedestrian paths without losing the magic of the ecosystem from the Chineke and also how this could also be an opportunity for incorporating some green infrastructure like we currently recently implemented in Miami Beach with Bayshore Park. And so this is the current proposal for a conceptual master plan. It maintains the uses with four soccer fields, four softball fields, four tennis and four pickleball courts, additional parking for the site, And at the same time, it preserves over 90 acres of natural mangrove and hammock. We're also proposing to separate the park user recreational circulation towards the east and the main ends more industrial circulation towards the west of the landfill. And this is how we think we can slightly cut into the proposed topography and create this uses with a slope that is conducive to sports while leaving most of the site as proposed. by the minimum safety closure currently. So this is how we envision this could look like. Prioritizing the environmental qualities of the site and preserving a lot of its ecosystem, bringing back the nature, because also this site is currently overtaken by invasive species. But at the same time, providing plenty of opportunities for passive recreation, trails, enjoying the views, and the sport field uses. So that's it. I'm available for answering any questions.

Any questions before Gary asks a question or two? Any board members have any questions at the moment? I'd like to ask if any board members have been to South Point Park in Miami Beach. Has anybody been to South Point Park?

Vincent's been there.

It's really designed by the same firm, Saviona Miller. Incredibly beautiful and incredibly popular. How many acres is it approximately, Patricia?

I'm going to have to get back to you on that.

It's fairly large.

But it's a fairly large park, correct?

How many acres is the other park you recently did in Miami Beach is Bayshore Park?

Bayshore Park, it's almost 20 acres.

Is that right? Okay. And that's incredibly beautiful and award-winning and popular with residents, particularly residents in the adjacent neighborhoods. Correct. Can we have any questions from Gary Milano on the...

I don't have any questions, but I just have a couple of comments. I thought it would be good tonight to have this presentation because there's a lot of new people sitting around this table, and it's real important to understand the history of this. This master plan was put together by the community, and they really wanted a central park. on Virginia Key. This park gives us the opportunity to plant 75 acres of tropical hardwood hammock and to restore about five acres of mangroves that have been impacted on the site, which is over in the southwest corner. It does include all of the recreational amendments that were discussed during the development of the Community Consensus Master Plan. And the consultant did a great job as far as putting these components into the area. Now, one thing that happened that people should know is when the master plan was developed, by the community, the amount, there was no fill was placed on this site. And when I say that, I mean, it was at six foot grade overall at the landfill site. And what happened was when they dug the Port of Miami tunnel, they brought in so much fill that they built up the topography to 30 feet above sea level. That's almost a 24 foot gain in elevation. So the consultant did a great job as far as trying to provide opportunities to utilize this elevation by putting in the overlooks and then keeping the hammock plantings, which when you look at this green area that you see on the conceptual plan, these are all going to be planted. native trees, and this is something where we'll really be able to work with the city to get the community involved in doing plantings on the weekends so that we can get a sense of stewardship involvement as far as to really appreciate the environment and to have them participate in it. Anyway, thank you so much for the presentation. Hector, I have a couple questions just for clarity for some of the other board members. What would the cost of the consultants be to do this plan for the city?

I don't have that information on me right now, but I can get it to you.

That's something, I mean, get it to the board. It's important. Oh, definitely. Also would like to, for them to understand how long these folks studied this area to develop this plan. That's important for them to understand. So if you could give that to Raffaella and she could send it out in a blast. Absolutely, absolutely.

I know they did an extensive, both environmental and look at the whole site based on the Proof Master Plan.

And my last question, Hector, is were there any amendments that have been made since this plan has been developed through the site?

Amendments to the master plan?

To the conceptual plan that we see within this presentation.

No, this is the October presentation.

I understand that. I'm just saying, has the city made any amendments to this conceptual plan that the consultants... Not that I'm aware of, no. Not that you're aware of. Yeah. Thank you very much.

All right. I have a question. Vincent?

Am I missing bathrooms and maybe like a tennis center or a... Is that on there? I don't see it.

Yes, so the original master plan did have a couple of buildings, service buildings. They were very small in such a great site. This is over 116 acres, and this is a conceptual master plan. So we would love to move forward and continue to develop this in greater detail so that we could include those buildings. small buildings that will service all of this programming, of course.

