[1:00:02] we also have the affordable housing components, the military
[1:00:07] components, and the Hero Housing components. So it's the overlap of these two systems
[1:00:11] that is really coming out with an amazing product for the community.
[1:00:18] The other thing with, um, this here provides
[1:00:22] a comparison of the 3 projects as it
[1:00:26] evolved through time, and each time it got better and better,
[1:00:30] and we are very proud of the product that is here before you with regards
[1:00:33] to the development, the enhancements, the community engagement.
[1:00:37] They've been working on this for a very long time. And I think the critical
[1:00:42] component to their project success is truly the
[1:00:45] intergenerational design of the community.
[1:00:48] Excuse me one second. When designing
[1:00:53] communities for the elderly, one of the things that the studies and many of
[1:00:56] these organizations has come up that even
[1:01:00] though all the elderly have housing near each other,
[1:01:04] they still are suffering from many different things. Improved health
[1:01:08] and wellbeing, reduced isolation, Having intergenerational
[1:01:13] communities helps support both, helps support that an elderly person
[1:01:17] could help take care of a young person's family or child. To me, I think
[1:01:21] the elderly are the best security system any community could ever have, because they know
[1:01:24] who's coming in, who's going out, who's happening with what. So that's
[1:01:29] been my experience with them. And it also provides for wellness
[1:01:33] and open. And these communities that have both the young and the old all interchanging
[1:01:38] with each other actually supports for a much better wellbeing
[1:01:42] of both communities, the young and the elderly.
[1:01:45] In addition to that, oops, sorry, the AARP also
[1:01:49] came out with a study with regards to reducing isolation,
[1:01:52] improving the mental health and economic opportunities, and reduction
[1:01:57] in ageism, which is contact between the different groups and the stereotypes.
[1:02:03] Our community is proposing to have senior
[1:02:07] living for 55+ age restriction for 120 units.
[1:02:12] We're also proposing family and hero housing, young professionals,
[1:02:16] health and fitness wellness programs, a fitness center, a 3.5-acre
[1:02:21] walking trail within the linear park. So there's a walking wellness trail.
[1:02:25] In addition to that, we have also committed to 12 exercise stations.
[1:02:28] Along that. To me, it's gonna be an amazing space with
[1:02:32] the lake to have the openness, to have the exercise. It's very zen.
[1:02:36] It's gonna be, uh, a wonderful opportunity for
[1:02:40] the public to enjoy. We also are gonna have medical uses on site,
[1:02:43] um, preventative healthcare and on-site medic. And then we also have
[1:02:47] along the front, along 216th Street, we have a real retail component,
[1:02:52] which we're proposing approximately 10,000 square feet of restaurant,
[1:02:56] 4,500 on one end and 4,000 on the other, um,
[1:02:59] to anchor the community. And one of the things that I think that, um,
[1:03:04] this project really brings to the table is proximity. Proximity between age
[1:03:07] groups, proximity between uses, proximity between open spaces.
[1:03:12] If you look at this new linear park and you look at your Blue Heron
[1:03:14] Park and the new park that you all are improving in Legacy, it's right in
[1:03:18] the middle. So somebody could essentially you know,
[1:03:22] exercise or walk through your Blue Heron, connect around us,
[1:03:26] and end up at Legacy. So this is like a connector piece of your public
[1:03:30] open spaces. In addition to that, in April
[1:03:34] of 2026, our team appeared before the Age-Friendly Committee
[1:03:38] of the Cutler Bay, and we went over the 8 pillars
[1:03:42] of the design of the project, and it was
[1:03:46] positively received by the board. We received good feedback and good engagement.
[1:03:49] So we appreciated the opportunity to appear before them.
[1:03:57] So again, I wanted to just break down a little bit of the numbers so
[1:04:00] that we're all clear on, on what's being proposed. We have 147
[1:04:05] Hero Workforce Housing units. We have 120 elderly and 27
[1:04:09] units that are workforce that are non-age-restricted, and we also have 20
[1:04:14] units that are military service members. That is a total of 167
[1:04:18] units that will have rental restrictions on them. In addition to
[1:04:22] that, Live Local typically requires 40%. This project has 52%
[1:04:27] of an age— of a rental restriction with regards to the
[1:04:31] units. So as rents go up, we're in South Florida. If I've never
[1:04:35] seen them go down, it'd be nice because my kids are looking for apartments.
[1:04:38] They're in college. Um, but rents go up. So what happens is
[1:04:43] that these rental restrictions will, as time goes
[1:04:47] on, will be more and more favorable for the community because rents will continue to
[1:04:51] go up. But these are continually capped. And these numbers are established by HUD.
[1:04:55] These numbers are established by Miami-Dade County. And these are numbers that we actually have
[1:04:59] to file an annual report in the covenant, uh, requires every year that we file
[1:05:03] an annual report in January to the manager of our status and our
[1:05:07] compliance with these numbers.
