WOA Exclusive: Monster Photographed in Enchanted Lake!

Taken just before 7am today (August 25).  These are the first known high-resolution photographs taken of the mythical beast that roams Enchanted Lake, and possibly Highland Oaks park.  The pictures were taken of 19740 NE 24th Court.

As you can see, the monster has fire in its eyes... or is it just red-eye from the camera flash?

Awaiting determination from the Florida Wildlife Commission on whether this is an alligator or a crocodile, which has been the subject of much debate the last few years (and has a major impact on what action can be taken: Crocs are protected; Gators are not).   Whatever it is, it's described as 10 feet in length!

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M.A.C. - R.I.P.?

WOA has learned that certified letters went out last weekend to members of the North East Municipal Advisory Committee (the "MAC") advising them that the committee had been suspended.  For the sake of accuracy, an image of the actual letter follows.

The "thank you for your service" makes it sound like more than temporary, but since the push to incorporate areas such as "west aventura" comes from the County, and on the County's terms (see discussion of Conceptual Agreement), it is hard to imagine Mr. Fernandez won't attempt to get things moving again ASAP.

The letter sheds light on the real reason for the abrupt cancellation of the July 25 meeting discussed in the last post - the county was misleading in citing a "conflict" as the reason for cancellation, unless by "conflict" they mean that the existence of the MAC is in conflict with the county attorney, who finds something sufficiently flawed to have brought the entire effort to a screeching halt.

You can view the ordinance creating the MAC (and other information about the committee) at:
http://www.miamidade.gov/incorporationandannexation/northeast-dade.asp 

The ordinance creating the NE MAC is dated April 13, 2004.  So one interpretation of why the MAC was suspended may be simply that the ordinance was not properly written to "resuscitate" the 2004/5 MAC in 2015; it was already way past its "best before date."  Or the ordinance may be flawed in Section 2, where the study boundaries are inadequately defined (they say the northern boundary of the study area is NE 215th Street, and not "Broward County Line" as it should).


It will be interesting to see if the "flaws" with the ordinance relate to its composition.  As noted in the March 4 post (which you can read here), the County is evolving in its ideas of what a MAC should be, including that it be diverse in both ideology (having members both "pro" and "anti" incorporation), and geography (having members who represent all areas of the study area, not just Highland Lakes/Sky Lake, with nobody from Ojus or the condos).

So, what is the effect of the MAC suspension?  Well, at the very least, the MAC is on "pause", and every month of suspension will mean another month added to the February 2015 deadline for the MAC to conclude it's study.  The letter says the ordinance may be fixed "possibly by the end of the year", which implies a delay of AT LEAST 4 months.  The earliest that "west aventura" citizens would be able to vote on incorporation of a new city would therefore approach the end of 2015, and maybe much later. 

So, can the "NO to incorporation" signs come down now?  If not, expect to be looking at them for a very, very long time.

MAC Meeting Thursday July 25 - NOT!

After the big push to pass the "Conceptual Agreement" at the June meeting, suspense had been building for a climactic July meeting... so what happened? 

Literally, nothing. 

The meeting was cancelled "due to a conflict" which was not disclosed.  Members of the MAC were available, yet the mandatory notice wasn't published in the Miami Herald.  Perhaps the summer heat resulted in someone forgetting?

So you have to wonder what the big rush was to pass the Conceptual Agreement in June (an agreement which would abdicate the "new city's" control of all major roads and guarantee a crippling mitigation payment - read). 

The July cancellation will put even more pressure on the MAC to complete its review in time (by February 2015).  Perhaps putting pressure on the MAC is the county's plan: there is significant financial incentive to have new cities created before the mitigation is abolished by the Miami-Dade Commission (something which is under active consideration).

Stay cool and enjoy the rest of the summer - school (and traffic jams) resume in 23 days.

"West Aventura" coverage in the Miami Herald

Here is a Link to the story, written by Melhor Leonor: 

A committee of northeast Miami-Dade residents has approved a tentative budget for a potential new city, part of a decade-old effort to incorporate.  The area is located east of I-95, west of Biscayne Boulevard, north of North Miami Beach and south of Northeast 215th Street. Referred to as Northeast Dade, the neighborhood is one of five unincorporated areas in Miami-Dade with active efforts to incorporate.

The Municipal Advisory Committee appointed to study the pros and cons on incorporation approved a draft budget of $8,390,000 — one step of many in the process.

Kenneth Friedman is the chair of the committee and has been involved with it since the initiative originally started in 2003 and restarted in 2013. He said incorporating would benefit the area, which needs better services than the county is providing.

“Either you stay in the county where services continue to decline, or you take your taxes and create a city to improve the neighborhood. I support improving the neighborhood,” said Friedman, who publicly supported incorporation in the past. “It’s very obvious that we need more security. We need more code enforcement.”  He said improving traffic safety and flow around Highland Oaks Middle School and more law enforcement in the neighborhood’s park are needs a new city could handle better than the county.

Roslyn Weisblum, who sits on the committee, said that their job is only to determine whether the proposal is feasible or not.  “There’s advantages and disadvantages. It’s gray,” Weisblum said. “People who are against it want to stop the process now. We want people to vote on it.”

Alicia Rook, who has lived in the area for 20 years, is staunchly opposed to incorporation and said the neighborhood is fine as it is.  “Our services are good. We have some of the best police protection,” Rook said. “Do we need another form of government, commissioners and city managers? No, I don’t think so.”  Rook said the residents she has spoken to are content with police presence and response time. “This is one of the safest neighborhoods in the area,” she said.

The proposed budget is based on property taxes staying at the current county level of $1.93 per $1,000 of taxable home value — the second lowest level in the county — at least for the first year.  According to the proposed budget, nearly $2 million of revenues come from property taxes, and another $6.5 million in other revenue such as sales and utility taxes, permits and city services.