Keep in mind that this is on a landfill site, so any buildings that are here are going to have to be on pilings. That adds to the cost of the building itself.

Yeah, there's also restrooms across the street. But yes, we'll look into that.

I have a quick question. Gary Milano, and thank you for bringing up some of the history of Virginia Key Park and the master plan. I have a copy of the master plan that's dated 2010. I think Patricia has a copy, too, and we saw one of the drawings from the 2010 master plan in her presentation. Gary, you attended dozens of meetings during that period, 2008, 2010, until this was approved. Was it your opinion that residents wanted to maintain nature and have as little structural or building footprint on the site as possible? They want to protect it and preserve nature?

Absolutely. And I think the plan was a good compromise where we did provide some recreational amenities on the site. And the consultant has done a great job, like I said before, as far as putting them into the landscape with the tremendous amount of fill that's been brought in since the master plan was developed.

Then my question was, you never heard any residents asking for condos or hotels?

No, no, this was always a central park theme that was really emphasized by the public as far as they really wanted an open space park. And landfill restoration reclamation is something that's been done globally, and it's very successful. And we're lucky to have this consulting firm because they've worked with this issue many, many times.

Any other questions for Gary? Stephen?

Thank you, through the chair. Gary, weren't you involved in a number of specimen trees being preserved on this site? And where are they?

Absolutely, it's around the perimeter. If you look around Arthur Lamb Road, basically around the perimeter of the site, there were some very large trees that were going to be taken out. And we worked, this board and the City of Miami staff worked with WASA to amend the plan to be able to preserve the trees because of their size. I mean, some of these trees are 150 feet tall and for a tree to get that big takes a lifetime. So it was something that we modified the WASA, the water and sewer plan for the landfill closure so that we could protect these trees along Arthur Lamb Road.

And their protection is being monitored as far as you know? Are there any impacts from development that we should be concerned about?

Not at this time, Stephen. Stephen, the project has really not gone into, they haven't engaged the project yet. So it's still in the, I wouldn't say planning, but they're ready to go. I wouldn't be surprised for them to break ground. Maybe Hector could give us an update on any schedules he may have seen as far as implementation.

We're at a very early stage, so I don't have a schedule for implementation when it comes to that, so.

Thank you. Anyway, it's going to be something that's going to come about, and I'm sure those trees are going to be monitored. We've got a very detailed plan of where those trees are and the state of those trees, so they'll be protected. I guarantee it.

Yeah, we mapped some of the trees on this analysis plan. They're the pink, reddish dots. And you can see there's a large number of them. There's a cluster towards the northeast corner that it's the biggest amount. It's really, really beautiful, very dense hammock in that area. And there continues to be more trees all along the road. And at the same time, I wanted to mention we're also working with CST. I don't want to say it wrong, with SES Engineering on this too. And they've been doing a lot of testing as well, a lot of work on this side with the city.

I have a question for Hector. Hector, approximately how much would this cost the taxpayers to execute this conceptual plan?

We have to revisit the pricing on this, on the cost estimate, but it's in the millions and millions of dollars to do this. What was the last estimate that you saw? We can provide that information when we provide the updates there. I don't have that at hand, but I know it's not going to be a cheap project.

Patricia, do you recall how much it cost the City of Miami Beach to do South Point Park?

Unfortunately, South Point Park, I wasn't working at the firm at that time, so I don't have the specifics, but I'm happy to find them and give you that information.

That's okay. Everybody has to keep things in perspective. The plan's beautiful, but of course there has to be money to pay for the plans and execute the wonderful drawings.

Any other questions? But I would just like to say, Peter, I used to work in habitat restoration for 32 years. Getting a project like this paid for through grants is easy. This is a 115-acre park. 85 to 90 acres of this park is natural area. And to plant natural areas, there's a lot of grant money out there. So that's going to be easy. As far as the recreational amenities, these are pretty simple as far as just flat surfaces. Not a big deal. So I think as far as cost benefit and cost effectiveness, this is going to be a great project. And I'll be happy to work with the city to try to apply for grant monies for this because that's what I used to do for Durham.

