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<br />Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November 15,2007
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<br />City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
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<br />in a public workshop, it was included in the 5-year work program. Mayor Edelcup said that
<br />we can't give them financial aid because we can't use public money for private purposes.
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<br />Ruben Perez, owner of Ruby J's Restaurant at 239 Sunny Isles Boulevard, read a letter into
<br />the record that the project has greatly impacted his business, the project notice distributed on
<br />October 22 states that it would be a minor inconvenience when in reality it has become a
<br />major disruption to his business, the concrete barrier wall, heavy machinery, construction of
<br />sidewalks and pavements along with dust and debris prohibits entrance into their businesses.
<br />He said that no suitable signs have been posted and his business that he has owned for over
<br />five years is on the brink of going out of business due to poor City planning and lack of
<br />notification. Before he signed his new lease this past spring, he asked his landlord if there
<br />were any construction projects in the area and he said he had not heard of anything. He also
<br />asked the City if there were any projects and was told no, not that they have heard of. He
<br />invested another $125,000 into his business remodeling it and getting new staff and had the
<br />grand opening scheduled on October 25, the first week of opening was a nightmare, he had
<br />plumbing issues from clogged sewer lines, electrical power failures, phone calls from
<br />customers who could not find the restaurant, and confusion about the lack of detour signs,
<br />which resulted in lack of revenue, and he is now asking for the City to compensate for loss of
<br />revenues. What legal requirements does the City have to give notification when a project of
<br />this magnitude begins?
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<br />City Attorney Ottinot said under our Code there is no legal requirement to give notice to a
<br />business, nevertheless there is a protocol to give notice to the landlord first, and to the
<br />business, that process was in place and obviously there was a misstep but the City Manager
<br />and the City Commission has indicated that they want to work with the business owners to
<br />make sure everything works out in the future. He stated that there is no legal requirement if
<br />the City intends to do any work in the right-of-way, to provide notice to adjacent property
<br />owners or businesses, nevertheless, this City has provided notice where a notice was
<br />adequate. Commissioner Iglesias said for the legal part you may be right but he remembers
<br />when Marlin Engineering and Calvin Giordano were working on the actual plans, and we had
<br />meetings with Raanan Katz, with the south side, with property owners at the time to interject
<br />where those driveway entrances were going to be, and property owners at that time in 2002
<br />were notified, and to say that this is a surprise is a surprise to us.
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<br />Commissioner Iglesias said there will be some periods during Christmas and Thanksgiving
<br />that there is really no work, perhaps we can accommodate maybe some driveway entrances as
<br />long as we don't jeopardize the safety of the motorists, that they have entrances to the
<br />businesses in some of the areas where it can be done, and certainly the signage for both front
<br />and back. Mr. Perez asked what options are available to provide aid for the business owners
<br />that are suffering right now? Commissioner Iglesias said for financial aid, no we cannot use
<br />public funds for private entities, but as far as working with the business owners, and giving
<br />better information, better signage, removing barricades when not needed in the peak where
<br />you shut down because of the season, all that can be accommodated, and Mr. Perez said as
<br />far as volume of workers there can be increased, working on longer days, there really hasn't
<br />been a lot of activity going on there. Commissioner Iglesias said if it is a utility relocation it
<br />is not us, the utility companies we have to push to get out of the way because we have
<br />DERM, Water and Sewer, Dade County, FPL, they also have their schedules.
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