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Okay. Good evening, everyone. If you can please find your seats, silence your phones.

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My name is Seth Salver and I am honored to serve as your mayor.

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Mr. Clerk with the roll please.

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Yes, roll call. Mayor Salver here. Vice Mayor Wolfe here. Councilman Freemark. Councilman Levy. Councilman Slar here. We have quorum.

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Thank you, Mr. Clerk. If we can all please rise for the pledge of allegiance.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands,

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one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

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You may be seated.

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Thank you.

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So I'd like to call the Bell Harbor Village special meeting to order tonight as you're, it's

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very nice to see all of you here, because this is probably the single most important issue

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that this community has ever faced since it's founding.

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So I'm comforted and seeing a big crowd tonight.

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And frankly, the reason why we were pushing for this meeting

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is that since this all started, we've been in active litigation

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and given that all of our deliberations have been subject

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to a turning-clined privilege and wouldn't really be able to be discussed

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in a public meeting.

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So this is that opportunity.

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We've been cleared. We have authorization from opposing counsel to be able to share things that normally wouldn't be made public at this point in the process

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So we're happy that you're all here tonight to to hear and to listen and obviously your voice is heard and

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We have a very

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Packed agenda so we will get right to it and I'll turn it over to our village manager

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George Gonzalez. Thank you, Mr. Mayor

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What I would like to do for the council and for the community is to kind of walk through a very

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brief but hopefully detailed kind of timeline of events that has brought us to today

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so that we all can get to a level playing field from an information perspective after which

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which our council will be able to speak more deliberately about the matter that is at hands.

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And then, as you mentioned, there'll be some opportunity for public comments.

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So let me just kind of remind everybody where we've been, so we can know where we're going.

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And I'm not going to go all the way back 60 years when the ballot harvest first opened,

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But I will remind everybody that in 2017, almost 10 years ago, the village and the Baal

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Harbour Shops entered into a development agreement, a contract that allowed the shops to expand,

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which is the expansion that you're seeing under construction today.

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In that agreement, there were a number of different requirements, both on the village and on

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on the shops to be performed, and we have been over the past nine years or so working to

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perform those different requirements. That development agreement was amended in December of 2018.

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Not significantly, but enough that it required the council to take another action.

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Many of you were here and might recall that a little bit after that in January of 2021,

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One, the bow harborshops presented a proposal for a referendum

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to raise the height limitation that existed in our charter.

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And that that referendum failed pretty nearly unanimously.

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It was about 90% of the voters voted against removing that height restriction.

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Subsequent to that later that year in 2021 October due to a number of factors related to COVID

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and other things, the shops, again petitioned the village to amend a third time or a second

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time.

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So I have the third agreement related to the development agreement, which provided them with

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some modicum of relief in performance of a lot of the deadlines that they were required to meet due

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to the COVID impacts.

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So that was approved, as I said, in October of 2021.

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soon after that, in the following year, the shops began to meet with members and myself to discuss the idea of a hotel

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as a concept that they were thinking about proposing, but that never materialized. In 2023, the Florida legislative session enacted the

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Governor approved what is called now as the Live Local Act.

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And that was what we, you've domestically call it 1.0 because it was the first version of

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that in 2023.

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I'm not going to get into the details of it but as you probably heard, it has a lot to do with

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giving developers an opportunity to build more if they commit to at least 40% of the affordable

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of the units to be affordable.

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Our lawyers can get into more details but you can see for yourself the Live Local

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on line. And then about a year after the legislation was enacted in January of 2024, the

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Bell Harbor shops filed an application with the village under the Live Local Act for their

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proposal. And I'm just going to show it so you can look at what is submitted as their initial

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proposal in January of 2024.

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It requires no judgment or no

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comments.

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Again, that was January of 2024 nearly a little over two years

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ago. January 16th of that, a week later we held a meeting in this room

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public comments to react to that proposal. And a week later, the bow

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the harborshops filed its first lawsuit with the village.

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Subsequently, the village passed a number of ordinances to deal with the implications of the

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live local act as was approved in 2023.

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And in 2024, after we passed our ordinances, the state legislature,

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once again enacted amendments to live local act 2.0,

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which was a glitch bill to fix and correct issues that had come up from the first initial

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legislative act.

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June of 2024, Bauharbershobs filed its second lawsuit with the village.

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We got two active litigation.

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All the while it's coming, all the while the village was

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proceeding to review the application per the state statutes that were required as to do so.

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and in July of 2024, we deemed the application to be complete, but not approved.

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Six months later, and a few months later, in November, the village actually denied the application

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pursuant to the state statutes and all of the implications that we felt were insufficient.

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So that's November of 2024, nearly nine months after the initial application was filed.

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In September of that same year, this council approved an amendment to the budget to increase the

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millage to fund and have dedicated monies associated with the bow harborshop's defense.

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So that was done in September of 2024 following in concert with the denial.

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February of 2025, just a few months later, we had lawsuit number three.

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They filed a fluedro, which is a fancy term, but it's litigation relative to the denial that

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they received later that year, the Florida Legislature acted one more time and did live local

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act 3.0 further preempting communities, including ours, from many of the zoning requirements

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that we have.

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In August of 2025, pursuant to the litigation that was pending, the village and

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the Baal Harbor Shops entered court-ordered mediation. And court-ordered mediation is a step in

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the litigation process. Our lawyers can get into the details of that, but we began to discuss

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whether or not there was a possibility that there could be some kind of mediated settlement.

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Again, that was August of last year.

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A little bit after August in October, the Baal Harbor shops filed their fourth litigation with the village.

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This is a federal litigation regarding taking any legal taxing.

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You get to picture of how this is going.

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Earlier this year, now I went to 2026, the Florida Legislature actually passed more amendments to the live local act.

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minor as they may be. They still keep making more and more, making it more and more favorable to the

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developers. Which brings us to today. And so for those of you that have been hearing rumors

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in UN do that the decision has been made that it's all cooked or baked or whatever you

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term you want to use. I've laid out to you that everything that this council in this community has

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so far has been to deny the application to establish a legal defense fund to defend all of this

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litigation and has entered mediation as required through a litigated process and we're now at

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the point where we can finally share with you what what the mediator believes is what is represented

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as the shop's best and final offer. That's it. It doesn't mean that it's been accepted, it doesn't

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mean that it has approved anything like that. This is simply an opportunity now to share that with

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you for the first time in the public. It's been a little over two years since we've all gotten

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together. So maybe it's a good time for you all to get up to speed and understand where we are.

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But there is something that we want to show before the before the lawyers come up. So you want to speak

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to the, what the, yeah, so, um, the Bellhubbers shops was not available to be here tonight.

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Um, but they did send a video message.

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Uh, well, but before we, okay, sorry. Yeah, but before we do play that, I, I just, I see a

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lot of people sending. If you have an empty seat next to you, can you just raise your hand?

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So folks know that they can, okay, I guess there aren't that many empty seats, okay, okay, so maybe we can work on that.

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I also want to take the opportunity to welcome some local elected officials and former elected officials.

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So I want to recognize Bay Harbor Island's mayor, Isaac Salver, the name sounds familiar, it's because he's my dad.

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Um.

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If they hybrid violence counsel member Robert Yaffee,

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they hybrid violence town manager, Lindsey, you know,

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no, Lindsey Nobel, sorry, they wrote it backwards.

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I correct it.

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Surfside commissioner David Winegott, former

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Bell Harbor mayor Martin Packer, former Bell Harbor mayor Gabriel

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Graceman, and former Vice Mayor Joni Blatcher.

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So, as you can see, as you can see, this proposal

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doesn't just affect Bahl Harbor, it really affects this entire community and really South Florida.

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So are we ready to play the video? You just do it up. Okay, let's see what they have to say.

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My name is Matthew Whitman Lasonv. I'm the principal owner and steward of Bahl Harbor Shops.

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The shops have been part of this community for more than 60 years, and this village has been part

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my family for even longer. The village is my family's home community. My grandfather was one of

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its original enforcerators and I live here myself. It is ingrained in our DNA. There can be no doubt

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that everyone here is aware of the dispute between the shops and the village over our live local

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act of application. We are here tonight to discuss a potential settlement of that dispute,

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a settlement that is a genuine compromise between neighbors.

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But to understand where we are going,

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it's important to understand where we have been.

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Through decades of hard work across three generations,

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I'm humbled to say that Bow Harbor Shops

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has become one of the world's most iconic shopping destinations,

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boasting more than 100 designer stores,

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and a truly unique and picturesque environment.

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But the Bow Harbor Shops experience isn't just about fashion.

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It's a place where the community comes together, or familiar faces, families, and friends, share moments beneath the ponds.

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A place where the heart of the community quietly lives, and emotional connections are made and reinforced every single day.

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The shops was born out of a bold vision. Back in 1965, my grandfather, Stanley Whitman, transformed a site occupied by former army barracks into Florida's first high-fashion shopping destination.

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Breaking away from traditional malls and creating a tropical, open-air experience, unlike

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anything, anywhere, it didn't take long for the shops to attract some of the world's most

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prestigious brands, forever changing luxury retail, and our village community.

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But Stanley always thought the shops should be even more, and ought to become a proper

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village center where residents could live, work, and play.

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In 2017, we embarked upon the retail expansion, presently underway, and slated open by

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September, bringing a wonderful array of new stores and restaurants, too, or back to

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Val Harbor, and investing hundreds and millions of dollars in improvements.

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Now the shopps is entering a new chapter, guided by a renewed vision for the future.

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Like my grandfather, I am guided by the core principle that this village

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Is it just where we do business? It's our home. This community and its interests are deeply rooted in who we are. Today, I am driven by the purpose of making this a more affordable community. Like all of him, I have watched the housing affordability crisis, reshaped this region. Across South Florida, working families and essential employees face real challenges, finding homes in the communities they serve.

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In recognition of this issue in 2023, Governor DeSantis signed the Live Local Act, comprehensive

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legislation designed to spur affordable housing development statewide.

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Shortly thereafter, we engaged to skid more Owens in Merrill, SOM, to design a project that

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would put that model to work and transform the shops into the True Village Center we always

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envisioned.

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In January of 2024, we submitted a live-local act application to the village for a new project

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that would expand the shops through the addition of residential housing, including designated

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affordable housing, and additional hotel, office, and retail space.

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Since the application was filed more than 27 months ago, we've been working through the legal

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process, negotiating and spending dozens of hours mediating before Judge Hansen.

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We believe strongly in the legal merits of our original application and are fully prepared

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to continue to litigate to seek its ultimate approval if we must, but tonight, you will hear

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about a proposed settlement term sheet born from the process with Judge Hansman aimed at

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resolving this dispute and allowing us to move forward together as neighbors. For context,

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in the project proposed in the live local act application, we are seeking to develop 528 residential units

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in an expansion that would add more than 2 million

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new square feet to the shops.

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Across four principal buildings,

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each one of which is designed at 300 feet tall.

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But the village rejected that proposed,

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while we continue to strenuously disagree with that rejection,

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we have spent significant time and resources

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reworking the proposal to be more in keeping

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with what we discussed with village leadership.

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In this settlement proposal, the number of residential units

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has been cut nearly 66% to 180 units.

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The new score footage has been cut nearly in half.

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We would develop three principal buildings instead of four,

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and the overall height has been reduced dramatically.

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For us, this is about people.

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It's about the workers who help keep Valharva running,

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but can't afford to call at home,

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forcing many to commute long distances each day,

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clogging the roadways between where they live,

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and where they work.

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It's about giving those same familiar faces the opportunity to live in the community, they help support,

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and turning the shops into a true village center.

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To be sure, the settlement plans include additional amenities that the village's existing residents will enjoy and benefit from.

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A hotel, a private club, office space, a new retail.

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All part of three beautifully designed buildings meant to reflect the same quality and character the shops were known for.

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This is just another project. It's a continuation of the legacy. First built right here

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in my hometown of Valharber, a community that has been built across generations on the promise

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of an initiative. Thank you for your time and consideration.

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Okay, sorry.

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We're now going to

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recognize the attorney, the attorney that's representing Valharber Village in the multiple

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litigations, Mr. Aton Mark. But aton before you begin your formal presentation, one of the things

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that stuck out to me from this video was how much the Bell Harbor Shops was discussing the

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importance of affordable housing. Can you just highlight how many affordable housing units are

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in the settlement proposal?

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Well, that's fine. Yeah, just grab the microphone. Turn around.

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Okay, good evening everybody. I'm eight on mark. I'm going to turn it with the law firm of Mark Fair and Hayden.

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So the original proposal, as proposed, contemplated 40% of affordable housing across 520 something units.

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So that's going to be about 200 or so affordable housing units. This revised proposal contemplates 180 total units of which 10% would be affordable or 18, 18 units.

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Okay,

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so I'm not going to speak for a very long time, although I'm sure you'd love to hear me speak for a long time.

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We've been acting as litigation counsel for the village for these pending cases, forward five of them.

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Let me just say that we're deeply passionate about these cases.

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is it's truly privileged to represent this village.

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You're not going to hear a ton of passion from me tonight

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because we are not inside a courtroom.

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We are, I am at a public meeting.

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I am not going to start talking about litigation strategy.

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I'm not going to tell you all the reasons

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we're going to win the case.

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I'm just not doing any of that, okay?

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What I'm going to do here, no, no, no, no.

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What I'm going to do here is I'm going to provide an overview.

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I'm just going to provide an overview

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of some of specifically the live local litigation,

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than what I consider to be sort of the main piece of litigation and not the

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ancillary cases. I'm going to talk a little bit about the mediation process and

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how we got to this point.

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Suffice to say that we have raised very substantial

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defenses and in some cases counterclames to all of their affirmative claims.

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No, I'm just providing an overview. Okay. One of the cases, which was the

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missed without prejudice, the remaining cases with the exception of the federal takings case

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was stayed or put on pause, pending the resolution of this mediation process.

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As you saw from the video, the shop submitted their application in January 2024, and then

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their first lawsuit was filed shortly thereafter.

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that. And their main argument was that the village was required to accept that application

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as submitted. If you can put up, yes, so that was the plan as submitted. That application

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contemplates a 528 unit, 300 or so foot development, multiple residential towers, our arguments

243
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very briefly that just the some of the defenses include that the original live local act

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application was defective. That the 2017 development agreement that George alluded to earlier

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between the shops and the villages a binding contract and the application that the shops

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submitted contravenes that agreement and that in the application the shop submitted they relied on

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wrong land development regulations and should have relied on land

248
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development regulations from a different district.

249
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There are other defenses as well.

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Those are some of them.

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Again, I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty too much.