Thank you very much, Gary. Hopefully everybody at the city will take note of Gary's phone number and contact information. Thank you, Gary. Let's see. If we don't have any other questions on that issue, we'll move on. The next item on the agenda, there's important articles in the Miami Herald and also in, I believe, Miami Today and I think Miami New Times. I think, Miami New Times, I think everybody, does everybody have a copy of the articles that Rafa provided for us? And I think she also provided them to us via email. As all of us know, the Virginia Key basin, historic basin, which I think is 40 or 45 acres of water, Very important to Virginia Key Park. And I'd like to get every board member's impressions of their thoughts on the basin. You know, the cleanliness of the water, the attractiveness of the natural environment around the park. Does anybody have any comments on these articles that have been sent to us? The Miami Herald article, Miami Today article, and Miami New Times article? pertaining to this. And also, this will be, I believe, a referendum question on the November 2026 election cycle. Any comments from any board members? Stephen?

Didn't Leah Kennard submit impressions at our last board meeting regarding the basin and how improved and less trafficked it is? The rejuvenation, rehabilitation, return of wildlife, and I guess they haven't had any major incidents in years now from whatever those things are called. Shells? Rowing? No, the... Jet skis, thank you.

Yes, we did get some comments a month or two ago from Leah Kennard, who represents the historic basin, the water, and the Miami Rowan Club.

She said she had noticed that the water was much cleaner.

You could see the bottom of the bay that you weren't able to before, and it was largely because There were less abandoned vessels. And I think there was some enhanced enforcement from police and Florida wildlife, from the illegal motor boaters, jet skiers, who often have a preponderance to drink too much or do too much drugs and speed ride illegally. Did everybody see Leah Kennard's comments on the cleanliness of the water in the bay? And also, obviously, if the historic basin is converted to a mooring field, well, a lot of that cleanliness will likely disappear. Any other board member comments on these articles?

Just as a segue from what you just said, I've been a little confused as far as understanding why the mooring field was the answer for the removal of the derelicts when the derelicts are out of the basin now without the mooring field. How did that happen? I mean, we were sold a bill of goods that we had to have a mooring field to get the derelict boats out. Okay. No mooring field in there, but the boats are out. They're all on the south side of Hobie Beach. So my point is, if it's possible, and maybe we could put a resolution together for this nature to make a recommendation to the City of Miami board to not follow through with the mooring field. Just a thought.

It's an excellent idea, Gary. Any comments from any board members? Maybe we could hear from a city staffer on the progress of the mooring fields. I know they were approved by city commissioners maybe 12 or 18 months ago. They're in the works through the city administration. Does Hector want to comment on the mooring field? Is Hector still here? Hector, would you like to bring us up to date on the status of the mooring field?

Unfortunately, that's not being managed by our department, so let's...

Would that be being managed by DREAM? Correct. Well, we have the new board member here, Virginia Key Advisory Board, who happens to be the director of the DREAM. And DREAM stands for Department of... Alejandro, would you want to introduce yourself? By the way, thank you for joining our board.

Absolutely. Alejandro Martinez Esteve. I'm the director of the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management. Thank you. That's your dream acronym. I'm not familiar with the Mooring Project, but I will definitely follow up with staff and I'll provide that update to the board so they have that update. Just by way of background, I've been the director since June 1st. I am a registered architect in the state of Florida, and I have lived in the Coconut Grove area for 25 years. So I'm very familiar with all of our projects and the geography of the area. So I'm really looking forward to serving on this board.

Thank you very much. We look forward to getting your feedback. So you're probably familiar with the marinas in Coconut Grove, having lived there for so long. Thank you very much, Hector. Gary, any other questions? No, thank you. Alejandro, you might not be aware, but when the mooring field issue came up three or four years ago, there was a proposal for, I think, mooring field for 50 boats. And in the midst of a commission discussion, I think commissioners elevated that to perhaps 75 votes. this board has you know for a decade since our existence we've been in favor of the natural environment and as a little bit of small motor boating and and engines as possible and we've been very pro-nature so maybe if the mooring field is going forward maybe the amount of boats in the mooring field could be reduced i guess that'll come in front of you as you get updated on the issue.

And maybe the size of the boats as well.

Yes, maybe the size of the boats too. Thanks, Stephen.

Involving the trailers that need to be parked and, I mean, it's all related, right? The traffic, the trailers, the size of the boats?

Yep.

