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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Commissioner SarnoffTHE CABINET STATE OF FLORIDA SUBMITTED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR ITEM rR y ON cp Representing: STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION 6 tk (°1 C. o N. S c rL 0. - H. The above agencies came to be heard before THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Crist presiding, in the Cabinet Meeting Room, LL-03, The Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, commencing at 9:10 a.m. Reported by: JO LANGSTON Registered Professional Reporter ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 2894 REMINGTON GREEN LANE TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32308 pi 31 � iNrc.A `)Lr o7- 006 yy_ Subv►'ittct / - Cov ;s ;ohe r Sary) off CD "LP mDDO r m O ^m D J 00 0= m 31 1 GOVERNOR CRIST: Administration Commission, 2 Lisa Saliba. 3 MS. SALIBA: Good morning, Governor, members. 4 GOVERNOR CRIST: Good morning. How are you? 5 MS. SALIBA: Today we have two items. The 6 first is requesting approval of the March loth 7 meeting minutes. 8 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: So move. 9 ATTORNEY GENERAL McCOLLUM: Second. 10 GOVERNOR CRIST: Moved and seconded. Show the 11 minutes approved without objection. 12 MS. SALIBA: Item Number 2, we request or bring 13 for your consideration and request your approval of 14 an amended draft final order. This proceeding 15 originated from a challenge of a small-scale 16 comprehensive plan amendment adopted by the City of 17 Miami that changed a future land use map 18 designation. 19 And staff recommends approval of the draft 20 final order, which finds the small-scale amendment 21 not in compliance and directing the City of Miami to 22 rescind Miami Ordinance Number 12911. 23 For your information, we have today some 24 parties. All of the parties agree with the draft 25 final order. We also request your authorization to V () rncDw r C) 70 O ( ) ~ To z fq i CD O 2E; ---4 X na 32 1 make technical changes to the order, technical 2 changes and corrections. We do have several parties 3 that would like to speak to you today. We have 4 limited each group to five minutes. 5 And first we have Mr. John Lucas representing 6 Grove Isle Association, one of the petitioners. 7 Second, we will have Mr. Stephen Darmody and Dr. 8 Joel Hoffman representing Vizcaya, and they will 9 share the five minutes. And then last we will have 10 Mr. Ray Allen representing Mercy Hospital. And 11 first is Mr. John Lucas. 12 MR. LUCAS: Good morning, Governor and members 13 of the Cabinet. I will not need my five minutes. I 14 simply wanted to say thank you. I'm here on behalf 15 of the Petitioners Grove Isle, Glencoe Neighborhood 16 Association, Jason Bloch and Constance Steen. 17 And we are in agreement, and for the record 18 we'll allow for the entry of the amended draft final 19 order. I did want to commend staff and thank you 20 all very, very much for the hard work and effort 21 that you put forward with us and counsel in 22 resolving this very important issue. Thank you. 23 ATTORNEY GENERAL McCOLLUM: Thank you very 24 much. Appreciate it. 25 MS. SALIBA: Mr. Stephen Darmody representing 33 1 The Vizcayan. 2 MR. DARMODY: Good morning, members of the 3 Cabinet. We're back. And I just put this up 4 briefly to remind the members of the Cabinet why 5 we're here in the first place. About two years ago 6 an architect woke up and realized he was having a 7 nightmare and saw these buildings in the background 8 of Vizcaya. Two years now, my client is waking up 9 and realizing they're not really there and they're 10 not going to be. 11 What we have learned in this process is that -- 12 and from a guy who spends has life wrestling with 13 federal environmental law and its complexities, I 14 can tell you that the growth management act in 15 Florida is every bit as complicated and every bit as 16 divisive and every bit as complicated in resolution. 17 And the reason for that is because there are so 18 many localities, so many parties, so many interests 19 who conflict. But in this room it comes together. 20 And it comes together because of the people at the 21 table behind you. And you guys know that, and we 22 just learned that. 23 I can tell you that from what I have seen, 24 those folks have shed a lot of blood over our little 25 case, and we're very grateful and my client is CO CO � N =1 CD o . m 34 1 grateful. We didn't win everything we wanted to. 2 But I've been married 25 years. I'm used to that. 3 Now, with me today is Dr. Joel Hoffman. He's 4 the executive director of Vizcaya Museum and 5 Gardens, and he would like to explain what you've 6 saved. Thank you so much. 7 MR. HOFFMAN: Thank you, members of the 8 Cabinet. I will be brief, and thank you very much 9 for the opportunity to appear before you today on 10 this matter that is and has been extremely important 11 to us. 12 Vizcaya, as you may know, was built in 1914 by 13 American businessman James Deering, and it has been 14 long considered a local and national treasure. 15 Museum Magazine referred to it as the finest private 16 house ever built in America. And the extraordinary 17 gardens that your final order will help to protect 18 have always been a key component of the importance 19 of this property. 20 In 1994 Vizcaya became the first property in 21 Miami -Dade County to be designated as a national 22 historic landmark. And we very much believe that a 23 key component of what makes this place special is 24 the immersive potential that it has. For a brief 25 time visitors can come to Vizcaya and very much feel m C C O m Ci CD 0 = m 35 1 that they have been transported into a different 2 time and place very far from modern Miami. 3 Interesting quote from the New York Post in 4 1999 noted, "A visit to Vizcaya is like experiencing 5 400 years of Europe without having to dust off your 6 passport." 7 Just a little moment of feel good, this very 8 important French publisher, Gallimard, recently gave 9 some additional recognition to Vizcaya, including it 10 in a book on 30 of the most important residences in 11 the world, along with the Alhambra, the Escorial, 12 Versailles, the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. 13 We'll just sort of wing it here. Beautiful 14 fold -out view of the gardens, again, so key to the 15 integrity of the property. And as you know, the 16 proposed project would have been to the upper right 17 of the gardens and very much looming over them, as 18 you've seen from photographs presented previously. 19 What I think is really unusual, not only that 20 we are among the 30 residential projects included in 21 this book, but one of my favorite aspects of it is 22 that if you look at this map of the projects that 23 have been featured, you'll see that not only is 24 Vizcaya the only property included in the state of 25 Florida and the United States but, in fact, in the 36 1 entire western hemisphere. So it's sort of a nice 2 symbolic way of acknowledging how special a place 3 this is for all of us. 4 The proposed condominium project would have had 5 significant adverse impact on Vizcaya. Such was 6 determined by the governing body of the museum, the 7 Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, as well as 8 organizations of national repute, such as the 9 national -- sorry -- the National Trust for Historic 10 Preservation and the National Park Service, which 11 oversees the national historic landmarks program. 12 We've been deeply concerned about the 13 incompatibility of the proposed project, both to the 14 ambiance of Vizcaya and the North Coconut Grove 15 neighborhood. And we really are deeply grateful and 16 appreciative for the thoughtful draft final order 17 before you today. We believe it will go a long way 18 towards protecting the future of this critical 19 cultural resource. And I thank you again for your 20 time and thoughtfulness. 21 GOVERNOR CRIST: Thank you. 22 MS. SALIBA: Next is Mr. Ray Allen representing 23 Mercy Hospital. 24 MR. ALLEN: Governor, members of the Cabinet, I 25 knew if I stayed up all night last night reading 37 1 these transcripts, that this would go quickly. This 2 has really been a very contentious hearing. I have 3 done a number of these over the years, and it was 4 really very emotional. We do appreciate staff's 5 help in bringing this to fruition at the end of the 6 day. I think we were working on this as late as 7 last night and this morning to make some changes. 8 We are in agreement with the final order, and 9 we would urge you to adopt it. I have spoken with 10 the City of Miami assistant county attorney who is 11 responsible for this matter. It's my understanding 12 that they do intend to rescind this ordinance 13 pursuant to your order. And my understanding is 14 that they will do it within the next 30 days. I 15 notice that you've given 45, and I think that's 16 fine, but I think it will be done in that time. 17 And I do appreciate your staff's time and help, 18 the Administration Commission's time and help, and I 19 thank you very much. 20 GOVERNOR CRIST: Thank you. 21 MS. SALIBA: Governor, we can take any 22 questions on the issue. 23 GOVERNOR CRIST: Any questions? 24 ATTORNEY GENERAL McCOLLUM: I do have -- 25 GOVERNOR CRIST: General. 38 1 ATTORNEY GENERAL McCOLLUM: As the last speaker 2 said, I gather that the likelihood is that this 3 order will result in the suspension of this 4 ordinance. But what does the City have as an option 5 after that? Is that the end of this project, or do 6 you -- can you clarify any of that for us, Lisa? 7 MS. SALIBA: I would like Mr. Allen, the -- the 8 property owner remains, and it would be hard -- 9 we'll let him speak to future use. 10 MR. ALLEN: It's my understanding that once 11 this resolution is rescinded by the County, or by 12 the City, excuse me, it will go back to its original 13 designation, which was the institutional use. And I 14 had filed with the Administration Commission earlier 15 a motion for mootness, where we had given the 16 intention of Mercy, which is to go back to the 17 extension of the hospital and to continue to move 18 forward with the expansion there and to not do 19 residential development. 20 So it will go back to the way it was prior to 21 this hearing, and anything that happens in the 22 future will have to come back before the City. 23 ATTORNEY GENERAL McCOLLUM: Thank you. I would 24 move the item. 25 CFO SINK: Second. • 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 39 COMMISSIONER BRONSON: Second. GOVERNOR CRIST: Moved and seconded. Show the draft final order approved without objection. MS. SALIBA: Thank you. GOVERNOR CRIST: Thank you. We are adjourned. (Whereupon, the meeting was concluded at 10:40 7 a.m.) 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 SUBMITTED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR ITEM'i ON&-u-.