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Meeting Minutes 09.24.20 General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee City of Miami Beach MEETING MINUTES No. 20 September 24, 2020 Members in Attendance Via Zoom: Karen Rivo, Chair Francisco Diez-Rivas Jack Glottman Jason Greene Wendy Squire Ron Starkman Sean Smith Bryan Rosenfeld Laura Veitia Absent: Marie Peter, Vice Chair Jeremy Waks Staff and Guests Attendance: Maria Hernandez, Liaison John Woodruff, GOB Working Group Alex Denis, GOB Working Group Eric Carpenter, GOB Working Group Devin Ramirez Thais Vieira Allison Novack David Martinez Rudy de la Torre Lily Alvarez Jason Jacobson Steven Feldman Barbara Hernandez Frank Garcia Jani Singer Roland Aragunde Virgil Fernandez Deborah Tackett Elizabeth Piotrowski Kevin Pulido Gedel Merzius Vanessa Vazquez Lauren Firtel Rickelle Williams Nate Coker Nelson Perez-Jacome Robert Rabinowitz Lauren Swan Mike Brown Garret Southern Sarah Bassett Jeff Zalkin Kylea Henseler Meeting Start Time: 4:30 pm General Note: These meeting minutes are condensed and seek to capture the overall intent of discussions as interpreted by the meeting coordinator. Each paragraph indicates the time on the audio recording where the discussion commenced during the meeting. For more detail on the discussion, please refer to the audio recording in its entirety. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 2 of 9 I. Roll Call and Introductions (Refer to the 9.24 Meeting Audio Recording on the G.O. Bond Website.) 3:13 Chair Karen Rivo called the meeting to order. II. Committee Business Adoption of Meeting Minutes 5:38 Chair Karen Rivo requested a motion to approve the minutes from the July 16th meeting. Motion: 5:45 Laura Veitia made a motion to approve the minutes. Jack Glottmann seconded the motion. Motion passed. Possible Cancellation of Emergency Order 6:00 Chair Karen Rivo explained that it is very possible that Governor DeSantis may change the orders on virtual meetings. The next G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting may be in person. She asked the Committee Members to raise their hand if they are comfortable with meeting in person, and if they are not, to kindly email Maria Hernandez. III. Community Outreach 7:30 Allison Novack informed the Committee Members on the 41st St Corridor Project Meeting on October 1st, which will go more in depth of AECOM’s plan. Outreach will continue up until the meeting in order to get as many individuals involved as possible. IV. Public Comment 9:30 Chair Karen Rivo asked if anyone from the public would like to ask a question or make a comment. No one spoke. V. 41st Street Corridor Presentation (Refer to the AECOM Schematic Design Presentation and the 9.24 Meeting Audio Recording on the G.O. Bond Website.) 10:30 Chair Karen Rivo explained that on September 23rd, the Mayor’s 41st Street Committee had a presentation by AECOM. She explained that AECOM was tasked to provide a plan for the 41st St. Corridor, within the scope of the project and within the $15 million budget. Sarah Bassett from AECOM will present two scenarios now and there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The scenario will be voted on at the Mayor’s 41st Street Committee Meeting on October 15th and then be discussed at the next G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting, on October 22nd. 13:05 Sarah Bassett from AECOM introduced herself and her fellow colleagues, Lauren Swan and Mike Brown. She expressed that their efforts have been based off on a robust project history, starting with a Alta-Gehl vision plan that was completed in 2018. Alta-Gehl’s findings were heavily G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 3 of 9 based on community engagement done by surveys and AECOM has been focused on taking those findings and developing a schematic design for the streetscape. She explained the AECOM Schematic Design Presentation found on the G.O. Bond website. Over 30 plan documents have been assessed to identify all of the different projects that have been proposed for the corridor, as well as the feasibility of these projects and the constraints. AECOM met with the Mayor’s 41st Street Committee in Spring 2020 in order to prioritize the projects and work around the constraints. AECOM focused on quality of life infrastructure improvements including sidewalk widening, lighting, tree canopy improvements, street furniture, and parking configuration. This led AECOM to develop two schematic designs. The first design is all on 41st St., which focuses the G.O. Bond dollars on enhancing the pedestrian environment. The second schematic design is connecting the community, by expanding the geography into the side streets, from 41st St. connecting to 40th and 42nd. Presentation continued. 28:02 Laura Veitia mentioned that the difference between Scheme 1 and Scheme 2 is that there will be a removal of all street parking on 41st St. and parking will be only on the side streets in Scheme 1. 28:18 Sarah Bassett told Laura Veitia that she is exactly right. She explained that it is important to note that these schemes are two alternatives. 29:00 Laura Veitia expressed that she believes it is a great use of space because there is such a narrow walkway along 41st St. She likes Scheme 2 because she believes that 41st St. has changed a lot, where it has a more commercial use now, but she also likes Scheme 1. 29:45 Jason Greene agreed with Laura Veitia. He believes that if the goal is to get people to go there, the sidewalk should be as wide as possible. He prefers Scheme 1. 