All right, if we're finished with that issue, we'll move on to... There's a new board member who was appointed by the city of Miami mayor. That's Chris Norwood. He's replacing the former appointee of the mayor, Francis Suarez. Andres Rivero happens to be in the audience tonight. Chris Norwood is Mayor Higgins appointee. And we will hopefully see Andres Rivero sitting up here again as an appointee of the Urban Environment League. Mr. Rivero, would you like to say any comments tonight? Thank you. There's a memo to clerk's office submitted regarding removal of board members due to lack of attendance. Lynn Lewis, Vincent Richter, Jackie Collier, Carrie Johnson. Was the city attorney or off elect to comment on this memo? I haven't seen the memo, but I think I've heard of it.

So the memo is basically just a document that is sent to the clerk's office. It confirms the attendance of the members as Mr. Gary had requested in last meeting. And we did apply the rules of the bylaws and the city code. And members were automatically removed from the board due to four consecutive, it's either three consecutive attendances or four attendances within a year.

Okay. I know Vincent Richter's here tonight. I guess he might have missed a meeting.

I was turned out, so. Would this be your last meeting, you think, Vincent? Probably my last meeting. Dade Heritage Trust has not appointed somebody new. So maybe part confusion. I have been at other meetings. Sure. I have a pretty good attendance record in the last 10 years. Yeah, it was both.

So with Vince in the case was both. So he was termed out as well as there was four absences in the year. We only applied the year 2025 because of our lack of meetings this year. So within that year, whatever board member was absent for four meetings or three consecutive meetings, they were included as automatically removed to the court. The clerk was notified and she applied the memo. So we have reached out to these organizations and they will be appointing new members.

Thank you. And I would like to point out that Vincent Richter has been a fantastic board member for the last, he said, I think, 10 years. He's done, oh, since the beginning.

That's fantastic.

The board, as many of you know, was created by then-sitting Commissioner Francis Soares and Greg Bush. Greg Bush was the president of the Urban Environment League. And it's wonderful that Vincent is an original sitting member and has been here and so contributed so well and done such factual research on many issues, Vincent, thank you very, very much. We look forward to, you know, the next appointee from your board and they've got big shoes to fill.

Point of order. Can a retired board member be reappointed by their organization? Point of order.

Yes, they can, but they have to be out for two years, and then they could be reappointed. Yes.

Ms. City Attorney, you had an answer for that question very promptly. Thank you very much. Any other comments?

Mr. Chair, I just wanted to throw something out to the board. We met, you know, I started on this board, too, originally with Vincent, and we were meeting monthly. for probably the majority of time. We just started this every other month, maybe a year ago. But I must say, I think the every other month is not good. I think the monthly meetings are important to keep up with the pulse because what happens is people are doing end runs on this board because they know when we're meeting and when we're not. And there's things that come up and we're just not able to deal with them. And it's a very laid back feeling every other month rather than every month. So I would highly, since I'm not, I'm termed out as well. So I'm going to be leaving soon too. So I just wanted to plant that seed with all of you that you may want to consider going back to the monthly meetings if you feel comfortable with that. The other comment I'd like to make is for the next meeting. I would like to see a presentation on this aquarium site that is leased out by Miami-Dade County. There's been a lot of discussion about this site where another marina is going to be built there, a boat ramp. There's a lot of things going on, and there's a lot of very sensitive environmental habitat issues. that's close by that area. So I'm really scared to see what's going to happen over there with the new development of the size that they're planning. So maybe we could put that on the agenda, Mr. Chair, for next meeting.

Gary, thank you very much. Rafa, if you don't mind, I'll likely be termed out. Gary's termed out. Can you put this aquarium as an agenda item for next agenda for the board members?

Yes.

Let's see. Moving through this quickly. On Thursday, which is in two days, the city commission will be hearing our item that we put on the city agenda, which is CA4.

It's an item to reduce quorum.

We've done very well with getting five, six, sometimes seven members for this board. Sometimes it's difficult. The item that will be heard on Thursday is to reduce the quorum, I believe, to the city attorney says it's to five. But it will certainly be easier to have a quorum than the, I think, eight we often need now. If anybody wants to go to the city commission meeting or send a comment to city commissioners, you can do that online, speaking in favor of the commissioners voting for CA4. And it's a consent agenda item, so it might not even be, we hope it isn't pulled out and dealt with separately. We hope it'll be dealt with with all the consent agenda items. Anybody have any comments on that? Anybody have any questions? Monte, anything you want to bring up? Steven, any other issues?