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In mid 2025, in mid 2025, the parties agree to globally

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media, all of the pending pieces of litigation,

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and we meet it with Judge Michael Hansman.

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Some of you may know Judge Hansman, he's retired now, but he was the judge that presided

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over the Champlain Towers. He was an excellent judge when he was on the bench, and in my

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opinion, probably the top mediator slash arbitrator in town. We spent a lot of time with him.

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mediated with him three full days, August 25th, September 8th, October 6th, 2025, and we continue

259
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negotiating thereafter. Today he is not formally declared an impasse.

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I want to kind of now talk

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about where the negotiations started and where it ended, so you see where it started.

262
00:23:51,310 --> 00:23:52,210
So again,

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00:23:53,230 --> 00:24:00,170
528 units, 2 million or so square feet, 40% affordable housing, after these negotiations,

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00:24:01,450 --> 00:24:06,770
we turn, we got to this negotiated plan. George, can you click through? Or from so many?

265
00:24:07,430 --> 00:24:11,150
Okay, so this is the revised plan. So you can see that there's one building that's been

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completely eliminated. Some of the buildings are our shorter and that green one that's on

267
00:24:20,890 --> 00:24:32,050
Collins is the hotel, the white one that's on 96 street there is an office and the orange one in the back is residential and you'll see there's some residential on top of the hotel as well.

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This as I as was mentioned contemplates 180 new residential units 10% affordable.

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The shops also agreed to pay the village $21 million as certain construction milestones are reached.

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There's other non-monetary considerations as well, but these are what I consider to be some of the highlights.

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As of today, the shops have moved to lift this stay. In other words, the pause that I mentioned earlier.

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They've asked to lift that pause on the live local case.

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And the parties are preparing to fully ratchet up the litigation, which has been in a little bit of a holding pattern for the past months.

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I can tell you that your council members have worked very hard to get from the shops what we are told is their best in final offer.

275
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And that's what this is.

276
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As in any litigation,

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I want to be exceedingly clear.

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There is risk, okay?

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There's risk on both sides.

280
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There's risk for the village

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00:25:40,610 --> 00:25:43,930
that the court is going to find

282
00:25:44,630 --> 00:25:48,130
that the village was required to approve this application

283
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as it was submitted.

284
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And therefore the shops will get to build that other project you saw,

285
00:25:54,730 --> 00:26:02,030
the first version of it, just as there's risk for the shops that the court will find that

286
00:26:02,030 --> 00:26:06,750
the application was improper or that the development agreement controls and therefore

287
00:26:06,750 --> 00:26:09,290
the shops get nothing among other defenses.

288
00:26:09,570 --> 00:26:13,770
And then there's also legislative risk, which is important to remember here as well.

289
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As you can see in many of you probably saw the news cycle in the past few days, the attorney

290
00:26:18,210 --> 00:26:23,450
general has jumped into this and they've taken a position, they've interjected into this

291
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And it's possible that the state continues to try to strengthen the live local act through legislative amendments.

292
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Regardless, and whatever the council decides today, whether or not they decide to continue the litigation or not,

293
00:26:38,970 --> 00:26:40,970
we believe we have very compelling defenses.

294
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We are prepared and ready to resume litigation.

295
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If that's the decision, and we're very much looking forward to continuing to fight to protect the villagers interest in these cases should that be the decision.

296
00:26:51,590 --> 00:26:52,450
Thank you.

297
00:26:56,060 --> 00:27:03,100
Thank you, wait a second. Before we go into public comment, are there any questions or comments from the council?

298
00:27:05,740 --> 00:27:07,820
I'll say, Mr. Mayor. Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

299
00:27:08,180 --> 00:27:10,820
Thank you. I could even be everyone Vice Mayor David Wolfe.

300
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:12,780
So good to see everybody here.

301
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:15,460
We hope you guys come to all of our meetings.

302
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:17,340
It would be much more exciting.

303
00:27:18,140 --> 00:27:20,280
Anyway, welcome. Good to have everybody here.

304
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:22,880
Again, I just just for the record.

305
00:27:23,380 --> 00:27:26,560
I would say, and I won't make it long because I look forward to hearing from anybody.

306
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:33,560
but from my perspective, I am ready to make a motion and to vote on a motion, but I will hold

307
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:39,060
that off and wait to hear everybody's comments. I think for me it's clear what direction we

308
00:27:39,060 --> 00:27:45,500
should take and so that's all I have to say. I look forward to hearing everybody's comments and

309
00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:52,960
then we'll make a motion later. Thank you. Yeah, councilman's card. I think both yourself and

310
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:59,780
Aeton put it very, very clearly when you watched Matthew's video. He was all about affordability,

311
00:28:00,060 --> 00:28:05,800
affordability, we're giving back to the community. How you go from 200 and eight units of affordable

312
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:14,680
housing to 18 units is kind of ridiculous. It really is crazy. At the end of the day, the hotel

313
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increased five X from what the original plan was. So he's pretty much letting us know he wants to have

314
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:23,900
And that's what he's showing us.

315
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He doesn't care about affordable housing.

316
00:28:25,900 --> 00:28:27,820
We have to really keep that in mind.

317
00:28:29,060 --> 00:28:30,880
So, Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for the time.

318
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Thank you.

319
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:35,680
So, I'm going to just read the item that we are

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that I'm going to then call up the public to speak on.

321
00:28:38,460 --> 00:28:41,040
So, this is to receive consider and possibly take action.

322
00:28:41,180 --> 00:28:43,020
Regarding the mediated settlement proposal,

323
00:28:43,580 --> 00:28:44,840
regarding the Bell Harbor Shop's

324
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Liberal Act Development Application and Related Matters.

325
00:28:48,220 --> 00:28:50,440
So, with that, I'm going to call up our first speaker,

326
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:57,240
and I'm going to call this the following speakers so that folks are ready to go and we're not waiting for other people to approach the mic.

327
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:02,500
So our first speaker is former Mayor Martin Packer and our next speaker is going to be former Vice Mayor Jonny Batcher.

328
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:10,760
Oh, you're not speaking. Okay. And then after Martin Packer, we're going to call up, they are Brian and his Mayor Isaac Salver.

329
00:29:19,780 --> 00:29:20,600
here.

330
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:34,640
Hold it.

331
00:29:34,740 --> 00:29:34,880
Hold it.

332
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:34,900
Hold it.

333
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,660
Is it on?

334
00:29:38,020 --> 00:29:38,620
That's working.

335
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:40,680
Number one.

336
00:29:40,820 --> 00:29:42,000
I want to thank the council.

337
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,660
I want to thank the council.

338
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:51,920
Number one.

339
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:53,840
First of all, I can't.

340
00:29:54,180 --> 00:29:58,940
As anything that George had in the beginning because of the fact

341
00:29:58,940 --> 00:29:59,800
I have 15

342
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,840
Years ago, I believe it was about 15 years ago, we went through the same thing and I was on the other side of the IS.

343
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:23,760
As far as the shops, we shouldn't be referring to the shops as such. We should be referring to the family, which they put up on their sign. It's a family-owned complex.

344
00:30:24,380 --> 00:30:32,780
The thing is I think the family may be in trouble because of the fact they have two of their largest

345
00:30:33,940 --> 00:30:42,740
shops on the property that are in bankruptcy. Now, I don't know if these sacks and Niemann

346
00:30:42,740 --> 00:30:48,020
Marcus are paying rent. They may not be. I have no idea what's going on with the bankruptcy,

347
00:30:48,020 --> 00:30:55,580
but it's the family is in trouble, not the shops. And I would even agree if the shops say

348
00:30:55,580 --> 00:31:02,340
they want to have 20 more new stores there and forget about a hotel. The hotel has been

349
00:31:02,340 --> 00:31:13,380
being pushed for over 20 years, maybe 25 years, and we've had meetings and the village people

350
00:31:13,380 --> 00:31:24,500
have voted 90% that it should not be expanded, as far as individual, as far as individual

351
00:31:24,500 --> 00:31:30,100
stores, if they want to increase their stores in there, I would have no problem.

352
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:37,720
Traffic is awful as it is right now, and we have only two streets, one North South and

353
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:43,360
one East West, and you cannot add anything else in it, even if they want to have 18

354
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:49,280
more affordable units for they kill us. Thank you very much.

355
00:31:55,350 --> 00:31:59,250
Thanks, Marty. Mayor, vice mayor and council.

356
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:07,460
No, I'll face this way because this is for you guys mostly. I'm Mayor Isaac Salver from the

357
00:32:07,460 --> 00:32:13,340
Town of Bay Harbor Islands. Although our town has not taken official position on this matter,

358
00:32:13,340 --> 00:32:20,760
I'm going to share some personal thoughts with you. I just want you to know that you guys did a great job

359
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:31,080
because I'm looking at the analysis that was done on this proposal, and it was denied, but it was denied

360
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:39,260
with very specific purposes, and very specific reasons. You know, one, the hotel, which it seems

361
00:32:39,260 --> 00:32:46,280
that the shops are really pushing a hotel to hotel to hotel. The hotel, the height of this hotel that's

362
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:51,380
proposed is absolutely prohibited, or the business district code,

363
00:32:54,260 --> 00:32:55,600
and, you know, it's funny

364
00:32:55,600 --> 00:33:01,060
in the video that we saw, you know, the core purpose was making a community center for

365
00:33:01,060 --> 00:33:09,080
the community. Don't be fooled by that. The core purpose is profit, period and a story.

366
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:19,000
the notion of putting 1.2 million square feet on Collins Avenue when it takes you 20 minutes

367
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:32,100
to get from the hollover bridge to Bay Harbor Islands or more is, okay, I was listening to good music, I apologize.

368
00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:41,340
But, you know, not only should this denial be supported wholeheartedly and full-throwededly,

369
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:46,640
each and every one of you that are listening to this meeting should speak to the

370
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:53,260
Florida legislature and correct this live-local act once and for all.

371
00:33:53,820 --> 00:34:03,220
When this was first proposed in 2023, I thought it was kind of a joke.

372
00:34:03,220 --> 00:34:12,120
the state, preempting, everything that local, municipal authority stands for, preempting it all,

373
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:20,740
like 80 years of planning we did to make our environment, our towns beautiful, they're just saying,

374
00:34:20,740 --> 00:34:28,480
guess what, erase all that we're taking over now, and that is absolutely unexpected, unacceptable.

375
00:34:29,380 --> 00:34:35,980
So with that, I just want to close by saying, you guys are doing your job, you're doing it incredibly well.

376
00:34:36,300 --> 00:34:38,520
Especially you in the middle, I'm super proud of you.

377
00:34:39,020 --> 00:34:42,880
And I love all of you, keep up, you know, keep up with the good fight.

378
00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:44,500
Thank you.

379
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,980
Jose B. Tone and David Quia, our next two speakers.

380
00:35:00,610 --> 00:35:01,270
Whatever you want.

381
00:35:01,550 --> 00:35:03,310
That way you can face that way.

382
00:35:03,310 --> 00:35:08,130
And the answer was the same I had or so say we don't want six eight park drive.

383
00:35:08,590 --> 00:35:15,250
Yeah, yes, Jose, we don't want six eight park drive, so I've been thinking about the proposal

384
00:35:15,250 --> 00:35:21,370
and I wanted to think about it with respective different stakeholders that may or may not be here.

385
00:35:21,870 --> 00:35:30,590
Right. The shops, the Whitman family, put up a beautiful video. It actually looks like they didn't use

386
00:35:30,590 --> 00:35:35,650
which was kind of nice, and so I commend them for that.

387
00:35:36,290 --> 00:35:47,430
The video talked about, you know, families, and affordable housing, and how much they love the community, which is really nice again.

388
00:35:48,550 --> 00:35:53,230
But then, I don't know if you guys noticed the sort of slight of hand, which I commend you for.

389
00:35:53,490 --> 00:35:57,510
When the lawyer got up here, he talked about how they're going to win this case.

390
00:35:57,510 --> 00:36:03,210
He talked about their legal arguments after telling us that he's not going to tell us about legal strategy.

391
00:36:04,090 --> 00:36:08,190
Okay? So, it's all horse maneuver.

392
00:36:09,430 --> 00:36:11,310
So let's talk about the different stakeholders.

393
00:36:12,810 --> 00:36:15,170
We'll start with the school, which is in Bay Harbor.

394
00:36:16,030 --> 00:36:21,550
The school doesn't have any more room for students.

395
00:36:22,270 --> 00:36:26,330
I mean we're all adults here, but that school is bursting at the seams.

396
00:36:26,330 --> 00:36:30,570
It can not hold new students, right?

397
00:36:30,610 --> 00:36:34,690
So I don't know where you guys are planning to put new students

398
00:36:34,690 --> 00:36:38,190
when you build this building, which is,

399
00:36:38,450 --> 00:36:41,710
has 18 units of affordable housing, and the rest.

400
00:36:43,330 --> 00:36:46,290
Okay, Jose, sorry, eight time represents us.

401
00:36:47,830 --> 00:36:50,350
These are good guys, do it some like a visit.

402
00:36:53,790 --> 00:36:59,810
So it has 18 units of affordable housing, and the rest, the rest is non-affordable.

403
00:37:00,430 --> 00:37:02,810
So I don't know where these students are going to come in.

404
00:37:03,090 --> 00:37:05,510
It doesn't change the subject matter.

405
00:37:07,310 --> 00:37:13,810
Number two, number two, the current residents of the neighborhood.

406
00:37:14,170 --> 00:37:17,510
And by the neighborhood, I'll go to 3134 as a whole.

407
00:37:17,510 --> 00:37:24,690
Right. I think that the traffic concern that was brought up is real. It's something that we're all

408
00:37:24,690 --> 00:37:31,850
feeling, you know, we go from a three lane road to a two lane road, which causes a bottleneck.

409
00:37:32,150 --> 00:37:40,690
It's a big pain for all of us that live here and we are already concerned. So that's a huge issue.

410
00:37:41,430 --> 00:37:46,970
Lastly, something that people may not consider is, I don't know how many people go to the beach

411
00:37:46,970 --> 00:37:53,050
on a regular basis, but even that's starting to feel really packed as it is already.

412
00:37:54,030 --> 00:37:59,790
There's never any parking under the bridge for those of us that want to park there and walk

413
00:37:59,790 --> 00:38:07,210
over. There's not enough space as it is. And the last point which is brought up by a friend

414
00:38:07,210 --> 00:38:13,970
is I think that living in a community is about balance and finding out, finding the right balance

415
00:38:13,970 --> 00:38:26,950
between your time is up. I've started interrupting. Okay, finding the right balance between the schools, the students, the residents, and clearly this this proposal would completely offset that balance.

