Village Council - Regular Meeting

If everyone could please bow their heads in a moment of silence. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Madam Clerk.

Council Member Burch. Present. Council Member Devaney. Present. Council Member Walensky. Here. Vice Mayor Cantor.

Present.

Mayor Charles.

Here.

Here.

Do we have any changes to the order of business this evening?

Yes, Mr. Chair, there's a request to pull item 8D and item 9C from the agenda.

I would also like to pull 8C from the consent agenda.

And also 9D.

9D as in Boyd?

No, D as in David.

9D as in David, okay.

Yes.

You wanted to say something on this?

Yes, I do. Thank you. I'm Christia Alou. I'm the deputy village manager. I'm requesting that item 9C be the department fee increases proposal be pulled from this evening's agenda. only because today and over the last couple of days we've been meeting with members of the council and what have you and reviewed and I believe additional information and refinement are needed before the council can really take an action at this point. It will allow the staff to address some remaining issues and to strengthen the recommendations. and to return a more complete and fully supported item for the council's consideration. So I believe this is a responsible way to address the fee increases and be on the lookout. Something will be coming up soon.

Thank you.

Okay, so in totality, we have eight C pulled at the request of Mr. Birch. From consent. From consent, right.

8d 9c and 9d removed from tonight's agenda as well Next item is 5a legislative update provided by district 8 Mrs. Fox on behalf of the Honorable Representative Dottie Joseph I

Good evening, council members, constituents, and patrons. My name is Alexis Fox. I am the district aide for Representative Dowdy Joseph, and I'm here to report on some of the legislative updates from this year. Firstly is the property tax proposals, such as SJR 2F. which have significantly impacted Miami-Dade County. According to the county estimates that the proposal could result in a first year revenue loss of approximately $385.8 million in 2027 and $696.7 million by 2028. Additionally, the county estimates that major impacts to services funded through property taxes could include fire rescue, libraries, parks, transit, community service, cultural affairs, and the Jackson Memorial Health System. In the smaller areas, such as Miami Shores, El Portal, and Biscayne Park, they could face an even greater financial pressure because they rely heavily on local property taxes and revenue to fund these core services and infrastructures. The rep also wanted to make known the bills that were filed this session, including Real Affordable Housing Relief Act, HB 1493, which addresses the housing cost by limiting large-scale corporation ownership, expanding workforce housing, protecting renters, and giving local government more tools to preserve affordable housing. The K-12 school lunch and breakfast program, HB 1501, which expands access to school meals and prohibits the use of third-party debt collectors for the unpaid meal costs. Also, the Local Government Financial Transparency and Accountability Act, which is HB 1329, which requires cities and counties, including El Portal and Miami Shores, to make more budget information available online, holding public budget workshops and following the new rules when setting up impact fees. If there's any additional information that you would like on any bills that were filed this session, please feel free to contact our office at 305-654-6505. Thank you.

Are we allowed to ask questions?

Yeah, that's what I just asked. Did you have some?

Dottie, can we ask you a question?

It's not Dottie. It's Ms. Fox.

My question is this. I read a Morgan survey a couple of days ago, James Morgan, on Amendment 3, stating that 64% of the people polled were in favor of it, 38% were opposed, and 12% were undecided. Do you have any additional information or have you all done any polls? What has been your, I'm sure you're on top of that, what is your prediction or opinion there?

Thank you for the question. We have not conducted any independent surveys outside of the information that's been provided, but I will definitely speak with the rep about getting some more information to you all for the next update.

Also, it's my understanding that the state representative supported and voted for this bill that greatly reduces taxes, especially to municipalities like ours. I was wondering if you maybe could give us some insight on why that was supported.

I do not have any additional insights as to what the ramifications of the support of the bill were.

but again I can definitely relay these messages to her and have her give a response for you well we would like one absolutely thank you follow-up question that report also stated that once the individual was informed of the repercussions of the passage of amendment 3 that the approval rate dropped to 48% Knowing that, then obviously educating our constituency is very important. Is your office doing anything to try and promote that?

Yes, we are. We do have an upcoming town hall that will be held on September 28th. We are inviting all of the district to come to that, ask questions. We will be workshopping some information as well in regards to Amendment 3 and anything around the property tax.

I will make sure to get the proper promotion out to you all to make sure that you all are in attendance to that as well thank you thank you if I may just real quick miss Fox is the the the workshop where is it going to be held

you have a location yes it'll be in a city of North Miami and it'll be in conjunction with the vice mayor Timothy and mr. Aristide as well managers update

thank you sir vice mayor I just wanted to read something in the record because last time we spoke about the the covenants with Barry we had a long discussion of course you know with the history there's a history where it could be done administratively but I've always said that I wanted counsel to be involved in this process Now, in looking at everyone's schedules, we have determined that September 22nd would be an ideal date to bring this to council. And so what I'm doing here is that I just wanted to get some guidance from council because we're going to be preparing a resolution to bring to you. So I just wanted to read something into the record so you have a good background then you could just give us some some guidance and I just also want to add a little footnote to this that this is not a general discussion that we are having that we did not advertise to the community about anything it's a matter of staff asking for some guidelines and so that we can have that discussion on the 22nd all right so barry university and sunbeam properties are seeking a request to be placed on the next village council agenda for consideration and guidance regarding the proposed bifurcation of two existing restrictive covenants associated with barry university and certain vacant parcels located west of northwest second avenue The proposed transaction between Barry and Sunbeam would transfer portions of the vacant property to Sunbeam while Barry University retains the balance of its campus and existing operations. To accommodate the separate ownership and future review processes of the respective properties, the applicants propose amending the existing unity and parking covenants to apply solely to the Barre University parcel while establishing substantially equivalent covenants for the Sunbeam parcel, with each covenant tied to its respective property through updated legal descriptions. Simply put, there will be two separate unity covenants and two separate parking covenants. Each will remain substantially identical to the existing covenants, but will apply independently to its respective parcel. So I just wanted to throw that out there so that we could get a feel for crafting this.

I'm fine with that. Yes, sir.

Mayor? I'm in favor of it.

What meeting are we? What was the date of the meeting?

The 22nd. The next meeting. Next meeting. Yes.

Okay. Mr. Birch?

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next we have public comment. This is going to be general public comment. If you have a public comment, please state your name and address at the podium. You have three minutes. If you have a specific comment, please save that for the item ahead, unless you can't stay. And in that case, that's your public comment.