Once cities incorporate, municipalities can raise property taxes based on property values, other revenues and community needs.  Palmetto Bay, which became a village in 2002, has a rate of $2.45. Doral, which incorporated in 2003, charges $1.93. Miami Gardens, which also formed in 2003, charges $6.94.  Cutler Bay, the most recent area to incorporate was established in 2005 and has raised its property tax rate to $2.57.

Rook said she has gone knocking on doors to rally the support of the community and said many people are opposed to incorporation.  “It doesn’t make sense to have another code of government,” Rook said. “We are fine.”

Once the committee approves a conceptual agreement — an outline of the terms of incorporation with the county — it will need to hold two public hearings and then make a recommendation to the county’s advisory planning board.  The committee has until February 2015, the end of a two-year deadline set by the county.

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  Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/29/4203551/northeast-dade-mac-approves-draft.html#storylink=cpy

State-Owned Roads "WoA"

The following is a map provided by Neil Lyn, District Statistics Administrator with District 6 of the Florida DOT (quite a mouthful)

The image shows (in red) those roads which are owned by the State of Florida.  Notable for our area is the STATE's ownership of Miami Gardens Drive and US1.

Note also that Ives Dairy Road is NOT State-owned.  Like all roads in unincorporated Miami-Dade, Ives Dairy is currently owned by the County.  Why is this important?  Because the MAC discussions with the county most recently included a "conceptual agreement" which outlines a framework under which "we" can proceed with incorporation.  That agreement provides that Ives Dairy Road would remain owned by the County, even if a new city was approved by voters.

Is it a good idea to surrender Ives Dairy road to the County?  Answering this would depend on your views on the wisdom of incorporating generally, but among those interested in forming a new city, Ives Dairy Road is very often cited as a central reason for doing so, specifically:

• Aesthetics: 203rd is the "ambassador" of our community, it's face representing the face of the new city, and right now that face looks like a hockey player's - missing lots of teeth and pretty banged up.
• Crime/Safety: The road is congested, dangerous to school-children crossing at 24th Avenue and ripe for revenues to the new city derived from a red-light camera.
• Quality of Life: a congested road means noise and air-pollution, brake dust, and a longer commute to work for local residents.

In other words, whether you are 'pro' or 'no' to incorporation, this road is pretty important to your life "WoA".  Surrendering control the county may relieve the "new city" of some expenses (to maintain the road, fix potholes, etc.), but it also abandons control over the single most important artery of our community, and could potentially cost the new city millions of dollars in revenues which it will desperately need to sustain itself.

WestofAventura contacted the County public works department and was sent (by Horacio Gonzalez) a list of all County-owned roads within municipalities.  I expected a list of about 20 pages, but it was only 3!  Here is the one page that covers roads in surrounding cities (Aventura, NMB and Miami Gardens):

On the above list, under "North Miami Beach" you will find West Dixie Highway up to 175th Street, so extending county control of WDH into the new city may have some logic.

But note that the county does not own ANY of the roads in Aventura, including their portion of Ives Dairy Road!  So why should Miami-Dade County own and control that same street in "our" new city?  Aventura had the financial resources and foresight to be a little smarter in its negotiations with the County, and our MAC should be following their example!

Aventura Red Light Cameras and the Supreme Court

This one will be of interest to those of us who frequently drive in the boundaries of our neighbor to the east.  As reported on NPR and in the Miami Herald, The Florida Supreme Court found last week that Aventura (and other cities) "overstepped their authority" in implementing red-light camera programs prior to 2010.

That doesn't mean you should drive immediately over to Aventura and start making right-hand turns onto Biscayne when the light is red (even when there are no cars?  really?), because after July 1, 2010, a STATE law went into effect which made red-light camera violations (including those occurring in Aventura) a state traffic violation. 

From the Miami Herald story:

The ruling from the Florida Supreme Court was a victory for critics who have long insisted the cities created their own illegal sham hearings, circumventing state law, in a blatant grab for cash from motorists...

Thursday’s ruling also comes just months after efforts in the Florida Legislature to repeal the use of red-light cameras fizzled.  Red-light cameras have been a divisive issue since cities began installing cameras at intersections, then mailing violations to surprised drivers. Supporters insisted that the program was designed to enhance safety on the roads.

Between 2008 and July 2010, red-light camera violations were not state traffic tickets but city “code violations.” In Aventura, motorists contesting violations had to go to hearings at City Hall — which they claimed were biased and unfair.  A slew of lawsuits followed, and in February 2010, a Miami-Dade judge ruled that Aventura’s enforcement system circumvented state traffic laws. Aventura created the first red-light program in Miami-Dade.  But a Miami appeals court overturned the judge’s decision, saying the program was indeed lawful.  The Florida Supreme Court took up the issue because of conflicting decisions by appeals courts: in Orlando, judges ruled that the city’s program did indeed circumvent state law.

In response to the uproar about the programs, the Florida Legislature passed a new law that made red-light camera infractions a state violation. The statute went into effect July 1, 2010, and violations are now heard in front of traffic court magistrates."

So there you have it: another happy ending where lawyers made millions, and some unhappy motorists may be getting a check in the mail.

What effect does the ruling have on one of the hot-button local issues West of Aventura: installing cameras at the intersections on Ives Dairy Road?  None: any camera deployed (to protect school-going children) would be covered by State law, and challenges to infractions would be heard in a proper traffic court.

There is the possibility that the State legislature could outlaw the cameras altogether, something which was actually considered in the most recent legislative session, but which went nowhere.

 

Up next: coverage of the June 19 MAC meeting.

5/22 MAC Meeting Summary: "Conceptual Agreement" for a new city

The NE Municipal Advisory Committee had a rare second monthly meeting last Thursday.  With only 6 of the 11 members attending (Donath, Friedman, Matza, Moss, Morton and Robson), quorum was just met.  The focus of the meeting was the "Conceptual Agreement," which (it was explained at the meeting) is an "ingredient" the county requires of all MACs as part of their process.