[1:05:10] This is the latest of the AMI tables,
[1:05:15] the average median income that's issued by HUD and Miami-Dade County with regards
[1:05:19] to income limits and rental. The Hero
[1:05:23] Housing program is one that our team is extremely proud of. They've been
[1:05:27] working with— it attracts law enforcement,
[1:05:30] firefighters, healthcare professionals, Town of Cutler Bay employees,
[1:05:34] and educational employees in the neighborhood.
[1:05:39] We have received, uh, positive feedback from Matter Bay,
[1:05:43] um, that they're very supportive of this because they would love to be able to
[1:05:46] have teachers housing near them. We also spoke with Billy McAllister
[1:05:50] of the fire union. He said it would be great if his folks can have
[1:05:53] places close by to their stations. So this is something that we think would be
[1:05:58] very successful and probably rent out right away.
[1:06:02] The military rental program. This is Homestead Air Force Base, is our
[1:06:06] neighbor, is our, um, our security, our so many things
[1:06:09] from a, from a big picture perspective. So the opportunity
[1:06:13] to have 20 units dedicated to them for that, they could have the,
[1:06:19] um, residences near, um, the base, I think would
[1:06:23] be amazing for them. So that is part of the program. This gives you a
[1:06:26] preview of the linear walkway around the park that around
[1:06:30] the, the project that I was mentioning, the Wellness Loop.
[1:06:35] So the community benefits. This is one that
[1:06:39] I wanted to go over in detail, because some of the community benefits were
[1:06:43] from the original project, and some of the community benefits are what I'm calling the
[1:06:47] enhanced community benefits. So again, the 3.4-acre
[1:06:51] linear park and walking trails and space for town center program remains,
[1:06:55] and it's being enhanced with 12 pieces of exercise Equipment equipment.
[1:06:59] at those exercise stations. We are continuing with the 51
[1:07:03] golf cart and charging stations, um, for the project.
[1:07:06] Neighborhood retail shops and medical uses within close proximity— those
[1:07:10] uses will remain. We are undergrounding the utilities. The environmental
[1:07:15] cleanup via the brownfield— as many of you know, the site is a brownfield.
[1:07:18] Our team is working with Michael Goldstein and Brett Beaumont, who are
[1:07:22] here this evening, in case you have any questions with regards to the cleanup.
[1:07:25] We anticipate that if the brownfield designation is successful,
[1:07:30] we'll be probably spending the next 6 to 8 months on just cleanup items.
[1:07:35] So the community, um, access to the
[1:07:38] pickleball courts and the children. So in the town center, when you come in,
[1:07:42] you have the linear park that goes around it, but in the center there are
[1:07:44] pickleball courts that we have opened it up for the Lakes of the,
[1:07:48] of the Bay Master Association, and I think the underlying 12
[1:07:52] or so associations under them to be able to come and use the pickleball courts.
[1:07:56] Pickleball is a very popular sport. We've also enhanced the project by
[1:08:01] complying with the town's Art in Public Places program.
[1:08:06] We have also worked on the shared maintenance costs of future signalization
[1:08:10] and improvements of up to $450,000 along 216th
[1:08:15] Street, and we maintain the town's circular stop at our site.
[1:08:20] This provides you, um, a depiction by our
[1:08:23] architect Ivo Fernandez from Modus Architects, who is here this evening. That shows you
[1:08:27] where the linear park is, the access right from the sidewalk
[1:08:30] all around the site. Um,
[1:08:36] here is a depiction of what the park would look like along the
[1:08:39] edge of the property.
[1:08:43] With regards to the covenant modification, um, I believe Mr.
[1:08:47] Perez did an amazing job to go over the covenant
[1:08:51] modification requests and the restrictions and the securities that are being provided provided to
[1:08:55] you all within the covenant and the importance of the covenant with
[1:08:59] regards to the future restrictions and compliance.
[1:09:04] I did want to point out that there's 2, uh, changes that
[1:09:08] we worked with the City Attorney on between yesterday and today,
[1:09:12] and it was a clarification of 2 things: that the commercial use come online
[1:09:16] at the same time as the residential, and the second, that the linear park
[1:09:20] include 12 pieces of outdoor exercise equipment. So these two changes
[1:09:24] were added between the published version and today's version. So I just
[1:09:28] wanted to note it as amended as to these two additional changes for
[1:09:32] the record.
[1:09:33] In addition,
[1:09:38] I'd like to introduce into the record the Lakes by the Bay letter of support
[1:09:43] for, for the project. We've met with them, our team has met with them,
[1:09:47] and we're very excited of such an opportunity, and we are very
[1:09:53] ¡Gracias! Very grateful for their support in writing, and we'd like
[1:09:57] to introduce it to the clerk. And my colleague just told me that we also
[1:10:01] got Miami-Dade firefighters' support in writing, and we will be delivering
[1:10:05] it to the clerk for the record as well.
