Come on down. You're not the innovators of tomorrow. There's a couple more. some of the things I'll talk about while they're So ambassador tracking systematic robot. for us.
It's a big step forward. Might be us. Could be. It could be the robot. It runs on a Wi-Fi signal, so it is wireless attached to a computer system. Um, and they're going to show you a couple of things that it does. It may be a little loud. Don't worry if it
uh makes a noise where it opens up. It has an intake system that deploys and there's what we call an expandable hopper because it has to start in a configuration that is that square and then it can expand into a bigger size to carry more fuel. And our goal was to try
to carry like 40 or 50 fuel so that we could faster. So that's what it uh that's what it will do. And then it also has these things called swerve drives. So the robot can actually drive like a drone. It can go forward and backwards,
rotate in place, which makes it a little bit more agile in sort of an athletic type competition. Um some of the other We do in class we use solid works to make a CAD design. So all
this is designed >> that we could be probably causing that problem >> because the radio doesn't own Wi-Fi signal. So it's probably causing an issue. So go ahead and show how it works.
We'll turn around the way that we'll try. We'll try. We'll give it a shot. All right. So, we go ahead and deploy our expans. A whole bunch of them at one time. Maybe it shoots a lot of balls at
probably a little bit. It shoots kind of fast. You can see here. So this is the actual hood that actuates. There you go. That was perfect.
Perfect. So, you know, a lot of testing went into this work. I know that you are well. 8 seconds left. ranking points for your blue one alliance
perian. Congratulations. Mother's Day. She is a very long Sorry. picture. I just want Good evening everyone. Thank you for show you a short little video. Some of
the things night. The So scared. stillever. It's time to fly. change forever. As you can see, they had a very full I
call it nine months. Great. Thank you. very I got a Make sure you guys can't do it all by myself. by myself. Thank you guys. Good luck to all of you. You know how to get in touch with me if
you need anything in the future. She's We have agency. proceedings. Thank you all. Welcome. Enter your participating as a panelist. Attendees can now hear
you speak. And this is kind of the process of why my my perspective of why has not developed over the long term avenue the cost of revitalization the cost of liquor licensing the cost of FFN and employment small small mom and
pop businesses can't support the absorption rate and sustainability that cost unless you spread that cost across. The reason why we we also looked at this building and saying, "Okay, what if we just did one restaurant and one bar, the true cost of building that one one
single tenant can't absorb the $45 a square foot. You can go across the street and you look at why the rest of the corridor has not developed. It's the same problem." So, our perspective is we want to revitalize the corridor and the way to like spread the risk is create a
mechanism of eight tenants that can reduce their cost per square foot under $25. Because if not, you're asking one tenant to come in, buy building a decent building, and then also invest for 10 to 12 staff back of the house and then in
parallel um uh absorb a cost of a restaurant that has 90% f. Um mathematically, if I'm one restaurant, and that's what the the larger development groups won't tell you, if you're one restaurant, foot comparatively if I'm spending 65 foot
for cost and cost of interest today I'm going to go to downtown I'm going to going to Bickl and have the foot free of foot traffic me I have to invest because I'm have residentials in this community so this is a to me a win-win for the city and then same time you're essentially in a food desert that has
there's one liquor license so comparatively on Crumb Avenue there's one liquor license active in that entire corridor you have a population of 200,000 people and no other business So we're looking at it not just a linear factor but we're looking at it how it
compound and as residents come online. Nar has another 2,000 units coming online 30 bucks you View within the city you have another uh thousand coming online and there's zero restaurants and zero food and beverage at some point the city has to make an investment for the
quality of life of the people outside of the doors larger businesses. If at the same time I have a consulting business if I wanted to move my entire over here 20 employees and and say I'm going to invest $10 million for office spaces. The first question I have as a business
owner is okay where my kids going to go to school and then after work where am I going to go eat if I have to walk out of my house and then drive 45 minutes north why am I going to move my business here? So I'm looking at this as a as a nexus or or engine to enable the city to work
towards it and I think we we align in terms of city and and private partnership. And I hope I haven't missed this. I know you and I have met privately at least twice, been through this package several times a couple weeks ago.
The CRA director and I talked generally about this. I don't recall hearing or seeing that this was going to be cast as a purchase. I think that that concept and that number would would stand out to
me because in addition to the >> let me clarify. So this this meeting is to allow me to go into negotiations. I haven't even been afforded an opportunity to enter into appraisals. I haven't done my independent talk about a purchase
>> irrespective of that from the beginning. believe that your construction costs are highly inflated. And one thing that caught my attention
was the legal consulting and advisory of $1.3 million which was in addition to a category you call professional fees. >> Right. >> So >> I appreciate that. I I don't know. Is
that is that some kind of slush fund? Is it a developer fee as as you might receive on your your other project that you have pending on the outskirts of >> I I appreciate the concern, but again, that is my cost of what I have to pay my
contractor. It's not a a city that's going to pay my lawyers. So, that is the cost I'm buring. It's relevant to me because you're asking me to assist you with $2.5 million >> and and I'm having a hard time coming to
grips with that line item being a legit line item. >> So, and for me, this, you know, this this concept of of purchase is is something new to my ears. Maybe maybe I
hit a milestone birthday and I've lost my memory, but I I've always conceptualized this in terms of a a lease situation. Um so that's that's something new. But but irrespective of
that um my personal fear is you know and irrespective of whether we assist you with nothing something or what you're asking for here that that we've got we would have to drill down and and get
deeper into uh to your numbers to to justify that. And certainly the numbers that were circulated to us for the amounts that we already have in this project, including the parking lot, are far more than and I'll admit that I was
mentally keeping uh keeping track of. So, I'm I'm having a hard time supporting going forward when I don't trust the numbers that are in front of me because it's it's all about numbers.
So I we haven't been afforded to be glad to listen. >> We haven't been afforded opportunity to present the numbers yet. That is the purpose of we haven't been afforded opportunity to present the numbers to the city yet. The only thing we've done is our initial estimates. I got third party quotes.
>> This this meeting here is to present the opportunity to the city. >> Appreciate that. Now and for some of you here in the audience, I know you hear about another project that this may be Atlantic has going on. Just so you know, that is the proposed high-rise
highdensity subsidized apartments that are proposed to be put on that 5 acre church property that's right behind Wind Dixie adjacent to a single family neighborhood. So, I want you all that if you're questioning and and wanting to
know what's going on, that's that's really the kind of developer we're we're being asked to uh to get into bed with here. Board members, >> yeah, I was going to suggest that um we
not move forward. I don't think there's enough information there yet for us to make a a solid decision or do we move forward, let them negotiate and see where it ends up. So that instead of debating everything right now, which is going to take up a
lot of time for us to do, I think maybe we move it forward, let staff do their job, bring us back the relevant information, and then we can decide do we want to do that deal or not. But I think if we debate it tonight, it's just going to take way too much time. >> No, no, no. I agree. And I, you know,
for me any debate tonight was, do we just kill these discussions or do we let them go forward? Now, to your to your point, board member Roth, if we were to direct them to more fully develop the numbers and go negotiate and bring
something back to us, we're going to have to have a deadline. This can't go on forever. Whether it be 60, 75, or 95 days, I think we need to set a a date certain we're bringing something back.
Whether it be, you know, the August CRA meeting that's a little more than 90 days from today. >> Yeah. But I don't think it needs to take that long to be honest with you. >> I think they can get to points within 30 days. Jared, what do you think? >> At least the important points, right?
Because if we can't get past those, there's no reason to go forward. >> No, I can support that. >> So, we could do it whenever a CRA is in late June, early July. >> Soon as they're ready. >> Okay. >> Within that time frame. >> Yeah. Board member Kosski. Yeah.
>> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Okay. So, I believe that Vice Chair Bailey is moving that we direct that more detailed negotiations and more numbers be developed and come back to us for consideration not later
than a July CRA meeting. >> Yes. And go ahead, board member. Okay. >> Thank you, Chair. I I will second the motion to negotiate uh with regards to the project which is outside the city limits but close to us and affecting many of the the friends and residents uh
of Homestead. I don't support that monster project in our backyard but um I do respect and really look forward to seeing this concept come to our downtown homestead. Um, I think that if you look at the numbers provided by our CRA
director, not including the the acquisition costs for the building and the acquisition costs for the uh or perhaps maybe the acquisition. How much did we pay for the parking lot, Jared? >> I was included in the >> Okay, perfect. So, not including the acquisition, >> but we spent a lot of money to develop the parking lot.
>> We've got um 1 million in principal and interest to the bank for the loan. We've got 1.3 million that we've already invested in renovations. We've got 2 2400 a year for electrical, 22,000 for insurance a year to carry the property. So, if we continue to maintain this pro
property on on our uh list u of of um of dead weight, it's going to continue to be a burden to the taxpayers of the city and it's going to be just one more empty building. and to have the possibility of eight new businesses coming to our
downtown and being supported in this capacity and this type of farm-totable. This is I am all about this type of um uh food and beverage experience for our homestead and downtown area. But it has to be done uh responsibly in the sense
of how we're how we're negotiating our numbers. That's going to be big. But we also have to be considerate of how much we've already invested the cost and the the cost of carrying this. It's not like we haven't already gone out to market multiple times trying to get um a vendor
to come in and take this project off our hands. And I had always understood that it would be a purchase scenario, but that there was interest for us to hear about a a lease option. And you know, I guess that'll come out of negotiations. So, I look forward to that. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member. Anyone else?
You know, and look, you know, I appreciate these this this would be a beautiful project and hopefully successful, but it's got to make business sense for the city of Homestead and our redevelopment agency. Board member Roth.
>> Yeah. And I I would also consider the the selling of that property because >> absolutely >> no reason for us to hold on to it so long as we could recapture what we've spent on the building. And I know we pay for that roof. Yeah. >> Well, I mean there's ways to make those
things happen. So whether you know we can hold some of the financing as well. So let them figure that part out >> and we'll go going down the road. So >> and the elimination of the debt on that building is a big deal. >> Okay. So I think we have a motion and a
second to direct further negotiation to bring something back to us not later than the July community redevelopment agency meeting. >> Correct. And what I do want to also then in terms of setting expectations and clarifying what we're bringing back um in our presentation or the presentation
that was made in January, the discussion at the time was both to consider a potential uh longerterm lease as well as a potential for sale. So part of the aim then when we come back is to have a agreement on what that will look like. Um as
everyone has mentioned, we've invested heavily in the building. We need to be mindful then of of where that is. We do want to continue to if there's an opportunity to explore what that lease option might look like in a later buyback as we've talked about some of the debt service we have on the building. And then we'd like to look at
more articulation in terms of where those dollars the projected dollars based on the summary I sent you in the proposal where that that aligns to and how all of these can come together. So with that as the understanding, we support the motion and bring this back in July. >> And certainly, you know, in a sale
situation, it's going to have to have plenty of safeguards in place that we don't get the and yeah, and I'm not accusing you. We've had some baits and switches lately on on projects. >> I feel
that we're not going to wake up one day and say, and here, thank you for the building. we're going to demolish this and do eight stories of highdensity live local subsidized apartment units. That's not what this is intended to be or or
will be. So, expect that we're going to need a lot of safeguards and and milestones in place on a sale transaction, which I would prefer. I would >> and we've said that it off. >> Okay. So, let's good. So, let's have a roll call then, Madame Clerk.
>> Board member Ron. >> Yes. Board member Ksky, >> yes. >> Board member Cannaval, >> yes. >> Board member Abula, >> yes. >> Board member Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey, >> yes. >> Chairman Losman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. So, next item is we have before us the minutes of the meeting of Tuesday, March 3rd, moved by Ross, seconded by >> byletcher >> by board member Fletcher. All in favor? >> Any opposed? And then the next item is
um tab three >> three Mr. Beck. >> So board members, this is also a submitt or response rather to a 163 notice that was issued at the director of the board uh based on a March presentation for the
potential acquisition of two uh vacant lots the CRA owns fronting Southwest Fourth Street between Fifth and Sixth. You've all been briefed by me, I believe, met with the proposer. And so, uh, in the spirit of time efficiency, I'd like to ask them to make a brief presentation and then enter into
discussion with the board. >> Thank you. Hi, good evening. >> Good evening. Um, m Mr. Mayor, vice mayor, and council members. My name is Robert Rubin. Uh I am here on behalf of Homestead Narrative One LLC and uh I'm
with uh Jerry Proctor, our legal counsel, and we're here to talk about the park at uh West Homestead. So about a year and a half ago, we uh the CRA and the city owned some property that were contiguous to our land and we approached
them about uh purchasing that land and building more density. uh the CRA came to us and said, "Why don't you consider doing something for the community and your neighborhood and we thought about it and came up with we've had many iter
iterations u but here here we are today with what we've uh come to the uh council with and essentially it is to buy the CRA land uh and convert it or uh into a park at our cost and our to
maintain the costs and and the amount we're paying for it will be um including the um improvements will exceed or at least equal or exceed the appraised value of the land. Um and it actually
will allow the CRA property to be put to good good use. Um let me give you a let me give you some perspective. Uh the land is the one in the center there. that's uh vacant on
the top portion of that's Fourth Street that runs uh east west and the north south streets are Fifth Avenue and 6th Avenue to give you perspective. Um and of course, as I said, the proposed use is a public community park. It's not uh
gated. It's not going to be gated. it'll be open and the uh price that we're proposing um including improvements will equal the appraised value or exceed it. Um it allows us to create a unified uh
development. Uh these are some points. Um there really are no other parks in the the vicinity there. So we think that's a a big added and I'll explain why in a minute. Um it activates underutilized CRA land. Um and we
believe um that it aligns with the CRA um redevelopment mission. Um and we bear all the costs of of the land and as I said a couple times, we're paying the fair value. So we've designed this is a
sketch of the of the uh property. Um we're using native trees, of course. Uh we have a children's play zone. Uh a little free library is one of the the benefits. Ergonomic seating so that it's not used as a place to sleep. Um and um
u ADA pathways etc. So um you know parks are good for the community. It actually enhances the value of the uh surrounding properties. Um it's good for a safe place for kids to play as well. And um
uh um the it's also can be used or will be used as a place for runoff for uh water if if we should have a hurricane or or um something that causes um uh could impact the neighborhood as well. Um and parks can, you know, contribute
to civic pride and there's um a lot of benefits to to uh parks including increasing the value of the neighborhood. So we believe um well I I just want to add this this is not part of today's u miss or discussion but
wanted to give you an idea of the project that we have been working on that we did not enhance the units it's 30 units two stories um 1450 square ft two floors uh and we're hoping to have that completed in about a year and a
half um and the homeowners association will take responsibility for the maintenance of the of the park. Um this is just a site plan uh give you an idea and and this is the um uh sketch. But um
just a couple points here. Um, I think a a park like this can cause um especially in west um uh um west part of Homestead can cause um it can be a catalyst for or snowball effect for other developers and
for um uh community to to purchase or rent in that neighborhood. Uh so we think it's has a lot of public benefits uh attracting other private investment as well and um uh this is workforce housing we believe. So we think we'll
draw a really good quality um uh community around this park and our community as well. So um so that's essentially u uh what we have proposed and I think uh Mr. Proctor has a few comments.
Thank you, uh, Robert, Mr. Mayor and Council, Mr. City Manager, Madame Clerk, Sherry Proctor, Attorney. Pleased to be here with Mr. Rubin. Um,
this is, excuse me, a proposal for purchase of two very small lots owned by the CRA right on Fourth Street for a total of $30,000. the appraised value of the property is
much higher. However, the one of the conditions of the approval through your CRA staff is that we put an equal or greater amount of improvements
into the park uh than the appraised value. And I would say to you that the appraised value is based on the highest and best use which is commercial. And we're not only not developing
commercial on the land. We're not even developing residential, we're developing a park. Uh our development next door will be residential. Very modest. It's 30 units on about 1.6 acres.
