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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSEOPW OMNI CRA 2009-03-30 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com CPI • IN Q9P 99 1i? ▪ I1JYD Meeting Minutes Monday, March 30, 2009 5:00 PM 697 LOFTS OFFICE BUILDING 697 N. MIAMI AVENUE MIAMI, FLORIDA 33136 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Michelle Spence -Jones, Chair Marc David Sarnoff, Vice Chair Angel Gonzalez, Commissioner Joe Sanchez, Commissioner Tomas Regalado, Commissioner CRA OFFICE ADDRESS: 49 NW 5th ST, SUITE 100, Miami, FL 33128 Phone: (305) 679-6800, Fax: (305) 679-6835 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Present: Commissioner Sanchez, Commissioner Regalado, Chair Spence -Jones and Vice Chair Sarnoff Absent: Commissioner Gonzalez On the 30th day of March 2009, the Board of Directors of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) for the Southeast Overtown/Park West and Omni Districts of the City of Miami met in regular session at the 697 Lofts Office Building, 697 North Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida. The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair Marc David Sarnoff at 5:14 p.m. and was adjourned at 7:26 p.m. Note for the Record: Chair Spence -Jones entered the meeting at 5: 30 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: James H. Villacorta, Interim Executive Director, CRA Gail A. Dotson, Assistant General Counsel, CRA William R. Bloom, Special Counsel, CRA Priscilla A. Thompson, Clerk of the Board Pamela E. Burns, Assistant Clerk of the Board FINANCIALS 1. 09-00327 CRA REPORT FINANCIAL SUMMARY THROUGH MONTH ENDING FEBRUARY 28, 2009. Financial Summary.pdf DISCUSSED Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Everybody, welcome to the March 30, 2009 agenda of the Southeast Overtown/Park West and Omni CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). We're going to get right started 'cause Commissioner Sanchez is going to have to leave and Commissioner Spence -Jones should be here shortly. Why don't we start out with the first item agenda, which is the CRA report. Miguel Valentin (Financial Officer, Community Redevelopment Agency): Good evening, Commissioners. On page 1, we have the combined statement of financial position as of February 28, 2009. As cash unrestricted that hasn't changed. It's the same amount from last month. It's 100,000 on each CRA. For the affordable and workforce housing project, to date, we have budgeted 8, 478, 963. Of this amount, 7,612,683 has been encumbered and 2,632,684 has been expended, leaving an available balance of 866,280. Also, I wanted to put on record that for the month of February 2009, there is no reportable condition to report to the Board. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- Okay. There are no reportable conditions? Mr. Valentin: No, sir. Vice Chair Sarnoff Anybody have any questions of the CFO (Chief Financial Officer)? All right. Commissioner Regalado: No question. Vice Chair Sarnoff Let's move -- Commissioner Sanchez: It's a report. It doesn't need any action. City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff. Correct. RESOLUTIONS 2. 09-00328 CRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARDS OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA"), RATIFYING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S ISSUANCE OF A WORK ORDER, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $13,206, TO UNDER POWER CORPORATION FOR EMERGENCY REPAIRS TO TRANSFORMERS, BALLASTS, AND LAMPS ON STREET LIGHTS IN THE PAC SUPER BLOCK; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM OMNI TAX INCREMENT FUND, "OTHER CONTRACTUAL SERVICES," ACCOUNT CODE N O.10040.920101.534000.0000.00000 . Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Backup.pdf Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Chair Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Vice Chair Sarnoff, Chair Spence -Jones and Commissioner Regalado Absent: 2 - Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez CRA-R-09-0016 Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. Item number -- let's go back to where we were. James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Item number 2? Vice Chair Sarnoff. Number 1, we did. Number 2. Commissioner Regalado: Number 2. Vice Chair Sarnoff. So, resolution -- this is a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) resolution, and if the director could -- Mr. Villacorta: Item number 2 is a -- Vice Chair Sarnoff. -- take over. Mr. Villacorta: -- resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Omni Redevelopment District Community Redevelopment Agency ratifying the executive director's issuance of a work order, in an amount not to exceed $13,206, to Under Power Corporation for emergency repairs to transformers, ballasts, and lamps on streetlights in the PAC (Performing Arts Center) super block allocating funds from Omni tax increment fund, "Other Contractual Services." Commissioner Regalado: Move. Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Chair Spence -Jones: Second. City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 4/16,2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. Any discussion? All in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. Item number 3 -- all passes, Madam Clerk, 3-0. 3. 09-00329 CRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AUTHORIZING A GRANT, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $10,000, TO JUNKANOO FEST, INC. FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL "JUNKANOO FEST" AT GIBSON PARK; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AT HIS DISCRETION, TO DISBURSE THE GRANT ON A REIMBURSEMENT BASIS OR DIRECTLY TO VENDORS, UPON PRESENTATION OF INVOICES AND SATISFACTORY DOCUMENTATION; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO GENERAL COUNSEL; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM SEOPW TAX INCREMENT FUND, "OTHER GRANTS AND AIDS," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10050.920101.883000.0000.00000. Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Backup.pdf Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Chair Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Vice Chair Sarnoff, Chair Spence -Jones and Commissioner Regalado Absent: 2 - Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez CRA-R-09-0017 Direction by Chair Spence -Jones to the Interim Executive Director to identify finding to support small-scale events in the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) area. Vice Chair Sarnoff. We have the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) resolution for the Junkanoo Fest. James H Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Yes. Item number 3 is a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency authorizing a grant, in an amount not to exceed $10, 000, to Junkanoo Fest, Inc., for the 3rd Annual Junkanoo Fest at Gibson Park; authorizing the executive director, at his discretion, to disburse the grant on a reimbursement basis or directly to vendors upon presentation of invoices and satisfactory documentation; further authorizing the executive director to execute all documents necessary for said purpose. Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Regalado: Move it. Vice Chair Sarnoff. Do I have a second? City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 4/16,2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Chair Spence -Jones: Second. Vice Chair Sarnoff. Any discussion? All in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff. Passes, 3-0, Madam Clerk. Chair Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, I just want to make a comment to staff regarding this overall issue. Again, one of the things we want to make sure that we be mindful of regarding these events -- I really don't -- I don't know how it is for the Omni CRA, but I know that I really want to make sure we focus all of our attention on projects or events that are actually going to have some sort of fiscal impact or make some sort of fiscal impact in the area. I support the Junkanoo project and what they're doing, but I want us to not move down that road as we have in the past with supporting a whole bunch of events happening within the overall area. As the district Commissioner, I only support one annual festival that takes place in Overtown when we put all of our resources in once a year, instead of having it throughout the year. So I'm just going to say to the executive director if we can come up with a dollar amount that would support projects on a smaller scale from an event standpoint. But I really do not want us to go down the road of doing events -- start that back up again. It becomes a issue and a problem for us. Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. 4. 09-00052 CRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA"), WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING A PARTIAL SETTLEMENT IN THE CASE OF CITY OF MIAMI AND SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY V. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, CASE NO. 07-46851 CA 31, IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, CONVEYING CERTAIN PROPERTY FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE LYRIC THEATER, AND AUTHORING EXECUTION OF AN AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH THE BLACK ARCHIVES, HISTORY AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., REGARDING THE CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN ADDITIONAL PROPERTY FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE LYRIC THEATER AND CONVEYING CERTAIN PROPERTY TO THE CRA FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE LYRIC PLAZA. Cover Memo.pdf Backup.pdf Legislation.pdf Motion by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Chair Spence -Jones, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Vice Chair Sarnoff, Chair Spence -Jones and Commissioner Regalado Absent: 2 - Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez CRA-R-09-001 8 Vice Chair Sarnoff. We'll move on to item number 4. It appears to be a resolution conveying certain property to the expansion of the Lyric Theater, and I'd ask the director to -- City of Miami Page 5 Printed on 4/16,2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Item number 4 is a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, with attachments, authorizing a partial settlement in the case of City of Miami and Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency versus Miami -Dade County. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Do I have a motion? Mr. Villacorta: The motion -- the resolution also conveys -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Oh, I'm sorry. Did I cut you off? Mr. Villacorta: -- certain property for the expansion of the Lyric Theater and authorizes execution of an agreement in substantially the attached form with the Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc., regarding conveyance of certain additional property for expansion of the Lyric Theater, and conveying certain property to the CRA for preservation of the Lyric Plaza. What's happening here is the 40 feet behind the theater is being taken out of the lawsuit between the City, the County, and the CRA, the reverter litigation, and conveyed to the Black Archives. In return, we are conveying, the CRA, a portion of the property it owns on the Lyric Plaza for the expansion of the Lyric Theater. And the Lyric -- and the Black Archives is conveying two other parcels on the Plaza to the CRA for preservation as a plaza. So this will allow the Lyric Theater to expand, take this land out of the litigation, and it'll allow the plaza to remain a plaza, which was what the Board had asked us to do the last time the Black Archives was here. We -- the three parties have managed to reach a settlement and a side agreement conveying the properties, preserving the Plaza, and allowing the theater to expand. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Do we have a motion? Commissioner Regalado: Move it. Vice Chair Sarnoff Second. Chair Spence -Jones: We have a second. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Discussion. Chair Spence -Jones: Yeah. I just want to -- and I know that Dr. Fields and the whole team over at the Lyric and the Black Archives has been working hard to finally get this done. I just want to make sure that there's no other -- additional issues that you need to have added on this so that we're clear. I know that you've been waiting a long time, Dr. Fields, so hopefully now this will move to the next level. But is there anything else said -- and Tim -- that needs to be communicated regarding this item? I know we had a motion and a second, but I want to make sure that we're not going to have this come back up as an issue. Tim Barber: Yes. Thank you, Commissioner, and to the Board, as well. Just want to give thanks to the CRA, Jim Villacorta, who has worked hard and tireless with us on this project, and Jessica Pacheco, who has forward me many documents that I needed to make this happen. We do have an issue that was brought up by the County regarding this, and it has to do with language, and we're hoping that we can get an amendment today on this item, which the problem is it was a reverter clause in the deed that we found that conveys the land back to the County if we don't keep the Lyric Plaza as what it states to be a plaza, and it would go back to the County. What we need is that we need -- we're giving the land over to the CRA, and we're afraid that later it will trigger the reverter clause if we don't have the same language from the City that it is not maintained and kept as a plaza, that it reverts back to the Archives. So the problem is the City of Miami Page 6 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 language for us to revert it back to the County if it's not kept as a plaza. And the County actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and said that they wanted -- if the -- if we give the land to the CRA, they wanted it written out that it reverts back to the Black Archives if it's not maintained as a plaza, and that's the language that we need in there. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- First off, could you put your name on the record and your address? Mr. Barber: I'm sorry. Timothy Barber, 819 Northwest 2nd Avenue. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. So if we understand correctly, Mr. Director, they're asking us to make sure that the deed that they convey to the CRA contain a reverter back to them in the event it's not used as a plaza? Mr. Villacorta: The lots that the Black Archives receive from the County, which make up part of the plaza and to which they're conveying to the CRA contained a -- the deed from the County to the Archives contained a reverter that it would revert back to the County in the event that it wasn't used as a plaza. The deed from the Black Archives to the CRA requires the plaza to be used -- it's subject to a restriction that the property shall be used as a public plaza. Also, our side agreement mandates that the property be used as a public plaza. We feel that that -- they can't give a better title than they have. We're subject to that reverter provision should the -- should we not use it as a public plaza. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, what does our real estate lawyer say? William R. Bloom (Special Counsel, Community Redevelopment Agency): If the property is subject to a reverter, if Black Archives conveys it to a third party, that conveyance would be subject to the same reverter, whether stated in the deed or not. So the County's reverter with respect to these lots would still be in place. You don't have to get anything further from the County. Vice Chair Sarnoff So Bill, go a little closer and tell us your recommendation. Mr. Bloom: Nothing needs to be done. The proposed deed in the settlement agreement is sufficient to restrict the property to a use as a plaza, and at the same time, the title would also be subject to the reverter in favor of the County if it's not used in accordance with that restriction. Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. Mr. Villacorta: I think we might be dealing with their litigation lawyers rather than their real estate lawyers at the County. But it accomplishes -- the restriction flows through to the CRA. Vice Chair Sarnoff Right. You're saying that the title's already encumbered so -- Mr. Villacorta: Correct. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- don't -- you need -- you don't need to encumber it any further? Mr. Villacorta: Right. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. I'm going to call the question, and Commissioner Spence -Jones, I know, can hear me. All in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. It passes, 3-0, Madam City Clerk. Number -- item number -- City of Miami Page 7 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Mr. Barber: Thank you very much. 5. 08-01108 CRA RESOLUTION RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA") AUTHORIZING REIMBURSEMENT, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $600,000, TO BAYVIEW TOWERS ASSOCIATES, LLC FOR CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTY AND A PORTION OF THE COST OF RENOVATING THE 9TH STREET PEDESTRIAN MALL; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO SPECIAL COUNSEL; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM SEOPW TAX INCREMENT FUND, "CONSTRUCTION IN PROGRESS," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10050.920101.6700000.0000.00000. Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Backup. pdf Legislation.pdf Motion by Chair Spence -Jones, seconded by Commissioner Regalado, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Vice Chair Sarnoff, Chair Spence -Jones and Commissioner Regalado Absent: 2 - Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez CRA-R-09-0019 James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Item number -- Vice Chair Sarnoff 5. Mr. Villacorta: -- 5 is a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency authorizing reimbursement, in an amount not to exceed 600,000 to Bayview Towers Associates, LLC (Limited Liability Company), for conveyance of property and a portion of the costs of renovating the 9th Street Pedestrian Mall. Chair Spence -Jones: So moved. Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. That's enough. Is there a second? Commissioner Regalado: Second. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Any discussion? All in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. 6. 08-01003 CRA RESOLUTION A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE BOARDS OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST AND OMNI REVEDELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCIES AUTHORIZING A GRANT, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $500,000, TO THE CITY OF City of Miami Page 8 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 MIAMI FOR A TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING IMPACT STUDY; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AT HIS DISCRETION, TO DISBURSE THE GRANT ON A REIMBURSEMENT BASIS OR DIRECTLY TO VENDORS, UPON PRESENTATION OF INVOICES AND SATISFACTORY DOCUMENTATION; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO GENERAL COUNSEL; ALLOCATING FUNDS AS FOLLOWS: $300,000 FROM SEOPW TAX INCREMENT FUND, "OTHER GRANTS AND AIDS," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10050.920101.883000.0000.00000, AND $200,000 FROM OMNI TAX INCREMENT FUND," OTHER GRANTS AND AIDS," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10040.920101.883000.0000.00000. Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Backup.pdf Legislation.pdf TABLED Vice Chair Sarnoff. All right. Item number 6, if we can get through it. Jim, remember torts calls? James H Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Yes. Vice Chair Sarnoff. You remember when you had to recite the case really fast? Mr. Villacorta: Yeah. Vice Chair Sarnoff. Okay, go for it. Mr. Villacorta: And the holding. A joint resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Overtown/Park West and Omni Redevelopment District redevelopment agencies authorizing a grant, in an amount not to exceed $500, 000 to the City of Miami for a transportation planning and traffic engineering impact study; authorizing the executive director, at his discretion, to disburse the grant on a reimbursement basis or directly to vendors upon presentation of invoices and satisfactory documentation; further authorizing the executive director to execute all documents necessary for said purpose in a form acceptable to general counsel. This resolution authorizes a traffic study in the Park West area. The City has offered to hire a traffic study engineering firm from its list of approved vendors to perform the analysis for major development in the area, which would include the WorldCenter, but also other developments. Vice Chair Sarnoff. Okay. Do I have a motion? This is tough. Mr. Villacorta: Going once -- Vice Chair Sarnoff. Commissioner Spence -Jones makes a motion. Commissioner Regalado seconds, I believe. Commissioner Regalado: No, I did not. Vice Chair Sarnoff. No? Don't you hate when you take something for granted? Chair Spence -Jones: And I didn't make the motion either. City of Miami Page 9 Printed on 4/16,2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff You did not? So there is no motion. There is no -- Has everybody had the opportunity to hear this? Chair Spence -Jones: I've been briefed, yeah. Commissioner Sarnoff Okay. Commissioner Regalado: I was brief but I don't understand what are we doing with this or why are we doing the traffic study if we don't know what is going to be there, if we don't even know if there is a tunnel or if there will be trucks? So I don't understand. They have not close on the property. There is no WorldCenter, only in the front page of the paper. So you tell me. If we do this study today, would it be good tomorrow? Vice Chair Sarnoff Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Director, is this part of the DRI (Development of Regionallmpact) or not part of the DRI? Mr. Villacorta: No. This is in addition to the DRI. We've actually worked to make sure that this study doesn't overlap with studies that are being performed as part of the DRI. The City has entered into a development agreement with the Miami WorldCenter. The CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency), in furtherance of that, has included the WorldCenter in its DRI studies, and this would perform a traffic -- evaluate the traffic impacts resulting from future land use in the area and propose ways to mitigate those impacts. It would include the WorldCenter, but it would also include other development should it come. Commissioner Regalado: But my question was, you don't know if the tunnel is going to be built. And these are the five blocks -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Commissioner Regalado: -- that the tractor trailers go by. You don't know if the flyover is going to be built, so I don't understand how can we do a traffic study which could change with the decision that others make for us because we don't have the authority about the tunnel or the flyover or Northeast -- even Northeast 2nd Avenue; that's a County road. So I just want to understand. I think it's fine that the CRA -- I don't know. The CRA has a lot of money, apparently, because -- but -- Mr. Villacorta: This CRA has less money than people think. Commissioner Regalado: No. What I'm saying is, how do we know what is the WorldCenter? Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, let me ask a question. And I know Bill Anido's up there, but let me ask my question first. We entered into some sort -- well, the City entered into -- I don't remember the CRA did. Mr. Villacorta: No. The CRA was not a party to the development agreement. Vice Chair Sarnoff So the City entered into a development agreement -- then I guess that sort of answers my question because this could not be a breach of contract for the development agreement, correct? Mr. Villacorta: No. Vice Chair Sarnoff Bill, you want to say something? Bill Anido: Bill Anido, assistant city manager. As to the specific question of the tunnel, the City of Miami Page 10 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 scope of service envisions looking at the overall traffic impacts with and without the tunnel, so it will look at alternatives of what the traffic impacts will be in the area with or without that project. Vice Chair Sarnoff But isn't Commissioner Regalado accurate? Wouldn't your study then be inaccurate if they built the tunnel or if they built the slip ramp? Mr. Anido: No, no. It will look at both possibilities, with or without. If we know ahead of time, obviously, we only look at one of the alternatives. Commissioner Regalado: So why don't you wait until they decide, and then we pay half of it? Because, I mean, if you going -- Mr. Anido: Well, this is not a -- Commissioner Regalado: -- to study two option, it would cost 50,000, but if you are going to study one option, it would probably cost less. Is that right? Mr. Anido: Yes. This is not a lump -sum agreement. This is a maximum amount, so depending on the -- on what the final scope will be, the actual compensation will go with that amount, with that scope of services. Meaning, if we only look at one option, we only pay for one. If we look at both, we pay for both. Commissioner Regalado: Bill, I would like to do a traffic study in front of my house. The reason that I want to is because there are many cars and because they closed 27th Avenue and some people are using my street. But I won't get a traffic study on my block. The reason we are doing this is because the WorldCenter was going to be there, right, this -- Mr. Anido: Correct. Commissioner Regalado: -- mega project. But we don't know if there is going to be a WorldCenter. That's my point. And so I'm just trying to understand why do we need to rush if we don't know. We don't know -- I mean, the State is going to announce, I think, next week their decision on the tunnel. The chairman of the Dade Delegation is signing a letter this afternoon to send it to the Governor and to the Secretary of Transportation asking that if the tunnel is not built, all the funding remain and they will present, through the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization), an alternative to the tunnel. So I know that it's important to know, but I think that we should understand what is going to be there and then we know. Mr. Anido: That's a very valid point. Commissioner Regalado: And the bottom line -- you know what the bottom line is? I'm voting no. Vice Chair Sarnoff Right. And you know what the bottom line is? There's not going to be a second to this motion, so I think what we should best do is just leave it the way it is, and we can bring it back at a second time -- or another time. Everybody in agreement? Good. Priscilla A. Thompson (Clerk of the Board): Are you continuing it then? Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, what happens if we take no action on it? Ms. Thompson: No action taken. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, there's no motion, so it's no action, right? City of Miami Page 11 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Ms. Thompson: What happens is that we have this resolution sitting out there, a file that no action is taken on. So do you want to defer it? Do you want to continue it? Do you want to just let it sit out there? That's the whole thing. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- I think the -- unless I'm mistaken, the best thing to do is just let it be the way it is. And when you think it's right to come back, you can let it -- bring it back. Is that -- am I prejudicing it bringing it back by doing it that --? Ms. Thompson: No. Mr. Villacorta: No. Ms. Thompson: That's why I'm saying -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. Ms. Thompson: -- do you want to go ahead and just continue it? Vice Chair Sarnoff.- As long as there's no prejudice. Mr. Anido: Through the Chair, if I may suggest, perhaps we should bring it back once we hear from FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) as far as the tunnel funding -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Mr. Anido: -- and bring back the item at that point? Vice Chair Sarnoff Yeah. I think it would satisfy Commissioner Regalado to know what type of -- either it's going to be -- well, whatever we're going to do, whether it's going to be a tunnel -- Mr. Villacorta: Continue. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- -- or a slip ramp. Although, everyone who knows this issue knows it's not going to be a slip ramp 'cause it's engineeringly [sic] impossible, but -- Commissioner Regalado: But more important than knowing about the tunnel is knowing if we're going to have a WorldCenter. Vice Chair Sarnoff I could see how you say that, but I don't think it's necessarily directly tied to the WorldCenter. It's just tied to what the traffic situation will be. Commissioner Regalado: No. I understand. Vice Chair Sarnoff Right. Commissioner Regalado: I understand what you're saying, and I'm willing to support it, but I'm just saying that we don't know. Vice Chair Sarnoff I think the best thing to do is just table it for right now. Chair Spence -Jones: I just want -- Mr. Villacorta: Continue. City of Miami Page 12 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Chair Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind. Vice Chair Sarnoff Go ahead. Chair Spence -Jones: I just want to ask -- Bill -- Mr. Anido: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: I just wanted to be clear. Is there a time -sensitive issue around this? Mr. Anido: No. I think it's safe to wait until we have a -- yes. Chair Spence -Jones: 'Cause, I mean, I really want to deal with staffs recommendation and -- Jim, your viewpoint? Mr. Villacorta: In light of the discussion, I think it'd be best if -- our recommendation would be to continue the item 'til after we know a little more about the -- what DOT (Department of Transportation) wants to do about the tunnel. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. All right, so -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. Mr. Villacorta: So -- Vice Chair Sarnoff All right, so we'll table that. 7. 09-00154 CRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA") AUTHORIZING ADDITIONAL FUNDS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,950,000, FOR A TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $3,750,000, TO THE MIAMI WOMAN'S CLUB FOR REPAIRS AND 40-YEAR RECERTIFICATION OF THE BUILDING AT 1737 NORTH BAYSHORE DRIVE, MIAMI, FLORIDA; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AT HIS DISCRETION, TO DISBURSE THE GRANT ON A REIMBURSEMENT BASIS OR DIRECTLY TO VENDORS, UPON PRESENTATION OF INVOICES AND SATISFACTORY DOCUMENTATION; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO GENERAL COUNSEL; FUNDS TO BE ALLOCATED FROM OMNI TAX INCREMENT FUND, "OTHER GRANTS AND AIDS," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10040.920101.883000.0000.00000. Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Legislation.pdf Cover Memo.pdf Financial Form.pdf Motion by Commissioner Sanchez, seconded by Chair Spence -Jones, that this matter be CONTINUED PASSED by the following vote. City of Miami Page 13 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Votes: Ayes: 4 - Vice Chair Sarnoff, Chair Spence -Jones, Commissioner Regalado and Commissioner Sanchez Absent: 1 - Commissioner Gonzalez Chair Spence -Jones: So we're going to go to item number 7, which is the Women's Club. James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Item number 7 is a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the Omni Redevelopment District Community Redevelopment Agency authorizing additional funds, in an amount not to exceed $1, 950, 000, for a total amount not to exceed $3, 750, 000, to the Miami Women's Club for repairs and 40-year recertification of the building at 1737 North Bayshore Drive, Miami, Florida; authorizing the executive director, at his discretion, to disburse the grant on an reimbursement basis or directly to vendors upon presentation of invoices and satisfactory documentation; further authorizing the executive director to execute all documents necessary for said purpose in a form acceptable to general counsel. Vice Chair Sarnoff This -- Commissioner Sanchez: Madam Chair, I would move the item. Chair Spence -Jones: We had a motion on the item. Is there a second? Mr. Villacorta: You may recall that we provided -- Chair Spence -Jones: I second the item. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the item? I have some things to say. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff I went to CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) school of the ABCs of CRA. It was given in Fort Lauderdale, and I had my office attend. And what CRAs should never do is to continue to give TIF (Tax Increment Fund) revenue to a non-TIF-revenue-generating organization. And this is a 501(c)(3) that has never paid taxes into the Omni TIF. So you have an entity that has historically spent no tax money to the TIF to the Omni CRA, and they never will pay taxes to the Omni CRA, so what you're doing is you are investing in an organization and a building that will never pay taxes. That is the biggest drain, the worst idea a CRA can generate. It's almost semantically the same as building a federal courthouse in a CRA. You will never generate TIF revenue out of that. But ask yourself this question: You have an entity that has been there for years and years and years, and what you're doing is you're fixing -- you are providing them funds -- I believe it's $3, 750, 000, to pay for their 40-year certification. Any other building in downtown over the years ensures that it takes care of its building so that it passes its 40-year certification. So contemplate this. A non -tax -paying entity turns around pays no taxes for the lifetime it's been a building; turns around, doesn't take care of its building and now comes to the tax paying public and says, would you build me -- or rebuild my building. That makes absolutely no fiscal sense whatsoever. In the past, we've given them $350, 000. So we have given them totally -- or you will today, I suspect, my colleagues will have given them $4,100, 000 to a non-taxpaying-TIF-generating entity. You could not design a worst set of circumstances for a CRA. You could not think of a more inappropriate use of tax dollars than what you're about to do, but this is the City of Miami after all, and we can come up with a reason to do anything, except a fiscally responsible reason. We have never seen their books, but that would be the Marlins, after all. We never saw their books. We have never seen word one how they've spent their money, how they've generated their money, or where their money went to. Yet, this CRA has, in the past, given $1.1 million to other non -taxpaying CRA churches. It just does not make sense. There are a lot of entities that are going to come to this CRA in the next City of Miami Page 14 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 two or three years as a result of a horrible economy, as a result of people needing jobs, as a result of people needing a leg up, as a result of homelessness, and you're going to spend your money on a non -tax -generating TIF, the Women's Club, to fix a building that they neglected for 40 years. Anybody that votes for that is simply not doing it for the right reasons. And there'll be spin up here. I suspect I'll hear "jobs." It's the new word today, jobs. Do you know how many people it will put to work, Commissioner? Jobs. Do you know how many people will actually spend time fixing this building? Jobs. Or I'll hear something like this is a historic building, and we've got to preserve our historic buildings, as if this was the only way to preserve our historic buildings. Wrong. You do not pay and use TIF-generated taxpayer revenue to preserve a 501(c) (3). And if I really wanted to get raw here, I could give you the historic background of the Women's Club, but I won't do that 'cause I'll suspect and I'll believe, for this -- purposes of this vote, they've changed their ways. It is just wrong, dead wrong -- or in the words of the ABCs of CRA, you do not give your TIF revenue to a non -taxpaying TIF generator. But then again, this is the City of Miami, and we just do things differently here. Bad use of the money, and we're not being good stewards of our taxing TIF revenues. Thank you. Chair Spence -Jones: Thank you, Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner Sanchez. Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Director, does this fall within the scope of the CRA under Florida Statute 163 to preserve historic preservation? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. It's included in the Omni Redevelopment Plan at page 21, Section 4(e), entitled "Historic Preservation Plan," and it specifically identifies the Miami Women's Club as a structure of historic and architectural significance, which the CRA should attempt to preserve. Commissioner Sanchez: And the -- Commissioner Sarnoff is completely right. This is the City of Miami, who has neglected historic preservation in our city, and we've lost great treasures in our cities because they've been demolished. And once we demolish structures such as the Women's Club, which is a historic building, then we lose it forever. And the only way to see it is in a book. And I think it's important -- and I will not elaborate on the jobs, although it will create jobs -- that we do everything we can within our power to preserve this historic building as a value use for the CRA and the Omni area, and that's why I'm in favor of it. And I think that the responsibility that we have with the TIF that comes in is to help those that proffer and give in to the TIF, but also for those around that improve the quality of life and make our community much, much better and revitalization to the area. So I am in support of it. I've been in support of this since day one, and that's why I'm here today to cast my vote in finally getting this building done. And let me tell you something. We benefit from this in many, many ways, including taking the bay walk back, where we'll be able to finally have connectibility [sic] in the bay walk, which is their property, and they'll be giving it over to the City so we could have connectibility [sic] all the way, hopefully in the future, from the river all the way to Margaret Pace Park, which I think it's a great benefit to the entire city, as well as the area that it serves. So once again, I'm in favor, and I'm here to cast my vote in support of getting the second funding so they could accomplish their mission, which is -- should be our mission to help a historic building maintain its structure. Thank you. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, supported this item for several reasons. Number one, because of the building, but number -- maybe two, but the most important one to me, other than the building, was because of the symbol of the Women's Club for so many years. As it -- the Women's Club grew up with the City of Miami and it has been there for a hundred years or so; had their ups and downs, but it's just a symbol that we need to keep. The building, it is important for the City of Miami, and I did support the money that was already been given by the CRA to the Women's Club. We have a climate in this country at this moment that every agency or business that gets money from the government needs to be transparent. We all City of Miami Page 15 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 saw today how the White House force the resignation of the General Motors chairman and a restructure of the firm. We have been watching how the federal government and the Congress is placing restriction on business that are taking the economic stimulus dollar or federal money. So in that sense, I think that at least the Women's Club need to be more open. And Commissioner Sarnoff has offer some ideas; open the books, see the future, look at the status, look at the possibilities of the Club making money. Maybe benefits to the City of Miami in terms of use of the Club. So I think that I cannot support this now until you come through with the things that the area Commissioner has requested, and you know, although I don't agree with him in terms of not helping at all business that do not pay taxes, I do think that it's important that any deal should be transparent. And I cannot support this now if you don't get all the information and all the requests that the area Commissioner has made. So that's my position. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay, so we've had -- everyone's made their comment regarding this item. Ms. Timoney -- Noreen Timoney: I'd like to make a comment. Thank you. Good evening. Noreen Timoney, president -- Chair Spence -Jones: Yes. Ms. Timoney: -- the Miami Women's Club. Good evening, Madam Chair, Commissioners, City officials and guests. A couple of things. Number one, almost half of the membership of the Miami Women's Club happen to be Omni residents and they pay taxes. That's number one. Number two, our books have been available, and we have provided documented scope of work, projected plans, and analysis of all expenses that we've incurred to date. Number three, the Miami Women's Club has opened its doors and held community meetings that reaches out and branches -- and forms relationships with other groups that go into all different areas of the City, such as Overtown, such as Coconut Grove and other areas. So we have held this facility -- we've given it free to community groups to hold workshops on domestic violence, financial empowerment, multiculturalism and different topics that are import to the City of Miami. We have welcomed all sorts of groups. We've been limited as to what we could do because of the legality of the space, and to the $350, 000 that we have so far received from the CRA, we have matched that $350,000 with money from the Women's Club. So that's number one about the money. The money we're asking for today was the second phase of the recertification. Without that, we cannot complete it, and we are prepared to grant the bay walk access to the City of Miami, which would welcome all residents of the City. So I hope, Commissioner Regalado, that addresses some of the concerns you've had about community offerings, about having our books be transparent. They're very transparent. We've been meeting with the CRA officials over the past year and going over all sorts of figures. We have a regular discussion with them on the status of the project, so everything is transparent. Vice Chair Sarnoff Can I -- Ms. Timoney: And -- Vice Chair Sarnoff -- ask a question? Ms. Timoney: Sure. Chair Spence -Jones: Are you -- first of all, are you finished with your presentation -- Ms. Timoney: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: -- Ms. Timoney? City of Miami Page 16 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Ms. Timoney: Thank you. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. You're recognized. Vice Chair Sarnoff Can I have a colloquy with the witness? Chair Spence -Jones: Oh, yeah. Vice Chair Sarnoff Ms. Timoney, how many members do you have? Ms. Timoney: We have approximately 210 members. Vice Chair Sarnoff How many of them are active? Ms. Timoney: About 175. Vice Chair Sarnoff How do you define an active member? Ms. Timoney: Active is they've paid their dues. And our -- Vice Chair Sarnoff How much --? Ms. Timoney: -- membership, by the way, is open to all. There's no requirement on membership. You just show up for a meeting and pay dues. And we have offered sponsorships for those members of the community who cannot afford the dues. Vice Chair Sarnoff From the 175 active members that you have, how many of them have contributed to restore the 40-year certification? Ms. Timoney: We do it through our board of trustees, which is through membership dues and other things. We've received $100, 000 from the board of trustees for our repairs. And the Miami Women's Club has contributed $250, 000 for the initial part of the elevator repair, and that has been matched by the CRA, additional $250, 000. Vice Chair Sarnoff Of your 100,000 and your 250, 000, how much of that came from government grants? Ms. Timoney: The 350 from the Miami Women's Club was totally from the Miami Women's Club. The 350 from the CRA is separate. Vice Chair Sarnoff In other words, your $350, 000 was private contributions coming from -- Ms. Timoney: Correct, directly from the Miami Women's Club. Vice Chair Sarnoff So of the 175 active members? Ms. Timoney: Well, it would be from members over the past several years who have contributed donations to the Miami Women's Club for either operational expenses or restoration. Vice Chair Sarnoff You had previously come to us asking for $12 million. Remember that? Ms. Timoney: We submitted a master plan back at the time when the City was thinking of bonding certain projects. That was not submitted to the CRA directly for CRA approval, but rather at the time with Larry Spring, Budget director, for, perhaps, one of the projects they were going to bond. City of Miami Page 17 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, you submitted a plan to me for $12 million, correct? Ms. Timoney: That was the total master plan for the restoration. That's not what -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Right. Ms. Timoney: -- we're seeking from the CRA. Vice Chair Sarnoff I understand. My question to you is a little different. The $12 million will restore your building completely, totally, utterly. Ms. Timoney: Historically and green, yes. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. How do you intend on raising the eight million that you don't intend on coming to the CRA for? Ms. Timoney: We've already met with a capital investment person. I think the Commissioner may have met him at a forum that was held at the Women's Club, Tyler (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He's helping us launch a capital campaign. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. How much of the $8 million do you have dedicated -- in other words, how much do you have from the private side that is committed for the 8 million? Ms. Timoney: So far, we've received $1, 000 in donations for the capital plan, not the recerti -- we can't really do much about the capital plan without the recent. We have to be totally up to Code. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, your recertification is not really going to beautify your building or make it more function. It's just going to make it safe to be in it, correct? Ms. Timoney: Correct. Vice Chair Sarnoff So my question to you again is, of the $8 million that it would take to bring this building, as you would put it, back to historic significance, how much of that do you have -- have you raised? Ms. Timoney: I'm going to let the architect address the -- Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Can I -- Ms. Timoney: -- restoration. Chair Spence -Jones: -- just say this? Only because I know that I'm going to lose a particular Commissioner on this, and I just wanted to be clear from Commissioner Regalado viewpoint. Commissioner Regalado -- 'cause we're going to -- I don't want to spend a lot of time on this. It - - my question is, is your comment based on -- whether or not you support it or not, there's certain things that you would like for them to do to bring back. Is that what your comments were in reference to before you --? Commissioner Regalado: That was my comment. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Regalado: Yeah. That was my comment. City of Miami Page 18 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Regalado: Actually, I don't know -- Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. It's getting a little loud in the back. Can I have you guys please hush a little? Commissioner Regalado: -- of the community programs that you just mentioned. I don't know of any -- at least we have not received information about the different uses or if there is a contract to have uses by different community meetings, community groups of the -- if that is happening now, I don't know about it. And he -- Ms. Timoney: We send a -mails (electronic) to each of the Commissioners, so I don't know. Commissioner Regalado: I'm sorry? Ms. Timoney: I'm sorry. The past forums that we've had, all of the Commissioners have received e-mails. Commissioner Regalado: No. I'm sorry. I have received -- Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. It's getting -- I'm sorry. Commissioner Regalado: -- e-mails for -- Chair Spence -Jones: It's loud in the back. Commissioner Regalado: -- invitations, but I have not received any e-mail explaining how you can use the Club for community. I have received e-mails for invitation. "You're invited to meet at the Women's Club with a group of women to celebrate whatever." But my question is what his question was, you know, what benefits for the community, and the other thing, the different finances. So until I don't [sic] get that information, I cannot support. Not -- it doesn't mean that I will not support it in the future, but I cannot support it today. So if that is your -- you were seeking, I will be voting no today for this item if you took it to a vote. Commissioner Sanchez: For the -- Madam Chair, for the sake of time, I will ask that the item be continued to the next CRA meeting. That way it'll give the Commissioner and the Women's Club an opportunity to sit down and see if they fulfill his request for information or whatever he needs to seek his approval for this vote. So move for continuation. Chair Spence -Jones: All right. We -- Madam City Clerk, do we have to withdraw? Do I have to withdraw my motion first, though? Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Actually, if you don't vote on it, the motion is already dead so -- Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Ms. Thompson: -- if you're not voting on that and you're going to put a new motion on the floor to continue, you can go ahead. Commissioner Sanchez: All right. I would make a motion to continue the item to the next CRA City of Miami Page 19 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 meeting. Chair Spence -Jones: All right. Second. And I guess you guys will work it out at that particular time. Ms. Timoney: Yeah. We'll meet with Commissioner Regalado and Commissioner Sarnoff, if he would like to, and go over both the finances, the community offerings and other things. Thank you. Commissioner Sanchez: All right. We -- I made a motion. Somebody else needs to second it for continuation. Chair Spence -Jones: Actually, I -- Commissioner Sanchez: Oh, okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. We have -- Chair Spence -Jones: -- I'd like to second it. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- a motion and a second. All in favor, please say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff Passes. Ms. Timoney: Thank you. Good evening. DISCUSSION ITEMS 8. 