2005 0609 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting June 9, 2005 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida the parking garage. He said they have now reached that point and that is why time has become of the essence so they can do the improvements to the park and close their units. He said that they did not hear back from the City so on May 10, 2005 they submitted a letter to City Manager Russo stating how important the scheduling would be. Mr. Price said that approximately two weeks ago a meeting was held with Alliance Construction, their general contractor on the property, in which certain issues were raised for the first time, and he learned for the first time on Tuesday morning [June 7, 2005] when he picked up the Miami Herald that there is an issue. He spoke to Richard Lamandon, Principle of La Perla/ Cornerstone Group, Tuesday, and later that day he called the City Attorney as to what the issues were, and suggested that they sit down in a meeting to discuss the issues and the resolutions of those issues. He said that he met with City Manager Russo and Acting City Attorney Wright this afternoon, and basically the issues discussed with them were two- fold: 1) The City believed they were entitled to compensation for lost revenues during that portion of time in which construction of the Park was necessitated by the creation of the Park, cutting off the area for life-safety issues so they can construct that portion of their building which is the entranceway to their building; and 2) the issue of ensuring the City that this would be done on an expedited basis, and they were told that their representatives indicated to the City that this could be done in six months time. He noted that he would submit both letters into the record which indicated no such representations were ever made by them, that they have always envisioned a nine-month process. He said that their construction was scheduled at a point in time where they wanted to temporarily terminate the use of the park would coincide with that portion which is not the season for the Park and the use of the beach. He said it is also the rainy season and hurricane season so they tried to build a realistic schedule and felt that nine months would be needed for completion of this Park. He said that the completion of this Park is very important to them in regard to their ability to close units. Mr. Price said when he spoke to the City about compensation they said they are generating about $12,500.00 a month in parking revenue. He noted that it was always envisioned that his client would continue to operate the parking as they had done in the past. He said that they had purchased the property from Dr. Cornfeld and no longer have an association with Dr. Cornfeld, even though as part of their commitment to the City that during that temporary cessation of the Park, they would agree at their expense to let people park across the street and they would charge that rate that is charged and regulated by the City. He said at the end of the Public Hearing ofthat matter, City Manager Russo had suggested to them that maybe it would be better for the City to operate the parking, and his client said if that is what the City desires, then they would have no problem letting the City operate that Park. He noted that he pulled out the agreement with the City and that it was always fully contemplated that the Park was going to be closed. He said that it was fully understood that the revenues that were going to be generated at the time the City had the Park would be maintained by the City and at the end of the day, they were going to provide 29 parking spaces within their building. He said that the County was additionally concerned that the Park should not be impaired over to what was previously operated there so as part of the ultimate settlement with the County and the City, they agreed that they would replace the 29 spaces in the Park and in addition, still provide an additional minimum of29 parking spaces in their building at a fee not to exceed what the City charges for parking. ]5