2007 1115 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November 15,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida [City Clerk's Note: Commissioner Iglesias adjourned the meeting at 11:00 p.m., and then re-opened it to allow citizens to speak under Citizen's Forum.] 13. CITIZENS' FORUM: REQUESTS, PETITIONS & OTHER COMMUNICATIONS 13A. New Item: Raquel Mass, a business owner on Sunny Isles Boulevard [Beach Brokers Realty] for five years, asked the following: 1) how was it possible that the City started the job on Sunny Isles Boulevard before giving the business owners notice; 2) why did they start Phase II before Phase I; 3) why did they start during the high season; and 4) why wasn't the signage in place before beginning the job, as signage was in the wrong place and the name of her business was misspelled. She said a few months ago she saw an appraiser outside her business taking notes and she asked him what he was doing, and he said his firm was working for the City to determine the value of the structures on the south side of Sunny Isles Boulevard because they were interested in claiming eminent domain. She asked if that is true as it would result in losing their businesses, and additionally, after the hurricane their windows were blown in and they immediately put in wood so they wouldn't get vandalized and they got cited by the City because they didn't ask for a permit for the wood. Commissioner Iglesias said before we were a City that job was done by FDOT, and one of the ideas they have tried to do for many years was traffic calming in that area which is what the City is trying to achieve. He said FDOT gave $3 Million Dollars for improvements to that roadway, which he spent 3-4 years trying to obtain. He said the first invoice he approved for the project was in June 2007, and if that invoice wasn't in place in June, the City would have risked losing $l Million Dollars. He said construction phases take a long time, but once the project is done, we will have a nice entrance to the City with nice landscaping which will only embellish the businesses we have there. He said before we started, there was a delay due to a W ASA breakdown, the main waterline busted in that area, and there was 5-6 weeks that prohibited us from starting the project. He knows that the peak season is December 15 to March 15 which is the reason we wanted to start and get out of there before the peak season started but unfortunately we had the breakdown, but they should be out of there by January 15, 2008 on that portion. City Manager Szerlag noted that the waterline break was a four-month delay. Community Development Director Robert Solera said that his department was asked by Public Works Department and the Contractor to some way be able to enhance the notification that was going to be given to the property owners/property business owners in that location. He stated that two notices were issued, one on October 8, 2007 and the other October 22, 2007, which were hand delivered but they only got signatures on the second notice. Ms. Mass said she received notice on October 22, 2007, which was not enough time as it was the same day they started the project and her business was barricaded. Mayor Edelcup said this Commission wanted to make sure that there was plenty of public notice when this project was going to get started, and he feels that the City could have done more to notify the businesses well in advance of when this was going to take place, we didn't, we apologize for that on behalf of the City but the fact remains that the project is already started. He said that access is being provided at three different locations along that barrier section as well as the entire backside of the property is open and available. He said 18