09-00341 CRA PRESENTATION PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES TO GRADUATES OF THE LANDSCAPE TRAINING INSTITUTE. Cover Memo.pdf PRESENTED Vice Chair Sarnoff And then discussion item number 8 is a presentation of certificates to the graduates of the Landscape Training Institute. James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): This -- Chair Spence -Jones: Yes. Mr. -- Vice Chair Sarnoff And I'll let the Chair take over. Chair Spence -Jones: First of all, I want to thank my fellow Commissioners for their support with these great institutes that we have in the heart of Overtown. They've been doing an outstanding job with them. As you know, we already have the Hospitality Institute in partnership with the Hilton Hotels and several other hotels, and that institute is going really, really well. We also have the Culinary Institute with Miami -Dade College. It operates out of Jackson Soul Food for area restaurants so they could be trained not only from the back -of -house, but also the front of the house. And then, this is the -- one of the first original projects we had, which was the Landscape Institute. We already know who Dr. Dunn is. He's done an outstanding job with creating green spaces on 3rd Avenue and certain key areas in Overtown. And it was actually City of Miami Page 20 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Dr. Dunn's recommendation to do a garden on these empty lots. And as you know, we have collard green growing and other fresh herbs and stuff like that growing on vacant lots in the heart of Overtown. But this is about training people so that they can become self-sufficient to take care of themselves and their families and learning a trade. And as you know, we've been doing this for the last two years, and this year's focus is going to be on getting some of the individuals actually placed with companies outside of Overtown so that they can be on stable jobs. But this is the kind of things that -- these are the kind of things that we want to see happening in the heart of Overtown and in our CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) area. So with that being said, Dr. Dunn is here to do a presentation, and I would like for us to also acknowledge these young men that have stuck it out -- and young women that have stuck it out. Marvin Dunn: Thank you, Commissioner. Vice Chair Sarnof Congratulations. Mr. Dunn: Marvin Dunn, 8541 Southwest 181 Street, Miami. Members of the Board, thank you for having us take the opportunity to pass out our first certificates of graduation from our institute. We have five graduates, and most of them are here. We also have some of our trainees here as well. Our training program takes about a year, and the folks who will be getting certificates today have finished that program. But let me just take a moment and introduce the graduates at this point because I think there are three of them here. Tyrone Surles. Congratulations. Applause. Mr. Dunn: I could make comments about each one of them, but I won't. Wellington Rolle, who's been with us a long time, over two years. Applause. Mr. Dunn: Sylvester Seals; just graduated this time. And then we have two graduates who are not with us today, Joe Brownlee and Eddie Sims [sic]. Mr. Brownlee had a health problem, which is why he could not continue with us, and we've offered two positions to Eddie Sims [sic], who is our most senior graduate. So the CRA has helped us a lot, and we do appreciate that. I also want to introduce our trainees at this point. We have a student from Booker T. Washington High School, Kennesha Ford; has started with us just recently. Applause. Mr. Dunn: She's out there everyday at 2 o'clock to work with us until 4. Brinkman Young is also a trainee. Applause. Mr. Dunn: He'll be finishing this year. Debra Hannah, one of our trainees, is not able to be with us today. And finally, David Murray, also known as "Dread," "Mr. Overtown," who -- Applause. Mr. Dunn: -- is not only a trainee -- because we're trying to help him become able to have the vegetable garden become self-sufficient under his direction -- but he's also a trainer because he trains the rest of the people in a lot of other things that we do. So this is our team, and it's our first time here before you to thank you for helping us and to present our graduates and our trainees, and we thank you very much. City of Miami Page 21 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Applause. Chair Spence -Jones: Thank you. Congratulations. And Dr. Dunn, I don't know if you want to put anything on the record. I know Percilla is actually the coordinator now working with all of our institutes, so I want to give her a hand. Hopefully, she's been able to come out to work with you on that. Mr. Dunn: Yes. Applause. Mr. Dunn: She's been great. Chair Spence -Jones: And Jim, we're now working on making sure that the new transition -- I know Miguel has been also working very hard to make sure that we stay on target. Mr. Dunn: I just want to add one more thing before I relinquish the mike, if I might. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. I just wanted to make sure with -- Jim -- where are you, Jim? Did I lose Jim? Or Miguel, if you can speak to it. I know that we're working on the new phase of the project, which is making sure that people get trans -- I guess, transitioned into actual jobs and additional opportunities, correct, Jim? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. We're looking to see that we move the trainees to other paying jobs so we can take in more residents -- Mr. Dunn: And we document the places that we refer them to. We also send out their resumes on Monster.com to landscaping companies. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Dunn: We're helping them get their resumes together, so there's an active process to get them placed. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Dunn: We also keep some of them with us on the projects that we have that are not training projects. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Villacorta: So if you're a landscaping company looking for good employees, call us. We have trained -- Mr. Dunn: And we'll see you next month because we want to put some -- make some additional expansions in Overtown, but we'll talk about that at another time. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Dunn: Thank you. Chair Spence -Jones: Thank you so much, and thank you for coming. City of Miami Page 22 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Applause. Chair Spence -Jones: I don't want to -- I want to keep the meeting in order, Charles. I don't want to take anything out of order. 9. 09-00337 CRA DISCUSSION DISCUSSION REGARDING PEACE PARK AT 1025 N.W. 2ND AVENUE. Cover Memo.pdf Backup.pdf MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Chair Spence -Jones, and was passed unanimously, with Commissioners Gonzalez and Sanchez absent, to direct the Interim Executive Director to draft a grant agreement for an amount of $10, 000 for ratification regarding the Peace Park project, to be brought before the Board at the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting currently scheduled for April27, 2009. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay, so -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Number 9 is the discussion regarding Peace Park at 1025 Northwest 2nd Avenue. Chair Spence -Jones: Yes, Mr. Chairman. This is an item that I asked to have -- be placed on the agenda regarding green spaces that we do have in the heart of Overtown. I believe our chair of this Overtown Oversight Board is here -- there she is -- Ms. Saliha Nelson. This is a park that is across the street from Clyde Killens' old home. It's a historic home in the heart of Overtown. Right now it is an area where there's a lot of drug activity, heroine addicts, all invading this space, and we really want to clean it up and make it a green, peaceful space for many of the residents in the heart of Overtown. As you know, we've lost a lot of children over the last at least three to four years to gun violence. This will be a place where we would put a peace wall to remember those children, and I just wanted to make sure you knew that this is a part of our green space plan that we already have in place. Vice Chair Sarnoff Are you putting a monument of some kind or --? Chair Spence -Jones: Actually, the City has a wall that's been sitting in a building for a very long time, and it's -- the idea was to take that wall and place it in the heart of this peace garden. Vice Chair Sarnoff You want to --? I'm sorry. Saliha Nelson: Would you like me --? Vice Chair Sarnoff You got up there. Ms. Nelson: Okay. Hi. Saliha Nelson, 1600 Northwest 3rd Avenue 33136. Under this initiative, there are several things going on. And one of the ways to really kick off the rededication of this public space would be the Youth Unite for Peace Festival. And this is an event that's going to really galvanize the community that speaks to crime reduction, violence reduction, and the promotion of peace in the community. And with the rededication of this park and the redevelopment of this park and adjacent spaces, we'll be looking to create a centerpiece in the heart of Overtown, which is dedicated to peace and not only peace in the environment, but peace with the earth, peace with the community, peace with our families and friends. And this is going to be a real centerpiece for the community to rally behind using the arts and sciences to promote all the things that make great communities. And so we look forward to working not only City of Miami Page 23 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 with the community, but with the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) to really promote the kickoff of this event, which is going to include, on May 2 -- actually, we're going to -- it's a weeklong. We're going to start on Global Youth Service Day, which is April 25, and we'll be having the dedication of the Peace Park. And I want you to think big vision, okay, and not just think of a park. I want you to think about the Overtown Peace Park Arts & Science Campus. And this will really be an outdoor learning environment for youth and families in the community. There'll be a weeklong of festivities to promote peace in the community out of the area schools, community -based organizations not only working in Overtown, but throughout Miami -Dade County. In order to make something really work, you have to work with other people, and so as part of one of the things that I'm striving for in the Overtown community is to reach out to other communities so we can all begin to work together. This event is going to culminate on May 2, and it's going to include a Youth Unite for Peace parade, a youth festival, and a youth production called "Universal Beat," which will be held at the Lyric Theater. And so, throughout the day, this is going to really be a showcase that there are positive voices in the community. There are youth who are making positive choices who need to be recognized and celebrated as they continue to make positive life choices. It is the youth who are going to be our future taxpayers, as I heard today. They are going to be the future in terms of the entrepreneurs and the business owners. And if we think of ice skaters and pro basketball players, when do they start? They start as a kid. They don't just become great. They start from a baby. They start from toddlers. They start from elementary school. And so it is up to us as adults to realize -- to really invest in the youth at this age so that they can really be the leaders of the community as they mature. And so we hope that through this -- through these efforts, we'll have a continued dedication to the youth in the community. And I know they don't pay taxes, right, so I came up here with my shield, but we hope that -- we speak for the youth so that their voices are not lost in this crazy economic time. Vice Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Chair Spence -Jones: Mr. Chairman, I just -- you have in a package that Saliha Nelson has pulled together. Several organizations are working in partnership with her. She has a landscape company that is donating their time to actually pull together the design of the new garden. It's a beautiful space right up under the Metrorail, and I believe there's a service project that we want to do with them some time in April and unveil it or begin to unveil it during actual Peace Week. These are the kind of activities that we want to see resources be spent on because, again, that's -- you know, the youth are the future of Overtown and all of our communities. I -- what I'd like to see happen is, for the next CRA meeting, that we bring back some resolution supporting the project to assist with the actual Peace Park itself. I believe there's trees and planters and all those kind of things that need to be put in there, and I'm not really sure -- I know, Mr. Executive Director, you had an opportunity to sit down with Ms. Nelson and them to discuss kind of what the need was, but -- James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Briefly, I think we need to determine a scope and put a budget on it, and then we'd be in a position to bring something back. We've discussed preliminarily with the landowner on the northeast corner about including his property in the park. And we've had a preliminary discussion with an artist about providing a mural on the Metrorail column, and we've looked into fencing in the area, but Vice Chair Sarnoff Just a recommendation, Jim. Whatever you do, you might want to think about irrigation. Mr. Villacorta: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- I don't care -- anybody wants to call it "zeroscape." You can call it whatever you want. City of Miami Page 24 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Chair Spence -Jones: You need -- Vice Chair Sarnoff It needs water. And -- Chair Spence -Jones: We've learned that. Ms. Nelson: Just as a point, to address that. We are working with a landscaper who knows about sustainable trees and plants and native foliage and all that stuff, so it's not going to require a lot of water. We're also looking in to utilize the recaptured water that trails off of the - Chair Spence -Jones: What the Commissioner -- Ms. Nelson: -- Metro passes (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So there's going to be a whole process to make sure that we are not depleting any of our precious water resources. Chair Spence -Jones: Yeah. But I think what the Commissioner's saying, though, you know -- and it is the truth. We say "zeroscape, " and still, you know, it means absolutely -- I mean, it just needs less water, but it does need water. Ms. Nelson: Okay. Chair Spence -Jones: So I think that part of that plan should include -- especially if you want it to become a centerpiece in the neighborhood, we want it to look nice all the time, so irrigation should probably be some part of that budget when you're putting together that garden. I'm not really sure -- the event actually ends -- it's at the end of April, so we don't meet again until the end of April, so how would we work that from the standpoint of dealing with the issue of the request from Ms. Nelson? We just would bring it back for it to be ratified, or how does this work, Jim? Mr. Villacorta: That is -- if we're just supporting the event, we could bring that back for -- you know, authorize me to do what needs to be done and bring it back for ratification. I think, if we're going to develop a whole park there, that's a little longer project than just supporting an event. The -- I mean, we need to put together a proposal. We need to work with Parks to see -- and the adjacent landowner to see what it would take to allow use of that property as well. If you want me to work with Ms. Nelson and bring back a resolution for ratification at the next CRA meeting regarding support for the event for the -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, how much do they need financially just to support the event? I'm looking at this. It looks like $450, 000 totally for the entire park. And by the way, I think it's a great idea, but -- Mr. Villacorta: Yeah. I think, in our parks and green space budget -- Chair Spence -Jones: That's 150. Mr. Villacorta: -- there's only about 200,000 -- Ms. Nelson: Over three years. Mr. Villacorta: -- available. Ms. Nelson: This -- four phases to the project. If we're going to do -- City of Miami Page 25 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff Four? Ms. Nelson: -- this right, there's four phases to the project. The initial event will cost around $10, 000. We have matched support of $20,000 already committed for the initial week's festivities. And then for the park build -out, we're looking at a three-year process, and we're also prepared to develop match resources for that as well. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, you're asking this Board -- and it's okay, but I want to make sure we know what we're being asked. We're asked for $10,000 to match some money that you have already put in there, but we won't meet as a board again. So I want to be clear -- well, before we would give you the money, so I want to make sure that you give Jim ample information, transparency, budget, everything he needs, 'cause he's going to act for us in, I suspect, authorizing $10, 000. You know, where you go from here -- I think your park's a great idea. I mean, I don't think anybody here is not going to support it one way or another, but -- why don't we do this? Why don't we just pass a resolution giving Jim up to $10, 000 -- Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- of authority, and with the understanding, Jim, that you act as our ears and eyes and make sure that we have all the documents we need to know where this money's going. Mr. Villacorta: And I'll bring the grant agreement back for ratification at the next meeting. Vice Chair Sarnoff Do we need a vote on that or --? I don't know that that's really a resolution, but -- Mr. Villacorta: Or -- Vice Chair Sarnoff -- you could make it one. Mr. Villacorta: -- you could just pass a motion directing me to -- Commissioner Regalado: So move. Mr. Villacorta: -- bring back a grant agreement -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Right. Commissioner Regalado made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Spence -Jones. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff All in favor. Okay -- Mr. Villacorta: The next -- Vice Chair Sarnoff -- moving on. Ms. Nelson: Thank you. 10. 09-00331 CRA DISCUSSION DISCUSSION REGARDING FUNDING FOR CAMILLUS HOUSE, INC. Cover Memo.pdf City of Miami Page 26 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Sanchez, seconded by Commissioner Regalado, and was passed unanimously, with Chair Spence -Jones and Commissioner Gonzalez absent, to direct the Interim Executive Director to draft a resolution allocating $10 million of Southeast Overtown/Park West funds, in an amount of $2 million a year over a five-year period, for the relocation of Camillus House, to be brought back to the Board at the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting currently scheduled for April 27, 2009; further directing the Interim Executive Director to provide the Board with a report at the April CRA Board meeting identing the funding available for said purpose. A motion was made by Commissioner Regalado, seconded by Vice Chair Sarnoff, and was passed unanimously, with Commissioner Gonzalez absent, to urge the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to match the dollars provided by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to assist Camillus House in funding their courtyard project. Vice Chair Sarnoff Let's move on to number 2. Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, could we take item number 10, which is a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) discussion item that, no matter what we do, we'll have to come back for a vote? Can we take a discussion regarding the funding for the Camillus House? Vice Chair Sarnoff Sure. Can we have discussion number 10 up? Can we have the folks from Camillus House speak? Commissioner Sanchez: We -- on item number 10, this item is something that not only has the CRA, but also the City has committed to providing Camillus House $10 million of Southeast Overtown/Park West funds for the relocation of Camillus House. We all know the importance of the service that Camillus House provides for our community, but we also know the importance of assisting them in relocating so we could meet the full potential of the Southeast Overtown/Park West area for redevelopment. Moving Camillus House is the best thing we could do for downtown. It is something that we have talked about for quite some time. They have the funding. However, they feel that the 10,000 [sic] commitment that we have made -- not only has the CRA made, but I was at the groundbreaking where the Mayor clearly stated that that commitment was something that he wanted to fulfill to be able to get that done as quickly as possible. The thing is that this is a discussion item, and what I would like to do is, after we discuss the item, to have the CRA director prepare a resolution to be brought back to the CRA at the next agenda committing $10 million of the Southeast Overtown/Park West funds for the project. It would be a two million a year commitment for the next five years. That would be just a resolution to be able to bring something with an amount to the CRA so we could discuss as to whether we'd be supporting it or not. The bottom line is that this is something that we have agreed to, just like we agreed on the expansion of the CRA. It is in their best interest to assist us during the expansion of the CRA so we would be able to come through with the money for the new Camillus House facility. So, once again, I do want to just tell you this is just a discussion item. And therefore, I would make a motion directing the executive director to bring back a resolution at the next CRA meeting allocating $10 million to the Camillus House relocation fund. Basically, it would be, as I stated, $2 million commitment for the next five years. And I would make a motion, Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- We have a motion. Is there a second? Commissioner Regalado: I'll second for discussion, Mr. Chairman, if you allow. Vice Chair Sarnoff Commissioner. City of Miami Page 27 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Commissioner Regalado: Thank you. I think that we all know that this is one of the biggest and the most important projects of the CRA, the relocation of Camillus House. It is something that will bring not only downtown to a better level, but it will bring dignity to thousands of people in need of help. We need, of course, to understand if the money is available. And that -- I would amend the motion to ask the executive director to analyze and bring back a report to see if the money is available because we still don't know if the County is going to eventually expand the CRA, and we don't know if we can use the money pledged from the bonding for this kind of purpose. So I don't know, Jim, if you are aware that we can use the bond money that was pledge for the $10 million for Camillus House. Commissioner Sanchez: The maker of the motion has no problem with the friendly amendment asking the executive director to bring back a report based on fund availability. That's not a problem, but I just want to state that to get a loan to start the construction, it helps to show that another $100 [sic] million dedicated to the project, which we had committed, so I don't have a problem with that amendment and accept that friendly amendment to the motion. Commissioner Regalado: And Mr. Chairman, I think that we should also discuss on this meeting what is, I believe, a more pressing matter for Camillus House, which is that they're running out of money to operate the transitional -- what they call the shelter that the CRA has been supporting. You know, if they run out of money, these people are going to be back on the streets. The reason that the service show less homeless in downtown Miami is because the survey is being done after midnight, and after midnight, how many people you have in the courtyard? Robert Dickinson: We're averaging between 250 and 275 each night. Commissioner Regalado: Okay, so those people would have show up in the survey. So the reason that we can claim success as the fight against homelessness is that the courtyard is open. But if the courtyard has to close, the numbers of homeless in downtown Miami will jump to the regular. Mind you, we have between 700 and 900 in the downtown core area. This last survey, it went down by 200. Where are they? In the courtyard. So Mr. Chairman and Commissioner Sanchez, I think it's important because we have been postponing this and I don't know when they going to close down the courtyard, if they going to close it down, but I think that you should put something on the record in terms of the courtyard. Priscilla A. Thompson (Clerk of the Board): Excuse me, Chair. Before you go any further, I need that young man who answered the question -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Can you -- Mr. Dickinson, can you give us your full name and address? Mr. Dickinson: Yes. Robert H. Dickinson, 29 Tahiti Beach Island, Coral Gables, Florida. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Vice Chair Sarnoff All right. Let's do this. Let's go one motion at a time. I understand -- Commissioner Regalado: Right. Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- -- what Commissioner Regalado wants to do, but I know Commissioner Sanchez wants to say something. Commissioner Sanchez: I need -- yes, sir. I wanted to keep the motions separately. Well address the issue of the courthouse -- the courtyard separately. I think it's important that we keep both resolutions or motions completely different, so I would call the question -- City of Miami Page 28 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, before -- Commissioner Sanchez: -- on the first one, as amended. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- you call the question, I'd like to say a few things. First and foremost, $10 million is a huge amount of money for the CRA to actually have -- dedicate towards this. Before we do so, I'd like to have an opportunity -- and I think the other Commissioners may as well -- to look discreetly at your books to see exactly what your plan is; to look at all your salary structures, all your compensation so that we know exactly what the 10 million commitment will be going for so that we can maintain these documents in our offices 'cause I think we're going to be held to a certain scrutiny and a certain degree of transparency. I absolutely think that this is a good purpose. This is not very different to me than the tunnel. It gets rid of a scar on the very center core of the City of Miami. It puts people in a good circumstance that are otherwise in a very bad circumstance. But I think it's important that we do so with transparency and that each Commissioner have at least in their offices something to back up what their vote stands for. And $10 million is a huge commitment from any CRA to give you. So with that, I don't -- I surmise there won't be a problem with you giving us a detailed explanation of your plans, as well as your operational budgets. Mr. Dickinson: Absolutely. No problem at all. Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. With that, then I'm going to call the question. The resolution is to direct the director of the CRA to come back with a resolution to ensure there's adequate funding, if I'm correct, for $10 million over five years -- is that correct? Commissioner Sanchez: Correct. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- from the Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA. All right. All in favor, please say "aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Sarnoff And none are opposed. Now we have a second -- Commissioner Regalado: The second -- Vice Chair Sarnoff -- motion. Commissioner Regalado: -- motion or the next motion, it's about the courtyard. I don't know Dr. -- or if any of you can tell us. I believe that the funding was up until March, or was that -- but I know that you're using your general fund to support the courtyard. And I'm telling you, we can do two things. We can keep postponing and we can -- or we can say, you know, this is something that we cannot support now. However, the number of people out on the street will increase in the core of downtown area if the courtyard is closed. And few people probably know about the courtyard; few people even care about the courtyard, but the fact of the matter is that 200 or more people are not sleeping under cardboards on the sidewalks, but they're sleeping inside a contained building, so I just want to make sure about the budget of the courtyard. Paul Ahr: Paul Ahr, doing business at 336 Northwest 5th Street. The budget -- current budget in this fiscal year, Commissioner, is $840, 000. The average cost per person per night is a little under $10. It's $9.64, for which they get three meals, a safe place to sleep, medical care, case management, showers, access to toilet facilities, activities during the day, and clothing exchange. To date, the CRA has awarded us 100, 000, and the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) has awarded us 25,000, with the expectation that we can come back for another City of Miami Page 29 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 25, 000. So if all that's done, then the deficit that we have to make up out of donations in this fiscal year is 700, 000. Commissioner Regalado: Okay. Mr. Dickinson: And the alternative, just to follow on your logic, is that if we run out of money, we have two choices. We either go out of business, which makes no sense, or we discontinue the service. And as I'm saying, there's about 250 to 275 people a night, and most of those people, the vast majority, are there 24 hours a day, not just at night. Vice Chair Sarnoff So -- Commissioner, you want to say --? Commissioner Regalado: No. Go ahead. Vice Chair Sarnoff And your shortfall -- I mean, I'm just curious. We are into our -- going into our fourth month of the fiscal -- well, I don't know how you do your fiscal years -- we're going into the fourth month of the calendar year, and you've been funded $125, 000. You're anticipating an $840, 000 annual operating expense. I mean -- Mr. Dickinson: We have basically dipped into all our reserves. I mean, we are right up to thread at this moment. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, when will you run out of money? Mr. Dickinson: I would guess for this courtyard within the next month or two or three. It's very critical. Commissioner Regalado: And Mr. Chairman, that was my concern. And I understand that it's impossible for the CRA or any other government agency to be discussing month after month the shortfall. It will be a shame to see that program closed because those people are going to go back on the street, that's for sure. There's no space in the HAC (Homeless Assistance Center), and there's no space in the Salvation Army. But -- so where the CRA going to come with the maximum will be $100,000. How would you deal with the rest of the budget? Mr. Dickinson: Well, I mean, that is really the issue. What we ideally would like is some sort of permanent funding for this program if the community feels that for taking care of people for $10 a day and removing 250 to 275 folks from the street and giving them services is effective use of resources. When we started this program, we started it and we got a bequest which came out of the blue and funded it. This last year, to Commissioner Sarnoffs point, we raised a little bit more money than we budgeted in our annual gala in December, so that's helped stave off the difference, but those funds are running out. And candidly, in this economic environment, the prospect for increasing charitable funds this year is slim. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, is Commissioner Regalado correct? Are all of the other facilities at maximum capacity? Mr. Dickinson: To the best of my knowledge, they are. Certainly, all our facilities are, and we understand the Homeless Assistance Center's in the same situation. Paul, do you have further information on that? Mr. Ahr: That's our understanding. Salvation Army, Rescue Mission, and the HAC are the emergency shelter operations. And there may be -- Vice Chair Sarnoff.- And the last question -- City of Miami Page 30 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Mr. Ahr: -- a bed or two here that become available, but most of them are filled most of the time. Vice Chair Sarnof The last question I have, do we have a cyclic period where people actually start heading north and then come back when it gets cold up north again? Mr. Dickinson: The people that we're dealing with are largely nontransferable. Most of these people have disabilities. A majority of them may have been here either all their lives or most of their lives, so they're not the kind of folks that can get on a Greyhound bus. Commissioner Regalado: And let me say this, Mr. Chairman -- and welcome back, Madam Chair -- this is -- this about the cold is a myth. The survey shows that 80 percent of the people who are homeless are local; 20 percent may be transient, but 80 percent of the people are local resident. What I would propose is to understand when your budget will be running out, and what I would propose is that maybe CRA can have an amount that you all can match with private donations for the time being to operate until something more permanent is done. I don't know how that work. I don't know, Jim, if we have like $25, 000 to advance to them in order to keep this project going. I don't know if we have the capability of going into the program and seeing what can we expect. But the only other alternative is close it down. So I think that I would, if you all agree, propose maybe that Jim meets with them and decide, well, 25,000, 50,000; you can keep up the program for how long. How can private donation keep the courtyard opened for the next --? Mr. Dickinson: Yeah. The run rate on the courtyard, Commissioner, is 70,000 a month. Commissioner Regalado: Seventy thousand a month. Mr. Dickinson: A month, yes. James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): The previous grant we gave them required them to match our grant of 100, 000, dollar for dollar, and they've done that. They've drawn down about 68,000 of that grant. I think there's a invoice in the office, as we speak, that would zero out the remaining balance. At the January meeting, you asked me to schedule an item on the agenda where we could talk about an additional 100, 000. We've investigated our budget, and we have that funding available in the quality of life section that we could use. If you wanted to make it a match -- it require a match, that's something that could be done. Commissioner Regalado: But they haven't -- you haven't drawn the hundred -- the first 100,000? Mr. Villacorta: The last invoice is in the office. Now they've drawn down -- we've paid out 68, and there's a invoice for approximately 32 -- Commissioner Regalado: Oh, okay. Mr. Villacorta: -- in the office right now. Commissioner Regalado: So it's about done? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. And again, we've investigated the budget, as was requested in the January 26 meeting, and we have an available amount of 100, 000 in the quality of life section that we could use. If the Board wanted to make that a -- require a match, we could do that. We could bring a resolution back at the next meeting, if that's what you'd like. Commissioner Regalado: I would defer to the Chairperson 'cause that's her district and to the City of Miami Page 31 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair because downtown is his district. I'm just talking as the representative of the City in the Homeless Trust, and I'm telling you, the other shelters are full. So we have either this or that. Chair Spence -Jones: Let me just -- I want to yield to Commissioner Sanchez real fast. I don't know if you have -- you had a comment. And did you have a question also as well? Commissioner Sanchez: No. It's not a comment. First of all, this is a discussion item, so we would have to -- whatever we decide, we would have the director to prepare a resolution to come back at the next meeting with the funding that you would require. I think that the best thing for us to do here is -- I think you're going to get a commitment from us. I think we all agree that what you do is not only good in the humanity side, but also on the quality of life issue -- to have you sit down with the Administration and, at the next meeting, bring forth whatever it may be, whether it may be an additional "X" amount of dollars to be able to fulfill you for the next couple of months, or an additional commitment -- I think it's important that you sit down with the executive director and then the executive director could meet with all the Commissioners so we can proffer a reasonable solution to the crisis you're in right now. So that would just be it right now, for you to sit down with the Administration, bring it back at the next meeting, and we would have a number -- if we needed to come up with some additional funding for you to be able to meet the month so this month you don't have to close down the facility, one, the executive director has the authority to ratify it and bring it back to this legislative body in a resolution or legislative with the word "ratification" as to what the commitment that he's made based on what has been talked here today. So I think that's the best thing for us to do today is for you to sit down with the executive director and work it out. If he has to pony up some money upfront, then we will bring it back for ratification 'cause I think the commitment is here to help you. Chair Spence -Jones: Commissioner Sanchez, you're finished? Commissioner Sanchez: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Let me just -- and I just had a comment in general. Let me say this. This -- obviously, this item was already taken up before I got here regarding the $10 million. Everyone knows that I'm a big supporter of the Camillus House. There's not even a question about whether or not I support them any way that we can 'cause I know what they do in the City. But I know that I was very clear with the Administration regarding this issue that I wanted to make sure that there was a process put in place regarding how we begin to give out dollars regarding big projects. And, unfortunately, you know, from -- and I know that I had a conversation with the executive director on this issue on Friday. And on the way coming over, I asked that this item be held 'til I -- until got here because I didn't want to have a discussion where we expended monies until we were clear about the process. I do not want to send a message to the public that now we're going to be open -- we're opening ourself [sicJ up to funding because of all of the communication that's been out regarding dollars that are going to be, hopefully, bonded out over a certain period of time. I am -- I'm very concerned about the resolution that is already -- I just want to be clear what the resolution was that got passed before I got here because I'm asking that we recon -- Commissioner Sanchez: It's coming back to us no matter what. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Mr. Villacorta: It was just a motion directing me to bring an item on the next agenda that would direct me to budget two million over the next five years, for a total not to exceed ten million, for the relocation of Camillus House, subject to funding availability and a determination as to whether it was an appropriate use of tax increment funds. So the resolution -- it was just a motion directing me to put that resolution -- City of Miami Page 32 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. I just -- Mr. Villacorta: -- on the agenda. Chair Spence -Jones: -- and not taking any way -- thing away from the Camillus House and Dr. Ahr, but I really want to make sure that as we begin to identifir projects for Park West and also for the Overtown area, that all this stuff is planned out properly. And I know I was very clear with Jim on this issue, so I'm very -- I'm a little confused how we got from -- we went -- how we went from $100, 000 to providing support for the existing program -- project that they have already in the City and that's what I thought we were going to be entertaining in this discussion today to now us, you know, come -- bringing back a resolution for $2 [sic] million over a five-year period of time. So as long as it's coming back as a -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: -- resolution and we have not voted on that as -- Mr. Villacorta: No. Chair Spence -Jones: -- an issue, but I just want to make it very clear to my director and to staff, when we have a discussion around these particular items, we all need to be on the same page about what's being asked or requested. In the last meeting, nothing came up regarding a $10 million, so I don't know how we went from 100 [sic] to 10 million. Mr. Villacorta: I think it arose out of some comments that were made at the groundbreaking for Camillus House. Chair Spence -Jones: Yeah, but that -- a million and one comments are made at all kinds of groundbreakings, and you had this conversation with me, Mr. Villacorta, and I was very clear. A million and one discussions can happen at all kinds of events. That doesn't mean that -- and I communicated and I was very clear did this Board discuss this at any particular time, and you said no. Just because -- Mr. Villacorta: They haven't -- Chair Spence -Jones: -- a discussion took place at a groundbreaking does not mean it is viable for this particular board. It has to be brought to this board properly. Mr. Villacorta: One of the Commissioners brought up the item. Chair Spence -Jones: I just want to be -- I don't want to have a discussion with the executive director on one issue, and then it comes back and it's a whole 'nother thing. I support you, Dr. Ahr, 100 percent. You need the money for feeding the folks in the courtyard. I don't have a problem with that, but what I don't want to do is send the wrong message to the public, and that was my point. But as along as it's not been voted on and that you're bringing it -- Mr. Villacorta: No. Chair Spence -Jones: -- back as a resolution -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: -- and we can work on the transparency around it 'cause, if not, we will have a issue later on -- City of Miami Page 33 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: -- and I don't want to be dealing with it from this -- from where I sit. Mr. Villacorta: Two million dollars would amount to almost 30 percent of this year's budget. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. I just want to be clear about the process and how it took place. Mr. Villacorta: Sure. Chair Spence -Jones: So I'm sorry. I want to yield to you, Commissioner Sarnoff. Vice Chair Sarnoff No. The only thing -- I wasn't going back to that, but I was going to your issue. It seems to me that, you know, it's going to be difficult for the Southeast Overtown/Park West to shoulder this entire burden, and I think the DDA needs to step up, 'cause I don't think the DDA's $25, 000 is really what they should be putting in. I think they should be putting in at least 100 and we could possibly match their 100, and that'll go a long way to getting you, operationally, you know, set up. So I'd ask, you know, Chairman Sanchez of the DDA to see if they could step up to the plate and put up a significant amount of money that we then can match that you can then match, and we're halfway home, so to speak. I just don't -- I don't know that the Southeast Overtown/Park West can be the be-all and the end-all for Camillus House when we have another layer of government that's there that -- it's in the DDA's interest, I think, as much anyone's interest, to ensure that the homeless have a home and that they're not out on the street so that businesses feel maybe a little bit better about promoting and bringing business to Miami. I would think that'd be their probably number -one calling card, and I know Chairman Sanchez certainly brought about the homeless -- I know the -- what was it, the parking meters or something like that? -- and then they passed an ordinance at the DDA to ensure that homeless don't, I guess, loiter too much. And I just -- I think it -- I think they need to put their shoulder behind the heavy load and help lift it as well. Chair Spence -Jones: Commissioner Sanchez, do you want to respond to --? Commissioner Sanchez: No. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay, no comment. Okay. So we -- have we -- what is the final outcome on this discussion? You're going to bring everything back to --? Commissioner Sanchez: It's -- Mr. Villacorta: Bring back two resolutions for the Board to consider at its next meeting, subject to Camillus House providing us detailed plans and budgets. And one resolution would be for $100,000 to operate the courtyard program, and the other -- Commissioner Regalado: I made that resolution. I'd like to amend that resolution including what Vice Chairman of the CRA said just now. We urge -- that we urge the DDA to match every dollar that the CRA is putting into the courtyard project. This is just for the courtyard project. You know that and everybody knows that. The fact of the matter is that if they run out of money, Camillus House is not going to close, but the courtyard is going to close, and you will have 200 people in the street, which will be fed on the churches, on the five points that we have, but it will be -- they will be sleeping on the street in downtown and Overtown and all that. So this is totally different. So my resolution would be if the Chairman -- Chairperson and Vice Chairman allow, to urge the DDA to match the contribution of the CRA for the courtyard project because it's in their area, both. City of Miami Page 34 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Commissioner Sarnoff. I second that motion. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Had a motion and a second. Any discussion on it? Okay. Do you have any comments? You want --? All in favor on this? The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Chair Spence -Jones: All right. This item passes. Commissioner Sanchez, do you have any comments? Commissioner Sanchez: Nope. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Commissioner Sanchez: I just want to let everybody know that the CRA has much, much -- a lot of -- more funds than the DDA. We will commit -- we -- I will take it to the DDA and have them try to come up with the money. That's my assurement [sic] -- wearing a different hat here, as the chairman of the DDA, but I just want to let you know it's a big difference between the DDA and the CRA compared to funding. But we will do our best to work with everyone and, above all, champion a great cause. Chair Spence -Jones: And -- wonderful. Villacorta, you look like you had a question. Mr. Villacorta: No. Chair Spence -Jones: Are we matching them? Are we -- so it's 50 that we're putting in and they're matching, or is it 100 and they're going to add -- we're going to ask for them --? I mean, I just want to be clear what the -- Commissioner Sanchez: The language is very clear. The language is that you're putting the money, and if the DDA has the funding, they will do it. If not, they will not do it, and you will still commit the money. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. All right. You guys understand that? You clear? Vice Chair Sarnoff. What's that? Chair Spence -Jones: Do you want to repeat it again? Commissioner Sanchez: No. He knows exactly -- Mr. Villacorta: No. Chair Spence -Jones: He's saying that he just wants to be clear that the 100 that the CRA is putting in, I thought it was a matching situation. It's not a matching -- whatever the DDA can come up with, then they'll try their best to put something towards it. So it's not really a match. Commissioner Regalado: No. It's a matching situation. That's the way I word it. Commissioner Sanchez: It's not how you worded it. You better change your motion. Vice Chair Sarnoff Well, let's -- what does the Clerk say? Chair Spence -Jones: Madam City Clerk. City of Miami Page 35 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Commissioner Regalado: That we urge the DDA to match the $100,000. That's what 1 said. Chair Spence -Jones: Oh, urge. So -- but if it's not there, it's not -- Commissioner Regalado: Huh? Chair Spence -Jones: I just want to make sure that the $100,000 is not -- Commissioner Sanchez: And -- Chair Spence -Jones: -- contingent on whether or not DDA gives. Commissioner Sanchez: -- the DDA will do its best to come up with the money. If the money's not available, the money's not available. Commissioner Regalado: But I thought I was clear that we urge the DDA to match -- Commissioner Sanchez: Urge. Commissioner Regalado: -- the $100, 000. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay, no problem. Done. Commissioner Sanchez: Urge. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. All right, let's move -- Thank you so much. Charles Cutler: Madam -- through the Chair. Madam, please, I just want to make one point as a matter of public record. We have -- Ms. Thompson: Excuse me, Chair. We need our speakers to please remember when you come up to the podium, you must give us your name and address for our record so that we can be complete. So may I have your name, please? Mr. Cutler: I apologize. Charles Cutler, 706 Northwest 4th Avenue. Madam Chair and the honorable Board of CRA and City Commissioners, I just want to make a point. The burden of the homeless -- we're actually trying to eliminate slum and blight in Overtown/Park West, and we have a lot of issues there, and I don't see where in -- with the issues that we're facing there and especially in light of the expansion, that we should carry the burden of the homeless on our back because -- and the way that we look at it, most of these people, you know, they're just -- you know, and I think that the ideology behind the whole development of CRA is to eliminate slum and blight within specific target areas. And by us being in a target area -- and we have a lot of homeless people that lives in the Omni, and the Omni has much more money in their coffer than Southeast Overtown/Park West. So why make the homeless feel more comfortable in Southeast Overtown/Park West because we deliver more services? Then that means that Southeast Overtown/Park West is going to be used as a dumping ground, and that is not fair because we have our own issues that we have to deal with, and we've got to come up with a solution that's much more -- because with $200 [sic] million coming out of our budget every year for five years, there's some other things that we can do with that money. Because Overtown is one of the poorest communities in the nation, and now we've got to carry the burden of the homeless also, and we've got the Homeless Trust? And we've already looked at the funding stream, so we know where the money is coming in, and the funding is basically in place for the homeless, so why should we have to carry that burden when we have our own issues? And I just want you just to consider that and think about that, and when you come back with something, just -- I pray that you just consider that and make that a part of whatever resolution that comes forth that's put City of Miami Page 36 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 before you to pass at the next meeting. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay -- Mr. Cutler: Thank you. God bless you. Chair Spence -Jones: -- Mr. Cutler, thank you for your comments. Just real fast, the item itself will come back -- we actually didn't vote on the item now. It will actually be brought back to the CRA Board for us to address it at that particular time, but your suggestion is -- I'm assuming -- Mr. Cutler, your suggestion is to look at perhaps the CRA from the Omni area as a possible -- You don't have to come back. Just shake your head. -- another possible source to assist with the program or the assistance for the Camillus House program. Mr. Cutler: Yes. Chair Spence -Jones: That's basically what you're requesting is for some of those dollars to come from there. Mr. Cutler: Yes, ma'am. Chair Spence -Jones: All right. Commissioner Sarnoff. Vice Chair Sarnoff Yeah. Just -- Chair Spence -Jones: This is the district Commissioner from that area. Vice Chair Sarnoff No, no, no. And just so you know, Mr. Cutler, and everybody in the Southeast Overtown/Park West, I actually did an LSR (Legal Services Request) to the director and asked him to look into that to see if Omni could pay its fair share or more to help the homeless, to help the Camillus House. I agree with you. If it could be done legally, we should do it. The Omni is certainly in a better position to help the homeless. I don't call it a dumping ground situation, but just because the Omni is just in a better and more unique situation to help out, I've asked to see if, legally, that can be done; and I hope to have a response, hopefully, by the next CRA meeting as to whether we can do that. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff Correct, Mr. Director? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. We're requesting a legal opinion on the matter. Vice Chair Sarnoff Okay. Chair Spence -Jones: Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Cutler. We're going to save all comments to the end 'cause I do want to move the meeting right along. Commissioner Sanchez has a previous engagement at 6 o'clock. 11. 09-00333 CRA DISCUSSION DISCUSSION REGARDING GRANT TO NMA INVESTMENTS, INC. FOR CLEANUP OF FEC ROW. Cover Memo.pdf Backup.pdf DISCUSSED City of Miami Page 37 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Direction by Vice Chair Sarnoff to the Interim Executive Director to identify the funding available for the clean-up of FEC (Florida East Coast) Row; further directing the Interim Executive Director to work with the Capital Improvements Department to ident fy any sidewalk funds available from the District 2 account. James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Number 12 [sic]. Vice Chair Sarnoff We have -- Mr. Villacorta: Or number 11, I'm sorry. Number 11. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- discussion number 11 we're on. Mr. Villacorta: This is a discussion regarding a grant request by NMA Investments for the cleanup of the Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way. Brad Knoefler: How you doing? Brad Knoefler, 697 North Miami Avenue. I'm the owner of NMA Investments and the owner of the building. Just like to welcome everybody here tonight. I apologize for the space being a little bit rough, but we're hopefully going to have a Italian restaurant in here in a couple of months, so maybe we'll have another meeting after the place is open. It'll be a little bit more upscale. If you don't mind, I'm going to give the presentation over here so I can change the slides. Just before I want to get started, I want to just mention one small thing. Been in this neighborhood about ten years, and even though we spent millions and millions of dollars of studies, master plans and so on, the end result, unfortunately, is very, very little facts on the ground have changed on the ground. And I think that we're in a position, in the last year or two, where we have the Northwest Avenue -- Northwest 3rd Avenue streetscape project, places like my building, a number of projects down the line. We're actually going to see some facts on the ground and some results on the ground rather than master plans and studies. And I just wanted to ask the board members, given the fact that we have a -- pretty tough economic times today -- and it's very, very hard living in this neighborhood seeing with all the things -- we need to see if we can try to dedicate some money to short-term results where we're going to see some results. People need some help and seeing change, and we're going to ask you to, in a general sense, over the next year or so, to try to prioritize short-term projects with results on the ground. So -- anyways, why am I here tonight? I'm here to speak about the railroad. As anyone knows about the history of Miami, basically, the railroad created Miami. The railroad's the reason for this building. This is an old warehouse, obviously, that used to back up on the tracks. And has also had some negative consequences for neighborhoods. The expression "the wrong side of the tracks" comes because railroads came down and divided communities and certain people couldn't go on other sides. And probably the past 30, 40 years, with the decline of the railroad industry, we've basically seen a decline in the maintenance and so on from the FEC (Florida East Coast). When you walk back behind the building -- I encourage everybody to take a little walk before it gets dark and too dangerous -- you basically see 30, 40 years of debris, old loading docks, trash from the homeless blowing around the neighborhood and here's an example of what it used to look like behind my building. Now we have probably 30, 40 people work in this building, and when you have homeless people mugging, breaking in the building -- we've had -- there was break-in attempts last week all from the railroad tracks side -- you need to come up with a solution. And as a private property owner, it's not my responsibility to maintain the railroad tracks, but I needed to find some sort of a solution to ensure the safety of my tenants and the neighbors in the area. So what -- we contacted the railroad and decided to implement a project which makes the railroad tracks look like this. This is a mockup of what we would eventually like to do for the entire tracks. Another example. On the other side, we had three or four people living back here in the fencing area. We decided to rip everything out, and more or less, this is the results you have here today. Now we spent probably three, four months trying to sort out all the complicated legal issues and dedications and responsibilities and City of Miami Page 38 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 liability and so on to go through this small, little project. And my logic was, since we spent so much time on this and it looked so wonderful after the very, very minimal cost and almost instantaneous results -- took us about three to four days to do this whole thing -- why not extend this all the way up to the entire right-of-way. So what we're here to present tonight is what we're calling a Miami Urban Greenway, basically from the Freedom Tower to Northwest 1st Avenue on the other side of the old arena and -- on a east -west basis, and from Northwest 8th Street all the way to Northwest 19th Street on a north -south. Original objectives, of course, were safety and crime reduction, reduce slum and blight, but one of the key things was trying to find a way to cut through the red tape and the complications and different agencies and so on and responsibilities to try to find a solution to get this done. We also tried to be as cost-effective as possible and tried to think of longer termed solutions. We didn't want to just cut the grass or plant new sod, which is just going to be overgrown and not maintained. We wanted to think of permanent long-term solutions that will avoid doing this every six months. Now I just wanted to make sure about one thing. We -- been a lot of discussion about greenways. Someone said, well, if you're doing a greenway, how come it's not green? Well, greenway really isn't necessarily 100 percent green. They have a vegetation component, but they tend to be more linear and multipurpose and primarily used for recreation and bicycle path. But in a sense, we tried to maintain the principle of the greenway, balancing it with the evolution of the neighborhood because, as anyone has done any kind of work in this neighborhood, you have to always think what are the homeless people going to do, what are the criminals going to do. And we've learned from trial and error what to do and what not to do, but we also had a number of meetings with the City of Miami Police Department regarding the concept called crime protection through environmental design. There're basically four principles here. Pretty simple, but people tend to lose sight of that when they're doing landscape design. One example is the FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) planting landscaping on the north side of North Miami Avenue, which became a hiding place for criminals and so on that had to be ripped out. We need to basically think about directing people to correct paths, think about fencing, deterrent landscaping, not making this an inviting area. We don't -- in other words, we don't want to put sod back there to make it a comfortable park for people to have picnics in. Maintenance and lighting, more or less goes for itself. One of the components of this project is to have the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) contract with FPL (Florida Power & Light) for the outdoor lighting program. So what we're trying to do here is we're trying to balance the greenway and trying to make this into a publicly -- a public access neighborhood with all the crime prevention. And the design concept, again, which you can see out back, is to more or less prevent any kind of vegetation growth, putting down weed mat, putting down rocks to discourage people from walking on them and laying -- rocks are not comfortable. And at the same time, in a design sense, it gives us a little bit of an urban beach feel. We've decided to put a plant called agave, which are extremely deterrent. If anyone's ever brushed up on a -- against one of those, they'll know -- I did that four or times last week and it still hurts. And one important thing is they are a desert plant and there is no irrigation required, so this is something that does reduce the cost of the project. We've put in railroad (UNINTELLIGIBLE) bollards and stainless steel wire to more or less guide people onto the proper pathways and away from prohibited areas. And of course, installed lights and try to keep the place more or less clean to reduce crime. So when you marry the crime prevention aspects and the greenway aspects, you basically get what we're calling the urban greenway. It's not necessarily a suburban greenway, but an urban greenway taking in account the urban environment that we live in. Now we've divided this into three parts, just because they tend to be logical portions. The first part is from the Freedom Tower to Northwest 1st Avenue, which is basically the east -west section behind my building. And again, this is what it looks like today. It's relatively clean. It looks like somebody might have came and cleaned it, you know, last week. But we're more or less planning for these three blocks from Biscayne to North Miami Avenue to duplicate the landscape and design elements that we have behind the building. Of course, there'll be a multiuse path on the right-of-way for pedestrian and bicycle access, which we haven't put in yet. And then on the triangular -shaped piece of land, which is to the west of us, which our opinion is sort of a perfect area for a visual park or maybe even a pocket park eventually, if the City of Miami decided to lease or purchase the land, we're putting City of Miami Page 39 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 in a landscaping called ground peanut, which is similar to sod but it's very deterrent. It's not easy to lay on. It requires no maintenance, no irrigation again. So this is the area, as well, that we thought might be interesting to put some sort of a old locomotive or something as a sculpture to improve the area. The second portion, which is, in my opinion, the most important portion because it more or less links Overtown with Park West, it's the -- has the most visual impact on thousands of people everyday, and I would probably even say tens of thousands when they drive by on 1-395 and look to the south and see the mess that really we have on the right-of-way. This is the area across from 9th Street Pedestrian Mall. This is another view south. One of the more interesting things that we found when we started looking in this area is we realized, throughout the analysis of historical pictures and more or less the history of the area, that there have never ever in the history of Miami been proper sidewalks, curbs and gutters on these crossings. Now a lot of this is complications with dedications; and when the railroad originally gave the permission to cross their right-of-way, they didn't give permission of sidewalks. There's a lot of complicated things in there, but it's really sad that these people, including myself, that live in the neighborhood have to more or less walk in the middle of the street to be able to cross across the tracks. It's a psychological barrier, and it's something that we aim to fix with this presentation. Again, on the west side, we looked at the north -south portion and realized that there are no curbs and gutters, whereas there's curbs and gutters on the east side. So our idea, again, is to use the same sort of landscaping concept on the north -south, but with a couple of different design elements that are different. Obviously, there's a specific architectural element for the 9th Street Pedestrian Mall, and we're recommending the CRA continue with their master plan and extend that across the tracks to join the multipurpose path. And if you take a look at the area where there are no sidewalks previously, what we're planning to do is to put proper curbs, gutters, and compliant crossings where there have never been throughout history. Now just to give you an example, that's what this area looks like today. That's what we're planning on making it look like hopefully in 2009. On the area that is the north -south -- the west side that has never, ever had curbs and gutters, we're planning on putting curbs and gutters as well as the landscaping and the bollards to prevent people from walking across these areas and to maintain their -- on the properly -marked paths and so on. Again, that's what it used to look like, and that's what we hope it will look like in the future. The last portion is the area from 19th Street to 14th Street, more or less a big sort of tunnel passageway, not much to do except for landscaping and rocks here, but at the same time, very, very important because this is one of the higher crime areas in the district. So if you take a look at the total project, what does it cost? We're proposing 1.27 million for the entire area. Now this roughly breaks down to about 400, 000, 6 -- 700, 000 and 200,000 for the three sections. And I want to just highlight that this is not a simple thing going and putting a bunch of rocks and plants on the railway. We're talking about an area that's more than two miles in length, half a million square feet of area, and we're talking about sod removal on that half a million square feet, putting half a million square feet of weed mat, 10,000 tons of crushed rock, 500 bollards in concrete, wire, multiuse path, and the concrete curb and gutter and, of course, sidewalks where we've talked about it before. Now we think that this is a very, very good deal, given the area that we're talking about covering, and we try to be as cost-effective as possible in the design of this. If we go back to our original objectives, safety, slum and blight, cutting through red tape, impact on the community, and cost-effective low maintenance green, we think we've hit pretty much all of then. What we are a little bit worried about is the implementation. We've gone pretty, pretty far, but we're really at the point where we need to do this or I don't know what's going to happen because we're a small group of people that are pretty much trying to do the right thing here, and we don't want to get caught up in any kind of red tape and the problems that have prevented this from happening for the past hundred years. So basically, we're going to ask the Commission -- the Board to see what they want to do. We've been presenting this for the past two CRA meetings, and we think we are ready to go. We have design. We have the legal permission from the railroad, and we'd like to see if the CRA Board would -- Vice Chair Sarnoff.