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City of Miami
Office of Hearing Boards
ONING BOARD
Monday, February 13, 2006
CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS
CITY HALL
3500 Pan American Drive
Dinner Key, Miami, Florida
ITEM
2240 SW 12th AVENUE
2006-1080
Members of the Board
(Present)
Ileana Hernandez -Acosta, Chairperson
Charles J. Flowers
Miguel A. Gabela
Charles Garavaglia
C. Chloe Keidaish
Juvenal Pina
Joseph Ganguzza
Carlos Martell
METRO DADE COURT REPORTERS, INC. (305) 373-5600
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1 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Item Number 9,
2 please.
3 THE CLERK: Nine, the last item of the
4 night.
5 This is approximately 2240 Southwest 12
6 Street, and it's a variance from the state
7 official's regulation required parking to waive
8 eight of the required eight parking spaces. This
9 is for a park, for a city park.
10 MR. PEREZ: Good evening. For the record,
11 my name is Antonio Perez, with the Planning
12 Department.
13 We find that the requested parking variance
14 is for a new recreational building as part of the
15 new Tennis Center within the existing Bryan Park.
16 We further find that expansion will
17 facilitate to the community a better use of the
18 new tennis courts along with the rest of the
19 park
20 The requested eight parking spaces will take
21 away precious green space currently being used by
22 children and members of the community.
23 In addition, the loss of park green space
24 represents a hardship to the city, which
25 justifies the requested variance.
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1 We also .rind that the proposed project
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5 consistent with the City's urban infill
6 objectives for the area of the city.
7 And, lastly, we find that the proposed plans
8 reflect the minimum amount of variance for the
9 proposed use on that property.
10 And, further, that the project as presented
11 will have no adverse impacts on the area. The
12 required additional eight parking spaces could be
13 accommodated within the existing perimeter of the
14 park in the City's right-of-way where there is
15 currently more than sufficient on -street parking
16 to meet the needs of the park.
17 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: 'Thank you.
18 MR. PEREZ: So the city recommends approval.
19 BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: And you are the
20 applicant?
21 MR. WRIGHT: No, I'm the neighbor. Steve
22 Wright, 2330 Southwest 13 Street. I live
23 directly on the southwest corner of the historic
24 Village Green, known as William Jennings Bryan
25 Park.
offers the most reasonable solution to the design
problems facing this particular site.
We find that the proposed project is
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If you ask me in a vacuum, in a narrow
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3 would be green space for parking, 1 would say,
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8 do not build the tennis center. There are
9 upwards of a thousand kids that play soccer,
10 rugby, kite flying, everything else on the green
11 play field that this would absorb.
12 And our neighborhood association, the three
13 nearest neighborhood associations, have all
14 unanimously said don't do this, and I don't know
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16 job and I've never seen a worse urban solution to
17 a park that survived and served this neighborhood
18 through good and bad for 80 years and now it's
19 pave it over for a single use.
20 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Has anyone in the
21 city met with the neighbors?
22 MR. WRIGHT: No, this was all planned.
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tunnel, that would waiving eight things that
indeed, that's wonderful, but this is a much
bigger case and every property owner along the
park - it's the only city park with all
single-family single story houses on it has said
what else to say. I'm in public policy as a day
There was a grant for it and everything, and
t ^ere was a meeting in August impromptu when it
was about 90 degrees and we're all ready to
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faint and we all got red in the face and ready to
2 kill each other
3 BOARD MEMBER MR. MARTELL: Madam Chair,
4 I've heard enough of it. I think that we should
5 table this item and let the city administration
6 park department meet --
CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Yes, let's go on
8 parks a minute. Ts there somebody here from
9 parks? No? If there is nobody here from parks,
10 why are we even here?
11 BOARD MEMBER MR. MARTELL: Are the tennis
12 courts here? Are the tennis courts there?
13 MR. WRIGHT: There are three courts there
14 with a very neighborhood scale program. Suddenly
15 they decided to go pro, and there are three new
16 -- if this were built, the entire play field
17 would be destroyed for three courts, stadium
18 seating, clubhouse, whatever else. It would
19 completely ruin the character of the neighborhood
20 and the only green play field for -- there's a
21 lot of immigrants, a lot of poor kids that walk
22 to this park to play. They're probably working
23 tonight. They couldn't come here.
