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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2017-03-23 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com oll, or AII. * INCRRP 0RAIE0 � 16p96 Q' , Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 9:00 AM Planning and Zoning City Hall City Commission Keon Hardemon, Chair Ken Russell, Vice Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner, District One Frank Carollo, Commissioner, District Three Francis Suarez, Commissioner, District Four Tomas Regalado, Mayor Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 9:00 AM INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Present. Chair Hardemon, rice Chair Russell, Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Suarez. On the 23rd day of March, 2017, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in regular session. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chair Hardemon at 9:05 a.m., recessed at 12:51 p.m., reconvened at 1:00 p.m., recessed at 2:30 p.m., reconvened at 5:25 p.m, recessed at 11:59 p.m., reconvened at 12:03 a.m., and adjourned on Friday, March 24, 2017 at 12:17 a.m. Note for the Record. rice Chair Russell entered the Commission chambers at 9:09 a.m., Commissioner Carollo entered the Commission chambers at 9:13 a.m., and Commissioner Suarez entered the Commission chambers at 9:24 a.m. Also Present: Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager Victoria Mendez, City Attorney Todd R Hannon, City Clerk Chair Hardemon: Welcome to the March 23, 2017 meeting of the City of Miami City Commission in these historic chambers. The members of the City Commission are Wifredo Gort, Frank Carollo, Francis Suarez; Ken Russell, the Vice Chairman; and me, Keon Hardemon, the Chairman. Also on the dais are Daniel J. Alfonso, our City Manager; Victoria Mendez, the City Attorney; and Todd Hannon, our City Clerk. The meeting will be opened with a prayer by Commissioner Gort, and the pledge of allegiance. May we all rise? Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered. PR - PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS PRA PROTOCOL ITEM 1976 Honoree Presenter Protocol Item Service Milestone Awards Mayor & Manager City of Miami Pins Chief Maurice Kemp Mayor & Commission Proclamation 9 NET Employees CAMACOL Commissioner Gort Certificate of Appreciation Charlene Bouie Commissioner Russell Proclamation 6 Women's History Honorees Mayor & Commission Salute Jose Fernandez Commissioner Carollo Salute 10 Honorees MCSW Board Status of Women Board Salute Eugenio Torriente Mayor and Manager Certificate of Appreciation City (?f Miami Page I Printed on 511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 The Links Mayor Regalado Salute SEOPW CRA Commissioner Suarez Certificate of Merit RESULT: PRESENTED 1) Mayor Regalado and City Manager Alfonso presented Service Milestone Awards to various City of Miami Employees, recognizing them for their years of service presenting them with Service Milestone Awards and commending them for their dedication and commitment to the City ofMiami. 2) Mayor Regalado, City Commissioners, Miami Dade County School Board Member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindigall and Miami -Dade County School Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho honored and commended City ofMiami Fire Chief Maurice L. Kemp, the City of Miami's first African-American Fire Chief, who has diligently served the city and residents for thirty-two (32) years; furthermore recognizing him as one of the most respected and outstanding leaders in the county, since he worked his way through the ranks of Lieutenant, Captain, and Deputy Fire Chief of Administration prior to being named Fire Chief. He was dubbed the "man of courage, compassion, and commitment "for his knowledge in the fire and emergency medical service (EMS) field and passion for public service, and his long-standing mission to provide the "highest level of customer service " to the citizens and visitors throughout the City of Miami. Elected Officials paused in their deliberations of governance in order to honor and commend Chief Maurice Kemp for his laudable and extraordinary service and proclaimed March 23, 2017 as "Chief Maurice L. Kemp Day" in the City ofMiami. 3) Mayor Regalado and Commissioner Gort presented a Certificate of Appreciation to nine (9) NET employees and thanked them for volunteering in the Latin Chamber of Commerce's CAMACOL holiday basket (Java) distribution in December 2016 This noteworthy event was the largest one -day food giveaway in the United States. Their commitment elevates the quality of life for the residents of the City ofMiami. 4) Mayor Regalado and Vice Chair Russell presented a proclamation and recognized Charlene R. Bouie, founder of Coffee Break with Charley (CBWC), a women's empowerment organization raising awareness of domestic violence, and author of "The Journey Phase One, " which promotes inspirational messages through journal readings. Elected Officials paused in their deliberations of governance in order to proclaim March 23, 2017 as "Charlene R. Bouie Day" in the City ofMiami. S) Mayor Regalado and City Commissioners presented Salutes six (6) women's history honorees and recognized this year's National Women's History Month theme, "Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business. " Elected Officials paid tribute to women's achievements throughout the centuries and applauded their tenacity, courage and creativity, qualities embodied in their many years of social service on behalf of the underserved, the mentally ill, and those suffering from substance abuse. These recipients were celebrated for their courageous vision expertise and talents used to elevate the quality of life of our community. 6) Mayor Regalado and Commissioner Carollo presented a Salute to Jose M. Fernandez for his outstanding contribution and honorable service in the City of Miami Department of Finance; furthermore commending him for his efforts in strengthening the City's financial stability and assuring that the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports were completed in a thorough and timely fashion. Mr. Fernandez was instrumental in spearheading efforts to effectuate positive changes to the culture and morale of the Department of Finance. The official governance paused in their deliberations to honor his use of financial expertise in order to elevate the quality of life in the City of Miami. 7) Mayor Regalado and City Commissioners presented Salutes for Women's History Month to ten (10) honorees selected by the members of the City of Miami Commission of Status of Women in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the City by being women of character, courage and commitment for our community. City ofMiami Page 2 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 8) Mayor Regalado and City Manager Alfonso presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Mr. Eugeno Torriente, paying tribute to his more than twenty-seven (27) years of excellent service, se fess dedication and high level of professionalism as an employee in the City of Miami Department of Solid Waste and Public Works. 9) Mayor Regalado and City Commissioners presented a Salute to the Miami -Dade County Chapter of The Links, Inc., a not-for-profit community service organization, comprised of influential professional women committed to civic, corporate and community initiatives to serve the less fortunate in our community. The Chapter is engaged in supporting disadvantaged youth and families in Miami -Dade County, bringing awareness to programs that combat youth trafficking, support international humanitarian relief through donation of goods, participate in literary awareness campaigns, partner with organizations to support preventive care for HIV -AIDS, breast cancer, heart disease, cures for lupus, mental health treatment, and women's health awareness. 10) Mayor Regalado and Commissioner Suarez presented a Certificate of Merit and paid highest tribute to the Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (SEOPW CRA) for having received a Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) Charitable Foundation award during the 17' Annual Leo Awards Gala on March 18, 2017, in connection with the agency's enhanced policing services program. Chair Hardemon: We will now make the presentations and proclamations. Presentations and proclamations made. AM - APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETINGS: AM.1 City Commission - Planning and Zoning - Jan 26, 2017 9:00 AM Chair Hardemon: Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes of January 26, 20177 Commissioner Suarez: So moved. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved; seconded by the Chair. Any unreadiness7 Hearing none, all in favor; say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. MV - MAYORAL VETOES NO MAYORAL VETOES Cit, of Miami Page 3 Printed on5/18/2017 MOTION TO: Approve RESULT: APPROVED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Keon Hardemon, Chair AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Chair Hardemon: Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes of January 26, 20177 Commissioner Suarez: So moved. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved; seconded by the Chair. Any unreadiness7 Hearing none, all in favor; say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. MV - MAYORAL VETOES NO MAYORAL VETOES Cit, of Miami Page 3 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: Mr. City Clerk, are there any mayoral vetoes? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, there are no mayoral vetoes. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much, sir. END OF MAYORAL VETOES City of Miami Page 4 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 ORDER OF THE DAY Chair Hardemon: We will now begin our regular meeting. The City Attorney will state the procedures to be followed during this meeting. Please, everyone, listen to the procedures. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Good morning. Thank you, Chairman. Any person who is a lobbyist, including all paid persons or firms retained by a principal to advocate for a particular decision by the City Commission must register with the City Clerk and comply with related City requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the City Commission. A person may not lobby a City official, board member or staff member until registering. A copy of the Code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's Office, or online at wwwmunicode.com [sic]. Any person making a presentation, formal request or petition to the City Commission concerning real property must make the disclosures required by the City Code in writing. A copy of the Code section is available in the City Clerk's Office, or online at wwwmunicode.com [sic]. The material for each item on the agenda is available during business hours at the City Clerk's Office, and online 24 hours a day at wwwmiamigov.com [sic]. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the Chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission, unless modified by the Chair. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before the City Commission takes action on such proposition. The Chairman will advise the public when the public may have the opportunity to address the City Commission during the public comment period. When addressing the City Commission, the member of the public must first state his or her name, his or her address, and what the item will be spoken about. A copy of the agenda item titles will be available at the City Clerk's Office, and at the podium, for your ease of reference. Anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of the item. A video of this meeting may be requested at the Office of Communications, or viewed online at wwwmiamigov.com [sic]. No cell phones or other noise -making devices are permitted in Commission chambers; please silence those devices now. No clapping, applauding, heckling, or verbal outbursts in support or opposition to a speaker or his or her remarks shall be permitted. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in Commission chambers will be barred from further attending Commission meetings, and may be subject to arrest. No signs or placards shall be allowed in Commission chambers. Any person with a disability requiring auxiliary aids and services for this meeting may notify the City Clerk. The lunch recess will begin at the conclusion of the deliberation of the agenda item being considered at noon. The meeting will end either at the conclusion of the deliberation of the agenda item being considered at 10 p.m., or at the conclusion of the regularly scheduled agenda; whichever occurs first Please note, Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on items on the agenda today. At this time, the Administration will announce which items, if any, are being either withdrawn, deferred, or substituted. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Manager. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Mr. Chairman, good morning. Commissioners, at this time, we do not have any items that have -- that are on deferrals or withdrawals. Chair Hardemon: Commissioners, are there any items that you wish to withdraw, defer, or continue? Commissioner Carollo: Yes, Mr. Chairman. City of Miami Page 5 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, sir. Commissioner Carollo: FR.2, to be continued. I thought the Administration was going to actually continue it, but if not, I will then continue it to the next like meeting. Chair Hardemon: Are there any other items? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the continuance ofFR.2? Commissioner Suarez: So moved. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Hardemon: Properly moved and seconded. Any unreadiness? Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. Later... Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: While they're setting up, just regarding the order of the day. SR. 1, it looks like we should hear it in the morning, but I understand that Quatisha is not available in the afternoon, and I would like her to be here to be able to answer questions, so if there is any space within the morning session to make room for that, that would be appreciated. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Later Vice Chair Russell: For AC.2 and AC. 3, do I hear a deferral? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Vice Chair Russell: Its been moved and seconded. All in favor; say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): I apologize. Are these for the ACs (attorney- client)? Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Ms. Mendez: Okay. I will have to read after, but the deferrals will be to --? Mr. Hannon: April 13. Ms. Mendez: Okay. Thank you. City of Miami Page 6 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I will -- Ms. Mendez: And I'll read these into the record after, to not hold you up. Commissioner Suarez: I will say this. I saw a Supreme Court -- Florida Supreme Court order which requires us to show cause as to not -- as to why the case should not be remanded to the district court for further instructions, in conformity with the decision, and that concerns me. Ms. Mendez: Right. We'll be responding to all that. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, hold on. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Madam City Attorney, do you feel we should have this discussion today? Vice Chair Russell: Which one? Ms. Mendez: No. It could wait. We have time, because there's -- remember, we have -- there's remands and a whole bunch of -- we're fine. We're fine for April 13. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Ms. Mendez: Discussion. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR REGULAR ITEM(S) Chair Hardemon: So we're now back to our consent agenda -- I'm sorry -- we're back to our public comment. Is there anyone -- if there's anyone here to speak on any public item on the morning agenda, this is your time to speak. So if you are here to speak on any item on the agenda today, please step to the lectern. Esther Alonso Luft: Hi. Good morning, everyone. Chair Hardemon: Ma'am, you're recognized. Ms. Luft: Esther Alonso Luft. I'm a resident of the City of Miami, and I own and operate Virginia Key Outdoor Center. I've been before Commission before on this item, which is the FIND (Florida Inland Navigation District) grant for the seawall and the development of the grassy area, and I'm here today again, asking the Commission to reject the City's application for a FIND grant. The last time we were here, we were told that some plans existed, and I was first provided these plans in January 23 of this year. And they're actually not just a seawall. It's a seawall, it's approximately a 30 foot -wide boat ramp, a 15 -foot -wide concrete walkway, a 16 -by - 16 rental pavilions, a cutout from the roadway, and quite a bit of disruption to an otherwise natural area. The visitors to the park today enjoy that grassy field and the tree canopy. There are some invasives [sic] that do need to be removed, but not to City of Miami Page 7 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 the point where it would disturb what the public enjoys; not to mention the amount of disruption that it'll cause to the entire area. That lagoon has been slowly recovering, and there are much better options than what the City is proposing, which apparently has -- the plans have been in existence since 2014, which takes us back to the entire RFLI (Request for Letters of Interest) process and questions that were answered by the City, stating that it would be a repair to the seawall. The seawall is in disrepair. It is not a -- in any imminent hazard. The boat ramp could use improvement. We have about 10 feet of usable space right now. It's carpeted. I put that carpet in; we have had zero incidents with it. So this isn't a pressing, urgent matter that needs to be addressed within the next few months. This is a matter that requires thoughtful and forward thinking action, and it's a matter that should be considered in terms of, what can we do to make this a world-class, award-winning facility; not just a quick fix, where we're going to spend two and a half million dollars throwing concrete onto a natural area? So based on that, based on the disruption, based on the history of not producing these plans -- and I'm hoping that you all by now have seen the actual drawings, because, again, I saw them. I still haven't been provided. I did state my objections to the City; and, yeah, that doesn't really mean anything. But today, I hope that you will reject it. I am also a member of the Virginia Key Advisory Board. We did not have quorum at our last meeting that addressed this issue, so we were unable to come forth with any type of recommendation, but -- Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman, I won't get deep into it; just a brief question. Ms. Luft: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Esther, thank you for coming. Are you going to be here during RE. 1, if there are any questions for you? Ms. Luft: Yeah, I can stay. Vice Chair Russell: Obviously, not speaking as the Advisory Board, but speaking as the -- Ms. Luft: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: -- concessionaire that's at that spot. I'm very interested. Okay, thank you. Ms. Luft: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Grace Solares: Hi. Good morning. My name is Grace Solares. I'm making a comment, first of all. I've never; in the 20 years that I've been coming here, I've never come to object to the hiring of any firm that you wanted outside counsel. I'm coming to object to CA.2 today. It says here, 'A resolution of the City of Miami authorizing the expenditure of attorney's fees and retention of Shutts & Bowen, as special real estate counsel. " Do you recognize this individual? This individual was the City Commissioner sitting in that chair a year ago. Per law, they're not supposed to lobby here before you; granted, he's not lobbying, but he's a partner in this firm. And I can tell you -- I'm going to read to you just two lines from his overview. "Mark Sarnoff is a partner in the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen, where he practices land use, government relations, and is a member of the firm's real estate practice group"; which is exactly what you're seeking this resolution for. I object to this. As a partner; he will receive a benefit of all fees sent to that firm. He really is not entitled to get anything from the City at this point. After two years, everything is City of Miami Page 8 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 fine, because he will be abiding by the law. But you've hired a tremendous amount of law firms in the past to represent you in land use and real estate. I suggest that you look into hiring one of those firm and not send it here, because this looks terrible. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. You're recognized, sir. Peter Ehrlich: Good morning. My name is Peter Ehrlich. My address is 720 Northeast 69th Street, and I'm going to speak very briefly on two items. I'm here regarding RE. 1. Esther just spoke to you briefly on that one; the Virginia Key item. I did come to -- go to the meeting on Monday, because I hoped to listen to a description of how the $2.8 million would be spent -- thank you very much. In the item, there isn't any address for where the money is going to be spent. There was no map. This was in the item handed out as part of the agenda, and also on Monday. There was no budget listing how the 2.8 million would be spent, no details, and everybody at the meeting -- every public representative at the meeting was all there to hear specifics, and there weren't any from staff to give us. So I hope you'll defer the item and this item will go to -- back to the Virginia Key Advisory Board in detail, with the full package, full maps, and everything that professionals would need to evaluate it. And the other item I'd like to speak to you about was FR.5 that deals primarily with, we believe, Legion Park, and I would like to thank Chairman Hardemon for coming up and seeing neighborhood leaders yesterday at 12:30. He visited us at Legion Park, and he spent as much time as we needed to go over the item and go over the issues that we have with Legion Park. I'd like to show, you know, respect for Legion Park, and any steps that can be taken that'll prevent the City from being a co -applicant with a speculator to up -zone land adjacent to Legion Park, you know, would be wonderful. And the residents of the Upper Eastside are following this issue extremely carefully. Thank you all very much. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Rosa Maria Plascencia: Good morning. My name is Rosa Maria Plascencia, 2153 Coral Way, Miami. Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Mayor Regalado, I'm here to speak on item PH.3, 1751, which is to renew a contract for services for the after- school program at Jose Marti Park. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today and express Amigos for Kids' commitment to continue to provide services at Jose Marti Park, and for the 13 year relationship with the City of Miami. In 2004, we began with the first after-school program at the newly renovated park, and 13 years of continuous free services in the critical after-school hours. We have a wonderful and great collaboration with Parks and Recreation and their entire team and at the park, and that has been instrumental in the success of our 13 years working together; and an example of what City Government, a non-profit, and corporate funding can do for our community, rather than to solely rely on taxpayers' funding for -- to provide for services so needed in the community. We have partners such as Chase, Burger King, Goya, Comcast that make substantial financial contributions to the after-school program, and to many of our other services, but specifically at Jose Marti Park. We provide not only after school, but to fulfill our mission of child abuse prevention, we have parenting classes, usually on a weekly basis, throughout the entire year. We are proud of the amazing support of the parents and their involvement. And if you would allow me, there were several parents that wanted to come, but they work and could not be here, and one has written a letter that I have translated, and if you allow me, may I read that? Chair Hardemon: Please. Ms. Plascencia: Okay. This is from Martina Martos, one of the parents at Jose Marti Park. She emailed me last night. I translated, sitting here. "It would have City of Miami Page 9 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 been a privilege for me to be here, but due to my work commitment, I am unable to do so, and for that reason, I have written this email to express how important and necessary the approval of the resolution for Amigos for Kids to continue providing free services in our community. This benefits the community; not only the after- school program, but all the services Amigos for Kids provides, 12 months of the year, such as "Crianza con Carino, " which are parenting classes; our back -to -school efforts; the toy drive; all important in the objective of preventing child abuse, educating our future generations. I urge you to support the very important work Amigos for Kids provides, as they are one of the few organizations that provide services that are not in self-interest, but with the only objective to promote wellbeing in our families. " By the way, I'm translating; not including anything extra. "Personally, I have two children that have been educated and supported in a most adequate way by the after-school counselors, and I have no words to express my appreciation, as it allowed me to have peace of mind while I work to earn a living for my family. In you, the children had the assistance needed with homework in a safe and efficient environment. Now I feel very blessed to be a volunteer at Amigos for Kids to give back a little of what Amigos has given my family. God bless you, and may it be possible for us to continue gathering at Jose Marti Park as a meeting place to strengthen our community. " Jose Marti Park, in one of our rooms, school rooms that we use for the kids, has a saying, from Jose Marti Park -- from Jose Marti: "Los ninos son la esperanza del mundo. " Children are the hope of the world. This is why Amigos for Kids is committed to what we do in our commitment to Jose Marti Park in that district, and continuing to serve that district and that community would be an honor for us to be able to provide for the most vulnerable in our community: our children. Thank you for the opportunity. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. You're recognized. Julia Dawson: Good morning again. Julia Dawson, 1701 Southwest 4th Avenue in Miami. I'm here on RE. 10, which is a resolution to re-establish the resolution for the Community Advisory Board; RE. 10. And thank you to Commissioner Russell for sponsoring this resolution. The Community Action Board, you may remember, was formed about a year ago in response to the settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and the City of Miami/Miami Police Department, and was mandated by that agreement to be a -- the City was mandated to form this board that would provide some oversight and some communications assistance in abiding by that settlement agreement. So the board was selected; you passed the original resolution. And the way this board was set up, it was intentionally set up under the City of Miami Code to expire after 364 days, and it was constituted in that way so that it could be as independent as possible under the City ordinance. It is an independent as far as a board can be independent that is still part of the City; it is functioning that way. It has been functioning now for a little more than a year, and it is doing terrific work. They are meeting monthly, and each monthly meeting takes place in a community that is of concern with this agreement. We are making sure that meetings are held in every single Commission district so that the residents of those districts have an opportunity to come to those meetings and to give their input, which is part of the responsibility of this board; to communicate what the community thinks about the compliance with the settlement agreement to the City and to the Police Department, and to take back communications in the other direction. So we ask you to please re-establish this board for another 364 days so they can continue the very good work they're doing. And if you have any questions, two board members are present here who will be happy to address them. Maithe Gonzalez and Camilo Mejia are active members of the board, and would like to fill you in on anything that you have as a question about the board. Maithe Gonzalez: So exactly as Ms. Dawson explained -- By the way, Maithe Gonzalez, 2450 Northwest 6th Street, Miami. Just as Ms. Dawson explained, our City of Miami Page 10 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 board has been meeting on a monthly basis. We've also formed subcommittees that address each section of the agreement, and we've been meeting every month with those subcommittees, as well. We meet with law enforcement officers. Commissioner Suarez was at one of our meetings, and I think we're doing a great job. We're forming the foundation for success with what -- exactly what the agreement was proposed to do. So if you have any questions for me, I'd be glad to answer them. Camilo Mejia: Camilo Mejia, 3623 Charles Avenue, Miami, Florida 33133; don't have anything to add, but will gladly answer any questions you have. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. Vice Chair Russell: I'll have some during the item. Chair Hardemon: Okay. You're recognized, ma'am. Nicole Valls: Hi. I'm here to speak about item PH. 3, Resolution 1751. My address is 3663 Southwest 8th Street. Chairman, Commissioners, Mayor Regalado, my name is Nicole Valls, and I'm the chairman of the board of Amigos for Kids. My family and I have been involved with Amigos for over a decade. Throughout this time, we have seen the impact Amigos programs and services have had on the communities and the families of our community. Amigos is committed to helping our community's most important resource: our kids. We have been serving the children at Jose Marti Park since 2004. We are committed to continuing to provide all the services free of charge by relying on our corporate partners to fund this program. Our chairman emeritus, George Plascencia, and our past chair, Pedro Capo wanted to be here today, but had last-minute business commitments, so they weren't able to attend, but on behalf of them, the rest of the board and myself, we thank you for your time. Frank Pichel: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, Mayor Mr. City Manager and Madam Attorney. Frank Pichel, a member of Code Enforcement Board and Nuisance Abatement Board, and also intergovernmental liaison with the Mayor's Office, here to comment about the Airbnb situation that we're all facing. I want to comment just on the last case that came before the Code Enforcement Board -- I think the Mayor commented on it the last time -- where a lady rented out her house for three month, and during that time, there were over a thousand people that stayed at the house; numerous complaints; police was called out there about -- at least four times. Later on, I did a little bit more investigation, and I found out they was charging between three to five hundred dollars per person, per night. So imagine how much money that person made --illegally, obviously -- without the owner knowing. Now, the owner filed for eviction back in February. One of my concerns is that if this becomes acute -- We live in an area where people are very innovative, and one of my concerns is that they might use this scenario for fugitives to go from place to place to place, basically making them almost impossible to locate. Needless to say, the traffic and the trash, and the lack of up -keeping for the properties -- because, obviously, you know, if you rent a property for over a thousand people in the span of three month, they're not going to take care of it, and that's one of the reasons why the police was called out there numerous time. And I think that if this continues, we're going to have a serious problem, especially in the -- I'm going to say, "the nicer areas of the City, " because that's where people gravitate to for the Airbnb, but I thank you. If you have any question, I will be glad to answer. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Sir, you're recognized. Carlos Oreste: Thank you. Good morning. My name is Carlos Oreste. I am a resident and property owner in Miami, Little Havana. My address is 1100 Southwest City of Miami Page 11 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 13th Avenue. And you are probably all very familiar with the sharing economy pla forms that are all coming out there, like Airbnb; you can rent a car, a boat. All these platforms are providing entrepreneurship opportunities to a lot of low-income and middle-class citizens of this City. It's not going to the corporations, to the big hotels, to a lot of other people. These people actually -- this little extra income that they receive actually makes a big different on their life in this high city; that we know that we have a big city, expensive to live in. This relief on the high cost of living in our city is promoting, actually, local expenditure that is benefiting directly to businesses. I actually oppose to the RE. 31 because I believe that you were all elected to -- because of your capacity to solve problems, to plan for the future of our cities, and this is happening in every big metropolitan city -- not in the U.S. (United States), but in the -- around the world. And I think we can all come to solutions that can really benefit the bigger group, and not just a few. Lastly, I'm not a host on Airbnb get, but I know that there is hundreds of property owners that are not here today, because they're afraid of losing their homes, because of liens to their properties, due to penalties. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. You're recognized. Renita Holmes: Good afternoon again. Madam Holmes. Applause Chair Hardemon: So if I bang the gavel, it's to capture everyone's attention. It's the alternative to me saying, "Everyone, please calm down. " In the City of Miami Commission, as was stated by the -- Madam City Attorney earlier, we don't allow clapping in the gallery during our meeting. So if you are supportive of something that someone said because they were eloquent, you like what they stated, they stated your position, I would suggest that you just raise your hands and show us your spirit fingers; it's less disruptive. I won't have to interrupt you and say, "Everyone please calm down, because we have another speaker that wants to speak, who is also going to say something that's very eloquent that will capture your attention. " So let's not be disruptive in that fashion, and just wave our spirit fingers if we're in support of what you've heard. Okay? Thank you all so much. You're recognized, ma'am. Ms. Holmes: Good afternoon again, Commissioner and everyone. I just wanted to further note just, you know, even gay people think this is kind of gay, but it's okay. Chair Hardemon: I said fingers, fingers. Ms. Holmes: In regards -- that's kind of -- Chair Hardemon: It was here before I got here. Ms. Holmes: Yeah, yeah; just cultural competence 101. Madam Holmes again for Wave of Women. I'd like to thank you as a woman today, in woman history. And historically, I'm here to represent what is perspective and perception of women. PH 1, PH2, CA.1, RE.2, and I guess RE.4. You get two minutes, but you know how I feel about the input and participation of women, Commissioner; particularly myself. When Federal funds were given, poverty -- the original Federal funds were given, there were guidelines, and that's how we advocated, because we knew that monies and funds were intended to assist those of us. And when we look at poverty levels and single mother, head of households, we know whose district it in. It's in those district where we don't get to participate much on planning and zoning, this whole process. Most of us are -- have work; particularly African-American women. But you can tell by looking at who comes to the podium, who's sitting out there, and who's not here, and I just got to keep it 100. And that has not necessarily to do with City of Miami Page 12 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 economics, but it has to do with what has helped many poor communities, including Texas, sue their own government for lack of participation in planning and zoning; particularly where Federal funds for impoverished women were used. And I have to tell you, this is it. I love the anti poverty initiatives. I love voices. But GAP (Global Action on Poverty) was there and created programs for women and children of poverty; particularly girls who were in juvenile services. When we look at giving money to organizations, which over 20 percent, which is the maximum allowed by the Federal guideline, over 60 to 70 percent goes to the administration of people who aren't here, but have a lot of technical assistance capacity, interact with you quite a bit. It seems still unfair. And I haven't given you the specific statistics, but I'd like to, the Sadar -- the report that came through Sadar. We worked with FIU (Florida International University), through the County, and I know that our Commission on the Status of Women that's working with it states that. So how do we do comprehensive planning, master plan, zoning agendas always put here? Certain people ain't here, but it's in their area. Certain women ain't here, but certain women are; low-income people that we need to check ourselves. Airnb [sic] -- and in closing, Airnb [sic] gives you a check, an issue. No matter how poor I am, I could take care of my children, as long as I know who's coming in and out of my community. But if this Commission gives any more money to anyone else to bring another program of making my poor community -- because that's where all the mortgage redlines and open properties and et cetera, et cetera are, in a black woman's neighborhood. And I'm sorry if nobody likes it, but that's the reality of it. I can't -- I'm one woman. I don't have every woman here participating, every tenant here, every poor woman who can't afford an attorney. Even the woman that's an attorney not sitting there today. I got a problem with people being peopled into my community without a safety and a health plan. I got a problem when I got abandoned buildings now. I can't keep the dope boys out. Now I want to be a sophisticated suit -wearing criminal? Okay. We gave a lot of monies to the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Police. We give over a million dollars every month, every two months to the Police Department; our CRAs do. But when are we going to do community -oriented policing, and when are we going to do that in the master plan and zoning? Comprehensive Master Plan or State law requires that these answers, this cultural competence, this level of participation is there by law. I have never had anyone reference to it. And I hardly hear my State Attorney. I hope some of these folks who do it bring your State Representatives right here, or you call them right now, while they're in legislation. Poverty's monies for impoverished community. Poverty initiatives and projects are for working women and mothers and children, and anybody that comes in my neighborhood, put your money on the table, but please don't keep taking a poor woman's purse. And there has been a pattern and a trend, according to one more Federal law that we fit in, if you allow me as a professional, and observant as a lobbyist, and someone who does study and research, and waiting to put it into your hands; not hold it against you, legally. It's that we have a pattern and trend of giving monies and access to properties in poor communities with consent decrees to follow and us to get put out. Please put checks and balances in this here; if not, I ask that you defer this resolution on Airnb [sic]; that you do correct planning and zoning, and do it according to the State Comprehensive Master Plan, and that our State Representatives bow in with you on this so that we know that it's fairly done. Thank you so much, on behalf of Women History Month. One thing that I know that makes me have the greatest hope and the greatest belief in you: All y'all got a mama, and I will talk to your mother, whether it's through prayer or through the woman you know. It takes that perception sometimes for you to understand exactly where I'm coming from; it's not my intent. But if I'm reading the law and it says, "This belongs to a poor woman, " show me what you working with, please. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. City of Miami Page 13 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Allyson Warren: Good morning, all. Allyson Warren, 650 Northeast 82nd Terrace in Miami. I'm here on RE.3. I am no longer, but for a very long time, was the president of my homeowners association, as well as the area -wide association for the Upper Eastside. We had specific problems with the party house items, shall we say, because we run along the water, all the way up to the County and Miami Shores Line. There were several beautiful, large homes, mostly unoccupied because of absentee owners that all of a sudden, became occupied. The neighbors would call. There would be cars coming in and out all the time; never the same cars. They did go to Code, some of them. There was one property, right at the edge of one of the inlets, one of the canals that was unoccupied, and some of the neighbors would walk their dogs right down there, and not just see the cars coming in and out, but people docking their boats and off-loading their supplies. That became a problem, as well. This is not a situation where people are renting out a room in their home to a student for the year. This is not a tightly -controlled situation, as you would have with a time share. Time shares are controlled differently; the module is smaller; for obvious reasons. I've seen a realtor who I'm very close to advertising a beautiful party house in an area just outside of the City. That's lovely; but, again, it's a problem for the neighbors. When you've got 10 or 15 cars parked in the front of the house and around the side of the house, in the grass; when you have people changing their clothes from the trunk of their car, because they're renting an air mattress for $20 a night inside that house, that's a problem. That's a serious problem. I'm sure that there are folks who are property owners that do stay on the premises, but what seems to be the situation is that these are absentee owners, renting out their properties, and not doing a thing to check them out; nothing. And they don't check while they have tenants. So if they're not the ones renting out to transient folk, it's their lessors -- lessees? -- lessors. Anyway, their tenants are subleasing, by the evening. These are not motels. They should not be turned into motels. While it's a lovely thing for some of the actual homeowners to make some extra money, I think if something like this were to be approved, heaven help us, then Code would need a great deal more resources. There are over 80 cases that Code is currently investigating right now, is my current understanding. I don't think they have the resources right now. We have enough problems with all of the other types of violations, whether they be illegal construction. There's a lot going on out there, and to have party houses scattered around, and have to have little children coming in to appear at board hearings to explain why they're afraid to go out in their yard at night, that's just wrong. I don't mind going to work and having one of my co-workers coming to work on a skateboard, but these are not supposed to be the equivalent of a youth hostel, which is what they seem to be turning into, and until there is very serious ownership by the actual property owners, who are ultimately responsible, we have a problem, because they have to evict a tenant, who may have done the subleasing, and where do we go from here? That gives the neighbors an extra two to four months, potentially, of people still coming in and out of the property. Nobody is screening these folks. They could be wonderful; we don't know, but nobody is screening them. And we don't know that the property owners, themselves, are screening the people that they're leasing to, to begin with. I'm sure there's money to be made in that whole chain of command, but there need to be controls, such that the neighbors are not afraid to go out in their yard. And I shouldn't have to be getting calls -- or shouldn't have had to be getting calls that somebody in a canal is unloading dope from a boat they tied up to, because the party house was vacant for the weekend. Wrong. There need -- it needs to be better checked so that if you decide that you are going to go forward with this, which, truthfully, I hope you're not, I think you need to do some very serious controls written into whatever ordinance that you come up with, because it's not going to be a good scenario if you don't. We need very, very strict observation of neighbors. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, sir. City of Miami Page 14 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: Sorry about that. Alexander Tachmes: Good morning. For the record, Alex Tachmes, equity partner at Shutts & Bowen, 200 South Biscayne Boulevard. Mr. Chairman and members, I am speaking today on item CA.2, specifically to respond to the comments that were made just a few minutes ago by a resident of the City. Quick background: The City put out an RFLI for outside counsel services in connection with the MRC (Miami Riverside Center) and construction of the new administrative headquarters building. We, as a law firm, submitted our application to the City, and the City Attorney is recommending that we be hired, and that item is before you today. With regard to the comments that were made, which were -- are inaccurate, let me clary. With regard to Mr. Sarnoff, he is one of 300 lawyers in our firm. He is an employee of the firm; he is not an equity partner of the firm. He does have the title of partner, because, as those of you who are involved in law firms and similar companies would know, there's a distinction between an equity partner and an income/contract partner. Mr. Sarnoff is in that role, so he does not share in the profits of the firm. He is in the real estate department, but we have various subgroups in the department, including land use; that is where he is situated. Naturally, he doesn't have real estate transactional experience, so he would not be working on this transaction. We are happy to put something on Shutts & Bowen's letterhead to confirm that he would be screened off from this deal, completely, and to confirm his status of the firm -- at the firm as an income partner, not as an equity partner. And then I would just say we -- you know, we're here as lawyers, and not as politicians. I'm not going to get into back and forth relating to whatever political undertones there might be about it. And I'll just say, briefly, as some of you know, some of you don't, but Shutts & Bowen is Miami's oldest law firm, founded in 1910. Our first client was Henry Flagler. And today, the firm is one of Miami's most prestigious law firms, and we have the utmost standards for excellence in our legal work and in our ethical standards. We applied because we think we could do a great job for the City and because we believe it's an honor to represent the City, and we are doing so, even though the City Attorney has prevailed upon us to severely discount our hourly rates; but notwithstanding that, we think it's an honor to represent the City. And that's all I have to say. I'm happy to answer any questions, but thank you for considering us. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much, sir. Sir, you're recognized. Luis Herrera: Good evening -- I mean good morning. Good afternoon. Whatever. Chair Hardemon: Close enough. Mr. Herrera: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: Yeah. Mr. Herrera: My name is Luis Herrera, president of Vizcaya Homeowner Association. I got to intimans [sic] to talking about; one is real easy. CA.R2 [sic], the one Graciela talking about it. I'm supporting Graciela, whatever he [sic] said. Now, in my way now to talking about PZ. 10. PZ. 10 was changing zoning in T3 zone and T3 -R -- I mean T3 -R and T3-0. In this agenda today, I see there is a notice. The record file ID (identification) 16-01159, legislation for 60 days public comment period, August 30, 2016; October 29, 2016 Supposed to be the director of the Planning should be working with us in the neighborhood to see what is going on in there, and never did. So now, we are oppose to this changing zoning and to -- we want to conserve residential area, and respect the residential. The Commissioner is allowed to protect the neighborhood. That's why Miami 21 be made. And they telling us they going to protect the neighborhood. And I ask you, if you can, to protect all the neighborhoods in the line in Coral Way. These people, they know. City of Miami Page 15 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 They bought the land T6 or 8, T5, and they know that piece of land, they don't have enough room to park. Now, if you protecting the neighborhood, these people, they can do whatever they can and the line in Coral Way Lane, whatever they can do there. If it's two-story, no matter if it's T6 or T8, if it's two-story, let them do a two- story. If he want to make a T6-8, let him do a T6 in there, but leave the residential area alone. We need the protection, because we destroying Miami, the City of Miami, completely. Every time they asking for change in zoning, T6 for parking or for whatever they going to use it for; and the Coral Way Lane is no allow to have another parking behind the City -- I mean the residential area, because it's too high, and they never recognize for a long time. In all the meetings that I were to the Miami 21, I been explaining to it, been telling the Planning, or the guy, he make Miami 21 is too -- and the lady. And I explaining, what you going to do with the part of the City in the residential area? No. You are to protect it. And we are not protecting it. I asking you people, protect the neighborhood of the City of Miami, please. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much, sir. You're recognized, sir. Elvis Cruz: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street, speaking as a private citizen; not for the MCA (Morningside Civic Association) today. Two items. First, FR.5, regarding the SAPs (SpecialArea Plans). Wonderful that there's a move to initiate some reform of the SAP laws. Commissioner Suarez also had a resolution to that effect earlier. The problem with the SAPs is that they greatly threaten our low -scale areas in the City. They seem to be a carte blanche for up -zoning, with huge increases in density and height. Three of the Commissioners -- Suarez, Carollo and Hardemon -- were present at Legion Park on January 18, and you saw the unanimous opposition in the room against that SAP. That same feeling is not isolated to the Upper Eastside. No neighborhood would want to have it suddenly overwhelmed by an enormous increase in height and density. So, please, as part of the look, the initiation of reforms that this FR.5 will begin, please make changes to the SAP law that will protect our low -scale neighborhoods. In the same vein, I want to mention PZ. 10, which Mr. Herrera just also spoke about. PZ. 10, which would place commercial parking into residential zoning, T3 zoning, is illegal, because it is inconsistent with the future land use map of the Comprehensive Plan. Full stop. Also -- Chair Hardemon: Sir, before you move on -- Mr. Cruz: Yes, sir. Chair Hardemon: PZ.10 is not being heard during the morning session of the agenda. Mr. Cruz: Oh. Chair Hardemon: We try to limit our comments to the morning session. I'll allow, you know, the previous -- Mr. Cruz: Thank you. I appreciate that, sir. Chair Hardemon: Right. Mr. Cruz: I only have -- Chair Hardemon: The previous -- Mr. Cruz: --one sentence left. City of Miami Page 16 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: No, you can finish your statement. I'm just saying that -- Mr. Cruz: Gotcha. Chair Hardemon: -- sometimes it's a -- it's more difficult to communicate that to people. Mr. Cruz: I understand. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: So I know you completely understand. Mr. Cruz: I appreciate that. But just in closing, that PZ. 10 would also set a horrible precedent, which would not stay where it is currently limited; it would soon spread to Grapeland Heights and Allapattah and Coconut Grove and Spring Garden and Buena Vista, and the Roads. So, please, do not pass PZ. 10. Thank you, gentlemen. Have a great day. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. You're recognized, ma'am. Paula de Caroles: Yes. My name is Paula de Caroles. I live on 1852 Southwest 16th Street, and I'm here for RE (resolution) -- item RE. 3, which is the short-term vacation rentals issue in Miami. So I am here to express my concerns on banning short-term vacation rentals on residentially -zoned areas; currently, it is allowed in commercially -zoned areas. But I live in Shenandoah, which is single-family residential zone, T3 -R, so this would not be allowed on this section of the City. My block is a true reflection of the neighborhood I live in, where T3 residences have been turned into multi families. Clearly, there is a need and a demand for such uses in this part of the City. So I am an architect and a planner, and I study the evolution of towns and cities, and cities evolve and they change constantly, adapting to the uses and the needs of its residents; they are not static. The suburban concept of the '50s is slowly but surely declining. Miami 21 is, in concept, the complete opposite of that, turning cities to self -sustain and provide walking distances to parks, restaurants, and everyday uses, thus diminishing the use and need of the car. And it also provides more eyes on the street, creating more pedestrian activity and more people to watch over each other, and less need of policing. So I'm not here to ban lodging uses in residential areas; but instead, I'm asking that they are regulated; that they're allowed, but they're regulated so that you don't have in a single-family residence five units or three units occupying the lot; it can be just one; it can be a certain period of time, and the funds collected can create positive things for its neighborhood. Permanent multi family residences on T3 -Rs currently is far more harmful than renting a room for a given time of the year. It creates more traffic, it burdens the school system, and it adds parking. Now, needless to say, my neighbors are wonderful people. They are aged. They have to rent their units, because they cannot make it on their retirement wages, and we watch vigilantly on each other; they're great, warm people. So I'm not here to say that we need to remove the use. We just need, as a city and as professionals to adapt the laws and the form and function of the City so that we can accommodate them. What is currently being proposed, in my opinion, it's a Band-Aid solution, and it will not solve the problem from the Roads. There is not enough Code Compliance to go after all of what's going on in Miami, so rezoning, traffic studies, up -zoning can be gracefully done. It has been done before, and it can be planned in such a way so that residential areas are protected, but still benefit of vicinity to walk into everyday uses: shopping, school, supermarkets, everything that Miami 21 proposes, and then a myriad of problems will disappear -- speeding cars, excess traffic. So my proposal is that we fix it; that we do not ban it, but we regulate it. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. You're recognized, ma'am. City of Miami Page 17 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Sonia Hendler: Hi. My name is Sonia Hendler, 101 Northeast 44th Street. I'm here as a private citizen, in opposition of RE. 3. The pulse of the City, in my opinion, has always been based on momentum and the adoption of new ideas. This is extremely relevant now, when Miami sits at the epicenter of a global economy. A new Miami narrative is here, and it is founded on the ideals of a strong and diverse economy, including entrepreneurship, embracing new technologies, and the business and opportunities that it brings, in addition to elevating the overall quality of life in Miami. Home -sharing through Airbnb is now a strategic imperative to our City, as one of the other speakers had mentioned. It helps homeowners, business owners, and parents, such as myself, make a good life in Miami and make that life affordable. For me, the income generated helps to pay for essential things, such as childcare, home improvements, and stabilizes our overall household income. We've hosted wonderful people from across the globe, including a chef from Japan, a yoga instructor from Canada, and an art courier from New York. Now, I'm not saying that that's true for every Airbnb, but at least for our experience. We have children in the home, and it is extraordinarily important that these people are vetted and that I do agree that there is some regulation that needs to be put in place; however, that needs to be extremely paused on and competently thought about. Not out -- excuse me -- not only have I been able to earn a supplemental income, but I've also been able to have the pleasure of being an unofficial ambassador to welcoming wonderful new people, like the ones I mentioned, to the City, and a few of them have actually considered moving and relocating to Miami. If you restrain the ability for homeowners in short-term housing, you're ultimately dampening progress and growth in our City, and that reflects not only locally, but globally. I suggest that you do not approve this item, and that you take a though ful pause to dig deeper into the conversation, look at it from all sides, and also work towards a very constructive solution. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Sir; you're recognized. Michael Taylor: My name's Michael Taylor. I'm here on RE.3. Chair Hardemon: Can you state your address for the record, please? Mr. Taylor: I'm sorry? Chair Hardemon: Your address for the record. Mr. Taylor: Oh, yeah. 2666 Southwest 17th Avenue, yeah. I'm here to speak in favor of Mayor Regalado's resolution and urge you to pass it, yeah. When Airbnb was first founded, it was conceived as a platform for the individual homeowner to rent out a room in his home occasionally to earn some extra money. If that's all that it was today, I wouldn't have much of a problem with it. The problem is that there are abusive hosts that take advantage of the pla form to rent out youth hostels. I happen to live next door to one. The problem really started February I of 2016 All of a sudden, there were 25 to 30 people living in a single-family home. The owner didn't live there; she never has. The -- We looked on Airbnb and found that she was running 13 simultaneous ads on the pla form, advertising it as a party house. It was oriented toward spring break and the Ultra Music Festival, yeah. The ads had headlines like, "Coconut Grove Party House"; "Grove Hostel, Only Eight Miles to South Beach"; "Grove Dorms for Rent"; "Ultra Party House"; "Girls Gone Wild"; Party, Party, Party. " Her ads were effective. Unidentified Speaker: No. City of Miami Page 18 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Taylor: Yeah. Every night, there was a big party in the backyard, 30 people or so, loud music, all kinds of noise. We ended up calling the police almost every night, yeah. Finally, we got tired of it. Now, she was advertising 20 bunkbeds, plus she would rent space on the floor if she didn't have enough beds. The price was as low as $20 per night, per bed, yeah. And this is in a single-family residential area, yeah. We finally decided that we had had enough. We came before the Commission the 1st of June, last year; and asked you to cite the property for illegal short-term rental. You did that, and fined her $250 per day. At first, there didn't seem to be -- it didn't seem to have any effect. The case went on to the City Attorney's Office. But then, in the summer, it wasn't as bad; there weren't 25 to 30 people there. We thought it was just because it was summertime. She still had a property manager living in an illegal unit at the back of the property; he left in the fall. The last few months, there've been two cars in the driveway, leaving and coming back; it's the same two cars, so it seems that it's a long-term renter. There does seem to be some transients coming in and out. Whether they're renting to them or not now, I don't know. I do know -- I checked yesterday -- that there are no ads currently on Airbnb. So I think I have the Commission to thank for that change. This spring, the nights are quiet, the trash is not mounded up six feet high and 20 feet long, in the side yard. It's not -- it's no longer a home to a colony of rats, yeah. So I want to thank the Commission. I urge you to pass this resolution, to continue to enforce action, and 1 would ask you to target your enforcement actions on the abusive hosts that take advantage of the platform and create real serious problems for their neighborhood. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Giovanna Salucci: Mayor, Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Commissioners, my name is Giovanna Salucci. I live at 105 Northwest 33rd Street, 33127. I was born and raised in the City of Miami. I left to go to New York, to go to school. I came back with invaluable lessons that I wanted to give to my City. I believe in my City, I love my City, so I came back. This isn't true for a lot of the young talent that leaves Miami and doesn't come back. I am able to live and work in the City of Miami because of Airbnb; it's supplemental income. It allows me to live here, to give back. I like to think that I give back to my community. I'm a small business that works with startups and other small businesses in the City of Miami. I implore you to work with Airbnb to find solutions for the things that you see as problems, but to not ban it outright. We need to encourage people to stay in the City. I'm also able to be an ambassador, like someone else said, for the City. People come from the State, the country, as well as all over the world; they love Miami. Let's share it. Let's also let people live here. Affordable housing is hard to find. Thank you. Valentin Vallez: Valentin Vallez. I'm a property owner at 3120 Southwest 25th Street, Miami. I'm here to represent myself, as a short-term rental owner; and also, Airbnb, as a customer of Airbnb. And Airbnb has been around for years; they're all over the world. Thanks to Airbnb, I was able to travel and learn the culture and all that stuff of Europe, because, for instance -- I'll give you a small example. In Venice, the average hotel is $300 a night. I rented a studio for $80 a night. So when you have the expenses of airfare and hotels and food, when you travel, it's very expensive; it costs thousands of dollars. Thanks to Airbnb, they accommodate the average middle class or little people to be able to afford that travel, and not pay that kind of expenses. The other speaker said that Airbnb -- some people making $300 a night for a room. That must be in Bal Harbor. The going rate for a room in Miami is like 65, 75, $80. The going rate for a three-bedroom house is like 150, 180 a day for a house. To give you an average of hotels, the house I have that's near Coral Way and 32nd, the Coral Way across -- the hotel across the street (UNINTELLIGIBLE) cost 160 a night. The Hamilton cost 180 a night for a room with a bathroom; that's just a hotel room. So we're accommodating travelers that can be able to afford to come to Miami and get to know Miami's cultural and the City of Miami Page 19 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 City, and in a budget, because not everyone can afford $200 a night for a room; it's a logical thing. And most travelers come here, five days, a week; they usually stay three days minimum in Airbnb. And Airbnb is very strict. The -- they have -- you have to agree to their bylaws before you become a customer. They're against racism, anything that's nationality, sex, religion. They have reviews on both parties, both the traveler and the owner. They have to leave good reviews or bad reviews. They tell you when you're sending emails that they actually -- they look at all the emails and scan it to make sure you're not talking about anything negative or derogative to defend the traveler; themselves, because there's so much scam artists out there in the short-term rental. They don't release the funds to your account till the day after the traveler checks in to make sure the traveler can go in and see that it does match the pictures on your website, that the unit is what they're renting, which is a great thing, because I booked from Bookings. com in San Francisco, and when I got there, the room was horrible, and I couldn't get anything from Bookings.com; they kept my money. So Airbnb is not that way. Airbnb really backs up both parties, the traveler and the property owner; and that's why they have the review on mutual parts. That's Airbnb I'm defending, and basically, the thing is they serve all cities over the world. So if Miami is exempt, you'll be the only one. And the other thing is, I was reading the article here, where it says they want to protect the citizens, and I want to make a comment on that. It says here, "The City Manager to continue vigorously enforcing regulations pertaining to lodging uses to ensure the health, safety, welfare of the City, Miami residents and visitors. I'm 54 years old. I've traveled the world, and the United States in hotels. A hotel has never asked me for a background check or a criminal record. All they ask me for is a driver's license ID and a credit card deposit. Hotels don't ask you for background checks and criminal record. So they're trying to say the worst scenario of us short-term rentals of Airbnb as the evil, wicked people that bring horrible people to Miami to stay here, and that we have to protect the citizens in the City, and hotels don't do that. And if you remember, not too long ago in the City of Miami Beach, on South Beach, they caught a guy in a hotel with seven rifles and guns. Do you remember? In a hotel room. The guy was going to shoot people, and they caught him in time, thank God, because the guy was acting mysterious, and he was staying in a hotel with guns and rifles. So to read this, it's offensive that we're bringing in people that are dangerous and are going to be dangerous to the people and the residents of Miami, because it's not true. And then, I agree, there are your people that are extremists that take advantage of the system, of the law. I know, from as far as I know, that Dade County ordinance says two adults per room. So when I rent a three-bedroom, two bath, it's six people, maximum. I agree, there's people that use them as hostels and they put, like the previous speaker was saying, a lot of people. But we are property owners that are professional and ethical, and don't do that. They put the worst scenario on everyone. I've never had drugs in my property. I've never had the police called over to my property. I've never had Ultra Festival on my property, because part of Airbnb's regulations is that every advertiser has their house rules, and you have to go by the house rules of each owner, individual owner, and they have a deposit for security against damage on top of that. So they know that if they do anything to the house and they leave, there goes their deposit. Plus, they don't want a bad review, because if they get a bad review, other property owners elsewhere are not going to rent to them, because it's all based on reviews. So I just wanted to say that part of me, that we -- both the City and the property owners need this. The property I have, the tax went up to $7,000 a year. My insurance is $2,000 a year, so that's ten grand just in taxes and insurance, plus mortgage. So if a three-bedroom, two -bath house you can rent for $1,800 a month, it doesn't cover your expenses. So what do you do? Foreclosure. So with Airbnb, you can make more. You can make 2,500, $2,400 a month renting itfor 180 a night, or renting itfor $800 a week, so it makes us be able to afford these properties that the City keeps raising our taxes and -- because they're investment properties and aren't homesteaded, so the taxes go up every year; and also, the insurance companies keep raising our insurance each time there's a City of Miami Page 20 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 disaster somewhere in the U.S. So it balances out where we can afford to keep the properties and renting them out to people. And again, I don't understand about the issue of renting to people without a background check, or renting to people that are not verified or screened. That, to me, is ludicrous. I mean, then make all the hotels do the same thing. Make the hotels -- okay, you got to have a background check and a criminal record before you rent a room here. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Mr. Vallez: You don't know who you're renting to at a hotel. They make it sound like the hotels are doing a great business, and we're doing an awful business; and, no, that's not right. And also, one thing I want to point out is Airbnb transfers the monies to your bank account, so all that money is declared, and we pay taxes for it as an income. It's not like we're pocketing that money and keeping it. We're paying taxes on that money. So I don't understand what it is. It's like -- and then another question was -- and I won't -- I know you guys are busy, but another question was, when you own a property or house, you want to avoid HOAs (homeowners associations). HOAs are condominium, townhouses that have -- what -- they have the regulations and codes that you read and agree to, and then an HOA tells you, you can't rent less than six months a year, less than a year; a year is 12 months; you have to live in it a year first. That's an HOA, where they have their rules and regulations. When you buy a residential house, you want the freedom of not having that harassment, and not having people tell you, "You can't do this, " or "You can't do that, " or "You can't do this. " And it sounds to me that the City of Miami wants to become a HOA. They want to be the ones that tell us what to do with our property, what we cannot do with our property, and make it to the extreme. And this also reminds me of what happened with Uber and the taxis. The taxis got pissed off because Uber is charging less money, and they wanted all the business, but let them lower their rates. So if the hotels are pissed off that we're renting our rooms in our houses for lower rates, let them lower their rates. It's called "competition"; that's part of a balance. And thank God; thank God that Uber went through and we're able to use Uber, because when you go to the airport, Miami Airport, it's $25 for a taxi. Uber's $12, $13. So again, it makes it affordable for the little people, for the middle-class people, and not just for the rich. And I do back up Airbnb and -- worldwide; and I do backup myself, as a short-term rental; and, like I said, we're doing it legally. Most people are following Dade County zoning laws; most people are renting to a maximum of six people for a house; and everyone is paying taxes, because we have to. It goes in our bank account. We can't evade; it's not cash, so we're paying taxes on it. So I feel that there should be a balance, but I feel that most Code Enforcement inspectors in this country -- in Dade County --you're supposed to be innocent till proven guilty; and with them, you're guilty till proven innocent. It's like they have no proof. Usually, when you have any legal issues, there has to be a warrant to go into your house. There has to be proof, and get an order, for judges to sign a warrant. When you deal with Code Enforcement, they blame you for things, and you have to prove yourself innocent. You have to give them access to your house, and they'll be able to fine you daily, because it's happened to me, and I feel that's wrong. I feel that, unless you have sufficient proof that you're running a commercial hotel in a residential area, you shouldn't be telling us we're running a commercial hotel in a residential area, because we don't have a sign, we don't have a phone, we don't have a front desk, we don't have an "open" neon sign in the window. We're not running a commercial hotel. We're running a residential house to people that are traveling for a short-term rental. Instead of six months or a year, like an HOA, we're renting it weekly, monthly. And, like I said, we're making it affordable for the tourist and we're paying taxes, and most of us do comply by the law. I agree, the ones that don't, the one that have hostels, the one that put eight people in a room, they should be enforced not to do that; but not all of us should pay for the ones that are doing things that are bad; that's why there's laws and that's why City of Miami Page 21 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 there's a balance, because there are good people out there that are renting short- term, and are able to live off of that, and be able to pay all the expenses, and their taxes, and their mortgages and everything, to keep their properties. And I feel the -- if you outlaw this, you're going to have a lot offoreclosures on your hands, and a lot of -- less people visiting South Florida, because of the expense of the hotels; they're very expensive; 160 to 180 a night. That is all. Thank you for your time. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. John Anthony: Good morning. My name is John Anthony. I'm at 732 Northeast 87th Street. I'm a customer of Airbnb, but I'm also a host of Airbnb, and have really enjoyed the interaction with the people that stay at my home. I live at my house, and Ido rent a room out. I have had the pleasure to rent to some amazing people around the world that love the opportunity to have a home away from home to vacation in. They sit out in the garden, swim in the pool, we've had dinner together; and we don't use our property as a party house. It's very important for me to maintain my property, first of all, but also, my neighborhood. Airbnb has been good, like some other people have mentioned, because it's given me a little extra income to get my bills paid. It's also helped me to start up a new business, a small business, where I now have five employees. Before, I didn't have that extra income; it was paycheck to paycheck. And it's given me some great opportunities. I'm familiar with and have talked to -- I have about 20 other Airbnb hosts in Miami that I talk to, and we are part of a community that wants to provide a nice place for people to come and vacation, and to promote Miami. I promote all of my local businesses in the Upper Eastside, and people find nice little restaurants, little parks, go to the beach, and they love it. The reviews that I get are amazing, and the customers that I get are amazing. And I want to iterate, we do pay our taxes on that; this is not income that's under the table. And I'm not taking advantage of my neighborhood or anything, but it does provide me some extra income. To note, the gentleman that spoke there, one thing that's not being addressed here are the very wealthy that live on Miami Beach that don't have to use Airbnb to rent out their house as party houses. I have a landscape business, and I take care of quite a few of these big mansions on Miami Beach, and these people do not live in their houses, and they do -- at huge amounts of money, are able to rent these properties out, any way, shape, or form, and Igo in and fix them up after the party's over. So where you might want to put regulation on the Airbnb, there is a huge group of people that also do that, that are not being addressed here, at all. I'm very much for providing some guidelines, because I hear now that there are some isolated issues, but you cannot -- you can't think that it's across the board. There are so many people here that are using it respectfully and professionally. And put some guidelines on it. Take care of the riff-raff and the people that are abusing it, but we can't go to every industry and new business opportunity and -- when it's starting and say, "Oh, it's a problem, so shut it down," you know. Then we wouldn't have any economy in this country. Thankyou. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, sir. Javier Ortiz: Hi. I'm Javier Ortiz, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, 710 Southwest 12th Avenue, and I'm not here to speak about Airbnb. Anyway, as you're aware, you have a shade meeting that's coming up. We are, you know, willing to negotiate. I know there's going to be some talk about settlement talks. I'm sure you're aware that the Supreme Court, about 24 hours ago, sent a letter to the City of Miami, regarding if they should even remand it back to the First District Court of Appeal. I think that should be telling. I think the Supreme Court is starting to realize the seriousness of the order that they put out. The Fraternal Order of Police is in a very different -- or we're in a very unique situation, because not only do we have this order; but we have a grievance in which we filed years ago, regarding the cuts that we received unilaterally by the City of Miami, and by doing so, in order to City of Miami Page 22 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 reach -- one of the ways that we can reach a settlement is by negotiating under the grievance, because the class would be then negotiated, all in one shot, by the Fraternal Order of Police. The City right now has taken the position that we have no right to arbitrate the case. I am more than confident that when we do file an unfair labor practice that we will get our letter of sufficiency; that we will go to arbitration, which is binding; and you're going to be on the hook for a lot of money. From the get -go, we have tried to negotiate this, settle this, and so fay; the City of Miami has taken the position that they want to fight. I have respect for the City Attorney's Office. I believe that the advice that was given by the legal counsel from Allen, Norton and Blue was improper and incorrect from the get -go. Speaking to people that were on the inside back then and now, are telling me that they are fully aware that Chiles needed to be applied, and it wasn't. I know you're being told that there's a finding of fact in Perk, but I guess -- I don't know if you all have read the decision. Perk is being -- is quashed. What Perk has decided has been considered an unfair labor practice; that the City was wrong. So again, since I am the president of the bargaining agent, you know, we have a lot of latitude in order to be able to settle this, once and for all. Based on my sources, again, there's going to be talk about reaching out to us and possibly settling this, and hearing what we want to say. I want to hear what the City of Miami wants to do in order to correct this wrong that has been going on for so many years. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Danielle Lee: Should Igo ahead? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Yes, you can speak. Ms. Lee: Okay. Sorry. My name's Danielle Lee. I live at 65 Northwest 49th Street. I'm here for RE. 3. I have a sticker, so, obviously, I'm in favor of Airbnb, but I do want to say that, Mayor Regalado, I've seen the direct positive impact that you have had in my neighborhood. You show up, you're a good Mayor; and you're right, there shouldn't be youth hostels, there shouldn't be party hostels. If I lived next to one, I would be very upset. But I've been a very successful Airbnb host for two years. I live close to Wynwood; I live close to downtown; the beach is close to me. I can be a full-time mom because of it. And in addition, I've been contributing to my community. I'm an activist. I throw together community picnics; I clean up neighbors' yards, if they need it; I put flyers to have meetings, because not only is it a more obligation to contribute to the community, but it affects my bottom line. So I want to live in a good community. I'm extremely responsible. I don't allow people there in my property if I'm not there. I screen thoroughly, because I have children. People can and should be responsible with this; but, you know, times are changing, and we need to keep up with these times, especially because we're a hub for travelers. This is honest money, it's legit, and I think that maybe the Commissioners need to re-evaluate what's going on in their districts so that they can help the residents to make money to be able to live in this City; and further, that we could even go to the tourist attractions and afford to see our beautiful new museum, because there's a lot of residents that can't even afford to go in there, even though their tax monies pay for it -- help pay for it. So this is not a cut -and -dry issue. It's going to take some diligent work, but it can work for everybody, and that's what I have to say about that. Gisselle Manzzo: Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Gisselle Manzzo. I live at 2401 Southwest 2nd Avenue. I've been a host for over six years; single mother. I'm a real estate agent for 18 years, as well as an autism mother. Those who oppose --and I've heard many people here who oppose the resolution or oppose Airbnb, and have concerns, I agree. As an agent, I wish to point out what I believe is causing some of these problems. People that are causing the issues -- 98 percent of the condominium City of Miami Page 23 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 rules, for example, do -- 98 percent of all condominiums do not allow for short-term rentals; it's usually six months to a year. And so, these -- they -- it poses a big liability for these condominiums. So I'm imagining that with HOAs and condominiums, this is going to be a major problem. So, you know, a lot of these are renters and absentee owners. In the condos and HOAs, all of these people have to share the amenities: the pool, the gym, the hallways, the elevator, the building access. It's a very different situation than a single-family home, where, you know, there's a lot of transiency [sic], and it's just not good for residents. And I completely agree with the people who have concerns about that. Just in downtown and Brickell alone, there are roughly about 92 to 98 condos that I've identified, and each one of them, you can probably have like four or five people hosting illegally, you know. That's not -- that gives us a very bad name for Airbnb; and it also represents competition for hotels, since they compete for similar amenities with the hotels, as opposed to a single-family home. The benefit to the City: Those that are doing it legally provide a service to the City by bringing tremendous revenue. Airbnb guests generally stay with Airbnb hosts only. The majority of people, in the six years that I've been doing this, will not rent a hotel, because it's too -- they're -- they travel a lot, and it's too expensive for them, so if they don't choose the City of Miami, they'll choose the next city that allows it to, so that's revenue that the City would be missing out on. Airbnb is here; it's a global community. Airbnb is, you know, it's a world community, also, yeah. And so, really, absentee owners and renters generally do not have the same regard for the rules of the neighborhoods as single-family owners do. In addition, those doing it legally, the condo represented a real liability to those residents, and the building insurance does not cover for transient guests. So I want to discuss viable solutions. You know, as an agent, I think that I have a little bit of insight. I think HOA and condominium attorneys and management companies should have the right to call Airbnb and block particular addresses to prevent those addresses from being hosted, so those condos would be automatically -- it's no additional revenue -- it's no additional expense for Airbnb to do that; and also, to prevent entire homes from being rented out by absentee homeowners. I mean, I live in my property. Because I have children, I have to vet every person very carefully, and the people that I've had have been wonderful, you know. It has been a wonderful cultural experience for my children and I. And so -- and, you know, another thing that Air -- that can be done is just maybe put -- so that the City makes a little bit of extra money is just having an extra charge -- surcharge per reservation, and I don't think that anybody here would really object to that. But to have these -- the current resolution that Mayor Regalado has presented is going to hurt a lot of us that are doing this legally. In closing, I'm a single parent. This has been a wonderful experience. I have no issues with neighbors. Many of the neighbors didn't even know I hosted. All these years, they've never known, because they -- it's - - it doesn't present a problem for anybody. Airbnb is a worldwide community. It has amazing tools for vetting, such as profiles, photos, ID requirements; and most importantly, reviews from other hosts across our country and around the world. With Airbnb's friendly and prompt customer service and $1 million umbrella policy, Airbnb provides its hosts, as well as the country at large, a great level -- in terms of peace of mind. So you don't want people doing this illegally and going on Craig's List, and getting people, you know, off that. You know, we have a vetting process with Airbnb, and that gives me, as a parent and a homeowner, a peace of mind. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, ma'am. Ms. Manzzo: Okay. Is that --? Okay. So just in closing, I urge your committee to kindly consider not penalizing those of us -- with blanket regulations that indiscriminately hurt considerate, responsible hosts, such as single moms, like myself, and would pose great hardship. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Your point was very clear. City of Miami Page 24 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Manzzo: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: I have a question. Vice Chair Russell: Ma'am, ma'am, there's a question from the Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: How often do you host? Ms. Manzzo: How often do I host? On a regular basis, it -- generally, people are here for a week, two weeks. I have a couple of rooms in my home that I host; and so, yeah, so -- Commissioner Carollo: So is "regularly" like every day, every --? Ms. Manzzo: Every -- like every week, somebody -- like, for example, some -- two people are leaving today. I have other guests coming. This is a very busy --from -- because we're in season, so during season, it's a lot busier. In the summer, it slows down considerably. Commissioner Carollo: But now, you're pretty much renting every day? Ms. Manzzo: Not -- I mean, not every day, you know. Sometimes I don't have guests, but it allows me additional income. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Ms. Manzzo: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Kiki Mutis: Good afternoon. Vice Chair Russell: Hello. Ms. Mutis: My name is Kiki Mutis. Vice Chair Russell: Just a moment, ma'am. If we could try to limit our comments to about two minutes, please. We don't have a clock on at the moment, but that would really help us get through the day. Ms. Mutis: If it works, so I really need to -- Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Mutis: -- speed it up. My name is Kiki Mutis, and I live at 2153 Southwest 17th Street. When I first heard of Airbnb, my downstairs neighbors was going to rent it out, and I was like, "Oh, my goodness, no way. That's horrible. How is he going to do that?" And then, I traveled through Airbnb. I have stayed in Venice, in Rome, in Greece. I could not travel the world -- my most valuable pass -- my most valuable item is a passport. Airbnb is a trust society. I just left my wallet and my phone between two people while I came to speak to you. When I open up my house, I trust the people who are there, and they trust me not to go into their luggage. The house City of Miami Page 25 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 that I bought was owned for 20 years by an absentee landlord; it looked like a slum. When I bought it, my mother was, "What the hell did you get into?" All my friends were like, "Kiki, you are crazy. " My neighbors love me, because now I have butterflies flying over into their backyard. We pick up garbage. When we have guests coming from Airbnb, we go to Calle Ocho, we take them to the Everglades, we've gone to the New World Symphony. We are ambassadors to the Magic City. I have had blacks, gays, Muslims, white, single parent visiting their family stay with us. I have had people who could not afford to travel in a hotel, families who are traveling with kids that need a place to make a simple breakfast, families who want to see this Magic City. I could not stay in a hotel. I work for a non-profit organization, and were it not for Airbnb, I could not be able to maintain this living. I think it is a win-win situation. Yes, there are some absentee landlords, just as there are in houses, for Airbnbs that are not good, that are not responsible, but I think, by the overwhelming view of the stickers here, the majority of Airbnb people are awesome. They love the City; they love showcasing the City. And, yes, regulations. Ensure that, if you have a party house, restrict it, say "no. " I don't want that, either. During spring break, oh, I am making sure that I know who's staying in my house. During Ultra Festival, I make sure, you know, who is there and that they have good reviews. My sisters go to festivals. They are awesome people. So think; just think about how we can make this work to ensure that City of Miami still is affordable to the world traveler. Airbnb was not -- Also, Paul George, world historian of City of Miami, I think he was the one who said that a lot of these houses in Shenandoah with the little cottages in the back were created so that the owners could also have renters during all that. So let's think how we can make this work. And if you have never traveled with Airbnb, do it; you will never go to a hotel again. Thank you. I'm going to work. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Sir. Ephraim Murillo: Thank you. I'm Ephraim Murillo, Jr. My address is 1331 Brickell Bay Drive, Number 2008. Also, I'm here on behalf of my company. We are a vacation rental company. We have about 29 properties that we handle in Miami, and we own seven of them. The fact that Mayor Regalado has taken a really concerning way of regulating short-term rentals, it speaks volume to the fact that he doesn't know about what's a short-term rental. And many of us that have enjoyed short-term rentals, that have used short-term rentals worldwide, we understand that short-term rentals give us the ability to stay in properties, same as the properties that we live in, and also save money. Miami is a destination, and we -- Everybody wants to be here, but the fact that we're touching the short-term rental subject, we're doing extremely bad PR (public relations) for the City. It happened with Miami Beach, and the way that they're doing it is not the way that we should move forward as a city that is growing. We are in the era of modernization, and Airbnb, Home Away, and companies that allow property owners and guests to stay in their properties for the --for less money than what they can pay in a hotel is the way of modernization; just like Uber, just like Amazon.com, just like all these companies that give us the ability to tap into an asset and then make money both ways; for the owner and for the people that stay in the properties. Mayor Regalado has been great. He has been 20 years in the City. He personally has helped my family when he was a Commissioner, in 1920 Coral Gate Drive. You helped us a lot with a wall that we wanted to build there, and you were extremely helpful when you were a Commissioner. Now you are on the wrong side of the issue. There's nobody that doesn't agree with short-term rentals. The fact that this -- that the country and that this local government is telling owners what to do with their properties is concerning; it's extremely concerning. And I hope every single Commissioner, that I don't see them here, understand this. This is the first time, after living in Miami for 23 years that the government is telling me what to do with my own property. I told this to Philip Levine when he run for the Mayor. I supported him, and then he fine City of Miami Page 26 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 me in 432 South Hibiscus Drive in --for short-term rentals, and I beat the system. I don't want to beat the system in City of Miami, because I could beat it. Everybody is agreeing with short-term rentals. I suggest that the Mayor should take a vacation with a -- in a -- with a host and with Airbnb, anywhere in the world. I'll pay for it, because he has to understand, the short-term rentals are here to stay; it's part of the modernization of the era. And if you want to regulate it, go ahead and regulate it. You want more taxes -- I pay a lot of taxes for every single of my properties. You want to create a different tax for short-term rentals, go right ahead. There's places like the Grand. The Grand accepts our short-term rentals. They created a new regulation in -- they have taken a new regulation on place, and they are also part of a hotel. So this mess that the hotel industry doesn't like short-term rentals is a lie. I give business to hotels here in Miami and in Miami Beach. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Miami Beach, they allow short-term rentals; East in Brickell, they allow short-term rentals; (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Brickell, they allow short-term rentals. We are in a city that is growing. Instead of tapping into something that has -- that is not the boogeyman -- let's talk about the infrastructure that we don't have, and transportation, because we're growing at a fast pace and we don't have the transportation, infrastructure to -- Vice Chair Russell: And that's a bigger talk. Mr. Murillo: -- let's talk about that instead of -- Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, sir. Mr. Murillo: -- tapping into a subject that has nothing to do with being the boogeyman out there. Every single person that spoke has a personal story behind short-term rentals. If you guys are not touched by that --I guess I'm not a politician, because I'm extremely touched by the fact that a single mother is making money for her asset. Thanks to her asset that she pays a lot of money for; a lot of taxes for, so all of you guys could be sitting there, I think that we should take this under account that our politicians are not on the side of the people. This is the side of the people. Airbnb is just one company. There's Home Away, Airbnb, Booking. com that gives everybody the ability to do short-term rentals. I think you guys should have a town hall meeting, and everybody should speak. The Mayor is on the wrong side of the issue. Thank you so much. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, sir. Next. Veronica Romero: Hi. I'm Veronica Romero. Ilive at 1130 Southwest 13th Avenue, and I'm here speaking as a private citizen for RE. 3, and I'm -- obviously, I have a sticker, so --for Airbnb. As my taxes and insurance just go up and up and up and up and up and up, Airbnb really allows me to live my American dream of owning a home, and I have supplemental income through Airbnb. And while I've heard horrible stories today of people abusing Airbnb, I can tell you, as a host that lives on my property, I have not experienced any of that, as someone who vets the people that stay with me. And I also use Airbnb, and that's how I travel and have had amazing experiences with my hosts. I pride myself as a host of Airbnb. We're so much more than just Miami Beach and our beaches. In my neighborhood, I send people to cafes and bakeries and ice cream parlors, and they walk my streets and they love my neighborhood, and they thank me so much all the time for the wonderful experience that they've had in Miami, and staying at my Airbnb. Most guests -- a lot of guests can't afford these lux hotels in Brickell, in Bayfront, and on Miami Beach, and we're supplying them with a really local and wonderful, and personal experience, and it's - - I -- it's the reason why I love Miami, and I'm so happy to share these experiences, also, with people that stay here; and they leave and love Miami, and realize that it's more than just a beach. There's so much more here; there's so much culture. I've City of Miami Page 27 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 housed artists; I've housed volunteers; I've housed people that have been working in Overtown, in Wynwood, Little River, and Little Haiti to make those neighborhoods better. Individuals who've had family members receiving treatments at hospitals, they can't afford to stay at hotels, and I've allowed them to be able to stay somewhere safe that they can afford, and make sure that their family members at hospitals can receive treatments. I've housed veterans that a lot of their wives and husbands are going away on deployment, and it's their last chance with their children, to see their family members for a very long time. So I really, really think that -- I understand with HOAs, and I really think that those should be regulated, and if you're -- and if you've -- part of an apartment that has an HOA, you should definitely follow those rules and regulations that they have set forth. But for the rest of us that own homes, I really believe in Airbnb and this -- and the platform that they provide. And I'm very much for providing guidelines. Fix it; don't ban it. And I just want to remind you all that we are voters. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Romero: All of us are voters. We voted for you, and we hope you can find a resolution. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Clerk, could you implement a two -minute time clock, please? A lot of people are echoing a similar sentiment. If you could try to move to the issue that is specific to you that might bring new light that we haven't heard -- you're welcome to say whatever you want, of course, but I'm trying to keep it within a two -minute limit so we can -- we're already past -- Unidentified Speaker: Got it. Vice Chair Russell: -- the afternoon here. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mitch Swergold: Am I--? Unidentified Speaker: He's next. Mr. Swergold: --I'm next? Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry; yes, you are. Mr. Swergold: It's okay. Mitch Swergold, 1408 Brickell Bay Drive. Last year, I had a severe -- Is this too high? I had a severe back injury, so I went to the doctor. The doctor said, "You need surgery. We need to fuse your discs so they won't move. " I said, "I don't know if I like that idea so much. " So I went to another doctor; and they said, "Oh, we're going to give you some injections of steroid in your back in order to cause the nerve to not be pushed on by the material coming out of your disc. " So I tried it, and it worked for about the time of the Lidocaine in my body, which I'd say six hours. So I did my own research, and I found that there's this really innovative therapy from Italy called "ozone therapy. " It's not covered by insurance, and despite the fact that it costs one-tenth of what my surgery would have cost, which is about 50, $60, 000, I paid out of pocket. Thank goodness, I had the financial wherewithal - Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Swergold, which item are you speaking on, Mr. Swergold? Mr. Swergold: Excuse me? Vice Chair Russell: Which item are you speaking on? City of Miami Page 28 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Swergold: RE 3. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Swergold: I'm almost there. Vice Chair Russell: Just checking. All right. Mr. Swergold: Okay. So I had this innovative therapy done. Thankfully, I had the wherewithal to do it. And I'm standing here in front of you today as though the severe back injury never occurred. When we don't innovate, we leave ourselves with broken backs that will always be a problem. When we think outside of the box, when we move forward with progress, we are embracing the future. RE 3, as presented, as I understand it, addresses a very important issue in our community. But as I thought about it, the initial therapies that they wanted to do on me didn't treat the real problem; they treated the symptom. RE3 treats the symptom; not the problem. The problem is the noise, which, even without any of this, occurs all the time in this culture. I have tons of noise I deal with where I live, and it has nothing to do with short-term rentals. What we need, if I may be so bold as to suggest, what we need is, we need regulations for noise that consider the people who live here before -- I'll just wait for this gentleman, because I don't want to speak to one person. Commissioner Gort: I'm listening, I'm here. I got two ears. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Swergold: Apparent -- according to neuroscience, you can only do one thing at a time. Commissioner Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Swergold: I'll just wait, it's okay. Vice Chair Russell: Sir, your time's expired, though; if you could -- Mr. Swergold: Okay. So to wrap it up -- thankyou for coming back -- Commissioner Suarez: We're going to lose quorum. Mr. Swergold: -- and listening to me. Since I'm a constituent of yours, I think I'm more important than the phone call. Commissioner Gort: Might be; might not be. Mr. Swergold: Might be. Commissioner Gort: To you, it might be; to me, it might be different. Mr. Swergold: Fair enough. Commissioner Gort: Thank you. Mr. Swergold: And you might not get re-elected. Commissioner Gort: Oh, that's fine, no problem. Mr. Swergold: In any event -- when you don't care about your constituents. Commissioner Gort: That's fine. City of Miami Page 29 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Swergold: Anyway, my point is to -- Commissioner Gort: That's why I'm here. I'm listening to my constituents, as long as you understand that. Okay? Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Swergold: Thank you so much. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Swergold: My point is that noise -- Commissioner Carollo: May I ask for a five-minute recess? Mr. Swergold: -- is the real issue, and noise and safety, so that's what we need regulated. Thank you so much for your time, all of you. I appreciate it. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, may I suggest a five-minute recess? I -- quite honestly, I think it's unfair to Commissioner Gort. I mean, he's been here the whole time, and if he breaks off, he breaks quorum, so there is no more meeting. So I suggest then that we take a five-minute recess. Vice Chair Russell: Five-minute recess. Thank you. Mr. Swergold: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: I'm calling the March 23, 2017 meeting back into order. We're going to finish our public comment section, so if you had not had a chance to speak on public comment during this time, it's your final opportunity to speak during the morning session. So I'm not sure who is first, but I know that it's Women's Month. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: So I'm going to let you go first, yes. Yuedde Alejandro: My name is Yuedde Alejandro. I am -- I support Airbnb. I do not have a house right now. I don't host at this point. Chair Hardemon: Can you state your address for the record, please? Ms. Alejandro: The address is -- Chair Hardemon: Your address. Ms. Alejandro: -- 15045 South Biscayne River Drive. The reason why I'm here, in 2007, I was diagnosed with cancer; I'm in remission right now. But I can tell you something. If it hadn't been for Airbnb, I would have lost my home. I feel very comfortable in regards to security. I have a 14 -year-old in the premises. I rent a room, and I -- my experiences with them has been wonderful. I have people from all over the world. And in the process of renting, I have made beautiful friendships, and I've been able to travel to those countries that, otherwise, I wouldn't -- not been able to do so. I please ask you to please not to vote for whatever is going on. I don't City of Miami Page 30 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 know the politics on it. All I'm saying is, Airbnb has been the best thing that happened to our family. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Sir. Max Belin: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Max Belin. My address is 120 Northwest 34th Street in Wynwood. I am an Airbnb host, as you can tell from my sticker and from my T-shirt, right? So there -- leaves no doubt. But my -- what I want to talk about is responsible hosting, because I think that's the key that many of us have been touching upon. One of the reasons why, even though I do get very nervous public speaking, one of the things that I -- what's bringing me up here is a narrative that I'm hearing from the other side that is casting Airbnb hosts as absentee landlords, and our guests as little more than, you know, than hooligans, running around crazy, when nothing could be further from the truth. What is true is that the vast majority of short-term vacation home -sharing happens without a single adverse incident. I have not had a single adverse incident with my Airbnb hosting experiences. This -- I feel that this is due in great part to responsible hosting. Responsible hosting is the core of a successful short-term vacation rental in a residential area. Being responsible requires active steps by the host, right? Some of these are facilitated by Airbnb from their technology, in that they allow you to see the reviews of prior -- of the guests that are applying to spend a few days or a week at your place so you could see their reviews. If the review is not good, you pass on. That review certainly does not happen in any hotel setting. Right? And the other thing that I want to add that hasn't been mentioned is that I'll have people contacting me that we --for a reservation months ahead of time, and we end up exchanging 20, 30 emails, going back and forth, so by the time that this person is at my property, I really feel that I know them, and they feel that they know me. Right? And I think that, that just -- I mean, it gives me a tremendous comfort level in that. So, definitely, vetting your guest; developing a list of house rules, which define acceptable guest behaviors, what they can do and not do, what is expected of them; ensuring that guests understand that a host's property is not a party house, and that behaviors which disturb surrounding neighbors are totally not permitted. Responsible hosting means being present and visible; acting swiftly in the event house rules are being broken; meeting the guests as they check in, which I meet every party before they check in -- right? -- and arranging -- and, if needed, arranging for other hosts, which is something that Airbnb facilitates. I can ask any one of my fellow hosts to host for me -- right? -- so that my wife and I, we can take a vacation, and we don't have to worry about it, because one other thing is that I always tell my guests is that, if they need me, I'm only a few minutes away; all they got to do is call me, and I'll be there. Right? So if I'm not there, it's good to know that another host can step in my place. Responsible hosting also means being honest in evaluating my guest for future hosts. Responsible hosting means being a good neighbor, and being proactive in determining if guest activities are a disturbance. Before I was an Airbnb host, I was a neighbor, right? I love my neighbors. I will kick somebody out the door if I feel that they are disturbing my neighbors in any way, shape, or form. I will not put up with that. Right? My neighbors mean too much to me. Responsible hosting means getting all the appropriate licenses, paying all the fees and taxes, and being in compliance with all the applicable municipal codes, whatever is decided by this body for us. And I think, also, responsible hosting means being a great Miami ambassador, which several of the previous speakers have spoken to. I just want to share a couple situations. I just had a -- I think one of the characterizations of our guests is that all they are, are party animals, and it's just not true. Right? I just said goodbye yesterday to a guest -- to people in their 50s, a couple in their 50s, from Pori, Finland. I had no idea where Pori, Finland was. I had to look on a map for it. Right? I took them to Best Buy, because their -- what their big goal was in the 14 days they were here was to buy an Wad. Right? So, I mean, that was a great experience for me. We got -- we were in the car, we took an City of Miami Page 31 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 hour to get there, an hour to get back. It was -- I mean, we had a good time. Right? And it was a good experience for me. One of my best experiences is a family from Mexico that came over the New Year's Holidays -- Christmas Holidays to spend -- it was a group of eight. Six were coming from Mexico; two were coming from Cuba. And I asked -- and the two from Cuba got there before the main group. And I asked the young ladies, I said, "So tell me a little bit about what's" -- "why are you here? I mean, what" -- you know -- "what's the occasion?" She said that her father lives in Mexico, and she hadn't seen her father in 15 years. That was a very touching story for me, and I felt very proud to be apart of that experience. It was mentioned in the Mayor's press conference on Monday that any discussion with Airbnb or its hosts would be a futile exercise. I refuse to accept that, and I would hope that the good Mayor would reconsider his position on this. It's just not the American way. And, as many people have indicated, it's just not smart to -- it's very hard to put this genie back into the bottle. So I think we need a lot more discussion, as many people have mentioned. As host, let's admit that there are hosts that abuse the system; a small percentage, but they are ruining it for everybody, and they're causing good neighbors, you know, to speak up against the entire system, without having the benefit of thousands of examples. For every one example --for that example of the gentleman early on that spoke about the -- what was it? -- the thousand guests in the three months, and it was that big beach thing that was going on at the guy's house. Right? Each one of us can bring hundreds of stories of interactions that have -- that were as far from that as you can possibly imagine. I did get into Airbnb, because I couldn't rent my house for the --for what I needed to rent it for, for the mortgage; when you get the mortgage, and the insurance, and everything else. What I did not expect is how personally fulfilling and enriching the experience would be. I -- to cherry pick a few examples, to paint all hosts and guests with the same brush that do not act responsibly is simply an injustice. I ask the Commission not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Thousands of this great City's constituents and entrepreneurs have invested thousands to furnish their homes; and by doing so, provide a unique, home -away -from -home experience for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Magic City. They have become -- the hosts have become an important contributor to the tourism efforts of South Florida, and the authors of millions of "I had a great time in Miami" stories. Our host residents are part of an emerging and dynamic alternative to a traditional hotel experience. They should not be forced to forfeit their ability and willingness to share their homes or face crippling fines, and possibly, the loss of their properties and investments. Thank you. Chris Cemello: Hi. Chris Cemello, 6451 Southwest 74th Street. I'm here about RE.3. I could have a -- I could say a lot of things about the benefits to me and my guests. I want to first quickly address the hostel situation the one man spoke about. Chair Hardemon: Can you repeat your address for the record, please? Ms. Cemello: 6451 Southwest 74th Street. And I had -- I host guests, and I had three guests appear, terribly upset about a place they stayed in, in South Beach; 18 people in a two-bedroom; bunkbeds allover the place. They had rented the pull-out couch in the living room. They knew it was bad, and they were fine with that. Well, they couldn't even lock the front door, because the lockbox key had gotten lost. I was horrified. I called Airbnb and reported it. I called -- I thought, "This is terrible. " I said, "They're going to give Airbnb a bad name. " I called Airbnb and reported it. I called Code Enforcement in Miami Beach and reported it. That afternoon, someone from Code Enforcement called me and wanted the exact apartment. It -- case closed. It -- this -- they don't advertise anymore; they're gone. So I don't know why the situation with -- this man was talking about went on -- like, it sounded like for a really long time. It was easy. I mean, that person has a place near the airport that they live in and they rent a room now, and they don't have the hostel situation. One more thing I wanted to say is probably -- I would say 75 percent of my guests prob -- City of Miami Page 32 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 I would venture to say, if they couldn't rent Airbnb, they would probably go to Fort Lauder -- in Miami -- they would probably go to Fort Lauderdale or Cancun, or someplace else. They wouldn't come. The other 25 percent are here for weddings, funerals, residencies at local hospitals, auditions at Frost Music School. You know, they probably couldn't do those things if they couldn't rent it from me. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Daniel Gold: Hi. My name is Dan Gold. I live at 821 Northeast 71st Street, here in Miami. Mayor; Commissioners, I've come before you just to oppose this regulation for RE.3. I am a host for Airbnb. In the spectrum of what everybody's discussed today, I rent my home, maybe 30 days out of the year. What that's allowed me to do is not just bring in people to have an experience that they can't get from being in a hotel room, where they want to have the experience of having a home to stay in, and somewhere warm that reminds them of their home. These are families with children that come to stay at my house most of the time. And everybody gets vetted, like what's been spoken of before. What I want you to know is, having this opportunity allowed me to deal with my property taxes, which have jumped in the last year; and this was a hardship that we had to figure out, as a family. So I just want you to know that there's a pleasure and there's also a process that pays back to the City, which allows us to pay the taxes for Airbnb; and also, that allows -- that allowed me, as a homeowner, to pay my actual property taxes. So I want that to be thought of as an incentive for the City to work around the issues regarding this, to help everybody here, because I have a feeling that I'm not speaking just for myself, as I've heard other people with these issues. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Ma'am? Lori Ott: Hi. My name is Lori Ott. I live at 1501 Northwest South River Drive, and I've been renting for Air Bed and Breakfast for a few years, and I -- Chair Hardemon: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Ms. Ott: Excuse me? Chair Hardemon: Nothing. Ms. Ott: I usually get doctors and nurses, and people who are sick that live in the -- that go to Jackson Hospital that rent my rooms. So I provide a service for people that really can't afford hotels for -- you know, doctors stay therefor like months at a time sometimes, a month to a month, and so -- And all the people I've gotten, even if they aren't doctors and nurses, which I have gotten others, and they are all so nice, because I -- They are vetted and I do get to see -- you know, talk to them before they come, and I see their -- It's a very safe thing. I'm a single mother. I would not let anything, if it wasn't safe. So that's all. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Kevin Gray: Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Gray, 720 Northeast 69th Street, Miami 33138. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you first for allowing me to speak in relation to FR. 5, Legion Park. And our sincere thanks to the Mayor and Commissioner Hardemon for meeting with us and listening to residents of the Upper Eastside Legion Park, which is now a historic park. We've had numerous meetings at the park, and we've had town hall meetings, and those have proved very fruitful to -- as we learned that there was a 99 to 100 percent opposition to the development of the park; especially the developer seeking an SAP with the City of Miami. They're seeking to grab two to three acres of Legion Park, which City of Miami Page 33 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 would give them seven acres, which would allow them to have a variance on the park. The proposed development would allow three high-rises, and would cast a shadow on the park, with the access road from Biscayne Boulevard to the multi -story parking lot, retail, and restaurants, which would surely pollute the park. I'd like to close with a special thanks and gratitude to our Honorable Mayor Regalado, who took the time to meet with us, and who voiced his opposition, and said he'd veto the SAP. Thank you very much for all your help. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Henry Patel: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Henry Patel, 7150 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. First of all, I'd like to thank Mayor Regalado for putting a regulation, which is nothing but putting a level playing field. I'm a hotelier; a lifelong hotelier. I came into Miami in 1989, when Biscayne Boulevard was one of the roughest area you could ever want a business. It was like being treated like a criminal if you are a hotel owner on Biscayne Boulevard. I'm pretty sure Commissioner Gort can connect well, because that's around the time he got elected from our neighborhood. It makes me feel sad that now, almost everybody who have spoken has agreed that they have not followed the rules. We have a rule of zoning to do a business, the type -- the nature of business they are doing. We have followed and lived by the rules every given time. Yes, we have -- I have been on the receiving end of some of the regulations, which are -- which did not work to our advantage, but I never called my Mayor in a wrong way, because I respect everybody's position. We were down -zoned from hundred feet to 35 feet. I bought my hotel, we had CI zoning. We had hundred feet in our area. We are down -zoned to 35 feet under the Miami 21. We lost the values of our property. We have fought crime. When I came into Miami, we had problem where neighborhood were complaining there's a lot of crime, and I stood with the neighbors, because I'm a father and a family member first before a businessman. The Nuisance Abatement Ordinance came into effect in early '90s, when I stood on the side of Miami PD (Police Department) and City to make sure the bad hotels were closed down; we stood with that. Nobody has -- in this whole conversation, nobody has brought up how many jobs our industry have created. From a low- to very moderate -educated people in our community can find a job to feed their family in our industry. And we have gone through three most important critical disasters in the last few years. The BP (British Petroleum) oil spill literally took the keys away for so many hotels in Florida, primarily on the west coast, but the perception in Europe was that BP oil spill has reached Florida, and historically, that year, the number in Myrtle Beach for two years was skyrocketed in occupancy. We survived BP oil spill. We survived the 2008 recession. Nobody came to us and said, "We going to give you our money to rescue your properties. " We survived the Zika virus. Still, we employed the people from our neighborhood, Commissioner Hardemon, now that you represent our neighborhood. Little Haiti, all the area, they have employment in our industry; permanent jobs. They don't create. We create permanent jobs. We pay our six - person occupancy taxes, we pay our sales taxes, we pay our unemployment taxes. And how can we forget the major infrastructure development in our neighborhoods are done by our bed tax dollars? Nobody came to me and ask me if I'm going to okay a Marlins Stadium from my bed tax dollars. I'm okay. Why? Because it created another 500 jobs from my bed tax money. Now, about the lifestyle, I live at my hotel, with my wife and two kids. When we both came, we were newly married. Now my daughter is 25, works for County. My wife has spent two pregnancies sleeping on the small little apartment at my King Motel. That's my success story. And I have work hard in the neighborhood. Everybody in the neighborhood appreciates me being a neighbor who's very, very committed to a clean -running business, and I'm there. I have built another hotel and open for another 35, 40 jobs. But here is the thing: The zoning laws were made for businesses to follow the rule. The planning laws were made for our businesses. We follow the State rules, we City of Miami Page 34 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 follow the County rules, and we will follow the Federal rules of American with Disability Act. We have been sued by ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) for noncompliance of smaller properties which were grandfathered in atone time. The infrastructure and development of our cities -- We have been tagged on by hundreds of thousands dollars of a bill for getting hooked to a sewer system or a water system, because we have a hotel or a commercial property. So many of the people who do Airbnb rental, they didn't -- they haven't said that -- many of them do claim homestead exemption, which is illegal. You cannot claim a homestead exemption if you are renting your property. Secondly, yes, if you have a condo and somebody's renting a condo -- And by the way, I can flood this room with my employees. If the whole industry brings, they can flood the whole parking lot; unfortunately, they are working right now, earning their bread and butter; because they don't have -- they have a job to do. I can flood this room with SEIU (Service Employees International Union) unions, who work for hotel industry. So it's not that number game; I'm on the truth side, and I'm proud of being on that side. We have -- Property taxes went up from 30, 000 to $125, 000 of my property. We paid. We pay over and above property taxes, because our property taxes go toward the School District, which is much higher tax than the residents. Secondly, nobody said, ever; that -- what is the impact of our industry, when we were into a brink of losing so much business and turning the key back. It's no harm to be a businessman. Yes, I have worked my butt off being a businessman of 30 years in the City of Miami. It's no harm to be a businessman. I'm going to pass out some of the information, but 80 -- there's a research done by CBRE that 80 -- over 80 percent of these ho -- rentals are not occupied and owned -- I mean not occupied. They are just bought for the mere reason of renting it out. They are not owner -occupied. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It has been an impact of $4.6 billion. Now, if it was a sensitive issue, New York has banned Airbnb; just recently, State of Virginia, and from January to now, it is already on the desk of the Governor. And I'm going to pass out all these documents for the record, so you can see what I'm talking about. Then another issue I'd like to bring up. When we have hotels, we have 24/7 management. Somebody said all -- that criminals stay at hotels. That's -- you -- there is no -- it's not even in anybody's face that somebody's a criminal, but we go follow the rules. We have fire regulations. And just FYI (for your information), I tell you, I'm just opening a hotel. We just open a hotel. By the time I got my permit, till I got my CO (Certificate of Occupancy), there is one more regulation added by Fire Department called BDA (Bi -Directional Amplifier). It means the radios of the Fire Department have to work while they're inside the hotel. Guess what? I was shut down for three more weeks, just to make sure I want to follow that regulation. I was shut down -- I was not given a CO for two more weeks, because just one handrail was not right. And how much impact that is to my business, and I know I'm not going to be probably able to rent for the Ultra Music Festival? Then security. Any police officer can come into our hotel, ask for the identification, and can go to any room. That's allowed by the law, and we fully cooperate [sic] them for doing their duty as law enforcement. Any auditor can come into my hotel and ask for my tax records of my occupancy, for sales tax or occupancy tax, any time. We follow that rule. Then, you know, there is -- I'm sorry. Yeah, now issue comes through about crime. There -- just think about this: If you living in a condo where one person wants to rent, but the 10 people on that floor don't agree with that. Guess if you have young kids. How do you know if you have different people in next door condo renting, and would you feel comfortable with your young kids living there, that there is going to be a new face on the next apartment? If many people in Miami were supporting the residents --yeah, Miami is just not made of people who support Airbnb, and I respect them for doing that --this will be flooded. There— this will be flooded if every resident in Miami was going to be -- I know people say, "We vote. " No. You should vote your conscience because rules were made for us 50 years ago, and over and over, time again, it has changed, and we have followed the rules and regulations. We have paid our duty to the government for our occupancy taxes. We have created millions of minimum wage jobs. We have employed people who don't City of Miami Page 35 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 speak the language, because they can work in our industry. At the same time, we have gone through thick and thin of our recession, but we have not got help from anybody. We have never got help from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Biscayne Boulevard. Tell me, how many times you have seen Biscayne Boulevard hotels been advertised in anywhere? We pay our fair share of taxes. Absolutely, we pay our fair share of taxes, for many years. This is unfair. This is just unfair to now move the chain of rules in the middle of a game. If they want to do this, let's put every regulation which is to our industry. Yeah, they're allowed to do a monthly rental, absolutely, but they find it's more lucrative to do a daily rental. What you lose is jobs; what you lose is your tax revenue; what you lose is the revenue to build the infrastructure of our City, our community, our stadiums, our roadways, our schools. That come from our industry. The hotel industry is the one single industry which gives the maximum money. And now, by the way, when they are claiming that tourists are coming, guess who pays for that? Our tourism development tax from (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is meant to bring these tourists into the country. We do heavy advertisement for our own dollars to bring tourists into our State and City, and County, from abroad. We pay for it. So it should be a level playing field. It should be -- every regulation which is given to us should be given to them. And at the same time, if you ever going to consider this, the first thing you should do is put a moratorium to hotels. Why would you encourage hotels to invest in your community when you're going to play -- not allowing them to play by the same rules? You should. I have agreed and disagreed with many of you on issues, like when -- I'm pretty sure Commissioner Hardemon was not on there -- but when the 35 feet -- it was a purely political ploy to down -zone the Upper Eastside from 110 feet to 35 feet. I did not go to court and file a lawsuit against my City; although it is a heavy impact. And then, top of that, they put TDR (Transfer Development Rights). What? A lot of rules and regulations. I can only sell it to somebody, I can only do this, I can only do that, when my hotel has not failed any inspection. Oh, by the way, I got threatened by one of the person here, saying, "I'm going to come to your hotel and check everything out"; one person here. I'm not going to name him, but that's the kind of thing we get, because we are a minority, but I'm on the right side. As Gandhi say -- and I'm going to repeat -- "It's not how we protect the majority; it's how you protect the right people. " Leadership is about standing on the right side; doesn't matter if a million people against you. And I know, at one time, I heard one of our Commissioners also said -- I don't remember who -- that their family was involved in hotel employment, also. I don't recollect who, but I know that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) well. So let's do what is right, do what is fair and just. And if you want to do this, you ask them for the moratorium on hotel industry right away, and then put the same rules we -- everybody play by. What we have played by for many years, and we will play by, they should be playing by the same rules. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And I'm going to distribute the literature here. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Mr. Patel: Thankyou, sir. Danielle Bender: I can go? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Ms. Bender: Hi. Thank you so much, Commissioners, for having me here. My name's Danielle Bender. My address is 27 Northeast 49th Street, and I'm an Airbnb super host. I've been doing it for the past two years, and I'm just going to make my statement quick. We started doing Airbnb because our roof had leaks, and when we were getting quotes, it was going to be $20, 000 to fix those leaks. So we started renting it out just a couple days a month, and would stay with my in-laws while people are staying at our house. It's grown to be something that's been able to help City of Miami Page 36 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 us pay for our roof, fixes around the house, to beautify our neighborhood. I fully support it I understand some of the opposition; I get why, but not all hosts are like that, and I just wanted to share that I'm a responsible host. I really benefit from meeting new people from all across the world, and I hope that you guys vote against it. Thankyou. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Sir. Ben Figueroa: Good afternoon. My name is Ben Figueroa, 533 Northwest 46th Street, Miami, Florida. Many of my co -hosts from Airbnb and some of the opponents have given you some very emotional testimony. I am going to appeal to your logic, to the good leadership that you showed the time we had the Zika scare. I'll tell you what you didn't do. You didn't blockade the peninsula. You didn't ban air travel into Miami. You didn't do any of those things. You acted responsibly. You came up with a strategy. You worked with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). You sprayed the area that was affected. And I ask you, was it effective? Was it effective, Commissioners? Was the Zika -- the way you addressed Zika, was it effective? I think it was. So I'm asking you, hold the people accountable who are abusing the system. Those of us who are responsible Airbnb hosts should have the opportunity to continue to develop our business. That's all I'm asking you for. Please use your leadership, use your experience; address this the way it needs to be addressed. Deal with those -- use the existing laws to deal with those who are violating it. Do notput a ban where you are taking a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or an air strike, or a nuclear bomb to the whole City just because you have a few irresponsible people. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. You're recognized. Fernando Figueroa: Good afternoon. My name is Fernando Figueroa. I live at 1013 Castillo Avenue in Coral Gables. I've been a host with Airbnb for about seven and a half years, and I've had great, great experiences throughout my last seven years. I rent out my pool house in my property. So I just wanted to point out a thing I think a lot of people are missing out is that Airbnb is not a hotel. A lot of people keep bringing this, you know, over and over again. We -- you know, somebody renting out a pool house or a guesthouse on their property for two people, it's not really a hotel. I hear a lot of people talking about how it can be disrupting the economy. I honestly really do not see that, but I think that we want regulations, as hosts. I have --I meet some --I know some people that have properties that they rent out, as well; either whole homes or, you know, properties, or rooms without the property [sic]. And I think we want regulations. I think -- I'm opposed to having one-night rentals, because, you know, they create issues. When I had homes that I would rent out for one night and things like that, I would always get, you know, problematic guests, so I completely took that out of the equation. So I do a minimum of three nights, or seven nights in some instances, and, you know, it's worked out pretty well for me. Actually, my neighbors did not know I did Airbnb and probably don't know up until now, but -- and it's been many, many years. So in my personal experience, I get a lot of parents from UM (University of Miami) kids that come during graduation time, and it's just very -- something really tranquil and under the radar. I have never bothered anybody in my neighborhood. I have people that actually work at the City of Coral Gables rent out my home for their family when they come visit on the holidays. And, you know, I think, just -- you know, we've been able to create jobs. We have a cleaning person that comes and that we, you know, pay; not in cash, as many hotels pay their employees, by the way. But, you know, we've had a good experience overall, and I think that there needs -- definitely, needs to be some sort of regulation; however, I do not believe that banning the system completely would solve a problem. Just like people have -- you know, you have to go through a process to build an addition in my house. I had to spend almost two years City of Miami Page 37 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 -- I live in a historic property -- going through permitting, and, you know, it was a very long process, but the City allowed me to do what I needed to do, you know, the way it had to be done. So, you know, I'm not asking for Airbnb to be allowed whatever they want to do, but we should be allowed to do short-term rentals, you know, within reasonable guidelines. I think there has to be a way for everybody to understand, and, you know, that's just really in my personal experience. I can contribute a lot, and, like I said, I've been with Airbnb for seven -- almost eight years now. I live in a really nice neighborhood, and so far, I haven't really had any issues. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Lazaro Vento: Lazaro Vento, 3301 Northeast 1st Avenue. I've been hosting on Airbnb now for two years. I've had nothing but positive experiences. I mean, our -- the neighborhood where my house is was a rundown ghetto for many, many years. You know, the Little Haiti/West Buena Vista area, there was nothing there; just criminals, and it was a very dirty neighborhood. And I didn't know anything about Airbnb until about two years ago. I sold the house to a friend of mine, and he -- I asked him what was he planning on doing, because it was hard getting good tenants in that neighborhood. He said, "Well, I'm going to try this Airbnb thing out. " And when I went to the house once he was done and I saw what he did and the investment he put in, and how it looked, I was sold. I started doing it myself and I did similar improvements, and I've had a lot of great guests. I mean, I don't know about these party houses and thousand people coming through a house. I mean, that seems mathematically impossible, based -- if you're in the business, you would know it's mathematically impossible to have that many people, even if you had a hundred percent occupancy, which you don't. You're -- most people are running less than 50. To have a thousand people through, it's just never going to happen. Chair Hardemon: Can I ask you a quick question? Mr. Vento: Sure. Chair Hardemon: What's the average number of guests that you would have in a three-bedroom? Mr. Vento: In a three-bedroom house, usually four to six people; what you would normally have if you were living there, you know. Chair Hardemon: No, that's all; I just wanted to know how many. Mr. Vento: You know, I set my houses up really nice, and I wouldn't want them trashed, and I'm always on top of them. I've put cameras. I have systems in place, not to lose my investment. And, you know, it scares me to think that there's people talking about just these houses being destroyed. And the only instances that were brought up were in the Roads. My dad owns a house in the Roads, and -- you know. And I've never seen any of that type of activity when I'm there. He called me the other day and he was like, 7 can't believe Regalado wants to do that. " I mean, you guys are doing such great work over there in Little Haiti, and like -- I invite any of you guys to come for a walk with me in the mornings. I walk every morning, three miles, through Little Haiti, just to look at the neighborhood, and you'll see all the houses. I -- you know, you could spot them, the ones that are Airbnb, because they're so nice and so clean. So, I mean -- and ifyou look at the little businesses that are popping up in those neighborhoods, they're directly being supported by those tourists that are just walking around. I see little Chinese tourists walking around what used to be the hood, and, you know, they're not scared. They're spending money in the little coffee shops and little restaurants that are out there. I mean, it's City of Miami Page 38 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 more of an issue -- I mean, I don't think it's a zoning issue. It's more like this is the government telling you what you can do, because if you could rent a property for a year, what's the difference between renting it for one month? I mean, you're -- what; you're going to limit my ability to make income? The government is? I mean, that's what, I guess, the principles that this country was founded on. That's all I have to say, gentlemen. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day. Evelyn Bertolucci: Good afternoon. My name is Evelyn Bertolucci, 1717 North Bayshore Drive, and I am going to try and be as precise and to the point as possible. Big list, but everything's been addressed except one point, which is mine in the middle here, and a specific story. But before I go into my personal, you know, review, let me just answer the gentleman; just a couple comments about the gentleman, the hotelier that was here earlier or a couple minutes ago. I think he left now. A couple of things. He talked about advertising. Obviously, I'm on behalf of Airbnb, and pro hosting. He talked about advertising -- Chair Hardemon: And I apologize. I'm not sure if I got your address for the record. Can you state -- Ms. Bertolucci: Pardon me, sir? Chair Hardemon: -- your address for the record again for me? Ms. Bertolucci: 1717 North Bayshore Drive. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Ms. Bertolucci: You know where that is. Chair Hardemon: Its the hotel/condominium. Commissioner Carollo: That's the Omni. Chair Hardemon: Huh? Commissioner Carollo: That's the Omni. Chair Hardemon: Yeah, the building. Ms. Bertolucci: Correct. So just to answer him, and then I'll talk about the property. With regards to playing by the same rules, these are two distinct businesses, and things are evolving, and this kind of business will not -- you know -- is not going to go away. As a matter of fact, just for informational purposes, I went to Vegas recently, and there, Airbnb is advertising hotel rooms. So the Hotel Cesar's, you know; the Wind, whatever. They are also putting their own hotels into Airbnb, and therefore, reducing the rates so that they can be competitive, because they have hosting issues there, too. So they're simply coming down with some pricing to compete with other things. And that's just a side comment, because they -- you know, they are being forced, if you will, to also participate in the pricing scheme that, you know, that a city may require. Anyway, that's it about that, and playing by the same rules with regard to hotels. But here's my personal story; it's unique: A year and a half ago, I convinced my parents, who were about to buy a retirement home in Coco Beach to absolute not do that, and pay a 40 percent premium and buy in Miami, okay? So they invested a lot of money to be near me, obviously; but then, also, be near the beach; and because, for the time that they would not be here, we could -- you know, we could rent it, and they could support that 40 percent. So they bought between the property, the capital investment that they made and the City of Miami Page 39 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 remodeling, and the hiring of 15 people to remodel their place, they spent $400, 000 to -- you know, as capital investment here; that did not go elsewhere. So from the start there, I'd like to, you know, point out that we are -- you know, my case is one that, where, you know, that's -- it's new-found money from people that would not have gone -- you know, would not have come here otherwise; point number one. Point number two is that we are primarily renting to seniors. What happens is, my parents are seniors, 70s, and they came here, they liked it, and seniors cannot afford Miami. They do not come here unless there is, you know, a different proposition for them. So what my parents do is, they rent it to friends and family along, you know, along their age ranges, and they're starting to come, you know, to come to Miami and see it in a new light; whereas, they never would have visited the City. So it's absolutely new tourist, and a group of people that we would not have had, and that obviously cannot afford a hotel, okay? That's my next point Nobody here has talked about seniors visiting Miami, and that, as a new, you know, as a new segment of tourism that this affords us, okay. Along with that, by the way, my parents propose that people take cruises from Miami instead of Coco Beach, Fort Lauderdale, or -- I think Tampa. So they are also bringing cruise business here, because seniors do that. That's an incremental, you know, revenue to, you know, to businesses out of Miami, also. Summing it up, in the year and a half that we've invested both our capital, you know, capital, money into the property, as well as the extended business that we've brought to the City, I think that we've brought about a million dollars to Miami, and it would not have happened, were it not for you know, the ability to short-term rent it. And, by the way, my parents live in the property, because I think that this is a -- you know, this is of value. They live in the property about half the time, and then they rent it about half the time, so it's like two weeks in, two weeks out. I help manage it. We have somebody that helps manage the property, too, like for people that are coming in and out; responsibly, as the word is being used here. And for the record, my aunt, who is in that same age range, is about to make a capital investment here, as well, because it's working, and she would have gone to Coco Beach, as well. So there's significant money coming in, you know, that's new money, and that should be, you know, considered, and would not in any way cross the hotel, you know, competitive line. I hope that was helpful, and I lookforward to, you know, to regulation, but that just doesn't get too difficult and too bureaucratic for you know, for people like us and my parents to be able to operate. Yes. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Ms. Bertolucci: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Sir, you're recognized. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Gort: Let me ask a question. What's -- when was Miami 21 passed? Mayor Regalado: 2010. Commissioner Gort: Excuse me? Mayor Regalado: 2010. Commissioner Gort: 2010. 2010? Ms. Bertolucci: Yes. City of Miami Page 40 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Gort: Okay. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Sir. Commissioner Gort: It's fairly new, right? Miraj Patel: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Miraj Patel, 5950 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida, 33137. I am a hotel and lodging management student at Johnson and Wales University, North Miami. I am a hotelier who is highly motivated to enter the Miami market. I'm here to speak on item RE.3. There has been a tremendous impact on the hotel industry, which includes the Miami market. This impact comes from Airbnb rentals in the City of Miami. Not only has it impacted the hotel industry, but also our neighborhoods. There are various reasons that prove this point. To illustrate, Airbnb is hurting housing markets and threatening safety in residential areas. The rentals have created disturbance in residential neighborhoods. Airbnb has an unfair advantage. Airbnb pays no tax. Airbnb sometimes do not have onsite personnel for potential issues. Airbnb is not a licensed or permitted solution. Airbnb is not properly insured. Airbnb does not have life safety guidelines. Now, I am not standing here suggesting to prohibit Airbnb rentals. I am 19 years old. I'm a Millennial. I believe in technology. I believe in the concept. However; I truly believe they should play by the same rules and regulations as hoteliers do. With that being said, my name is Miraj Patel, and I thank you for your valuable time. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Phillip Norton: Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name's Phillip Norton. I live at 516 Southwest 10th Street, Apartment 2; that's not where I manage Airbnb. I manage Airbnb, several properties for -- I'm a realtor, so I manage it for owners in buildings that do allow it, according to the condo docs and the zoning. So I wanted to make three points, and I'll really try and keep it under the two -minute timeframe. Number one is I wanted to speak in regards to examples of Airbnb guests, in contrast to the bleak picture that's been painted through the advocate. Currently, I have -- I currently have an eight-month pregnant woman and her husband from Europe that are here in Miami for two and a half months. She's scheduled in about a month to have her baby, and it's a high-risk pregnancy, so that's why they're here. That's an example. Previous to that, in the same property, I had two medical students. I think someone else had mentioned medical students doing practicums, internships. It was two girls from California, doing their practicum here. They'd go to work Monday through Friday, 7 a. m. to 6 p.m.; go to work, come home, go to bed, and do it all over again. So those are examples. The second point I wanted to make is -- oh, and additionally, like I said, two and a half months and two months. Its in a building that allows, if the rental is 30 days or more, so one month or more; you know, not one day to the next. Second, I want to talk about innovation with technology and the changing economy. You know, amazon.com versus retailers, Walmart, Best Buy. You know, capitalism is about competition. The gentleman that spoke on behalf of hotels, you know, with progress comes change; and so, things are changing in his industry, and in what we're talking about, so I think that that's the idea of -- Someone talked about the principles of how this country was founded. So Amazon versus Best Buy, you know, we're getting products delivered to our door; we're getting them at better prices, and we're getting 10 times the amount of product inventory, as an example from Amazon versus going to the store and trying to find it. Number two, obviously, you know, we've already talked it, Uber and Lyft versus taxi drivers. Uber and Lyft is the faster service. You have more information, you know where the person is on GPS (Global Positioning System); they know where you are; you're getting better prices, and there's more oversight in comparison with a taxi driver; whether I hail it on the street, and hope City of Miami Page 41 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 someone comes by; or I call the central location. I don't know where the taxi driver is; and then, if the tax driver -- you know, I'm from out of town, they drive me in circles. They can kind of do that to get a higher rate. Uber and Lyft fire people if they do that. So, you know, that's an example of a changing industry that I think has changed for the better for -- more efficient and just better. And then point number three -- and I'll wrap it up -- is just a couple quick statistics that I wanted to share. According to a peer research study, 48 percent of Americans don't trust their neighbors, so one in two people don't trust their neighbors. And then, according to a Forbes article, a study that one in two Americans don't know their neighbors' names; and specifically, in the southern region here, 51 percent of people in Florida don't know their neighbors' names. So I guess my question is, you know, if we're having people complaining about their neighbors, and we have responsible people who shouldn't be receiving complaints, how is that different from a normal permanent tenant versus temporary? Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Mr. Norton: Thank you so much. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Marcie Mascaro: Yes. Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Marcie Mascaro. I live at 2960 South Federal Highway in North Coconut Grove, near the Roads, and speaking of being a good neighbor; I am the neighbor of Ms. Grace Solares, who took the opportunity to speak earlier this week at a press conference, hosted by Mayor Regalado, and I would just like to say a few things regarding being a good neighbor. I did go through the experience with Ms. Grace, and it was a learning experience for me, because, prior to that, I had not realized what I had been doing as an Airbnb host was illegal. And so, through that learning process, I feel that I came out better informed, and I became a better neighbor. But prior to that, I cannot say that there was any direct complaints from Ms. Grace or any of my neighbors regarding my activities as a host. I believe I was a responsible host, and I believe that I did things to try to keep the safety and security, and quiet nature of our neighborhood. And to my knowledge, no complaints were ever filed against me; incident reports or parties, or any of the things that may be associated with being a bad host. And so, for that, I am proud of that. And I also understand that having people coming and going for short stays can be very disruptive to a small community, where we want to be good neighbors. I can also say that several of our other neighbors had approached me, because they would have liked for me to host their family on a short-term basis so that they could be near them. So I think that when we're talking about neighborhoods and fulfilling needs, what Airbnb is doing is filling a void. And if you kind of think about the genesis of Airbnb, it sprung out of what was basically an unrelated -- unregulated short-term rental service called Craig's List, and I can even go back to when I was in my early 20s and I lived in very expensive Washington, D. C. (District of Columbia), and I lived in what would be considered an illegal unit; it was somebody's basement. And I took a risk; they took a risk. I think I took more of the risk, as a young, 20 -year-old woman, renting the illegal unit. And then, I've lived overseas. I've rented homes on a short-term basis, when I'm traveling. I've rented in very expensive cities, homes from people, so I -- in this, we're talking about like pre -technology, so like early 2000s and things like that. So there's always been this need to find a way to host travelers and people visiting for other reasons in our communities. And I do believe in regulation, and I do think that's where City of Miami is in a great position to provide some better oversight and regulations so that we don't have disaster scenarios that could come out of what would be normally like Craig's List, where, you know, people are advertising their home, and a person looking for a rental may not have like a review process or have faith that, when they pay money that they will have an accurate place to stay, a safe City of Miami Page 42 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 place to stay, or a resolution process offered by Airbnb. And I actually -- when I was a grad student, I was living in Tennessee, and I was offered an internship in Orlando for two months, and I needed to bring my kids, and I -- my first resource was Craig's List, and I was not happy with the results that I was getting. And then, I looked at Extended Stays, which was going to be extraordinarily expensive, and where I found out about Airbnb, and I rented from a woman for two months. And it was a great experience hosting people from around the world. I kind of served as a co -host in that matter. And so, when I got a job here in Miami and I looked to offset the expense of cost of living here, I specifically found a house with permission -- renting a house, with permission from my landlord to be able to sublet. And so, I went into this process thinking blindly, ignorantly, whatever, that it would be okay, and I went about it as professionally as I thought I could possibly be, and that garnered me a super host, and I had maintained super host status for over 18 months, and I believe that I was a responsible host. My house was never a party house. I hosted families - - a lot of the same stories. And specifically, the gentleman that Ms. Grace mentioned in her press conference was actually not an Airbnb guest. He's a personal friend of mine, professional basketball player from Italy, and he is rather amused that -- about making an appearance in the Miami press, but he's a kind gentleman, much like most of the guests that I've ever hosted. And so, through the process, I became really familiar with the regulations, and even had conversations with the leadership at your Code Compliance Office, including Ms. Dooley, the attorney, and they forwarded me all of the regulations and interpretations of regulation. And so, kind of moving forward with how we could vigorously oppose Airbnb or other short-term rentals, and how that would be like reaffirmed in a decision you're going to make later this afternoon, I would sincerely like to know how you will go about vigorously seeking out and going after hosts, like myself,• and how you can confirm that a rental is outside of the Code; and also, if you could clam the Code currently stands -- it was voted in August of 2015 -- where a short-term rental is that which is less than 30 days. So I'm -- as far as I know, I'm -- right now, currently not even allowed to advertise for Airbnb guests longer than 30 days; and actually, this is my preference, so that I can also host fellow graduate students, like myself,- and medical students, people here with families for longer terms. So I think that we kind of have to like talk about what we can regulate, how it should be regulated, and it should not be a swift decision. And also, if you're going to continue with vigorously regulating Airbnb, what are avenues that a host can take to kind of make the process not so sudden, like what happened in my case? So I'd just like to put that out therefor consideration. And thank you very much for your time. I sincerely appreciate it. Chair Hardemon: Ma'am, you're recognized. Sabrina Velarde: Thank you, Commissioners. Good afternoon. My name is Sabrina Velarde. I'm here from Miami Homes for All, 140 West Flagler, Suite 105, Miami, Florida 33130. We are an affordable housing advocacy organization. I would first like to thank the Commission for all of the affordable housing items that you've put forth in the last several months and that you plan on putting forth throughout the year. I am here to speak on RE.3. With regard to short-term rentals, our concern is really just the commercialization, the misuse and irresponsible hosting that impacts affordable housing. We look forward to continuing the conversation. We look forward to continuing to research best practices throughout the United States, and even outside of the United States, to be able to address those concerns. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, sir. Juan Mullerat: Good afternoon, Commissioners, Mr. Chairman. I'm here to speak also on item 3 -- RE3. My name is Juan Mullerat, 1829 Southwest 11th Terrace; that is Shenandoah, a historic neighborhood. I'd like to speak neither for or against City of Miami Page 43 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Airbnb. I'd like to speak about something that is bigger than that, and it's about rental properties and rentals within Miami. So regardless of what platform -- online pla form you use, I'd like to make a point with regards to the Miami 21, how it's set up for these rentals; especially on historic properties, because we -- and full disclosure: I'm an urban planner and I do write code, and I do write zoning, and our office is not only writing and -- has written some, but is also in the process of writing others that's handled the way that Airbnb needs to -- or pla forms like Airbnb need to be handled within the Zoning Code. And Miami 21, currently, it's set up to disallow any rental on T3-0 -- I'm sorry -- on T3 -R, and therefore, the problem is bigger than just short-term rentals. It means that if we, as the Mayor said, crack down on the -- on Code Enforcement, it means that none of the cottages of the historic neighborhoods in the Roads, in Shenandoah, in Little Havana that are under T3 -R would be allowed to be used at all. So this is not just about Airbnb; it's about the fact that many people within Miami would lose the ability to be able to supplement their mortgage or make improvements to these neighborhoods. We have an affordability crisis. I don't think that I have to tell you about it. I think that we're all aware of how expensive Miami is. And yet, Miami was built with certain units, such as the cottages and the guesthouses that were built for that reason: to host people from outside of town, to have family over, to have friends over; to rent, also, and to make ends meet. Miami is a seasonal destination. Miami is a destination -- it's one of the premier destinations in the United States. For the last five years, it has been within the first five destinations in the United States. And if we take out one of the options for hospitality, we are actually crumping out the ability for Miami to be competitive in this tourist market. I had written a whole thing, and I'm not going to read it to you. I'm going to spare you, because you've been hearing a lot. But I'd like to bring a couple of things up for you. I don't know if you -- anybody has ever wondered why Miami doesn't have any bed and breakfast? There's barely any bed and breakfast in Miami, and it's because of these guest cottages and these -- what some have called "illegal rentals" have been in play for over a century. What this proposal does, what this resolution is calling for is the illegality of these rentals that are so necessary for us. And so, these housing options that Miami have, if City officials outlaw the guesthouse, many residents in historic and diverse neighborhoods will lose the ability to make their ends meet. Our affordability crisis will grow, and we will displace long-time homeowners and force young professionals to look and to live in other cities that are more affordable than ours. So I would kindly request that you defer this until the Miami 21 can -- and the planning -- your Planning Department can actually study this further. I believe in regulation. I think these units should be regulated, and they should be regulated right, but not by putting a patch and banning the whole -- all these platforms out, but rather looking specifically and -- at the type of units that are being rented, and how they're being rented, and regulate them as such, and tax them. Commissioner Gort: Chairman, could--? Chair Hardemon: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gort: Doesn't Miami 21 has a grantee flat? They allow grantee flat to be rented. Mr. Mullerat: Only on T3 -L; on T3 -L, not T3 -R. Commissioner Gort: T3 -L; not on T3 -R. Mr. Mullerat: And the problem with that, Commissioner, is that the Miami 21 atlas, the lines do not follow the historic building of little -- of Miami; and therefore, some of these lines are actually -- I'll call them "gerrymandered" -- to stay away from certain areas, while the actual typologies are there. So I'm a resident of City of Miami Page 44 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Shenandoah. I have a cottage. There are, the last that I counted -- I counted this yesterday -- there are 17 houses in my street. There's over 30 units in my street; again, 17 houses, 30 units, and those are legal units. Those are legal cottages, and they're being rented. We're on T3 -R. You pass this and you crack down on this that means that pretty much everybody on my street won't be able to rent their cottage and will take areal hit. Thank you for your time. Chair Hardemon: Sir; you're recognized. Gonzalo Vizcardo: My name is Gonzalo Vizcardo, 121 Northeast 55th Street, 33137. I'm here speaking as an Airbnb host, in opposition to this resolution. To kind of skip over a lot of the matters and talk about some of my unique experiences, as a host in Little Haiti, I've hosted dozens -- hundreds of people, really, who would otherwise not have seen Little Haiti. Ifyou Google Little Haiti and you see some of the websites on Trip Advisor; other reviews, you see a lot of negative reviews. You see reviews that talk about the Little Haiti of years ago, of 2009, of 2010, even a few years ago where things were very different. And, you know, they said -- my guests have said that, you know, they look at my profile, they look at my reviews, and so, they said, like they almost -- they took a risk, because a lot of what's out there about Little Haiti, about parts of Buena Vista is negative, and it's only through this kind of -- through Airbnb and looking at those reviews that they felt comfortable staying in Little Haiti. And if we are -- if different parts of the City want to revitalize, it's very important to have the proper marketing channels to do this, and Airbnb is very effective at this in the sense that -- Chair Hardemon: Can I ask you a question? Mr. Vizcardo: Yes. Chair Hardemon: How long have you been -- how long have you -- Do you rent the house? Do you own the house? Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah, I own the house. Chair Hardemon: You own the home? Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: How long have you owned the home? Mr. Vizcardo: A few years. Chair Hardemon: A few years? Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: Were there families staying there before that, or was it vacant property? Mr. Vizcardo: I'm sorry? Chair Hardemon: Was there a family staying therein that house before you bought it, or was it a vacant property? Mr. Vizcardo: I think there was a family there before. Chair Hardemon: There was a family there before that? City of Miami Page 45 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Mr. Vizcardo: So the -- Chair Hardemon: Did you ever move into the home? Mr. Vizcardo: Yes. Chair Hardemon: Okay. So then you lived there? Mr. Vizcardo: Yes. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Mr. Vizcardo: I'm a resident of Little Haiti. So my point is that when -- in terms of the marketing of places like Little Haiti, we all know the stories of the redevelopment of Edgewater, of Wynwood, and those -- there was a process where people became comfortable with the idea of going to places that previously they considered bad or dangerous or, you know, "the hood, " as someone previously put it. And so, if we are serious about wanting to revitalize places like Little Haiti, Airbnb is an excellent method of doing this, because --just to give you one example -- Chair Hardemon: Before you move on, I mean, I tried my best not to -- because earlier; someone made a comment about Little Haiti. They called it "a ghetto. " The next person called it "the hood. " You stated that you, in fact, bought the house there; that someone was living in it before you bought it, and I want you to know that people live in those homes, and they've lived in those neighborhoods for a very long time, and they never regarded their homes as "hoods" or "ghettos. " And I'm sure if you visited nations across the water; if you saw what a ghetto was, you would be -- think very differently about these neighborhoods that are in the City of Miami that are historic. And so, I want you to really think very carefully about the words that you choose when you describe the neighborhoods that are in the City of Miami, because people -- Mr. Vizcardo: I'm not calling it "the hood. " Chair Hardemon: -- No, hear what I'm saying to you. People live in these neighborhoods. People have been paying taxes in these neighborhoods. Families have been raised in these neighborhoods. The Police Chief -- I'm sorry -- the Fire Chief, who just retired, guess where he was born and raised? Buena Vista; the same place that many people here have described as "the hood. " Guess where his brother still lives? The same home in Buena Vista. His brother lives down the street -- 1 think across the street from his mother in Buena Vista. And so, I'm telling you this to say that be careful how you paint the picture of these neighborhoods, because, I guarantee you, I walk, live, grew up, still own in these neighborhoods, and the people who are there are fine people who have jobs, who go to work, who come home, who raise children, and who are there during the time that Airbnb comes to those places, or your visitors, or whomever it may be, they are there. So because a visitor decides that they want to spend a day in Little Haiti, which is great -- we're all about cultural tourism -- doesn't make Little Haiti better. The people who live in those neighborhoods make Little Haiti better. The people who own in those neighborhoods make Little Haiti better. And so, we certainly want people to improve upon properties in those neighborhoods, and I want you to understand that, because every neighborhood is only as good as the care that they provide to their personal City of Miami Page 46 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 home. But I'm telling you --just cautioning you about the way that you speak about these neighborhoods, because people are very passionate about their neighborhoods. Mr. Vizcardo: No, absolutely. Chair Hardemon: And -- Mr. Vizcardo: I'm passionate about Little Haiti. I live in Little Haiti, and I'm not -- these aren't my words. These are words that other people have used. I mean, I love living in Little Haiti. I've never had any issues at all. It's people -- it's reviews that you find online that tourists, when they Google places like Little Haiti will find online; it's people like, you know, friends of mine, who are from Miami; they're from different parts of Miami, and they're like, "No, I don't want to hang out with you in Little Haiti. Let's hang out at my place, " you know, stuff like that. This isn't me. These are other people -- Chair Hardemon: All right. It's -- Mr. Vizcardo: -- throughout the City -- Chair Hardemon: Right. And it's -- Mr. Vizcardo: -- and in other places. Chair Hardemon: -- you know, it's unfortunate that people feel that way, but I guarantee you, there was a time when Miami Beach -- when people said, "I don't want to hang out there. " You know who lives in Miami Beach? They -- the way that they zoned Miami Beach was almost as bad as the way they zoned black neighborhoods, and when they didn't want to -- when they were red -lining. So, you know, every neighborhood that is of a minority presence has always been treated lesser than those neighborhoods that were majority white. And so, the world has changed in a number of different ways, and I just want you to keep that at the forefront; that, you know, yes, Airbnb and VR -- what is it? -- vacation rentals and all those things have -- they're not extremely new concepts. I mean, these things have been done for a very long time. But those homes that were built in 1925, 1919, 1908, you know, people lived therefor a very longtime. So I just want you to keep that in mind that, you know, when you describe these neighborhoods, it's okay to describe them factually, as to where they are, but just, you know, just be a little -- understand that we up here represent all those people, and they're watching you on TV, and someone -- my phone is ringing, ringing, ringing, because everyone keeps saying, "Why are people describing our neighborhoods like this?" So, you know, I just want you to understand that. I didn't want to interrupt you; it's just that it just keep -- it kept picking at me, because I -- you know, I grew up down the street from -- Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah, I get that. And my point is that, without Airbnb, the perception of Little Haiti as a crime -infested, hellish place will continue. With Airbnb, we're changing that, because people look at the reviews, and they see that they had a great time in Little Haiti. They look at the reviews, and they say that -- you know, there's even -- a few of my reviews say exactly what I was saying; that when they had initially Googled different parts of Miami, Little Havana, the Roads, Little Haiti, that when they saw Little Haiti, they were out; they didn't want to do it. But then, they saw my listing, they saw other listings, and decided, "It's centrally located. I can get to the beach very easily. I can get to downtown, " and a lot of people like to go to -- shopping in Sawgrass, so that's part of the reason why; it's like central. And so, it's because of reviews like that, that people have come and spent money in Little Haiti, and stayed at my place. City of Miami Page 47 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: Right. Mr. Vizcardo: It's because of Airbnb that people are changing their views. And I want to give you one example. A few months ago, I had a couple from Nebraska, Stephen and Nicole, who -- they booked one of my listings for like three weeks. They -- I guess he ran an online marketing business so he could work wherever he wanted, and she also did some other type of virtual business. And after the three weeks in Little Haiti, they decided to move to Little Haiti from Nebraska. I'm sure they were planning to move out of Nebraska anyways, but the fact that through Airbnb, they made this moving decision, and they decided to move to Little Haiti shows how, without Airbnb, they would have probably gone to one of the traditional touristy locations. They would not have seen Little Haiti. Chair Hardemon: They bought a new house? Mr. Vizcardo: They are going to lease a place in Little Haiti, so. And so, yeah, the - - my main points was about the marketing, the perception of the neighborhoods, and on the issue of affordable housing and the supply of units in the City. There's actually a lot of -- Chair Hardemon: Do you think that Airbnb increases the affordability of the houses in those neighborhoods? Mr. Vizcardo: What I think is that the -- in terms of affordable housing, we have policies, like the surtax that the County provides -- Chair Hardemon: No, no, no. Mr. Vizcardo: -- the low-income housing tax credits. Chair Hardemon: I'm not — my question to you is this: Before you moved into the neighborhood, you described it as "a ghetto. " You described -- Mr. Vizcardo: I didn't. I said, "People have described it as a ghetto. " You keep saying that I did it. I didn't say that. Chair Hardemon: It was described as a ghetto. Mr. Vizcardo: Uh-huh. Chair Hardemon: You described your friends that told you they don't want to come to your neighborhood to hang out. Mr. Vizcardo: Yeah. Chair Hardemon: So you then began to rent it. So my question to you is, then, do you think that bringing short-term rentals into neighborhoods where the housing costs are low or affordable, does it -- does that make it more affordable for people who want to actually live there and not visit? Mr. Vizcardo: Absolutely, because when you look at the number of vacant properties and vacant buildings there, if you have a mass of demand that is going to go around those units, then people will feel more comfortable investing in those vacant units. I think it's like around -- Chair Hardemon: You think that the Little Haiti area has a great number of vacant units? City of Miami Page 48 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Vizcardo: Yes. Just -- I run all the time around Little Haiti, and there's a lot of vacant units. There's vacant duplexes, vacant triplexes, vacant single-family homes. I mean, I literally run three week -- three times a week around Little Haiti, so I know pretty much the housing stock in the area; and, yeah, there's definitely a lot of vacant units. So when people want to renovate a property and they want to take that risk and invest their capital, it's from -- it's creating demand and creating awareness through types of org -- platforms like Airbnb that owners will feel more comfortable investing their capital and renovating these vacant lots rather than just leaving them vacant, really, so. My other points were on the issue of affordability; that the City does have other tools, like the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) program, Community Land Trust, the surtax program, HOME (Home Investment Partnership Program) Fund, CDBG (Community Development Block Grant), different innovative partnerships that they can look throughout the country to these types of -- this -- these toolboxes of affordable housing. So I don't think that clamping down on a very minor -- There's actually an empirical study about this from a center in LA (Los Angeles) that shows Airbnb -- most units in Airbnb are not units that otherwise would have been rented to another place; they are rooms that would have remained vacant, were they not on Airbnb. On the -- my other point, my last point is also on the issue -- So I looked at my place and I looked at the hotels nearby, and the closest decently -rated hotels were near the airport or all the way in downtown. The ones that are along Biscayne, if you look at some of the sites that do reviews, they have the terrible reviews, and they have -- You know, if you just go on Google and you click on the news section, you always see like, you know, there was this -- you know, some other scandal, some kind of crime at this -- committed at the hotel; someone got stabbed, and so on and so forth. So when tourists are planning their vacations and they Google neighborhoods, and they see these kind of things, I don't think we are competing. Like, my reviews are lightyears ahead from the motels on Biscayne. And so, I really -- empirically, I'm sure if you were to look at the web analytics behind this, it's completely different clientele, because this kind of -- the reviews that are there and the reviews that Airbnb hosts get are completely different. And there are -- to get the same level of positive reviews to compare to Airbnb, you would have to go to a hotel that's out of the City, near the airport, like along the 36th Street area. Those are the nearest ones that have decently (UNINTELLIGIBLE) rated units. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Hello. Olimpia Yataco: Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Olimpia, and my husband Ishmael, and we host for three years with Airbnb. Yes, I want to remark. Chair Hardemon: Can you state your name for the --? Ms. Yataco: Miami is a great city and it -- Chair Hardemon: Can you state your address? Ms. Yataco: -- I will say hundred percent tourist. My address is 9027 Southwest 157th Ave. I say Miami is a hundred percent touristic, and Airbnb is make it to grow in this industry. For example, in our case, we are retire, and thanks to Airbnb, our life change three years ago. Now we enjoy life. They call us "the new boomers"; we are, because we pass already the 70 years old, and we enjoying life. Please, I'm asking you, gave [sic] us opportunity to share our home. We are empty nesters, and we needed Airbnb to have a decent elderly years. This all I want to say. Thank you so much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. City of Miami Page 49 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, can I just verify her address? Commissioner Gort: Yeah, it's outside of the City. Chair Hardemon: It's somewhere very far. Commissioner Carollo: That's why. Is it 157th Avenue? Ms. Yataco: 9027 Southwest 157th Ave., Miami, Florida 33196. Commissioner Carollo: Thankyou. Ms. Yataco: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Okay. Albio Castillo: I'm going to speak on the AR -- whatever it is. My address is 2235 Southwest 16th Terrace, and I live right next to one. Chair Hardemon: Can you tell us your name, as well? Mr. Castillo: Albio L. Castillo. You should know that by now. I know it's for the record, so. My question is to you gentlemen: This is not -- they're not in Miami 21, which says to fine them. In 2007, it is Miami 21. They're not in the books. My suggestion to you is, don't do a whole thing; just put it in the Code; that is, Miami 21 and Code Enforcement, and fine them. And there's ways of checking them and see if the property is being rented or not; just check the computers. Have some people in Code Enforcement checking the computers, and that's the way you do it. That's the only way you're going to get money. Fine them and all that. If they go to lien and foreclosure, that's fine, but you avoid the problem that you're having. People are -- be -- rented these houses. So far, I've been lucky. The only thing is that they don't know how to park. They don't know how to park, because they don't measure how the driveway begins and ends. But you have got a few instances that have not been that nice. So that is my suggestion to you; to put it into the fines, like you do in regular Code Enforcement, 250 and it'll run up to $500. Thank you gentlemen, and thank you for -- Before I leave, I'm one of the few political activists that try to help the entire community. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Nick Delmore: Good afternoon. My name is Nick Delmore, 2238 Secoffee Terrace. I'm here to talk about -- is it RE.3? -- Airbnb. My interest is very narrow. I'm not for Airbnb. I'm not against Airbnb. I'm for choice. I made a choice in 1991 to buy a house in a residential neighborhood; then it was called R1. And I made that choice, based on all the attendant benefits and restrictions that pertained to that property. From my point of view, if you're going to do anything with Airbnb, please, for God's sake, keep it out of single-family residential neighborhoods. I believe that's now called T3 -R; is that what it is? The short-term rentals -- I have a stream of cars on my street, and the guy's been cited, and he continues to rent, because he knows the fine will be far -- or the fine is far less than the sum of the rentals that he's going to bring in, in the three months that it takes to get before a master or a board. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. City of Miami Page 50 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Meg Daley: Good afternoon. My name is Meg Daley. I live at 1004 Cotorro Avenue, and I'm CEO (Chief Executive 0 icer) and president of Friends of the Underline. Good afternoon. I think I've seen all of you since the morning. Thank you for letting me speak today about RE. 7. The Underline is happening really, and thanks in large part to all of you for your commitment last year to allocate funding from impact fees from projects built within a thousand feet of Metrorail in the City of Miami's portion of the Underline. We're excited to see reports since this resolution passed last September that projects in this corridor are already generating fees that will help us design and build, and sustain the speed of delivery. I'd also like to thank Commissioner Carollo for working very hard to make the parcel for the Underline next to Simpson Park happen, and may be one of our first implementations. Thank you very much. Since the funding source was approved, our team has been honored to work with your City Administration and attorneys to hammer out a Memorandum of Understanding with the County that will allow for these allocated funds to be transferred from the City to the County for design and construction. The only thing we're voting on today is the approval of this Memorandum of Understanding for funding transfer. Thank you to the City Commission for believing in this project, and to your City Administration; and, of course, to Commissioner Suarez' leadership in sponsoring these resolutions. Thank you so much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Ms. Solares: Mr. Chair, Grace Solares. I'd like to reserve my time to speak on RE.3 when the matter actually comes before this board. Chair Hardemon: You already have that. You -- Ms. Solares: Oh, thank you. Chair Hardemon: -- you're the reason of all this change, so, you know, you had that reason --you had that ability long before we made these changes. Ms. Solares: It was a suggestion at the time. Chair Hardemon: Sir, please. George Edwards: George Edwards, 9169 Southwest 96th Avenue. I have a 95 -year- old mother that is in a facility here in Miami. I promised her that whenever one of her relatives or someone came -- drove down to visit, I would pay to put them up. I use Airbnb. If I had to put them up at a hotel, her visits would be fewer. When I read your regulation, you quoted a Journal of Professional Planners, so I went to the site of that journal, and there was an article written there by a Ph.D. Professor; Daniel Gutentauk, and one of the points he said was that there has never been a scholarly review of tourism anywhere. So if we're making decisions that impact tourism, maybe you want to know what's going on. The other part of the article that made sense to me was that Airbnb brings in people that possibly would not have come to begin with, because of the expense, but they also go into communities that are not where much of the tourism is. Tourism has been important to this area ever since Mr. Flagler came down and picked a grapefruit off a tree, so we're -- if -- we don't want to lose that by eliminating these places that help these people. That's it. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Ms. Holmes: Commissioner; I wanted -- Chair Hardemon: Yes. City of Miami Page 51 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Holmes: Yes. In regards to RE. 13, are we speaking on RE. 13? Chair Hardemon: We're on the public comment section. We haven't gotten past public comment for the morning. So as soon as we're done with this public comment, we can finally go to lunch. I know -- Ms. Holmes: That's okay. I just want to put on the record, and then I want to go back to my ojjice, regards to RE. 13. He just spoke in regards to RE. 13, the Wynwood expansion and boundaries. I just want to put a record that as a resident of Overtown, as someone who has been advocating, marching, going back and forth through the planning and the zoning process, and someone who could benefit from that, being it's fair; I have some warning signs available for me. There were signs to be put up that set boundaries in regards to historical boundaries and landmarks within our area that has not been done. I am hearing about Airbnb, and I have seen the benefits of Wynwood growing and moving, and I come from Allapattah and Overtown, all that we move in that area. And I've seen nothing that says that we're still a population, we're still a historical site over there. And so, when people want to expand on something that I have not seen hard-working impoverished community people who cannot afford to challenge quasi-judicial -- the Planning and Zoning process, someone who's been there, who's been deeply engaged and concerned; and yet to have that type of respect from the corporations in the area, then I'm wondering if we really want to give people the right to decide what type of codes, what type expansion you want to do when they haven't quite integrated with the poverty folks. I'd like to say that I'm not in support of it. I'd like to encourage you all to monitor all of the promises that were made and see if they're up to par. And I'd like to actually say that, as poor African American woman in a city community that's under development, I'm so sick and tired of hearing people talking about bringing new people into my community and not getting any benefits of that. I don't come to your house and do it. Don't come to mine. So I just wanted to put that on the record. When we talk about respecting our neighbors, loving our neighbors, respecting a culture of folks and everybody, when -- normally, when I come to -- I don't even get a chance to the microphone, you know, to come down here and speak. And I'm going to say it one more time. I've always got people that want to expand their income based on where somebody else live, but wouldn't even invite me to your dinner table. Something's wrong with that. Thankyou. Gary Milano: Good afternoon. My name is Gary Milano. My address is 5974 Southwest 59th Street. I'm here today to oppose RE. 1, and I'm representing Tropical Audubon. And if it's acceptable, Mr. Chair, I'd like to read in a written statement at the time that the item is heard during the public comment period. Would that be okay? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Mr. Milano: Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Kenneth Tobin: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Tin sorry the Mayor is not here at the moment. My name is Kenneth Tobin, T -O -B -I -N. I live at 1767 Micanopy Avenue, right here in Coconut Grove. I am an Airbnb, and VRBO/Home Away host. I've been doing it for almost two years. I live in a 5,000 -square -foot house. I host families; I host retreats for corporations. Most of the families that come here spend lots of money in the City, and they love it. We get great reviews. We meet lots of really interesting people, like chairmen of gold companies that are listed on the stock exchange. I've had the Heisman Trophy winner from a few years ago at our house. Mr. Russell -- or Commissioner Russell's been in my house. I know my wife served City of Miami Page 52 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 him water when he was running for Commission. We've had great, great experiences. They come in; they leave the house exactly the way they got it, which was perfect; they do the laundry; they make the beds. I don't know how -- and they can't afford to rent six or eight rooms. These are families, sometimes with kids. For the Cardi Cup, the last two weeks, they were in our house. We walked back in on Monday; it was perfect. I do have to say that we get to -- through the websites, we get to vet the people. We turn people down if they're coming for -- obviously, for Ultra. We say, "no. " It's just a great, great thing. I do want to tell you that, also, since the Miami -Dade Commission will approve next week or at the next meeting the 6 percent resort tax for these rentals, we would be contributing so far this year almost $1, 700 to the City of Miami coffers, and I think that's a lot of money for doing nothing, other than receiving money from either Airbnb, VBRO; also, the other probably several hundred sites that have been here for a long time. So I wish -- I would hope that you Commissioners vote to review the Code, review the issues that - - there are some issues, obvious, as you know -- and try to come up with some kind of cure for some of the exceptions. Maybe your Code Enforcement's not strong enough, which I've heard some of that today -- and let the people that really want to come here, come here. There's just too many people that want to come here. There are hotel rooms that are not affordable. This is bringing lots of people here, spending lots of money. The people that were just here for two weeks, they must have spent $10, 000 on Coconut Grove. We sent them to every restaurant, every --to the movies, all these things that they would not be able to do if they were here spending thousands and thousands of dollars on hotel rooms. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Ma'am. Linda C Alger: Hi. Good afternoon. Linda C Alger, 2784 Southwest 29th Avenue, and I'm here today to speak on RE. 12. You'll have an opportunity today for the City of Miami to become part of a very, very important thing, and that's joining the Climate Compact. So everything we hear about our way of life in this community will be at major risk in the coming years, and the years are going by quickly. And sea level rise is continuing; it's not going away, unfortunately, and we're said to be at ground zero, and we are going to have to do things to adapt or retreat. By joining the other communities that have signed on to this compact, I'm hoping it will give us some power, because we will have to get help in this community, financially, to deal with this problem. And we can also be an example for all the many municipalities and coastal cities that have so far not joined this. I believe about 30 have joined onto it, and closest to us, City of Coral Gables and City of South Miami have joined the Compact. So when this comes before you today -- to me, this is a no-brainer -- just sign onto this, and I'm just asking you to please support this resolution today. Okay, thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. Seeing no further persons for public comment, I'm going to close the morning session ofpublic comment, and we're going to recess till 5 o'clock to come back to finish the agenda. PA- PERSONAL APPEARANCES City of Miami Page 53 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PA.1 PERSONAL APPEARANCE 1770 PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY ANGIE CHIRINO, DONOR RELATIONS MANAGER FOR THE VOICES FOR CHILDREN FOUNDATION, REGARDING AWARENESS OF THE GUARDIAN AD LITEM (GAL) PROGRAM. RESULT: DISCUSSED Chair Hardemon: The first personal appearance that is on the agenda is a personal appearance by Ms. Angie Chirino. Welcome. Angie Chirino: Thank you; just need a moment to get set up here. Later... Ms. Chirino: Good morning, members of the Commission, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor. My name is Angie Chirino, and I'm here to speak to you about my organization, Voices for Children, and specifically, children in foster care. I'm very proud and honored to be here today with so many exciting and important members of the community, but the ones that I'd like to speak to you today are some more -- of the more vulnerable population; before I do, I would like to show you a very short video, so if you could please direct your attention to the screens. Note /or the Record: At this time an audiovisual presentation was given. Ms. Chirino: Like many children, children in foster care have dreams of being a doctor, of being a BMX (bicycle motocross) biker, a film director, of even having their house, but the reality is one in five of them will end up homeless; one out of three will live at or below the poverty level; one out of four will be incarcerated in the first two years of being aged out of foster care; and one out of four will be diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which is twice the number of US (United States) veterans. One more staggering statistic: Three out of four young women will be pregnant by age 21. And the difficult thing about this is, is that those young women who give birth to these children don't have the resources to take care of them, so those children end up right back in foster care. It's a cycle that perpetuates over and over and over again. They say, "It takes a village to raise a child. " In the Village of Miami, there -- right now, currently, there are about 270 children in foster care, and 127 of them have Guardian ad Litem representation. A Guardian ad Litem makes sure the children are not lost in an overburdened legal and social service system. They look out for the children. They mentor them. They become a friend. They are that responsible adult that they will probably never know in their life. I am a Guardian ad Litem, recruited and trained by Voices for Children Organization. A child with a Guardian ad Litem volunteer will spend less time in foster care; more likely to be adopted; is more likely to have a consistent, responsible adult present in their life; and more likely to finish high school, to do well in school, and to have some path for career attainment. But let's not look at it in the sentimental point of view. Let's look at it in dollars and cents. On average, for every young person who ages out of foster care, taxpayers and communities pay $300,000 in social costs over that person's lifetime, between public assistance, incarceration, and other exorbitant community costs. My organization, Voices for Children Foundation, our mission is that every child in foster care has a Guardian ad Litem. Currently, there's about 79 percent of the children in Miami -Dade County, which is about 3,000, with Guardian ad Litem representation. Our mission City of Miami Page 54 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 is that 100 percent of those children have a voice to speak for them in court. Guardian ad Litem is the only caring organization that exists to be that for these children. Our organization has been in operation since 1984, and very few people in the community know about what we do. We are a four-star charity, and have helped over 40,000 children. So how can the community help? I'm here to ask that the community encourage its members, its employees to become Guardians ad Litem so that they can directly assist those members who live in the community; to encourage businesses and other organizations to offer incentives for people to be guardians, or to donate resources, such as if the movie theater wants to host a movie night. Some of these children have never been to a movie or to a bowling alley or roller-skating, things like that; something that encourages positive experiences so that children can focus on a different reality than the one that they currently have; to envision themselves in a different reality and positive experiences, and not just one of gloom and doom, like, "I have no hope, and there's no path for me to take "; and, of course, if ever possible, donate any discretionary funds or anything that might be available to our organization to help recruit and train more Guardian ad Litem. Any investment, whether it be financial or other; into the community, makes the difference between raising a child to become someone who can give back to that community or someone who will end up begging for change on the streets. By being no one's children, they're essentially all our children. So I ask that we all today invest into those children so that they can possibly grow up to be like these people that were honored today here; so many people. So I ask you today to please consider what we do. I just want to make you aware of the organization and everything that we stand for, and I hope that you keep that in mind moving forward with -- when you make decisions about children in foster care. Any information that you might need, please visit www.beavoice.org. That is all for me, and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them now. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you so much for bringing this to light and sharing it with us. I've really been made aware of youth homelessness in this past year, and I think it's something that is largely not addressed well enough. And I think, for lack of your system in place and the initiatives that you're taking on, it would be much worse than it is. It's the first line of defense before that. So thank you very much. Ms. Chirino: Thank you very much. One last thing I'd like to say: I recently learned in my research in preparing this presentation, 30 percent of the US homeless population is former foster youth; something to keep in mind. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Chirino: So thank you. Thank you for your time. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman, if I may? Ms. Chirino: Yes. Chair Hardemon: Please. Commissioner Suarez: I just wanted you to know that it's a big issue in the City, children aging out of the foster system, and we're going to be -- I'm going to be putting forth an RFP (Request for Proposals) from some of my Poverty Initiative monies, so it'll -- should be rolled out, hopefully, next month; and, hopefully, you'll have an opportunity to make a proposal on that, in that process. City of Miami Page 55 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Chirino: Wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor, we have one more public appearance. Mayor Tomas Regalado: You know, she -- Angie spoke about an issue that is not very well known; it's the transition of the young people as adult. But Angie is part of a very, very beloved family. She is a very famed composer, and she's the daughter of Willy Chirino. So thank you, Angie, for all the work you do. Ms. Chirino: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's so good to see you. Commissioner Gort: We'll be helping you. Applause. END OF PERSONAL APPEARANCES City of Miami Page 56 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 CA - CONSENT AGENDA Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item CA.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: CA.1. Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak on CA. 1 ? Seeing none, is there a motion? Commissioner Gort: Move it. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved; seconded by the Chair. All in favor -- or is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. Cit, ofMiami Page 57 Printed on511812017 The following item(s) was Adopted on the Consent Agenda CA.1 RESOLUTION - Item Pulled from Consen 1761 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF A Police GRANT FROM THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $750,000.00, FOR THE REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ENHANCED POLICE SERVICES WITHIN THE SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST REDEVELOPMENT AREA; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A GRANT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, AND ALL OTHER NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0135 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Keon Hardemon, Chair AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort ABSENT: Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item CA.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: CA.1. Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak on CA. 1 ? Seeing none, is there a motion? Commissioner Gort: Move it. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved; seconded by the Chair. All in favor -- or is there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. Cit, ofMiami Page 57 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 CA.2 RESOLUTION -Item Pulled from Consent 1967 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION Office of the City AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND Attorney THE RETENTION OF SHUTTS & BOWEN LLP AS SPECIAL REAL AYES: ESTATE COUNSEL, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE CITY NOES: ATTORNEY, IN MATTERS SET FORTH IN CITY RESOLUTION NO. 16-0611 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW CITY OF MIAMI ADMINISTRATION BUILDING; WAIVING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AS PROVIDED HEREIN; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE NON -DEPARTMENTAL LEGAL SERVICES ACCOUNT NO. 00001.980000.531010.0000.00000. MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: FAILED MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Keon Hardemon, Chair AYES: Hardemon, Gort NOES: Carollo, Russell, Suarez Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, and was passed unanimously, with Chair Hardemon and Commissioner Gort absent, directing the City Attorney to issue a new search for a Special Real Estate Counsel. Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing item CA.2, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: CA.2. I'm sure there's someone that wants to speak on the record on CA.2. Seeing that there is no one, is there any discussion or any motion on CA.2? Commissioner Gort: Move it. Chair Hardemon: Properly moved; seconded by the Chair. I'll make a couple of comments before we vote on it. I don't -- Commissioner Sarnoff has a two-year restriction from lobbying. I don't take this as him lobbying the City of Miami, so I don't -- that part of this doesn't really -- doesn't affect me, doesn't bother me with this. And additionally, even shielding him from working on a matter; as stated by counsel, that he was going to be sure that he was not going to be working on this, I don't even think that that matters, because he's not lobbying, so he's just doing work, and he's a former Commissioner. It's not the same as lobbying the City of Miami, so I'm comfortable with this. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Chairman, but I just wanted to clam -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Ms. Mendez: -- because there's a difference. There's a ban, a two-year ban with anyone who's an elected official working or contracting with the City, so that's the real issue. But in this case, he is not involved. He is not -- any fee sharing. It's not -- and this is what was communicated by Shutts & Bowen. He is not involved. He will not be in this matter. He does not deal with these types of things. So it is not something that would trigger the contractual -- the two-year contractual issue; and also, he has not lobbied or done anything with regard to this. It was Mr. Tachmes and his other partner. So it does not trigger something that would require a four - City of Miami Page 58 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 fifths. The issue that this board has to look into is just what the resolution states, "by a simple majority, " and that's it. Chair Hardemon: Any further discussion? Commissioner Carollo: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Actually, the person that actually brought this to my attention was actually Ms. Solares. However, I have to admit, I don't have an issue with former Commissioner Sarnoff. And I understand he is not an equity partner, so that is not the issue that I have. However, this is something that, actually, this Commission has discussed in the past. This is nothing new to us. You know, we've tackled this question: Do we want a firm that is representing a party that is adverse to the City to then represent the City? And we set precedence that this is not something that the City should support. In fact, in January 9, 2014, when addressing this issue, former Commissioner Sarnoff asked a philosophical question, which was, `Do you want the one hand that you pay or one hand that you feed to bite you?" He also --and I'll quote, "I think this Commission's got to be very judicious in that second tier of analysis, and I think it's perfectly okay to say as well, Do you want people who sue you to also represent you? "' Commissioner Hardemon stated, "You need to have to choose. You either want to be with us or you're going to be against us. And some people who are against us may be hired to be with us so they won't be against us anymore, because it's just that much of a strategic decision. " Commissioner Suarez stated -- and I'll quote from the minutes of the January 9, 2014 meeting -- "Yeah, I'll be honest with you, I think we've been pretty laissez faire about waiving conflicts generally. But I have no problem with setting that precedent, setting that policy where we say, `Look, if you want to represent the City, you represent the City. If you want to represent the people who are adverse to the City, you represent the people who are adverse to the City, but you can't do both. You know, I don't have an issue with that. "' So it's pretty clear from the will of this Commission that the answer was, `No, we do not want to hire a firm that is also representing a client that is adverse to the City. " In fact, in the meeting of January 23, 2014, once again, we talked about waiving a conflict of interest with a law firm, and former Commissioner Sarnoff referenced that: "The general rule " -- and I'll quote from the minutes -- "and general principal that in the event a person or a law firm sues the City of Miami, they should not receive the benefits of then having the ability to represent, or beyond, work with the City of Miami. " So that's where I'm having the issue. And this Commission has stated -- Chair Hardemon: Is Shutts & Bowen suing us right now? Commissioner Carollo: They are representing someone that is. And Madam City Attorney, ifyou will, please? Chair Hardemon: Can you describe the matter in which --? Mr. Tachmes: Mr. Chair, I can address that, ifyou'd like? Commissioner Carollo: And by the way, let me just add, I have no issues with Shutts & Bowens [sic]. As a matter of fact, this arose from the MRC (Miami Riverside Center) RFP (Request for Proposals), where I was the one who brought the issue that, "Hey, listen, I think we need outside counsel that are" -- you know, they -- that are specific to land deals and so forth, as what the committee member said. So it's not about Shutts & Bowens [sic], but it's about you're representing someone who's adverse to the City, but yet, you also want to represent the City, and that's the issue, City of Miami Page 59 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 which this Commission in the past has stated very clearly that, `No, we don't want that type of relationship. " Chair Hardemon: Can you describe the client that you have? Mr. Tachmes: Yes, Mr. Chair. So out of the 300 or so lawyers at our firm, the only matter that had come up, and was pointed out by the City Attorney, was a matter where we are appealing a zoning decision of the City of Miami. So we're not suing the City of Miami for damages. We are not suing the City of Miami for breach of contract. Nothing of the kind. There was a zoning application. The zoning application was denied. Our client filed an appeal in circuit court, and that's it. So are we adverse? Technically, yes. But the question is, Commissioner Carollo -- and it's always the question under the Bar rules -- is the existence of that zoning appeal, does that affect our ability to zealously represent the City in this other matter? And I think it's quite obvious that the fact that we have one zoning appeal pending out of 300 lawyers being handled by someone else in a firm will have no ability -- no impact, whatsoever, on our ability to represent the City in an excellent fashion. So I don't know what statements were made in the past, but the typical procedure of a company or a government is to analyze the situation and determine whether you want to waive a conflict, and the issue is, is the existence of that case -- does it prevent you from exercising the zealous representation of your client, or are you going to have divided loyalty if you have a pending case against the City? Clearly, that's not the matter here. And let me just make one other comment. I think it's important to focus on what your -- what's in front of you, which is you're facing one of most complicated real estate deals the City has ever considered. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. So you had an RFP. You had four law firms that submitted a response. The City Attorney is recommending our farm. This is not apolitical issue. This is an issue of, what is the best farm that will safeguard hundreds of millions of dollars for the City? You had a solo [sic] practitioner apply. And I can tell you, from meeting with the City Manager, that with what he wants to accomplish between now and June in order to get this all on the July agenda, there's no way a solo [sic]practitioner's going to be able to do it. You had another bidder, who's also representing Adler, which is the person you're negotiating with, so clearly, that's -- that farm is out. And you had a third farm that doesn't even have a Miami office. So if you guy -- if you want to decide not to hire us, I suggest, you know, you consider very carefully the legal and business implications of doing that, because, frankly, you know, there's no question we're the best farm, and it's in the best interest of the City for you to hire us. And I'll also just add to that, that we agreed to a significantly reduced hourly rate that the City Attorney was pretty tough on with us, so I -- you know, I just think it's -- if you're doing the right thing for the City, this is the right thing. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: I would expect nothing less than for you to answer as eloquent as you did. Chair Hardemon: Pretty good. Commissioner Carollo: However, there's still an issue. You're representing someone that is going to circuit court against the City of Miami on a decision that this Commission did for the residents. Yes, was a multi-million dollars; I get it, but it was still for the residents. So tell that resident right behind you that came, and lives right by that property and spoke up and said, "We do not want that, " that this is not important; that this is inferior to a million -dollar deal, and I get it. But at the same time, I represent those residents, and although they may not be as important to some, City of Miami Page 60 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 they're important to me. So what I am saying is -- and be very -- and I'm going to be very clear -- I don't have an issue with your law firm. And I stated, I don't have an issue with Commissioner Sarnoff that was stated before; clearly, I do not. What I am saying is, I don't -- I do not believe --just like this Commission has very clearly and directly stated in the past, including former Commissioner Sarnoff, that the City should not be hiring a firm that is adverse to the City, you know. Maybe you may need to reconsider and say, "We prefer to take the representation of the City and not the other. " I'm -- I don't know, but I'm just saying -- Chair Hardemon: Before we respond, I just wanted to say something, because I know my quote was invoked -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Chair Hardemon: -- in this whole thing, and I absolutely stand behind that quote that I stated earlier. I do think that this is distinguishable from the facts that was [sic] explained by counsel. This is something that you -- you know, the harm in this is nowhere near the type of harm that is involved with someone who is suing the City for some other --for damages for something, and they learn things about the City through working with the City, if they were working with us as attorneys that we've hired, so it's like -- that's the best of both worlds, and that's exactly what I think we should be cautious of having. If the representation was made that Shutts & Bowens [sic] is only representing someone who's an appellant to a decision, I mean, I don't see that as a big deal. I think that is distinguishable enough to know that the harm in them representing us in this matter, is certainly outweighed by the good in the sense that we need someone, as was displayed by you, Commissioner Carollo, to go and analyze this deal. I had confidence in our City Attorney's Office in doing it; the Board did not, and so now we are where we are. Ms. Mendez: Thank you, Chairman. Chair Hardemon: So, if there's any further -- do we need further discussion about it? Vice Chair Russell: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Sure. Vice Chair Russell: I'm with Commissioner Carollo on this, and I do believe that there is a [sic] actual Bar waiver that needs to be -- that needs to happen. There is clearly a conflict. We are -- our vote of `yes" today would be waiving that conflict. The whole reason we were looking to get a third party in is to have afresh set of eyes, a real independent voice. And if they are conflicted or not fully independent, we might as well just stick with the attorney and her very capable team. But I do believe there is a value in having a third party in here, but I want them to be fully independent and un -conflicted. So I would be a "no " today, as well. Commissioner Carollo: And by the way, there's three other firms. Chair Hardemon: Right. We'll get what we deserve. Is there a motion to approve it? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair; there is a motion -- Commissioner Gort: There's a motion, yes. Mr. Hannon: -- by Commissioner Gort, with a second by you. City of Miami Page 61 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: Okay. There's two things we can do. If Commissioner Suarez can hear us, if he wants to, he can come here and be a decisive vote, or we can hold the vote the way we are, and it will be, presumably, 2-2, so. He may not want to come. Maybe we should check on him. Commissioner Gort: 2-2, then it's a "no" vote. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Mr. Chairman, can we table the item for a little while and move on to another item? And we can see if -- There he is. Chair Hardemon: Oh, he's here. Commissioner Suarez: Justin time. Mr. Chair, if I may? Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. You know, and I agree with what Commissioner Carollo recited. I think it was an accurate recitation of my sentiments on that issue, and I think it's probably a good practice. What I'm trying to get at is --First of all, the City Attorney recommended this firm out of a pool of people that applied, or that bid on this. So, can you explain to us why you recommended this firm over the other firms? Is there any issue with the other firms? What's -- is there -- what's the story? Ms. Mendez: We sent out approximately -- an RFLI (Request for Letters of Interest) for -- to 70 firms; only four responded. And, as Mr. Tachmes described, you had one firm that was a sole practitioner; I did not think that they were qualified. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Mendez: You had another firm that represents Adler directly. Commissioner Suarez: Oh. Well, that's obviously not an option. Ms. Mendez: So that was not an option. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Mendez: And then you had another firm that was out of -- not inside Miami -Dade County. I think they were from Palm Beach. And then you had Shutts & Bowen. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Mendez: I mean, those were the four that responded -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. And so -- Ms. Mendez: -- to the RFLI that was -- Vice Chair Russell: How broadly advertised? Ms. Mendez: --sent out. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Mendez: I'm sorry? Vice Chair Russell: How broadly advertised was it? City of Miami Page 62 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Mendez: I -- 70 firms received it. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: And I have follow-up questions with regards to that. I requested to know all the firms that actually applied, and it was answered by: "The following four firms timely responded. " So when I saw "timely responded, " what was the time period that they had --? Ms. Mendez: And untimely, there was one other firm, I believe, that expressed an interest, but did not submit all the proper documentation. Commissioner Carollo: Right. So how long did you give them to apply? So -- Ms. Mendez: It was six weeks. Commissioner Carollo: And who was this firm that, I guess, didn't make the deadline? I don't know. I'm just -- Ms. Mendez: Sanchez, Medina, Lage, Quesada. Commissioner Carollo: So -- I'm not in the law community, so I'm not sure. So is that a reputable firm that could have done the job? Ms. Mendez: They're reputable, but, again -- Commissioner Gort: Experience. Ms. Mendez: -- timeliness is -- I gave them six weeks. Commissioner Carollo: So there are other firms that could actually do the job? And, you know, by the way, like I said, we've had this conversation in the past. I'll go to, you know, when we had this conversation with regards to -- hold on -- availability of firms. And again, Commissioner Hardemon -- Chair Hardemon: Got another quote for me? Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, of course. Chair Hardemon: Quote me on this one: Greater Miami Legal Services, they'll do it for cheaper. Ms. Mendez: This was -- remember, this is very frustrating, because -- Commissioner Carollo: Well, you actually said something similar. You said, "When you look at the business community and the lawyers, which there are thousands of them in the City of Miami who can do this type of work, that we give opportunity to those who are faithful to the City of Miami. " And Commissioner Suarez said something different. "You're making a very compelling argument, Commissioner Hardemon, and there really isn't a shortage of lawyers in the legal community. " Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may? Chair Hardemon: You're my friend. What's up, bro'? City of Miami Page 63 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I don't think that there's a shortage of lawyers in the City of Miami; that's for sure, but when you send out an RFP for -- or an RFLI, or whatever, for 70 law firms, and you get four responses, three of which have significant problems, the issue I have is that, irrespective of who practices there -- and I'm sure you would be willing to make some sort of a declarative statement that the Commissioner will not be involved in the file. I don't think he's -- I think Ms. Solares said that he lists himself as areal estate practitioner. I didn't know that he was areal estate practitioner. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: I thought he was a maritime lawyer; so -- Commissioner Carollo: Commissioner Suarez, by the way, my argument has nothing to do with former Commissioner Sar -- Commissioner Suarez: I know, I know. I know, I know, I know. Commissioner Carollo: I mean -- Commissioner Suarez: Well, by -- the second part of the argument Commissioner Carollo: -- my argument has nothing to do with Commissioner former Commissioner Sarnoff. Commissioner Suarez: -- is, generally speaking, I think we would want to avoid having a law firm that has a con -- or that is adverse to us representing us, which makes sense; not -- Commissioner Carollo: But there was another law firm that I guess didn't do it on time or -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: -- that could possibly represent us. Commissioner Suarez: But they expressed interest, but they obviously didn't bid. That's like saying, somebody -- I mean, there's -- I mean, that's what you do these processes for. You have a process; people either participate in the process or don't participate in the process. So I'm --personally, I know the firm; they're good people. Roly's a great guy. You know, it's a great firm. I don't have any issues with them. You know, I just -- if somebody participated, they participated. If they didn't want to participate, they didn't participate. So for me, that's a little bit of --worrisome. And this is a -- what? -- $50 million deal, if I'm not mistaken? Mr. Tachmes: 250. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: $250 million deal. So, you know, this firm has been around a little longer than the former Commissioner was there. In fact, I think it's the oldest law firm in the City of Miami in its history, and I know that because my father used to practice there many, many years ago. Commissioner Carollo: But the issue is not the -- City of Miami Page 64 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: No, no. I know, I know. I'm just saying -- Commissioner Suarez: --firm. Commissioner Suarez: -- the issue for some is that is the issue; maybe not for you, but that is -- So the fact that there is -- that we are adverse to -- that -- in one of the cases that they have, they're adverse to us -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- in one situation, if we had other options, maybe we could do that, but I think in this case, this is the best that we have. Ms. Mendez: Unfortunately, every big firm in Miami -- Commissioner Suarez: Has conflicts. Ms. Mendez: -- has conflicts with us. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Ms. Mendez: Every big firm in Miami. Commissioner Suarez: I have to state a conflict now -- upcoming now, because somebody's going to be representing somebody here from my firm. Mr. Tachmes: Mr. Chair, can I address the conflict situation? Commissioner Carollo: Maybe that's why the Palm Beach firm was -- also bid. Vice Chair Russell: I disagree with the logic that `If it's the best we can do, then we should do it. " If there's conflicts throughout, and we're not going to get an independent third party that's not just going to rubber stamp, we should let our City Attorney handle this themselves. We want to broaden the net, and try to find a qualified non -conflicted, fully independent third party, then I think we try a little harder, and we look a little harder. I don't think we should -- would settle if we feel there's conflict here, and I do. I'm not comfortable. It's a big deal. I think it's very important. And I think the unorthodox tactic of actually finding a third party attorney, I think, was a very smart move. Now, I think we should follow through and make sure we've got the right partner in hand. Mr. Tachmes, you wanted to -- Mr. Tachmes: I just wanted to make -- Commissioner Carollo, just a comment for the record on what the Florida Bar rules mandate with regard to conflicts, okay? So we have already promised the City Attorney that if we are hired, we're not going to take on any additional matters that are adverse to the City, and that's in the engagement letter the City attorney has drafted. Now, this appeal is something that's -- was already pending at the -- Let me finish, please, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: Well, it's still adverse to the City. Mr. Tachmes: I'm sorry? Commissioner Carollo: It's still adverse to the City. Mr. Tachmes: No, no, no. Let me finish. The matter that we're adverse to the City on -- City of Miami Page 65 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: And if not -- Mr. Tachmes: Give me one moment, please. Commissioner Carollo: -- ask that resident right there. Mr. Tachmes: Commissioner; the matter that we're adverse to the City on was pending before we even got this RFLI. Under the rules of the Bay; we can't just simply drop a client we've been representing. It's called the "Hot Potato Rule, " under the Bar rules. We have a duty of loyalty to that client, and that is an excellent client of ours, and we will continue to represent that client. And it wouldn't be appropriate for us to say, "Oh, you know what? We like the City more; we're dropping this client. " We would never do that. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Tachmes: However; we have committed to the City that, going forward, we will not take on any matters of either litigation or even a zoning appellant nature because of our representation of the City. Now, if that's not good enough, and you want to go ahead and hire another law firm, or you want to go through another search, we won't bid again. Chair Hardemon: That's -- Mr. Tachmes: We're not going to go through this again. Chair Hardemon: -- an awesome promise to make. I'm surprised that you all will make that promise, because I know you can make a lot more money defending others against the City than you will working for the City. Mr. Tachmes: Correct. Chair Hardemon: But -- Mr. Tachmes: But we really do consider it, Mr. Chair, to be an honor to represent the City, and so, there are things that we're willing to do, including taking the significant reduction of our hourly rate. Chair Hardemon: When I look at the matter that in which they're doing, it's -- it doesn't appear to be something that causes great concern in me. I mean, this is about getting the best deal for the residents in the City of Miami, a deal that if they structure it, we don't have to take if we don't agree with them, but, you know -- We lost Francis. Commissioner Carollo: I agree, Mr. Chairman. Remember; I'm the one who initiated getting outside counsel, so I agree. But at the same time, if they have a conflict, I understand. And it's very honorable that you do not want to drop that other client, but then what I'm saying is, okay, is there another firm -- Chair Hardemon: This is -- Commissioner Carollo: -- that is not conflicted? And you said the one from Palm Beach, or the other one that, I guess, didn't make it. So, if you're saying that all the law firms in Dade County are conflicted out, okay, then we have to go outside Dade County. Chair Hardemon: And Commissioner Carollo, just to have conversation with you -- City of Miami Page 66 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. Chair Hardemon: -- these -- the matters that we have with our City Attorney's Office is getting more and more convoluted, if you will, because when I think about -- You know, we've said to our City Attorney's Office, "Well, no, we don't want your opinion, because you're biased in one way, " or "We don't want your opinion, because, you know, you're not someone who's done a $300 million deal in some way. " There's just always -- we nitpick our City Attorney's Office about a number of different things in how the City Attorney's Office is going to represent us, and if they're qualified to represent us, if they're unbiased enough to represent us, and now we're doing the same thing, furthermore, on smaller issues when it comes to the legal community. It's going to be -- People do turn down clients, and I can foresee a future where people will start turning down the City of Miami, because it's just not worth it. So I don't have any relationship with Shutts & Bowen. The -- you know, when I went to law school, you know, I thought about practicing law; not necessarily what company I was going to be working for. But I will tell you that you do have an awesome reputation within the legal community and -- you know, and I trust that if someone from their office made the type of representation that was made before us today that, if I were running a company like Shutts & Bowen, I probably wouldn't make. So, you know, you must know something that I don't know; and you probably do, because you work for Shutts & Bowen, so. Commissioner Suarez: It's the only big farm that applied, right? Chair Hardemon: Maybe, but -- Commissioner Gort: Call the question. Chair Hardemon: -- we have -- so right now, it's all five of us. I mean, we can -- Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Russell: In addition to the conflict and the independence, I do want to clam one comment that Mr. Tachmes said. He said that someone else out of the 300 is representing that other client that's adverse to the City, but I remember the night that we voted on that issue that is now an appeal, and it was Mr. Tachmes that represented that side. He may not be representing them in the appeal, but clearly, that conflict exists. As to the -- as to the part that Ms. Solares brought up about Marc Sarnoff, I know that you all worked with him, and I know that you have no ill will toward him, but I have to be very honest. He's a good part of the reason that I ran for this seat, because of the way that he was handling many issues within our district. And anything that puts him closer back to this dais, I don't think is positive for the City. The politics that he is playing with the seats on this dais as we move toward this upcoming election, even, make me feel that I don't want him involved in a farm that is representing the City on such a big deal. The farm says they don't want to play politics; they probably shouldn't have hired a politician. I feel conflicted in this. I think this is a very important deal to the City, this is a very big expenditure, and that's why I'm a "no" on this. Commissioner Suarez: It is one of those days. Chair Hardemon: Yeah, that's a tough one, but I will say -- City of Miami Page 67 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Let me ask you a question. Are you even represen -- I mean, if we were to engage Shutts & Bowen, would it be -- who would be the lawyer that would actually be representing the City on the real estate stuff? Mr. Tachmes: Commissioner, it would be -- the primary lawyer would be Donald Wasil, who's the former chair of our real estate department. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Tachmes: He's on our executive committee. He's been with Shutts about 40 years. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Tachmes: Represents a lot of large, large companies. I would be involved, as well. I am not involved in the pending appeal. Commissioner Suarez: Can we -- Look, can we make sure that you're not involved? And it's nothing personal. It's just that --if it's going to create a potential -- Mr. Tachmes: I can't agree to that, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: I'm sorry? Mr. Tachmes: I can't agree to that. Commissioner Suarez: What do you mean? Mr. Tachmes: I'm not involved in the appeal. Commissioner Suarez: No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is not be involved in the representation of the City. If you have an experienced real estate lawyer in a big firm, how many lawyers do you have in --? Mr. Tachmes: Commissioner, the team that we bid for was Donald Wasil and myself. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Tachmes: And those are the people that we had bid for. Commissioner Suarez: I understand. Mr. Tachmes: So I cannot -- I can't tell you that I will not be involved in this deal, because that's the way we -- Commissioner Suarez: Why not? Mr. Tachmes: Commissioner, that's the way we have proposed it. We've examined the real estate lawyers at our firm, and we believe that's the best team to represent the City. If you don't -- aren't comfortable with that, you can -- you know, you can hire someone else. Commissioner Suarez: Wow. Chair Hardemon: All in favor of the motion, say "aye. " Commissioner Gort: `Aye. " City of Miami Page 68 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: All against? Commissioner Carollo: No. Vice Chair Russell: No. Commissioner Suarez: No. Chair Hardemon: Motion fails. Commissioner Gort: Next. Later Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may be recognized -- Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: --just on a point of privilege on the last item? Are we going to look for another lawyer? Because I think Commissioner Russell was very passionate at the time in advocating for outside counsel, and I was as well, because I've often felt -- I've felt for a long, long period of time that this is a very sophisticated real estate transaction, and we should have a very sophisticated real estate law firm representing us. Commissioner Gort: What about Palm Beach? Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. I actually agreed with Commissioner Suarez. I think we should put it out again, and if it takes a little longer, it takes a little longer. Vice Chair Russell: Let's broaden the search. Commissioner Carollo: Let's broaden the search. Vice Chair Russell: Go a little further. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioners, if you wish to broaden the firm, I guess -- the search, we'll leave it to the City Attorney, but I'm -- from the level of discussion that still needs to happen to get an actual deal to this Commission in time, if you take another six weeks broadening the search, looking for another firm, I doubt that we'll have enough time to get it in time. Commissioner Suarez: Please. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Here's my problem, Mr. Manager. This deal is going -- may happen -- let me just say, "May happen, " and if it does happen, it's going to be here way longer than you're going to be here. So, an additional three weeks, an additional three months, an additional six months, an additional year for that type of deal, I don't have any issues with, and that goes for all these mega deals that we're doing before November; that goes the same. That doesn't mean that I don't want them City of Miami Page 69 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 to happen. I'm not -- you shouldn't read into that. But what I am saying is, with all these mega deals, multi -million -dollar deals, I'm not going to rush any of them. So, if we need to do another search and we need to widen the span and see Florida -wide, I think we should do it. Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner Suarez, is that a motion? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I mean -- Commissioner Carollo: And I second. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes. That's a direction to go back out for bid; broaden the search statewide. Thank you. END OF CONSENT AGENDA City of Miami Page 70 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0151 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PH.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: PH.]. George Mensah: Good evening, Commissioners. George Mensah, director of Community and Economic Development. PH I is a resolution of the City Commission, by a four-fifths affirmative vote, authorizing the allocation of funds, in the amount of 50,000, to -- the organizations are described in Attachment "B," and these are for the provision of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and Moderate -- Vice Chair Russell: I'll move it. Mr. Mensah: -- Rehabilitation Program and HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons Living with AIDS) Programs Inspections. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved by the Vice Chair. City ofMiami Page 71 Printed on511812017 PH - PUBLIC HEARINGS PHA RESOLUTION 1790 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR-FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE Community and VOTE, AFTER AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING, RATIFYING, Economic APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S FINDING, Development ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS ATTACHMENT "A", THAT COMPETITIVE NEGOTIATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES ARE NOT PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS, PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-85(A) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED; WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SAID PROCEDURES; AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $50,000.00 TO THE ORGANIZATIONS AS SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "B", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, TO PROVIDE HOUSING QUALITY STANDARD INSPECTION SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI'S SECTION 8 HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER AND MODERATE REHABILITATION PROGRAMS AND HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS PROGRAM (HOPWA); ALLOCATING FROM THE SOCIAL SERVICE GAP PROGRAM FUND, ACCOUNT NO. 00001.910101.882000; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0151 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PH.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: PH.]. George Mensah: Good evening, Commissioners. George Mensah, director of Community and Economic Development. PH I is a resolution of the City Commission, by a four-fifths affirmative vote, authorizing the allocation of funds, in the amount of 50,000, to -- the organizations are described in Attachment "B," and these are for the provision of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and Moderate -- Vice Chair Russell: I'll move it. Mr. Mensah: -- Rehabilitation Program and HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons Living with AIDS) Programs Inspections. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved by the Vice Chair. City ofMiami Page 71 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: By the way, are we going to look for another lawyer? Because -- Commissioner Gort: Second Commissioner Suarez: -- I think -- Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): No. Chair Hardemon: Seconded by -- Commissioner Gort: Second Chair Hardemon: --Commissioner Gort. Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner, I would recommend that we don't -- Chair Hardemon: Is there -- Mr. Alfonso: -- because I don't think we have time. Chair Hardemon: One second. Is there anyone from the body that'd like to speak on this item, PH. 1 ? Seeing none, all in favor of the item, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: All against? Motion passes. Okay. PH.2 RESOLUTION 1791 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO Community and GRANT AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE 2016-2017 Economic AGREEMENTS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Development BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED "A", IN ATTACHMENT ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FOR SIX (6) MONTHS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE(S). ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0152 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Gort Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PH.2, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Commissioner Carollo: PH.2. City of Miami Page 72 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 George Mensah: It's a four-fifths, Commissioner. Vice Chair Russell: PH.2 is a four-fifths? Mr. Mensah: Oh, no, no, it's not. Sorry. PH.2 is extending the agreements for economic development agencies, as attached, for additional six months. Vice Chair Russell: Is there a motion on the floor? Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Just making sure we had four. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, we need four for that one? Mr. Hannon: Oh, no, no, no. My apologies. PH.2. Vice Chair Russell: That's a three -- that's a simple majority. Mr. Hannon: Got it. Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, okay. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 73 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PH.3 RESOLUTION 1751 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR-FIFTHS (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE Parks and VOTE, AFTER AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING, RATIFYING, Recreation APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S ABSENT: RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDING, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", THAT COMPETITIVE NEGOTIATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES ARE NOT PRACTICABLE OR ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-86(A)(3)(C) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED; WAIVING THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SAID PROCEDURES; APPROVING THE CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINDING, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED AS EXHIBIT "A", THAT AMIGOS TOGETHER FOR KIDS, INC., A FLORIDA NOT FOR PROFIT CORPORATION ("AMIGOS"), IS THE MOST QUALIFIED FIRM TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE AFTER-SCHOOL INSTRUCTION AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, FAMILY EVENTS, CULTURAL, AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT JOSE MARTI PARK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO NEGOTIATE AND TO EXECUTE A PARKS AND RECREATION SERVICES AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT"), IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY AND BOND COUNSEL, FOR THE CONTRACT PERIOD COMMENCING MAY 12, 2017 THROUGH MAY 11, 2022 WITH THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR UP TO TWO (2) CONSECUTIVE FIVE (5) YEAR PERIODS FOR A TOTAL OF FIFTEEN (15) YEARS UNDER THE SAME TERMS AND CONDITIONS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SERVICE AUTHORIZATION LETTERS AND TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS, RENEWALS, AND MODIFICATIONS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY AND BOND COUNSEL, TO IMPLEMENT ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE AGREEMENT. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0153 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Gort Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PH.3, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Vice Chair Russell: PH.3. This is a four-fifths, PH.3. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Mayor Tomds Regalado: Excuse me. Commissioner Suarez: Second. City ofMiami Page 74 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: PH.3 has been moved and seconded. This is Amigos for Kids Park Program. The Chairman is back. PH. 3, sir. Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry. Where are we? Chair Hardemon: It's been moved and seconded, right, PH.3? Vice Chair Russell: Right. Chair Hardemon: Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak on item PH.3? If so, please approach the lectern now. I was tricked. Is there any further discussion about PH.3? There is a 30 -day voluntary --what do you call it? Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): There's a cancellation. Chair Hardemon: --cancellation (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Min: Yes, sir. Chair Hardemon: All right. All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chair Hardemon: All against? Motion passes. END OF PUBLIC HEARINGS City of Miami Page 75 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13670 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing item SR.], please see "Order of the Day. " Chair Hardemon: SR. 1. Madam City Attorney -- I mean, Mr. Assistant City Attorney, can you read it into the record, please? Barn aby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Yes, Mr. Chair. SR.1 is: The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min. Vice Chair Russell: I'll move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Hardemon: Properly moved and seconded. Is there anyone from the public that'd like speak on this item? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Is there any further comment from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: I would just say, I feel sorry for anyone who tries to figure this out to actually comply with it, and I think -- You know, we do live in a little bit of a dichotomous city when it comes to trees, where there are people who -- and I happen to be one of them. I love trees. I'm a tree lover. I think that we should -- you know, I'm a -- call me a "tree hugger"; whatever you want to call me, but I love trees. I think that, you know, they add a tremendous amount to our environment. And I think, also, there are people in our city who are good people, and they, you know, pay their taxes, and they work hard, and they have no concept of what any of this means. I don't have any concept of what any of this means now, so I tried to read it on the airplane the other day, and it was really, really hard to -- I got like past like the third page, and I said, `I can't. I'm just going to have to trust Commissioner Russell on this, " but that's the fear -- that was -- that's the fear that I have. You know, it's already pretty complicated. This is getting a little bit more complicated. I'll go down this road with you, but I would -- I'll issue you a challenge, if I may. The challenge is City of Miami Page 76 Printed on5/18/2017 SR - SECOND READING ORDINANCES SRA ORDINANCE Second Reading 1399 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Commissioners CHAPTER 17 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, and Mayor AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION", TO CLARIFY PROCEDURES FOR THE TRIMMING, PRUNING, OR REMOVAL OF TREES IN THE CITY OF MIAMI; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13670 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing item SR.], please see "Order of the Day. " Chair Hardemon: SR. 1. Madam City Attorney -- I mean, Mr. Assistant City Attorney, can you read it into the record, please? Barn aby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Yes, Mr. Chair. SR.1 is: The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min. Vice Chair Russell: I'll move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Hardemon: Properly moved and seconded. Is there anyone from the public that'd like speak on this item? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Is there any further comment from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: I would just say, I feel sorry for anyone who tries to figure this out to actually comply with it, and I think -- You know, we do live in a little bit of a dichotomous city when it comes to trees, where there are people who -- and I happen to be one of them. I love trees. I'm a tree lover. I think that we should -- you know, I'm a -- call me a "tree hugger"; whatever you want to call me, but I love trees. I think that, you know, they add a tremendous amount to our environment. And I think, also, there are people in our city who are good people, and they, you know, pay their taxes, and they work hard, and they have no concept of what any of this means. I don't have any concept of what any of this means now, so I tried to read it on the airplane the other day, and it was really, really hard to -- I got like past like the third page, and I said, `I can't. I'm just going to have to trust Commissioner Russell on this, " but that's the fear -- that was -- that's the fear that I have. You know, it's already pretty complicated. This is getting a little bit more complicated. I'll go down this road with you, but I would -- I'll issue you a challenge, if I may. The challenge is City of Miami Page 76 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 as follows: Is there a way to accomplish the same goal in a simpler, more understandable fashion that people -- like a normal person could read and understand? That's just -- that's my challenge to you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Suarez. Quatisha's actually done an amazing job in working with my staff and also with the community, and actually taking what was actually very confusing and often in conflict with itself, ordinance, and actually making it much, much more -- much clearer than it was. The clarifications that had been brought -- that have brought it in line now and made it consistent are going to make it much easier to enforce, I believe. And Mr. Manager -- Mr. Manager was there -- we had a direction at an earlier meeting to utilize the -- a portion of the Tree Trust Fund to hire some consultants to assist Quatisha with the enforcement and education of even the developers who would be having to comply with this, and residents as well. Where are we on that? Quatisha, could you tell me where we are on hiring of consultants to help your department out, using the Tree Trust Fund? Quatisha Oguntoyinbo: Right. Those discussions are still -- Quatisha Oguntoyinbo, City of Miami, Planning and Zoning Department. Those discussions, we are still having to be able to enforce it and implement it as best possible that suits the needs for both Code Compliance and Planning & Zoning, so it is still in the works. Vice Chair Russell: Any time frame on when we would see those people come into your --? Ms. Quatisha: Well, actually, we have solicited -- well, we're actually posting for -- to hire -- I'm sorry -- to fill the positions, two positions now. We're also looking into additional resources outside of that, in order to reanalyze the divisions -- or the positions within our division to be able to best accommodate, using the Tree Trust funds, as well subsidizing the position that we have. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. And I just wanted to answer Commissioner Suarez' challenge, and probably the worst thing that a Grove Commissioner should ever say, but I decided to go through this process myself, and I'm removing a tree from my yard. Commissioner Gort: Uh-oh. Vice Chair Russell: It's rotting. It's invasive, as well, so I had to go through the absolute -- the whole permit process, and it was actually quite clear, quite painless, and I'm in that process now. It works. So I'm very comfortable with this, and I thank you. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: Let me tell you, I think it's a great job that you put those together; but at the same time, in my neighborhood, people don't understand it. I don't know how much it cost to get an arborist to go to your house and look at your trees, and we have neighbors in there that want to make some improvement to the home. At this time, they want to replace it. We also have people want to build affordable housing, and they've been having a lot of problems in getting things done because of a tree, and this is the biggest problem; in my neighborhood it is. People don't have the money. Then you have another neighborhood that can afford to pay the 15, 000, 10, 000, and $5, 000 in penalty for replacing that. At the same time, there's a lot of ignorance in a lot of the neighborhoods where people -- they believe -- like they were saying just a little while ago. "Why should the City tell us how to do our" - - "what to do on our property?" A lot ofpeople have trees, and some of the branches City of Miami Page 77 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 are too long; they start cutting branches, take it away, and then all of a sudden, they getting a citation for trimming the tree the wrong way. So, somehow, we need to educate our community. And I think we need to do something with our affordable houses. At the same time, my understanding is, a person goes through the whole process, which is -- you might find it very simple. My people and myself, I find it a little complicated, all the process they have to go through. You go through the whole process, you comply with all the regulations, and you agree with you [sic], and you say, `It's fine. Its good. " And anyone -- my understanding is, anyone from any other neighborhood can appeal that decision. Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Absolutely. There is an appeal process for any decision that's rendered by our department. Commissioner Gort: In other words, the person goes through all the process; it's been accepted. He goes by the law. He takes care of that. And then he wants to pull his permit, and someone from out of nowhere comes out with no ground and create an appeal. Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Yes, that is a process that we have. And what we try to do, administratively, is we try to look at the grounds of appeals to try to work with the appellants and work with the property owners to come to a reasonable resolution, but prior to going before the HEP (Historic and Environmental Preservation) Board. That is a -- Commissioner Gort: But if that person has complied with all the regulations on everything you ask for and has gone through the whole process, and spend the money Vice Chair Russell: That's the current process, though. That's nothing new introduced by this ordinance, correct? Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Correct, correct. Commissioner Gort: No, I understand, but I have a problem with that, because that could be very personal. Person doesn't like someone, goes and appeals and stops the whole process, because they felt like appealing, and they can appeal; they don't have to pay any contribution for the appeal. Does it cost to appeal? Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Yes, there are fees to appeal, aside from -- except for abutting property owners Commissioner Gort: No. That, I don't have any problem with. The guys next door could be affected by that, but someone coming from some other neighborhood -- Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: There is an appeal process. Commissioner Gort: -- from five blocks away? Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: There is an appeal fee, absolutely. Yes. Vice Chair Russell: There's a fee. But because they appeal doesn't necessarily mean that the appeal is granted, or that they would be able to stand in the way or stop the process. Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Correct. Again, what we do is we read the grounds of the appeals to determine the validity of it. We work with the appellant or those that are concerned as to the City's decision. We also work with the owner to advise them, to City of Miami Page 78 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 give them that level of comfort that this is what the City has approved. It is in accordance or in -- or in accordance with the Tree Ordinance, and most of the time we're able to resolve it administratively. Commissioner Gort: But stops the process and delays the process. Vice Chair Russell: It does delay the process. But I have to say, though, it -- that appeal then goes to the HEP Board, and if it's appealed again, it comes to Commission. Ms.Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Correct. Vice Chair Russell: That appeal process has saved many a monumental tree from being removed. Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry. Mr. Vice Chair, and I guess this -- what Commissioner Gort is saying is what I brought up on first reading, is exactly what I brought up on first reading, where there's a reason we have districts, and there's areas in the City of Miami that this would be more difficult, because there's areas in the City of Miami where -- Listen, I don't know where we are now, where we're ranked now, but I remember, quite a few years back, we were the fourth poorest city in the United --fourth poorest large city in the United States. So there's a lot of areas -- there's a lot of neighborhoods that, number one, don't understand the process; number two, can't afford the process, you know, as far as actually pulling a permit. I mean, I had this conversation before. And, yes, I didn't pull the minutes on this one. But ANSI (American National Standards Institute) 3000 -- or ANSI 300, you ask three, four, five, six experts, and they'll all tell you different things about ANSI 3000 -- or ANSI 300. I'm not sure if it's 3000 or 300, but -- So, it's very difficult to understand. So that was a head's up that if the professionals, the ones who have the most knowledge about this, really have difficulties coming to a consensus on what you can and cannot do -- what's 25 percent? What's -- you know -- it'll be difficult for residents of some of these areas. And that's why I even said, you know, a friendly amendment would be have certain districts opt out so that it will not be citywide, and you could still leave it as you feel the need for the fit for District 2, but have other districts have the opportunity to opt out. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Just to clarify, though, this is not a new ordinance that would change anything within your districts. The existing ordinance exists, but it's actually very hard to get through and enforce, and it had inconsistencies. So this is a cleanup. This isn't anything new, per se. This is -- this strengthens the Code, because we're able to enforce appropriately, but -- Commissioner Carollo: Exactly, but -- Commissioner Gort: We've been fighting it for the last four years or five years. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, but sometimes -- I don't want to say you legislate to violate, because -- but, in all fairness, those loopholes may be taken by certain people that cannot afford to actually do the permit process. And, listen, today we talked about property rights, you know. I can see in the City right-of-way, and so forth, but - - I'm not going to name his -- I'm not going to name who he is, but there's someone who's very well known in the Shenandoah community, and this person let me know that even though I'm a tree hugger -- and I will confess that I am a tree hugger, as this person told me -- I have a problem with planting a tree in front of my house; and three, four, five years, it starts growing; the roots start breaking up part of the sidewalk, or the little steps that I have, and then I can't just cut it down. I need to now pull a permit and go through all this. So when we talked about Airbnb, and a lot of, I City of Miami Page 79 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 guess, the arguments was property rights, this, to a certain degree, does constitute property rights. Chair Hardemon: My tree. Commissioner Carollo: It's my tree. Chair Hardemon: Can I build a -- Commissioner Carollo: I planted the tree. Chair Hardemon: -- a treehouse in it? Can I put a treehouse in a tree? Commissioner Carollo: You need to pull a permit for that, too. Chair Hardemon: Is that considered a tracking, or line scaping, or lines telling? Vice Chair Russell: Quatisha, could you tell me, basically, district by district, where the most enforcement happens in fines incurred? Are they happening throughout the City in various districts, or is it mostly in District 2? Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: The majority is in District 2, where -- Vice Chair Russell: So, really, could it be said that a lot of the enforcement is where a lot of the complaints come, and that's what sends out the Code Enforcement -- Code Compliance? That's what sends out your department? And if nobody's -- if there's a habit of -- or a culture of not worrying too much about trees or cutting trees down, the neighbors aren't going to worry about that much either. You're not going to get a lot of appeals in an area that doesn't really have a high concern for that. You're also not going to get a lot of fines, and not going to get a lot of mitigation issues, such as that. So, inherently, where the complaints are in District 2 is where this is being enforced, and where it's needed. Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. So, what I'm saying, do not legislate citywide for an issue in District 2; just pass it for District 2. And if any other Commissioners want to include their district -- And that's why I was saying in the first hearing -- in the first -- yeah, in the first hearing, `Hey, do" -- You understand what I'm saying? As opposed to doing it citywide -- Vice Chair Russell: I do. I absolutely (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: --just do this in District 2. Vice Chair Russell: We looked at different ways of trying to do that. I think what would be -- what would need to be done is for the ordinance to be repealed out of the other districts, because it exists. My cleanup of the ordinance doesn't actually grow it, at all, expand it, change it to any (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It didn't -- it brought the fees in line with what the practice was. It didn't actually double things or change things; it cleaned it up. So I don't see this as an expansion or an overreach of the ordinance, as it was, but I think a separate vote could be to repeal it from your districts, if you want. I would, you know -- I would want to speak for the trees citywide, but I would easily be outvoted in terms of each district taking the tree ordinance separately, perhaps. Chair Hardemon: Does the City of Miami have a team that actually -- I don't know the correct term for it -- I want to say, "trims trees "? City of Miami Page 80 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: We have what's called `Public Works Operations" that manages the trees in the right-of-way. Chair Hardemon: Okay. That team did an awesome job on a tree that I saw. I saw a City of Miami truck, and I saw them -- what I would consider to be trim -- tree trimming, and the way that they trimmed that tree was -- it's beautiful. That's the only way that I can put it. And so, that made me think -- because a lot of people have trees that may be overgrown and such, and there are a lot of people that may have businesses that will try to -- "Yeah, you pay me, " and that person doesn't know they have to go through all these different hoops to actually have their tree trimmed. So someone will say, "Well, no. I'll cut back the tree for you. " And so, they pay that person, and that person does it, and they, unknowingly, are violating our City ordinances, and we -- of course, we want them to follow the City ordinances. So, is -- have you all thought about maybe a program where, if there's someone who is in the community that wants to have a tree on their property trimmed that you can offer a service for them? I don't know if it's better to make it cheaper; or align with the competition, but not something where -- you know, you're out there trying to make a profit, but you're really offering them the peace of mind to know that, at least, `Hey, the City of Miami cut my tree, so I at least know it's done correctly, and it's done according to the law. " Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Right. So we -- that would -- that conversation has not been had, and it's a conversation that we can further with our Public Works Department. I know that there is a couple of things to be --you know, to keep in mind is the liability issue, and proceeding onto private property, and the City's protection in that regard. Chair Hardemon: I just -- because I know that --for instance, FP&L (Florida Power & Light), would do it, if your tree goes onto their power lines, and they do a terrible job. They chop those trees like you've never seen before. I mean, we -- that's not something we've just seen in the City of Miami; you've seen it in other municipalities. And so, you know, for the City of Miami, I just thought that -- I know that other entities do it. Maybe, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Gort: Mr. Chairman, let me ask you a question. There's something called -- I'm not an attorney, but if the person that they're going to do something in the private property, if they sign a waiver -- can they sign a document they would not give any liability to the City? Chair Hardemon: They possibly could. Commissioner Gort: I don't know. It's -- Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Right. So --and -- Chair Hardemon: I just know that I -- because I -- what Tin saying is that I think that that would be -- especially for those neighborhoods that aren't -- they don't understand the process. If -- The City of Miami has been doing a better job with especially the planning -- not Planning & Zoning -- yeah -- the applications for permits, where now we've explained it on the website: "This is how you get a fence permit. This is how you get a permit to change the sink in your house," or whatever it may be, so -- `Hey, this is how you get a permit to trim your tree; and, by the way, we can help you do it. " That would --for me, layman, I would love that, because I know that at least I'm getting the City, who stepped in every step of the way, so I know it's done correctly. So when it's not done correctly, I'll say, "Hey, Zerry, you did it; not me, "you know. City of Miami Page 81 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Gort: By the way, I love trees. I got birds in my house; I listen to them all the time. I have butterfly going in and out, which is not many places where you see so many butterflies like I do, but we need to educate this community, and I think we need to plant more trees, and I agree with that, and I don't have any problem with that. And we had it before I came in here and before I came back. At the produce market, they created those little aisles where they had the trees they put up and look beautiful; and some of the trucks come in, they back, and knock the trees down, and so there's certain areas that the -- this shouldn't been. I mean, I understand they spend a lot of money; it wasn't my plans, so I don't know whose plans was it, but it was a lot of money spent in that. But a lot of the residential area, a lot of the neighborhoods would like to see more trees, but they cannot afford to. Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: And that's where environmental resources efforts continue, and it's an ongoing effort to plant more trees. As a matter offact, we have Arbor Day coming up -- Commissioner Gort: Right. Ms. Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: -- next month, so we're working with schools to plant additional trees in schools and in the swale areas. And at the same time, we have the educational component to bring awareness to the citizens, to the community on the benefits of trees, and what to do, and what not to do. So that's an ongoing effort, and I think it's only beneficial to couple it with ordinances and guidelines that we have in place so that they will understand the reason why we have these in place. `And this is why, " and then they -- you know, education and awareness will, you know, bring it together. Commissioner Gort: It's important that people understand why we need trees. I think it's important. Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Chairman, there's a tough love that is necessary. If you look at the City of Miami from Google Earth, you can find Coconut Grove in a heartbeat, because it is a big green patch on the map, and it's because of that tough love that keeps developers from being able to take every tree off a lot in order to maximize the square footage of the buildable property, to maximize the profit, and that is something we should vigorously protect. Now, if the byproduct of that is taking away the rights of residents who fall through the cracks or trim accidentally or without a permit because they didn't know they needed one, you know, that is something that should be addressed. We add an amendmentfor affordable housing -- Commissioner Gort: Right. Vice Chair Russell: -- so that they wouldn't be penalized for this. We have an amendment available, if it's the will of this Commission, to basically opt out the elderly on fixed income, so that if they were to remove a tree without permit, that this wouldn't be a burden on them. I think you're absolutely right to protect your residents who may unwittingly do so, but I wouldn't undo this ordinance throughout the City with regard to how it does control development and how it does protect the canape. For the sake of the great Bob Brennan, let's please pass this. Commissioner Gort: Call the question. Chair Hardemon: It's been moved and seconded. If there's no further discussion, all in favor of the ordinance, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. City of Miami Page 82 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: All against? Motion passes. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms.Oguntoyinbo-Rashad: Thankyou. Commissioner Suarez: I still challenge you, because I really do think that all that verbiage and all that language, there's got to be a way to condense it onto something simple. Vice Chair Russell: To understand the Code is difficult; to apply for the permit is not. It's actually quite simple. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, and that's fine. And applying for a permit is one thing. And we can get into a huge discussion about how much the permit should cost, and whatever, and all that stuff. But applying the Code itself, it used to be very simple what you could do and not do; now it's become very complicated, so I just -- I'm challenging you. I think you can do it. I believe you can do it. Commissioner Carollo: And by the way -- Commissioner Suarez: Ido. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, also, I've actually received complaints with regards to timing of permits. When you request a permit, it takes months. So, you know, that's some -- that's a discussion we had in the last Commission meeting. I think, once again, we need to do better than months -- five, six months to get approval. That needs to somehow get remedied. So I want to put that for the record. Thank you. SR.2 ORDINANCE Second Reading 1755 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 36/SECTION 36-9 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF Commissioners MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED NOISE/OFF-STREET and Mayor FREIGHT AND COMMERCIAL DELIVERY HOURS PILOT PROGRAM", EXTENDING THE PILOT PROGRAM FOR ONE (1) YEAR; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13671 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Chair Hardemon: Can you read SR.2 into the record, please? Commissioner Suarez: I mean, is there anybody that wants (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): SR.2. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. City of Miami Page 83 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded twice. Anyone from the public that'd like to speak on this item? Seeing none, Commissioners, any discussion? Hearing none -- Commissioner Suarez: Roll call. Chair Hardemon: I'll let the Clerk do it. Go ahead, Mr. Clerk. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item SR.2. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 5-0. END OF SECOND READING ORDINANCES City of Miami Page 84 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 FR - FIRST READING ORDINANCES FRA ORDINANCE First Reading 1396 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Commissioners THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED and Mayor ("CITY CODE"), TO AMEND THE ENTIRE CITY CODE TO MODIFY ANY AND ALL MASCULINE AND/OR FEMININE LANGUAGE TO GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: RESULT: MOVER: SECONDER: AYES: Pass on First Reading PASSED ON FIRST READING Ken Russell, Vice Chair Francis Suarez, Commissioner Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Chair Hardemon: Okay. This is our public comment section of our agenda. If there is anyone here for public comment on any item that is on the agenda, you have an opportunity to speak at this time for those morning session items, so those are items that have nothing to do with the Planning & Zoning agenda, which is Part "B" of the agenda for today. So if you would like to speak on any item that is on the agenda for the Part "A" section of today's meeting, this is your opportunity to speak. Furthermore, if you want to speak again when the item is called up, you'll have an opportunity to speak at that time, as well. So if you are here to speak on any item, this is your opportunity to come now and address this body. All right. So before we start on any item, I want to call FR.1, which is a time certain item that we had for 10 o'clock. If you are here, what I would like to do is this: If you are here to speak on FR. 1, this is your opportunity to speak now on FR. 1, because we're calling it, and I'll have the Vice Chairman read into the record what he would like. Mr. Vice Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman -- or should I say, "Chairperson "? FR.1 is an ordinance where we're looking to remove the gender references from the pronouns within our Code. It's not a big thing, honestly. This is a simple exercise that should have been done a long time ago. It really just states that we want our Code to be clear and unbiased in its language. If we're referring to a male, for example, the Code should say "male, " but if we're referring to what could be anyone, it should not say "male" or 'female. " In putting this together, I was very thankful to my staff and the City Attorney's Office, who recognized this and brought it to me and said, "Would you be interested in this?" And about that same time, and completely unrelated, I was having lunch with my daughter at Scotty's, at Grove Bay Grill, right across the water, and my daughter, four years old. I pointed at my office said, "That's my office. " And right above that, I said, "That's the Mayor's office. " I said, "Maybe someday, you could be Mayor. " And she said, "Only boys can be Mayor. " I said, "You're four years old. Where'd you get that from?" Obviously, she hasn't read our Code. But I did a quick search within our Code, and I realized that there are sections where it refers to, The Mayor and "his" office, the Mayor and "his" staff. And this is a very easy change, so it's -- to me, it's not meant to change the world, but it's meant to make us clear on our intent, and I think it's an important thing, so it's an ordinance that I'm bringing. It'll take two readings, and it's -- it would modem our Code, as described. City of Miami Page 85 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion from the members of the dais? Vice Chair Russell: I'm sure that -- Chair Hardemon: Before we move on to public comment, the one thing I want to say is that it's actually smart legislating to have gender -neutral titles in legislation nowadays, so that's something that should be standard. And so, recognizing that in our old Code, because we have some sections of our Code that's extremely old, I think it's a good catch to make and to correct. Is there anyone here from the public that'd like to speak on the item? Sir, you're recognized. Justin Klutcher: Justin Klutcher, 1951 Northwest 7th Avenue. I'm here in support of FR.1. Thank you, Vice Chairperson Russell, for bringing this up. Although it is a novel change in the Code, I think what we saw today in the presentations and the words this morning that there are many brilliant, powerful women serving this community. I think having that reflected in our Code is absolutely profound; and also, given the current political climate across the country, any step, even -- although it might be small -- making our City more inclusive is absolutely a profound step in the right direction. Thankyou so much. Renita Holmes: Good morning. Madam Holmes, Wave of Women. I just want to thank you again for noticing and, you know -- say a woman's never satisfied. As the executive director of the Wave of Women in Public Housing, Education, Finance and Development, this is a good start about Code. You know, you've got that pimp juice, through the Chair Commissioner -- Vice. I think it takes a great man to be able to come, but what concerns me is that we're just now beginning to catch up with the rest of the world's women. And, you know, I'm a woman. Again, you can say what you want. You can give me roses and flowers, but when my paycheck reflects that there is gender equity; when my leadership opportunities -- and even when that diocese [sic] reflects another woman again, then I will know that women are right side by side with you (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I want you to know that women subcontractors make 40 percent less now in certain positions; they do. I am a subcontractor. There is only a small percentage of women that are participating in current projects, so we need to enforce that equity. Thank you very much. Julia Dawson: Good morning. Julia Dawson, 1701 Southwest 4th Avenue in the City of Miami. I'll be very brief. I just want to thank you for bringing this to the Commission, Commissioner Russell. This is an important fact, and it is something where, today, if I read something and it does not use gender -neutral language, it hits me in the face like this, and it makes me feel that when "he" is used to include all of us, including women, you're really not speaking to me. You're only speaking to men. So I'm very happy that you're considering this. I hope you will pass it and this will help the City to be a productive participant in the modern world. Chair Hardemon: Is there any other person who'd like to speak on FR. 1 ? Seeing none, is there any further discussion? Hearing none, it's an ordinance. Madam City Attorney, read it into the record. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): I have a question, Commissioner Russell, just to be clear. Would you be including Miami 21, as well, so we can make that amendment? Vice Chair Russell: Has that not been considered in the current changes? City of Miami Page 86 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Mendez: I think it is; however, we can actually do that, based on our own City -- Vice Chair Russell: You would need an amendment to the --? Ms. Mendez: Between first and second, if we can bring it? Vice Chair Russell: Fine, then. Ms. Mendez: Thank you so much. Vice Chair Russell: Definitely. Chair Hardemon: There's no objection to it. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item FR.1. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 5-0. FR.2 ORDINANCE First Reading 1591 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Commissioners CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE X/SECTIONS 2-817 OF THE CODE OF THE and Mayor CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), "ADMINISTRATION/CODE ENTITLED ENFORCEMENT/ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS, FINES; LIENS", ESTABLISHING A NEW CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE X/SECTION 2-822 OF THE CITY CODE, ENTITLED "ADMINISTRATION/CODE ENFORCEMENT/WAIVER, MITIGATION, AMNESTY, SETTLEMENT OF LIENS", ALLOWING FOR THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS/HER DESIGNEE TO ADMINISTRATIVELY NEGOTIATE LIEN AMOUNTS, PAYMENT PLANS AND WAIVER OF LIENS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LIENS RELATED TO CODE ENFORCEMENT, LOT CLEARING, SPECIAL ASSESSMENT, NUISANCE ABATEMENT AND SOLID WASTE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Continue RESULT: CONTINUED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. Item FR.2 was continued to the April 27, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. City ofMiami Page 87 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 FR.3 ORDINANCE First Reading 1882 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Commissioners CHAPTER 36/SECTION 36-9 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF and Mayor MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED NOISE/OFF-STREET AYES: FREIGHT AND COMMERCIAL DELIVERY HOURS PILOT PROGRAM", EXTENDING THE PILOT PROGRAM TO CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT 1; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Pass on First Reading RESULT: PASSED ON FIRST READING MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Chair Hardemon: FR.3. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): FR.3. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak on the item FR.3? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing at this time. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, Mr. City Clerk. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item FR.3. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 5-0. City of Miami Page 88 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 FRA ORDINANCE First Reading 1769 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI COMMISSION AMENDING Commissioners CHAPTER 16 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, and Mayor AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ELECTIONS", MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTION 16-6 TO ALLOW CANDIDATES FOR CITY COMMISSION OR MAYOR TO QUALIFY THROUGH A PETITION PROCESS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. Item FR.4 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may be recognized'? Chair Hardemon: Yes, you are. Commissioner Suarez: I'd like to defer FR.4 to the next meeting; need some additional drafting. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Hardemon: Is there any objection? Hearing none, no objection, motion passes. FR.5 ORDINANCE First Reading 1921 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION Commissioners ESTABLISHING A TWO HUNDRED FORTY (240) DAY and Mayor TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF NEW APPLICATIONS FOR SPECIAL AREA PLANS, ACCEPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 3.9 OF MIAMI 21, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, FOR SPECIAL AREA PLANS ENCOMPASSING PROPERTIES ZONED AS CIVIC SPACE WITHIN FIVE HUNDRED (500) FEET OF BISCAYNE BAY; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Pass on First Reading RESULT: PASSED ON FIRST READING MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item FR. S, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Cit, ofMianai Page 89 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I think it's FR.5 now, right? Chair Hardemon: FR.5. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): FR - 5 - The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on this item? Vice Chair Russell: No Elvis? Chair Hardemon: This young lady. You've been here all day. Commissioner Suarez: You poor thing. Bless your heart. Debbie Stander: I'm committed. Debbie Stander, 830 Northeast 74th Street, Miami, Florida 33138. First of all, let me say, as my colleague said earlier this morning, thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to come out and meet with us yesterday, and give us some background on the intent of this proposed ordinance. I think you helped to clear up a lot of our questions and concerns about it, but -- and, you know, we're basically listening to you, and we're hearing you tell us that this is what you believe to be the best approach to this situation at this particular time. I'm very curious to hear what the other Commissioners have to say about it, because we've met with all of you, and thank you very much for getting involved in this issue. So, having said that, I'll simply sit down and -- Commissioner Suarez: I'll be very brief. Ms. Stander: -- let you debate the issue, and I'll be very interested to hear what you have to say. Commissioner Suarez: I'll be very, very brief. I'll just say that I think this is a good piece of legislation, because it makes sure that nothing will happen in the 240 -day period. So, at the very minimum, the residential communities have a guarantee, and nothing that they can feel is negative in the area of SAPs (special area plans) can transpire in that period of time. Having said that, I think you know that I advanced a piece of legislation that is working its way through the process, so actually, the 240 days helps that legislation get through the process, which would do two things: One is, not allow the City to be a co -applicant on SAPs, and secondly, not allow a parkland or public space to be aggregated to private space for purposes of meeting the nine -acre threshold. Ms. Stander: Right. And I understand that, you know, you're going to want to have time to discuss that, because that is -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Ms. Stander: -- quite an, you know, encompassing thing, but thank you very much for that, because -- City of Miami Page 90 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: You're welcome. Ms. Stander: -- certainly provided some relief to us. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none -- Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item FR. 5. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 5-0. FR.6 ORDINANCE First Reading 1386 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 40, ARTICLE IV, DIVISION 6 OF THE CODE OF THE City Manager's CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, ENTITLED"PERSON NEUPENS ION Office AND RETIREMENT PLAN/TRUST FUND FOR APPOINTED OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES IN EXECUTIVE SERVICE", BY MODIFYING THE CITY OF MIAMI'S CONTRIBUTION INTO THE TRUST FUND; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Pass on First Reading RESULT: PASSED ON FIRST READING MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Suarez Chair Hardemon: FR. 6. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min. Chair Hardemon: Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on FR. 6? Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Is there any discussion from the dais? Commissioner Gort: Move it. Chair Hardemon: Been properly moved Vice Chair Russell: I'll second it. Chair Hardemon: Seconded by the Vice Chairman. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor -- well, Mr. City Clerk. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item FR.6. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. City of Miami Page 91 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 4-0. END OF FIRST READING ORDINANCES City of Miami Page 92 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0139 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. A motion was made by Vice Chair Russell and seconded by Commissioner Gort, and was passed unanimously, with Chair Hardemon absent, directing the City Manager to work closely with and solicit a resolution from the Virginia Key Advisory Board. Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: On the RE (resolution) agenda, RE. 1. William Porro: Good evening, Commissioners. William Porro, special project administrator, with the City of Miami. RE.1 is a resolution by the City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the City Manager to submit an application for a reimbursement grant for the Florida Inland Navigation District Waterway Assistance Program, in the amount not to exceed one point -- $1,230,869, for the construction of a seawall, dock, and kayak launch at the Virginia Key Nature Center. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Please. City of Miami Page 93 Printed on5/18/2017 RE - RESOLUTIONS REA RESOLUTION 1739 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Office of Grants ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO Administration SUBMIT AN APPLICATION, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,230,869.00, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SEAWALL, DOCK, AND KAYAK LAUNCH AT THE VIRGINIA KEY NATURE CENTER ("PROJECT"); FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS THERETO, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF AN AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017-2018. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0139 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. A motion was made by Vice Chair Russell and seconded by Commissioner Gort, and was passed unanimously, with Chair Hardemon absent, directing the City Manager to work closely with and solicit a resolution from the Virginia Key Advisory Board. Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE.], please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: On the RE (resolution) agenda, RE. 1. William Porro: Good evening, Commissioners. William Porro, special project administrator, with the City of Miami. RE.1 is a resolution by the City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the City Manager to submit an application for a reimbursement grant for the Florida Inland Navigation District Waterway Assistance Program, in the amount not to exceed one point -- $1,230,869, for the construction of a seawall, dock, and kayak launch at the Virginia Key Nature Center. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Please. City of Miami Page 93 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: This should have been a very smooth process, I think, and for some reason, it hasn't been. Mr. Weinreb, you've been in my office a lot today, and I appreciate that, because you really helped me understand what this plan is, but I feel like if you had spent a fraction of the time you spent in my office today with the Virginia Key Advisory Board on really helping them understand and know what this was going to be, there wouldn't be such a level of concern or suspicion amongst them. That being said, I certainly wish that the Virginia Key Advisory Board had taken this up long before this week in an emergency session, when they didn't get quorum, because it is important. It's a -- this is Jimbo's, right? We all remember Jimbo's. And while we wanted to retain its natural charm, we don't want to get tetanus there, either, and it's definitely needs some sort of -- some love. And the City is willing to invest in the area. They've applied for a FIND (Florida Inland Navigation District) grant for the area. I have full assurances from the City that this is not to encourage any motorized boat traffic; that the riprap outside the seawall would not even allow a boat to pull up to the seawall; that there is no boat ramp for motorized boats; that this is purely a kayak and paddle board launch. Those things do bring me comfort, because I want to see this remain a natural area. Yet, we have members of the Virginia Key Advisory Board; and also, very importantly, a concessionaire who utilizes that spot and services the area and provides a service to our residents to enjoy the area, who is in opposition to this, and so, I'm very concerned. I'm worried we're going to lose funding on a great project. What I'm apt to do is to pass this, and hold you to account to work with the Virginia Key Advisory Board on the design, whatever flexibility remains within it. But if it doesn't pass muster, in terms of what we're looking for and what's in the Master Plan at Virginia Key, and if this board is in consensus with the advice of the advisory board that that eventual plan is not a good plan for the area, we'll end up killing it at that point, which would be a big waste of everyone's time and everything. That's why I wish we'd gotten together in the beginning. I really feel that the intention is good, but communication with this Administration is a consistent poor grade in terms of outreach to the public and really making them get consensus and understanding. I want to see us do a better job of that, because it builds trust with the community; it makes us do good projects that they love. So, if there's -- if you would like to speak again -- I'm the Chair right now - - I'm certainly open to it. I don't know that we need to go into all the specifics of the entire project. One thing I am interested in is the potential idea of a living shoreline, which was brought up. The Virginia Key Advisory Board has never opined on this officially, but it certainly piqued my interest, versus a complete concrete seawall, which, you know, even though that is -- what is there -- what's left of it is there, is that the best thing that we could do for that area? I don't want to get too deep into the details. I'm really more interested in the process here. I'd like you to take up the details at the Virginia Key Advisory Board, bringing back a resolution with a recommendation to this board on approval or disapproval of what the specific plans of the FIND grant are. If we can make changes at that point, we will. If, at that point, we can't make the changes that you wish, then this board has to decide whether your advice or the plan of the Administration is the one that we go with. So, really, I -- of course, you can say anything you want, but I'd like us to try to stick to process issues, because I know you're not happy about it. Esther Alonso-Luft: Sure. Before we go any further, can we have the presentation from Mr. Weinreb? He's got a video up on screen. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Gort: We can always use it in Sewell Park at the river. Vice Chair Russell: But as brief as we can make it. City of Miami Page 94 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Robert Weinreb: Yes. My only presentation is, I went out to the site this past week on Tuesday and I took a few photos, and I thought it was proper for the Commission to see what's out there and what we're talking about. Understand that the seawall was probably built in the early '60s by the TV (television) show, "Flipper. " Jimbo [sic] never built anything out there; he just used the site. So this seawall was built without any City authorization or probably permits or anything else, and it seems to have lasted reasonably, but it's pretty much not in good condition anymore. This is the area that currently has the kayak launch area, and under the plan, this would be 12 feet wide, 35 feet long, and would have some sort of pavers that are -- have some traction so they wouldn't be slippery for people to use, so that's in the plan. Currently, there's a series of rugs on the concrete there that people are using to access the water. This is a view looking north from the kayak launch, and there are a series of trees grown into the seawall that have impacted the seawall. You can see the --some of the metal pieces of what's remnants from the seawall. There's no cap on it anymore, and there are quite a few holes in it. This is another view -- pardon my finger over the lens, but that's some of the metal sheet pile, or what's left; and when it rains, material is washing into the waterway, and it's considered a conservation area. The City doesn't have many of them. There are these wooden caps on some of it. Some of the wood has seen better days, and you can still see some of the sheet metal, little pieces of it sticking up. As you go down towards the dock area, there's some remnants of this concrete. And this is the dock as of Tuesday. As you can see, some of it is falling into the water; and no one is allowed on it. So part of the plan would remove this, and put a small floating dock in, if the plan moves forward. This is a view from that dock area of the -- what's left of the seawall. You can see a tree growing in it on this -- towards the left of the photo, and this is the whole length of the seawall, from the dock towards the kayak launch, and there are quite a few trees growing into it. There are holes in the seawall, and materials falling into the waterway. This is looking north from the other side of the dock, where the seawall continues, and again, there are trees and material growing out of it. And this is the end of the seawall. So the project was to replace the existing seawall with a seawall that we have all the permits for that would have riprap for habitat and also protection of the seawall. And as the Commissioner said, if we put enough riprap in, it would preclude any kind of motor vessels from tying up to the seawall. This is an area that is a little north of the seawall, and while the -- if we move forward and do build the seawall and the kayak launch, it would be done together. I believe this area could be worked on to allow kayaks and non -motorized vessels to launch. It wouldn't be as large, and it wouldn't be quite as good as what you would hope, but it could be made to work, I believe. In that way, the concessionaire would still be able to operate, and the public would still be able to use the park. Commissioner Gort: Can we go to the first picture? Mr. Weinreb: The first picture? Commissioner Gort: Right, with the kayak launches. You're going to put pavers in here, right? Mr. Weinreb: There would be pavers, yes. Commissioner Gort: Because right now, do we have good insurance to cover people falling down in there? Mr. Weinreb: Currently? Commissioner Gort: Yes. City of Miami Page 95 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Weinreb: I think the City's self-insured. I don't know what the agreement is with the vendor. Ms. Alonso-Luft: There is substantial insurance, but I can tell you that we haven't had any incidents. Commissioner Gort: No, I understand. Butpeople here in Miami, you'll be amazed. Ms. Alonso-Luft: No, I understand. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Do you have any pictures or renderings of the plan itsep Mr. Weinreb: I do have the plans, if you want copies of the Army Corps and the FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) plans. Vice Chair Russell: If you could circulate it, that'd be great. If I had my druthers, we'd still be smoking fish out of a broken refrigerator and feeding one -eyed cats. I miss Jimbo's. I obviously saw it from a -- Mr. Weinreb: That's not -- Vice Chair Russell: -- paddle boarder side and not a City elected official. I don't know what headaches you went with on that lot, but I do miss the charm of it. Commissioner Gort: It's a nice place. Vice Chair Russell: It really is, and I don't think it's meant to be the modernity that we're going to have at the Marine Stadium and the new marina. I think this is an area of natural charm on the back, and the plan needs to reflect that. And obviously, it is a concessionaire spot that really is a good access point, which is something we lack a lot of. So I'm happy to move this item. I won't say, "happy. " I'm very willing to move this item. And as I said, I would like to direct the management to work closely with the Virginia Key Advisory Board so that they're very fully aware and can solicit a resolution from the advisory board in the near future. Commissioner Gort: Second. Ms. Alonso-Luft: Well, if I may? Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry. Yes. Ms. Alonso-Luft: Yes. Okay. Esther Alonso. Vice Chair Russell: Oh, I'm sorry. I had to pass the gavel to make that motion. Ms. Alonso-Luft: Yeah. Commissioner Gort: Yes, ma'am. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Alonso-Luft: Sorry. All right. So, first of all, there are actual plans that the City has had since 2014 that don't necessarily reflect the scope of what's being relayed to you today, and those plans include a perimeter that is 15 feet wide on the interior -- a walkway that's 15 feet wide on the interior perimeter of that area, together with a City of Miami Page 96 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 semi -circular cut-offand two 16 -by -16 rental pavilions that they're planning to install. This is not a simple seawall issue. There has never been a debate, and it keeps being characterized as "we don't want to fix the seawall. " We want to fix the seawall. I asked about fixing the seawall during the bid process, and we were told that there was a FIND grant that was being applied for, and that plans would be made public once they were prepared. That did not occur. Despite whatever Mr. Weinreb says, that did not occur. I did not see those plans until January 23 of this year, when I attended a meeting called by Mr. Kirwin; and, thankfully, he did that, because, otherwise, I still would have no clue as to the scope of what this FIND application was truly for. One of the interesting things today is that we heard a lot of about zoning violations with Airbnb, and megaprojects, and conflicts with law firms. The problem here is this --I don't believe that they've complied with zoning. That is a TI natural transect zone. And if I may read to you from a document provided to one of the advisory board meetings: `A natural transect zone" -- and excuse me, because I'm reading it off my phone -- `A transect TI zone is a zone for environmental conservation. A TI zone is to be left in essentially a natural state. Modification " -- sorry. Go sideways. `A TI zone is to be left in an essentially natural state. Modification of the natural condition shall be according to local, State, and Federal guidelines. Public access to TI areas may be limited, if it presents a threat to wildlife and plant life within the areas. In a TI zone, improvements shall serve solely to protect the natural elements, any paved graveled, mulched, boardwalk, or other improved surface, or any habitable enclosed or air-conditioned space shall be kept to the minimum scale necessary to fulfill its purpose. Such improvements, including, but not limited to, screened or glass enclosures, pathways, fencing, gatehouses, lighting, toilet facilities, parking areas, et cetera, may be allowed by process of exception. Only activities and improvements which reinforce the natural character shall be allowed and upon a finding that there is no negative effect of the environment based on a study of potential environmental impacts to be provided by the applicant. " I do not believe that this plan fits the description of a TI zone. If you're talking about repairing a seawall and repairing a launch ramp so that it provides a better visitor experience, I'm all for that, but that's not what you have here today. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Ms. Alonso-Luft: What you have is a mega project for $2.8 million that does not take into account the natural elements, the environmental sensitivity of that area. And as a member of the community, first and foremost, that is why you should be denying this application. The City, with the work that has been done -- According to Mr. Weinreb, he represented that the expense to date has been about $75,000, of which the City would lose a matching grant, so approximately 37-5. That's the backbone for a truly spectacular project, and one that should be referred back to the Virginia Key Advisory Board; it should be open for public comment, and should be done correctly. It's time that we stop doing things because it already started that way, and we're now married to a bad idea. This -- I know he's done a lot of work, and I appreciate it, and I'm sorry to really put you in that spot, but this is a bad idea. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Tin sorry, Mr. Chairman, if I may? The zoning for that site is CS (civic space), not TI. Ms. Alonso-Luft: No. It's -- Mr. Alfonso: That specific site -- we're checking the site right now, ma'am. It is CS. Ms. Alonso-Luft: This is what we were given at the Virginia Key -- Commissioner Gort: Okay, look -- City of Miami Page 97 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Alonso-Luft: -- Advisory Board meeting, and I can show you the documents. Commissioner Gort: Excuse me. I'm not going to have back and forth. Were you finished? Ms. Alonso-Luft: I suppose. Commissioner Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir. Gary Milano: Good evening. My name is Gary Milano. I live at 5974 Southwest 59th Street, and I'm representing Tropical Audubon Society. I'm here to oppose the submittal of this application, and it's very important. Commissioner Russell, I mean, has the train left the station? I know you made a motion. Was it seconded? Are we done or --? Vice Chair Russell: It hasn't been voted on yet. Commissioner Gort: No, it hasn't been. Mr. Milano: It hasn't? Okay, good. So we still got a crack in the door here. And I'm really glad to hear all of you love trees. That's really good, as environmentalists. It's really important to understand what's going on here. There's a phase one and a phase two part of this project. Phase one was something that was brought to --let me back up a little bit. I've worked with DERM (Department of Environmental Resource Management) for 32 years. My specialty was doing environmental restoration and enhancement. I applied to FIND grants every year. I pretty much know the process forward and backwards. By approving this application today, you're setting a very bad precedent, because what happens with a FIND application is you have to go through a permitting process; you have to go through a process that has a defined plan. To make a multiple change plan -- to change this plan in a big way, it's going to create problems, and you're not going to get funded in the end. This is the time to just cut it, you know. Don't throw good money after bad. I've served -- I serve on the Virginia Key Advisory Board, and you know, the Virginia Key Virginia Key Advisory Board was the legislative -- it was enabled by legislation so that things like this would actually come to us before it would come to you so that we would be able to advise you and assist you. Well, as you know, this is a phase -two project. Its named the Nature Center. Phase one came to the board as a concept, in that phase one was -- we were going to go out, and we were going to hire a consultant. And this was the $75,000 that Esther was talking about. And as it was brought to us, in concept, that we are going to hire a consultant to develop a nature center and kayak launch at the site, that's mom and apple pie. I mean, that's great stuff. So the board, with that two - sentence sort of definition, conceptually said, `Fine. " But guess what? The phase one consultant and the City of Miami administrative staff didn't bring back the results of what the consultant developed, and they just went to town with it, and here we are in -- looking for construction dollars in phase two, and that's what this application is for: a $2.8 million project, where the City's going to have to put half of it in. Well, as you know, the reference item was deferred at the last meeting, and one of the main issues was that the phase two application was never provided, nor reviewed by the Virginia Key Advisory Board, which is required by the legislative directives. An emergency meeting was thrown together on Monday, and obviously, we didn't have enough members, but every member there opposed this project, as well as public input that we got to pull it and cut our losses now, because you will not be able -- because this is a FIND process, you will not be able to change course between now and September 15, when the project goes to a final vote with FIND, because you have to have all your permits in hand. It ain't going to happen. This project has to be redesigned. Just because Jimbo [sic] built a seawall in this very quiet, natural harbor doesn't mean we need to go in there with an highly engineered product that's going to City of Miami Page 98 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 basically be a magnet for power boats to come in and use as floating dock. As Esther, the concessionaire has stated, the features of the dock and the launch are not appropriate. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Mr. Milano: And here -- ifyou allow this to be approved tonight, you will then cut the City administrative staff loose, and they'll be in a situation where they won't be able to navigate and change. If they will withdraw their application -- if you make it very firm by September 15, if they haven't resolved and gotten all their additional permits for the application -- See, we're going to go through a workshop process. We're going to try to get consensus through the public, through the board to try to understand what is the best product for this site, and it's going to take a little bit of time. I mean, the board has other things on its plate right now, too. I mean, we're dealing with marine expansions in the basin, etcetera. So, okay, let's say, a workshop is held for this, and we develop a conceptual plan, then you got to go back to the permitting agencies. And you all know environmental -- Commissioner Gort: Okay. Mr. Milano: -- permitting process, as far as doing amendments, especially large- scale amendments, which may occur with this, because, again, this plan does not have a living shoreline -- Commissioner Gort: Okay. Ms. Milano: -- a native vegetation (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Gort: In conclusion, sir, please. Mr. Milano: Okay. Commissioner Gort: Thank you. We still got a whole lot to go. Mr. Milano: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Commissioner Gort: I think the -- Mr. Milano: So the -- Commissioner Gort: -- maker of the motion would like to explain his motion. Mr. Milano: So -- Commissioner Gort: The maker of the motion would like to explain his motion. You're recognized. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. If we had heard an official resolution from the board on this issue, it would be much easier to make a decision in that direction, but you as - - you can't speak for the board here. We can 't -- Mr. Milano: I'm not. I'm speaking -- Vice Chair Russell: And so, we don't have an official voice of the board here. This money's going to get lost, and we're going to lose it for another year, if not altogether. You have my word -- and you've seen me before; you know that political and bureaucratic momentum means nothing to me. I will stop it in its tracks if it is wrong. City of Miami Page 99 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 If it is wrong, I will stop it, and we will go back to the drawing board, and we will lose the money, if that's what's necessary. I will not approve a project to the -- all the way down the road. I am really unhappy that the Administration and the board hasn't gotten together with more communication and transparency. So this is not the last you'll hear of this. This is not the horse out the gate, and they cut loose the Administration; they're going to do whatever they want. We are indebted to the board for their advice, and we take that advice, and we're going to move forward, but we haven't gotten any advice on this. Mr. Milano: But that's -- Vice Chair Russell: I understand. Mr. Milano: It wasn't brought to us. And the thing is, the money end of it, you're not going to lose any money. The thing is, if we withdraw and not submit this application, we will be $37,500 -- Commissioner Gort: Sir? Mr. Milano: -- that we'll be able to pick up -- Commissioner Gort: Sir, in conclusion. I think you stated your issue very well, and I think we all understand your issue very well. Mr. Milano: Letting -- Commissioner Gort: Thank you. Mr. Milano: You can't let this thing go any further. I mean, it's -- it should just be cut now, and then we'll go back to the drawing boards. There's no money involved here. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Mr. Weinreb: Can I make -- Vice Chair Russell: I actually -- Commissioner Gort: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: -- agree with you, but we're going to move it anyway. At least, I'm going to vote on it anyway. And -- but you have my word that we're going to be vigilant on this. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Weinberg [sic], you got the -- Mr. Weinreb: Can I make a couple of comments? Because -- Commissioner Gort: Sure. Mr. Weinreb: -- to try to set the record straight, in 2014, three, I guess, Park directors ago, we looked at this site after Jimbo [sic] returned it to the City, asking for it to become a park, a City park, and saw the condition of the ramp area and the seawall and the dock, and it was all pretty, you know, past its prime, and we decided to apply for a phase -one FIND grant to replace the dock, the seawall, and make a proper ramp for non -motorized vessels. And in 2016, this came back to the board as a phase -two project, with only a seawall and a dock, and a ramp. And subsequent to that, we had a new Park director and globally looked at everything and put more City of Miami Page 100 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 items into the project. However, the items he put into the project are upland projects that have nothing to do with the two permits we have to repair the launch ramp area, remove the dock, and put in a seawall. Now, the rest of these items can or cannot be built, depending on the will of the community, this board, the City Administration. They're in there if we want them; they don't have to be done. There is no gun to our head, forcing us to have to do those things. There's no gun to our head, telling us not to do them. So what seems to be critical here is an area that is in disrepair; and the City tried to move forward with a seawall and replacement. If a dock shouldn't be there, we don't have to build it, we don't have to spend the money, we won't lose any grant. All we'll lose is the ability -- the -- half the funding to build something. So -- Commissioner Gort: Mr. Weinberg [sic], the motion is made to approve, subject to you getting together; make your presentation once again to the Dinner Key -- not Dinner Key. Vice Chair Russell: Virginia Key Advisory Board. Commissioner Gort: Virginia Key Advisory Board. Mr. Weinreb: I just wanted to put on the record that -- Commissioner Gort: Look, I understand, and you placed it on the record. I want to make sure that you get together with them and you go over it. At the same time, don't forget Sewell Park at the river. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gort: Any --yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: And just real quick. When I first heard, you know, reservations with regards to this FIND grant, you know, I said to myself, "Gee, that never happens. " So I have to admit, I was a little, you know, concerned about it. And I actually spoke to Mr. Weinreb about it, and I expressed my concerns. Having listened now to the District Commissioner and also -- in all fairness, I've worked with Mr. Weinreb for the past -- what? -- seven years, Bayfront Park, and I could tell you, he's very diligent. He's very thorough. I mean, you could tell -- and Commissioner Gort, you know, he's speaking in passion. He really believes in his job. So Mr. Vice Chair, you know, I -- you wanted to move forward, and being the District Commissioner, and also having the confidence that I have in Mr. Weinreb, I don't have a problem moving forward. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor state it by saying "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Gort: Make sure you get together with them. Mr. Weinreb: Thank you. Commissioner Gort: Clark the zoning. There you go; it's all yours. It's back to you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. City of Miami Page 101 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.2 RESOLUTION 1752 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Office of Capital ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE BID RECEIVED NOVEMBER Improvements 3, 2016, PURSUANT TO INVITATION TO BID ("ITB") NO. 15-16- AYES: 029, FROM MAGGOLC, INC. ("MAGGOLC"), THE LOWEST ABSENT: RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, TO PROVIDE CONSTRUCTION SERVICES FOR THE BIRD AVENUE ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS - DISTRICT 2 PROJECT, IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,468,493.90 FOR THE SCOPE OF WORK PLUS A TEN PERCENT (10%) OWNER CONTINGENCY AMOUNT OF $146,849.39 FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED AWARD VALUE OF $1,615,343.29; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM OFFICE OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT NO. B-30628; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, CONSISTING OF THE ITB DOCUMENTS AND ATTACHMENTS, AND TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE ANY SUBSEQUENT DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE AGREEMENT, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, AS MAY BE NECESSARY FOR SAID PURPOSE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0140 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE.2, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: Next item is RE.2. Commissioner Suarez: That's yours. Annie Perez: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Annie Perez, director of Procurement. RE.2 is a resolution accepting the bid received from Maggolc, Inc., the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, to provide construction services at the Bird Avenue Roadway Improvements. Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: I welcome a motion on this. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Is there a comment from the public? Cit, ofMiami Page 102 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Steve Wernick: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Steve Wernick, here as a resident, 2501 Swanson Avenue. Just a comment that I noticed in the backup. The project appears to be phases one and two in this contract, and then phase three would come at some point in the future. And my understanding is, it's working its way west to east so that phase one and two compasses between USI and Mary Street, and then phase three would be Mary to 27th Avenue. And the comment I have is, I would just -- I would hope that phase three is something that is going to be continued to be looked at and, hopefully, come back soon, because that's where I see and experienced some traffic issues, some safety issues, some pedestrian, you know, access issues in terms of some of the existing conditions being less than ideal in terms of the head -in parking, and, you know, cars blocking the sidewalk, and so forth. So it might be something that you're already working on. I just wanted to make that comment. Jeovanny Rodriguez: Sure. Jeovanny Rodriguez, director of Capital Improvements. First to clam the phase two that you're referring is basically from 27th Avenue, going west to Mary. This contract and the bid itself, we actually included all three phases just to have us the option of do all three phases if we can. However; as of today, the last phase -- the first phase is from US I to Virginia; second -- I'm sorry -- US I to McDonald; the second phase from McDonald to Mary; and the third phase will be from Mary to 27th. As of today, we only have our easements, and all our permits are ready to go on the first two phases, so we put it in the bid just in case. If we get there, we can add it. As of today, we are not there. So this contract, for all practical purpose, we're only going to release two phases, which is going to be from US I to Mary. The last phase, we still got some work to do there, so, yes, we will come back for more discussion on that before we release that. And I can tell you, that's not going to be part of this contract. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Wernick, the commercial interest from Mary to 27th are in opposition based on the loss of parking on the street. You know how the current parking is in front of Flannigan's; they would want to get as much parking as they can, and so, this would actually change that and reduce that somewhat, so they're in opposition. So we only have the easements from US I to Mary at this point; we'll take it. It's going to be absolutely beautiful. I've gone through the plan. I've directed the management to work very closely with the local homeowners association to make sure they're very fully aware of what's going to happen with traffic and construction and landscaping and everything. We're hoping that once they see what's going on from that portion that the will will be there to extend all the way to 27th, because it would be a positive addition, in my opinion, whatever that's worth. Mr. Rodriguez: Thank you. And if that does happen, then because we're advertising, including the phase, then we have the option to include it down the line. It's just -- it gives us the option. Mr. Wernick: That's a positive thing. Thank you so much. Vice Chair Russell: Go rally Flannigan's. All right, we have a motion. We have a second on that, I believe. Yes. Thank you. Any further comments from the public? Any from the dais? Hearing none, all in favor say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes City of Miami Page 103 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.3 RESOLUTION 1880 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AFFIRMING MOVER: THE ZONING REGULATIONS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA Commissioners Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: AS THEY PERTAIN TO SHORT-TERMNACATION RENTALS AND and Mayor Russell, Suarez DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO CONTINUE VIGOROUSLY ENFORCING REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO LODGING USES TO ENSURE THE HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI'S RESIDENTS AND VISITORS. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0137 MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s) RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S) MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Gort, Carollo NAYS: Russell, Suarez Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing item RE.3, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item (s). " Chair Hardemon: We're going to re -adjourn [sic] the March 23, 2017 meeting. What I'd like to do is, let's -- I know we -- these other Commissioners should be here relatively soon, so -- Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Hardemon: Even better. Let us call --Mr. Mayor, your item that you had on the agenda was RE. 3, so let's call RE. 3. Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Hardemon: Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor Tomas Regalado: Two minutes? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. By the way, there's also some information -- Because of the time limits that you have today, I'm respectfully requesting that we postpone the discussion of the bond issue proposal for the next meeting, because it would have taken 10 to 15 minutes, maybe, in time. There is a pocket item that has been drafted by the City Attorney's Office that Vice Chairman Russell also wanted to co-sponsor, opposing the Senate Bill regarding FPL (Florida Power & Light). But Commissioner Russell -- But my request to you, members of the Commission, is to vote today on a resolution of the Miami City Commission affirming the zoning regulation of the City of Miami, Florida, as it pertain to short-term vacation rentals; and directing the City Manager to continue enforcing regulations pertaining to lodging uses to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the City of Miami residents and visitors. As you all know, 120 people registered to speak -- not on that matter only, but everybody has been heard. This resolution was deferred, because Vice Chairman Russell was in Japan in the last Commission meeting, so I respec fully request that we take a vote and decide what we need to do. Some of the things that are important is, because as you heard here, a lot of people are doing this, and maybe they don't understand that they are doing something that is not allowed. Also, most of you probably know that there is an MOU, an agreement with the County that will be discussed in the April 4 Commission City of Miami Page 104 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 of the Board of County Commissioners, regarding the collection of bed taxes countywide, and I think we need to help our colleagues in the County, the Commissioners, by sending this message that, at least in the residential areas of the City of Miami, this practice cannot go on, and, of course, they cannot collect bed taxes from that illegal activity. So that is my request to the members of the Board. Chair Hardemon: Is there anyone from the public that'd like to make a comment about the item that's on the agenda? You're recognized, sir. Brian May: Sure. Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, my name is Brian May, with offices at 235 Catalonia Avenue, representing Airbnb. The resolution that's before you is certainly not only pertaining to Airbnb; it pertains to short-term rentals, and it has clearly become an issue, because there are more short-term rentals, by virtue of online platforms, that have emerged over the last few years; not only here in Miami, but, really, all across the world, pretty much in every country on the globe, and over 65,000 cities across the globe, and it's really what's part of -- commonly referred to as "the shared economy. " And that shared economy is essentially a more efficient use of private assets that are available in the community to residents of a particular community that offer up a valuable service to the community itself, and to people coming in from outside of the community. The reason there's been a proliferation on the online platforms is because there's a serious market for it for people to be able to come to Miami and not be forced into a -- if they're here, not for business purposes -- forced into a hotel on Brickell or on Miami Beach at a pretty high rate. They have options available to them, and that's what short-term rentals do; whether it's by virtue of a room in a home that's owner -occupied, or whether it's by virtue of a unit. And I would say to you that there's one very serious question that we have to ask ourselves, which is -- this is a growing phenomenon, not only here; across the globe -- So is the smart way to go about dealing with it to basically say, "We're going to vilify the host; that we're going to go after him"? I mean, in between the break, the Mayor was actually on his Spanish radio, saying that all the people who are here and gave their names and addresses that the City was going to go after them; said that publicly. Mayor Regalado: No, I did not. That's a lie. Mr. May: Okay. Also, the Mayor said -- Mayor Regalado: No. That is a lie. I said that the people that came here exposed themself [sic] and admitted publicly with the name and addresses that they were doing something illegal, if they live in residential area. So the next time that you get information, please get it right, because you have, I think, wrong information. Mr. May: Fair enough, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Regalado: You're welcome. Mr. May: The other thing you said, Mr. Mayor, publicly, yesterday, on Spanish television was that Airbnb was giving campaign contributions to elected officials and candidates in the City of Miami. That is an absolute falsehood; it's not true, hasn't occurred, and it most likely will not occur. So I just want to put that aside; it's a whole different issue. The issue that we're talking about is what we're going to do or what you're going to do as a city with regard to this type of activity. And the Mayor is right; there are a lot of people who don't understand -- and you heard it from a number of people today -- that what they were doing may or may not be allowed under the Code or not under the Code. So I would say to you, rather than send a message to all of those people that -- to viler them or to scare them and say, "We're coming after you. We're going to vigorously defend our ordinances as we see fit in City of Miami Page 105 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 the City of Miami, " maybe the better and smarter idea would be to come up with a set of regulations that can be hashed out and can be discussed, and deliberated before the Commission, in the form of an ordinance that says, "We are going to allow it in certain areas; we're not going to allow it in other areas, and here's what you have to do to comply. And we're going to make it relatively easy for you to comply so that we can have people come into compliance." The experience across the globe, not just with Airbnb, but VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) and any other pla form -- Craig's List or otherwise -- is that the more difficult you make it for people to comply, or the more you say, "You just cannot do it, " across the board, and "We're going to crack down on you, " there's two real problems with that. One is, resources of the City to actually go and enforce it en masse is very difficult. And number two, when -- the harder you make it, the more you basically force people not to comply. So I would just say to you, regardless of what you do with this resolution, which I don't think does anything more than what you're doing today; doesn't do anything more or anything less. I'm not even sure what the point of it is, other than to sort of viler the host. I would offer to you that a better approach would be to take a step back, to come forward with some legislation. We have offered some input on that to the Mayor's Office. The Mayor has also proffered two different ordinances -- or one ordinance. City Attorney put out an ordinance that went to the P&Z (Planning & Zoning) Board, then was pulled off, and now this resolution; that maybe the better approach to be is to bring people together rather than pitting neighbor against neighbor and government against neighbor; to say that we're going to try to come together and figure out a regulatory framework that makes sense for everybody; that provides some accountability for the City, so you know where it is, and if people do something and they get it wrong, they don't just -- and I'll give you a 'for instance. " One of the instances that's commonly referred to happened in the Roads. There was an Airbnb listing, and it was also on another listing platform. Airbnb actually helped the City crack down on it, took it off of the pla form, and all that happened was the listing then went to Craig's list; went to a different pla form. So I'm just -- I just hope that we take a step back from all the emotion and everything we heard today and everything that's been going on in the last week or so, and say, "There's probably a better way to do this that embraces the shared economy; that actually takes a really thoughtful look at it, understands it, and puts a regulatory framework in place that is good for the City, good for the residents, and good for visitors who are coming here, who really do, obviously, because of what's happening in this marketplace, they want more options, and they want affordable options. " So I thankyou for your time. Mayor Regalado: Mr. Chairman, if I may? Chair Hardemon: Please. Mayor Regalado: I think that this resolution is important, and I think it's important, and Mr. May is right; there was an ordinance that didn't clarify, so the City Attorney opined that it was important first to deal with the residential single-family homes issue, and then for the Commission and the Administration to come back to the City Commission with different ordinance or regulation. We're running out of time, though, because, as you know, the County has probably an agreement, if the Board of County Commissioners approves that, in terms of charging a bed tax; which, by the way, the City, by the global agreement, doesn't get a single penny. It is distributed by the County and on certain facilities of the City of Miami. But what we're trying to do here is to send a clear message to residential neighborhoods that the City is with them. And I heard that this won't do anything; that we can enforce; that we should enforce. So why the problem? Is it a problem because it sends a message that the City of Miami opposes Airbnb? Actually, the resolution doesn't mention Airbnb; it mention short-term rentals. And so, I respec fully request that we vote on this resolution today, and then we can come back and try to do in steps regulation in areas where that could be allowed. People can get their BTR (Business Tax Receipt); they City of Miami Page 106 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 can get the Certificate of Occupancy; whatever the Zoning Code of the City of Miami allows them. This year will be my 22nd year. I sat where you sit, and I've stood here in every Commission meeting. My historical memory tells me that the single most important issue that we have dealt as Commissioners and legislators is, throughout these 22 years, the protection of the single-family residential areas of the City. We saw it with the Mercy; we saw it with different projects. Actually, we even had a moratorium on construction on 27th Avenue, when I was City Commissioner; because of the fight of the residents of Silver Bluff against tall buildings abutting residential, and then is when Miami 21 came about. So what we're doing here, if it's not that important, what's the problem? You know, we're sending a message to the residential areas that we are with them, and that is why I ask you to make a decision and vote on this today. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, ma'am. Grace Solares: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Grace Solares. I'm going to read to you something from the zoning interpretation by Irene Hegedus, your Zoning Administrator --your prior Zoning Administrator, which says, "Lod" -- and it's dated August 11 of 2015. "Lodging units under Miami 21 are certain living quarters available for rent. Lodging uses are permitted in T4, T5, T6, "C" and "D" transect zones with various specific requirements. However, " -- "however, such uses are prohibited" -- 'prohibited in T3 transect zones. Article 4, Table 3 of Miami 21 does not list lodging as a permitted use in T3 transect. Land use functions concerning temporary rentals and living quarters or sleeping accommodations are considered lodging under Miami 21. These functions encompasses such as bed and breakfasts and hotel, and are not allowed in T3 residentially zoned areas in the City. It is important to note the definition of a single-family residence, " dot, dot, dot, "It is used as a permanent residence by a single housekeeping unit; as such, using a single- family residence or two-family housing -- a duplex -- within a T3 transect zone to provide rental accommodations per night, per week, et cetera, would constitute an activity in violation of Miami 21. " So, therefore, Commissioners, all of these people that talked today here that live in their homes and are renting committed a violation of Miami 21; not only that, the Property Appraiser of the City of Miami has now come out with this in his website that says, "Miami -Dade County property owners who receive homestead exemption on their primary residence need to be aware that upon renting their property or portions of thereof through home -sharing or collaborative consumption, companies such as Airbnb, may be committing homestead fraud, and are subject to lose their exemption, plus a 50 percent penalty, and 15 percent interest. " What's not here and not specified is the fact that they will lose also the Save Our Home cap, which is the 3 percent that we all have. My neighbor died in 2015, and she paid for her home 232 taxable value for the house, 2,000 -- $232, 000. She paid $5,397 in taxes. The following year, 2016, since she had died, the homestead exemption just went away, $50, 000; so did the cap, and the bank, who was the trustee, Gibraltar Bank, was faced with a taxing bill of $18,327. This is extremely important for everyone who spoke here to know that, if by renting to Airbnb and being caught by the Property Appraiser, and the homestead exemption is removed and the cap is removed, if they're paying $3,000 now, they're going to pay a heck of a lot more, because it will be value on the present value of the home; not on the old one that they pay for and has slowly creeped up. So this is very important to do. And I have to tell you that I mentioned the other day that I was victimized, and I am presently being victimized, because this lady who walked in here today and said that I had actually reported her, I did. And we came to a Code Enforcement hearing, we did. And the judge magistrate said to the lady, "You cannot do that. It's not authorized for having an Airbnb in a residential" -- "single-family residential area, so you cease and desist, or otherwise, you will be fined $250, or a thousand dollars a day. " So what did Ms. -- the lady who spoke -- I forget her name -- did? Well, she went and rented a house around the corner. So now, she has that one over there, and this one over here. And City of Miami Page 107 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 then she brings the people from in front of my house to the other one, to the pool. So it's kind of a resort that is going on, and people with suitcases and things like that. I don't know who's going there. I don't know who's staying there. My grandchildren, my boys used to come every Friday and stay with me till Sunday morning. No longer; because now I am afraid of being with my two little kids in my home, not being able to know who's staying there that night, who's arriving at 11 o'clock at night. One night, six men and one woman went into that house. I am totally afraid. This type of business destabilizes a community; destabilizes a single-family residential area, and I -- I'm looking at you, because I've seen your little kids at your house, and I know that you used to take care of them before becoming a Commissioner. How would you like being here, not knowing what's going on over there? You have two bed and breakfast -- or two Airbnb next to your house, and you're not there, and you don't know who's coming in and out and when, and why. So this ought not to change. This law must be complied with. And in single-family residential areas, this kind of business should not go. The -- your own Code allows them to -- establishes them in T4s and 5 and 6 and "C" and "D. " They have -- they can go anywhere. But please respect the single- family homes in the City. Thank you so much. Applause Toya Bowles: Hello. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Dr. Toya Bowles, and I'm at 3373 Day Avenue, and feel free to come by my house any time. I'm actually a five-star Airbnb host, and I'm proud of it. And I'm here to say that I really appreciate Airbnb, because I moved to Miami really -- my husband and I --for one reason: We love Florida and we love the culture and diversity of Miami, and that is specifically why we moved here; and because of that, we have a house that we purchased about two years ago, just down the street. Its brand-new; it's a new, modern home. We rent it out, really, when we're not there. Also, we rent it out. We don't need to; we don't need the money. We do it because we really have passion for our community and the walkability, and we want to share that with people that come into the town. Sometimes people come in and they stay at a hotel, and you don't get the whole culture of the community unless you stay in somebody's home and you can walk around the community. And I will say, number one, that I really appreciate Airbnb, because they allow us to have stars. So I'm a proud five-star person. I also double check when people come to our house. I want to make sure that they are very respectful, as well. Believe me, we didn't pay so much for our house, and we pay a lot of taxes on our house, too, that we're willing to actually continue to pay, of course. And, actually, we don't even care about the homestead. Personally, it doesn't make that big of a difference for us, because of how much we paid for our house. We're willing to sacrifice that, if needed. So we really appreciate Airbnb, and we really appreciate the ability to make the decision ourself [sic], if these people are good to be renters in our place. And I -- my point today is really to say that there's other towns and other cities in the United States that have had -- that have worked together with Airbnb, and with other time -- or other home -sharing companies to develop models. And I don't know if everybody is familiar with the New York Times article that was published December 7, 2016 It's -- and it's describing how New Orleans became the new model for Airbnb to work with cities. So why not work with the City? Why not work with Airbnb? That would be -- my biggest goal would be to have compromise. So with that, I have the article here ifpeople would like that. I have seven of them I'd like to hand out, if needed. I'm not sure if everybody's read it or not, or is familiar with it. Chair Hardemon: Yeah, go ahead. Ms. Bowles: So thank you. I appreciate your time. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. City of Miami Page 108 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Wendy Kallergis: Good afternoon. My name is Wendy Kallergis, and I'm the president and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association. While it sounds like a really big job, I was thinking today that I've lived in -- I live in the Gables -- I'm sorry -- but my first apartment was on Brickell, with my husband. I've lived in Miami -Dade County for 32 years, and 18 of those 32 years, I actually worked in the City of Miami. My first job at the Pavilion Hotel, I was a sous chef. I was there when the Pavilion closed for 24 hours and became Intercontinental, where I ended up in catering. And then, I also had the great pleasure of working here in the Grove at the Mayfair Hotel. When the Biltmore closed, I was here at the Mayfair. And then, I also worked at the Grand Bay Hotel, in catering. I actually ran into one of my almost -brides from the Biltmore, but the Biltmore closing -- Esmeralda, today, that was nice to see you. So I wanted to first tell you that we don't oppose Airbnb. We oppose illegal short-term rentals. So let's -- we make that very clear, our association. And I was telling Tom a minute ago, I want to say, maybe every day, five times a day, I say the same thing. There are many, many other sites, like Brian said, to keep your eye on. And I think that if we do -- I hope we all get to work together, because I think we can make a big difference. So on behalf of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association, we want to thank Mayor Regalado very much, and the Commission for asking for our input. We hope to have the opportunity to continue to provide with you information that may be helpful in these next -- because this is not easy. This whole thing is not easy. I've been going through it on Miami Beach the last two years, and it's not easy; it's not an easy thing at all. And we have a lot of experience, we have a lot of colleagues in other parts of the country that are similar to the City of Miami that, you know, we can talk to. So we're hereto help you. Our position regarding short-term rentals is that their guests must be entitled to the same safeguards as hotel guests, and that the properties are registered with a business license, fully insured, regulated as to basic health, safety, and cleanliness guidelines, and they are ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, appropriately zoned, and that all their taxes and fees are paid in full. This is a quality of life issue for our residents and our visitors. Mayor Regalado, we support your resolution, and we hope that you all will, as well. And in closing, I just wanted to share with you that in the last couple of weeks, I signed up two interesting hotels. One was my smallest one -- and by the way, I -- you know, I get upset when people say that, you know, hotels don't have this and that and that. You all need to stay in some of our hotels, because there's a lot going on culturally, and you all know it, we all know it; we're all copying each other. I mean, you've got a lot of new brands. You got the Boutique Hotel -- there's nothing like our hotel mix in Miami - Dade County, so I just get a little upset about how some of the hosts were talking, because I think some of the hosts were saying some wonderful things about what they're doing, but they need to be regulated and they need to pay their taxes. So in closing, three weeks ago, I signed up a -- what was an illegal short-term rental on Miami Beach. It was a five bed -- it's a five -bedroom, five bath, five parking space unit, and it was illegal. He paid a lot. He was fined, the owner. He paid the fines, and he now became legal. He has all his licenses. He's now a bed and breakfast. I checked it out before I signed him up -- don't worry -- and he's legal. And then the second property -- so that's a five -- that's my smallest hotel, five rooms. The second property that I'm very excited about that was just met with, and they're joining, is the Dunns Josephine Hotel in Overtown; very excited about that project. We met with Christian a couple days ago. It's going -- it's such a wow. It's going to be -- it's a restoration/renovation. It's going to be fabulous, and it's going to be 15 rooms, and we look for -- and that brand is actually going to travel across the country. So there's a lot of wonderful things happening, and we all need to work together. And I'm here to tell you, we're here to work with you, however we can help you; we've lots of experience. And thank you for your attention. City of Miami Page 109 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Yamile Bell: How are you? Good afternoon. My name is Yamile Bell, and I'm here because I would like to -- Chair Hardemon: Can you state your name -- your address for the record, please? Ms. Bell: My name is Yamile Bell. Chair Hardemon: Your address for the record. Ms. Bell: About the Airbnb. Chair Hardemon: Your address. Where do you live? Ms. Bell: Oh. 3280 Southwest 16th Terrace. I live in the Coral Gate area. The beauty of what we're doing here right now is because we can see the perspectives of everybody that spoke here. And this morning, we prayed with my family about -- to have wisdom and to take decisions, and we know that it's a lot of law; that sometimes, we have to check again. But I want to talk specifically about my family. Mayor Regalado say that we -- he take care about the community, the residents. So we are the residents, too. In my case, I am a wife, I have five kids. Three of those kids, I have in home school, and one of the decisions that we take to have those kids in home school is because we -- as a family, we decide that that is going to be amazing for our family. And since we start to doing Airbnb, that bring us -- to our family the possibility to me to stay home. I work in -- as a real estate. I work in a radio in Miami for several years, and the TV shows, but right now, I -- we see this kind of new way to do business through platforms in the internet; a new way that people like us take the opportunity to stay in our homes. And I want to mention that, for example, in my case, in my house, I have certain restrictions. I no -- I'm not allow nobody to bring alcohol, to do any type of party in the house. So we have regulations that -- Before we decide to take anybody in our home, we tell those peoples that they have to accept what we -- before, we put it in the page, so it's not that everybody come to our house and disturbing another people around us in the neighborhood. We are part of this community, too, and we realize that -- It's not that we want to do whatever we want to do. It's -- because we need to have a conversation to everybody to be benefit of this. Its something that is necessarily to understand it. Its less than I percent, the situation that happens, and situation like this. So I want you to -- guys to think about the families that, right now, they are benefit around this type of business created in Miami. Thank you so much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you. Sir, you're recognized. Monty Trainer: I'm up? Monty Trainer, 2649 South Bayshore Drive. I don't think we're talking about the same thing. I think we ought to differentiate a little bit. We have three great condo -- four great condo hotels here in Coconut Grove. I think we're missing the boat when you feel like -- like in the Sonesta, where we've lost 38 keys, and that means there's 38 rooms that are not checking into the Sonesta Hotel; they're checking in to an apartment. Now, in that apartment -- and they don't pay the same rates to the Greater Miami Convention Bureau; they don't have to pay for fire; they don't have to pay for the same cleanings. So it's not -- the standardization is not there. I think you have to differentiate between what we're talking about; and you have to realize, the hotels, like the Sonesta, currently has now fallen below 200 rooms. Now, the Mutiny is here also, the Residence Inn, the Ritz. These are all condo hotel. They're losing keys. They're lose -- they're going to lose business; we're going to lose groups. Now, in the Sonesta, they've gone down to about 160, and they've had to lay off 30 employees. I think that's a lot of employees, if you start taking it and you go over four hotels. So, you know, and it's sort of like when we started out with those food trucks. I resented them, because they didn't have to have health inspections; they City of Miami Page 110 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 didn't have to have fire; they didn't -- you know. And the same thing is happening with the hotels and the Airbnb. I think that we ought to have the same standardization. Like, in the hotels now, if you go above the eighth floor; there's a cutoff, and you have to have a special key. Now, there's four or five different cleaning services that have that key, and they can get up to those floors. Who knows who's on those floors? Who knows in the cleaning crews? Who knows what they're doing for cleaning? Are they up to County health standards? Is there fire protection? Who knows? So I think that the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau should be down here. I think all the condo hotels should be down here, opposing this. I don't think people realize what an impact it's going to have on the hotels, and that's my big concern. I know that the families that want to rent out, but I think you ought to really be concerned with what's happening with the hotels. We're lose -- we're going to lose a lot of business before it's over with, and there's a lot more than that 8 million or 6 million they're talking about with the County that's going to be impacted. The Greater Miami Convention Bureau, that money comes from a bed tax -- Listen, I'm on the Cultural Affairs Council, and our money comes from the bed tax. So we're going to lose money, revenue, at least in the Grove, and we pay a million dollars in bed tax. We're going to lose that. We're not going to lose that; we're going to lose a big portion of it. And this is what brings people to Miami. We advertise, and we get people to Miami. So we're not going to be as attractive to groups, and I don't think we're up to standard as far as what people are offering in the -- Like in the Sonesta, the Mutiny, they require that their rooms be of a certain standard, and now, what they -- if they -- if they're not up to that standard, they don't have to comply anymore; and, of course, it saves them a little money by not having to comply. But I really feel like we're making a mistake if we don't differentiate between the hotels and the residents; nothing to be said about -- you know, I know Mayor Regalado was on the residences, and it's well and good, but in Coconut Grove, we got four hotels out of six that are condo hotels, and they're going to lose business. We're going to lose business in the Grove. And if they -- the people become aware of what's going on in the whole County, as far as condo hotels, maybe they'll become aware, also. But anyway, thank you for your time. And I know you got tough decisions, but that's -- I feel very strongly about the hotels in Coconut Grove. Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Louis Herrera: Good evening. My name is Luis Herrera, president Vizcaya Homeowner Association. We -- 1181 Southwest 22nd Terrace. Do you see already we try to protect the neighborhood? And they already -- When you buy you house and you want to raise you family in there, and then we have these people come in and rent it. Who list these people? Who come from? And then he got the rent -a -cars in front of my house; that happen to me already. And I try to protect my neighborhood, like a residential -- live like a residential. My family is in there. I don't think so these people should be allowed to rent anything when you are own -- you own house, private house, do business with it. So that's why Mr. Garcia, he say he's proud doing the job they doing. So I think Miami 21, they protect the neighborhood, and I ask him before. And another reason, we need the protection of the neighborhood. Thank you very much. Chair Hardemon: Thank you, sir. Tom Martinelli: Good afternoon, Chairman, Commissioners, Mayor. My name is Tom Martinelli, and I work with -- at Airbnb, with offices at 3250 Northeast 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida 33137. I'm representing not only Airbnb, but the thousands of hosts across the State of Florida and obviously, in the City of Miami, as well. Over the last year, we've been listening and working with your offices, and trying to figure out a solution to understand the pain points regarding short-term rentals in the City of Miami. Why? Because we're committed to working with local governments. We're City of Miami Page 111 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 committed to understanding what the issues are, figuring out solutions to get to where we could all be comfortable with short-term rentals -- responsible short-term rentals in a community. But after two withdrawn ordinances, here we are. I can't speak for other pla forms, but Airbnb provides a number of resources that we're proud to share, and hopefully, will give you some more confidence as you move forward in this discussion. Number one, we vet our hosts, and we also vet our guests. Number two, we offer a million dollars of insurance to our hosts, every time, each time. We have a neighborhood tool that we can integrate with 311 to ensure that these quality of life issues are not -- you know, don't escalate. And we don't want those repeat offenders on our platform, either. You know, we don't want anybody to have a bad time. We want to preserve the neighborhoods as much as anybody else does. And we have resources that we can provide and work with the City to promote compliance, if the goal is compliance. So, on behalf of Airbnb and on behalf of our host community, we want to be regulated; we want the bad actors out, but more importantly, we want to be recognized under the law. With that said, we hope that we could have some input, as well, Mr. Mayor; in your deliberations, as you craft the ordinances, and we remain at the table. With that said, we respec fully oppose RE. 3, and we're standing by to answer any questions that you all may have. Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Thank you very much. I'm going to close the public hearing at this time, and recognize Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. I have a question. You said that Airbnb vets the hosts and the people that are staying. What type of vetting do you do? Mr. Martinelli: We run it through a number of criminal background checks. I mean, I can provide you some more details on that, but they range from, obviously, criminal offenses and sexual behave -- sexual deviance; although those background -- you know, to make sure that we don't have those type of people on our platform. Commissioner Carollo: And when you do criminal background, do you do it -- what? -- in the county they live, in the State they live, in the -- Mr. Martinelli: We do it -- Commissioner Carollo: -- NNA (National Notary Association)? Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: I mean -- Mr. Martinelli: We do a -- we have a -- Commissioner Carollo: -- nationally? Mr. Martinelli: -- national database that we work with; and again, I apologize, I don't have the actual name of that database, but I can provide you all the details. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized, Vice Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Just to follow up on that question, that's for the host and the guest; is that correct? City of Miami Page 112 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Martinelli: That is correct. Yes, that's correct. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, real quick. And you obtain that information - - what? -- voluntarily, by whoever says they're going to stay there? How --? Mr. Martinelli: So when you sign up to become a -- either a host or a guest, you submit a number of -- Number one, you agree to our terms of service; and number two, you agree that we're going to do a background check on you. And so, we run the information provided through those databases. Commissioner Carollo: And how do you verify that whoever is inputting that information is actually the real person? I -- is there like some type of -- Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. We -- Commissioner Carollo: --identification? Mr. Martinelli: Yes. We use a driver's license or a -- you know, we -- or a passport, another ID (identification). Commissioner Carollo: Which they provide in the -- via the internet once again? Mr. Martinelli: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: But you never check the actual person to that driver's license? You understand what I'm saying? Mr. Martinelli: You know, we cross-check with other -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. But you never actually check the individual with the driver's license? They just send all the information via internet, so you just receive all information from some party near the computer? Mr. Martinelli: Right. But then we cross-check it with their credit card, and we also cross-check it with other databases. Chair Hardemon: Let me help you understand. He comes from law enforcement background. Mr. Martinelli: No, no, I understand. Chair Hardemon: So what he's saying is that when he sees a person and he passes the ID, so when you look at the identification -- Mr. Martinelli: Right. Chair Hardemon: -- this is the person that is on this identification, and then he'll run the background check or so on that. Mr. Martinelli: Right. Chair Hardemon: But what it seems like what he's asking you is, do you do that? Mr. Martinelli: We do that by matching their license with their credit card, and then we also cross-check it with other bank accounts, and we also cross-check it with other mediums, as well. City of Miami Page 113 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman, you're correct, because a lot of times, over the internet, people pretend to be someone else. Mr. Martinelli: Right. Commissioner Carollo: So that's why -- Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. I think -- Commissioner Carollo: -- I'm thinking, where -- Commissioner Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Martinelli: No, I understand. And I think that, you know, to the extent possible, we try to work with the host, and we also -- we have a quality assurance measure via - - in essence, crowd -sourcing with the review system on the host and the guest. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Martinelli, how many hosts are in Miami, as a city? Mr. Martinelli: In the ballpark of 3,500. Vice Chair Russell: How many hosts are in my district, in District 2? Mr. Martinelli: You have about 2,500 of those 3,500. Vice Chair Russell: So 60 -something percent. Mr. Martinelli: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. That's my question. Mr. Martinelli: Sure. Chair Hardemon: You have further breakdowns of the district -- of the districts? Mr. Martinelli: I just know that one because it's the lion's share, but -- Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: Let me tell you, when I first met with you, we talked about that this could be something to help some of the neighborhoods -- Mr. Martinelli: Of course. Commissioner Gort: -- that there was going to be people that live in their home -- Mr. Martinelli: That's right. Commissioner Gort: -- and they were going to have a facility available, and they going to comply; you have the insurance, you have all that. But with the testimony given here today, this is a business now. Now it has become a major business. People are buyingproperties all over the different neighborhoods to rent out; not that they live in it, and that's the problem that I have. At the same time, "There's an exception to all the rules, ma'am. There's an exception to all the rules. " So my problem is, how would you like to have next to you in the garage a mechanic shop? Because once you open (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- City of Miami Page 114 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Martinelli: Sure. Commissioner Gort: -- that can happen, because we have a lot of people -- we go after a lot of people that doing illegal businesses within a residential neighborhood, and we had to stop that. If we -- I think we want you all, but I think we have to work and we have to come up with something. And I will tell you, I will vote for this today, because you're going to continue to do it, and everybody is doing it illegally, and they've been doing it illegally for two or three years already. Mr. Martinelli: Right. Commissioner Gort: And they're going to continue to do it illegally. But in the meantime, I think we got to have rules and regulation, because when you have real estate people that go and sell property all over South America, and they tell the clients, "Don't worry about it; I'll take care of your apartment, I'll take care of your house. We'll rent it. You won't have to pay anything, because I'll get the income to do that. " You become -- and you're bringing businesses within a residential area, and this is one thing that I'm scared of. And I don't have any problem. I think it is great. Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. Commissioner Gort: And we should do it and -- I'm an old man, but I act as a Millennial, all right? I agree with all the technique that comes up, and I think it's very important that we go with it, but at the same time, we have to have regulation. Now, a lot of people come up and ask us, "How can the City tell us what we can do with our property?" Well, it's very important, what you can do with your property, because you don't want next door to you to have a -- somebody selling liquor or somebody selling whatever they want to sell, or do a -- what do you call them? -- a -- Chair Hardemon: A gentlemen's club. Commissioner Gort: Yeah. It's --so this --that's why we have regulation. I think it's important that people understand why we need regulations -- Mr. Martinelli: And -- Commissioner Gort: -- because even with regulations, we have a lot ofproblem. Mr. Martinelli: -- Commissioner -- Commissioner Gort: So can you imagine if we don't have regulations? Mr. Martinelli: -- we want the same thing, too. We want regulations, as well. And I'd say -- all I'll say to your previous point is that I think the investor -- the speculator is the exception to the rule. I think -- Commissioner Gort: But --no. Those (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the people -- Mr. Martinelli: -- in our host community -- Commissioner Gort: --you have -- Mr. Martinelli: -- the majority of the people share a room -- Commissioner Gort: Look -- City of Miami Page 115 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Martinelli: -- or a space, and they do this responsibly to generate a little bit of extra revenue to make ends meet; whether it's for the medicine or the mortgage, you know? Commissioner Gort: I understand all that, but you know what changed my mind? The same people we had here speaking about all the investment they done, and how they using those investment to make money and create business in there. Chair Hardemon: I'll tell you -- Mr. Martinelli: And I -- and respectfully, Commissioner, we should treat those people differently -- Chair Hardemon: -- so -- Mr. Martinelli: -- and not punish everybody -- sorry -- but just not cover everybody with a giant blanket and vigorously enforcing -- vilify those that are doing it to make ends meet. Chair Hardemon: -- the first thing that I've noticed is that the resolution that's before us, it reinforces that there should not be short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods, right? I agree with that. I personally believe that Airbnb, VRBO, short-term rentals, however you want to call it, is the death of the single-family neighborhood. The reason I believe that it's the death of the single-family neighborhood is because of what some of the people who came up here and said. A gentleman described certain parts of our community as "ghettos, " and other things. But when we pressed him about, "Was a family living in that house before you bought it?" if he indeed purchased it, he said, "Yes." The houses in these communities, especially in your lower-income communities, where housing is a bit more affordable for everyone, they're being snatched up every day; not by people who want to find affordable housing in Miami to live in, but by LLCs (Limited Liability Companies), which have the right to buy those properties, but those LLCs are then taking those properties and they're making them short-term rental cash cows. And the question you have to ask yourself is, "What does that do to the single-family neighborhood?" Well, I personally believe it reduces the likelihood that you'll know who your neighbor is on any given day. I tend to believe that it is something that is not like the expectation of when you go to a hotel. When I go to a hotel, I expect not to know who's staying next to me. It is part of the risk that I take by having a hotel room. I don't expect them to ask me about my criminal background. When I take my child with me to the hotel, I assume that risk. But when I move into my single-family home, and I know next door to me is someone who's renting for a year or six months, or however long it is, but I can identify who the person is that's living next to me. I know that there are regulations within the City, the State that outlaw or ban predators, sexual predators, things of that nature, in these neighborhoods, where you can look it up in your -- you can put your address in a database and you can see where people live close to you. Those type of things are very essential for people who thought well enough to root themselves in a single-family neighborhood. If we were talking about a condominium, I think we'd be talking about something different; it's not a single- family neighborhood. The zoning is not the same. But when someone takes the opportunity, the time to actually move into a single-family neighborhood, the most restricted, almost, place that you can be, the -- not -- a place where there are 10 homes on the block; the place that made Miami a neighborhood. Mr. Martinelli: Right. Chair Hardemon: And these communities that you're describing, you're telling me -- and all of the testimony that I heard today was saying that you -- everyone compared City of Miami Page 116 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 themselves to a hotel. That's not good testimony to me. When you put that to me, all I hear you saying is that the hotel or the bed and breakfast that was on 3rd Avenue is now in the middle of the block, next door to Ms. Ethel's home, next door to whomever's home. But what I'm seeing is this -- and I asked the gentleman earlier, I said, "For a typical three-bedroom home, " which, in Miami, you're probably going to get typical two- to three-bedroom homes -- 'you can fix" -- 'you can sit four to six people responsibly, " as the term that you all have continued to say. So if we had six people and they rented that house every week, five days a week, 260 days, that's 1,560 different people next to a single-family home. That's a lot of --it's not good numbers? Is my math wrong? Mr. Martinelli: No, but it doesn't -- you're setting the exception to the rule, Chairman. And frankly, the testimony that you cited earlier was -- Chair Hardemon: Wait, but let me -- Mr. Martinelli: -- obviously testimony against short-term rentals. Chair Hardemon: No, no, no, no. Let me say this. Listen, I took these numbers from testimony from people who are pro'ing short-term rentals. What I'm saying to you is this: I believe that regulations, government has a responsibility of protecting the quality of life of its citizens. That's why you don't have a brick house next door to a single-family home, next door to a car dealership, next door to a sandwich shop. Development changed many -- has changed many times over, in a sense that we have the suburbs, not -- the new suburbs, where people move north and west, where all you have around you are single-family homes and houses. And they said that if you want to have a business or some sort of commercial use, they put that in a different area. And then they all turned around one day and said, "Well, let's bring it back to the city centers, and we should have work/life -- you know, that type of thing, where you could have a residence, as well as some -- Mr. Martinelli: Commercial. Chair Hardemon: -- commercial at the bottom. And people liked that; people liked that whole experience. But, you know, it didn't change the single-family neighborhoods. It still doesn't allow you to have a Kinko's Store next door to your residence out there in Weston; it doesn't necessarily do that. And so, when I hear people tell me, "Well, it allows me to make this kind of money, it allows me to do this with my money, " what you're saying to me is that I should value profit versus quality of life, profit versus public safety, and there's no way that I can ever say that I value profit more than I do the life of the people who live in these areas. And my fear is that as long as you can -- And I asked the gentleman, quite frankly. And when people give me answers like this, many times, they lose their credibility to me, because sometimes, you just have to say, "You know, you're right. I asked him, I said, "Do you think" -- because they said -- everyone said, "Well, there's an affordability crisis in Miami. " And I asked him, I said, "Well, do you think that having time-sharing places, like through the Airbnb platform, creates more affordable housing for the people who want to live in the area?" And he said, "Yes. " And there's absolutely no way that it is true, because not only are the people who live there are being bombarded with uses that they're not -- they're not like -- they don't like very much, because they're seeing uses that are much like a hotel. It is effectively a hotel, and if you want to pay taxes on it, that's because you realize that it is like a hotel, and it deserves to pay taxes like a hotel. I don't want you to pay taxes like a hotel, because I don't want you in the single-family neighborhoods. So I would rather to say -- and I'll come to a conclusion, because I feel like I've been talking a little too long -- but at the end of the day, I won't stand by idly in the City of Miami and allow a sharing service to invade the single-family neighborhoods; not the duplexes; not these residential areas where City of Miami Page 117 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 people have come to have an expectation of being able to enjoy their properties. Some people own residential properties that don't live in those properties, and they rent them out. Some people own 10 homes, 15 homes, 30 homes. Donald Trump owns many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many homes in all kinds of places that we'll never, ever know of, right? But that doesn't change the fact that the person who lives next door to Donald's rental unit in his building doesn't want certain type of traffic coming from his space, because that's the expectation that they've come to have. And so, I'm with the Mayor in this resolution. I think that the resolution is smart. It gives people at least some notice that, "Hey, listen, these are the rules, and you should follow them. " This is not like the taxi cab situation; it is not like that. When I walk outside and I decide to get in someone's car, that's my personal business that I've decided now to put myself in harm's way. What you're doing is inviting industry into someone's neighborhood; not their backyard, but their front yard, and I would rather not have that in my front yard. That's just me. Mr. Martinelli: Okay. Can -- may I respond, Chairman? Chair Hardemon: You can say whatever you'd like, sir. Mr. Martinelli: Sure, if I may. Number one, we don't see homes as hotels; we never have, we never will. And the -- regarding the tax component, it's mandatory, regardless of whether you're a traditional bed and breakfast, a hotel, or, in this case, Airbnb. We are actually voluntarily approaching counties to collect that tax, because we think it's the right thing to do. You know, take our taxes, right? You know, we -- how often do you get a private entity, on behalf of its host, you know, coming to the table to give -- or remit taxes, without having to raise any sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? So, you know, on affordability, I'll just say this, Mr. Chairman: Airbnb was founded by two young men who couldn't make the rent. And you know what they did? They got innovative. They laid down some -- you know, they opened up their bedrooms, and they opened up their home, and they generated money. And they thought, "Hey, maybe some people who can't make the rent all over the world would benefit from doing this, " and here we are, eight years later. And lastly, on the quality of life issue, Chairman, we a hundred percent agree with preserving the quality of life in all of Miami's neighborhoods. We have a system that we can integrate with 311 to have these issues resolved directly, and that's what happened with that one property in the Roads. We got a call. Within the day, it was down. I didn't -- we -- Chair Hardemon: That's from your personal site. Mr. Martinelli: Well, but the -- Chair Hardemon: As you said, once the -- once your site has -- Mr. Martinelli: Correct. Chair Hardemon: You know, there's more than one site that does that type of business. That's why this is not about Airbnb; it's about short-term rentals. Mr. Martinelli: Well, fair enough, but then, let's invite all the other platforms to the table, you know? Chair Hardemon: I don't -- I mean, I could care less if they wrote it on a chalkboard and put it on the end of the avenue. If they were renting the room, they're renting the room, and it changes that community; it really, really does. I mean, it's the same battle that I've been seeing with illegal units in the past. You know, people don't want to live near them. And so -- and in those senses, it was because of the type of traffic City of Miami Page 118 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 that it -- that came. And this is -- it's traffic, but it's people just -- there are many families who have decided to live in single-family neighborhoods that just don't want it. Now, if you're willing to give up some of your profit to pay taxes, then, you know, I don't see the problem with giving up some of the profit by moving into an area that is better fit for that type of sharing, and I think that that's what the Mayor is hinting to. He's not saying, "We don't want Airbnb. We don't want these sharing" -- "this sharing, " as you've described it, "in this" -- "in the City of Miami. " They're saying, "Look, not in single-family neighborhoods. Let's find a better place for it. " And there are better places for it. There are more intense uses in the City of Miami, but what happens is, you want to give people the authentic experience of 36th Street and 10th Avenue instead of 36th Street and 12th Avenue, and that is the difference, that is the difference; that when you go to 10th Avenue, you've now moved into the neighborhood, and people who generally live in those neighborhoods, they don't want to welcome that; not -- they just don't. Mr. Martinelli: I think -- Commissioner Gort: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Commissioner Gort: Let me explain something that I don't think we -- If we want to do something and we want to go ahead and agree to what you're asking for, we need to change the zoning. We have to go through a process in order to be able to admit that. You can put all the regulations you want, but if you're not in compliance with the zoning, you can't do it; you would have to change the zoning. So that's why I don't have any problem passing on this and work with you guys to do something. After -- If the people is willing to change the zoning in the areas, that's their problem. Well, that's when I want everyone here, because a lot of people come here and they talked about, "We are the citizens, " and they speaking and representing the whole City of Miami, which they're not. My understanding is we have close to 500,000 people living in the City of Miami. Mr. Martinelli: But, you know, I think -- Commissioner Gort: And we need to understand that. Mr. Martinelli: I think, you know, we'd be open to a discussion about certainly working, regarding the Zoning Code, to allow for home sharing. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: A couple questions. Mr. Martinelli, how many of the 3,000 - something hosts you have in the City of Miami are in the T3 -R zone? Mr. Martinelli: Approximately a thousand. Vice Chair Russell: So this -- a thousand are potentially illegal right now, and would potentially be knocked -- Mayor Regalado: Potentially? Vice Chair Russell: -- out of this service. Are opined as illegal by our Zoning Administrator currently, and would come off of the platform if they were knocked out. But that leads into my second question, which is for the City Attorney; and my third, City of Miami Page 119 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 for the City Manager. This resolution, whether we vote 'yes" or "no, " Madam City Attorney, would it change the strength of the opinion of the Zoning Administrator? If we were to vote "no, " would that invalidate their opinion? If we vote 'yes, " does it change or strengthen their opinion? The opinion is simply as it stands; am I correct? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): It wouldn't change our present interpretations as to the law and the state of the law at this time. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. And Mr. Manager, if we vote 'yes, " or if we vote "no, "does that change your ability to enforce the Code as it is currently interpreted? Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Commissioner; we have been enforcing the illegal use of short-term rentals in the City on the basis -- when usually we get the complaints, that's how we enforce. This resolution would not change that, except that now we are on notice for a number of people that did come up here and notify us in public and challenged us in public that — Mr. Martinelli: They had the courage to come up here and test, Mr. Manager. Mr. Alfonso: -- they have -- Chair Hardemon: I can go -- Mr. Alfonso: Excuse me, sir. Chair Hardemon: -- to a police officer and say, "I got some weed in my bag right now. You want to hit it?" You can do that. I can go to a police officer, without a concealed weapons license and says, "I have a firearm right now in my coat, and I don't have a license to carry it. " You can do that. You could have the courage to do that. It -- they call it something else. They call it something else, but you can call it "courage. " Vice Chair Russell: IfI could continue, Mr. Manager. Mr. Alfonso: So, in effect, these individuals have basically come up here and testified that they are violating the City Code. I would be duty-bound to request our personnel to enforce the City Code. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, but that wasn't my question, though. Does our vote, 'yes" or "no, "change your ability to enforce the current Zoning opinion? Mr. Alfonso: No. Vice Chair Russell: So, in essence, our vote today is really not changing anything, but rather taking the temperature of this dais on how we feel about short-term rentals in the City. I certainly appreciate the Mayor bringing this, because it forces us to discuss it; where maybe it was in the dark before and people were violating, but maybe not knowing it or maybe knowing it, and we were enforcing or not enforcing. The fact that we have to face it is -- it's a big issue. This is a sharing economy that's coming to our City, whether we ask for it or not. Will we deal with it? Will we have the courage to actually say how we feel about it? Commissioner; you have. You're very passionate about it. Mr. Mayor, you have, and you have the courage to say that your priority is to protect the rights of the residents in the single-family district, and how that may affect their quality of life. Of course, we all care about that very, very much; of course, the hotel industry, as well. I've heard it. I've heard it as chairman of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District. I've heard how it has affected them negatively; how the rooms that they have that are also condo rooms, how the City of Miami Page 120 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 owners are taking them out of the circulation from the hotel and starting to rent themselves, through -- How do I feel about it? Shouldn't really matter. As an elected official, I can change -- or work to change legislation, but I should really be listening to my constituents. And what I think all of us are faced here with is, what do our constituents really want and need? And I don't want to make that assumption, because there are those who are fearful of their quality of life, and there are those who are fearful of losing the right to manage their property how they want, and make an additional income. I think there's a lot more research we need to do, a lot more work we need to do; best practices that are out there that we can take advantage of. My initial thought, of course, was to defer this. And I really appreciate that it was deferred while I was gone in the last Commission meeting. As you've just heard, two- thirds of the hosts in the City of Miami are in District 2, so I take it very seriously about how it affects the residents around them, as well as those hosts themselves. But Mr. Mayor I fully respect how you feel; that we should come to a decision on this. If we take a vote on this today, it tells the community how the Commission feels about this. But for me, based on the fact that this vote will not change the actual ordinance, or our -- the interpretation of the Code, and it won't change the actual ability for the Manager and Code Compliance to enforce, I'm -- my position would have to be that I'm not ready to put my line in the sand that this is where I am; that I would be a "no" today on this, because I want to research more of what my residents want. I have to say, as the City Commissioner I get the complaints if the calls come into the office, the emails come into the office. If there's a pothole, I get an email; there's a peacock, I get an email. If anyone in the Grove even starts a chainsaw, I get a call and an email and a visit. Out of the over 2, 000 hosts that are in District 2, according to Mr. Martinelli today, I have received complaints in the last year, three of them; specific complaints about a resident having trouble with a short-term renter, a Airbnb host down the street; three of them. One was in the Venetian Islands, one was in the North Grove and one was in the South Grove. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Russell: I -- we have a meticulous system in my office when a constituent complaint comes in. We put it in a system called Romulus. We have a record of all that; the complaint, who made it, how we're handling it, where it was sent to. Three complaints have come to me. Now, that's not to say there's only been three issues. I know Airbnb gets the complaints; I know the Police Department gets the complaints; Code Compliance; 311. But as far as coming into my office, I haven't heard that. Now, since, obviously, this issue has come about, the lobbying has come from both sides. I've had many passionate emails on both sides of the issue with regard to whether they agree or disagree with our ability to do it. But I really think that this is coming to a head, and we're going to need to make a decision. I -- Mayor Regalado: And Commissioner, this is not about taking the temperature. This is about make a decision. This is about making a decision first on single home residential areas, and I feel this young lady lives in Coral Gate, and, you know, we made Coral Gate a conservation district. Commissioner Suarez: Who lives in Coral Gate? Okay, so do I. Mayor Regalado: And maybe she doesn't know. Maybe -- And so, what we're trying to do is send a message to the residents, saying, you know, "You are in harm's way. " Commissioner Suarez: Are you against it or are you in favor of Airbnb? Mayor Regalado: Well, she has -- she has -- she's a host. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, she's in favor of it. Oh, okay. City of Miami Page 121 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mayor Regalado: She's a host in Coral Gate. Commissioner Suarez: Got it. Okay. Mayor Regalado: Maria doesn't know about it, but -- Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair; may I? Mayor Regalado: -- you know, this is more than taking the temperature. This is about sending a message to the residents. This is about saying, you know, there are possibilities -- the Zoning Code says T4, T5, or whatever; and we could -- But, yes, we need to start protecting the residential neighborhoods of the City of Miami; the same thing that this Commission has done for decades. You know, today, you had 120 people. Well, when we discussed the Mercy Towers rezoning, we had 500 speakers. 500. The Fire Department had to clear this, because Bay Heights and the West Grove and -- I mean, the North Grove, and Miami Avenue, they all come to complain. So I understand, Commissioner. You say that you're going to vote "no, " and I understand. You were the champion of your neighborhood; that's why you got elected. And I understand that you need more information. I understand that you don't know the numbers on your residential and your commercial. You have more commercial in your district than residential. D4 has 80 percent residential; District 3, D5 and DI. So I think that this resolution is important. I think that this resolution is necessary, and hopefully, we will take a vote. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: You're recognized. Vice Chair Russell: I just wanted to respond, ifI may. Commissioner Suarez: No, no, go ahead. Vice Chair Russell: That's all right. Commissioner Suarez: No, go ahead; I yield. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Commissioner Suarez. I'm a huge advocate for my residents, and what really surprised me today is I saw a lot of them here. Many of the people whose doors I knocked and met -- and I really thought, when I saw the boats outside and the planes flying around that, really, this was going to be more of a circus of maybe paid activists or something like that, butt see my constituents here. Chair Hardemon: They making money. Vice Chair Russell: And --yes, they are. They're providing an income to their homes. They're also, you know, providing a service to people visiting, but I certainly don't liken them to people selling drugs or carrying weapons in their admission of what they're doing here. In fact, the one gentleman that mentioned that I gave -- he gave me water when I was campaigning, the biggest party house in his neighborhood is across the street; not him. So I will be a "no "vote today. I will be a "no" vote today. I certainly respect the quality of life of the neighbors, but this is a much bigger, more complicated issue that needs to be looked at holistically, and I look to find a solution amongst us that will not only cherish the quality of life of the residents, but also protect the rights of homeowners, also address the hotel issue, the level playing field City of Miami Page 122 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 issue, the -- I mean, the safety, the ADA. You name it, we're going to look at it. But this is a big job for us, and 1 just don't think drawing a line in the sand -- unless you're so passionately on one side of it, which I see some are. I understand that, but I'm not there. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair. Chair Hardemon: Mm-hmm. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. So I happen to have the district with, I think, the most single-family residential homes in the City of all 5. And prior to this debate, the number of complaints I had gotten was yours minus three: Zero. So the only person -- when there is a zoning issue, as the Mayor just said, a controversial zoning issue, or any kind of an issue that affects people's quality of life or affects the quality of what the Chairman is concerned about -- single-family residential home living, which I've spent my entire eight years trying to protect -- you get a tremendous amount of people who come out. And I find it interesting that one person came out from my district, and it happened to be a supporter. Now, I have talked about this issue with people, because I hadn't yet received that outcry that made me wonder, "Why are we doing this, and what exactly are we doing?" which is my second question. But the first question is, why are we doing this? And so, you know, I didn't have a good answer. And so, I talked to some people, people in Shenandoah Homeowners Association, people in the Roads Homeowners Association, and I was actually surprised that some of the people in those homeowners associations are using Airbnb as hosts, and are, you know, helping themselves pay the mortgage. And they're not creating any sort of problems, because if they were, trust me, we would be getting the calls. I would certainly be getting the calls. Anything that disrupts the quality of life of any member of my district, I get a call, an email, a text, or all three at the same time. So it -- the whole thing just kind of didn't really make sense to me, personally. But what also kind of disturbs me a little bit is, we changed the name of our Code Enforcement Department. It used to be Code Enforcement. And I always said, you know, "Enforcing the Code does nothing if people do not comply. " Enforcing the Code does nothing if people do not comply. And what worries me about this is, if we're saying in the body of this resolution that what people are doing in single-family residential homes or areas is illegal, then we should be vigorously enforcing it. We don't need a resolution to vigorously enforce our Code. We should always be vigorously enforcing our Code. What? Am I going to put a resolution on the next Commission meeting, saying, "All the things that are illegal are illegal, and we need to vigorously enforce our Code"? No. I expect, Mr. Manager, that on everything that we're doing in terms of quality of life, we are always vigorously enforcing our Code. So to have a resolution, to me, that says that we're reairming that something that we think is illegal is illegal, and we're going to vigorously enforce our Code, to me, sends a false message to the community; it's a false dichotomy. It's a -- "Are you in favor of Airbnb? Are you against Airbnb?" You know, that's a false dichotomy. If we're not already -- we haven't been already enforcing it, if this is a problem that's so rampant and so out of control, we should be enforcing it. We should have been enforcing it. And so, it worries me that we would put a resolution of this kind. I think we certainly, certainly need to protect our single-family residential homes and our neighborhoods, and I'm in favor of anything that's going to actually do that. The problem is, I don't think this does, and I think putting this out there to the public gives a false expectation that that is precisely what we're doing, when we're not, and that worries me, to be completely frank with you. And when you see cities, like a neighboring city, like ours that has, I think people would say a great quality of life, Coral Gables, they're taking a different approach. And so, I'm -- I sort of fall into Commissioner Russell's box of, you know, we need to figure out what's going on here; we need to figure out the scope of this; we need to figure out how to regulate it so that when we present a piece of regulation to our residents, it is real regulation, it is real -- it's really going to protect City of Miami Page 123 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 them. I think Commissioner Carollo made a very good point about the, you know, identification issue. And how do we know that somebody who's using a platform like this is the actual person? I think that's a legitimate question, and I would like to know what the answer to that question is. But I don't think passing a resolution that reaffirms what is against the law is against the law, and that we're going to vigorously enforce our laws does that; I mean, with all due respect, I really don't. I think this is a complicated problem, as Vice Chair Russell stated. This is -- any kind of disruptive technology usually is greater in magnitude than a government's ability to enforce it or to regulate it. And so, I think we need to get a sense for the scale of this. How can we deal with it? How can we protect our residents? And I just don't think that this does that, so -- and not only do I think it doesn't do it, I think it sends the wrong message, actually. I don't think it sends the right message at all. I think the message that it's sending is that what's illegal is illegal, and we're going to vigorously enforce it, which is something we should have already been doing in the first place. It's embarrassing to me to think that we're not vigorously enforcing -- Listen, I didn't say anything. I was quiet. I listened to everybody, so I want to talk now. Commissioner Gort: Understand. He's got the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Suarez: So give me a little bit of latitude. Mayor Regalado: Commissioner, what is really embarrassing is that we're not ready to take a decision. You know, the leaders take decision. And by the way, you told me that you understand that this is illegal. So -- Commissioner Suarez: I said -- Mayor Regalado: -- it is illegal. So this young lady is doing an illegal activity in Coral Gate, and so, to me, it's important. Commissioner Suarez: But wait, wait, wait. Mayor Regalado: --it's important. Commissioner Suarez: Wait, wait. But it's not that simple, either, because to prove that something is illegal, as the Chairman will tell you, is a complicated process, okay. You have to -- Mayor Regalado: So what I'm — Commissioner Suarez: prove what somebody is doing is illegal. Mayor Regalado: I'm talking about what you and I discussed; you know. You said that you understand that this is illegal. This -- you say that this resolution is embarrassing. Commissioner Suarez: I do think it is. Mayor Regalado: And I kind of think that that's a very strong word, because you are an attorney. You are in good standing with the Florida Bar. You are an officer of the Court. Commissioner Suarez: Agreed. Mayor Regalado: And you're saying that we have to figure out a way to make this work -- City of Miami Page 124 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I didn't say that. Mayor Regalado: -- in residential areas. Commissioner Suarez: You said that. I didn't say that. Mayor Regalado: No, no. You said -- Commissioner Suarez: You said that. I didn't say that; you said that. Mayor Regalado: So what I'm saying is, the only remedy, like Commissioner Gort said, is we have to change the Zoning Code and allow commercial in residential. So this resolution, I think, is important. And it's not about taking the temperature. It's not about whether we like Airbnb or not. It's sending a message to the residents, "Look, in residential areas of the City of Miami, you are not allowed of having this commercial activity. " Let's move on. Let's enforce. And by the way, compliance is important. And out of 7, 000 citation, 4, 000 comply in the last year; which mean that people did what the City did. So what I'm asking this Commission is vote "no" or vote `yes, " but take a decision so the residential areas of the City of Miami understand that this is allowed -- although it's illegal -- or it's not allowed; and then, yes, enforce, hoping that the people comply. The only thing that they need to do is just comply, and they will be without an issue. Later on, you will have to have a very good conversation about the structure; if they are allowed; if they need to get a BTR; if they need to go through the fire inspections, and all that in commercial areas of the City, if you want to do short-term rentals. But I respectfully disagree that this resolution is embarrassing, Commissioner. You're saying that I brought to you something that is embarrassing to the City, and it's not. And what it does is, that sends the message and tells Administration to enforce it. That's all that there is to it. Commissioner Suarez: I would hope -- Chair Hardemon: Listen -- Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, if I may? He's invoked my name a couple times. 1 would hope that our -- we don't need to, as legislators, send a message to our own Administration that they should enforce our laws. That is -- that's not necessary. They should always enforce our laws. So to me, as a ojFcer of the Court and as a lawyer; I find it a little strange that we are telling them to do their job. Mayor Regalado: Well, the City Attorney drafted this. Commissioner Suarez: Well -- Chair Hardemon: Look, you know, I'll say -- Ms. Mendez: Since the City Attorney drafted it -- Commissioner Suarez: At whose direction? Ms. Mendez: -- there are times when this board has made certain things a priority, and that was the way and the intent of this resolution. So, for instance, I remember when Commissioner Gort and the Unsafe Structures, that was a priority of this Commission; when Commissioner Carollo wanted us to make sure that the very dangerous abandoned property sites were taken care of, and that was a resolution that happened; when you, Commissioner Suarez, told us to make sure that we did the proper collection efforts for delinquent properties. So that's the vein in which this resolution was drafted. Thank you. City of Miami Page 125 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I think it was different in that particular context, because in that context, you weren't doing that. And so what I'm -- I was telling you is to do what you were not doing, and wondering aloud why you were not doing it, and that's a whole different thing. And by the way, that was not the Administration; that was the City Attorney's Office, and you fall under our purview. It's our responsibility to make sure you guys are doing your job. This is totally different. And so, I'm just confused by it. I really don't understand the need for it. We're saying in this resolution that this is illegal, and if it's illegal, we should be vigorously enforcing our laws. There's no need to pass a resolution to do that. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Suarez: I just don't get it. Commissioner Gort: From the statements that I heard here from most of the people, they didn't understand they were not in compliance with the Code of the City of Miami. That's what I heard from the people that were speaking here. So they were not aware there's a Code. When I go and talk to people in real estate, and people who want to do investment in here, the first thing I ask them is, make sure when you buy a property, when you rent a property that you can use it for the use that you want to have, because you might buy a property, then realize later on, `Hey, I cannot have a mechanic shop here. I cannot have a body shop here. " And a lot of illegal stuff that's taking place to our cities, and we all have it in all our neighborhoods. Now we're going to tell them, "Hey, it's okay to be in noncompliance with the regulations. " And I agree; I think, if we all agree that we want to do that, and all the residents of the City of Miami want to change the zone, I don't have any problem with it, but let the residents vote for it. Chair Hardemon: You know, I'll say that I don't think this is a complicated issue, and I don't think Airbnb made this issue complicated. Airbnb is a technology that allow people to do something that they were already doing, which is illegally using of short- term rentals and properties. People have been doing it before the Internet came about. It has happened. And just as so people -- the City and other places have enforced rules against those people who are doing those such things. You know, you think about other cities that have had issues with uses that are different from the zoning that they're in, and they had fires, and they had people that died, they had all kinds of things that occurred, and we look at ourselves, and say, "Well, let's make sure we go and check every single one of the regulations we have on whatever type of structures that we have within the City of Miami. " You know, I don't think this is a terribly -- a difficult issue. I think what makes this difficult is the people that we know. So because you know someone who lives next door who's selling -- or who's renting a space, and things like that, it becomes a little bit more difficult for you now to enforce the rules, but that's what you ask our police officers to do every single day when they go out into the street, and they know Johnny, and Johnny sells weed, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know. They have to make -- you have to make these decisions. And here we are with a group of people that we all know, that we all have probably had drinks with, and shared good times with, and have voted for us and not voted for us, but nonetheless, you know that they're doing something that they're not supposed to do. And so the question is, what happens from this point forward? If this measure fails or passes, it doesn't change the fact that it is an illegal use, and it doesn't change the fact that -- it seems to be that Airbnb doesn't educate the people enough to know that, "Hey, what you're doing is actually an illegal use, and if you get caught" -- at least like what they do in -- what they were doing with the ride sharing stuff. They would say, "We'll pay for the tickets. We'll pay for the" -- `your defense, " and things of that nature. I don't think you have that same assurance here. So what I'm saying here is, you know, this is about --you try -- Well, people are trying City of Miami Page 126 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 to make it property rights, but it's about money. It's about the profit. That's what it's about. And I think we, as legislators, have to make a decision. You're either going to be remembered for saying, `Hey, let's keep certain things out of the single-family neighborhoods, and allow businesses to flourish outside of those single-family neighborhoods, " and there are a lot of other designations that they can exist in. Or you're going to be remembered for legislating, because, you know, you can make a -- that person can make a dollar. It's the same concept when someone says, "Oh, you shouldn't vote on this issue, Commissioner; because you took money from Airbnb " -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chair Hardemon: -- and we get offended. I could make a decision without -- if Airbnb gave me a dollar or not, I could make a decision that's -- that is unbiased. Well, now the tide has changed. We're looking at a group of people who are residents, who are saying, "Look, I make a dollar off of this, and I want you to vote my way, because this is what's best for me, my family, " and things of that nature, but it's not taking in consideration the entirety of everyone. And I'll say this to close. I'll say this: Just because someone complains about something or does not complain about something does not make it right or wrong. It does not mean that people aren't suffering. You know, people suffer in silence all the time. There are things that I'm sure everyone is very aware of that there are crimes that are committed and people don't say anything about those crimes, and it goes on and on and on and on and on. And so, I can't -- I don't think you can test whether or not people are happy or not happy with it just because they are -- aren't going to come out. I certainly will tell you this: Anytime you --just like people used to fight against the newspaper. They say, ` Don't pick a fight with someone who prints " or "who buys ink by the gallon " -- Commissioner Suarez: By the barrels. Chair Hardemon: -- "by the barrels, " even better -- right? -- by the barrels. I mean, it's -- Commissioner Suarez: It's no longer relevant anymore, because it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chair Hardemon: I don't know, but, you know, like -- I was watching television yesterday, and I saw Mayor Regalado, and I saw the Mayor of Miami Beach, and I drove here today, and I saw an airplane going by with signage all over it. I mean, just because -- that's intimidation. That's exactly what it is. Its more than just, hey, calling, and say how you feel about something. It's a matter of intimidation. And I think that anybody who takes the opportunity -- if you're an elected official -- to say, "You know what? I don't think that that's right" in the face of pressure of people who have the opportunity to put you in a position that you know you don't deserve to be in, I think that that takes courage. And so, having this on today, I don't think is a small matter. I think it took courage for the Mayor to bring -- to put it here. It certainly takes courage to talk honestly about it, and I think that there are going to be some issues that we have to iron out of this. And when things happen to people -- because the way that some things were described about this homestead exemption and everyone -- you have the Property Appraiser's Office involved in this. I'm -- everyone just be aware that that money that you made, it may not be worth it in the end; maybe it will, but that's a risk that you take, and that's what you do in business, which is what you're carrying on. So good luck. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair. Chair Hardemon: Yes, sir. City of Miami Page 127 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Here's why I have a hard time supporting this, and I do appreciate the Mayor's effort, and he has been a Commissioner for many years before I was, and I think -- I've tried to follow in his footsteps in trying to maintain a very peaceful and great quality of life in my district, and I think I've succeeded, by the grace of God. What worries me about this is --and why I don't feel inclined, and I'm - - I don't think I can support it is because what it does is it maintains a status quo. It maintains a status quo. What you said --you said something a second ago, which was very true: Short-term rentals were here way before Airbnb, just like taxis were around way before Uber was around. The difference is technology had a multiplicative effect on that industry. So now, instead of there being -- I don't know. I don't know how many taxis there are, but let's say 1,000 taxis, now there's a 100,000 taxis. Everybody's a taxi. So instead of there being, you know, maybe a hundred short-term rentals in the City before technology platforms, now there may be whatever -- thousands of them. And so what bothers me about this is that, to me, it sends the false message. I get the point of trying to educate the 120 people that came here, which are a very small fraction of the total amount of people that are actually doing this. By the way, I think, when Miami Beach cracked down and wanted to fine their own residents $20,000, when they cracked down, I think Airbnb host registrations went up by like 600 people. So sometimes you have the intent to do 'X " and, really, what you do is "Y. " And I think, unfortunately, it's -- to me, it's wrong to say to the public that this -- "What we're doing here today, makes your quality of life better. " That is just -- that's just false. Mayor Regalado: Commissioner -- Commissioner Suarez: It's false. Mayor Regalado: --if I may. It's not false, sir. Commissioner Suarez: It is false. Mayor Regalado: It is not false. Commissioner Suarez: It is totally false. Chair Hardemon: I mean, look, I know we -- Mayor Regalado: Well -- Commissioner Suarez: That's my opinion. Chair Hardemon: I know -- Commissioner Suarez: You can have your opinion; I have mine. Mayor Regalado: I mean -- Chair Hardemon: On this dais -- Commissioner Suarez: That's my opinion. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Mayor; on this dais, we've kept -- Commissioner Suarez: Decorum. Chair Hardemon: Well, no. Yeah, we have kept decorum, but we've kept daycares out of neighborhoods, from being in the middle of the block. City of Miami Page 128 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: We have. I have. Chair Hardemon: We've -- and we've kept people from putting houses on 10, 000 - square -foot lots. You know, when I think -- what I think about first is the -- I think that's Battersea Woods issue and 10, 000 -square -foot lots -- Commissioner Suarez: But wait, wait. But you -- wait, wait. Chair Hardemon: -- when I compare that to some -- three people living in a bedroom. I mean -- Commissioner Suarez: But you just made a very good point, and it was the point that the Mayor made at the end of his last statement, which is that -- you made a great one, which is the daycare in a residential home. Its a commercial use in a residential home. Every time we've had one, dozens and dozens of people have come out against it; dozens of neighbors have come out against it, and I have unanimously voted against legalizing those kinds of activities in those neighborhoods, because the residents are vehemently against it. Chair Hardemon: Do you think it's because they know? Like, for instance, if I ran an adult entertainment space next door to you -- Commissioner Suarez: This is why I think -- Chair Hardemon: and you wouldn't know -- Commissioner Suarez: I think it's because those activities, those businesses create a spillover, negative effect on the neighborhood. That's why they come. They come because that daycare is providing traffic all through the neighborhoods, and it's spillover traffic, and spillover parking, and it's an activity that is in excess for what the neighborhood wants and can handle. And so, what concerns me about this is, number one, I haven't gotten that outcry from my residents on this issue; just hasn't happened. I'm telling you the truth. Once we started talking about it, I started talking to some people in neighborhood associations, since this was made to seem like this was -- like the neighborhood associations were totally against this, and I was actually surprised to get people from neighborhood associations telling me, `I don't understand why you guys are doing this. I really don't understand why you guys are even talking about this; we're totally in favor of it. " I'm not saying that I'm in favor of it. What I'm saying is, we need to figure out a way to make sure that we can provide world-class -- Henry Goya used to say, "World-class quality of life for our residents, " and I don't believe that this does that. I believe that this sends the wrong message to our residents that, "Hey we got your back, " when, in fact, we don't. Mayor Regalado: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: And that's what worries me. Mayor Regalado: Yes, we do. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I would like to read an email from Maria Doval, president of Coral Gate Homeowners Association. "I am opposed to it. I have just finished asking board vote to draw the letter. I think this could be detrimental to single-family homes, homeowners; and in Coral Gate, very bad for NCD -1 " (Neighborhood Conservation District). This is from Maria Doval. Commissioner Suarez: Can I comment on that? So Maria Doval happens to be my back -door neighbor. City of Miami Page 129 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mayor Regalado: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Right? So when she cooks in the back door; we talk sometimes, you know; like when my kid's out there in the back and we're playing. And you know how many times Maria has talked to me about Airbnb in all the times that I talked to her, in all the times that I see her, in all the times that I walk in front of her house? Zero. Mayor Regalado: I mean, she sent the email. Commissioner Suarez: So, now, am I saying that Maria is not concerned about it, because you brought to this to her attention, or other people have brought this to her attention? I'm sure she is concerned about it. But the second part of the analysis is, I don't want to give Maria -- I don't want Maria to go home -- to go bed tonight across from where Igo to bed and think that what we did here today made our neighborhood safer; because it didn't, and that's the problem that I have. Okay? If we're going to do something, let's do it right, and let's figure it out, and let's take our time. Let's not just put something up against a wall. Mayor Regalado: Well, I think, Commissioner -- Commissioner Suarez: So that's the fear that I have. That's a responsibility that I feel I have as a former member of the homeowners association, as the current Commissioner for the district, and as her back -door neighbor. Okay? So I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility. I haven't even had a chance to have a conversation with her about it. She sent me a text message in the middle of this hearing, right now, about it. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it. I would like to be able to sit down and have a conversation with her. And I suspect, as has often happened -- because this is not the first time it's happened, where someone has approached her to take a position on an issue, and she hasn't had an opportunity to talk to me; and when I sit with her and I talk to her, she goes, "Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I see your perspective, and I kind of agree with you. " So, you know -- Mayor Regalado: I thought -- Commissioner Suarez: Sorry that I couldn't give you the context that you wanted. Mayor Regalado: Ido -- I disagree with you. This resolution -- Commissioner Suarez: I know you do. Mayor Regalado: -- will send a message. This resolution will be a very clear message to the residential areas of the City of Miami. This resolution will put on notice those who may not know that they cannot do this, and, by the way, that they are in harm's way, because like the Chairman said, now the property appraisal [sic] is involved; now the County is kind of involved, bringing bed tax on residential neighborhood. So all I'm asking is a vote. All I'm asking this Commission is a vote. I mean, it's not that big of a deal, to ask a vote and take a position. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I could say I truly understand the various positions, and especially Commissioner Suarez, because if we do nothing, or even vote it down, we still have -- it is still illegal to do short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods, and the Administration can continue to actually enforce that. Madam City Attorney, when we passed those ordinance that you mentioned, at least the one with me, it wasn't about abandoned homes; it was actually excavated sites, and we actually didn't have anything on the books to enforce that. City of Miami Page 130 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Exactly. Commissioner Carollo: So we actually had to pass an ordinance enable to -- in order to be able to enforce that, and I see that's where Commissioner Suarez is having -- I don't want to say heartburn, but — Commissioner Suarez: No, I don't have heartburn. I have -- Commissioner Carollo: -- is having difficulties with. Commissioner Suarez: Tonight I'll be having heartburn after I have dinner. Commissioner Carollo: At 3 in the morning. Commissioner Suarez: Right, exactly. Commissioner Carollo: Anyways -- Commissioner Suarez: At this rate. Commissioner Carollo: For Mr. Martinelli, can I ask a few questions? Mr. May: Absolutely. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. So you mentioned that there is approximately a thousand hosts that are actually in residential neighborhoods. Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. If my memory serves me correct, it's 960. Commissioner Carollo: I don't need exact number. Okay, so 960, but -- so we're rounding up; a thousand. So a thousand hosts are in actual residential neighborhoods? Mr. Martinelli: That's right. Commissioner Carollo: So they are acting illegally. They are operating illegally. Yes? Because -- now, I'll start drilling now and say, from those thousands, where are they? Are they in District 2? In District 3? Because I could tell you, the one case that I know that did come to Code Enforcement -- and I could tell you the whole homeowners association did come to that Code Enforcement hearing -- was in District 3 in the Roads, and you were at that meeting -- Mr. Martinelli: That's right. And -- Commissioner Carollo: -- which you left a little early, because it was a little heated in there. And -- Mr. Martinelli: Well, there are a number of reasons why I left that meeting, but I had another event to go to, number one. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Martinelli: But we showed up. We were at the table to -- Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Martinelli: --fully resolve the issue. City of Miami Page 131 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: But you would agree that there were a lot of people that were very concerned, upset regarding -- Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. In less than 24 hours, our property was off the platform. Commissioner Carollo: -- regarding -- Mr. Martinelli: In less than 24 hours. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. With that said, okay, so you have a thousand hosts that are operating illegal. Madam City Attorney, so -- and I understand where Commissioner Suarez is having some issues. So let me ask you something. Is there a way that we can sue, go after these companies, organizations that are actually causing this to occur, and actually then put teeth into what we're trying to do? You understand what I'm saying? So -- Ms. Mendez: You mean actually go after the bad actors? Commissioner Carollo: No, I'm not saying that, even though -- yes, and that's what the Manager has said that we've -- you know, are enforcing our laws -- or vigorously enforcing our laws, as the Mayor's language or your language or the language in the actual resolution is. But what I'm saying is go a step further. What about that company that is allowing this host to operate illegally? They know they're operating illegally, so I think that they have, to a certain degree, some type of liability or, at the very least, some type of -- Ms. Mendez: Responsibility. Commissioner Carollo: -- responsibility, penalty to pay. So, is that possible? Ms. Mendez: So, basically, to sue the pla forms that are allowing -- yeah, that's a possibility, as well. Commissioner Carollo: And Commissioner Suarez, would that then be the additional teeth that we will need? Because — Commissioner Suarez: I think the problem is -- Commissioner Carollo: -- in essence, we are -- it is known, so every --you know, it is admitted that they are operating illegally -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: -- so that will be addition to what we already have. Commissioner Suarez: So let me just discuss with our City Attorney what I feel area couple of the issues with that, my guess. Issue number one is, the pla forms themselves are not doing anything illegal. Being a pla form for a rental is not illegal. What's illegal is -- end user -- Commissioner Gort: I'm not a lawyer, but let me askyou a question. Commissioner Suarez: Sure. City of Miami Page 132 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Gort: The young lady from the -- when you were approached to be one of the -- were you told that you're not in compliance with the zoning regulation of the City of Miami? Ms. Bell: We -- I'm sorry. We have -- Commissioner Suarez: I -- you know, I really don't think you should answer that question, honestly. And I really don't think -- you know, we're not here -- we're not -- no, and I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to tell you why. This has turned from people coming here to speak publicly on an issue to them then being told that what they're doing is illegal, and I just think for your own -- Ms. Bell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I say something? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, you can say whatever you want. Ms. Bell: Because I see --they're talking about the rental, the rental, the rental. We live in a City of Miami that not -- almost 80 percent of the property have an efficiency that is renting. Its a short rental, because those peoples doesn't belong to the family, most of them, and they causing a lot of trouble. So I see they [sic] only talking about Airbnb specifically, but in my neighborhood, most of the house have efficiencies. So you guys don't talking about that and that's -- Commissioner Suarez: That's a whole `nother issue. Ms. Bell: -- an issue, too. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, that's a huge issue. That's a far greater issue than Airbnb will ever be, but that's a whole `nother issue. Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner Carollo, was that all you had on the --? Commissioner Carollo: Well, you know, I think we're having that discussion on whether we could actually go after the platforms. And I think Commissioner Suarez was saying, you can't really go after a platform, but it's under -- my understanding that the City Attorney said, yes, we could. Commissioner Suarez: Well -- Commissioner Carollo: So I -- Commissioner Suarez: -- you could sue anybody for anything. Commissioner Carollo: No. Commissioner Suarez: The question is whether you'll be successful. Commissioner Carollo: Understood, understood. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Right, right, right. Commissioner Carollo: My question is addressing the issue that you have, that right now -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: -- whether we pass this or not, there's really no difference. City of Miami Page 133 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I agree with that. Commissioner Carollo: So I'm asking, okay, let's make a difference. Are we able to go after the platforms? Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Carollo, you know, one thing that I -- I'm sorry to interrupt like this. I know it's weird, but I -- you know, I look -- there's going to be a day that's going to come where someone who's injured in an illegal rental is going to come after us, because they're going to say, "You had knowledge, notice that we were doing illegal rentals in this place. " There was afire. There was a stabbing. There was this. There was that. I -- this is what I personally believe. Commissioner Suarez: How do we have notice? Chair Hardemon: And you know why? Because lawyers are creative. You're supposed -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, but "How do we have notice?" is what I'm saying. How do we have notice? Chair Hardemon: Some people --go ahead. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, we have notice for the hundred people that came here. Ms. Mendez: Well, I will -- right. Obviously, the defense will be -- Commissioner Suarez: But there's thousands of people that are using this. Ms. Mendez: Right. Obviously, the defense will be that we didn't have notice of a particular place. Commissioner Suarez: Of course not. Ms. Mendez: But if we did, then that is what the Chairman is saying. Obviously, if we did have notice, it's something that they were trying -- Commissioner Suarez: Sure. I mean, if it happened in one of the people's house who came here and said that they were using it, then that could potentially be a problem. Chair Hardemon: Isn't that the same thing that we look at other people who have -- for instance -- I'll give you an example. A corner store. We have a corner store in the City of Miami, and they're doing some sort of deleterious act at that corner store. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chair Hardemon: And the person who owns the -- Well, no, no. Better yet, an -- Commissioner Suarez: No, no. I like your example. Chair Hardemon: -- apartment building. Commissioner Suarez: I think your example is a great example. Chair Hardemon: Because Nuisance -- Commissioner Suarez: You have a good example. City of Miami Page 134 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: -- Abatement Board, because that's what they do. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chair Hardemon: If you have an apartment building, they're selling illegal products out of their apartment building. Commissioner Suarez: Correct. Chair Hardemon: The owner of the apartment building -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Chair Hardemon: -- says that he doesn't have any knowledge of it, but the Nuisance Abatement Board is going to hold his foot to the fire. Why? Because -- Commissioner Suarez: Let's use your same example of the convenience store that's doing things that are illegal. The number of resources that you need to have to be able to prove that what they're doing is illegal is tremendous -- and that's just one convenient store -- because you have to have surveillance, you have to see them doing it, you have to --you know, you have to put a tremendous amount of resources for one convenience store. Now, let's say that there was a technology, where tomorrow that one convenient store became a thousand convenience stores overnight. One convenience store is now a thousand convenience stores. And so, now you've just multiplied the number of resources that you need to investigate those thousand convenience stores, okay, by a thousand. So if it takes five people to regulate one convenience store, or three or four, whatever; whatever it takes for somebody that -- you know, have surveillance, you have somebody that's backup; you need to have some equipment to record what is going on, whatever that is, to -- all to put this investigation, this sting together to get this one convenience store. Now, all of a sudden, overnight, you have a thousand, and you need three times a thousand. You need 3,000. So you need a thousand times more resources to regulate it, ifyou're not figuring out a way around that, and that's the concern that I have. By us saying, "Hey, that convenience store that now became a thousand convenience stores, that's doing" -- "selling something illegal is illegal, " that doesn't do anything, and now we're going to vigorously enforce it. Great. Wonderful. So what? There's a thousand more people doing it now, and there may be 2, 000 tomorrow, and there may be 3,000 the day after that. And so, what I'm saying is, you gave a very, very good example. Before, there used to be five convenience stores -- that's it -- in a neighborhood. Now, with technology, there's 5,000. That's the problem. And I think this resolution doesn't address that problem. Brian May: Chairman. Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Gentlemen, the Chairman is still here, but I'm holding the gavel at this moment. I would really like us to bring this to a vote relatively soon. And, you know, I -- the Chair's been overly generous with the public's time today, to where -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: -- we've actually not conducted any of the business of the City, and so it's -- this is a big issue, but what we've had basically here is a town hall that needed to happen, and it starts us here. Unfortunately, in my mind, we've also shined the light on a lot offolks who are doing something that is now being demonized. And there are ordinances and laws out there -- In Fort Lauderdale, for example, it's illegal City of Miami Page 135 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 to feed the homeless, perhaps, but do you politically and want to go after these people who are doing something that they feel is good? In this case, we've got a group of people who are sharing their homes, and we're talking about them like drug dealers or something. So there's a tone here that I'm not terribly comfortable with. I'd love for us to get to a vote really just to feel where the Commissioners are on this specific issue with regard to the Mayor's resolution that's been brought. I'm glad to hear any more comment, of course, as long as we want to go. So -- Commissioner Suarez: I'm done. Mr. May: Chairman, could I -- Vice Chair Russell: Mr. May. Mr. May: -- maybe in an attempt to offer something constructive to the conversation? Generally, I think we've heard a number of concerns, some from Chairman Hardemon; certainly heard some -- I think a little bit from Commissioner Carollo, yourself, and certainly Commissioner Gort. You know, there are different types of activities, from the testimony today, that seem to be going on in the T3 area, right? There are those that are owner -occupied or primary residences, which, frankly, are these two -- three people right here -- Commissioner Gort: Right. Mr. May: -- who I've been talking to during the debate, who -- you know, those are not people who are causing potential problems in a T3 area. They may be renting out a guesthouse, like a cottage, or they may rent out a room, but that's not a situation, because it's an owner -occupied or primary residence, where you have people coming in, and it's a party house, which tends to be -- when you hear the, quote/unquote, "horror story, " that seems to be the issue, right? Eight people came in; they made noise; they were a nuisance, and that's a problem. So maybe a way to approach this, Mr. Mayor, just to be constructive, is to say -- Look, you're going to take a vote on what you're doing here today, and however you feel about it is however you feel about it. We all accept that, and we understand that. But, perhaps, an instruction to staff would be, "Let's come forward with something that delineates from the owner - occupied" -- right? -- `person" -- "the primary residence person that really isn't doing that as a commercial activity. " They're doing it as an activity to supplement their income to, frankly, pay their property taxes, or their kid's school, or some other expense; medicine. The growing -- the biggest single demographic of growing hosts anywhere is elderly folks; empty nesters who have an empty room. So all I'm suggesting is, whatever your decision is today on the resolution -- and certainly, we don't think it's that useful -- but, perhaps, an amendment to it to say that going forward, we are going to look at the issue of owner -occupied and primary residence different from someone who's potentially doing it as a business, or it's a separate home, or they have three units or three homes in a resi -- that's -- Look, we get it. Right? So maybe that's a way to kind of move the ball forward here, but it also does it in a way that doesn't send the wrong message to people like this who, in their minds, are not really -- You know, yes, Zoning Code, got it. Understand the Zoning Administrator's opinion from 2015. We get that. But in their minds, they're really questioning, Jeez, is this" -- like, "what is so bad about this?" Like, `I'm not causing problems in my neighborhood. " And the case in point is the homeowner association from Coral Gate -- right? -- the president, who the Mayor quoted here, doesn't even know that this woman is doing it in her neighborhood. `I didn't mention it to the Mayor. " Didn't say that in the memo. Didn't say it -- I mean -- Commissioner Suarez: I didn't know she was doing it. City of Miami Page 136 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. May: -- if there was a problem, it would be a problem; like, people would say something. It's not. Commissioner Suarez: Every time that there is one, they do. Mr. May: And that doesn't mean there isn't problems, but the nature of the problem doesn't seem to be with the owner -occupied or primary residence. It seems to be when it is, you know, potentially someone who has three or four units, they may have a house; yeah, that's the kind of thing maybe that is something that needs to be addressed more thoroughly, and maybe more vigorously enforced, and maybe that's where the enforcement should be focused, but to focus it on these kind ofpeople, that's -- I think that's sending the wrong signal, especially -- because that is the shared economy. That is what the shared economy represents. And I would submit to you that, yes, the Zoning Code says what the Zoning Code says, but I think, if you took a poll out there with everybody across the City, and you asked them if they thought that was wrong, I think most people would say, "That's not wrong. " Chair Hardemon: Wrong and illegal are two different things. Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, thank you. So listen, I know it's been a long day, but I'm not going to rush this, okay? So, you know, I've been quietly listening, even through lunch, everyone speaking, and I don't want to rush this. I still have questions that I want to ask. You know, I've heard two or three times Mr. Martinelli say that this is not -- we don't consider this to be a hotel, but what is his definition of a hotel? Mr. Martinelli, you have two separate meetings? Mr. Martinelli -- Mr. Martinelli: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: -- I heard you on several occasions state that you don't consider the platform to be a hotel. Mr. Martinelli: That's correct. It's home sharing. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. What do you consider -- what's the definition -- what's your definition of a hotel? Mr. Martinelli: A structure that has a concierge, a front desk, things like that. Commissioner Carollo: So a building, a structure that every day or every two or three days has a new person come in and stay there overnight, you don't consider to be a hotel? Mr. Martinelli: I'd like to maybe answer -- have the hotels answer what a hotel is, you know. Commissioner Carollo: Well --yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's not the hotel industry that's stated that the platform of Airbnb is not a hotel. You're the one who stated that. Mr. Martinelli: That's right. Commissioner Carollo: So that's why I'm asking, what's your definition, because your definition may be different from theirs, okay? Because you're saying that you believe a hotel has a concierge, and all the other stuff that you mentioned; different amenities, but some people may consider that a hotel is a structure that every two or three days has a different person coming there to spend the night, and that, in essence, could be the short-term rentals. City of Miami Page 137 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Martinelli: Well, I can't speak for other platforms, Commissioner, but on Airbnb, a host has the ability to accept or reject a guest that decides to -- that wants to book that listing. Commissioner Carollo: But they have the right to reject, or they have the right not to reject and take this person for two days -- Mr. Martinelli: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- and then the next day take another person, and three days from, take another, and yet -- and that becomes sort of like a hotel. Mr. Martinelli: Well, Commission, this is -- Commissioner Carollo: Maybe not to you, but to the neighbor. Mr. Martinelli: -- no different than in -- you know, in January, where it's cold in New York, you have a family member or a family comes and stays with you. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, but when they come to stay with me, they'll come to stay with me for three days and leave. Mr. Martinelli: Right. Commissioner Carollo: That same day another family member doesn't come and stays for two days and leaves, and then that same day, yet, another family member comes and stays for three more days, and then that same day another family member. You understand what I'm saying? Mr. Martinelli: I think you're citing an extreme example. And I think that given our typical hosts, they host anywhere from 30 to 36 days a year in the City of Miami. Commissioner Carollo: The reason -- Mr. Martinelli: So that's about three days out of the month, to put it in perspective. Commissioner Carollo: I don't know. I asked -- the one person that I asked and -- again, I didn't want to take too much time -- they said that they did it regularly, and I think -- Mr. Martinelli: And again, I think that's the exception to the rule. Commissioner Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: The exception to the rule. Commissioner Gort: They're all exceptions. Commissioner Carollo: But it's still occurring, you know, and that's where, I guess, to a certain degree, I differ a little bit from what Mr. May is saying, that, listen, it's not a frat house, it's not a party house. I get it. But it doesn't necessarily have to be a party house for -- to have the neighbors of that area be uncomfortable with every two or three days having a new car pop up, a new Uber car, new individuals staying in there. As a matter of -- Mr. Manager, is the Police Chief here? Mr. Alfonso: He probably is, sir. Do you want me to -- City of Miami Page 138 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: If you could. Mr. Alfonso: -- try to hunt him down? We'll hunt him down. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, if you could, and there's a reason why I wanted to ask him. Vice Chair Russell: Who are you waiting for? Commissioner Carollo: Police Chief. Commissioner Gort: Let me ask a question. When you have an application for a host, did you explain to them there are certain ordinance that they have to comply with? Mr. May: The Zoning Code, specifically? Commissioner Gort: Yeah. Mr. May: I don't believe so. Commissioner Gort: Okay. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Trainer, would you like to say something? Mr. Trainer: Commissioner, that was sort of a short definition of what the hell a hotel is. Its a lot more than a concierge, you know. If you go to the hotels now, and you go out by the pools, you'll see the seat there that requires people to be able to get into the pool, that's ADA requirement. And I think -- you know, I think I'm in two different meetings here, because I'm speaking on behalf of the hotels, and it's a quality of economics as far as the Coconut Grove area is concerned. Mr. May: Yeah, but do you know (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --? Mr. Trainer: As we lose rooms to the Airbnb and -- I don't mean -- if I'm getting off course. See, I was just trying to embellish a few of the remarks that I had made earlier. And, you know, the bed tax funds most of our CEOs (community-based organization), which are 800 in the City or Dade County, and it all comes in the museums, the cultural affairs, and it all is collected. And I believe -- and I've talked to some of the people that have multiple rooms, and they're willing to standardize to a certain extent, but I just -- I have to protect the Grove and what we offer with our hotels -- Mr. May: Yeah, I hear you. Mr. Trainer: -- as far as losing economic benefit, paying in, and get -- Mr. May: I hear you, Mr. Trainer. Mr. Trainer: -- like a Marriott, when they come, they advertise nationally, Brian. I'm not interrupting you. Mr. May: There's a couple of references you made, though -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Trainer -- City of Miami Page 139 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. May: -- to hotels that are little off base. One is, you're implying that every Airbnb -- everybody's house, if they rent out a room or something in a house or even a room in a condo, that it should be ADA -compliant. And I would submit to you, that's interesting, except not every hotel room is ADA -compliant. Mr. Trainer: Well, it's in all the hotel -- the hotels -- Mr. May: There's a certain subset of them are. Mr. Trainer: -- that I know in the Grove are ADA -compliant. Mr. May: And people know -- Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, gentlemen. This is not a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) forum. Mr. May: -- when they go and rent a room -- Vice Chair Russell: The Chief of Police is here, and Commissioner Carollo wanted to address him, if that's fine. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Good afternoon. Good evening, Chief. Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Commissioner Gort: No. Rodolfo Llanes (Chief of Police): Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Chief. Do you have a call -- can someone call for a suspicious vehicle? Chief Llanes: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Can someone call for a suspicious person? Chief Llanes: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. And that alone, okay? So it doesn't necessarily have to be a party house; just a suspicious vehicle coming in front of your home; suspicious people coming out with big duffel bags, and stuff like that, is enough where certain people are concerned in single-family residence. Mr. May: But that would imply, Commissioner, that people shouldn't have their relatives come visit them in their home, whether it's for rent or not rent, because that person could be perceived as a suspicious person or a suspicious vehicle because it's not in that neighborhood. Commissioner Carollo: The problem is -- Mr. May: I hear what you're saying, but it's not -- First of all, people are not renting these Airbnbs if it's owner -occupied or primary residence, you know, every other day, right? The average is 39 days a year. It's less than three days a month. It's not even one day a week. So this idea that we're like loading up people in duffel bags and this City of Miami Page 140 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 kind -- and all over residential neighborhoods, if that was the case, you would be getting way, way, way more complaints than you're getting, and I don't think you're getting those kind of complaints. You're getting some, I grant it, but it's not to the proportion that the Mayor or anybody is leading us to believe. It's like this is like a scare tactic. It's almost like we're trying to find a solution -- a problem for a solution. It's -- I don't get it. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. May, do you live next to an Airbnb or a platform? Mr. May: Yes, I do. I actually -- Commissioner Carollo: So your neighbor -- Mr. May: -- have a single-family residence in Miami -Dade County, where I live, in High Pines, that is two doors down from me. And, yes, they rent -- they are absentee owners, and they actually rent the house on a periodic basis; not all the time. They may -- in the summer, they'll have some people come in, and they'll have some people come in during the season. Maybe it's a couple weeks a year. A lot of times the place sits where nobody's on it. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Mr. May: So, yeah, I am familiar with it. Commissioner Carollo: So a couple weeks a year is very different than every two or three days. And I am telling you that it's happening that every two or three days, new -- a new Uber car is coming by. And I'll go a step further. I'll go a step further, which is Airbnb, or whatever pla form, on steroids, okay? It's called in Little Havana "un cuartel, " which means that a house has various rooms, and those various rooms are now being rented out; and yes, information technology, so -- disruptive technology, yes. So now everything's being multiplied. So, yes, that efficiency, you multiply it times four at the same time. So every two or three days, you get multiple Uber cars coming, people getting dropped off, people walking our streets with duffel bags. Yes, I know it's hard to believe. Do you need for me to show you pictures? I mean, I'm hoping not to start showing pictures, but, yes. Mr. May: It's up to you, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: So, I know it's hard to believe. I know -- Mr. May: Ifyou're compelled to. Commissioner Carollo: -- your jaw is dropping and all that. Mr. May: No, I'm not. I'm not (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: But you know what? It's happening. Mr. May: But are you getting complaints like that? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. May: All the time? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. I'll go a step further, and that's why I said about suspicious vehicle and suspicious persons, you know. The problem is -- and, you know, I sort of wish that our former Police Chief was here, because I actually had a City of Miami Page 141 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 town hall meeting, and one of the things we talked about was suspicious people and suspicious vehicles, and we had a candid conversations. And the reason why I say that is because it was not with this Police Chief- it was with Chief Orosa, and we had a candid conversations with regards to people calling for suspicious vehicle and suspicious persons, and a lot of time, people actually do not pick up the phone and make those calls, because they feel the police take too long to get there, and by the time they get there, the people are gone. However, it is a concern. It is a concern, you know. And I don't know if, you know, we could start looking at the call records; if the suspicious vehicle, suspicious persons calls have starting [sic] to go up or not, but I could tell you, yes, I have been approached. And I could tell you, yes, where a wife has said, "Yeah, we were concerned, because these cars keep coming in, so I don't feel as comfortable going outside now and playing with the kids, " you know. So it is happening. Mr. May: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: It is happening. Commissioner Suarez: And my question is, is this resolution going to change that? Commissioner Carollo: Okay. So I under -- and I said from the beginning, I understand exactly your point, but I understand what the Mayor's trying to say; that some of these hosts at least they're on notice that it is illegal. At least the hosts are on notice that it is illegal. If you're doing this, it is illegal. The Property Appraiser put on notice: `If you are doing this and you have homestead exemption, you could be violating -- you could be, you know, violating the law and have homestead exemption fraud. And I'll go a step further. Yes, I -- we asked now the City Attorney, can we actually go after; legally, the platform companies? She said, "Yes. " So it does give another -- Commissioner Gort: There's a case already. Commissioner Carollo: -- avenue, another step for the City to be able to do, so that's where I think -- And by the way, let me be clear. I'm not against Airbnb. I'm not against some of these companies. The issue is in a residential area. So when you -- like I mentioned, "cuartel, "you have three, four rooms, five rooms sometimes, being - - operating as a hotel, it is a concern for some of the residents, or the immediate neighbors. Sometimes it takes longer to figure out what's going on. They're just seeing some suspicious vehicles, but it is a concern, and I think that's the issue, you know, and I think that's what the Mayor's trying to say. At least within the residential areas, let's -- it's illegal. It's illegal. I -- And, you know, I'm not saying that in the future, you may want to propose something, or some type of legislation, but the bottom line is that in the City of Miami, it is illegal, and it seems to me that a lot of hosts do not understand or do not know that it's illegal. So it does serve a purpose, because you're letting those hosts know, or future hosts, that, yes, you are committing something that is illegal. And I think, if we're going to enforce our laws vigorously, I think we should also have the City Attorney look into the possibility of a platform that knowingly is allowing the laws to be violated to be sued. I think they have a liability, so -- Mr. May: IfI may, Commissioner? Commissioner Carollo: And by the way, ifI may -- Mr. Martinelli: Yeah, in terms of coming after the platform, Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which is a Federal law, preempts efforts to go after platform operators to enforce local laws of user -generated content. City of Miami Page 142 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: So I'm not an attorney; I guess we'll figure it out in court. But the bottom line is, yes, it's an additional avenue that we have, so it's not just a status quo. So what we're passing is not just a status quo. And with that, I'm going to move the item, with a friendly amendment that we also direct the City Attorney to look into the possibility of also suing the platforms. Mayor Regalado: I -- Vice Chair Russell: There's a motion on the floor. Commissioner Gort: Second. Vice Chair Russell: There's a second. Mayor Regalado: Wait a minute. Commissioner Gort: Discussion. Mayor Regalado: We need our Chairman. We waited for you when you came from Japan. Vice Chair Russell: Of course. Mayor Regalado: And we waited -- Vice Chair Russell: I just have to call that there was a motion and a second. Mayor Regalado: The Chairman is here. Vice Chair Russell: I'm sure there will be more discussion. Mayor Regalado: And Commissioner Carollo, I think it's a right thing to do, the amendment that you're presenting. They're ready to take a vote, Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Gort, you're okay? Yeah? Commissioner Gort: Yeah, yeah. Fine, fine, fine. Chair Hardemon: All in favor of the motion, say "aye"? Commissioner Carollo: 'Aye. " Commissioner Gort: 'Aye. " Commissioner Suarez: "No. " Vice Chair Russell: "No. " Commissioner Suarez: I do not feel like this adequately protects our residents. Commissioner Gort: Now -- Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. Commissioner Gort: This is a very simple matter. If everyone wants to see this, let's change the zoning. Let's go to the residents of the City and says, "We want to open City of Miami Page 143 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 up for businesses. " That's very simple. Let's go through the process so they can legally do it, and they won't have any problems. Okay? It's very simple. Mayor Regalado: Thank you very much, Commissioner. I think that this resolution is important. REA RESOLUTION 1137 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING Commissioners THE CITY ATTORNEY TO FORMALLY ISSUE IN WRITING ANY and Mayor LEGAL OPINION PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY IN RESPONSE TO A LEGAL SERVICES REQUEST ("LSR") FROM THE MAYOR, A CITY COMMISSIONER, THE CITY MANAGER, OR A DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR, UNLESS OTHERWISE DIRECTED BY THE INDIVIDUAL WHO SUBMITTED THE LSR; PROVIDING THAT LEGAL OPINIONS SHALL BE PUBLISHED UNLESS OTHERWISE DIRECTED BY THE INDIVIDUAL WHO SUBMITTED THE LSR WITHIN TEN (10) DAYS OF ISSUING THE LEGAL OPINION; FURTHER PROVIDING THAT THIS RESOLUTION SHALL NOT APPLY TO LEGAL OPINIONS PREPARED FOR ONGOING LITIGATION OR ADVERSARIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS, OR PREPARED IN ANTICIPATION OF IMMINENT LITIGATION OR ADVERSARIAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0141 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE. 4, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: RE. 4. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. RE.4 is an item that I brought, I think, either at the last Commission meeting or the one before, and modified it a little bit, slightly, based on some of the concerns that were raised at the Commission meeting. And it essentially requires the City Attorney to formally publish opinions, unless otherwise directed by the individual who's requesting the opinion, and that -- and it specifies how quickly they have to be published. And this is just to address -- sort of create a more formal procedure by which we request legal opinions, and the public has an opportunity to see the legal opinions. Obviously, it also exempts certain kinds of legal opinions, and I've worked very closely with the City Attorney's Office to produce this piece of --this resolution. So I move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Discussion. City of Miami Page 144 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded for discussion. Is there any comment from the public on this resolution? Hearing none, we'll close public comment. Gentlemen. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And the last -- whenever it was. Whenever we -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- last discussed this, it was mentioned whether -- if we verbally ask the City Attorney -- I don't know if it's a formal opinion, but not -- you know, if we verbally ask the City Attorney a question, does that then become automatically a written LSR (legal services request)? Commissioner Suarez: And I think the answer to that is, "no. " If you look at Section 2 -- because Section 2 allows you to say, "Look, this is just a verbal opinion; not to be published. " Vice Chair Russell: Not to be published -- Commissioner Carollo: That's different. Vice Chair Russell: -- or not to be written? Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. That's different. Commissioner Suarez: Not to be written or to be published. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Are we in consensus on that, Mr. City Attorney? Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Yes, I would agree with Commissioner Suarez that there's two steps. The first step is, is it to be written? If the answer to that question is `yes, " then it needs to be in writing. Then the second question is, should that -- what's been put in writing, should that be published? Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: Any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: Nope. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed, say "nay. " Motion passes. City ofMianai Page 145 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.5 RESOLUTION 1139 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO CREATE, WITHIN CURRENT Commissioners BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS, AN OFFICE OF and Mayor TRANSPARENCY, UNDER THE PURVIEW OF THE CITY MANAGER, WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MANAGING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS IN AN OPEN AND TRANSPARENT MANNER, INCLUDING MAKING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS AND THE RESPONSES AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR THE PUBLIC TO ACCESS AND DOWNLOAD; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO PLACE INFORMATION ON THE MAIN PAGE OF THE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") WEBSITE ON HOW TO SUBMIT A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST TO THE CITY; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO DEVELOP OR PROCURE AN ELECTRONIC MEANS OR PLATFORM THAT PUBLISHES DECISIONS RENDERED BY THE CITY COMMISSION, THE PLANNING ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD ("PZAB"), THE HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD ("HEPB"), AND WARRANTS AND WAIVERS ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND ZONING ("P&Z"), INCLUDING PLACING SAID INFORMATION ON THE MAIN PAGE OF THE CITY'S WEBSITE; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO DEVELOP OR PROCURE AN ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION SYSTEM WHEREBY THE PUBLIC MAY SUBSCRIBE TO AND RECEIVE AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATION OF ANY DECISIONS RENDERED BY THE CITY COMMISSION, PZAB, HEPB, AND WARRANTS AND WAIVERS ISSUED BY P&Z. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record: Item RE.5 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioner Suarez: RE.5, similarly, was postponed, because there were some issues relating to the implementation of it, and it creates a transparency -- Office of Transparency, which has no budgetary effect, and it's sort of really meant to transfer some of the responsibilities from, basically, our Law Department to our Administration, and also to better position information so that people can get access to information in a much easier fashion. I think we would do better for ourselves in a lot of the disputes that we have if information that is readily available and easily available would just be available online and easily accessible. And right now, I think we don't -- some of it is not as accessible as it could be. And so, that's what this seeks to do. So I move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Discussion. Vice Chair Russell: Please. City of Miami Page 146 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, I want to discuss it with you, because I agree with half of it. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: So, as far as the information being there on -- Commissioner Suarez: Accessible. Commissioner Carollo: -- accessible in one location, I agree with that. However, a few -- I forgot when it was. We actually funded an additional attorney, an additional position in the Law Department that was, at the time, told that was exclusively for public records. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: I don't know if I necessarily now agree that we move that attorney into the purview of the City Manager. Commissioner Suarez: I don't think we have to do that. I think that that attorney will still be under the City Attorneys Office. They'll still do what they do, but the actual production of records will be in the purview of the Administration and will be published as required by this resolution. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): And the discussions that the City Attorney's Office had with the sponsoring Commissioners that the role of the City Attorney's Office with respect to the legal review and the legal processes will -- Commissioner Suarez: Won't change. Mr. Min: -- remain the same. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Min: We will review documents to ensure that what needs to be turned over is, in fact, being turned over. We'll review documents to ensure that what is exempted from the public records law disclosure is protected and not disclosed. We'll review records that are related to ongoing litigation, and ensure those are not turned over. We're simply going to work with the Administration as far as who will now be turning it over. Commissioner Carollo: But Commissioner Suarez, doesn't that add now red tape? So instead of the City Attorney turning it over, they turn it over to the Administration, so it's -- in essence, it's an additional step. Commissioner Suarez: I see what you're saying. I get what you mean. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: My issue is more with the accessibility of the information, and I think, you know, it being easy to be accessible. You understand what I'm saying? Commissioner Carollo: I'm with you 100 percent there. Commissioner Suarez: Right. City of Miami Page 147 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: So I'm -- where I'm having difficulty is, once again, you know, it's -- you're adding another layer, so it could actually be even time -- more time-consuming. You're adding red tape to the requester or the person requesting the information and actually receiving it, because, in essence -- and I remember clearly, because I questioned an additional attorney, an additional personnel, and, you know, the answer was, "Yes. We need that for public records. " So, if that person now will maintain under the purview of the City Attorney, and now, once that person has whatever they need, they give it to the Administration, it adds another step where -- and that's where I have the difficulty. Commissioner Suarez: I hear you, and I don't -- I get what you're saying. I get your consternation. I think the issue here is, you have two silos. One silo is a City Attorney's Office, and I think sometimes they take a very protective stance on public records. And I think you have a different silo, which is the Administration, and they may decide, you know, "Look, we" -- you know, we sometimes don't take, necessarily, our attorneys' advice. We don't always listen to our attorney in every single situation. Sometimes we think that the public benefit outweighs the sort of protection argument, or the argument that something can't be disclosed or shouldn't be disclosed. And I think, by combining the two functions, what it does is it allows a non -lawyer, who's an administrative person, make that final call versus -- Vice Chair Russell: I think it's a good first step, because one of the caveats in this is "as budget allows. " So right now we're doing what budget can allow, so it seems like Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) budgetary. Vice Chair Russell: Right. But in the future, I think this is something we should invest in to where -- this is -- The sole mission of this person is to make sure we're complying with public records law in a timely manner, in an efficient manner, and hopefully, that dedication of that department will grow. Commissioner Carollo: Right. But talk me through this. So how can this person -- the sole responsibility of this person is to do public records, but it doesn't have a budgetary confinement. How does that work? Commissioner Suarez: I'll give you an example, but I'll also -- I'm going to use our current City Attorney as an example. He was our Code Enforcement Director. Weren't you before our Code Enforcement director? Mr. Min: Zoning administrator. Commissioner Suarez: Zoning administrator. I'm sorry. So he was our Zoning administrator. So he was a lawyer, but he was also a member of the Administration. In this case, we're going to continue to bifurcate the roles, but I think in the future, you could easily decide to have a lawyer be -- in other words, that same budgetary impact of having -- hiring a lawyer in the Law Department, you can make them part of the Administration; they're just a lawyer, just like he was the Zoning administrator and a lawyer. Commissioner Carollo: Right. But that's what I'm saying. So this lawyer would then go under the purview of the City Manager. Commissioner Suarez: I think for right now, that's not what the objective is. And I think we're start -- like I think — like Commissioner -- Vice Chair said, this is sort of a baby step into the possibility of going in that direction and seeing how doing this, this flow of information and posting it, how that will work, and whether or not -- if it is City of Miami Page 148 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 less efficient, then it's something that maybe we can not go the next step, but if it's -- if it continues to be helpful and efficient, then maybe we should. Commissioner Carollo: Right. I just -- I guess what I'm saying -- and I guess -- and again, Commissioner Suarez, half of this, I'm 100 percent on board. It's that other half, because -- help me see how it's going to flow then, because I still don't see the flow, you know. Right now, I think it's Xavier Alban from the -- Vice Chair Russell: .favi. Commissioner Carollo: Right. -- from the City Attorney's Office, okay. So he reviews, he does everything, and then what? He passes it on to the Manager? How -- I still don't see -- like you keep saying, "this first step. " Okay, what is the first step? Help me see this first step. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Manager; how would you carry this out? Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Okay. First of all, I want to note that in order to keep no budgetary impact, we're still going to rely heavily on the folks that are doing the -- Commissioner Suarez: What they do. Mr. Alfonso: -- work in the Law Department. Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. Mr. Alfonso: Additionally, I want to point out that in IT (Information Technology) alone, we spent almost 8,000 man-hours doing public records search in this past year; IT searches, et cetera. So it is quite a heavy load. What we intend to do is, we will give an additional task to someone to monitor and unify the collection of the data. Right now the data that is requested in this resolution resides in multiple websites. Commissioner Suarez: Silos, yeah. Mr. Alfonso: So we're going to create a centralized site. Commissioner Carollo: Right, right. That -- Mr. Alfonso: Right. So when we go -- so -- Commissioner Carollo: I have no problem with that. Mr. Alfonso: -- Commissioner; a public request comes in right now to an email that we have set up; it will continue to go there. It will still go to the Law Department. They will still do the work that they need to do. When they're ready to publish it, they will let us know. They'll publish it. They'll send it to the folks, and we'll just make sure that, from a centralized location, it is being distributed to everybody. That is -- without funding, that's what we can do. Commissioner Carollo: But isn't that what's done right now? Commissioner Suarez: No. Mr. Alfonso: There is no centralized location -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. City of Miami Page 149 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Alfonso: --for all of the different ones. Commissioner Carollo: Which is why I keep saying -- Mr. Alfonso: That's really the difference. Commissioner Carollo: -- the centralized location, I'm -- Mr. Alfonso: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: -- 100 percent. I understand that, and I agree with that. I just -- Commissioner Suarez: I think right now what he's saying is that it's an -- I hate to -- this is going to sound -- in a context of all this Airbnb stuff today, this is going to sound interesting, but it's almost like a virtual office. You know what I mean? The Office of Transparency is a virtual ojfice. He's -- he is -- yeah, he's getting the information, and he's posting it in a centralized database, which he's calling the "Office of Transparency, " which he is also -- basically, it's no budgetary impact because he's assigning someone that task. You all right? Vice Chair Russell: I believe it's a switching of hats more than anything. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: I believe it's a switching of hats more than it is an added layer of bureaucracy at this point. I think it's --we're -- Commissioner Suarez: No bureaucracy, but -- Vice Chair Russell: This is what we're trying -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: -- this is what we're able to do with the current budgetary restrictions. A sets the intention for future growth to let that department get stronger. Commissioner Carollo: See, I understand calling the Office of Transparency, the attorney who's -- Mr. Alban, who's doing that right now, and, in essence, then doing -- and then doing that website or -- that's what I see, but that attorney passing it to the Manager, and the Manager passing it onto, you know, let's say, a third party, or whoever requested, that's where I think is a red tape in the added responsibility. Commissioner Suarez: Let's do this, let's defer it. I don't -- it doesn't have to be done today. Let's defer it. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: Let's defer. We could think it through a little bit more. That's fine. Commissioner Carollo: Fair enough, but, like I said, I'm with you on that centrally -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. City of Miami Page 150 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: I think that's a great idea. Commissioner Suarez: And listen, we -- you know, we -- again, we can't always hammer everything out up here. Commissioner Carollo: I got it. Commissioner Suarez: We've had a long day. Commissioner Carollo: I got it. Commissioner Suarez: So let's defer it. I'll -- Commissioner Carollo: Two weeks. Commissioner Suarez: -- take your -- Vice Chair Russell: There's a motion to defer -- Commissioner Suarez: -- concerns under advisement. Vice Chair Russell: -- and a second. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: Any further discussion? I think we should just give all public records to Todd; I think he'd love it. No? You don't want them all? Mr. Alfonso: I agree 100 percent. Mr. Min: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Attorney's Ojjice. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and second. All in favor to defer, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Do we have a date? Commissioner Carollo: Yes, to the next Commission meeting? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah. That's fine. Mr. Hannon: April 13, correct? Commissioner Carollo: April 13. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Suarez: That'll give us even more time. Commissioner Gort: How 'bout a motion for Todd to take over? City of Miami Page 151 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.6 RESOLUTION 1701 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO Commissioners EXECUTE A COMBINED INTERLOCAL AND MUTUAL AID and Mayor AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE CITY OF CORAL GABLES PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION OF A JOINT ENFORCEMENT ZONE, PROVISION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES AND CREATING A MULTI -AGENCY ANTI - PROSTITUTION & HUMAN TRAFFICKING TASK FORCE PURSUANT TO THE MUTUAL AID ACT, CHAPTER 23, PART 1, OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. Item RE.6 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. Commissioner Suarez: So, Mr. Chair, RE.7 is the actual MOU (memorandum of understanding) to memorialize the -- Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry; we're on RE. 6. Commissioner Carollo: RE.6. Commissioner Suarez: I think we did RE. 6, right? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): No, sir. Commissioner Suarez: What was RE.6? Is that mine, too? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): The MOU with Coral Gables. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, okay. Mr. Chief, so I will move RE.6, I think. Commissioner Gort: Second for discussion. Commissioner Suarez: All right. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Commissioner Suarez: So let me just say this: Our Chief has been very involved in this process. He went on a much -deserved vacation -- which I wish I could do with my wife -- for a month. When he came back -- He had representatives at meetings that he was not present. When he came back, he felt that there were some issues with the MOU. And our City Attorney sort of explained that, you know, we can pass it "in City of Miami Page 152 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 substantially the attached form, " and he could be consulted on how it gets finalized. Is that an accurate recitation? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Is that -- is everyone else okay with that? Vice Chair Russell: Chief, are you okay? Commissioner Suarez: Chief, are you okay with that? Rodolfo Llanes (Chief of Police): Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Thankyou. Ms. Mendez: In concept. In concept, and we'll work with him. Vice Chair Russell: Just for the --just — Chief Llanes: Okay, with an agreement. Vice Chair Russell: While we're in this -- Chief Llanes: I am not okay with disagreement. Commissioner Suarez: I got you. Vice Chair Russell: While we're in discussion, Commissioner Lago, from the Gables, did ask for a statement to be read. Do we all have a copy of that? If we have a copy, we don't need to read it. Commissioner Suarez: Read it into the record; it's fine. Yeah, I think --just read it into the record. Yeah, go ahead and read it. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir. It -- the title is, "Partnership between City of Coral Gables and City of Miami." And this is from -- it's a statement by Commissioner Lago, who's a City Commissioner for Coral Gables. "I believe that as a public official, our number -one priority is public safety. This being said, I went undercover four times with the City of Miami and got to witness, firsthand, what is occurring right here in our community. What I saw during these ride-alongs is why I stand here today, urging the City of Miami to work with 'Help Make Our Community Safer.' On December 6, 2016, the City of Coral Gables enacted an ordinance, in which I sponsored, that would prohibit hourly hotel/motel rentals. It is well- established that hotels/motels that allow for the hourly rental rooms are frequented by individuals engaged in prostitution and/or human sex tracking, as well as other illegal activities. The U.S. (United States) Department of State estimates that as many as 600,000 to 800,000 individuals are trafficked across our nation's borders every year, with Florida receiving a high percentage of those victims. South Florida has experienced such as" -- "such an" -- "South Florida has experienced such an epidemic of sex trafficking that the Miami -Dade State Attorney's Office established a 'Human Trafficking Unit' in 2012. Victims of sex trafficking and prostitution are often exposed to serious health risks, including sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol addictions, a series of health concerns, and psychological trauma. This ordinance aims to eliminate illegal activities surrounding our City's borders, while enhancing the overall safety of our neighborhoods, the future of our children. This legislation will lead to the creation of a joint enforcement zone of a multi -agency, anti prostitution, and human trafficking task force, intended to disrupt criminal City of Miami Page 153 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 activity through joint proactive law enforcement operations in order to investigate, apprehend, and successfully prosecute offenders engaging in such activity within the joint enforcement zone. It is the responsibility of government to ensure the public safety of its citizens by providing policies and legislation for the betterment of our communities. As such, it is mutually beneficial for the City of Coral Gables and the City of Miami to help combat this issue jointly. A is key pieces of legislation, such as this one, which allows communities to work together to positively impact the lives of residents. It is these kinds of partnerships that are most effective, and I have the utmost offaith will yield desirable results. Thankyou. Vince Lago. " Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Commissioner Lago. It's been moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? Commissioner Gort: Discussion. Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: At one time, I think -- I'd like to offer a friendly amendment: to add the City of West Miami. We did this back in the '90s, and we had West Miami, Coral Gables, and Miami. Commissioner Suarez: Can I just -- Commissioner Gort: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: I don't have an issue with that, personally. My only issue is that the City of Coral Gables offered to provide resources to fund this, and so I don't know if West Miami has the resources or doesn't. But if they do, I'd be more than happy to, you know, accept their participation in it. So I think the idea would be then to allow for them to participate in this, as well. Is that -- is everyone okay with that? Are you okay with that? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Can we do this one, and then reach out to West Miami and do one with them, if anything? Vice Chair Russell: So the City Attorney doesn't accept the amendment. Ms. Mendez: No, no. I -- whatever the Commission wants. Commissioner Gort: Forget about the friendly amendment. Ms. Mendez: I'm just saying, just based on -- to get to this point, we had a lot of meetings and -- Commissioner Gort: All right, forget it, forget it. Commissioner Suarez: Whatever you guys want, man, at this point. I'm like -- I'm punch drunk. Commissioner Gort: Chief, how much problem you got in West Miami? Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Its been -- yes. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, I -- I'll be remiss if I don't ask. Chief, you're saying you're not --you're in agreement with disagreement -- City of Miami Page 154 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Motion to defer. Commissioner Carollo: --but -- Commissioner Suarez: I'll defer it. Commissioner Carollo: -- "substantially in the attached form, " so I want to see, really, how much are we going to --? Commissioner Suarez: Defer it. That's it. I'm done. Defer. Defer it. Vice Chair Russell: There's been a motion to defer. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Vice Chair Russell: Is there a second? Commissioner Suarez: Motion to defer. Commissioner Carollo: Two weeks? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. The next one, I think, is in three weeks. Defer. I defer it. That's it. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved to defer. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been seconded. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: Any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: No. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Can someone reach out to West Miami to see if there is any interest? Commissioner Suarez: Please. Vice Chair Russell: Who would be -- Mr. Manager? Thank you. City of Miami Page 155 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.7 RESOLUTION 1973 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Commissioners ATTACHMENT(S), RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 16-0409, and Mayor ADOPTED SEPTEMBER 8, 2016, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY AYES: MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A MEMORANDUM OF NAYS: UNDERSTANDING, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, ABSENT: WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TO FUND A PORTION OF THE UNDERLINE PROJECT WITH CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") PARK IMPACT FEES ATTRIBUTABLE TO NEW DEVELOPMENT AS DEFINED IN CHAPTER 13, SECTIONS 13-5 AND 13-6 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, THAT HAVE PAID OR WILL PAY IMPACT FEES WITHIN ONE THOUSAND (1,000) FEET OF THE UNDERLINE PROJECT IN DISTRICTS 2 AND 4 AND FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF ANY IMPACT FEES COLLECTED WITHIN ONE THOUSAND (1,000) FEET OF THE UNDERLINE PROJECT IN DISTRICT 3 IN A TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS ($50,000,000.00), PROVIDED THAT SAID FUNDS SHALL BE EXPENDED ON THE UNDERLINE PROJECT WITHIN SIX (6) YEARS OF THE DATE OF PAYMENT OF THE IMPACT FEE BY THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY TO THE CITY; FURTHER PROVIDING THAT SAID FIFTY MILLION DOLLAR ($50,000,000.00) CAP BE REDUCED IF THE UNDERLINE PROJECT RECEIVES FUNDS FROM OTHER SOURCES OR IT IS DETERMINED IN THE FUTURE THAT THE OVERALL PROJECT COST WILL BE LESS; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO INCLUDE THE UNDERLINE PROJECT IN THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AS DEFINED IN SECTION 13-5 OF THE CITY CODE TO ALLOW FOR CREDITS AGAINST IMPACT FEES FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT SEEKING TO IMPROVE THE UNDERLINE PROJECT. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0143 MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s) RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S) MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Suarez NAYS: Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE. 7, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: We are on the Underline, RE. 7, please. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I maybe recognized? Sothis -- Vice Chair Russell: Of course. Commissioner Suarez: -- the MOU which memorializes the resolution which we passed, dedicating funds to the Underline Project. I just want to make two City ofMiami Page 156 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 corrections to the resolution as it stands. One "whereas" clause, which says, "Whereas, this resolution does not affect any prior or ongoing collections or allocations of impact fees for the Underline Project, subsequent to the date of the passage of Resolution Number 15-0397 and Resolution Number 16-0409; and. " And I would also like it to be -- that something similar to that to also be in the body of the resolution. Victoria Mendez(City Attorney): Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: So moved -- Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Discussion. Vice Chair Russell: -- and second for discussion. Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Thanks. Commissioner Suarez: This one I'm not deferring, by the way. Okay. Commissioner Carollo: So with regards to the Underline -- Obviously, I've been a proponent of the Underline, and I think Meg Daly has been awesome with this. The only issue I have with this is that we're going from reimbursing to actually putting the money upfront and having the County actually, you know -- I don't want to say a blank check, but have monies diverted there, where we really don't know, other than it's going for the Underline. So that's the issue I'm having with that. Commissioner Suarez: So I never thought it was going to be reimbursement. I didn't, because we generate impact fees and we're paying for this project. So my thought was we were going to pay and then give and then, you know, somebody, you know, actually builds. So that wasn't my thing. My -- so for us, we're collecting and we're giving impact fees and someone's building it. So, you know, I did not think it was going to be reimbursement, because I didn't think someone was going to front $50 million that we were going to be reimbursing. If someone were going to front $50 million, they probably would have had the $50 million in the first place, and we wouldn't have to dedicate our impact fees to it. So, for me, it was always an understanding that, as we generate impact fees, we're going to be investing it into the project and building the project. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo, do you have a concern that there's a potential or a lack of checks and balances for the money to not be spent as it is intended? Commissioner Carollo: Absolutely. I mean, realistically, we don't know how the money's being spent; other than, it's for the Underline, but we really have no checks and balance. And what we're doing is -- I mean -- I don't know. It's late. So, you know, say it more eloquently, but we're giving a blank check to the County that says, "This is for the Underline. " Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Carollo: I just think it's -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- there's no checks and balances. City of Miami Page 157 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: The MOU I think, has a quarterly audit -- I think it's a quarterly audit requirement, where we audit their expenditures quarterly, so I think that creates, you know, the -- that creates, certainly, the accountability that I think Commissioner Carollo's looking for. Vice Chair Russell: Is there any further discussion. Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: My understanding, the impact fee can be used for certain use, so -- But I think what he's trying to say is that, let's make sure that it's used correctly -- Commissioner Suarez: Absolutely. Commissioner Gort: -- according to the criterias [sic] and guideline that goes along with it. Okay. Commissioner Suarez: And I think --yeah. And I think the MOUdoes that. Vice Chair Russell: Madam City Attorney, is there a recourse or checks and balances in the event there's any question as to how the monies are spent or if it is seen that they are not spent directly on the infrastructure of the Underline? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): We can always ask for public records to make sure that everything is going according to plan, and we can add -- I think there's an auditing provision in the MOU. I believe it's Section 6, as well, so. Vice Chair Russell: So, after that point, let's say an audit is performed, and we see a discrepancy or something spent incorrectly, what is our recourse? Ms. Mendez: We could definitely meet with them and -- Vice Chair Russell: You're not making me comfortable. Commissioner Suarez: And I think it also species in the MOU what are eligible and uneligible [sic] sources and uses offunds. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Just to clary, Commissioner, because I heard you say "quarterly audit. " It's a quarterly report. They give you a quarterly report; not a quarterly audit. Commissioner Suarez: My apologies. I used the wrong word. My apologies. Correct. I stand corrected there. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Manager, before you leave, and the quarterly report is the quarterly report saying what they're doing overall, or is it saying -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) monies --? Mr. Alfonso: It's a quarterly report on what they have spent for that quarter. Commissioner Carollo: But not necessarily -- Mr. Alfonso: It's not an audit, because I don't think we can do quarterly audits. Commissioner Carollo: No, no, we're not doing quarterly audits. City of Miami Page 158 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Alfonso: I know we can talk to Mr. Guba, but I don't think that would be feasible. Vice Chair Russell: There is some faith involved here. Commissioner Carollo: No, no. I hear you, but -- Commissioner Suarez: Look, I don't think it's a matter offaith. I think it's a matter of there are certain things that impact fees are eligible to be spent on and certain things that they're not. Everybody knows what they are. It's not particularly complicated. And in the legislation, it spells out what those things are. So, you know, you certainly have a deep pocket if somebody like the County, for example, doesn't do it, you know, in accordance with the law. You have a party that you could, I guess, sue if you don't feel that they're doing it in accordance with the law. Vice Chair Russell: Right. Ms. Mendez: Right. So, in the document, we have -- obviously, we can request that they reimburse us. We actually have that as one of our remedies. And remember that we also have our intergovernmental processes under Chapter 164, and we can always sue them, as well. Commissioner Suarez: And I think the pro bono counsel for the Underline is here. They may want to jump in on this issue. Ms. Mendez: Thank you. Haans Hertell: Hi. My name is Haans Hertell. I'm a pro bono attorney for the Friends of the Underline. I was involved in the process of renegotiating the MOU between the County and the City, providing the Friends of the Underline input. There was a thorough discussion between the County and the City Attorneys about audit rights. There is a clause on audit rights that gives broad powers to the City to conduct audits and to -- and the County can -- everything that's spent by the County from the impact fee money goes into reports that would be provided to the City. So there's broad transparency, and it's contemplated in the MOU. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Have you seen the complete plan, the final complete plan for the Underline; what they're going to do in all sections? Vice Chair Russell: I don't believe it's fully decided all sections. Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. So what ifyou have a disagreement? Vice Chair Russell: Well, we won't have a -- Commissioner Carollo: So what -- so instead of, let's say, this part, we want a basketball court; let's say you want a tennis court -- and I'm just throwing an example. So let's say, as a city, we think, "Hey, it should be a tennis court. " We just lost that save. To the County, it's just going to be receiving monies from the City and they're going to do as planned. I don't see where there's a check and balance there to make sure that, you know, there's a consensus. You understand what I'm saying? City of Miami Page 159 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: I do understand the concern, but I'm not sure that we ever fully tied that money to our approval of each item within the Underline. So we never asked for that right. Commissioner Suarez: And look, I think -- you know, again, you can debate about these kinds of things until you're purple, and we've done a pretty good job of it today, but I think the idea here is that some visionary, which is Meg, came up with a concept, which has been reduced to incredible renderings and beautiful renderings, and I -- I'm fully confident in her ability to execute that plan in the way that she has. I'm not going to be asking her to move a basketball court four feet one way or four feet another way, or not have a basketball court or have a basketball court. I think, you know, the monies that were given here -- like, for example, you have a section that you have money for; and you're doing it the way you'd like to see it done, and that has to be done in cooperation with the County, because that's also County property. Commissioner Carollo: And with Meg and the Underline. Commissioner Suarez: Understood. Commissioner Carollo: So it's in cooperation. Commissioner Suarez: And I would hope it would be. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Because I think it would have to -- I would hope that it would be coherent -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- with the entire vision of the Underline, and I think, you know, that would make sense. But I think the general thing here is to empower her and empower the Friends of the Underline to execute on this plan as quickly as possible. And this was more of a financing --financial mechanism than it was sort of meant to be a granular; `Hey, don't do this; do that, "you know. Vice Chair Russell: Right. Well, I do believe this change will make it happen in a much quicker way, if at all. Commissioner Suarez: Oh, I promise you, it will. I promise you, it will. Vice Chair Russell: And the reimbursement method, it may not have -- you know, it may have taken much longer, if at all, so I do -- I'm comfortable with this in its current form. And I'm glad that you've been working most actively with the Underline on their first phase, so you know better than anyone how cooperative they are in terms of -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay, perfect. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: -- putting it together. So we have a motion, and we have a second. Is there any further discussion? Commissioner Suarez: Nope. Commissioner Gort: Call the question. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " City of Miami Page 160 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Aye. Commissioner Gort: Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Commissioner Suarez: Is there -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes, "no. " "No. " Commissioner Suarez: -- anything you want to say? Vice Chair Russell: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. Commissioner Carollo: Because of the reimbursement. Vice Chair Russell: Are you a "no"? Commissioner Carollo: Yes, I'm a "no, " because of the reimbursement Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Hertell: Yes, as -- just a last word from perspective Friends of the Underline. They have and will continue to work with the City on every front, and you guys know that, so -- Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Mr. Hertell: -- we look forward to it. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): As amended. Vice Chair Russell: And you got the count? Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir. 3-1; Commissioner Carollo voting "no. " Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. City of Miami Page 161 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.8 RESOLUTION 1963 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING MOVER: AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO TAKE ANY AND Commissioners Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: ALL ACTIONS INCLUDING COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDINGS and Mayor Hardemon, Suarez TO ENJOIN THE STATE OF FLORIDA ("STATE") AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ("FDEP") FROM CONTINUING WITH THEIR OFFER TO SELL THROUGH COMPETITIVE SEALED BID NO. DSL -BID -16-020 THE PROPERTY LOCATED APPROXIMATELY BETWEEN NORTHWEST 22ND STREET AND 22ND TERRACE AND NORTHWEST 10TH AVENUE AND 11TH AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, ALSO DESCRIBED AS FOLIO NO. 01-3126-053-0130, PER THE ATTACHED PROPERTY REPORT AND DEED ("PROPERTY"); ALSO FURTHER DIRECTING AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO TAKE ANY AND ALL ACTION NECESSARY AND IN FURTHERANCE OF THE SUCCESSFUL RECONVEYANCE OF THE PROPERTY FROM THE STATE AND FDEP BACK TO THE CITY. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0142 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Vice Chair Russell: We are moving on to RE. 8. Commissioner Gort: Resolution (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): This is a resolution directing the City Attorney to take any and all actions, including commencement of proceedings, to enjoin the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection, with regard to the competitive sealed bidding of a property located at Northwest 22nd Street and 22nd Terrace and Northwest 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue in the City of Miami. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Is there any comment from the public on RE. 8? Hearing none, I'll close public comment. Any comments from the dais? All in favor say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes. City of Miami Page 162 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.9 RESOLUTION 1930 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING Commissioners THE CITY MANAGER TO PRIORITIZE THE DEVELOPMENT AND and Mayor ISSUANCE OF A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RELATING TO AYES: THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING ABSENT: ON THE CURRENT SITE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI FIRE COLLEGE ("FIRE COLLEGE"), SUBJECT TO THE CITY ACQUIRING A SUITABLE LOCATION FOR A NEW FIRE COLLEGE, AND FURTHER SUBJECT TO COMPLIANCE WITH ANY, AND ALL, ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS, PROTECTION, LAND USE, ZONING LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS, ORDERS OR REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE EXISTENCE IN OR ON THE PROPERTY OF ANY HAZARDOUS MATERIALS WHICH MAY IMPACT ITS SUITABILITY FOR RESIDENTIAL USE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0150 MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s) RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S) MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Vice Chair Russell: RE.9. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Vice Chairman, this is your item for affordable housing. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Thank you. This is the RFP (Request for Proposals) --or requesting the Manager to start preparing an RFP to find a new home and an upgraded Fire College, as well as produce affordable housing with the developer onsite, where the current Fire College is in Coconut Grove. This is something that the community, I believe, is quite excited about. I want to make sure that they're involved in this process, so I would like to amend it to make sure that the RFP is put together in conjunction with the community and my office. And I'd also like the management to consider potential partners within abutting properties around the Fire College, in case there's any opportunity to combine. And I'd welcome a motion on the item, if there's interest. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, can we have discussion first? Vice Chair Russell: Of course. Discussion on RE.9. Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: Okay, so there is a cost to moving the Fire College. Do we know what that cost is? Because they will have to buy, or we have to find land somewhere else. Wouldn't it be more feasible to leave them there and --? I'm not saying that next to them, or so forth, do affordable housing, but then, whatever they're going to spend on redoing a Fire College somewhere, use that land for affordable housing. You understand what I'm saying? Vice Chair Russell: That is a very good point, and that is one potential consideration that might be possible if a abutting land owner could square off to make a much City of Miami Page 163 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 larger development; otherwise, the Fire College actually does take up the entire footprint of the existing site, and the Fire Chief, Kemp at the time, did say that he needs the additional space, not just the building, for the training, the vehicle turnaround. Plus, it's honestly not a good use for a residential neighborhood between the sirens, the fire, the noise. It's not the right thing for there. We are hoping that the developer that comes along will actually -- like we've done in other partnerships on firehouses -- develop it within the deal, so that it's not a cost that's borne by the City. I've directed the Manager, and I've also heard from Commissioner Xavier Suarez at the County that we are actively looking for land to be partnered with from the County, from the State, that could possibly be swapped or donated so that there is not a land cost to this move, as well. There's a lot of moving parts to make this happen. It's not a slam dunk or a done deal, for sure. The intention is there to see if the management can put together an RFP that's attractive to a developer, at the minimum cost to the City, with regard to the upgrade and movement of the Fire College, and then, of course, the development of affordable housing. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: Its been moved and seconded. Welcoming further discussion. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. And I guess if it's just an RFP, we could always turn down the RFP, correct? Vice Chair Russell: Yes. And it's going to come back to us before it's issued. Commissioner Gort: Sure. Vice Chair Russell: But I can tell you that the need for affordable housing in the West Grove is dire, is absolutely dire. So this is more of a medium- and long-term part of the solution. A member of the public have a comment on the issue? Emma Hollowell: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Your name and your address, please. Ms. Hollowell: I'm Emma Hollowell. I live at 92 Southwest 3rd Street, and I'm an intern with the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami. While the center generally supports the idea of affordable housing within the City of Miami, and specifically the West Grove, I'm here today to express concern with the resolution as currently written. We know from reports that the Fire Training Center sits atop the former site of the "Old Smokey" incinerator, and that that property is contaminated with hazardous -- Commissioner Gort: Yes. Ms. Hallowell: -- materials. Vice Chair Russell: Yep. Ms. Hallowell: Language within the resolution calls for compliance with environmental requirements, but unfortunately, this site has not been in compliance for decades. We, therefore, strongly encourage the Commission to adopt language before passage in this resolution that provides for remediation before building, if the land is found to be unsuitable under environmental standards. As the resolution currently stands, it opens West Grove residents up to continued and increased City of Miami Page 164 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 exposure to hazardous materials. Asking for compliance with environmental standards is simply not enough, as the City has slept on its requirement for compliance for decades now. This is why we strongly encourage the Commission to adopt language calling for remediation, following a specific remediation plan, before any construction could begin on the property. Without this type of remediation, the Center, on behalf of the West Grove community, who we work with every day, would oppose the resolution. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much, and thank you to Professor Altieri. I think that's an excellent amendment, which I would welcome -- Commissioner Gort: Welcome. Vice Chair Russell: -- adding that the remediation would be to a residential level. Right now I believe it is in compliance with the fact that it is not a residentially zoned property, so there was not a mandate by DERM (Department of Environmental Resource Management) to remediate to a further extent than we have. I would like, honestly, regardless of whether the zoning changes to residential, that we take it to a further remediation, simply by the fact that these, who are our finest are training, and they could potentially be exposed, so I would certainly think we should include that amendment to a residential level. Joseph Zahralban: Chairman, Commissioners, thank you. Joseph Zahralban, Fire Chief, Department of Fire -Rescue. Vice Chair Russell: That felt good to say, didn't it? Fire Chief Zahralban: It did, sir. It did. Vice Chair Russell: Congratulations. Fire Chief Zahralban: Thank you, sir. As far as remediation goes, you are correct, sir; in that the remediation did occur based upon the facility's current use, and there was ground cover placed where necessary; and as long as the ground was not disturbed, we are in compliance. So, if there was an initiative to move further -- forward with some type of construction, obviously that would need to be reevaluated, but I do want to say for the record that an analysis was done, and compliance issues were met with the Fire College in its existing form and fashion. Now, as far as the Fire College use, we have met, and I am confident that you have understood our use, our current use of the Fire College, and the fact that it is not only for the training of recruits; it is the hub for the Department of Fire -Rescue's entire training program for all existing employees, which is why it is so important that it maintains itself within corporate city limits. And also recognizing that the out -of -service time that we -- the units that we take out of service in order to provide training, it's imperative that they don't have a lot of travel time, and we can place those units back in service to serve the residents of Miami as quickly as possible. Our current facility allows us to do that. We are open to other possibilities. As was mentioned, it is an incinerator that we have adapted to our use. It has served us very well. Is it perfect? No. Could we leverage the most recent technologies in fire standards? Absolutely, if we looked at a new facility. So we are open to that, as long as the needs of the Department of Fire - Rescue are met. Vice Chair Russell: And a third of your force is quite new, so training is much needed, and, perhaps, an upgraded facility would be welcomed. Fire Chief Zahralban: Yes, sir. City of Miami Page 165 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. And thank you for that amendment. I believe the mover and the seconder -- Commissioner Gort: Accept it. Vice Chair Russell: -- accept it. Commissioner Carollo: Yes, we accept it. Vice Chair Russell: All right. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): The seconder was Commiss -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, of course, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: For the Chief. Fire Chief Zahralban: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Is there any site in mind currently for a new training site? Fire Chief Zahralban: No, sir. This has been brought to us as a relatively new item. I believe we've met only one time on this issue about a month ago, so no, we have not looked at -- to my knowledge, we have not looked at any potential sites. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Fire Chief Zahralban: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much. The seconder is actually not on the dais at the moment, so in order to accept the amendment, we need to remove the initial motion, restate the motion, have a new seconder, with amendment, if that's the will of the board. Ms. Mendez: Vice Chairman, I just want to say, the resolution, as drafted -- and I appreciate Professor Alfieri's comments, but as drafted, it complies and is appropriately drafted. I just -- Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Madam City Attorney, could you read the sentence regarding environmental? Ms. Mendez: It says, "Further, subject to compliance with any and all environmental requirements. " I mean, that -- it could not be clearer as day. Vice Chair Russell: Would there be any detriment to adding a "Whereas, with regard to existing contamination "? Because contamination is not mentioned in here, at all, and I think it would bring much comfort to the residents, who have already voiced concern that we are potentially placing housing on contamination. So this may not be -- if we don't take the extra steps to assure the public of what the intention here is, they may not actually even welcome the intention. So would there be any detriment to reinforcing that statement, where the "whereas" makes clear the existence of contamination? Commissioner Gort: Second -- the second is here. City of Miami Page 166 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Seconder is here. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. We were just --there was an amendment offered by the Center for Ethics and Justice with regard -- Commissioner Gort: He stated he accept it. Vice Chair Russell: -- clarifying the need for remediation. Commissioner Gort: He accepts the amendment. Vice Chair Russell: All right, the mover and the seconder accept the amendment. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Mr. Hannon: As amended. Ms. Hollowell: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: As amended. RE.10 RESOLUTION 1935 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION RE - MOVER: ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMUNITY ADVISORY Commissioners Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: BOARD TO PROVIDE OVERSIGHT AND FEEDBACK TO THE CITY and Mayor Hardemon OF MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT ("MPD") AND THE INDEPENDENT REVIEWER PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT ENTERED BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RELATING TO THE OVERSIGHT OF THE MPD'S PRACTICES AND POLICIES CONCERNING THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE; PROVIDING THE BOARD'S PURPOSES, POWERS, DUTIES, COMPOSITION, RULES OF PROCEDURE, MEETING, QUORUM, ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONNEL AND PUBLIC NOTICE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0144 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. Direction by Vice Chair Russell to the City Manager to provide a report from the Community Advisory Board within the next 60 days, regarding their first year as a board City of Miami Page 167 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE.10, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: RE. 10, Community Advisory Board This is also my item. This is simply to reinstate the board. Commissioner Carollo: Second Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Is there any comment from the public regarding reinstating the Community Advisory Board? Any comment from the dais? Hearing none, all in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. I would like to receive a report from the Community Advisory Board, in the next 60 days, to see how their first year went and what their -- Commissioner Gort: Bless you. Vice Chair Russell: -- potential sunset might be. Is that something we can pass on to the board? Commissioner Gort: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. RE.11 RESOLUTION 1983 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION WAIVING Commissioners THE NOISE PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER 36 OF THE CODE OF and Mayor THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED ("CITY CODE"), AYES: PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 36-4(A) AND (B) OF THE CITY CODE, ABSENT: ENTITLED "OPERATION OF RADIOS, PHONOGRAPHS OR OTHER SOUND -MAKING DEVICES; BANDS, ORCHESTRAS AND MUSICIANS—GENERALLY; EXEMPTION", FOR THE "GET LOST" EVENT PRODUCED BY 9 -ITE LIFE EVENT GROUP TO BE HELD AT 300 NORTHWEST 71ST STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA COMMENCING ON MARCH 25, 2017 AND ENDING MARCH 26, 2017. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0145 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Vice Chair Russell: RE. 11, prohibition of excessive noise and music. Commissioner Gort: Move it. City of Miami Page 168 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: Chairman Hardemon is not here. Commissioner Gort: I'm moving it. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Any comment from the public? Hearing none, I'll close public comment. Any comment from the dais? All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. RE.12 RESOLUTION 1969 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MOVER: RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY OF MIAMI FORMALLY JOIN Commissioners Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE and Mayor COMPACT ("COMPACT") AS A MUNICIPAL PARTNER; ENDORSING THE MAYORS' CLIMATE ACTION PLEDGE, THEREBY AFFIRMING SUPPORT FOR THE COMPACT, AGREEING TO CONSIDER IMPLEMENTING THE REGIONAL CLIMATE ACTION PLAN, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, AND URGING ALL THE MAYORS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY TO SUPPORT AND ENDORSE THE MAYORS' CLIMATE ACTION PLEDGE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0146 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE. 12, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: RE. 12, we actually already passed. Commissioner Gort: No, we didn't. Vice Chair Russell: The Mayor brought it very quickly. Commissioner Gort: I move it. Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry. Was that --? Commissioner Gort: I move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second Commissioner Carollo: Second City of Miami Page 169 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: Did we notpass RE. 12? Commissioner Gort: No. Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: Nope. After Airbnb. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): That was a non -agenda item. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): He spoke about it, but I don't think we passed RE. 12. Commissioner Gort: No, we didn't. Vice Chair Russell: I thought we moved it and passed it. Mr. Hannon: No, sir. No, no. He briefly mentioned it, and then we moved on to a non -agenda item. Ms. Mendez: It was the FPL (Florida Power & Light) pocket item that was -- Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry. You're absolutely correct; we did pass that one. We did not do the Climate Action Pledge. RE.12 has been moved and seconded. It was moved by -- Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Gort: Second. Vice Chair Russell: -- Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: Seconded by Commissioner Carollo. Any comment from the public regarding endorsing the Climate Action Pledge? Hearing none, any comment from the dais? All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: The motion passes. RE.13 RESOLUTION 1901 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Office of the City ATTACHMENT(S), ACCEPTING THE CITY CLERK'S Clerk CERTIFICATION OF THE WYNWOOD BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT'S ("WYNWOOD BID") AFFIDAVIT PROCESS FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE WYNWOOD BID BOUNDARIES. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0147 City of Miami Page 170 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item RE.13, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: RE.13. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): RE.13 is a resolution involving the City Clerk's certification of the Wynwood Business Improvement District's affidavit process for the expansion of the Wynwood BID (Business Improvement District) boundaries. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Is there any comment from the public on this item? Hearing none, I'll close public comment. Any comment from the dais? All in favor say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. Vice Chair Russell: RE. 14. Commissioner Gort: You already passed it. Vice Chair Russell: I already passed it. City of Miami Page 171 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RE.14 RESOLUTION 1918 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION Office of the City AUTHORIZING THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY ALEXIS Attorney STEVENS, WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY, THE AYES: AGGREGATE TOTAL SUM OF $250,000.00 TO THE PLAINTIFF IN FULL AND COMPLETE SETTLEMENT OF ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS, INCLUDING ALL CLAIMS FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES, AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI, ITS OFFICERS, AGENTS AND EMPLOYEES, IN THE CASE OF ALEXIS STEVENS V. THE CITY OF MIAMI, PENDING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA, CASE NO. 15-23931, UPON THE EXECUTION OF GENERAL RELEASES OF ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS, AND A DISMISSAL OF THE CITY OF MIAMI WITH PREJUDICE; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM GENERAL LIABILITY ACCOUNT NO. 50001.301001.545013.0000.00000. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0138 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Mr. Chairman, before we move on, I have a question, if I can inquire of the body? We have three shade meetings scheduled for this evening; two of them can be deferred to the next meeting, because I'm sure -- Commissioner Carollo: Why would we? Mr. Min: -- we're retire. But there is one that is related to RE.14. The Commission has been briefed, so I don't know if it's necessary to have the shade meeting. Commissioner Suarez: Are we done? Mr. Min: If not -- RE.14 is concerning a settlement regarding Alexis Stevens. If the body does not need to have a shade meeting, then I can let my court reporter go, who has to leave at 9 o'clock, please. Commissioner Suarez: I'm okay making the motion, you know. We -- Commissioner Carollo: Sure. I'm sorry. I know -- Commissioner Suarez: It's RE.14. Thankyou, guys. Commissioner Carollo: Which one is it? I'm sorry. Commissioner Suarez: RE.14. Mr. Min: RE.14. This is a proposed settlement. Commissioner Suarez: We had a lengthy discussion on it. City of Miami Page 172 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Yes, yes. No, I remember. Just let me verify that it is what -- got you. Yes. I'm okay. Commissioner Gort: Second. Chair Hardemon: Properly moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Is there anyone from the public that'd like to speak on that item? Seeing none, close the public hearing. All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mr. Min: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. Commissioner Carollo: However, we're still on for the rest of the shade meetings, correct? Mr. Min: We can do them -- my court reporter needs to leave at 9 o'clock, so if you want to do them, I would ask that we take a break now -- Commissioner Suarez: I would rather not. I mean, are they time -sensitive? Mr. Min: Otherwise, we can move -- Well, they're not time -sensitive, per se, so we can move them to the next Commission meeting, if that's what the -- Commissioner Suarez: Please. Mr. Min: --preference of the body is. Commissioner Suarez: Have mercy. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): We have one they could do in 30 minutes. Tell -- give them more options. Mr. Min: Apparently, one can be -- if you want to do one now in 30 minutes, we can do it. Commissioner Suarez: Right now? Mr. Min: She needs to leave at 9 o'clock. That's all. Commissioner Suarez: Tin not going to be here. Commissioner Carollo: No? Commissioner Suarez: No, no. I'm not going to do that. We got a lot -- we have a whole agenda. We haven't touch -- done anything today. Commissioner Gort: We haven't done anything yet. Ms. Mendez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) reset? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, next one. It's not time -sensitive, right? Mr. Min: It is not. City of Miami Page 173 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Okay, that's it. Next meeting. Commissioner Gort: There we go. Commissioner Carollo: Now, now. Mr. Min: Thank you. RE.15 RESOLUTION 1957 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of Real ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO Estate and Asset EXECUTE A CORRECTIVE COUNTY DEED AND AN AMENDED Management DECLARATION OF RESTRICTIONS, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ABSENT: ATTACHED FORM, WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOR THE EXTENSION OF TIME FRAMES GRANTED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI TO COMMENCE AND COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION OF A PUBLIC MUNICIPAL PARKING GARAGE ON VIRGINIA KEY AND EXECUTE AN ACCESS AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOR THE USE OF PORTIONS OF VIRGINIA KEY TO BE USED AS PARKING DURING THE ANNUAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT CURRENTLY KNOWN AS THE MIAMI OPEN; APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE RECORDATION OF THE CORRECTIVE COUNTY DEED AND AMENDED DECLARATION OF RESTRICTIONS IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO KEEP COPIES OF CORRECTIVE COUNTY DEED AND AMENDED DECLARATION OF RESTRICTIONS; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A CERTIFIED COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS NAMED HEREIN. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0148 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Vice Chair Russell: RE. 15. Daniel Rotenberg: RE. 15. Good evening, Commissioners. Daniel Rotenberg, Department of Real Estate & Asset Management. This is a resolution of the Miami City Commission for the Manager to execute a corrective deed in order to facilitate an extension of time for land being conveyed, via corrective deed again, from the County to the City for a parking garage on Virginia Key. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. City ofMiami Page 174 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Any comment from the public on this item? Hearing none, closing public comment. Any comment from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: Glad I caught it. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. RE.16 RESOLUTION 1996 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING MOVER: THE CITY MANAGER TO IMPLEMENT INTERNAL CONTROL Commissioners Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO THE APPROPRIATION and Mayor Hardemon PROCESS OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM ("CIP") PROJECTS, PROHIBITING DUPLICATE APPROPRIATIONS OF FUNDS FOR THE SAME PROJECTS. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0149 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Vice Chair Russell: RE.16, implement controls on CIP (Capital Improvement Projects) projects. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, if you remember, in the last Commission meeting, when they presented the CIP projects, there were a request for funding of duplicate projects, so this is for the Administration to establish control so that would not happen: `Prohibiting duplicate appropriations of funds for the same projects. " So I move the item. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Any comment from the public? Commissioner Suarez: Do it again. Vice Chair Russell: Any comment from the dais? Commissioner Carollo: No. Actually, find controls so that doesn't happen again, so it can't happen again. That's the purpose of it. Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. City of Miami Page 175 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. That is the end of the RE (resolution) agenda. Commissioner Suarez: Is there a BC (Boards and Committees)? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Vice Chair Russell: We can skip it. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. END OF RESOLUTIONS City of Miami Page 176 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 BC - BOARDS AND COMMITTEES BCA RESOLUTION 1979 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING CERTAIN Office of the City INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE LIBERTY CITY COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION Clerk TRUST FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN. APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY: Chair Keon Hardemon Chair Keon Hardemon Chair Keon Hardemon Chair Keon Hardemon City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN END OF BOARDS AND COMMITTEES Cit, ofMianai Page 177 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 RU -BUDGET BU.1 BUDGET DISCUSSION ITEM 1508 MONTHLY REPORT Office of I. SECTION 2-497 OF THE CITY CODE OF ORDINANCES Management and (RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF MANAGEMENT AND Budget BUDGET) II. SECTION 18-502 (CITY'S ANTI -DEFICIENCY ACT) III. SECTION 18-542 (FINANCIAL INTEGRITY PRINCIPLES) RESULT: DISCUSSED Commissioner Carollo: Budget. Vice Chair Russell: BU. 1. Christopher Rose (Director): Good evening, Commissioners. Chris Rose, Office of Management & Budget. BU.1 is the monthly budget report. It was emailed out to your offices earlier today, and it's rather extensive. It goes into the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) coming out in the near future and the fund balance expected in last fiscal year. We are projecting --expecting a 132 million, but a lot of that is restricted because of the building funds that are there, so we do not expect to meet financial integrity next -- last fiscal year, because of the 10 percent and 10 percent rule. In addition, we are expecting a budget surplus of net 24 million in the current year, current fiscal year, and we have begun budget development for the next fiscal year. Take any questions you have. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. So, first of all, how can we be within our financial integrity principle? And second of all, even though we have a surplus -- Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. The -- Commissioner Carollo: -- anticipated surplus, you haven't budget for any -- the current -- Well, we don't have a contract. You haven't budgeted for any -- how would I state it? --for the Fire contract that has been up and they're without a contract this whole year. Mr. Rose: The projections that we have put forth do not include anything associated with -- Commissioner Carollo: Any reserves for that contract, and I think it's unreasonable not to put anything reserved for their contract. Just like in the past, you have reserved 'X" amount. So it is unreasonable to think that the status quo will maintain for an additional year. City of Miami Page 178 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. Well, reserves are budgeted; reserves are not projected. So the projection does not -- it's just a projection. It's what we are expecting in the current fiscal year. Commissioner Carollo: Well, yes and no, because those reserves are projected based on what you think the increase would be. Mr. Rose: Not -- Commissioner Carollo: Therefore, you reserve for that amount, so it is somewhat projected -- Mr. Rose: So the budget is -- Commissioner Carollo: -- and then budgeted, and we haven't budget anything for that. Mr. Rose: You are correct, sir. Commissioner Carollo: And since we haven't budget anything for that, those surplus that we have, in essence, could -- I could say are overstated. Mr. Rose: You could. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, I have a couple questions. Vice Chair Russell: Please. Commissioner Suarez: So one question that I have is, you said we're at 125, correct, for the current year? Mr. Rose: For the current year, we're expecting a budget surplus Commissioner Suarez: No. I'm sorry. I should have been more clear. We have a budgetary reserve right now of 125, correct? That's where we're at? Mr. Rose: We are expecting the audited numbers that are going to come out sometime in the next few days to be at 132 million, which is 15 million less than the prior year. Commissioner Carollo: However. Commissioner Suarez: Right, however. Commissioner Gort: That's for -- Mr. Rose: However, some of those -- Commissioner Gort: -- the reserve. Mr. Rose: That is -- Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Fund balance. Mr. Rose: --fund balance, yes. Commissioner Suarez: Fund balance. City of Miami Page 179 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Gort: Fund balance. Mr. Rose: Not reserve. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: That's because all the capital projects that we -- Mr. Rose: The 15 million that -- you can work your way back to that, yes, sir. Two years ago, when we proposed -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Rose: -- the budget, we used prior year fund balance to balance the budget. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, and that's obviously not a good idea. But aside from that, so you're saying that right now, we have 132 million in -- you guys don't like to call it reserves? Mr. Alfonso: No. It's fund balance. Mr. Rose: Correct. Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Rose: Fund balance. Commissioner Suarez: Whatever; fund balance. And you expect --you anticipate -- That was interesting. Vice Chair Russell: Fund balance. Commissioner Suarez: That was interesting. You anticipate us having a surplus of 25 million for the current year, '17. Mr. Rose: 24.2, yes, sir. Commissioner Suarez: 24.2. So that would put our fund balance -- right? I say it right? Mr. Rose: Correct. Commissioner Suarez: -- fund balance at 156. Mr. Alfonso: In that -- in thereabouts. However -- Commissioner Carollo: However. City of Miami Page 180 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Go ahead. No, no. You guys can -- Mr. Alfonso: Go ahead, Commissioner. Commissioner Suarez: However. Commissioner Carollo: No. Commissioner Suarez: Well, we have a contract that's outstanding, absolutely. Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. Commissioner Suarez: No. There's no doubt about it. Commissioner Carollo: I'll yield to -- Mr. Alfonso: That's one thing. There's another "however. " Commissioner Suarez: What? We have a Supreme Court case that -- Yeah. Mr. Alfonso: No, no. Commissioner Suarez: That's a "however" (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Alfonso: There's another "however. " Commissioner Suarez: No. What's the other "however"? Mr. Alfonso: Okay. Commissioner, the fact is that a large portion of that $24.2 million -- and I mean around $18 million of it -- is building permit revenues. So while they will be added to our fund balance -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Alfonso: -- they cannot be used to resolve any of those other issues outside of the Building Department -- Commissioner Suarez: Okay. Mr. Alfonso: -- and its associated costs. Commissioner Suarez: So -- okay, that's not the "however" I was looking for, but when -- because that does complicate the next question, which is, if we're at 156, which seems very, very healthy -- in fact, I would say, it's probably the most fund balance that we've ever had in the history of the City, which would be a good thing -- now you're trying to tell me that because we start -- stopped looking at some of our revenue in the way that we used to look at it -- because before, we didn't used to say that the revenue that we generate from permit fees is only used for permit expen --you know, for Building Department expenses. We've never done that before, until the last year, I think, or two. Mr. Alfonso: Yes. So the fact that the City had not been doing that -- Commissioner Suarez: Let's just leave it at that. So my question to you is this -- because my question to you has to do more with the Financial Integrity Ordinance, which is, we would -- if fund balance were fund balance -- maybe I'm mistaken, but it's -- are you saying that with the 25 -- $24.2 million surplus -- of course, we don't City of Miami Page 181 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 have a contract yet with one of our labor unions, which is important -- added to the 125 fund balance that we have, right? So that's -- Mr. Rose: 132. Mr. Alfonso: 132 plus 24, so 156. Commissioner Suarez: That's right, because I don't know where I got the 125 from, but anyways, 156 -- Mr. Alfonso: 156. Commissioner Suarez: -- is what I said. That would -- we would still not be in compliance with our Financial Integrity Ordinance at the end of the year? Mr. Alfonso: That, we haven't done. I think that -- Mr. Rose: That's correct. Mr. Alfonso: -- Dr. Rose -- Chris Rose was referring to the 132 this year. Commissioner Suarez: That we're now not in compliance. Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Mr. Alfonso: We're not sure about where our next year is yet, because we're not --Go ahead, Jose. Commissioner Suarez: Wait, wait, wait, but let's take one year at a time. Mr. Rose: Right. So as of September -- Commissioner Suarez: So what I'm saying is, we are -- I think we're likely to end the year in compliance with our Financial Integrity Ordinance. You don't think so? Commissioner Carollo: They don't know. Mr. Alfonso: I'm not sure about that, because we'll have to do this analysis on how much is reserved. Jose, you want to try to explain that, please? Jose Fernandez (Director): Good evening, Commissioners. Jose Fernandez, with the Department of Finance. We ended the current year with 132 million; 51 of that is for the building fund, which we can't touch; 2 million is prepaids, which we can't touch; that leaves approximately 76, $77 million. When you read the ordinance, it's the three last year's average of revenue, which comes out to about $113 million. So we have to have 10 percent of that revenue as a sign and 10 percent as unassigned, which is about 56.5 in order to comply with the ordinance. Commissioner Suarez: Go ahead. Mr. Fernandez: Right now, we have one of them at 56.5 and the other one at 21 and change, so we're about $35 million short on meeting that component of it. So, if everything stays the way it is, even if the whole $25 million -- Commissioner Suarez: Went into the other category. City of Miami Page 182 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Fernandez: -- went into the other category, we'd still be short -- Commissioner Suarez: Sure. Mr. Fernandez: -- because that 113 is going to -- is likely to increase this year. Commissioner Suarez: But let me ask you this question, guys, because this is where I get a little sort of frustrated. And we have a new Building director; and he's doing a great job, and he's obviously, I think — and this is not really a financial question; this is more of an operational question. You know, we are -- we're building up these massive surpluses in an account that only one department can use; and, yet, that department is a department that people complain about constantly. And so my question is, are we using our resources that only we can use there efficiently and adequately? And that's the question that I have, because, you know, on the one hand, you're telling me, "Wow, we're building up all this reserves in this one department that we can use it in. " On the other hand, I'm getting complaints. "Why isn't that" -- "Why is that department overwhelmed?" "Why did our small building permits go from 140 days for a home to 350? " So, from an operational perspective, that sort of rubs me the wrong way. Do you understand what I'm saying? Mr. Alfonso: Absolutely. And that's why we have told operation people that the Building Department is looking pretty good for the future. Commissioner Suarez: I hear you, but -- I get what you're saying, and I think that's a correct statement, but I think -- what worries me is -- Now we're coming down cycle, right? And so what worries me is, you know, we never sort of made the adjustment in terms of our pipeline, and we let these metrics go out of -- haywire from 140 to 350, and yet, we built up all these balances in areas that we can only spend with them. So I just think from a -- I don't know --from a -- maybe I'm just tired; I don't know. I just -- I don't understand how you could -- Yeah, I am tired. Mr. Alfonso: Well, I mean -- you also have to understand that the permit fees come upfront, and then the work of doing the inspections, et cetera, go for years. So, if you're building an 80 -story tower, and you come in at the beginning, and you pay your $4 million permit fee, or whatever, we will be providing you a service for the next two years of inspections, et cetera, while you're building, but the fee came in two years ago. So, yes, the fund balance is here. Eventually, it'll start coming down. And to the extent that we add more staff, and whatnot, we'll dig into that faster. And the other thing that we're looking forward to do is come with a budget proposal for funding the technology components of the department that we know will cost several million dollars. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. We have to do that. We have to do that. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Just real quick, and I shouldn't be asking this, but is it fair to say that we're using no general funds to fund the Building Department? Mr. Rose: No. Mr. Alfonso: No, we're not using -- we're using permit fees -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. City of Miami Page 183 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Alfonso: -- to fund the Building Department. Commissioner Carollo: So that's why -- because I was hoping that I didn't have to ask this and -- So we're using no general funds to fund the Building Department? Mr. Alfonso: Well, in -- permit fees are apart of the general fund; Jose, right? Mr. Rose: The Building Department is in the general fund. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Mr. Rose: There are no property taxes that are subsidizing. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. So -- Mr. Rose: Is that all right? Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, that's better stated. Mr. Alfonso: Self-sufficient. Commissioner Carollo: You understand what I'm trying to get at? Mr. Rose: Yes, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you for clarifying. Further discussion, further questions? Thank you, Mr. Rose. Mr. Rose: Thankyou. END OF BUDGET City of Miami Page 184 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 AC - ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION 1987 UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA Office of the City STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION WILL BE Attorney CONDUCTED AT THE MARCH 23, 2017 MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION CASE OF ALEXIS STEVENS V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. 15-23931, PENDING BEFORE THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 3:00 P.M. (OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER. THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION: CHAIRMAN KEON HARDEMON, VICE- CHAIRMAN KEN RUSSELL, AND COMMISSIONERS WIFREDO "WILLY" GORT, FRANK CAROLLO, AND FRANCIS X. SUAREZ; THE CITY MANAGER, DANIEL J. ALFONSO; THE CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ; DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEYS JOHN A. GRECO AND BARNABY L. MIN; DIVISION CHIEF FOR LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT KEVIN R. JONES; AND ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEYS KERRI L. MCNULTY, STEPHANIE K. PANOFF AND BARBARA A. DIAZ. A CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THE SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE-CITED, ONGOING LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION. MOTION TO: Withdraw RESULT: WITHDRAWN MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Vice Chair Russell: All right, we already handled AC.1. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, sir. City ofMiami Page 185 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Hannon: If I -- just from an administrative standpoint, can I get a motion to withdraw that item from the agenda? Vice Chair Russell: Sure. Commissioner Suarez: Which one? Commissioner Carollo: AC. 1. Move it. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Move to withdraw. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: Moved to withdraw and a second. All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 186 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 AC.2 ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION 1988 UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA Office of the City STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION WILL BE Attorney CONDUCTED AT THE MARCH 23, 2017 MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION CASE OF 1000 BRICKELL, LTD., F/K/A 1000 BRICKELL, INC., AND KAI PROPERTIES, LTD. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. 14-11755 CA 23, PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI- DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 3:00 P.M. (OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER. THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION: CHAIRMAN KEON HARDEMON, VICE- CHAIRMAN KEN RUSSELL, AND COMMISSIONERS WIFREDO "WILLY" GORT, FRANK CAROLLO, AND FRANCIS X. SUAREZ; THE CITY MANAGER, DANIEL J. ALFONSO; THE CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ; DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEYS JOHN A. GRECO AND BARNABY L. MIN; DIVISION CHIEF FOR GENERAL LITIGATION CHRISTOPHER A. GREEN AND DIVISION CHIEF FOR LAND USE/TRANSACTIONS RAFAEL SUAREZ- RIVAS. A CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THE SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE-CITED, ONGOING LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. Item AC.2 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. Note for the Record. For minutes referencing item AC.2, please see "Order of the Day. " City ofMianai Page 187 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 AC.3 ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION 1989 UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA Office of the City STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION WILL BE Attorney CONDUCTED AT THE MARCH 23, 2017 MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION CASES OF WALTER E. HEADLEY, JR., MIAMI LODGE #20, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, INC. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. SC13-1882, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT, WALTER E. HEADLEY, JR., MIAMI LODGE #20, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, INC. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. 