[1:10:09] With that said, I'm open for any questions. Our team
[1:10:13] is here should you have any questions that you'd like us to respond to.
[1:10:16] Thank you very much. I'm going to open up the floor now for public comments.
[1:10:20] Anybody would like to come forward, speak on this item, please come forward now.
[1:10:25] If you're going to go ahead and get in line if you could, and if
[1:10:28] you're going to be naturally— Good
[1:10:34] evening, my name is Avis Ross. I live at Lakes by
[1:10:37] the Bay Laguna Point at 21940 Southwest
[1:10:41] 98th Avenue. And I have a few questions about the project.
[1:10:45] While it looks very nice and it looks like we're making progress
[1:10:49] in the community, I was wondering if there had been any impact
[1:10:53] studies on, first of all, property values for the homeowners that live
[1:10:58] in that area. Uh, it's going to impact us in some way, and we
[1:11:02] have no clue as to what that impact might be. But there have been other
[1:11:06] developments like this in residential areas,
[1:11:11] and I'm sure there's some history there, and I'm sure we—
[1:11:16] well, me and my husband and other homeowners would like to
[1:11:19] know what the impact might be on property values. And the other
[1:11:23] question is around trash. Mount Trashmore is probably filled to
[1:11:28] the brink as it is, and what kind of accommodations are
[1:11:32] going to be made you know, for the extra trash.
[1:11:37] Crime impact study— have you done one
[1:11:41] when there has been a community like this impacted by
[1:11:46] a development such as this? The traffic
[1:11:50] mitigation— traffic's definitely going to be an issue. But the first
[1:11:54] thing that I'm sure most homeowners are concerned with is property values.
[1:12:02] Thank you. Um, this is not a question and answer session. This is for public
[1:12:05] comments. The applicant or our staff can maybe address some
[1:12:09] of those things after the public comments. So, okay, thank you.
[1:12:18] Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Christine Taylor. I live at 9846
[1:12:23] Southwest 222nd Terrace. I am a
[1:12:27] member of the Lakes by the Bay Master Board, and I'm here to say that
[1:12:31] we support this. I'm also that elderly 65-year-old,
[1:12:34] and I'm also a teacher, so I check off a bunch of boxes.
[1:12:38] The Contemporary has been a really good neighbor. They have been to at least
[1:12:42] 3 meetings. They have taken their time to go through all of this with
[1:12:46] us on the Master Board. They presented everything. They've gone through all the
[1:12:50] different questions that we've had. They've come back with answers. And we now have
[1:12:54] an agreement with them, which I'm not going to speak on. That's an attorney thing
[1:12:58] where they're going to be a good neighbor and help us maintain all of the
[1:13:01] public areas. So I'm here to support it. I'm here to, on behalf of
[1:13:05] Lakes by the Bay Master Board, to support it and say this is the first
[1:13:09] meeting I've ever been to in my life. So it's very interesting what you guys
[1:13:12] do. Thank you for your service. I'm sure you guys don't get paid enough to
[1:13:16] do this. So thank you. Goodly noted. Thank you.
[1:13:19] Okay, any questions of me? Because I'm actually here representing— not a—
[1:13:24] just for you to make comments. So if you can bring the lineup forward,
[1:13:26] that way you don't have to have that silence of 20-minute recessions.
[1:13:34] Bring the rest of the lineup all the way to the front. There you go.
[1:13:36] Okay, good. Good evening, my name is Barbara Libby Brown. My address is
[1:13:41] 8757 Southwest 213 Terrace, 33189.
[1:13:45] I want to thank you for what you're doing
[1:13:49] for our community, but I would like to make a comment.
[1:13:53] As we are identifying,
[1:13:58] or there was a— by the lawyer, I believe that,
[1:14:02] um, please do not forget Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
[1:14:07] Miami-Dade County Public Schools have a handful of
[1:14:11] schools down here at the south, and I would implore that they meet
[1:14:16] with, um, the, um, the powers that be, because there are teachers—
[1:14:21] I'm an educator, I'm a principal— and there are teachers who are
[1:14:24] in desperate need of housing. So please do not forget Miami-Dade
[1:14:29] County Public Schools. Thank you.
[1:14:35] Hi, my name is Lauren Rodriguez. I'm a resident in Isles of
[1:14:39] Bayshore. I live in the 122560 Southwest 89th
[1:14:44] Place. Um, I think this is going to be a great addition,
[1:14:47] uh, this project. Um, I just had my, uh,
[1:14:51] son a month ago with my husband, and we've been in this community for 2
[1:14:54] years now, and we love Cutler Bay. So I think this is going to be
[1:14:57] a great addition to our community, especially with young families.