Brief review: the MAC was formed by the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners in 2003/4 to investigate whether in made sense to take the unincorporated area pictured in the first post in this blog (which you can view by clicking here), and make a new city out of it.  After some starts and stops, the NE MAC continues this investigation nearly 10 years after first being established.

The Conceptual Agreement seems to be dictated by the county: it contains several things the county needs to see as prerequisites to approving new cities.  For example: the county wants to ensure it continues to be paid for bond debt, so the Conceptual Agreement makes it clear that residents in the new city will continue to be responsible for their share of bond indebtedness.  It's not entirely clear what, if anything, within the agreement is "negotiable," and this was the source of much of the discussion on May 22nd.

The Conceptual Agreement commences with a discussion of BOUNDARIES.  At the May 1 MAC meeting, there was a discussion of changing the boundaries to exclude the SW condominiums.  It was determined that this was not possible, and that even if it was, the resulting loss of per capita revenues would make incorporation infeasible (the May 1 meeting is discussed here).

Page 2 discusses county SERVICES, basically reiterating county laws which say that a new city has to contract for police services from the county for the first 3 years of its existence, that it has to remain part of the library system, waste collection and fire rescue.  These are the "countywide" services that all cities continue to receive from the County.

Things get interesting on page 3, which begins

"the incorporation of the proposed municipality of the northeast area will have an adverse financial impact on the remainder of the unincorporated municpal service area (UMSA).... [T]he code currently requires new municipalities to mitigate the adverse impact on UMSA.  At the time of incorporation, the Miami-Dade County Code requires that the proposed municipality contribute some amount of its property tax revenues after municipal incorporation to the County into a MSTF, the amount of which shall be determined by the Board."

The above language seems to guarantee a "MITIGATION payment" from the new city (a critical concept that was the subject of an April post you can find here).  If this agreement can be revised to delete this paragraph, or to at the very least specify a reasonable millage rate (not the 1 mill rate that the Planning and Advisory Board planned to levy in 2004, which would equate to around $800,000 per year), it would put the "new city" in a vastly better position with the county.  For this reason, MAC members Friedman and Robson raised the issue of revision, which will be considered by MAC "Conceptual Agreement Committee" (chaired by Richard Golden), and discussed at the next MAC meeting on June 19.

Also on page 3, the Conceptual Agreement discusses ROADS.  Local roads would be conveyed to the new city, but "The County is proposing to keep approximately 18.4 lane miles" which include West Dixie Highway and Ives Dairy Road!  This raised some concerns from the MAC members, who wanted to ensure that the new city would still have the ability to manage, police, and beautify the roads.  MAC member Robson also raised the issue of traffic cameras, noting that if the new city desired a "red light" camera at the intersection of Ives Dairy Road and 24th Avenue (which is often blocked by cars during school crossing hours), this language might prevent the new city from doing so, or at the very least require revenue sharing with the county. 

Alicia Rook (Queen of "no to incorporation"), in a post-meeting e-mail to her minions, wrote of the above discussion on roads:

"Mark Bronson [sic], a MAC member said he would like to put cameras' [sic] all over this new city because it would bring in over a million dollars in revenue (a number he just pulled out of the air), of course all of us in the area would be affected by those cameras' [sic] also."

As recounted above, only one intersection was discussed, not "all over the city", but scare-tactics and hyperbole (unlike spelling and grammar) are particular specialties of Ms. Rook.  Robson did say that ONE camera (at NE 203/24th Ave), to protect children crossing Ives Dairy get to school, might generate a million dollars in fines a year, because drivers at that intersection are so reckless.  The point (completely missed by Rook) was the importance of understanding the implications of the Conceptual Agreement language on roads, or else any revenue generated by red-light cameras could be surrendered to the County.

The rest of the Conceptual Agreement focused on bonds - nothing interesting there (just that residents of a new city would continue to pay on their tax bill their share of bond indebtedness).

Missing from the Conceptual Agreement was the "concept" that a the new city would be formed for the purpose of retaining revenues (it is frequently argued that the purpose of incorporating is to put our tax dollars to work locally, and not have them "donated" to other areas in the county).

Also missing was the concept that taxes in the new city not be increased, and the concept that there would be no "eminent domain" practiced in a new city.  Perhaps neither concept is appropriate for inclusion in the Conceptual Agreement, but if the "no to incorporation" people were paying attention, this might have been a sensible question to ask.  Instead, "NO" co-founder Brian Rook used his Q&A time at the end of the meeting to complain about statements Glenn Gopman had made at a prior meeting (which were true: that the Rooks own 6 or 7 homes in North Miami Beach, and that they have one residence inside the MAC boundaries).

Mr. Rook brought a video camera to record the May 22 meeting, so perhaps he will rewind the tape to review the discussion on roads and traffic cameras, to satisfy himself that nobody on the MAC is proposing that we live in an Orwellian police state.

The next MAC meetings are tentatively scheduled for June 19, July 24 and August 28.  Save the date!

As the "West of Aventura" blog slows for summer vacation, use the "follow by email" tool at the very top right side of the page to have future posts sent to you directly. 

The "new city" Budget

As noted in the coverage of the 5/1 MAC meeting (post is here), the key question in whether to form a new city is whether or not tax revenues are retained in the new city, and not spread across the county as is the case right now.  Put another way, the "PRO-incorporation" people want to put our tax dollars to work in our community.

In that post, I wrote that the answer would be evident from a side-by-side comparison with a budget delivered by the County detailing "impact on UMSA."  So here is a copy of the 2012-13 budget (this was prepared and submitted by the county "Office of Management and Budget", or "OMB").

 

A little messy, but here is the summary: Revenues of about $6M, of which $1.93M (about 1/3) comes from Property taxes, followed by Utility Taxes ($1.4M), Sales Taxes ($1.8M) and Franchise Fees ($0.7M).

