2010-0916 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting September 16,2010 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida retail stores. The aquarium gives us the ability to have the upscale stores and will bring people in to Sunny Isles Beach to help everyone. Vice Mayor Thaler said we are a City on the ocean, at the Intracoastal, we are a water City, where people go fishing, we have the Pier here and the docking, it would be natural to have an aquarium, it would fit in with all the other things in that particular area. To go a step further with the commercial, we do have additional property that we have been working with, in fact the Mayor has been working diligently in trying to get the commercial part of what you are talking about next to City Hall where the Alamo and National are to have either a bank or commercial building come in there. It just takes time to put these things together, the Master Plan within Sunny Isles Beach is exactly what you are looking for and what you are relating to. Commissioner Brezin said that this facility will also be a learning experience as there will be lectures there and programs for children. Mr. Levin asked ifthe aquarium was a done deal, and the Commission stated that nothing has been signed, this is conceptual only, and there will be a public hearing when it is ready to go before the Commission. 13D. Lawrence Levy discussed the Aquarium. He is also against the aquarium. He feels we are going back to honky tonk, and he feels we should be going forwards. Build a building there and people will fill it. The Seaqarium is empty during the week, and packed on weekends. 13E. Isaac Aelion discussed the Traffic Congestion, Item 9B Fees, and Ellen Uguccioni. He referred to Danny Iglesias who knows all about traffic, when Winston Towers was being built, everyone was in a panic because they thought there would be heavy traffic congestion, and there was not. He is sure the aquarium will have plenty of traffic studies, etc, before it is built. On Item 9B, does this include the singular permitting fees for condominiums, and Assistant City Manager Vera said the two items that were added were the prepayment fees for repairs on the common areas for condominiums, and also for condominium units. Regarding Ellen Uguccioni, he felt a disservice was done to the City Manager, there was a perception when we left the meeting that the City Manager singularly decided to hire Ellen Uguccioni regarding Historic Preservation (September 2, 2010 Special Commission Meeting), and nothing was further from the truth and he felt that an explanation should be put into the record. Mayor Edelcup said then that your opinion was that the people who heard the discussion felt that we were only hiring Ellen Uguccioni to do one thing and one thing only to render a report on Temple B 'Nai Zion, which she did. The contract that the City Manager has entered into is to do more than just render an opinion for that particular report. She is also to review our preservation ordinance as it relates to whether it needs to be updated in any fashion, she is also working on a book that will be produced by the City that would cover the architectural development that has taken place in this City since we became a City which will be available for our 15th Anniversary, in addition to that he knows that she is working on other assignments with our City Historian Richard Schulman. 13F. Arie Steiger discussed the Aquarium and Tenex. He said he thinks it is going to be a waste of money and a burden to the City because Joe Robbie Stadium has dedicated 40 acres to build a Seaquarium and a Teen Park. That Seaqarium is empty during the week, even on the weekends. For him personally, he thinks it will be good because he is going to build a building there and he will have traffic but for the City it is going to be a burden by the end of 18