It is uh really smaller in scope than a development that was approved on the same property back about six or so years ago. Um, so the appraised value is based on something we're not doing and we're
committed to putting in the ground in the park uh, in terms of landscaping, uh, playgrounds, vegetable gardens, and really whatever we work out with the CRA staff,
uh, is not really set in stone, but whatever we work out with them has has to equal or exceed the appraised value. So that's that's the benefit in addition to the the benefits of that Mr. Ruben
mentioned. Um just a couple of other details. There's a 14 ft alley running north and south, a public alley that was part of the plat for this area many, many years ago. We've asked for the
city's help to take the lead to close that alley so that we can use it as a park. It doesn't make sense to use it as a street. Um, and we've asked for the city's help as part of our agreement to
do that and we'll obviously provide whatever help the city needs to accomplish that. Um, the development that Mr. Ruben showed you is uh going to be filed very shortly with the staff for
administrative approval. Uh and we're hoping to get that approval in the next few months and proceed uh quickly to development. Um with that I I appreciate your your time and Mr. Rubin appreciates
it and we're certainly here to answer questions if you have them. Thank you. >> Thank you. Before we do that, let's have uh Mr. White read this by title into the record. The resolution, >> this is a resolution of the board of community redevelopment agency of the city of Homestead, Florida, accepting
the proposal submitted by Equipath for the acquisition redevelopment of certain CRA owned property located on Southwest 4th Street, Folio number 107813070450 and 10781370440. a as a publicly accessible neighborhood park authorizing the executive director
to negotiate and execute a purchase and development agreement subject to conditions providing for implementation providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. And real quick just you know for the benefit of the public there are covenants built into this resolution that it will be dedicated in perpetuity
as a public park. the developer will always maintain it and those will be enforcable covenants against the successors in ownership if any by the city. So we're not just selling at a very advantageous price
this piece of property there is a lot of strings attached. So what yes board member >> thank you chair. Um I I will be supporting this item tonight under very strict conditions. We have spoken already and as I mentioned in my briefing, I would like to make sure
there's a reverter clause so that in the event that this is not brought forward and come does not come to fruition that the property does return back to the CRA. Um secondly, it's really important to me that the agreement specifies that there's specificity in there with
regards to how the HOA is going to um curate programming. It's it's really important that this is not just land that's improved and it's open air and dead space for whoever wants to use it, but more so an activation for uh as you mentioned the vegetable gardens, co-
co-ops, uh learning activities, um having that community engagement. I saw that American flag there, beautiful. I really appreciate that gesture. That's an opportunity for local boys and girl scouts to form and be be more engaged and to bring bring it to half staff or
to do uh retirements uh to those to those flags. So the HOA would have to be very involved and and willing to make themselves available to have uh you know tables at their at their um you know you
know accessible to them. We may not want to put picnic benches and tables permanently there for different reasons. Uh but if you wanted to put that in the plan, I'd like to see how that looks or just at a minimum make sure there's a plan in place to have access to tables to be able to activate the spaces and
that that's already understood so that 15 20 years from now this generation of council isn't here. There's not this ambiguity as as to how involved the HOA is is meant to be engaged with the community. So, it is a very cheap price to sell land for in that area. A
commercial development could be very profitable for a company. I'm willing to support this item to you if there's that commitment to make it uh a community pearl. Thank you. >> Okay. Yes, Vice Chair Bailey.
>> Thank you, Chair. All my questions have been answered. It was magical. It was like one, two, three, one, two, three. The answers came. Um the maintenance is key. those libraries if they're not kept up then it's just a complete waste of beautiful books and space and the garden
I think is going to be an amazing addition. I would encourage also to consider planting some mango avocado trees. I know there's a little more upkeep with them, but again in a in an area that that we just spoke we just
heard about these food insecurities, it is it is a big help for some. So please consider if we can add that into the mix. Um as far as the gardening is gardening is concerned that's going to come along with the programming. It
doesn't need to be elaborate but it needs to be well thought out seasonal. Um the flag with the with the scouts. I think that's an an amazing piece. Um, so as soon as you have somebody that is interested in helping with that
programming, I know at least a couple of us up here would love to help put some of those things together. And you do something simple. It's something that is repeated yearly that we know that maybe around Fourth of July, the scouts or the month of July, the scouts are invited to
come and do something at the park. Um, just thinking those things out, it really helps it helps the community know what to expect there and helps you be able to to to continue doing something that's consistent. >> Yeah, my comment is that these are all
great suggestions and it's a public private partnership in my eyes and so any input we get uh it's a collab it's an collaborative effort. So, >> okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, Mr. Pearl, do you need any
formal amendments for the resolution? >> I was going to ask for at least one. I heard um Councilwoman Ao suggest that she would like a reverter in case the park doesn't come to fruition, which is not expressly in the resolution. So, I'd like an amendment for the reverter. Um,
with respect to programming, it's something that we can try to work into the uh development agreement for. >> So, >> very good. So, do we have a motion on the table yet? >> Go ahead. Is it is it the board's will to include
some avocado and mango trees as well? >> Yes, fruit bearing trees. I'd like to include that. >> I Mr. Pearl just said that would be in the in the development agreement. >> Okay. >> That that would be >> Well, also they're going to be coming back. You're going to have the opportunity pursuant to what's in the resolution now to look at their site
plan and approve it. So, you'll see that >> at some point before they proceed. >> So, this is not your last bite at that specific Yeah, we'll see. Again, in terms of the the >> the reverter, >> the conditions on the transfer itself,
if I could contain Yeah. >> Can I can have a motion to amend the resolution to include the reverter >> and then we'll take the rest from there. >> Okay. >> Yes. To include the reverter and my motion. So, this is not coming back to us at all to review the development agreement. Correct? >> Yes.
>> Now, you're authorizing the manager to enter into the development agreement. Um, if you'd like to bring it back, we can bring that back along with the when >> we could it be circulated in briefings and then if there's an objection for for them to have the authorization to execute, then we bring it back to council.
>> I think we can do >> all right. So, >> okay. So, but for resolution purposes, we just need to include the reverber. >> So, that's your motion. Well, let the the district representative make that motion. >> So, >> so and seconded. All right. Is there any
further board input? Is there any public comment on this item? So, I'll close the public comment and ask for a roll call vote on this item. >> Board member Ron, >> yes. >> Board member Fletcher, >> yes. >> Board member Cannibal,
>> yes. >> Board member Ksky, >> yes. >> Board member Avio, >> yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey, >> yes. >> Chairman Lawman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Okay. I believe that concludes the
CRA agenda. So, do we have a Thank you. >> We have a motion to adjourn the CRA meeting. It's been seconded. All in favor? Couple of minutes to recalibrate and move into the LPA
meeting. And then, believe it or not, sometime tonight, we will get to the regular council meeting and >> public comments and the pledge of allegiance and the invocation and all of those things. >> Yeah. order for the city of Homestead
still May 20th, 2026 and it is now 7:15 p.m. Madam Clerk, can we have a roll call, please? >> Board member Ron >> here. Board member Ksky >> here. >> Board member Fletcher >> here. >> Board member Cannibal.
>> Board member Avula >> here. >> Chairwoman Bailey. >> Chairwoman Bailey >> here. >> Chairman Lman >> here. >> Uh, ex official Lawrence Venturo >> here.
Okay. All right. Um, Director Storch, do we have any additions, deletions, or deferrals from this agenda? >> No. >> No. No. >> No. >> Okay.
>> No additions, deletions, or deferrals. So, first we have the minutes of February 18th before us. Moved >> and seconded. All in favor? >> And also the April 22nd minutes moved and seconded. All in favor?
All right, Mr. White. >> All right. Please be advised the following items on the agenda are quasi judicial nature. If you wish to comment upon any of these items, please indicate the item number you would like to address. When the announcement regarding the quai judicial item is made, an opportunity for persons to speak on each
item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swearing in all testimony in excuse me swearing in all testimony including public testimony and evidence will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person
who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given in due. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the local planning agency to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their
behalf. Full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization and further details of the quaition procedures may be obtained from the clerk in accordance with code section 2-590.
Any lobbyist must register before addressing the local planning agency on any of the following items. At this time, I'd ask the LPA members to disclose any expporte communications concerning the items on this evening's agenda.
>> Uh, none here. >> Okay. Okay. So then at this time I'd ask anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak uh on tab two this evening to please stand
raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk at this time. >> You hereby swear affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God. Thank you. You may be seated. Mayor, council members,
>> tab two, uh, tab three, and tab four are all related items, um, dealing with the, uh, same property, same project. Tab two is quai, tab three and four legislative matters. I can in read read each one
into the record, introduce each one. You can have a collective conversation. However, before voting on tab two, we need to you'll need to you'll need to vote on the legislative matters first before the actual resoning.
>> Okay. So, let's let's go in that manner. >> All right. So, tab two, card number 5022. It's an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida approving the reszoning requested by Bluet Towers Common of an approximately 10acre parcel of land from retail commercial B2 zoning district to multiple apartment R3 zoning
district for property generally located south of Southwest 8th Street Lucy Street and east of Southwest 192nd Avenue Tower Road as legally described in exhibit A and providing for an effective date. Part number 50-21 which is tab three is an ordinance of
the city of Homestead Florida amend the comprehensive plan future land use map designation as requested blue net tower commons and approximately 20.33 acre parcel of land from technology mixeduse TMU to medium density residential use for property generally located south of
Southwest A Street east of Southwest 192nd Avenue as legally described in exhibit A providing for severability inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan and providing for an effective date. And finally, tab four, car number 5038. It's an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the City of
Homestead comprehensive plan by amending the text of the medium density residential use future land use category contained in objective 2 policy 2.1 to permit density up to 15 dwelling units per acre for properties containing invested rights determination providing
for conflict severability inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan and providing for an effective date. These are all first reading. >> Okay. So, >> mayor, >> yes. >> Do we need to discuss these now or can we just push them on to the council meeting?
>> We we could do that. We could just vote to to push them on and have a more full comprehensive discussion at the regular council meeting. >> I think I'd rather do that and we can get some of these other people to >> Right. But we still have to do it in the order. >> Got it. >> So, that would be tab.
>> So, yeah. with with regards to the text amendments to the future land use uh text amendments. It's required to be heard by the LPA and you all should take some public comments. >> Okay.
>> Sorry to tell you that but >> all right so we're going to open so we I think we've all been briefed. We understand what what this is about with respect to tab 4. So, let's open the public hearing for any public comment or
um you know, if the applicant wishes to come forward, I understand we'll have a more comprehensive discussion at the council meeting. But let me open the uh the public comment uh on this item on tab four. You wish to speak, come on down. Uh give us your name and address
for the record. Try to position the microphone where we can hear you. >> Hi, can you hear me? >> We certainly can. My name is Susan Sanchez. My address is 30961 Southwest 1 195 Avenue Homestead
33030. Um I really wish before you do all of this building 15 units is a lot per acre for that area and our infrastructure
is horrible. horrible tiny tiny two-lane farming roads basically is what we have in Homestead. And recently, even at all these little four-way stops on 197th Avenue backed up. It's incredible how it has changed.
And the potholes, don't even get me started on that. We just don't have the water, the power infrastructure, or the roads to support this. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Anyone else? Let me just say to, you know, and I it's great to have an audience that's that's paying attention. understand that as the property is currently zoned,
right? And this this conversion would be up to 15 units per acre. And it's from what I understand that this property owner has come in with site plan approval for town houses, not apartments, even though the category is
R3 apartments. That the site plan that has been submitted that we've not seen yet is with respect to town houses. You may have heard of the state statutes that were enacted a few years ago, generally called live local. These
properties currently enjoy a business zoning under the state live local act. A property owner has the right to come in and in this case if they can do it
without any variances build high-rise apartments of up to 31 units per acre with no public hearing and no public input.
So, as perverted as it sounds, this is minimizing the the top end of what could under state law that ties our hands here from
saying no. what what could be I just I want everybody to to understand that that nuance there that Tallahassee and this is not just unique to Homestead the the actions of the state legislature three years ago really preempted as we
call it legally tied the hands of of municipalities from denying certain uses that if they could figure out a way to put 31 apartments per acre on this 20 acres they have the right under state law to
do that. So if it's any consolation, if this is approved, we're reducing from the exposure of 31 down to 15 in terms of town houses. I don't think any one of us up here disagree with you about the road
infrastructure. Some of that is out of our control. Those are are county roads. We've solved the wastewater problem. This the first step of this project was taken almost three years ago now and
because of sewer issues has not been able to to go forward. We the city has the water capacity and it also now has the sewer capacity. Um road issues are somewhat of of a
county issue. They pay impact fees and we have a good dialogue going right now with our District 8 commissioner about recouping some $60 million that were paid by developments in Homestead to Miami Day County for road work. So I
just I I just wanted everybody to understand that, you know, that's a more backdrop here than we're plop potentially popping down 15 units per acre in what used to be farm fields. So, is there anyone else from the public
wishing to speak on this matter? So, I'll close the public hearing and again this will go for more, you know, full discussion on the council agenda later this evening. Um, we need a motion
on tab three first. Four, tab four. >> Tab three. Yeah. A motion on tab four, >> right? The text amendment first. >> First, then tab three,
>> right? Okay. Then two. Okay. So, I need a motion on tab four, which is the comp plan text amendment. >> Okay. >> Moved by Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Have a second by Councilman Fletcher.
Any final questions or comments from I guess we're still board. We're not council members yet. We'll change those hats at the next meeting. All right. So, let's have a roll call vote on tab four. >> Board member Cannibal.
>> Board member Roth. >> Yes. >> Board member Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Board member Avula. >> Yes. >> Board member Ksky. >> Yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey. >> Yes. >> Chairman Losman. >> Reluctantly, yes. >> The motion carries.
>> Now we need to go to tab three. Moved by Vice Chair Bailey, >> second by uh board member Fletcher. >> Right. >> Member Ron, >> yes. >> Board member Ksky,
>> yes. >> Board member Abula, >> yes. >> Board member Cannibal, >> yes. >> Board member Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey, >> yes. >> Chairman Lzner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. And in tab two moved
by Vice Chair Bailey, second by board member Fletcher. Let's have a roll call. Madam clerk, >> member Fletcher, >> yes. >> Member Raw, >> yes. >> Board member Cannibal, >> yes. >> Both member Ksky,
>> yes. >> Board member Abulum, >> yes. >> Chair, Vice Chairwoman Bailey, >> yes. >> Chairman Lner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> No. Question for Mr. Pearl. This was the reasonzoning the underlying re reszoning which would be a
a second reading. Correct. There any second readings on on these and we can tie site plan approval. >> No, this is first reading. So, >> right. This is first reading. It the reasonzoning will require a second reading. >> Everything will require two readings.
And can we hold these until we have the final site plan so that they're all tied together rather than just a naked reszoning? >> Yeah, >> we can place them on the agenda together. >> Okay, let's if let's let's do that. I
know it's in process. >> Okay. >> Very very good. Thank you. All right. So, anything further, Miss Storch, that's it. Okay, Mr. Attorney, attorneys.
Right. So, that concludes the LPA. So, I need a motion to adjurnn. That's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. We will con finally convene the regular council meeting in just a
couple of minutes. All right, if we can all make our way to our uh appointed stations, we'll try to get the show on the Coffee and dessert will be served at 8:15. >> I hear the cake upstairs was good. I kept away from it.
It's east of 192 which is also known as power road. Oh, yeah. I heard I heard I heard I didn't know what I knew. >> It was It was a good event. Okay, that's the only Okay.
>> Yeah. I haven't had a conversation. Jared, he wants my brain. Why don't you and I have Yeah. >> Yeah. All right. So, send me a
I'm not going to meet later. >> Ready? >> All right. Good evening everyone and welcome. I'd like to call the city of Homestead city council meeting to order. Today is May 20th, 2026 and it is only 7:41
p.m. The invitation this evening will be given by Pastor Amelia Levas of Embassy Church followed by the pledge of allegiance by Councilwoman Avala and the Homestead Police Explorers. We all rise, please. the pastor here.
>> Thank you. Let's pray together. Our God, we thank you for um all the leaders and everyone that are here tonight that have willingly stepped forward to lead our city of Homestead and guided forward. We pray for our our mayor and our vice mayor. We pray for every council member, every city employee, every community
leader represented here tonight. Would you give them wisdom um in every discussion and clarity in every decision that is made? And we pray this all in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> Father God forward ar
left right. Left, left, left, right on guard. Right face. Present all.
