Miami Today: Week of Thursday, October 27, 2016

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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TRANSPORTATION

First of 136 Metrorail cars hailed as tests begin, pg. 9 UPGRADING TECHNOLOGY: Mayor Carlos Gimenez is being asked to offer a strategy to modernize, retire or replace all Miami-Dade information technology systems that are no longer supported by the system’s intellectual property owner, no long meet the needs of county operations or are considered obsolete. County commissioners, on a resolution by Juan Zapata, voted 110 last week to request a report that looks at opportunities for modernization, improved services and better functionality of the county’s IT systems as well as the strategic report by the end of September 2017. Commission Chair Jean Monestime waived commission rules to allow the vote. Mr. Zapata, who did not run for reelection, is leaving the commission.

Signature bridge designer choice months off, pg. 13

THE ACHIEVER

BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

CASHLESS COUNTY: Noting that some charges by Miami-Dade County government are still cash-only in an era when $617 billion in cashless transactions will be made nationwide this year, county commissioners last week voted 11-0 to try to give the whole of county government cashless payment options for customers. The resolution asks the mayor to squeeze the cost of the effort into this year’s budget if possible and, if not, put it into next year’s budget.

JOB RECORD, BUT A DROP: Despite the Zika invasion, last month set an all-time high for September jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector in Miami-Dade, an analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.

At the same time, the data show, those jobs have declined month by month since June, from 137,300 jobs in June to 136,800 in July, 134,900 in August and 133,700 in September – though still up from last September’s 132,900.

The drop in jobs from June to July in the sector is annual, but August almost always registers a bounce-back that never took place this year.

MORE MEXICO AIR LINKS: Mexican low-cost airline Volaris says it will start serving Miami International Airport in February with four weekly flights linking Miami to Guadalajara and daily flight links with Mexico City.

Mexico was Miami International’s second-busiest international market with 1.4 million total passengers in 2015, county aviation officials said. The Guadalajara link will be the airport’s sixth within Mexico.

ICELAND, MILAN TOO: Low-cost transatlantic airline WOW is to launch three weekly flight links between Miami International Airport and Iceland in April and Italian airline Meridiana plans to start two weekly flight links with Milan, airport officials announced, bringing to 113 the total airlines serving MIA, most of any US airport.

Annette Alvarez

Photo by Marlene Quaroni

Heads group taking foreign visitors into Miami homes The profile is on Page 4

Like traffic, Brickell bridge openings rules stall

BY CATHERINE LACKNER

As downtown traffic slows, movement has also stalled in a Downtown Development Authority, Florida Department of Transportation and US Coast Guard struggle over what the authority says are improper bridge openings – particularly of the Brickell Avenue bridge – that jam roadways.

The authority wants current restrictions enforced and would prefer longer rush hour periods when the bridge would be locked down, barring openings for marine traffic.

Eric Riel Jr., Downtown Development Authority team leader for planning, design and transportation, told board members Friday that the Coast Guard is working with the University of Miami on a marine study and that the state transportation department is also studying the issue.

“The Coast Guard has just fallen on the ball, in my opinion,” said board member Richard Lydecker, senior partner of the Lydecker-Diaz law firm. He has been active in the controversy, having lawyers from his firm research the issue pro bono.

“We don’t need more studies,” he said.

AGENDA

Land uses near transit face action

The Coast Guard can change a rule temporarily to gauge the effects on marine traffic and the marine industry without doing studies, he said.

Downtown bridge traffic has increased quickly. A Downtown Development Authority study last month showed 66,769 people lived in its area in 2010. This year it’s 88,540, with a forecast of 106,429 in 2021. Meanwhile, the authority last week approved allowing 2.5 million more square feet of office space downtown, adding more workers.

In July, things looked hopeful for a bridge opening solution when the development authority’s detailed list of requests was sent to both agencies, accompanied by a letter of support from Dennis Fernandez, state transportation department structures maintenance administrator for District 6.

The Brickell Avenue Bridge is supposed to be locked down (except for vessel emergencies) between 7:35 and 8:59 a.m., 12:05 and 12:59 p.m., and 4:35 and 5:59 p.m. weekdays. The proposed rules would extend morning and evening lockdowns until 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. respectively.

“This is a good path moving forward,”

Ken Russell, Miami commissioner and authority chair, said in July. “We’ll try to set up a conversation with the Coast Guard, but it’s a delicate game of chess.”

Last Friday, Mr. Russell said he has been speaking with the river commission, “which is on the opposite side.” The river commission has said that restricting openings will harm the marine industry and has enlisted US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on its side. Meanwhile, Mr. Lydecker has won support from Sen. Bill Nelson, who has responsibilities for Coast Guard oversight.

“We’re going to come to a solution without going to war,” Mr. Russell said.

“I see a willingness there.”

“We cannot capitulate on the hours,” Mr. Lydecker said. “Nobody can tell me that two extra hours would hurt the industry up-river.”

