2009-0416 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting April 16,2009 Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Mr. Callaway noted that Mr. Luft and the City have considered a number of properties that might be appropriate sites for parking, open space, and recreational facilities, but the fact that the City has acquired two (2) parcels already in the Sunny Isles Boulevard Corridor, and the fact that it is closer to Collins A venue that allows your public infrastructure to be pushed into that area so people can get across the street to Collins A venue. The parcels and the property in these two resolutions accommodate a number of considerations, including the economics of it, which is saying that the City has committed funds already towards improving this particular Corridor. The recommendation that he concurs with and has expressed his thoughts to the City Attorney is that from a legal standpoint, the City has considered and has followed all of the proper protocol that makes this property appropriate for consideration to be acquired in Fee Simple Title. Ifthese properties are acquired will they trigger or require as necessity the need for additional parking, and the short answer is yes. Robert Chapman, Senior Project Manager with Kimley Horn and Associates, said his task was to review and provide an update to the March 2008 Parking Demand Analysis prepared by Keith and Schnars Engineers, with respect to the new development for the park and open space in the median of Sunny Isles Boulevard. For this area to be successful, viable, and provide a gathering of community of citizens, it is going to need on-site parking. There are some aspects to looking at shared parking and other uses to minimize the parking demand and with those applications that have been used both in the previous report and in his analysis, those guidelines established by the Urban Land Institute and others, there really is no available parking within the area to use right now for community gatherings. His recommendation is 500 parking spaces based on the land uses in the report. Commissioner Scholl said when the Pier Park Project is completed it will be under-parked as well, and Mr. Luft said that it is vastly under-parked, we are talking about potentially a 5,000 square foot restaurant plus a 700- foot long Pier that could contain from 150 to 250 people, and 29 parking spaces are nowhere near sufficient to meet the demand for that kind of complexity of use. We need additional park space in conjunction with that to the west, and that is going to need parking as well, so the combination of both creates a significant demand. The 500-space recommendation is for a combination of public uses. Commissioner Brezin asked if we considered the cost in selecting this property on Sunny Isles Boulevard, and Mr. Luft said there is a number of costs involved in acquiring land in an urbanized city that is perhaps 95% developed. He said the principal issue is not buying the lowest cost land, but to try to balance issues of displacement, feasibility vs. cost benefit, to find a location that meets the needs of an underserved community that was accessible, visible, and potentially large enough to accommodate the slate of activities that we felt were missing from the long range recreational program. Mr. Callaway said the ultimate costs are entirely important, and the same consideration for what the economic impact of this is to the City. The City's investment in this Corridor along with all the other factors that Mr. Luft talked about in terms of the geographic proximity of these parcels to other property that the City already owns, makes it more appropriate to suggest that we have a fairly significant investment on Sunny Isles Boulevard. He said he spoke to Acting City Manager Conner who said about $3.2 Million has already been invested along the Sunny Isles Boulevard Corridor, and another $4.7 Million invested in the 3