2007 1018 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting October 18,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 11. MOTIONS None 12. DISCUSSION ITEMS 12A. Discussion regarding Landscaping the Medians Along Collins Avenue. Action: City Manager Szerlag stated that this is pretty narrow in scope, going from 3 plantings to 2 plantings, giving alternatives on what those plantings could look like, and also to talk about a method of bidding our landscape maintenance service. Public Works Director Rick Conner said we currently spend about $270,000 a year for our 3- cycle plantings, and that City Manager Szerlag had asked them to come up with some options, and he was able to do that with Kathy O'Leary Richard's help. He gave a Power- Point presentation on landscaping the medians along Collins A venue with alternatives of different plantings. Commissioner Goodman asked if this is for the whole City or certain areas, and Kathy O'Leary Richards said this is City-wide. Public Works Director Conner said they added a new Alternative 6 which is going to mostly perennials but adding some color in specific key locations in annuals and that blending would save us some significant money, reducing the amount of the triangular amount of planting sections. Mayor Edelcup said he would like to see as much as we can do with the perennials because over the lifetime beyond the first year we are going to save considerable funding and also be in a position where the planting looks pretty uniform consistently throughout the year. The final suggestion of maybe putting some annuals in smaller bull nose locations is an interesting idea that we can try and if it works well, than we can continue to do something like that, and experiment the first year. The second year we can continue with the perennials ifit didn't work out with the annuals, so he is in favor of the 6th alternative. Public Works Director Conner said that the nice thing about that suggestion is that we will still have some savings over the previous year even if we went to a significant number of perennials, and it gives us the opportunity to experiment. He complimented Vice Mayor Thaler as he has an eye for those kinds of things as he pointed out in the 165th Street area that there is a planting of perennials and they are three (3) tiers and each ofthe three tiers is a different color, and so you can really introduce color and still stay with perennials. Commissioner Goodman said if you have short flowers in the medians it is a problem because people stomp on them, we are not allowed to put in a fence there but he would like to see a tight bush where people cannot cross which would prevent jaywalking and still give us some beauty. Mayor Edelcup said the Crown of Thorns will help that because they are full of thorns, and they will grow taller. Commissioner Brezin asked how high do they grow, and Kathy O'Leary Richards said no more than 24-inches, because you can't go any higher than that on the bull noses. Mayor Edelcup said when they plant them to plant the full-sized plants even if we have to spend a little more. Vice Mayor Thaler said that this does not include the William Lehman Causeway which will have a separate entity. City Manager Szerlag said that is an excellent point as there are a few phases here that interrelate to each other in terms of not only landscaping but also sustainable development. He said Phase I, which is the medians, are essentially narrow and how we are 9