>> Please join me in the pledge. I >> aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Order, arms, left, face forward, march, left, left, left, right, left, left, left, right.
Please be seated. >> Madam clerk, can we call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Agula >> here. >> Councilman Roth >> here. >> Councilman Councilman Fletcher >> here. >> Councilwoman Ksky >> here. >> Councilman Cannibal >> here.
>> Vice Mayor Bailey >> here. >> Mayor Losman, >> I'm here also. Okay. The next item on our agenda is public comments. And I know several of you have registered to speak with respect to a specific item.
We will give you the opportunity to speak when we bring that item forward. We're going to take uh portion of the agenda out of order so that you know that later item that you're here for is
dealt with at the front of the agenda. So having said that, I would like to now invite any member of the public um who would like to speak on any matter uh to come forward and please limit your
comments to three minutes. The floor is is now open and as I said with respect to the uh spay and neuter clinic issue, um we'll have specific uh opportunity there. So, is there anyone
wishing to speak on any other matter? Please come forward and give us your name and address for the record. >> Good evening. Thomas Frier um here about 42 through 56 Northwest Fifth Street. I'd like to thank the mayor and the council people that were able to make
the meeting that we had this week on the access to my property that we have a problem with. Um, just to let all the other council people know what what is going on. We have a problem with the access to my property. Um, as far as the the dumpster being
dumped. I've worked with the city manager and he's come up with a a resolution as far as putting the dumpster in front of the building and um that takes care of the dumpster problem. The other problem is is access for the tenants. It wasn't an issue until the
veterary clinic um developed on the old property and put put uh a fence up down the alleyway because our cars as they used to be able to exit used to be able to go over on the property a foot or two to make the turn. Um the the long and
short history of this property is I've owned it for 34 years. Um 32 years ago when they built Pioneer Village, I was approached by Hero and they they um came to me and wanted me to support the
closing of the alleyway to the west in return for permanent access, paid access to my property, which the main concern came about two years ago when a for sale sign went up on the vacant lot that's behind me. And my concern is is if that
gets developed and a fence goes up there, it would be very difficult for the tenants to get in and out of the parking lot. So, I'm just trying to find a resolution to where we have reasonable access to my parking lot. >> Council,
>> thank you, Mayor. This item was probably more appropriately discussed under the CRA, but that opened and closed rather quickly as we're trying to get through our heavy agenda. But what I'd like to um do tonight is to just give general direction to staff to uh work with uh
our CRA director um as it will ultimately be um probably facilitated through the CRA for evaluation study and to bring back some ideas with regards to the the vacant parcel at the rear of his
building uh for future consideration. uh but in general we did have a site visit uh some of us multiple times and we have been trying to find a solution um which there was brainstorming that was conducted and so those discussion items would come at the CRA meeting as well
but I'll rest that >> okay >> thank you Mr. prior. >> Thank you for your time. >> Staff and most of council is aware of the issue and uh you I think we want to fair fairly resolve it. >> Thank you very much. Y'all have a good evening.
>> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay, last chance. So, I will close the public comment section of the agenda and ask uh Mr. Manager and council, are there any
additions, deletions, or deferrals from the printed agenda? >> Yes, Mr. Mayor. Um, good evening, Mayor and Council. The administration, with the support and direction of Councilman Aila, would like to defer tab number 29,
car item number 5042, which is the inrit advisory board. That item is going to be rescheduled till June council meeting. >> Okay. Very good. So, do we have a motion to defer that item to the June council meeting?
>> All right. It's been moved and second. Moved by uh the sponsor, seconded by Council Lind Roth. Um do we need a roll call on a deferral, Mr. Pearl? All right. All in favor of the deferral? Any opposed? Does that conclude the
additions, deletions, or deferrals? >> That's correct, Mr. Mayor. Okay. So, I know we have quite a few folks in the audience for maybe a couple of of items. And if there are no objections, I'd like to now put before us tab number item
number 35. But before we go forward, Mr. manager. I'd like to ask I guess your public works director, would that be appropriate to to get to give some background and kind of put this in the posture of uh why we might be here and
why our our folks might be uh be with us here tonight. Thank you, Cairo. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um this is a very exciting project uh and proposal that was brought forth to
the city and we are super supportive of the uh uh bringing this mobile unit to the city. Um but I believe that there may be some misconception as to what it is that we're trying to advocate for. The main topic here is the preservation
of the well field. we only have two well fields uh that we can draw our portable water from and we have to protect them. So I also wanted to bring to the attention of council before I move forward that in uh
2011 uh prior council put it as part of um the comp plan a restriction to prohibit the location of industrial and commercial activities which utilize hazardous materials within the immediate cone of influence of the city's public well fields. So if council decides that
this is where they want to place any such type item again it doesn't say fixed it just says industrial and commercial then the council is more than welcome to go ahead and amend the comprehensive plan but we have a much better idea we have a much better
proposal and one that's even better than the proposed location >> faster. >> By faster we mean tomorrow. You are correct. Yes. Thank you for that. Um we currently have a park in the city is uh Rosco Warren Park that is within the
city and it is I believe the perfect locations for a couple of reasons. First let's go back to the the wellfield. The wellfield collects water from the biscane uh aquifer and that aquifer runs in a southeasternly direction. So,
anything that we want to place that could have hazardous material like biohazards or whatnot, if we place it downstream, that'll be safer in case in the event that there's any emergency. And again, I will touch upon that a little bit later. But, uh, not only is
it downstream from the from the aquifer, but it's also has ample parking. Is a park that doesn't have fields, so it doesn't regularly get activated by our city's um, pros. department for, you know, soccer or whatnot. And it also has
two dog parks. So, imagine going to drop off a little furry friend, and I have a furry baby. Who doesn't? And uh being able to let them loose to their business and um that's none of my business. And then go back and get picked up again.
So, I think that location can definitely get activated tomorrow. We still comply with the comp plan. And not only that, we make sure that we preserve our well fields. So I said I would go back to that. We have two well fields, one in Wake Park and one in Harris Park.
Harrisfield. This is literally where we get the water that we drink. So the probability of any accidents, let's say, of contamination is very low. I would not say zero because as an engineer I would never say that. Let's
say 3 to 5%. The issue if it were to happen is catastrophic. There is no water. If the wellfield is contaminated, the city of homes that will not have water. That's just the reality. So when we say, well, it's mobile, but it's being stored at
night without supervision at all times. So that in case of an event, let's say there's a fuel leak because uh this this um unit um is self-contained and they're able to do operations there. So it has a sizable fuel tank. If there's a fuel leak, it gets addressed immediately
because, you know, you call us and we go do it. If it were a mobile operation, that would be a fine location, but storing it overnight without supervision and over the weekend to me is is problematic. But again, we have such a
an excellent location in the other park that I don't see why we would even consider Harrisfield. >> Yeah. Right. >> Right. And and to put it in perspective, this is a mobile a county operated mobile spay and neuter clinic.
>> Correct. >> So So Mr. Mayor and council kai public was director question. >> Mhm. >> There was an original operation at this Paris field >> for years. >> Mhm. >> The city never experienced any of these ch technical challenges
and there are toilets toilets in the well field. >> Correct. And there has not been any challenge. There has not been any concern. There has not been any spill. So I'm still struggling to understand why this will pose the level of
hazardous exposure that you just alluded to. >> That is a very good question. First, the installation was due to be removed and um Durham does have restrictions on permanent installations which um
apparently they don't on mobile because I don't think they have encountered something like this whereas mobile but it's permanent. So although it didn't encount we didn't encounter anything in the past with that installation that
installation is fully connected to the system whereas a mobile unit or let's say um a motor home or what have you uh those have to contain bioological hazardous material and by that I mean
you know feces, blood whatever for a certain amount of time and also like I said my main concern concern with anything like this is always going to be the fuel because fuel is if there is a leak and you're on the paved um parking
lot or wherever in the field, you will run off into an inlet. That's a given. And if that happens overnight and the whole tank dumps into that inlet, that is French drain that goes straight into the aquifer. By the time you wake up the next day,
there's really nothing you can do. So again the likelihood small the consequences pretty dire. >> So is it possible to reach out to the regulatory agency and approve this subject to their concurrence because I
still feel the exposure is already there. It exists. We have toilets there. >> Well they they don't we don't need their concurrence. They don't have any any objection whatsoever >> in the field in Harrisfield. I mean they don't have a regulation. They don't they I don't think they have con considered
this um situation before because for them mobile is mobile and permanent is permanent. They do have one for permanent even though there is no hazard with a permanent installation cuz it's fully piped. So but somehow they didn't
consider it in when they were writing their their rules and regulation. So we don't need any concurrency. But but if it's the will of the council to have it ultimately at Harris Field, that will take legislative action to amend the
comp plan if we wish to do that. >> But that would not prevent that being opened literally tomorrow at Rosco Warren Park pending the comp plan change. >> Uh correct. Yeah, there is nothing on
the comp plan regarding any other location other than protection of the wellfields. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. All right. Appreciate it. You probably want to stand by. Councilwoman, this was your item. >> Thank you. Yes, you can have a seat, but I appreciate the the information. Um, we
do have members of the Miami Day County Spear and Neuter Clinic here to provide a presentation on this item to speak about the history of it and to um provide some facts as related to the need for this um at this location. Uh, while they're getting to the podium, um,
there is a permanent location being offered, you can come being um in the works for just right outside our city limits in the northwest area. So it is my intention that whichever one comes first whether the redevelopment of
Harrisfield or the opening of that new location in the northwest area for at that point in time for it to transition to the Rosco Warren Park but for in the meantime it to for it to serve as a as a restoration of very essential needed
services in this area for for our um you know residents in the Northwest and in the Redland area to which we you know hear constantly about abandoned animals and the need for for that access to return soon. So, while I appreciate
um the diligence involved in making sure we're following rules and regulations, I did reach out to mayor of Miami date county, the DURM director, the various uh other agencies that were brought to my attention of concern. I have not
received one objection yet. I have in writing that Durham has cleared this mobile fully contained bus which is similar to the Learnard Dean buses that are used at their property in the sense that it's one of those large RV you know facility type U buses and I mean my
goodness what would they say about the rodeo with all the cars and all the RVs and all the horse manure and all the urine and everything else that we do at Harrisfield Park. So I, you know, there's a certain level of fear-mongering that can go only so far. But I think that when you look at this
from a common sense perspective, let's restore services to our community that are badly needed. Let's support the the agencies that are telling us we have these services and yes, we have proven concept at this location and then we can
move it to a location that does not have access to those services as well. But now we'll have balance. And so I do think that this process and this this uh proposal as is is fair. It's been thought through thoroughly. And I appreciate the manager support of trying
to make it happen. And so we would like to um to hear the presentation at this time. Thank you. >> Mr. Well, yes, >> if I may, prior to uh I'm more than supportive of this type of uh installation, but could we not just put restriction and make them install
engineered barriers, the plastic barriers underneath the bust that would prevent the fuel leakage? It's pretty simple. You know, there's there's there's tasks we can take to make make this work. So just to give you an quick quick quick response to that uh you can
have a secondary containment which is more like a plastic uh under or you can also have the vehicle come in s provide services at the end of the service since it's not going to be manned overnight
move to a safe location and come back in the morning. So you have there are several options that's why I don't have any strong objection to this. >> Thank you mayor and coun and council members. >> Yes. Thank thank you. My name is Vivian
Andrade. I am the clinical manager for Miami date animal services and here with me is Jerry Estas. He is also the live release manager for Miami date animal services. We created a small Macmobile
um event um PowerPoint to showcase some information for the Macmobile and its successes that could be done in the Homestead City. So pretty much our in bringing the Macmobile here to to Homestead, it's going to go ahead and reduce the intake
of wand litters. A perfect example is just yesterday we had a small litter of eight puppies come in without a mother. Um thank goodness for our foster department we were able to foster them out but in providing surgical services down south we can be able to reduce the
uh orphan litters coming into the shelter. Um, another big thing is to go ahead and we'll be able to structure all the appointments via our calendarly application. So, we'll be re readily accessible to the uh constituents of the
city of Homestead. Um, and as well as lower the strain of once again in shelter housing and bringing the dogs all the way to Dorado and being able to unite them with their with their um respectful owners. We're proposing a three-day operation of
Tuesday through Wednesday. Uh Tuesday being cat only days, we're proposing to possibly do 40 surgeries. Um and on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 25 surgeries each day. Our operational workflow will include um
one veterinarian, two veterinary technicians, and one clerk. and it will run from 7:30 a.m. to 4 pm. In doing this on a weekly basis, we'll be able to sterilize about 40 cats and
50 dogs a week. Appointments will also be walk-in basis based on surgical capa capacity. Um, and it would all be inside the surgical unit. So, everything will be contained. At the end of the day, we can be able to
um have the disposable uh the bags, the the biohazard bags will be transported to our commu uh community center in Cutler Bay where we have the appropriate um bins to be able to dispose of them.
All in all, this project will be able to sterilize on a weekly basis on 90 surgeries in a week, 360 surgeries in a month, 4,320 surgeries annually, and most importantly, it'll be able to
reduce 10,000 plus litters that are are un that can potentially end up in the shelters. Thank you. Thank you. If I may, >> uh, can you give us some, um, details
about the planned permanent location that's set to open next summer? >> The Miami day, the new Homestead location. Um, I'm going to >> Well, they call it Homestead, but it's out outside the city of Homestead, just to clarify. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. Um, I can transfer
>> 296 US1, correct? >> I believe so. Um, we >> they haven't released any of that plan information. uh to us at at this level. They had us um basically do this as a focus. >> So the conversation I had with Annette, the director, she said it was already
slated to open in July of 2027. Are there any changes to that plan? >> So far, I think that's on schedule to be >> that's for the u the renovated trailer that used to exist hooked up to Harrisfield. >> That is what's going to be transferred to there in lie of it coming back to
Harrisfield. >> Okay. Um, and I I encourage more questions for for our presenters, but I I do want to clarify that, you know, I believe that distance to accessing services is a barrier and it creates um,
you know, difficulty for people who need these services to get them. So, you know, I I really want I'm advocating for it to be centrally located for a reason. And I do I you know while I agree that there's doggy parks set up at Rosco,
they're not going to be using the doggy park after they just get their surgeries done. So, you know, I appreciate the recommendation, but that is not um for me a reason to um not support this item tonight. And I don't see why this would
not be able to be activated immediately June 1st and for us to get it going when the ca the county that regulates these this this entity the service is not requiring anything except for us to uh approve and enter into an agreement for
them to exist to simply exist and park on the parking lot. There will be no on-site disposal. Correct. >> No on-site disposal. you will be fully and 100% accountable of any waste that would occur. >> Yes, >> correct. Councilwoman, I also want to
add um that I have already prescheduled and we have a veterinarian and a team eager to begin in the MAC effective uh next Tuesday. >> Thank you. and and the whole comp plan thing, you know, when when a council member reaches out to the Miami date
county mayor to get to the bottom of answers and that doesn't work out the way that, you know, supposedly it was attempted to deter this item from moving forward. Now we have surprisingly a comp plan issue which apparently didn't exist when this facility was permanently
placed at Harrisfield. So, you know, I I say we move forward. we move forward in good faith and then if we receive a letter from an agency that says you need to shut down and move immediately then so be it. But let that be the reason why. Thank you. >> So if I might let me let me ask you it
was represented that you would give us some justification as to why this needed to return to Harris Field and I did I didn't see that. >> I apologize. Um, so we do have a lot of rescues down in um, South Miami that are
in need to help sterilize pets that have been dumped throughout Chrome. Chrome is a very big dumping ground for dogs, unfortunately. Um, and they are helping us in helping sterilizing these pets and find finding them forever homes. The
only barrier to be able to find these pets a forever loving home is intake such as vaccinations, microchipping. So this wouldn't happen again. And the main thing is sterilization. So we don't find the litters of these pets that have
already previously been dumped to be dumped again. So we're trying to end the cycle there. >> I get that. And I don't think you'll find anyone up here who is opposed to the services that you provide. No one is
asserting that they're not needed. No one is asserting that it shouldn't come back. I'm not You didn't quite answer my question. I think my question was locationational.