416
00:38:28,010 --> 00:38:28,890
Thank you.

417
00:38:30,590 --> 00:38:37,770
Mr. Kliat, and if the remaining speakers can address their comments to the council, I think it would be more appropriate. I know like stand on.

418
00:38:37,770 --> 00:38:44,730
Yeah, yeah, and just yeah, let's just address the council. I realize that there's a lot of emotion here.

419
00:38:44,830 --> 00:38:50,030
People are excited and passionate, but this is still our we're the ones making the decision.

420
00:38:50,310 --> 00:38:56,950
So it trusts comments here and yes, and a ton mark is our attorney. He's a good guy.

421
00:39:01,130 --> 00:39:03,630
Okay, Mr. Mr. Queen. Go ahead.

422
00:39:03,630 --> 00:39:04,690
Okay,

423
00:39:07,090 --> 00:39:13,510
um, thank you for letting me speak. Um, this is Day J. Food.

424
00:39:14,850 --> 00:39:19,330
Somewhere around 15 years ago, the Palhoba Citizens Coalition,

425
00:39:20,610 --> 00:39:29,060
which no longer exists most of the people have since passed, we've passed the ordinance, got about 87

426
00:39:29,060 --> 00:39:39,000
and percentage of all in favor of keeping maximum height as currently is on the west side

427
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:44,400
of Collins Avenue. This is on the west side of Collins Avenue.

428
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,100
The proposals from the state

429
00:39:50,100 --> 00:39:58,060
really first through cities, not small villages, and we are a small one-mile village.

430
00:40:00,140 --> 00:40:04,420
And the Bahaaba shops will never stop trying to take advantage.

431
00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:06,980
They enjoy lawyers.

432
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:18,300
And we need to stand up against this because it will hurt us.

433
00:40:18,300 --> 00:40:29,040
graphic is horrendous during the season. We are not prepared to have an influx of people.

434
00:40:30,380 --> 00:40:35,720
And how much longer can we put up with their nonsense?

435
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,580
And even the construction of a cut by

436
00:40:42,580 --> 00:40:50,160
and shops now working on it all over a year and helping with the traffic congestion that

437
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:59,840
helped anything else. I think we should vote this down and try to put it to bed forever.

438
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:10,440
I mean, it's just too much. It is not for a ball over. This is for a city. This is not a city. This

439
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:20,560
is a village. Thank you. Thank you. Next three speakers, Nancy Shami, Baba Graheb, John Diamond.

440
00:41:29,250 --> 00:41:37,610
Thank you for all your work and having us speak. Yes. I guess I want to first

441
00:41:37,610 --> 00:41:43,970
fall. Yeah, name and address for the record. Okay, Nancy Shami, 97.05. Colin, say Avenue. Thank you.

442
00:41:43,970 --> 00:41:45,090
that's fine.

443
00:41:47,810 --> 00:41:56,230
I'm kind of confused by the proposal because this whole issue started with the

444
00:41:56,230 --> 00:42:04,830
live work act and it has to be 40%. So I don't know what that was that he just proposed

445
00:42:04,830 --> 00:42:13,670
because you know the idea of ramming a mixed use project is through the 40%. So I mean, that's

446
00:42:13,670 --> 00:42:18,270
makes sense at all. But what I really wanted to talk about was the critical concerns regarding

447
00:42:18,270 --> 00:42:24,890
the safety and welfare of the community environment. And what really scares me if we allow

448
00:42:24,890 --> 00:42:32,370
this to happen isn't a precedent for the entire west side of Collins to go high rise. That's

449
00:42:32,370 --> 00:42:40,650
number one. Secondly, the proposals that consistent with Bell Harbor's historical load density

450
00:42:40,650 --> 00:42:45,650
comprehensive plan and future land use ma'am.

451
00:42:47,750 --> 00:42:58,050
It's the FA, FA are the floor area density was two times what is currently allowed and the building height was 450% increase.

452
00:42:59,970 --> 00:43:07,330
I did notice one thing when I read the act and I don't know if it was the most current because you're saying they have changed it.

453
00:43:07,330 --> 00:43:17,090
But there was an exception that said that if two sites of the project are bordered by single families

454
00:43:17,090 --> 00:43:26,570
owned residential, 25 homes or more, and what that they have restricted to 150% of the residential.

455
00:43:27,110 --> 00:43:35,070
When I looked down from my terrace and I looked at the site, I see homes on the west side,

456
00:43:35,070 --> 00:43:42,750
And I see homes on the on the west side in the South border now.

457
00:43:42,890 --> 00:43:49,290
There's only a couple because there is the city the community center there.

458
00:43:49,970 --> 00:43:53,490
But that is an exception that would limit it to three stories.

459
00:43:53,710 --> 00:43:59,050
So I don't know if anybody's looked it into that so I thought I'd bring that up.

460
00:43:59,050 --> 00:44:06,410
The other thing is Thel Harbor is a FEMA designated flood zone of extreme risk.

461
00:44:06,870 --> 00:44:13,910
The last FEMA flood map was completed in 2009, which was 17 years ago and 12 years before

462
00:44:13,910 --> 00:44:15,970
the Champagne Tower fell down.

463
00:44:17,030 --> 00:44:22,150
We are having increasing sea levels and king tide flooding occurring more frequently.

464
00:44:22,150 --> 00:44:33,090
And I mean, I think you have to go to the safety is this project going to hurt our community and kind of handled the growing density.

465
00:44:35,090 --> 00:44:39,750
During flood and storm evacuations, can we handle the density?

466
00:44:41,430 --> 00:44:48,090
I just want to say the LOS level of service is critical and you're not going to be able to get off the barrier islands.

467
00:44:48,290 --> 00:44:49,470
Thank you.

468
00:44:49,470 --> 00:44:58,250
Thank you. And I know you've got up several questions. Our village manager is writing down all the questions and they will be addressed at the conclusion of public comment.

469
00:44:59,330 --> 00:44:59,970
Bye, Vick Rauhhead.

470
00:45:00,270 --> 00:45:06,230
John Diamond, and AJ Shaktel. Those are our next three speakers.

471
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:17,960
Well, I want to write about for drive. If I may, the video was interesting. First of all, in order for you to be

472
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:23,120
neighbor, you got to live here. The only bit of Whitman that I know was the Lake Mr. Whitman, and he

473
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:28,640
lived in the gated community, and he used to be the member of the Balharber Club. And I think people

474
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:34,140
forget that during the all this time of the Lake Mr. Whitman, he never spoke up against the violation

475
00:45:34,140 --> 00:45:40,900
of the Balhober Club. How many of you do you know that until 1982, there was a sign right there

476
00:45:40,900 --> 00:45:46,820
Balhober Security Law that says nobabs and no Jews allowed. And Mr. Whitman never spoke as

477
00:45:46,820 --> 00:45:53,540
a influential business person to get rid of it. So let's talk about the history of Mr. Whitman

478
00:45:53,540 --> 00:45:57,720
below this family nonsense, which is bogus. Second,

479
00:46:03,410 --> 00:46:06,210
they talking about 523 units for 2 million

480
00:46:06,210 --> 00:46:13,530
square feet. The calculation that comes up to 3,300 basically if you divide it per unit.

481
00:46:14,330 --> 00:46:21,430
Now they go to 1.2 million for 180 units, basically doubling what they're asking, and they take the

482
00:46:21,430 --> 00:46:29,430
called affordable housing from 200 and 11 to 18. You see the bottom line is money. We

483
00:46:29,430 --> 00:46:34,170
been fighting them. We should continue to fight. And I go one step further. First of all,

484
00:46:34,270 --> 00:46:38,290
Mr. Desancer is going to be out. So let's fight until until it gets off and maybe we get

485
00:46:38,290 --> 00:46:43,970
a better governor. And then we could pass a better laws. And if you don't, this community voted.

486
00:46:44,670 --> 00:46:50,910
This community made a deal with Balharbo sharps. And the deal was, if you accept the expansions,

487
00:46:50,910 --> 00:46:52,930
they forego the hotel and everything else.

488
00:46:53,210 --> 00:46:54,590
They want to really go on it.

489
00:46:54,610 --> 00:46:56,210
They keep suing and they soon,

490
00:46:56,350 --> 00:46:58,310
because they think they have money, they have power,

491
00:46:58,550 --> 00:47:00,830
and they could think, and we should not quit.

492
00:47:01,370 --> 00:47:03,610
If we have to sue the state of Florida

493
00:47:04,150 --> 00:47:06,230
in a federal court, we should do it

494
00:47:06,230 --> 00:47:08,530
as being a live act being unconstitutional.

495
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,740
Besides the traffic that we'll cause,

496
00:47:19,900 --> 00:47:21,800
and I love George when he said the other day,

497
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:25,300
we talked about the city hall that we're going to build.

498
00:47:25,820 --> 00:47:27,140
He got to get you to traffic.

499
00:47:27,140 --> 00:47:35,220
You think about how many years that's going to take and what's going to do with the infrastructure the source system the water system

500
00:47:35,220 --> 00:47:37,560
We can not have

501
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:39,780
this kind of a mega

502
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:47,220
Unit being built it does not affect the infrastructure so I ask all of you please vote

503
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:52,440
Against this do not settle fight fight

504
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:02,740
Thank you, John Diamond, AJ Shaftel, and Nina Rudolph.

505
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:10,820
Good evening, gentlemen. Ladies, thank you so much. My name is John Diamond. I am a resident

506
00:48:10,820 --> 00:48:15,960
of the St. Regis in Bell Harbor. In fact, I'm four years running the vice president of

507
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:21,760
the Association there, so I understand both aggravation and litigation, so you have my deepest

508
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:26,700
respect. I think what you're looking for today, I don't want to be repetitive of what everybody

509
00:48:26,700 --> 00:48:32,340
else is saying. I think what you're looking for today is a cue from your residents, from

510
00:48:32,340 --> 00:48:36,920
your friends and your neighbors, what you should be doing as elected officials. And I think

511
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:42,400
is very clear that we would like to fight this to the very end. And whatever needs to be done,

512
00:48:43,060 --> 00:48:48,080
we will be willing to do and you have our 100% support. Thank you.

513
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:52,460
AJ Shaktel, Nina Rudolf,

514
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:53,380
Doug Rudolf.

515
00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:59,820
Good evening. AJ Shaktel, one bell harbor. This is in a

516
00:48:59,820 --> 00:49:04,780
combination beyond any expectation that unfortunately may have a chance of being built.

517
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:10,480
This is a boils down to illegal analysis, illegal analysis that we haven't been made

518
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:14,520
privy to, but you guys, I suppose, have hopefully in a lot of pain.

519
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:16,800
Mike Drap, that's a sign.

520
00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:27,600
Sorry, illegal analysis, what was the contract binding, was the application deficient

521
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:32,360
And on and on and on, what's the law going to, what's the law now, what's the law going to be?

522
00:49:33,980 --> 00:49:39,360
But the question is, ultimately, and I'm on the budget, budget committee of the village,

523
00:49:40,220 --> 00:49:46,420
we have the funds to fight this, we just have to have the determination to put up those funds that have necessary raise more.

524
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:53,440
We have the funds to do that also if we need to, but do we have the resolve to stick to stick with this?

525
00:49:54,940 --> 00:50:21,960
Do can we take other actions against the shops such as calling for a community boycott of this not only this village, but the neighboring residents, in the towns that are all going to be affected by the traffic and the construction and everything else and all the things that everybody can talk about, do we have the ability to boycott the shops and the restaurants that depend significantly on people who are in this room and the friends of people who are in this room and in.

526
00:50:27,500 --> 00:50:31,380
So, be strong, so be strong and of good courage.

527
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:32,760
Thank you all very much.

528
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:34,000
Thank you.

529
00:50:36,020 --> 00:50:39,580
Lena Rudolf, Doug Rudolf, Diane Randolph.

530
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:42,400
Bring my husband up with me.

531
00:50:42,500 --> 00:50:42,880
Hi, guys.

532
00:50:43,240 --> 00:50:45,060
Nina Rudolf, two and two, Bell Bay Drive.

533
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,760
Again, I'll make this quick, but a couple of years ago we were in the same position and I

534
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:55,780
said it's so nice again to be at a meeting where 100% of the people are 4, 100% to have

535
00:50:55,780 --> 00:50:56,160
you guys.

536
00:50:56,160 --> 00:51:01,680
as you can clearly see from here. The main thing I think that you're going to take away,

537
00:51:02,220 --> 00:51:08,200
these guys couldn't build a parking garage properly. I don't know if anybody has to drive into

538
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:13,760
the Bell Harbor shops, but it's an abomination. So to have the confidence that they would actually

539
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:19,380
be able to build something to begin with, and anyway, they were not going to affect our traffic.

540
00:51:19,380 --> 00:51:25,780
They closed down 96-3 for 2 years, we couldn't move, look what they built.

541
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:32,580
I have zero confidence in them, I've lived here for 50 years and watch Bell Harbor grow

542
00:51:32,580 --> 00:51:38,840
and it's a beautiful place and special people and to see it change to something that we wouldn't

543
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:42,100
be able to drive anywhere or do anything would be absolutely horrible.

544
00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:48,400
Guys, I just want to thank you because I think you can see how we feel, fight them, you have

545
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,480
all of our power, I know that the Zoom is actually,

546
00:51:52,060 --> 00:51:53,560
they can't, there's so many people.

547
00:51:54,020 --> 00:51:55,580
So everybody is very upset about it.

548
00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:56,980
And thank you for doing a great job.

549
00:51:57,580 --> 00:51:57,900
Thank you.

550
00:51:58,020 --> 00:51:58,980
Thank you.

551
00:52:01,770 --> 00:52:03,690
Doug, you're going to follow your wife?

552
00:52:06,950 --> 00:52:07,830
Oh, OK.

553
00:52:08,410 --> 00:52:12,410
Doug Rudolph, Diane Randolph, and Anne Marie Kelly Stopeff.

554
00:52:14,260 --> 00:52:16,000
Yeah, they say not to follow little kids

555
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:18,340
or animals, but you certainly don't want to follow your wife.

556
00:52:20,180 --> 00:52:28,460
Couple of things. Yeah, she lived here for 50 years. I moved here 30 years ago and I realized something when we moved here.

557
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:39,360
The real value and strength of this village is that you guys are us guys. These seats come and they go.

558
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:43,020
You heard from Martin Packer, you heard from gay gay bristles, and say, everybody's here, join

559
00:52:43,020 --> 00:52:43,340
pleasure.

560
00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:44,640
You're us.

