2009-1119 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November 19, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 12B. Add -On A Discussion regarding Accepting the Offer of a Five -Year Lease of the Atlantic Isles Pond for Park Property, and Authorizing Landscaping Expenditures of up to $60,000.00. Action: [City Clerk's Note: See action under Item 4A, adding this item to the agenda.] Mayor Edelcup passed the gavel to Vice Mayor Thaler, and he and Commissioner Scholl abstained from this discussion as they are both property owners on Atlantic Isles. Public Speakers: Alon Steiger; Ari Steiger; Danny Iglesias Alon Steiger, President of the Atlantic Isles Civic Association, said they have spoken to the City many times regarding the lagoon in the center of Atlantic Isle which is belonging about 75% to the City on the right -of -way, and about 25% to the Island which is basically the shoreline of the lagoon, and it has always been a maintenance issue, and so they proposed possibly to lease it to the City for a trial period of five years to see how it would work out. Vice Mayor Thaler said he does not believe that the City should spend money on something it does not own. If you want to give the City a long lease and pay for part of it, we would certainly look at it. But a five -year lease or just a lease where it would revert back to the people in Atlantic Isles, and he would not go for that. Mr. Steiger said the problem is that part of it belongs to the City and over the years Atlantic Isle was maintaining all of it, and now people don't pay their dues. Vice Mayor Thaler suggested trying to get the people to agree to turn it over to the City. Alon Steiger said it is really hard to convince people because we have 52 families and most of them don't attend any of the meetings. Ari Steiger said they own the lagoon, submerged property and the City owns the land around it, and Vice Mayor Thaler said he would not approve anything other than a long term lease and the Association coming up with some dollars to help pay, he can see a joint venture in payment but he feels we should have a 40 — 50 year lease on it because if we take it over, the City is going to be obligated to update it, change it, and do the maintenance on it. Commissioner Brezin said she can't see the City going into an expenditure at this time of up to $60,000, and she can't see the advantages from the point of view of our City. Vice Mayor Thaler said that they already have plans for the area that the City owns. City Manager Conner said that is correct, and in many of the projects that the City has been undertaking, if we destroyed somebody's property, we went back and we put in nice curb and gutter, sidewalk, brick pavers, and landscaping. It was the intent from the beginning that as part of this project, that area would be improved from a landscaping standpoint. The issue that is now being raised is, do we do some of that work on this side of the line or just keep it on that side of the line. There is a plan, and there are funds available in this project to do an improvement to the landscaping of that area. Commissioner Goodman said the major problem is that you have difficulty with your homeowners, originally when the project came about to redo the whole thing, many of your homeowners never showed up and they weren't interested. You had a meeting the other night and he understands only eight people showed up. He agrees with the Vice Mayor, can we be partners 50/50 and give us 10 or 20 years. Vice Mayor Thaler said he thinks they have heard the three of them and unless they are willing to give it to us, and if they are not