Virginia Key Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Thank you very much. Rafa will do the Pledge of Allegiance for discussion. Rafa, do you have to do a formal roll call or it's just obvious that there's only four people here tonight?

Oh, great. Thank you. And how many people do we need for quorum?

Okay. So we only have five? Assuming with Chris Norwood, we have five?

Okay. Mr. Norwood, thank you very much for joining us.

All right. Any requests for absence waiver?

So we're going to move on to the discussion items. Taking them slightly out of order, if you don't mind, from the city attorney, we'd like an update. on the city commission agenda item, a resolution that we provided last year about changing the quorum. Can we have a status for that item?

I was under the impression that was being taken care of when we submitted our resolution to the city commission to be approved.

So when will that item be back in front of commissioners?

Can you follow up with the manager so it can be heard in the next two or at best three meetings?

Rafaela? Because we've been waiting, I don't know, 12 or 18 months for this one item to go through the city commission. It's a shame there's still a delay.

Will you? Yep. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. Any questions from any board members on that? Everybody familiar with that item, how that item works? For those that are in the audience, we submitted an item resolution last year to change our quorum requirements. It's very hard to get eight people, almost from any board, to show up for meetings like this. We often get six, sometimes seven, five tonight. And our item would change the quorum requirements to only require three, three people to show up to conduct business. Luckily, we often have five, six, or seven the new legislation would

Okay. Then we are going to hear from the public tonight on that item, and we can also continue that item until the next meeting in two months. And so we will be hearing from Alejandro in more detail in two months. unless he wants to add some comments tonight after he hears from the public. And we would like to hear from the public. There's some wonderful advocates I know in the room tonight who have great information and have been attending meetings for years. You can speak in any order. Any microphone that's working? Excuse me.

Yes, Chris? I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm new here, but... There's an item on the agenda, and there's no one here to speak about what the item is, or is anybody going to speak as to what the item, even as a discussion item,

That's a great question. The board's been discussing this particular item for three or four or five years, so I understand you're new to the board. We requested somebody from the administration to speak on this specific item tonight, but nobody from the administration wants to go into detail tonight, unfortunately. There are members of the public that have a massive amount of information. and some information that hasn't even been distributed to the board. They've been attending some meetings with government officials that we have not been attending, and they're going to be updating us on what

Mr. Chair, I would love to hear from the public, and we will hear from the public. But first, I would like to hear Who from the administration is attending this meeting right now?

Got it. And so can someone explain to me what the Miami Marine Stadium Basin Moring Field is? What exactly is it?

Why don't we let Alejandro handle that question?

If you don't mind, Mr. Chair. No, not at all, Mr. Chair. I'm new to this committee. but I'm not new to service on committees and boards. And I've never sat on a committee or board when there's an item on the agenda that there's not somebody from the administration who presents what exactly the item is. And so I definitely want to hear from the public, and I'm sure they can add to whatever the later presentation may be by whomever from the administration. I just want to know, What is the Miami Marine Stadium based in Mooring Field and why is it on the agenda? And I would like to hear from staff

So just to clarify, the marine, I'm sorry, The stadium basin mooring field is out in the water. Okay, so it's near the Marine Stadium. Yeah, so basically you have the Marine Stadium, and then you have the basin right in front of it. So it's a body of water. It's a body of water. And it's called the basin mooring field.

Thank you. Thank you very much. You ask very good questions, Mr. Norwood. You're absolutely right. Normally, and it's completely appropriate for an expert from the city or the county or whatever government entity we'd like in front of us to give us a background information on a particular item. The mooring field that we're discussing will be in the Miami Marine Stadium Basin, which I believe is approximately 45 acres.

And it's also designated historic. Everybody's familiar with that? Gary Milano, you recall? Designation of the Miami Marine Basin as historic. Which means it has a whole different set of requirements that should be honored Anything historic should be reviewed. I have a, for Chris Norwood to review quickly, there's an article, there's a publication here. This is from Dade Heritage Trust, independent, called Preservation Today, the Historic Miami Marine Stadium. Rebirth of an Icon. This is 16, 17 years ago. This is from 2009. Gary, can you hand this to Chris to look at?

I'm fine. I would love to review this. Absolutely. I just wanted to understand what it is. And it's on the agenda because we're reviewing what about it.

Oh, we've heard a lot of comments from constituents, taxpayers, residents, rowers, dragon boat rowers, about the future of Marine Stadium Basin. Perfect. And they've been asking for an update on the status of the proposed mooring field. Perfect. I'm good. I'm ready. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your comments are excellent. Your questions are excellent. Leah, would you like to speak first?

Leah, before you sit down, quick question. If there were... I mean, this board was aware of the legislation pending for, I think it was, 50 mooring balls that I believe...