Good evening. William Griffith, 795 Northeast 97th Street. Sorry, we didn't get this on the agenda in time, so I thought it's urgent enough that we come and give you a little update in our public comment, try and get it done in the public comment session. Three years ago, next month, when then Mayor Burch asked the advisory board to give him a report, a village report on the condition of the club and what kind of plan we may put together going forward. We went through several different avenues since then. We've had recommendations. We've had reports. And Three years later, here we are, and the time is up. The course, as you can see by the printouts and the pictures, those are the greens. There's some pictures of T's and stuff in there. But we also presented a kind of a breakdown or a letter here for you. But the condition of the course has reached a critical point. The irrigation system, which we've been talking about for more than three years now, doesn't work properly. So the drainage of the fairways is poor. So you get standing water after rain, and then when you get several days of sun, it turns brown because we can't water it. So it's just an ongoing problem. As you can see there in the pictures, the greens have several of the greens. Most of them actually have bare spots. This is August. We're supposed to be able to grow grass in August, and we can't do that. The root system is so poor, the soil is old, and the course has reached a point where its economic life is over. And the problems extend past the course. The facilities are deteriorating. The driving range, the practice facilities are in poor shape, too. We've got – they use the practice mats to kind of save the grass, but the mats are old and damaged in the building. The locker room is still flooding. So there's those problems, too. But our main issue tonight is with the golf course, and we've talked about this repeatedly over the last three years. And at this time, the advisory board is recommending that we take action. The time is up. We have to decide what we're going to do. And we have some good options. We're ready to move forward. The advisory board's ready to help you move forward. But the time is up. We're going to start losing golfers. Since we first spoke, Miami Lakes has been redone. They're open and running. Miami Springs has been redone. They're open and running. Hollywood has done two golf courses. They're open and running. And now the Country Club Miami is under construction. So... it's time to act and we're asking you to do your diligence on the bond and let's try and get this thing moving forward this year because we're running out of time and it needs to be done or and and the other thing is now with PCM out of there we've got a new management company but for 36 years we didn't worry about what you know what's going on over there right every village council that came through weren't concerned with it. They didn't concern themselves with the country club. Now it's the residents, it's the village, and it's the council who are responsible for that golf course and that country club. So please do your due diligence. Let's get this thing underway. It's going to be a gem when we finish it. It's going to be spectacular. But we need to get it started and get it done. Thank you.

Good evening. Kevin King, 390 Northeast 97th Street. I want to thank you all first for the work you have done so far. I know it's not an easy decision, and a lot of resources and time need to be committed to this. But I'm going to echo exactly what Bill said. We're out of time. There is no time left. If we don't act soon, you're going to lose golfers, you're going to lose members, you're going to lose patrons because it's 87 degrees in the lounge on a Friday afternoon when you want to go have a dinner with your family because three of the five air conditioners are broken. It is in complete disrepair. You have an advisory board here who is willing to help, able to help, have resources to help. Use us, please. We have a men's golf association or Miami Shores Golf Association, I should say. We try to actively use the facility as much as we can. It's getting to the point where it's not even enjoyable for us, and we're about as diehard people as you can get out there. Not my golf game, but I love it, right? So please leverage all of us the best we can to get this project done because we are out of time. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Bill Diggs, 19 Northwest 92nd Street. I'm also a member of the advisory board over at Miami Shores Country Club. To put an additional spin on this, I spend time with the Greater Miami Conventional Business Bureau, the Chambers of Commerce, and many of the organizations that manage and run golf tournaments and those people who actually conduct golf tournaments. The growing concern among those that actually would come and spend time having golf tournaments at this golf course have put Miami Shores at the bottom of the list. And because of that, their interest is waning because of all the new product that is out there. But there is also one conveiling comment that we continue to hear. The location of Miami Shores Country Club is better than almost any other in the Miami-Dade County area. They're almost amazed at the dying asset that sits in front of us. Ladies and gentlemen that are here, If we don't do something soon, you're going to lose this valuable asset in a way that's going to be hard to recover. The other golf courses that have been built have been built to make sure they can compete against Miami Shores. And everyone's asking, when are we going to redo this golf course? That time is up. There is no more time to deliberate, to discuss, and to determine if we need to do this a year or two from now. not acting is irresponsible moving too slow doesn't make sense to us anymore we sit as an advisory board that have been meeting for three years to talk about the thing that we're talking about here to you tonight we implore you we ask you as members of this volunteer committee that have sworn to do the level best that we can that have looked at rfps for architectural design and course design for the clubhouse and for the golf course Don't use our time in vain. Allow for us to do what you've asked us to do, that we have professionally done the level best that we can. The advice that we are giving to you tonight will not change. It will only grow more dire. We need to act. You need to act now. Thank you.

Thomas Halloran, 431 Northeast 100th Street. Again, appreciate everyone's time. And I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but I simply wanted to slightly kind of change the framework that we're all perceiving this from. I think know we can all highlight the hundred years of deferred capex that accompanies a lot of the municipal assets in the village what stands in front of us especially with amendment 3 potentially passing over the next 60 days is one of the few revenue generative assets in the village and i think it's our fiduciary responsibility to reconceive how are we going to fund municipal government on a go-forward basis we've been in the business of receiving property tax revenue and to a certain extent commercial tax revenue we have a business that is revenue generative And I think the change in mindset that we have to have is when we're qualifying for financing in this type of capacity that's revenue focused, you have to have revenue under which to underwrite. So the more that we delay this, the less revenue that we have from which to qualify for the financing that is necessary to do the project. So I think it's one of those things where equating this to purchasing a home Before you come up with a drawing or with a scheme, you have to know what your budget is. And the fundamental step that we're still missing is going through to bond council and effectively pre-qualifying the same way you would when you're building a home or buying a home. So I would advocate this is a huge opportunity for us as a village to generate revenue to protect an asset that I've always told you when some of you voted for me to be on it, I would advocate from the community's perspective of using it not only for golf, but for all the other things that it means to the village. So I think with all these potential headwinds that we have from a revenue perspective, it really is a big opportunity. And to the extent that we can accelerate, if nothing else, securing financing or knowing what the appetite of the market is to finance this project, that is the most urgent step that we could possibly take. Thank you.

any other public comment

I just want to mention something that's happening tomorrow morning. This is about the Miami Shores Community Alliance. Tomorrow morning at 8.30, the Miami Shores Community Alliance is holding over at the community center the first annual community showcase. This is not a traditional meeting. It's an interactive showcase of the organizations, people, and partnership that strengthen our community. And you've heard from these organizations because they've actually come to council for funding some of them. and others are just people that are working with nonprofits, bringing those nonprofits together. Those nonprofits support each other, and they want you to know about them. They want you to drop in at the community center between 8.30 and 9.30 tomorrow morning. Anyone out there that's interested in doing this, you will learn a lot about the nonprofits that we have in our midst that make Miami Shores a better place to be. So thanks so much for listening.

Say 830 to 930.

Yeah All right Next item is a consent agenda approving items 8 8 8 B as 8 C has been pulled from consent for discussion And 8 D has been deferred Motion to approve the consent agenda second

All in favor say aye. Aye.

Item 8C, a resolution of the Village Council of Miami Shores Village, Florida, approving a turf and landscape maintenance agreement between the village and the Florida Department of Transportation for turf and landscape maintenance on state roadways located within the village limits, providing for an effective date. This item is brought forth by the public works directors through the village manager.