>> You know, the difference between Harrisfield and somewhere else within the city of Homestead. >> Oh, I apologize. So, Harrisfield pretty much has everything that is needed for the Macobmobile. We do need a room to be
able to house um drugs that are used for surgical services like a secure room to be able to house the drugs for end of day end of day storage as well as bathroom facilities not only for our staff but
for the constituents coming to receive these services. So, it's more than just an agreement to park the mobile unit. It's going to include agreement to use lockable and
restroom facilities where >> within the area of where the mobile unit will be stationed. >> Is it the FOP locked? They've been brought here and I think that this is
a manufactured political circus. This is a manufactured crisis pulling at the heartstrings of dog people who work hard and faithfully every day. So, you're you're in charge of this facility. Tell
me where. Is it going to be the bathrooms at the pavilion? Are you going to ask us to amend our agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police and use that building as well? What What are we talking about? Because as we talk,
there's more to it than meets the eye. >> So, we did a recent site visit and it's the restroom facilities adjacent to where we would be parking the truck and trailer. And I'd like to add to the clarification of that, mayor, that was recommended to us by the city manager
during his site visit. So the original profer and suggestion was it for it to be in the area in front of FOP and for us to work with the FOP for the minimal access to contain the refrigerator, the locked refrigerator that they would need for those three days a week, which they
would only need to access it um and put it away at the end the beginning of the shift. So that is negotiable. So on the record right now that's contemplated to be the FOP building. >> It was offered to do the FOP and then there was a better recommendation which has the better bathroom facilities for
the for the pavilion. So it could be either or but it would be fully uh supervised and it would be um held to the highest of standards is the expectation and the focus of the of the discussion tonight was intended to be on
the location. But I do I do uh agree that that was an oversight of my part to mention the access to the uh to the bathroom and the and the refrigerator under lock and key. So for those reasons as well at the Rosco we haven't
identified where the refrigerator will go but that could be organized um you know in the future during the transition. Well, and and that's that's a very fair assessment and you know, and by that metric, although we're short of parking, it could be parked at the community center.
>> I recommended that as well when we were doing our site visit and there were some objections to that as well, but um >> either way, no, no place is perfect. Now, to the point, Councilwoman, that you made a minute ago is why why is the comp plan an issue? Now, I think it's
very simple that this issue spotting by our staff reflects an educated and professional staff that plays by the rules and knows the rules. If you knew the personalities
that were involved when the mobile unit was first put on Harris Field, you would know that the wife of my last elected predecessor was first and foremost an animal lover and I'm not criticizing that. And I
could just knowing how things worked in city hall. It was probably a a request of the city manager to allow that that office trailer to be parked at Harrisfield with no thought given to to
the issues. You know, we we like to talk about that the city has to follow the same sign ordinances that everybody else does. the city has to follow its its own rules. And
I don't think that this imposition of the comp plan change is intended to be a roadblock. It's it's just it's issue spotting. And I agree, you know, the the the chance of a spill is very remote,
extremely remote. But there's Murphy's law that once we talk about it and we have we accept that risk, something's probably going to happen. Now, we talk about that this is only a temporary facility, a part-time temporary
facility, >> until the new facility is built, and we're talking about it opening a year from now. We're sitting here today at almost June 1st and this is a county project and you're telling me
realistically it's going to be up and running in a year. To me that's that stretches credibility and and not you just the concept in general that that we may have this for some very long period of time
and I don't want to lock us into look that trailer was supposed to be replaced and put back at Harris Field over two years ago. It was promised and it wasn't. So how do I know it's not going to be another two years? And as we begin
to reimagine and redesign Harris Field, I don't want that to be an interference either. >> I I don't suspect that it would be an interference because I would not hold up the master plan and redesign of Harris Field for something like this. This is about facilitating access now to and the
the um the absence of the services in a in bringing it close to Homestead and and restoring what was already existing in a proven fact. And I want to clarify I didn't conjure this up. Okay? The community came to me and asked me to
advocate for a the return of the trailer, the permanent trailer. And so in investigating that, I had learned that there was there was a push back uh you know with regard for a permanent facility to come back and we looked for alternatives. And so this is where we're
at with alternatives and in hearing that there would be uh objection about location, I looked into those other options, we looked at community center. I considered Rosco. It's just not the right fit. And I think that a an agreement that could be revoked at any
time would be a simple solution to start and to see how it goes. >> But to clarify the the county I you know until you went asking questions and I don't mean that in a critical way. There was no immediate plan to bring that tempor that mobile unit back to
Homestead. >> The the immediate plan was to bring the permanent facility back and they were met with objection from our public works department. And so that's what I was >> Is that true, Mr. Manager? And when you talk about permanent facility, do you mean the the trailer that was formally correct there? So I don't really
consider that permanent. It might be fulltime, but it's not >> My understanding is that was connected to some type of sewer, either septic or sewer, but it was fully operational, full-time and connected, whereas this is opposite. >> Is that accurate, Cairo? Mr.
at at at any time either prior or now. >> We we never said to the count That's what I'm trying to get at. Did we ever say to the county you can't bring the trailer back to Harris Field recently? No, we did not. No. And we can explore that to get to the bottom of where that
stands as to if if you think that getting the per if they if they promise to bring back the permanent trailer and they didn't bring it and that's something that's potentially still on the table, we can look into that. But I don't even think that that's necessary. if we have something mobile and and not permanent that we can have in the in the
meantime to help transition between our current park and the master planning and to bring these services and to relocate them maybe maybe to the community center if you think that's a better fit but parking tend to be >> I was going to ask Mr. White or Mr. I'm sorry Mr. Pearl Pearly and White anyway
Mr. If we directed a master plan, a comp plan change tonight, how long would it take to accomplish? >> Well, I don't think I mean, from what I'm hearing, that's not where I would suggest that we go because both Cairo Cairo's concern was that this remains
overnight. The manager had offered several suggestions. One about um conditioning this on a protective layer and another where it's moved to another location within the city. So I think there are practical alternatives that have been presented by staff already
that could help address this issue. So if we wanted to um let's say condition any license agreement for the placement, we can we can stipulate to the things that staff had suggested if the county was immunable and have them operate in
accordance with those suggestions. >> Okay. So here's my suggestion. Having something is much better than having nothing. Is there a way that we can live on a short-term basis at the community center
while we sort out the Harris field issues for the mobile unit? >> I don't have an objection to that, but I think it's important that we understand logistically how this has to work. Okay. The reason why the Harris field also was a good option was because it's like an
RV. If you've ever traveled in an RV, you have to secure everything before you move it. So this idea of okay opening for service on Tuesday, closing at the end of the day and relocating it to a different spot and then coming back that's not going to work. It's >> we don't have those issues at the community.
>> Maybe not. But but as long as they can stay in a position for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday where they can close up on Thursday and move it out of the way for an event, which was the plan at Harris Field. So it's not blocking parking at the pavilion or anything like
that. then they could move it back into position and and uh reopen and set up for those three days. That should be fine. Now, where that weekend parking when they're not in service is going to be, what's the suggestion? Because what
we were going to do at Hersfield was just park it in the rear of FOP, which has already been cleared by the FOP president. So we had their position in front of the pavilion for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday on the side and then moving it for the weekend when it's not
in use out of the way. So at at the community center if we can accommodate that and I'd love to hear from public comment as to whether or not they have any objection to that. I don't see why I could why I would be objective, you know, objecting to that option. Well,
>> and let me let me ask you this to the public works director. What's the cone of influence? How far away? And and forget for a moment. We have a parking lot that we have horse manure that we have bathrooms that probably shouldn't be there. Let's forget about that for a minute. In a
perfect world, what would be the setback from our wellfield? >> I I need to call a friend. >> Phone a friend. >> Okay. um >> the entire park >> is the entire park and usually I believe it's about a a quarter mile away but
it's not as large. Remember our the cone of influence is where the pumps are at, right? >> So it's not the park is in the cone of influence but it's where the wells are tapping into. So just because it's a distance away doesn't mean that is from the extent of Harris field all the way
around. So, so locating this unit where the trailer was formerly located does not solve the problem either. >> No. No. And in fact, that one is a lot closer to well number five. So, >> okay.
>> And I believe that um Pedro did has some information regarding the permanent. >> Yeah, regarding the comment about our public works department telling them no of replacing their current trailer. It was actually the county's DRM department that told them no because I was involved
with the meeting and that's why we were asking them, hey, why is the trailer shut down? And it's because they were in the process of permitting their new replacement trailer at Harrisfield and the county's derm department told them no. So, I just wanted to clarify >> that was what I meant when I spoke earlier that they do have regulations
for permanent conditions that are in my mind a lot safer, but they don't have any for this type of condition that they I don't think imagine would exist. um during our discussions initially in the walkth through when we talked about it being a mobile there's absolutely no
objection whatsoever from anyone it was I believe after about half an hour when you informed that we it would have to stay overnight overnight and then over the weekend that's what raised the alarms because the weekend move would have put it even closer to well number seven that we are trying to hopefully
get installed it's it's in that area of the park so that that's what raised the alarm not the mobile unit per se whatsoever You just think the storage location when it's not being used. >> Yeah. Yeah. Just when it's not being used, vandalism, whatever, like that
kind of stuff or accident, someone just does whatever. >> So, I already profiled a solution to this which is very practical. Have the truck there operate at the location. If there's concern about accidental spill, have a secondary containment under the
truck. When it's not in use, we move it to the fleet where we park all city vehicles because it's not going to be supervised at Harrisfield. So, anything can happen >> a secure area. >> We just move it on offsite and come back the next day.
>> That's a practical solution instead of trying to extend the narrative and the commentary. >> I would just like to add that the county does have a facility nearby as well that that they will be able to use by the Air Force. I believe is one that they just recently activated. >> Yeah, but that's too far away from
Harrisfield. The >> No, no, I'm saying for storage. No, not for >> the fleet side is just less than quarter of a mile from there. >> Okay. So, let me let me go to the vice mayor and >> Thank you, mayor. I think if we can
condition some of these issues with the additional storage, another huge benefit of keeping it at Harrisfield, I think, is that that is where it has always been, right? So it's easier for people to get to, easier for people to find, easier for us to help get those
campaigns going again because I live in a neighborhood where code compliance comes or animal control comes in and out of and what I have seen in population growth with animals in my neighborhood is astronomical. So if this
can be done where we're sure that it's safe, let's keep it at Harrisfield. it worked before you know where you're going and we can get the show back on the road and help these little furry
friends as as Cairo said. So, if we can get information from staff to make sure that that protection is underneath it, I would gladly second that this happen. So, thank you. >> Let me get some quick clarification
because I don't I don't think this concern came from you all. The manager has profered that we have the containment cradle like you have for fuel. And that and I believe his proposal is
is at the end of every day you take the unit to our fleet lockup area which is very in very close proximity and then bring it back each day. Is that
unworkable given the securing of the interior that needs to be done? >> Yes. Unfortunately, there isn't a staff. So, we have we have I'll dive a little deeper on that. We have three transport op I'm sorry. We have uh three transport operators that do multiple things
throughout the day. So, having one bring it there, we're approximately an hour and change away from the shelter. So, to do that every single day and then have someone at the end of the day come back and move it, it's just not um feasible. It's a lot of extra movements with limited staff. >> Just on this particular just on that
particular topic, the the fleet suggestion, which I appreciate because it's just another option to consider. The challenge that would be is that it would require also a twoman operation to drive the person, follow them with the car, drop off the RV, come back or drop off the clinic, and then come back
together to get in the car. So, I mean, the parking lot at Harrisfield is so vast that finding a I profered the spaces behind FOP because it was out of the way. If it's too close to the wellfield, then get it closer to the old YMCA. It's still going to be out of the
way. The the goal was to have it not impact the pavilion weekend activities that get activated. So, Al Russ, >> thank you. Geez. >> Couple things. one, if the wellfills are that important, can we get a diagram and
locations of all of the wellfields so we know what we're talking about when it comes to wellfields? Because you said the wellfields stretch out a quarter to a half a mile from the location and that concerns me because there's a gas station within that range, right? There's apartment complexes within that
range that have toilets and all those things, right? that may be hooked up to a system that we don't go and check that could be leaking into the aquafer as well. Right. >> Well, we we do check and ever since I started working here, that has become one of my number one concerns or issues
that we have experienced. So, what we are planning on is to fully line those lines. Even though because of the county's requirements for SSCS, which I'm sure you guys are all aware, SS, I mentioned that multiple times last year. Uh, one of the requirements is to video
and inspect um on a regular basis the lines over eight inches in diameter that are near the well fields or over the well fields. I just call it over the well fields for short and uh ensure that those are sealed tight. So um as of >> you're talking about you're talking
about city- owned lines or private loan lines >> city and also through that exercise we have to investigate into the laterals that may uh provide some sort of um contamination. So we are fairly sure at
this point in time maybe not 5 years ago but I can tell you as of now that we do not have any sewer gravity right any gravity sewer or manhole within the well field uh area of influence that is
currently causing any sort of contamination whatsoever. >> Got it. And this also to me sounds kind of like selective enforcement because you got RVs sitting on that property right now overnight that are not supervised.
>> So the one the one I I am unfortunately I'm not PD so I cannot enforce these things. But what I am made aware of is that if there's an RV there is because someone lives in that RV. So if someone comes in drunk at night and crashes into them then emergency is on the way. If
there is an RV that >> Hold on. You're saying that somebody's living in the RVs on Leard on on our property? >> If there's an the RV that I'm referring to is the one on the road, the rodeos that I was mentioned during the walkthrough. I don't know of any other RV. Um, >> the Leardine RV sits on that property
247. >> We have to look into that. Yeah. Selective. It sounds like selective enforcement. >> When things are grandfathered, we are not able to retract that information. That is unfortunately just public policy. We cannot go back and enforce
those items that council has approved in the past. >> We had never approved RVs parking on Harris Hill property for long terations. >> I can't I can't speak to that. I'm sorry. I don't know. I don't know. >> So, what's stopping us from putting this RV on Harrisfield property tomorrow?
>> No one. You guys vote on modifying the >> So, I make a motion we put the RV on the property starting tomorrow. >> No. So we by the passage of this we're violating our own code of ordinances. >> We're not because it's it's not part of
the code with the mobile piece. >> No, I'm talking about the comp plan doesn't permit that use. Yeah, there are other there are other uses that we're going to have to deal with such as Lelay Hardin or whether or not somebody from
the rodeo has has an RV or a motor home park parked behind the announcer stand. I I don't know anything about that. >> I believe there's there's precedents set. We're not doing anything outside of the norm. We're allowing public services
to have access and they're not connecting. There's no um permanent request for for physical placement. It is just access to a public space. Um with the exception of the
refrigerator, I'd love to hear public comment at this point. >> Well, that's fine. We know what the public comment is going to be. But again, our public works, there has been
testimony from our staff that we did not roadblock anything. >> I will take the blame. >> There's a motion in a second. Can we get a roll call and just get it over with, please? >> No, there's still time for discussion. This is a political stunt. this could
have been taken care of behind the scenes and not burning up an hour and motivating these men and women who work very hard every day to rescue and help dogs, cats, and everything else in
between. One final question. In your punch list, you made the representation that this could be a drop off point for abandoned litters, that it takes the burden off of rescue services. How so? You're not boarding those litters there
overnight, are you? You're just an intake. You've got to pass them off to somebody. >> Foster, she said a foster company takes them. They are spaying and neutering so that there's not an additional litter. That is what she said. >> Now, yes, it is.
