2011-0421 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting April 21, 201 I City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida etc. He noted that the entrance and the exit to the parking are at the west side, and showed an area that would be the stage with the Great Lawn in front of it. Mr. Schulman said that they are prepared to start negotiating an agreement tomorrow, and bring it back to the Commission next month with a revised concept if you find this concept something which is acceptable. Commissioner Aelion felt it was very impressive and futuristic, and very appropriate for the needs of the City. Commissioner Scholl noted that Joe Milton and Ed Castifieira came by his office and he is making an ex parte disclosure, and chatted a little about the project. He said any agreement is contingent upon knowing who the restaurateur is going to be, because clearly the occupant of the space makes a big difference in how the project is perceived. Also that we revisit the economics of the City's contribution because those numbers have changed a lot based on the fact that now we have a parking garage without a park on top of it, a more traditional parking lot, and hopefully it should not cost as much to build. Vice Mayor Thaler agreed but the success of this whole area will depend on the restaurants or retail that we get and he believes we need a branded restaurant or retail of some sort in order to draw people into the area. Whether we need more or less parking depends on the restaurants or retail we get there. Commissioner Gatto said it is hard to go forward and make any kind of a commitment in a vacuum by not knowing what restaurant will be the anchor of that area. Mayor Ede1cup said he thinks it is unanimous that the Commission likes the project that has been presented, and it is a fine second choice for us to move forward with. He said yes we need to know who the restaurateur is going to be, and he is not necessarily convinced that we want to see retail in there other than one or two restaurants and he would lean towards trying to make this a restaurant destination and not some other retail. He doesn't mind seeing a cafe, a coffee shop, or an ice cream parlor, something that relates to a park, but he is not interested in seeing retail whether it be a clothing store, a souvenir shop, etc., he doesn't think that befits the park environment. The site is not really available for construction until February or March 2012, which means we have just under a year before the site is available. In order for the Commission to make a determination, some timelines need to be created in the negotiations with the City Manager and the City Attorney, and his suggestion would be to set a timeline of no more than six (6) months to secure a restaurant that is mutually acceptable. One of the things he would insist on is that it has to be a restaurant that is mutually acceptable to the City as well as to 4M Investors. Mr. Schulman said they have no objection as they consider themselves the City's partner, and therefore the partner should have a definite say so on who the vendor is. Mayor Edelcup suggested for the next 60 days to put together an agreement with City staff keeping in mind that in that 60 days is a 180-day period to find a restaurant or a group of restaurants because at the end of the 180 days if you haven't found somebody, than we will need to revisit this and look at our options again to determine whether or not we want to wait to find another restaurant or to move on to a different type of project for this Gateway Park. Mr. Schulman said that they are anxious to move forward too, and with the Commission's direction they are prepared to work on this agreement and get it back to the Commission within 30 days, and once the agreement is agreed to and signed, then within that six-month period we have no objections to moving forward to find a vendor. Mayor Ede1cup noted that 14