I believe it went to the city commission with 50, and during the meeting, commissioners... It was suggested through the interest of some of the boating lobbyists that it go from 50 to 75, and I think it's 75 passed. 75 didn't, I believe, come to this board. But my question is, if there were 100 or 195 morgue balls in the basin, what would that do to people's ability to row crew shells or dragon boats or triathlons or use the basin for recreation and non-motorized boating?

Okay. So I guess we're going to go from Roger and anybody else that wants to speak. Does anybody else have a question for Leia?

No, you'd have to speak at the microphone.

Staying on a second. Gary, do you have a follow-up question?

Roger Bernstein, and anybody else that wants to speak, and we'll be able to get up after Roger speaks.

Questions? Oh, Roger, yes, quick question. Thank you. I know you've been working on this issue for years, many years, and you've been wonderful coming to the meetings and educating all of the board members and city staff. In the next few weeks, can you reach out to Alejandro on my right, who is the director of DREAM, and maybe have a meeting with him and share your ideas?

I think Daniel Lopez said, can you enlighten us, Daniel, on who's in charge of this project now?

Well, Roger, that's not an accurate statement. Since you've got a drawing here with 195 mooring balls, you cannot say that everybody is in favor of keeping the basin open. Somebody's working diligently and incredibly in detail and putting in dozens or hundreds of hours to achieve this goal.

Gary, do you have any questions for Roger? Chris Norwood? Roger Bernstein for Roger.

Yeah, I do. Not necessarily from the gentleman at the microphone, but... Is your microphone on? Yeah, I do have some questions, but perhaps for the gentleman, but not necessarily. Okay. You mentioned before, someone mentioned before that there has been a project that has not gone before this board relating to Virginia Key. What is that exactly? Is it the subject matter that we're talking about right now?

Essentially, by charter, and the city attorney can opine more accurately than I can, but items that affect Virginia Key Park that are substantive and might be changing the park are supposed to come before this board before moving on to the city commission. And we're supposed to hear the items in detail and vote, we can vote. We only vote as recommendations. We can vote yes or no. It doesn't have to have any import whatsoever on the city commission.

No, I understand that, Mr. Chair. My question was, what has gone before the city that has not come before this board?

What exactly are we talking about? We did hear this item as it pertained to requests for 50 mooring walls. moving it up above 50 to 75, which has occurred during the course of a commission. We haven't seen any item or any information whatsoever about the mooring fields going up from 75 to 100 or 195. Got it.

And then, hearing from some of the members here, some of the people from the public, the question just keeps popping in my mind. What is it that we're trying to accomplish that can't be accomplished through enforcement? What exactly are we trying to accomplish with the mooring field that cannot be accomplished with proper enforcement under the current policies or codes of the city?

Well, I would like to know from the parks or Dream, what exactly are we trying to do that cannot be done by proper code enforcement?

Thank you very much. That's going to be a big question for me at that meeting. Because I really need to understand what is it that we're trying to do that just simply cannot be done through proper enforcement. And then lastly, my last question is, give me one second. And this is actually to the question that I had, because as I read the code, you know, in 50-2, it talks about the Marine Stadium prohibitive anchorage area. And so what additional regulatory authority does establishing a permitted mooring field give us that we do not presently have? And again, I know that's going to be a question

I understand. But I guess my question was way more basic than that. The reason why these boats want to go there is because it's calm water. Yes. And the reason why people row and paddle and all these things is because it's very calm water. Is that not duplicated? I guess it's not necessarily duplicated in too many places like that. No.

I'm talking about just like all people, whether you want to put a boat there, whether you want a paddle boat, whether you want a row. I'm just saying in general, the reason why we're having this discussion is because you guys like to be there because it's calm water and it's attracted to what you're doing.

Roger, quick question. There's rowing now on Indian Creek at the Indian Creek Rowing Club? Yes, Miami Beach Rowing Club. Miami Beach Rowing Club? Yes. That's, what is it, in the 70s? Yes. On Indian Creek. What are the complications or benefits and problems with rowing? And I know a lot of college teams come down to Florida and train there to prepare for their spring season, but Are there problems practicing on the Indian Creek? Hurdles from jet skiers and motorboats?

Do the rowers on Indian Creek have to stop our practices because there's bridges down or bigger boats coming towards them?

So looking at your drawing that you've provided, Is this 195 balls? That's 195 balls. Where'd you get this drawing? That's the city plan. So if this was executed and there were close to 195 yachts or boats tied up, what would that do to people that wanted to row?

I noticed that our esteemed board member, Steve Liebner, is in the room. To my right.

