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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez-Letter to CommissionersSubmitted into the public record for item(s)_ NIV-1 on 05 2312019 . City Clerk CARLOS A. GIMENEZ MAYOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY May 22, 2019 The Honorable Ken Russell, Chair and Members, City of Miami Commission 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 Dear Chair Russell and City Commissioners, I urge you to override the veto issued by Mayor Francis Suarez regarding the Coconut Grove Playhouse project. Mayor Suarez's veto message overtly ignores key facts, applies the wrong law, and neglects the detailed record. Your action will make the difference between something happening now or nothing occurring for years, and perhaps forever, to rehabilitate and revitalize this important historic, community, and cultural site. Overriding the veto and approving the County's application for a Certificate of Appropriateness is the right thing to do. The County -Florida International University project respects and restores the architecturally significant portions of the Playhouse, honors the historical significance of the site by returning great dramatic theater to this place where theater began for our community, and creates a more open space that celebrates the village scale and ambiance of Coconut Grove and respects the West Grove. Lost in much of the commentary about our project is that the County plan preserves the entire 1927 historic front building: the very image that has been identified as the "Coconut Grove Playhouse" since the theater opened as a silent movie house in 1927. Our plans show the complete, historically -accurate restoration of this iconic front building, which is the only portion of the structure that is ever featured in photographs lauding the glory of the Playhouse. Our application for a Certificate of Appropriateness clearly marked "demolition," and this covered the back part of the Playhouse, which plainly offers no distinguishing exterior features. When viewed from the corner of Charles and Main, this portion of the site cannot be seen. And when viewed from the side and rear of the site, this portion of the building is nothing more than a concrete box. Our plan revitalizes both the interior and the exterior of the Playhouse; it returns a working theater to this location at an appropriate scale; it introduces to this important site a pedestrian -friendly and aesthetically -pleasing active space for the community to gather and enjoy; and it facilitates the return of the small retail uses featured at the street -level in the iconic front building when it was built. It is important to highlight some of the significant shortcomings of Mayor Suarez's veto message: The veto is premised on the wrong legal standard. The County's project not only restores the historic 1927 front building, honoring Kiehnel and Elliott's architecture, but also returns STEPHEN P. CLARK CENTER - 111 N.W. FIRST STREET - 29TH FLOOR - MIAMI, FLORIDA 33128-1930 - (305) 375-1880 - FAX (305) 375-1262 565111- S �b+�, � — � c�v�� - Qac�e �i�n�y MUyI,� C,e.c�os R . G, eye t - a ct �O C� w�► ss�o�n erg The Honorable Ken Russell, Chair and Members, City of Miami Commission Page 2 Submitted into the public record for item(s) MVA on 05/23/2019 City Clerk theater to the Playhouse in a way that celebrates the period of most significant activity at the site. Accordingly, the City's own historic preservation officer recommended that the County's application for a Certificate of Appropriateness be approved. This recommendation was based on assessment by the City's historic preservation officer that the County's project complied with the City of Miami's adopted 2005 Coconut Grove Playhouse Designation Report, the governing document for this decision. Furthermore, Miami -Dade County's preservation officer performed an independent analysis and ultimately reached the same conclusion: that the project is consistent with applicable historic preservation standards, including the Secretary of the Interior's Standards, and meets all requirements of the City's Code. The only material in the record to the contrary is not evidence at all: the assessment by the State Division of Historic Resources erroneously considers the effects of the project on the interior of the Playhouse and erroneously judges the plan in reference to the National Register of Historic Places designating document, which does not govern. To be clear, National Register status is a high honor and one that the County supported and appreciates. But the National Register listing is honorary only. It is non -regulatory and legally should not have been a factor in the decision of the HEPB or Mayor Suarez. In addition, the contention that our project would jeopardize the National Register listing is untrue. Indeed, local common experience suggests just the opposite. The historically significant Sears building once stood where the Arsht Center is today. That site was listed on the National Register when the full building remained there. Today, only the historic tower feature stands, but the site remains on the National Register. The veto is premised on the erroneous and unsupported conclusion that