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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMCRA 2013-11-20 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 20, 2013 12:00 PM Miami City Hall Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency Francis Suarez, Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Vice Chair Marc David Sarnoff, Commissioner Frank Carollo, Commissioner Michelle Spence -Jones, Commissioner OMNI & MIDTOWN CRA OFFICE ADDRESS: 1401 N. Miami Avenue, 2nd Floor, Miami 33136 Phone: (305) 679-6868 www.miamicra.com Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 RESOLUTION 1. 13-01356 Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency Present: Vice Chair Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff and Chair Suarez Absent: Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Spence -Jones On the 20th day of November 2013, the Board of Commissioners of the MIDTOWN Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Miami met in regular session at Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida. The meeting was called to order by Chair Suarez at 12: 01p.m. and was adjourned at 12:05 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: Pieter A. Bockweg, Executive Director, CRA Barnaby Min, Assistant General Counsel, CRA Todd B. Hannon, Clerk of the Board MCRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE MIDTOWN MIAMI COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), EXPRESSING ITS SUPPORT FOR THE CHANGES TO THE PARKING RATE STRUCTURE FOR THE PUBLIC PARKING GARAGES ("GARAGES") OPERATED BY THE MIDTOWN MIAMI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT ("MIDTOWN CDD") AND FURTHER RECOMMENDING THE LEVY OF CHARGES FOR THE GARAGES CONSISTENT WITH THE RATE SCHEDULE ADOPTED BY THE MIDTOWN CDD. 13-01356 Cover Memo.pdf 13-01356 Legislation (Version 2).pdf 13-01356 ExhibitA.pdf Motion by Vice -Chair Gort, seconded by Board Member Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Aye: Vice Chair Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff and Chair Suarez Absent: Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Spence -Jones MCRA-R-13-0003 Chair Suarez: Okay, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Midtown CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Board meeting. We rarely have a board meeting, and when we do, it's rarely eventful. We have one item on the board [sic], and I'll let the executive director introduce the item, and I'll just make a brief comment, and hopefully, we can make a decision on it. Pieter A. Bockweg (Executive Director, Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency): Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, everybody. The item before you is a resolution in support of a parking rate change for the Midtown shops. Previously, the parking rate was the first hour free, and then $1 for the second hour. This change will be $2 for the first two hours. We are -- I'm recommending to support. This will be beneficial to the residents, not only commercial, but also homeowners, because the excess revenue which they are anticipating to generate will go towards the lawn payment, and hopefully, depending on the revenue, decrease the special assessment that's there now. Chair Suarez: I guess I'm the Chair of this one, so I just want to say, 'Yes," and I'll recognize City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 12/11, 2013 Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 Commissioner Gort. Actually, you know what? Commissioner Gort, go ahead, please. Vice Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. It's going to be $2 and how it's going to be affected? And do we have a contract and -- for the use of the funds? Mr. Bockweg: Those funds -- and I have it in writing, Commissioner -- that currently, the parking garage is -- operates in a deficit. Vice Chair Gort: Right. Mr. Bockweg: And as you know, the Midtown CRA provides all of its TIF (Tax Increment Fund), 99 percent, to pay off the debt service. That has never -- has not been enough since we have been in existence. So the CDD (Community Development District) has a special assessment on not only the commercial, but also the residential homeowners to make up that difference. This parking rate increase will allow that special assessment to be decreased with the excess revenues to pay off those debt obligations. Vice Chair Gort: Do we know more or less the projections of what the excess revenue are [sic] going to be? Mr. Bockweg: The numbers that I got, Commissioner, is they're anticipating to have in excess of $150,000 initially. Vice Chair Gort: Okey-doke. Chair Suarez: Yeah. The way I look at it is it's similar -- the example that I -- the corollary that I find is that it's similar to the trolley system, in that right now, our trolley will -- we know, eventually, we're going to run out of the half cent money, and then we're going to have to make a decision whether we actually charge for the trolley, or whether we subsidize it through the general fund In this particular case, we did something similar to what we did in the trolley case, which is I urged the Commission to have a period of time where it be free so that there not be a barrier to entry, and so that we get people accustomed to riding the trolley. And I think, you know, we've all seen the success of making that decision of having at least some sort of a grace period, whether it be for a year, two years, three years, whatever time we deem necessary, so that we make sure that, first and foremost, the trolley system works and it's successful. And we've seen, I think, in almost all the lines -- I know the Coral Way line is incredibly successful. I know Brickell is very successful. I think the Health District is doing very, very well, and has ridership above and beyond the modeling. In this particular case, we know that Midtown is thriving, and we know that it's a community that can support what is a very modest, you know, parking fee, and that offsets the subsidy that they're receiving from basically the taxes, the special assessment that are being paid by the residents and the commercial business owners. So in essence, we're kind of reducing taxes for our residents, and then -- and that's being paid by people who could be coming from anywhere, really, in the County, in the State, in the world. Vice Chair Gort: Move it. Board Member Sarnoff- Second. Chair Suarez: There's been a motion; there's a second All in favor, signij57 by saying "aye. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. Mr. Executive Director, I believe there are some minor changes made, so we just want to make sure it's reflected on the record. Mr. Bockweg: Yeah, there were a couple grammatical errors in the resolution, so it's as amended. City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 12/11/2013 Midtown Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes November 20, 2013 ADJOURNMENT Chair Suarez: Does the maker accept as amended? Vice Chair Gort: Yes. Chair Suarez: Does the seconder? Board Member Sarnoff.- Yes. Chair Suarez: It's been moved and seconded as amended. All in favor, signify by saying "aye.' The Board (Collectively): Aye. Chair Suarez: Passes unanimously. Meeting adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 12: 05 p.m. City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 12/11/2013