The more important section for the purposes of this post is the "Expenditures" section.  This is where the County says what it spends in our area (from the money it collects from us).  The difference between what is collected ($6M) and what is spent here ($4.43M) is $1,560,723, which defines the extent to which we are a "donor community."  We "donate" $1.56M every year, according to the County.

More recently we were delivered a 2013-14 "Impact to UMSA" statement.  Here's what it looks like:

Again the revenues are consistent at just under $6M.  The "Expenditures" section comes in at $4.685M, making us a "donor community" to the tune of $1.2M in 2013-14, down from the $1.56M "donation" in 2012-13.  On this newer statement, police is $3.6M (big jump from $2.97M the prior year), parks is $150,000 (big drop from $245,000 the prior year), public works is $106,859 (steady from $116,869).

Now look at an image of the most recent version of the budget presented at the 5/1 MAC meeting:

The revenues at the top of the page are different because a new city would have different sources of revenues.  But to see if our area would spend more money locally as a "new city" than the county spends now, the focus should be on "Expenditures."  From the above 2 images, let's analyze the differences.

Employees:

The MAC budget contains line items for "Council/Manager, Attorney, Clerk and Finance Department" that are absent from the OMB budget.  Why?  Because these functions are all performed downtown, and so are not technically "spent" locally.  They are costs that we pay for, but the work is not performed within our community.  This is the cost of the so-called "extra layer of government," which is not really an extra layer because it just takes money we pay already, and spends it here rather than downtown.

General Services:

The OMB indicates the County spends about $400K on this line item.  The MAC sets this at $334K, and includes in that category [on another page not pictured here]: Rent ($75K), Audit Fees ($50K), Insurance ($50K), IT Costs ($50K), Repairs and Maintenance ($24K), Office Expenses and Supplies ($24K), Telephone ($12K), Utilities ($12K), Payroll Services ($5K) and Other Administrative costs ($32K).  So the MAC figures that in this category it can be more efficient than the County, spending about $66,000 less than the county.  That's a good thing.

Police:
The biggest expenditure (by a mile): the most recent numbers from the County say it paid $3.6M on our police needs.  MAC is budgeting $4.4M - almost $800,000 more.  The MAC number is solid, because it was supplied directly by the MDPD and is based on the minimum service level allowed (which is still much more policing than we get currently, since police assigned to "new city" STAY in "new city" and don't answer calls down on 163rd Street).  So more money for police to fight crime and keep the intersections clear: a good thing.

Public Works:
County spends $106,859.  MAC proposes $200,000.  Neither is a particularly large number since this line item represents money spent on making the area look better: fixing roads and fences, including the one in Highland Lakes that the criminals escape over.  So this is an improvement for the community, but not a very big one, and one area the MAC may look at increasing to be more realistic.

QNIP:
This is "Quality Neighborhood Improvement Program", which sounds like the same kind of stuff as "public works" above, but actually has to do with payments on bonds (1999 and 2006), which is why it's the same amount ($200K-250K) in the County budget and the MAC one.

Building and Planning:
County says $470,323, MAC says $491,000, so the MAC is saying it will cost basically the same to perform these functions (but would save residents having to run their contractors down to SW Dade to get a permit).

Parks and Recreation:
County said $245K in 2012 and $150K in 2013/14.  MAC says... $250K?!  A little stingy.  An earlier draft of the MAC budget was for $500K, but already that is on the chopping block.

Stormwater Costs/Bonds/Projects:
Not sure why these appear on the MAC budget and not the County one, but I assume we pay these one way or another, and that they aren't changed.

Contingency Reserve:
This $800,000 item only appears in the MAC budget.  It is theoretically money that could be saved and spent on the "new city."  HOWEVER, if there is a "mitigation payment" requirement imposed on the new city (if you haven't already read the April 12 post, do so immediately here), then this money, or at least a very big chunk of it, would be lost.  It would be, in effect, "money for nothing," and in a budget of $8.39M, this creates a mighty 10% "hole" in the budget.

So, based on the above, is a "new city" a good idea financially?  The answer is in the eye of the beholder: More police would be nice, but there's little new money for public works, and no extra money for parks (and forget about recreation: there will be no Aventura-style sports programs for boys and girls in "new city"). 

For me, the answer to "is this a good idea" centers on that $800,000 contingency reserve.  That amount of money would buy a lot of playground equipment, road and fence fixing, eliminate the need for (ugly) bus benches, and make a new city easier to swallow.  But if the county steals that money away in the form of a mitigation fee... well... let's just hope our MAC (or somebody), can negotiate a good deal when it comes to mitigation.  That won't be possible before the MAC has to vote, but must be answered before the people vote.

Gables Aventura Project (West Dixie Highway): Revealed

West of Aventura exclusive: Plans for "Gables Aventura" project.

Gables Residential (website), is in the process of submitting building permits, and plans to present the project to local residents at the June 11 HOA meeting, but here is your opportunity for a "first look."
Orientation: North is to the left, so the the buildings along the bottom of the drawing are on the railway tracks to the east.  The top of the page is the west side of the site, with Ives Dairy Road running along the right side of the page.  It will be a massive undertaking; even more construction than the proposed railway station, and certainly the biggest project undertaken in "West Aventura" in... well... EVER!

Implications: (a) some traffic challenges to be addressed, but these residences will have a "reverse commute" (ie: when all the cars are going eastbound on Ives Dairy in the morning, Gables residents will be going west; (b) the entire development will meaningfully contribute to the tax base of either the county, or "new city" if one is created; and (c) maybe the development will act like a sound barrier for the train traffic, which could be greatly expanded as discussed in the all-important April 28 post.