561
00:52:44,780 --> 00:52:45,740
We're together on this.

562
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:52,200
And I think that what you're hearing tonight is that you have 150% backing of this community

563
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:54,840
to stand your ground, okay?

564
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:04,060
This is an issue, as you guys said at the beginning, that's the most important issue we've

565
00:53:04,060 --> 00:53:04,600
ever faced.

566
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:08,540
We all really do live here as opposed to what those guys said.

567
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:11,140
So we deal with it all the time.

568
00:53:11,140 --> 00:53:17,220
We all have our lives tied up in this community, in our houses, in our homes, the values of what we've done,

569
00:53:17,820 --> 00:53:18,800
our children, our grandchildren.

570
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:25,600
You know, since I moved here 30 years ago to live with my wife,

571
00:53:26,180 --> 00:53:32,640
I've heard constantly about all the great things that the Whitman's and the shops have done for us.

572
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:37,420
You know what, guys? Honestly, they don't do anything for us. They do everything for themselves.

573
00:53:37,420 --> 00:53:43,720
That's what it's always been and always will be and all this hog watch that they spread all the time

574
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:50,060
This great live local thing. They were so concerned about that's buzzy said we're down to 18 units now

575
00:53:50,060 --> 00:53:54,320
And it'll be zero. It doesn't really matter. It's never about us

576
00:53:54,320 --> 00:54:00,200
It's always about them. I think I'm not gonna take the time to talk about all the reasons why we shouldn't allow this

577
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:03,720
You all know what they are. We live with them. I just want to say this

578
00:54:03,720 --> 00:54:06,360
It's very difficult as a ton said

579
00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:08,820
when you're in litigation, it's scary.

580
00:54:09,360 --> 00:54:10,320
You're spending money.

581
00:54:10,620 --> 00:54:12,100
You don't know where the end is.

582
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:14,100
I will say this to you.

583
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:16,700
We're a very lucky, wealthy community.

584
00:54:17,340 --> 00:54:19,380
And I think everybody here wants to stand up

585
00:54:19,380 --> 00:54:21,160
and have you guys stand up for us

586
00:54:21,160 --> 00:54:22,680
and spend whatever it takes.

587
00:54:23,220 --> 00:54:23,960
You have our blessing.

588
00:54:24,300 --> 00:54:25,080
You have our backing.

589
00:54:25,460 --> 00:54:27,400
Please continue to be our representatives

590
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:30,940
and make this thing the least important.

591
00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:33,620
Let it go away, fight it whatever it takes.

592
00:54:33,680 --> 00:54:34,680
That's what we need to do.

593
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:47,900
Hi, Diane Randolph, 10185 Collins Avenue. I've owned in Bel Harbor for close to 30 years and lived here full time for the last five.

594
00:54:48,720 --> 00:54:55,340
I spent my career in retail and I would challenge you to look at the Whitman family's claim of affordability.

595
00:54:55,840 --> 00:55:01,620
What are they going to kick out of Fendi and replace it with a gap so that the people who might be living here could actually shop.

596
00:55:01,620 --> 00:55:16,480
Right, luxury retail, for the first time in my 40 years in retail is suffering a serious decline and it's always been impervious to all kinds of, you know, economic downturns, but not lately.

597
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:28,380
So they're scrambling, right? So I just, again, like everyone else has said, totally support you. We're behind you. We'll do whatever it takes to shut this down. The infrastructure cannot support it.

598
00:55:28,380 --> 00:55:34,860
even before the construction started, it's just untenable and can't be sustained. Thank you.

599
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:35,940
Thank you.

600
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:40,580
Annemory Kelley Stelpa, Monique Benun and John Voxy.

601
00:55:46,330 --> 00:55:49,850
Good evening. I started here when I was nine months old.

602
00:55:49,850 --> 00:55:51,090
I'm an actress for 77.

603
00:55:52,050 --> 00:55:52,890
Name an actress for 8.

604
00:55:53,190 --> 00:55:53,810
Pardon me, dear.

605
00:55:54,250 --> 00:55:55,570
Name an actress for the record.

606
00:55:55,950 --> 00:55:58,250
I can't give you my address because I'm in litigation.

607
00:55:58,990 --> 00:56:00,770
Okay, and I will explain it later.

608
00:56:00,770 --> 00:56:04,330
But my name is Annemoree Kelly Stopa.

609
00:56:05,650 --> 00:56:08,570
I started at this hotel when I was nine months old.

610
00:56:09,430 --> 00:56:13,630
So I think I have a lot of history that goes to all of this.

611
00:56:13,630 --> 00:56:14,750
And I have questions.

612
00:56:15,510 --> 00:56:16,770
I don't have answers.

613
00:56:17,310 --> 00:56:20,330
And I think before anything is decided,

614
00:56:20,450 --> 00:56:22,650
before anybody picks aside,

615
00:56:23,890 --> 00:56:28,930
questions need to be answered and brought to the residents who live here.

616
00:56:28,930 --> 00:56:38,590
It's very simple. I was the first one to break the barrier to the restrictions. I sold to a Jewish family,

617
00:56:38,730 --> 00:56:47,150
with the help of the Logan family. And it's not about exclusion, it's about inclusion,

618
00:56:47,610 --> 00:56:53,550
to make it into a real community. We don't need to argue, we need to sit down and discuss.

619
00:56:53,550 --> 00:57:02,990
And I think the most important discussion is number one, have they paid what they promised

620
00:57:04,730 --> 00:57:06,010
in 2018?

621
00:57:07,090 --> 00:57:09,030
I don't know, I don't think so.

622
00:57:09,290 --> 00:57:11,330
Because at the last town council meeting,

623
00:57:13,450 --> 00:57:19,730
they're going to move the police and the town and everybody else.

624
00:57:19,730 --> 00:57:25,590
Now, they're not going to pay. Okay. Well, that means they can't keep their word. I would

625
00:57:25,590 --> 00:57:33,710
like an agreement where they must keep their word, that there is a fund that is set aside

626
00:57:33,710 --> 00:57:41,850
for the issues that they have promised to keep. The second thing is, how long is this going

627
00:57:41,850 --> 00:57:51,110
take. I haven't heard in 19, when I'm 2018, it was seven years. Well, that went out the window.

628
00:57:52,090 --> 00:57:59,350
We're still going into construction. How long is this going to take? I want to know because I don't

629
00:57:59,350 --> 00:58:09,150
want to have to sit in an hour in my car to get from a 163rd street to bail harbor. I think that's

630
00:58:09,150 --> 00:58:15,170
Everybody's concerned. The biggest concern is, how are we going to get ambulances in?

631
00:58:15,210 --> 00:58:21,430
How are we going to get out of town in case there's a hurricane? How is this all happening?

632
00:58:21,970 --> 00:58:28,790
It's got to be explained before any judgment is made. The other thing that I have is,

633
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:39,620
why are we in litigation for so long? And this is more toward the attorneys. There is such a

634
00:58:39,620 --> 00:58:47,760
called mandatory arbitration. You present your case and it's resolved. You don't have a story.

635
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:52,540
Joe, but your time is up. What your time is up? Thank you. Well, I think you should

636
00:58:52,540 --> 00:58:57,210
arbitrate. Okay. Monique Benoon, John Bakshi, Amanda Hand.

637
00:58:59,820 --> 00:59:03,030
Good evening. My name is Monique Benoon. Sorry. I'll be reading off of this.

638
00:59:03,730 --> 00:59:11,270
90-80-100 pounds, Avenue. Most of the people already said the most intelligent things which are the

639
00:59:11,270 --> 00:59:17,530
risk of flooding. I'm a former science teacher. You build, there's going to be more flooding. It's

640
00:59:17,530 --> 00:59:24,010
one plus one is two. That's it. The other thing is, as the woman just mentioned, emergency vehicles.

641
00:59:24,830 --> 00:59:30,230
We have an older population, but even not older population. It doesn't even matter. We must

642
00:59:30,230 --> 00:59:36,510
make sure that people can be treated or, you know, emergency vehicles can get through.

643
00:59:36,890 --> 00:59:42,530
It would be a terrible, terrible hazard, having more people living there.

644
00:59:44,450 --> 00:59:50,290
We all want to see people be able to live in, you know, where they want, how they can

645
00:59:50,290 --> 00:59:54,210
afford best, but we have serious concerns about this.

646
00:59:54,210 --> 00:59:57,450
And I'm wondering, was there an independent study done?

647
00:59:57,450 --> 00:59:59,970
Oh, is this just the shops who have made their studies?

648
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:18,260
It's done analysis based on how much the area can support, how many people have there been independent agencies doing those studies, whether alternative locations, that these people may present their hotels and apartments and affordable housing.

649
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:23,420
I mean, why does it have to be, there's already no, whether there's already too much traffic.

650
01:00:25,960 --> 01:00:34,080
storm drainage, sanitation, sewer, the emergency vehicles, local ordinances, as the mayor

651
01:00:34,080 --> 01:00:38,880
had said, over 80 years, protecting the way our village looks and all of a sudden everything

652
01:00:38,880 --> 01:00:41,220
is going to change because of a Florida state law.

653
01:00:41,660 --> 01:00:44,340
I think we do need to propose things to the state.

654
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:49,820
And I thank everybody here, everybody that showed up, showing that it's so important to us.

655
01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:50,860
Thank you for all you time.

656
01:00:50,860 --> 01:00:56,420
And I'm wondering if we have some recourse for the frivolous loss of spring, bringing broad

657
01:00:56,420 --> 01:00:59,720
against us time, after time, after time, at some point.

658
01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:01,600
Don't they have to pay for it?

659
01:01:01,700 --> 01:01:06,300
Isn't there something unfair about having to defend ourselves constantly?

660
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:09,740
Maybe they should have to pay for some of that.

661
01:01:09,940 --> 01:01:10,840
Thank you very much.

662
01:01:11,340 --> 01:01:11,660
Thank you.

663
01:01:12,380 --> 01:01:14,740
John Baxi, Amanda Hand, Ellie Freyne.

664
01:01:20,630 --> 01:01:24,450
Hi, my name is John Baxi, I'm 155 Collins Avenue, I just have one quick question.

665
01:01:24,450 --> 01:01:30,250
are we um we entered into an agreement with those guys and if and if they're not honoring

666
01:01:30,250 --> 01:01:35,770
the agreement can't we we nag on their agreement as well too like is there like some sort

667
01:01:35,770 --> 01:01:41,690
of like a strategy to that questions are being taken and answered at all okay if I

668
01:01:41,690 --> 01:01:53,930
come that's it thanks thank you okay Amanda hand Daniel Goldfarb and Cindy Pereira hi good

669
01:01:53,930 --> 01:01:56,570
in Amanda Quarkhand offices at 1395,

670
01:01:56,730 --> 01:01:59,110
Brett Glavino, on behalf of the Bell Harbor

671
01:01:59,110 --> 01:02:01,670
and North and South condominium at the St. Regis.

672
01:02:03,530 --> 01:02:06,910
I came here tonight not really knowing

673
01:02:06,910 --> 01:02:08,430
what is on the agenda,

674
01:02:09,430 --> 01:02:11,470
because the agenda is a little ambiguous.

675
01:02:11,770 --> 01:02:13,350
It does sound like you're looking for a blessing

676
01:02:13,350 --> 01:02:15,130
from your residents about a settlement

677
01:02:15,130 --> 01:02:16,770
or our continued litigation,

678
01:02:17,690 --> 01:02:19,570
but I think the big question is,

679
01:02:19,790 --> 01:02:21,570
are any of these proposals approval?

680
01:02:21,570 --> 01:02:27,350
is the settlement proposal even a provable on the village code and I don't know that we have an

681
01:02:27,350 --> 01:02:33,730
up detail with one slide to see even what is what is going on here but the question matter is

682
01:02:34,190 --> 01:02:40,650
a reasonable proposal by a good neighbor doesn't have to hide proposals and details from the neighbors

683
01:02:40,650 --> 01:02:45,790
okay you have a room full of people here everything that has been done by the developer in this case

684
01:02:45,790 --> 01:02:50,070
is to avoid facing the public that's what the live local act does you can avoid facing the public

685
01:02:50,070 --> 01:02:51,590
by going through an administrative process,

686
01:02:51,710 --> 01:02:52,870
you don't have to face your neighbors.

687
01:02:53,850 --> 01:02:57,050
The live, in addition, then you go to court,

688
01:02:57,110 --> 01:02:59,370
you go to closed or mediation without your stakeholders.

689
01:02:59,990 --> 01:03:02,210
Now, we have a nice video message tonight.

690
01:03:03,030 --> 01:03:05,810
I represent the Bellhubber North and South

691
01:03:05,810 --> 01:03:07,370
that immediately across the street,

692
01:03:07,670 --> 01:03:09,870
Bellhubber Shops is not reached out to them at all.

693
01:03:10,210 --> 01:03:11,430
So that's a problem.

694
01:03:11,670 --> 01:03:14,450
If you are a good neighbor with a reasonable proposal,

695
01:03:14,910 --> 01:03:16,370
you should be reaching out to your neighbors,

696
01:03:16,510 --> 01:03:18,370
you should be talking to them directly,

697
01:03:18,370 --> 01:03:25,430
not sending a video message, not trying to avoid pacing the public at a hearing, so I'll reserve any of my legal objections for another day.

698
01:03:25,890 --> 01:03:32,550
Thank you. Daniel Goldfarb, Cindy Pereira, and Sandy Goldfarb.

699
01:03:39,500 --> 01:03:42,700
Hello, good evening. It's very clear that the name and address for the record.

700
01:03:43,340 --> 01:03:51,580
Daniel Goldfarb 59 can't thank you. It's very clear that these people don't care about us because they don't even show up here.

701
01:03:51,580 --> 01:03:58,800
And if the state of Florida care of us, they should do something, because when they are

702
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:02,920
we are in the election time, they come here, they can't do our show, they can't do

703
01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:04,900
this theory and they tell that they care of us.

704
01:04:05,660 --> 01:04:11,780
And if they don't care about us, we should sue them as well, and prove that they are wrong with

705
01:04:11,780 --> 01:04:15,640
this law, not only the windmills, also the state.

706
01:04:16,320 --> 01:04:23,500
And it is not only for our city, for other cities that are going to be in this situation

707
01:04:23,500 --> 01:04:28,240
after us, because as soon as this happened, it's going to happen in other cities as well.

708
01:04:28,520 --> 01:04:29,640
That's the only thing that I have to say.

709
01:04:29,860 --> 01:04:30,640
Thank you.

710
01:04:32,100 --> 01:04:35,860
Sandy Pereira, Sandy Goldfarb, and Leon Wolf.

