City Council - Regular Meeting

So good evening everyone if you could make your way to a spot and we'll get the show on the road, we have a rather lengthy agenda and all of you don't have to sit here all night, but we do. And if you'd like to sit with us all night that's okay too so i'd like to call the city council presentation agenda. To order for the record, today is Tuesday, July 22 2026 and South 505 PM. So we just have a couple of presentations tonight to recognize a couple of folks who have served the city and we have a lot of folks. who serve on committees and aren't necessarily recognized or known, but these two fol

So Karen Jenkins and Michael Stiles, Pastor Stiles. We'd like to recognize you both with just a little certificate from the city. Certificate of recognition presented to each of you.

So tonight, in sincere appreciation and recognition of each of your years of dedicated service as a special magistrate for the city of Homestead, your commitment to upholding justice, fairness, and integrity has made a meaningful impact on our community. So on behalf of myself, the council, and all the residents of Homestead, we present you this small token and thank you for your unwavering dedication and valuable contributions to our city. Karen.

Okay, well, that concludes our presentation ceremony this evening. Again, thank you again both to Pastor Michael Stiles and Karen Jenkins, who I've both known at least seven or eight years. I want to thank them for their service and all that they have done. And again, as the pastor said, the sacrifices they've made.

Well, the last place you want to sit if you're thinking about running for office one day is in the seat you sat in in those hearings. And it takes a special commitment and integrity and view of the city to do that. So again, thank you both. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome. It's still Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026. I won't vouch that it'll still be the 22nd when we leave here tonight, but I'd like to call the regular city of Homestead City Council meeting to order. It is now 5.15 p.m., and let's see, what's that? No, okay, yeah, you're doing it, yeah. This evening, we will have the invoc

Please join me in prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this day to you. We give you praise, honor and glory for all that you're doing and all that is yet to be done. We ask a special blessing over the city of Homestead, over the leaders, over this meeting tonight, over the discussions and the business that will be before us. Father, we ask for guidance. We ask for discernment. We ask for leadership, wisdom. And Father, we just thank you and praise you for what you're doing in this mighty city. We give you all honor, praise, and glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

We have the police explorers. 24, let's pay attention. Carry, clutter.

please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you all, please be seated. Madam clerk, we have a roll call, please.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next is a public comment section of the agenda. I will first take those who have preregistered in the order in which you were clocked in, which is what I'm trying to do right now to get these These registration sheets in the order of time. First up, Eddie Garza. Come forward and give us your name and address for the record and your comments this evening.

Thank you, Eddie. All right, Mr. Bello, Enrique Bello, also known to most of us as Henry, you're up. Come on down.

Now, if you are, you can check with your professionals.

Appreciate it. Mayor? Mayor? Good to hear positive comments. Councilman Roth.

Just a clarification, what property are we talking about?

Due north of the Dickinson Center, the front's chrome. Most white part.

Oh, that vacant lot that's on? Vacant lot, yeah. Is that 17th?

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay, next is, is it Vitaly Falkover? Okay, Vitaly. Good evening. Welcome. If I butchered your name, my apologies.

Thank you. Okay. All right, Lunacel Alvarado.

Thank you. And I'm sure each one of us individually will be in touch. Thank you. Okay. Pastor Stiles, you registered. If you're still here, have you said your piece?

Thank you, Pastor Stiles. All right, next registrant is Robert Molling, and I can actually say Robert is here.

However, I do not reside in the City of Homestead.

That's part of the discussion that I'm sure is going to be had later in the evening when we talk about this. I understand that there are perhaps concerns and we're going to have that discussion.

All right. Was John going to speak? John was registered as well? John Ader? Why not, right?

Very good. Let me just go ahead and say, because I know some of you may or may not be here because it's very late in the agenda. And I was going to preface my remarks this evening by my placement of this discussion on the agenda is in no way a reflection upon anyone in the utilities department. From the director all the way down to the newest hire, it is not a reflection on your commitment, your capability, your viability, and your commitment to the city. know we'll get into that further this evening but i want to be really clear that at least from my perspective not a reflection on anyone who

Thank you. Thanks for coming out this evening. Anyone else in the audience? Walter, come down.

Thank you, Walter. Before we go to the online, is there anyone else? Last chance, or we're going to go to the folks who are waiting online. So seeing none here in person, who do we have online this evening?

Thank you. Anyone else online? Okay, so I will now close the public comment section of the agenda. Before we go forward with some logistical gymnastics on the agenda tonight, Mr. Manager, do we have any additions, deletions, or deferrals? Requested additions, deletions, or deferrals.

All right, so can we do one consolidated motion to start with to add to the agenda the three add-on items dealing with collective bargaining agreements and then the deferral to a time certain of tabs 8 and 25? Yes. Motion? Moved by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Any questions or comments from council? Very none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Was that Avila? Okay. Okay. So any particular one councilwoman for the record?

Okay, came in late. It sounded like your I was like, okay, any objections? And I guess there's a delay in the transmission. I'm sorry. So you're...

I think that's what happened here. Okay, thank you. All right. So we have some very public-oriented items before us tonight. What I would like to do is jump to tab two, which will be the SPH discussion, followed by tab 27, which is the EDC item. Tab 12, the millage rate discussion. Tab 23, the Harris Field. Councilwoman Konski, your item. Move it ahead. And Councilwoman Avila, following that, if you had anything under your business that's not on the agenda that you would like to bring forward early in the evening, we'll accommodate that as well.

Okay, so let's move to tab two. This is the first of two public hearings regarding the P3 proposal for a partial renovation and upgrade of Harris Field as proposed by the folks at Sports Hub. Good evening and welcome.

Very good, thank you now just to kind of set the stage I conceptualize this tonight as an opportunity to take a deeper dive into the concept and the planned renovations and where we might be on dress addressing some of the. brick and mortar concerns that some of us may have had in terms of noise spillover, of accommodating those who use the field, alternative locations, those kinds of issues reserving for our next and perhaps final public hearing a a deeper dive into the actual business deal that's my understanding and you know mr uh pearl or mr manager please you know feel free to jump in at

Right, so I think that, you know, both in terms from council but, you know, first and foremost from the public, their commentary on this concept of entering into a public-private partnership for a portion of the facilities at Harris Field. That's really what we're here for tonight. It's been noticed to take in public comment, again, with respect to this concept. I will say I had the privilege of having a meeting with our part consultants shortly after our last meeting and I can say that in my meeting that our consultants had no concerns at that point about meshing a revisioning of that parcel

thank you for kicking off the conversation and hopefully we'll get through this and uh address your item and uh let you uh move on so anyone joined us online okay go ahead who's with us brandy ramirez mayor okay very good ms ramirez thank you mayor um after hearing some comments that were said i think it's very important that we highlight our city manager

Thank you. Anyone else online? So let me open it to questions or comments from council. I won't close the public comment yet. Some of you may get a whiff of bravery and want to approach the podium or hear something from one of us that motivates you to come forward. So who would like to kick it off, kick off the conversation from here? Sure, go ahead.

Thank you, and I appreciate Councilwoman Avila's comments. I, too, agree that maybe we haven't put our best foot forward when it comes to getting public comment. I know we have put some things out there on social media. I haven't seen a lot of feedback. I've asked neighbors for input, and a lot of them don't really have any type of input at this time. I think what we might ought to do is have one more additional workshop between now and and the second reading to try and get more public input on what they want to see. Ultimately, I see all the benefits that this provides. There's still some que

Thank you, Councilman Fletcher. Councilman Roth?

Sure, why not? um i got a couple questions for staff for one the the the turf that's there now that was brought there by the orange bowl committee is it has it ran its lifespan is it ready to go and we have to replace that now

that's one thing to consider right you're talking about 1.2 to 2 million dollars that we're going to have to expend on that park in the next year or so because become unsafe for athletes right okay so i think that part of it's a no-brainer right if we allow sph to partner up with the city of homestead it does take a huge burden of maintenance costs off the public and we could reprogram those dollars somewhere else i also met with the the consultants and they were all for what was happening because that gave them more money to spend in other areas in that park and in my conversation with the co

Hello. Yeah, you're good. I only see, yes, I agree with you 100%. I only see benefits on this deal. And plus, well, we just saw the World Cup.

