WEEK OF THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
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GOLD MEDAL AWARDS
Six Gold Medalists honored for accomplishments, pg. 9 NEW MIAMI BEACH BRIDGES: County commissioners have approved a permit for Miami Beach to install two new bridges over tidal waters of Collins Canal at West Avenue and Lincoln Court. The work will be on the south side of Collins Avenue and along Dade Boulevard on the north side of Collins Canal. The Lincoln Court pedestrian bridge is part of a city-wide Baywalk project for pedestrian and bicycle access throughout the city and will connect the cul-de-sac at the northern terminus of Lincoln Court with Dade Boulevard.
Jorge Pérez receives acclaim as Lifetime Achiever, pg. 10
The Achiever
By Catherine Lackner
SAVING ON INTEREST: Miami-Dade County planned to offer $$82.04 million in public facilities revenue refunding bonds this week to refund outstanding bonds issued in 2005 and 2009 to save on the interest the county pays on the debt. The bonds are being issued for Jackson Health System. Fitch Ratings rated the bonds AA- with a stable rating outlook. The bonds were to be offered via negotiation. MOBILE FINGERPRINT SCANNERS: Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso has been told to study the feasibility of procuring hardware, software and maintenance and service contracts for mobile fingerprint scanners for police patrols. The city commission approved the study April 13, directing him to identify funds to procure the devices this fiscal year. The resolution says biometric technology for scanning fingerprints in the field is becoming cheaper, more accessible, and provides ready access to vital data in challenging environments such as crime scenes. The technology would enable police to capture forensic-quality biometric data for comparison against stored fingerprints in federal, state or local Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, minimizing time to obtain information and speeding immediate action, it says. FOR RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY: Miami is receiving a grant to pay a resilience officer. City commissioners accepted $168,233.31 a year for two years from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc. on the behalf of the 100 Resilient Cities Initiative to pay the salary and benefits of a chief resilience officer starting last Oct. 31. The organization will also contribute in-kind technical assistance and capacity development for three years. PINECREST UPGRADED: Pinecrest’s $2.9 million in Florida Municipal Loan Council revenue bonds issued in 2011 got a rating upgrade from AA to AA+ from Fitch Ratings and were given a stable outlook. Fitch notes that the village with a population of 19,452 has a per capita income nearly triple the average of Florida as a whole.
Chris Marlin
Photo by Cristina Sullivan
Targets realty buyers abroad, EB-5 investors for Lennar The profile is on Page 4
City may build downtown fire station, sell old one By John Charles Robbins
A new fire station in the heart of downtown Miami is in the works to possibly replace Station 1 at 144 NE Fifth St., the city’s oldest firehouse. City commissioners are today (4/27) to consider buying 13 NW Sixth St., in the shadow of the former Miami Arena site, with the intent to develop a new fire station. The station would be next door to Miami Worldcenter, MiamiCentral transportation hub with Brightline and Tri-Rail passenger train service, and the Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo Center. The resolution would authorize the city manager to execute a purchase and sale agreement between the city and AT&T Communications Inc. to acquire land on Northwest Sixth Street for $3.45 million. The purchase is contingent upon the city getting two written appraisals from licensed appraisers confirming that the value of the property is at least the stated purchase price. If approved, the resolution would authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute all documents and allocate up to $3.537 million
Park impact fees can go to Baywalk
from a source to be determined to cover the acquisition, including the cost of survey, environmental report, title insurance and closing. A background memo says that pursuant to an October 2015 commission action, the city will acquire title to the parcel abutting 13 NW Sixth St. “The purchaser plans to assemble the property containing 10,586 square feet along with 20,468 square feet of Parcel 3 to develop a new City of Miami Fire Station. The total size of the property and Parcel 3 is approximately 31,054 square feet,” the memo says. In October 2015, Miami Today reported about a land swap between the City of Miami and an affiliate of All Aboard Florida that could one day lead to a new fire station. The commission approved an agreement with FDG Rail Holdings 25 LLC and AAF Miami TOD Holdings LLC. It involves a land exchange of two city-owned properties, about 0.18-acre and about 0.32-acre, for FDG-owned property, about 0.50-acre at 435 NW First Court. All Aboard Florida will also pay the city $500,000 and “shall be granted certain crossing rights to allow AAF to use that certain
portion of NW 8th street including subsurface and air rights,” says the agreement. This was to aid the company in construction of the new MiamiCentral train station and related development, currently under way. At the time, City Manager Daniel Alfonso said staff was working with AT&T to get more land nearby for a fire station to replace Station 1. In summer 2016, commissioners rezoned land under Station 1 to make it even more appealing for sale. The land use designation was changed from Major Institutional, Public Facilities, Transportation, and Utilities to Central Business District. And the site was rezoned from Civic Institutional to Urban Core Transect Zone - Open. Planning Director Francisco Garcia had said the site is in the urban core and the proposed changes are to make it available for sale-development. A potential buyer for the site could be Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, which hugs the city’s land on two sides. The two-story fire station is on Northeast Fifth Street between Northeast First and Second avenues.
Miami’s Downtown Development Authority is putting together a request for proposals for the design of “a unifying element” to connect and identify all of the parts of Baywalk, a proposed 7-mile open pedestrian and bike trail alongside the water that is to run from Brickell to the Julia Tuttle causeway. Authority directors have eyed park impact fees – payments developers make to the City of Miami to mitigate a project’s effects on the infrastructure – as a means to fund Baywalk. About $80 million has been collected in the parks fund since 2011, though some of that has been allocated or committed, authority chair Miami Commissioner Ken Russell has said. “That account is pretty flush, and if we don’t find sites for parks, that money will go somewhere else,” he has said. There is some good news, directors heard Friday. “Staff has learned that park impact fees can be used on Baywalk, but we’re not sure they can be used on private property,” said Patrice Gillespie Smith, authority senior manager of planning, design and transportation. “The whole team is excited about it.” Her department will investigate, she said. Most of the proposed path runs through private property, and owners fear liability, though the city has offered to indemnify them. Last year, the Miami Women’s Club, Sea Isle Marina, Epic Marina and the First Presbyterian Church all agreed to allow the walkway to go through their properties, a major boost to the project. As he has suggested in the past, Mr. Russell said Baywalk needs a marketing campaign. “That’s what we’re working on with the RFP,” said Alyce Robertson, authority executive director. “If we can identify a unifying element, we can build a brand around that.” Ms. Smith suggested the authority construct a one-block model to showcase what the finished product will look like. “We could hold a rally, a charette” or another event to publicize the project, Mr. Russell said. “I think it would be a good spend of the DDA’s money.”
DOWNTOWN FUNDS ADS TO SHORE UP HOTEL BOOKINGS ...
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CONVENTION HOTEL PLANS TAKE ANOTHER STEP AHEAD ...
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NORTH MIAMI BEACH GETS OK FOR CIRCULATOR BUSES ...
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JACKSON ADDING MORE PROTECTION FOR PATIENT DATA ...
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VIEWPOINT: COUNTY SELLS OUT CHEAP TO CASINO FIRM ...
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$275 MILLION BONDING FOR MIAMI MAY HEAD TO VOTERS ...
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COUNTY PUMPS MONEY INTO WATER, SEWER EQUIPMENT ...
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BRICKELL BRIDGE LANES: ANNOYANCE THAT WON’T QUIT ...
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