711
01:04:38,360 --> 01:04:41,800
Hello, Sandy Pereira, 9705 Collins Avenue.

712
01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:44,720
I've lived in the same region for more than 10 years.

713
01:04:44,720 --> 01:04:48,280
I used to live in a village and now I already feel like I live in Brickle.

714
01:04:48,600 --> 01:04:53,100
It takes me 40 minutes to pass five blocks in 96th Street after dropping off my kids at school.

715
01:04:53,720 --> 01:04:58,500
There's been so much construction. I feel like it has taken over all my memories of the view I used to have.

716
01:04:58,940 --> 01:05:02,620
Can't imagine moving forward what many many years of construction will feel like.

717
01:05:02,940 --> 01:05:10,040
I live in a 24th floor and sometimes my son wakes up in the middle of the night from the banking of construction 2 a.m. 3 a.m. it's constant.

718
01:05:10,040 --> 01:05:16,980
I also feel my building infrastructure has shifted from the constant construction all around so it can be good for any neighboring building.

719
01:05:17,520 --> 01:05:24,620
To think that in the future there will be about a 21% increase of residents hotel guests in Ball Harbor sounds like I will need a helicopter to get out of my building.

720
01:05:25,580 --> 01:05:30,600
I understand that affordable housing is an issue but literally any corner will make more sense in this intersection.

721
01:05:31,420 --> 01:05:34,220
I think it will actually repulse people from coming around.

722
01:05:34,220 --> 01:05:38,720
If Mr. Whitman really lives dear, then he will know that our traffic is on bearable at certain

723
01:05:38,720 --> 01:05:43,640
times of the day already without all these extra buildings. If he really cared about our village,

724
01:05:43,860 --> 01:05:49,000
then he will know that a village usually consists of up to 2,500 people. Currently there's about

725
01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:54,780
3,100. What Mr. Whitman wants to do is create a Brickle City Center. He should find another zip code to do that.

726
01:05:55,020 --> 01:05:55,340
Thank you.

727
01:05:58,460 --> 01:06:01,380
Sandy Goldfarb, Leon Wills, and Nico Logan.

728
01:06:08,560 --> 01:06:09,800
Hi, Sandy Goldfarb,

729
01:06:09,800 --> 01:06:16,840
one, three, three, Camden Drive. A lot of the points that I had on my mind have been mentioned,

730
01:06:17,060 --> 01:06:22,980
but one of the things I want to remind us all is that we also have rights. We have rights as a

731
01:06:22,980 --> 01:06:30,420
community and as a city. If you were to look online at city planning considerations,

732
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:38,480
there's a lot of considerations that are being neglected with the building of this hotel in space.

733
01:06:38,480 --> 01:06:45,940
One of which is not to mention that's been mentioned as the source having good functioning

734
01:06:45,940 --> 01:06:53,120
source is a priority, but also if we continue to block off these arteries to the ocean,

735
01:06:53,160 --> 01:07:00,740
to the ocean, breeze, what we're doing is we're creating a space that's very stagnant, and

736
01:07:00,740 --> 01:07:06,360
we live in a tropical climate, and I think we should really consider that the health and

737
01:07:06,360 --> 01:07:13,980
being of the neighborhood is at stake. We have the big large green wall that was put up,

738
01:07:14,100 --> 01:07:21,740
and now we would be closing off another one of our boundary walls. So just in terms of the health

739
01:07:21,740 --> 01:07:29,140
and safety of the community, I think that's another consideration to take. Thank you. Leon Wolf,

740
01:07:29,820 --> 01:07:31,920
Nikolagan, Brian Salz.

741
01:07:37,720 --> 01:07:39,280
I mean, before I spoke, a clap.

742
01:07:39,700 --> 01:07:41,280
Thank you.

743
01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:44,780
Leon Wolfe, 99, 99 Collins Avenue.

744
01:07:45,240 --> 01:07:47,280
I won't repeat everything everybody's set already.

745
01:07:47,540 --> 01:07:50,460
All the points are really important and will take in.

746
01:07:50,580 --> 01:07:52,000
Two things I want to mention.

747
01:07:52,700 --> 01:07:57,880
Number one, I don't have the document that was signed with the

748
01:07:57,880 --> 01:08:00,460
Whitman's in the village a couple of years ago,

749
01:08:00,700 --> 01:08:03,320
but it's incredible that you're telling me that they signed a document

750
01:08:03,320 --> 01:08:05,720
and saying they wouldn't do X and now they're doing X.

751
01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:08,320
I mean, the audacity of some people.

752
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:11,480
And could you imagine, if one of their tenants said,

753
01:08:11,480 --> 01:08:13,460
you know, what we find the least five years ago,

754
01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:15,360
but we don't want to pay you anymore, is that okay?

755
01:08:15,820 --> 01:08:16,480
It's incredible.

756
01:08:17,080 --> 01:08:18,600
The second thing I want to mention is,

757
01:08:19,220 --> 01:08:22,200
you know, they've sort of a slight of hand reduce

758
01:08:22,740 --> 01:08:24,860
the size of the development,

759
01:08:25,660 --> 01:08:29,560
but they want a million, 200,000 square feet of something.

760
01:08:30,020 --> 01:08:31,280
Just to put that in perspective,

761
01:08:31,280 --> 01:08:36,800
If you familiar with the first, with the Wacovia building downtown, which is 55 stories tall,

762
01:08:37,440 --> 01:08:43,400
that's a million 100,000 square feet. So it's incredible that they want to make this

763
01:08:43,400 --> 01:08:49,420
larger than that. I mean, it would be monstrous, traffic, safety, all those things.

764
01:08:51,360 --> 01:08:53,560
Vote against. Thank you.

765
01:08:55,930 --> 01:08:58,790
Nikologant, Brian Salz, and Susan Aaron.

766
01:09:00,570 --> 01:09:06,550
Nikologant, 64 came to drive. The people at home haven't been able to all get on,

767
01:09:06,690 --> 01:09:10,350
so I think if we have one of these again when needs to have a larger capacity.

768
01:09:11,070 --> 01:09:15,410
Okay. That's the first thing. And the Bell Harbor shops is disingenuous.

769
01:09:16,510 --> 01:09:20,390
There is nothing that they have done to date that is what they said they would do.

770
01:09:20,630 --> 01:09:23,590
They said we'd have fountains. They said the garage would be beautiful.

771
01:09:23,590 --> 01:09:32,630
The grages horrendous. It looks ugly. The traffic is terrible. I think you know the sentiment

772
01:09:32,630 --> 01:09:41,110
of everybody in this room, which is we want to keep our community the way it is beautiful and

773
01:09:41,750 --> 01:09:49,320
meets the needs and yes we're feeling squeezed by traffic in all the other things. Last night

774
01:09:50,380 --> 01:09:57,580
the enormous number of neighbors we had no power for 14 hours. But the

775
01:09:57,580 --> 01:09:59,240
Bell Harbor shops had power.

776
01:10:02,000 --> 01:10:04,820
So, you know, there's a lot of things in the

777
01:10:04,820 --> 01:10:12,480
infrastructure that are not functioning well and they're making it worse. And so I

778
01:10:12,480 --> 01:10:18,100
think we will all want to floor you to continue fighting for us and on our

779
01:10:18,100 --> 01:10:25,640
half and even the next person who comes after each of you, it's important because our way

780
01:10:25,640 --> 01:10:33,080
of life is being diminished. I was born here and I lived here for more than 60 years and I

781
01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:40,240
could tell you this is not the same community that it was when I was younger. Even 20 years ago

782
01:10:41,500 --> 01:10:48,080
and we need to preserve what we have because green space and open space and our ability to

783
01:10:48,080 --> 01:10:56,840
the beach is being diminished all across the state, and the legislature is the big burden,

784
01:10:56,940 --> 01:11:03,460
and we need to really fight them because they're making our neighborhoods not pleasant anymore.

785
01:11:04,580 --> 01:11:05,520
Thank you.

786
01:11:08,060 --> 01:11:11,740
Brian Salts, Susan Aeron, Francis Newhead.

787
01:11:19,070 --> 01:11:22,010
Hi, Brian Salts, 9601 Collins Avenue.

788
01:11:22,710 --> 01:11:25,530
First of all, thanks to the Council for all the work.

789
01:11:26,710 --> 01:11:30,090
Everybody is still up here with so many constructive comments.

790
01:11:30,790 --> 01:11:33,030
Just to echo them, continue the fight.

791
01:11:33,310 --> 01:11:37,370
You clearly have the support of the village in 100%.

792
01:11:37,370 --> 01:11:38,070
Thank you.

793
01:11:38,390 --> 01:11:39,010
Thank you.

794
01:11:40,010 --> 01:11:43,810
Francis Nuhat, Sheila Elias Tablin and Paul Chaplin.

795
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:49,920
Sorry, Susan.

796
01:11:50,780 --> 01:11:51,100
Susan, thanks.

797
01:11:51,560 --> 01:11:57,120
Yeah, Susan Francis and then she was Susan Aaron 10225 Collins

798
01:11:59,180 --> 01:12:07,320
I feel that the shops are doing sort of a switch and bait on us that they presented to us this

799
01:12:08,140 --> 01:12:10,580
Complex because of the live local act

800
01:12:11,580 --> 01:12:15,240
That's before us, but all of a sudden, you know this 18

801
01:12:15,740 --> 01:12:17,220
units that they could possibly

802
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:19,600
get in that in that

803
01:12:21,660 --> 01:12:29,900
And if they're only putting up 180 units, I'm not a developer, but I don't see very much money coming in from that.

804
01:12:30,300 --> 01:12:34,040
So the whole thing is based on them wanting this hotel complex.

805
01:12:34,760 --> 01:12:41,060
And I think that's what we have to consider that that's what they want.

806
01:12:41,360 --> 01:12:44,980
The whole live local was just a roost to get us to accept.

807
01:12:46,160 --> 01:12:47,160
But thank you.

808
01:12:47,260 --> 01:12:47,760
Thank you.

809
01:12:48,620 --> 01:12:52,560
Sheila Lies-Tapplin, Francis Nuhat, Paul Chaplin.

810
01:12:56,620 --> 01:12:58,880
I live in 1999, Collins.

811
01:12:59,180 --> 01:13:01,120
My late husband was Southampton.

812
01:13:01,380 --> 01:13:03,240
He built the harbor house.

813
01:13:04,040 --> 01:13:09,260
And he always remarked about the excellence in the quietness.

814
01:13:09,500 --> 01:13:15,360
When you went into Bell Harbor, it had an era about it.

815
01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:16,940
The streets were wider.

816
01:13:16,940 --> 01:13:23,220
They had the gardening, they checked everybody's gardens, they had a garden thing.

817
01:13:24,240 --> 01:13:29,840
All the other things, the infrastructure, this was never, this was meant to be a resort

818
01:13:29,840 --> 01:13:32,380
town and it's become big city.

819
01:13:33,120 --> 01:13:40,020
And unfortunately we do not have the infrastructure for it and it's extremely serious that

820
01:13:40,020 --> 01:13:49,680
we fight this because it's absolutely the way I haven't, I'm an artist, I have a studio

821
01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:55,700
right near Whole Foods. On Saturday morning, I could make it maybe in nine ten minutes.

822
01:13:56,320 --> 01:14:07,720
I come home from at 3.34 o'clock over an hour, many days. It's remarkable. Anyway, my husband

823
01:14:07,720 --> 01:14:14,580
would be hard sick if he saw this. He was so caring about this community and I hope that you all

824
01:14:14,580 --> 01:14:21,180
fight and I really appreciate all of you. Please keep it up. Thank you.

825
01:14:23,480 --> 01:14:24,960
I'm reaching the end of

826
01:14:24,960 --> 01:14:28,820
the speaker's list. So Francis, New Hunt, our last three speakers unless someone wants to go pick

827
01:14:28,820 --> 01:14:32,940
up, you know, fill out a card. Also, I want to give you opportunity. Anyone who doesn't want to

828
01:14:32,940 --> 01:14:39,060
speak, but wants to raise their hand showing that they are against us proceeding with this proposal

829
01:14:39,060 --> 01:14:41,200
you may do so now.

830
01:14:43,470 --> 01:14:58,170
I guess, yes, I guess. Okay. Okay, and anyone wants to raise their hand in favor. Okay. Okay. Go ahead, Mr.

831
01:14:58,170 --> 01:14:59,970
My name is Francis Nuke.

832
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:27,420
I live at I work at 1060 King Concourse and I'm representing Bay Harbor Islands and I would like to speak about the women's. They have destroyed our town. You're going to start to destroy your town and I want to explain what he has done to our town. Not only that we don't have the money, I'm sorry, but we just don't have the money to fix our bridges because we have no money.

833
01:15:27,420 --> 01:15:35,140
He came to our town, and he built a 90,000 square foot church right on the business district,

834
01:15:36,020 --> 01:15:40,060
which was not allowed to have this type of usage.

835
01:15:41,100 --> 01:15:46,420
They have not paid any real estate taxes on that church,

836
01:15:46,560 --> 01:15:49,580
and I'm sure everybody can see it when they come to Bay Harbor.

837
01:15:49,960 --> 01:15:52,460
I'm sure you can't miss it.

838
01:15:52,460 --> 01:16:00,180
Okay, the other thing is, they're still in our neighborhood, they're using our only parking garage.

839
01:16:00,660 --> 01:16:06,280
Can you imagine Bell Harbor is using our parking garage, which I don't understand.

840
01:16:06,820 --> 01:16:11,740
But more importantly, I will repeat myself, we don't have any money.

841
01:16:12,360 --> 01:16:14,920
We are not able to fix our causeway island.

842
01:16:15,260 --> 01:16:16,800
How are you going to get over the bridge?

843
01:16:17,500 --> 01:16:18,440
How are you going to get over?

844
01:16:18,440 --> 01:16:25,220
because it's going to fall apart and it keeps fixing it and fixing it and it's still not

845
01:16:25,220 --> 01:16:31,260
to par and we're threatened with that. The other thing is I heard someone talk about the school

846
01:16:31,260 --> 01:16:39,220
because everyone is affected or your kids go to Bay Harbor. That's your zoning. With that we just

847
01:16:39,220 --> 01:16:45,540
finished our comprehensive plan and they did not put in the school elements and if you don't put

848
01:16:45,540 --> 01:16:52,880
school elements, you can build construction, you can't have more density. And they didn't

849
01:16:52,880 --> 01:16:59,560
put it in. And we just finished our comprehensive plan. They took away, we had an

850
01:16:59,560 --> 01:17:06,420
Bellha and Bay Harbor a joint use agreement. That was with the school because we did building

851
01:17:06,420 --> 01:17:14,800
for the school and we were overcrowded. Well, it was only limited to 1200 students. Now they

852
01:17:14,800 --> 01:17:22,060
changed it. The government has changed it to a verification. We have people coming in from Miami

853
01:17:22,060 --> 01:17:28,720
shores all over the place that don't belong in our school. We're overcrowded and we're back

854
01:17:28,720 --> 01:17:36,600
to square one. We don't have a decent school. It's overcrowded and there's nothing for these kids.