[1:15:01] And I love the addition with healthcare profession, as I am a healthcare professional myself.
[1:15:05] So I think this is going to be a great addition to our community.
[1:15:13] Hi, my name is Gabriella Fernandez. Um, I'm a resident of Color Bay.
[1:15:16] I've been a resident for about 4 years. Um, my home address is 8800
[1:15:21] Southwest 191st Street. Um, and I'm very
[1:15:25] excited for this project. Um, that was my twin sister, so, um, we live
[1:15:29] nearby one another, but it's nice to have this project to have
[1:15:33] families, growing families, as one for myself. My husband and
[1:15:37] I, we've lived here again for 4 years, and I think also as a healthcare
[1:15:41] professional as well, I love the emphasis of,
[1:15:45] you know, as an older community having that accessibility for healthcare.
[1:15:49] So I approve this project. Thank you.
[1:16:01] Good evening, Mayor,
[1:16:04] Council. My name is John Sperling. I live at 9553
[1:16:08] Southwest 189 Terrace. I live on a cul-de-sac.
[1:16:12] In our cul-de-sac, there's 4— there's 12
[1:16:16] homes with 4— 4 of the homes are either police
[1:16:20] or fire. Most of these people bring their vehicles home
[1:16:25] home. So there's always representation in the neighborhood.
[1:16:29] So I feel it makes it much safer.
[1:16:32] Um, there is very little— there are, there are very little places to go
[1:16:37] in Cutler Bay with, with golf carts, first of all, with golf carts,
[1:16:41] with— for restaurants and activities. So I would,
[1:16:45] I would welcome this, this community 100%.
[1:16:50] There needs to be more restaurants, obviously,
[1:16:54] because there, there literally is none. I know, um, I know
[1:16:57] that Flanagan's is supposedly moving in by Publix, but you
[1:17:01] know, that's a long time out. Um, so there's nothing about this that I have
[1:17:06] any opposition to. So I appreciate your time. Thank you very
[1:17:10] much. Thank you. Oh, by the way, my wife's a teacher in this— in the
[1:17:14] school board as well. So thank you. Thank you.
[1:17:18] All right, anybody else? Anybody in the queue? No one in the queue.
[1:17:22] Okay, public comments is now closed. You know, as far as with
[1:17:26] property values, it's kind of hard to answer that question because there's so many different
[1:17:29] variables going into it. But just as a general,
[1:17:32] you know, you have Legacy Park going in, you have Blue Heron Park being— I
[1:17:36] think the property values in that area are going to do pretty good. Um,
[1:17:38] so all of Cutler Bay has been doing very, very well, but that area
[1:17:43] is going to do really, really well, especially after It goes in,
[1:17:47] and Julian, we do require traffic studies on everything that we have again. So that's
[1:17:51] required. Yes, there's a
[1:17:55] traffic study that is on its way. It should be done mid-July as
[1:17:59] part of the site plan approval. There's also a trip generation study that
[1:18:04] was done when they started this process that is available.
[1:18:08] And the number of trips, the AM as well as
[1:18:11] the PM, are very small. The increase, I can give you the numbers if you
[1:18:15] want to. To. Okay, but that's,
[1:18:19] that's correct. And the trash, of course, we require everybody keep their trash taken care
[1:18:22] of, so it's not an issue. Yeah, Mitch, do you have a comment, sir?
[1:18:25] I was just going to speak to the solid waste issue with respect to
[1:18:29] the current landfill, South Dade Landfill. It is,
[1:18:33] it is, it is running up against capacity, and Miami-Dade County
[1:18:37] has now contracted with several haulers to move
[1:18:41] the waste upstate to upstate landfills by
[1:18:45] rail, and that's the current solution. However,
[1:18:49] the county continues to discuss the replacement
[1:18:53] of the old waste-to-energy facility, which was
[1:18:57] destroyed in a fire. Yeah.
[1:19:00] And that, that could be part of a long-term— of their
[1:19:05] long-term solution. But right now they're, they're able to adequately
[1:19:09] landfill the waste upstate. And I don't know if
[1:19:13] you all remember a couple years ago when a similar project— I remember a little
[1:19:17] boy saying, I'd love to go and get ice cream. Because, you know, one of
[1:19:19] the things that we do need in Cutler Bay we've all been working on is
[1:19:22] more restaurants, more types of places like that. And I think one of
[1:19:26] the things that I like about this project is the cornerstones on each
[1:19:30] side is specifically for restaurant space,
[1:19:34] which is great. There's nothing better than having a good restaurant
[1:19:38] within the neighborhood. There's so many, you know, you see ones like Elaine's down the
[1:19:41] street. Struggles for, for places to go.
[1:19:44] Well, we could, we could have something much better right there. So, um, but with
[1:19:48] that, I'll open it up to the council for comments or questions.