All the specifics on the Tri-Rail Coastal Link

The following is the PowerPoint presentation made by Ami Goddeau from the Florida Department of Transportation.  It was presented to Aventura on April 17, and to our community on April 23.  Goddeau did not have time to go through each page at our meeting, so it is worth taking a look at the full presentation.

[note: the following 1 page was omitted from the Skylake Presentation]

[the following 1 page was omitted from the 4/17 Aventura Presentation]

the following page was new for the 4/23 HOA meeting [not at 4/17 Aventura presentation]

5/1 NE MAC Meeting Summary

Better turnout for this month's meeting, and special guest: Craig Collier, the "numero uno" at the County Attorney's office.  He was called in to answer some questions that turned into a major Q&A session about many of the central issues concerning the formation of a new city (incorporation) - very informative meeting as always.

BOUNDARIES OF STUDY AREA
The issue Collier had been called in to address was the issue of boundaries: many of the "NO to incorporation" people live in the condominiums in the SW part of the study area (the study area map was  posted way back in the first post here).  At a 2013 meeting, MAC member Rochelle Matza had suggested a change to the boundaries to exclude those areas.  The MAC was told this was not possible, until it was discovered that the current county laws have NO prohibition against "creating an enclave,"  at which point the MAC asked for a legal interpretation.

The thinking was: if the condo-owners were "excused" from deliberation within a new city, they would stop the lawn signs, distributing leaflets and worrying about their future in general.  This would allow the homeowners (who have a whole different set of concerns, crime and safety being #1), to consider the issue without all the theatrics and distractions.

Collier said that although there is currently no LAW against creation of an enclave, there are GUIDELINES (and also a proposed law), that would have the effect of not allowing the MAC to sever off the condominiums.  Also the Planning and Advisory Board ("PAB"), and/or the Board of County Commissioners ("BCC"), would probably not allow the exclusion, since the condos (while not necessarily an "enclave") would at the very least be difficult to service.

Also, it was pointed out that if the condos were excluded, many revenues the new city would depend on (which are per-capita based) would be diminished to the point where the "new city" may not be financially viable.

MITIGATION
The issue of mitigation and its central importance to the creation of a new city is discussed in the April 12 post here.  Here is where a MAC member really got into a cross-examination of both the County Attorney and Office of Management and Budget representative Jorge Fernandez.

It was noted that the most recent incorporations (new cities) were the cities of Doral, Palmetto Bay and Miami Lakes.  Each of those cities was nailed with a 1 mill "mitigation payment" that was paid to Miami Dade County, and might have been paid to the County forever, if extraordinary actions, including a County task force and a lawsuit, hadn't put them to an end.  To give an example of how mitigation worked: Doral was paying $5.546M in 2006, with annual CPI increases for inflation: that's over $23 million in total, paid to the County, in return for very little.

If our area had succeeded in 2004/2005 in creating a new city, we too would have been assigned a 1 mill mitigation fee [source: PAB Report, quoted in the April 12 post - hey, I told you to go read that post!].  And if so, we would have likely been involved in litigation just like Miami Lakes, Doral and Palmetto Bay to make it go away, and after 7 years of paying about $800,000, we would just be emerging from that heavy financial weight in 2011.  So perhaps it was a good thing we didn't succeed....

... Or was it.  The hope was that by now, after recommendations by both the County Mayor and the County "Annexation and Incorporation Task Force," that mitigation would be off the books, but as noted in the April 12 post, mitigation is still on the books.  So in that sense there's been NO progress.  A new city WILL likely have to make a mitigation payment, but the question is: how much and for how long?

This was the question posed, several times and in several ways, by MAC member Robson, but no answers were forthcoming - the answer was "we don't know what the PAB and BCC will decide is an appropriate millage rate, and we won't know it until after the MAC decides whether to put the issue to a vote."  That stinks.  If the 2004/05 is a precedent, we should at least have the answer before voters go to the polls, but that's no help to the MAC.

I would suggest to the MAC that a solution may lie in making a contingent recommendation: in its report, the MAC could say "we support a vote on a new city, but only if the PAB does not assess a mitigation payment" or "... only if the PAB does not assess a mitigation fee greater than '0.X' mills, and for no longer than 'Y' years"  Just a thought.

"NEW CITY" BUDGET:
Because the decision to create a new city is largely a financial decision, budget was as usual a major part of the meeting.  The newest version is below:

The MAC committee making the budget includes members both "for" and "against" incorporation, and there doesn't seem to be any objections to this budget being inaccurate, so I'm left to conclude that whether you love or hate the idea of creating a new city, the above appears to be a "legitimate" budget.

The big question, asked at the MAC meeting, is: if the major reason to form a new city is to "retain tax dollars and put them to work locally", then "where's the beef?" (since the above shows a balanced budget).  The answer, from MAC member Glenn Gopman, is that the benefits are spread across the various "expenditure" items - for example, more money is budgeted for "Public Works" than is currently spent by the county.

To see if this is so, a side-by-side comparison with a budget delivered by the County in 2013 is required, and this will be done in a future post (because this one is already running a little long).

Next MAC meeting scheduled for May 22nd.

Newsflash: "NO to incorporation" signs are coming down... NOT [updated]

We have received reports that Alicia Rook, agitator-in-chief and ringleader of the "NO to incorporation" effort, was called by Building Dept./Code Enforcement with instructions to remove the "NO" lawn signs by May 15 or face a fine of $500.  The ordinance cited is Section 33-99, and the logic is that 'since no election has even been called, these damn eyesores are a little premature.'

In a related story, property values in the area just went up 5%.

May 20 update:
West of Aventura has learned today that after a fierce retaliation, Alicia Rook's army of "No" have succeeded in reversing the county's initial decision to improve the appearance of the community.  From the County:

Good Afternoon!

Ms. Hayden:

The County Attorney has advised that the provisions of the sign code provide for removal 30 days after the issue is on the ballot.  As this matter has not yet come for a vote there is no restriction on erecting these signs. Therefore, you may place the signs on the property.