855
01:17:36,820 --> 01:17:43,180
It's taken up by outsiders. So I don't understand that either. But I have to admit

856
01:17:43,180 --> 01:17:49,420
Um, the other thing with our comprehensive plan and this is with our, um, what is it called

857
01:17:49,420 --> 01:17:50,240
the town planner.

858
01:17:51,120 --> 01:17:52,320
She comes to our meetings.

859
01:17:52,880 --> 01:17:57,060
She's looking at plans from, uh, 2008.

860
01:17:58,020 --> 01:18:00,020
Those are the traffic studies in there.

861
01:18:00,440 --> 01:18:01,340
From 2008.

862
01:18:01,740 --> 01:18:05,840
Can you imagine this and the traffic studies that they're building?

863
01:18:06,140 --> 01:18:07,020
Thank you.

864
01:18:08,810 --> 01:18:14,510
Our last two speakers, Paul Chaplin and Mike Menzy, or Menzo, I'm not sure if that's an

865
01:18:14,510 --> 01:18:21,770
here now. My name is Paul Chaplin, 108 Ball Bay Drive. I want to say that we really appreciate

866
01:18:21,770 --> 01:18:27,770
what the council has been doing and will continue to do because I'm totally opposed

867
01:18:27,770 --> 01:18:32,910
to these tall buildings on this property. I think we also would like to know what it

868
01:18:32,910 --> 01:18:38,850
actually is the legal process, because are we ever forced into binding arbitration? Does this

869
01:18:38,850 --> 01:18:45,250
go to litigation in front of one judge or a jury? And what's going to happen? And the other thing

870
01:18:45,250 --> 01:18:51,990
did you ever consider if Niemann and Sax are really gone bust in an up-paying rent by taking

871
01:18:51,990 --> 01:18:58,150
a three-story hotel and a three-story condo and telling the go away. Thank you.

872
01:19:00,640 --> 01:19:07,740
Our final speaker for the evening, Mike Menzy. Mike pronounced in the right? Perfect. Okay, thanks.

873
01:19:09,220 --> 01:19:15,660
Good evening, everybody. Thank you. You've heard the community. We're asking for you to continue

874
01:19:15,660 --> 01:19:21,700
is fine. Thank you. What I'd like to do for this community and all of us want to do is help you.

875
01:19:23,160 --> 01:19:28,640
Get us a list of people who we need to contact in the state government because that's what we have to

876
01:19:28,640 --> 01:19:35,580
go with. This is what it also also get us the names of those people and get us a letter that

877
01:19:35,580 --> 01:19:43,180
form letter that we can email or send. Let us help. The other way of we can help as a community. I am

878
01:19:43,180 --> 01:19:59,240
businessman. Hit them in the pocketbooks. We said it. We as a community have to live it. We can speak or we want. Let's do it. Stop. Frequitting the shops. Thank you. Thank you.

879
01:20:02,480 --> 01:20:07,880
Okay. Well, we had a very robust dialogue. It was great to hear.

880
01:20:07,880 --> 01:20:11,740
Uh, uh, uh, did you, did you fill out a speaker's card?

881
01:20:13,420 --> 01:20:18,620
Okay. Okay. No. Okay. So, um, go ahead. Is there, I just want to,

882
01:20:18,620 --> 01:20:22,120
because I want to close public comments. I want to know, are there any other speakers in the audience

883
01:20:22,120 --> 01:20:28,560
tonight that wish to speak? Please be recognized now? Okay. I see. So, just these two speakers?

884
01:20:29,800 --> 01:20:37,860
Okay. Go ahead. Name an address for the record. I'm Steven Sachs. And I live in the

885
01:20:37,860 --> 01:20:44,320
which you guys approved. I live on the north side and the moment they put up the Oceana

886
01:20:44,320 --> 01:20:50,500
if you look at the prices on the north side they declined about 30%. Now we have some women

887
01:20:50,500 --> 01:20:56,400
here from the Said region. I think quite frankly you get another body to put up some money

888
01:20:56,400 --> 01:21:02,100
for litigation. We have the Said region because they are view and their property is going to go down

889
01:21:02,100 --> 01:21:08,240
because of the construction of the noise and again I could say from the facts that I'll probably

890
01:21:08,240 --> 01:21:15,680
has declined my property about 35% so it's the same as the south and I paid that premium for a

891
01:21:15,680 --> 01:21:22,020
beautiful spectacular view. Now the other point that I want to make and two people brought it up

892
01:21:22,020 --> 01:21:29,000
about the traffic but not the traffic for good inconvenience point of view but specifically for medical

893
01:21:29,000 --> 01:21:36,580
reasons for ambulances. Now, I have to look at the north side and I was looking out that

894
01:21:36,580 --> 01:21:45,220
one day when there was traffic from the Palova Bridge to where I'm in the Plaza. There was an ambulance

895
01:21:45,220 --> 01:21:57,090
with its siren going and you have those red light cabras. I could say it took about 15 to 20 minutes

896
01:21:57,090 --> 01:22:01,830
from the top of the head over bridge to the Plaza.

897
01:22:02,410 --> 01:22:06,390
That being said, I decided, because I lived in New York,

898
01:22:06,790 --> 01:22:08,150
very close to the World Trade Center,

899
01:22:08,550 --> 01:22:10,930
and they said in New York, if you see something, say something.

900
01:22:11,390 --> 01:22:14,510
So I decided to call up the Village of El Harbor Police,

901
01:22:15,030 --> 01:22:16,410
so there's a record of that me calling,

902
01:22:16,890 --> 01:22:20,190
and they said you should call the date county up, 911,

903
01:22:20,650 --> 01:22:21,610
which I also called.

904
01:22:22,310 --> 01:22:26,010
So if I hope that person baited to wherever they were going,

905
01:22:26,010 --> 01:22:30,790
but the ambulance was blasted and the people were not moving because they saw that red light.

906
01:22:32,010 --> 01:22:35,230
So this is the separate state of the new buildings.

907
01:22:35,690 --> 01:22:39,390
So that's the only point I want to make, that most important thing is not the inconvenience.

908
01:22:39,490 --> 01:22:42,830
I don't mind waiting two hours, three hours or whatever it may be,

909
01:22:42,990 --> 01:22:47,930
but I don't want to be dead or somebody else being dead because the ambulance can't get through

910
01:22:47,930 --> 01:22:55,030
and somehow the village needs some assurance for the residents here that medical takes priority

911
01:22:55,030 --> 01:22:56,790
And I don't think that's been addressed.

912
01:22:57,790 --> 01:22:58,790
That's the only point I wanted to make.

913
01:22:59,070 --> 01:23:00,150
Thank you.

914
01:23:02,690 --> 01:23:05,710
Final speaker of the evening, name and address for the record, please.

915
01:23:05,970 --> 01:23:06,270
Okay.

916
01:23:06,550 --> 01:23:09,210
Charlene, RJ, 9801, Collins.

917
01:23:11,410 --> 01:23:18,590
The legal counsel and you guys talked about a mediated solution.

918
01:23:19,170 --> 01:23:26,290
Or, but a mediated solution is when both parties come up with a, like, a compromise

919
01:23:26,290 --> 01:23:30,350
that's acceptable to both parties, and then you go and see if everybody accepts.

920
01:23:30,630 --> 01:23:34,470
So what if you could if you're going to talk a little bit at the end and answer some questions.

921
01:23:34,470 --> 01:23:40,430
If you could just explain and you mentioned that the judge is a very reputable judge and

922
01:23:40,430 --> 01:23:46,410
and he's trustworthy and we could trust him. Like why isn't the mediated solution

923
01:23:48,110 --> 01:23:54,470
more reflective of what concerns Bell Harbor? So why is the mediated solution? It's not mediated

924
01:23:54,470 --> 01:24:00,310
it because it's the, it's the Whitman's solution that they're offering like a new proposal.

925
01:24:00,490 --> 01:24:07,530
So I'm just wondering why wasn't the judge or why can't the judge go back and really make a way more

926
01:24:07,530 --> 01:24:14,330
mediated solution. Maybe there is no mediated solution, but if there is a mediated solution, it should be reflective of both parties

927
01:24:14,330 --> 01:24:19,290
desires. Anyways, if you could discuss that, that would be great. Thank you. Thank you.

928
01:24:19,290 --> 01:24:24,990
And before staff begins, before staff begins addressing the comments that have been brought up,

929
01:24:25,230 --> 01:24:28,390
I do want to recognize the Surfside Commissioner and Jayat Trevani.

930
01:24:29,350 --> 01:24:32,110
Thank you. Would you like to address the community?

931
01:24:33,510 --> 01:24:33,750
Okay.

932
01:24:43,520 --> 01:24:44,480
Good evening, everyone.

933
01:24:46,020 --> 01:24:54,040
So here on a personal capacity, because we didn't have the opportunity to discuss this with the commission.

934
01:24:54,040 --> 01:25:04,040
but personally, this is something that I've been really trying to rub my head around this,

935
01:25:04,040 --> 01:25:11,340
the concept behind the live local act, which on one side obviously is trying to address an issue.

936
01:25:11,840 --> 01:25:17,640
We all know that it is an issue in Florida, but on the other side, more than at the technical level,

937
01:25:17,640 --> 01:25:27,360
this idea that local conditions like traffic infrastructure and not considered is something

938
01:25:27,360 --> 01:25:39,000
that is to me and I can't really process that. So anyway I really support your fight here.

939
01:25:39,700 --> 01:25:44,760
Hope I hope you'll be successful and thank you for everything you're doing.

940
01:25:45,100 --> 01:25:45,500
Thank you.

941
01:25:48,360 --> 01:25:52,000
Okay, George, do you want to start?

942
01:25:53,480 --> 01:25:56,120
Yeah, are you bringing it back up to, I can try to address.

943
01:25:57,580 --> 01:26:01,440
So, public kindness clothes, I appreciate you all, I'm making your voices there.

944
01:26:01,980 --> 01:26:06,980
Okay, I'm going to, you know, I was taking good notes, but we'll see how good they were.

945
01:26:08,000 --> 01:26:14,300
A lot of the questions that came up surrounded what is called our concurrency and our level of service,

946
01:26:14,300 --> 01:26:20,820
whether it's water capacity, sewer capacity, traffic capacity, school capacity, emergency vehicles.

947
01:26:21,660 --> 01:26:27,900
All of those things were evaluated as part of our initial review of the application.

948
01:26:29,760 --> 01:26:33,520
And that's part of what led to the denial in November of 2024.

949
01:26:34,620 --> 01:26:40,420
I don't have them off the top of my head, of course, but what we will do is tomorrow on

950
01:26:40,420 --> 01:26:46,020
website, we will post the actual denial letter, so whoever wants to go and read it for themselves,

951
01:26:46,040 --> 01:26:50,400
they'll have an opportunity to do so. It's online already, but it'll make it easier if I just

952
01:26:50,400 --> 01:26:54,660
literally write to the front. But all of those considerations were reviewed by professionals,

953
01:26:54,940 --> 01:27:01,260
not just our staff, and for the various reasons that you'll read, we determined that the application

954
01:27:01,260 --> 01:27:07,680
did not meet the adequacies and we denied it accordingly. So I grouped all of those questions together.

955
01:27:09,160 --> 01:27:16,780
As it relates to the how long this will take to build, your guess is as good as mine.

956
01:27:17,900 --> 01:27:24,100
Past experience on construction is whatever they've undertaken at the shops has taken longer than they even anticipated.

957
01:27:25,240 --> 01:27:30,540
It is their intention or stated intention that many of these buildings will be phased.

958
01:27:30,540 --> 01:27:34,020
So it's not their intention to build them all at once.

959
01:27:35,720 --> 01:27:36,840
That's a double-edged sword.

960
01:27:37,200 --> 01:27:39,660
On the one hand, if you're going to see construction,

961
01:27:40,440 --> 01:27:43,940
but if they're sequenced over time, then it's just that much more.

962
01:27:44,040 --> 01:27:48,460
So it is safe to say that it could be ten or plus years of construction

963
01:27:48,460 --> 01:27:51,500
beyond the eight or ten that you've already experienced.

964
01:27:51,500 --> 01:27:55,160
And that's something that we brought to the table and said that's a concern.

965
01:27:55,880 --> 01:28:00,080
There's a fatigue associated with the construction that has already taken place.

966
01:28:01,620 --> 01:28:10,960
As it relates to frivolous lawsuits, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm going to let the lawyers speak to that if he so means inclined.

967
01:28:11,860 --> 01:28:20,520
I think part of the strongest piece of our defense is the development agreement that was entered into in 2017 and subsequently amended.

968
01:28:20,520 --> 01:28:48,960
And again, it's available online and it is very thorough and very precise and the important thing to take with that is it's together with a site plan that was approved at the same time and that site plan pretty much dictates every inch of the property what will or will not happen on that site plan and that's part of the argument we make is that the live local act while it's intended uses are what they are.

969
01:28:48,960 --> 01:28:53,660
It did not intend, and it clearly doesn't preempt existing contracts.

970
01:28:54,460 --> 01:28:58,200
And that's the crux of the live-local argument that is being litigated.

971
01:28:59,560 --> 01:29:05,340
So, you know, we feel very strongly, they feel strongly on their side, and that's a judge ultimately will determine.

972
01:29:07,800 --> 01:29:13,160
As it relates to someone who said, well, you know, it's just an agreed upon settlement, as I mentioned,

973
01:29:13,160 --> 01:29:19,560
And this is the best and final offer that the Whitman family developers have proposed.

974
01:29:20,940 --> 01:29:27,140
We have not accepted it from our perspective, but what we did insist on is that we did

975
01:29:27,140 --> 01:29:29,920
want to have public transparency, and so that's what you're seeing today.

976
01:29:30,560 --> 01:29:35,260
So no, it's not your typical mediated settlement where an agreement was reached and we're

977
01:29:35,260 --> 01:29:39,660
now here to present it, trying to find if I had any others.

978
01:29:39,660 --> 01:29:41,220
What is the legal process?