All that has to happen, at least initially, is for Barry Dragon, chief of the Coast Guard’s Bridge Branch, “to tell the guy in the booth to follow the rules,” he said.

“The city needs to push this.”

“We’ll sit down with them,” Mr. Russell said. “We’re all at the table.”

A committee last week approved evaluating land use countywide within a half mile of Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit area plan corridors to pinpoint opportunities to encourage transit-oriented development.

The Transit and Mobility Services Committee unanimously voted to order a thorough study near transit based on information from the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the county’s Department of Transportation and Public Works.

If the full commission approves Nov. 1, the county will assess land uses in these areas to target development needed to generate ridership and enhance cost-effectiveness of transit.

The administration would report recommendations after consultating with the transit department, MPO staff and municipalities on the potential to further integrate land use and transportation planning around each SMART plan corridor and for amending county and city comprehensive plans and land development rules, according to the resolution by Rebeca Sosa, cosponsored by Daniella Levine Cava.

The SMART plan intends to advance six People’s Transportation Plan rapid transit corridors, along with a network of bus rapid transit.

The legislation says the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) New Start Process considers existing and potential land uses around transportation corridors when awarding federal funds.

Additionally, Ms. Sosa’s legislation said, urban centers and mixed-use corridor districts specifically promote transit-supportive and transit-oriented development around the county’s premium transit stops and services.

“Further evaluation of existing urban centers and evaluation of the feasibility of new urban center districts and corridors around the SMART plan corridors may enhance their competitiveness for FTA funding.”

RESIDENCES TO INCLUDE AMERICAN LEGION CENTER ...

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IDEAS DUE FOR UPGRADING CORAL GABLES TRAFFIC ...

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VIEWPOINT: 25 MPH LIMIT GREAT, BUT ADD POLICING ...

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FIRST TWO TARGETS PICKED FOR REVERSIBLE LANES ...

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CHINESE SEEKING LUXURY CONDOS IN TROPHY SITES ...

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BEACH SEEKS BIDS ON ITS TRANSPORTATION REVAMP ...

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ALL ABOARD FLORIDA SUIT HAS 6-WEEK TIMETABLE ...

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COMMISSION DEFERS VOTE UNTIL VOTERS SET POLICY ...

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TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

MIAMI TODAY

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Photos by Cristina Sulllivan

Low salaries and housing stock are twin issues, said Shekeria Brown. 275,000 working Miami households pay more than half of what they earn for housing: Stockton Williams.

Miami needs big toolkit to add affordable housing, panel says B Y S USAN D ANSEYAR

A holistic approach to boosting the supply of affordable housing is the best one, say local experts, as there’s not a single policy tool that will lower the number of Miami’s working households paying an increasing percentage of their income on rent or mortgages.

Here in the Miami metro area, there are 275,000 working households that earn between 60% and 120% of the median income and are paying more than half of what they earn for their housing, said Stockton Williams, executive director of the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Housing, during a presentation sponsored by Holland & Knight last week.

“There is no one policy tool that in and of itself is going to make a dramatic difference on this problem,” he said. “The good news is a number of cities are starting to put together a set of solutions, a tool kit.”

An interactive response panel, joining Mr. Williams at the law firm for “Housing Affordability: What Moves the Needle Most,” included moderator Nick Inamdar, principal at The Gatehouse Group; Shekeria Brown,

executive director of the South Florida Community Development Coalition; and Matthew Ellish, associate general counsel for Property Markets Group.

They largely agreed with Mr. Williams that what most moves “the needle” toward a larger stock of affordable housing is a full set of public policies by local government, including incentives such as offering inclusionary zoning rules, which are zoning-based requirements that developers include a certain number of below-market-rate units in a mostly market-rate residential project; and dedicating local government revenue to funds that foster affordable housing.

He said it’s important as well to preserve the existing stock of rental housing.

In South Florida, Mr. Williams said, there’s a lot of Class C, so-called naturally occurring housing stock in small buildings – some 75,000 units in the City of Miami with one- and twobedrooms renting for about $1,200 per month. For workforce housing, he said, these are vitally important, so it behooves local government to provide policy opportunities for developers to acquire and preserve them while

at the same time be able to make income.

Around the country, Mr. Williams said, municipalities are starting to do this through new equity fund models, namely in Denver, New York and San Francisco, where developers can make a return on their investment in return for maintaining this supply of housing.

“The development community will find it increasingly difficult to make the numbers work, so having some sources of housing trust funds are important,” he said. The dedicated local revenues could come from impact fees and a percentage of real estate transfer taxes, for example.

Ms. Brown said the main issue in South Florida is income level: the average is $40,000, and within the city of Miami it’s $30,000. “Salaries have not increased,” she said. “Also, there’s a problem with the housing stock. A lot of so-called affordable housing is substandard.”

Ms. Brown said our workforce is not living in some of the beautiful buildings being built in South Florida, particularly in Miami.