We're going to have a professional soccer club over here. It's going to be amazing. So I'm all for it. This is a working process. Those little edges that we need to file, we'll do that. So I'm very happy for it to be here. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Okay, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree as well. I had had my meeting already with the the reimagining and the one piece for me that was a no-brainer that we really didn't even need to discuss was that those fields needed to stay but to make it a destination park 100 i think that needs to be the vision and the way that we're going for me i think the only piece right now that i just want to make sure we are incredibly clear on is the current groups and the clubs that are using the field. I know that there's been great communication and support from them. But whatever we can do as a city to see what those cal

It seems to be unanimous. We all agree that this is a beautiful partnership. We see way more pros than cons. I would definitely say that the devil's in the details and there's a lot in this that I have questions concerning revenue sources and the 30 years. I think we all have the same questions. I look forward to additional workshops and what you have. On the 30th, I have lots of questions, just as many of us do, but again, those are all in the details. I don't believe that we are in the business of entertainment. but that's what you're bringing to the table. So we are under utilizing this par

Thank you, Councilwoman. Let me just close it out, at least for us, by saying I'm confident that there is achievable middle ground on the time frame and the amounts paid and the timing as to when those are paid. It's all about recognizing we have competing interests. Sometimes we're not going to be able to resolve those, but we have much more in common than we do as opposites. I believe that as the discussions go forward, I'm hopeful that there will be time to roll out and have some discussions and presentations on the entire deal, both the business aspect of it and the conceptual aspect of th

Yes, but I don't think it would be appropriate until we have most of the details ironed out. There's no reason to leave ourselves open to questioning about loose ends until those loose ends are tied up. You know where I'm going? We're not gonna take a half-baked idea on the road. But I'm confident. Look, we have a template for this deal, and it's the Homestead Regional Agreement. We're not reinventing the wheel here. So I believe to meet their timeframe of being able to put shovels in the ground, September, October, whatever it may be, we can achieve that, that we can have that fully vetted an

councilman did you need to add anything just just real quick i know the time is of the essence for this and i don't do we have any meetings scheduled in august at all so we'll have to it's kind of open it's open it's open there's a likelihood that we'll be one right at some point right because i think what what i think what the mayor's saying is we we we need more meat on the plate before we can add the mashed potatoes and gravy there you go right so

Always hungry. But I think that's what he's in. And we know it's time is of the essence, too, because they got to get shovels going. They got to get stuff moving in and the relocation of teams. I mean, you know, Homestead is a is a is a very popular high school football field. And I think all of those games are gonna have to be rescheduled and moved somewhere else. And I'm not sure what the locations are gonna be logistically, who's gonna pay for transportation and help them get to those locations and things like that. So I think those details need to be worked out as quickly as possible so th

Thank you, Councilman. Any final comments to my left? Councilwoman Avila, any final thoughts?

Thank you. So I think I think we've been clear and the public's good and clear that we continue forward and we will do so in all reasonable haste.

How much time do we really need to I don't want the scheduling of a workshop to drive the negotiation schedule. I would rather have a product ready to go and then schedule. I don't know how many days, five days, seven days notice of a public presentation, but I hesitate to do that until we're ready to go.

Well, let's just say for sake of argument that you have this ready to go in the next week, by the first of the month. If we schedule something mid-August and there's no major hiccup, we could have a meeting and I don't, well, I do have a calendar here in front of me. We could conceivably adopt the week of the 18th or the 24th? Does that work? So, you know, if we can roll out something with the pretty pictures and graphics and the financial details, you know, if we need to have, what are the dates of the League of Cities? Does anybody know offhand? Is that the 12th, 13th, and 14th?

We're just talking about hypothetical time frames, not later than the end of August.

Okay. Good range. Thank you, Harvey. Okay. Mr. Attorney, Mr. Manager, we're good to go on this one? Moving on to tab 12. That's the millage rate discussion. As Carlos makes his way down with the not 28 minute long presentation.

go beyond this on a final adoption correct excellent point of that rate council any questions all right so let me open the public hearing for a comment from the public is there anyone wishing to make any public comments is there anyone online NO. ALL RIGHT. SO LET ME CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING THEN AND I WILL ASK FOR A MOTION TO ADOPT THE PRELIMINARY RATES AS RECOMMENDED. MISMOVED BY COUNCILMAN CANNABAL. SECONDED BY VICE MAYOR BAILEY.

JUST SO THE PUBLIC KNOWS, WE'RE NOT RAISING TAXES. WE'RE SETTING THE MILLAGE RATE TONIGHT. WE'RE GOING TO WORK WITH STAFF SO THAT WE CAN DECREASE that number back to what it was last year. So there won't be a property tax increase. It's gonna take a lot of, as the mayor used to say, looking for the coins in the cushions, right? 500,000 is quite a bit. It's a lot of coins, but this is not raising your taxes at this point. We're just setting it where if we need to, we can, and we're gonna fight to not raise your taxes. I don't think we've raised taxes in the last 8 years as far as military goes. So, right.

And they see that in their tax bill, because their properties have gone up in value and. And, uh, the county, you know, does their thing. So I just want them to know that. At 1 point, I think during covert, we took it all the way to the max, which was 10. Yeah. just in case, because we didn't know what was going to happen, and we didn't have to increase it at all during COVID. So we were going to be very good stewards with your money. Staff is going to be very good stewards with the budget, and we're going to make sure that we get this where we need to be at.

Yeah, we did that in 20, and it went over like a lead balloon. Yeah.

We had to do what we had to do. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Any further? Council? All right, we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Perez. Okay. That takes us then to Councilwoman Konski. Your discussion item for Harris Field regarding Coach Strickland.

23 tap 23 as just shown as a discussion item at this point so floor's yours thank you thank you mr mayor um we've heard a little public announce uh dedication and comments about Coach Draycon already tonight. So I'm going to ask Mr. Coach Fornari, Joel Fornari, if he will take the podium.

So, Coach Millard, let me ask you, because some clarification. The agenda item is talking about discussing the renaming the field for Coach Drinkon. I'm sorry. You kind of indicated, well, maybe the whole facility needs to be renamed.

Because, you know, if you believe everything online, there are folks who think that the whole thing should be written down.

Well, let me ask the attorneys. I know at one point, at least for some issues, a prior counsel enacted a naming ordinance that set out some procedures. Would that necessarily apply here?

which by necessity would be making reference to the Orange Bowl funding agreement. So I wrote by there, there's a sign that says Orange Bowl Field.

Yes, with SPA. And I think we can have it both ways. I mean, I can think of colleges that have Coach ABC Field at Coach... or donor stadium, DEF stadium. I think we can accommodate everything. But I think in terms of our self-imposed naming restrictions, if any, plus any obligations under the Orange Bowl agreement, we come back and whether there be something in the middle, something placed on a future scoreboard or a memorial plaque at the entrance, Those are future discussions, but it seems there's a consensus to drive toward seeing what we can do to name the field. The main football field, i

Yeah, so what I would also like to suggest to the friends of Coach Drinkon is amongst yourselves, come up with a memorial of some sort. It could be a statue, it could be something, and we could also figure out a way to put that there could be a bronze statue of like we have mr chrome in chrome avenue now um i would i would suggest that you guys put together a committee to raise monies to do that what did do what did that statue cost us 100 grand 100 000 well For Mr. Drinkon, I think if you guys could put yourselves together, contact all these kids that he helped throughout the years, $100,000

in that area along with a partial name of some sort for mr even even a memorial plaque at an entrance somewhere with his likeness could probably be had for ten or twelve thousand dollars yeah so you guys can come up with a plan and i i think we would be in agreement to allow it to be placed at the field somewhere so again and if we go forward and have partners uh all that will have to be coordinated sure obviously okay

Council Fletcher. Yes, thank you. And I appreciate Mr. Finari coming all the way from Naples back to Homestead. I've had the pleasure of knowing Joel and Coach Drinkon since I was knee-high to your knee-high grasshopper. not only did he save families and save lives but he bought brought kids to christ as well he was a good family man that deserves the recognition that we can provide him whatever that is i'm here all for it and i appreciate coach finari for for driving this home thank you thank you okay

Alright, thank you. So I think we have some direction there. Now, Councilwoman Avila, as promised, in case you lose your connection or get tired of sitting with us this evening, I made the commitment to allow you to bring any of your end of agenda business forward that you may want us to consider this evening before we move on.

Okay. Well, that'll be one of the things we send to the charter committee anyway. So Mr. Pearl, so we need a motion and a vote to reconsider.

Which would result in no charter questions going on the ballot this November. i'll make that motion thank you okay so moved by councilman avalon and councilman roth beat you to it councilman cannibal and this is a motion to rescind the uh adjustment for appointed terms of office so anything further from council any public input okay so i'll close the public hearing and i'll ask for a roll call vote on the motion to rescind

Okay. Well, we'll consider that and we'll take that in its due course. Thank you. Okay. All right. So I think at this point, What we need to do, yes, Mr. Pearl, you wanna jump over to the LPA?

Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Peter, my apologies. We're gonna jump to tab 27. Can't even read my own notes up here. Thank you for your earlier input. And then we'll go to the LPA.

Council, any questions? So we just need, and I think you've got our expression of support for your continued work and the report that you've presented. We thank you, Mr. Mayor, for codifying the relation, our long-term relationship. Thank you. All right. so i think now this is the point in the meeting where we need to place the yes mr pearl we have a motion on the resolution of support for the edc okay so we have a motion all right moved by the vice mayor seconded by um fletcher kind of seconded by everybody i won't say third okay so let's have a roll call vote on that item councilwoman avila

All right. Now, as I was saying, now is the point in the evening where we need to recess the council meeting and then jump to the local planning agency agenda, deal with that agenda, and come back and reopen the council meeting well that we're going to come back to the c r a we had to do the lpa then we'll jump into the council agenda is there a land use items on the council agenda so let's do this let's let's place the council meeting in recess take a five minute break and come back and and open the lpa uh... lpas notice for seven fifteen so we'll take a slightly longer break very good okay s

All right, if we can all begin to find our seats, we'll try to get this back on track.

Oh, good evening everyone and welcome. I'd like to call the city of Homestead local planning agency meeting to order for the record. It's still Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 and is now 716 PM. Madam clerk, we have a roll call please.

Hey, welcome back, Larry. Okay. All right. Tab 1 is the approval of our minutes from May 20th. Moved by Board Member Roth. Second. Second by Board Member Cannavale. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right.

Yeah, that's right. We already deferred that. Right. Okay. Very good. Thank you. All right. Moving on to tab 2.

Correct. Anyone need to disclose on three or four? Just two.

Thank you, Mr. White. Are there any objections to moving this on to the regular agenda with no further comment here? Moved by Council Law.

Right, okay, good, thank you. Okay, and we're just now posturing to vote just to move this and have further discussion on the regular agenda. So we're gonna have a roll call vote on tab two. Board Member Roth? Yes.

Thank you. A motion to move this to the regular council agenda? Second. Moved by Councilor Roth, seconded by Board Member Roth, and seconded by Board Member Canabal. If there's nothing further, we'll have a roll call vote on tab three.

Thank you, Mr. White. Motion to move this to the agenda. Moved by Roth. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Roll call, please.

So that concludes our items. Anything further from Development Services or the City Attorney for this agenda? Motion to adjourn the LPA. Moved by Board Member Ross, seconded by Board Member Cannavale. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay.

We now need to bring the regular council meeting out of recess. Okay, so we adjourn this. We're gonna reopen the council meeting, moved by Councilman Canabal to bring us out of recess, seconded by Councilman Fletcher. All in favor? And that brings us back to... I guess addendum 1, 2, and 3. Let's take those as a consolidated item and separate votes.

And these are all for the current budget year. Yes. A slight bump, one time bump in this current budget year. Council, any further questions or comments on this? I know we spoke about it at length in some of our sessions is there anyone online or in the audience wishing to speak on any of these matters okay well i'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion on addendum one moved by councilman cannibal we have a second second second by vice mayor bailey so roll call vote on addendum one councilman ross councilwoman avila

And motion on addendum two by Councilman Roth, seconded by Councilman Canabal. Roll call on addendum two. Councilwoman Avila. Yes.

And as to addendum three. Moved. Moved by Councilman Roth. Thank you. Saved by Councilman Cannibal. Roll call on addendum three please.

Thank you. Okay. We have before us tab one, the consent agenda, which consists only of the June 2nd Council minutes. Moved by Councilman Roth, seconded by Councilman cannibal. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. We did tab two. all right moving on to tab three the appointment of the special magistrate new special magistrates right okay is there a what staff member has tab three yeah

So piggybacking on some of the earlier comments tonight by current members, does our code put a cap on the number of magistrates and is this kind of like a random assignment of hearings?

So by virtue of the retitling, the redefinition, it's more of a legal proceeding rather than a volunteer proceeding.

Thank you, counsel. Any questions or comments? Vice Mayor? Let's go to Vice Mayor, and then we'll go to you, Councilwoman.

When we first discussed this, there were some reasons of why we wanted to go this route. Can you refresh my memory?

Let me interject Council novel what can you hear the assistant city managers explanation.

Thank you. And there is no option of having both. to have a special magistrate and a special master it's two separate criteria you know pastor styles brought up some some really good points he was on the southwest advisory committee for years and years and the only reason i allowed him to get off of there is because so many especially residents in the the southwest struggle with how um to go about go about um dealing with these code issues and that is one piece that i am going to miss is that knowing the community understanding the community i feel like that is what we're going to lose that wi

Thank you, Mayor. Is this Time sensitive? Do you like to defer it? Is that what you're asking? So I also I was also not aware that we had to standing that we're still interested in continuing. And although it was raised from 75 to 125 now jumping for it being 125 an hour with a cap at 750. That is a huge jump. Can we maybe have a discussion and see if we come somewhere in the middle and reach out to the public again? That's what I personally would like to see.

I would also like to defer it. I want to have that conversation also.

So this would be. So somebody's going to have to move to defer it and the companion item.

Any further discussion? I move to defer. Okay, I'll second.

okay yes councilman pleasure thank you um i know we we passed it's in our book where we passed the ordinance earlier this year to move to the special magistrate portion are there legal obligations

Okay. I just need a little further clarification on the legal ramifications because there's some specific language in here mainly related to school camera citations.

I'm good with that. I'll have further discussion later. Thank you.

Was there anything to add? I'm just thinking out loud. I mean, we've already let two people go. I mean, can we get them back until we figure this thing out?

Well, certificate of appreciation isn't here's your retirement.

Well, I mean, they left here thinking that they're done. I mean, how much time do we need to defer this to figure it out? I mean, I'm on board. I'd rather have local people. Um, you know, policing their own people, you know, these guys don't even live in the city and they come here for two or three hours a day and leave, and they don't know the Southwest section from the Northwest section. And I just don't think it's a, it's a reflection of what, you know, our code compliance in our magistrates should be. I just, I. I don't know how this came, but maybe we talked about it before, but I just do

That's all. Let me be the flip side. I've recently heard about, and we've seen before us over the past several months, where very lenient, fine reductions have been granted. Sometimes for matters that have been, that are repeat offenses and have been pending for years and years and years. Let me make the analogy to the past due electric utility and other utility bills. There was no process. I think there are times that we need to get beyond who you are and not have those local pink goggles on and treat everybody equally and I see the opportunity to have outsiders as an opportunity to treat eve

Okay. So I think we have a motion to defer the companion items. Councilman Roth? I think you did have a motion already. A motion to defer both of the items. Motion to defer. And I think we have a second. Do we have a second? We did. So let's grab a roll call vote on the motion to defer 3 and 11.

That takes us then to... No, speaking of mitigation of liens, tab 4. Who's going to present this? Okay. I know you've got the applicant has counsel. Good evening. Good to see you again.

Thank you, mayor. So, um, additional discussion a little on the last item um for me it's not who you know it's understanding the history um this btr issue is one of those examples of people in the community understanding what changes um although positive have come to better our city That comes with growing pains and it comes with issues that we can blame on predecessors, we can blame on whatever the issue is. But the fact is that mistakes are still made at the city level. I have lived through moving my business and dealt with all of those headaches much more than I would ever like to relive. A

No, he does not live in the city homestead. What was the original amount that was due?

$145,000. That's a pretty good reduction.

Thank you, Councilman. Anyone further to my left?

council fletcher am i on the left oh no yeah yeah we'll do fletcher and then you you're on my right anyway yeah so i kind of looked at this similar to how we did the last couple of items similar to this and Again, they've taken their time, but they have come into compliance, and I believe that it's up to us to make the final decision on whether or not we're going to help reduce that or not. My feelings are that they've substantially bettered the location from what it had been, and we should look at reducing the fines up to our maximum allowable amount, which I believe is 95%. Is that correct?

James, do you know? 95% reduction, is that our maximum? Which would equate to how many dollars? 95 against the seven, whatever. So let's say 5% of whatever the max was.

Of course, built into the number that's been approved are the non-negotiable hard costs.

He's kind of holding that in abeyance. We wanted to hear from you first.

Yes. If I may. So I just want to be clear. In 2022, you purchased 1201 Northwest 4th Street. And you purchased it with $311,642 worth of liens. That's correct. Why would you do that?