30:35 Francisco Diez-Rivas expressed that there are so many issues. He asked about a masterplan that was previously being created and how is the City going to bring in people if the property owners are not going to invest in drawing the proper tenants or customers to the area. 32:29 Eric Carpenter explained that this presentation is more of a streetscape plan, which is the scope of the project. The masterplan that Francisco Diez-Rivas referred to was not supported, unfortunately, so it did not move forward, but Staff can go back to the drawing board and look for other options. This task is very hard because there is a lot of divergences of opinions between the residential and business community as to how much is too much when dealing with zoning incentives. 33:46 Francisco Diez-Rivas expressed some of the issues on the 41st St. Corridor, such as the west side of the corridor not having enough parking spots and obstacles of what businesses should open there. He asked how the bus loop to Mount Sinai Hospital plays a role in these schemes. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 4 of 9 35:50 Gedel Merzius explained that Commissioner Meiner has met with the Executive Director of Mount Sinai in order to address some of the homelessness issues on the 41st St. Corridor. 36:55 Chair Karen Rivo explained that the Mayor’s 41st St. Committee has a broader mission, where their work is potentially ongoing. This is a $15 million streetscape project, which will be tweaked many times. One of the biggest decisions is deciding which scheme to choose. The issues the Francisco Diez-Rivas mentioned are great, but the Mayor’s 41st Street Committee and Commissioner Meiner are addressing a lot of them. She asked Sarah Bassett if AECOM spoke to anyone from North Beach Elementary School, in terms of the landscaping in front of the school. 38:32 Sarah Bassett explained that AECOM did not speak with private business owners or the school. 40:18 Maria Hernandez noted that Staff will be meeting with the Transportation Department on September 25th in order to incorporate the bicycle lanes on 40th and 42nd, which are part of the overall bicycle masterplan. 40:53 Francisco Diez-Rivas asked if the buffers on the sidewalk are going to make the sidewalk appear narrower. 41:23 Sarah Bassett explained that by removing the on-street parking, they would be able to widen the sidewalks. AECOM plans to remove or alleviate a lot of clutter found on the sidewalk such as utility poles, random shrubbery, and broken and cramped sidewalks. Discussion continued. VI. Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue (Refer to the 9.24 Meeting Audio Recording on the G.O. Bond Website.) 51:07 Eric Carpenter reported that there was a Special Land Use and Sustainability Committee Miami Beach Art Deco Cultural District Workshop on September 17th. The one consensus at this meeting was that people are not generally happy with where Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue are today. A team of City Staff was put together to come up with suggestions for discussions at the workshop. The suggestions were organized into 6 categories: Safety and Security, Activation, Target Industries Incentives, Branding, Transportation and Transit, and Zoning Amendments. For example, the Police Department came up with some great strategy changes to help improve the number of “boots on the ground”, such as reinstituting bike patrols, leveraging the technology that is provided because of the G.O. Bond program, and lighting improvements. Another example is the 3D rendering that the Transportation Department created for this area. Their goal is to bring more pedestrians and bicycles into this area and make it less car centric. Staff believes that it will be a huge improvement for the businesses if they can bring the locals back into these areas. A planning firm was hired to look at what the City can do from a traffic and transportation perspective. Many options are being explored in order to bring back the magic to Miami Beach. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 5 of 9 1:02:30 Jason Greene expressed that he understands that some things are going to change, but he hopes they do not go too far. There have been some zoning changes on Washington Avenue, where they are building nice hotels. There is also the Wolfsonian-FIU museum proposed expansion, which will be on the ballot. He wished Eric Carpenter good luck on this task. 1:04:26 Laura Veitia explained that what would have been happening a couple decades ago on Washington Avenue and Ocean Drive is what drew a lot of people to move to Miami Beach, particularly South Beach. It’s important to identify how the City is going to get repeat visitors, who eventually will call Miami Beach home. 1:06:42 Jack Glottman explained that it is important to know why the locals are not going to these areas. He believes that there needs to be a nice mix of culture and entertainment in this area in order to bring the locals in. 1:07:50 Chair Karen Rivo expressed how happy she is that the Mayor is prioritizing this. She asked Maria Hernandez for clarification on the allocation of the funds. 