 

Chaveli A. Moreno

Director, Neighborhood Regulations Division

Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources

11805 SW 26 Street -Suite 230

Miami, Fl 33175

Telephone: 786-315-2506

Fax: 786-315-2548

chaveli@miamidade.gov 

The end? 
Stay tuned.

TRAINS!

Details are only beginning to emerge about possible plans for expanded train service, but we have to begin somewhere, so here is a primer on trains "West of Aventura."   

Train Set 1: The Florida East Coast Railway, or "FEC"
You may wonder: who was the brilliant city planner who decided to put the freight train tracks through all the densely populated cities, and run the commuter rail line next to the highway, where all the industrial areas are?  The answer is something like "the trains were here first."  I'll explain.


Henry Flagler is known as the "Father of Miami," and mostly due to trains.  Flagler amassed a vast fortune by building (with John D. Rockefeller) the biggest, most prosperous and monopolizing oil empire of the 1800s: Standard Oil.  Flagler then got into the hotel business, beginning with the 540-room Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine.  He then faced the challenge of bringing guests to the new hotel, and solved it (in typical billionaire style) by purchasing short line railroads that would later become known as the Florida East Coast Railway.

Flagler originally intended West Palm Beach to be the terminus of his railroad system, but as wikipedia puts it: "in 1894 and 1895, severe freezes hit the area, causing Flagler to rethink his original decision. Sixty miles south, the town today known as Miami was reportedly unharmed by the freeze. To further convince Flagler to continue the railroad to Miami, he was offered land in exchange for laying rail tracks from private landowners, including Julia Tuttle."

"Despite 116 years of active service, FEC hasn’t run a passenger train on its rails since 1968. What was once known as 'America’s Speedway to Sunshine' now carries nothing but freight. A violent strike by the United Transportation Workers prompted FEC officials to discontinue passenger service, which had already become difficult and unprofitable to operate under intense government regulations and growing competition from airlines and automobiles." [source: Cantarella, cited and linked to below]

So you now see that the Florida East Cost Railway, or "FEC" as we know it locally today, is the historical backbone of South Florida.  So we should expect freight trains (currently 15 of them a day) here in "West Aventura" for the foreseeable future.  And with the development of the $1B under-the-bay tunnel to the Port of Miami nearing its May 20, 2014 completion date [more details about the tunnel and it's opening date here], those 11-14 daily trains could GROW, either in number of trains each day, or in length of those (already endless) cargo trains. 

Subtotal: let's say 14 trains a day

Train Set 2: All Aboard Florida
The Biscayne Times did an exhaustive (to read) story on All Aboard Florida ("AAF") and its designs to bring high-speed rail to Florida's East Coast, passing through West Aventura.  The full September 2013 story by Terence Cantarella (caution: it's a long one) is readable here. 

AAF is a new passenger rail service that will connect Miami and Orlando starting in 2015, promising to "run very fast hourly trains on time, with great amenities (wifi, level "stairless" boarding, food for purchase, etc.), from beautifully designed, centrally located stations."  It would be the only privately-funded passenger rail line in the United States.

Only 4 AAF stations are envisioned.  From the AAF website:

All Aboard Florida's station locations will be centered in the downtowns of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and the planned Intermodal Station at the Orlando International Airport's future South Terminal. All locations will provide access to international airports, seaports, and existing and future transit systems, such as SunRail in Orange County, and Metrorail and Metromover in Miami-Dade County.

So AAF trains will pass by, but not stop here.  If you want to take an AAF train to visit Disney with the kiddies, you would have to go north to FLL to board, or South to Miami.

The Cantarella story contains some good investigative journalism.  About half-way into the story he looks at the complicated corporate ownership of AAF, which is actually overseen by two companies: an Operations branch (which owns the easement right to develop and operate passenger rail service in the existing rail corridor) and a Stations company (which owns much of the land for the stations in downtown Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach).  Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Coral Gables-based Florida East Coast Industries (FECI). In turn, FECI, along with the Florida East Coast Railway LLC (FEC), is owned by “investment equity funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC” (a New York City investment-management firm, and the first hedge fund in the U.S. to trade publicly).

Cantarella interviews Gilbert B. Norman, a retired Chicago CPA and former senior internal auditor at the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad.  Norman believes that All Aboard Florida was created by Fortress Investment Group to entice the state to buy the FEC rail corridor, which Fortress owns.  Before AAF is developed, Norman predicts that Fortress Investment Group will approach the state about buying the corridor (with AAF disappearing soon after).  Other observers predict that AAF will begin operations, but quickly become unprofitable, resulting in pressure on Florida to buy the operations component of the business. Fortress will pocket an exorbitant sum from the sale while continuing to charge the state to use the corridor and rake in millions from the bustling new train stations.

While the above is (pessimistic) speculation, what we do know is that AAF plans is to run a train every hour from about 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. According to AAF, having private tracks, few stops, and the ability to reach 125 mph in some areas will make it possible to travel from Miami to Orlando in a projected three hours.

Amie Goddeau (amie.goddeau@dot.state.fl.us), the "FDOT Future Corridor Coordinator" for District 4 attended the 4/23 HOA meeting.  She confirmed that hourly service from 6am to 8pm would mean 16 daily round-trips.  That means 32 additional trains crossing Ives Dairy Road.


Added to the FEC freight trains from the last section - Subtotal: 46 trains.


Train Set 3: Tri-Rail Coastal Link

Finally we come to the train system that would have the largest impact on our area, because it envisions the construction of a rail station on the vacant lands described in the last post [here].

