You Paid for It

After investing $1 million-plus to fix it, CRA will move into an Overtown rooming house

By Cynthia Archbold

The Miami Community Redevelopment Agency will have new headquarters.

City commissioners are asking the agency — which is tasked with revitalizing Overtown and the Omni — to relocate from its offices near downtown to the renovated Ward Rooming House, a modest two-story building that will cost taxpayers $1 million to fix.

That’s way too much public cash for a building that size, according to Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. “So what you’re telling us, if all goes well, if everything goes as planned, you are spending $1,030,000 on a 1,500-square-foot building?” he asked CRA staff in charge of the renovation.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, he and other commissioners voted to spend $450,000 to finish fixing up Overtown’s first and only rooming house, which has been bogged down in costly restoration for years. It now stands gutted and vacant, without plumbing or electricity, at 249 N.W. Ninth St.

“You’re making a $750-a-square-foot building,” Sarnoff said. “I could go anywhere on Biscayne Boulevard right now and buy a penthouse and get it for $200 a square foot less. Maybe we should reconsider what we consider historic.”

But Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, who chairs the CRA, countered, “This is important to the African-American community and it is a very important rooming house.”

Sarnoff said the only way he would support spending more public dollars on the project is if the CRA made the rooming house its new headquarters, and moved the entire office and 11 staff members by next August. Commissioners voted in favor of the measure, agreeing that moving the agency to the Ward Rooming House would save considerable rent in the long run. Currently, the CRA pays $14,000 a month for its office at 49 N.W. Fifth St.

The Ward Rooming House was built in the early 1900s, rebuilt after it was destroyed by a fire in 1925, and is considered reflective of the first 30 years of Miami’s history.

A large part of the renovation money was not spent on construction, Commissioner Tomas Regalado pointed out, but on trying to clear the building’s title and paying for security to guard the property. But commissioners agreed that the money already spent is water under the bridge. They also agreed to require the contractor who wins the bid to hire 25 percent of the construction workers from the Overtown area.

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The Craig Museum

Neighborhood leader opposes scale of future Design District museum

By Claudio Mendonca

A museum project is stirring debate in the Miami Design District.

Miami Beach-based Dacra Development is on the verge of erecting a 42,000-square-foot, six-story contemporary art museum at 140 N.E. 39th St., despite complaints by residents of the nearby Buena Vista East Historic Neighborhood Association.

Neighbors are concerned about Dacra’s 100-foot height proposal and the fact that the city of Miami did not notify the homeowners association of the developer’s plan.

“We are not against development and we don’t want a war with anybody,” Nina West, a member of the Buena Vista East Historic Association, said during a Miami Zoning Board meeting Monday. “All we want is sensible development that follows master plan rules to preserve our historic district.”

Dacra’s attorney, Santiago Echemendia, asked for more time because the original plan is taking longer than expected. The board obliged, giving Dacra a year to apply for a building permit and a one-year extension on the height variance the company received in September 2006.

“It is a two-tower, museum-type project,” said Echemendia. “It is part of the Design District’s [$220 million] redevelopment.”

Owned by Craig Robins, Dacra has been a key player in revitalizing the Miami Design District, a previously neglected neighborhood of abandoned buildings and factories. Since 1998, more than 50 showrooms and 10 architecture firms have opened in the vicinity.

West said variances can help increase property value because they allow developers to build more with fewer restrictions.

“We are upset because we don’t see why a developer should get a variance when the plan is not clear,” she added. “Developers should show work product instead of [the zoning board] just taking their word for it.”

She also said Dacra presented a much smaller project than its original plans showed.

“They are proposing two enormous bulky buildings next to two-story homes in a historic neighborhood and tonight they only showed half the project,” she said.

The city requires a 10-foot setback for every 40 feet of height, but the zoning board waived that rule.

Although West said the neighborhood has a constitutional right to know about new development projects in their neighborhood, Echemendia said the city zoning code does not require it to notify neighborhood associations.

Besides, according to Vanessa Castillo, an administrative assistant with the city of Miami’s hearing board, all of the properties within 500 feet of the future museum’s site were notified. Castillo theorized that the Buena Vista Homeowners Association did not receive notices because the group’s homes are not located within the 500-foot radius.