She advised local government look into streamlining the permitting pro-

cess to encourage development and pay more of the infrastructure costs associated with small-scale renovations of existing rental housing.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez said a third factor affecting affordable housing is transportation. “You can’t get to downtown via public transit and you can barely afford to drive here given the tolls,” he said. “We have a horrendous, non-functioning system here.”

The demand for housing close to the inner city is so great, but so are the costs, Mr. Suarez said. “A lot of inner-city neighborhoods have low land costs, but even areas like Wynwood are getting expensive.”

Developers may want to build more affordable units but are forced to build luxury homes as the numbers work for them, said Mr. Ellish.

“How do we look at this long term?” he asked. “We need a holistic look at incentives and the challenge is there are so many different markets here.”

The density bonus incentive will be more attractive for a downtown developer than for one in Miami Beach, Mr. Ellish said. “This is a challenging market for the toolkit.”

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VIEWPOINT

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

MIAMITODAY Miami Today is an independent voice of the community, published weekly at 2000 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 100, Miami, Florida 33133. Telephone (305) 358-2663

Without police, a 25 mph residential limit could still be 50 Just as traffic jams on main roads get worse, Miami city commissioners are to vote next month on whether to reduce speed limits in many neighborhoods to 25 miles per hour to make them Michael Lewis safer.

That’s likely to be controversial – not the greater safety but the lesser speed.

We’re all in a hurry to get somewhere important, and we’re often late precisely because the roadways that are supposed to get us somewhere quickly – think Dixie Highway – seem to be ever slower.

To make up for that, more of us are taking alternate routes through residential streets – the very targets of the city legislation, which is limited to those areas.

Miami isn’t alone in targeting cutthrough traffic. Coral Gables next door is doing the same, moving toward a 25 mile-per-hour limit itself. New York City was the first in the nation to try it on a big scale, just two years ago. Now other major cities across the US are looking at doing the same.

Everyone is doing this in the name of safety of residents, pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers. They’re right in doing that. We all know that at lower speeds collisions are less likely to end in death – and at lower speeds collisions are less likely to happen in the first place.

So what is there to object to, other than the obvious one-time cost of making new signs listing 25 instead of 30 for a speed limit?

The objection is likely to be a further inconvenience to drivers already fuming about traffic. The lower limit from 30 to 25 means that instead of covering a mile in 2 minutes it would take 2 minutes and 24 seconds – or an additional 2 minutes every five miles.

That time loss is real but nearly insig-

nificant when you compare it with the time it takes you to travel the same distance on a crowded major roadway where traffic might be actually moving at just 10 to 12 miles per hour at rush hour – and rush hours are getting longer and longer.

Those low actual speeds on major roads means that a neighborhood cutthrough will be just as alluring to drivers facing a 25 mph limit as it would at 30 mph – it’s still far faster than main roads at rush hour.

So a lower speed limit won’t reduce neighborhood traffic, even if police tightly enforce the limits.

The tighter the enforcement, however, the larger investment in residential area policing the city must make to put enough officers on the streets. That would produce safer neighborhoods in ways other than traffic safety, an unexpected benefit. Crime would fall.

But before any city moves ahead on this, it should do its homework on how much extra policing will be involved to make sure that 25 mph actually means

25 and not 35 or 50. A 25 mph sign that nobody pays any attention to does no good, and for Miami drivers to slow down they need to know that they could really be ticketed.

The Miami legislation presented by Commissioner Francis Suarez now simply asks the Public Works Department to create a plan after the county gives the city permission to slow single-family residential street traffic to 25. It doesn’t mention asking police how many people it would take to enforce that plan.

We think it should be the other way around: plan first for how you’re going to do it, how many people that will require and how you’ll cover the cost of the number of added officers and patrol cars needed to do the job properly.

As noted, the signs will be cheap. But without law enforcement to back up the signs they become simply suggestions, not a real law.

A 25 mile per hour limit is smart. Just be sure before the vote that you’ll do it right.

When shopping means ‘disaster,’ JCPenney beats IKEA The biggest lesson in well-being is knowing what contexts are good for you, and which ones cause convulsions. In my case, shopping induces not just convulsions, but also temper tantrums and involuntary repetitions of the word Isaac Prilleltensky disaster, which I’m sure I got from watching too much electoral news.

That, however, is nothing compared to the pain and suffering I inflict on my wife while shopping.

My congenial personality changes dramatically the minute we set foot in a store.

Precipitously, my affable self becomes grouchy and grumpy. In the best of times I laugh at shoppers, but in the worst of times I get dizzy and swear irrepressibly in four languages.

Nevertheless, in my never-ending pursuit of (a) becoming a better husband, and (b) overcoming my shopping phobia, I conducted a comparative study. I wanted to see if my mood would be better in certain

L ETTERS

The Writer Isaac Prilleltensky is dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami and the author of “The Laughing Guide to Well-Being:Using Humor and Science to Become Happier and Healthier.” Follow his humor blog at http://prilleltensky.blogspot.com shopping environs. The research consisted of comparing my mood while shopping for home goods at IKEA and JCPenney.