1D12-2116, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL, AND MIAMI ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, LOCAL 587, OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. SC14-1627, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 3:00 P.M. (OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER. THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION: CHAIRMAN KEON HARDEMON, VICE- CHAIRMAN KEN RUSSELL, AND COMMISSIONERS WIFREDO "WILLY" GORT, FRANK CAROLLO, AND FRANCIS X. SUAREZ; THE CITY MANAGER, DANIEL J. ALFONSO; THE CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ; DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEYS JOHN A. GRECO AND BARNABY L. MIN; DIVISION CHIEF FOR LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT KEVIN R. JONES; ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEYS STEPHANIE K. PANOFF AND BARBARA DIAZ; LUKE SAVAGE, ESQ.; AND MICHAEL MATTIMORE, ESQ. A CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THE SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE-CITED, ONGOING LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. Item AC.3 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. City of Miami Page 188 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Note for the Record. For minutes referencing item AC.3, please see "Order of the Day. " END OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION City of Miami Page 189 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 DI - DISCUSSION ITEMS DIA DISCUSSION ITEM 1607 FOLLOW UP DISCUSSION ITEM REGARDING CLASSIFIED Commissioners VERSUS UNCLASSIFIED POSITIONS IN THE OFFICE OF THE and Mayor INDEPENDENT AUDITOR GENERAL. RESULT: DISCUSSED Note for the Record: A motion was made by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, and was passed unanimously, with Chair Hardemon absent, directing the City Attorney to prepare an amendment to Section 48 of the Charter for City Commission consideration and approval to be placed on the ballot for the November 17, 2017 General Municipal Election. Vice Chair Russell: Discussion items, Dll, Auditor General. Is there a motion to defer; or would someone like to hear it? Commissioner Suarez: No, he's -- Commissioner Carollo: No. Mr. Chairman, he's been here all day. Let's -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- deal with this, because this is an issue that it's having -- and, you know -- it's regarding his independence and being able to do his work. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Cruba. Commissioner Carollo: So let me frame what's happening. If you see from the Charter that Mr. Cruba, our Auditor General, our Independent Auditor General just passed out, it clearly stipulates in the Charter that, "Staing of the 0 ice of the Independent Auditor General shall be staffed by such professional assistants and support personnel as shall be designated by the LAG" -- which is the Independent Auditor General -- "and as are approved in the City's annual budget, as may be amended from time to time from the City Commission. " However, the Administration has opined -- or the City Attorney has opined that his staff needs to be classified, which means that they need to go through the process where they go before, I guess, a board, and that board is not your Auditor General; it could be part of the Administration, and it probably will be part of the Administration. So there is an issue with independence, since the Auditor General can and will be conducting audits on various parts of the Administration. So I'm setting it up, and I'll yield now to the Auditor General. Theodore Cruba: Okay. Ted Cruba, Auditor General, City of Miami. You know, during several meetings that I had with City Law and HR (Human Resources, I explained that hiring staff as classified rather than unclassified would result in the violations of my Charter. The Civil Service hiring and firing process requires the Manager to approve candidates, appoint a panel of City employees to select candidates to be hired, and allows the Manager to fire employees. This process violates Section 48(d) of my Charter, which was previously expressed by Commissioner Carollo, and this states that the -- that I should be -- the Auditor City of Miami Page 190 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 General function should be staffed by professional assistants that I designate. If the City appoints and dismisses auditors, the independence of the department is compromised. Consequently, the auditors that are chosen by the City will be able -- will be unable to provide independent oversight of audit functions, and -- which is, of course, another Charter violation, Section 48(a), which requires me to do independent audits. And this also means that the audits will not be in compliance with government auditing standards, and the public and others will not be able to rely on the audits. And this -- I'll give you an example. Where an auditor might develop a finding that restrictive funds are illegally transferred to non -restricted funds to make the City look stronger to bond rating companies, Management can threaten the Auditor to remove the finding, since they have the power to remove, suspend, demote, or lay off any classified employee. You know, I also reached out to the Chief Inspector General in the Governor's office, Melinda Miguel, to provide her input on independence issues. And she wrote that, "The Inspector General and OIAG (Office of the Independent Auditor General) staff involved in performing or supervising any assignment should be free from personal or external impairments to independence and should constantly maintain an independent attitude in appearance. The standards generally articulate what constitutes a personal and external impairment to independence that includes some of the following: Preserving the IG's (Independent General) ability to independently select, appoint, and employ OIG (Office of Independent General) staff- OIGs having sufficient resources necessary to perform their work; OIGs having the ability to freely select what is to be examined; and OIGs having freedom from influences that jeopardize the continued employment of the IG or IG staff for reasons other than competency or need for OIG service. " Also, there are other authoritative standards for IG offices that outline factors, external to the OIG, that interfere with the ability to form independent and objective opinions and conclusions. One factor is -- and I quote -- "interference or undue influences in the selection, appointment, and employment of staff. " Finally, I want to point out that with the prior City Attorneys and Administration that the prior City Attorney and Administration recognized my department as totally independent in regard to personnel issues, and by Charter, supported that view. When I started the job in 2012, I had job vacancies, but the City had a hiring freeze for all employees. Former Deputy City Attorney Maria Chiaro wrote: `Based on a previously issued opinion from my office, the OIAG budget and positions are exclusively within the purview of the Auditor General. As long as the positions have been included in the budget, the Auditor General may fill those positions, notwithstanding a freeze on hiring for positions within the purview of the City Manager. " Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Cruba, if I may. So, in essence, what's happening is that the previous Deputy City Attorney, from the email Mr. Cruba is reading, had opined that he had, according to the Charter, which is 48(d), Section 48, Subsection " d, " the Auditor General had -- Vice Chair Russell: Independence. Commissioner Carollo: -- inde -- no, not independence. He -- I'll just read it. "The Office of the Independent Auditor General shall be staffed by such professional assistants and support personnel as shall be designated by the Internal Auditor General and as are approved by the City's annual budget and may be amended from time to time by the City Commission. " So, in other words, yes, it was his sole designation of who to hire and not hire. Now, this Administration has now opined, or the City Attorney has opined that, `No. They are classified, and they need to go through a process that is not extremely designated by him. " Therefore, he's saying, there's an independence issue, because whoever's in the board saying, `yea" or "nay" -- `you have a job; yea or nay, " might actually be audited by those same people. So Mr. Cruba has an issue. I think he brought up the State Auditor General; what she stated. Did you mention green book generally -- or Generally Accepted City of Miami Page 191 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Government Auditing Standards? So the bottom line is, there's an independence issue. So how do we remedy the issue? Because now our former Deputy City Attorney said, "Yes, you can hire. " Our current City Attorney is saying, "You could only hire if it's classified. " And he has an independence issue, so -- Vice Chair Russell: Perhaps, if -- Commissioner Carollo: -- he can't do his job. Vice Chair Russell: -- there's a lack of clarity, a legislative fix is the only way to go. Commissioner Carollo: I'm sorry? Vice Chair Russell: Perhaps, if there's a lack of clarity, or a contrast between their opinions, a legislative fix is the only way to go, because it seems to be -- Commissioner Carollo: By referendum? Vice Chair Russell: If it would require that. Commissioner Carollo: It's a Charter, yes, yes. And that's the issue right there; it'll be a referendum. And I'll go a step further What happens in the meantime, from now until November? Vice Chair Russell: If there was a consensus, though, this could be an administrative fix. It's that there is a differing of opinions; is that correct? Commissioner Carollo: I'll yield to the Manager, because he's saying, `No. " Kevin Jones (Assistant City Attorney): Good evening, Commissioners. Kevin Jones, Office of the City Attorney. Yes, there is a difference of opinion from Mr. Cruba as to how he reads the ordinances. His version of reading the ordinances, we don't think it's consistent with the most applicable law. In fact, the most recent case we tested on this issue was in 2013; and that court, including the Third District Court of Appeal, came down reading the Charter in a way that was consistent with the way we look at the Charter. That's why we have taken the position that we've had with Mr. Guba in regard to hiring his people into the office of the -- into his -- Office of the Inspector General. Commissioner Carollo: So Mr. Assistant City Attorney, how do you interpret, "The Office" -- and this is the Charter. This was approved by the voters, overwhelmingly. "The Office of the Independent Auditor General shall be staffed by such professional assistants and support personnel as shall be designated by the LAG" -- which is Independent Auditor General -- "and as are approved by the City's annual budget, and may be amended from time to time by the City Commission "? Mr. Jones: I interpret that as though he can -- he is obviously involved in the hiring process. He's obviously involved in setting up the criteria. Commissioner Carollo: It's not saying that he's part or involved. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): No, it does not. Commissioner Carollo: He's saying that he designates. Mr. Cruba: You know, prior to the electorate creating my of ce, which reports directly to the Commission -- City of Miami Page 192 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Jones: No, no -- Mr. Guba: -- the office reported through the City, through the Manager. Now, when they created my ojFce, I report directly to the Commission and so does the entire department. They did not envision -- the electorate did not envision that I report to you, and my staff is -- Commissioner Carollo: Reports to the Manager. Mr. Guba: -- appointed by the Manager, where the Manager evaluates staff, which is good for my department -- Mr. Alfonso: Commissioner; if -- Mr. Guba: -- and who also can fire my staff. Mr. Alfonso: -- let me -- Mr. Guba, please. I do not appoint your staff. I do not select your staff. If you advertise a position, you get to select who you interview. Mr. Jones: Right. Mr. Alfonso: You get to select who are the people that you're going to put on the panel. You get to make that final selection of who's the "A" band that you're going to -- or "B" band, whatever, that you're going to select. I don't make those decisions for you, sir, so please. Mr. Guba: But you have the powers. Mr. Jones: The only --what we're talking about here is the process to put the people into the office -- internal -- the OIG. That's what we're talking about. In our reading of the Charter, they -- those people have to go through a particular process, because it's outlined in the Charter. That process is called the "classified service. " It doesn't limit or tell Mr. Guba what the qualifications are for the people he needs, what their experience is; that's all up to him, and he's apart of that process. He ultimately picks the person that goes into the department. That's why I believe in the reading of Subsection "d, " when it says, "The Office of the Independent Auditor General shall be staffed by such professional assistants and support personnel as shall be designated by the 1A G. " That process allows him to do that very thing. What his issue is, and what we've been discussing, is how that person enters into the City's employ. There's only two classifications, as we've discussed, so I -- and I heard the Commissioner say earlier that, you know, the fix here is a fix by referendum, by Charter. There is specific language. When you look at the City Attorney, the specific language in the Charter that says she hires, fires, and demotes her assistant. That kind of language is needed to do what Mr. Guba would like to do, which is continue in the process; continue hiring people that he thinks are necessary, that are going to benefit him in the department, but not go through the specific process that's outlined in the Charter. That's the issue here. So if he wants to not have that process to go strictly on an unclassified, sort of, scenario, then we need to make a change to the Charter. Commissioner Carollo: What happens in the meantime? Let's say that we draw up language, put it before the voters -- but that's in November -- what happens in the meantime? And I'll yield to the Vice Chair, because I think he -- Vice Chair Russell: I just have a question for clarification. Wasn't this triggered by a decision by the Commission on who to classes and they got swept up in that classification? City of Miami Page 193 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Jones: Well -- Vice Chair Russell: Could an adjustment in that decision change this (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Commissioner Carollo: It's actually a different -- that was the first hurdle that Mr. Guba had to deal with. This is a second hurdle. But I'll yield to the Administration for your answer. Mr. Jones: Currently, none of -- Mr. Guba: To answer your question, the -- excuse me -- that was a union issue, where two of my employees were placed into the union by management, and that made them -- Mr. Jones: It wasn't by management. Mr. Guba: -- classified. Mr. Alfonso: But not by management, please. Vice Chair Russell: One at a time, please. Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. -- Mr. Guba: Two of my employees were placed in management [sic]. It was approved by you, and -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman, and if I may -- and what it is, is what I keep saying on and on and on: There's a lack of communication. So what happened is, the reason why Mr. Cruba's saying, `placed by management" is because, without communication with Mr. Guba, those positions were placed in the agenda to be approved by the City Commission, without knowledge to Mr. Guba. Mr. Guba: I was never informed. Commissioner Carollo: He was never informed. So once again, it's that lack of communication between the management and Mr. Guba. So, yes, ultimately, it was approved by the Commission; however; Mr. Guba did not know that those positions were placed by management in the agenda to be approved by the City Commission. Mr. Guba: And the union people recognized, after explaining to them the independence issues and how serious it was -- Commissioner Carollo: Exactly. Mr. Guba: -- and they agreed to remove those two individuals, but this is a civil service issue, and there are civil service requirements in the Charter; and those civil service requirements allow the Manager to pick the candidates, pick the panel, which tells who's going to be hired, and he also has the rights to fire the employees. Mr. Jones: May I interject here just briefly? Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Yes, sir. City of Miami Page 194 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Jones: The unclassified/classified issue had been going on for over a year. Those issues in that case, and the people that were affected -- or might be affected in that case were posted throughout the building on every floor, conspicuously, so that the employees knew what was going on, and that everybody knew what was going on. That's a separate issue. That's not before us here today, but that's sort of how we're related. So, to say that he didn't know -- I mean, it was posted on every floor, every employee that might be affected. Mr. Guba: I don't read job postings, and -- Mr. Jones: I'm sorry. Mr. Guba: --I have no -- Mr. Jones: I'm sorry. I'm still speaking. Vice Chair Russell: Please, please. One at a time. Mr. Jones: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: One at a time. Mr. Jones: Finally, it was announced at director's meetings as to what was going on, because we realized that this may have been an issue. Okay. So -- and that was done over a period of months before the actual culmination of the resolution of that issue. Now, we -- the City didn't put anybody into the union or into the classified ranks. That was an argument propagated or advanced by the union. And as a part of the settlement, some of the people had to go in, so that is an accurate statement. However, Mr. Guba's people were taken out. Mr. Guba's people are not in that scenario right now. So, really, the issue before us right now is how Mr. Guba can hire the people he would like to hire without going through the process that we believe is dictated by the Charter; and it's not just our belief without authority. We've made these arguments on several different occasions; and the most recent time we've made this argument, the Third District Court of Appeal was very clear as to how they read the Charter. And so we have brought our reading of the Charter into line with theirs. Now, that doesn't leave Mr. Guba without recourse. We would like to do -- I think everybody here would like to do it right, right? So in order to do that, we have to -- I think the best thing to do is to change the Charter; to make the Charter very specifically clear that Mr. Guba's people need to be brought in under -- it's basically an unclassified scenario, where he is not limited by the classification system. And with that being said, I think every time we've had this conversation with him -- and it has been many -- we've always acknowledged the issue that he has. We understand his people need to be independent. That's not --I don't think anybody disagrees with that. The question is, how do we do that so that it's done right and so that he gets the benefit he needs? Vice Chair Russell: Complies with the Charter. Mr. Jones: That's correct. Commissioner Carollo: So Mr. Chairman, you saw the first hurdle, and it was overcome, as Mr. Jones said, but this is now the second hurdle. So right when he says, "Okay, we're moving forward; I'm going to hire staff, " this other -- I don't want to say "wrinkle" -- this other issue arises; and, obviously, our Auditor General believes that he should be independent, and he's somewhat frustrated with this. Not only that. I mean, it is an independence issue; not just by the people who made the statements or -- that he read into the record, but by, you know, Generally Accepted City of Miami Page 195 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Government Auditing Standards, so even the profession says it is an independent issue. So, again, that's why I wanted to bring it before this Commission to see what would be the adequate remedy or resolution. If it's a Charter change, okay, what happens from now to November? So -- and I won't get into details that Mr. Guba -- and I'm not going to put words into his mouth. He's free to speak on his own, but I know Mr. Guba is feeling like, `Hey, this is starting to be a little, " you know, intrusion into his independence, or trying to do his job as an Independent Auditor General of this City. Vice Chair Russell: Understood. Well, I welcome your recommendation as we move forward, and we're going to continue to discuss until we come up with an action. Commissioner Carollo: I'll yield to Mr. Guba. What do you think --? And we'll be consistent with the City Attorney now, but what do you think -- what -- how could we remedy this? What -- Mr. Guba: Well, if they feel that there's an issue in my Charter, assign an attorney to make some Charter changes, and pass them by me. And if that -- to go onto the referendum for November. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. I Mr. Guba: I think -- but the -- Commissioner Carollo: -- so I will move to direct the City Attorney, as per what Mr. Guba said, to draw up language to make the Charter change for the November referendum. Mr. Jones: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: Okay? That's my motion. Commissioner Suarez: I don't have a problem seconding that motion. I just don't understand. We had a Charter Review Committee. I was the Chair of the Charter Review Committee. Vice Chair Russell: Into the microphone, please. Commissioner Carollo: On the microphone. Mr. Guba: I thought this was not an issue, because it was not an issue when I was hired. It became an issue in October of this year, so -- of last year. I'm sorry. Vice Chair Russell: I'm not clear on the fact that a Charter amendment is necessary yet. This is really the first in-depth discussion I've had on it, but -- Commissioner Carollo: Understood. And I don't think Mr. Guba believes that there should be a Charter amendment, but we're trying to sort of come to some consensus. So if the City Attorney is now, because the previous did not -- if this City Attorney now believes that there needs to be a Charter amendment, then do we go that route? And then what I'm thinking is -- Ms. Mendez: I'm sorry. I just want to be clear. What he is reading from Maria Chiaro has nothing to do with this issue. I'm glad that he's using his Bar license, which he doesn't have, to interpret what he thinks it is, but it is not. Second of all, a Charter change, unfortunately, is needed because of the case law that has developed in this area and -- City of Miami Page 196 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Ms. Mendez: -- but I don't want it to seem like there is a change in the opinion of the Office of the City Attorney; we've been pretty consistent. Mr. Guba: Has there been case law established with auditors who have claimed that they were classified and -- employees and improperly fired? Because there aren't any classified employees or union employees in most municipal County, State government. I mean, it doesn't -- that goes back to the Enron days; things have evolved since then. And that's why the office, they had the referendum years ago to report directly to the Commission -- Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Mr. Guba. Mr. Guba: -- to create that independence. Vice Chair Russell: There's a motion on the floor and a second, directing the Manager to draft -- Commissioner Carollo: The City Attorney. Vice Chair Russell: -- the City Attorney to draft language for a Charter -- a potential Charter amendment that would recti this situation. Do you need any clearer direction than that? Commissioner Carollo: No. And I --let's vote on that first. Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: Okay. There's a motion and a second. Is there any discussion from the public? Hearing none, any comment from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: I would like it to bypass the Charter Review Committee and come straight to the Commission. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Understood. All in favor say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Now, does -- two fold. What happens in the meantime, from now to November? Because he's not going to be able to employ anybody? Vice Chair Russell: He would have to follow the current process, as determined by the City Attorney at this point. Commissioner Carollo: He can't, because they'll be an independent, so he can't do the -- he can't use those personnel for the audit, because it's an independence issue, so it's -- even if he uses those personnel, whatever those personnel come up with, it's as good as trash, because those -- City of Miami Page 197 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Gort: Let me ask a question. My understanding, he's got the ability to tell the type of person that he needs, the qualification, the experience, and the years' experience; am I correct? So that's part of the process. Now, he can set up -- Mr. Alfonso: Correct. Commissioner Gort: -- what he wants to have. Mr. Alfonso: He can select the qualifications of the employee. He can set up the questions that he wants to ask. He can select the panel, the people that will be asking the questions. They can all be from his department, if he wants to. Commissioner Gort: And he can make a final decision what he wants. Mr. Alfonso: He makes the final decision on who gets hired. And by the way, we've also approved four temps. If he wants to hire temps that don't have to go any of that process, he can have those until a later time. Commissioner Carollo: So with regards to temps -- and we had a lengthy discussion on the temps -- Mr. Guba wanted to put language saying that "temporary and potential permanent. " It was told to him that he cannot have that language there, and he's having trouble -- he's having difficulties hiring anybody, because right now, the job market is pretty good, and no one wants to come in a temporary basis. Mr. Alfonso: Well, Commissioners, I think that the language that he -- I don't know -- ifI understand, is that he -- Mr. Jones: We spoke about this yesterday, Commissioner. I spoke to Ms. Klose as soon as we left your office, and we're willing to work with Mr. Guba to get the language he thinks he needs in order to achieve whatever it is he needs to achieve. I mean -- Mr. Alfonso: I understand that. If it passes Charter -- if the Charter is approved the way he wants it, then he can approve whoever he wants -- Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Alfonso: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE). If they don't -- Commissioner Carollo: But in the meantime -- Mr. Guba: They'll be unclassified employees. With the changes to the Charter -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Guba: -- all my employees will be unclassified. Mr. Alfonso: Yes, that is correct. Commissioner Carollo: But in the meantime -- Mr. Alfonso: They will be temps. Commissioner Carollo: -- there will be -- Mr. Guba: They will be temps. And then at some point in time, and in anticipation of this change being made by referendum -- I mean, it takes three, six -- three to six, City of Miami Page 198 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D1.2 1896 Commissioners and Mayor seven months to hire a person. Several months before November, I would like to put out a posting for a permanent unclassified job, and I wouldn't hire the person until the -- well, the referendum is passed. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. I think we have an understanding, I think. So you could hire temporary and -- well, okay. No. Let me back up. If he posts -- see, `cause in a way, if you post before the actual election, in a way, you're automatically thinking that it's going to pass. I believe it's going to pass, but in a way, I don't -- I wouldn't post a job without it passing. Mr. Guba: Well, to collect resumes, conduct interviews, and disclose the situation. The job wouldn't be -- I mean, I may want to do it as close to that date as possible, but I can't hire until after that date. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Cruba: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: Does the management or the City Attorney's Office have -- has any issue with that? Mr. Jones: I believe (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: No? Then we're good? Thank you. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: And that is D1. 1. DISCUSSION ITEM DISCUSSION REGARDING THE CITY'S NEXT GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissic SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commission AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo, Suare; ABSENT: Hardemon Note for the Record. Item DI.2 was deferred to the April 13, 2017 Regular Commission Meeting. Note for the Record: For additional minutes referencing item DI.2, please see item RE. 3. Vice Chair Russell: DI. 2, I believe the Mayor's has asked for that to be deferred, am I correct, the General Obligation Bond discussion? Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): That is correct, to April 13. Vice Chair Russell: Is there a motion to defer? Commissioner Suarez: Sure. City of Miami Page 199 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: A second? Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and second. All in favor of deferring this till the next meeting? The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. D1.3 DISCUSSION ITEM 1971 DISCUSSION REGARDING POTENTIAL SERVICES TO BE Commissioners OFFERED TO THE CITY OF MIAMI BY INTELLIGENT. and Mayor RESULT: DISCUSSED Vice Chair Russell: DI. 3. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, DI.3 is a discussion item that I put on the agenda for -- I had spoken about this technology a while ago. It's -- the name of it is called "In-Telligent. " What it does is it provides push notifications in emergency situations, such as an active shooter, where the people who have downloaded the app and are using the app can receive notifications that are pushed to their phone; instructions on how to avoid danger. And it's something that has already been adopted by Doral. It's already been adopted by the City of Coral Gables. And what I'd like to do is simply instruct the City Attorney to put this -- or the City staff, or whatever -- on the next agenda as a resolution to piggyback off those. It's similar to "mydotmiami " concept, insofar as when I did "dotmiami, " it's a revenue share. We actually make money off having this. This is not something where -- okay. We make 50 -- just like in dotmiami, we make 50 percent revenue of what -- of the people who download the app. So it provides a public service, it's a public safety issue, and it generates revenue for the City. I will --one of the things Ido want is for the person who's here from In-Telligent to meet with the Chief in the interim, between now and the next Commission meeting and myself, so he can explain to him, you know, the way that the app works, and why it's something that we should be embracing. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Commissioner, what I wanted to ask when I was -- is there any way we could put this on April 23, because -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Ms. Mendez: -- we have to edit -- Commissioner Suarez: That's fine. Ms. Mendez: -- the agreement a little. Commissioner Suarez: That's fine. Ms. Mendez: Okay. City of Miami Page 200 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: That's fine. Ms. Mendez: Thank you so much. Commissioner Suarez: That's fine. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're -- Commissioner Gort: Great. Commissioner Suarez: I mean, you want to say something? Commissioner Gort: Good presentation. Go ahead and sit down. Commissioner Suarez: You want to say something? Vice Chair Russell: He's been here all day. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah, you have been here all day. Vice Chair Russell: 10 hours. 12 --I'm sorry;]] hours. Commissioner Suarez: You've been here all day. You've been here all day; get your time in. Allen Sutherland: Thank you, Mr. Chair and Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your time. And I do want to give you credit for still being up and awake at this time, all right? We had a long presentation, or a detailed presentation for you guys that ultimately got thrown out yesterday. Right? If you think about what happened about 24 hours ago in London -- right? -- we had a bombing -- well, not a bombing, but we had a mass murder kind of, sort of act -- incident attacking the House of Parliament. Right? People, just like yourself, just going to work, trying to manage the affairs of their city -- in this case, country -- were attacked. Right? How did anybody know about it? How did anybody deal with it? Incidents like this -- right? -- are becoming all the more common. They happen all the time. It's not unusual anymore. It's something that we've got to deal with. They take a second, but the aftermath takes days and, in some case, weeks just to deal with. We designed In- Telligent to be able to solve this issue for people like Chief Llanes, people in your emergency services, people like yourself being able to get out to the residents and visitors of Miami to tell them what's going on. Right? You think about this weekend. Right? You have the Miami Open. You have the Ultra Music Festival. These places are bringing ridiculous numbers of people into your city. Right? How do you communicate to them in the case of an emergency? Right? Our platform is built up in three principles. One is it overrides the silent settings on our phone. We all have our phones with us all the time. Right? Even in City Council meetings, even when Madam, you know, City Attorney tells you not to, we have these, right? In-Telligent will make this keep going loud in the case of an emergency, until you open it up, and then it'll stop. Right? An emergency like that, you cannot ignore. Right? If your phone -- if that -- if all our phones were going off, it would tell us what to do, where to go, and what was going on. And it's not a mass communication system, like Facebook or Twitter. This is authoritative, coming from the police, emergency services, from your staffs to the people of Miami. Right? It's centered. It overrides. It locates people based on a geographic location. So, if you put an electronic fence -- think of an electronic guard fence around Ultra. Right? This weekend, anything that happen in that area for somebody with the device on their phone would be able to be immediately connected, and they would get any alert to tell them what to do. That could be an active shooter. It could be a bomb. It could just be weather. Right? But what do you do? Where do you go? What's going on? This is away to get you that information. The last thing that we do, the last principle is it translates. So, unlike City of Miami Page 201 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 any other program, where you send out a message in one language and the reader has to figure out what that language is, a city like Miami doesn't just have one language. Right? If you can send out a message in one language, the program notices it, and immediately retranslates it into the language of the recipient. So I can send it out in English. It can be read in Spanish. It could be read in Portuguese. It can even be read in traditional mandarin -- right? -- simply at a touch of a button or at the user's option. Right? Those are the three things: emergency, location, and translation. So any language -- any information you need to get out gets out immediately to them in a language so there is no confusion as to what's going on. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Mr. Sutherland: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Could you state your name for the record, please? Mr. Sutherland: Pardon me, sir? Vice Chair Russell: Your name for the record. Mr. Sutherland: Oh, I'm sorry. Allen Sutherland, from In-Telligent. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Sutherland: You're welcome. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much. Mr. Sutherland: Thank you. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: And thanks for your patience. Mr. Sutherland: You're welcome. Vice Chair Russell: And that brings to the end of our regular agenda. Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. Thank you. END OF DISCUSSION ITEMS City of Miami Page 202 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PART B: PZ - PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S) Vice Chair Russell: We now have the Planning & Zoning agenda. Commissioner Suarez: Spirit fingers. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Mr. Chairman, may I read the process -- procedures into the record? Vice Chair Russell: Please, Mr. Min. Mr. Min: PZ (Planning & Zoning) items shall proceed according to Section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21 Zoning Code. Before any PZ item is heard, all those wishing to speak must be sworn in by the City Clerk. Please note, Commissioners have been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on items on the agenda today. The members of the City Commission shall disclose any ex parte communications to remove the presumption of prejudice, pursuant to Florida Statute Section 286.0115 and Section 7.1.4.5 of the Miami 21 Zoning Code. Any person may be heard by the City Commission through the Chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the City Commission, unless modified by the Chair. If the proposition is being continued or rescheduled, the opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before the City Commission takes action on such proposition. The Chairman will advise the public when the public may have the opportunity to address the City Commission during the public comment period. When addressing the City Commission, the member of the public must first state his or her name, his or her address, and what item will be spoken about. A copy of the agenda item titles will be available at the City Clerk's Office and at the podium for ease of reference. Staff will then briefly present each item to be heard. For applications requiring City Commission approval, the applicant will then present its application or request to the City Commission. If the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation, the City Commission may proceed to its deliberation and decision. The applicant may also waive the right to an evidentiary hearing on the record. The order of presentation shall be as set forth in Miami 21 and in the City Code, providing the appellant shall present first. For appeals, the appellant will present its appeal to the City Commission, followed by the appellee. Staff will be allowed to make any recommendations they may have. All persons testing must be sworn in. The City of Miami requires that anyone requesting action by the City Commission must disclose before the hearing anything provided to anyone for agreement to support or withhold objection to the requested action, pursuant to City Code Section 2-8. Any documents offered to the City Commissioners that have not been provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into the record at the City Commission's direction [sic]. If any Commissioner thinks that documents supplied to the Commission less than seven days before merit a continuance, the item may be continued by the City Commission. Thankyou, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. If you will be speaking on any of tonight's Planning and Zoning items, may I please have you stand and raise your right hand. The City Clerk administered the oath required under City Code Section 62-1 to those persons giving testimony on zoning issues. City of Miami Page 203 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Hannon: Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Garcia, are there any items that'll be deferred, continued, withdrawn? Francisco Garcia (Senior Director Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Yes. Francisco Garcia, Planning & Zoning director. I have the following items to be withdrawn or continued or deferred: Item PZ.1 is being withdrawn by the Administration, the rezoning of 240 Southeast 14th Street. Items PZ.2 and PZ.3 have been requested to be deferred to May 25. Those are the zoning and land use changes for Day Avenue properties. Items PZ.4 and PZ.5 also requested to be continued to April 27. These are the land use and rezonings for properties at 26 and 28 Northwest 30th Street. Items PZ.6 and PZ. 7 to be continued to April 27; land use and rezoning changes for various properties at approximately Southwest 7th Street and 21st Avenue. Items PZ.8 and PZ.9 also requested to be continued. These to May 25 -- rather, deferred -- my apologies -- to May 25. These are the land use and rezoning for the property at 3750 South Dixie Highway. And the remainder of the items are ready to proceed, sir. Vice Chair Russell: Do I have a motion to -- Commissioner Carollo: Move. Vice Chair Russell: -- withdraw and continue, as stated by Mr. Garcia? Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 204 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.1 ORDINANCE First Reading 1577 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE Planning and NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM "T6 -8-R", URBAN CORE TRANSECT ZONE - Zoning RESTRICTED, TO "T6 -48A-0", URBAN CORE TRANSECT ZONE - OPEN", FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 240 SOUTHEAST 14TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: MOTION TO: Withdraw RESULT: RESULT: WITHDRAWN MOVER: MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez PZ.2 ORDINANCE First Reading 1035 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS Planning and AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI Zoning COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO SMALL SCALE AMENDMENT PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO SECTION 163.3187, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF 1.07± ACRES OF THE REAL PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 3830, 3840, 3850, 3860, 3841, 3851, 3865 AND 3875 DAY AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM "DUPLEX RESIDENTIAL" TO "LOW DENSITY RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.2 was deferred to the May 25, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. City ofMiami Page 205 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.3 ORDINANCE First Reading 1036 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE Planning and NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING "SUB Zoning CLASSIFICATION FROM T3-0 -URBAN TRANSECT ZONE - ABSENT: OPEN", WITH A NCD -3 COCONUT GROVE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT, TO T4-0 "GENERAL URBAN TRANSECT ZONE - OPEN", WITH A NCD -3 COCONUT GROVE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT, FOR THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 3830, 3840, 3850, 3860, 3841, 3851, 3865, AND 3875 DAY AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.3 was deferred to the May 25, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. PZA ORDINANCE First Reading 1314 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS Planning and AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI Zoning COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO SMALL ABSENT: SCALE AMENDMENT PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO SECTION 163.3187, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF. 1 58± ACRES OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 28 NORTHWEST 30 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM "MEDIUM DENSITY MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL" TO "GENERAL COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Continue RESULT: CONTINUED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.4 was continued to the April 27, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. Cit, ofMianli Page 206 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.5 ORDINANCE First Reading 1315 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE Planning and NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING Zoning CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 26 NORTHWEST 30 STREET AND 28 NORTHWEST 30 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA FROM "75-0", URBAN CENTER TRANSECT ZONE -OPEN, TO 76-8-0", URBAN CORE TRANSECT ZONE -OPEN; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Continue RESULT: CONTINUED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.5 was continued to the April 27, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. PZ.6 ORDINANCE First Reading 1675 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS Planning and AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI Zoning COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO SMALL SCALE AMENDMENT PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO SECTION 163.3187, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF 1.05± ACRES OF REAL PROPERTIES AT APPROXIMATELY 2124, 2126, AND 2130-2132 SOUTHWEST 7 STREET AND 2109 SOUTHWEST 8 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA FROM "MEDIUM DENSITY MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL" TO "RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Continue RESULT: CONTINUED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.6 was continued to the April 27, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. City (?f Miami Page 207 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.7 ORDINANCE First Reading 1676 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE Planning and NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM "T4 -L", GENERAL URBAN TRANSECT Zoning ZONE -LIMITED, TO "75-0", URBAN CENTER TRANSECT ZONE - OPEN, FOR THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 2124, 2126 AND 2130-2132 SOUTHWEST 7 STREET AND 2109 SOUTHWEST 8 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Continue RESULT: CONTINUED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ. 7 was continued to the April 27, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. PZ.8 ORDINANCE First Reading 1673 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS Planning and AMENDED, THE FUTURE LAND USE MAP OF THE MIAMI Zoning COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN, PURSUANT TO SMALL SCALE AMENDMENT PROCEDURES SUBJECT TO SECTION 163.3187, FLORIDA STATUTES, BY CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION OF 0.179± ACRES OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 3750 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM "LOW DENSITY RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL" TO "MEDIUM DENSITY RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.8 was deferred to the May 25, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. City (?f Miami Page 208 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.9 ORDINANCE First Reading 1674 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Department of ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE Planning and NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING Zoning CLASSIFICATION OF THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE ABSENT: PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 3750 SOUTH DIXIE HIGHWAY, MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS DESCRIBED IN "EXHIBIT A", ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FROM 74-0", GENERAL URBAN TRANSECT ZONE -OPEN", TO "75-0", URBAN CENTER TRANSECT ZONE -OPEN; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Defer RESULT: DEFERRED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. Item PZ.9 was deferred to the May 25, 2017 Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting. PZ.10 ORDINANCE First Reading 1232 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Department of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY Planning and OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AMENDING ARTICLE 3, SECTION 3.6, Zoning ENTITLED "OFF-STREET PARKING AND LOADING STANDARDS"; ESTABLISHING SUBSECTION 3.6.1(F); CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. MOTION TO: Deny RESULT: DENIED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair AYES: Russell, Gort, Carollo ABSENT: Hardemon, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PZ.10, please see "Public Comment Period for Regular Item(s). " Vice Chair Russell: That leaves us with PZ.10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Commissioner Gort: Can we take the people that are here first? Vice Chair Russell: Sure. Who do we have here on PZ.10? Good. We have a significant audience. Thank you for your patience. We'll hear PZ.10 first, please. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Item PZ.10 is an item brought to you on first reading today to amend Miami 21, the City of Miami Page 209 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Zoning Ordinance, to allow for ancillary parking to take place on T3 zoned properties that abut T6 or T5 zoning districts in what we are calling a `Pilot Program Area, " which is approximately bounded by properties fronting or adjacent to Coral Way; the Coral Way Corridor, between 13th Avenue and 27th Avenue. I would like to offer you a little more information, and 1 know that there are a number of individuals here who are willing to speak on it, as well. I'd like to say a few things. First, this is brought to you in response to a request -- Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, ifI may? Mr. Garcia: My apologies. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I'm sorry. I've already stated this conflict, but I will restate it: That I, as Commissioner of District 4, disclose that on March 23, a measure will come before the regular meeting of the City of Commission, which will inure special gain or loss of 1750 Coral Way, LLC (limited liability company), which I am -- for which I am a tenant. And the measure is PZ. 10. An ordinance of the Miami City Commission, amending Ordinance Number 13114, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Miami, entitled "Off -Street Parking and Loading Standards, " establishing Subsection 3.6.1(1); containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date. The nature of the conflicts is, I am currently a tenant, who recently -- and -- of 1750 Coral Way, and they recently purchased a parcel of property adjacent to the leasehold. Said property could potentially be affected by the proposed amended ordinance. Due to this conflict, I will not be -- I will not participate on this measure and will abstain from voting. The public statement is made in compliance with Section 112.3143 Florida Statutes. Thank you. Mr. Garcia: Thank you, sir. Again, by way of very brief presentation, I'll say a couple of salient things. First, this is brought to you at your request. This is the Administration's efforts to comply with the Commission directive to attempt to address an issue that arose from a denial of a zoning application sometime back. And the request made to us was to basically devise a way in which ancillary parking for the commercial properties abutting the Coral Way District -- the Coral Way Corridor -- my apologies -- might be done in a manner that safeguarded the abutting residential properties. What we are proposing today is that through the exception process, which, as you're aware, requires a public hearing, and it is to be decided by the Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board, again, in a public hearing setting, which could be appealed to this board -- so through an exception process, properties which are zoned residentially -- so T3, whether T3 -R, T3 -L, or T3-0 -- which abut either a T5 or a T6. In addition, they must be unified with the property abutting T5 or T6 through unity of title, and in addition, would have the ancillary parking access through the commercially zoned or mixed use zone property. These properties then might be entitled to have ancillary parking, so long as said ancillary parking would comply with the form requirements of T3, with some exceptions as noted on the -- in the ordinance, and should be lined and buffered so as to retain the residential character of the area when fronting the residential streets. There area number of other provisions; they are contained in the ordinance. In addition, the Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board recommended, and we are in agreement, that should any additional pilot areas be added where this might apply, aside from the one that is subject to your consideration today, namely, the Coral Way Corridor, between 13th Avenue and 27th Avenue, should any additional pilot areas be added, that that would require a City Commission supermajority; and again, we're happy to recommend that to you, as well. In addition -- and I'll yield to the Homeowners Association that is probably most directly affected -- there have been some recommendations set forth by the Silver Bluff Neighborhood Association. We attend a meeting the other day that I think was very productive, and you may hear from them. They are asking that we clarify that rooftop parking would not be allowed, and that certainly is worth City of Miami Page 210 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 considering and intended as part of this ordinance; that underground parking be encouraged, and that if it is not feasible that ample evidence be provided as to why it's not feasible. That, again, is the intent of this ordinance, but we're happy to consider that as a recommendation. That this exception process only be applied to new development, which is both the intent, and is certainly something that we're happy to consider. And then it goes on to -- such as that a noise barrier be requested, and that's something that we could certainly consider as part of the exception process. There are a couple of more items that are very specific on a property -by property basis, which I fear we cannot include as part of the zoning amendment. However; this is something that certainly we would fold into the exception process, if such a process were ever applied for; and should it be successful and recommended for approval. I think that's all I have by way of presentation. I'd like to address, because one of the speakers earlier today mentioned it in the morning session, although he referred specifically to this item, an issue that may be of concern to you as well, and that is the legality of this particular proposal. It's been described to you, and I know that there is some correspondence - - and again, it was mentioned this morning by one of the speakers -- that in the opinion of some, this item may be illegal. And I don't mean to speak for anyone, but I believe the concern that the speaker may have had is that there are protections in the Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan of the City of Miami for residential areas; and that, clearly, parking, to the extent that it is a commercial endeavor, is not contemplated, nor would be allowed in a residentially zoned area. There are two things I have to say to that. The protections for the residential area that -- the areas that are provided for in the Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan are very much in line with the intent of this proposed amendment, in the sense that it is precisely in an attempt to protect the residential areas abutting commercial corridors that we would allow that ancillary parking, as properly massed, to prevent the spill-over effect, the spill-over parking effect that sometimes is experienced by these areas, and therefore, to that extent, it affords some means ofprotection. In addition, I'll emphasize, this is being proposed to you as an alternative to a rezoning to T4, which was the original application. So, in that sense, we are also safeguarding the T3 zoning designation and preventing it from going to T4, which begins to open the area to another series of uses, which, I understand not to be desirable, in particular, as pertains to the Silver Bluff area. And lastly, as pertains to parking as a commercial use, the parking intended here is ancillary in nature, and that is clearly specified in the ordinance. And because it is ancillary, and because it is subject to the conditions and restrictions of an exception process, which go through a public hearing we believe it's very much in line with the sorts of uses that could be contemplated in a residential area and would have no adverse effect. This is before you on first reading for your consideration. I yield, and happy to answer any questions you may have. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Mr. Garcia. Before we do commentary on the dais, I'd be glad to hear from the public. So if you'd like to speak on this item, please feel free to come to either of the lecterns and idents yourself, name and address, and speak freely. Is anyone else going to speak on PZ. 10? Please come up. We're going to move right through everybody. Please try to keep your comments to two minutes. Luis Herrera: Good evening. Vice Chair Russell: If you could have a timer for two minutes, please. Mr. Herrera: My name is Luis Herrera; president, Vizcaya Homeowners Association, 1181 Southwest 22nd Terrace. According with the -- Mr. Garcia's, Miami 21, they supposed to be protecting the neighborhood, and they open the door right here with T3, doing parking; it's not legal. So we have to recognize that if we have to, we protect the neighborhood, residential area. The people, they voted, the City of Miami Page 211 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 front in the line in Coral Way; they can build whatever they want. In the front of the line, they bought it. They bought it. They know they can't do it, because they not had enough land to make it T6-8 or T6-5. So I got all the signatures over here of the neighborhood that they against it, and I want to present it to you, and I'm against it, too. So we want to preserve the neighborhood residential, and nobody can be intrude inside the neighborhood, please. Miami 21 is like affordable act, health care act. They never fill in anyplace. Miami 21 is the same way. So the only way you can fix this is protecting the neighborhood. That's what we want; nothing else. Nobody want to introduce inside the neighborhood. Thank you very much. I'm against it. Please, turn it down. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Please, if you're going to speak on the item, go ahead and come up to the lectern. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) two minutes back and forth (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Judith Sandoval: Judy Sandoval, 2536 Southwest 25th Terrace. I've owned my property inside Silver Bluff for 35 years. I'm on the board of the Silver Bluff Homeowners Association. I disagree with Mr. Herrera's supposed solution to this problem. He is not aware of and does not understand the ordinance changes and conditions which the Homeowners Association has worked on over a couple of years and supports, and which have presented to you -- been just now by Mr. Garcia. We had a quarterly homeowners meeting last week. In this body there were -- I don't know -- 20 or 30 members of our Homeowners Association and the neighbors directly affected on 22nd Terrace; this gentleman is one of them, and Beba Mann will explain them in more detail. We all have written to you over the past couple of months supporting this ordinance with the conditions. And I would like to say that I have seen the petition just presented by Mr. Herrera. He does not understand this petition. This new suggestions we have made with the conditions, he has not been involved in these negotiations. And his petition only reads -- it does not mention this better solution. All it says is, `Do you want the zoning to be T3 or T4 to preserve the neighborhood?" We have this better solution to preserve the neighborhood. And let me tell you, I was involved all the way through Miami 21 negotiations. All that our neighborhood of 1,200 houses was able to salvage to protect our neighborhood were the zoning on Coral Way, which was lower than what was requested by Plater Zyberk and the zoning on our side, which is to the east of 27th Avenue. And we have been -- worked all these years to try to preserve the zoning, and we certainly feel that we have the solution for 22nd Terrace. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Edward Rundle: My name is Edward Rundle. I reside at 2469 Southwest 22nd Terrace, which is the first block south of Coral Way, and the back of my property actually abuts to the Coral Way properties. I fully support and I endorse the proposal, contingent on the Silver Bluff Homeowner Association conditions. I personally have a very major concern, in that right now, from the outside looking down into my back yard is an issue for me, a privacy issue, security issue, and a safety issue. The other way around, I live there with my wife. And, you know, when we look out, we see a residential area, we see the trees, and it's -- the concern I have is as a resident in a residential area, with other consequences that could happen if the proposal is not ratified. I'm looking at a potential wall of a parking facility all along my backyard. And I love the neighborhood; I've been therefor 15 years. We intend to stay there. So, once again, I fully support and endorse the proposal, with the contingent conditions that the Silver Bluff Association has put forth. Thank you very much. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Okay. City of Miami Page 212 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Paul Meyer: Yeah. My name is Paul Meyer. I live at 2130 Southwest 22nd Terrace, so I'm very affected by this. I live kitty corner to, you know, where they'll be tearing down four residential homes. Like everyone was stating here, this is a residential area. My wife and I bought this home under the consideration that it was going to stay residential, and I am in favor -- let's get that clear -- of this. I mean, I wish I didn't have to go for this. I wish I was almost on your side, if you understood the facts correctly, but I think, you know, if we do have to concede here, this is minimal, you know, really what should be done. That gentleman should not have people looking down in his yard on the top of a parking ramp. And if you guys were in his place, or in my shoes, I'm sure you would feel the same way. Asking to put trees, which I think all of you guys are in favor of trees, what I've heard before, is minimal. It's good for the City. It's good for property values. It's good for water drainage. It's good for health of our grandchildren and our children. You know, it just -- it's clear as day. I think the tree should be higher. I think it should be more -- And I guess the final point -- and I want to be really clear about this -- is we spent a lot of time on this, and there should be no leeway; everything should be crystal clear; that this doesn't go on -- if this does get passed, that they can't come in and do something else. You know, it's got to be crystal clear, and I know people have ways to get around things, and if not -- I know the neighborhood's here. We are 20 people or more, and there's a lot of other people that are very involved. I'm going to leave a lot of this to Beba. I'm -- but I just want to make it very clear that, you know, it should be crystal -- I should say, it should be crystal clear that whatever is approved here should include this, and they shouldn't be able to back out in three months or something, so -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Mr. Meyer: -- thankyou. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: If I may real quick? So you're in favor of it? Because it seems to me like you're settling. You're saying, "Well, if this is the best we could do, then I'll accept it, but they can't back out, or they can't come back later and do something. " So are you like really in favor of this or not? You're giving -- Mr. Meyer: Mixed signals. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Meyer: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: And that's what I'm saying. Mr. Meyer: You know -- Commissioner Carollo: It seems like you've been talked into it. Mr. Meyer: I have been talked into it. I mean, this takes a lot of time. I've come here a couple times. You know, I'd rather not have those four homes destroyed in front of my house. Commissioner Carollo: How would this not destroy your home or destroy your home? Mr. Meyer: It would -- still would. City of Miami Page 213 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: It still would. Mr. Meyer: You know, that's why -- so it hurts me -- Commissioner Carollo: So I don't understand how this -- Mr. Meyer: So this -- you know, I have to believe in the people that are spending a lot more time in this than me. And what it does is it, you know, keeps people off the parking roof. It keeps people off from looking down his yard. It keeps people from driving into the Southwest 22nd Terrace and going on Coral Way. Commissioner Carollo: Well -- Mr. Meyer: Trees -- Commissioner Carollo: — the way -- the reason why this was triggered is because we actually voted against the parking garage overlooking into the residential, where there, you would be looking over. So we actually voted against it. That's what triggered this, so -- And in a way, it seems like you're getting talked into. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vote for this; this is better. " Mr. Meyer: Sure. Paul Mann: Excuse me. Paul Mann -- Commissioner Carollo: By the way, just an observation. Just -- Mr. Mann: -- 1665 Southwest 23rd Street. The difference here is that what you voted down was a 40 foot structure, a T4 upzoning that would allow a 40 foot garage. That's what you voted down. This is a T3, with only a section of the T3 lot being allowed to have parking encroaching on it. We are in no way, shape, or form in favor of having the entire lot -- 25 foot parking garage, 25 foot high parking garage. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Mann: That's better than having a T4 upzoning with a 40 foot; that's for sure, but one of the conditions that we'll talk about here is that the parking lot, in no way, shape, or form, should take up the entire lot. It should take up only a section of the back lot. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Mr. Meyer: Yeah, and that's what's so important right there, is that easement of the parking lot coming in towards my -- Commissioner Carollo: We'll discuss it. Mr. Meyer: Okay. Yeah. All right, thanks. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much. Ma'am. Anitra Thorhaug: Yes. I'm Dr. Anitra Thorhaug, at 1359 Southwest 22nd Terrace, and I've been asked by four of my neighbors -- Michael Farrea (phonetic) at 1379; Juan Carlos Mencio, at 1351; Mario Salgado, who's in California today, at 1371 -- to also speak for them. And I have letters here from Maria Osorio (phonetic), at City of Miami Page 214 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 22nd and 16th Avenue; and Beatriz Carmona, another neighbor, who's at 14th and 22nd. Vice Chair Russell: You drew the short straw. Commissioner Carollo: And quick question: Those neighbors, have they been living there long? Ms. Thorhaug: Have what? Commissioner Carollo: Have they been living there long? Commissioner Gort: West of 27th. Ms. Thorhaug: Have these people --they've -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Ms. Thorhaug: Well, Mr. Mencio has owned this for 14 years -- Commissioner Carollo: He owns it, but he doesn't live there. Ms. Thorhaug: -- 1351. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Ms. Thorhaug: I think his son is living there now, after his wife died. Commissioner Carollo: Right. But he doesn't live there. Ms. Thorhaug: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: Got you. Ms. Thorhaug: And Mr. Salgado is most of the time in California -- Commissioner Carollo: Right. So that's -- Ms. Thorhaug: -- and then he comes back. He keeps -- Commissioner Carollo: Makes sense. Ms. Thorhaug: -- an apartment there. It's a multi family building. All of these are either duplexes or multifamily. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. No, I've been around your area quite a bit. I know a lot of the neighbors, and so forth. I -- actually, I've spoken to you out there in -- Ms. Thorhaug: But these are the owners -- Commissioner Carollo: I understand. Ms. Thorhaug: -- of the buildings. Commissioner Carollo: I understand, so that's why they don't actually live there, and that's why. City of Miami Page 215 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Thorhaug: Right. Commissioner Carollo: I understand. Ms. Thorhaug: All right. We're all approved of the ordinance for the obvious reasons that this will be a compromise with keeping some kind of residential fagade and feeling to the neighborhood; at the same time, allowing some parking for the buildings behind us on Coral Way and bring some more economic vitality. Many of the Coral Way buildings at this point are not in great shape. They're 75 to 90 years old, and it's -- the development is coming at us from two directions: down west Brickell, down to Southwest 3rd, and also from the Gables. So this is inevitable, and this is a compromise, so we're approving it. And I will give each of you a set of these letters. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. One for the Clerk, please. And while she's handing that out, you may speak. Beba Sardina Mann: Good evening, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much. I'm going to pass these out. These are emails that were sent to you back in January, and I know that time makes us forget about when emails are sent, but these are actually people that live on Southwest 22nd Terrace that are approving this ordinance with the conditions that we're going to be proposing again. And there's also a couple of the emails from the board members, just so that you have them. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: Question, Ms. Mann. Vice Chair Russell: Of course. Commissioner Carollo: So these are emails from before, but they're sending these emails with the approval that was just approved a few days ago, with the conditions that were approved just a few days ago? So -- and again, just correct me, because you said these were emails from before, but this is with the approvals or the recommendations for -- Ms. Mann: There -- Commissioner Carollo: -- the conditions, so how did they know the conditions? Ms. Mann: Because we've had four meetings; out of which, the last one we had it here, and we had the director of Planning, Francisco Garcia, come and speak to the residents. We actually filled up City Hall. We had a couple of other things going on, and the wonderful City Clerk here was here till very, very late at night, and he can vouch for what I'm talking about. But we have had four meetings on this, and I can tell you that the person that spoke earlier this morning that felt that this was illegal, actually has a 35 foot height limit that nobody else in the City of Miami has. Commissioner Carollo: Is that Mr. Cruz? Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Cruz. Ms. Mann: Mr. Cruz, yes. Okay. And I can understand his fears, because he may feel that this ordinance may actually make some sense, and therefore, other people are going to be asking, "Well, why can't we have it over here?" Okay. That's not our problem. That's not our issue. We're dealing with Coral Way. The reason we're here today is because of that 13th Avenue project that didn't pass. And it didn't pass City of Miami Page 216 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 because you know very well that I put a lot of effort into that, and so did Mr. Herrera, to get the neighborhoods together; because there's no way a 40 foot height garage, next to your house, makes any sense. So it was the directive of this Commission. Commissioner Carollo: But you were in favor of it. Ms. Mann: I'm sorry? Commissioner Carollo: But weren't you in favor of it? Commissioner Gort: No. Ms. Mann: No. I was the one that basically got everybody to come here to go against that. We don't want a T4. We do not want a T4 in our neighborhood. And I understand that -- when I was in the Planning Advisory Board, the transition that they wanted to see in Miami 21 was for that back part to be a T4 to then be the T3 in the front, but that doesn't make any sense, because if you see what happened between 27th Avenue to 37th Avenue is horrendous, is horrendous. We don't want that. So we thought maybe this is a good solution. So just so that we're up to par to what's going on here, I requested to find out how many up -zoning from a T3 to a T4 were requested in the City of Miami. 29. Out of the 29, 21 have been approved. Okay. So this even gives us more the fear factor of what's coming ahead of us, because right now we've been blessed with a wonderful Commission who is very pro - neighborhood, pro protection. It's a matter of time. I took the time by going property by property on Miamidade.gov and checking out how many people actually live there and how many people are renters, which, by the way, I don't believe in petitions, and I have never had one petition signed by a renter. So I don't know who signed the other petitions, but I can tell you that I do not get renters to sign petitions, because they have no vested value in that property or in that neighborhood. Now, on Southwest 22nd Terrace, between 13th Avenue and 16th Avenue, there are 15 rental properties, and that's just a short two blocks. Eleven of those rental properties are abutting Coral Way, and I'm not going to tell you how many of them are LLCs and how -- or how many of them are actually just rental and out-of-town owners. From the area that I represent, which is from 17th Avenue to 27th Avenue, we have 47 rental units; out of which, 31 are abutting Coral Way. Now, how did I get so passionate about this? Well, I'll tell you why. Because one of the developers came to me, at the direction of the Commissioner; because he said "that's not going to pass with Silver Bluff; you better talk to them. " He wanted to up -zone Coral Way to a T6-8 back to where it was before. And I said, `No way. " He said, "Yes, because we need the parking, and we have to up -zone the back to a T4. " I said, `It's not going to happen. " And so I talked to him, and I said, "Look, I know there's an ordinance that has been requested to be worked on regarding parking -- allowing parking on the residential lot. So when they first came to us, it was a huge, massive building, and it was a T4 in the back. It was not residential. They came back to us again, and this time the architect did it on a T5, beautiful building; and the whole entire back part was residential, like it should be, single-family homes; and the garage, you couldn't see it, based on the conditions that we're asking for. It was seamless. You could not see that there was a garage. You could not see anything. It made sense. So, in one of the meetings of the four that I had, the entire block on 22nd Terrace were -- they're owned right now by these developers. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight lots. They own eight lots. So everybody in that block and the extending block came to this meeting with a developer, and they saw the project, and they liked it, and they approved it, and that's why I have been passionate about it. Why? Because I'm looking for the protection of the residential character of the neighborhood. All we need is for one person of these 31 properties on -- abutting City of Miami Page 217 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Coral Way that are owned mostly by LLCs to actually get them to change it to a T4. Once we get that T4, it's that domino effect; we're going to start having T4s behind. Commissioner Carollo: But that has to come before the Commission, and the Commission has to -- Ms. Mann: It has not. Commissioner Carollo: -- grant them that T4. Ms. Mann: Commissioner Carollo, you're termed out in November. Commissioner Carollo: Uh-huh. Ms. Mann: I don't know who's coming behind you. You have been wonderful, but I don't know who's the Commissioner, who's going to be -- There's eight people already running for your seat. Commissioner Carollo: So what are you saying? Let's pass this, and we're compromising, compromising? Ms. Mann: No, no. The com -- Commissioner Carollo: I don't get it. Ms. Mann: What we're talking about -- Commissioner Carollo: Just in case? Ms. Mann: No. This was the direction that was given by you, by Commissioner Suarez, when that item was lost. Commissioner Carollo: Right, to bring something back. Ms. Mann: To bring something back. Commissioner Carollo: But -- Ms. Mann: And this is what was brought back. Commissioner Carollo: Right. But the "something back" is that we reach consensus; not that there's a split in the neighborhoods. Again -- Ms. Mann: There's no split. There's no split. I'm speaking for Silver Bluff -- Commissioner Carollo: Right, but -- Ms. Mann: --and that's from 17th Avenue to 27th Avenue. Commissioner Carollo: Right, but there's another area that, you know, has a say, too, in -- Ms. Mann: I understand. It's two blocks. Commissioner Carollo: You know. Well -- Ms. Mann: It's two blocks. City of Miami Page 218 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Right, but -- Ms. Mann: Okay. Out of those two blocks, like I mentioned before, you have 15 rentals and 11 abutting. And, by the way, the T4 that was rejected, thank God, can come back in 18 months, and he can reapply again and request for a T4 there. There's nothing stopping the developer from doing it. He can come back with a new rendering. He can come back with a new plan, and the Commission has to listen to it, and they can get that T4 at that corner of 13th Avenue. Commissioner Carollo: They can or they cannot. Also, I mean, it depends on what the vote is. It depends -- not to mention -- Ms. Mann: Okay. The odds so far -- Commissioner Carollo: -- not to mention -- Ms. Mann: -- has been -- Commissioner Carollo: -- it could be a veto, too. So, I mean -- Ms. Mann: 29 up -zoning, 21 approved. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Yeah. And I remember six years ago, when I was told that whenever the Speaker of House, you know, passes something, and this and that, he usually gets his way. And we went against, you know, what passing the House of Representatives by then -Speaker Dean Ken in 116 to 0, and guess what? This Commission did the right thing, and then we were overcome, and that's why we don't have a billboard in the entrance of the Roads. So -- Ms. Mann: Okay. Commissioner Carollo: -- yes, I understand past history, but that doesn't dictate that now we have to compromise and do something because we're afraid of what might come in the future. Ms. Mann: Okay. Commissioner, let me just say that Shenandoah Homeowners Association -- and you know Jed, so I don't know if you've spoken to him or not. Commissioner Carollo: No. Ms. Mann: But he is not opposed of this. We have spoken about it. He thinks it makes sense, and he's -- that's the reason why he's not here opposing it, because it affects him too. He's on the north side of Coral Way. We're sharing this legislation, this ordinance together, and we have spoken at length, and that is why he's not here. So you have two homeowner associations along Coral Way that are taking the bulk of this ordinance that are in favor of it, because we're protecting -- we're trying to protect the neighborhood, because there's no other way to stop the constant request for up -zoning. What's the issue behind the request for up zoning? Parking. You know what we have right now? We have no parking for the Coral Way properties. Do you know who gets the parking? The residents on 22nd Terrace. Commissioner Carollo: Question: You have a president of another homeowners association. Is he too small to mention? Because he's right there too. Ms. Mann: He can speak. City of Miami Page 219 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: No, but I'm saying, you're mentioning two homeowners association, but there's three. And remember what I said, yeah, bring back something where there's consensus. I have not spoken to Mr. Rogers about this. I have not. And, actually, there's no Jennings disclosure with this item, correct? Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): I know that Mr. Garcia believes it's a pilot program, but this is a citywide ordinance, so no, there is no -- Commissioner Carollo: So there is no --? Mr. Min: Correct. Commissioner Carollo: So, I mean, in a way, I'm kind of disappointed that I wasn't invited to any of the Silver Bluff meetings with regard to this issue. I would have liked, you know, the courtesy to have been invited so I could see, you know, and be active, as you know -- Ms. Mann: I did. Commissioner Carollo: -- that I usually am. I'm very active when it comes to this issue. That's why those renters that you're mentioning -- Ms. Mann: Now, has Mr. Herrera told you that I've invited him to every meeting, except for this last one? I've wanted him to be part of this process. I wanted him to feel -- because he has not held a meeting with the residents. And I wanted him to understand what the ordinance is about, because the ordinance is not about allowing any developer to come in and just request this. This is the same process as a T4. Commissioner Carollo: Understood. Ms. Mann: And let me just make something very clear to the Commissioners. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Ms. Mann: We have a huge issue with the parking. The lots on Coral Way are very small. If a developer comes in and does not get any of the parking spaces in the requirements that he needs, guess where the parking's going to continue to go? It's going to continue to be a hardship on the residential neighborhood. It's going to continue to be on 22nd Terrace. And we have a huge problem on it right now. And I hope that you do approve this ordinance with our conditions. And I'm -- by no way do we support this ordinance the way it is written right now, because it's very open, and it allows for a lot of people to come in, a lot of developers to think that they can do whatever they want. We don't want that. We want them to be able to get their garage without doing anything to the residential character of our neighborhood. We don't want them to have the whole entire lot. I believe these are the conditions I wrote to the director of Planning, and I'm going to read them on the record just so that you understand what it is we're coming from. The residential lot -- besides -- I'm sorry -- besides the conditions that are already in writing from the City of Miami, which is ingress and egress, it has to be from Coral Way, and I believe there's other conditions that are there. The one for landscaping is not very clear, but I want it to be very, very clear. It says, "The residential lot on Southwest 22nd Terrace or the avenues must occupy at least 80 percent as a single-family residential unit. If that is not feasible, the residential component should, at minimum, be 70 percent of the lot. The garage should be lined with trees with height of 25 feet to cover the structure. Article 4 of the new parking facility amendment does not clarify coverage. This should be clear, especially for corner lots and the part of the garage next to a residential property. The intent is not to see a wall, but lush green coverage. City of Miami Page 220 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Provide a noise barrier. There should be no openings to facing the residential property. In other words, the part of the garage that is on the residential lot should not have openings. " We want to see -- we don't want to see the lights of the garage, the headlights of the cars, or hear the noises that can come out of a garage. "Rooftop parking shall not be allowed under any circumstances. The exception should not be easily obtained. Applicant should prove hardship regarding the parking need, and the reasons underground parking is not feasible. Only new development can apply for this exception. " And the reason why I'm saying this new development should be the only one to use this exception is right now, we have two properties that are abutting Coral Way that are being used as parking lot. They have broken down the wall, and they're parking in the properties. So that's what we're dealing with. And please consider this ordinance. Thank you very much. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Sir. Emilio Sanchez: Good evening. My name is Emilio Sanchez, 1331 Southwest 22nd Terrace, six years living there. I completely disagree with this ordinance for a simple reason: consistency. We have been fighting against any rezoning. We think that this ordinance won't bring any benefit to our neighborhood. On the contrary, it may help this and other neighborhoods disappear, and Miami 21 preserves our neighborhoods. I don't believe in developers' promises or compromises. I believe in law. I believe in this Master Plan, Miami 21. So I think the best solution is keep these guidelines, and the investor must respect this Master Plan. That's it. Thank you very much. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Mr. Mann: Paul Mann, 1665 Southwest 23rd Street, Miami. As you can tell, it's very hard to get consensus on issues like this in the City. And the problem, I think, with this ordinance is that people who don't understand what we are willing to abide by, what we're willing to allow as a compromise to developers is basically borrowing part of the back of the lot; no more than that. And I think a lot of the fear that's going on around here is that a developer -- developers are really clever at getting around ordinances, particularly -- you know what's going on in Coconut Grove, where you're not supposed to have a third floor, but they stretch every rule so that, ultimately, you have a useable covered space on your roof, and the City can't stop that. It can -- it could, if it wanted, but it's not stopping it. So the reason why we are willing to compromise on this issue here on Coral Way is that we cannot get from you all, our Commissioners, a promise to maintain T3 along the north edge of 22nd Terrace. If you could promise us that no T4 up -zoning will be allowed on 22nd Terrace, then we can all go home, and we don't need this compromise. As as simple as that. But, Commissioner Carollo, you're absolutely right, the --you all have been wonderful the last few years in protecting the neighborhoods, but who comes after you? Whoever comes after you -- Commissioner Carollo: You better elect the right person. Yes. Mr. Mann: -- in six months -- Well, I wish, but we cannot sit and hope that the right person comes in there. Because if we have the wrong person -- if we have somebody from Manny Diaz' time, he will allow up up -zonings, and then all the work that we've done will be for nothing. Commissioner Carollo: I'm not going to name any names, but maybe listen to your current Commissioner on his advice in the future who should be elected. Now, with that said, with that said, we have been taking to task, and we have demonstrated -- not talked -- demonstrated, okay, against that up -zoning there. City of Miami Page 221 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Mann: Absolutely. Commissioner Carollo: Now, with that said, I keep asking, why are we compromising? So we're compromising because we're afraid of what "may, " may happen in the future. So I don't see that compromise. There's no reason to compromise. Vice Chair Russell: Commissioner Carollo, how would this compromise stave off a future up -zoning anyway? If they compromise now, who's to say some -- the next Commissioner or the one after that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Commissioner Carollo: You have a point. Mr. Mann: Developers -- Commissioner Carollo: You have a point. Vice Chair Russell: So -- Mr. Mann: -- naturally want to up -zone, because they will maximize their property. If all the T5 properties that Commissioner Suarez was able to lock in for us -- right? -- that whole stretch, from 17th to 27th on Coral Way, is T5. All right? We know, definitively, that at least two projects have come in trying to up -zone to a T6 on that. All right? And it's parking. They need parking, so they have to go to T4 behind that. And, as I say, you're -- in six months, you're no longer with us, and you've been a terrific protector of our neighborhoods, but what happens after you? We have to think ahead. Now, if you would promise -- if we could somehow get into -- the language into the Master Plan that Coral Way and Silver Bluff, being an established and old neighborhood, should not be up -zoned, it has 'X" number of T3 properties, and it will remain with 'X" number of T3 properties, then Silver Bluff is happy. All right? But until we get that sort of assurance, until the Planning Department gives us a way to protect ourselves forever the way Coral Gate has -- Coral Gate has that fence. I don't like that wall they have around them, but it is effective. Nobody is trying to up -zone any properties inside of that wall. So what you're saying to us is we ought to build a wall. Right? Commissioner Carollo: No, no. Mr. Mann: Because -- or we ought to trust that the Commissioners will continue to back us forever. Vice Chair Russell: But your psychology is that you -- if you give them an inch today, they won't come back for a mile tomorrow? Is that what you're hoping? Mr. Mann: No. Vice Chair Russell: Ifyou compromise today -- Mr. Mann: We think that with this in place, they will not need -- they will not have a valid argument to be up zoning anymore, because parking -- I mean -- Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Mann. Mr. Mann: -- their profit alone is not enough of a hardship. "Oh, I'm not making enough money. " Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Mann -- City of Miami Page 222 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Mann: That's enough of -- that's not enough of a hardship. Commissioner Carollo: -- this is why -- one of the reasons I disagree. And by the way, what you were saying, I may still be around, so don't write it off just yet. Now, with that said -- one way or another, I may still be around. Now, with that said, this is why I -- part of the reason that I disagree with what you're saying. In the area that originated this whole thing, it's T6-8. It's not T5. So what you're saying is that you're trying to up -zone from T5 to T6-8. Well, they had T6-8. And what actually has to be pretty upsetting -- and I'll go a step further -- burns me up that that wasn't good enough; that that wasn't good enough. So even if they up -zone in your area, which is a T5 right now, to T6-8, where they had T6-8 already, it wasn't good enough. Sothis -- Mr. Mann: What you're saying is the pressure will never be off. The pressure will always be there. Commissioner Carollo: No, no. So you're compromising -- Mr. Mann: For no reason, you're saying. Commissioner Carollo: --for no reason -- Mr. Mann: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: -- you know, which -- I'll throw one out there, you know. Maybe we should consider down zoning that area from T6-8 to T5, you know. It might be something that we should consider. Mr. Mann: Well, as -- Commissioner Carollo: Leave it at that. Mr. Mann: -- allow -- passing this measure -- Commissioner Carollo: Does -- Mr. Mann: -- we see benefit in it, but it can just as easily be removed if the benefit's not there. Vice Chair Russell: We may be losing quorum. Commissioner Carollo: I'm going to make -- Mr. Mann: Thank you for your time. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Mann. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: IfI can? Vice Chair Russell: Is there any further comment from the public? Commissioner Carollo: You're going to lose quorum. Vice Chair Russell: Already heard from you, sir. Is there a motion on the floor? City of Miami Page 223 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Yes. I'm going to make a motion to deny PZ. 10. Vice Chair Russell: Motion to deny. Any discussion from the dais? Roll call, correct? Mr. Min: You need a second. Vice Chair Russell: To deny, we don't need a roll call. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Correct. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor of denial? Mr. Hannon: Sorry, sir. And the seconder? Oh, you second. My apologies. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor of denial? The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes to deny. Thank you. Are we losing quorum? PZ.11 RESOLUTION 1678 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION GRANTING THE MOVER: APPEAL FILED BY MICHAEL ESSER AND REVERSING THE Department of Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: DECISION OF THE MIAMI HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL Planning and Hardemon, Gort PRESERVATION BOARD'S DENIAL OF THE APPLICATION FOR A Zoning SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS THAT WAS SOUGHT IN ORDER TO ALLOW FOR THE DEMOLITION AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 956 SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, WHICH IS LOCATED WITHIN THE RIVERVIEW HISTORIC DISTRICT. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0155 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon, Gort Commissioner Gort: There's two cases that the people have been waiting for. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): Sir, in the -- yes, please -- interest of time, the next two items -- and again, I certainly look to the district Commissioner to be heard And the only reason why I'm asking for your special consideration is it so happens that this is the last meeting of our standing Preservation Officer -- Vice Chair Russell: Oh. City of Miami Page 224 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Garcia: -- who departs from the City of Miami, literally, tomorrow, and she has been stewarding these items all the way up to this meeting, so I would very much appreciate if we could actually have these items heard. Commissioner Gort: Where is she going to go? Vice Chair Russell: Don't go. Mr. Garcia: Philadelphia, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Oh, we didn't know that. Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Yes, she's going to Philadelphia. She's abandoning us. Commissioner Carollo: I wish you would have let us know; we would have had a -- Megan Schmitt (Preservation Officer): Thank you. Commissioner Carollo: -- certificate. Commissioner Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: Philadelphia is already historically designated; stay here. Commissioner Gort: Yeah. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Ms. Schmitt: I hear there's a bell that has a crack that needs fixing, so. Mr. Alfonso: She told me we don't pay her enough. Ms. Schmitt: Sir, that's not true. Vice Chair Russell: All right, PZ. 11 and 12. Are they together? Mr. Garcia: They are separate items, sir, but I think they can be heard together, given that the facts that pertain to both are essentially identical. So I'll introduce them very briefly, and then yield to the appellant to make his presentation. PZs 11 and PZ. 12 are both appeals of a HEP Board -- that is the Historic & Environmental Preservation Board -- decisions to deny a request for a special certificate of appropriateness for the demolition of two contributing structures, one at 956 Southwest 3rd Street and one at 964 Southwest 3rd Street. Once again, the Historic & Environmental Preservation Board denied the request for a special certificate of appropriateness, and we are today recommending that you uphold the decision of the HEP Board and deny the appeal. That's all I have by way of brief presentation. I'll yield to the appellant, and then we'll be happy to make a presentation to substantiate our case. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Oh, the presenter first Thank you. Michael Esser: Good evening. Michael Esser, 151 Crandon Boulevard, Unit 407, Key Biscayne, Florida 33149. I own two lots in Little Havana, and I'm here to askfor your permission to demolish these structures. In my humble opinion, I have four strong points to support this request. The first one is, my buildings don't have any historic value, they're old, they're in average condition, and they have been highly City of Miami Page 225 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 altered, which means the fagade of the building looks completely different than it was in 1925, when these buildings were erected. Of course, you can remodel these buildings back, but it doesn't make any economic sense. My second reason is the useful life of these buildings is over. I have research with me that indicates that the average building in the U.S. (United States) is 32 years old. The average building of the U.S. Department of Energy is 31 years old. On accounting, you depreciate the assets over 27 years, and also, the City of Miami starts the recertification after 40 years. So, if we're 91 years into the life of a building that has a wood structure, it's fair to say that the useful life is over. My third point is safety. In many different areas, we put safety first: when we drive a car, when we buy food on a construction site, when working with children. In this case, we have a safe option and a safer one. In my humble opinion, a 2017 concrete structure is safer than a 1925 wood structure. So, in this case, I would kindly ask you not to compromise and go for the safer one. My last point, I would like to do affordable housing units. So this is a project for the people of the City of Miami. I'm not building luxury condos for international buyers for a quickprofit. I build these units, and then I lease them. I keep them in my family. So, in my humble opinion, the tenants would profit, the neighborhood would profit, the City of Miami would have higher income, and I, as an owner, would also profit. My last point is, I'm not asking here for an up -zoning. I don't want to do more than units. I don't want a taller building. All I ask you is to please not take away a right from me that is embedded in every homeowner, which is the right to demolish someone's property. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Schmitt: We're just getting the presentation. Thank you very much. Vice Chair Russell: Barnaby, when we're considering the potential demolition of a potentially historic structure, the considerations that the gentleman raised, are those things that we legally are able to consider, or are we simply considering whether or not the structure, devoid of all other context, should be historically preserved? Megan, ifyou want to answer that, as well, you can. Ms. Schmitt: I can begin, and then I'll let Barnaby give a more legal perspective. But it's a difficult balancing act, so it's not something, first of all, that we can do at staff level. Any demolition has to go to the HEP Board. Typically, the way that I've been interpreting Chapter 23 is that our purview at staff is quite limited, so we're really limited only to looking at the historic integrity of the building, whereas the HEP Board does have the ability to consider things like economic hardship, or if the structure is just too -- is not fit -- integrity of the structure is too compromised, so. Vice Chair Russell: As do we. Ms. Schmitt: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: As do we. Ms. Schmitt: Um -hum. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Barnaby, did you want to add anything to that or --? Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): No. I was going to say, 'yes, " because you are acting in the place of the HEP Board, while you're sitting in the appellate capacity today. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, meaning we are to consider all factors with regard to the issue; not simply the historic value of the property. City of Miami Page 226 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Min: Yes, sir. What the appellant has stated are arguments that you can take into consideration. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. Ms. Schmitt: Thank you. I just -- I have a couple of slides to show, just to give some visuals. And this is a tax photo of the 956 property, taken around 1938. This is a bungalow -- they're both bungalows that -- what we're talking about today. And this is the current conditions. And so I just want to start off by saying, I'm the first person to acknowledge that this is a tough case. These are two highly altered structures, but my argument rests in a few points. These are both bungalows, and so, just given the architectural -- the way that bungalows were constructed, and how the spaces work in a bungalow, you -- typically, when you alter them, you enclose them. And so, what that means is that they're some of the easiest houses to bring back to their former original appearance. This is the second property, 964. And again, you can see it's been highly altered, but again, mostly with the porches being enclosed, windows. As you can see, there was a screened porch there before. I know that it's hard to see from these pictures -- let me see -- but the piers, which would be like -- usually, typically in Miami, they're made out of coral rock. The piers are still existing, and the form of the structures are still -- is still pretty intact. Keep in mind, my office has no purview over interior; so any of the interior work that the applicant would want to do, we would have no problem with. Vice Chair Russell: Would you get go back to the 1930s photo. In the top left photo, it seems the structure, the fagade of the building and the surface is a different material than it currently is. Has it been resurfaced, as well? Ms. Schmitt: Suggest probably several times. Mr. Esser: Not by me. This is all I can say. I purchased them as they are right now, and after that, they were called historic. Vice Chair Russell: Its not a stone structure. It looks like some sort of -- Ms. Schmitt: They would be wood typically, but the piers are going to be made of stone. Sothis -- Vice Chair Russell: Not -- I'm sorry -- the front porch; I'm looking at the actual structure of the building. I can see the back, the left of the building; that's not a stone structure, right? Its like a stucco of some sort. It's just been resurfaced to a smooth stucco, it looks like, something like that. Ms. Schmitt: Correct. Mr. Esser: It is a wood structure, with a cement board on the outside, then stucco on it. Vice Chair Russell: Understood. Mr. Esser: And on the inside, you just have the drywall. But the moment you remove a piece of drywall, you find something that you never know where it's going to take you. So remodeling this, you start with one item, but you lead to something else. And if I was going to reinforce the structure, I'd have to remove all the drywall. And if I want to change the plumbing, which is a headache, I'd have to remove all the floor. So it's not that I could do one item and bring it up to speed. And I have some pictures City of Miami Page 227 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 for you. I have six copies so you can see a little bit of the work I have the moment I look into the walls. Ms. Schmitt: Do you want me to continue or would you -- Vice Chair Russell: Please. Ms. Schmitt: -- like to see --? Okay. So this is our Riverview Historic District, and the three parcels that we're talk -- well, excuse me -- the two parcels that we're talking about are highlighted in red. I just want to point out that the Riverview Historic District, we regulate about 82 parcels. And depending on how you define Little Havana, Little Havana has somewhere between either 7, 000 up to about 11, 000 buildings. So I just think it's important to point out that my office has purview over a very, very small section of Little Havana, and that's why we're fighting so hard to try to protect and keep the buildings that we're talking about tonight. Because despite how altered they are, again, my argument is that being a bungalow, it's something that can be restored. Just recently -- I think a couple of us were actually in attendance -- the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Little Havana to be one of their newest little -- excuse me -- national treasures, and this was a really important moment for Little Havana, for Miami, because it recognized, sort of, on the national level the importance of this great neighborhood. And I just have a couple of examples of bungalows that were restored. We have a few that are -- this one's from Buena Vista. You can see that it was opened up again. This one also is in Buena Vista, and you can see it was almost entirely restored. So this is sort of -- the basis of my argument is that it certainly can be done. I'm not in denial of any of the points that the property owner has made, but it's my job to try to protect these structures as best I can, and especially knowing that it's possible. And these are just some dramatic pictures I thought I would show just to show that a property can be in a very der -- state of, you know, derelict care, but it can still come back. This is a bungalow, actually. Vice Chair Russell: These are elsewhere, obviously? Ms. Schmitt: Yeah, these are elsewhere, but again, I just -- I thought it was important for context to show that one really can restore these buildings. And because they are in our little -- excuse me -- our Riverview Historic District -- and again, just -- I want to be clear, we regulate so little in the area, so we were very careful when we designated the boundaries and -- of this historic district, so that's our argument. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. I'll open it for discussion. Is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on this item? Hearing none, I'll close public discussion. Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is a perfect example that the decisions that we make here does affect a lot of people, so here, it's affecting an individual that I've never met before. And I've -- actually have driven by that area quite a bit. I was actually there last night. I could tell you, the residents in that area will welcome, will welcome new construction, especially affordable housing. What hasn't been shown here is that the lot next to it is a vacant lot. Mr. Esser: Mine. I want -- I'd like to develop them all together; and I'm buying another one that is (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: And a lot of the complaints in that area is the crime; and those vacant lots, at least the residents feel is conducive to crime activities. So what the residents would really like to see is the development, and they'll tell you, `Build whatever you want; just build something so it's not a drug -infested area. " Now, I'm City of Miami Page 228 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 going to be very candid with you and, I guess, with Mr. Garcia, even though I've already mentioned it to him. I have a lot of difficulty withholding the decision of the HEP Board when, as a native Miamian -- I grew up here. I've been through all these neighborhoods, all these streets, year after year -- and I am seeing that there is a proliferation of homes being knocked down, and these new homes are being built completely out of character with what I grew up seeing in all the neighborhoods, and I'll show you the homes. And I'm sorry; we have a PowerPoint, but I wasn't going to use it. I showed Mr. Garcia these. This is actually happening, I know, in District 4; definitely in District 3. And see, these are the homes that I'm used to seeing, but now we have these, and I don't see historic preservation really being involved, at all. Mr. Garcia is saying that there's legislation you all have been working on to bring it forward. You know what I'm talking about. Vice Chair Russell: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Now, I have to admit, I don't mind one or two here and there, but it's been a proliferation. So when you're knocking down all these homes that, for many, many years, I have driven by probably every day for I don't know how many years, and those homes are being knocked down -- Coconut Grove, so you're right. So I think we can agree, Silver Bluff, Shenandoah -- where it's happening a lot is Golden Pine [sic]. I never knew it as Golden Pines, even though my mom lives right by there, but Golden Pines is not Coconut Grove. Yet, what -- I want to say, "slowly, " but it's not slowly anymore. Starting to be, we're making all the same construction as the Grove. And all these homes that I grew up, all these neighborhoods are being torn down. So I have a problem when I'm seeing that mushrooming, and I don't see the City really taking any action; and then in a home where -- let's be honest; no offense to you -- it's in deplorable conditions. I mean, you know, we're saying, `No. You have to either refurbish it or keep it as is. " So I'm having difficulties with that. Mr. Esser: May I jump in here very quickly? I want to show you a first design. This is what I had in mind. I took this to Megan, and she said, "Yes, it's beautiful. It's colorful. " Vice Chair Russell: The microphone, please. Mr. Esser: Yes. This was my initial design. I took it to Megan, and she said, `It's colorful, it's modern, it's trendy, but it's not the right thing for Little Havana. " Commissioner Carollo: And I'm telling you, I'm not crazy -- okay. Mr. Esser: No. We changed everything. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Commissioner Suarez: It looks just like -- Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: That looks like (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Commissioner Carollo: That looks — yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- similar to the 1920s. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. City of Miami Page 229 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Esser: I took my motorbike, I drove down the streets, I took pictures of the buildings that I like, and then I did something in -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Esser: -- cooperation with her. I'm not an architect, but this is called a pavilion. Here, you have the moldings on top and below the windows. When you unite three, I can put one further in the back; I can have a garden style in the middle. It's less than 10, 000 square feet, so I don't need off-street parking, and I have a small gated community. So -- Commissioner Carollo: I could tell you, most people would agree that I know that area very, very well. I find it hard that most or any of those residents will have any issue with a building like that. I can tell you. Vice Chair Russell: Megan I have a question. Ms. Schmitt: Uh-huh. Commissioner Carollo: Now, I would tell you, I would have a issue with the first building that you showed. Mr. Esser: Yes. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Esser: It is -- Commissioner Carollo: I'd be the first one who'd be complaining. Mr. Esser: It's out of the picture. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Mr. Esser: I just brought it so you understand that we have been working together. I have come a long way. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Mr. Esser: I understood it was not the right thing, and we redid everything. Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair; ifI may? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Uh-huh. Vice Chair Russell: Just a -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I think part of the fear is we don't want to encourage what they call demolition by neglect. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Commissioner Suarez: I don't think that's the case here. You bought the property; it was in bad shape. We don't want to encourage demolition by neglect, and I think that's the fine line where -- Commissioner Carollo: Understood. City of Miami Page 230 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: -- the -- that, what you just showed, is -- seems to me to be very, very similar to the 1920s multi family residential buildings that were built, and so I think building something like that would remain in the sort of historic character. It also seems like it was done with the -- with this small building parking exemption, as well. Mr. Esser: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: And I think that was the purpose of it. It was actually to -- Mr. Esser: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: -- maintain -- we didn't up -zone it. We decided not to up -zone it. Commissioner Carollo: Right. Commissioner Suarez: And it's a three-story building, and it's a property that you bought, and it was in very, very bad condition, and I think everybody here agrees that it's in bad condition, and I think the Preservation Officer even sort of admitted that this was a very difficult case, and I think it is a difficult case for all those reasons. You have to respect the district Commissioner's perspective on what he thinks the residents in the neighborhood want, and ultimately, for us -- and he's been trying to, you know, bring the neighborhood up, so we've passed legislation like the -- you know, the parking regulation, where we allow for no parking with buildings that get small building parking exemption, precisely for this reason, to try to stem gentrification, to try to prevent up -zoning. And so, you know, I'm sort of -- I think I'm leaning towards where I think he's leaning. I don't know. He's talking -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: He hasn't fully shown us his hand. Commissioner Suarez: I think he's got a queen and a jack. Vice Chair Russell: I could tell by his face that Carollo hasn't fully shown his hand. Commissioner Suarez: I think he's got a queen and a jack. That's what I think he's got. Vice Chair Russell: You know, I don't think we give enough tools to those that we designate, especially if they already own their property, and they -- and it becomes designated after that own it. Obviously, you're taking away their ability to redevelop in a more profitable way, but are we providing them with the tools they need to renovate and still be whole, financially? What's the ceiling of what that property's worth, even after he was to fully renovate it? And how much would he have had to invest to get it there? And what does the City, or any mechanism, provide that historic property to be preserved? He doesn't have air rights to sell there. What else Ms. Schmitt: Correct. Vice Chair Russell: I don't know that we do enough, honestly, where we put ourself [sic] in this position. You know, the solution here -- I'm going to defer to the Commissioner of the district in this case. It's a very tough case. City of Miami Page 231 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. I'm going to make a motion to overturn the denial of the HEP Board. Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Is this an up and down? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir. And for the record, it's my understanding that the motion is to grant the appeal. Mr. Min: Correct. And just to -- as a reminder, there are two appeals, PZ. 11, PZ. 12. I believe the hearing and the presentation have been combined for both, but you need two separate votes, please. Vice Chair Russell: Sure. We'll take a vote then on PZ. 11, please. All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Vice Chair Russell: Any opposed? Motion passes Mr. Esser: Thank you very much. Ms. Schmitt: And if I could actually just take a moment. The property owner and I, despite meeting and realizing that we were not going to be agreeing on this the whole way through, we've worked really closely together, and I really commend you. I appreciate your patience. I think that the --I thought that the project was going to be great, if it could go forward with new construction. I just had my job to do, which is to protect the structures. Commissioner Suarez: Of course. Understood. Ms. Schmitt: But I really commend the time and the effort that you put into the redesign, and I feel like that's a big success for the property owner and for the HEP Board, so. Commissioner Suarez: Amen. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah, absolutely. City of Miami Page 232 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.12 RESOLUTION 1679 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION GRANTING THE MOVER: APPEAL FILED BY MICHAEL ESSER AND REVERSING THE Department of Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: DECISION OF THE MIAMI HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL Planning and Hardemon, Gort PRESERVATION BOARD'S DENIAL OF THE APPLICATION FOR A Zoning SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS THAT WAS SOUGHT IN ORDER TO ALLOW FOR THE DEMOLITION AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 964 SOUTHWEST 3RD STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, WHICH IS LOCATED WITHIN THE RIVERVIEW HISTORIC DISTRICT. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0156 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon, Gort Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item PZ.12, please see item PZ. 11. Vice Chair Russell: PZ.12. Is there a motion? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. I make a motion to overturn the denial of the MEP (Historic & Environmental Preservation) Board. Commissioner Suarez: Second Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Any comment from the public? Commissioner Suarez: Accept the appeal. Vice Chair Russell: Any comment from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: Accept the appeal; is that what it is? Grant the appeal. Vice Chair Russell: Grant the appeal. Commissioner Carollo: Appeal. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Suarez: Good luck. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 233 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Vice Chair Russell: Again, I'm only sorry that we weren't able to create a mechanism to completely protect the last remaining 20 -some shotgun and wood frame homes in the -- in Coconut Grove. That's something I'm going to work on, so keep an eye out. Megan Schmitt (Preservation Officer): Good, good. Please do. Thank you. It's been a real honor and a pleasure, so thank you all for your service, and I really enjoyed working with you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, and good luck. Commissioner Carollo: Likewise. Ms. Schmitt: Thankyou. Commissioner Carollo: Good luck to you. PZ.13 RESOLUTION 1915 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CLOSING, Department of VACATING, ABANDONING AND DISCONTINUING FOR PUBLIC USE Planning and A PORTION OF A PUBLIC ALLEY, LOCATED AT 348 NORTHEAST 20 Zoning TERRACE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, PURSUANT TO SECTION 55-15(C) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA. RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN Vice Chair Russell: All right, PZ. 13. Commissioner Suarez: 13, I have a conflict, which is unfortunate for the person who's been here waiting all day long, because that would -- I would lose quorum on that issue. Vice Chair Russell: Someone's here for this one? Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Vice Chair Russell: This is the closure? Commissioner Suarez: Correct. So, since I have a conflict -- Vice Chair Russell: And we lose -- I have a request from a homeowners association to defer anyway; they want more information, and they (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Suarez: I don't think I can even vote on the deferral. I think if -- I have to step off. In which case, it will automatically get deferred, I guess. Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Correct. Without a quorum, it -- I'll defer to the Clerk, but without quorum, it will be recorded as "no action taken. " Commissioner Suarez: And so the issue is whether it could be set for a time certain at the next meeting, because he's been here for 16 hours. Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Representing Platinum Edge, I'm assuming. City of Miami Page 234 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Are you going to be here for that? Commissioner Carollo: No, I don't think so, but we'll take care of it. Commissioner Suarez: All right, all right. Commissioner Carollo: But you know what? Why don't we keep going, and then we leave this till the end. If you have to abstain, it'll automatic -- Commissioner Suarez: I feel bad for (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: -- it automatically gets -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean -- Commissioner Carollo: And then we'll talk about time certain. Commissioner Suarez: That's fine. I just -- can he leave or what? Vice Chair Russell: He can, because there is no way for us to re -attain quorum, unless Commissioner Hardemon is coming back. Mr. Min: And I'll commit that I'll contact Mr. Villa and let him know what happens with the hearing, as far as when it gets scheduled and at what time. Commissioner Suarez: Cool. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And so, just for the record, "no action taken " means it'll be continued to the next like meeting, so that'll be April 27. Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Vice Chair Russell: Question, Mr. Clerk. When someone recuses them self, are they not able to vote on a deferral either -- Commissioner Suarez: That's correct. Commissioner Carollo: Correct. Vice Chair Russell: -- having nothing to do with the substance of the issue? Mr. Min: He cannot -- Commissioner Suarez has to pretend like he's not here. Vice Chair Russell: Even for a deferral? Mr. Min: Correct. Vice Chair Russell: Even for an order -- Mr. Min: He does not exist. Vice Chair Russell: -- of the day type of issue? Understood. Thank you. City of Miami Page 235 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.14 RESOLUTION 1916 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CLOSING, Department of VACATING, ABANDONING AND DISCONTINUING FOR PUBLIC USE Planning and A PORTION OF NORTHWEST 18 STREET, EAST OF NORTHWEST 7 Zoning AVENUE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, PURSUANT TO SECTION 55-15(C) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0154 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon. Gort Vice Chair Russell: PZ. 14. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you. Briefly, PZ. 14 is a proposal for closure and vacation of a portion -- an appendage, really -- of a right-of-way, which would be the continuation of Northwest 18th Street, located just east of Northwest 7th Avenue. It's been reviewed by all the lower boards, and recommended for approval by them unanimously; before you for consideration. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Vice Chair Russell: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: I don't feel comfortable voting on this with the district Commissioner not being here. Vice Chair Russell: Oh, is this a --? This is in -- Commissioner Carollo: District S. Vice Chair Russell: -- Commissioner Hardemon's district. Of course. Are you moving to defer? Commissioner Carollo: Yes. A motion to defer to the -- a motion to continue. Vice Chair Russell: Motion to continue. Is there a second? Commissioner Suarez: What is the item? Because it's got a -- Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Garcia. Mr. Garcia: It is -- yes -- the vacation and closure of a very small appendage of what would be the continuation of Northwest 18th Street, but it really isn't functional in any capacity, whatsoever. So it goes for approximately 20 feet, if that much, east of 27 -- I'm sorry -- east of Northwest 7th Avenue. Commissioner Suarez: My issue is, you know -- I don't know how long you've been waiting here for. City of Miami Page 236 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Rob Curtis: Good evening. I'm Rob Curtis, with the University of Miami], 1400 Northwest 10th Avenue. Commissioner Suarez: All right. Mr. Curtis: This is in little -- as Mr. Garcia pointed out, it's just a little appendage. It's within the Life Science Technology Park parcel that we're looking to start implementing a master plan. Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Curtis: And so this was just a little piece of roadway that went nowhere. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I mean, it got a six to nothing Plat and Street Committee approval, and a 10 to nothing Planning & Zoning Appeals Board, and the Planning -- Mr. Garcia: And I'm happy to share with you that I am aware of no objections, whatsoever. This is widely supported. Commissioner Suarez: Sorry? Mr. Garcia: I wanted to place on the record that I am aware of no objections, whatsoever, having spoken with all the stakeholders, and the item is widely supported. Commissioner Suarez: Okay, but I think the district Commissioner's not here, so -- I mean, is it your impression that that's -- district Commissioner supports the item? Mr. Garcia: I'm not in a capacity to be able to speak on his behalf, but I'm certainly not aware of any opposition, I assure you. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. And all I'm saying is, if there's a PZ (Planning & Zoning) item that's in my district and I'm not here, I would appreciate a courtesy of waiting until I'm back. So that's where I feel, you know, uncomfortable voting on an item, a PZ item where the district Commissioner's not -- Vice Chair Russell: Courtesy, for sure, and I don't know why the Chair isn't here with us tonight. We went through a very, very long morning, with no time limits on anyone's speaking, public commentary; and so, we're all in this together, in my opinion, and we should all be here toughing this out right now. I'm comfortable voting on this, but we would need three, even if we got past whether a deferral, so I -- Commissioner Suarez: Why would we need three? Mr. Curtis: The only issue we have is, we need to get through the Plat Committee at Dade County, and we're coming up against that deadline for that. Commissioner Carollo: And what is the deadline? Mr. Curtis: We need to get your approval -- Commissioner Suarez: Right. Mr. Curtis: -- if you should go that direction, and then we need that resolution to take -- to get the final plat through the Dade County process. City of Miami Page 237 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. And I think, just as a general practice, guys -- you know, we're here -- if we -- we are here most of the day -- most of the time. If there's something that we don't want to be voted on in our districts, we can spec, like before we leave, like, `Hey, by the way, there's a couple things I want to defer or I want to -- because it could have been deferred earlier. I mean, the -- see what I'm saying? Vice Chair Russell: Sure. If it is urgent, we usually let it be known. If we're going to leave -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, we could have deferred it earlier. Vice Chair Russell: -- `please defer" or `go ahead and hear it. " Commissioner Suarez: Exactly. Or -- Vice Chair Russell: We don't know where he is, why he left, or what he -- how he feels about this honestly, you know. Commissioner Suarez: If it was something in my district and I was -- and I wanted it to be deferred, because I couldn't be here when it was going to be called, I would have said -- trust me, I would have say, "Listen, I really would not like this to be heard. " Just like you -- I think you left a message -- Vice Chair Russell: Of course. Commissioner Suarez: -- when you went out of town. Vice Chair Russell: I wrote a letter to the Clerk specking if I wasn't going to be here, which items I wanted, and some of them, I was absolutely fine with going through. But we need three, so -- Commissioner Suarez: Oh, we need three? Vice Chair Russell: Well, if we're going to vote on the issue, don't we need a majority Commissioner Suarez: Two out of three, yeah. But I'm -- and I don't know why -- I don't know if Commissioner Carollo's going to vote against if it -- Vice Chair Russell: Yeah. I've got to assume he's okay with us voting on this. Like you said, he would have left notice, unless there's any emergency that someone knows offor the Chair leaving this afternoon. I mean -- Commissioner Suarez: No. I mean -- but did he leave any notice that he didn't want us to vote on this, either? I always assume when there's a quorum, it's fair game, every item is fair game, unless somebody says -- No. Unless someone says, "Hey, can you not vote on this issue because it affects my district?" Or even, `I'd like to vote on it, and really would appreciate if you don't take it up. " Vice Chair Russell: Yeah. That clarity and communication always helps. We don't have that today. Commissioner Carollo: And that ambiguity is why I'm saying, I feel uncomfortable voting on it. Vice Chair Russell: I'm sorry. Say again, what is the time --? City of Miami Page 238 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Carollo: As soon as possible. Vice Chair Russell: As soon as possible, but what -- Commissioner Carollo: You know, we -- Mr. Curtis: No, we -- well, May. We have to get through the Plat Committee -- Commissioner Carollo: In May? Mr. Curtis: -- by the beginning of May. No. Well -- Commissioner Carollo: We got two meetings before May. Vice Chair Russell: Right. We need to flip the tape anyway. The Clerk is going to reach out to the chief of staff for Commissioner Hardemon. Commissioner Carollo: We reached midnight. Vice Chair Russell: It is midnight, and we know why it's -- we're here and it's midnight. So we're going to take a brief recess. I have pizza in my office, if anyone wants; it's a little cold. But we're justgoing to flip the tape. The Clerk is going to -- Later... Vice Chair Russell: As soon as we have quorum, we can carry on. We have a motion on the floor for PZ.14. Thank you, gentlemen. We have quorum. We do have a hint from the Chief of Staff in District 5 that we are okay to vote on PZ. 14. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: Would you withdraw your motion to withdraw then? Commissioner Suarez: No. I don't think he made a motion (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chair Russell: He did. Am I incorrect? Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion from the public? You're good. Rob Curtis: Accept all conditions. Vice Chair Russell: Right. Any discussion from the dais? Commissioner Suarez: No. Vice Chair Russell: All in favor, say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Commissioner Suarez: We just saved you three weeks, brother. Mr. Curtis: Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 239 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.15 ORDINANCE Second Reading 1677 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Department of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY Planning and OF MIAMI, AS AMENDED, SPECIFICALLY BY AMENDING ARTICLE "DEFINITIONS Zoning 1, SECTION 1.2, ENTITLED OF TERMS", TO ADD A ABSENT: DEFINITION FOR ATTAINABLE WORKFORCE HOUSING; AND BY AMENDING ARTICLE 3, CREATING A NEW SECTION 3.16, ENTITLED "WORKFORCE HOUSING SPECIAL BENEFIT PROGRAM SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS", TO ADD INCENTIVES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECTS PROVIDING HOUSING ENTIRELY FOR WORKFORCE POPULATIONS ABOVE SIXTY PERCENT (60%) OF THE AREA MEDIAN INCOME ("AMI") AND AT OR BELOW ONE HUNDRED FORTY PERCENT (140%) OF THE AMI AS ESTABLISHED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13672 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner SECONDER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon, Gort Vice Chair Russell: PZ. 1 S. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Item PZ. 1 S is the second reading of the workforce housing ordinance, sponsored by Commissioner Frank Carollo. This would provide incentives for the development of workforce housing, so long as the entire development is fully comprised of workforce housing units. Commissioner Carollo: Move it. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved -- Commissioner Suarez: Second. Vice Chair Russell: -- and seconded. Is there anyone from the public left in the --? No. Any discussion from the dais? Thank you, again, Commissioner Carollo. Go ahead and read it into the -- The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ. 15. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0. City of Miami Page 240 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 PZ.16 ORDINANCE Second Reading 1233 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Department of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY Planning and OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, MORE SPECIFICALLY BY AMENDING ARTICLE "DEFINITION Zoning 1, SECTION 1.2, ENTITLED OF TERMS", TO ADD ABSENT: CREW QUARTERS; AND BY AMENDING ARTICLE 6, TABLE 13, ENTITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS"; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13673 MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s) RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S) MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon, Gort Vice Chair Russell: PZ. 16 Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Item PZ.16 is a second reading before you to amend Zoning Ordinance Miami 21. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Commissioner Carollo: Second Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Garcia: Thank you, sir. May I add very briefly? For your consideration, the Miami River Commission has recommended that we insert a provision that makes the crew quarters -- and we've worked out the language so that it should say -- Commissioner Suarez: As amended. Commissioner Carollo: As amended. Mr. Garcia: Fair enough. Vice Chair Russell: I'd like to hear it. Mr. Garcia: Thank you very much. Language will say, again for your consideration very briefly, subject -- rather, the crew quarter facility shall be commensurate to the facilities they serve, and we're happy to confirm that through the warrant process. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you very much. It's been moved and seconded, as amended Yes. Mr. Garcia: As amended. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. City of Miami Page 241 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ. 16. A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, as amended, 3-0. PZ.17 ORDINANCE Second Reading 1131 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Department of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY Planning and OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, BY AMENDING ARTICLE 6, Zoning TABLE 13, ENTITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS", TO ALLOW A DISTANCE SEPARATION REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC STORAGE FACILITIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ENACTMENT NUMBER: 13674 MOTION TO: Adopt with Modification(s) RESULT: ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATION(S) MOVER: Francis Suarez, Commissioner SECONDER: Frank Carollo, Commissioner AYES: Russell, Carollo, Suarez ABSENT: Hardemon. Gort Commissioner Suarez: Move PZ. 17. Vice Chair Russell: PZ. 17. Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Vice Chair Russell: It's been moved -- Commissioner Carollo: Second. Vice Chair Russell: -- and seconded. Commissioner Carollo: Discussion. Vice Chair Russell: Discussion, please. Commissioner Carollo. Commissioner Carollo: I think that it is great that we're doing this. You know, talk about proliferation; we're seeing all these storage units popping up. However, I think that maybe in the near future, we should consider asking that they have retail in the bottom; even though I have to admit, I've seen some of the designs of buildings that they've actually built, and they do look pretty nice, but that they have retail in the bottom and -- You know, the other thing, I'm seeing maybe abutting properties that they're trying to acquire, and once -- it's something that, you know, maybe I'll bring as a discussion item, or maybe we'll speakfor in the future, and that's why I don't want to make it as an amendment now, but what I'm seeing also is -- let's say your 2,500 feet from another one, right? So you start buying abutting properties, so you can make it a bigger and bigger and bigger storage. You understand what I'm saying? City of Miami Page 242 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I know. I totally understand. Commissioner Carollo: And that's one -- Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --yeah, yeah. No, no. Commissioner Carollo: So that's why -- that's exactly what I'm saying, that -- Commissioner Suarez: What I'm saying is that we have to make sure that this does not allow for that, is what I'm trying to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Carollo: Right, right. Commissioner Suarez: This -- Commissioner Carollo: But right now, I think it does allow for it. Commissioner Suarez: No, no. Vice Chair Russell: It does not. Commissioner Suarez: No, no, no. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): So, to give you -- Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Garcia: --perhaps a little comfort. Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Garcia: Perhaps to give you a little comfort, these are permitted only -- these facilities --public storage facilities are permitted only through a warrant process, and so that basically locks them into whatever plans have been approved for them. Any variation or enlargement, expansion of those plans would themselves require a warrant, and unless they comply with the 2,500 square foot distancing, they would not be able to apply for such a warrant. Commissioner Carollo: Got you. Mr. Garcia: So that locks them in place. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah. Vice Chair Russell: And I am -- I've asked Administration to bring something separate later from this that might be a process by which they can exempt themselves from this by including restaurant or retail, different faVade treatments, residential. Who knows? Commissioner Suarez: Maybe, if it was a supermajority or something or -- of the Commission. Vice Chair Russell: Very open to discussion. But I think, if they do do the mixed use, there may be an exemption to be had to where they -- but maybe not. Commissioner Suarez: I just -- real, real quick. I just think -- go ahead. City of Miami Page 243 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Ms. Mendez: Commissioner Carollo, I don't know if this will address your concern, but we could draft an amendment that says, `Any public storage facility that is nonconforming as to distance separation shall not be permitted to expand outside of its present building footprint" -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Ms. Mendez: -- so that it doesn't take -- Commissioner Carollo: As a matter of fact, can that language be included into this ordinance? Vice Chair Russell: It is. Ms. Mendez: No, no. I'm saying that -- Commissioner Carollo: No. Ms. Mendez: -- if you want it to, we can add that to address your -- Commissioner Carollo: To this ordinance. Ms. Mendez: Right. Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: You can also add that -- Commissioner Carollo: Yes. Commissioner Suarez: I mean, we talked about this, Francisco, and I don't know if the ordinance specifically addresses one of the concerns. One of the worries that I had was that someone does a unity of title. In other words -- Commissioner Carollo: That's what I'm saying. Commissioner Suarez: --the two properties become one property. They joined as a property. And so -- Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Commissioner Suarez: Is that a way to get around the distance requirement? Ms. Mendez: Well, that's why -- Commissioner Suarez: He could say it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He could say it. He's there. He's chomping at the bit. He wants to get in there. Let him get in the fight. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Garcia. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, he wants to get in there. Francisco Garcia (Senior Director, Planning & Zoning): I'm sorry. I couldn't hear, sir. My apologies. City of Miami Page 244 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Commissioner Suarez: I thought you wanted to answer the question. I thought that's why you (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Garcia: No. What I will reiterate -- thank you for the opportunity -- is that the fact that these are conditional uses and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) warrant provide you all the safety and the protections you wish. That said, if this language -- Commissioner Carollo: And we could add the City Attorney's -- Mr. Garcia: For additional security, then by all mean, let it be so. Commissioner Suarez: But if someone buys a adjoining property, the next property, the adjacent property, and they do a joinder of title or a unity of title -- Mr. Garcia: Right. Commissioner Suarez: -- between the two parcels, so they become one parcel, right? Mr. Garcia: Right. So they could. Commissioner Suarez: Which could now be able to build a -- double the size of the currently existingfacility. Commissioner Carollo: They will. Vice Chair Russell: Mega storage. Mr. Garcia: Right. No, no, and the reason why one couldn't is because that second facility or the expansion of the original facility, whichever one it would be, would itself require a warrant, and they could not apply for a warrant because they don't comply with the distancing requirements. Vice Chair Russell: Even with unity of title. Mr. Garcia: Even with unity of title, correct. Commissioner Suarez: Do you agree with that? Commissioner Carollo: I just feel safer with the language that the City Attorney mentioned. Commissioner Suarez: No, I -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Mr. Garcia: Fair enough. Vice Chair Russell: That is the amendment, and if the seconder is -- Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah, of course. Vice Chair Russell: -- open to that amendment, it's in there. Ms. Mendez: I think, with both that interpretation and this language, I think we're more -- Commissioner Carollo: That's why I want to make sure that we include that language, because there, I feel more comfortable. City of Miami Page 245 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mr. Garcia: Fair enough. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you. It's been moved and seconded and amended. Is this an up or down? That's what I thought. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Ms. Mendez: As amended. Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ. 17. Commissioner Carollo? Commissioner Carollo: Yes, as amended Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Suarez? Commissioner Suarez: Yes. Mr. Hannon: Chair Russell? Vice Chair Russell: Yes. Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, as amended, 3-0. Vice Chair Russell: And the last item was the one that you are recused from. Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah. Vice Chair Russell: And so that one's going to be deferred automatically. END OF PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM(S) City of Miami Page 246 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 M - MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS CITYWIDE HONORABLE MAYOR TOMAS REGALADO END OF CITYWIDE ITEMS City of Miami Page 247 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D1 - DISTRICT 1 COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT ONE WIFREDO (WILLY) GORT END OF DISTRICT 1 ITEMS City of Miami Page 248 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D2 - DISTRICT 2 VICE CHAIR KEN RUSSELL END OF DISTRICT 2 ITEMS City of Miami Page 249 Printed on5/1812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D3 - DISTRICT 3 COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT THREE FRANK CAROLLO END OF DISTRICT 3 ITEMS City of Miami Page 250 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D4 - DISTRICT 4 COMMISSIONER, DISTRICT FOUR FRANCIS SUAREZ END OF DISTRICT 4 ITEMS City of Miami Page 251 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 D5 - DISTRICT 5 CHAIR KEON HARDEMON END OF DISTRICT 5 ITEMS City of Miami Page 252 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 FL - FUTURE LEGISLATION FLA ORDINANCE 1972 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING Department of ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY Planning and OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, BY AMENDING ARTICLE 1, SECTION 1.2 "DEFINITIONS Zoning ENTITLED OF TERMS", ARTICLE 4, TABLE 3 "BUILDING FUNCTION: USES" AND ARTICLE 6, TABLE 13 ENTITLED "SUPPLEMENTAL REGULATIONS"; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. RESULT: NO ACTION TAKEN END OF FUTURE LEGISLATION Cit, ofMianai Page 253 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 NA - NON AGENDA ITEM(S) NA.1 PERSONAL APPEARANCE 2040 PERSONAL APPEARANCE - RUIZ TRANS DEVELOPMENT Office of the City Clerk RESULT: DISCUSSED Chair Hardemon: The next personal appearance is -- the name of the business escapes me, but I believe it is the Ruiz Family. Can you please come, please? State your name, address, and what you'd like to say about the issues that you have. Marianne Ruiz: First of all, I want to thank you for hearing me out this morning. My name is Marianne, and I reside in 14524 Southwest 84th Street. I'm coming in front of the board today to give you information regarding the CSBE (Community Small Business Enterprise) Ordinance and all of the violations that are going on, on the Downtown Beautification Project. That has affected our company and put us in a financial hardship. The contractor that has been awarded this job is FH Paschen Tectonics, and they have failed to abide by the ordinance to pay us, per the prompt payment provisions, and we are owed, still, through today, from February of last year, the work that has been done at that project. October of last year; we had to get up and just simply walk away, because on top of having half of our vendors close our accounts, we had no funds for payroll, because they were not paying. I know that this CSBE system in the City of Miami is new. I know there's a lot of things that still need to get addressed. I -- today, I think I'm aware that FH Paschen has yet to be sanctioned or penalized for even violating any portion of that ordinance. They refuse to release any funds to us, after multiple attempts to -- via our communications and our legal counsel communications. They still have not paid us to date. What my concern is, is what City of Miami is going to do about it. This is an ordinance that is being addressed in contracts nowadays for small companies, like my own company, to be able to bloom; yet, this big company that's an out-of- state company comes in, gets the job, hires a CSBE, and does not pay. So I have been trying to get ahold of any City official to be able to help me in this matter, and I believe I've reached out, also, to Mr. Russell, and I am just trying to get a little feel of what the City and what the Commission can do to push the City to either penalize, sanction; anything that it incorporates in that ordinance to happen, because I don't believe FH Paschen has gotten penalized or sanctioned in any way. They continue to get paid, and we have not. I believe last week, there was a meeting notes regarding status of the projects, and I was copied on that email, and a response of one of the CSBE contractors -- which is really not a CSBE, but is listed under CSBE via FH Paschen, just to incorporate that 15 percent local workforce provision -- they, too, have had to walk off the job, due to nonpayment. So I don't know how far you're going to let this contractor play with our City and our local workforce, our local small businesses that are trying to thrive in the City, and have these out-of- state companies come and destroy the program, because I have not received any positive feedback. I've worked yet with a very lovely lady in the Contract Compliance Department that has guided me and helped me through, the first day that I filed a complaint, and she has done everything in her might to be able to get all of the background, all of the research and everything; provided all of that to the City Attorney, to the Legal Department, and it's still under review. So we have no answer yet, and this has been already since the ending of last year. So I just need to know what the Commission can do to push the City to address this issue. Are they going to City of Miami Page 254 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 start getting sanctions? What is -- are they going to be getting more reviewed? Is there going to be an audit throughout that project? I need to know what we could do to be able to have them step up to the plate and comply with what they signed initially, when they signed the City of Miami contract for that job, and that's my concern. Chair Hardemon: Mr. Manager, it's obvious that we created the CSBE protections to assist small and local businesses who are subcontracting, especially under much larger primes. And so, this is -- it seems to be one of those situations where you have a prime that is not paying from what appears to be work that is done. I know that some of your staff has better information that you can probably provide us, but the question, especially for me, comes to be: What are we doing as a city to protect and enforce -- to protect the subcontractors and enforce the provisions that we have available for them, when you have a small company that does work; that extends itself on the behalf of a much larger company; that maxes out its credit with its vendors, who haven't received payment; and then, therefore, they can't do -- "they, " meaning the subcontractor -- can't engage in other jobs, because they don't have the ability to extend further credit to have some services done on their beha f? So my question is, what are we doing in the City to prevent things like this from happening, and especially where you have the prompt payment provision, as I understand, that's supposed to assist in resolving issues like this? Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, as you are aware, this project has been difficult. We have been -- we are aware of the concerns with the subcontractor. We are aware that there are disputes between the subcontractor and the contractor, with whom we have an agreement. At this time, there is something that we're reviewing. We're looking at all options; not sure exactly where this is all going to end up, but it's something that we're working with the Law Department and others to analyze in how we move forward with this project. Chair Hardemon: How does the prompt payment provision pertain to facts like what we've heard? Mr. Alfonso: You want to talk about the prompt payment? Jeovanny Rodriguez: Good morning, Commissioners. Jeovanny Rodriguez, director, Office of Capital Improvements. Commissioner, the prompt payment provision is something that, by law, you are required to pay -- the contractor, in our case, does have a -- the entity that we are in contract with -- within a certain amount of time. So, typically, for construction jobs, you're talking about 30 days, and we try to ensure payment for 30 days. And the payment that we make is for the payment for the work that was performed during that timeframe. And then, from there, the contractor is the one that pays each of the subs for the work that they performed in that time period. Chair Hardemon: So what you're explaining to me is that the prompt payment provision pertains to the prime or the person that you're contracted with, but there's no provision within it that ensures that they actually make sufficient payment to the subcontractor? Mr. Rodriguez: There's two issues. Number one is payment to a contractor and payment to the subs under a typical construction contract that does not involve any CSBE component. A lot of the sub -consultants that are -- subcontractors on a job -- not everyone is a CSBE. Under those scenarios, we pay the contractor on time. They are supposed to pay the subs for the work that they have done from that period. And what we do in order to ensure that is, when -- before we issue any payments to the prime contractor, there's usually two documents that we can work with: either a City of Miami Page 255 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 release of lien from each one of the subs, or a release from the bonding company for that period of work. In every other works that we do, we go by the bonding company. So before we make any payment to the prime contractor for any work in that period, the bonding company gives us a certification, saying they assure that everybody that has done work in that period will get paid, and that's our --yeah. Vice Chair Russell: Mr. Chairman? Jeo, does that mean that the next period, if they haven't been taken care of that we would not make the next payment to the prime? Mr. Rodriguez: If there's no payments, whatsoever, the sub usually sends to us what is called a Notice of Nonpayment. If we receive any Notice of Non payments, we automatically contact the company, and we find out why. Now, there is a distinction that we must make. One thing is that you haven't received any payments at all for work that you have done, and, obviously, we'll engage the contractor on that, and if we have to engage the bonding company, since they are the ones giving us a release, we'll do that. Another thing is not receiving payments for any amount that is a dispute amount. In this particular case -- and maybe you can confirm that for us -- it is my understanding that Ruiz has -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) has received partial payment for work, and the amount that -- in question is disputed amount, and that is now a dispute between the sub and the prime. Chair Hardemon: And before we move on from there, Vice Chairman, I just want to give you an opportunity to respond to that statement, because find -- we find ourselves in -- with -- where the devil's into details regarding certain things, and that was one of the questions I had earlier about a disputed amount versus undisputed amount. Now, what I'm going to assume is that one party is going to say it's disputed, and the other party is going to say it is not disputed, but I'd rather hear the facts of why you believe that the amount is not disputed, and why it is a payment that must be made. Ms. Ruiz: I believe, if I'm not mistaken, through the provision -- through that prompt payment provision -- Chair Hardemon: Speak into the microphone, please. Ms. Ruiz: I'm sorry. Through the prompt payment provision, I believe you have five days to dispute any invoice that I provide to the GC (general contractor). If they don't dispute those invoices within five days, they forfeit any dispute for that invoice. The majority of the amount of money that is owed to RTD, I would probably say 90 percent of it is undisputed. They failed to dispute timely to us any concerns, any changes. They basically did it like three months after. There were a couple of -- After I actually filed the complaint, any invoice that I did submit, they initially did dispute a couple of them; small invoices; they were time and material invoices, nothing that related to the scope of the job. But with all reality, the surety company is going to pay. So if the surety company pays you, you'll get the release. So that means you'll continue paying this contractor that's in breach of the ordinance for these undisputed amounts that are owed to RTD, which is a CSBE, and I believe that those provisions also relate to us, since we are the CSBE contractor, not them. Chair Hardemon: So if there are, indeed, factual -- well, this is beyond factual. This is by law. You're saying if you haven't disputed within five days, then there is no dispute, right? So we assume that to be true. Then there is a significant portion of dollars that are undisputed that should be paid and that have not been paid for a very long time. And what I don't want to see is a company that is -- that has done work for the City of Miami in the past, that has been well regarded within the City be put into a situation where they have to close their doors. You know, families won't be able to feed themselves, just because the City of Miami stood by and allowed City of Miami Page 256 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 someone to play fancy with the word "disputed" and "undisputed. " So if there are two different -- if there are a number of -- multiple invoices, some are disputed and some are undisputed, let's take care of the ones that are undisputed, per the provision. If we -- no, no, what -- we need to ensure -- because this is it. Look, a few years ago, we put into place a standard that allowed us to determine whether or not if a company had done work for the City of Miami, we could look back and see if they met their conditions of certain restrictions -- CSBE and other hiring guidelines, and things of that nature. It was important, because we didn't want companies who didn't -- won an award, say, "Kiss our butt" to your -- to the guidelines that we put into place, and then won another award later, and continued to do that same thing. And so, to me, this is a big stain on this organization, because I expect them to bid for other projects. But I think all of us here, especially the Commissioner whose district it is in, is going to have a long memory about how he treats smaller organizations that are doing business with him, that are actually doing the work. So it's one thing to bid on a job; it's another thing to be the company that actually does the work to get it done. So a lot of these big corporations have an opportunity to win these projects, and that's all find and good, but these -- this face is the face that actually gets the work done, and that's the face that we want to protect, especially within the City of Miami, because they don't have the big dollars to fight and push this thing out to the point where you just give up, because you can't financially continue to fight Vice Chairman, I want --I'm sorry to interrupt. Vice Chair Russell: Not at all. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and thank you for caring so much about this and getting down to the -- even the legal side of it. Honestly, this is -- this project is having inexcusable delays. The business owners on Flagler Street are suffering, the residents are suffering, and there's a lot of press about why the delays are happening and what's involved. As the Commissioner for the district, I really care for the residents and their issues. As the Chairman of the Downtown Development Authority, I'm really watching after the businesses and will be bringing some protections for them, but I've said it many times; I believe that the City and even the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) should be aligned in holding contractors accountable. But someone just made a comment to me last night, actually, through social media, after the news came out about the Flagler Street delays, that not all contractors are bad and not all contractors just should always take the blame on any delay, and this is a specific case where it seems like we really need to step in and study the situation carefully. So I thank you for reaching out to my office. We'll be working with the Administration, and where the City has a responsibility or an ability to help, we will. If it is a civil dispute between you and the prime, there's only so much we will be able to do. Who cut my mike? Commissioner Gort: Lean it against the wall. Chair Hardemon: All our mikes are out. Testing. Commissioner Gort: You're on. Unidentified Speaker: You're on. Chair Hardemon: We're on? Vice Chair Russell: You got that for the record, though, right, Todd? We're good? Okay, thank you. Mr. Alfonso: Mr. Chairman, what we can do is, working with the Law Department, we can try to set up a process whereby we try to identify what the issues are with a individual, independent party, because, you know, this is, obviously, her statements; City of Miami Page 257 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 there's another party to this. We have to hear both sides if we're going to try to mediate this in some way. Is that --? Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Chairman, what we can do, since we have special masters on rotation that deal with our procurement issues, that have contractual experience, that are former judges, we can offer up -- obviously, they -- both sides would have to sign certain releases, but we can offer the ability for them to mediate the situation, like has been done in the past, because they apparently have had this situation happen on another project in the City, and it was resolved, but we can offer that up. Chair Hardemon: With this particular contractor; correct? Ms. Mendez: Yes. So we can offer up that in order to address this issue; offer a special master that we can facilitate, and they can try and mediate this issue, if that is agreeable to you. Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: I understand, a lot of times, the people that bids, they underbid a little bit, and then they try to take advantage of the subcontractors. Now, these subcontractor, most of them need the cash flow. They don't have that much finance. They can't stand without payment for two or three month; that can break them. So we got to make sure we put something in the contract that, if they don't pay the subcontractors, that we cannot pay them; make sure that we have their payments so the subcontractors are being paid before we can release the payments to them. And if anything that is being dispute, take care of the dispute right away, like it was taken -- according to the rules, in five days, they have to dispute. If you don't dispute within five days, it's not considered dispute, right? Mr. Rodriguez: That's correct, Commissioner. And what we have done in the past when a situation like this has happened is that we have actually withheld the disputed amount, but -- we have continued to make the payments to move the project, but at the very end, we will not release the final amount to the contractor until that dispute is resolved. And that's what happened in the other cases with both -- to this company, and at that time, we released the amount. Commissioner Gort: I understand that, but before you go to the mediation, you talk to lawyers, it takes a month or two month, and we got to expedite that. They cannot stand there, not being paid for a month or two month. Mr. Rodriguez: I agree. Commissioner Gort: Yeah, yeah. Chair Hardemon: And furthermore, Commissioner Gort, I mean, this organization hasn't been paid for almost a year. Is it -- what's the amount? Ms. Ruiz: Our last payment was received for the May 2016 pay application. And then, there was a time and materials invoice that incorporated additional work that started from February through April that still has yet to be paid. Chair Hardemon: So what we're talking about is work that is not disputed -- especially what I'm most concerned about -- work that is not disputed that is owed; that when you look at the project, what has been done, they did it. And so, you know, these are things that I think need to be addressed more timely than they are. And then, for the disputed amounts, of course, there needs to be some special City of Miami Page 258 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 consideration of the amount of time it takes to satisfy whatever the dispute is to make those payments. But what I don't want to see is this happening, where you have an organization that is pulled to its wit's end, and then go into some mediation regarding undisputed amounts, where they're now going to be shortchanged on the work that they've done, and then they have to accept it, because they have to feed their children, you know? That's not fair. That's not fair to anyone who lives in the City of Miami, anyone who works in the City of Miami, who owns a business in the City of Miami. We have to find a way to do a better job to hold these companies responsible, and I think we started on that process, and I appreciate the Manager for creating the office that looks into these types of issues. But we certainly -- we're not the County. The County has almost 80 -something employees that do just this, and we probably have about, I'd say -- is it -- I'd say about two, where this -- yeah, about two. So that makes a big difference. But seeing that, we have to find a way to make up for our shortcomings, and I think this is one way that we can do it I want to see this issue resolved. And so, if we can meet together to make this work, let's do it immediately. Mr. Rodriguez: Absolutely, Commissioner. And again, amounts that are undisputed, the contractor has a responsibility to pay the sub -consultants or the subcontractors on time, and we can actually enforce that undisputed amount, and I think that's what the concern or the issue is here, but we'll look into it. Thankyou. Chair Hardemon: Right. Ms. Ruiz: One more thing. Chair Hardemon: Yes. Ms. Ruiz: They had three checks ready for us, which is the April -- the February through April time and materials check processed. They had a partial June, partial July, which they started marking up, but it was already past the disputed timeframe. And they had the August, which was also marked up on their behalf, past the five- day. Those three checks were never turned into us. That was the time when I was a little bit hesitant to pick up any checks from them, because I didn't know if it was going to harm us in the future, so I contacted an attorney. An attorney drafted a conditional release. We sent them the conditional release, releasing those funds to us, and they sent it back to their headquarters in Chicago, and we never released it - - we never received it My concern is that this is affecting District 5, this area. This whole CSBE Ordinance, if it's not taken account the right way and if it's not addressed the right way, it could spread through all the other districts, and it's going to be a major problem if it's not handled properly. Additionally, I have reached out to, like I said, many officials in City of Miami, including the City Attorney's Office. Unfortunately, the City Attorney's Office has shunned me. They have told me that I cannot communicate with them going forward, and I have their communication here. Regarding the collection, I understand. I was reaching out to the City of Miami City Attorney, copying them so they could be in the loop of what is going on with violations and the defaults of this contractor for nonpayment; not for them to help me collect. Chair Hardemon: Right. So I'm -- the -- this -- I don't think the City Attorney's Office has to respond, but I'm sure that they didn't want to get in between a dispute between two private people. But what we're describing right now is a process that is very public, something that we're directly involved within, that we want to assist you through. And so, I think, from that point, let's say thank you, count our blessings, and let's try to go on to the next — Ms. Ruiz: Okay. City of Miami Page 259 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Chair Hardemon: -- to telling that issue. Ms. Ruiz: Okay. Chair Hardemon: Are there any further questions for this young lady? Seeing none, thankyou very much. Ms. Ruiz: Thank you. Thank you for your time. NA.2 RESOLUTION 2042 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION OPPOSING Commissioners and SENATE BILL 1048 AND HOUSE BILL 1055 AMENDING SECTION Mayor 163.3221, FLORIDA STATUTES ("F.S."), OF THE FLORIDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT ACT, ENTITLED "FLORIDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT ACT; DEFINITIONS", AND SECTION 380.04, F.S., OF THE FLORIDA ENVIRONMENTAL LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1972, ENTITLED "DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENT", REVISING THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM "DEVELOPMENT" TO EXCLUDE WORK BY CERTAIN UTILITY PROVIDERS ON UTILITY INFRASTRUCTURE ON CERTAIN RIGHTS-OF-WAY OR CORRIDORS AND REVISING THE DEFINITION TO EXCLUDE THE CREATION OR TERMINATION OF DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSMISSION CORRIDORS; FURTHER OPPOSING SENATE BILL 1048 AND HOUSE BILL 1055 AMENDING SECTION 403.511, F.S., OF THE FLORIDA ELECTRICAL POWER PLANT SITING ACT, ENTITLED "EFFECT OF CERTIFICATION", AND SECTION 403.531, F.S., OF THE FLORIDA ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINE SITING ACT, ENTITLED "EFFECT OF CERTIFICATION", REQUIRING THE CONSIDERATION OF A CERTAIN VARIANCE STANDARD WHEN INCLUDING CONDITIONS FOR THE CERTIFICATION OF AN ELECTRICAL POWER PLANT OR A PROPOSED TRANSMISSION LINE CORRIDOR AND CLARIFYING THAT THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION HAS EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION TO REQUIRE UNDERGROUND TRANSMISSION LINES; DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO ADD TO THE CITY'S 2017 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES OPPOSITION, INCLUDING PROPOSING AND SUPPORTING FAVORABLE AMENDMENTS, FOR SAID AMENDMENTS; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS NAMED HEREIN. ENACTMENT NUMBER: R-17-0134 MOTION TO: Adopt RESULT: ADOPTED MOVER: Ken Russell, Vice Chair SECONDER: Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner AYES: Hardemon, Russell, Gort ABSENT: Carollo, Suarez Note for the Record. For additional minutes referencing item NA.2, please see item RE. 3. City of Miami Page 260 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 Mayor Tomas Regalado: If I may, talking about priorities, that we have a pocket item regarding a bill that is going through the Legislature about Florida Power & Light, and opposing the bills that are in the House and in the Senate. If we can -- I know that you want to co-sponsor that. Vice Chair Russell: I would. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I'll move that item. Commissioner Gort: Second. Mayor Regalado: So -- Chair Hardemon: It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion ? Is there anyone from the public that'd like to discuss the item that's just been moved? Seeing none, all in favor; say "aye. " The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Mayor Regalado: Thank you. Chair Hardemon: Motion passes. City of Miami Page 261 Printed on5118/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 NA.3 ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION 2053 UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA Office of the City STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION WILL BE Clerk CONDUCTED AT THE APRIL 13, 2017 MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION CASE OF 1000 BRICKELL, LTD., F/K/A 1000 BRICKELL, INC., AND KAI PROPERTIES, LTD. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. 14-11755 CA 23, PENDING IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI- DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 3:00 P.M. (OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER. THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION: CHAIRMAN KEON HARDEMON, VICE- CHAIRMAN KEN RUSSELL, AND COMMISSIONERS WIFREDO "WILLY" GORT, FRANK CAROLLO, AND FRANCIS X. SUAREZ; THE CITY MANAGER, DANIEL J. ALFONSO; THE CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ; DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEYS JOHN A. GRECO AND BARNABY L. MIN; DIVISION CHIEF FOR GENERAL LITIGATION CHRISTOPHER A. GREEN AND DIVISION CHIEF FOR LAND USE/TRANSACTIONS RAFAEL SUAREZ- RIVAS. A CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THE SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE-CITED, ONGOING LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION. RESULT: DISCUSSED Vice Chair Russell: All right, meeting resumed. Go ahead, please. Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, pursuant to the provisions of Section 286.0118, Florida Statutes, I'm requesting that at the City Commission meeting of April 13, 2017 an attorney-client session, closed to the public, be held for purposes of discussing the pending litigation in the case of 1000 Brickell, LTD (Limited), 1000 Brickell, Inc., and Kai Properties, Limited, versus City of Miami, Case Number 14-11755 CA -23, pending in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Miami -Dade County, to which the City is presently a party. The subject oj'the meeting will be confined to settlement negotiations or strategy discussions. This private meeting will begin at approximately 3 p.m., or as soon thereafter, as the Commissioners' schedules permit, and conclude approximately one hour later. The session will be attended by City ofMiami Page 262 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 members of the City Commission: Chairman Hardemon, Vice Chairman Russell, Commissioners Gort, Carollo, and Suarez; the City Manager, Mr. Alfonso; the City Attorney, myself, Victoria Mendez; Deputy City Attorneys Greco and Min; Division Chief for General Litigation, Chris Green; and Division Chief for Land Use and Transactional Division, Suarez -Rivas. A certified court reporter will be present to ensure the session is fully transcribed, and the transcript will be made public upon the conclusion of the litigation. At the conclusion of the attorney-client session, the regular Commission meeting will be reopened, and the person chairing the Commission meeting will announce the termination of the attorney-client session. City of Miami Page 263 Printed on5/18/2017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 NAA ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION 2054 UNDER THE PARAMETERS OF SECTION 286.011(8), FLORIDA Office of the City STATUTES, A PRIVATE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION WILL BE Clerk CONDUCTED AT THE APRIL 13, 2017 MIAMI CITY COMMISSION MEETING. THE PERSON CHAIRING THE CITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC, FOR PURPOSES OF DISCUSSING THE PENDING LITIGATION CASES OF WALTER E. HEADLEY, JR., MIAMI LODGE #20, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, INC. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. SC13-1882, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT, WALTER E. HEADLEY, JR., MIAMI LODGE #20, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, INC. V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. 1D12-2116, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, MIAMI LODGE #20 V. CITY OF MIAMI, ET AL., CASE NO. SC14-1639, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT, AND MIAMI ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, LOCAL 587, OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS V. CITY OF MIAMI, CASE NO. SC14-1627, PENDING BEFORE THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT, TO WHICH THE CITY IS PRESENTLY A PARTY. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WILL BE CONFINED TO SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS OR STRATEGY SESSIONS RELATED TO LITIGATION EXPENDITURES. THIS PRIVATE MEETING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 3:00 P.M. (OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS THE COMMISSIONERS' SCHEDULES PERMIT) AND CONCLUDE APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR LATER. THE SESSION WILL BE ATTENDED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COMMISSION: CHAIRMAN KEON HARDEMON, VICE-CHAIRMAN KEN RUSSELL, AND COMMISSIONERS WIFREDO "WILLY" GORT, FRANK CAROLLO, AND FRANCIS X. SUAREZ; THE CITY MANAGER, DANIEL J. ALFONSO; THE CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ; DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEYS JOHN A. GRECO AND BARNABY L. MIN; DIVISION CHIEF FOR LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT KEVIN R. JONES; ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEYS STEPHANIE K. PANOFF AND BARBARA DIAZ; LUKE SAVAGE, ESQ.; AND MICHAEL MATTIMORE, ESQ. A CERTIFIED COURT REPORTER WILL BE PRESENT TO ENSURE THAT THE SESSION IS FULLY TRANSCRIBED AND THE TRANSCRIPT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC UPON THE CONCLUSION OF THE ABOVE-CITED, ONGOING LITIGATION. AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION, THE REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING WILL BE REOPENED AND THE PERSON CHAIRING THE COMMISSION MEETING WILL ANNOUNCE THE TERMINATION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT SESSION. RESULT: DISCUSSED Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Mr. Chairman and members of the City Commission, pursuant to provisions of Section 286.0118, Florida Statutes, I'm requesting at the City Commission meeting of April 13, 2017, an attorney-client session, closed to the public, be held for purposes of discussing the pending litigation City ofMiami Page 264 Printed on511812017 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 in the cases of Walter Hadley, Jr., Miami Lodge Number 20, Fraternal Order of Police, Inc., versus City of Miami, Case Number SC13-1882, pending before the Florida Supreme Court; Walter Hadley, Jr., Miami Lodge Number 20, Fraternal Order of Police, Inc. versus City of Miami, Case Number I012-2116, pending before the Florida First District Court of Appeal; Fraternal Order of Police, Miami Lodge Number 20 versus City of Miami, Case Number SC14-1639, pending before the Florida Supreme Court; and Miami Association of Firefighters, Local 587, and the International Association of Firefighters versus City of Miami, Case Number SC14-1627, pending before the Florida Supreme Court, to which the City is presently a party. The subject of the meeting will be confined to settlement negotiations or strategy discussions. This private meeting will begin at approximately 3 p.m., or as soon as after [sic], as the Commissioners' schedules permit, and conclude approximately one hour later. The session will be attended by members of the City Commission: Chairman Hardemon, Vice Chairman Russell, Commissioners Gort, Carollo, and Suarez, City Manager Alfonso, City Attorney Mendez, Deputy City Attorneys Greco and Min, Division Chief for Labor and Employment Jones, Assistant City Attorneys Panoff and Diaz, Luke Savage, and Michael Mattimore. A certified court reporter will be present to ensure the session is fully transcribed, and the transcript will be made public upon the conclusion of the above ongoing litigation. At the conclusion of the attorney-client session, the regular Commission meeting will be reopened, and the person chairing the Commission meeting will announce the termination of the attorney-client session. Thank you. Vice Chair Russell: Thank you, Madam City Attorney. NA.5 DISCUSSION ITEM 2084 CITY ATTORNEY, VICTORIA MENDEZ, CONGRATULATED AND Office of the City PROVIDED WELL WISHES TO DANIEL S. GOLDBERG, Clerk ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY, ON HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE CITY OF MIAMI. ADJOURNMENT LRESULT: DISCUSSED Victoria Mendez (City Attorney): Commissioner, before you go, I just -- just as a point of personal privilege, today's Danny Goldberg's -- tomorrow -- well, today -- because it's also already after midnight -- is Danny Goldberg's last day. Commissioner Carollo: Is there anyone staying with the City? Ms. Mendez: We can't keep him. We can't keep him. Commissioner Suarez: Where are you going, Shutts? Ms. Mendez: He's actually going to Bilzin. Vice Chair Russell: Good luck. Thank you so much for your service to the City. Gentlemen, have a very good night. This meeting is adjourned. The meeting adjourned at 12:17 a.m. City of Miami Page 265 Printed on5/18/2017