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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 1213 Regular City Commission Meeting , SUMMARY MINUTES Regular City Commission Meeting Thursday, December 13,2007, 7:30 p.m. City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida A TTENTION ALL LOBBYISTS: CITY LAW REQUIRES YOUR REGISTRATION PRIOR TO ENGAGING IN LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BEFORE CITY STAFF, BOARDS, COMMITTEES OR THE CITY COMMISSION. PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK FOR FORMS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ede1cup at 7:30 p.m., with the following officials present: Mayor Norman S. Ede1cup Vice Mayor Lewis J. Thaler Commissioner Roslyn Brezin Commissioner Gerry Goodman Commissioner George "Bud" Scholl City Manager A. John Szerlag City Attorney Hans Ottinot City Clerk Jane A. Hines, CMC Assistant City Attorney Fernando Amuchastegui 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE / INVOCATION Action: Phillip Chernoff led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and Richard C. Schulman gave an invocation. Mayor Edelcup gave opening remarks of decorum. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3A. Regular City Commission Meeting - November 15,2007. Action: Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the above-mentioned Summary Minutes. The motion was approved by a voice vote of 5- o in favor. 3B. Special City Commission Meeting - December 6,2007. Action: Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the above-mentioned Summary Minutes. The motion was approved by a voice vote of 5- o in favor. 4. ORDER OF BUSINESS (Additions/Deletions/Amendments) 4A. Request to Hear Items. Order of Business: Hear Item 10A after 5B; After Item 7 A Hear lOJ, and then Item 9D; Additional Information: Item 7B & 7C, Sketches re: Driveways, and Fences and Walls Ordinances; Item 9A, Analysis to Increase Bonus Participation; Item lOB, Ridership Statistics of Buses for 2006-2007; Item 10E, Budget Amendment Rationale; Item l2A, Wireless Island Status; Amendments: Item 9D.2 Revised EAR-Based Amendments; Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Item lOA, Addendum to Letter of Agreement; Item 10D Revised Cover Memo; Item 10L, Revised Exhibit "A" regarding Committee Appointments; and Item l2B, Revised Cover Memo. Action: Mayor Ede1cup noted the above changes to the agenda. Commissioner Goodman moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the above changes to the agenda. The.motion was approved by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 5. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS SA. Presentation by Police Chief Fred Maas to D.E.A. Agent Thomas Aiu upon his retirement, along with Sunny Isles Beach Police Master Sergeant Steve Diaz for their dedicated efforts on behalf of the City of Sunny Isles Beach. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Item 5B heardfirst as Sergeant Diaz was held up in traffic.] Police Chief Fred Maas presented a Plaque to DEA. Agent Thomas Aiu as Honorary Police Chief of Sunny Isles Beach, and commended Sunny Isles Beach Police Master Sergeant Steve Diaz who were partners in a far reaching international organized crime operation. He said for more than three (3) years they have devoted, worked, and sacrificed a great deal in order to bring to fruition that investigation, which is ongoing, and due to the efforts and success of these two men, the DEA, and all the supporting cast, the City of Sunny Isles Beach and this Police Department are in line to receive $7 -l 0 Million Dollars in forfeiture assets. Police Captain Snyder presented their wives with flowers. ChiefMaas also thanked City Manager Szerlag, City Attorney Ottinot, and Assistant City Attorney Fernando Amuchastegui for their support during this operation. 5B. Presentation by Administrative Services Director Alyce Hanson to Winners of the Sunny Isles Beach Photo Contest for the City's 2008 Calendar. Action: [City Clerk's Note: See action above.] Administrative Services Director Alyce Hanson gave a power point presentation and presented plaques to the six (6) winners of the Sunny Isles Beach Photo Contest: Carmen Boos, Phillip Chernoff, Harry Frahm, Sylvia Leidia, Natalie Uretsky, and William Wallace. Ms. Hanson noted that the 2008 Sunny Isles Beach Calendars will be available the last week in December at no cost. [City Clerk's Note: Item lOA heard after the Presentations, see action under Item 4A.] 6. ZONING: ZONING HEARINGS ARE QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS. None 7. ORDINANCES FOR FIRST READING 7 A. Public HeariOf.!: Sitting in as the Local Planning Agency and the City Commission, to Consider an Ordinance Amending the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) Presentation by Bell David Planning Group regarding Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. 2 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 7 A.l A Resolution of the Local Planning Agency of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Recommending to the City Commission of Sunny Isles Beach, the Ordinance Amending the City's Adopted Comprehensive Plan by Adding a Public School Facilities Element and Amending the Capital Coordination Element ; and the Intergovernmental Coordination Element, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A", and the Required Transmittal to the State Department of Community Affairs Pursuant to Chapter 163.3l91 of the Florida Statutes; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title and City Manager Szerlag asked Alex David, ofthe Bell David Planning Group, to explain the amendments. Public Speakers: Ana Rijo-Conde, AICP Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution. LP A Resolution No. 2007-46 was adopted by a voice vote of 4-0-1 in favor. 7 A.2 An Ordinance of the City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending the City's Adopted Comprehensive Plan by Adding a Public School Facilities Element and Amending the Capital Coordination Element; and the Intergovernmental Coordination Element; Providing for Severability; Providing for Repealer; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Alex David presented two (2) volumes of Support Datafor the Application to the City Clerk.] City Clerk Hines read the title and City Manager Szerlag asked Alex David of the Bell David Planning Group to explain the amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. David said he would be discussing two items, the Interlocal Agreement with Miami-Dade County Schools (Item 10J), and amendments to the Comprehensive Plan concerning educational facilities, and gave a power point presentation. He said in 2003 the existing municipalities in Miami-Dade County and the School Board entered into an Interlocal Agreement, as the State was mandating better coordination between entities in every county in the State dealing with schools, sharing of information, etc. He said in 2005 the State Legislature amended the State Statutes dealing with those agreements to require even more sophisticated planning and coordination, and this is the result. He stated that 31 municipalities, the School District and the County have been working for the past two (2) years on a new agreement to incorporate certain other things. He said that like any other concurrency level of service such as water, sewer, and parks, schools will now be required and developments will be reviewed for concurrency for schools, a very big step in planning for new schools and relating those back to residential developments. He said the second thing, which is more an accounting process, there is going to be a requirement for concurrency management systems. He stated that the municipalities will forward any development proposals to the School Board for their review to make sure the schools have adequate capacity, if the development is built, and he noted that the School Board is now also obligated to provide cities information dealing with their Capital Facilities Plan which is a multi-billion dollar work program. Planner Alex David said that there is also a requirement that the School Board add enough capacity by the fifth year in their work program to meet the demands of new students. He said there are also items such as mitigation, if concurrency cannot be met in this school or district, there are opportunities to look around municipalities to see what is available in other schools, 3 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and also developments can contribute land, buildings, etc. He said that the agreement really promotes the sharing of information and that is the heart of it, to really allow everyone to know what each other is doing and plan better for the future. Mr. David said out of that Interlocal Agreement comes the next step, the Educational Facilities Elements, a brand new element that will be part of the City's Comprehensive Plan, and because of this Interlocal Agreement we will have to amend the Intergovernmental Coordination Element to allow that coordination, and the Capital Improvements Element. He said that the Capital Improvements Element will have several things, that is where the level of service will be for the Schools, that is where the concurrency management system will be set up, the sharing of development information. He said the third item will be, requiring that the School Board submit to the municipality their capital/work program every year. He reported that the Capital Improvements Element will have to be amended every year to reflect the new document that the School Board is providing. He said if the Commission approves the Interlocal Agreement that it will be forwarded to the School Board, and noted that all 3l municipalities will be doing this, and that 17 or 18 municipalities are now in the process of signing this agreement, and several more are coming up next week. He stated that on the other side, the actual element will have to go through the regular Comprehensive Plan amendment process, and if approved, it will be transmitted to the State for their review. Public Speakers: Ana Rijo-Conde, AICP Mayor Edelcup asked Mr. David to go more into an explanation on the mitigation