>> She did at the end. at the beginning. I think if you go back through your presentation that you are an intake facility for litters. >> We are an intake facility for for dogs, cats, and that includes litters of
abandoned um animals. Yeah. >> But you're not boarding them there. Well, if we do not have an outcome for them, such as a rescue plea, a transport, or a foster, we do have to house them there. We are right now over
119% over capacity. >> I I get that and that's a whole other county issue. So, again, there's a new element. >> We're housing elements >> in the unit. >> The only activity is I need you to clarify that was never brought to my
attention. Are you housing any animals overnight in your facility? That's what it sounds like reference to the shelter. >> I'm sorry. I think I see what the confusion was. You said facility. So when we say facility, we mean our main shelter. The the mobile unit we don't consider a facility. It's just it's just a trailer. >> So there was a comment made earlier
about how South Miami you there's a lot of drop offs with Chrome and that this. So that's where I think he's getting his his comment from. And it was a little ambigu ambiguous to me as well. How is this facil this mobile clinic going to support that or clarify what you meant
by any housing? >> Yeah, because if you go back through your presentation, it was on the first couple of pages that you're an intake facility and you reduce the burden >> and that could be stipulated in an agreement. I'm not aware of that and I'm not advocating for that. >> This is strictly going to be a surgical
unit. That that's all it is. And >> that's what I understood until your presentation. Yeah, we were talking about how sterilizing pets stops them from coming to the main shelter to our main facility. We can sterilize them there. That's all it was. >> Your your end result and we're all for that. >> Yes. >> To clarify, it's microchipping as well
as immunizations >> and the raies vaccination too. The the one to the sterilization. >> Yes, it's actually so if you want if I have two seconds to walk you through it. So, it's actually uh low impact and and again there was some comments there was some comments made about um like dogs uh possibly you know peeing or pooping on
the property. The drop off is actually really simple. The person comes in, they check in, and they hand over the pet. Uh cats are going to be kept in carriers. Uh the puppies are the dogs also, they're going to be handed over, put in the unit. They're not going to be taken back out until the owner comes and picks them up. And at that point, it's less than likely of any of our pets
contaminating any of the land or or grounds that we're on. >> So, Councilwoman, what what what was your ask here on this item on Cap 35? >> I I'm sorry. I am a little delirious after this conversation, but the ask was
to I want to hear I want I want to hear the public specify because this is Listen, I have a dog and a cat and a couple fish. Okay? I And they're all spayed and neutered. I'm not in the trenches like you guys are and I want to
make sure you have your time to on the air to speak for your for yourselves as to why this is important to you. I brought the item forward. I believe in it. That's why I'm sponsoring it. And the rest the request essentially is to
authorize staff to enter into a access agreement for the parking of the vehicle and the um the storage of the refrigerator at Harrisfield Park. and you have my
full commitment when it's time to go into the master planning or if the the north location gets uh activated that we move it so that we have something on the southeast side which I will advocate for as well. Thank you.
>> Would anyone here like to speak? You've kind of endured the last couple hours. Just get in line and come on up. And and if I may, and you have the right to speak, but if if you know, if one person can say a summary of what everybody's thinking, that's great, too.
>> Let me just say I've seen and heard about some of the social media posts that are way off base. They're not accurate. There's no basis. In fact, >> on by and on this is for the dogs social
media page, the hysterics that are out there that that that that we don't Well, you should you should know what's out there. >> Okay. >> Hi, Barbara. Welcome. >> All right. Hello, Barbara St. Aubin,
1944 Southwest 308 Street. First of all, I want to thank Erica Aila for being the champion on this effort because and all the support from the council as well to bring the Homestead Spain Neuter
Clinic back to Harrisfield. That's what the issue is. So, I'm I'm hearing a lot of different things now um bringing to this topic. So, I'm president of This is a dog. at 501c3 since 2008 serving this
community. The impact that the clinic has had at Harrisfield since 2016. Actually, my volunteers made this for me back then. There's a ribbon cutting. It was a grand event for this city. I'm sorry,
Melner, you weren't there, but anyway. Um, yeah. >> Yes. Um, the impact that the clinic, the Homestead Clinic at Harris Field has had over the last 10 years is undeniable.
Last year, 2025, I'm giving you some numbers here, the Spay Neuter Clinic provided 3,28 surgeries, accessible, affordable surgeries for this community. That means over 3,000 times a local family found affordable,
accessible care they needed for their pets right here in Homestead at Harrisfield. It was open for only nine months, closing in October for repairs. Services stopped and never resumed. So,
I'm with you, Mayor Lner. Something is better than nothing. Bringing that mobile clinic, the MAC, the mobile animal clinic would work, but we want the trailer back. And what I'm hearing, it can come back.
It will do. So, the statistics for this year, zero, zero spayne, neuter surgeries for this community. We want the trailer back. It will do dogs over 30 pounds.
The MAC will not. There's a lot of dogs out there that are big, that have large litters, and that populate this community. Great leadership does not only manage a crisis, it provides a solution. This clinic directly improves the quality of
life for every single one of us. So, we need to bring the trailer back to that Harrisfield location. Thank you. Well, what what's the practical difference between having it at 312th Street in US1 and 296 Street? Because
that's what's contemplated right now by the county. Correct. The same trailer is coming back to Avocado versus Campbell. Is that correct? So, the new facility that's supposed to open um through my conversations with Annette Jose, the
director of animal services in 2027, we don't foresee that happening in 2027. I'm just going to take a guess. >> I agree. >> Okay. So, from now to then, there are no services offered to our community residents that are pet owners.
>> But for the mobile unit, >> there's no services right now in the city of Homestead. No, I know. But if we had nothing until they bring that trailer somewhere, the mobile unit will fill that gap. >> It will for dogs up to 30 pounds.
>> So, it's limited. The number that they can do is limited as well because of recovery space. >> And not to interrupt, but I mean, additional vision sessions can occur with other improvements around the city. It's it's never in my mind, you know,
we're not foreclosing a trailer ever coming back to Homestead, the city of Homestead, but that's not what's on the table today. Right now, it's an it's a it's an option. It's a solution to provide something better than nothing and then getting it to the Rosco Warren
uh park if the permanent facility does in fact open. But we do have re re um redevelopment plans for Harrisfield. So that would interrupt any permanent structure anyway. So, we have to keep that in mind. >> Yeah, we'll take the community >> and we can incorporate that in the
long-term plans. >> The success of the clinic, I mean, it's undeniable with these numbers. I mean, and people know it's there. The residents know it's there. We get emails and communications, you know, all day long. You know, when is the clinic going to reopen? We've tried. We thought, we
were told the trailer was going to come back after the repairs, and we're still waiting. So, we're counting on you guys to bring us something for this community. big dogs. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we need big dog, you know, >> surgeries done.
>> They're big dogs. >> They're not 30 pounds and less and they're the ones that are breeding. >> Uh, thank you very much for this opportunity. Um, my name is Newton. I go by Junior. Uh, five years ago, I open a little shelter here in the Redland, but
I serve the Homestead community and our doors is always open for the community. We had events together. We're trying to do a great job. For the past year and a half, I've been working very close with the county and I'm seeing their effort to make a difference and helping our community here. Uh the problem is not
only having the stray dogs is much bigger than that. Um today I have to be rushing 17 puppies that was dropped in my gate to the federal prison. Uh we understand the shelter is over capacity. We are over capacity and I called the
captain and he's housing dogs for us. a federal prison is helping this community. My biggest plea now we understands the geography we are between two national parks with a bunch of farmers with different culture. Okay. So what's going on is just more than
straight is a very different kind of dog. We have dogs that are being raised by theirelves in the Everglades. When we trap them we are crazy trapped dogs. when you trap them, they are not domesticated anymore and generated extra
work for the shelter for the county because those dogs are not adoptable. Okay, they're very difficult to work with and we have time and money that we need to considerate it. Okay, and uh I do believe the Homestead, the city of Homestead is growing beautifully. Um
saying that uh this battle is much bigger than us. uh the city of Homestead probably could be stepping up for it, finding a different location. Okay. Uh for the past uh year and a half, we bring um outside foundations to be
helping our community. We bringing um other foundations out of the states that's putting money over here to be helping us. Okay? And that it's almost a shame we can do this year. Okay? So maybe the city of the homestead can be open. We also I'm sure the Mrs. Andre
representing the the shelter. She's going to be helping us founding Redland Dog Sanctuary will help us. This the dog will help us. We do have some funds that we can put in the pack as well. And uh we just need a help for the city to be doing a little better cuz what we seeing
very soon those dogs that's being raised in wild they're killing horses, they're killing goats. Oh yes. and we have pictures of horses. So, I'm sorry. Um, it's a very frustrating because we're
trying to make the difference. Uh, all the funds that we have is private funds. We don't use any federal money. We do everything on our own and I wish the the city of Homestead can help us a little stronger. We are growing and our community deserves. >> Thank you very much.
I want to just ask that we have a commitment from the people here to come to a secondary meeting that I will hold with staff with our city manager so that we can brainstorm on what it is that we need because what I'm hearing here, okay, and I love learning is that this
resolution here on the table is uh the tip of the iceberg as to the needs that this community needs that this advocacy needs for for solving ing or creating a a real solution to the bigger issues. So, while I do support this item moving
forward tonight, the conversation is not over. Okay? We have a very lengthy agenda tonight specifically to your support for passing this item or objecting to this item. Please make your your your statements tonight. If you
are, you know, if you want to help with bringing forward bigger, better solutions, that conversation will continue. and I will ask our city manager to to assist me in championing that effort as well. So, um, with respect to the the very lengthy agenda
we have tonight, please, you know, continue to have your comments. You have the right to do so, but just keep that in mind. >> I'll be brief. My name is Susan Sanchez and I work extensively trapping and sterilizing stray and community animals in Homestead. For a long time, the Miami
date animal services trailer here in Homestead gave residents a realistic way to access affordable spay and neuter. Community members could sign up locally, transport their own animals, and actually participate in helping reduce the stray population. Now that the
service has been gone for months and the people that who need it most are effectively shut out, most residents in these neighborhoods, including many in the surrounding unincorporate unincorporated areas of South Dade, cannot drive all the way to Cutler Bay.
We do have a small facility there. At this point, Homestead and Florida City together are approaching 100,000 residents. And that does not even include the large number of people living in the surrounding unincorporated communities who also depend on these
services. The population continues to grow rapidly along with the number of stray and abandoned animals. We do not need fewer services. We need more. We also know the new permanent Miami Dade animal service facility at 296th Street
will not be open in 2027. It will probably be late 2028, 2029. That means this community could be left without accessible services for years unless this trailer program is resolved. And frankly, the proposed
location near Rosco Warren Park is also concerning because many residents consider that area unsafe and inaccessible. Yes, it is. I live near there. And um if
you're serious about making services available to the public, it the location needs to be practical and safe. Putting it back at Harrisfield, everybody knows that it's there. All we have to do is say it's reopened. Residents here pay taxes, too, and they deserve access to
the same essential county services as everyone else. Right now, this community is being underserved and the animals are paying the price for it. Please work with Miami Dade Animal Services to reopen this trailer program as soon as
possible. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Just want to make one point though. I want to be real clear. We did not end the services. The county did. >> I realize that. >> Okay. You know, the the tenor here is is
that somehow we were responsible for that. We are not your enemy. >> No. >> And we can have those disagreements. >> I know that city of Homestead was not responsible. It was a durm permit thing that happened. Um but we really just
need a resolution and we need your help. >> Thank you. And that's what I'm hearing is that we have the burden of trying to figure out a solution to this problem. Right? So, we're the thinkers at the DIS here and they need a permanent trailer location and if the county isn't serious
about their timeline, then then maybe we need to come up with some better ideas. >> Hi, my name is Susan Perkins and um good evening council members and mayor. Um, this is going to kind of this is going to kind of sum it all up again, but I've
been here and I just we just need to say it. It it's just it's just it's just not working the way it is right now. My name is Susan Paprons. I volunteer with This is the dog here in Homestead and I am tonight here to respectfully ask to approve the reopening of our local
spayneuter clinic. Homestead has a serious overpopulation problem and unfortunately it continues to grow every day. Prevention is the only real solution. We cannot adopt our way out of this problem. Many of you probably have driven through our city and see what I
see regularly. The mother dog walking down dangerously close to traffic with puppies following behind her or kittens born in the bushes behind the shopping centers like Walmart because of an unspayed stray. These animals are not born because somebody wanted them or
planned for them. Most of them are unwanted from the moment they enter the world. Every litter that is prevented saves resources, time, tax mayor taxpayer burden and in in the long run. Our community desperately needs an affordable accessible spayneuter clinic
here in Homestead. Many residents cannot travel all the way to Cutler Bay and Dural for these services. As Homestead continues to grow, the annual population grows alongside it, and we need access to these services. It's more critical. And not long ago, a friend of mine was
driving through Homestead on her way to the Keys. She looks around and she says, "My goodness, you must stay incredibly busy in the rescue work. I can't believe how many loose and stray animals I see driving through this town." Not long ago, um, uh, the statement stayed with
me because that should not be what people remember about our city. Homestead is an opportunity to to be known as a community that cares, a city taking real action to solve the overpopulation crisis throughout
prevention, compassion, and responsible leadership. I would like to end with a story called The Answer. And I'll do this really quick. A little girl sees a kitten drowning in a stream. So, she jumps in and she saves it both. But moments later, another kitten comes floating by down the stream. Another one
and another one. getting exhausted from jumping in to save them all. She finally climbs out and starts running upstream. People shout to her, "Where are you going?" She calls back, "I can't keep pulling drowning kittens from the stream. I need to find out where they're
coming from and stop it." That's exactly why we need this clinic. Please approve the reopening. We need it now. We need the trailer now. We can't wait a year. We can't wait, you know, and we're talking about trailers. What about all the trailers that are in Homestead? I mean, what about all the trailers in the
backyards of people's houses? So, no, we need to have it now. We need the system now. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you, Susan. >> Okay, can we just get a couple more and we'll we can go ahead and move forward with this if you don't mind.
>> I will be very quick. I'm sorry. My name is Chloe. I'm a veterary assisting student at John A. Ferguson Senior High School. I have this whole ordeal planned out, but a lot of my peers already said what I wanted to say today. All I want
to say is I have lived and I'm sure a lot of you have lived in Homestead very much longer than me, but I am very much an animal person and I have lived in Homestead my whole life. I'm 16 years old and I have lived in my beautiful
house. I love Homestead. But one thing that is, you know, going downhill is a lot of the animals on the side of the roads, a lot of cars drive by. We have a lot of running like people running the stop signs and they hit dogs because
they're strays, right? And to reduce the stray population, we could spay and neuter them. A lot of people don't understand and don't um comprehend that dogs have babies. dogs
go out, have puppies. This is where you're buying your puppies from. And it it comes to a point where we need to have them spayed and neutered all like,
sorry, I'm very nervous. And this is my first time doing this, guys. I'm so sorry. Um, yeah. I just We need to spo them. It's it's like the point where why we're here
and I feel like we should have it at Harrisfield because Harrisfield for me is in the middle. Like I pass by Harrisfield when I want to go to BJs, when I want to go to the sunglass hut to buy sunglasses. I pass by Harris Field
when I go to the rodeo. I've been there all my life. And I was just talking to a friend today about um this actually. and she was like, "Yes, I've been there so many times. Like, I didn't know that they had shut it down. That's where I would go to get all of the cats that I
found and all the dogs that I found spayed and neutered, and it's not there anymore." So now all of those cats and all of those dogs, they're having to go to a private clinic, which costs a lot of extra money. And some people don't have that. So, it's easier for people to
just go to a a local, you know, community clinic that won't charge as much and that's affordable for everybody. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Anoa Feredo,
1049 Northeast 35th Avenue. I would like to thank everyone here. You are correct, mayor. You guys are not our enemy. We are aware of that. We appreciate you knowing what it's like in the trenches. Um, I'd like to leave you with a thought before I continue. Being in rescue is
like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. I'll repeat that again. Being in rescue is like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. One of my volunteers um also mentioned
that the spayneuter clinic, we need something for bigger dogs. Big dogs give us the big litters. Please keep that in mind when you come to a solution. We'll be more than happy to meet again. And thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. So, did we read the I don't think Mr. Pearl. Okay. >> I just have one thing to say. Um, I don't know if this might help your decision in the Rosco Warren Park versus Harrisfield. Um, but we had a case where a lady had reached out to us about cats
and she used to catch cats in her community near Harrisfield. She didn't have a vehicle, so she would push them in the traps in a shopping cart to Harris Field to TNR them >> and that's why Harris Field for us is a much more central location for those who may not have that kind of
transportation. >> Gotcha. >> Thanks. I know where you can get about 400 chickens. >> Mr. Mayor Village. >> Oh, there too. >> Mr. Mayor, >> those those two neighborhoods directly east of Lake Shore are full of chickens.