[1:19:51] So, okay, well, Councilor Ramirez, you're recognized.
[1:19:56] Well, no, whenever you raise your hand, I'm going to call on you, so you're
[1:19:58] going. Good evening. All right,
[1:20:02] thanks for the presentation. You know, pretty good presentation. I,
[1:20:06] um, have been on the fence a little bit because I'm
[1:20:10] not a huge fan of developers getting something approved and then coming back and trying
[1:20:14] to ask for more and more and more. But Live Local actually
[1:20:18] kind of created that. So we kind of have to live within those confines.
[1:20:22] You know, basically it kind of boils down to do we have
[1:20:26] 322 units that are actually split in threes
[1:20:30] to accommodate, you know, different generations and also
[1:20:34] for, you know, people that are first responders, teachers, and such,
[1:20:38] or do we say no and we have 644
[1:20:43] units with no commercial, no restaurants, no nothing, just, you know,
[1:20:47] here's a bunch of home, here's a bunch, a bunch of apartments sitting there.
[1:20:50] So I think you kind of have to look at the lesser two evils when
[1:20:53] it comes to that. But I can tell you that I was very impressed with
[1:20:57] the developer when you presented the 192 units. So I'm
[1:21:01] pretty sure that you guys are going to do pretty good job,
[1:21:05] you know, making sure this looks beautiful and is well maintained. And I
[1:21:09] appreciate the fact that you have met with the town and
[1:21:13] really kind of wanted to give a lot of things to this town to make
[1:21:17] it something that's very, you know,
[1:21:22] kind of open, kind of open pretty much for our residents.
[1:21:25] So I kind of know which way I'm going to go on this. And I
[1:21:30] just wanted to kind of, you know, put my thoughts out there on that,
[1:21:32] you know. So we'll see what everybody else has to say and
[1:21:36] see what happens at the end. Thank you. Councilman Duncan, you're recognized. Thank you,
[1:21:40] Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Ramirez.
[1:21:42] Yeah, I know I'll echo
[1:21:46] some of the sentiments that he had said. I do have a few, I guess,
[1:21:50] questions or points for clarification. Could you
[1:21:54] put the slide back on that demonstrates what the rents will
[1:21:58] be just so our residents will have an understanding as to
[1:22:02] what that is, because I mean, we can, you know, till we're blue in the
[1:22:05] face say 120% of the AMI, but for most people, you know, you tell
[1:22:09] them what the monthly rents will be, and that's a little bit easier to kind
[1:22:13] of grasp and understand. Correct. And I will— here it is.
[1:22:17] What this is, is that this is the— oops, sorry.
[1:22:26] There. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. What this provides is
[1:22:30] that this is the maximum rents. If you go to the right columns, the,
[1:22:34] the last 6 columns provide what the rental income maximums will be.
[1:22:39] So for at 120%, a studio is $2,862,
[1:22:44] a 1-bedroom would be $3,000, a 2-bedroom would be $3,670.
[1:22:48] Now these are maximums that are established by Miami-Dade
[1:22:52] County with regards to— it's a correlation between the income limits of
[1:22:56] the resident as well as the rent that could be
[1:23:00] charged at a maximum. And these include any additional fees as well. You can't
[1:23:05] like charge the rent and then you have like a pool fee or a
[1:23:08] gym fee. This is maximum of what can be charged to each tenant.
[1:23:13] Okay, thank you so very much for sharing that. Moving on.
[1:23:17] So I'm very pleased of the development of where
[1:23:21] essentially the certificate of occupancy for the retail
[1:23:25] would also come online the same time as the residential. That was one of the
[1:23:29] things that I was hoping to at least discuss tonight, but I'm glad you all
[1:23:32] worked that out ahead of time. Similarly to how the Vice Mayor was able to
[1:23:36] work with the Publix property to get those out parcels ensured
[1:23:41] that they were built and not just, you know, get the residential part built and
[1:23:44] then, oops, you know, we're not going to build these. So I think that is
[1:23:47] the biggest public outside of the parks and the the green spaces.
[1:23:51] I think that's gonna be the biggest public benefit is additional retail, additional restaurants,
[1:23:55] medical space. So I'm glad that that was taken care of. A point of clarification,
[1:24:00] I guess, for Julian. So if I'm not mistaken, this is
[1:24:04] live local. So any sort of site plan approval, or that's not coming before this
[1:24:08] council, that's administratively correct? No, Councilman, no. So all of it, it's administrative.
[1:24:12] And again, what we're going to do is we're going to get those
[1:24:16] conditions and we're going to put them as part of a covenant. Okay.
