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File Ref. #073 A 10/# {)73-/kJt?T11/ /f1/-A RECEIVED KENT HARRISON ROBBINS '"' ATTORNEY AT LAW 98 MJi:J 13 AM 10: 35 1224 WASHINGTON AVENUE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139 i::1T Y CU]~!\'S OFF ICE (305) 532-0500 August 10, 1998 Dean Grandin Planning and Zoning Department City of Miami Beach 1700 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, Florida 33139 Re: DRB File 9817 775 Dade Boulevard Warren Harding Hotel Dear Mr. Grandin: I represent Maritza and Armando Gutierrez, residents and citizens of Miami Beach who will be affected by the proposed Warren Harding Hotel. On June 23, 1998, Lucia Dougherty wrote you a letter on behalf ofthe Warren Harding Hotel (Design Review Board File 9817) project providing information and opinions concerning "Disclosure of Interest" in the parcels that are part of the site for the proposed Warren Harding Hotel. Her letter disclosed at least thirty-two additional persons with an ownership interest compared to only a total of eight in the original application. On June 24, 1998, the next day, I sent a letter challenging Ms. Dougherty's letter and requesting a meeting with you to hear my clients' position before you render any determination about this matter. My June 24, 1998 letter was hand-delivered to you, Mr. Grandin, as well as to Planner Tom Mooney and to Assistant City Attorney Diana Grubb Frieser. Neither you nor Mr. Mooney nor Ms. Frieser responded and none of you provided me with any opportunity to be heard. As the person who determines whether a Design Review Board application is complete for purposes of setting a hearing before the Design Review Board, as the person who signed the Design Review Board staff reports on this project, and as the person who serves as the zoning official of the City of Miami Beach, you had a duty to meet with me on this matter to hear my clients' objections. Mr. Grandin, the City Charter guarantees its citizens the rights enumerated in the Citizen's Bill of Rights. Those rights are intended to "make government more accountable and to insure to all persons fair and equitable treatment." "The "Right to be Heard" provides that "any interested person has the right to appear before any . . . City agency, board or department for the presentation, adjustment, or determination of an issue, request or controversy within the jurisdiction of the City". Article (A)5, Citizen's Bill of Rights, Miami Beach City Charter. I am enclosing an excerpt of the City Charter. Mr. Grandin, you, as well as Mr. Mooney and Ms. Frieser may have violated the Bill of Rights and my clients' "Right to be Heard" under the Citizen's Bill of Rights. Six weeks has lapsed and you have not provided me with a meeting to present my clients' position prior to any determination you may make as a result of the June 23, 1998 letter from Lucia Dougherty and other submissions made by her firm. On Thursday, August 6, 1998, during my repeated attempts to inspect the Design Review Board records concerning the Warren Harding Hotel project, I found a copy of my June 24, 1998 letter in the Design Review Board files with annotations initialed by "DG" [Dean Grandin], and by "TM" [Tom Mooney], and referring to a statement "Diana" [Diana Grubb Frieser]. A copy of that annotated letter is attached. This is further proof that you as well as Mr. Mooney and Ms. Frieser have not recognized my clients' Right to be Heard. As a result, my clients have been prejudiced in their right to challenge a defective Design Review Board application and their right to be heard before any staff determination is made as to whether the application is complete for purposes of determining the ripeness for a Design Review Board hearing on said application. I demand that the August 11, 1998 Design Review Board hearing of the above matter be continued based on the failure to provide my clients with the rights given to them under the City Charter and that you immediately provide my clients, and any other citizen, with a hearing before you on this disclosure of ownership/interest matter. Such a meeting at staff level is essential in order that my clients have the opportunity to fully challenge the application as well as to prepare my presentation for the Design Review Board hearing. Should the August 11, 1998 hearing before Design Review Board not be continued and should a meeting not be scheduled by you (prior to any Design Review Board hearing) to hear my clients concerning disclosure of interest/ownership and other matters that make the application defective, I will be left with no choice but to pursue my clients rights under the Miami Beach Citizen's Bill of Rights and to proceed with my clients' remedies, including those allowed under the City Charter. By this letter and by copies to Ms. Frieser and Mr. Mooney, I am making a public record act request to produce copies of all calendars, appointment books, phone logs, correspondence, 2 records and writings showing all telephone calls, meetings, conferences and/or correspondence you, Mr. Mooney, Ms. Frieser have had with any of the applicants, owners, interested persons, beneficiaries, brokers, or city officials and their respective representatives, attorneys orland agents as well as any other person involving the Warren Harding Hotel project. YOU ARE ON NOTICE. PLEASE GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY. ENCLOSURES cc: Diana Grubb Frieser, Assistant City Attorney Tom Mooney, Planner Murray Dubbin, City Attorney Robert Parcher, City Clerk Sergio Rodriguez, City Manager 3 KENT HARRISON ROBBINS ATTORNEY AT LAW 1224 WASHINGTON AVENUE MIAMI BEACH. FLORIDA 33139 l. /,/ /. (305) 532-0500 Hand - Delivered June 24, 1998 Dean Grandin Planning, Design, and Historic Preservation Division City of Miami Beach 1700 Convention Center Drive Miami Beach, FL 33 139 cc: Diana Grub Frieser, Esq. Lucia Dougherty, Esq. Armando Gutierrez Thomas Mooney, Planner Re: Warren Hardin Hotel- 775 Dade Boulevard - Design Review File No. 9817- Disclosure of Interest Dear Mr. Grandin: I received the June 23. 1998 letter from Lucia Dougherty concerning the "Disclosure ofInterest" in the above matter. I take issue with Ms. Dougherty's and Leo Rose's conclusions. I request a meeting to discuss this matter with you and Ms. Dougherty before you render any determination concerning this matter. GJ;1L-"-~ KENT HARRISON ROBBINS CITY CHARTER CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA PREAMBLE We, the people of the City of Miami Beach, in order to secure for ourselves the benefits and responsibilities of home rule and in order to provide for a municipal government to serve our present and future needs, do hereby adopt this Charter and as part thereof adopt the following Citizens' Bill of Rights. CITIZEN'S BILL OF RIGHTS (A) This government has been created to protect the governed, not the governing. In order to provide the public with full and accurate information, to promote efficient administrative management, to make government more accountable, and to insure to all persons fair and equitable treatment, the following rights are guaranteed: *** 5. Right to be heard. So far as the orderly conduct of public business permits, any interested person has the right to appear before the City Commission or any City agency, board or department for the presentation, adjustment or determination of an issue, request or controversy within the jurisdiction of the City. Matters shall be scheduled for the convenience of the public, and the agenda shall be divided into approximate time periods so that the public may know approximately when a matter will be heard. Nothing herein shall prohibit the City or an agency thereof from imposing reasonable time limits for the presentation of a matter. *** (C) Remedies for violations. In any suit by a citizen alleging a violation of this Bill of Rights filed in the Dade County Circuit Court pursuant to its general equity jurisdiction, the plaintiff, if successful, shall be entitled to recover costs as fixed by the court. Any public official or employee who is found by the court to have willfully violated this article shall forthwith forfeit his office or employment.