Yes, Council Fletcher. >> Just real quickly, and again, we all really agree with you, but please make sure you're also emailing Mayor Cava, >> our commissioner Cohen Higgins, and our commissioner Daniel. >> She's very aware. and K McGee. We have
to get them. And if you bomb their email inboxes, they got to respond at some point. >> And maybe we can give you numbers for them that you don't have. >> And I know you'd have no problem um doing that. So, this is my second rescue
beagle in in 15 years. She'd probably be too big to go to the trailer, but she came to us spayed and neutered already. >> Hi. Uh, thank you for the opportunity and I will respectfully not apologize for how long we are taking to speak to
you because I really hope that this annoyance of us saying it over and over and over again sits in your mind as it sits in all of our inboxes. I am a teacher at Johnny Ferguson High School. I'm Khloe's teacher. Um, and every
single day I get text messages. All of these amazing people get text messages. At this point, it is not about dogs and cats. As Joo Wilson said, as leaders, you have to take extreme ownership of what is occurring right now. I know we've talked about who said no, who
denied it. At this point, it doesn't matter. The homestead residents need services. It's not about puppies and kittens anymore. It's about providing the services that we need. Say yes. Take ownership of the issue you guys are all, you know, a part of, right? Being a
leader is taking ownership of that. And so I ask you to look beyond the political orchestration of puppies and cats and to simply provide the services that are needed. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Hi.
>> Hi. I'm Angelina Carrier and I'm 370 Northeast 12th Street in Homestead. And I come to you today to because I am a trapper. I am a theater and I do volunteer with many different organizations within the community. I
love Homestead. I moved here in 2013, but the closing of this clinic in Harrisfield has been devastating. I had an outlet before where I could pick up these dogs, especially big ones. That's what we need. We need help with these bigger dogs. Um, I used to be able
to pick them up and animal services would turn us away because they're full. Imagine having a female dog, especially a special breed that everybody loves to swing around names of different breeds. Um, and it's not the breed, it's the
community, it's the it's the people in the community and that are the problem. And and all we can do is try to readjust everyone right now and look for a solution to get this clinic open as soon as possible because I have no outlet.
And when Miami Day turns me away and I have a female dog that's getting ganged by three, four dogs on a corner and I see it. Harris Field was very, very good at helping me and the people
there were really good at helping me to sterilize the community pets that had nobody. I was their voice and I was a frequent flyer at Harrisfield. I volunteered there a few times and I don't volunteering again. But I'm just asking you, even if you don't put it at
Harrisfield, we need some kind of outlet because it's getting out of control. Imagine the 4,000 pets that we didn't fix this year. The three or 4 thousand pets. Imagine all of them pets out there
running around continuing to to breed. It's just not something that we need. Our community is slowly developing. It's it's The numbers are growing and I myself have driven dogs all the way to West
Palm Beach to Darster Foundation just for spay and neuter. I've sat there all day on my Saturday mornings just so that I can spay and neuter pets that aren't even mine. None of them are mine. This is community pets. And our resources are
being slowly depleted. And the only one that can bring those resources back are you guys. And I know each and every one of you care about homesteading. You guys are homegrown rooted here. And you see the problem. You drive on the same streets that I drive every day. You see the dogs in the road. You see the
litters of puppies. You see the cats. Cats have like 15 cats at one time. Like we have thousands everywhere. So, we're just asking you today to invest a little bit of
time and money into this project because we need it and we need all of you. We need you to keep this community going and thriving. >> So, that's why I'm here today. >> You realize we're volunteers. We're not getting >> No, I we we all understand that. We we
many of us know many of you and and know what what you do from from the heart as just an incredible labor of love. If I can I understand we've got a couple of people online that would like to weigh in. Is that >> Yes, Mayor. Uh we have Brandy Ramirez.
Go ahead, Miss Ramirez. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Brandy Ramirez, 221 Southeast Street. I first want to acknowledge and thank all the community that's in attendance tonight with their love and support.
It's a strong test. I have faith in our mayor and come tonight but they will vote and push this forward. These are the voters speaking. This is our community, all of us who live on
this matter. And I ask tonight for Fletcher and for Lawler who have always done in the past going to count and they have fought for us. I have witnessed them take the the train
and fight at the commission. And so I ask them to support and and put pressure on the county commission. Let's work with the county. Let's make it happen for our communities. We are united tonight for a strong homestead
and I will be right there to support you guys at the county as well. Thank you very much. Thanks, Council Eric. Have a good evening. >> Thank you. We have another >> uh Yes. Uh we have Ram >> Ram. Go ahead, please.
>> Hello, Mayor and Council. This is Romero Orta, 2040 Southeast 19th Street. I'm also here on behalf of True Homestead. I just want to acknowledge all of the uh the community that is in attendance. I want to acknowledge you guys for
stepping up and requesting that the council uh assist you in this process. And that's the way you do it. And if you got to go to the next meeting, keep doing it until you get your your resolution. But I also want to um bring
some awareness um in tease gates. I've been seeing like a lot of stray dogs. I'm not sure if Keysgate is turning into the new uh Redlands, but I've been seeing a lot of
stray dogs. That is a little concerning. And maybe this is why the there's there's more coyotes out here because they also see that there's more um stray dogs and what have you. But we need to control this. And if there's anything that the that the cities can do
temporarily to to service this community, I mean, that would be great. And especially on in Keysgate where the issue is getting very very bad. So I ask council to go ahead
and and consider this, approve this, and work with this community that's that's trying to bring a quick resolution to the issue. And for the community in attendance, I have a platform. If you guys want to leverage it where you guys
can reach the the commissioners, the senators, and the state reps, let me know and I'm here to help you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good night. Appreciate it. Mayor, if I may, sorry, I forgot to mention that we did have discussion and we can further clarify it for the
public, but when the um clinic is not open for service at Harris Field, those weekends that would potentially be stored at at the the location, they will they could activate it and do events at communities. So at Keys Gate, at
Waterstone and Albo Bay and different club houses, we could activate it around the city when uh when we're not doing the Tuesday through Thursday. So we can look into that. Thank you. >> Sure. Thank you. Let me have the attorney read the uh resolution and to
the record. >> Well, there's little technicalities we have. Tab 35 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute a license agreement with Miami Dade County through Miami Dade County Animal Services for the temporary placement and operation of
a mobile spay and neuter unit within a portion of the parking lot serving Harris Field and the FOP Lodge on a schedule to be mutually agreed upon authorizing implementation providing for an effective date. >> Um, yes. Before we move forward, I just I want to clarify because some things
came up tonight. Um, if we're going to move forward with this, I'd like an amendment to authorize the manager to include the bathroom facility or the storage at the I believe I heard two locations either the FOP lodge or the pavilion just so you know
the negotiations authority. >> Yeah. Ju just a second. Just a second. >> And the the containment >> Yes. for the for the medicine in in the FOP lodge. >> Okay. >> Yeah. The FOP lodge is actually close to
the well. >> Okay. >> So, or the where whatever the appropriate location is. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. And want to real quick before I forget, Councilman Roth, you and a good point. I agree with you. I think we've recently had a comprehensive
survey done of Harris Field in connection with the potential reimagining that can show us where those wells are are actually located. I haven't seen it either, but I think that we recently had that that done. >> Okay, let's >> Okay, so we have a motion and a second.
Let's have a roll call. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Ross, yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> uh, yes.
>> The motion carries. >> All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it. All right. The next thing we need is a motion to extend the meeting till 10 p.m. >> Moved by Councilman Fletcher. I'll second it. All in favor? Any opposed?
All right. >> Can we continue tomorrow? >> We might have to. There's going to come a point where there might not be four yeses for any more extensions. I'd like to jump now to tab at the request of Councilman Avala to do tab number 32.
Yes. >> All right. While we're tabing turning our tabs and getting to uh the NFT program. Oh, it's a whole different book, guys. >> Yeah. >> So, while we're doing that, let's have Mr. Pearl read it by title.
>> Thank you. Tab 32 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, expressing support for the network for teaching entrepreneurship summer youth entrepreneurship program to be conducted in Homestead, recognizing the program's purpose of expanding entrepreneurship education, mentorship, career readiness, and economic
opportunity for Homestead youth, directing city staff to promote the program through the city's official communication channels, providing for sponsorship, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. So, NEFT is a nonprofit organization. They've been working uh
with students um in the entrepreneurial education field uh for 40 years. And um this program is intended to expand access to entrepreneurial education, mentorship, technology focus, business development, career readiness, financial literacy, and economic opportunity for
homestead youth. You may recall this item I brought a couple meetings ago that, you know, we were looking for a location. And I thank staff for um providing some options. I'm happy to report that we found a home for the NEFT
program and it is going to be um held this summer at Keith Gate Charter School. So, that's taken care of and um they have grants and funding and whatnot, but this resolution will profer to um echo support for the for the
entity for its programming uh and also allocate just $2,000 to um help funding their camp shirts, which is not part of their grant budget now, as well as any um difference of the funds to go towards equipment like their headphones to facilitate one-on-one sessions with
their counselors as well as um additional supplemental for their prize money that they do get when they compete, etc. So, we do have a brief presentation, right? Some Q&A and we do have a life uh uh a life example to share as well. Thank you.
>> Hi, welcome. >> Thank you. Um thank you for having me this evening, especially to Councilwoman Abila uh for being um a champion for the network for teaching entrepreneurship and opportunities provided for youth um here in the city of Homestead. Um my name is uh Victor Martinez. I'm the
program manager uh for the southeast region at the network for teaching entrepreneurship or as we call it NIFTY. Um I am honored to be here today and tell you more about our programs and highlight several young people um who have gone through the NIFTY program here in Homestead
nearly uh Nifty is nearly 40 40 years old um a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education in schools, districts, and community partners in 24 US states and 31 communities globally. Since our founding, we have been committed to ensuring that young people
don't just receive classroom lessons on entrepreneurship, but gain true realworld application to own their own futures. Since 1987, we have served 1.4 million students, a large portion of which have been in the state of Florida
thanks to dedicated decision makers like you all today. Entrepreneurship education builds a mindset, not just a skill set. It teaches young people to think creatively, solve problems, adapt to change, and see opportunities where others see obstacles. It brings learning
to life by letting students create real ideas, test them, and pitch them, making education engaging, practical, and deeply memorable. Programs like Nifty are leading the way, reaching young people around the world with a proven model that combines hands-on learning,
mentorship, and real world re relevance. Nifty specifically focused on expanding economic mobility, ensuring that students from underresourced communities gain access to the tools, networks, and confidence they they need to succeed in future economies. The result is
powerful. Students don't just learn about business. They gain confidence, voice, and a belief in their ability to shape the f their own futures and their communities. Here in Homestead, we utilize our Biscamp model over the last eight years. We deliver in in a compact
incubator style format. This creates momentum and excitement. Students stay highly engaged and there's a clear beginning to end with starting with an idea and ending with a pitch competition. Biscam succeeds because it's engaging, relevant and transformational, equipping young people
not to just b not to just learn business knowledge, but with the mindset, skills, and confidence to navigate and shape the future economy. Id like to highlight a few of our homestead youth who have participated in our programs. I'll start with Logan Cox. He is the creator of Plastaway Solutions, a company that
offers an innovative chemical product that specifically dissolves PET plastic in helping reduce the nearly 11 million tons of plastic that enter our oceans every year. Logan developed this idea while participating in our program at just 12 years old during the summer of
2024. Logan in that same year qualified to pitch at the 10X Pitchoff hosted by the Grant Cardone Foundation where he earned first place and $6,000 to continue to build on his entrepreneurial journey. Logan today has also been crowned as the Miami date spelling be
winner in February and is will be representing not only Miami date but the city of Homestead in Washington DC at the national competition starting this weekend. With me today is on is also Anthony Aras, the creator of Aras Express, a trusted car service for youth that will
help them get to from point A to point B with minimal worries from their families and themselves. Youth just like him. He participated in our program this past summer before entering sixth grade. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, his passion for entrepreneurship was evident to the point that even while he
was out of town for his birthday celebration, he met with me every morning from 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. for at least an hour just so that he didn't miss the lessons for the day. Now, we don't know many students that do that over the summer. And lastly, Mia Gonzalez, similar to Anthony, joined us
this last summer as a rising sixth grader. Mia created Pinball Paint, also but known today as Takoff Golf, an app that helps golfers at all levels not only track their balls while they're out on the golf course, but also helping them track their swing and improving
their overall performance. Mia took home second place last summer at our final Biscamp competition, competing against 200 other students and advanced to the 10X pitchoff where she earned $2,000 to continue to build her business idea. Over the past year, she has improved her
business concept, and her hard work paid off as she took home first place two weeks ago during Nifty Southeast Investor Pitch Competition, which is our advanced competition for youth. I'm also proud to share that we have been in so many of our youth in the city of
Homestead have been with us just like Logan, Anthony, and Mia who started just as Ryson sixth graders and have attended our camp every summer until they have graduated um high school. And these three amazing young entrepreneurs I highlighted today will also be returning this summer for their third and second
summer with us in just a few weeks. Today, we ask for your support in building awareness of our program and providing financial support to successfully implement the program um throughout the use of our resources and technology that will allow City of Homestead youth to continue their entrepreneurial journey. We look forward
to continuing to work with the city of Homestead for many years to come. Thank you. >> Thank you. May I just add something real quick? I want to thank um Albert and his family for bringing this uh program to my attention. The the initial concern was that their location where they had
been serving was no longer available. And so that's where I came in to try to find something. And I do want to also expand a thank you to KCA Charter High School and the principal Daniel Verdier for facilitating the laptops that were also needed to make this um program a success. So location has been secured
for free. Laptops secured for free. The grant program is going to fund the the um uh the competition, the traveling uh you can expand on that as well, Victor. And um the camp shirts will host our logo for branding and banners, etc. So
we will be getting recognition as well. >> Good evening. My name is Anthony Adas. I'm 11 years old. I was a part of a nifty summer camp last year. It is a great program because kids learn how to start a small business. We create a
business plan. We learn to budget and solve problems. We also practice our presentation skills. At the end of the camp, everyone that finishes the program has the opportunity to get money towards
towards the business. Kids get to compete with other kids at the district level. The winners of the contest get to go to New York to compete at a national level. I want to thank councilwoman
Erica Vila, Mayor Steve Law Lawner, and the rest of the city council for supporting the children of Homestead and the NIFTY program. Thank you. Thank you.
So, questions for council? >> Sure. Councilman Ron. Oh, okay. Thought you said you had one. So, appreciate you coming down. So, I understand from our our packet that there it's about 20 kids per summer in
the program. Is it maxed out already or are you fully enrolled for this summer? >> Um, so we just secured the location um last about a week ago. So we just started that um the recruitment process for the location. Um as of today we are
halfway through um through the enrollment process. Um and so we're about 12 13 students there but we are excited. Um we always have about a waiting list here. So, um, every year it continues to grow. Um, but our goal is
to meet that 20 with a with an opportunity to surpass that 20 if the demand is there from our from the city, um, community. >> I appreciate it. >> If I may clarify, in our meeting with the principal, it was um, determined that we would be able to accommodate 40
students as the goal, but at a minimum 20. And we don't think there's going to be any problem with filling those seats. So, >> I appreciate that. know and and you know with your presentation and what I've you know done some independent research and some recommendations of parents whose
children have have gone through a program. It is is stellar. It's it's much needed. So where did the $2,000 amount come from? What was the genesis of that? That was um my recommendation for us to support to have a a financial
support aspect, but to make sure that they get the camp shirts and an opportunity for us to get branding on the shirts and any leftover funding, but also support the uh headphone equipment purchase, which can tend to be a challenge according to the program director. And then also to supplement
any prize money for the uh for the finalists. Mhm. >> So there's no support for that from the organization from NIF the NIFTY organization at all. >> So we are funded through other grants um but other grants are already covering the cost of our um of our meals as well
as um the staffing and interns that facilitate the program um and other operational components of it. >> The reason I ask and and I I'm not singling this out. I, you know, when I can, I I kind of vet and look at the
form 9990s that have been filed for these different not forprofits. And what they need to be teaching these kids is to form a not forprofit. Here's what I found on the Nifty website for 2024.