No, we haven't discussed the item. The item hasn't been brought to us by city staff in several years. We did get some information when it was headed to the commission for 50 boats, a 50-ball mooring field, which got expanded to 75. Nobody, as far as I know, nobody from the administration has come back to update us on the plans to go from 75 to 195, which is shown in this drawing. Thank you. Thank you very much. Roger Bernstein.

Who else wants to talk? You do a great, fantastic job, Leah. Chair, I just have a question. Yes, Chris Norwood.

The people here, just to talk about some of the other items that we have on the agenda.

That's a good question. Is everybody, there's a few people in the room that would like to talk about other items. So we'll finish up with this item soon and we'll move to finish up the other items.

Wonderful, then we'd love to hear from that person.

Good evening. I don't want to interrupt you, because I'm just trying to understand how we function. We take items and have public comment after each item. Is that how this board functions?

Yes, normally there's a presentation from the administration, and then we'd hear from the public afterwards.

But every item. So we have a presentation, a discussion, and then public comment, and then the next item, presentation, discussion, and public comment.

Yes, but often in our meetings we only have three or four people in the room from the public. Tonight is one of the largest gatherings of the public that I've ever seen. Got it. I'm sorry, sir.

Thank you, sir. Oh, we have a speaker with a colorful shirt on.

Thank you very much. Do we have a representative here from the Miami Rowan Club? Would you like to speak? We'd love to hear from you. We noticed we were provided with a I think it's a six page summary from the Miami Rowing Club. Thank you very much for putting this together for our board, and we'd love to hear your comments on your activities.

Mr. Herrera, I don't know if you've seen this drawing with 195 mooring balls in the historic Marine Stadium Basin, but what would this do to the ability of paddlers and rowers or anybody that wants to use the basin if there are 195 yachts and boats?

That is a bit. What would that do to your programming, your ability of people to use the basin for training?

Now, we've also been assured that it's... Do you mind repeating that?

Anybody, any board members have any questions?

This item will be heard again in two months. So maybe somebody from Durham can request somebody from Durham to show up. Anybody else like to speak on this item?

Thank you so much for speaking. Do we have a young lady?

Thank you for attending the meeting. Anybody else have any questions before we go to another item? And for the members of the public that have sat through this meeting since 515, 530, thank you very much. We appreciate your presence. Mr.

Chair, I do have a question. I guess it may be pertaining to this. I'm just trying to understand something conceptually. I've heard several times about jet skis in the basin. Is it lawful for jet skis to be in the basin?

I believe it's lawful, but there's a speed limit. Would anybody else like to answer?

So when you come into base, you have to lower your speed? Yes. To what?

Mr. Norwood a year, year, year and a half ago. 3 people were killed in the marine stadium basin. From accidents with jet skis, I believe they involved most of the drivers that were drunk or drugged. Three people were killed within a six-month period. The problem was terrible before enforcement was improved.

So there is a speed limit. It's supposed to be, like, very, very low. And the people who are forced at... Marine Patrol. The Marine Patrol, which would be the city?

Thank you. We're going to move on to another item. If those of you in the room that were here for the Marines Basin item, you're welcome to leave. You certainly don't have to stick around. But please come back in two months, October 27th, and this item will be back on the agenda. Thank you, thank you so much for your comments and for participating. Roger, thank you very much, and Leah. Oh, left on the agenda? Oh, great question. We have an item on the Rickenbacker Marina site and a referendum question, and also there's litigation involved in that site. We're not going to be talking about that

I hate to keep doing this, but I need to understand when we do an item that I expect somebody from the administration to tee it up. And that's good for, I don't know if this is being recorded, It's good for the public, it's good for the people here that may not be aware of why the item is on the agenda. So are we going to the Rickenbarer item or the Miami-Seaquarium site item?

Well, first we're gonna hear from the public on an item that they're here to speak about, and then we will go on to discuss that item, and then the last item that we hadn't discussed yet.

I'm confused, Mr. Chair. What is the next item on the agenda? Which item are you here to speak on? Sequarium. Okay. Okay, so if that's the next item on the agenda, then I think it would be wise for us to have the administration, you know, just tee it up for us a little bit.

We, that's, the item's been on the agenda for weeks. We would love to hear from somebody from the administration on this item. Rafael, is anybody from the administration here to give us a briefing on the Miami Aquarium site?

Understood. So Mr. Chairman, why is this on the agenda?

Well, because this aquarium is incredibly important to Virginia Key Park. It's a 32 acre park site owned by the county on the south side of the causeway. And anything that happens there is going to impact Virginia Key Park. And anybody who's in the leadership position at the city of Miami should be incredibly curious and interested what's going to happen with the Miami Aquarium site. And from what we've read in the paper, we've sent articles to the board members over the last week or so on that issue, but Given the current proposal that we're aware of on this aquarium site, I mean, they would

So this is on the agenda. How long has this been on the agenda?