issue because if the school is fully capacitated and there isn't any additional land in Sunny Isles Beach, what happens at that point, does the developer have a choice of finding land outside the City but in the same district, or to pay cash? Mr. David said before that even happens, the first step is the concurrency service area, if your school does not have capacity, you have a number of schools around the municipality that they will look at first to see if any students can be shifted over to the neighboring schools which is called adjacency, and is the first step before any mitigation comes into play. He said it is a fairly large area and so they are not anticipating any problems but if there were, the next steps in mitigation is land banking, outside the City, contributing to funding, for the School Board to look for sites, or build additions to existing schools. Mr. David also noted that Ana Rijo-Conde, the Planning Officer for the School District is here and may want to explain this further. Mayor Ede1cup said what he is worrying about is that we are in a fast-growth area, not only the City of Sunny Isles Beach but the cities around us, and so it could very well be that the growth of this area surpasses the capacity of the schools in the area. He said that looking within our own City, there is no available land and so he would hope that the provisions of the mitigation would provide that a developer would not be turned down because there is no land in this City and that he was not able to find adjacent schools that had it and therefore would have to come up with cash or land outside the City, and he would like to make sure that is part of the mitigation process. Mr. David said it is broadly worded, and Mayor Edelcup said what they have seen doesn't give them any information and that is the problem because they are asking the Commission to approve something blindly as the details are not there. Mr. David said that there were about 80 meetings held just to come up with this document, it was a very intensive process with many staff members from many of the municipalities in the County, the 4 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Builders Association, the School Board, and many attorneys representing developers, so it was a very intense open process and he believes that everyone is somewhat happy with the way things came out. Mayor Ede1cup asked when can we see the details, and Ana Rijo-Conde gave more details on how the concurrency system is meant to work. Ana Rijo-Conde said that first of all we need to establish that the level of service standard that is being proposed in the Interlocal Agreement is to have a seat for every child in each of our schools. She said the concurrency service area is the individual school attendance boundaries, and the State Statutes do require that when we test for concurrency that we test first at the school of impact or whatever the concurrency service area is, and if there is not enough capacity there we shift to the adjacent schools and we go looking for capacity until we find it. She said it is not until you have gone through all of those processes and you don't find capacity anywhere, that you start the process of talking to the local government and the developer to work out a suitable mitigation option which could be adding to an existing school or looking for land or an innovative way of providing those seats as we have in other instances. She said it may be if the land is not there that we go into an existing building and try to retrofit that into a school, so there is a number of things that can be done to accommodate the growth. She said since this City is still growing and developing she thinks that one of the important things to point out is that as it relates to the way that concurrency management system is going to be applied, is that anything that basically has already been platted or has already been approved with a site plan is vested for concurrency. She said when January 1, 2008 comes around, any developer in the City that already has property platted, which is probably 100% of the instances, or has a site plan already approved through the City, when they come through the School Board system, they are basically just going to analyze it, make sure they capture the seats and they keep track of it so they have a good data base for planning purposes, but the developer is not going to be stopped from building because they would have been vested for concurrency. Commissioner Scholl asked if all the cities are signing the same exact agreement, and Mr. David said yes. Commissioner Scholl asked if we have any dispensation given the fact that we just made a significant contribution to the school that is getting built now, and it would be very frustrating in the future for someone to come in and say we have to compensate the School Board on an concurrency issue given the fact that the City gave a substantial compensation to the School Board for this facility. Ana Rijo-Conde said as it relates to the State Law there is no special dispensation for something like that, the City of Sunny Isles Beach will always have a special place in their heart, and that the City and the School Board has such a good track record of working together in a collaborative matter that she cannot see the School Board not in a position of working with the City to make sure that your development is not stopped, that you are not hampered by anything that we do. Commissioner Scholl said that the size of that concentric circle is pretty important given where we are at today, what future growth that we are anticipating based on the projects that could come on line in the next five (5) years and without having those statistics that is problematic for him in terms of making a judgment. Ana Rijo-Conde said that they have been at this for about 18 months, and in preparation there are two (2) things that a city does, it is to adopt an element and the Interlocal Agreement, and then the School Board doesn't have an element, it just has the Interlocal Agreement, but they provided all of the data and the analysis 5 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and they provided their five-year plan and their obligation essentially was to come up with a financially feasible plan. She said they had to demonstrate that, at least the first three (3) years, and that is a requirement of the law, of that Capital Improvement Plan were fully funded and financially feasible, and so they advanced that data, they advanced a five-year plan, and their data takes into consideration, not just the births and the deaths and the migration, etc., but data that has been provided by the individual cities as it relates to proposed projects, permits in the works, all those additional variables, to be able to project forward what their needs are going to be in each city. She said they sent that body of work, out to the State DCA and it has to pass in a number of different reviews and it came back with a favorable response, and so they are very comfortable with what they put out there. She indicated that every year they adopt a new five-year plan, they basically drop a year and add a year just as the City does, and so they will be continually re-evaluating their needs together with the City. She said that she is confident that the plan before the Commission tonight is a plan that will take care of their needs for the next five (5) years but they have an opportunity to re-evaluate again next year because every year things do change. Mayor Ede1cup said he knows that we are under State Mandate that we need to sign this by December 31, and what he would hope that when the formal language finally gets written on the mitigation section, that the School Board can transmit that to City Attorney Ottinot and that we can internally or have a public workshop here to walk through the process in the worst case scenarios. He said that we know the other scenarios will work, it is that worst case that bothers us and we would like to at least be educated on that even though it might be a one in a million shot but he thinks we need to know what that effect is so that we can act accordingly, and Ms. Rijo-Conde said that they can do that. Commissioner Scholl said that he feels that we have no frame of reference and that is the first question that he asked the City Attorney, where do we stand today, and what is in the hopper as far as the buildings are concerned. Vice Mayor Thaler agreed, he said we are sitting here in the middle signing an agreement that may not be advantageous to Sunny Isles Beach. He said what has been said in terms of not having the overall finite details is important but we also have a problem going forward with the State and how the State has changed their mind and have gone up and down on the amount of seating in the school, which is one of the things not guaranteed here, they have gone to 23 and they are down to 18, the numbers have changed through the years, and you are asking us to sign an agreement that we don't even have the details for today. Ana Rijo-Conde clarified that when she said they spent the last 18 months doing this work, they really involved all of the cities, they had a staff working group that included representatives from Sunny Isles Beach and all of the municipalities, and she wouldn't want to leave here with the Commission thinking that this is a unilateral proposal, it was drafted in conjunction with the County and the municipalities and it took them about a year and a half to put together not only the draft element before you tonight, which is being used as a template for all the municipalities. She said the Interlocal Agreement, and perhaps the City was not involved in that process and so are coming upon this more at the last minute then they have, but she would be happy to come back after the holidays, once the concurrency system has gone live, to make a presentation to the Commission at a workshop or to staff so you can have a feel for how things work with the automated system that they have put together. Mayor Ede1cup said that would be very helpful. 