LTC 203-2010 City of Miami Omni Media Towers - Maefield Dev. City Square Projectm MIAMIBEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER ~Ql~ ~~~ 22 AM 5~ O ~
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
No. LTC x.203-2010 LETT~~- T0~- -~~" I~II~11S~'S~ION
TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commis ion
FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager ~ ~'"
Jose Smith, City Attorney '6'~ '~
DATE: July 22, 2010
SUBJECT: City of Miami Omni Media Towers -Maefield Development City Square
Project
The Miami City Commission will consider on first reading Thursday, July 22, 2010, an
ordinance authorizing "Omni Media Towers" for the Maefield Development City Square
project, which proposes to include media displays attached to two towers approximately 350
and 250 feet above a 100 feet tall parking garage across the street from the Adrienne Arsht
Center for the Performing Arts. The Miami City Commission is expected to hold a special
meeting on July 29, 2010, to consider second reading of the ordinance, and to consider a
development agreement with the project developers.
A Miami Herald article from yesterday is attached for your information. Copies of the
ordinance and the development agreement have been obtained and are available for your
review. Additional information is available on the project web site:
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Concern has been expressed that these media displays will present visual distractions to
drivers on I-395 and on the Miami Omni skyline, and brightness effects on nearby properties.
The City Square web site includes a lighting study and information that suggests the media
structures will "be no brighter than existing light levels" in the area, and "there is no
demonstrable connection between traffic accidents and electronic billboards." However,
there are other concerns, such as the visual impact on the surrounding residential areas,
and the potential distraction it may cause to drivers. It should be noted that the State
Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade County and the Downtown Development
Authority are also reviewing this proposal.
We present this information to you, in the event you wish to request that City representatives
establish contact with Miami and/or project officials to address any impacts that the project
may have on the City of Miami Beach.
JMG/JS/JGG/GMH
F;\cmgr\$ALL\LTC 2010\LTC Media Towers 7-21-2010.docx
Two towering signs in Miami on fast track for approval - 07/21/2010 ~ MiamiHerald.com Page 1 of 4
Posted on Wed, Jul. 21, 2010
Two towering signs in Miami on fast track for approval
BY
The towers -- which are expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in ad fees -would sit
atop a new multistory parking garage that Siffin proposes to build behind the historic
Boulevard Shops on Biscayne Boulevard, across Northeast 14th Street from the Arsht's
Knight Concert Hali. The lots it would occupy are owned by The McClatchy Co., parent of
The Miami Herald.
McClatchy, which has along-standing, $190 million deal to sell The Herald's parking lots to
Siffin, declined to talk about the agreement.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/20/v-print/1739637/two-towering-signs-on-fast-tra... 07/21 /2010
Two towering signs in Miami on fast track for approval - 07/21/2010 ~ MiamiHerald.com Page 2 of 4
Siffin has said the towers are necessary to finance the garage as well as along-stalled retail
development, City Square, which the commission had approved for adjacent Herald lots. If
the towers are authorized, Siffin pledges to complete the retail project, which he says will
revive the blighted area surrounding the Arsht.
In an interview, Regalado said the only reason for hurry is to get the measure out of the way
before the commission has to tackle the city budget crisis in September.
Siffin's attomey, Jeff Bercow, acknowledged that "it's not often" that a private attorney gets
to design the public permitting process for a client's project. But he said the proposal is so
unusual that it merits special treatment by the city, which had no rules contemplating what
Siffin describes as "media towers."
'ONE-OF-A-KIND'
"This is a unique, one-of-a-kind project and there are no guidelines" in the city code, Bercow
said. "We had to work with city staff to create a regulatory framework."
But the city's accelerated timeline and the lack of public hearings, say some residents critical
of the tower idea, mean they won't have a chance to analyze the proposal.
"It's changing the whole nature of the downtown Biscayne corridor," said Jack Hartog,
president of The Venetian Causeway Neighborhood Alliance. "If it is 200 times the size of
any existing billboard, that glare and that domination of the view is extraordinarily
problematic. That something like that is going through on a rushed basis is astounding."
That impact could be significant, according to one study.
The developer and city officials tout letters from condo residents north of the proposed signs
endorsing the project.
But the city's Co mmunity Redevelopment Agency commissioned an engineering analysis
that concluded t he signs would generate such intense light at night as to constitute "an
offensive glare" to condo residents to the south and east up to half a mile from the billboards.