I was excited to go to IKEA because I admire the Swedes. I owned two Volvos, I respect their progressive social policies, and I value their egalitarian culture. My love for the Swedes was supposed to counteract the phobic aspects of shopping.

I was ready to begin the desensitization process. Unfortunately, to get to the local IKEA we had to contend with Miami traffic. It took us over an hour to get there.

Once we arrived we realized the store was the size of Aventura and Dolphin malls combined. If you’re not from Miami, let

TO THE

Tax plan yes, light rail no

E DITOR

would ever be. The Metrorail is Miami’s present and future asset. If its growth is stunted due to broken promises, then loyal passengers will find other means of transportation, i.e., buying their own vehicles, which causes traffic in the first place, and now Miami turns into New York in a matter of months.

Pierre Joseph

The funding proposal is muy worthy.

But the light rail part is all wrong, because it forces a dedicated lane onto existing roads which, because they are already saturated with traffic, can’t stand the loss of a lane.

A better solution would be the county’s first solution: Metrorail. Its dedicated lane is off the grid and when its trains break down, they do not affect traffic.

Don’t waste time and money on light How about using tolls collected on all rail. It’s not the answer. toll roads in the county, including those DC Copeland express lanes being built on I-75 and the Palmetto? Maybe some negotiations with the State of Florida for a percentage of Light rail will be more prone to ve- those revenues.

Gerwyn Flax hicular incidents than the Metrorail

Use tolls to build transit

Answer is still Metrorail

me put it in context. IKEA is double the size of the former Yugoslavia.

After we parked our car we had to take three elevators to get to the right floor for the official start line. IKEA is not like any other store where you can roam around freely. In IKEA you must follow a single path and go through multiple sections en route to your destination.

Before we got to ours, the kitchen section, we passed 17 departments enticing you to buy things that (a) you don’t need, (b) will take you the entire weekend to assemble, and (c) will require that you spend the rest of the week cutting the carton boxes into small pieces that can fit into the recycling bin (the alternative is to throw the boxes in the garbage, contribute to global warming, and accelerate the submersion of Miami, not to mention environmental guilt and the looks of your green neighbors).

The traffic on the road was nothing compared to the foot traffic in the store.

After 30 minutes of following signs and getting hit by baby strollers, we reached our destination. Ora got really excited.

She inspected every single kitchen cabinet on display, opened every single drawer, compared hinges, colors, materials, design, door knobs, make, weight, and birth certificate of each countertop. All combined, there were 65,389 possible combinations of color, style, design, material and blood type of kitchen cabinets. Ora, of course, had to contemplate them all.

By the time Ora chose something she liked I was comatose, but we were finally ready to approach the friendly salesperson.

I could tolerate the bombardment of stimulation in the expectation that, when ready, an efficient customer representative would give us the Swedish treatment.

As soon as Ora started explaining what she liked, the friendly salesperson directed us to a computer terminal, asked us to set up a password (what the *&$!???), and basically told us GOOD LUCK! It was up to us to figure out the pricing by inputting the size, make, color, wood type and envi-

ronmental footprint of each cabinet, door and knob. Once you inserted the exact measures, height, width, race and sexual orientation of the cabinet, the computer would spit out an excel sheet with 95 lines and 543 rows with potential pricing options.

At that point I decided that the Swedes had gone completely mad with the do-ityourself concept.

After the Swedish saga we went to the JCPenney Home Goods store in Kendall.

By the time we got there Ora had already checked online three types of sofas we were interested in.

The friendly salesperson greeted us with a big smile. The store was nearly empty. It took us five seconds to get to the right section of the store and another three minutes to choose the right sofa, a matching La-Z-Boy and a coffee table.

Compared to the IKEA torment I felt jubilant. For starters, I could see the exit sign. There weren’t 25,678 types of sofas, and most of all, I did not have to create a stupid password to buy what I wanted.

From now on, I buy everything at JCPenney Home Goods, from sofas to broccoli to suppositories. If I cannot find it at JCPenney, I don’t need it. Context is everything.

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

MIAMI TODAY

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Transportation Suit on All Aboard Florida’s north leg has 6-week timetable

BY CATHERINE LACKNER

Within six weeks, a lawsuit filed by Martin and Indian River counties along with some individual residents to block the leg of the future All Aboard Florida train service planned between West Palm Beach and Orlando will probably be before a judge.

The plaintiffs on Friday filed for summary judgment against the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), All Aboard Florida and the Department of Justice “in an effort to begin to finally complete this lawsuit,” said Stephen Ryan, a partner with McDermott Will & Emery LLP, which represents Martin County.

The defendants have 21 days to answer, after which the plaintiffs have 14 days to file a reply brief. “From our perspective, the case will then be ready for the judge’s ruling,” Mr. Ryan said Tuesday.

In August, a ruling by US District Judge Christopher R. Cooper cleared the way for the two counties and the residents to sue. They objected to the USDOT’s award of $1.75 billion in private activity bonds for

The central station complex and the southern end of the railway line are now rising in downtown Miami.

the passenger train project, saying All Aboard Florida hadn’t obtained the required environmental clearances.