- Brad, just for sake of brevity, which I would certainly be criticized for 'cause we have not been brief tonight, what I'd like to do is direct the CRA Chair -- CRA City of Miami Page 40 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 director, excuse me, to see exactly what funds you have available; to equally work with Ola Aluko from CIP (Capital Improvements Projects) and see what sidewalk funds could be dedicated from District 2 account, and if you have any grant matches that need to be matched, District 2 will use its quality of life money to help match any of your grants. So I'd like to -- from those three sources -- I know this is going to be very expensive for Southeast Overtown/Park West, and I think we should look at it in phases. But I will put some of my skin in this game. I can't think of anything better than a linear park that would allow folks to rollerblade, skateboard, and ride their bikes around downtown Miami. And if anybody doesn't think that we're about -- or that we're getting a population in downtown Miami, you should have gotten the e-mails (electronic) this weekend from the Ultra Festival from 900 Biscayne all complaining that the -- is anybody here from 900 Biscayne or any --? Commissioner Regalado: Noise. Vice Chair Sarnoff What's that? Commissioner Regalado: The noise. Vice Chair Sarnoff The noise. Yeah. They were -- they -- we actually had people saying that their pictures were falling off their window. So we are becoming a populated downtown. And by the way, to those folks, you're right. We have to rethink the way we do things downtown because we can't be as loud and we can't be as -- as we had been. But it's also time for dog parks to grow up downtown. It's also time to give people park space downtown, to let them bike downtown. If you get people out and about, I guarantee you crime will go down, you know, and that's part of what you're talking about. So I don't want to belabor this. I just ask that -- I will put my skin in the game in District 2. Commissioner Regalado: But -- Vice Chair Sarnoff Go ahead, Commissioner. Commissioner Regalado: -- I think that, you know, we were told and we know that there is money from the federal stimulus for sidewalks on state roads. FEC, it's a state railroad, so it is a corridor that has the authority of the state because when we tried to clean up the one on Flagler and 71 st, everybody said, no. We have to go to the state because it's under the jurisdiction of the state. So if it's under the jurisdiction of the State of Florida, then some stimulus money for sidewalks could be used, and that's another source of funding other than the District 2 funding. But I think that we should try to understand this state mandate use of money for sidewalks on state road because FEC is a state -- at least it's under the jurisdiction of the State of Florida, FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation), so I just -- I think it's a great idea. I think it's -- I think that it's important. I still say we need lights because -- so I don't know if that cost -- if you give it -- it's one point -- Mr. Knoefler: One point two seven million for the entire -- Commissioner Regalado: One -- Mr. Knoefler: -- two miles, yes. Commissioner Regalado: -- point two seven. Give that project to the City. We'll do it for $10 million. Mr. Knoefler: That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. No problem. Mr. Villacorta: Well, in accordance with the Board's direction at the last meeting, we've been City of Miami Page 41 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 looking into whether there's funding available from the Federal Railroad Administration and various community revitalization and community development programs, but we received the full scope and the budget just a short time ago, so we're trying to see which grants we might be able to qualifir-- Vice Chair Sarnoff Would you work pretty hard on this? I mean, I -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Vice Chair Sarnok -- got to tell you, this is a homerun. I mean, for a million dollars, if you could do the whole thing, it's a homerun. Even if we do it in phases, let's at least, you know, get started. And -- Mr. Villacorta: Sure. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- you know, you don't want Southeast Overtown/Park West shouldering the whole burden, so any source funding -- I know Bill Anido is here. I know Bill knows the federal stimulus package like the back of his hand, and maybe you can work with Bill. Mr. Villacorta: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff And again, I mean, I will contribute, and you know, I'd just -- I'd like to see it happen and not talk about it happening. I'd really like to see this happening. I think it'd just be a great thing for everybody who chose to live in a big condo down here. I just -- you know, what a -- it's what I'd be doing. I'd be out there with a bike biking around going to Bayfront Park, going over to Bicentennial Park, biking down here, trying to figure out how Brad Knoefler got a building that looks like it's in Chicago in Miami and, you know -- Commissioner Regalado: Well -- Mr. Villacorta: He also received a grant from the CRA for some of the -- Commissioner Regalado: -- even -- Mr. Villacorta: -- rehabilitation. Vice Chair Sarnoff Didn't know that. Commissioner Regalado: -- okay. Even ifFEC is privately owned, it crosses the state roads and state streets, so still we can apply. Mr. Knoefler: Commissioner Regalado, it's my understanding that the roads are only county and city in the area that we're talking about. Commissioner Regalado: Okay. Mr. Knoefler: I don't believe there's any state roads involved. Commissioner Regalado: County and city? Mr. Knoefler: Yes. All the northwest -- Commissioner Regalado: I still say that we are told on Flagler and 71st, when we tried to clean up the tracks over there, they said, no, that's FDOT. That's FDOT supervision. So I still say we should explore that. City of Miami Page 42 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 Vice Chair Sarnoff.. All right. Brad, only 'cause -- for sake of brevity -- great job. Bring it back at least in 60 days for funding sources -- Mr. Villacorta: Okay. Vice Chair Sarnoff -- and the whole bowl of wax so that by Christmas everybody can have a two-mile linear park. Mr. Knoefler: Thank you very much. Vice Chair Sarnoff You hear that, Jim? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Vice Chair Sarnoff.- Okay. All right. Next thing is -- Thank you, Brad. 12. 09-00338 CRA PRESENTATION PRESENTATION BY PBS&J INTERNATIONAL, INC. OF INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED IN THE SEOPW CRA. Cover Memo.pdf Backup.pdf PRESENTED Vice Chair Sarnoff Next thing is PBS&J (Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan) International, the infrastructure improvements needed for Southeast Overtown/Park West. Bill Anido (Assistant City Manager): Commissioner, I will be giving a brief introduction of this item while he sets up. This is an assessment of the infrastructure needs within the Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) area. The types of improvements -- very briefly, the objective of the study was to determine what are the infrastructure needs within the CRA area in the next 15 years; the needs as far as water, sewer, storm drainage, roads, streetscape, and parks. It doesn't include any power improvements that may be necessary. The estimated cost for all the improvements in the next 15 years is approximately $300 million. That is escalated to the midpoint of construction. And one important point I would like to make is that this is the estimated cost of the improvements necessary to handle the projected development in the area, and it's irrespective of whether the improvements are paid by the CRA or paid by developers. And I have here John Fish with Post Buckley who will go through the study's presentation, how the figures were developed. John Fish: Thank you, Bill. Going to take this with me so I can see the slides as well. Just wanted to let you know that the study area encompasses the area outlined in red here. Obviously, there's some history to how the CRA boundaries have evolved over time, but the study area encompasses all of the Overtown/Park West CRA plus additional areas north and west of that original core study area. We began our process with a series of data collection, and as Mr. Anido has indicated the purpose of this process was really to get a quick overview of what was happening in the study area and to help the City and the CRA understand from a macro scale what the scope of potential infrastructure improvements would need to be within the study area. You'll see in these two graphics here a diagram on the left that shows those parcels within the study area that are publicly owned lands. And you'll see that, particularly on the western portion of the study area, there are quite a few parcels that are publicly owned, whether it's federal land or city/county/state, or even CRA property. So we don't expect that those parcels that are showing up in different colors of green will change much over time. Typically, there are schools or parks, and we assume that those uses will continue in that fashion. The diagram on City of Miami Page 43 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 the right shows projects that are planned. These are both public and private sector plans. This was as of last summer when we took this snapshot. The property in orange were projects that had recently been constructed. Those in the purple color were projects that were in the planning pipeline at the time. Now granted, a lot has changed in our economic and real estate environment since then, but these were the projects that were in the pipeline at that time. You'll also see a series of CIP (Capital Improvements Projects) line projects with the colored lines, and a series of CIP spot -- or point projects in the red dots. We took the study area and for purposes -- for our planning purposes only, broke it down into seven distinct districts within the study area. Those are outlined in the upper right-hand corner. Those districts are really defined pretty much by physical characteristics, whether it's interstate or railroad that helps to define those boundaries. Then within each of those districts, we numbered the blocks in a sequential fashion so that we could look at what would be required and what would happen over time on a block -by -block basis. You'll see here in this diagram a conceptual phasing plan. Again, we're assuming that this is a 15-year capital improvement program, and so we've broken it down into three 5-year increments. The gray colored blocks you'll recognized as a lot of the blocks that were shown on the earlier diagram as being publicly owned blocks, and therefore, we see no change happening on those blocks. The green are those projects or those blocks that we identified as highly likely to develop in the initial phase. Then red was the second phase, and blue was the third phase. We then looked at those same series of blocks and attempted to ident the types of uses that were likely to occur or develop within these blocks over time. And again, this is a projection of what might happen. This could be viewed as a future land -use diagram. We talk about the kinds of uses that might occur in redevelopment over time, and you'll see that they range from simple residential in yellow through a couple of different types of mixed -use, to retail, retail/office, office and institutional uses. We then calculated -- and this is where that block -by -block grid comes in -- the types of uses, the square footages, the total number of units that we estimated would develop over this 15-year period, and you'll see in the lower left-hand corner that grand total. So we're looking at a total of potentially 14,000 residential units, about 3 million square feet of retail, 11.5 of office, and another 5.5 of institutional as potential development within the study area. You can see on the graph on the right -- graphs on the right how those uses are distributed between the different districts. The most dramatic, of course, is the office diagram on the far right showing Districts F and G being the large office space users. Given then the demands that we can calculate that will be placed on the infrastructure or systems with the anticipated growth, what happened by 2023, we then looked at each of the separate utility infrastructure systems. This happens to be a diagram showing the water utility infrastructure. We've got that data from Miami -Dade Water Sewer Department, and what you'll see here is a recommendation for upsizing quite a significant portion of the water distribution system within the study area. You'll see those upgrades identified in the green and the purple color -- pink color, and there's quite a few of that, particularly, the green lines. Now the bulk of those water improvements have been allocated towards the first phase. You saw in that chart that Bill presented that about 15 -- I'm sorry, 150 million of the 300 million would be allocated towards that first phase. Sixty percent of the water improvements would also happen within that first phase. Going on to next slide, the sanitary sewer. This system generally has the capacity to support that development. Mostly what the system needs is upgrade maintenance and repair, and it needs a good amount of that. You'll see all of those potential improvements identified in the different colors across the whole district. And again, a bulk of those improvements are proposed for the initial phase of the capital improvement program. We also looked at storm water. We know that there are some areas that do flood within the district, and in this case, it appears that the storm water system is not up to par or not up to capacity. And so we have assumed for purposes -- conceptual purposes of the estimate that about 50 percent of that system will need to be replaced, and you can see how that replacement is proposed in the bottom there with about 45 percent of that system being repaired in the first phase. We also looked to traffic, obviously a key concern. Using the City's existing traffic model, we loaded in the anticipated trips based on the 20/23 development program and looked at potential level of service if no improvements were made in the system. You can see that there are significant congested roads. The "F" -- red lines are all those that are level of service "F" or heavily congested. Obviously, City of Miami Page 44 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 that's not an acceptable solution. We looked at going forward, what it would take to solve the -- that problem, and then how many lanes would need to be constructed in each of these arteries in order to provide an acceptable level of service "E, " and you'll see that shown here in this diagram. We also looked at streetscape and pedestrian enhancements, and have budgeted appropriately for pedestrian friendly streetscape-type improvements on all those streets that are shown in purple, and then the yellow streets, more conventional sidewalk, curb and gutter -type improvements. Also looked at parks. We have assumed that all of the existing parks within the study area will be upgraded in the initial phase, and that there will be two new parks added within the district -- within districts -- or neighborhoods "B" and "C" in this diagram within the first two phases. And finally, that brings us back to a summary which says that we have projected a total need for about $300 million in capital improvements across a variety of infrastructure -type projects and across all of the seven districts that we identified within the study area. This does not attempt to identifir funding sources. This simply says that there is a need for about 300 million in capital improvements. Again, we highlight that the program is proposed in three phases, with about 50 percent of the initial improvements coming in that first phase. I'll let -- I'll conclude there. Bill, if there's anything else to add. Mr. Anido: Any questions? Commissioner Regalado: No. I -- Mr. Fish: Take questions. Commissioner Regalado: -- think -- you do have this in print, right -- Mr. Fish: Yes, sir. Commissioner Regalado: -- for the Board members? Mr. Fish: Yes, sir. Commissioner Regalado: And Bill, is this like a work in progress or is -- this is just an estimate of the cost for -- from now to 223 [sic], right -- 2023? Mr. Anido: Yeah. This is an estimate for all the improvements which may be necessary between now and 2023. It's an estimate. It -- of course, subject to refinement as developments are identified, whether they slide or they accelerate. So at this point, it's only an estimate of the possible infrastructure costs for the entire CRA area. Commissioner Regalado: Which is Omni and -- Mr. Anido: No, no. This is Southeast Overtown and Park West -- Commissioner Regalado: And Park West. Mr. Anido: -- only. Commissioner Regalado: We have -- you have not done one about Omni? Mr. Anido: We haven't done one for Omni at this stage. No. Commissioner Regalado: And the County Commissioners that would be voting on the expansion know about this report? Mr. Anido: Jim, have they been supplied this information? City of Miami Page 45 Printed on 4/16/2009 SEOPW and OMNI Community Redevelopment Agencies Meeting Minutes March 30, 2009 James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): It's mentioned -- it's referred to in the finding of necessity study, but I don't know that this particular report in full has been sent to them. It hasn't been. Commissioner Regalado: Well -- because I'm sure that all of those who will be voting will probably be interested in seeing this report because they be voting on -- Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Commissioner Regalado: -- precisely the extension to 2023. Mr. Villacorta: Yes. And especially if the CRA presents a request to issue bonds, this would be one of the groups of projects -- Mr. Anido: Would be backup for -- yes. Mr. Villacorta: -- that could be funded from a bond issue. Commissioner Regalado: Okay. Thank you. 13. 09-00340 CRA DISCUSSION DISCUSSION REGARDING UPCOMING CRA CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS. Cover Memo.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN Commissioner Regalado: I guess that we're done. We have -- James H. Villacorta (Interim Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): We had one more item, but -- Commissioner Regalado: Okay. Mr. Villacorta: -- I think it'd be best to continue that since we've lost a quorum regarding -- Commissioner Regalado: That's the capital improvement? Mr. Villacorta: Yes. Commissioner Regalado: Yeah. Well, I think we should have this in the next meeting. Mr. Villacorta: Okay. Commissioner Regalado: Thank you, Jim. Thank you very much. City of Miami Page 46 Printed on 4/16/2009