The only thing related to a quorum is that we continue to be able to have workshops even when we don't have a quorum. I assume that's possible. And the other thing was that I don't know if it's up for a vote or how it's handled, but the meeting when we didn't have our chair and vice chair and they gave us 10 minutes to meet that criteria and then we disbanded, I don't know if that 10 minute window is open for expansion.

I'm sorry, is that a question?

We had a problem last year where both myself and the Vice Chair weren't able to attend the meeting. And instead of having the items discussed by the board members that showed up, and we had a good number of board members that showed up to discuss it as a discussion item, the meeting was terminated after five or ten minutes. Stephen would like the discussion items to be discussed, and if that situation happens again, he's hoping somebody will step up as an interim chair and discuss all the items.

Well, even further, I don't know how that is handled, how that time period was, one, determined, and two, if it can be modified.

Certainly. So the time period is in the bylaws. So the bylaws could be amended by a fourth, fifth vote of all the members. So you would have to have quorum first, and then you can amend the bylaws and change that time period. And second, you can assign someone else to serve as interim chair or vice chair, and you can add that to the bylaws because that also comes from the bylaws.

Okay. Ms. City Attorney and Rafa, I'd like to put one more item on the agenda for the August 25th meeting, and that would be discussion and briefing on the voter referendum question pertaining to Rickenbacker Marina or the Marina land and boat slips that are the subject of the 75-word voter referendum question in November. And I guess that would entail A representative of either Suntext or RCI or the Abad Malani family from Rickerbocker Marina and a city representative. So there'll be some discussion because it's probably the board should be well aware of that voter referendum question, that 75-word question that's on the agenda this year. And maybe the board could, if they have enough information, even vote. based on the facts that are presented on August 25th. Anybody else have any comments?

Maybe also another item regarding the referendum for the Marine Stadium, which should be coming up within a couple of months of the next meeting. whether or not that's on track or not.

If it's at all possible, then an agenda question pertaining to the renovation or a bond issue, funding for the renovation of the Marine Stadium. Would that be okay? What is the status of the renovation of the Marine Stadium?

I don't have that update. The last update that was provided was from Andrew Frey, who used to be the director of DREAM, but I don't have any updates to share at this time. As it pertains to the other item that you asked, I would have to contact one of those organizations or those individuals to see if they're able to come. Since they're not part of the city, they're a separate organization.

That's true. I guess you could ask Suntec's RCI, their attorneys, or the RIC Existing tenants, Rickenbacker Marina, voluntarily show up and educate the public and this board. Yes, they have no obligation to show up, but we're on TV. It's free publicity for their issue. Anybody else have any questions or comments?

Peter, one more follow-up. Is it appropriate for this board to make a recommendation after we evaluate the candidates for the marina?

That's a great question, Stephen. I think you'll have to ask the city attorney for an answer for that.

You could make a recommendation, absolutely. You could make it through a resolution.

It's a complicated issue, but hopefully... enough facts will be distributed to the board either in August or October for a good decision.

Thank you.

Andres Rivero, any comments, anything you've heard lately?

But I am curious, going back to the subject briefly about the meeting. I was at the meeting, which was about ten minutes. And so this quorum issue has made it so I don't think there's been a quorum in the time that I've attended these meetings. I don't think there's a quorum tonight. And so for this to be functional, there really has to be the change, I think, at this point. And so I hope that that can occur on Thursday.

We hope that item passes on Thursday. We've been waiting about a year for it. We hope it will go through successfully.

Thank you very much for attending tonight and in previous meetings.

Anybody like to call for dismissal?

I have one more comment to the board. I was looking for the section because I was... It's in the code. So Gary, the reason why we put the meetings to every other month is because it's part of the code. So the code section, let me give you that, 2-1191B says that the boys shall meet every other month unless required to meet on a more frequent basis to fulfill the requirements of subsection I or J. So what those two subsections state is that the board can meet more frequently if they, and I'm gonna read this verbatim, to review and recommend to the director of planning and zoning department for approval or disapproval of applications for any zoning change or future land use plan amendment to the comprehensive plan or on Virginia key. And that was standing the contrary to review and recommend to the city manager for approval or disapproval of any procurement issues as defined in the code. So you could meet on a more frequent basis if you're gonna discuss any of those two items in the subsections that I just met. Otherwise the board would have to meet every other month.