979
01:29:42,120 --> 01:29:43,820
Well, it depends on what the council does today.

980
01:29:44,300 --> 01:29:45,380
Obviously, it's accepted.

981
01:29:46,060 --> 01:29:48,120
Then it would need to be, you know,

982
01:29:48,400 --> 01:29:49,660
memorialized as an agreement,

983
01:29:50,220 --> 01:29:52,220
and development agreement of some sort.

984
01:29:52,320 --> 01:29:54,480
Maybe an amendment to the one that exists today.

985
01:29:55,400 --> 01:29:56,680
And then from that,

986
01:29:56,680 --> 01:29:57,880
another question came up about,

987
01:29:57,920 --> 01:29:58,440
is it approval?

988
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:22,280
It would require ordinance amendments. Whatever they're proposing, whether it's the original proposal or the settlement proposal, any of their instance, our current zoning ordinance does not allow for what is being proposed and it would require a series of ordinance changes, text amendments and the like that would be required to be approved together with the development agreement.

989
01:30:23,760 --> 01:30:30,740
If the council determines to not accept as proposal and instead pursue litigation,

990
01:30:32,960 --> 01:30:38,340
then, you know, buckle up, you know, will be in a, in a battle and that, that will be what it will be.

991
01:30:40,460 --> 01:30:42,740
I'm trying to see if I have missed any question,

992
01:30:43,340 --> 01:30:46,280
Mr. Mayor, into the DA, are there any settlements

993
01:30:46,280 --> 01:30:47,000
that are provable?

994
01:30:47,620 --> 01:30:49,240
Privileess lawsuit, I'll let the lawyers,

995
01:30:50,080 --> 01:30:52,840
I talked a lot about the levels of service.

996
01:30:53,520 --> 01:30:55,180
Why is litigation taking so long?

997
01:30:55,540 --> 01:30:58,720
It, you know, in part, in part, that votes

998
01:30:58,720 --> 01:31:00,520
to our benefit and it parts of votes to their benefit.

999
01:31:00,720 --> 01:31:04,100
Sometimes legal strategy is to extend it and prolong it.

1000
01:31:04,100 --> 01:31:11,020
the longer we are litigating the longer the development doesn't happen and then other things could occur.

1001
01:31:12,540 --> 01:31:14,760
So, you know, it's a double-ish sort as well.

1002
01:31:15,360 --> 01:31:20,680
I think those are the questions that I captured, Mr. Mayor of Susan or A-Ton.

1003
01:31:20,760 --> 01:31:22,280
A-Ton wishes to come up.

1004
01:31:26,550 --> 01:31:30,910
Oh, very quick. Once, A-Ton Mark, I represent the village.

1005
01:31:32,770 --> 01:31:34,930
So, there was question about attorney's fees.

1006
01:31:35,670 --> 01:31:38,330
We are seeking under the development agreement.

1007
01:31:38,570 --> 01:31:46,290
There's what's called a prevailing party fee provision, which means that the winner of the fight relating to the development agreement is going to get attorney's fees.

1008
01:31:46,630 --> 01:31:50,650
So, it works either way, we've invoked that clause, they have as well.

1009
01:31:51,630 --> 01:31:57,770
There's some statutory basis for attorney's fees as well, in one of the cases involving the noise ordinance.

1010
01:31:59,290 --> 01:32:04,730
There was a little bit of a, there was some confusion I think about the mediator's proposal,

1011
01:32:05,070 --> 01:32:08,570
the mediated process, the mediation process, let me just make sure everybody understands what

1012
01:32:08,570 --> 01:32:09,850
we're talking about.

1013
01:32:10,190 --> 01:32:14,530
Even though Judge Hansen's retired judge, he doesn't have the ability to decide this dispute

1014
01:32:14,530 --> 01:32:16,230
for anybody at this time.

1015
01:32:16,710 --> 01:32:23,330
We go into the mediation and we spent, like I said, a lot of time, sort of chopping wood.

1016
01:32:25,470 --> 01:32:39,350
And he, towards the end of that mediation, made what's called a mediator's proposal, which is a non-binding sort of suggestion that this is something that the parties may wish to consider.

1017
01:32:40,130 --> 01:32:44,630
It was not what you saw, but it was a variation of that.

1018
01:32:45,510 --> 01:32:49,850
And again, as I mentioned, there is risk on both sides,

1019
01:32:50,350 --> 01:32:53,390
and the sign of a successful mediation, as that immediate will tell you,

1020
01:32:53,470 --> 01:32:55,190
is that neither side is happy.

1021
01:32:57,150 --> 01:33:00,910
The suggestion from the mediator's perspective,

1022
01:33:01,490 --> 01:33:03,650
and from the shops perspective, is that they're proposal,

1023
01:33:03,790 --> 01:33:06,130
that they were not happy with their proposal either.

1024
01:33:06,130 --> 01:33:10,930
they viewed it as a significant concession, that could be gamesmanship, that could be taxic,

1025
01:33:10,930 --> 01:33:15,430
tactics, that's just what we were told. And as I said, that was what they indicated was

1026
01:33:15,430 --> 01:33:19,910
their best in final offer. So that was a little bit about the mediation process and how we landed

1027
01:33:19,910 --> 01:33:26,750
where we were. There was a question about arbitration. arbitration generally is not

1028
01:33:27,470 --> 01:33:34,130
appealable. And there's usually a lot of legal reasons why arbitration would want to be avoided

1029
01:33:34,130 --> 01:33:37,170
And in this particular case, it wouldn't be available.

1030
01:33:37,410 --> 01:33:39,690
In any event, there was a question about a jury trial.

1031
01:33:40,430 --> 01:33:42,250
None of these cases were going to the jury

1032
01:33:42,250 --> 01:33:45,630
with the exception of the one I believe in the federal taking

1033
01:33:45,630 --> 01:33:49,950
case, which that George alluded to earlier.

1034
01:33:50,730 --> 01:33:53,070
I believe there was a demand for a jury trial in that case,

1035
01:33:53,170 --> 01:33:55,270
but the other four are all going to be in front of a judge

1036
01:33:55,270 --> 01:33:57,350
and the judge is going to be the ultimate decision maker.

1037
01:34:03,030 --> 01:34:03,830
Thank you.

1038
01:34:03,830 --> 01:34:09,390
that I didn't pick up on. There were a series of different questions regarding the development

1039
01:34:09,390 --> 01:34:13,670
agreement itself. And I think it's important to mention, I think somebody said,

1040
01:34:13,830 --> 01:34:23,370
maybe we can renegotiate it, or can we withhold things that were to the benefit of the shops

1041
01:34:23,370 --> 01:34:30,790
since they're holding things from us? Essentially, that's what they should be doing is

1042
01:34:30,790 --> 01:34:34,730
renegotiating a development agreement, but they've chosen a different approach.

1043
01:34:35,850 --> 01:34:40,850
The development agreement is an agreement like any other two parties can mutually agree to amend it.

1044
01:34:40,850 --> 01:34:46,150
It's been amended twice since the time it was first entered into, and it could be amended again.

1045
01:34:47,150 --> 01:34:52,770
But that takes two parties to do that, and the other party has chosen litigation instead,

1046
01:34:53,090 --> 01:34:57,950
in part because they feel the live local act provides them certain rights that they did not

1047
01:34:57,950 --> 01:35:05,630
have prior, and therefore they want to, I guess, take advantage of those, you know, unfortunately

1048
01:35:05,630 --> 01:35:13,110
for us, the, a lot of the benefits that endured to the shops under the local, I'm sorry,

1049
01:35:13,210 --> 01:35:19,450
under the development agreement had to do with zoning and the ability to expand their, their

1050
01:35:19,450 --> 01:35:23,870
existing footprint, which they're in the midst of doing permits have been issued, they're

1051
01:35:23,870 --> 01:35:29,410
the construction they knew slash expect that they will have the shops opening September

1052
01:35:29,410 --> 01:35:36,950
of this year. We'll see. But those are all kind of in the work, so it's it's it's impossible

1053
01:35:36,950 --> 01:35:42,910
for us to now pull the permits and suggest that they cannot complete it. By the same token, a lot

1054
01:35:42,910 --> 01:35:48,930
of the public benefits that were in yearning to the villages benefit, have already been received

1055
01:35:48,930 --> 01:35:54,350
as well. So, a lot of those exchanges that occurred as part of the development agreement

1056
01:35:54,350 --> 01:35:59,490
have already been performed. There are a few elements that are still outstanding,

1057
01:36:00,290 --> 01:36:09,090
but nothing that I would suggest is the material part of the project. But yes, we could renegotiate

1058
01:36:09,090 --> 01:36:15,470
and that's something that perhaps one would argue that this mediation might be the renegotiation

1059
01:36:15,470 --> 01:36:22,090
at that point. The other thing is the notion of the live local act in what it did and didn't

1060
01:36:22,090 --> 01:36:28,250
require and does it open a precedent. The state keeps changing it, as I mentioned, it basically

1061
01:36:28,250 --> 01:36:36,350
every year they're adding more and more preemptions. As it currently stands, it does not appear to us

1062
01:36:36,350 --> 01:36:42,650
that it would allow for similar projects to occur beyond the site that is the shop. In other words,

1063
01:36:42,650 --> 01:36:47,970
to ever ask about the west side of Collins, right now as it's written, we do not believe that

1064
01:36:47,970 --> 01:36:55,970
it would be an eligible project, but the legislature meets every year. And that's the issue.

1065
01:36:56,150 --> 01:37:01,230
Is that every year, the legislature meets, and every year there's the possibility that some

1066
01:37:01,230 --> 01:37:07,790
change could occur, including things that might be detrimental to us and our argument here.

1067
01:37:07,790 --> 01:37:14,130
And that's something that we need to be cognizant of is that there have been efforts in prior

1068
01:37:14,130 --> 01:37:21,690
sessions just two years ago to add a preemption for development agreements. In other words,

1069
01:37:21,770 --> 01:37:27,570
at the state would preempt the development agreement and then that argument would be theoretically

1070
01:37:27,570 --> 01:37:34,310
mooted. We were successful in preventing that from happening, but that doesn't mean it can't come

1071
01:37:34,310 --> 01:37:36,690
again in a future, in a future session.

1072
01:37:38,990 --> 01:37:41,710
The proposal that is a settlement, though, it's very

1073
01:37:41,710 --> 01:37:49,530
clear that you should remember, that is not a live local act proposal. The original proposal

1074
01:37:50,210 --> 01:37:55,590
is, and we've denied it for the reasons that you'll be able to read tomorrow, but the proposed

1075
01:37:55,590 --> 01:38:02,810
settlement is not anywhere near what the live local act calls for. Most importantly, as you've

1076
01:38:02,810 --> 01:38:14,270
about the the the live local act requires 40 percent affordable in their units and this is only 10 percent or 18 units that's not a live local eligible project

1077
01:38:14,270 --> 01:38:23,710
the live local act requires there to be a ratio of commercial versus residential square footage that proposal does not meet that minimum ratio

1078
01:38:24,350 --> 01:38:29,070
what they're trying to do is suggest that in this mediated settlement

1079
01:38:29,070 --> 01:38:31,710
that we reach a different agreement

1080
01:38:31,710 --> 01:38:34,190
that is not a live local act application.

1081
01:38:34,910 --> 01:38:35,910
And they just wanted to be clear

1082
01:38:35,910 --> 01:38:40,230
that that that would not travel under necessarily the same one.

1083
01:38:40,530 --> 01:38:41,570
Sorry, the same moniker.

1084
01:38:43,010 --> 01:38:45,170
I think that does, no, covered.

1085
01:38:45,370 --> 01:38:46,970
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

1086
01:38:47,210 --> 01:38:47,390
Mr. Mayor.

1087
01:38:47,410 --> 01:38:47,810
Thank you.

1088
01:38:48,450 --> 01:38:50,310
I guess before we get into deliberations,

1089
01:38:51,030 --> 01:38:53,650
are there any comments from council or questions

1090
01:38:54,570 --> 01:38:56,250
on for the attorneys or for George?

1091
01:38:58,370 --> 01:38:59,350
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

1092
01:39:00,350 --> 01:39:05,150
and then is it appropriate to make a motion at this point and then continue your conversations or

1093
01:39:05,150 --> 01:39:10,950
this conversation? Just America. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. I don't know if I might

1094
01:39:10,950 --> 01:39:16,570
might come again. Yeah, there you go. The one thing that I will appreciate is the support of the community

1095
01:39:17,710 --> 01:39:22,990
and the continued support of the communities can be one of the most important things. I think outreach

1096
01:39:24,130 --> 01:39:30,230
is unbelievable for you guys to get involved with whether it's calling our local representatives

1097
01:39:31,410 --> 01:39:40,150
I don't want to assume, but the Attorney General, and it's an election year, and donations go a very, very long way in this political arena.

1098
01:39:40,750 --> 01:39:54,570
So whether it's letter-writing, phone calling, donations to the right people to help move the needle, the way that the Whitman's obviously move the needle, I think it's super important for us to always remember this and get behind it.

1099
01:39:54,570 --> 01:39:57,790
And that's the best way that the community can help.

1100
01:39:58,110 --> 01:40:00,030
So we'd really appreciate all that help from you guys.

1101
01:40:00,130 --> 01:40:00,750
Thank you.

1102
01:40:00,810 --> 01:40:01,830
Thank you.

1103
01:40:02,610 --> 01:40:02,890
Okay.

1104
01:40:02,890 --> 01:40:05,210
So we're going to start with Councilman Levy.

1105
01:40:05,870 --> 01:40:06,770
Oh, thank you.

1106
01:40:07,290 --> 01:40:07,670
Thank you.

1107
01:40:07,750 --> 01:40:10,750
We're going to start with Councilman Levy if you want to share your comments.

1108
01:40:10,890 --> 01:40:14,130
They have you feel, then we'll proceed with voting.

1109
01:40:15,190 --> 01:40:15,810
Thank you, Mayor.

1110
01:40:16,010 --> 01:40:16,070
Thank you, Mayor.

1111
01:40:16,070 --> 01:40:16,650
And you're attending a motion.

1112
01:40:17,310 --> 01:40:17,990
Thank you, Mayor.

1113
01:40:18,490 --> 01:40:21,750
I think that the one of the same that comes to my mind right now.

1114
01:40:21,750 --> 01:40:27,690
something that we're eating per capita boat, which is a Jewish reading that we do from in these

1115
01:40:27,690 --> 01:40:34,370
few days of the Homer, which is 49 days a week from Pesach until we get the Tor and Shagot.

