WAvNA Meeting MINUTES
Tuesday, Jan 7, 2020
4:30pm, Outside
The Annual West Avenue Neighborhood Walk has been so successful throughout the years that now the crowd is larger than our sidewalks can handle. So, this year we opted to have a stationary “Walk” with the Bay and sunset as our background. WAvNA provided refreshments and the city provided chairs & tables, and organized the event.
A special thanks to Kevin Pulido, Community Resource Coordinator for the City of Miami Beach for putting the event together.
Thomas Mooney, Planning Director – Flamingo Pointe proposes a new development on the vacant lot on the northernmost end of their property (north of the North Tower), which is zoned RM-2. By code, they can build up to 170 ft tall. Their application and design plans will appear at The Design Review Board.
South Sector Police Captain Marlen Rivero and Neighborhood Resource Officer Deborah Martineau – Noted that petty crimes typically jump over the holidays (such as package theft from vehicles), but was down in our neighborhood year-over-year. Advised commonsense precautions such as not leaving packages/valuables open/visible in vehicles, etc. The police department presented Gayle Durham, with an award acknowledging her contributions.
Sabrina, CIP Manager overseeing the West Avenue Renovation Project Phase II – The project will be performed in sections of 4 blocks and each section will be fully completed from underground to over ground within 6 months. The above-ground generator and electric box will be located in the median of Lincoln Road. The project was to break ground Dec 2019, but there is a delay in receiving permits from DERM for the storm drains. Also, there is a delay in the fabrication of the panel for the pedestrian bridge ramp railing and unfortunately there is no known date for this project’s completion.
Elizabeth Wheaton, Sustainability Director – The city is proposing to create a boat mooring station in Sunset Harbour and extending south along the West Avenue neighborhood. Currently, the City has no control over mooring in the bay. With a virtual mooring station overlaid onto the Bay, the City would be able to exercise control and restrictions over moored vessels in the Bay.
Manny, Code Compliance Director – Code can only record a valid illegal Airbnb violation if they have one of these, 1) a rental contract, 2) an advertisement showing the unit is for rent, 3) a signed affidavit from the renter. The person making the complaint may assist in obtaining the first two items if possible.
In buildings where short-term rentals are legal by zoning/code, lessors are still required to have a tax certificate which Code Compliance can enforcement.
(Wavna notes: Code Compliance will only pursue a short-term violation if the property is within a zone that prohibits short term rental. in the West Ave neighborhood zone RM-1 prohibits short term mrental. Otherwise, other zones wanting to stop STR must do so via their condo docs.)
Commissioner Mark Samuelian – Thanked WAvNA for their hard work to improve the West Avenue corridor.