1:08:08 Maria Hernandez explained that the funds are not allocated until Tranche 2, and go through Tranches 2, 3, and 4. There is going to be some kind of a decision making process that will have to go through Commission, where some of those funds will need to be moved up for construction documents, so this conversation is to be continued. VII. Major Tranche 1 Projects Update (Refer to pages 2-3 on the Agenda and Handouts Package found on the G.O. Bond Website.) #45 Fire Station #1 1:10:33 David Martinez reported that Staff has received the preliminary design, after Staff did the initial refinement of the programming done with the Fire Chief and the Police Department. Staff then had the construction manager and architect prepare cost estimates and floor plans, which now shows the project is estimated over budget. Staff, the construction manager, and the architect are currently doing further adjustments to the programming to continue to bring down the budget to a more realistic range. Once Staff gets to the 30% design, this will be brought back to the G.O. Bond team and the City Manager. #1 72nd St. Community Complex 1:12:22 David Martinez reminded the Committee that the project is in the Cone of Silence. On September 16th, Commission approved the shortlist of the three design-build firms. Staff will now continue onto Phase 2, which is when these firms will present technical and cost proposals. The evaluation of these proposals is being scheduled for the beginning of December 2020. 1:13:55 Chair Karen Rivo asked if this project is on track. 1:13:58 David Martinez explained that there is a delay of a couple months because it took a little longer to get through the design criteria. If Staff can award to a design-build firm in December, there may be time saved to bring the project back on the original schedule. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 6 of 9 1:16:11 Sean Smith asked David Martinez if the members were selected for the 72nd St. Community Complex Committee. 1:16:24 David Martinez explained that there are two individuals from the community that participated in the first phase and they will be participating in the second phase. 1:16:48 Laura Veitia asked David Martinez to name the three design-build firms on the shortlist. 1:16:50 David Martinez responded Kaufman Lynn Construction, PCL Construction Services, and Haskell. #15 Bayshore Park 1:17:28 David Martinez reported that Staff has submitted all requested reports and documentation from DERM. DERM has a certain amount of time to approve the documentation and, once approved, that allows Staff to formally submit applications. If the documentation and reports get approved by the end of September, then the best-case scenario is that Staff can go out to bid in January 2021. On September 1st, the Design Review Board re-approved the project design since some time had passed and the original approval had expired. #23 Pedestrian Bridge 1:19:37 David Martinez explained that he has nothing new to report on this project. He asked if Eric Carpenter has any new information on the project. 1:19:54 Eric Carpenter noted that at the July 16th G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting a question was brought up and he wanted to answer it. The question was “what guaranties does the City have that the developer is going to cover any overage beyond the $10 million dollars”. The simple answer is that if the developer does not build the bridge, it is a default under the development agreement, so the 500 Alton Tower building can’t go up and get Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) or Certificate of Occupancy (CO) without the bridge being completed or substantially completed. 1:21:20 Jason Greene said that what Eric Carpenter stated sounds like a strong protection and at this particular point he does not have any concerns or worries. #24 Middle Beach Beachwalk PH3 1:21:40 David Martinez reported that the project is moving along nicely and that the completion date is still showing as June 2021. There have been deliveries of pavers onsite and placement can begin as early as next week, which will be done from south to north. The contractor is going to first work on the actual Beachwalk and then return and work on the street ends, since that paving pattern is more complex. VIII. Other Projects Update (Refer to pages 7-17 on the Agenda and Handouts Package found on the G.O. Bond Website.) G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 7 of 9 1:24:30 Maria Hernandez explained the Memo found on pages 7 and 8, which gives the history of the action the City is going to take within the 41st Street Corridor. Staff is creating a sub-project under the 41st Street Project to replace the existing lights on the street which are old and no longer efficient. Commissioner Meiner had reached out to Public Works and asked them to see what could be done about the issue. For about $85,000, Public Works is going to be able to change every luminaire on 41st Street, which is the top portion of the poles. This will not affect the plan that AECOM presented because they have incorporated all the existing light poles in their designs. Staff wanted to make sure the Committee was aware of this newly added sub- project in case there are any questions. 1:27:05 Rudy de la Torre noted that 41st St. is a FDOT road, which is why the road consists of two different types of lighting, in addition to the newly installed palm tree lighting. Public Works is proposing to replace the pedestrian lighting with newer, more efficient lighting. This project will be done in-house. Upon approval of the purchase order there will be a 4-6 week lead time to receive the lights. 1:30:04 Jason Greene asked if the palm tree lighting has already been installed. 1:30:17 Rudy de la Torre explained that R & D Electric has finished the installation of the palm tree lighting, however, there have been a few issues due to current rain and wind events. The contractor is going above and beyond their scope by installing GFIs, which are not as sensitive to rain and wind. 1:31:50 Jack Glottman asked if the luminaire lights were part of the original scope within the lighting projects of the G.O. Bond. 1:32:05 Maria Hernandez explained that the actual scope of the 41st Street Corridor project is found on page 10 of the Agenda and Handouts Package. It states “the Committee is looking at investments in lighting, streetscaping, traffic and parking to help create a true gateway entry, etc.” Once this sub-project is complete, there will not be the need for any additional lighting changes. 