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Coral Gables

The 5.25 Compromise

City commission finally sets property tax rate

By Erik Bojnansky

The Coral Gables City Commission reduced the city’s property tax rate to its lowest in 12 years.

Beginning Oct. 1, Coral Gables property owners will have to pay $5.25 for every $1,000 of assessed value — down from the current rate of $6.15 per $1,000 of assessed value.

That means a homeowner with a property assessed at $552,559 (the average value of a Gables abode, according to the city) and a $25,000 homestead exemption will pay $2,770 in property taxes, a decrease of $475. Revenues will fund much of the city’s $139 million budget.

City Manager David Brown said the budget was tight and efficient, especially compared with other local governments, such as the Miami-Dade County School Board. “I can tell you that is still the best deal in the county,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting. “You have to go all the way back to 1995 to see a millage at 5.29.”

Still, some residents said the city didn’t cut the taxes enough, complaining that the proposed millage rate was far more than the rates encouraged by the Florida Legislature. “One thing is certain, our budget priorities have shifted, and not for the better,” said Richard Namon, a former mayoral candidate. “In recent years, the city government has increased property taxes unfairly. … Coral Gables’ budget document has hardly changed over the past decade. For the most part, each budget has been a mindless dollar revision of the previous budget.”

Although Brown proposed a millage rate of 5.5 mills, two commissioners refused to back it and proposed a rate of 4.98 mills.

The Coral Gables Budget/Audit Advisory Board unanimously backed the 5.25 millage rate. “The budget was revamped overnight,” committee member Ofelia Fernandez,” said. “It is a very difficult year and there was very little time to make cuts for the next year.”

Commissioner Rafael “Ralph” Cabrera, however, said he was not satisfied with the “compromise.” He questioned why the city invested $4 million to buy the Coral Gables Country Club, “a nonperforming asset” that has cost taxpayers another $425,000 in litigation fees. Cabrera also called the city’s communications division a “luxury at best” for government officials. “The communications division never informs [the public] about any decision that may reflect negatively on the city,” he said. Finally, Cabrera said the city must do more to reform its employee benefits package, which takes up 47 percent of the budget. While Cabrera voted in favor of the budget, he was the lone dissenter regarding the new property tax rate.

Vice Mayor William H. Kerdyk Jr., on the other hand, lauded the new budget. “When you look at the overall scheme … we are remaking government,” he said.

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Miami Beach

One-to-One

Planning board moves to shut down bar and restaurant loophole

By Ben Torter

Praised by neighborhood activists, the Miami Beach Planning Board directed staff Tuesday to revise an “accessory use” ordinance to limit the number of restaurant and bar seats permitted in hotels in the South of Fifth Street historic district to one per hotel room. Any more seats would require a conditional use permit.

The planning board will review the revised ordinance in November. If accepted, the ordinance will move on to the Miami Beach City Commission for a vote.

“I think the planning board made a great stride in the right direction,” South of Fifth Neighborhood Association President Gerald Posner said after the meeting. “They understood this issue and the sensitivity of owners and renters South of Fifth.”

Representatives of the hotel and restaurant industries argued to keep the current ordinance allowing bars and restaurants to be half as large as the hotels in which they operate.

“This is an issue about noise,” testified Carter McDowell, an attorney representing such developers as Zedek Associates, whose proposed Bijou Hotel was recently approved by the historic preservation board, a ruling being challenged by activist Frank Del Vecchio. “I don’t think further regulation is needed.”

But board members disagreed and, instead, backed member Richard Kuper after he suggested the one-seat-to-one-room ratio.

The area that would be affected if the revised ordinance becomes law is a nine-square- block historic district along Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive below Fourth Street. Restaurants in hotels in this area are only supposed to serve hotel guests. But some area residents argue that a loophole in the code permits accessory use restaurants to be as large as 49 percent of the floor area ratio of the hotel, which threatens to destroy the tranquility of the neighborhood.

The mega-popular Prime One Twelve, located in The Browns Hotel at 112 Ocean Drive, and DeVito South Beach have both taken advantage of the loophole. The Browns has eight rooms and is permitted 80 seats in its restaurant. It serves hundreds of people each night, which creates noise and traffic and parking problems for residents.

“It’s a product of an era when the city was desperately seeking development,” said Del Vecchio said.