24 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Hold on, hold on.
25 We've already been through this before. Somebody
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please remind me when. You will remind me when,
Mr. Gabele. We had another issue with the park
and there was nobody here from the city with
parks.
I will give you -- I'm going to give you the
Chairmanship_ T would like to make a motion to
continue this until we have city representation
from the park, till we have somebody from the
city.
10 MR. GABELA: And make sure that they meet
11 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Well, you know what,
12 I've been here long enough to know -- and,
13 please, this is no bearing on you, to know that
14 sometimes someone will come to the podium and say
15 nobody has met with me, when, in fact, the other
16 side will say we've met. So I don't -- you know,
17 1 don't want the city to come back and say, well,
18 we tried and nobody came.
19 I want to give them a chance, but I'm really
20 very upset that we're even hearing this and the
21 city doesn't have representation.
22 BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: So you want to make
23 a motion?
24 MR. WRIGHT: Can 1 make a respectful
25 request. There is a parks master plan, will be a
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1 million dollar plan. It's evaluated. It would
2 seem logical to hold this until --
3 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: People from the
4 audience keep on saying that. We have to make
5 decisions when they're brought to us. We can't
6 just wait for the master plan, because that can
7 change.
8 MR. WRIGHT: I know, but it's ironic that
9 they're paying good money to tell them how to do
10 parks and then they rush in and completely change
11 the character of the park.
12 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: We'll have to move
13 on.
14 MR. WRIGHT: Yeah, I guess I have it on
15 record that no administration in its right mind
16 would do that.
17 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Yes, sir.
18 M.R. HAGEN: Yeah, I'd like to be heard
19 since I left my mother in the hospital and came
20 here tonight. I want to speak to the
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22 BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: Name and address.
23 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Name and address.
24 MR. HAGEN: Steve Hagen, 725 Northwest 73
25 Street_
comprehensive plan that covers parks.
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THE CLERK: Steve, have you been sworn in
2 tonight?
3 MR. HAGEN: No.
(Swearing in)
5 MR, HAGEN: I was former chair of the parks
6 committee for Miami Neighborhoods United. 1
7 resigned several months ago, so that 1 could
8 speak out freely on issues that come before
9 various boards and the commission.
10 And in regard to --- the comprehensive plan,
11 if somebody from the administration here can tell
12 us how much money we spent on the comprehensive
13 plan two years ago?
14 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: I guess that would
15 be like a finance committee, not someone here.
16 MR. HAGEN: Well, it was probably half a
17 million dollars. We're spending $300,O00 on the
18 parks plan. The comprehensive plan that was
19 prepared by the Codina Group was a good plan,
20 however, this administration changed it
21 substantially. I know they changed substantial
22 parts of the parks plan. The parks plan
23 comprehensive plan that we have in the City of
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25 I've read. It covers no details.
Miami is one of the worst comprehensive plans
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1 We wouldn't be here discussing this item if
2 we had a decent comprehensive plan. A decent
3 comprehensive plan would divide parks into
4 various categories. They would say that this
5 park is a neighborhood park. They would say that
6 something larger is a regional park. They would
7 say we have waterfront parks. There would be
8 various categories. You would know, according to
9 the category of a park, what should be in that
10 park. You would know what your population is
Z1 that surrounds the park You would know that
12 certain size park should have a tennis court,
13 another park should have two tennis courts, that
14 a park should have a tot lot, that another park
15 should have two basketball courts and another one
16 might have three basketball courts, There's no
17 reason to be here discussing this, if we had a
18 decent comprehensive plan and we don't_ That's
19 what the administration has given you to work
20 with.
21 So 1 don't want to be coming back here all
22 the time. ,- mean, this issue has been going
23 around. They're trying to do the same thing with
24 a park ire Coconut Grove, covering all of our
25 narks. We're the nation's worse in terms of nark
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1 space. We're at the bottom of the list in terms
2 of all high density cities. And even with our
3 new impact fees coming on board, it's going to
4 give us one-third of what we should be adding to
our park space. I mean, our population is going
6 to be increasing by a hundred thousand people
7 here in the next few years and they're adding
8 11 acres of park space. It's nothing. It's
9 ridiculous.