So this will be quick. The reason that I pulled this is what I'd like the council to consider or discuss is we are presented with a proposal or resolution such as this that the county is going to pay for some percentage of the maintenance of a county road, but that the village is going to pay for perhaps a bigger percentage of it at least that was the case with Biscayne Boulevard and that's fine that's what the county does pretty much with all of the municipalities but my concern is this we're asked to vote to approve an amount of money that the village will spend but what we're not asked is what will they spend it on and who will make that decision Now I have been approached by several residents who believe that what we have done at Biscayne Boulevard is a tragedy. And there are some fairly influential people in our community. Bob Bourne would be an example. And I want to understand more clearly, and I did discuss this, but I'd like Esmond to be able to discuss it for everyone else. Who is actually making the decision of what is being done on these roadways? I personally think that what they did with Biscayne Boulevard looks much worse than what we had before. We had the little green plants that went in front of the country club. I thought they were very pretty. I thought the area there just north of us was ugly in comparison. But what I think is not important, but the point I'm trying to make is... Let's hear who's making those decisions, and then is this a majority of the residents in the village? And I would say to you, if you drive through our village and look at the front lawns, the vast majority of them are St. Augustine grass, and they're mowed, and they're trimmed, and they're quite pretty. I don't know if we can say the same thing. And Esmond, I wish you'd...

you you know what's going on there if you'd explain that I'd appreciate it yes yes sir thank you through the chair and we'll probably do a tag team with with Delroy as well but I I must go back to when we when we applied for the highway beautification grant through the FDOT and we were awarded it in fact at that time a very very nice amount that we were awarded I can't remember I know this was sometime back six thousand for Biscayne yeah well yeah well when when we got that I I remember exactly we're meeting the in the 9900 building and I remember saying that one of the reasons why we wanted to change out they look on this came sorry thank you on Biscayne Boulevard is that we wanted to have a nicer curb appeal on it than we had and we also wanted to reduce the amount of overtime hours that we spent there and we also wanted to make it much more simple we wanted to take our workers or employees off of this state road and I remember and I said it over and over again that I'd rather if overtime was spent within our bar our borders rather than you know on a on a a corridor that did not belong to us. I remember the night when I said that, I said I wanted us to do the bold initiative, which FDOT had at the time, which is grass with some colorful ends to that. But then there were residents who said that they wanted to be involved in the process. Now, I'll tell you this. Typically something like that goes to council and you're given the okay to do it. And staff does it. We work, we coordinate with FDOT and their designers down there and we bring back a quality product. am NOT making this up if you go to State Road 826 from the FPL substation all the way up to the Sonia's bridge is an example of that and I did that as a public works director we had expected to have done something that would have added a difference and to beautify however and I say this with the utmost respect The design did not go according to what our plans were. There is a different design that was also approved by FDOT to be put on Biscayne Boulevard, but I can tell you that that was not a design that staff would have done had we not included outside of Village Hall influence. uh... i have seen that look uh... in fact drive into driving through south miami the other day at a eureka moment when i saw that uh... that order order line that it looks similar to uh... to what we have a biscuit boulevard uh... but you know i i i i i hope everyone who was listening to this know that i say to the utmost respect don't I did not envision that that would have been the look on this cane boulevard we have butterflies the butterflies are flying into vehicles we've got a maintenance issue that's going to come now because then our our our employees will have to spend more time on their manicure in something that looks not as colorful as what we'd envisioned and I also have the utmost respect for Florida natives and that kind of thing but I'm just saying that that's not the look that we'd envisioned for Biscayne Boulevard so the other day I met with the with a contractor who did the plant is there and I said to him please do me a favor and if I'd recalled I would have brought up that brought up the slide I said please do me a favor I want you to go out there and I want you to manicure those medians And let me kind of envision what it could look like. And he did it. And it looked different. It looked manicured, that's for sure. But at the same time, what I saw when he did that was that we were going to have to spend much more time out of this game boulevard. We thought we were running away from the first place and manicured it. So I don't know if Delroy has much more that he wants to add to this, but that is just my feeling on the matter. I'm voicing it because I was asked by Councilman Birch to speak about my feelings. But I think I've individually spoken to many of you here on the dais on my feelings, how I feel about it.

Do the chair if I may. Are we saying that the current thing we have right now is what? residents voiced their opinion and wanted to decide.

May I add some clarity to the item? Okay, go ahead. So the item that we have before us, even though this is a very useful discussion, and I would jump in and I would support Councilman Burch and the manager, but the item is really a maintenance item, and that is annually we maintain three corridors in Miami Shores. And we do that with DOT. DOT pays us to do maintenance. The maintenance means cutting grass, trees, and shrubbery. So this item is really a maintenance item. They pay us a specific amount of money, and we carry those maintenance in-house, no external consultants. So it's really a basic maintenance item. What Councilman Birch referred to is a project on Biscayne Boulevard. That, of course, is a useful discussion, but the item is not about the project. But we're talking about maintaining the project. Well, the item is not just the Biscayne Boulevard. We maintain 103rd as well as 67th.

If we didn't go down this path, then we would be hands off and the state would be taking care of their road. We made a choice that we wanted to take over that. We wanted to have control over it, right? We want to...

that the maintenance agreement we have always meant in Biscayne Boulevard 6th Avenue and Washington's we have always made no if it has something to that please Delroy not just Miami Shores most municipalities that have state road on cleats so to speak going through them what they do is that they enter into an agreement with FDOT to maintain those areas. Because when you think of FDOT, you think of the highway. And they maintain their corridors and their areas at a different level of maintenance than we do in municipalities. So I think they do theirs every six months. I understand.

If a municipality wants to landscape like Disney World, then that's not the state's problem. They say do what you want, but don't expect us to pay for it. Miami Shores has decided that we want to be in control of the situation, so we'll take whatever money that they want to give us for it that would sustain their level of maintenance, and obviously we're going to spend a lot more than that, I'm sure. But we're going to have control over it. As somebody who commutes multiple times on, you know, past that median that we're maintaining on Biscayne Boulevard there, part of the sale originally was that not just it was going to cost less money, not just with less overtime and all that, but we were, you know, I felt like half the time I was on that road there was Miami Shores employees blocking a lane and, you know, that's a major artery over there. We were supposed to be reducing our maintenance over there. We got our sustainability and resiliency committee, I think, was involved, no? Yes. So their priorities are a little different. They care maybe not so much about it looking like Disney World and more so about the butterflies and native plants and that we're using the least amount of water possible. If you went over there a week or two ago, I hate to say, but my yard, this golf course, and that median had a lot in common. It wasn't a lot of green. We had a very, very serious drought going on. I actually got a tour of the golf course at the height of that, and I saw how bad it was firsthand. Pretty bad. So I don't know what the plan is going forward. Are we talking about doing a different design over there? Because there was a point where, if I recall correctly, we spent a little bit more money than we wanted to on that because we had a very short window of time where if we didn't do what we wanted to do in that window of time over there, that we were going to have to wait years for them to finish.

Much more than we really wanted to. Right. You know what I mean?

So I don't know how much flexibility going forward we have on changing what we have, but I also don't know if we should be judging it based on what it looked like in the middle of a drought right after all that stuff was just freshly planted and didn't really have a chance.