6 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Commissioner Goodman said it seems to him that you are building a school here in Sunny Isles Beach and the school is crowded, you come to us to tell us that we have to build another school on land that we don't have here anymore, and he is concerned about that as we are a barrier island and our land is restricted, we don't have much land. He asked how can we sign an agreement that tells us that if our school is overcrowded that we would have to build an annex or another school. Ana Rijo-Conde said it is clear that we would not be able to build any other seats adjacent to the K-8 that is presently going up, it is already on a very tight site, but to remember that the School Board has a responsibility to project forward and that is why we come to all the cities to make sure that we have all the data that the cities have to offer on permits or developments so that they can plug that information into their projections. She said it is their responsibility to provide for the seats/capacity, at least for the first three (3) years, which are rolling years, they always have to be financially feasible. She said unless something comes up that is totaling unexpected, in which case everybody has to sit down and figure it out, you have to rely on the School Board that they are going to be putting forth a number of seats that the municipality requires, and they may have to go to some innovative solutions because you don't have a lot ofland, if you have to build more seats in the City of Sunny Isles Beach it would have to be something out of the ordinary. Commissioner Goodman said he would like the information before they come back so they can review it, so when it is presented to them they can respond properly. Ana Rijo-Conde said yes, once the concurrency system goes into effect, she will prepare a couple of hypothetical examples and send that to the Commission in advance, and then she will come back. Mayor Ede1cup said that our concern is that we are in an area of fast/rapid growth and many of the cities that you are dealing with don't have that problem, they are mature cities and their population base is staying status quo and the demographics of those cities are pretty well in place, and here the demographics are constantly in a state of flux and changing, and that is why we have a greater concern here then perhaps what would exist in other communities. Commissioner Scholl said in addition to the fact that we have already been benevolent without being forced to be benevolent. Mayor Edelcup said that we have Ana's words on the record that we are dear to their hearts, and the Commission asked for the additional information prior to second reading. Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the proposed ordinance on first reading, and Mr. David said it will be transmitted to the State and may take 60 days or so before we go to second reading. The motion was approved by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. V ote: Commissioner Brezin yes Commissioner Goodman ~ Commissioner Scholl yes Vice Mayor Thaler yes Mayor Edelcup yes [City Clerk's Note: Item lOJ heard after 7A, see action under Item 4A.] 7 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 7B. An Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending Section 265-47 of the City Code Relating to Driveway Standards; Providing for Severability; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for Repealer; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Sketches were distributed prior to the meeting, see action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Community Development Director Robert Solera reported that this ordinance clarifies the need for any additional or secondary driveway to provide a minimum of 12-feet in width and meet all the driveway standards that are already in place. He said it also clarifies the circular driveways and provides for a minimum width of lO-feet, and a minimum setback of 5-feet from the subject property line for all primary and secondary driveways, including language to assure that all recreational vehicles such as boats, jet skis, etc., be located in the rear or side yard with an enclosure installed around it. City Attorney Ottinot said he called several cities, including Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Boca Raton, which requires recreational vehicles to be in the rear side yard with an enclosure, and he distributed the information to the Commission. Public Speakers: Richard Mufson; Warren Campbell; Danny Iglesias; Serge Beck Commissioner Goodman asked ifthere is a driveway already built, and if they wanted to put a recreational vehicle on the other side, would they have to put in another driveway, and Community Development Director Robert Solera said the idea behind it is to make sure all recreational equipment is behind a screened area so that aesthetics in front of the property are not damaged. Commissioner Scholl said if it is behind the enclosure they don't have to have a driveway to get to the enclosure if it is on a pad, they can back over to the pad as long as it is behind an enclosure, and Mr. Solera said that is correct. City Attorney Ottinot noted that we have an ordinance on the books that vehicles can't be parked on the grass, if you have a recreational vehicle you must have an approved surface or pad. Mayor Edelcup clarified that it has to be parked on the pad but in getting to that pad, they can ride over the grass. Mayor Ede1cup asked the City Attorney to explain what exists under our current ordinances because there seems to be some confusion of what is currently required versus what this would change. City Attorney Ottinot said under the current Code recreational vehicles are required to be in the rear yard/side yard area, there are two modifications here: l) to require enclosure of where the recreational vehicle is located; and 2) the width. He noted that the request to modify the Code came about for two reasons: 1) a complaint; and 2) a letter from Mr. Mufson requesting help on the width of a driveway. He said under our Code if you want a secondary driveway you are required to have a minimum width of 18- feet, and a primary driveway is 22-feet wide, and so with this amendment you can have a secondary driveway, connect the path to the secondary driveway, and reduce the width, so this is a minor modification about an issue that was brought up by two individuals and two concerns. Mayor Edelcup said you have to take off the table the fact that all recreational vehicles have to be behind the lot line, and on a firm surface. He said the only thing that this particular ordinance changes is creating the fencing requirements on the side or front of that rear area where that vehicle is stored. Vice Mayor Thaler asked if the enclosure is just a fence, and Community Development Director Robert Solera said the idea is to have a screen from the right-of-way either in the form of a fence, concrete, wood, or a landscape buffer. Commissioner Brezin said that we are interested in beautification and keeping property values 8 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida up. Vice Mayor Thaler said that we have to look at the entire City, not just a particular neighborhood. Commissioner Scholl said that most of our City lives in condominiums, and he feels that most condominium dwellers would argue that there are far too many rules in those condominiums, and to change their rules, they have to vote on it as a condominium. He said we have two single- family neighborhoods in the City, and he understands that we are trying to improve the aesthetics nature of the City but he also believes that we have unique appeal in our single- family neighborhoods. He said that he believes that people who have moved into these neighborhoods have recently spent millions of dollars in terms of building their houses, knowing what those rules and regulations are, and not anticipating that those rules and regulations are going to get more liberal or more onerous, and he wants to be very careful as a City about how we impose these things on single-family homes, as that is part of the benefit that our homeowners had when they purchased their homes, the liberal standards within those neighborhoods. He said that these things have not been an issue for 60 years and now we are bringing them up and he feels we need to be very careful about how we dictate these things and making issues more restrictive. Mayor Ede1cup said for the last 10 years we have been a City and before that the County didn't care what we did over here, and that was one of the reasons we became a City. He said we have all been talking about beautiful boats, but other things such as trailers, storage vehicles, jet skis, old dilapidated equipment, etc., may serve well in recreational areas but is this what we want to see here. He said the condos have associations, but when you get down to the single-family homes it falls on us to make the decision for those areas that don't have that self-governance on their own. He said we have to, in effect, become the condo board for those areas because there is a certain standard that we are trying to portray for this entire City and so even though single-family homeowners have the liberty of not being an association, they still fall within some guidelines which are promulgated then by the City through its ordinances. He stated that there is a standard that the City has been working on for the last 10 years which has been to aesthetically upgrade the City, and what we have been asking for tonight is really a minor change that the front side needs to be screened because we are not always going to be looking at a beautiful boat. Vice Mayor Thaler said that the condos don't control themselves, we have put ordinances on the books to control what the condos have done, such as the control of satellites on condos, we did not include the single-family homes in that, so it does work both ways. Commissioner Scholl said that he just wanted to be clear about his point, if we are the de facto board for the single-family neighborhoods lets make sure that the issues that we are taking up rise up from the single-family neighborhoods, that is more his concern and less this particular issue. Commissioner Goodman moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the proposed ordinance on first reading. The motion was approved by a roll call vote of 4-1 (Commissioner Scholl against) in favor. Second reading, public hearing will be held on Thursday, January 17,2008, at 7:30 p.m. V ote: Commissioner Brezin yes Commissioner Goodman yes Commissioner Scholl no Vice Mayor Thaler yes Mayor Ede1cup yes 9 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 7C. An Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending Section 265-45(E) of the City Code Relating to Fences and Walls; Providing for Severability; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for Repealer; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Sketches were distributed prior to the meeting, see action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Community Development Director Robert Solera reported that this ordinance relates to the regulation of fence and wall heights in a single-family residential district. He said the Code currently requires fences and walls be limited to 6- feet in height from the building line to the rear of the property and limiting the fence or wall height in the front yard area to 4-feet. He said anything from the building line back, has a maximum of 6- feet, and it can be a regular fence or a hedge. He said the intent of the Code was to allow protection for the residents along the front yard and also permit visibility into the lot from the right-of-way. He said an exception to the height requirements for fences in the front yard should be made when a property owner wishes to place decorative fencing that may reach up to 6-feet in height, as these decorative fences do not obstruct the visibility of the front yard from the right-of-way. He said this section would allow this decorative fencing within the front yard and it will improve the form, function and aesthetics of the entire site, while still providing security and visibility to and from the site. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the proposed ordinance on first reading. The motion was approved by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. Second reading, public hearing will be held on Thursday, January 17,2008, at 7:30 p.m. Vote: Commissioner Brezin Commissioner Goodman Commissioner Scholl Vice Mayor Thaler Mayor Ede1cup ~ yes yes yes yes [City Clerk's Note: Mayor Edelcup calledfor afive-minute recess after this item.] 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS (Other than Ordinances for Second Reading) None 9. ORDINANCES FOR SECOND READING (Public Hearings) 9A. Sitting in as the Local Planning Agency and the City Commission, to Consider an Ordinance Amending the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) 9A.l A Resolution of the Local Planning Agency of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Recommending to the City Commission of Sunny Isles Beach, the Ordinance Amending Sections 265-34, 265-35, and 265-36 of the Zoning Code to Increase the Price ofa Bonus Participation Unit from $50,000.00 to $72,000.00 in Certain Zoning Districts, Attached as Exhibit "A"; Providing for an Effective Date. 10 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Action: Clerk Hines read the title and Community Development Director Robert Solera reported. Public Speakers: None Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. LP A Resolution No. 2007-47 was adopted by a voice vote of 4-0-1 in favor. 9A.2 An Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending Sections 265-34, 265-35, and 265-36 of the Zoning Code to Increase the Price of a Bonus Participation Unit from $50,000.00 to $72,000.00 in Certain Zoning Districts; Providing for Severability; Providing for Repealer; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for an Effective Date. (First Reading 11/15/07) Action: [City Clerk's Note: An Analysis to Increase Bonus Participation was distributed prior to the meeting, see action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Community Development Director Robert Solera reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to adopt the ordinance. Ordinance No. 2007-292 was adopted by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. V ote: Commissioner Brezin ~ Commissioner Goodman ~ Commissioner Scholl ~ Vice Mayor Thaler ~ Mayor Edelcup yes 9B. An Ordinance ofthe City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending Section 235-3 of the City Code Relating to Stormwater Utility Fees; Providing for Severability; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for Repealer; Providing for an Effective Date. (First Reading 11/15/07) Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Public Works Director Rick Conner reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to adopt the ordinance. Ordinance No. 2007-293 was adopted by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. V ote: Commissioner Brezin yes Commissioner Goodman yes Commissioner Scholl yes Vice Mayor Thaler yes Mayor Edelcup yes 11 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 9C. An Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Amending Section 265-63.3. ofthe City Code Relating to the Installation of Construction Fencing; Providing for Severability; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for Repealer; Providing for an Effective Date. (First Reading 11/15/07) Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Community Development Director Robert Solera reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to adopt the ordinance. Ordinance No. 2007-294 was adopted by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. Vote: Commissioner Brezin yes Commissioner Goodman yes Commissioner Scholl ~ Vice Mayor Thaler ~ Mayor Edelcup yes 9D. Sitting in as the Local Planning Agency and the City Commission, to Consider an Ordinance Amending the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) Presentation by Bell David Planning Group regarding Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). 9D.l A Resolution of the Local Planning Agency of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving the City of Sunny Isles Beach EAR-Based Textural Amendments to the City of Sunny Isles Beach's Comprehensive Master Plan and in Particular, Amendments to the Future Land Use Element, Transportation Element, Intergovernmental Coordination Element, Affordable Housing Element, Recreation and Open Space Element, Capital Improvements Element, Coastal Management Element, Infrastructure Element, Community Design Element, and a Mission Statement Encompassing the Vision for the City, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A", and the Required Transmittal to the State Department of Community Affairs Pursuant to Chapter 163.3191 of the Florida Statutes; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: Clerk Hines read the title and Jerry Bell of the David Bell Planning Group reported. Public Speakers: None Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. LP A Resolution No. 2007-48 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 9D.2 An Ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Adopting EAR-Based Textural Amendments to the City of Sunny Isles Beach's Comprehensive Master Plan and in Particular, Amendments to the Future Land Use Element, Transportation Element, Intergovernmental Coordination Element, Affordable Housing Element, Recreation and Open Space Element, Capital Improvements Element, Coastal Management Element, Infrastructure Element, Community Design Element, and a Mission Statement Encompassing the Vision for the City; Approving the Transmittal of the Report to the Department of 12 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Community Affairs in Accordance with Section 163.3191, Florida Statutes; Providing for Severability; Providing for Repealer; Providing for Inclusion in the Code; Providing for an Effective Date. (First Reading 05/17/07) Action: [City Clerk's Note: Hear~ after Item lOJ Revised EAR-Based Amendments were distributed prior to the meeting. See Action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Jerry Bell, of the David Bell Planning Group, explained the changes that were made in response to the comments by the State. He said they raised an issue regarding the Town Center District language that we had which would increase permitted density/intensity although that was not the intent, and so we clarified that language to address their concern. He said that they also asked for more specificity in the affordable housing goals in the Housing Element, we changed that as they requested, and they also asked that we include language to address some ofthe new concurrency requirements that have come up in the past several years, we made that change, as well as some minor changes to address coordination issues with FDOT to include some interpretive tax for Community Facilities District, and to reference the most recent State population estimate that came out after we did the first draft. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to adopt the ordinance, as amended. Ordinance No. 2007-295 was adopted by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. Vote: Commissioner Brezin Commissioner Goodman Commissioner Scholl Vice Mayor Thaler Mayor Edelcup yes yes yes yes yes 10. RESOLUTIONS 10A. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving a Letter of Agreement with Robert M. Cornfeld, President, Newport Operating Corporation, for Replacement of Sunny Isles Beach Fishing Pier, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A"; Providing for the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of the Agreement; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Heard after Item 5B. Addendum to Letter of Agreement and emaU from Mario R. Lamar of Lehman Brothers were distributed prior to the meeting. See action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and City Manager Szerlag reported that the Pier has to be replaced as it is deficient and the next major storm surge could bring it down. He noted that he and Mayor Edelcup have tried to secure funding from other planes of government, but times are tough and funding will not be available until 2010, which would only be a fraction of the $4 Million Dollars that is needed. He said he spoke to Dr. Cornfeld who has agreed to forge a public/private partnership with the City whereby he is going to contribute $2 Million Dollars toward the demolition, design and reconstruction of a new Pier. He said he has an addendum to the Letter of Agreement whereby Dr. Cornfeld will remit to the City a 25% deposit, or $500,000.00, that the City will establish in a Capital 13 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Improvement Fund, that we will call the "Sunny Isles Beach/Newport Fishing Pier", and in turn the City will also remit $500,000.00 toward that account. He said the City will then forge an agreement with Dr. Cornfeld and with the Lehman Brothers for a pledged trust for the balance of$I.5 Million Dollars, before January 10,2008. City Manager Szerlag said he would like a recommendation on the January 17,2008 agenda of an engineering firm to do the actual design work for the new Pier as time is of the essence. Public Speakers: Dr. Robert Cornfeld Dr. Cornfeld said that this Pier is the only pier in Miami-Dade County and one of the few piers remaining in all of Florida, and he presented a check in the amount of$500,000.00 to Mayor Edelcup toward the $2 Million Dollars for his part of the demolition, design and construction ofthe Sunny Isles Beach/Newport Fishing Pier. Mayor Edelcup thanked Dr. Cornfeld and said if you can run government like a business and work with private entities, you will accomplish so much more, and quickly. He said the Pier was built in 1936 and is the only Pier in Miami-Dade County, Broward County has two (2) Piers, and Palm Beach County has three (3) piers, and that is it for the entire state of Florida. The City Commission authorized City Manager Szerlag to establish the Capital Improvement Fund named "Sunny Isles Beach/Newport Fishing Pier". Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution, as amended. Resolution No. 2007-1183 was adopted by a voice vote of5-0 in favor. 10B. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Authorizing the Purchase of One (1) New Community Shuttle Bus from Atlantic Bus Sales, in an Amount Not to Exceed $75,411.14 to Replace the Shuttle Bus that Caught on Fire, Which was Considered Totaled; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Bus Ridership Statistics were distributed prior to the meeting, see action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Cultural and Human Services Director Susan Simpson reported that the fire is still under investigation, and noted that we may have the complete replacement cost reimbursed. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1184 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10C. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Providing for the City to Partner with the North Miami Beach Little League Baseball Program, in the Amount of$2,500.00 to Their Operating Fund; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. 14 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Cultural and Human Services Director Susan Simpson reported. Public Speakers: Erica Michalsky Erica Michalsky, representing North Miami Beach Little League Baseball said the season will begin on Sunday, January 27,2008, the finals go into about April or May, then we have an all-star playoff, and then we go into our summer travel teams. Commissioner Goodman moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1185 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10D. A Resolution of the City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving an Agreement in Substantially the Same Form with Spillis Candela DMJM for Professional Design Services for Heritage Park and the Parking Garage, in Response to RFQ No. 07-08-01, in an Amount Not to Exceed $1,167,400.00 $1,267,100.00, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A"; Authorizing the Mayor to Execute Said Agreement; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of the Agreement; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: A revised Cover Memo was distributed prior to the meeting.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Public Works Director Rick Conner reported noting that they went through an extensive process to make this selection. He said the concept is to create a 4-story parking garage and a world-class park. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman asked if the $14 Million Dollars is the complete cost including the design, and Public Works Director Conner said yes, and they anticipate that initially they will provide several concepts and levels of development, and proceed from there to move forward in stages or with the entire project. City Manager Szerlag said the closer we get to hard-line specifications, the closer we are going to get to an estimate, and so at this point the estimate is rough cut, we are going to have different concept designs, different levels of associated costs, and there is to be a waterfall as part of the parking structure elevation, which is going to be very expensive. He said additionally in his experience, he has found it to be a benefit to have construction management on site for at least 4-6 hours per day, that is expensive as well but it pays off dividends in terms of having the project done within budget and on time. Vice Mayor Thaler asked what the timeframe is, and Public Works Director Conner said around 12-months from the time we tell them to get started, depending on how much public input we have, which may add some time. He said this fee includes some contingency money and the post-design process as well which is a significant benefit to us, and noted that EDA W will be the landscaping firm on this project. Commissioner Scholl asked if these fees are commensurate with the size of the job, and Mr. Conner said yes, in looking at what they are proposing, and looking at the complexity of the project, with the vision that the City Manager has given us, this is going to be a gem, a gorgeous facility. Mayor Edelcup asked that the $100,000.00 contingency be deleted for now, and ifthere is a cost overrun, or some contingency with a magnitude of$1 00,000, it needs to come before the 15 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Commission, and recommended that we amend this approval to $1,167,400.00. City Manager Szerlag said by taking off the contingency and with the sense of urgency that we have on the project, if something does comes up, a field condition that is an obvious necessity for a change order, or something that would increase the amount through contingency, he would just authorize it because he wouldn't want to wait up to four weeks and stop the progress, and then he will come back for ratification. Mayor Edelcup said that the City Manager has always done a good job of notifying them when there is a cost overrun even if we have to formalize the approval process afterwards. Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution, as amended. Resolution No. 2007-1186 was adopted by a voice vote of5-0 in favor. 10E. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving a Budget Amendment to Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Budget, in the Amount of $200,000.00 $500,000.00, for the Purpose of Funding Consultant Services; Providing the City Manager with the Authority to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and City Attorney Ottinot said that the next four items are all related and we can take them up all at once, lOE, lOF, 10G, and lOR City Manager Szerlag said that we are in a constant need of architectural, engineering, and planning services that go beyond the scope of our specific Capital Improvement Projects, where in this current budget year, we placed those services under specific projects. Assistant City Manager/Finance Douglas Haag reported noting that the City Manager would be authorized to approve work authorizations up to an amount of $20,000.00 for a specific project that is budgeted and funded, allowing us to continue moving the projects along maintaining forward progress and coming back for ratification afterwards. Public Speakers: none Mayor Edelcup said then that the $20,000.00 is an increase from $10,000.00, and Assistant City Manager Haag said that is correct but it is a little different here because we are already pre-approving and pre-qualifying vendors and establishing a not to exceed budgetary amount. Mayor Edelcup said then that the people that we are pre-approving are the pool that we have the resource to draw from, from project to project, from specific skill to specific skill. Mayor Edelcup said he is uncomfortable with the $500,000.00 and he would like to suggest that it be cut down to at least $200,000.00 and he knows that this Commission is supportive of all the projects that come along but he would rather that the City Manager come back to the Commission more often to look at it, as opposed to doing it at one shot. Vice Mayor Thaler said that he doesn't feel that it should be split out from our Capital funding, but he agrees with the $20,000.00, taking it from 10 to 20 but he thinks it should be left under one category because you are going to be looking at a number of different accounts within the Capital Spending Account. Mayor Edelcup said one of the problems is they can't take it from a contingency fund and spend it directly, it has to go into an operating fund. City Manager Szerlag said that is correct, we do need to have a fund to expense monies from and 16 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida contingency, although it is part of the budget document in the bottom line of the budget, it is an account that he as City Manager is not allowed to use unless he gets permission with specificity from the governing body to allocate it toward a certain area. He said that he will reduce the amount to $200,000.00, and he noted that we provided a copy of page 260 ofthe budget document which is the Capital Improvements Projects Fund Expense Worksheet. He said there is a slate ofline items on there, and in Fund No. 4.5313 entitled "Engineering and Planning", we allocated zero, so he is not essentially adding another fund but he is putting money into a fund where we currently have none. He said initially we thought it may be possible because we allocated engineering for each project, and we can get by without adding new projects but we should have, during budget sessions, allocated $200,000.00 in that account. He said that we do have a contingency and he would come back to the Commission after $200,000.00 is expensed from the slate of engineers, architects, and planners. Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution, as amended changing the amount to $200,000.00. Resolution No. 2007-1187 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10F. A Resolution ofthe City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Qualifying and Ranking Eleven (11) Engineering Firms to Perform General Engineering Services for the City, in Response to RFQ No. 07-07-01, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A"; Authorizing the City Manager or his/her Designee to Enter into Continuing Consultant Agreements with Said Engineering Firms, Provided Said Agreements are Approved as to Form and Legal Sufficiency by the City Attorney; Further Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Public Works Director Rick Conner reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1188 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10G. A Resolution of the City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Qualifying Saltz Michelson Architects and LIVS Associates to Perform Architectural Services for the City, in Response to RFQ No. 07-07-02; Authorizing the City Manager or his/her Designee to Enter into Continuing Consultant Agreements with Said Architectural Firms, Provided Said Agreements are Approved as to Form and Legal Sufficiency by the City Attorney; Further Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Public Works Director Rick Conner reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1189 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 17 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 10H. A Resolution of the City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager and/or his/her Designee to Enter into Consultant Agreements with Bell David Planning Group, Calvin Giordano and Associates, and Luft Consulting for the Provision of Planning Services, Provided Said Agreements are Approved as to Form and Legal Sufficiency by the City Attorney; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Public Works Director Rick Conner reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1190 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 101. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Authorizing the City Manager to Apply for, Receive and Expend Monies from the U.S. Department of Justice Through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) in the Amount of $9,825.00, to Purchase a Message Display Board; Authorizing the Mayor to Execute Said Grant Application; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Police Captain Michael Grandinetti reported noting that the amount of $9,825.00 represents a $6,444.00 grant award along with a $3,381.00 match from the City. He said these funds would be used to purchase a message display board for public service messages. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1191 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10J. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving an Amended and Restated Interlocal Agreement Between the School Board of Miami- Dade County, Florida, and the City of Sunny Isles Beach Relating to the Public School Facility Planning for a Public School in Sunny Isles Beach, in Substantially the Same Form Attached Hereto as Exhibit "A"; Authorizing the Mayor to Execute Said Agreement; Authorizing the City Attorney and the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of this Agreement; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: See action under Item 7 A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and City Attorney Ottinot thanked Ana Rijo-Conde of the Miami-Dade County School Board for being here tonight to clarify some of these issues. Public Speakers: Ana Rijo-Conde Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Goodman seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1192 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. [City Clerk's Note: Item 9D was heard after lOJ, see action under Item 4A.] 18 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 10K. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Terminating, Creating, and Continuing Certain Advisory Committees of the City; Providing for Sunset of the Education/Schools Committee; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Mayor Norman S. Edelcup reported noting that he reviewed the City's existing advisory committees and found that the Community Activities and Health Committee duplicates the work of our Cultural and Human Services Department, and that the Traffic and Safety Committee is hampered because the major thoroughfares in the City are State or County roads, as such he is proposing to terminate those two Committees. Additionally he proposes to create a new advisory committee, the Community Awareness Committee. He said he would like to continue the Long Range Planning and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, as well as the Tourism and Development Committee, and the Education/Schools Committee, however, he recommends that we sunset the Education/Schools Committee upon the opening of the new K-8 school since we will then have the PT A Association, and the organization of 501 c3 that is being formed in this City to replace that committee. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1193 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 10L. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Approving Certain Appointments to the Advisory Committees (Which Comprise the Mayor's Advisory Council) for the Calendar Year 2008, as More Specifically Outlined in Exhibit "A" Attached Hereto; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: A Revised Exhibit "A" was distributed prior to the meeting. See action under Item 4A.] City Clerk Hines read the title, and Mayor Norman S. Edelcup reported, reading into the record the appointments as outlined in revised Exhibit "A". Public Speakers: Isaac Aelion Isaac Aelion said that Mercedes Cantrell is ill and in the hospital and is unable to serve on the Long Range Planning and Intergovernmental Relations Committee. It was the consensus of the Commission to leave it vacant for now and put that appointment on the January 17, 2008 agenda (Commissioner Scholl's Appointment). Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution, as amended. Resolution No. 2007-1194 was adopted by a voice vote of5-0 in favor. 10M. A Resolution of the City Commission ofthe City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Adopting the Florida League of Mayors "Mayors Green City Action Accord" Supporting the Governor's Energy Action Team and the Florida Green Building Coalition's Green Cities Program, Attached hereto as Exhibit "A"; Authorizing the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Intent ofthis Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. 19 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Mayor Norman S. Edelcup reported. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1195 was adopted by a voice vote of5-0 in favor. ION. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Dedicating Property Located at 500 Sunny Isles Boulevard Also Known as the Bella Vista Park, in Perpetuity as a Public Park and Marina for Outdoor Recreation and for the Use and Benefit of the Public; Providing for the City Manager to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate this Resolution; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and City Attorney Ottinot reported. Public Speakers: none Vice Mayor Thaler moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1196 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 100. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Declaring Lewis 1. Thaler as Vice Mayor; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: City Clerk Hines read the title, and Mayor Norman S. Edelcup thanked Commissioner Thaler for his service as Vice Mayor, and proposed him as Vice Mayor for the ensumg year. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman moved and Commissioner Brezin seconded a motion to approve the resolution. Resolution No. 2007-1197 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 11. MOTIONS 11A. Call for a Motion to accept the resignation of George "Bud" Scholl as Chairperson of the Historic Preservation Board, and to confirm the following appointments: . Confirm the appointment of Joe Masters as Chairperson of the Historic Preservation Board (Mayor Edelcup); and . Confirm the appointment of Shari Blank as a member of the Historic Preservation Board (Commissioner Goodman). Action: City Clerk Hines read the title. Commissioner Goodman moved and Commissioner Scholl seconded a motion to accept the resignation of George "Bud" Scholl, and confirm the appointments. The motion was approved by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. 20 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 12. DISCUSSION ITEMS 12A. Discussion on Recommendation to Scale Back the Wireless Island Project. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Additional Information on Wireless Island Status, distributed prior to meeting.] City Manager Szerlag reported noting that a full scale Wireless Island initiative will cost over $5 Million Dollars, and that he is proposing to reduce the scope of this initiative to include Government access and certain hot spots throughout the City. He said this would mean that we would no longer strive for lOO% penetration of street access available (three stories or less), and we would nqt have total vertical access (above three stories). He said that the primary reason for this recommendation is that there is no cost savings for government access service because the City will still have to purchase Wi-Fi access cards. He said the issue of having access points on rooftops of our condominiums was considered initially to be at zero cost, because essentially we are providing the utility and we wanted to have a good pro quo free wireless service for free access points. He said there is also the issue of WiMax vs. WiFi technology. Assistant City Manager Doug Haag said there is emerging technology called WiMax which is widely used internationally, but not in the United States. He said companies such as Sprint, Nextel, etc., are pursuing this and considering a nationwide WiMax type of technology and infrastructure such as already exists for cell phone providers. He said the WiMax technology is significantly lower in cost of implementation because it has a wider range and greater penetration capability than the WiFi technology. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Goodman asked how much are we spending up to this point to do the system, and Assistant City Manager Haag said we projected a five-year cost of$5 Million Dollars to do citywide including the verticality, but by focusing on the hotspots we are projecting that the five-year cost would be about $500,000.00. Commissioner Scholl said he supports the scaling down of this project due to budgetary constraints, and that it is unpredictable at this point. He said when WiFi first started to go across the county, for the past few years most municipalities focused on trying to make money on a public component of it, and they focused less on what it could do for the municipality to make them more efficient. He said what is happening now is, because the public component hasn't shown a revenue stream as clearly, other cities are making the same decision that we are making. He said the hotspot issue that is being proposed by the City Manager and staff is a good way to get our feet wet, it is not overly expensive, and it will still provide a great benefit to our citizens because you can sit in the Park with your laptop and have wireless access. He said as technology matures and comes down in price, the uses for the City will also mature, and in the future we will be able to make a cost comparative, and then we can justify it and we will be able to make a more prudent financial analysis. Vice Mayor Thaler asked when this project will be done, and Assistant City Manager Haag commended IT Director Edel Fonseca and IT Analyst Kamran Sadighi, for actually pointing toward this type of solution and direction of focusing initially on just the hotspots. He said that they have been working with a number of vendors, getting proposals, doing a lot of 21 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida brainstorming, coming up with options, alternatives, things that would allow us to move fairly quickly, and he feels confident that we can come back to the Commission with a recommendation for a vendor at the February 21,2008 Commission Meeting, and based on that we can have this project fully implemented at the existing Parks by July 4,2008. Commissioner Goodman said people sit in his building lobby and work on their laptops and they tell him that somebody in the building is paying for the hookup and they are using it, and so his question is when you say you will be putting it in the Parks, would that mean that everybody on the ground floor in all of these places will be able to use it or just in the open Parks in that particular area? IT Director Edel Fonseca said with this technology there is an access point somewhere in that building and the transmission is going out and it is reaching the bottom floor. He said it is the same thing when we put it in the Parks, it is going to have the same affect, there is going to be some transmissions that are going to be going out outside of the Park. Commissioner Scholl said to think ofthe City as a pond, and you have a lily pad here and there, and based on the size of the lily pad is where a frog can sit on top of the water, so basically the lily pad is the hot spot, and so IT Director Fonseca will design that lily pad to be larger than the Park, how much larger just depends upon the natural constraints of what is there, you may get lucky and you may be in a building right next door and you get a bleed over just like in Commissioner Goodman's building, the person that put the wireless point in their apartment didn't intend to feed the lobby but they had to feed their apartment so that lily pad ended up big enough to reach down to the lobby and that is the issue. Commissioner Scholl commended IT Director Fonseca on the fact that he will be able to staff this and maintain it in-house without additional resources. He said to come back with a diagram of the City, circled and color coded to give us an idea of where it is going to be. Commissioner Brezin said what we are doing now is just addressing the hot spots to keep costs down, and IT Director Fonseca said yes, to modify Phase 1. Commissioner Brezin said in the long run is it going to cost us 3-times as much to expand this, whereas if we went a little beyondjust the hotspots, would the City be saving money? IT Director Fonseca said in the long run the design that we are going to be proposing is going to meet the needs also of the future, even though it is on a smaller scale, and that will save us money because the design and infrastructure is already there. Commissioner Brezin said then that we won't be incurring more expenditures later on, and IT Director Fonseca said that is correct, and we are putting the infrastructure in place if we want to move forward. Mayor Ede1cup said we have a consensus that the Commission agrees, and Commissioner Scholl asked ifthe funding is already approved, and City Manager Szerlag said yes as we are downscaling, and the money will just stay in IT in a Capital Account. Mayor Edelcup said since we don't need the $5 Million Dollars, next year's budget will reallocate that into more appropriate uses. 12B. Discussion regarding Hiring a Temporary Part-Time Building Inspector to Examine Compliance of All Condominiums for Required Fire Doors. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Revised Cover Memo distributed prior to meeting.] City Manager Szerlag reported that this item was brought to his attention by Vice Mayor Thaler, and succinctly there are condominiums throughout the City that need to be inspected for 22 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida required fire doors as well as other fire related issues. He said he and Building Official Clay Parker met with representatives of the Fire Department and indicated that we know it is in their purview of authority to make these inspections and it has been quite a long time since they have been made. He said they asked what was their timetable essentially to continue, and the response that they received is that the Fire Department is in the process of hiring three (3) additional inspectors although we could not get a firm date as to when they would make it to Sunny Isles Beach, but it was eight (8) months to a year out, and he felt that because of the life safety issue involved and because the Fire Prevention Code is very similar to the Building Code, that we could hire a part-time Building Inspector. He said it would take about 1,000 hours or so, at $60.00 an hour, to make these fire inspections because we don't have the personnel to meet these inspections in-house. He said that we are probably one of the most busiest communities in terms of inspections in South Florida. He said approval is recommended to hire a part-time Building Inspector to determine the success for this program and come back to see if there is a need for continuation in other areas as well. Public Speakers: Isaac Aelion Commissioner Brezin said if you find these violations, does that mean that the City would be able to deal with it or would we have to go back to Miami-Dade County with them? City Manager Szerlag said that Community Development Director Robert Solera had used his Department to make some inspections in two of the condominiums. Community Development Director Solera reported that they started inspections on the north side of the City, particularly Ocean I, and they found about 45 violations where they had installed doors illegally. He said that they had issued warnings and some ofthem have gone to a citation at this point, and so yes they will, based on their report, be able to issue warnings and citations to those people which have not complied with the Code, and then take them to the Special Master if need be, and proceed from there. Commissioner Brezin said she is concerned with violations and that she had brought this to the attention of City Manager Szerlag and Building Official Parker, as we have certain situations whereby they have eliminated the fire-door that is the second door, and possibly they are allowed to because of the size of the apartment, etc. However, if there is a fire, a fireman has no way of knowing that he can't enter that apartment because that apartment is blocked with cabinets, etc. She said the other concern she had was where the fire extinguishers are (a shadowbox), the extinguisher sits on the shelf, and there is a glass door in front of it, as you go further down toward the floor, there is wall space that is as wide as the shadow box would be. She said they are entering it from inside of the apartment, opening it up from the kitchen, into the hallway, that is a firewall, and she asked if this new inspector would address this as well. She said ifthey have done something to protect that firewall and it meets with the Code, so be it, but if it doesn't and we have a fire in that high-rise, we are going to be in a lot of trouble, as the fireman can't get into the apartment, and in addition to which you have no firewall. Building Official/Administrator Clay Parker said that this inspector will help out with that situation, and it would take cooperation from the Associations as well especially if they know of a violation. He said that would be an additional thing that this inspector could look out for, as well as inspect all one-hour fire separation issues for life safety in common corridors. He said if they close up an exit-way from the kitchen, which is allowed now by the Fire 23 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Department because of the size