2014-0911 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 11, 2014 Sunny Isles Beach, Florida tonight to celebrate with him another year and we hope this is still another year of many more yet to come. He knows that Gerry is a man of very few words and he would be remiss if he didn't give him the opportunity to speak at the microphone, but remember there is an addendum to this ceremony right after you speak. Gerry Goodman said he wanted to ask a question before he speaks about what happened that day. When we decided to let the developer use Samson Oceanfront Park, it was his interpretation that he was going to rebuild the Park. Nov he hears that the Park is going to cost about S2 Million, is that correct? Mayor Edelcup said yes, that is the total estimated cost before giving any credit to the amount that the developer will pay, and so the whole project is a S2 Million project. Some of that will be boum by the developer and that is subject to the negotiations with the City Manager and the developer. Mr. Goodman said okay because it was his interpretation that he was going to rebuild the Park. How did the City get involved in spending City money? Mayor Edelcup said because the developer was going to rebuild the Park as it was and we took the opportunity to say that we don't want it exactly as it was, we want to have expanded bathrooms, we want to have more playground area, and we want to have better electricity in there, and other things that came along. It was decided by the City staff that the best thing that we could do would be a partnership, we will pay for some of the improvements and the developer would pay for some improvements. We would have a better and a more modern Park after this is built as opposed to what the former Samson Oceanfront Park had. City Manager Russo said we have an Agreement with the developer and it spells out exactly what he was to provide. The Mayor is correct, he was only rebuilding the part of the Park that he was using which he was paying for, and he gave a significant contribution to our Parks, the $400,000 in addition to this. So what we are doing right now is our Engineer who you met tonight, is cost estimating this project and he has that Agreement, he is cost estimating what the developer was to provide. We have made significant improvements on what it was he was to provide but not only doing our plans with some of the items we mentioned tonight, like the solid concrete covers on these structures as opposed to canvass. He is costing out what the developer was to provide and we will be getting and negotiating a check from him for that amount that will go towards the project in addition to the other funding that he is giving the City for the other project. Gerry Goodman said the reason why the apartments in Sunny Isles Beach are so high now and in demand is because of our beach accesses. When he and Mayor Edelcup first sat on the Commission anybody who wanted to build had to give us beach access, and that is why the apartments in Sunny Isles Beach are much more valuable because the people have access to the beach which was very important. Mayor Edelcup said we should also mention that it was Walter Bresslow that led the charge for that. Mr. Goodman said yes, he was afraid of you and Mayor David Samson and so Gerry spoke for him. Germ Goodman said that day was a very auspicious day in my life, at that time Lila Sterling was alive and she brought a cake to the Election that night and Mayor Samson, when they counted the ballots, went over to Lila and said to her "How did you know he was going to win ? ", and Lila said "I didn't know he was going to win but today is his birthday." They G