Well, I would just say this. That was not the point of my bringing this up. My point is, in looking at Miami Shores Village, if you look at the average home, your yard, Jesse, for instance, or if you look at the golf course, these areas are mowed, they are trimmed. I'm not discussing the condition that they're in, but my point is that Miami Shores has a certain look to it. I want to know who is making the decision on what ought to be planted there and what it looks like because I don't believe that what's, or at least what the residents have said to me that have complained to me about it, and there's been at least five of them, You know, how did we get to this position, and is there a better method that we could use that might reflect what the majority of the residents are in favor of? That's where I'm trying to come from. As far as what we do with Biscayne Boulevard, we've already committed. I think that total bill was over $300,000. So I'm not so much concerned about what we can do with what's there. My concern is for our next project, which again we have on the agenda tonight, and there certainly will be more, then is there a different way, or should we leave that up to the village? Is there a better way to address what is actually being done there? That's what I'm trying to get at that would reflect the desires of the majority of the residents of the village.

To the chair, can we just clarify, this item is not about A project or choices. The choices have been made. This project is about the reimbursement from the DOT level to the village level. So it has – I mean, these are all great things. I'm glad we're talking about them. I also feel the pushback that you've gotten from residents that are not really happy with what we've done there. But these decisions were made, of course, as we just discussed, in lieu of the timeline of getting it completed before the FDOT – FDOT project commenced so I'm definitely down to entertain discussion about the future of that median and if we want to make changes to it or etc etc but I this item does not have anything but it does to this extent in other words this is the next one this is a resolution for Miami Shores approving

the landscape maintenance agreement between the village and the Florida Department of Transportation. This is the next step. It's going to be the next area. And so when we do this upcoming area, how are we, am I missing something there? Can we clarify this?

What we're bringing forward here is an approval of the dollars that FDOT will give us to maintain Biscayne, 103rd, and Northeast 6th Avenue, which are their three areas within our village. Okay.

If I may, through the chair, to add to that, though, because I do think that what Council Member Burch is trying to get at is that this agreement speaks to the dollars in the reimbursement, yes, for the maintenance. But his question is the maintenance. Who is approving how that's being maintained? Are we just maintaining the grass as is? Are we adding additional plants? So I think the concern that I'm hearing coming out of this discussion is truly who is deciding how this looks like, is it going to just be maintained regularly, or are we introducing something new to these particular areas? Through the chair.

I'd like to bring that back.

Through the chair. I'm sorry, are you saying something?

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off if that's what I did. No, I think I may have just jumped in and breached protocol on this. I have something to say on the matter, because... when it comes on to who is gonna be doing the maintenance it's gonna be us but I would say going forward typically how this is done is that this is done at a staff level with folks who deal with the architectural design medians and beds and those kind of folks and at a certain standard with which takes into consideration looks I'm sorry looks and the beautification of an area and also water and more important than anything i mean my voice in this as your manager is to make sure that things are being done but we're saving dollars and everything because after all the 26 000 is paltry and in fact I had it increased when I got here. And that's the reason, right? I had it increased when I got here to make it into 26. And if I didn't have so much things on my plate, I would have walked down to FDOT with you again to say this is foolishness. Because that doesn't even begin to supplement our efforts. that we're doing out there but going forward for design it's um it's it's in-house with a with a contractor who does something and that's typically how it's done I and everyone who knows me know that I value input of residents I do I have I have residents in things that ordinarily they're not involved in because I just think that What could go wrong? And we do that. But I'm done.

Through the Chair, if I may. May I speak to the awareness of Public Works? So we created a cost matrix. The manager had advised us to speak with DOT when we were first approached with signing this MOU. And so we created a cost matrix. And the truth is that what we're doing by way of maintenance, again, not just on Biscayne Boulevard, but the corridors that DOT owns in Miami Shores, the cost matrix says it's costing us $49,000 to maintain the corridor. So the fact that they're now giving us only $23,000, we know exactly what we can do to the tune of $23,000. We know what we can do. I have advised them to that end that we're going to try to meet the basic minimum requirements that they would have, while at the same time try to keep Miami Shores as pretty as we can. But we know exactly what the costs are. We know what they're giving us. We know what it can cost us. And we can adjust what we do in order to utilize the funds that they provide to us.

What was that number again?

$49,000. And they're giving us $23,000 to be exact. No, I'm having a little cross wires here because I hear about the design versus the maintenance, and I just want to emphasize that it's difficult for me because we only talk about maintenance. Even though there is some overlap, in order, whatever your design, you're going to have to maintain, but I just want to emphasize that the item is really just about maintenance. As far as the Biscayne Boulevard is concerned, it is true that when we first started, we got a landscape architect. landscape architect gave us a design we looked at it we liked it we put that design to residents specifically the SRC board they made some suggestions we accepted those suggestions and again I think they did the best that they could they're more looking at utilization of front of friend friendly plans versus beautification I think there's a different viewpoint there and this is a result however but once again public works has a plan that and I can't say no at this point what we do have a plan to assist that particular corridor to bring back its beauty I just because it's a forum as this and I wish not to thank you to the chair for just

further clarification the only the question related to this specific item is whether the council is accepting the reimbursement from FDOT or we're saying no it's not enough and we want more money from them which is probably very unlikely given the fact that we got an increase once probably would be tough to get increased again

We did have a meeting. I had a meeting with them. We pitched this to them. We gave them our matrix, and they came back. And they said no. And I said two meetings with them, and they said, look, no.

But I'm saying the root of what we're talking about tonight, and I do understand where you're coming from, and I'm down to discuss it more, but just to this particular item is whether we accept their reimbursement or we don't. I move that we accept it. There was never any question about that.

Okay, okay. I want it. No, I'm glad we talked about it.

Of course. It has occurred.

The chair.

I'd like to speak at some point.

Sorry.

Go. Through the chair.

I want to thank Mr. Birch for pulling this item from the consent agenda, actually, because I wanted to discuss it anyway. I want to thank Mr. Peters for his clarity just now. I think he explained the answer to the question that Mr. Birch was asking. We did reach out to residents, and we have a very talented community you know, wealth of talented people in our community to draw on. I think we might have been a little narrow and only went to the environmental-minded people and maybe not the design, you know, people who are more concerned with how things look. I think we probably have to get those people in the same room next time. And going forward, I would like us to look at this more comprehensively. If we have state or county infrastructure here Um, I would love us to take whatever funds we are, you know, those levels of government would, would contribute and us take it over, but do so with some kind of, you know, overarching theme here. Like, you know, there should be an aesthetic that we're, that is uniform that when I crossed the border on any side of Miami shores, I feel I've, I'm into Miami shores now. Um, And so I think we should look at this, you know, more comprehensively, look at the whole thing. I think, you know, I've had it in the back of my head too that I'd like to see us maybe get more involved with the landscaping around the public schools that we have here too, you know, because there's not a lot of funds that are supplied specifically for that. If we're going to do it, though, it should be, you know, there should be some kind of consistency to this. Couldn't agree with you more. So I really appreciate Mr. Birch bringing this up. The reason I was interested, and I was actually going to pull this one anyway, was to get that number. I was very curious about that number. Now, I don't believe it was ever our intent to just spend what we were given on that. I think the idea was that we knew we were going to spend a little more because we had a little bit of a different standard than what the state was going to provide there. But I did want to try to get an idea of what are we willing to stomach? What is the difference between what the state is willing to give us versus what we actually spend over there? Okay. I mean, I got an answer, and it's actually not too far off from what I was thinking. So I appreciate it. Did we have a motion? I made a motion. I will second it. Unless somebody else wanted to speak, sorry.