Their CEO salary was $688,000 a year. His benefit package was about $63,000 a year. The top three most highly paid officers, the CEO, the CFO, the executive vice president were north of a
million half dollars in compensation, just base compensation. While student expenses were just a hair over a million dollar and teacher expenses were at $197,000
and travel at $426,000. So the um cash on hand at the end of 24 was $6.1 million. They're not operating on a shoestring. and you can't get funding
for t-shirts. >> So, that is an opportunity for brand awareness um within the uh the city of Homestead. Um you know, we it's an opportunity for for that as well, but also an opportunity for our students to to be able to be proud of being part of
a community and a network um of entrepreneurs, not only like themselves, but also um being able to showcase that when they go on field trips um into different parts of the city of Miami. And again I want to be very clear very valuable lessons are taught
but I have to look at the organiza the financial situation of an organization and the need. I understand that you lost your prior home because there was I think no willingness to pay any kind of
rent or or use fee. And thank goodness for Keysgate High that that they were able to to accommodate that. But when I look at these numbers, I really h and it's not about the amount for me. It's about the principle. I really have to to
question when the top three officers of a not forprofit with $6.1 million cash on hand, have base salaries of over a million and a half dollars and coming hat in hand here to us for
2,000. I have a philosophical problem with that. That's just just me. Mayor, >> I have a fiduciary obligation here to know where taxpayer money is going. And typically the ask wouldn't be from a
general fund. Typically, it would be to go to individual council members and ask each of us to to pitch in. Go ahead. >> Thank you, mayor. When in reviewing this initiative, I asked what parts of your programming are you currently having a
gap for funding? And that's where we disclo that it was disclosed that the camp shirts have not been funded yet. And I found that to be an opportunity for branding for us to showcase the program and to be able to have um ownership with the program. So, I I want
to I think there should be some grace given to him when I'm the one that brought the program forward for our consideration and I profered the $2,000 to cover the camp shirts for the 40 students and to also uh escalate that towards equipment that they would end up
keeping and also escalate it to prize money that the city of Homestead residents would end up keeping. So, these $2,000 would not essentially go towards the pockets of the people that you're mentioning. valid points you've made. >> They should be f the organization should be funding this.
>> I agree. Valid points. And you know what? Maybe that's something that we should we should question, right? Um, you know, for the NFT, I would like to hear their answer to this type of questioning. I'm sure that they might have already had to answer it before. So, I I would I am interested in hearing
how they respond to these types of uh analysis, but the the proof is in the pudding. the kids are being served and for right here, right now, I think it's it's important that we foster that love of entrepreneurship and help advocate for
these programs to continue in our city where if they if they didn't do it here, they do it somewhere else and our kids end up getting left out regardless of the of the, you know, the the political and the financial, you know, oversight that is going on apparently. So,
>> are there any safeguards that it would only be homestead resident K children involved? >> I asked and he he had he had clarified that they are uh historically the for the programming it's all been vetted that they're from the high schools that
they >> but that doesn't mean they're homestead residents. >> He can answer to that. So I mean in the application process we do ask them for for that information for their address um the schools that they attend. Um and and part of it um so something I did not mention in the
presentation is that the camp is free for them to participate. There is no cost to the families for them to participate. So it is something um that the families can put their students in something that is um educational but also um allows them to grow um in way that maybe they don't grow in um
currently in school. >> Oh yeah. And just so you know in case you don't a homestead address does not mean you live in the city of Homestead any more than our manager's driver's license that says Miami means he lives in the city of Miami.
um you know we're and we're working toward that resolution. Yes, >> it would be very it would be an important u analysis for me to be able to support this item for next year to be able to see the roster and to be able to identify the ratio of residents city of Homestead versus non-residents. So I
would >> and we can easily identify that by address. >> Exactly. So you know I would just make you aware to highlight and and and try to prioritize those registrations. >> Absolutely. >> So any other questions Councilman Fletcher? Yeah, thank you. And and I appreciate you bringing up the point of
our financial stewardship. Uh again, this is taxpayer funds that we're going to outweigh which is going to benefit some citizens homestead. No doubt about it. But I would ask the manager and the staff, is there a way we could create our own not forprofit that we have
companies that come do business in the city of Homestead, donate to, and we use those funds for projects like these rather than taxpayer funds. I don't know if that's we want to want to go after or not, but I think
it's important that somebody needs to go after that where we don't have those high overhead expenses to pay for CEOs and CFOs to to help run this thing at a at a at a medium level. >> Councilman, if I may, in our parks uh presentation, there was discussion about
creation of a nonprofit for parks, but but for parks. So I can't see why something similar which I had already advocated and and asked for uh legal council to work on trying to create a fund specific to educational so that we could whether it's funded by pro uh
private parties um you know community benefit packages from developers uh donations etc but to have something that we could advertise to to have a fund. Again, I mean, a lot of a lot of different communities have, >> for lack of a better term, a sugar daddy
to pay for some of these things. >> We don't >> we do not. You go to Miami, you have the Trish and Dan Bell Foundation that gives millions of dollars to the city of Miami. You know, we don't have that here. It's up to us to go find it, but at the same time, I don't know if it's
something that we can do internally to be cost-effective or do we have to hire another person to run it at at a cost. So, I I think it's something that staff needs to look into and give us an answer back in the next month or so if
possible. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. Thank you, mayor and council for having us here today. Um, Councilman Fletcher brings up a good point and, um, after discussing with my team and everything, uh, South
Florida Barber Schools and Miami Clivers would like to donate $500 towards the 2,000 to cover the cost. And if maybe the city of Homestead can cover the rest, that would be much appreciated. Um, the because the future of of
Homestead does live here. as as you guys just saw, it's a great program. Um, they teach you how to balance a checkbook, financial literacy, how to put a a presentation together, and they compete with other nifty
programs um across the state and across the country. So, um, think of it like Toast Masters, how you compete with each other across the country. It's a great program for for the children. And I think that all the residents from the city of Homestead would benefit a lot of
the the children from the from the from the city of um employees and and so forth. So it'll be appreciated if you guys can support the whatever needs to be done for that program and we will cover a $500 donation. Okay.
>> So So in light of that the motion would be for 15,500 that and and I really hope that we have a a problem next year and that there's like a hundred kids wanting to to go into this program. I I'd like for that to be um the discussion is how do we make this
a bigger impact in our city and and these are valid concerns and questions. you know, um nonprof nonprofit work is is uh ruthless and for those who do it voluntarily and don't get paid for it, you know,
that's a lot of money that that guy's collecting as a salary. >> Yep. >> Um but, you know, I can understand on a national level where you the right person who's creating a successful, impactful, truly life-changing program. I mean, hey, they deserve a salary if that's what they're doing full-time. So,
but I'd like for answers to be brought back for mayor and counsel on that item. Thank you. >> Okay. Did we read this into the record, Mr. White or Pearl? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. So, do we have a we had a motion at 1500
>> by Avala? Seconded by Cannibal. Any further comment? All right. So, let's have let's have a roll call vote on that. >> Councilman Roth. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky? >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula? >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher? >> Yes. Councilman Cannibal?
>> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey? >> Yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> no. On principal, >> the motion carries. >> Okay. Um, Councilwoman, I know you had requested that we move the safe roads, I think. No.
>> Okay, that's that's fine because we we have a request to do the NSP properties now 27 and 28 and then go to 20 or no go to 26 and then do 27 and 28.
>> No, no, no, no, no, no. that if we're not going to go forward with 34 at this point, which is your item, the safe roads initiative, let's go to 26, 27, and 28. All right, Mr. Pearl.
Tab 26 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, enacting revised comprehensive council meeting and agenda procedures, superseding resolutions on the same subject, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Thank you. I know we've all been briefed
on this and this is kind of something I think we've all talked around for a long time about having two real council meetings a month. It allows us not to get hung up in land use items all in in one night. This provides a lot more more flexibility. Question.
>> Thank you, mayor. I I did voice a concern that I I like having a cow and the opportunity to digest information and to vote on it at a later council meeting. and I was proposing that we keep the cow and just add a third uh development services focused council
meeting. So, I'd like for that to be um considered and if you know if we it's really late in the agenda and I get that if if we can just defer it to next for a special call or something >> or or let's see how this works and and I think the some of the my early
conversations were that in effect that one council meeting could be a cow. You call it a council meeting so that you can have two land use meetings and go ahead and enact things. But there could be things on the agenda
that are carried over to the next. >> Okay. And is that the only change in this resolution for legal? I I want to get clarification. >> Uh >> other than the addition to of another council meeting, is there any changes to current practice? you would adopt a
council calendar in September to set forth your meeting dates and to it would give you the flexibility to take some time off if you wanted to take a month off when you whenever you establish your calendar. Um, and the only other minor change was
an occasion when we have meetings not that dissimilar from this evening where you have excessive public comment that we can shorten as needed. Yeah. >> You know, from three minutes down to a minute >> down to a minute or two minutes depending upon the flavor of the night
as as the need arises. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And then um in connection with this understand Mr. Man, you had some uh proposed um dates that that we might
skip in in the interim between the uh between now and and when we would adopt this for the the coming fiscal year. I think we're talking the the second reg what would be the second regular meeting in June. you know, staff's going to be
tied up with the Fourth of July and and some other things and rather than having them uh pulled away to do council meetings and perhaps a discussion about taking at least one of the August meetings off, >> right? There been some discussion about
the second June meeting. So on the August meeting I had mentioned to I believe staff as well as the city attorney that in most jurisdictions >> council usually takes the month of August off so that council can schedule
whatever the council related activities travels and also some cities also have one meeting in March to allow council members who are interested in doing a spring break to also have a break in March. Instead of having two meetings in
March, you have one meeting in March, then take the entire nove August off. And also some cities also have December, only one meeting in December because of the holiday period. And uh specific to
June, if I recall correctly, there is also the thinking that perhaps this particular month of June, we could do only one million in June just for this for this year. be the I think the June 5th meeting. >> Yeah.
>> And then we'd have one in early July. >> Thank you, mayor. And and just if I can get confirmation from you, mayor, because you know, there's no red line because it's a resolution. So, I know that there's prior um you know, prior council policy or um
>> procedures. There's prior council procedures in place and this is going to essentially wipe out and replace that. But most of those are incorporated here other than the additions that the attorney described about we set you know
in the run-up to the new fiscal year we set our calendar just for >> there's no change in special call >> right so just for for another example like for here it says no more than two presentations for each member that's current >> that's always been there >> right so >> maybe after tonight we ought to rethink that
>> but okay so that that's my main concern that I No bombs. No. No hidden. No hidden. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, we'll pass it. >> Okay. So then, while we're at it, if we would incorporate that, we would have the early June meeting and not the late
June meeting. Do we want to go ahead and address skipping one or both of the August meetings? >> Not this. >> This June. This June and this August because we wouldn't adopt the the following year schedule until probably September.
So the August meetings, usually on a yearly basis, you have the entire month of August off for meetings, >> but >> unless the council decides, >> but for this August, we're probably not going to have adopted the 12-month calendar. So we should go ahead and incorporate that into this. >> Okay. >> As well as I think the June 20th this
year, >> is it? What's What's the June? >> June 17th. >> 17th. Yeah. And then we we have early early July. >> So one good thing about this is that it's going to eliminate this constant
calls for special calls where you probably may have had some prior arrangements of travel or commitments then all of a sudden have a special call because you only have one meeting in a month and there are issues that need to be resolved. >> This will reduce the need for unexpected
special calls. And can we still in the practice of calling it a council meeting and listening to items, can we still continue the practice of creating a consent agenda? I'd like to I'd like for that practice not to change. So whereas I understand and I value the addition of the council meeting so that we can take
action on on if that's what the majority wants. I don't want the pressure of having to make a vote and not have the time to digest, reanalyze, hear public comment or you know investigate further and have a normal vote at the regular council. Keep in mind you can if
majority of council feels strongly on an item you can always move it to the next like meeting. You don't have to make the decision further. >> Have the discussion of further vote. >> Okay. >> Yeah. All right. So, do we have a motion with
those issues that we're going to take June 17, 2026 and both August meetings and then sometime in conjunction with doing the budget, we'll set the calendar for the October 1 to September 30th 27
calendar. All right. So, is that your right? You may do it. All right. Move by Cannibal. Second by Vice Mayor Bailey. Is there any public comment on this? And now we'll have a roll call vote.
>> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carries.
>> All right. So, let's jump to 27. Read that into the record. Mr. >> Yes, Mr. Mayor. Tab 27 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the sale of city-owned real property located at 75 Northwest 3rd Street, Homestead, Florida, approving an ASIS residential
contract for sale and purchase with SPC Marketing and Consulting LLC, authorizing the city manager to execute a deed and all necessary closing documents, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date. >> Hey, >> mayor, if I may. Yes, >> I analyzed this and I'm going to make
the motion to approve and we can have discussion, but >> I'm I'm with you. I'll second it. Let's move on. Let's get these off. Yeah, we've had a lot of discussion about getting properties off our side of the ledger. >> Right. And I think these are cash offers. The properties are going to be able to help us um do the rehabilitation
that's needed to then sell under the HUD guidelines, the first time buyers. >> Absolutely. So, we have a motion in a second. Is there any further from council? Any public comment? Uh just for the record, I think the potential uh purchaser is is here with us
>> this one. I think they might be on the phone. >> Oh, okay. Do we have anyone on the phone? >> We have two separate, >> right? We have the next next one as well. >> Okay. So, let's let the record reflect
that the proposed purchaser is is on the line. >> Okay. Anyone there? >> Raise raise your hand. Hit the raise your hand button. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. There's no other public comment. I'll close the public hearing and we'll have
a roll call vote on tab 27. >> Councilwoman Aulu. >> Yes. Councilwoman McCy, yes. >> Councilman Raw, yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Calibal, Vice Mayor Bailey, yes. Mayor Lawson, yes. >> The motion carries. >> All right, let's move to read in the tab
28. AB28 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the sale of city-owned real property located at 105 Northeast 17th Street, Homestead, Florida, approving an ASIS residential contract for sale and purchase with Wilmer Fernandez authorizing the city manager to execute the contract deed and
all necessary closing documents for writing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you, sir. Any council comment? Anyone like to make a move by Vice Mayor Bailey, seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Further discussion over the public hearing. Close the
public hearing and we'll have a roll call vote on tab 28. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula. >> Councilman Cannibal. Councilman Raw. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries.
>> Okay. I think we are now in position to go back to the regular order of the agenda which the first item would be the consent agenda for the approval of tabs 1 A 1 B 1 C has been moved by Councilwoman
seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Let's have a roll call on the consent agenda. >> Councilman Ross. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula. Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes.
>> Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> Mr. White. >> Yes. Moving on to your quai judicial items this evening. Please be advised the following items on the agenda are quai judicial in nature. If you wish to comment upon any of these items, please indicate the item number you would like
to address. on the announcement regarding the qua judicial item is made. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swearing in all testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally,
each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given in CuA. General public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the council to ask questions of staff or witnesses
on their behalf. Full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the qua judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with code section 2-590, any lobbyists must
register before addressing the council on any of the following items. At this time, council members must disclose any exparte communications concerning any items on the quaz judicial agenda this evening. Three through
seven 3 through eight, which that includes McDonald's. So 3 through eight are the pinco and McDonald's. Any anyone else need to disclose on the uh the Viking issue? Is that tab two?
>> Tab nine. Tab 10. Tab 11. >> It's just safe to say everything. >> Okay. >> So, at this time, I'd ask anyone in the audience's wishing to speak on any of the qua judicial items to please stand. Raise your right hand to be sworn in by the clerk.