The actions will be “the first lawsuits ever to challenge a private activity bond allocation from the US Department of Transportation,” said a story by Shelly Sigo in the Aug. 17 issue of The Bond Buyer.

The crux of the counties’ case is that USDOT’s December 2014 allocation of private activities bonds – which generally are issued for projects that have some public benefit – “should have been considered as part of federal agency reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act,” The Bond Buyer story said. The attorneys for

the counties also questioned whether any other financing was contemplated, and have alleged that the project couldn’t be completed without the bonds.

The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program, an alternate federal plan, requires the environmental review, but the issuance of

private activities bonds does not.

The two counties, along with an anti-train group called CARE FL, also said the 32 planned high-speed trains daily would cause harm to public services and archaeological sites.

All Aboard Florida plans to begin train service from Miami to West Palm Beach next summer and is building three stations along the route, including a large depot complex in downtown Miami. If all goes as planned, the service would be extended to Orlando later in the year.

Both counties are considering their next steps, said the story in The Bond Buyer, though Dylan Reingold, attorney for Indian River County, said Judge Cooper’s ruling was a “really significant victory.”

“Martin County is very pleased with the decision and believes that the public will have more information as a result of the court action than they’ve ever had before about the project,” Mr. Ryan said in August. Citing the litigation, a spokesperson for All Aboard Florida has declined to comment.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez inspects one of two test-ready rail cars that Hitachi assembled. Alice Bravo addresses guests Monday at Hitachi’s rail car assembly facility in Medley.

First two of 136 multi-million-dollar Metrorail cars in tests

BY SUSAN D ANSEYAR

Miami-Dade is rolling into the future with two new Metrorail cars now being tested and soon to be put into service.

Officials and transit authorities hosted an unveiling Monday at Medley’s Hitachi facility, where 136 new train cars are to be assembled and delivered before the end of 2019. All have upgraded features including WiFi, new lighting, digital signs and automated announcement of stations.

The county’s initiative to modernize public transportation shows a commitment to the future, said Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo to the 150-plus people who attended.

On Tuesday, she told Miami Today the two cars now ready for testing, and the 134 to come, are a good sign of dedication to “investing in our existing system as a prelude to expanding it.”

The two new cars will undergo intensive testing for about eight to nine months before being put into use in mid-2017, Ms. Bravo said.

In August, she and Miami Today toured the Hitachi facility where Ralph Carl, engineer and project quality manager, explained the first few cars that are assembled will be turned over to Ernest Matthews and his teams at the county’s Transportation and Public Works Department for “qualification,” which is a

rigorous checklist that all specifications were met in the quality plan. Once criteria are established, Mr. Carl said, testing will be set for subsequent cars.

On Monday, Mayor Carlos Giménez said the custom-designed 140,400square-foot facility, when fully functional, will employ 100 people and a number of subcontractors. “We’re diversifying the economy of Miami-Dade with manufacturing and assembly.”

The 136 new Metrorail cars will cost the county about $300 million, or $2.06 million each. They’ll be roughly the same size and length as the cars they’re replacing but with improved components, thanks to decades of technology,

Ms. Bravo said.

The new cars can be coupled with another pair to create a four-car or even a six-car train, depending on the size of the station.

People attending the unveiling asked what’s different about these new cars, she said.

Miami-Dade’s current Metrorail fleet was built in 1984, Ms. Bravo pointed out, and many changes since then are incorporated into the manufacture of the new cars, including essentially silent brakes, compared with screeching brake treads; computerized control of systems for a smoother acceleration, reduced use of electricity and more reliability.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

TRANSPORTATION

MIAMI TODAY

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I-395 signature bridge designer should be hired by spring

BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Five design firms have earned the right to submit a final design proposal for what’s being called a “signature bridge” on I-395 in downtown Miami and one of them should get a contract by spring, according to state transportation officials.

The Florida Department of Transportation anticipates construction to begin in late 2017 and last five years. A state website devoted to the I-395 improvement project lists December 2017 as the construction start date.

A change from the original plan is the addition of three related components, which adds more than $200 million to the overall cost, bringing it to $800 million, according to Maria I. Perdomo of the state transportation department and project manager for the I-395 project.

The bulk of the project is to rebuild 1.4 miles of I-395 from the I-95/Midtown interchange to the west channel bridge of the MacArthur Causeway in Miami.

The freeway to be rebuilt is part of State Road 836, locally known as the Dolphin Expressway. The portion between I-95 and the causeway is designated as I-395 and takes traffic to and from Watson Island and Miami Beach.

Ms. Perdomo said the total project now consists of four separate components: the I-395 reconstruction; improvements to Miami-Dade Expressway

Construction is to start in 14 months on I-395 improvement project, which includes a signature bridge.

Authority’s SR 83611; I-95 pavement reconstruction; and the westbound connector.

The project funding is divided into those components as well, she said.