Can I ask one more question? Is this the only contract that we've had with FDOT? Because the one I remember on the boulevard was, I thought, for a lot more money. Is this the total amount for this coming year?

Yeah. Yeah, we have no other contract. This is the only one? Yes. Okay, I'm wrong.

All right. Thank you. And we have a motion. And a second. Thank you.

Yeah, I wanted to say one more thing. Just real quick while we're talking about this. I think that we also have to fundamentally understand the difference between, like, for example, I'm all for the Disney landscaping on our corridor. But the thing is, we have to look at what we're trying to achieve here in the process, and that was to reduce worker hours on the weekends to reduce the lane cut down so it's in my mind it's like we can't really have both and reduce relative to what we were trying to reduce relative not to what the state was giving us but to what we were already doing we were already spending ourselves right we were trying to reduce what we were already spending but knowing that the state is giving us so little in the reimbursement factor of this and that we were trying to cut down we were trying to do more natives we're trying to it's like we can't have the the big disney entrances on all the things that we can if we want to spend the money to maintain them but if we don't which is i think the goal of why we started this in the first place we have to do something simpler and i think that's i think that the residents as because i've had a lot of conversations about this too have to understand that we can't do both We have to either have a simpler design that cuts down on maintenance, that cuts down on lanes being cut down on the weekends, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, or we have the big, beautiful bouquets, and you know you're in Miami Shores.

I don't see any way to do both, and so I just... And you're 100% right, but that is, in fact, the discussion that we need to be carrying on. Where are we going to fall in that continuum? There are people who make a living... designing gardens, and that's all they do. I think Sinead's gotten a letter now from an individual over palm trees, and he hired some lady that has the degrees on soil and agriculture and whatnot, and that's what she does for a living. So there has to be, you know, somewhere in the middle here. I'm just not sure we've ended. Whether I am or not is immaterial, but I have had residents say to me they think we went Off the track here.

I think we should continue to have this conversation, but as far as... where we're at with this we should move on but I'm glad you brought I am glad I am very glad you brought it up but like I said we have to decide as a community whether we're going to be the community with the big you know grandiose entries or we're going to be one that has that saves a lot of money on the back end and has more I mean and that's kind of one of those things where it's about communities the community of representatives weighing in on what they want so I think that's like discussion for further down the line this roll call or just got to get all those people in the room together right right there was motion in second and all those in favor of 8c resolution of the village council entering in with the dot agreement for turf say aye aye aye all right this item is 9a resolution of the council of miami shores village florida to reject the evaluation committee ranking and reissue our queue number

2025-01-02 architectural design services for the miami shores country club golf course redesign and renovation this item is brought forth by the village manager there is also companion item 9b a resolution of the council of miami shores village florida rejecting all responses received to rfq number 2025-03-01 architectural design services for the miami shores country club clubhouse renovation authorizing the village manager or designee to resolicit architectural design services providing for implementation and providing for an effective date this item is brought forth by the village manager thank you thank you so much for the for over a year we've been in a corner silent situation because when we issued these

these are cues back in 2025 it was based upon the the ngf report that we had gotten and because we were moving forward with everything so the time has really based upon the different things that we have done time has really caught up on us here it is we're a year after this silicone of silence in effect We had paused for a moment because we knew that we were going to be changing. PCM would have been leaving. I would have been selecting another company for a management agreement, which we did. And so here we are now where we have chosen Kemper Sports. But somehow, I'm sorry. but somehow campus sports has not being a part of this of this effort I want to hurriedly go ahead and say thanks to everyone was part of a committee that did the golf golf course and also that did the clubhouse in terms of sitting on those those committees that we had set up to to rank them and to make those offerings also want to say that what is being proposed now is also that we will will not be prejudicial to anyone who has what submitted would put in a bid to the to the RFQ is that we have had but with a new management structure in with some other information that we have where we think that we could make we need to make some additions to the RFQ to make it relevant to us going forward that is a reason why I'm bringing it forward to you this evening and I'm speaking in general on the clubhouse and also on the golf course even though we'll take the votes separately just to say that is a reason why I'm proposing that we don't select either we don't make a selection here but most importantly that we reissue these RFQs and rather quickly to go ahead with whatever is planned for the golf course and also for the clubhouse. Thank you.

Through the chair. I agree with the manager. If we go back on the timeline for when NGF proposed what they thought would be best for Miami Shores moving forward, and part of their proposal, if everybody remembers reading on it, there was actually a line that we wouldn't even go out for bid, and then that's why we started the path of seeking a golf course architect, and also we bifurcated the plan to then go find a clubhouse architect, because that's what was in the consulting firm. And as Mr. Griffith said earlier, that the village hadn't Been in the business of doing golf and country club for over 30 years. There's been a learning curve since that planning, since that advisory board came to us in 2023. A lot of new knowledge and even these, a bigger point to the why these should be sundown today is it was a different timeline. And if you remember that I created a infographic, the golf course should have been under construction already. and then we wouldn't be having this discussion from an advisory board person saying it's that end of life we as a council knew that it was end of life in 2024 once we got the report back so moving forward to what the manager said i think next steps for us is the bond council that everybody's going to for the pre training of it and then moving very rapidly with that and then we'll know um actually how much money we can borrow to fix up the golf course. So to the manager's point, I think moving forward once these, if it gets voted that we don't want to keep these two tonight, I'm hoping that they are sundown so we can move forward with and also working with our new management team at the country club and golf course. I think it would be beneficial to all of us to vote this down right tonight. Thanks.

Through the chair, I'd like to just come on the heels of your comments there that we've had a large discussion about getting the new management company in place, and that is a first step. But as I've made very apparent both in public comment and in private discussions with staff, the most important next step is selecting the right architect for the course, because in my mind, I truly believe that all great things that follow the renovation of a great course with a great name attached to it, uh, will be much easier. You know, once we, we've, we have the most important thing and that's ensuring that we have a course that we can be proud of. That's top of the line, that it has everything that we want it to be because we don't plan on doing this again anytime soon. But as, as Jerome, as mayor charles said um you know we i know i start bond review in the morning we i think we each do this week with our individual um respective meetings and um i think that we do understand that it's what a priority is and we're with you and i'm very glad that you guys came tonight to speak uh on this because it shows that we're all on the same page here about what needs to be done next and i think Not only your colleagues up here, but the staff at Village Hall understands that, and we're going for it now. So I want you guys to know that, and we're on top of it, and we're going to turbo it from here.

Anybody else? Vice Mayor Cantor, by the way, you are the chair, so you don't have to go through the chair thing. Right.

I'm not used to this position, so.

Get used to it. Used to the royal plural. Says going through himself. Right.

Mr. Chair, a public comment.

Oh, yes. Do we have any additional public comment on this?