Tri-Rail Coastal Link ("TRCL") reports are viewable here.  The "Tri-Rail Coastal Link Station Area Opportunities" report on that page is the source of the picture in my February post "Commercial Tax Base West of Aventura," which is worth re-posting again here:

Contrast that image with the one posted in my last post on this Blog:

You will see that already the plan envisioned by TRCL requires modification: the envisioned location of the "192nd Street Station" is already slated for rental-apartment development by LG Aventura LLC (Gables Residential).  This means the more likely location of the station will be on the land indicated with a red border in the above image (owned by the Ben-Shmuel trusts).

Amie Goddeau (Florida Department of Transportation) disclosed the following facts about the TRCL project at the April HOA meeting:

• TRCL is a publicly funded project (All-Aboard Florida is private)
• travel time from "West Aventura" to downtown: estimated 29 minutes
• ticket prices would be 75% subsidized (ie: kept artificially low to encourage ridership)
• pedestrian overpass to Aventura Mall is being discussed with mall owners
• workshops will be held in August
• construction would be from 2018-2020

Some thoughts:

If Aventura Mall wants a pedestrian overpass, I sure hope they are paying the entire cost for the station, since this is just a complete money-making windfall for them.

Goddeau noted that all the transportation people had been in close contact with the owners of Aventura Mall and the City of Aventura concerning these developments.  Without a government of our own, the information has been harder to come by, but with the reporting here and meetings held (and to-be held), we are coming up to speed.

I feel that commuter rail where commuters actually LIVE is a good idea, but I'm sure all of us in "West Aventura" want to ensure that surrounding infrastructure is developed to avoid a quagmire.  For this reason this blog will continue to post updates on any and all 'developments related to development.'  The goal is to avoid the very corruption that the "NO to incorporation" people are most concerned about.

Oh, and by the way, the subtotal?  Still digging for info, but early indications are approximately 50.
The Grand Total: 80-100 trains.  Per day.  Wow.

I'm not saying "there goes the neighborhood," because being able to ride a bike a short distance to catch a train downtown would be a great resource for a city that has a terrible commuting infrastructure.  But I wouldn't be lining up to rent an apartment from Gables Residential if doing so would mean having 100 trains passing by my window every day.

Coming Soon: Coverage of May 1 NE MAC meeting.

Recap of 4/23 HOA Meeting: Development of land just "West of Aventura"

Last night the area Homeowners' Association had a really informative agenda, but only 50 or so residents were interested enough to attend (which is why this blog exists: for the lazy majority). 

The HOA is doing some good work, but it's doing so with only 141 paid members (170 paid last year).  In this writer's opinion the HOA dues should be lowered to $10 (instead of going up this year from $25 to $30).  More members = more mandate, and with over $25,000 in the bank (representing 5 years' worth of accumulated collections), Carl Icahn [activist-investor] would be pounding the table for a special-dividend.  I would agree, recommending (i) a decrease in dues to $10, with current paid members getting a 3-year membership in return for having already paid $30. 

Other than some once-annual printing costs (which could probably be minimized if mailings were coordinated with e-mails and Nextdoor), the cost of refreshments at meetings (unnecessary - bottled water is evil!), there should be no cost to operating an HOA - the venues are donated without charge, and the membership and board are volunteers, so why the cash hoard?  Maybe some of that money could be put toward beautification: "Lower the fees and plant some trees!"

But I digress.  On to the substantive aspects of the meeting:

1. Interstate highway 95 construction goes on.  After lobbying by residents (myself included) for years, the southbound off-ramp to Ives Dairy will (at last) be expanded from the 1-lane bottleneck in a few short weeks.  Another lane is being added all the way from Ives Dairy to Hallandale Beach Blvd. (this will take longer), and in about one year (May 2015) a new "express lane" will be added, similar to the "pay lane" you see when driving south to Miami.  Good news for drivers of hybrid and electric cars (who ride free), and good news for people with money.

2.  Development
The most important information coming from the meeting concerned land development in our area.  The most important concerned passenger rail and the potential for a new station.  That is such a large topic it needs a separate post (to come). 

Today's post examines the vacant parcels as they are today with a little history, and a little investigative journalism.  To begin, let's take a look at the land, which is SOUTH of Ives Dairy, EAST of NE 26th Ave, West of West Dixie Highway, and NORTH of 195th Street:

The above image has been labelled to show who owns what.  The northern-most labelled parcel is the future site of the Beacon Tower (see this earlier post for more details - in fact go and read that post right now).

Proceeding southward, the largest parcel follows, owned by "LG Aventura, LLC."  This parcel is owned by Gables Residential, who were represented at the HOA meeting last night by Sheldon Powell, who explained that a rental community composed of townhomes and several hundred apartments are basically a done-deal as far as approvals from the County (no approval needed from local residents however, given that we are not a "city" with a "government"). 

South of that large parcel is where things get interesting, beginning with 19800 West Dixie Highway, a 122,068 sf parcel owned by “Eliahu Ben Shmuel Trust, and Daniel Mims Ben Shmuel Trust.”  The owner address is an address in Tennessee, but Eliahu Ben-Shmuel is a businessman in his 70s living in Golden Beach, who previously founded Swiss Watch International (a Florida-based company that “designs and makes timepieces worldwide,” including counterfeiting Seiko and Pulsar watches, according to this 2002 case).  The most amazing thing about the case is that you can make any money counterfeiting a crappy Pulsar watch! SWI was started by Eliahu (“Eli”) in 1995, but was later run by his 3 sons Izac (42), Lior (40) and Shlomi (36) [source], before being sold in late 2012.  Hey: who needs to be in the watch business when owning real estate can be so lucrative!  

This parcel was purchased (together with the others described below) for $3.4M in December 2012.  With the potential to sell the land for mega bucks for use as a commuter rail station (hey!  I told you to go and read this earlier post for more details already!), the Ben-Shmuels may well be the future Soffers of "West Aventura"! [the Soffers are the family that brought you the soon-to-be second largest mall in America - see earlier post here for more details].