Sure. So, I mean, it is always buyer beware. Absolutely. And you took on this $311,000 worth of liens and fines. And here we are today, negotiating it. The 1150 Northwest 12th Street, or 4th Street, you said that he's owned that property for how long? 2004, so we're talking 22 years. Okay, and he accumulated $409,620.21 worth of fines and liens for what?

How long did the business tax receipt issue last?

And what took him so long to resolve the BRT? Right.

May I ask a question? Absolutely. How much is the BRT license?

No, I'll ask staff. I'll ask anybody. Who can answer that question? How much is that license? It's $45. $45.

Right, but it's not like you just bought the property. You owned the property for 22 years. So to me, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why... It took you so long to come into compliance. You've been there for 22 years. The license is $45. What changed from the time you bought the property to when you ended up without the BRT that caused all these problems?

Yeah, but what triggered that? Because he was already there for 22 years. He was there from 2000, whatever day you said. He didn't have those issues then. What triggered that process that brought this up to $400,000 in liens? over a $45 license.

so he he 22 years ago he bought this property or whatever started this business there and never obtained a brt because he couldn't comply with what the city's requirements were at that time is that what you're saying so he elected to continue to do business in violation of the city's codes for all that time is that right

I understand. But you're talking 22 years ago. And here we are today talking about $400,000 worth of liens and fines. It took you 22 years to solve. That's kind of, that's just not the way it works.

There's been like 14 managers, 15 code people. I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me.

I can wholeheartedly- Thank you. In a moment of levity, it was only 2013, 14. He's owned it longer than that. Yeah. Now, and to your point, though, Councilman, and I think Mr. Lopez touched on this earlier. This is a similar case to an earlier client he was here with, the old Brooker Lumber Company property. Right. And I referred to it as the circular firing squad, the chicken and the egg, that only until recently when we made the code change. could you pull permits to do the work that required you, that you were required to do in order to get the, what I used to call the occupational license.

So I think that was, you know, it's just facts. And the code's been amended now to avoid that circular issue.

And that's going forward from less than a year ago.

Yeah, there are circumstances with every case.

Okay, so you made a motion to offer a settlement of 5% of the fines. Now, if our package is correct and the fine amount, the lien amount, well, the fine amount was $7,2300, which does not include the hard cost. does that 720 include the hard cost so 721 262 dollars and 61 cents is all inclusive of the hard cost and so it appears that the 720 300 is the lean amount the consult the the lean amount for both parcels so councilman to clarify your motion would be to concede a settlement of hard cost plus 5% of $720,300.

That's correct and I believe that number to be $36,977 as provided in the book.

With credit for the $7,000 already paid. This is a difficult one for me because on one hand we're sending the message that you can sit back as a property owner and give us the proverbial middle finger, I'm not gonna get a business license receipt because you can't do anything about it and I'll pay for it at the end at a huge reduction or I'll find some buyer that was gullible enough to have it passed on to. I don't think it sends a good message. But today I took the opportunity to talk to the Assistant City Manager and Mr. White, and we did not, contrary to what was alleged gonna be done to me

But a garbage junk and debris, I think that was yeah forget about the broken fence, I think that was fixed and just that fell through the cracks. but are we at the mercy of derelict property owners today for those kinds of violations there have been instances where the city will go out go ahead and take corrective action and then place the lien on the property for the cost of the corrective action of that corrective action but i don't know how often that that's no the actual cure of the violation right is not

So is the answer a revisiting of that very draconian certificate of use ordinance that was floated? That if you revoke the certificate of use, you can actually shut down a business for code violations.

I mean, look, if we can make it easier to get a certificate of use so that we can then snatch it when there are violations, But the impediments that were in place in that first draft to get a certificate of use was a whole other story for me. But pardon me, I'm getting out in the weeds. We've been here since five o'clock. All right. We have a motion in front of us. Is there any further comment? We have a motion for a relief to the tune of 5% plus cost with credit for the $7,000 already paid. ANY FURTHER FROM COUNCIL OR STAFF? WELL, LET'S HAVE A ROLL CALL VOTE ON THIS ONE.

No, because I can, and you still win. It's just the principle of the thing. Not personal, and I know there's any circumstances, but for me, it's about the message that we're sending. Nobody else is going to have your situation. Thank you so much. Thank you.

YES, COUNCILMAN ROTH. I HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE ATTORNEYS. MATT, ONCE WE FILE A LEAN AGAINST THE PROPERTY, CAN WE GO INTO A FORECLOSURE ACTION AGAINST THAT PROPERTY?

Okay, we need to deal with the timeframe for payment. I know the larger payment, you were given six months. I don't know that that's necessary with the much lower amount.

There's been a question as to whether or not 30 days, not greater than 30 days full payment, which is. About 2029 $30,000 fine.

Yeah, I think we so Matt, do we need to revisit this? in terms of rescinding and re-motioning.

We need to rescind the prior action and then do it again with that timeframe built in. So, Fletcher's motion to rescind the prior vote, seconded by Canabal. Roll call on the motion to rescind.

All right, so now we need a motion for settlement with a time frame for payment. Councilman Fletcher?

Vote for the amount previously stated and a 30-day time period.

In full within or before 30 days. It's been said by Councilman Canabal, so let's have a roll call on that.

That takes us to tab 5. Correct. It'd be more talk on this than the last one. All right, so we, but wait a minute. Not so fast. So I guess in short, this is an expenditure of, Almost $47,000 to add the championship seal to the one water tower out by the racetrack at the city's sole expense to be, as I understand, removed by year end together with the 250 logo in between now and then we decide what's going to go on there. Also my understanding that the operator of the track has declined to contribute to this effort. Is that correct?

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Manager. My thought would be that money could be better spent for banners, for a whole lot less. If we're going to help advertise the event and have it seen citywide, only those going to the track generally are seeing that water tower. For me, that's a lot of money, particularly when our partner's not contributing, despite the fact that it's been budgeted.

Mr. Mayor, is this, can I just ask, is this time sensitive to get approval to have this installed?

I think we moved to defer so we can have further discussions with the operator. Thank you. And I understand that, you know, there are some other things that may be coming up that are quite big. That are more beneficial. That are more beneficial than the water. Yes, sir. Thank you. So a motion to defer.

I'll second that. Okay. Okay. Any further discussion? Sorry to cut off your fun. But we have more. We have more. We have bathroom paint. All right. So roll call vote on the motion to defer.

And moving on to tab six, the final platform, HG phase one.

Okay, thank you. Well, it's the final plat. I don't know that we need any input. Moved by Councilman Roth. Seconded over here to my left by Councilman Fletcher, represented by Mr. Arza, who's not here for $125 an hour tonight. Oh, he's just wandering. Well, come earn your keep. Enter your appearance.

I just want to say thank you so much. It has been quite a process getting there. But we were just speaking about it earlier today, driving through there now. It is just such a difference. And to think about years ago when we saw what the inside of those apartments looked like and all the sweat and tears and everything else that went into it. I'm very happy to say transformation. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Council and Mr. Arge is here. This is, I think, the mirror image of something we did several months ago next door.

councilman fletcher it's your district would you like to move it move it with one statement okay we did receive a letter of opposition from one of the residents i think that some of his points were well made but at the same time they are going to be in accordance with our site plan so i appreciate the the thoughtfulness that the resident went through to provide us that input and i'm going to reach out to him personally i haven't yet but uh very well written letter with a lot of good

good thought into it so i appreciate that and again more appropriate for discussion site planning but not for the just the naked rezoning all right i asked fletcher to it was his district no one would you like to second it by roth any further discussion a public comment close the public comment roll call vote on tab seven

Thank you. And before we move on to tab nine, since eight was deferred, It's that time of night where we need to move to extend the end time of this meeting from 830, and I would suggest 930. Moved by Canabal. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. All in favor? Any opposed? Everybody out there? Okay. And that takes us to tab 9.

Thank you, Mr. White. Any issue with waiving the staff report? Did you move it? One. Okay, move by vice mayor with a comment.

Thank you, Mayor. I know this isn't part of this piece, but I just want to urge everyone if you haven't been to the car wash off US 1 and 288 and seen what craziness it is at all hours of the day. i know that this is not part of the discussion for for this now but before we consider anything going on that corner which is already an incredibly terrible intersection um i do urge you to go and see the major issues that the car wash on 288 and us-1 is causing that demonstrates demand on one hand and our uh

incumbent on us to really take a hard look at site planning inclusive of traffic all right so second move by vice mayor second by councilman roth with a comment yeah so earlier in my briefing we talked about the one we approved a couple years ago out in the oasis public's plaza which hasn't even broke ground

and staff had informed me that they had done nothing to do anything out there. So I asked them to reach out if they want to come and talk to us, see what's going on, because we don't have nothing on the east side for car washes, nothing. So the closest one is, I think, on US 1, the sports car wash or whatever it is. Just so I hope they reach out and find out what's going on, if they're dead, if they're not going to come back.