the County did not exhaustively consider alternatives. To the contrary, as documented in our Certificate of Appropriateness application, written appeal, and testimony before the City Commission, our professional staff at the Department of Cultural Affairs and our design team spent its initial year of work researching the history of the interior and exterior architectural changes made to the Playhouse. This work documented the detrimental effect of successive architectural interventions on the building's interiors. In summary, our extensive investigation led us to independently arrive at the same conclusion that the City reached in its 2005 Designation Report: only the exterior front building retained architectural integrity. Nonetheless, the County's design team also tested the feasibility of inserting a new theater into the shell of the existing auditorium. Our team of expert theater and acoustical consultants documented that placing a new theater in the existing auditorium shell would severely compromise the functionality and viability of the theater. Investing millions of dollars in a compromised approach is not only an inadvisable use of public funds, but also constitutes replicating decades of failed efforts to convert what was designed as a silent movie theater into a working theater. And to what end? To save four nondescript walls at some undetermined cost, at the perpetual expense of the taxpayers and at the expense of a financially feasible theater, solely for the sake of nostalgia? No. Our residents deserve better. • Mayor Suarez aligns himself with the legally insupportable decision of the HEPB. Mayor Suarez questions why the County sought an appeal before the City Commission. But given the HEPB's disregard for due process and failure to apply the correct law, the County's only recourse was to bring this appeal. • Mayor Suarez's proposed plan is a false alternative. In his veto message, Mayor Suarez attempts to propose another plan that prioritizes the parking garage and the Playhouse's STEPHEN P. CLARK CENTER, 1 1 1 N.W. FIRST STREET, SUITE 2910, MIAMI, FLORIDA 33128-1994 • (305) 375-5071 • FAX (305) 375-3618 The Honorable Ken Russell, Chair and Members, City of Miami Commission Page 3 Submitted into the public record for item(s) MV.1 on 05/23/2019 , City Clerk fagade, to the detriment of the historically significant theatrical use. In fact, arguably the most important part of our project from a historic preservation perspective is that we are returning the historically significant theatrical use to the site. But Mayor Suarez's false alternative would make the theater subservient to a parking garage. Even worse, the Mayor's "alternative" would subject our elected officials and our taxpayers to be liable for undetermined amounts of additional tax dollars to build, and then subsidize, an unworkable project. This is unacceptable. This false alternative also wrongly uses a regulatory process to improperly interfere with the County's property interests, by trying to force us to disregard our lease with the State, which calls for a 300-seat theater. And most egregiously, it improperly attempts to redefine the application that we submitted for a Certificate of Appropriateness. This is our plan and our application, and it belongs to our entire community. In conclusion, please consider the facts submitted in our application for a Certificate of Appropriateness. Evaluate the testimony offered in our appeal. Accept the recommendation of your own historic preservation officer to approve our project. And believe your eyes — look at our project and see that it fully restores the image and substance of what has defined the Coconut Grove Playhouse for almost a century: the brilliant historic architecture viewed from Main Highway and the tradition of great dramatic theater presented at this special place. It is for all of the reasons mentioned above, that I respectfully urge you to override Mayor Suarez's veto. Thank you Carlos A. imenez Mayor Miami -Dade County cc: Mayor Francis Suarez Francisco J. Garcia, Planning Director Christine H. Tibbs, Hearing Boards Coordinator Victoria Mendez, City Attorney John Greco, Deputy City Attorney Rafael Suarez -Rivas, Assistant City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk Eddie Kirtley, Assistant County Attorney Dennis Kerbel, Assistant County Attorney Monica Rizo-Perez, Assistant County Attorney Kenneth Jessell, Florida International University Joe Adler, GableStage Art Noriega, Miami Parking Authority Attachment STEPHEN P. CLARK CENTER, 11 1 N.W. FIRST STREET, SUITE 2910, MIAMI, FLORIDA 33128-1994 • (305) 375.5071 • FAX (305) 375.3618 Submitted into the public record for item(s) MV.1 EXISTING NORTHEAST SIDE ELEVATION slte to West New Park and Office liner. view from Abite0ra Wav Submitted into the public record for item(s) MV-1 on 05/23/2019 City Clerk ,h Lhtaorhood v*ew L fr,rn William Avenue. Thearei view Iroi Charles Avenue. r� - r .i OT 5017 �+ T11 el r7 Submitted into the public record for item(s) MV.1 on 05/23/2019 . City Clerk ZMEF ri r1 yr Igo Ma ■ ? - IL i all BA: on on 1B in No on on so we No is lei '"' — tit a FR,UP T FACADE Submitted into the public record for item(s) M_ V.1 on 05/23/2019 City Clerk PROPOSED FRONT FACADE