That's confusing to me because for 15 years we met monthly. I don't get it, why there's a change in the bylaws.

It's not in the bylaws, it's in the ordinance.

It has an ordinance, is it a new ordinance?

No, the ordinance has not been amended, so I don't know if it was an oversight. I can't speak to what was done before, but it is the ordinance.

And how about other boards throughout the city?

Other boards, they're all different. It's how they're established by ordinance. So they all have different dates that they meet. Some meet every six months. Some meet every month. It really depends on how they were established.

That's where we would have to look back at the ordinance that authorized this board because I think it's every month.

It's in the code. It's codified in the code. I'm reading verbatim what's codified in the code.

I know you are, but for all these years, there's something, there's an issue there that we need to kind of look into a little deeper.

So when I took over at Gary, I was told that it was the same thing. It was every month. But then when, you know, we worked with the city attorney's office to review the bylaws, I'm not sure why it was done previously to me being here or not. But yes, it's what Ileana mentioned, that it is every other month instead. And I think when we established this, the October 2025 meeting, because we were having difficulty with quorum, And if I recall correctly, everybody was like, okay, maybe it's going to be better if we meet every other month since we're having such a hard time with quorum as is. That way, you know, hopefully more people show up. That was the last that we discussed on this. But I do agree that, you know, it is confusing and I can understand that. But according to the bylaws haven't changed.

Well, we do review land use plans. So, I mean, that's why this board is together. We're supposed to review any and every plan for Virginia Key. So you can see how you could apply the land use plan justifications.

So I'm not gonna fight city hall here. I'm going out the door.

I'm just giving my comments as far as my opinion as far as what works and what doesn't look like it's working so good.

Ms. City Attorney, I believe the board was meeting pretty much monthly from almost the very beginning. And it was, I thought, going very well. Attendance was quite good, and it was effective. And we were lucky tonight. We have two department heads. We have Chuck Ellis from the director of the parks department, Alejandro, director of the dream, the real estate division, and asset management, who's here. They're not voting members of our board, but they count for quorum, and they have wealth of knowledge and information, and we're very lucky that we have them. Yes, and unfortunately, in the last year or so, it has been a little difficult to have quorum. We look forward to new members that are being appointed to the board having excellent attendance, so quorum isn't an issue. Gary?

I guess the last thing I'd like to say just as I go out the door, it's very important for this board to develop resolutions to pass on to the city board.

Because that's what our function is.

Our function is to oversee the master plan and to make sure what's going on on Virginia Key is... in association and in compliance with the master plan. So it's something we, I think it's important for everyone, new people, to look at the resolutions that have been developed to date by this board to the city board, and it's important. That's our only leverage. We have presentations here. I think this is a great forum when you have a big project coming up and people are concerned about it. This place fills up, so it's important for this to be an open forum for people to understand what's going on in the city.

Thank you all very much. And our master plan, which I pointed out before, this is available online, the City of Miami website.

The 2010 Virginia Key Master Plan, which everybody should review, a lot of thought went into it, and many, many, many dozens of meetings

incredible amount of wonderful activists from all over the city. Any other comments?

Stephen? Sorry. Is there in the master plan a requirement that it be updated with any regularity? Is that specified or it's just city attorney?

I'm not aware of that. I don't think so. Okay.

I'm not aware of that either, Stephen.

I mean, we did talk about like having a workshop on the master plan at some point.

Be thankful we picked the master plan. There were like four or five candidates for it.

Say it again, Vincent.

I said, be thankful we have a master plan because there were like four or five of them floating around.

Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, yeah.

Anybody like to call for dismissal? from Mr. Vincent.

It's been a pleasure serving on the board. Thank you to the staff for showing up. I know it's past your business hours, and thank you for, it's been great meeting all of you and spending time with you.

Thank you very much.

Oh, I'd like to call the meeting adjourned.

All in favor? Aye. All in favor? Thank you very much.