10 This is a gem of a park It should be left
11 the way it is. The parking that you have on the
12 street is adequate. We have a little tiny mini
13 park in Bellmede. The same thing, we wouldn't
14 dream of putting a tennis court in our little
15 mini park.
16 This issue I wish the administration would
17 just take it back and forget about
18 shouldn't be brought here. Thank you.
19 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Thank you, sir.
20 Yes, ma'am. Yes, go ahead, state your name
21 and address for the record, please.
22 MS. SANDOVAL: Judy Sandoval, 2536 Southwest
23 25 Terrace. I live in Silver Block, which is
24 adjacent We have the same wonderful
25 commissioner. I also think well of my
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1 commissioner, Tomas Regalado and the Shenandoah
2 people.
3 I'm very familiar with this issue. I have
4 been to the park and I am on the parks committee
5 currently of Miami Neighborhoods United. 2 have
6 written many letters to the papers in support of
7 parks and so on.
8 The neighborhood, the entire Shenandoah
9 neighborhood, is concerned with this park, the
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1.3 a year to try to stop any further encroachment
14 tennis courts and so on into this park. They
15 want it left the way it is.
16 The city parks department and, I know this,
17 made an end run without even consulting with them
18 and applied for this grant from the United States
19 Tennis Association for this park and some others
20 to build more tennis courts. The man who wants
21 to build more tennis courts is in business. He
22 runs other tennis centers. The people who run
23 the tennis center don't even live in Shenandoah.
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Shenandoah Neighborhood. Homeowners Association
has been working closely with Commissioner
Regalado and the neighbors of Bryan Bark for over
They're from another district,
So it's a very serious matter, and zt's a
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1 precedent If you allow this sort of thing and
2 parking and more green spaces in our park -- I
3 mean, this is just not supposed to happen. We
4 need greenery, and we need the parks, and so
5 that's what I wish to say and I hope that you
6 will consider that. Thank you.
7 CHAIRPERSON HERNAND Z: Thank you, ma'am.
8 Okay, yes, ma'am, please state your name and
9 address for the record. There is a portable
10 mike, if that would be more comfortable.
11 MS. JOHNSON: My name is Heidi Johnson
12 Wright and I'm a neighbor. I live 2330 Southwest
13 13 Street, on the southwest corner of Bryan Park.
14 And this really isn't a matter of deferring
15 this item and looking at it again. I think that
16 this item qualifies as the most absurd zoning
17 item you probably have ever heard.
18 The city is seeking a waiver for the parking
19 that would be required by a huge out -of -scale
20 tennis clubhouse and the tennis team want to
21 build over the green space in Bryan Park. As has
22 been said earlier, Shenandoah Neighbor
23 Association opposes this and every other
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neighborhood association
opposed this.
adjacent to the
One hundred percent of the
area has
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1 neighbors of the park have opposed the Tennis
2 Center and green space and parks advocates from
3 every corner of the city have spoken out against
4 this.
5 Taking away little parking for a center that
6 nobody wants is a devil's choice. We don't want
7 this ruinous tennis compound, period. The absurd
8 city effort is like telling you that you'll be
9 executed tomorrow, but you get the choice of
10 being shot at sundown or hung at dawn,
11 Clearly, Bryan. Park needs to stay as it is
12 to serve future generations seeking green space
13 and open play field in the city with the least
14 amount of park land in the United States.
15 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Thank you.
16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: My name is
17 (inaudible), 3690 Avocado Avenue, Coconut Grove.
18 I am here now as the new committee chair for the
19 parks committee for Miami Neighborhoods United.
20 We have been asked by all the neighborhoods
21 involved to please protect this park, and you're
22 asked to -- the question before you is a parking
23 waiver, We're asking you to deny the parking
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waiver.
So that if they come in with these
tennis courts, they're not going to be able to
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put as many and we're going to fight these tennis
2 courts tooth and nail, but we can start right
3 here with a denial and we ask you to do that,
4 Thank you.
5 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Thank you. We will
6 now close the meeting to the public.
7 BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA: Madam Chairman,
8 I believe that we did have a motion on the floor.
9 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Yes.
10 BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA: And a second.
11 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Yes, I have
12 passed the Chairmanship to Mr. Pina and I am now
13 going -- you know what, I'll leave it. I'm going
14 to--
15 BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA: Did you have a
16 motion?
