LTC 217-2002
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. Z/1. W:z,
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Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and Date: September 20, 2002
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez \ . ~~'
City Manager 0 rJ"O
LA GORCE NEIGHBORHOOD - NORTH OF 63RD STREET - CIP MEETING
NOTIFICA liON
To:
From:
This LTC is to clarify recent concerns raised by citizens at the G.O. Bond Oversight
Committee meeting of September 9,2002 and in subsequent letters and e-mails regarding
meeting notification procedures.
Citizens expressed concern with a meeting that was held in a residents home to discuss
traffic calming in the area and stated or implied that the entire neighborhood process was
flawed due to poor meeting notifications. The neighborhood meeting that has been referred
to was held at the request of several residents in that area who wanted to review proposed
improvements specifically in that neighborhood. As it was a meeting requested by specific
residents, a resident's home was made available. The CIP office sent notices to the area
affected and to those residents that requested the meeting.
The neighborhood meeting was not a full design workshop meeting. It was a meeting with
one area of a larger neighborhood, held at the residents request to discuss traffic calming
that specifically was in and affected their piece of the larger planning area. As such, notice
was not provided beyond the immediately affected area. This notice is apparently the
cause of concern to persons outside the affected area who wish to comment on the traffic
calming.
The entire neighborhood design process has been inclusive and every effort has been
made to notice residents of meetings. Prior to this meeting, and as part of the CIP
planning process, two very well attended Community Design Workshops were held for the
entire La Gorce Neighborhood (December 2001, and January 2002). Both of these
meetings were widely advertised in our local newspapers. In addition, for the first meeting,
newsletters were sent by direct mail to every resident in the area. The second meeting
was similarly advertised, and in addition, all attendees who signed in were sent direct mail
notification. (It is cost prohibitive and impractical to continue to send direct mail to the
thousands of residents in a particular neighborhood). Our standard notification also
includes posting on City websites and on Cable Channel 20, and listing in the City's
published weekly meeting calendar.
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It is important to note that as of today, no decisions have been made as it relates to the La
Gorce Park area traffic calming and the public input process is still ongoing, Another public
meeting on this issue has been scheduled for September 24th at 6:00 P.M. at City Hall in
the 1st floor conference room. Notice of this meeting has been provided to all interested
parties rather than just the affected neighborhood.
Once community consensus is achieved within the neighborhood, the practice has been to
take the proposed improvements to the G.O. Bond Oversight Committee to have a broader
hearing that is both televised and also advertised in the newspaper with a direct mail notice
to those people who have attended previous meetings. Finally, the issue is brought to the
City Commission for approval. This process provides for public notice and input in at least
four (4) separate public forums before a decision is made.
If you have any additional questions or need any additional information, please feel free to
contact me
emstreet, CIP Director
F:\CAPll$all\TIMHEMSTIL TC on LaGorce-North of 63rd St.doc