[1:24:20] So the traffic study that, that's currently underway, or that's pending,
[1:24:24] if the traffic study comes back saying that improvements need to be made beyond
[1:24:29] the $450,000, what is the enforcement mechanism for that? Well,
[1:24:33] that's those improvements. Those are mitigation improvements. They're going to go into
[1:24:37] the conditions, and those are going to go into that covenant, and they're going
[1:24:41] to have to do that as part of the approval. That was not accepted by
[1:24:45] Live Local. I want to make that very clear. Okay, that was one of the
[1:24:48] things that were not accepted. Them. I do want to emphasize that the traffic study
[1:24:51] is performed by us internally. Absolutely, sir, that's according to code.
[1:24:55] Absolutely looking out for what's in the best interest of the residents, especially along that,
[1:24:58] you know, 216th corridor. So any sort of negative impacts of traffic
[1:25:02] with this development, if anything needs to be added, whether lighting or traffic
[1:25:07] signaling, curb, what have you, it would have to be handled at
[1:25:11] that— yes, it's going to be handled through the conditions again. Okay,
[1:25:15] okay, perfect. Perfect. And then the only other point that I'll make, and just to
[1:25:18] reemphasize in the same way that Council Member Ramirez did,
[1:25:22] is, you know, with the Live Local, just for the residents to understand,
[1:25:26] they can, as of right, go to 714—
[1:25:31] I believe was the number that we did— 714 units without
[1:25:35] this council ever saying yay or nay.
[1:25:38] Correcto. So I'm glad that our town staff and the team has
[1:25:42] been able to negotiate a lot of very positive community benefits that
[1:25:46] are going to benefit all of the community, not just, you know, the Lakes by
[1:25:49] the Bay and Isles Bayshore community, but all of Cutler Bay.
[1:25:53] So thank you for that. Thank you for all of your work. Sure. And I
[1:25:56] just want to add something to it. We also added a number of conditions that
[1:26:00] have to do with security, and that is under crime prevention
[1:26:04] through environmental design. Those are going directly into the
[1:26:09] conditions on the site plan. And again, I keep making emphasis this and a
[1:26:13] covenant. All right, so added protection. And then one other, if I may.
[1:26:17] I'm sorry, uh, the linear park, so the hours being extended publicly to 9:30,
[1:26:21] then that will require lighting be installed, correct? Absolutely. Perfect. Thank you,
[1:26:26] Councilman. Thank you,
[1:26:30] Mr. Mayor. Um, I'm gonna piggyback on what he just asked
[1:26:34] about the lighting. I have concerns that the lighting might spill into
[1:26:38] the residence the residents sees. Do we have, like, assurances that that
[1:26:43] won't happen? Yeah, and that'll be part of the site plan when we submit the
[1:26:47] site plan. We are anticipating to have low lighting actually around the linear park.
[1:26:51] There's actually low lighting and highlighting because it's both have different coverages of the
[1:26:55] lighting, but we have the different types already included in our site plan.
[1:26:59] Thank you. I do have some comments. A lot of that my
[1:27:03] colleagues have already covered. I want to
[1:27:07] show people what this could have looked like
[1:27:11] if you guys didn't live local. And, and I really appreciate this.
[1:27:16] So these— we— I have two of these. These are from— it looks like a
[1:27:19] prison to me, and I'm just not comfortable with that. And I'm glad we're not
[1:27:22] doing that. I had a great deal of phone calls,
[1:27:26] one of which was from our former mayor, Peggy Bell,
[1:27:29] with many, many, many concerns. About this project.
[1:27:34] Now, like I said in the beginning of this, we were presented at
[1:27:38] the Age-Friendly Community Committee twice on this project. It was well received
[1:27:42] both times. It was better received the second time that
[1:27:46] we're doing intergenerational because that committee has been working for at
[1:27:50] least a year on trying to do intergenerational activities.
[1:27:53] We know the benefits of the young and the older people being
[1:27:57] together. They're vast. I talked about them when we had our workshop. Shop.
[1:28:01] So, um, for that part, I can tell you that the committee is
[1:28:05] very excited about, uh, that development coming in.
[1:28:09] Because I had so many phone calls and I had a very long discussion with
[1:28:12] Mayor Bell, um, I ended up having the town manager
[1:28:17] send to me the Zoom from the HOA meeting,
[1:28:21] and I listened to that, and there was a lot of chatter about
[1:28:24] the property values, a lot of chatter about
[1:28:29] about the traffic. I would suggest that— and I'm by no
[1:28:33] means a traffic specialist— I would think that at some point we're going to end
[1:28:37] up getting signals put in, which for residents
[1:28:40] to understand, that's not to impede your traveling, it is traffic calming.
[1:28:45] So it would actually help that situation.
[1:28:49] The linear park has me— so I also went through the covenant like
[1:28:53] crazy. Again, I'm a paralegal, so I start reading this stuff with my
[1:28:57] legal hat on. I'm really excited about the
[1:29:01] linear park. I was going to ask if we could have more
[1:29:05] equipment than Blue Heron Park has, and you guys beat me to that punch because
[1:29:09] Blue Heron only has 9 pieces of equipment. Oh, I like beating— I'm so competitive.