17 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: No. You know what,
16 Im going to withdraw it.
19 BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA: I have to tell
20 you that I agree with you in terms of the parks
21 department being here, but they're not here. The
22 public is here.
23 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Exactly.
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BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA:
And they've
expressed how they feel about it and we don't
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have anybody to ask, you know.
CHAIRPERSON
I'm withdrawing
make the motion,
HERNANDEZ: Exactly. That's why
the motion, because if I would
I'd make it to deny.
BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA:
What would we do
if any other applicant didn't show up?
CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ:
BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA:
CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ:
why I'm withdrawing
Yes.
That's correct.
Exactly. That is
that motion
and open for
BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: Mr. Martell, you
want to make a motion?
MR. MARTELL: I wasn't the maker of the
original motion, but
CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Okay, then I'll pass
it on to you and I will, as I did before, make a
motion to deny based on the fact that there are
so many neighbors here who oppose the project and
based on the fact that there is no representation
from the city to deny what the neighbors are
saying.
BOARD MEMBER MR. GABELA: Second.
BOARD MEMBER MR_ PINA: Motion by Ms.
Hernandez, second by Mr. Gabela.
CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Oh, I'm sorry, and
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1 based on the fact that this has happened before,
2 and we've had big discussions, because there is
3 nobody here to clarify for us.
4 THE CLERK: Ms. Hernandez?
5 CHAIRPERSON HERNANDEZ: Yes.
6 THE CLERK: Mr. Gabela?
7 MR. GABELA: Yes.
8 THE CLERK: Mr. Flowers?
g BOARD MEMBER MR. FLOWERS: Yes.
10 THE CLERK: Mr Ganguzza?
11 BOARD MEMBER MR. GANGUZZA: Yes.
12 THE CLERK: Mr. Garavaglia?
13 BOARD MEMBER MR. GARAVAGLIA: Just to make a
14 comment before I vote. 1 mean, I grew up on
15 Southwest 12 Street, and 1 split my time between
16 this park and Coral Gabe park. One of the great
17 items about this park was it was just grass, one
18 side has tennis courts. It was a place you could
19 go. Nothing organized. You could just go, you
20 know, throw the ball around, throw a Frisbee,
21 drink beer. No, I can't say that. It was open
22 space, and I hate to see more and more get
23 developed with more concrete, so I would vote
24 yes.
25 THE CLERK: Mr. Keidaish?
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1 BOARD `EMBER MS. KEIDAISB: Yes.
2 THE CLERK: Mr. Martell?
3 BOARD MEMBER MR. MARTELL: I have a comment
4 also. 1 also -- I went to school in Shenandoah
5 and my grandparents would keep me there on 13.
6 2272 Southwest 13 street was the address. And I
also sat many,
many hours on those swings there
8 and ran around the open space of the park.
9 And I'm going to vote yes, because today 1
10 also learned that what we usually do to
11 applicants that don't show up. You know, I wish
12 we had somebody here from parks to explain to the
13 public most why they didn't respond to what their
14 needs are. I think they should have been here
15 and responded to what we're talking about, so,
16 yeah.
17 THE CLERK: Mr. Dina?
18 BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: Yes, ma'am.
19 THE CLERK: Motion passes for denial
20 unanimously eight to zero.
21 BOARD MEMBER MR. PINA: Motion to adjourn.
22 (Thereupon, the proceedings on Case Number
23 200E-1080, Approximately 2240 SW 12 Street, were
24 concluded.)
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CERTIFICATE OF REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER
STATE OF FLORIDA:
SS:
COUNTY OF DADE:
1, LORENA RAMOS, RPR & Notary Public,
do hereby certify that the hearing on a
zoning item, Case Number 2006-1080, was
City of Miami Zoning Board on the 13 of
orementioned
heard by the
February
2006; and that the foregoing pages, numbered from 1
to 17, inclusive, constitute a true and correct
transcription, to the best of my ability, of the
VIDEOTAPED proceedings.
WITNESS my hand and official seal in the City
of Miami, County of Dade, State of Florida, this
10th day of March 206,
I ORENA RAMOS, ` COI RT REPORTER
METRO DADE COURT REPORTERS, INC.
OFFICE (305) 373-5600 FAX (305) 373-5008