July City Hall: Replacing Fireworks, Rebuilding Burger Bob’s, and More

At its July meeting, the City Commission:

Voted 5-0 to grant the Avenue Hotel and Residences property being built at 351 San Lorenzo Ave. the use of remote parking at the Village of Merrick Park, across the street. The developer of the seven-story building wants to purchase 70 parking spaces from the city, which currently owns 400 spaces at one of the garages at Merrick Park not typically used by shoppers. “It’s going to play a very good symbiotic relationship between the building and Merrick Park,” said Mayor Vince Lago. The city will earn $700,000 from the sale of the 70 parking spaces.

Voted 5-0 to direct City Manager Peter Iglesias to pursue federal funding opportunities for the conversion from septic to sewer. (Sponsored by Commissioners Kirk Menendez and Ariel Fernandez)

Listened to a proposal to include education investment funding in next year’s budget for public schools within city limits. Mayor Lago asked members of the Parent Teacher Associations advocating for the resolution to put together a specific list of issues each school needs to address and then meet with the superintendent and the school board to work on them. Only then will those issues be addressed with taxpayer dollars.

“I agree that something has to be done… but I want to be organized before we vote on anything,” said Mayor Lago. “I don’t want to do a feel-good resolution.”

Voted 4-1 to set forth a procedure for requesting public comment on discussion items that were not previously announced. “We can’t expect the residents to know that they’re able to comment on things that were not previously on the agenda,” said Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson. “This also provides a route for individual members of the Commission, through the mayor, to request discussion on a particular item.”

Mayor Lago dissented on the basis that the meetings are already too long and adding more opportunities for public comment would lengthen them further. (Sponsored by Vice Mayor Anderson)

Voted 5-0 to direct city staff to explore options and costs for replacing the Fourth of July fireworks at the Biltmore Hotel with a laser light or drone show instead. “It’s not just about the pollution and carbon buildup in the air,” said Vice Mayor Anderson, “it’s about our veterans with PTSD, [and] it’s about our animals and the impact on them…. It’s not good for the humans and it’s not good for the environment, [or] our waterways.”

Commissioner Menendez rebutted by saying the fireworks show is a tradition and only lasts about 30 minutes out of a total of 525,600 minutes in a year. He also expressed concern over the visibility of laser lights, but ultimately agreed to an exploratory mission. Another idea floated was to have some combination of fireworks and drones or lasers. A drone show alone would cost over double what the fireworks cost. (Sponsored by Vice Mayor Anderson)

Listened to an update regarding a historic designation study of the North Ponce residential district. Of nearly 400 homes within the district, 131 were built between the 1920s and ‘40s and 108 were built in the 1950s. Either of these time periods could lend credence to historical designation by creating a historical “theme.” A proposed survey would study each property for its historical significance. It would cost about $50,000 to hire an outside consultant to complete the survey, the funding for which the city is looking to include in its September budget. (Sponsored by Vice Mayor Anderson)

Voted 5-0 to give the city manager the go-ahead to begin negotiations with the two best contractors who placed a bid to rebuild Burger Bob’s on the Granada Golf Course. Between the $255,000 the mayor provided from park acquisition and the $3.48 million the Commission received from the State of Florida, the restaurant’s “retro” renovations should be completely funded. Plans are ready to go to the Building Department for permits; solar panel installation is planned for the west side of the building. (Sponsored by Commissioner Menendez)

Discussed expanding pickleball in the city. Courts at the Youth Center will be resurfaced, and a fourth pickleball court added. The tennis courts at Phillips Park are also planned to be resurfaced — pending available funding — with four blended courts there as well. Jaycee Park is another possibility for blended courts. (Sponsored by Commissioners Menendez and Fernandez)

RELATED: A Passion for Parks and more on pickleball in the city.

Discussed valets on miracle mile taking up spaces that are not designated for valet parking. Supposedly, valets are asking people for $40 to park their cars in those spots. “I can honestly say it’s been an issue for 17 years,” said the director of the parking department, Kevin Kinney. “We occasionally do sting operations to bring them back into line.”

Also at issue are food delivery drivers from apps like UberEats and DoorDash who park in unoccupied spaces, sometimes for hours, waiting for orders. Geofencing, which would prevent these drivers from getting orders when they’re parked in certain locations, is a possible solution.

Listened to an update on traffic calming along Mendoza Avenue. Speed limit signs were installed by the county and a speed cushion was placed on the 400 block. The 500, 600, and 700 blocks all qualified for traffic calming devices as well. Design concepts will be collected in September with input from residents before any construction begins. The city is also looking into smaller speed tables so that they don’t interfere with driveways. (Sponsored by Commissioner Fernandez)

View the full July City Hall meeting here.