2007 1115 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November IS, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Mayor Edelcup said that he feels that City Manager Szerlag has searched the City to see what sites are available and narrowed it down to this. Vice Mayor Thaler said in setting this up it must be kept away from the children's playground, and City Manager Szerlag said a fence will currently go just west of the existing sidewalk that would separate the kids from the dogs and dog patrons. Vice Mayor Thaler asked why it can't come in off from Collins Avenue and keep it away completely, there is a gate on Collins, and put the fence from that gate straight back rather than come in on the south side. Public Works Director Rick Conner said the intent is to isolate the children completely from the dogs and the dog handlers, and the proposal before the Commission tonight is to run a pathway from the SW comer of the existing Park as it is touching 172nd Street, move north along the mangroves, and that would access that teardrop that forms the western-most part of the Park, people could park just to the west, across the street, bringing the animal in beside the new restrooms, go north in a channel that would be isolated to them. Mayor Edelcup said then that parking is the main issue, the selection of coming from 172nd vs. Collins Avenue is because there would be no place to park a car on Collins, and Public Works Director Conner said not just the parking but they were concerned about trying to accumulate those animals on Collins A venue on a busy sidewalk, on a busy street, so they can then funnel themselves along that north side. He said it was discussed but safety issues led them to isolate them with the parking and enter the dog area directly. City Manager Szerlag also suggested that we gamer a list of volunteers perhaps from the folks who signed the petition to help police the area for us and even handle some complaints that we may get. Mayor Edelcup said the people walking their dogs would still have to use the pooper scooper, etc. Commissioner Goodman and Commissioner Brezin said they don't support a dog park. Commissioner Iglesias said the key word here is experimental, at least try somewhere and this is probably the most strategic one, and Mayor Edelcup agreed. Commissioner Goodman suggested having the experiment at Gwen Margolis Park where the horse and carriage is all the way to the north end of the Park, you have Atlantic Boulevard on one side and North Bay Road on the other side, there are two entrances and exits one on Atlantic Boulevard and one on North Bay Road, and there is nobody there now, and there are some parking spaces there, as well as at the church. City Manager Szerlag said if we go to Gwen Margolis Park we would have the same experiment parameters that we would have with Town Center Park, we would still want a gate there to separate kids from that area. It was the consensus of the Commission to have the experimental dog park at Gwen Margolis Park. City Manager Szerlag said in terms of hours of operation he would like to have that coordinated with Cultural and Human Services Director Susan Simpson because we don't want to take away any parking from organized activities. Mayor Edelcup said the horse and carriage would have to be moved. 12D. Add-On: A Request from RK Associates to Discuss the Uniform Sign Plan. Action: [City Clerk's Note: See action under Item 4A adding this to the agenda.) City Manager Szerlag reported that Arnold Shevlin indicated that he could not make it tonight but he did submit a letter to him asking for this to be discussed. He said he wrote RK Associates a letter in May 2007 indicating that there were four options available: 1) the Ordinance 16