That effect woul d be magnified by the fact that the ad towers would show flashing and
animated image s, the report says.
The affected area would include the new Marquis, Ten Museum Park and 900 Biscayne
condo towers, the CRA says.
Siffin disputes the conclusion, saying the engineer hired by the CRA is not a fighting expert.
He contends his towers would generate less glare than nearby illuminated signs and
buildings.
Even with city approval, the plan could still face a substantial hurdle -- from state and federal
Highway Beautification Act rules that govern outdoor ads along adjacent Biscayne Boulevard
and Interstate 395, both of which are considered federal highways.
Within a zone of 660 feet -- which includes the proposed towers -- those rules bar outdoor
ads larger in area than 900 square feet and taller than 65 feet from the road surface, said
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/20/v-print/1739637/two-towering-signs-on-fast-tra... 07/21/2010
Two towering signs in Miami on fast track for approval - 07/21/2010 ~ MiamiHerald.com Page 3 of 4
John Garner, who enforces the rules for Florida's Department of Transportation. !t also
requires signs be separated by at least 1,500 feet.
Gamer said Siffin's plan would "far exceed" the size limits.
'HUGE'
"It's huge," said Garner after speaking to Siffin about his proposal. "I didn't see any way that
we could issue them a permit as an outdoor advertising sign."
Regalado said the city won't issue Siffin a permit to build until he obtains a permit from
FDOT.
But Siffin and Bercow insist they won't need one. Instead, they argue the ad towers should
be considered "murals" -the controversial commercial banners that have sprung up across
downtown Miami, hung from the sides of buildings. Those are largely exempted from state
review.
Garner, while noting he has received no forma! proposal, said: "It would be difficult to see
how that [the ad towers] would fit within the definition of a wall mural."
In addition, some critics also say the proposed ad towers contravene provisions in Miami-
Dade County's sign ordinance, which also limits what commercial signage municipalities can
allow. Among other things, those provisions bar rooftop signs and flashing ads while limiting
programmable signs to goodsand services available on site.
Siffin and Bercow say those rules don't apply to the towers because the county recently
allowed the city to "opt out" of certain billboard regulations.
The county, in any case, has rarely enforced its ordinance inside municipalities.
Lobbyist Eston 'Dusty" Melton, a critic of what he says is the ad industry's commonplace
flouting of billboard regulations, contends the way the city is handling Siffin's proposal fits a
long-standing pattern of giving the .green light to signs.that officials know -- or should know -
are impermissible.
"He's going to walk out with a city commission approval," Melton, who helped write the
county ordinance, predicted. "And he will build his project as he desires, unless someone
sues."
The ad-tower idea first surfaced in May, when City Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff --
concerned that city officials were quietly working on it behind the scenes -- insisted Siffin
make a public presentation at the Arsht Center. But the presentation was short on specifics.
Subsequently, Siffin held a series of mostly closed meetings with area residents -- as well as
numerous ones with Regalado, commissioners and city staff -but little more was heard
publicly until fast week.
Regalado, who was elected after decrying what he called "back-room deals" between
developers and former Mayor Manny Diaz, and who also pledged to expand public input into
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Two towering signs in Miami on fast track for approval - 07/21/2010 ~ MiamiHerald.com Page 4 of 4
city development decisions, said he believes those meetings provided "plenty" of
opportunity for public comment.
"Mr. Siffin said he was ready, so this is why we put it on the agenda," Regalado said
Monday. "To me, there is a lot of public input. It was a good process."
At the same time, a-mails obtained in response to a public records request show assistant
city attorney Victoria Mendez and other city legal staffers were working on drafts of
legislation and "tweaks" submitted by Bercow's firm -- Mendez even while on vacation.
The a-mails show the city administration gave Siffin a concession that allowed the project to
avoid the usual extensive review by city planners and public hearings by advisory boards --
over the apparent objections of planning director Ana Gelabert-Sanchez.
Although Siffin was making substantial changes to a previously approved project on the site -
- substituting ad towers for two already-permitted 65-story condo towers --the city agreed to
treat the alterations as minor, averting the need for a new round of public hearings.
The reason, according to Mendez? Siffln and his lawyers "do not want further review other
than this agreement" she said in an a-mail.
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