Kevin King, 390 Northeast 97th Street. Just a question on the timeline of that. when we did the RFQ for the clubhouse and the golf course separately it took many many many months to go through that process many more than I think anyone anticipated between scheduling and the callbacks and all of that do we have a method or mechanism to speed that process in other words have one committee preset the dates so that we know in 30 days we're having the first meeting, in 45 days we're having the second meeting, we're ranking on the 60th day, whatever it is, you know what I'm saying? So that we don't have this open end while we wait until we get it, then we've got to schedule six, seven people's times, then we've got to wait again, then we schedule six, seven people's times, you know what I'm saying? So if there's a method to pre-schedule, I think that will keep us on a better timeline. Thank you.

discussion with the chair I'm just interested in I guess the conundrum that we're dealing with as far as timing because I don't think that I think we decided to postpone the clubhouse until Kemper sports management has had some time to run it get a sense of its profitability and then with the RFQ we'd get their input in this case and also the software water management district issue with the canal and just what's the best timing for the clubhouse renovation and the golf club course renovation to the chair there's a lot of discussions that need to be had and I think probably

that's going to be a lengthy discussion however we proceed will have to come from this this day s guide in the manager how to move forward but we are already taken some proactive measures so for example the meetings that we have set up is to inform and to get everyone kind of acclimated for how we are going to proceed Because, yes, it's true. There's a district. When do you move? There are other considerations like, you know, are you going to do a revenue bond or what is it that you're going to do? And there's just so much that has to be discussed so that we can make a decision how to move forward.

And I just want to echo, I guess I don't have to say through the chair, but... I just want to echo, too, that obviously in government there are certain timelines that need to be abided by, and we want to make sure that we follow those. But I think that the indication has been clear that we want to be as expeditious as possible. And if there's a way to streamline this process in any way, we are going to do our best to do so moving forward. So I think that is the takeaway here. And I think that passing 9A and B... to kind of clear the slate to reinitiate is the best way to go from here. So if there's no further discussion, I'd like to make a motion to approve Resolution 9A to reject the Evaluation Committee ranking and reissue RFQ 2025-1-2. Second. I second it. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Do we want to reintroduce? Do we have to reintroduce it, or can I just go right to vote for it?

Yeah, you can ask for a motion. You don't have to make it. Can I get a motion for 9B?

Yeah, I'll make a motion. Do we have to get public comment separately for 9B?

If you like, but you opened it up. It was a companion, but if you want an abundance of caution, sure.

All right, well, we'll just reopen it one last time for any other future public comment related specifically to 9B. Seeing there is none, can I get a motion? Motion to approve 9B.

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes.

Item 9C has been deferred. Item 9D has been deferred. Next item is the manager's report.

Yes, just rather quickly. council wanted to talk about the our district we have a very very short presentation that Eddie's gonna give but I want to preface that again that this is just to get some guidance from the council because we have we have discussed it individually but we have not done it in the sunshine as to how we move forward and so again I'm saying that this isn't for a discussion and a big thing that should have been advertised for a discussion to happen. All I'm seeking is guidance from you so that we craft the resolution coming to you. And also, when is it that we bring the resolution to you? Because as Mr. Nunes will tell you, it's been a long road to this resident to this arm artistry coming to the to the to the council and I don't think that doing it in a two weeks or four weeks is going to do you justice because after all there's another body that had it for a longer period that in terms of coming up with this so we have what it's about five or six

I think the battery might Through chair good evening vice mayor council members Village Attorney, Madam Clerk. The reason we're here, well, Eddie Nunez, I'm the interim planning and zoning director. The reason we're here is because I think one of the first things we'd like to do is commend our planning and zoning board. They've been working on this ordinance Since April of 2025, we've gone through many public meetings, and one of our hopes here is to show you the timeline of what it's taking to get to where we are here. There will be a portion of this discussion where Madam Attorney will kind of fill in some other pertinent details, and we're hoping to get further guidance from you on how we kind of steer the ship moving forward. Going back to the summer of 2024, when this all began, originally it was contemplated that the CR district and the R code were essentially going to be handled simultaneously. At that point in time, I believe there were a few projects that were coming in through the planning and zoning public hearing process, where those projects were essentially maximizing their buildable area on their lots. And the decision was made to quickly pivot and put something in place that was going to kind of better curate and craft what a vertical construction is going to look like. Up until that point, all Miami Shores had in place were essentially setback regulations. There was no other, let's say, teeth in this zoning code that kind of guided what a vertical construction would look like, how you would kind of deal with the horizontal square footage of a potential project. And that's where we acted quickly and we adopted these essentially five key metrics. Lock coverage, impervious data, Flora ratio, and your step backs. And I can tell you from first eye witness that once these items were put in place, it's been night and day. The quality of projects, the Projects that are coming through now are much more in line with what's in place as far as we guide to see our harmonious architecture within our communities and within our neighborhood context. And this has definitely done that for us. And the minute that this had concluded, the idea was always that we would revisit it and kind of adjust everything else within our district to kind of catch up and bring it into the modern times. So essentially, ONCE WE DRAFTED THAT REGULATION, THEN THE PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD HAD TO QUICKLY PIVOT BACK TO THE CR DISTRICT. THE CR DISTRICT TOOK ABOUT A YEAR'S TIME. THAT WAS ADOPTED MARCH OF 2025, AND WE IMMEDIATELY RODE INTO THE R DISTRICT APRIL OF 2025. SO THERE REALLY HASN'T BEEN THIS PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD, YOUR PNZ STAFF HASN'T HAD A WHOLE LOT OF, YOU KNOW, IN-BETWEEN TIME BETWEEN THE TWO HEAVY ARDUOUS PROCESSES. The CR district went through at least six or seven public meetings. And this one, the R district has also gone through about six, I think resulting in like 15 hours of runtime in just meetings. So one of the things that we did here was We quickly put together a survey that we released to the public. We handed them out via hard copy. We also generated an Our District landing page where all of these questions were essentially put in an electronic format, allowing residents to essentially answer on a scale of 1 to 10. And we were able to curate that data and kind of help us to kind of guide, well, what are the strengths? What are the weaknesses? What are the things people want to see changed moving forward? And when we drafted our first draft code, it was released in November of 2025. And the way that we got to that draft code was analyzing the existing zoning code, which is Appendix A. By that point in time, we've been here at Corradino Group serving as staff for about a year and a half. So we had the longevity or the tenure dealing with permit reviews, attending the monthly board meetings, hearing what the developers were dealing with with the code. what the community was asking for, what they were seeking, and also what the Planning and Zoning Board was finding as items of interest that needed to be curated and updated. Similarly, we reviewed and assessed nearby communities of a similar stature, essentially primarily single-family zone districts, and of similar comparable lot sizes. Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Biscayne Park, El Portal. And what we did was we put them on a spreadsheet and we compared all their zoning metrics along with Miami Shores to help us guide, well, where do we land on some of these metrics? Where can we make some improvements? What are the characteristics of certain communities that we like that we can adopt as our own? And obviously, we continued moving forward with the public engagement process. Our scope of work was streamlined. All the items that are listed here within Appendix A zoning strictly for the single family R district. So essentially, when you have the ordinance before you, it's going to touch upon all of these code sections. And here's where we talk about the timeline, where we began in April of 2025. Our first workshop was April of 2025. Our second was in July of 2025. In September of 2025, staff had essentially combined all of the data that we collected, all of the community input via hard copy, via the website. The comments from the Planning and Zoning Board, our internal research with the nearby communities and GIS data. And that's when we released the executive summary report. It's been on the website since that day. It's easy to access. And it's essentially the guiding measure that assisted us in drafting the very first code. Our thoughts was, let's put the code together. And instead of immediately putting it on an agenda for the P&Z, we left it on the website. We invited the community to review it, give us comments. We also shared it with their planning and zoning board. And then we scheduled the agenda for December. And that's when the board actually had their first opportunity to see a set of standards that was being recommended. And from December of 2025 through March 26, 2026, May 28, 2026, and July of 2026, essentially your planning and zoning board took this crucial time to craft this code, kind of tweak it, speak amongst themselves. More importantly, listen to the community input. Every one of these meetings, we got a very decent amount of turnout from the community members. And I do want to commend the board. This wasn't their first trip to the show. They actually went through this with the CR district. So I do feel that... They are very professionally proficient in drafting code. This would be their second time doing it. And I'm happy to report that we're at that point where staff is ready to bring it to you for consideration. But we are wanting to show you. I'm sorry.