I think Mr. Harza represented that approval. He bailed out already. Can't blame him.

was that if i may the uh the last contact i had said that they had pulled that plan and were not interested in homestead anymore last time i heard that was my understanding but that's going back that's going back over a year correct no okay so i think we have a motion and a second still roll call vote on tab nine councilman ross councilwoman avila councilwoman avila

Newfound money, but yet with restrictions on use, and this is the perfect fit. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Anything further from Council? Yes, Councilwoman.

Okay. All right, do we have a motion and a second? I think we did. Let's have a roll call vote on this.

Thank you. Moved by Councilman Ross, seconded by Councilman Canabal. Any further questions or comments on this item? Hearing none, roll call, Madam Clerk. Councilman Roth.

And that takes us to tab 14, good old Pump Station 11.

Thank you. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by Councilman Roth. Any further from Council? Roll call, please, Madam Clerk.

The motion carries and have 15 for backup generators.

i know we've all been briefed on this juicy subject okay so moved by councilman cannibal second by fletcher the question by the vice mayor not a question unasked um so first of all it is ridiculous how long anything at blakey at um the pal gym has taken right we've had terrible luck with the contractors and so forth i would like to specifically have that one of the first pieces done is the front door with impact windows. We can wait on the other side of the building, but I think that that would be just a quick, easy fix that will be welcoming. We are ready to start opening Homestead Gardens, a

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay, I think we had a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Thank you. All right, that takes us to tab 17, a renewal of the F dot funding of some of the US one landscaping maintenance.

Do we have a motion? I move. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by the Vice Mayor. Any further questions from Council? Roll call, please.

moved by councilman roth second by councilman cannaval is there any further council question or discussion hearing none let's have a roll call vote on tab 18. councilman wrong councilwoman abula

Thank you, Mayor. Do we have any of the artists present tonight? If maybe you would like to say something if you're here, talk a little bit about why you would like to be chosen. I think we've got three amazing groups to choose from. Come on up. guessing you are the trio in our package okay well thank you very much for your submittal and if you don't mind your name and address for the record and um

Thank you very much. Sorry for the long wait, but we appreciate you coming up.

Just so the public realize, these sketches that are peculiar to the building we're talking about are the first time we've seen them. They're not in our package. I mean, we've seen your work and your vision and your statement here, but not these. Just so everybody understands.

Yes. Just a quick question. Again, I appreciate your comment that you're not married to your sketches. I just want to make sure that it's very collaborative with what we already have in the area and it's not. I get the Miami vice theory, but at the same time, I want to be coherent to what's currently complimentary with.

Very good. Well, thank you. Anything further from from council all right appreciate your coming down and waiting this evening no problem thank you guys all right you might as well just hand the mic off to the next group hi welcome thank you for having me my name is alex fawn can you guys hear me okay if you want to go ahead and pull that out and there you go

I think in our package we have samples of your work that kind of show us. Yeah, yeah, I tried to put some samples in that I think are appropriate. You've done in the past, but I really think that for us to make an informed decision, and I don't know if this is really time sensitive, you know, I know you mentioned you're on another job. What would be a timeframe that you might be able to envision and provide a first proposal a look for this project, specific to this project.

Well, that's why I'm looking to staff. I don't know that the execution of this is that time sensitive or is it?

Now I understand that, but if the first group was in position to provide us with their preliminary vision of something they might do. Kind of mixing apples and oranges and I don't know if everybody got notice at the same time and was on the same time frame to submit a specific proposal. I know The last sketches, as I said, were not in our agenda packet. They were new for tonight.

you know as quickly as the 204 mural went and the the one at the paseo it's not out of the realm of possibility to give everybody the same footing yeah

I get that, but sitting here tonight in mid to late January, I'm sorry, August, July, where are we? What kind of cushion do we have to, before we make a choice of team or artist, to put everyone on equal footing of seeing an initial vision versus other random work?

Equal footing and the preliminary concepts to be presented and it seems we're gonna have probably a special call sometime in late August Okay for SPH. Okay, so generally speaking a 30 day period more or less whatever that regular August Meeting would be let's just say last August meeting. Okay, let's let's just say for sake of argument that would be what the night the 2026

Pardon? Yeah, I think the League of Cities is going on. Or is that the week before? 13th. 13th, okay. So that's not in conflict with the League of Cities. Whatever it is, probably not any earlier than the 19th.

Okay. We're sitting here today at the 22nd that we would make a decision with everyone having, you know, that presentation of that site. Yep.

Okay. Absolutely. Very good. Anybody else? Anything else? All right. So this is the third artist. Hi, welcome.

So do your parents actually live in the city limits, or they just have driver's licenses and stay homestead?

That was my point. Close enough. Okay, second question. Yes. I didn't have my reading glasses on and I saw one of your renderings there where you had an indigenous woman and for a minute it looked like the skunk ape and I was thinking maybe we should have you incorporate the skunk ape in the bureau.

That's an Everglades original, the skunk ape. But okay, so any counsel just to put everyone on equal footing? know and if the the first team wants to come back and make some adjustments that's fine i think we're anticipating a meeting on the 19th that we can select the artists that at that point and for me it'll be based on what your vision is for that particular building not what you've done elsewhere for sure

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you all again. And for my colleagues, in case you didn't see, but the call to artists was a little more specific than we've usually done before. You know, for me, Lozner Park, it's just so beautifully landscaped that I thought it was important that we really play off that. And then, of course, just kind of giving kudos or whatever to our past and using those cool, vibrant Miami Vice style colors. So if you look at some of the elevations here in the pictures, there's so much more growth that's even going to happen. But you've got the palm trees already and you've got the

all those lines with the foliage, to staff. Kind of the big mural on the west side of the building is really obscured, and we're going to have to really think hard about how the existing landscaping may need to be realigned. to not obscure whatever's done here and really take a hard look at the big mural that faces west on the back of the Seminole Theater that's very hard to see when you're, it really is. So do we need a motion to defer this to, all right, so we need a motion to defer to the 19th. All right, it's been moved and seconded.

Thank you all, appreciate it. Okay. Moving on to tab 20.

I think that's a wise decision rather than rejecting it out of hand. So moved by Roth, seconded by Canabal. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. That takes us to... Tab 21.

thank you what an exciting prospect yes moved by councilman cannibal seconded by councilwoman conski any further discussion okay what a slam dunk that would be for deep south date all right let's have a roll call then that's the woman avila councilwoman avila

Okay, let me interject here. I've been remiss. We have an elected official with us, Mayor Lago of Coral Gables. Welcome. I hope we haven't jumbled your... See, you only have four to deal with. I've got six. okay all right welcome to homestead our architect said that our city hall would be similar to yours but they lied it's a lot bigger okay moving right along to um tab 22. and uh okay this this grew out of a couple of things our transition to the round seal and adoption of a different color palette. So we began talking about, you know, new flags with the round seal with staff and conversation

The three options I'm looking at are terrible.

I agree with you on the present. They're horrible. I like that one.

The original one looks good compared to these three right now. So I would say let's put it back to the drawing board and bring it back another day.

Well, I would say, okay, to that regard, and I've had this discussion with staff, the seals on all of the option are out of scale. They're too small if we're going to use the seal. There's nothing time sensitive here. We can defer this and ask staff to go back to the drawing board and come back. Well, the seals are all out of scale on these renderings, and that may be part of the issue. But we can ask staff to go back to the drawing board.

Just quickly, I would also like to see some examples without the colors on the bottom. I'm not a big fan of that. Thank you.

Just a white background? Yeah. So if you go online, all the advice says don't have a seal on a blank field. It says do something else. And, you know, there are a lot out there that are just too busy, and these were kind of a middle ground. But if you have chance, in all of your spare time when you go home tonight, you know, Google city flags and see what it says. And Miami is the example not to fall. Okay, so yes, Councilman Fletcher.

I believe Councilman Avila had a question, then I'll go after her. Councilwoman Avila?

OK. Very good. Well, if you didn't pick up on it, I think the tenor here is to send staff back to the drawing board, perhaps get some better renderings of what's before us, as well as some other options.