You said three or four weeks? You mean it was put on agenda just for this meeting?

I don't have our previous meeting, Mr. Norwood. I don't think it was on our previous meeting, but it's probably been requested three weeks ago. Can we hear from Gary Milano?

Maybe I can help. Well, no, no, no. I think I just want to hear from the chair because the chair controls the agenda. So I'm asking the chairman... what items are on the agenda and when they were put on there and for what reason. So I'm assuming that you put this on the agenda for discussion at the last meeting. Is that what happened?

Or maybe shortly thereafter the last meeting. Now, the chair puts items on the agenda, but the chair also adds items that are contributed by any board member or anybody of interest.

That's all I want to know, like how it got on the agenda. That's all. That's all.

Gary Milano, do you want to speak to that? In the microphone, Gary?

I think, for me, from a procedural perspective, when I see an agenda item, When I see an agenda, I expect there to be a presentation. Someone should tee it up before we give it to the public. That's just something I'm accustomed to.

What I'm saying is, from a board perspective, every agenda item When it's here and it's advertised to people, somebody should give a presentation about it, whether it's the chairperson, if the chair asks one of the members, just tee it up and say, this is an item on the agenda that we thought was important for us to discuss, and then open it up to the public.

So the Miamis Aquarium item, we hope to hear from David Martin, the principal of the Terra Group, on October 27th. And maybe anybody from the city that has some background on that item. And we'll also hear from members of the public on October 27th. And it's crucial. It's a crucial item. It's also a crucial item to the village of Key Biscayne. It's going to have a huge effect on any residents. Key Biscayne and anything that's happening on that site would be incredibly important to them. I've already talked to people in Key Biscayne and I know they're very concerned and curious what's going to

So we had a member of the public who was going to speak, I believe. Would you like to speak? Yeah, I apologize for that.

Thank you. Thank you very, very much for your summary. Your summary was excellent. You covered a lot of ground. You spoke very quickly. Excellent. And all excellent questions. And as you know, this aquarium is owned by Miami-Dade County, not the city of Miami. We're all, this board and everybody in the room is incredibly curious and interested in those questions being answered appropriately. But unfortunately, it's owned by the county. And I'm sure you're reaching out to county officials too. Anybody else? Mr. Milano?

Thank you. Hopefully, maybe somebody will propose a resolution at the next meeting when there's a quorum.

Well, there's been some articles that Rafael has sent along to us in our emails, but I believe I read that the current proposed tenant bought out the assets from the bankrupt former tenant, and then subsequently got approval from Miami-Dade County to approve them as to be the new tenant with a 99-year lease.

Those are all good questions, even. Hopefully we'll have more answers. And some of the articles that have been in the media have been fairly complete. They're in three or four different publications.

Any other questions from anybody at the board? Mr. Norwood? Your questions have been excellent. So there's only one other item that's left on the agenda, which we're not going to go into too much detail. But at the Rickenbacker Marina, that issue is going to a referendum this year for voters to decide on a new tenant. There's also litigation involved. and we may get a fuller summary on the October 27th meeting. With this, Ms. City Attorney, do you have any update on us on the situation with the Rickenbacker-Marina referendum question?

That would be great. That would be very nice. And I think that item will be on the October 27th agenda. Even though early voting would have started a few weeks before October 27th, I think this board should hear that item in some degree. And seeing the legislation and the ballot language would be helpful. Gary Milano.

I honestly haven't seen a lot of details. I have. The pros will... That should certainly be shown and discussed by this board.

I'll let the court- Raffaella, can you have somebody, can you put that item again on the agenda for the 27th and have somebody from the city able to talk to us?

Is that, Mr. Chair, is that- From when you say that there's a permit for more peers. Yes. Is that because of the Seaquarium site? No, no, no. We're in a different location. No, I'm sorry. We were talking about the Rickenbacker Marina site. So you're saying that that permit is for that site? Right.

So what's the difference between the marine site that you're referring to and the one that... The referendum is referring to the same site?

The Ricamarca Marina, there's a voter referendum pertaining to that exact site. I was unaware of any proposed enlargement or expansion of that site. And that is the kind of thing that should be brought to this board before anybody's applying for permits.

But the Sequarium site, I know it's different, but isn't that like a huge development?

It's 32 acres, I think. Yes, that's huge, and that's specifically controlled by the county, but we should be informed about it and updated on it. Got it. Okay. Any other questions? You guys are wonderful to be here tonight, even though we didn't have a quorum. 20 after 7. We covered a lot of ground, and there should be a good meeting on October 27th. Hopefully we'll have some great, informative speakers. Raffaella, thank you very much for everything tonight. Is there a motion to adjourn?