Why aren't we part of Aventura?

The title of the Blog and the first post beg the question: if we are defined by our proximity to Aventura, why not join them?

Apparently there was some attempt to be part of Aventura from its beginning (it was incorporated in 1995), but because 1995 was before my residency here, I can't go into much detail on that.  

In 2004 there was a first effort to become ANNEXED by Aventura.  "Annexed" means an existing city absorbs a neighboring area that is not itself incorporated.  Here's how that 2004 effort was described:

"In September 2004, the City of Aventura ("City") prepared an Annexation Feasibility Study of the North East Mac area to determine the fiscal feasibility of annexing the subject area.  The study was requested after representatives from the unincorporated area west of the City formally petitioned the City Commission in May 2004 to annex into the corporate boundaries of the City." 

[source: January 2008 Annexation Feasibility Study - Introduction]

The 2004 result?: Aventura declined the opportunity, concluding 

"the City would experience a significant negative fiscal impact on [its] budget if the Northeast MAC area were annexed to the City ... The first year deficit was projected to be $1,032,445, an amount that equaled to about 20% of the revenues anticipated from the annexed area.  The County Code relating to electric franchise and utility tax revenues adversely affected the revenue projections by $1,403,700.  Without overcoming those obstacles, it was not prudent from a financial standpoint to annex..."

[source: January 2008 Annexation Feasibility Study - Introduction]

This 2004 effort by our "West of Aventura" community was happening at the same time the area was investigating INCORPORATION (which means forming a NEW city where previously there was only unincorporated land).  The history of incorporation will be covered in another post.

So in 2004, Aventura says "no" to annexation, the County put a stop to new incorporations, and there was a kind of "identity limbo".  The limbo persisted into 2008, when the "West of Aventura" crowd, now led by Gloria Romero Roses (then President of the Sky Lake-Highland Lakes Area HOA) petitioned Aventura to once again consider Annexation.  One of her communications to Aventura is pictured below:

So what was the response in 2008?  Because there had been NO change at the county level when it came to electric franchise revenues and utility tax revenues, the answer (unsurprisingly) was still "No".  Below is the "conclusion" page of the 2008 report from Aventura:

The concluding paragraph reads "... if the County is not willing to make concessions relating to the City retaining electric franchise and utility tax revenues, this would adversely affected [sic] the revenue projections by $1,015,000.  Without overcoming these obstacles it would not be prudent from a financial standpoint to annex the area identified in the study."

So to sum up the annexation efforts:
2004: NO
2008: NO

Where do we stand today, in 2014?  Well, there is a meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 27th at 9:30 where the County Commissioners will actually be considering changes to County laws, including those relating to "electric franchise revenues" [Sec. 20-8.1] and "utility tax revenues" [Sec.20-8.2].

If this meeting leads to a change in these laws, there would be no financial impediment to Aventura incorporating our area, and they would likely consider annexation on the merits.  That's not to say they would be in 100% in favor of annexation, but at least there would be no financial barrier to doing so, as there was in 2004 and 2008.

Stay tuned.  These issues will be revisited in a later post, and probably many posts thereafter.