And Mr. Mayor, if I may. What's that? If I may. Yes. Can you also bring back a budget of what this is gonna cost? We're making decisions here coming up in the next few weeks on our budget. And I think just boldly going out and replacing all the flags might be something we not need to do right now. So if we can understand what the cost is of this to change these out across the city, it'd be good to know.

Thank you. Someone's gotta go figure out how many we have. Okay. So staff has their direction. All right, we've dealt with 23, that's in process. And that takes us to tab 24.

section 30-397 permitted uses and dimensional standard tables to amend the permitted use table for small animal clinics and hospitals providing for conflicts of ability and providing for an effective date thank you a little bit of background this initiative over the last couple of years i've had more than one veterinarian some who have practices in the city and some who have practices outside the city who have been desirous of expanding or either coming into the city. And they all expressed to me that under our code, it was very difficult to find suitable property under our code to locate. So

Mayor Mrakas, No, I think that the the table, I was given in the lead up to crafting this. that these uses, except for large-scale emergency animal clinics and hospitals, are allowed in B2 and don't require a standalone building or a minimum lot size. So I think that we already have that. Is that correct, James? It's correct.

Also, James, you and I had talked about, I think there was a typo in the number of veterinarians, and it may be we want to consider between now and second reading removing that limitation, because you can only have so many people in a given building. on that minimum lot size at a given time. Certainly dental offices similarly situated have far more than that, for example, in all these medical clinics. So certainly yes, certainly very amenable to Councilwoman having your concerns addressed as well as perhaps the removal of the limitation on the number of veterinarian and support staff.

Okay. Very good. So let's have a roll call on first reading.

All right. That moves us to tab 26. 26. Again, just a really quick background. At one of the first presentations our park consultants made, either publicly or at least one-on-one, was a recommendation to have an independent fundraising arm to get a not-for-profit set up to begin to independently seek grants and philanthropy for park acquisition, capital improvements, all those kinds of things. And when this first got on my radar, it was more in tune with the pending transfer that's obviously not yet complete of the new 10-acre parcel, but certainly Harris Field and the balance of that upgrade

Correct. Seven appointees, one from each council member, the prior mayor, and the city manager.

Correct. The manager or his or her designee.

Okay. So, Councilwoman, is it your concern that it be a designee of the manager or that it be the manager or none of the above?

I think it's nine. It's the seven appointees. It's established as nine.

But the seven elected officials will always have their appointees. Yes.

Okay, very good. All right. You think further? I think we have a motion and a second. Let's have a roll call vote on the first reading. Councilwoman Avila. This is it.

Again, I think the key words are non-binding straw ballot. Councilman Rowland?

So implicit in that, is it your belief that we should remain in the public power business?

Well, you didn't answer the question. You don't have to, but it's neither here nor there. I think it's important to know why you're voting the way you are. It's more important than how you vote. Be that as it may. I'll, for those of you who are here with the old fashioned ways of the dirty looks and the arms crossed, I'll bear those slings and arrows. We got to grow out of old Podunk homestead. and recognize that we neither have the money or the capability to generate the needs of this city in the future. I run into folks all over town all the time that have a complaint that we're not reliable

what anybody's fear is about finding out what folks are thinking so with that councilman fletcher yes thank you mr mayor and although i i can agree with some of your points i believe this is putting the cart before the horse and if if in one day we have to make this decision to to move elsewhere i believe it puts us at a strong negative position when it comes to bargaining If we have a poll out there that all the residents and the customers of the city want to go to FPL, that gives them a stronger hand in any negotiations because they know the people want to go that route.

That may very well be, and I agree with that. However, if the reverse of that is if we receive an unsolicited offer from a public provider Are we gonna call for a special election and spend a couple hundred thousand dollars to poll the public? Or are we gonna wait until November of 27 to get voter approval? Or are we just gonna go forward?

Well, I kind of agree with your concepts a little bit, but at the same time, I just believe it puts us at a strong, or not so strong, negotiating position. and all of us are put up here to make a decision and unfortunately we don't know what that decision is going to have to be yet come november we're going to know where exactly we stand when it starts coming to taxes and at that point we're going to have to make a decision it may not just be the electric enterprise it could be solid waste it could be water and sewer we may have to look at all of those things i think we need to wait until we s

The financial information before we make this decision. That's my personal take.

And that's fine. I don't want to fall into the trap, though, that, well, let's go get voter approval when a contract is pending. We may not have that luxury of time.

No, and again, I think that's why people elect us at the time. Once we find this information out, we're here to make that determination. And it's going to be what it is at election time at that point.

Well, maybe it won't, but To our employees, we can't stick our head in the sand forever. If it doesn't happen this year, next year, the following year, there's going to be a fundamental change in the way we raise and spend money in this city. You know, the only two people who came and complained tonight from among the employees were people with their own self-interest. And that's why Homestead is way behind the rest of the region. Because we never thought big picture. Because you had a bunch of weak people sitting up here in the past who wouldn't say, we've got to act in the best interest of t

I mean, yes. So obviously, there are things potentially in the pipeline that is going to change completely the way that we're able to run the city 100%. For me, without us even being able to look at what does both of these pictures look like having our own or not, without that information, we wouldn't be able to make that decision right now. So for me putting it out To a poll, no typical resident is going to have that information either.

But people don't think about that. There's a perception. Are we reliable? Are we cost effective? Are we efficient? I think the answer across the board is no.

Whenever there's issues and I look at the email and see who's on call it is always very, very informative, this is what's happening, this is a timeline personally business here in the downtown house in the downtown 20 years I. hardly ever have issues.

No i'm lucky at my house until tonight I I don't I always get restored pretty quickly and may not be the case in the future, but. generally citywide that I don't see that. I get emails, I'm stopped on the street, I'm stopped in the grocery store, and look, the reality is on a good day we can generate, I'm told, about 10 megawatts. Our requirements on a daily basis are up to 115 megawatts. The manager shared with me that we need a minimum of $50 million to get anywhere where we need to be. in our power plant to be self-sufficient so this is not just a what if tax reform happens this is facing t

renting or buying that's that's the way that i see it so i would need to understand more it for me it makes more sense that we own it we can make certain decisions we've got um a hand up leg up on on being dependent on somebody else so those would be pieces that i would ask for more information on and to understand what those two processes look like you know and

Again non-binding straw ballot, but you know, I've finally learned in my lifetime to read the tea leaves and stop Tilting at windmills when the windmill has already fallen on me but So guys for a lack of second And thank you councilman and that concludes the regular agenda and I'm trying to thumb through here and see in which order we have individual council members business yeah mr manager what do you have for us this evening no it's dead okay

We didn't catch what time Board Member Santos will be here tomorrow.

Thank you. We'll make it happen. All right. Councilwoman Wachonski?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have two things. A big thank you to staff for the FIFA party that was at Lozner Park. A great turnout for a normal Lozner Park activity. However, I find that... What does that mean? I think attendance is low. It was average. And I think our attendance for a city of our capacity, it's low. And I'll take some personal responsibility in that. And it's something that I did share with staff that many of us old timers, I consider myself an old timer born and raised here. We don't attend these events and I don't understand why. I maybe a few reasons why. And I'm going to

Because the old timers aren't on social media. And they're not soccer fans.

I don't know. But it's still a social occasion. So I just think I'm going to employ them to come and check out what's going on at Homestead. They just don't do it.

I believe the attendance was so-so also. There was a lot of fear-mongering about ice being in that place. So that's one of the reasons that... And it was 108 degrees on Sunday afternoon.

It was warm. But it was still a great party.

You know, I think you make a good point. There's a lot of unjustified online fear-mongering about the presence and activity of ICE.

No, one other thing. Havana Nights, I know that I was pushing for that event quite a bit, and I want to say thank you for all of those who supported the event. Our goal was to raise $30,000, and we were just a few dollars short of $34. $4,000, so thank you very much for your support of these nonprofits. They do a lot with a little, so they're going to be able to do amazing things with this money, so thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you for those efforts. Councilman Roth?

Thank you, Mayor. Just one announcement. The Military Affairs Council, along with the Kiwanis Club of Homestead South Dade, is putting on their Vegas Night. It's an annual event. This year it's going to be August the 8th. at the Redland Country Club. If you would like to get tickets in advance, you can go to Eventbrite, just type in the word military as long as you're searching in the Homestead area, and you can purchase tickets there for that event. All the money that's raised in that event will go to help military families and help with scholarships through the Kiwanis Club. Tickets are $25.

Whatever. Yes, it could be your age, too, but those people won't show up. Not yet. Chomsky just made the point that they don't show up to the event, so it's a 70s era costume contest, and it'll be fun. There's all kinds of games, the typical casino games, craps, roulette, blackjack, Texas Hold'em, food, like I said, cash bar, 6 p.m. to about 10 p.m.,

and it's saturday august the 8th and eventbrite type in the word military searching under homestead and you will find tickets online thank you mayor thank you councilman councilman fletcher thank you mr mayor uh i also attended the event on sunday and i agree it was uh very hot but it was an exciting game and uh enjoyed it uh and we had two different locations one was in english one was in spanish And most everybody was standing at the Spanish side because that's where all of the excitement was. Spain. But we would hear like 10 second delay ahead of us was the stuff going on at the other. So t

Thank you, Councilman Fletcher. Councilman Canabale? Very good, it's already been said. Councilwoman Avila, are you still with us?

Thank you, Councilwoman. Enjoy D.C. I love to go there. Vice Mayor Bailey.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, I know the ice cream guy at least made 45 bucks off my kid on my kids on Sunday. Also, I thought it was great. But we need we need to look into misters, coolers, it's speaking of the old folks I mean I can't I can't it's so terrible and I think that taking advantage of a lot of the trees there and figuring out some creative ways to have some cooling stations needs to be. into play asap but kudos i thought it was really cool the little flags going throughout just a really a really great vibe so um i believe that's it thank you appreciate it i also add the you know the ta

But no, that's a really good start, and our events do get better and better, and I know we're gonna outgrow Gossner Park one day soon for some of those events, be a victim of our own success. So a couple of things, I'd like to remind the two of you who will remain nameless who have not yet made your appointments to the Charter Review Committee, if you could do that so we could get them up and running in early September, hopefully we'll make that announcement at that famous August 19th meeting and move on from there to get them coordinated and moving in September to hopefully put some items on

Good evening, everyone, and welcome back. Apologies for the lateness of the hour. I'd like to call the City of Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency meeting to order. For the record, it is still July 22nd, 2026, and it is now 9.52 p.m. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll, please?

I'm here. Mr. Director, do we have any deletions or deferrals this evening?

Tab 3. Do we have a motion to defer? we need a date certain or just okay no definitely all right it's been moved and seconded to defer any further comment from the board all in favor for the deferral of car number five one one six tab three all in favor aye any opposed all right so Mr. Director, that takes us to tab one, the West Homestead presentation by the Integral Group.

Mic check. We good down there? One, two, one, two. We're good. Got it?

Board members, who would like to kick this off? Vice chair.

Thank you, chairman. Thank you very much for the presentation. This project has seen many different variations, and I am excited to see it here again. You mentioned the 4th Street corridor. You know, this is, it's always seemed to me it's a little bit of a gateway into the southwest neighborhood, right? So... It's not exactly what I envisioned. We've looked at some different types of projects that had a little more of that mixed use. So for me, I think the only thing that I would love to see more of is what do those open spaces look like? And is there potentially an opportunity to include mixe

Thank you, and thank you for the presentation as well. You mentioned you're a for-profit entity, but you want us to convey land to you for free to make a profit. Kind of explain that to me.

Well, wouldn't you try to do that if you're a for-profit business?

You're just telling me the cap. You're not telling me what your intentions are to sell properties that were being asked to convey for free to you for a profit.

But you're saying you're going to be selling them at market price? I just have a hard time people coming here saying I'm a for-profit company and saying I want to I want you to convey that land is owned by the CRA and the citizens in the city so we can make a profit I just have a problem with that that's all mayor thank you thank you I appreciate those sentiments um

So for better or worse, I typically try to do my homework on those who are coming before us. And lo and behold, and coincidentally, one year ago today on July 22, 2025, The Real Deal published a story about your plans in Homestead. I hope they got it right. Well, they got it from somewhere, and I want to ask you about this. The county owns most of the lots, and the city of Homestead will convey some of the properties. And that the rentals and townhomes will be reserved for households earning no more than 80%. of the area median income and the apartments will be four story and 13 for sale town

Speaking to the proposed lease payment to the county?

is that we authorized the transfer of what appears to be these 14 lots that the city owns for the construction of town homes that's correct is there any obligation for a time frame and and we're going to get started the look i kind of glazed through the the schedule but we would like ideally to close on the first set of five town homes

and again in a part in your perfect world if we were to agree to convey those lots whether you know over time as you you do the first five and then we whatever that may be is that little corner lot that we miss

and obviously this all came about you know you're the award of the rad project to you and it's kind of grew from from there um given the increase in labor and construction costs and interest rates i guess do do you have an out clause are you at risk of being declared in default with the county let me just say this our experience here bait and switch year after year after year do we have any guarantees that you're locked into to doing the balance of the multi-family if you get these lots i mean obviously you've got them phased but and i'm just playing devil's advocate because i don't support yo

Okay. So again, let me turn to my fellow board members and let them ask some questions or make any comments they may have. And then At that point, it would probably be a good time to bring in our potential partner in the Triangle property. Board Member Fletcher?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for the presentation. I tend to come to these on a very skeptical side because the lack of action in our CRA over the last seven years that I've been here has been pretty bad. Things have changed. We have a new director who I have the utmost clarity in his qualifications to perform his job. But in his recommendation, it was for us to provide, to look and provide. He didn't really provide us direction on how they want to see this. And shame on me because I was supposed to go meet with him this week and I did not. I need more details. You already have these pr

I appreciate that. I do. And I still have some skepticism on the triangle property just because nothing's happened. You know, so again, shame on me. I didn't have my discussion with the director and I need to have some more data. I'm not going to get that tonight. I don't believe I'm unable to support this in its current configuration. I have to have more information. And it's something I don't think you can provide me tonight. Thank you.

I can follow up on Councilman Fletcher. Okay. And I think you have this same map in your presentation that delineates in light blue your lots and dark green ours and then there are red dots on what you want from us and yellow dots on your blue. If you want to come take a look and see.

So the whole block to the west of what I had visualized is the current rad that's going to be replaced. Here, this. Yes. The teal color delineates all of your ownership of lots. Does it also reflect where you're going to do this multifamily? Or are these outliers simply reflective of what's under your control? And would your multifamily primarily be more center?

So, Councilwoman Avila, if you have any questions for this speaker before we bring up those involved with us in the triangle parcel. Do you have any questions for this presenter?

Thank you, Board Member Avila. So if you don't mind, if there's no objection, as long as they're here and they've been sitting with us for the last five or six hours, the folks from our triangle project, I believe, are here. I think Some input from them tonight, some clarification, yes, would be helpful. I don't see this going anywhere, but I think as long as they're here, let's avail ourselves of what they have to add. And Board Member Roth.

Thank you. So I'm looking at the properties. I didn't look at them earlier, but there is housing on those properties now. Are they occupied?

And I'm looking around the neighborhood with aerial pictures, and there seems to be a bunch of single family homes around there. Southwest Fifth Court has single family. Actually, there's two single families on Fourth Court, which is just to the east of where the multifamily is going to go. I can't tell if there's single family across the street. What would... What's the possibility of looking at these lots again? I think we have some restrictions on lot sizes, but instead of building town homes, building single family homes.

um what's the density on the multi-family on is it fifth street to fifth uh fourth court and that's fourth avenue to fifth avenue so the bigger turquoise piece the whole block yeah it's something that's similar to the i i don't have the exact number but it's similar to the um the project that will be considered the triangle Because right now on that piece, it looks like there's only nine living units. And that encompasses the part directly across the street. So you'd be going from nine units there to what, 40 units?

Not like I'm peeling the onion sometimes. That's all, Mayor, thank you.

Thank you, Board Member. So let's hear from our Triangle folks. Anything you can shed light on or help us understand where that segment of that area may be? Pull that down so you can be heard, yeah. All right, go ahead.

Can you give us an overview on where you are? I know I think we had a general proposal several months ago, a CRA presentation. Where is that? Are you kind of in flux because of that stray lot that we thought we misadvertised as being included? Has there been any significant discussions with

Okay, so because it's it's not just the lot having that lot on the right side of the table enables vacations of right away to expand the footprint of of that project. It's not just one road. It's it's it's a couple of roads to to expand your buildable.

taking this in order with respect to the integral proposal. Your basic ask is for this board to approve a conveyance of those, whatever it is, 13 or 14 lots with no consideration for the construction of town homes reserved for people who don't have more than 80% AMI.

Those protections are almost something that need to be before us tonight rather than approving in concept. It's your pleasure board members.