OK, so I guess that was it.

So we essentially wanted to bring to your attention that there were many code items that are being adjusted. And it just didn't seem fair to place it on a council agenda where you only have 10, maybe seven days to review something that has taken your board about a year to consider. So we wanted to bring this to your attention, kind of seek your guidance. And then I'll turn the floor over to our village attorney.

Thank you, Eddie, and thank you for the presentation. I think it's important to kind of see where we started and how we got to the point that we are at this moment. As you all were aware, when we started this code, SB 180 originally was not in play, and then it passed. At that point, you all directed us to move forward with the revisions, irrespective of that, and that we would revisit what that looks like once we got to this point. So now we're at this point. And I know I've spoken to you all individually so far. I do in any, whether SB 180 exists or not, right? It expires October 1st, 2027. Anytime you change your zoning code, there's going to be some level of legal risk regardless. And so I think that would like the opportunity to speak to you all individually to kind of go through what those that risk might be might look like and so that way you can make an informed decision when the item is brought before you in terms of um what you should and should not move forward i think the pnz board reviewed this item from a different lens than the ones that in which you will have to review it right because ultimately you all have a different different role as it relates to legal risk that the village will undertake and so we'll discuss that out of abundance of caution because we didn't really know which way you all would direct this evening we did advertise for the second meeting in september And so because the most recent notice changes that you all made to the ordinance requires a 20-day advertisement notification, there was no way of knowing whether or not you really wanted this on the 22nd. And so that was already previously advertised. I'm going to determine whether or not it still needs to be brought forward, likely due because we already advertised it. But ultimately, if you're the decision tonight or direction, rather, I don't want to give anybody impression that we're making decisions. But if the direction is that ultimately, you know, you'll have an appetite to defer that item on September 22nd, then that'll just give us a better understanding of how to prepare. um for the item it might be on the agenda it might not but again that legal side of it i'll work with the clerk to determine whether or not it needs to be on the agenda or whether we can just notify that it's deferred already um because we don't want people to kind of come and expect to be heard on an item that you all won't be discussing so we'll figure out a way of what that looks like but just depending on whatever you decide tonight know that um we had previously advertised for the 22nd Now, in terms of what the time frame is, if you don't want to hear it on the 22nd, then I would say at the earliest that probably would be realistic would be the second meeting in October solely because we need the opportunity to schedule individual meetings with you all to discuss the item as well, you know, first and foremost, for you to understand the policy, right, outside of the legal framework ramifications, you need to understand what this document actually does. And as staff has so eloquently laid out, you see it took several months, years, a little over a year for PNZ, the experts in this area, to really get to this point. So we do want to give you that opportunity to understand the ordinance itself, and then on top of that, any of the legal concerns that we might have, to what extent that might be. Considering that we're doing the bond briefings and we're starting those briefings. I don't think we'll be able to schedule briefings Until at minimum then after the next meeting and so I do think that we need to just kind of bake ourselves some time so if you were considering Reviewing this either item later and later I would say the earliest and that's still it even a tight turnaround Would be October the second meeting in October to allow for those individual meetings And so I'll stop there, and you all are welcome to discuss amongst yourselves whether or not, you know, when you want this item to be brought forth.

Through the chair. So we are currently noticed to have this at what meeting?

Our next meeting.

So it's noticed for our next meeting. Correct. Obviously, I don't think we want to. tackle this then I am very very very much in support of us having individual meetings before we discuss this as a council I think we would all very much benefit from having some legal counsel individually before we you know take this public so I support that and I think the chair what was the I'm sorry I'm almost done the October would be what would you the second meeting in October and the 20th we would have a second reading first reading of November correct um okay so I mean I that plan has my support I like that

Well, the first meeting in November, I think, is Election Day. I don't know if that's of any concern.

What does that mean?

It's not our election.

No, it's not our election, absolutely. But I know... Our community, if there is anything else that goes on on a day that is supposed to be a big turnout or something, I just didn't want any. If there's no concern here, there's no concern here either. That's what I'm saying. If you have no concern, I have no concern either.

The concern is that we would be doing the second reading on Election Day?

Correct. If there are people that for some reason want it, I don't know. I'm just thinking about traditionally in our community what that might look like.

What time do polls close?

To the chair, what I would like to say is this.

I wasn't done. Can I finish? Sorry, Jesse, I thought you were done. Would it be possible, reasonable to maybe just start our meeting when the polls close?

I don't think you... We'll have to if our meeting starts at 6.30. Then I think you can do this. You can set that item to a time certain if you like. There are some municipalities who operate in that manner. And if that's of appetite here.

I would say that if any of my colleagues were concerned about it, I would take that course of action and just say, okay, we'll do it when the polls close. We'll start the meeting. Otherwise, I have no problem with doing it on election. I think, like I said, I am fine with this. plan that has been laid out here that we're gonna have our meetings or our individual will have individual consultations before we have our public discussion second meeting in October will be first reading second reading first meeting of November which happens to be election day I'm fine with that I'm done so my two cents would be this

I think this is more important than the budget that we have just finished. I think this particular code needs to be read line by line because it's going to be with us for a while more than likely. I appreciate what planning and zoning has done to try and produce and eddy you of course to produce a set of regulations but I've as I mentioned as been earlier today we're going to end need to end up with a village full of midgets because if Durham is now requiring 11 feet for first living floor and then your first living floor is 10 feet is 21 feet and if you want a two-story home that's 31 feet and they have just in this i've been told and i haven't read it if i'm wrong you can correct me that they reduce the height of the maximum height from 32 feet to 28 feet which in essence is going to make it, you know, I'm trying to look at the future.

Mr. Birch, please forgive me, but this is the exact kind of stuff we didn't want to discuss before having legal consultation.

I understand that, Jesse, but when you said you weren't done, I didn't interrupt you. I'd appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me. Okay. So my concern is I think this is incredibly important that we have enough time to read every line of this, to talk to residents about it, and then be in a position to understand also the legal implications of it. And the farther that we put this off for my two cents, the better, if it's the 22nd. And I would like to get a copy of this as early as it is possible to get it so that we have the time to really review it.

That we can do. The draft itself is near completion. We can get you the draft as soon as possible. I think what takes a little bit more time is the individual meeting, setting those up and going through that draft. But the draft, we can get that in your hands. I'm not going to give you an exact date, but I'm going to do my best with the next couple of weeks to get you that so that way you have that in hand.