The maximum construction funding for each component is $555 million to improve I-395 including the new bridge; $186 million to improve MDX SR 83611; $25 million to reconstruct I-95 pavement; and $35 million for the work on the westbound connector.

“The department added the MDX SR 83611, I-95 pavement reconstruction and the westbound connector components to the original I-395 reconstruction com-

ponent, which increased the estimate from $600 million to $800 million,” Ms. Perdomo said.

The latest progress in the overall project came this summer when the transportation department sought proposals for the bridge, based on minimum requirements the department set for the bridge and the plaza space beneath it.

The minimum requirements for the bridge include a minimum suspended span length 500 feet and a minimum elevation above ground of 245 feet.

The minimum requirements for the open spaces underneath are a combination of sidewalks and plantings. An aesthetics manual that was part of the state’s request

for proposals noted that drainage must be handled in a way to allow “development of the full space” under the bridge.

“The department is currently in the procurement process,” Ms. Perdomo said.

“The final design concepts for the signature bridge are due at the beginning of next year. At this time, five firms passed the pass/ fail phase of the Aesthetic Signature Bridge Proposal. We are anticipating award of the project to the winning proposer by spring of next year,” she said.

The I-395 project involves rebuilding the I-395 corridor to increase capacity and improve safety by eliminating geometric

and operational deficiencies.

New elevated ramps, one for both the east and west directions, will provide a direct link between I-95 and I-395. The project includes building a signature bridge over Biscayne Boulevard. In addition to the new bridge, the project will enhance streetscape design underneath the bridge.

Main goals include creating a visually appealing bridge, and building higher structures that will improve visual quality, allowing for multiple activities underneath the bridge.

Design goals include opening and brightening the environments along city streets that run under the expressway like Biscayne Boulevard, Northwest 13th and 14th streets, Northeast First and North Miami avenues and others.

The MDX 83611 project is to improve capacity, adding new westbound and eastbound facilities and widening the SR 836 mainline in both directions.

The new eastbound facility will be at Northwest 12th Avenue to directly connect to I-95 and I395. The new westbound facility will be from I-95 south providing an exit to Northwest North River Drive and to SR 836.

FDOT has partnered with MDX to fund part of this new westbound connection.

The I-95 pavement reconstruction includes removing and replacing the mainline I-95 concrete pavement and a bridge traffic railing barrier retrofit.

16

TRANSPORTATION

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

NW Seventh Street, 32nd Avenue may get reversible lanes

BY CATHERINE LACKNER

The results of a year-long evaluation are in, and the Miami-Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has targeted Northwest Seventh Street from Northwest 12th to 57th avenues and Northwest 32nd Avenue from Northwest 36th to 119th streets as candidates for reversible lanes, which allow more traffic to flow in one direction during morning and afternoon rush hours.

But don’t expect new traffic signals and traffic patterns yet: Miami-Dade County still must complete a project design and environmental study, a detailed traffic analysis, a multimodal

safety study, an analysis of expressway accessibility, a study of social impacts, and (with regard to Northwest Seventh Street) a determination of compatibility with special events at Marlins Park. There also must be meetings to ensure community and stakeholder engagement, according to the evaluation.

Fifteen corridors were originally studied, including Bird Road, US 1, Northwest Seventh Avenue, Southwest Eighth Street, Kendall Drive and Northwest 36th Street, all thoroughfares that are gridlocked during rush hours.

But some were eliminated because they are already part of other traffic studies or have

Rebeca Sosa broached the issue.

multiple bus routes. Some were dropped from the list “due to geometrical and operational con-

straints” because more than 10% of traffic on them is trucks.

The projects will cost $15.1 million – $7.7 million for Northwest 32nd Avenue and $7.4 million for Northwest Seventh Street –, the evaluation said. No timetable for completion was given.

If reversible lanes succeed in the two demonstration projects, the concept could be expanded.

“The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing reversible lanes along major thoroughfares in MiamiDade County, particularly during peak commute travel times, with the intent of addressing traffic congestion in a cost-effective manner” in that instituting

reversible lanes avoids construction costs, the evaluation said.

“Reversible lanes allow transportation agencies to make better use of new or existing underutilized roadways by aligning the capacity with traffic demand,” it continued.

Rebeca Sosa, county commissioner and MPO member, brought up the issue last summer. Subsequently, the county commission ordered the study.

Reversible lanes have been analyzed since 1992, when a plan to add them on Flagler Street was discussed. Only Northwest 199th Street (adjacent to Sun Life Stadium) has reversible lanes now, and only during special events.

Beach car charging deal, expected in a Blink, drags months

BY KATYA MARURI

Blink Network LLC has yet to completed its contract with the City of Miami Beach after being approved nine months ago to install and operate electric car charging stations at some of the city’s parking facilities.

“There were some issues needing clarification in the agreement, which we believe are settled,” said Melissa Berthier, a city spokesperson.

“Blink Network now has the final agreement for their review and execution.”