1116
01:40:35,130 --> 01:40:41,610
And it says, Miu Khachan, Helomeg Mikoladam, who is the one with the wise person, the one who learned

1117
01:40:41,610 --> 01:40:47,690
from everybody. And I think that what we have heard from the communities that the one has to stand behind

1118
01:40:47,690 --> 01:40:53,450
didn't so we are standing behind them, so I want to say thank you for everybody for coming here

1119
01:40:53,450 --> 01:40:54,270
today.

1120
01:40:57,680 --> 01:41:00,580
Councilman Splire, would you like to shine?

1121
01:41:01,780 --> 01:41:04,420
No, Mr. Mayor, I said my piece, thank you.

1122
01:41:05,340 --> 01:41:08,760
Okay, Vice Mayor, well, yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

1123
01:41:09,460 --> 01:41:14,120
Just a few points, again, I want to repeat how to do some that I had noted earlier.

1124
01:41:14,220 --> 01:41:18,520
Again, we saw the beautiful video of Matthew talking about his family's commitment to our

1125
01:41:19,220 --> 01:41:23,200
And living in our neighborhood, I don't know if most of you know, he doesn't live in our neighborhood anymore.

1126
01:41:23,380 --> 01:41:24,380
He's moved to North Carolina.

1127
01:41:25,180 --> 01:41:26,600
But he has his nice place in the same region.

1128
01:41:26,720 --> 01:41:28,680
He comes to every once in a while to do business.

1129
01:41:29,040 --> 01:41:30,300
And I guess check on his investment.

1130
01:41:31,280 --> 01:41:33,020
So he doesn't have to really deal with the traffic.

1131
01:41:33,320 --> 01:41:35,820
Like we are in what he's left behind or what he will leave behind.

1132
01:41:36,520 --> 01:41:39,700
Again, the live, I think, one thing with regards to live local.

1133
01:41:39,760 --> 01:41:42,600
Again, a lot of people talked about, hey, what can you do? Why aren't we doing more?

1134
01:41:42,600 --> 01:41:50,840
So, again, I think the our attorney, Aeton discussed it and the mayor and the manager talked about it.

1135
01:41:50,900 --> 01:41:57,380
We are superseded by this live local act and so the state has preempted our rights and taken over our rights.

1136
01:41:57,740 --> 01:42:02,860
We put setback through things and they said, sorry none of that counts whatever they can do whatever they want.

1137
01:42:03,020 --> 01:42:05,760
So this is just something that we don't have a lot of control over.

1138
01:42:06,300 --> 01:42:09,900
And I think the biggest issue is I think like Councilman Sklar said,

1139
01:42:10,620 --> 01:42:16,720
If people were interested, what we really can do is get a ground roots, grass roots effort

1140
01:42:16,720 --> 01:42:22,340
to really go after our legislatures, the Florida Legislature, the Senators and Congress

1141
01:42:22,340 --> 01:42:27,380
people and really push back on this liberalical, because as they said, this comes up every

1142
01:42:27,380 --> 01:42:32,220
year and they can, again, as these developers go in, this is a windfall for developers,

1143
01:42:32,380 --> 01:42:37,480
developers push this liberalical act to get windfalls and being able to build on this tiny little

1144
01:42:37,480 --> 01:42:41,060
place huge, huge buildings without any local restriction.

1145
01:42:41,500 --> 01:42:45,000
So that's a huge effort, which hopefully somebody takes on,

1146
01:42:45,040 --> 01:42:46,720
because I think it's most important.

1147
01:42:49,580 --> 01:42:53,520
Again, he shared in his video how much he cared about

1148
01:42:53,520 --> 01:42:54,440
affordable housing.

1149
01:42:55,120 --> 01:42:57,920
We know that there's only benefit was he got the windfall

1150
01:42:57,920 --> 01:43:00,700
of being able to say, hey, we're going to build four big giant

1151
01:43:00,700 --> 01:43:03,420
story, because he knew all he was ever wanted was a hotel.

1152
01:43:03,700 --> 01:43:06,500
I think his former mayor, Packer, said he's been,

1153
01:43:06,500 --> 01:43:12,000
been asking for a hotel for for a long time. So he would use this as Nick. Yeah, so they would use

1154
01:43:12,000 --> 01:43:16,500
this as negotiation. You either let us build four buildings which we are able to do or we're

1155
01:43:16,500 --> 01:43:21,680
going to come back and now we'll get our hotel and one building and so forth with 18 wonderful units

1156
01:43:21,680 --> 01:43:28,300
that will solve our traffic issue because people will live here rather than having to drive to work.

1157
01:43:28,300 --> 01:43:31,440
So obviously, this doesn't, doesn't make sense.

1158
01:43:33,300 --> 01:43:35,100
Other point I wanted to make.

1159
01:43:38,700 --> 01:43:40,820
Oh, somebody said, just, you know, just vote this down.

1160
01:43:40,940 --> 01:43:43,600
Obviously, the vote is not voting this down option or not.

1161
01:43:44,060 --> 01:43:47,540
The vote is whether we continue fighting and we continue our legal battle,

1162
01:43:48,220 --> 01:43:51,500
which again, I am for and I'll make a motion to do.

1163
01:43:52,300 --> 01:43:54,180
And it, but it's not totally, you know,

1164
01:44:00,980 --> 01:44:03,580
we have to, we have to realize it's not totally in our hands.

1165
01:44:03,580 --> 01:44:09,780
Again, if the legislature comes out and changes or if the courts decide that our position

1166
01:44:09,780 --> 01:44:14,140
is not correct, there is some risk, but I believe in I think everybody shares, we take

1167
01:44:14,140 --> 01:44:16,860
that risk because we know what the other option is.

1168
01:44:17,800 --> 01:44:18,740
So, thank you.

1169
01:44:20,000 --> 01:44:21,100
Councilman Fremark.

1170
01:44:22,740 --> 01:44:23,840
Yep, that's what I'm hearing.

1171
01:44:24,520 --> 01:44:30,900
So let's understand as well that the reason, the primary reason that they're willing to fight

1172
01:44:30,900 --> 01:44:37,340
as long and hard as they are is that one would estimate that 2 million additional square

1173
01:44:37,340 --> 01:44:45,280
feet of rights would equate to about 2 billion dollars of value and one million additional

1174
01:44:45,280 --> 01:44:52,460
square feet would equate to approximately a billion dollars of incremental value so that does give the

1175
01:44:52,460 --> 01:44:59,980
side, a lot of powder. We have to approach this with eyes.

1176
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:25,040
Why don't we have to understand the risks that are involved? I was the one that was at the mediation sessions, all three of them at Bill's and someberg, and we'll provide some comments on the tone and tanner of the discussions and the negotiations, but I do believe it's important that we be aware that this can cut both ways.

1177
01:45:25,040 --> 01:45:36,180
We can end up with them not being able to do anything or we can end up with approval of the live local application of 2 million square feet.

1178
01:45:37,440 --> 01:45:47,000
So there's the legal risk. There is the legislative risk and as much as we talk about the grassroots effort and everything else.

1179
01:45:47,000 --> 01:45:53,620
Miami-Day County, Bal Harbor, Florida is not all of Florida. There's a whole lot of the rest of the

1180
01:45:53,620 --> 01:46:02,020
state that goes north and into the panhandle that are really not terribly sympathetic to what goes on

1181
01:46:02,020 --> 01:46:09,800
in Miami-Day County and in South Florida. The developers across the state spent well and they will

1182
01:46:09,800 --> 01:46:15,120
continue to spend for changes, for other changes to live local.

1183
01:46:17,980 --> 01:46:24,380
The point that A. Tom made on prevailing party fees, and he made this comment as well, works both ways

1184
01:46:24,720 --> 01:46:33,300
in terms of how that could potentially end at the end of any litigation, however long that it takes.

1185
01:46:34,140 --> 01:46:41,820
affordable housing and live local. I'm here to tell you that's part of the world that I live in in my

1186
01:46:41,820 --> 01:46:48,560
my other job where I lead my knee Jewish. We have over a thousand affordable housing units in South

1187
01:46:48,560 --> 01:46:57,960
Florida and we're in the process of building more. Live local is very well intended. These guys are

1188
01:46:57,960 --> 01:47:05,900
using it in terms of it, the need for affordable housing in the state is real, it's real in

1189
01:47:05,900 --> 01:47:14,020
Miami-Dade County as well, but it's not designed nor intended for this use for this purpose

1190
01:47:14,020 --> 01:47:21,380
and for what they're doing with that. Going back to the negotiations, I can tell you that in

1191
01:47:21,380 --> 01:47:25,480
my view, the negotiations were duplicitous in nature.

1192
01:47:26,560 --> 01:47:30,700
There were any number of things that were agreed upon

1193
01:47:30,700 --> 01:47:34,060
in one session, sometimes at the beginning of the session

1194
01:47:34,060 --> 01:47:35,700
and these were marathon days.

1195
01:47:36,400 --> 01:47:40,760
That were then traded back either at a following session

1196
01:47:40,760 --> 01:47:42,740
or later in the day.

1197
01:47:43,420 --> 01:47:47,120
So as much as we can take a look at the potential

1198
01:47:47,120 --> 01:47:49,380
negotiated settlements and so on,

1199
01:47:49,380 --> 01:47:54,860
you have to be dealing with an honest credible party on the other side of the table. You just do.

1200
01:47:55,240 --> 01:48:01,960
You can disagree and you can disagree vehemently, but you've got to have credibility in whatever

1201
01:48:01,960 --> 01:48:09,100
that end result is. True, there's a lot of progress that's been made in what you see.

1202
01:48:09,100 --> 01:48:17,520
You see it going from 2 million square feet to a million square feet. But it's not enough in terms of

1203
01:48:17,520 --> 01:48:20,520
what we're feeling, I think, and what we're hearing.

1204
01:48:20,660 --> 01:48:25,100
And I do complement the community for being fully engaged

1205
01:48:25,100 --> 01:48:27,720
and for appearing here this evening

1206
01:48:28,420 --> 01:48:31,600
and voicing your concerns and voicing your views.

1207
01:48:32,120 --> 01:48:33,820
I can't tell you, there's any surprise

1208
01:48:34,300 --> 01:48:36,360
in terms of what we're hearing,

1209
01:48:36,540 --> 01:48:39,680
but it's important for you to hear where we are,

1210
01:48:39,940 --> 01:48:43,100
where the negotiations are as much as can be shared

1211
01:48:43,100 --> 01:48:46,640
and for us to hear from you because there's a cost

1212
01:48:46,640 --> 01:48:49,860
And there's everything else that comes along with that.

1213
01:48:50,200 --> 01:48:54,660
So I am going to be supportive of continuing to defend the village

1214
01:48:54,660 --> 01:48:58,820
and to reject the mediator's proposed settlement term sheet,

1215
01:48:59,180 --> 01:49:00,540
once some motion is made.

1216
01:49:04,660 --> 01:49:05,440
Thank you.

1217
01:49:06,240 --> 01:49:10,240
So I think everybody has made their voices heard,

1218
01:49:10,780 --> 01:49:12,680
including the council now, it's my turn.

1219
01:49:13,260 --> 01:49:18,340
I just want to say that I am so honored that all of you came out tonight

1220
01:49:18,340 --> 01:49:23,840
Because this, what we did tonight, this town hall meeting is really the cornerstone of American democracy.

1221
01:49:24,300 --> 01:49:31,180
And this is how decisions should be made in the public, with comments, hearing from experts.

1222
01:49:32,120 --> 01:49:39,260
And unfortunately, the legislators in Tallahassee sought to cut out this part of the process when they came up with a local act.

1223
01:49:40,560 --> 01:49:45,640
And I believe that there are flaws in the local act that we might be able to exploit,

1224
01:49:45,640 --> 01:49:55,600
But that's kind of a conversation for another day, but I am happy that the community is supportive of continuing the fight because I certainly am as well.

1225
01:49:55,840 --> 01:49:57,280
So thank you all for coming tonight.

1226
01:49:58,920 --> 01:50:00,720
There are before we entertain any motions.

1227
01:50:00,880 --> 01:50:02,680
I know Vice Mayor Wolf is eager.

1228
01:50:03,160 --> 01:50:07,900
I was notified that there were some emails sent to the clerk from residents that weren't able to attend.

1229
01:50:09,400 --> 01:50:10,840
I sent them to your email.

1230
01:50:11,060 --> 01:50:11,840
I want to read them.

1231
01:50:12,120 --> 01:50:13,100
No, I rather not.

1232
01:50:13,100 --> 01:50:17,060
pretty much echo whatever he said, but it's from a guy we'll let and Cassie we'll let.

1233
01:50:17,280 --> 01:50:23,000
Yes, okay, so their comments will be incorporated into the record. I do also want to recognize

1234
01:50:23,000 --> 01:50:30,000
Surfside Vice Mayor, Diana Van Mergey, who's here tonight. And without further ado, I guess,

1235
01:50:30,260 --> 01:50:36,100
Vice Mayor, would you like to make a motion? Or, or it's my pleasure. I'd like to make a motion

1236
01:50:36,100 --> 01:50:40,640
to direct the administration and the village attorney to communicate to the shops and

1237
01:50:40,640 --> 01:50:47,360
mediator that the settlement on the terms discussed this evening is not acceptable and to continue defending the pending lawsuits.

1238
01:50:47,360 --> 01:50:48,200
Thank you.

1239
01:50:48,940 --> 01:50:49,280
Thank you.

1240
01:50:49,280 --> 01:50:50,080
Is there a second?

1241
01:50:50,280 --> 01:50:50,820
It's not a second.

1242
01:50:51,500 --> 01:50:51,600
It's not a second.

1243
01:50:51,600 --> 01:50:52,520
It's been moved in second.

1244
01:50:52,960 --> 01:50:54,600
This is a voice vote.

1245
01:50:54,680 --> 01:50:56,760
All those in favor say aye.

1246
01:50:58,200 --> 01:50:58,760
Opposed?

1247
01:50:59,300 --> 01:50:59,660
Nine.

1248
01:50:59,840 --> 01:51:00,740
Passes unanimously.

1249
01:51:02,680 --> 01:51:02,960
Okay.

1250
01:51:05,320 --> 01:51:06,340
Motion to adjourn?

1251
01:51:07,300 --> 01:51:07,620
Motion.

1252
01:51:08,240 --> 01:51:08,360
What?

1253
01:51:08,680 --> 01:51:09,080
We're adjourned.

1254
01:51:09,260 --> 01:51:09,680
Thank you all.

1255
01:51:10,440 --> 01:51:11,000
Here.

1256
01:51:11,520 --> 01:51:13,820
You want to shred these, because I've noticed that one.