He praised the planning board for its decision. “It was fine-tuning and extremely insightful and part of an evolution in land use in Miami Beach,” he said.

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Procrastination Play

Planning board to hear bill affecting Miami Heart zoning in October

Miami Heart’s future still hangs in the balance. Photo by Ben Torter

By Ben Torter

The Miami Beach Planning Board decided to wait until Oct. 23 to talk about legislation that would govern what type of redevelopment will be allowed on the Miami Heart Institute campus should Mount Sinai Medical Center sell it for something other than hospital use.

The board postponed the issue so it could discuss the item at the same time that it considers an amendment to allow adult congregate living facilities to be considered hospitals.

If the proposal is approved and Miami Heart is sold and redeveloped into say, a condo, “the rezoning shall be to a district or combination of districts with a floor area ratio no greater than the abutting land.” In other words, new buildings considered incompatible with the single-family neighborhood surrounding the seven-acre medical campus at 4701 N. Meridian Avenue would not be allowed.

Any zoning change would affect all four of the hospital districts in Miami Beach.

The nearly six month-long zoning discussion was prompted by fears from Middle Beach homeowners about what could be built on the property if it Mount Sinai ever sells it.

This is the second continuation of the item.

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Aventura

Westward Ho

City of Excellence re-examines annexing Skylake neighborhoods

By Randy Abraham

Three years ago, Aventura officials considered annexing the unincorporated area just west of the city, but feasibility studies found they could not service those neighborhoods without raising property taxes.

On the Sept. 20, the Aventura City Commission decided to take another look.

The area — including the neighborhoods of Skylake, Ojus and Highland Lakes — is located between West Dixie Highway and Interstate 95, south of County Line Road and north of the North Miami Beach city limits. While the neighborhood fundamentally remains the same, a recent county decision to reconsider terms of incorporation that city officials in 2004 called a “deal-breaker” persuaded Aventura leaders to revisit the issue.

When Aventura officials initially studied annexing Skylake-Ojus, the county’s policy was to withhold all revenues from an unincorporated area’s electric franchise and utility taxes, even if the area were annexed. Annexation would have cost Aventura $1.4 million in lost revenue and created a budget deficit of $1 million, according to the city’s 2004 feasibility study.

Some residents there even considered forming their own municipal government and created the Northeast Municipal Advisory Committee to study the idea. But shortly after the Miami-Dade County Planning and Zoning Advisory Board approved a proposed budget for the future city in August 2005, county commissioners established a moratorium on forming new cities.

Then, last month, county officials notified the cities of Aventura and North Miami Beach of their decision to rethink the policy of retaining unincorporated electric franchise and utility taxes, and invited them to meet with residents of the unincorporated area.

“It’s significantly different this time,” said Aventura Mayor Susan Gottlieb. “It’s worth studying.”

City Manager Eric Soroka, who drafted the 2004 report, said he will update his original findings during the next two months for the City Commission’s consideration — taking into account the rise in property values, the increased revenues and the city’s ability to service a larger area.

Although the Skylake-Ojus area is twice the size of Aventura, its population of 28,000 is much smaller.

Soroka said police protection and patrols would be the most expensive service, adding that the agreement to study the issue does not mean annexation is inevitable. “We are going to be very cautious in taking this on,” he said of the study. “The first thing we have to do is make sure we can accommodate our current residents within our boundaries.”

However, Soroka said, incorporation would enable the city to better control traffic along Ives Dairy Road.

Scott Jay, an unincorporated resident and a past president of the Highland Lakes-Skylake Homeowners Association, said he was encouraged, particularly because local infrastructure there has been neglected for years. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we need to have government,” he said. “We look at ourselves as a stepchild of Northeast Miami-Dade.”

Although Jay did meet with North Miami Beach officials, he said residents feel Aventura would be a better match for them.

Jay added that residents want their community of largely single-family-home neighborhoods to mostly remain the same and not be transformed into a high-rise community like Aventura.

Soroka agreed, although he did note that the zoning along parts of West Dixie Highway lend themselves to redevelopment. “I doubt that we would annex to increase density,” he said.

Any agreement to annex the area would require a vote by Aventura residents and approval of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

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Sunny Isles Beach

Ocean Ho

City approves plans for new high-rise beach club

By Randy Abraham

The future Fairmont Turnberry Isles Ocean Resort Hotel and Residence.