I appreciate that and I'm probably with you.

well i think it's what are you asking us for direction or a decision on whether or not in theory we would agree to convey these lots with those protections yeah i i think we're looking for direction and i would suggest if this is something that you know the board is is

You know, just for timing purposes, October would probably be very optimistic since there are no commission meetings in August. and to work through the county bureaucracy and get this on a commission agenda, you may be talking early next year. And I don't disagree with the proposition. I really think that somebody thinks they've got our sensitive parts in a vice over one little lot. You know, the fact that this was engineered by the former manager and director to a large extent, not only this acquisition but the advertising and the back and forth between the integral group makes me very uncomf

I think my communities beyond that I really do, and you can talk all this stuff about housing and tax base in the future. Bottom line is the city has a lot of money in these lots and I know we'll never going to get it all back out, but when you stand at the podium and say yes that's the proposal to give me.

I'm sorry? Yeah. We understand there's a consolidation of laws.

is to defer them and have folks come back and talk about whether there is an agreement to work out that hanging chat of a lot and what a timeframe might be and who needs to do what in order to go to the county and have a realignment. First and foremost, to your earlier suggestion, or a reallocation of that one corner lot so that if everything else falls apart with respect to a conveyance of these lots to Integral for the single family, the Triangle can go forward. And I think that should be our first and foremost interest. And I don't know that anything would be ready for the workshop, but, yo

So you would be building four town homes on the lots there that surround 11 and then would utilize 11 for a fifth town home. Because earlier I thought I understood that everything that was in Teal was going to be multifamily.

Mayor, if I... I would think it would need to be tied to...

I agree 100%. If we're asked to convey lot 11, then there has to be a commitment to convey... To release the county agreement to us. To us, regardless of timeframes, so that we can...

continue and build out the triangle property and we will be willing to put that into an agreement with the city of homestead that we would do that and obviously our attorneys and directors spoke earlier about an overall agreement for conveyance with protections built in for the city Correct. Whether it be one lot or 14 lots.

with the city of homestead as well as the developers to have it conveyed for trying to work out whatever is the best way to include that parcel in that development we will make that commitment and can sign off on that i'm sure uh city attorney matt can can pay for that well and that that was my next question i know he had something in mind for a global transfer that we'll have to narrow down for this potential one transfer so i guess the direction tonight would bring to bring back a package to us along those lines for the transfer of lot 11 in exchange for, and I don't know that you can necess

We have no problems in Ms. Storch's department. No delays.

They would also be tied to that other law.

so is it our direction to the attorneys to try to accomplish that and hopefully we can meet everybody's time frame and needs and if not we we tried hard all right so i think that concludes the discussion on that i have one question though yes not about that do we have capacity out there do we have sewer capacity for all this development Wasn't our action on pump station 11 tonight laying the groundwork to provide that. You may Cairo earn his money tonight and say that.

They quit my dogs waiting on me at home.

So that would seem to dovetail with normal construction? All right, I'll be here all night. We have been here all night. We're gonna make it to tomorrow whether we want to or not. Okay, so I think you've got the direction there. I believe that would dovetail into the next conversation. With Triangle. Yes, sir. That will take no action, will not take up that tab tonight.

Based on our experience with the development of the shotgun property and the failure of the award of the tax credit loan, doesn't that springboard us into the uncertainty that if it's not awarded, it may not be able to perform with respect to that portion of the project?

It's not tax credit, this is tax exemption.

So the ask is, is it 120 rental units be allowed to avail themselves of an exemption from taxation?

So I think we need to defer this as well because we don't have enough information about what this is gonna cost us on a yearly basis. So can we bring this back as well when we get more information, Jerry?

Yeah, we're gonna need to know what that impact is and whether or not there's the ability and the willingness on our potential partner to make a pilot to cover, to indemnify the city for its portion. school board in the county can fit in for themselves.

So the role of the CRA is to eliminate slum and blight. And we are locking ourselves in to a demographic in several hundred units that are not above 80% AMI. Yeah, it's mixed income, 40, 60, 70, 80. While we strive to have better economic statistics, on one hand, you're asking us to cut our throats on the other with respect to economic demographics.

As I said earlier, we need to defer this because we have a lack of information here. You just asked for a total tax exemption on the property. You said if you didn't get that, you'd walk away. I just want to remind you that there's a developer building 360 market rate rent apartments on Campbell Drive across the street from the hospital. Didn't ask for anything. They're building it right now. So this thing about we can't afford to build because of costs and labor and all this, maybe you need a different business model. Those people are doing it. But you're asking us to waive a whole lot of tax

Yeah, so let's move on. We still got somebody else we got to hear. I think they brought treats.

Oh, that's right. Yeah. Let me ask you that. With respect to the integral project, are those units going to be tax exempt?

Bottom line is unless we're lucky enough to live in Pinecrest or Coral Gables, every community is subject to a diminution of its economics and a further erosion of its tax base through more and more subsidized housing. Let's make the triangle parcel a well field and move on. I've really just, I've heard enough. Y'all get mad at me when you call it workforce and affordability and I call it subsidized. By God, when the taxpayers of this city are having to pick up the slack for hundreds of units, what else do you call it but subsidized? So I think Board Member Roth, your motion to defer the trian

I'm gonna vote no to everything. Okay. You're deferring. All right, this is defer. I don't wanna listen to this anymore.

Thank you, Mayor Lago. Appreciate your staying around tonight.

All right. Last item, Mr. Director. Thank you.

To answer this question, I think we should save the suites till we get done with the business. Let's get it done and then, you know, we may not want to eat it afterwards. Who knows. but I think we can do that, right? I think so. So just hang on one second. So the CRA was asking for 75,000, right? Or the applicant?

Okay, but it says here CRA request at the bottom total of 75,000. On exhibit two. And my thought is if they really wanna make that leap, let's do it. Am I wrong?

After exhibit one, it says the memorandum from Jared Beck. Cost estimate, CRA request, 75,000 total.

Go back to that same page and at the very bottom in that graph, CRA request. 75,000.

Oh, because it looks like you're requesting it.

Okay. So in your expertise, are they going to require a change of use?

got it because it does say in i guess whoever prepared this thing the grease trap would be like twenty eight thousand five hundred dollars i think that's kind of low for a grease trap but um they may not need the the the large commercial grease traps like full-blown restaurants need so maybe that's a true number i don't know so i'll wait to listen but i i i'm more apt to give them the the 75 000 they're asking for to get something there and open That's all, Mayor. How's that ice cream taste?

I didn't hear you, I'm eating my ice cream.

I'm sitting here thinking the grease trap plus 25. Split the baby at 50 something. Whatever that is. We have the standard grant agreement that protects us that if we have liens against the building and other guarantees, and the grease trap's always there for the next business. I'm good with 53.5. Gives you a grease trap and 25. Board? May I? Yes. Go ahead.

Got it. So, yeah, so in layman's terms, she's already said that this use is allowed there, and only thing they'll need is if there's any construction is a building permit

So if they add on to the future, they may have to change of use. Yes. So that would be something for the future. For the future. Yeah. And then for clarity, if they don't put the grease trap in, they won't get the grease trap money. So they'll get the whatever he said, the $25,000 plus the grease trap. So they'll get $25,000. to start with. And if they expand and need a grease drop, then that money will kick in as well. So

My thought was up to the 28.5 for a grease trap and then the miscellaneous 25 that was contemplated to be awarded by the CRA. You don't own this building. You're a tenant, correct?

Was there a motion with respect to the $53,500? No.

Okay. And that's up to $28,500 for the grease trap. and the 25 for other.

So you bring up a point, right, Jared, about the grease trap. I mean, if we lock it in now at 30,000, Can they come back and ask for more if they need it? The attorney's saying yes, so you don't even have to answer, Jared. Thank you, Matt.

Yeah, we'll just deal with it when it comes.

So do we want to just do the $25,000 now, and then when they figure out what they want to do later?

Or is it cleaner to just say $55,000 and be done with it?

You want to designate, I think, a portion of it. We want to ensure there's a grease trap. Yeah, I think you want to do that.

Is there a preset time frame or no for usage? We need to make that up now. If I may clear something up.

Okay. All right. So let's do that. Just do a $25,000 and a $30,000, you said, right? So a total of $55,000, $30,000 designated towards the grease trap. That's my motion.

All right. Let's second it. All right. Let's have a quick roll call of it.

Thank you very much. We do, but whatever you need to do. Okay. Motion to defer the last two items. Yeah, there's the placemaking at the Paseo Park, And there's another grant discussion.

Well, both of them. Is the grant time sensitive?

Matt, is it proper for the motion to be done remotely? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Move to adjourn. Good night, everybody. Not quite. Not quite.