[1:29:13] That's awesome. That's awesome. That this linear
[1:29:18] park is at the sole cost of you guys. You're giving— this is a
[1:29:22] gift. I, I look at, at it as— and the maintenance. Yeah, and the maintenance
[1:29:26] and the security, cost of the lighting, right? All of that, the landscaping,
[1:29:30] the park furniture, it's all here in the covenant. I, I personally
[1:29:34] feel like that's a gift. This is, um, a win in the situation,
[1:29:38] and it's not just for Lakes by the Bay, it's for all the residents of
[1:29:41] Cutler Bay. So, um, you know, if we can add more parks, I'm all
[1:29:45] for that, right? As a former member of our Parks and Rec Committee, I'm like
[1:29:48] let's, you know, let's do that. I also wanted to point out,
[1:29:52] which I loved in the covenant, that the workforce unit housing,
[1:29:57] senior housing, military housing, and the other housing, that has to
[1:30:00] be complied with by annual reports every year
[1:30:04] to the town. And I think that's important because I know that the naysayers out
[1:30:08] there, and there are a few, may say, oh yeah, well, that's what they say,
[1:30:12] but they're not going to do it, they're not going to comply. Well, you're required
[1:30:14] to comply apply with that and I think that that is an important thing that
[1:30:18] we should point out to the residents. But I
[1:30:22] wanted to ask about the priority leasing,
[1:30:25] if I may. We have, it's not just firefighters
[1:30:30] and law enforcement or healthcare, it's not doctors,
[1:30:33] it's actually the staff, if I'm not mistaken,
[1:30:36] right, that are also on these priority leasing
[1:30:40] lists that they can go. So the lunch lady, from Cutler Bay
[1:30:44] Senior can get priority leasing here, and I think that's significant
[1:30:48] for everyone to understand.
[1:30:52] I like that very much because a lot of times the
[1:30:56] officers, the firefighters, they're all taken care of, but maybe not their support
[1:31:01] staff. That is so critical. And by the way, while we do have a lot
[1:31:04] of police officers and firefighters that live in town, we also have a great deal
[1:31:08] of the supporting employees for the healthcare providers
[1:31:12] and those entities. And to speak to that public
[1:31:16] comment, public educational institutions are
[1:31:20] included in the priority leasing, which does include teachers and, like I
[1:31:24] said, other school personnel. The only thing I'm really left
[1:31:29] to touch on, I was honestly a little on the fence about this as
[1:31:33] well, although, you know, my committee loved it and I love the intergenerational. It just
[1:31:37] seemed like a big hit But like Council Member Ramirez was saying,
[1:31:41] this is getting developed, right? And I love the fact that you guys
[1:31:45] have worked so well with our HOAs. That's not
[1:31:50] always done here. And having come to my age-friendly community
[1:31:54] committee, that speaks volumes. Not doing the
[1:31:58] full monty with the Live Local— thank you for that as a community.
[1:32:03] The history of Cutler Ridge and Cutler Bay is that we are
[1:32:07] a military town, right? That's why I'm here. My father retired after
[1:32:11] a career in the Army, over 22 years, and we ended up here so
[1:32:15] we could be near Homestead Air Force Base. Both of our mayor
[1:32:19] and vice mayor had family members who were in the military. Cutler Ridge,
[1:32:24] which is now Cutler Bay, started as military housing.
[1:32:26] So my whole heart goes to these 20 units that you guys
[1:32:30] have for the active duty and also support support personnel
[1:32:34] out at Homestead Air Force Base. We don't see a lot of that.
[1:32:38] And I, I loved Mr. Perez's comment
[1:32:42] about the 18-year-old enlisted who may be coming to Homestead
[1:32:46] Air Force Base with a young bride and maybe expecting a child.
[1:32:50] What, what a gift we are offering to
[1:32:54] them to potentially live off base in a
[1:32:58] beautiful development using the military rental program and all those
[1:33:02] schools, we have amazing schools in that area that they would then be afforded to.
[1:33:07] That's, I can't say enough about that. I grew up in military housing.
[1:33:11] Every opportunity my parents could take to have
[1:33:15] us live off base in a more normal environment, they took.
[1:33:21] And so I really appreciate that we're gonna be able to offer that. And the
[1:33:25] last thing I'm gonna say about the military is that in the next couple of
[1:33:29] years, we're going to have F-35s coming to Homestead Air Force Base.
[1:33:33] It's a reserve base, so the housing is not as plentiful as it was when
[1:33:36] it wasn't a reserve base. And once these F-35s come there,
[1:33:40] I would expect that more and more of these enlisted
[1:33:45] are going to need to live off base. So I— that part
[1:33:48] of this, I really appreciate and I commend you guys for that.
