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Meeting Minutes - June 28 2018 1 Mayor’s General Obligation Bond Advisory Panel Meeting Minutes June 28, 2018 City Manager’s Large Conference Room Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. Attendance was taken. Mayor’s General Obligation Advisory Panel Members in attendance were as follows: Last Name First Name Present Absent Phone Not Sworn in Rivo Karen X Breslin Ray X Glottman Jack X Gross Saul X Jones Carolina X Leibowitz Debra X Libbin Jerry X Malakoff Joy X Meiner Steven X Peter Marie X Ramos Margueritte X City of Miami Beach employees and City of Miami Beach residents present included: Commissioner Mark Samuelian John Woodruff, Chief Financial Officer Eric Carpenter, Assistant City Manager John Rebar, Parks and Recreation Director Jose Del Risco, Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Cindy Casanova, Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Vianca Peron-Sellan, Parks and Recreation Administrative Services Manager David Martinez, Office of Capital Improvement Projects Director Maria Cerna, Office of Capital Improvement Projects Division Director Heather Shaw, Tourism, Culture, and Economic Development Assistant Director Brandi Reddick, Cultural Affairs Manager Elizabeth Wheaton, Environment and Sustainability Director Michele Burger, Mayor Gelber’s Chief of Staff Erick Chiroles, Aide to Commissioner Arriola Dani Bonini, PAL James Quinlan, resident Jelena Demetriades, resident Roll Call Attendance of the Panel was taken. 2 Minutes June 21, 2018 The Panel took a few minutes to review the minutes and began providing their comments. The Panel decided to provide some comments and then minutes will be circulated to the Panel as a semi- amended version to be approved at the next meeting. No formal approval of the minutes was made. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross provided some corrections during the meeting that were noted. Debra Leibowitz provided a correction that was noted. Jack Glottman provided his corrections. Ray Breslin referenced Frank Del Vecchio’s vocalism regarding the G.O. Bond and he said he would like to know how much money was spent during the 1999 G.O. Bond on the South of Fifth neighborhood. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said in the emails he has seen from Mr. Del Vecchio, he thinks his issues have more to do with the timing of the ballot measure and making sure all of the projects have been thoroughly vetted and not rushed. He thinks his objection has to do with the process. Marie Peter said she thinks that South of Fifth had a lot of money from the South Pointe CRA that had nothing to do with the 1999 G.O. Bond. Discussion continued regarding other topics. Carolina Jones asked what the consensus was of the Panel about the waterway restoration project. She said she spoke with Margarita Wells about that project specifically because it was at Stillwater and Biscayne Pointe. She said none of the neighbors knew about the dredging project. She said the one area they want to do this in is the Biscayne Pointe Canal, but this project is more comprehensive of dredging the perimeters of those islands and additional areas in the City. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked what the nature of their concern is. Carolina Jones said that we may doing something we don’t need. Vice-Chairperson said the explanation was that they are trying to make those waterways navigable for the benefit of the boaters in North Beach. Carolina Jones said she is the HOA President at Stillwater and she reached out to the HOA President at Biscayne Pointe and they both agree on the perimeter it is completely navigable and the potential of damaging marine life is not worth it. Elizabeth Wheaton, Environment and Sustainability Director came to clarify the concerns. Carolina Jones said she was emailing with Margarita Wells, Environment and Sustainability Assistant Director regarding the dredging. She said the residents of Stillwater and Biscayne Pointe were not aware of any issues around the perimeter of those islands. Those areas are navigable. On Biscayne Pointe there is an issue in the canal. Elizabeth Wheaton said there was a report done in 2003 where they assessed the waterways and they came up with a list of areas where dredging was needed. Prior to any dredging being complete an updated analysis would have to be done to prioritize the sections of all of our waterways North, 3 Middle, and South Beach of where dredging needs to occur. Right now we can use the prioritized list from 2003 as an estimate and use as a guide, but this is not going to inform future construction, we would have to go back and look at the current conditions. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked if Elizabeth has a breakdown of the numbers by canal and area. He suggested circulating that because it seems to be a common comment that people on the Advisory Panel would like to see generally more or less how much money for each particular project in each particular area. He said since next Thursday will be an all-day session and they are going to prioritize the projects, in advance of that meeting it would be good to circulate those spreadsheets to show the numbers in the different areas so that people can review it for the meeting to be ready to comment on it at that meeting. He confirmed that staff will try to get the Panel that list. Elizabeth Wheaton said what we have done in order to come up with that estimate is take the quantities from the 2003 report with the sections that would need to be dredged and added some areas that we know based on existing conditions that will need to added to the list and of course how much will cost to do the survey and to get the dredging permitted. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said he has been thinking since the last meeting that we have a lot of dollar amounts that are placeholders that are not really fully formed projects. He said in a way that is how the last G.O. Bond was done. There was a certain amount of money that was allocated per neighborhood, he doesn’t even know that the neighborhood amounts were known, and there was no basis of a design report at the time the G.O. Bond was passed. Maybe it should be like that in this one, but he has seen a lot of comments that the projects weren’t really mature at the time that they were approved and that it took years for the basis of design report to be developed and a consensus achieved in the neighborhood, etc. He asked how we deal with placeholders and timing where projects may not be ready for several years after the G.O. Bond is approved. He asked how we respond to residents. Eric Carpenter said Capital Improvement Programming is an inexact science, you are programming out 5 years, best case scenario. In this case we could be programming for longer than that because we are looking at that it has been 19 years since the last G.O. Bond has been issued in Miami Beach. He thinks there are a lot of built up needs over time. Some of them have been fleshed out completely and there are precise dollar figures associated with them, but some of them that have been mentioned are placeholders. They are everyone’s best guess as to what we think those dollars will be. It is hard to say the exact amount for certain projects because we just don’t have the detail. He said what people really need to ask themselves is if they can support a project that is a placeholder because there is an identified need or if you only want to support the projects that are completely fleshed out as a member of the Advisory Panel. Vice-Chairperson recognized Commissioner Samuelian. He also mentioned that Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin joined the meeting as well. He also said that 20 years is a long horizon and maybe look at a 10 year horizon to see what projects we can do in 10 years. Maybe we don’t put all of these projects in there and cut some down with the intention of doing the projects in 10 years. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said maybe we should even do 5 years. He thinks if we show the public success, that we follow through and complete things they’ll have more of an appetite to reward you. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked what the dictates of the financing market are. He asked if going out every 5 years would affect our ability to go out to the market and is it too small of a number to be economically efficient. 4 John Woodruff, Chief Financial Officer, said he thinks the factor is going out and raising taxes every 5 years. Margueritte Ramos said she would agree if we didn’t have a successful 1999 G.O. Bond. 57 out of 62 projects were completed. She thinks the City can do it. Carolina Jones said the projects that have been vetted and have gone through Committees and have been blessed by Commission should naturally rise to the top in the conversation. Then we can have the secondary conversations of the things that haven’t been vetted as seriously. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said it seems like a small percentage of the projects have been fully vetted. The majority of them are wish list projects that have been pent up in the Commission, the neighborhoods, the Administration. They certainly have not been vetted at the stage where there are plans. Chairperson Karen Rivo said it is really time to send John Woodruff their thoughts about the questions that are being raised right now and move on to the Parks presentation. If everyone sends their comments we can be fully prepared for next Thursday. She really doesn’t think we are going to answer all of the questions right now. Jack Glottman said he thinks we need to come up with criteria of how we are going to decide what should go or not. Maybe come up with 3-5 questions and see if the projects meet the requirements. At least have some sort of a process for voting for these. Chairperson Karen Rivo said she thinks that is a good suggestion. For example, are these concrete, are they important to you, can we accomplish them in 5 years? She thinks we need to come up with a few things to be able to separate things next week. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he thinks we need professional help. He would like to see the Panel recommend to the Commission to engage a firm t o create a lens to which every project is looked at to see if it reduces the risk in the community at all, is it going to make us more sustainable, is it going to create a longer life for Miami Beach, which projects rank higher based on 3 to 5 criteria. Only a professional organization can do that. An organization should be part of a recommendation to move forward. Debra Leibowitz said she would rather the Panel try to come up with those questions themselves because she thinks this is moving quickly and the deadlines are approaching too soon. She thinks those are good questions that Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin mentioned, but she thinks they can add them to their list. She agreed with what Jack Glottman said that they should up with a list of criteria otherwise they aren’t going to all agree. She thinks the mission as a group is to determine criteria and give their recommendations; she thinks some of Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin’s questions are good questions that she would like to add to the list. Marie Peter agreed with Debra Leibowitz and at this point she said they need to put the questions together, think about where they are going. She said they are not just listening to a wish list, but there are experts in the City and the City staffs aren’t just sitting there checking off what they would like, they are saying these are the things they researched and found. We do have experts in our own field that are actually on it. She thinks the job of the Panel is to listen to the experts and say whether they agree or not. Carolina Jones said that she agreed and if they look at each project individually, taking the waterway project as an example, there was a consultant and a study. A lot of the projects have consultants 5 that opined and gave their opinion individually. She doesn’t think there is a need to hire another consultant to create a lens. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross followed up on what Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said having gone through the last process. He asked what the plan is this time, he asked if the thought is to hire a program manager again or is the thought to try to do this with existing capacity in the Administration. Eric Carpenter said a lot of that depends on how big of a dollar figure we are talking about the G.O. bond issuing and what type of spend down curve we are talking about. He said he is completely confident our CIP team and Public Works team can push out somewhere between $50-75 million a year. If we are talking about $100 million a year, we may need outside help. These project numbers include both hard costs and soft costs. The soft costs include the internal costs of our CIP department who charges back against the projects that they manage. David Martinez, CIP Director gave some history on the CIP department. He said it was created in 2001 at a very scaled back level. Hazen and Sawyer were involved in that and in 2009 CIP took it over 100%. He confirmed what Eric Carpenter said about being able to successfully push out $50-75 million a year of projects. Jack Glottman said he knows we are getting feedback from the community and we are sending surveys out, he asked if we can make it a point of having a report at each meeting to get a general idea of how many people are actually responding to the surveys? It would be interesting to hear if people are responding. John Woodruff said he would like to give a few minute update and then we can get into Parks. He mentioned that we handed out a bunch of documents and also wanted to provide the road map for the next few meetings. He mentioned that everyone should have the parks priorities, the timeline sheet, and the one pagers. The attachments were too large to print out, so we will send a link for everyone to see. He said that 3 meetings of the Panel we need to land somewhere, tonight’s objective is to get through the parks projects and there are a handful of new projects that came up so those will be presented as well. That will complete the first pass. Anything that the Panel would like to see on July 5th, we should discuss so we can prepare staff so we get the most out of the July 5th session. For example, the estimated operating and maintenance impacts for each project. We will have some 1999 G.O. Bond information, we will have the results of the public information through July 5th. He will print out a project list that will have a column with high priorities and how much that is adding up to. Right now we are at $545 million on high priorities only, which includes the parks priorities as well. On July 5th, the Panel will be doing iterations. There will be representation from each department that presented. We will come back at the 12th and finalize wherever we are going to get. We can note if we have additional time, this is what we would have like to have done, but here is the best we have as of July 12th. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross mentioned that there is no stormwater overlay on the list. In order to understand the above ground numbers we need to understand the underground numbers are. He said for him it is going to figure in which projects are priorities based on what the cost is. For example, North Bay Road being $83 million. John Woodruff said another way of thinking about it is that we can do the underground project and not have an above ground component, but it is an opportunity to do a lot of improvements, so we try to marry those up. We cannot really afford to slow down the undergrounding. If we don’t do the above ground we are just short changing the neighborhoods. 6 Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said if he was told the North Bay Road project was $85 million, he is not so sure that it is the right solution. That is a discussion that the Commission is having at a very high level. Maybe those particular projects can be in a second basket if they were to split them up and do different groups. Debra Leibowitz asked if for our purposes we just make that one of our questions if this is the full budget or if this is a percentage component of an overall budget. She thinks it is an important question on a lot of these projects. That should be one of the criteria. We need to come up with criteria otherwise we are going to go in circles forever. For example, project #42, which is $24 million, what other costs are associated with this and what percentage is this of the overall project? Former Commissioner Libbin also mentioned the taxes and the stormwater rates. The question is if we are greenlighting an increase in stormwater rates. John Woodruff said the focus here is the G.O. Bond, not the water and sewer. That is going to happen anyway. All we are asking is when they do that if we want to have an above ground component at the time that they do it. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said the category he is thinking about is the $50 million for above ground work that goes along with around $250 million of raising roads. Eric Carpenter said there are also tremendous water and sewer needs that we are tackling with these underground projects. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross’s concern is digging up the streets again to raise the roads in the same neighborhoods again. He is not rushing to approve those in this G.O. Bond. Jack Glottman said we still need to look at the timing. He said that Eric Carpenter said we can push $50-75 million worth of projects a year and perhaps more if there is outside help. We need to make sure we are not frontloading it. We need to make sure we have a nice balance for the next 10 years. John Woodruff said the sequencing of the projects will take place after there is a final project list. The scope of the Panel is to look at the projects and decide if there is merit to them and they are good for the community. The Panel isn’t expected to be experts. He said for the Panel to do the best they can under the circumstances. Carolina Jones said she thinks it would be beneficial for the July 5th meeting if the Panel would send their recommendations of prioritizations to John Woodruff ahead of time. For example, top 20, mid 50, bottom 20. If we are in agreement on the top 20 we don’t need to talk about them further and so on. Then we can focus on the items that really need discussion and to be vetted and need more information from staff. She thinks the Panel should do this so the July 5th meeting is most productive. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said they might end up developing the criteria at the July 5th meeting and then apply them to the July 12th meeting. He said if anyone has the information to send it to John. Presentation: Infrastructure (#42-87) John Rebar, Parks and Recreation Director, started off by introducing his staff. He introduced Jose Del Risco, as the Assistant Director over the Parks division, maintenance, capital improvements. He introduced Vianca Peron-Sellan, who does a lot of budget and capital projects. He introduced Cindy Casanova, as the Assistant Director over recreation and programming, etc. 7 John Rebar said some of the projects of the parks are actually managed by CIP, so he may refer to David Martinez with some questions. He said they came up with a wish list, there are 24 projects going forward for consideration. He said they came up with the prioritization based on relationships with the community, emails, parents, etc. They met as a team and did their best to come up with the prioritization. #24 Flamingo Park was discussed. This is the Department’s number 1 priority. There is a master plan that started in 2009. The park has a little bit of everything for people and they would really l ike to finish that master plan that has already been vetted. He also mentioned the PAL and that they share part of the space with them. He said that building is the most vulnerable in the City as it relates to flooding, it is in disrepair. He said we would love to give the south end of the park a jewel of a community center shared with the PAL. The $30 million was broken into categories. The master plan that has already been vetted has a $10 million gap. The new building he referenced is $15 million. The rest of the money is to bring the entire park up to like new status. He referenced the turf on the football stadium, we did just do that in 2013, but Flamingo Park is so heavily used, it has an 8 year warranty, but it also based on the use. We already don’t have a warranty based on the hours of use. We open at sunrise and don’t close until 10 p.m. He mentioned some other elements that are included. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he had sent John Woodruff prior to the first meeting, some slides about improvements that needed to be in Flamingo Park and they are not on the list that John Rebar mentioned. John Woodruff said they are not on there, but he is hoping to handle them separately with Parks and Property Management. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he had a board member who plays softball and that there are holes out in center field where there are some poles that people could run into. He said to make the park safe so people don’t get injured. John Rebar said everything mentioned is in the master plan that David Martinez’s team is working on. He would like to see the slides to make sure nothing is missing. Debra Leibowitz asked about the PAL because there was another project that asked for the roof to be redone and then there was a Fire Station that talked about potentially locating itself where the PAL is. She asked how do we in good conscience vote to replace the center and then vote to spend $10 million for the Fire Station that is just going to go in its place. John Rebar said he remembers when Fire Station #1 was being discussed and they talked about a combined facility, but that conversation stopped there. David Martinez said that he is not sure what the Fire Department presented during their discussion, but his discussion with the Fire Chief, which the $10 million that was earmarked for the Fire Station didn’t necessarily come with a location. The location still needs to be vetted. Debra Leibowitz asked if we are being asked to spend $15.4 million why would there be a separate item to replace the roof? John Woodruff said we will see a few of those because they are mutually exclusive. If we reconstructed the PAL we would not need to do the roof. If we chose not to reconstruct the PAL we are going to need to do the roof. We would go back and reconcile that once we knew it if looks like there is an appetite to replace the center. 8 Jack Glottman asked if the list is in order of the department’s priorities. John Rebar said yes, what they also did within their list, they prioritized that as well. Jack Glottman asked for example, if they have $2.8 million for sports LED lighting upgrades, if they got everything but that they got everything but that would they be okay with it? John Rebar said yes. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked about a lighting program that was initiated 10 years, he asked if this was removing it and putting a new system in or if this is adding as needed. John Rebar said wherever we can we are switching to LED because the technology has advanced so much. We are building on it. Ray Breslin said if we have to replace the turf every 8 years that should be a maintenance issue, not in the G.O. Bond. Discussion was had about the budget of Flamingo Park and what was completed. The missing pieces of the master plan are historic renovation of the butterfly garden and the softball and baseball field renovations for $10 million. These item are soft and hard costs. It is not just the construction cost. Marie Peter asked if someone from the Fire Department will be here next Thursday. John Woodruff said yes. There will be representatives from every department. Marie Peter said she would like to know whether they are going to put a Fire Station here. Eric Carpenter said the Fire Chief has pretty much given up on the option of putting it in Flamingo Park. It was heavily fought by the neighborhood. #32 North Shore Park and Youth Center was discussed. There are two figures, $4.4 million and $6.4 million because right now there is a project idea that is going through the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee and that process and if that was approved it could increase the total amount of the project by $2 million. Right now Parks and Recreation is proposing to renovate the 2 existing ball fields with better lighting, artificial turf, etc. There is talk about getting rid of the parking lot south of the ball fields, so we can possibly make 4 fields. It hasn’t been fully vetted yet. Another big ticket item there is $500,000 for an emergency generator; this is the North end emergency activation center if there is storm event. It doesn’t have a generator on site; we would have to trailer one in. The other components include fencing, roofing, etc. to bring the center up to new condition. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked how many years since the center was built. The answer was 2004. #37 Scott Rakow Youth Center was discussed. John Rebar mentioned that their top 3 projects are the signature centers. 9 Scott Rakow Youth Center is a very popular center; a lot of this would be bringing it back up to newer condition. During Hurricane Irma it was our activation site, it doesn’t not have a generator so we need to put one in. HVAC is another big ticket item. Another item is impact windows. The coolin g towers needs to be replaced for the ice rink. Some work by the pool also needs to be done. A lot of typical upgrades after so much heavy use over the years. #28 Maurice Gibb Park was discussed. John Rebar said this is another big ticket item that is being discussed. It does have a plan and is going through the vetting process. David Martinez explained the environmental remediation that needs to be done. Since we are going to have to remove everything, now is the time to do a renovation. He explained some components of the park. Jack Glottman asked if we can separate the remainder of the remediation and then what is park improvements out of the $1.6 million. David Martinez said they are tied together. Eric Carpenter read out what the money is for. The $1.6 million is for the gap between what we have funded today and what we would need to deliver a complete park. Margueritte Ramos asked about the $6.1 million. That contains the other 3 components of the ask. Ray Breslin asked what the bathhouse is for $1.2 million. David Martinez said that terminology has been revised. The new terminology is that they are being called mooring field marina and mooring field marina facilities. The transient facility is the people that would come to the dock that are mooring out in the bay. The facility would have things such as showers, washing machines, common area, etc. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked if the neighbors are okay with this. David Martinez said this is going through committees. Carolina Jones said this project was before the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee and believes Commissioner Samuelian was there maybe a week ago and fleshed out a few variations. She thinks it will have a big impact on the area and the City. Debra Leibowitz asked how is it that this land has remained unremediated for 30 years? She said when she first moved to the area, there were no trees or equipment there. Commissioner Samuelian spoke. He thanked the Panel for their time and commitment. He said seeing all the familiar faces really bring this to life. He said the Panel is doing really great things, the type of decision making they are doing for the G.O. Bond is incredibly important. It is really about the future of our City and our community. He said they are doing really great work, but the question here is how does this move forward, the notion of program management is a very intriguing one. There are going to be a couple of things in place as the Panel is talking to others in the community, it is important to understand about oversight. Specifically, we have a resident oversight committee that the Commission taken an official position on. For those wondering that we have put all of this good stuff together and what is going to happen after, we already have it on the record about having the oversight. Second thing, as voters go to vote in November, they will hopefully voting on a G.O. Bond, there will be another important question which is likely to be should we have an independent 10 inspector general? An independent group overseeing the activities of the City. It is quite likely to provide some degree of oversight, accountability and