In August 2015, Miami Today reported that Miami Beach had sought proposals for companies to install, operate and maintain A Blink Level II Charger electric vehicle charging station, which comes with a pedestal and a wall mount.

24-hour, year-round charging stations in at least nine of its surface lots and garages.

Last September, City Manager Jimmy Morales appointed an evaluation committee to examine the proposals. The city received only one proposal, Now with your smart phone you can: from Blink.

Park Since then, the agreement has Enter your location number been under review by the City of Select time Miami Beach and Blink Add time remotely Network’s legal departments, Once you’ve got the app it’s that easy! said Suzanne Tamargo, a spokesTo download, visit: paybyphone.com person for Blink.

“In our experience, agreements with municipalities and government agencies tend to take some time due to the review process involved,” said Ms. Tamargo.

Parking in Miami has never been this easy.

“We anticipate that the agreement should be finalized by the end of the month.”

Blink currently has 14 stations in South Florida and 13 spread throughout northern Florida, according to Blink’s website.

Property owners who want to install their own stations can chose between the “Blink Level II Chargers,” which comes with a pedestal and wall mount electric vehicle charging station, or a “Blink DC Fast Charger,” which can provide a full charge in less than 30 minutes.

Each of these stations can be installed, monitored, operated and maintained by Blink or can be paid for, monitored and maintained by individual property owners.

Once a station is, installed guests can use the website’s BlinkMap or “Blink” Mobile app to locate and check the real-time status of public and commercial charging stations and use an activated evCharge card or ChargePass card or call the 800 number listed on a charging station to connect to the network and charge their car.

Pricing can vary from 39 cents to 49 cents per kilowatt-hour for Blink members and guests. It can take up to 10 hours to fully charge an electric vehicle, based on the car’s size and model.

Details: http:// www.blinknetwork.com/.

At Odebrecht USA, our dedication to transitoriented development stems from our belief that this type of growth shapes our communities and transforms them into thriving urban centers and economic hubs.

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TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

MIAMI TODAY

19

Issues gathering, storing animal waste keep Zoo Doo undone

BY CAMILA CEPERO

One year after beginning its animal and plant waste composting project and purchasing a giant composting machine capable of carrying out the operation, Zoo Miami is now closing in on a product launch date.

As Miami Today reported in March, the project, referred to as “Zoo Doo,” hit the ground running in October 2015 when the zoo bought a giant machine capable of composting 60 cubic yards of waste, which will lose volume through

evaporation and become 30 cubic yards of composted material.

The zoo has been working since then on resolving a multitude of issues, including finding a place to store the giant volume of animal and horticulture waste.

Additionally, officials had to figure out the logistics of gathering the waste and then figure out how to feed it all into the hopper.

“While the composter is now fully operational, there are still some site improvements to be completed,” said Carol Kruse, director of Zoo Miami.

“We are in the process of erecting large tents to cover both the animal waste and the finished compost.”

According to Zoo Miami operation staff, the tents should be completed within two weeks.

The cost of the machine and installation was $744,000.

Zoo Miami would follow the model of other zoos and sell it both in small and large amounts, Ms. Kruse told Miami Today in March.

Officials plan to target retail options such as the zoo’s gift shop and are

working with their retail partner on how to package it, she said.

Another viable option is marketing the compost to homeowners.

Ms. Kruse said that before going public with the sale of “Zoo Doo,” officials are planning to hold an internal sale for zoo employees and volunteers in midNovember.

“We will use this time to monitor the operation and work out any kinks before opening sales to the public,” she said.

“We are excited to finally be this close to launch.”

Revised hotel-convention center project gains a chilly OK

BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Plans for a redesigned convention center and hotel beside Miami Worldcenter earned the support of a Miami review board, even though members weren’t entirely satisfied with the new look.

MDM Group plans to build the Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo Center on the old Miami Arena site, hugged by two other major ongoing projects: Miami Worldcenter and All Aboard Florida’s MiamiCentral transportation center.

Miami city commissioners approved the original hotel and expo center plan two years ago this month.

But earlier this year, MDM Group and its design team announced changes to the proposal. The most notable modifications broke the project into two phases, dropped the number of hotel rooms by 100 to 1,700, and dropped a design of four joined and curved glass towers at varying heights in favor of two standard towers.

Due to the project’s density and intensity, the city’s planning director wanted the city’s Urban Development Review Board to take a look at the new proposal.

Meeting Oct. 19, the board recommended approval of the new plan, with conditions.

Board members’ concerns seemed to center on keeping the site active all the time, not just when big conventions filled the ballrooms and exhibition space.

They are also pushing the developers to have more of a connection between the first hotel tower and the second.

One board member lamented losing the unique curvature of the original hotel towers and instead going forward with more a traditional, even “dated,” design for the towers.

The site at 700 N Miami Ave. has been vacant for years. The land is generally between Northwest Eighth Street and the Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way, and Northwest First and North Miami avenues.

Edward Martos, an attorney for the developers, said financing was a factor in choosing to build the hotel and expo center in phases.

