LTC 083-2005 Fisher Island Municipal Advisory Committee
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 083-2005
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From:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
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Jorge M. Gonzalez~~<;(/
City Manager U
FISHER ISLAN MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Date: March 31, 2005
To:
Subject:
The purpose of this LTC is to update the Mayor and City Commission on the incorporation
efforts of Fisher Island.
As you may know, last year, the Board of County Commissioners established a Municipal
Advisory Committee (MAC) for the unincorporated area of Fisher Island, to begin exploring
incorporation. The Administration has monitored this process, and has attended the MAC's
meetings.
On March 14, 2005, the Chair of the Fisher Island MAC, Ira Ostrow, sent me a letter
(attached), requesting the de-annexation of the two pieces of property on T erminallsland
where the ferry terminal sits. This request was made due to an opinion that they received
that stated that in order to maintain the privacy of the island after incorporation, their public
facility (town hall) must be located off the island but within their municipal boundaries.
Attached, please find my response to Mr. Ostrow's letter. In it I express my readiness to
discuss this matter and its financial and operational impacts, as well as an opportunity to
explore the provision of municipal services to the island should they incorporate.
Additionally, I presented an alternative to the incorporation process, and offered to discuss
the potential annexation of the unincorporated portion of Fisher Island by Miami Beach,
should the MAC be interested in exploring that option.
Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
JMG\kc
F:\DOHP\SALL\KEVIN\Commission Items\L TCs\fisher island annexation.doc
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c: Murray Dubbin, City Attorney
Tim Hemstreet, Assistant City Manager
Kathie Brooks, Director of Budget and Performance Improvement
Kevin Crowder, Economic Development Division Director
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IRA OSTROWlOOS#,- SL_/,;-i;.
5024 FISHER ISLAND DRIVE '4R /6 '.CS Drop
FISHER ISLAND, FL 33109-0205 PI'II_. r,
305-538-2577 'I. 29
March 14, 2005
Mr. Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
City of Miami Beach
City Hall
1 700 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Dear Jorge,
This letter is being written on behalf of the Fisher Island
Municipal Advisory Committee. At our last meeting held on
February 2 3rd, a decision was made to contact the city of
Miami Beach and ask for special consideration in De-annexing
the small piece of property on which our Ferry Terminal exists
along route 395. This property is denoted as 02-4204-000-
0040 and 0041 .
In order for us to incorporate Fisher Island into a Municipality,
and maintain our privacy, we would wish to place our Town
Hall on this property and make it available to the public.
By Law, the property should be in the hand of Miami-Dade so
that we can include it in our boundaries.
I met with Kevin Crowder on this subject and he suggested
that I get the ball rolling with this letter.
I would be readily available to meet with you once again to
discuss this subject in more detail.
Cc: Mr. Kevin Crowder, Director Econ. Dev. /
Commissioner Bruno Barreiro
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139
www.miamibeachfl.gov
Office of the City Manager
Jorge M. Gonzalez
Telephone 305 673-7010
Facsimile 305 673-7782
March 7, 2005
Mr. Ira Ostrow
Chair, Fisher Island Municipal Advisory Committee
5024 Fisher Island Drive #5024
Fisher Island, FL 33109
Dear Mr. Ostrow:
The City of Miami Beach has monitored and observed the incorporation effort of Fisher
Island, and wishes to participate as a good neighbor, where appropriate. Additionally,
should incorporation occur, the City of Miami Beach would like to discuss the possibility of
the provision of various municipal services to the newly created city by Miami Beach.
I am in receipt of your request to begin the process to de-annex the two parcels that
comprise the ferry terminal, should the Miami-Dade County Board of County
Commissioners set an election, and subsequently, the registered voters of Fisher Island
approve, the Island's incorporation as a municipality.
The process to change the boundaries of a municipality are outlined in Miami-Dade County
Code, Sec. 20-1 through 20-9. A proposed boundary change may be initiated by one of
four entities:
1. The Miami-Dade County Planning Advisory Board
2. Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners
3. Miami Beach City Commission
4. An individual or group
In the case of initiation by an individual or group, a resolution of the governing body of the
municipality involved must be submitted, approving of the proposed boundary change.
Accordingly, as you request in your letter, I stand ready to meet with you for further
discussion or your request, including next steps and any associated financial and/or
operational impacts to the City of Miami Beach. I would further recommend that we invite
Commissioner Barreiro to participate in that discussion.
At the same time, as the MAC continues its work, and in anticipation of the committee
meeting, the City of Miami Beach would like to discuss an alternative which could prove to
be more viable, should the MAC be interested.
Depending on the evolution of the incorporation process, and the MAC's recommendations
on dealing with the critical issues of concern to the island, the City of Miami Beach believes
that the annexation of Fisher Island may provide an attractive alternative to the island's
community, understanding that any potential annexation must address, among other
things, the following issues:
Maintaining the privacy of the Island;
Implementation of some level of local governance for the Island;
Protecting the vested rights of the developer;
T enninal Island issues, employee parking.
The City of Miami Beach would like to explore the ability of the City to address each of
these issues in greater detail, in addition to the de-annexation of the ferry tenninal and the
provision of municipal services. We will also need to identify issues that must be discussed
with Miami-Dade County, should there be serious interest in the annexation alternative.
Sincerely,
d::OM~~
City Manager
JMG:kc
C: Commissioner Bruno Barreiro
Tim Hemstreet, Assistant City Manager
Kathie Brooks, Director of Budget and Perfonnance Improvement
Kevin Crowder, Economic Development Division Director
f:/cmgrl$all/jorgegonlletters/ostrow-fisherisland .doc