of the units, they cannot just close it off and leave the door there and hang cabinets because the Fire Department would think the doorway is an exit. He said the reason they are asking for this is because of the private lobbies in these new condominiums, as there are times when people don't go there for a couple of years because they are private lobbies. He noted that the Fire Department hasn't been to every lobby in these buildings, and like Community Development Director Solera said, they found 45 violations in one building where people removed the fire-rated doors and put in their own wooded doors with glass windows, and that is a life safety issue. Community Development Director Solera said that they are waiting for the Fire Department to give them information as to whether, specifically Ocean I in this case, those doors are required or not. Building Official Parker said that they met with Fire Chief Mena and he mentioned that because some of the lobbies don't have separate exits going out, the exits are part ofthe unit themselves, and those doors would not be considered as fire-rated doors. He said he asked Chief Mena for clarification on that, but he has not given it to him as of yet. Community Development Director Solera said that perhaps some of those violations that were found are not violations, and Commissioner Scholl said then that you are saying because the stairwell is in the unit, it is irrelevant because you are not going to try to contain the fire that was in the unit? Building Official Parker said yes, he thinks this is the only building in Miami-Dade County that was approved this way. Vice Mayor Thaler said there are two separate items here, Ocean I has only 22 apartments that they are referring to at this point, but Ocean II, Ocean III, and Acqualina all fit into the same category, where people, because it is their own lobby, have changed their doors and they are not fire doors. He said the 22 that they are talking about, he can understand what the Chief saying because they were not supposed to have doors from the beginning, people put doors in and locked the doors, and that was really the big problem because the access in those apartments are in the back of the apartment and nobody can get to them. Vice Mayor Thaler said that this is cost efficient assuming that the violations continue and we go through all of the others, it should almost pay for itself, as there is really very little cost to the City on putting this individual in and it is a safety factor. Commissioner Scholl said that he feels that one of the greatest benefits in the new buildings is the Fire Codes that we have, and if they are getting worked around, then we are losing that benefit. Commissioner Goodman said in some of the older buildings when the doors were put in with a steel plate on the inside of the door, they were fire doors, and in a lot of those apartments they had two doors, and people built closets or shelves over those doors, and that is a blatant violation. He asked if it is your intention to go around and check all the doors in Sunny Isles Beach or just certain areas where you know that these things are being done, and Building Official Parker said he doesn't think they can cover them within that 1,000 hours that we are talking about. Mayor Edelcup said it is a life safety issue so you have to do it, and if you need more than one person to accomplish what Commissioner Goodman and Commissioner Brezin are suggesting, and if we are doing it in one aspect but not in others, then we are negligent and not fulfilling our job. He said if you need more than this one inspector, then you need to come back to the Commission and ask for more to assure that Commissioner Brezin and Commissioner Goodman are getting the inspections in the buildings that they are suggesting. 24 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida City Manager Szerlag said perhaps the best solution would be to give him authorization to do whatever it takes to address life safety issues that pertain to the Fire Department and he will come back and let the Commission know what it costs. Building Official Parker said that our inspectors are in Winston Towers, Arlen House, etc., all the time, they are in those corridors, and they see if there has been a door change, that is something that they normally catch, but what they are not catching are these private lobbies, and the Fire Department are not catching them, as the Fire Department goes through the buildings every year, and they check the doors. Commissioner Brezin said if there is a fire, the inspector will see a door, he doesn't know what is on the other side, he doesn't know that they remodeled the kitchen and put cabinets there. She said that he sees the fire extinguisher, he doesn't know that somebody broke through that wall from the other side, so actually if you are making that comparison where the others they can't see but this they inspect, they have no way of inspecting this without going in. Building Official Parker said that he is just saying that the common corridors have much more visibility then the private lobbies do. Mayor Edelcup said but you will have to inspect all of them. Community Development Director Solera said information is the key, and if we are able to provide a couple of newspaper articles to outline the fact that perhaps those locations that have two doors, for instance Winston Towers, and inform them that if you are building behind those doors which are secondary means of egress and you have done it illegally, the City is in the process of inspecting it. He said when Code Enforcement receives a complaint and they are not certain if that is the fact or not, the property owner is issued a courtesy notice requesting an inspection of the location, but we rely mainly on a citizen complaint or the condominium association that calls us and says that this unit has this issue. Mayor Edelcup said that you may want to send a letter to all of the condo associations and let them handle it from their level of disseminating the information to all of the buildings that they will be inspected some time in the near future. Vice Mayor Thaler said that all of the new condos are being built with one door, and he asked ifthere was a change in those that were built with two doors, that they now permit one door to be a fire door and the other not. He said it just seems to him that if they are allowing all the new condos to be built with one door that it is possible that there has been a change in the past 35 years, and that is something that should be checked before we go into this, and Building Official Parker said that there has been a change. Commissioner Scholl said the issue is when they build behind the door in the kitchen, for instance the service door, is the fact that they still think that there is a door there, and Building Official Parker said that is the issue. Commissioner Scholl said if you block the door up and build, it would be okay? Building Official Parker said in most cases, but the Code says that if you have over 1,500 square feet then you have to provide the second means of egress, and a lot of the units in the Arlen House and Winston Towers are not over that, but if they are closing off the second means of egress and are over the square footage requirements, that is illegal, if you are under that then the Fire Department has been allowing you legally to close off that second means of egress but not by just covering up the back side of it and leaving the door there, you have to remove the door and put back a one-hour rated wall assembly where the door used to be. 25 Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting December 13,2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida City Manager Szerlag said that Mr. Parker said something that caught his attention, he indicated that the Fire Department comes through condominiums once per year for inspections, and Building Official Parker said yes that they are required to come through once a year but ChiefMena admitted to them that they have not been doing all of them every year. City Manager Szerlag said but if they did hit some buildings and we can prove that, his question is should we hit them again if they were inspected six months ago, he thought we wanted to be on a one-year schedule, so we would have to coordinate the Fire Department's inspections with various condominiums with our inspectors. Building Official Parker suggested that he would get with the Fire Inspectors that are in this area and let him initiate this thing with the private lobbies. He said he sent an email to Chief Mena and told him that we were proposing to hire a temporary part-time inspector to start out initially inspecting the private lobbies, ifthey are confirming inspecting these doors to make sure that they are not closed off in the back, and ifhe can look at their inspection reports. He said that their meeting was very fruitful as they had an immediate response from his inspectors the next morning and we are now putting together a fact sheet where if they find something they will let us know and if we find something we will let them know, and he thinks that we have established a better line of communication. He said he was instructed to ask Chief Mena if he would be willing to help pay for this part-time inspector as we are helping his Department to catch up but he has not had a response from him yet. Community Development Director Solera said that is the reason why we became a City because of the fact that we never got a response from anyone. Commissioner Scholl said to remind Chief Mena that the City pays 5% of the County Fire Budget on our tax base, which is $12 Million Dollars a year for our Fire Rescue services. 13. CITIZENS' FORUM: REQUESTS, PETITIONS & OTHER COMMUNICATIONS None 14. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Goodman moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to adjourn the . . meeting, and Mayor Edelcup adjourned it at 10:58 p.m. /" . /" \. ' . ,. .' , t ", .:~Uf;Rtt~ Approved by the City Commission on Jan. 17,2008 .. (,".-.( - --". .c'... -:"~ .~.~, Jane' A. l#nes, c:tv~C, City Clerk , . /,"'" <:' ~. ,'/ .~) .. '. " "i- ."" -. .. .~ '" ~ .. ..... J 26