“This will help the project come to realization,” he said.

The first phase is to include the multi-level conference and exposition space as well as

The height and number of rooms were reduced and the hotel has been broken into two separate towers.

1,100 hotel rooms in the first tower. The second phase of 600 hotel rooms is scheduled to begin shortly after the first phase commences, according to MDM Group.

In letters and documents filed with the city accompanying the revised plan, Mr. Martos said the project will provide the city with a “sorely needed” convention center offering more than 350,000 square feet in convention and meeting space and 1,700 hotel rooms.

“In the course of planning the project’s construction, the applicant has identified a number of design modifications that should improve the design and operation while also responding to changes in the market,” wrote Mr. Martos.

He listed the modifications as: Slightly reducing the hotel tower’s height from 636 feet 4 inches and 54 stories to 572 feet 1 inch and 53 stories.

Reducing total hotel units from 1,800 to 1,700.

Redesigning the hotel tower to change it from a “single massive, curved tower” to two separate towers, so as to improve the flow of light and air and views for hotel guests and neighboring properties.

Decreasing total off-street parking spaces from 1,250 to 1,128.

Modifying the primary drop-off area to improve access to a tunnel that will allow valet vehicles to avoid having to leave the property.

Constructing the project in two phases.

Mr. Martos emphasized the changes to the drop-off area in comments to the board, saying the redesign will greatly improve the flow of vehicles to and from the attached garage.

“We think it’s a huge improvement,” said Mr. Martos.

The original design had valets driving vehicles around the block before entering the parking structure, he said.

The project is designed by Coral Gables architects Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates.

Igor Reyes, a partner at the firm, displayed renderings and site plans of the previously approved project to compare with the new drawings.

The core of the convention center will include a 100,000square-foot exhibition hall at ground level, a 60,000-squarefoot grand ballroom on the second level and a 40,000-squarefoot junior ballroom on the third level.

The junior ballroom, which is “still enormous,” has a wall of glass that looks south to downtown Miami and has an “ample” terrace for outside activity and views, Mr. Reyes said.

Much of the vertical circulation is designed into the building’s northeast corner, he said.

Mr. Reyes touted the two towers and their planned alignment, the first on the north end of the site and the 600-room second phase tower on the northwest-

ern portion of the site.

The new design creates much more “interesting mass” by having the bulk broken up, he said.

The towers are slimmer and their placement offers more light and air between project components, he said.

Mr. Reyes did say developers hope to attract restaurants to help make sure all outside areas are active.

Towering glass walls and terraces face the east, all exposed toward Miami Worldcenter, “so you see what’s going on,” he said.

The hotel and expo center is designed with its connection to Miami Worldcenter in mind, he said.

Miami Worldcenter is rising on more than 10 blocks in Park West, bringing condos, apartments, shopping and entertainment to the neighborhood. A key to the overall development is a Seventh Street Promenade that connects with the hotel and expo center.

Board member Fidel Perez said, “A project like this is really needed in this area.”

But he said the building lacks spaces that relate to the sidewalk, particularly on the east facing Miami Worldcenter, he said.

Mr. Perez talked of the convention space being “dead” space when not used and the project needing features to keep the sidewalks active.

Dean Lewis, acting board chairman, agreed, noting that liner retail spaces on the build-

ing would help keep “eyes on the street” when the convention center isn’t active.

Mr. Perez suggested a small bar or restaurant for the northeast corner.

The project’s southern end is solid wall with no windows.

Board members wondered about more glass and openness on that end, but the attorney and architect pointed out that the south side is tight up to the railroad tracks, there is no sidewalk in that area and there is an AT&T switching building there.

Board member Anthony E. Tzamtzis complimented Mr. Reyes on his presentation, saying he did an exceptional job.

“I am humbled by the size of this project and its importance to the city,” he said.

Mr. Tzamtzis said he agreed with his colleagues that more uses are needed to enhance pedestrian activity.

He said the new design is substantially different from the original, particularly as it relates to Miami Worldcenter to the east.

The original orientation had the hotel’s curved towers providing a backdrop, he said.

“This version has a different orientation and pays more attention to the south than the east,” Mr. Tzamtzis said.

Mr. Lewis said it was “a pity” that “we lost” the original curved scale of the hotel for another linear tower – a lost ‘wow’ of the sweeping arc.

“I’m disappointed by the compromise in the pursuit of phasing,” said Mr. Lewis.

The board did direct the developers’ team to consider more ways to offer smooth connections between the hotel towers, the amenity decks, common circulation areas and the convention space.

Mr. Reyes said the plan calls for the second tower to have its own bar and lounge on the ground floor.

The conditions ask the developer to work on better connectivity between the hotel and convention center itself and with neighboring Miami Worldcenter; better articulation of the façades; screening for mechanic equipment; possibly moving the phase two tower closer to the first tower and a planned sky atrium and shared lobbies; and possibly activating the northeast corner with a commercial establishment.

MDM Group hopes to begin construction in spring 2017.

28

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2016

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