[1:33:52] Thank you, Vice Mayor Kellyanne.
[1:33:57] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, for those who know me and
[1:34:01] have followed me since my very first meeting, I hate
[1:34:06] when applicants come back before us requesting changes
[1:34:10] to something that we've already approved. It, for me,
[1:34:14] over the years, it's really been a bait and switch type of thing.
[1:34:17] You know, hey, this is a great idea and we
[1:34:21] approve it. And then 6 months later, the applicant comes back
[1:34:26] and, just kidding, you know, we want to do this. And usually at
[1:34:30] these meetings, I have a legal pad filled with comments and
[1:34:34] notes, but I must say,
[1:34:38] this is the first time in 6 and a half years that
[1:34:43] I've had an applicant applicant come back for a modification
[1:34:47] that's actually better than what the original plan was.
[1:34:52] And we loved the original plan. I remember, I, I tell you, I got word
[1:34:55] that from the town manager that the applicant was coming back before us
[1:34:59] for a modification, and I went, oh God, here we go again, right?
[1:35:03] What, what, what is it going to end up looking like? And after I sat
[1:35:07] down with him and we went through the, uh, the covenant modifications
[1:35:11] that that, that you guys were— had come up
[1:35:15] with, it was just so much of a, much of a better plan. I mean,
[1:35:20] Julian, fantastic job. I mean, just really working
[1:35:24] with the applicant. This is, this is really what
[1:35:28] our process is about, and a lot of
[1:35:32] municipalities don't have this type of relationship between
[1:35:36] the council and town staff staff that have the
[1:35:40] best interest of our residents. Normally,
[1:35:43] for modifications like this, this place is
[1:35:47] filled and the comments go on forever.
[1:35:51] And today we had, you know, our residents who stepped up and really
[1:35:55] supported this, and it really, it really shows, you know, how this council
[1:35:59] and how this town works for the betterment of our
[1:36:04] residents. And, and thank you so much for, for doing
[1:36:08] what you've done to modify the covenant to make this a better place and working
[1:36:12] with our town staff. I mean, this is, uh, this is a first,
[1:36:15] so I'll remember this for the rest of my term.
[1:36:19] You make them just change their pants after that. You start off—
[1:36:23] so, uh, so again, you know,
[1:36:28] um, that, that property's been sitting vacant for a long, long time.
[1:36:32] It's quite honestly, it's an eyesore because waste just kind of rooftop and overgrown.
[1:36:35] I like the component of, you know, cleaning it up with the arsenic as a
[1:36:38] brownfield. When I first became mayor, I sat down with the base
[1:36:43] commander, Colonel Piferero, who's now General Piferero, and said,
[1:36:47] you know, I know we're not right next to you, but how can we support
[1:36:50] you? And he said, he goes, I'm a colonel. I can afford— when I
[1:36:54] move, I can afford first, last, and security. He goes, but my enlisted men
[1:36:57] can't. And they can— they find it very, very hard to find a place to
[1:37:01] live. So So when I was discussing this with the town manager about, you know,
[1:37:05] when these projects come forward, the component
[1:37:10] of having housing for our enlisted is very, very important. And thank you for
[1:37:14] coming forward with that. Also for all the other housing for
[1:37:18] the heroes and teachers. My son just got hired as a teacher this week.
[1:37:22] I'm like, woohoo! So tell me you've got a place to live now.
[1:37:25] Anyway, but it's overall, I think it's a, it's a great project because the
[1:37:30] retail component is something that's real, real important. Um, and that's what we
[1:37:34] need is, is more retail. We need more restaurants and places to go for entertainment
[1:37:38] in our town. So with that, I'm going to wrap up our discussion and ask
[1:37:42] for a motion on this item. Members of council,
[1:37:47] um, there were a couple minor changes that were in the covenant that,
[1:37:51] that was proffered by the developer. We negotiated in the wee hours, and if I
[1:37:55] can have our town Attorney Roger Poe come up because he was instrumental
[1:37:59] in finalizing negotiations last night. Thank you, Mr. Manager, Mayor,
[1:38:03] members of the council. It's a pleasure to see you. I almost hate to say
[1:38:05] this, but there's more, right? In terms of the good news, we were
[1:38:09] able to negotiate as of almost 3 hours ago, 2 hours ago, a further
[1:38:13] clarification as to the essential workers and military housing components.
[1:38:18] That's 6D and 6E3. Just to clarify that
[1:38:22] in the event that one of those individuals that's given priority in the lease leasing
[1:38:26] as a priority unit for essential workers or for military housing, and then
[1:38:30] they lose that qualification, those leases aren't going to be renewed and,
[1:38:35] you know, create a loophole. So just additional protection.
[1:38:38] So, okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. And again, it was
[1:38:42] Section— it was Section 6D and
[1:38:47] Section 6E3.