commentary on this G.O. Bond would be front and center. As the Panel is talking to the community and if this is really going to play out how we think those are a couple of talking points. #18 72nd Street Complex was discussed. John Rebar said that this is a large project and it is much more than a park, it is estimated for $60 million. This is to take a parking lot by North Shore Youth Center and create a complex area that would include a parking garage, commercial retail space on the first floor, the North Beach Library would be move to this site. There would be a fitness center for adults that would free up the area in the Youth Center to leave that just for youth, as well as a roof top pool. There is a desire to have an Olympic size pool in the City and this site was identified and they are incorporating it into the garage. David Martinez explained that last year they were directed by Commission to hire a consultant to do a feasibility analysis to see what is going on with the site. We have been going through Committee over the process and looking at different programming components. Recently, at the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee they received a lot of direction of what to bring back. This project is being geared toward a design build project. Assuming funding is allocated and we do move forward, the next step would be to put together a design criteria of what a design builder would design and construct on this site. He said they were directed to bring this concept to the Parks and Recreation Facilities Advisory Board next, following that meeting; they would bring it to the community to obtain feedback and then return to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee in September to report back on all the feedback they received from the two efforts. A few things that occurred at the last Finance and Citywide Projects Committee that affects the ask of the G.O. Bond, two things happened, one was the addition of the library relocation, based on the contract that the City has with the County library, the City would be responsible for paying for the move and reconstruction of all the facility. That increased the dollar amount from $60 million to approximately $66 million. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked what the plan is for the land if the library is relocated. Maybe we can use those dollars to fund this as opposed to going out for a G.O. Bond. He would like to know the value of the land. David Martinez said we have received no direction regarding the land. Discussion was had regarding the value of the land. David Martinez said the other component that could increase the project is that the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee directed staff to do an activation of the park in building some kind of ball fields. Carolina Jones said the City has decided we need at least 2 more baseball fields and 2 more soccer fields to sustain the recreation for our kids. This is really the only location that we have been able to fit some more field space. The parking lot fills in the gap. This really is the project that has the biggest bang for North Beach. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked about the skate park. Carolina jones said it was slated to go here, but because of conversations about sports fields. If the additional sports fields don’t fit maybe the skatepark goes back in there. We do have maxing studies and consultants working on this. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he thinks the skatepark is very important. 11 John Rebar said he and David Martinez have been directed to look at the temporary skatepark site to make it a permanent skate facility. We would use the whole block. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said before he can vote on this package he wants to know about the skatepark. Margueritte Ramos said she is obviously a big supporter. She said the library center was supposed to be renovated completely when the new library in South Beach was built, a part of that fund was supposed to renovate the library and it never happened because that library went over in cost. That is something that is 22 years late for the neighborhood. Secondly, this will generate ROI’s because there will be a competition pool and competition pools generate teams coming all the time. We will have a 500 space parking garage which will not be free. That will provide parking for To wn Center. It is part of the North Beach master plan. The fitness gym will also generate funds. This stuff is past due to the neighborhood. The parking garage is crucial to Town Center. Jack Glottman said he wants to make sure if we haven’t already thought about it or if there is a thought to the cost per resident being served. So that we are spending dollars across the City, but we don’t have $60 million in the North end of the City that citizens in the South end will still have their taxes increased, but they may not get the benefit. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said that North Beach has been left aside for 30 years. We cannot really do it the way Jack mentioned, we have to look at it holistically about the need. Ray Breslin said the Collins Park Neighborhood was built out of the last G.O. Bond; including the library and it is a great home for the homeless. He thinks if they move the library to the center they are making a huge error. He supports the rest of the project. Marie Peter said that she doesn’t disagree with how the residents may feel, but she wanted to reiterate being from South Beach, they have a beautiful park and the residents are very happy, there are park rangers protecting the parks, she is assuming they are throughout the City. Sh e thinks it is an advantage for South Beach if North Beach becomes upscale so the City can become one. We will never do that if we all start cuddling our own neighborhoods. If North Beach can have a South Pointe Park she is all for it. #34 Par 3 was discussed. John Rebar said this is a project that has been vetted, CIP will speak this, and there is a conceptual plan. It has been approved by the neighbors and City Commission and there is a funding gap. David Martinez said about 5-6 years, we were ready to break ground on a Par 3, we were ready to give the contractor a notice to proceed with the work. At the time we went in a different direction to build a passive park. We are almost at 60% development, it has been approved by the Design Review Board and has been blessed by the City Commission, and all it needs is some money. The consultant is Sovino Miller. Debra Leibowitz asked if the neighbors are on board with this, because this has been for 30 years. Jelena Demetriades from Bayshore Homeowners Association spoke. She concurred with David Martinez that this project has been fully vetted from the neighbors. This is going to be a cohesive community park in mid beach. There are going to be several active components. Everything that was asked from the community in general will be incorporated. 12 Ray Breslin said he feels that this neighborhood with the high school, Scott Rakow Youth Center, Hebrew Academy, there needs to be a soccer field. The Par 3 park is the perfect place to put it. Ms. Demetriades said the only thing that is standing in the way of breaking ground is the funding. She said that John Woodruff said at the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee that if the G.O. Bond gets approved we should be able to break ground by January. Chairperson Karen Rivo asked John Rebar about the soccer field at Par 3. John Rebar said there is a need for more sports recreation, in the vetting process staff was directed that this be a passive park and it is designed as such. Chairperson Karen Rivo asked if it is set in stone that it is going to be a passive park. The Panel responded that it is. Carolina Jones said that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board explored the passive versus active park last year and there are some legal ramifications to changing the scope of the project. They approached Commission and they would have to go back and vote 7/7 of the Commission to make it an active park. She said we worked with the designers to get as much flat space as possible so that you could play a pickup game of soccer, football, frisbee, etc. This is going to be a gorgeous asset to the City. It is ready to go it just needs funding. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he thinks we should move forward with it, but he asked if there is any possibility on the school property that there is space and maybe make a deal with the school board and the City to fund a soccer field on school property. John Rebar said we actually made that offer and it was turned down. Dr. Rosenfeld was working on it, he would have to get the details from her. He said he believes one of the responses was that it is just not worth it to the City that the school would need it so often and the City would rarely get to use it. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said that this is one of the sensitivities like in North Beach, but for Mid Beach, it has been a source of contention for 20 years. He doesn’t think this is the kind of project we want to tinker with at this time. #31 North Beach Oceanside Park was discussed. John Rebar said that this is another project that has been mostly vetted out of the projects. CIP is going through a master plan for a few years now and it has gone through the Design Review Board and is ready to go. The one thing that is not in the existing master plan is to address the southern portion of the park, where the County has their beach facility and we have some trailers. We need to beautify that area to make an Ocean Rescue County maintenance beach facility and City of Miami Beach facility to make that a compound as well. The rest has been vetted and ready to go. David Martinez said we just received 90% drawings for this, we already engaged FDOT for the grant that we should be able to receive once we go through their process for $1 million, which would help the cause here. Since it is not a given we still need to ask for the money. We also started the permitting through the state for the regulatory component of it. The permitting takes up to 6 months. We should be street ready at the end of the year. They have been working on this for about 2 and a half years. We took a little bit of a hit when the storm came by last because we had to go back and re-inventory trees and such. 13 Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked how the list was prioritized. John Rebar said there is one more in the high priority list, which is # 27 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Park. Amongst the high priorities Flamingo Park was the easiest one to place between staff, then they focused on the community centers that are so popular, then rounded up the list. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said for example the 72nd Street Complex that sounds like an amazing project is ranked 5th. He asked if that is because of a dollar amount of because it just came after the others. John Rebar said it just came after. It was a difficult task. What helped that one rise to the top was the all wheels skatepark at the time and the pool. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked how long it is estimated for a project like that to take to bring to fruition. David Martinez said we are proceeding with a design build with the procurement process. We will be putting together a design criteria once we get the go ahead. Once we nail down the scope, the design criteria can be put together in 4-6 months. We will be able to put out an RFP for a design building in about 9 months of the day they tell us to go. We could get someone on board within 6 months after that. Ray Breslin asked if they would have to build the parking garage first. David Martinez said that part of the design criteria, we would look at sequencing and how to place certain pieces and you take that into consideration. Margueritte Ramos said that project #31 was designed by the same people that design Soundscape Park, it is a spectacular design, we have used no City money for this so far. We had a developer that has contributed $10.5 million for the park, which is very important. We do need a little bit of City money for it. She asked how long Ocean Rescue has been in trailers and not on the beach. She thinks it has been at least 10 years. She said it’s very important. Chairperson Karen Rivo asked if the 72nd Street Complex an all or nothing project of $66 million. David Martinez said it might be higher, but right now we are pursuing it as all or nothing project unless they are directed otherwise. Carolina Jones said if the skatepark component is removed and the ball fields are added it is a wash. David Martinez said these are very ball park figures. It is a very high level estimate at this point. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said we need to move on and asked if the Panel wanted to go through the medium priority projects. The Panel mentioned that they skipped a project. #27. #27 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Park was discussed. John Rebar said that this park is the neighborhood park on Ocean Drive and 3rd Street and it really needs a playground. All of our oceanfront playgrounds, the salt air really gets the best of them. That is why it raised as a top priority. Almost 100% of what was seen on the top of the list is ready to go. 14 Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said it is a big number as far as the total goes, $130 million. This is roughly a quarter of the $520 million that John Woodruff had previously mentioned, which for parks may be appropriate. He asked when the numbers are given to them at next week’s meeting if they will be broken out into public safety, parks, infrastructure. John Woodruff said he can even do that at the end of today’s meeting, based on the priorities of the department heads and there are a few that were moved around at one of the prior meetings, the Panel can at least take that and start playing around with them. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross suggested John Rebar to run through the medium priority projects to see if anyone would like to raise them to the top priority list or not. John Rebar said #26 Lummus Park is the number 1 medium priority project. He said everything has a lifespan for example, grass. We need to do irrigation, etc. We also need to do upgrade the walkway. It is a portion of the beachwalk. #36 Polo Park was discussed. John Rebar said baseball is growing in our City and we have an opportunity to do a baseball field at Polo Park. That is the bulk of the cost. It is heavily used by the school during the day and the City uses it during the evening. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross mentioned money that we used to get for artificial turf. He asked if we have a grants department that purses those types of things. John Rebar said we do and we do pretty well. We apply for every grant that is available. Carolina Jones asked if 2 fields fit in Polo Park. John Rebar said no. Carolina Jones said that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board have been looking for places for fields so this is important to them. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked if the Panel would to move this to the high priority list. They agreed. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said the Lummus Park should also be moved to the high priority list given the profile of Lummus Park. Many tourists are there and it should look the best. Carolina Jones seconded his comments. Debra Leibowitz thinks that Soundscape Park is one of Miami Beach’s jewels. Ray Breslin said it is time to replace the restrooms there. #38 Soundscape Park was discussed. John Woodruff said there are three projects going on in Soundscape Park. There is the restroom trailer. Heather Shaw said on page 79 for Soundscape Park the total is $8.8 million, which includes some replacement of some restroom trailers, which are $700,000 and a storage area with 2 video screens for the New World Symphony, and pedestrianizing the Lincoln Lane North between Drexel Avenue and Washington Avenue. 15 Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked if there is any developer contribution for the Lincoln Lane project. John Woodruff and Heather Shaw said no. Chairperson Karen Rivo said we could just do the restrooms and upgrade the projectors and not do the pedestrianizing for $2.3 million. It is not an all or nothing. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked why the pedestrianizing isn’t included in the Lincoln Road Master Plan. David Martinez said the Lincoln Road design is ongoing; we are about 50% on design drawings. It includes everything from Washington Avenue all the way to the western end; it includes the connector streets Meridian Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Drexel Avenue. It doesn’t include the Lincoln Lanes. It was in the original G.O. Bond request when it went through the first iteration; this was one of the projects that were knocked off by the Commission. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said he met with Howard Herring and for the restrooms what they are proposing is not what we are seeing on the project sheet necessarily. The bathrooms will be built in the garage and not replace the trailers. When they have the wall casts, there are long wait times for the restrooms. The garage on 17th Street, the new visitor center at the eastern end of the building, there is an entrance that is not used. He said you cannot invite people to see things and not have appropriate restrooms. Having trailers is not the way to go. He thinks the City should find the $700,000 and if they can’t he would support it in the G.O. Bond, but he doesn’t think it is the way to do it. The upgrading of the cameras to 4k technology, he was told that they were paying for some and the G.O. Bond was as well. He thinks they should come up with some public benefit. We want to stay on the cutting edge, if there was a partnership and offer additional benefits. Margueritte Ramos asked if the wall cast is expanding. Heather Shaw said they need to space to store the screens. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said the wall cast is so successful and amazing. The New World Symphony has a brand and elevates the cultural offerings that Miami Beach has to offer. We should support the project. The Panel asked if he means all of it. Chairperson Karen Rivo said this is a jewel and thinks we should support the technology for sure. Former Commissioner Libbin thinks this should be on the higher priority list. The Panel agreed about supporting the technology and the restrooms and it should be in the higher priority category, the $700,000 and the $3.8 million. John Rebar said the other projects that are in the middle priority level are more renovations South Pointe Park, Signature Park, the elements there to keep them looking first class they are recommending a playground replacement, it doesn’t have to be in the first year of the bond, it could be a couple years down. Normandy Isle playground replacement, pool pump, LED lighting, security cameras. Pine Tree park needs a new walkway, it is an asphalt walkway and we would like to make it smooth and level. A lot of trees were lost during Hurricane Irma. Also, the kayak launch is under water during the high tides and it is getting damaged as result. 16 Former Commissioner Libbin asked if we are doing sports LED lighting in all the other parks, we could say to at least give them the LED lighting at Normandy Isle. Margueritte Ramos asked about the pool pump. It is close to end of life. Former Commissioner Libbin said that should be a maintenance item not a G.O. Bond item. Marie Peter asked about the quick release shade structure. John Rebar said we lost 9 of our shades during Hurricane Irma. Staff is able to unhook these shades if a storm is coming, because sometime you would need to hire a crew people to come do that if they have all these cables. The quick release is the way to go in South Florida so you are able to get them down quickly before a storm and put back up after a storm. Margueritte Ramos said a lot of them were quick release, they just weren’t removed. Marie Peter asked about the playground replacements and if they are because of safety or do we just want to replace them to upgrade them. John Rebar said some are getting to a point of safety and others are in need of upgrading. If it is ocean front we are looking at a 5 year replacement, if it is farther away from the ocean it is about an 8 year replacement. If it is in a really protected environment it would be a 10 year replacement. Ray Breslin agrees with the parks and everything else, but his concern is in the last G.O. Bond. Collins Park was supposed to have a children’s feature and they still don’t have one and he doesn’t see it listed there. John Rebar said we can add that, we are adding projects as we go. He hasn’t seen that before where it existed years ago. Ray Breslin said if we cannot come up with something really cool, then let’s have a tot lot. You cannot have a park with nothing for children. Marie Peter asked if John Rebar can let the Panel know which are for safety because we are talking about children and playgrounds. If any of them are safety that is a priority for the Panel first. Margueritte Ramos said also shade, without it kids get sun burned. Jose Del Risco will be at the July 5th meeting with that information. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said that LED lighting is another few hundred thousand dollars and if we are going to do it in one park, we should do it for all parks. Debra Leibowitz asked how this relates to the issue about having another item about putting LED lighting throughout the City. The other item is for street lighting. Margueritte Ramos asked about the Blueways and why it is in the lowest priority it seems like a great project 3 locations would be getting kayak launches. 17 John Rebar said it was hard, but Maurice Gibb Park will have a ramp with a non-motorized vessel, Mid Beach there is Pine Tree Park, one that opened up on 73rd Street and Dickens Avenue and another one on 81st Street and Crespi Boulevard. We have the Blueways kind of covered. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin asked if the City has looked at diagonal crosswalks like in California. Ray Breslin said we were looking at 3 locations in Miami Beach to put them in. Eric Carpenter said someone picked up the recommendation from the Transportation and Parking Committee. It is just paint. The signals can be reprogrammed. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said maybe the Panel can receive a report back on that at the next meeting. New/Updated Projects #88 West Lots Redevelopment was discussed. Heather Shaw explained the project. She explained that Dover Kohl made a presentation to Commission yesterday with their recommendations of what to do with the individual lots. For example a water square. Former Commissioner Libbin said one thing he does not see here is the skatepark. Marie Peter said we really have to look at the water square because in South Pointe Park it was a disaster and a health issue. Margueritte Ramos asked where the presentation is. John Woodruff said we are going to put it in the link that will be sent with the attachments and everyone should look at it. The Panel asked if Staff or Commission mentioned anything about the skatepark during the presentation. The answer was no. Ray Breslin said it was approved by the Commission that behind the library we are going to build an arts building that will house Miami City Ballet Students and the second project of the garage, he asked where the money is going to come from to build that building. David Martinez said it is a P3 that is going to go out. It will be a developer funded project. It won’t be much different than the hotel development. #89 Ocean Terrace Neighborhood Improvements was discussed. Heather Shaw said we engaged the Corradino Group to come with a design that would make the area more pedestrian friendly. She said we will have more information in the next week or so regarding their recommendations. #90 Central Bayshore Landscaping was discussed. Landscaping Improvements was not part of the Central Bayshore Neighborhood Improvement Project. At the request from the residents, a landscaping master plan for this neighborhood is being developed. 18 Discussion was had about Miami Beach Drive. #75 41st Street Corridor was discussed. There was a placeholder for $10 million, but now it has been modified to $20 million. Heather Shaw said it is to add additional lighting and canopies. The 41st Street Committee has been meeting regularly and there is a consultant to flesh out designs to make the corridor a welcoming entryway to the City. This will help the businesses on the Street. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin said this is a very important project. In the grand scheme of things they are not asking a lot. Some preliminary findings are that people are going there and not staying. Panel Discussion Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked if the Panel would like to break for lunch at the July 5th meeting. The Panel would like to bring in lunch. The Panel talked about organizing the meeting. John Woodruff said he will be meeting with Karen Rivo on Monday to discuss how the meeting should go. He said that if there is anything the Panel would like to see beforehand or anything they want to see the day off to let him know ahead of time so that staff is prepared. The Panel would like to see things presented on the TV. The Panel wanted to make sure that staff is available to answer any and all questions at next week’s meeting, especially the Fire Chief and Chief of Police. Ray Breslin said he is sorry he won’t be present for next week’s meeting and he wanted to put on the record that he doesn’t vote to spend one dime on the Jackie Gleason Theater. Eric Carpenter said he spoke with the City Manager and he would like very much to address the Panel for a short period of time at the July 5th meeting to share his views on the process and about priorities. The Panel suggested for him to kick off the meeting. Margueritte Ramos mentioned the North Beach Sub Station and about it not being renovated, she said there was a figure. John Woodruff said that when he got the information from Police and Property Management it wasn’t the right scope. More information will be available at the July 5th meeting. Carolina Jones said during Hurricane Irma, they didn’t have a place, she doesn’t know where they were working from. They are looking for more space. We want to be ahead of the curve. Chairperson Karen Rivo asked if it would be helpful if staff put together a one pager with all the top priorities from all the 3 areas. 19 The Panel received one, it is actually 4 pages. John Woodruff said we printed out the high, medium, and low priorities so everyone can reflect on it and he will email it to Karen. Chairperson Karen Rivo suggested a different way of separating the projects out, for example, resiliency. Margueritte Ramos said the list helps pick and choose the parks. She said maybe they want to pick certain things from each project to pay for. Jack Glottman suggested taking 15-30 minutes at the start of the meeting to brainstorm of what we think are critical to weigh our position on these projects. Come prepared to meeting with your own criteria and ranking the projects. John Woodruff said the Panel may not all agree on criteria, another way to get to a final list is take each person’s priorities and compare them across the room. Former Commissioner Jerry Libbin suggested making a cut off for a dollar amount, if not everyone could have a different dollar figure. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross said the way he looks at it is that they are all tax payers and what do they think is worthy of spending the money on. Margueritte Ramos mentioned that the projects that didn’t get funded in the 1999 G.O. Bond is supposed to get funded first in this G.O. Bond. North Shore neighborhood still doesn’t have their own line item. John Woodruff said there is a note there to break out North Shore separately. Jack Glottman asked if John Woodruff can send an excel spreadsheet of the project list that was handed out. John Woodruff said yes. Vice-Chairperson Saul Gross asked about debt service to pay for some projects. John Woodruff said the existing debt service we are going to refinance, but the savings will help smooth out the impact to the property tax rate. Ray Breslin asked about the quick release shades in the Parks and why aren’t there some in every park. Every park should have a place for shade. The same reason not every park has a playground is the same reason they don’t have shade structure. Next Steps Prepare information for the July 5th all day meeting. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:04 p.m.