19790 WDH is owned by March Property Acquisitions LLC.  The 37,684sf parcel was bought in September 2013 for $1.25M.  The uninformative name of the company suggests it is a limited-liability vehicle for another larger company to operate secretly - possibly one of the 2 hotels (yes, hotels) that are rumored to have development plans in the area (Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express).

Next to the south is 19770 owned, again, but the Ben-Shmuel trusts.  This 54,014sf parcel was purchased (together with other parcels) for $3.4M in December 2012.

Last comes 19680, a 49,223 sf parcel also owned by the Ben-Shmuel trusts, and part of the $3.4M deal in December 2012.

The parcels South of the above-described land have already been developed. If you haven't driven by recently, you will be surprised to see several residential buildings that will be occupied very soon.

So now you have some idea of the parcels, their sizes, possible uses and ownership.  So much has happened in this area already without any oversight or input, which is really a shame, and one of the reasons why this blog, nextdoor.com, and the HOA are necessary.  So please keep reading, join Nextdoor [use this link], and join the HOA (complaining about the cost when you do).

Next up: Aventura's "Grand Central Station" with a pedestrian overpass to the Mall ... on OUR property?  How nice for Aventura!

Mitigation: the "Poison Pill to Incorporating," Explored

The strongest argument for incorporation (forming a new city) is that it will allow us to put money we spend on taxes to work here, and not elsewhere in the county.  The amount of money involved has been described as $974,872 [MAC 2003-2004 report], $1,307,643 [MAC 2011-2012 report] and "77 cents for each $1.00 we pay on the assessed value of our homes" [Sky High News, January 2014].

So the logic is: form a new city, and we keep that money at work here, doing things like funding public safety, beautification, stormwater and road improvements, traffic enhancements, park improvements and code enforcement.

But what if there was a law that said that an area "declaring independence" from the county had to keep on paying a surplus to the county?   Well, take a look at this, from the Miami Dade County Code:

Sec. 20-26. - Future Municipalities' Obligations to the County.

(d) The fiscal impact of an incorporation on the remainder of the unincorporated area shall be revenue neutral; provided, however, any municipality which does not meet the foregoing requirement, as a condition of incorporation pursuant to Article V of the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter, shall agree to make an annual mitigation payment to the County's Municipal Services Trust Fund in the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area Budget, the amount of which shall be determined by the Board of County Commissioners, in the event of a negative fiscal impact of the municipality's incorporation on the unincorporated area. For purposes of this subsection, "a revenue neutral municipality" is defined as an area that previously, as part of the unincorporated municipal service area, generated revenues equal to or less than the cost of services provided to the area by the County. Any annual mitigation amount determined by the Board of County Commissioners pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph shall be established so as not to trigger "most-favored-nation-status" clauses which are contained in any municipal charter.

The point is constantly made that we are a "donor community" which means that we are NOT "revenue neutral" to the county; if we leave, the County loses money.  The county needs that money to keep doing whatever it is doing now (spending it elsewhere, it seems).  The county simply can't afford having a bunch of "donor communities" leave, because it would produce a budget crisis (letting Aventura secede, for instance, was a huge mistake for the county, in retrospect).  And that is why 20-26(d) exists: to protect the county.

How might 20-26(d) be applied in our “new city”?  We don’t really have to guess – when the NE MAC recommended back in 2004-2005 to form a new city, the next step was a hearing by the county Planning Advisory Board (the “PAB”) held on August 8, 2005 at the Jewish Community Center.  Here is what the PAB decided:

“NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOVED BY THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PLANNING ADVISORY BOARD, that it recommends approval of the Northeast Dade Incorporation, after reviewing staff’s report and analysis of the fiscal viability of the proposed new city including staff’s recommended mitigation payment of 1.0 mill from the assessed 2003 tax rolls”

Recall from the earlier post “Your Taxes Will go Up” that a “mill” is a unit of taxation equal to one-thousandth of the assessed value of a property.  Recall also that the current millage rate in our area is 1.9283 (which means $192 in taxes for every $100,000 in property value).

The first line on the MAC budget says that the “revised real property assessment,” that all the calculations are based on, is $1,041,716,358.  One-thousandth of that amount is over ONE MILLION DOLLARS!  $1,041,716.36, to be exact.  So if the PAB decision on August 8, 2005 stood, today our “new city” would still be paying the county over $1M each year! That's right: it's not a one-time deal, it's forever.

If the NE MAC objective is to keep the taxes from going up (I don't know that this even is an objective, but I've heard that said at the meetings), and the current “target” is 1.9283 mills, then the “new city” would either have to give over half of its tax revenues to the county (1 mill from every 1.9283 collected: 1.9283 - 1.000 = 0.9283), or it has to face the reality that the target is an illusion.

This is why the mitigation issue is so central to the discussion of Incorporation, and it had largely been ignored so far in the hopes that the county (at its 2/27/2014 meeting) would take up the Mayor’s recommendation (supported by the Annexation and Incorporation Task Force) to repeal the “poison pill”.  Now we know that the issue hasn’t been addressed, and that a “consultant” will study the issue and give recommendations “some day.”

The problem is: the NE MAC doesn’t have time to wait for that report, or for resolution of the mitigation issue: the MAC only exists until February 2015.  So it was noted at the 3/27/14 meeting of the MAC that the budget should reflect the mitigation payment to the county, which kind of throws a cold bucket of water on the whole process. 

So if you attend a MAC meeting, and you hear the word “mitigation”: pay attention, because mitigation is the difference between: (A) having a ‘surplus’ $974,872/$1,307,643/"77 cents for each $1.00 we pay " and (B) having a deficit.  In other words, it makes all the difference in the world.

None of this is an argument against incorporating, but it is a call for the NE MAC to not make its decisions in a vacuum: if the mitigation payment is going to be implemented, it needs to be acknowledged (budgeted for) and negotiated with the County BEFORE a vote on incorporation takes place.