Thank you. Through the chair? I don't know where I cut off beforehand. I think there's something wrong with the internet. But I concur with the delay of this and even that it falls on the second one falls on the election. We might even consider pushing it a little bit further so that we could have the results of whatever Amendment 3 is. To the point of bringing up what FEMA does and height restrictions, when a person buys any property, depends where you buy so doing saying what you just said about the spite of the second story there's no guarantee this is why we're going over what we're doing for um the zoning regulations for the whole village not just uh the fema area so i'm looking forward to meeting with council and going over the the points that have been changed in ours and and i'm just having a discussion item because if you went to any of the meetings planning and zoning director said we could design whatever house we wanted even an upside-down one so there's a lot of work ahead on this our district so if so I think I'm hearing maybe two different things it sounds like

there's appetite look so I think we're clear that we don't want this at the next meeting that's clear to us in terms of whether or not we're gonna hope aim for the second meeting in October seems I think I need clarity on that because from what the mayor just indicated seems like he's considering not having a second reading at the November 3rd meeting, but to delay it even further? Or to defer it even further? Is that accurate? Just, oh, the internet might be out.

Well, for my two cents, I would agree with Jerome because it takes time to discuss this with residents. We need to understand it ourselves first, and then we need to be able to go to residents with that information and see which way the wind is blowing. And I'm not saying that planning and zoning didn't do that. but I mean in the end this is their recommendation to us we've got to make that final decision and you know nothing against for the planning and zoning board but it's 5 people you know that were not elected they were appointed it's our responsibility to do that

the more time the better for me I think that I would echo that we should leave a little gap between first and second reading to make sure that we are responsibly fielding all questions concerns etc I would like to take a moment to thank our planning and zoning board for carefully taking the time and staff for carefully taking the time to um bring this to fruition and put it in our laps i just have one thing i want to say and you already said it but i just want you to say it one more time eddie because i feel like at least once a week and i don't know if you guys run into the same issue i have but i feel like once a week run into a resident who comes to you or calls you and says, well, what are you guys doing about massing and what are you guys doing about size here in the community? And the four criteria we passed, I think almost two years ago now, 2024, you just heard Eddie, who's in a day-to-day with us the whole way, say that the type of applications and the type of homes that are now coming before us after those four criteria are are drastically different so if you wouldn't mind just saying one more time for the record so i can point to this meeting as an example of like i said that we we have began to address address that issue in a very big way

Absolutely, sir. So we can say that with full confidence. I think just with the step-back regulation for new construction, that is doing a whole lot of wonders because what it's doing is once a structure gets to a second level, right, above, let's say, 12, 13 feet, they're required to push that plane back six feet on the front and on the side. So that is dramatically reducing the amount of

bulk let's say that you see from the street with these new builds so yes perfect appreciate it thank you so much add on to that too you know just on my street alone when i got elected uh there was three major you know things going on on my street that were you know either uh complete renovations or uh additions One just completed. Actually, two just completed. And a third, unfortunately, the closest one to my house. It's still going on. The reason I'm saying that is there's stuff that might have been approved over a year ago, two years ago, that is still being worked on right now. So you might still be seeing something that's still being constructed under the old code, unfortunately. So that is a part of it also. That's a good point.

think we're clear that will aim for the second meeting in October and yeah okay just making sure so just a quick update our law office did submitted a lawsuit in terms of challenging the ballot language for Amendment 3. And so we were successful in that regard. And so that language has been obviously revised. But nonetheless, we think that it's important that when this does go before the residents, it's not in any shape or form that violates our Constitution. And so we're happy to report that that was favorable. And then outside of that, I know that you all previously brought up a few ordinances that we were going to review, or at least one that I have clear direction on, and that was the solicitation ordinance. So I'm in the process of drafting that, and so I expect for that to be before you in the next couple of months. Obviously, other things took priority, so it's in the pipeline. So I just wanted to be aware of that, that that's coming up. then I know there's also gosh my train of thought just left me well I just want to let mr. Birch know that since our last meeting I've asked two people if I can see their peddlers permit well I guess it's working without the the change on the book anyways oh the other thing I know in a cup of during the boards and Rick the committee updates We had previously discussed the golf course advisory board and their role. We then just had a discussion here where we wanted to kind of delay what that might look like until we were done with the management agreement. I know there's been some further discussion amongst their board about what that might look like. And so I'm not saying I need any direction tonight. But at some point, if you all want to revisit that discussion, then you can bring it forth as a discussion item. So just give me further clarity on what exactly you want that role to look like in case you do want to provide instruction about changing it.

Through the Chair, I spoke with the advisory board there I'll be the one that will proper it for discussion and possible action, but I am waiting on them to give a document, and then I'll do a memo, and then we'll have a discussion and possible action first for you. And I think what they want to do is give an example of an ordinance, but that would just be in draft form or whatever suggested by residents, not by lawyers. earliest I think if they do it on time it would be on the 22nd that we would have a discussion of possible action about a change thank you mayor and that's it from from my end all right village council comments anything from anybody I would say one more thing Jesse thank you for that

just this past week we had uh... two young kids show up at the front door holding a couple of small little pieces of uh... like looked almost like toys and they said they were from a basketball team and uh... they were trying to raise money for a trip somewhere and etcetera well of course that got my wife and she gave them a donation. But interestingly, some residents must listen to these council meetings because they went two doors further and 60 seconds after that house, a police car went down the street and stopped these two kids. And I don't want to give the wrong idea but as we discussed at that time if we knew who the people were and what their license tag was and what they were representing and how we could contact them i think we can reduce crime and i i think that uh you know pursuing that is worthwhile and i'm glad to hear jesse had a positive experience with it i agree

I just I know we pulled the the fee changes on there I just wanted to make a comment on and see if maybe my colleagues would support this I since it seems like there's gonna be more work done on it would there be support for the guidance of can we just like round up to the nearest dollar like on some of these like that like especially in the business like tax receipts. It seems like there was like maybe we just did like a percentage increase across the board and some of them were like already had like you know. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we were like, thank you. So if we could just, if my colleagues would support it, I would like to direct staff to just round up to the nearest dollar, like on all of it.

Granted, nobody's paying for these in cash. Of course, but still, just for simplicity.

For sure, for sure.

Yeah, my support.

Thank you.

Well, I appreciate staff pulling that from this evening. I'm interested in the other 33 cities that we have here in Metropolitan Dade County and what the fees they're charging so that we have something to compare it to. You know, are we under? Are we in line? Are we over? I have no idea.

I agree.

Right.

I definitely don't want to be under. Sure.

All right.

Announcements.

The next meeting of the Village Council will be held on Tuesday, September 22nd, immediately following the final budget hearing at 6 p.m. at Village Hall Council Chambers. There are vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Board, Code Enforcement Board, Historic Preservation Board, Personnel Appeals Board, Doctors' Charter School Board, and the Country Club Advisory Board. If you're interested in serving, please visit msvfl.gov and click on Boards and Committees under the Government tab. Contact the Village Clerk's Office at 305-762-4870. Motion to adjourn. Thank you.