The Mayor and City Commission confirmed the move of the Property Management Facilities and Parking out of Flamingo Park

At its meeting on Wednesday, the City Commission overwhelmingly confirmed the balanced plan adopted five years ago that has already limited towing operations in the Sunset Harbour Neighborhood, that has already funded the acquisition of property and construction of a garage with retail space in the Sunset Harbour Neighborhood, with a continued commitment to redevelop City property in the Neighborhood and permit the removal of Property Maintenance Facilities from Flamingo Park.

Denis Russ expressed the following remarks on behalf of The Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association: 

Kudos, Bravo, and many thanks to the Mayor and City Commission for their action in confirming the full program, adopted in 2008 -- to decrease towing operations by purchase of Tremont property, to invest in parking garage and retail serving Sunset Harbour residents and businesses, to redevelop City property in the vicinity, and to remove the Property Management facilities from Flamingo Park for the benefit of park land, trees, landscaping, and all God's children.  Thank you so much! 

Our item was called sometime after 11pm.  A hearty band of Flamingos and WAvNA and Biscayne supporters stayed the course -- including Jack Johnson, Tammy Tibbles, Paul Janas, Gayle Durham, Christine Florez and more.  Because of the late hour there was limited public testimony, but Tammy very well articulate the case and Jack was at the podium when the Commission overwhelmingly supported the motion by Deede Weithorn to confirm......and seal the original deal.

Based upon the superb job that Aaron Sugarman did in ferreting out information from the public record, we were able to submit the following messages prior to the Commission meeting:

March 9, 2013  -- Dear Mayor Bower and Commissioners:

At its meeting on March 4, 2013 the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association voted unanimously to oppose any change in plans adopted by the City Commission some five years ago that would delay removal of the Property Management Facility from Flamingo Park. We understand that this matter will be considered by the Commission at its meeting this Wednesday, as Item R7K, Commission Memorandum Attached .

The matter was heard and we thought recommended for discussion by the Commission Neighborhood’s Committee, Committee Memorandum Attached. Removal of these facilities from the Park has been a very high priority of our Association for many years. It makes no sense for these facilities to be located in our city’s central park.

Substantial discussions and analysis were undertaken in 2007 and 2008, involving both how to remove Property Management from Flamingo Park and also how to improve traffic, parking, congestion and the impact of towing operations in the Sunset Harbor Neighborhood. A carefully balanced solution was adopted with near unanimous agreement by both neighborhoods and by the City Commission in July 2008, as reflected in the Report from the Special City-wide Projects and Finance Committee, attached of June 18, 2007. Proposed resolution involved purchase of Tremont Towing property, construction of a building for parking and retail and construction of an additional building for operation of the Property Maintenance Department, which would meet the needs of department operations, employee and department vehicle parking, reduced adverse towing operation impact, and importantly for Flaming removal of the Property Maintenance facilities from Flamingo Park.

Now, after almost five years of program implementation, after the City allocated and spent considerable funds in developing all required plans and having accomplished probably seventy-five percent of the adopted program, with the Tremont property purchased and towing operations reduced, with the parking and retail building number one having already been built, and with us on the threshold of the removal of Property Management Facilities from Flamingo Park……now, it is suggested that these facilities be relocated elsewhere, perhaps behind the Dade Boulevard Fire Station, perhaps in the Forty-First Street Neighborhood.

Clearly, this proposed re-re-location will entail substantial delay in the removal of Property Management facilities from Flamingo Park. Accordingly, we oppose this proposed change and urge the Mayor and Commissioners to oppose it as well.

March 12, 2013 -- Dear Mayor Bower and Commissioners:

This will reiterate our request that no change be made in plans adopted by the City Commission some five years ago that would delay removal of the Property Management Facility from Flamingo Park.

As noted in the 2008 Commission memo, three important benefits were cited in the Administration’s recommendation as adopted by the Commission:

To facilitate relocation of the property Management Facility and
redeveloping of a city-owned property; To encourage neighborhood
revitalization by increasing public parking and providing an opportunity to better serve neighborhood retail demand; and To remove and relocate a non-conforming use from the Tremont Towing site.

In supporting the project at the time, the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association noted

It is our understanding that, with the City’s approval and partnership, this project would perfectly serve the needs of Flamingo Park and Sunset Harbor neighborhoods, and would increase the usefulness of property already owned by the City, located across the street from the proposed site. The planned structure would bring much-needed parking to Sunset Harbor businesses, and would house the City’s fleet of Property Management and employee vehicles.

The Townhomes at Sunset Harbour Condominium Association also noted at the time:

Our Board feels that this project will be a catalyst to the future redevelopment of the Sunset Harbour Neighborhood and will provide much-needed additional parking for the existing businesses and restaurants in this area. The parking structure will enable potential development of future projects in that it may provide the necessary parking to meet their requirements, thus avoiding massive parking pedestals for these projects. Another great advantage to this project is the ability of the City to relocate Property Management out of Flamingo Park which will provide much needed additional grant space for all residents and visitors to enjoy.

We urge that there be no delay in the removal of Property Management facilities from Flamingo Park.

The Final Result: 

We won this one.  No change in plans.  The Commission voted to confirm the program, without change.  The Property Management facilities will be moved from Flamingo Park to the new Sunset Harbour garage and the City property across the Street from there.