WAvNA Meeting
July 21, 2015, 6:00pm
The Waverly, 1330 West Avenue
I. Candidate forum, John Aleman – Miami Beach City Commission candidate for Group 6
a. Lives in mid-beach, married with two children, worked in IT for Ryder, PTA, education committee
b. No real estate/developer ties
c. Aleman’s message
i. Traffic/parking
ii. Transportation
iii. Preserving single-family homes in mid-beach
iv. More Shade Trees, especially along the sidewalks
v. Tackle boat mooring
vi. Suggests that Wavna models alcohol ordinances after SOFNA
II. Police Q&A featuring Captain Jones, Officer Martineau, and Sgt. Berrian
a. Audience Question: Cars speeding in alleys- First time police have heard about it, will look into it
b. Audience Question: Why were Flashing pedestrian signals at 9th Street removed?
i. A: Deferred to Transportation (Jose), who said they were always temporary but the City hopes to have them installed permanently, pending County approval based upon traffic study
c. Boat mooring
i. New ordinance bans docking and loading/unloading on sea wall
ii. 30-plus boats have been towed thanks to new ordinance
III. New Trolley Routes and pickup locations
a. Jose and Julian presented the City’s plans for an interconnected system of trolley routes connecting all of Miami Beach
b. North Beach trolley already operational with average daily ridership of 2,500
c. Currently proposing four loops:
i. North Beach
ii. Mid Beach
iii. South Beach
iv. Collins loop (entirety from south to north)
d. Working with County to finalize routes (cannot significantly overlap the South Beach Local route)
e. Improves east-west transit by traversing 11th Street
f. Bi-directional
g. Will run on Alton Road with southern terminus at Rebecca Towers
h. South Beach Local (SBL) agreement set to expire in less than 18 months
i. Alternative proposal would eliminate SBL and replace with Trolley
j. When questioned about routes and grocery stores (proposed South Beach loop won’t cross Dade Blvd), “Each loop will take you to a Publix”
k. Clean diesel because alternative fuel vehicles too expensive, but not finalized yet
l. Streetcar project in development to run across 5th and up Washington, eventually to be continued across 17th and down Alton (effectively a loop)
m. Trolley hours: Mon-Sat, 6am-Midnight; Sunday 8am-Midnight (service beginning earlier in hope to attract commuters)
n. Free
o. Will work to coordinate schedules to minimize transfer wait times
p. Start date: Unknown, but target is spring of 2016
q. 10-15 minute intervals
r. Questioned about terminating South Beach Local: cost, buses break down frequently (65-plus times/month)
s. No web site/media available to public yet, will wait until plans are farther along
IV. Candidate forum, Rick Arriola – Miami Beach City Commission candidate for Group 5
a. Lifelong Miamian, 15 years in Miami Beach, Charter Review Commission, Blue Ribbon Panel on North Beach, Arts and Cultural Commission, Chairman of the Board Arsht Center
b. Vision for Miami Beach
i. Top-Ten City to Live In
ii. Safe, lots of parks, walkable/bikeable, mass transit, clean, affordable
iii. Improve waterfront areas including public baywalk
c. Q: What are your feelings about Wolfson’s PAC?
i. A: “Appearance of conflict is never good.”
V. Zoning Alert
a. City Land Use Committee meeting: July 29, 11am, will include discussion on alcohol ordiance
b. New ordinance has allowed boat towing
c. Code Compliance:
i. Boats being towed by Sea Tow
ii. Q: Signs posted on lightpoles- Illegal, report them to Code Compliance
VI. Pump Station Aesthetics
a. Design Review Board will have oversight on appearance of the pumping stations, including location and camouflaging (however, may be too late to do anything about station at 14th Street)
VII. Streetscape Update
a. Streetscape presented vision/diagram of West Avenue to City
b. We’ve reached out to City to discuss landscaping; City wasn’t ready to discuss before, but are now – Streetscape is working to schedule a meeting with City, target Aug 5 or 6
c. Wants WAvNA audience input on landscape ideas, specifically trees
i. Must be Salt tolerance
ii. Plant several varieties (particularly in case of disease)
iii. “Signature tree” – flowering etc – to give West Ave distinction and character?
1. Orchid trees
2. Live Oaks (trees in front of Mondrian pointed to as example)
3. Bay Road’s flowering trees
4. Avoid having Wavna streetscape look like Alton Road which is tree-less
VIII. West Avenue Construction
a. Lane closures at 10th and West
i. Northbound lane closed 7/21
ii. Southbound lane closed 7/23
iii. Closures expected to last one month
b. Q: Alton Road completion? Supposed to be August, audience member suggests she heard September
IX. Redevelopment projects
a. Monad Terrace: JDS Development purchased all houses, plan to redevelop into high-rise
i. Current zoning would allow for 16-story/150’ high building
ii. WAvNA members had a strong opinion of what we would want (and not want)developed at the Monad site: green roof, setbacks, no variances, plenty of on-site parking and no residential valet parking lot across the street, no valet parking for off site establishments, continuation of Baywalk, a wide and attractive Baywalk, access through the Monad property to the Baywalk from West Ave.
iii. Strong support for no on-street taxi/etc (Uber) pick-ups/drop-offs – want to avoid traffic situation that occurs in front of Flamingo
b. Pollo Tropical property (15th and Alton)
i. Developer says land is underutilized
ii. PT still has 18 years on lease, but could be bought out
c. Ad School property
i. 450-seat Brazilian restaurant
ii. Valet parking will park cars at 5th and Alton, valet route to travel on West Ave
d. Umami Burger building: Russian-owned Japanese restaurant
e. Shell Station (17th and Alton) to be mixed-use commercial and residential
X. Audience question: Bikini Hostel complaints about noise and tacky tiki hut appearance. Wavna Board suggested:
a. Call code compliance
b. Track complaint
c. Use the App – Miami beach E-Gov
XI. Other announcements
a. Commissioner Grieco is working to pass an ordinance restricting valet stands to one per block
b. No WAvNA meeting in August
c. Flamingo neighborhood resident asks for support in opposing proposed skateboarding park in Flamingo Park
d. Next Condo Directors Club meeting is August 4 at 1250 West Ave
XII. Adjournment
For more information:
- John Aleman candidate page: http://www.johnaleman.com/
- Rick Arriola candidate page: http://www.rickyarriola2015.com/
- City of Miami Beach elections page (candidate statements, financial statements, etc): http://www.miamibeachfl.gov/cityclerk/elections/scroll.aspx?id=69656
- Miami Beach Police: http://web.miamibeachfl.gov/pd/default.aspx?id=21968
- Miami Beach eGov (Code compliance, etc): https://egovernment.miamibeachfl.gov/EgovWeb ; be sure to download apps: http://miamibeachfl.gov/it/mobileapp.aspx
v Project updates from Miami Beach Planned Progress: http://www.mbplannedprogress.com/
WAvNA home page: www.wavna305.com – follow us on Facebook and Twitter, sign up for newsletter by adding email address on the Wavna homepage