A revised site plan for Fairmont Turnberry Isles Ocean Resort Hotel and Residences was approved by the Sunny Isles Beach City Commission Sept. 20.

The project — a 40-story tower with 174 condo-hotel rooms, 55 condo units and on-site parking — will replace the Turnberry Isle Ocean Club at 18501 Collins Ave.

The developer, Turnberry Associates, received permission to continue operating the private beach club at the site of the new project after the old building is torn down.

In exchange for additional density, Turnberry Associates paid $2.75 million into a city fund for beach access, public recreation enhancement, streetscapes and parking.

The project was approved by a 3-1 vote; Commissioner Gerald Goodman voted no, citing concerns about traffic generated by the ocean club, and Commissioner Dan Iglesias was absent.

In August, Turnberry Associates initially proposed building a 225-room condo-hotel and 60 condo units on the site and parking across the street behind the Navarro Drugs, but commissioners balked. At the time, Greenberg Traurig attorney Cliff Schulman, representing the applicant, said he didn’t think the project could be reconfigured.

Last week, however, Schulman said the project was scaled back and that Turnberry had spent $5 million to bring parking on-site. The revised rendering shows an additional level of parking beneath the condo–hotel.

Schulman said his clients were prepared to donate the parking lot behind the Navarro building for the city to use as open space or a park if the city transferred development rights equal to eight dwelling units and 22,000 square feet of building space. Schulman requested that the city grant the developer six years to exercise those rights, one year longer than permitted, because of the slow real estate market.

The property is assessed at $900,000 and is worth more than $1 million, Schulman said.

 

“Turnberry really wants to be in the community,” he said. “By making that area a park … we’ve done what we can.”

But Commissioner Goodman said he was concerned about traffic generated by the 365 ocean club members. Schulman countered that the private club now in operation rarely attracts more than 70 to 90 members at a time.

 

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Hiring Kendall

 

City hires former prosecutor to fight Publix

 

By Randy Abraham

 

The Sunny Isles Beach City Commission agreed to hire Kendall Coffey, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, to serve as co-counsel in the ongoing dispute with the Publix grocery chain and partners The Stiles Corp.

The two firms want to replace the current Publix at 183rd Street and Collins Avenue with a new grocery store anchoring a mixed-use project and bayfront condo tower. To build the project “as of right,” Stiles and Publix counted submerged land as part of its property. Publix and Stiles sued Sunny Isles after officials denied their application.

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Tax Rate Set

Per state demands, city lowers property tax rate

By Randy Abraham

The Sunny Isles Beach City Commission adopted a $26.9 million budget for the coming fiscal year and lowered property taxes from $2.95 to $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The city reduced taxes by 19 percent at its Sept. 17 budget hearing.

Since its tax base increased by almost $1.5 billion — from $4.77 billion in the 2006-2007 fiscal year to $6.22 billion in the 2007-2008 fiscal year — the city will be able to maintain a $17.5 million reserve fund and avoid severe cuts in services, programs and activities, even with the lower tax rates. New construction alone added almost $1 billion to the tax rolls.

City officials kept costs down by eliminating almost 30 positions, mostly through attrition and retirement, easing its landscaping schedule and gradually phasing in its citywide wireless Internet system.

However, Assistant City Manager Doug Haag said storm water drainage rates may increase by about $10 a month in the next year to offset costs for a series of storm water drainage upgrade projects in the Central Island area, 172nd Street and Gwen Margolis Park. Haag said the city’s rates are lower than in surrounding areas and had not been evaluated in several years.

Mayor Norman Edelcup recommended that commissioners meet in a few months to discuss acquiring open space areas in the district south of Sunny Isles Boulevard. While the city has purchased several such sites in the northern part of the city in recent years, it has “neglected” the southern area, he said.

The state Legislature mandated in June that cities adopt a rollback rate — a lowered tax rate that would generate the same revenues as the previous year — and then further reduce that amount by up to 9 percent.

Plus, municipal governments could lose millions more in lost tax revenues if voters approve a homestead “super-exemption” that would allow homeowners to exempt $200,000 from their assessed property values.

But city officials said the ongoing Sunny Isles Beach building boom should help insulate the city from the budget shocks older towns are experiencing this year. A number of large-scale projects are under construction; several more are awaiting approval.