1:32:53 Rudy de la Torre explained that 48 luminaires will be installed on the existing light poles from Alton Road to Indian Creek. #30 Skate Park 1:33:35 Maria Hernandez reminded the Committee Members that project #13 North Shore Paths and Fields is a sub-project that needed to be moved to Tranche 2 because the work must be done after the 72nd St. Community Complex is complete. This provided an opportunity to bring another project forward, which was requested by Commissioner Arriola. 1:35:30 Barbara Hernandez explained that the Skate Park was a Tranche 3 project and Commissioner Arriola brought it forward to have the design begin in Tranche 2, so that the construction will begin immediately. Since the North Shore Paths and Fields will be moved out, the funds for the Skate Park are readily available and can be started in Tranche 1. Staff needs a G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 8 of 9 motion from the G.O. bond Oversight Committee to approve this recommendation, which is Option 2 in the memo. 1:37:23 Chair Karen Rivo asked Jason Greene if he wants to state the motion for the record. Motion 1:37:33 Jason Greene made a motioned to approve the recommendation as presented. (For clarity: The Option 2 recommendation as presented was to advance the design and construction of the project to Tranche 1 by off-setting funds from a project which needs to be deferred to Tranche 2. This would not utilize existing savings from the Parks fund category). 1:37:53 Laura Veitia seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. #8 Lummus Park 1:40:21 Barbara Hernandez explained that Lummus Park is on track. The award to bid was approved at the September 16th Commission Meeting for Calvin, Giordano & Associates (CGA). Next week there is a meeting with Procurement to negotiate the agreement to start the design process. 1:40:58 Chair Karen Rivo asked Barbara Hernandez to remind the Committee of the scope of the project. 1:41:27 Barbara Hernandez explained that the scope involves irrigation, repaving of sidewalks and paths, landscaping, event space areas, and a masterplan for the park. 1:42:10 Eric Carpenter added that the event space areas are going to be a part of the City’s long- term strategy. #38 Part 1 Streets & #39 Part 1 Sidewalks 1:43:20 Maria Hernandez showed the maps found on pages 15 & 17 of the Agenda and Handout Package. 1:44:32 Rudy de la Torre reported how the maps shown do not have a three month lookahead, unlike the previous maps that have been provided. Staff recently completed the repaving and restoration of sidewalks and streets on Meridian Avenue, from 17th Street to Dade Blvd. Staff is going to look at the original schedule and they’re going to make any needed revisions. These revisions will be brought back to the next G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting. IX. Program General Status & Sub-Projects Update, Closed Projects (Refer to pages 18-32 on the Agenda & Handout Package on the G.O. Bond Website.) 1:48:58 Maria Hernandez explained the phasing chart found on pages 18 and 19. In July, there were 19 closed out projects and today there are 25. Currently, there is a savings of $2.8 million. Explanation continued. G.O. Bond Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes No. 20 September 24, 2020 Page 9 of 9 1:53:40 Maria Hernandez explained the presentation found on pages 20-32, which was presented to the Finance Committee at the July 24th meeting. 2:00:25 Jason Greene mentioned that the 18% savings rate of the total project cost is impressive. X. Quick Wins Remaining (Refer to pages 33 &34 on the Agenda & Handout Package on the G.O. Bond Website.) #47 License Plater Readers, #57 Cameras in Entertainment District, #56 Cameras on Beachwalk, #44 Public Safety Radio System 2:02:10 Steve Feldman reported the following: • #47 LPR’s: The License Plate Readers are complete on the Julia Tuttle Causeway. • #57 Cameras in Ent. District: The cameras in Lummus Park are pending the fiber from the plant in Mexico, which had COVID-19 delays, but Staff is expecting deliveries by the end of the month. All of the conduits and construction has been completed. • #56 Cameras on Beachwalk: The boring of the Beachwalk from 14th place towards 24th Streets is halfway done. This project also has a fiber component which has been delayed due to the plant in Mexico having COVID-19 delays. • #44 Radio System: All of the radios have been delivered and the only thing pending is the last site, which is projected to be finished by the end of October. XI. Public Comment 2:04:58 Robert Rabinowitz asked if there has been a poll or a vote by the residents in that area for the removal of the parking spaces along 41st St. He also expressed that residents are hopeful and desirous of a drastic change in the South Beach area. 2:08:20 Maria Hernandez explained that there are two schemes for 41st Street being proposed since Staff was sensitive to the number of residents who may feel the same way about the parking. The residents will be seeing both presentations and be given an opportunity to participate in a survey during a Community Meeting on October 1st. 2:10:00 Allison Novack explained that Alta-Gehl performed a lot of community outreach on different topics, including parking and how residents felt about the parking. XII. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned.