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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013 State Legislative PrioritiesCITY OF MIAMI 2013 STATE LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES NATIONAL FORECLOSURE SETTLEMENT FUNDS SUPPORT legislation directing $300 million from the landmark national foreclosure settlement agreement to be used for existing local, government affordable housing and anti -blight initiatives through the State Housing Initiative Program (SHIP). All local governments and the State through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation currently have the necessary infrastructure in place to manage these funds thus eliminating the need to create additional bureaucracy to be to for its management. Predatory lending and servicing practice by lending institutions are to blame for many of the foreclosures. In February 2012, -49 state attorneys general were a party with the country's five largest mortgage servicers over foreclosure abuses and unacceptable nationwide mortgage servicing practices. The settlement calls for an estimated $25 billion. Of that amount, $8.4 billion has been slated for foreclosure relief for Florida homeowners who have experienced these abuses. The settlement agreement calls for approximately $300 million of the $8.4 billion to be used for housing aid in Florida. Florida's cities are in the unique position of having the existing capacity and administrative structures set in place to use these funds to provide the necessary relief to Florida's residents. MIAMI 21 / COASTAL "A" ZONES SUPPORT amending recent regulations set forth by the State legislature affecting the Florida Building Code creating a new "Coastal A Zone". The intent is to mitigate or opt -out of these regulations which would otherwise have dire consequences for any future development in the designated areas and for the districts wherein compliant development takes place. A key, indispensable ingredient required to achieve healthy urban settings is what has been called the "eyes on the street" effect which results from the ubiquitous human presence which only habitable liner space can provide. The requirement that within "Coastal A Zones" all development have the first occupable floor raised 8 feet to 12 feet above flood level will inevitably condemn some of Miami's most thriving signature districts to a marked decay in the quality of their urban fabric or, arguably worse, to have development halted altogether. Miami's Downtown; Brickell Avenue corridor; Coconut Grove, Morningside and Edgewater are among those districts and neighborhoods which will be severely impacted by this regulation. It is thus imperative that provisions be made to mitigate, diminish, waive or opt -out of these strictures as for Miami's bay front neighborhoods they are simply untenable. 1 GUN SAFETY SUPPORT amending Florida Statute 790 to .include limiting guns in playgrounds and public parks when children are at play or when there are events primarily attended by primarily children. AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM REQUEST funding for the upgrade of the Miami Police Department's (MPD) Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) which is currently used to search unknown fingerprints from crime scenes. This upgrade will allow the City to continue to perform as stated above with the amount of suspects identified through fingerprints searched in various criminal databases. Furthermore, the upgrade will allow MPD to search the federal database through the same terminal that is to be upgraded. Currently we are facing an unforeseen funding challenge due to an upgrade at the county and later the state level which will greatly impede the services that we can provide to our residents through the use of the AFIS system throughout the state. The federal database has been updated, the county database will soon be updated and later the state database will also be updated. These updates will shut out any agency that has access to the AFIS database from performing searches and effecting indentifications. In summary all local agencies will have to upgrade or not be able to perform further searches. The impact would be felt by the residents, the various municipalities and in the end the county or state who would have to perform the workload for the local agencies that cannot. ALF MONITORING AND SECURITY SUPPORT legislation that requires assisted living facilities (ALF) or community residential homes, located within an area zoned residential, that serve residents with severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder to implement effective monitoring and security measures to ensure the safety of its residents and the residents living in the surrounding residential neighborhoods. FUNDING FOR SOCIAL SERVICES FOR SENIORS SUPPORT funding of social services for seniors, in the State's budget, equal to or greater than last year's funding level. 2 RED LIGHT CAMERAS OPPOSE legislation to repeal or curtail legislation passed in 2010 allowing all municipalities in the state to use red light cameras on all state-owned right-of-ways and fine drivers who run red lights. PENSION REFORM MONITOR legislative developments regarding pension/retirement reform during the 2013 Florida Legislative Session. UNFUNDED MANDATES OPPOSE all unfunded mandates. CLAIMS BILL OPPOSE legislation providing for an appropriation to compensate Melvin and Alma Colindres in connection to a wrongful death action brought against the City of Miami concerning the death of Kevin Colindres. LOCAL BUSINESS TAXES OPPOSE legislation to prohibit or diminish a local government's authority to impose to local business taxes. IMPACT FEES OPPOSE legislation to prohibit local governments from imposing impact fees. HOME RULE SUPPORT the preservation of local home rule and OPPOSE any effort to preempt local authority. 3 WAGNER CREEK / SEYBOLD CANAL REQUEST funds up to $8 million from the State of Florida for environmental cleanup of Wagner Creek / Seybold Canal. The project area is located in Miami along a 2.5-mile (8,800- foot) tributary to the Miami River, which includes Wagner Creek and Seybold Canal. In combination, Wagner Creek and Seybold Canal represents a major tributary to the Miami River, providing drainage for a sizable portion of the City. Wagner Creek is a tributary of the Miami River via the Seybold Canal that connects to Biscayne Bay. Biscayne Bay is a South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) priority water body. Also, Seybold Canal is a navigable waterway and allows small craft access to both residential and industrial landowners. The purpose of this project is to remove accumulated sediments and dioxins (a hazardous chemical that are bound to the sediments) and subsequently restore stormwater capacity in both Wagner Creek and Seybold Canal. Flooding caused by future hurricanes and storm events can lead to severe infrastructure damage and water quality degradation within the projects drainage basin and this project will reduce flood conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods caused from typical storm events. As a result, the City of Miami has placed great importance on the completion of this dredging project in an effort to help mitigate flood damage and increase public safety. The State of Florida owns the submerged land in Seybold Canal from which the Miami -Dade Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) is legally requiring the removal of its contaminated sediments, including dioxin. Safely removing and disposing of this highly contaminated State owned submerged land, located in the Seybold Canal, is estimated to cost $8 million. The Seybold Canal / Wagner Creek Maintenance Dredging and Environmental Clean - Up Project will remediate what is known as the most polluted waterway in the State of Florida, and will save 4 existing marine industrial businesses, which generate numerous jobs. Therefore, we respectfully recommend the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (FDEP) proposed budget submittal, for approval by the Florida Legislature in the 2012 Legislative Session, include $8 million for the City of Miami to conduct this FDEP permitted project. 4