>> You hereby swear affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help me gone. >> Thank you. You may be seated. So tab three, four, >> five, >> five, and six all deal with the same uh
application uh development project. Um two variances, tenative platinum site plan. As you recall, this was deferred from your last council meeting to give the applicant a chance to file a new variance for front setback, which they've done. I can introduce each one
of these. you can have a collective discussion conversation and then take a separate vote starting with the variances before the site plan and the tenants of plat. >> So let's do that. We'll have a collective conversation. So let's read them all in please. So tab three, car number 4974 is a resolution of city of homes of Florida granting site plan
approval as requested by Bama LLC in Peno for the development of 119 single family dwelling units residential subdivision on approximately 62.35 acre parcel of land generally located south of 296th Street north of 302nd Street
west of Southwest 192nd Avenue Southwest 197th Avenue is legally described in exhibit A and providing for an effective date tab four car number 49 975 is a resolution of the city of Homestead, Florida, granting tenative plat approval as requested by Bama uh LLC and Pinko
LLC for the development of 119 single family dwelling units for new residential subdivision located on approximately 62.35 acre parcel of land. Tab number five, card number 4976 is a resolution of city of homes here Florida granting a variance is requested
by Pankeno from city code of ordinances section 30-981 regulations to permit a minimum building site lot area of 15,780 ft where a minimum 1/2 acre 21,780 foot
building site is required for each single family tolling unit for the development of a new 119 single family residential subdivision res dwelling unit subdivision on approximately 62.35 acre parcel of land and finally tap six
car number 50-23 is a resolution of the city of homes of Florida granting a variance as requested from Bama and Peno from the city code of ordinances section 30-982 regulations to permit a minimum front yard setback of 35 ft where a minimum
front yard setback of 50 ft is required required for each of the single family residential dwelling units within the 119 single family residential subdivision. >> That's it.
>> Thank you, Mr. Arza. >> You've been cooling your heels since about 4:00. >> Take up residency in the city. Um, Hugo Arza 71 Burkel Avenue. uh joined today by um uh representatives from Lenar
Holmes uh Karolina Herrera and and her team and um want to thank you all for your time. I know that we've been before you. This will be the third public hearing now. Um but also your generosity with time and meeting with us and going over these issues. Um we give credit
where credit is due. When we were here last month, we uh talked a lot about this project and um one of the things that came to light was, you know, why do we have these homes set back quite so far? Um most folks don't utilize their
front yard nearly as much as they utilize their backyard. I think that's just generally a true statement. And why is that? And and we explained at the time, well, you know, your your code and we do try and minimize the variances we seek and your your code has a 50- foot front setback requirement. And so we were adhering to that and think of the
direction of this council based on that conversation um it became pretty apparent that um you know if if we brought those homes forward which which we've done now for you this evening and requested that variance that we might address some of the concerns that you
all had and were expressing about the usability of the backyards and and how you know how folks who are purchasing a home that's a larger lot home that's 16 17 18 20,000 square ft really don't want to lose a lot of that in their front yard where it's much harder to do any
number of things. And so what you have before you here this evening is a much shorter uh presentation because you've seen uh a lot of what we've done so far. Um, and so we'll just hit a couple of highlights and then we're going to show you graphically the impact of that front setback variance that we're asking for
and how the backyards and in particular the usable area of those backyards where you could put a structure, where you could put a pool, a gazebo, whatever the case may be, where those will um um how those increase for the different models that we have. Um the balance of the site plan remains fundamentally the same in
terms of what you'll see here before you today. And so, um, I know I pressed the There we go. So, um, at the last meeting, you this, this council did, uh, approve the resoning of the property. So, you don't have that item before. This property now in the yellow here is now reszone A2. And again, you heard me
say it, so I'll have to say it one more time. Really taking a nod from the development to the south that this council approved. Practically the same density. We're a tiny bit below that project was approved at 2.01. We're proposing 1.98 units. um we now have the
same zoning that they do. Um here is that site plan again. We um uh you know went into some greater detail the last time. Um but here is here's what that site plan looks like and uh and and that you'll have before you this evening. Um
uh we did get a question before I I get into um there were some questions about those buffers along the the ride ofway and so we wanted to show um there were some discussion about what would it look like once planted and grown in and so we had the landscape architect render it
what it'll look like um once that's done. So this is faithfully uh reflecting the landscape plan but obviously showing it once it's had some opportunity to grow in. we we'll be the first ones to say it doesn't nobody who plants a tree of any type is ever going
to um have it look uh quite that pristine on day one. But that is what the landscape architects who who provided us with this believe that that will look like and I think that should address some of the privacy concerns from someone walking on a sidewalk. They
will not be able to to see through you know that thickness of hedge. um the front yard setback um and and again and I talked about it at the direction of the council. Um you know that rear yard space became a critical point. Um in
addition and we touched upon it here with some some pretty pictures. Um we we also talked about how you know having more backyard space and and just the desire of folks who who live in maybe in a in a home and on a home site that's larger to have different types of trees. And so we we made a commitment then and
we're memorializing and have let staff know that we will include um tropical trees in our landscaping um so that the residents can enjoy what I heard you all mention as kind of that true homestead feel at some point um you know in in
their in their own backyard so to >> speak homestead. >> Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Should know better but it's late. Um the real homestead feel >> uh genuine a genuine homestead feel. authentic. We'll come up with a lot of synonyms now, but uh but that's that's
um that's the genesis behind it. We we've taken it a step further. Your staff has provided us with a list of trees uh fruit trees that they think um you know can can fit both in terms of the climate that we have in South Florida as well as the the community. Um
we we have no objection to incorporating those um in in its totality. I think it had something like 17 or 18. We just we were handed that earlier today. um it it just goes beyond that. It has more fruit trees, but in essence, we will have that be part of our landscaping. So that
again, in in maybe, you know, several years after this community is built, um you know, I think you would reasonably expect to see some of these at at maturity and and really creating a very different canopy than the traditional landscaping canopy that a lot of developments have. And so, um we've
incorporated that and made that commitment. Um so here are um again I promise you a visual depiction. I'm going to run through the the unit types one of the single family. So look at the top uh I'll ask you to look at the top and then look at the bottom. The top is
um what happens when we provide for a 35 ft front setback which is what we're doing now in the variance we're requesting before you. And then the bottom is what it was previously the 50ft setback. And what I want you to sort of focus on graphically is that darker green area. The entire portion
behind the house is backyard. I mean, you're free to put a chair down or do whatever you want in your backyard, but that darker green is what is reflective of the areas that have um the setbacks required from whatever might be from from the main structure, from the side
or from the rear. And those darker green areas are where those accessory structures, whether it's a pool, a gazebo, or anything else, can go. So, I'm going to take you through these in somewhat succession because really the takeaway here, I hope, is just simply that when you look at the bottom, you'll notice that in this case, those L shapes
are are a little shorter, right? They're a little thinner, so to speak. On the top, because the homes have been pushed forward, those darker green areas are larger. So, the area within which a homeowner, a future resident can uh enjoy um some of those additional structural uses in their backyard has
increased, as you can see graphically and visually here. next model. Um, and you're going to see the same thing. Actually, this one's a slightly different story. This is the one where it didn't fit at all. Um, we we we we didn't we weren't offering we couldn't offer it with with the front uh 50 front
setback. Now, with the 35 ft setback in some we can offer it in more lots. And so, at the election of a homeowner, if they wanted to buy it, they could now buy that model, which the model may appeal to them for another reason, the layout in the interior of the home. and they would still because now it's 35 ft
enjoy some backyard. Again, it's a choice. All of us if we own a home or whatever, if we rent, we make a choice as to where we want to live. This is the opportunity for someone to have now an additional choice. It didn't work on some lots, now it would. And that area now is is depicted in that darker green.
Um the next model um does the same. This one's pretty stark. Um this is one of the models where that that the bottom three there shows some pretty small. it was going to be difficult for folks to even put in a pool. That's not going to be an issue anymore with the with the
extra 15 ft. It gives you that top three models look so that you can uh provide for um every one of our models now would be able to have a pool if if a homeowner wanted to have it would have the space to do so or or in the alternative or perhaps in addition could have a gazebo
or whatever they might want because they all have more ample space. I think this is the next to last model. Same thing, just increases in the back. And then I believe this is the two-story model. And here it's a little different because the two-story model, the garage is on the sides. And so some of your usable space
is also on the side. Um, but that's I mean that's the design of the home. But again, the the increase in that area is is evident. And so um, we um, you know, we really, like I said, we we didn't want to go back through, although I have it here. you know, there
was a longer, lengthier presentation and some of it had to do with the resoning, which of course has already occurred. Uh, other parts of it had to do with, you know, a greater and deeper comparison to the area and the lots to the south. And again, I I I hope that those messages still resonate with all of you from from the first two public
hearings that we had. Um, but you know, above all else, we we took away the what we heard at last month's meeting. um we're able to work and I want to thank staff because getting an application in, getting an additional item reviewed, getting it noticed, and getting back before you within 30 days is is um not
always the case. So, they were they were incredibly helpful, and I want to thank them for that. We're here before you today, I think, addressing what we heard to be a a major concern at last month's meeting um so that these future homeowners can in fact enjoy more of
their homes. And so, um, I I I suspect there'll be some questions and so I'd prefer to reserve time for, you know, to answer all your questions and certainly if there's any comments from the audience. Uh, but otherwise, we would urge you to to look at the totality of this project, to look at LAR's track record in the city as both a corporate
citizen and as a builder in your in your city. Um, their uh models, their elevations, and what they're bringing to this area, and vote to approve the the various items that you have before you this evening. And thank you again for all the time you've given us. uh both at the public hearings and in our meetings.
>> Thank you for the turnaround. I think graphic illustrations as to the change are are very helpful. So I'll first open it up for any questions or comments from my colleagues. Counciloman, mayor, not that I want to spend a whole lot of
time, but I do have plenty of energy if necessary. But um I do want to thank uh the the the team, the architect team for changing the the site plan so that it reflects a better um family living experience in the city on on this type
of um development. I did want you to take a minute to talk about, you know, why not an HOA and only a CDD? Yeah. how you're going to have, you know, what mechanisms do you have in place so that the CDD can in fact properly maintain all the landscaping on a regular basis so that that hedge looks very uh very uh
uh healthy and and and uh and maintained. And then also where are the flags? I thought you >> we have the Oh, no. We I think we made Yeah, I guess I'll repeat the commitment. I'll repeat the commitment. I think we talked about doing the um if I recall correctly, I think we offered to do per home to in to have the the I
forget what it's called. for the brackets. >> The brackets. Yes. We we we and there is a flag at the um mailbox kiosk. Sorry, I was trying not to repeat myself. So, but yes, we I thought we had addressed that. >> So, is that on the site plan already? The flag. >> I think the flag only the not on not not the bracket. I think we were going to do
that as a condition because it's something you're attaching to a mailbox area. I believe we had shown the flag, but either way, we've we've done it previously, but I know I mentioned that last time. So, >> thank you. I mean, I'm going to really defer to my colleague that lives in the Northwest and and the mayor as well who
lives in the Northwest on this item, but thank you for bringing into consideration the uh fruit trees and the improved product. >> I I'll answer your HOA CDD question if if you want. I mean, we'll have to answer at some point through through the mayor. Um so the reality is you know
when we started this process and when there was a lot of discussion about you know the the additional charges that any uh project has. I mean development in South Florida and in Miami date county is is in large part funded through CDD process and I know you're very familiar with that council woman from your
community. um we were able to in this case and for this type of community because it's a single family home community and doesn't have like a you know other common amenities and the like to actually remove the HOA which which our you know both LAR's corporate folks
and their sales team feel is is a positive. I mean, homes are expensive just generally speaking. And even whatever it might be, $100, $150, $200, whatever an HOA fee might be, may not seem like a lot, but when you tack it on top of, you know, a mortgage and and taxes and and insurance and everything
else, it can add up. And so, we made the decision early on that we would um that this was a community in which they could remove that HOA fee and and perhaps take a little bit of the burden away from from the future homeowner. Um, as far as the CBD u maintaining, yes, I mean, as
you know, contractually the CDD can certainly maintain and and have the ability to maintain the landscaping. It just has to be funded. That CDD um will be the residents of that community who of course will have their budget and will be able to prioritize and hire um you know, until it's turned over, of
course, it'll fall to LAR. you know, in a community of this size, it's not so large that it will be a long time before the residents will manage their own CDD and we'll be able to hire the folks and ensure that the landscaping and there will be no greater person that will want to see that landscaping well maintained than the 119 residents and their
families who live here. So, >> to have an opportunity to clarify, this is going to be an exclusive CDD, correct? >> For this development and this development, >> this the se Yes, we had we had made that commitment. I'm hoping that uh everything we said is incorporated by reference or whatever from previous
meetings, but I'm sure we'll repeat a few of the things. Yes, we the the creation or the formation of this CDD will contain language that the boundaries of this CDD um are fixed and cannot be expanded. So only the geographic area. >> Yes. Well, it will include the county.
Is that Yes. Yes, it will include Yeah. Any other clarification? Um, as we talked about maybe the first or the second time or in one of the 17 meetings you've all been generous enough to give us, um, there is a companion piece Lar purchased from, um, one of the sellers which falls in Miami Date County that
has already been through the development uh, process um, the the approval process at the county. The CDD will include those homes, but this is one community including those homes, those residents. And I'm going to venture to guess that those folks are going to feel every bit as homestead residents as the people
next door because I don't think a street's going to change how people feel. And so the CDD will cover all of it. So >> I I have a question for you. So does the CDD already exist in the county for the county portion? >> No, we're we've submitted it. It'll come to this board for their resolution of
support hopefully in short order. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, we we'll include the >> I just wondering because it we'll need to do it before final plat or it's in place for >> Trust me, there's plenty of people back there that are going to make sure we do that. Yeah. No, we I think we submitted
it already. Correct. Um if I'm not Yeah. Yeah. So, we I think we've submitted it for consideration and hopefully it'll be before you all in the next month or two. else. >> I'm just curious. Why wouldn't that other
development that's a part of this development not annex into the city? >> Well, it's it's not it's a great question. I've been asked that question. Um um joking. >> Yeah. Um you know, first of all, if you have tried any
annexation process in the county, it is arduous and takes a long long time. Secondly, it's not typically done by the private parties. I mean, I think the city could talk to the county and I have asked my client and they have no objection if it occurs during the
pendency of LAR still owning that track. Um, meaning they're still developing it and they haven't sold the homes. We have no objection to it being part of the city. It just was not question. >> I didn't want to divulge sources, but >> that's fine. That's fine. I'll I'll I'll take ownership of it should be annexed.
Common sense says that it should be annexed. >> Yeah. I mean, it gets a little confusing even for police, right? Are they correct different address? >> But your backdoor neighbor has a county address and county police coverage. >> We have no objection. Um, you know, we we we've seen a lot of annexation
requests and issues at the county. We're happy to lend our assistance. Uh, you know, just let you, you know, anything that we've learned along the way, but it is typically initiated by the government agencies with each other. I mean, it's not a private sector, but we'd have no objection. And, you know, And just so we
know, I made the same request of DR with what is it? Aspen Estates, right? >> Where there was that little segment of the former Green Leaf Nursery that got left out of our prior annexation. Squared off bring it in. It just makes makes sense. >> Yeah, it does makes a lot of sense.
>> I don't know what that process would take, but and I don't think Lar would mind that at all. >> We don't. They did not. >> We don't. So how do we initiate >> and we'll have to take that up once we get >> confirmation that the current moratorum that >> there are some exceptions to the current
moratorum on annexation >> we may fall within that exception as it's residential >> and one owner right now. >> Yeah I think that's right. I think that the moratorum speaks more to the industrial and commercials. Correct. So
>> yeah. >> Thank you council. Anyone to my left? Councilwoman Ksky, welcome to the party. >> Hello. >> Thank you, Mr. Artha. Um, I know I have probably given you way more push back than anybody else on the DAS.
>> No, probably you have. Yes, >> you're in my neighborhood. You're on my turf. Of course, I know I know this area well. I I've expressed to you before that as a realtor, I farm this area. I'm very well verssed on what the residents want and what they don't want. Um, a few
things. I I do appreciate the the variance change and the setback giving them a bigger yard. However, and the trees, the fruit trees. Thank you for the little nod of to the to to the redlands. >> Yeah. >> However, it is not enough in my opinion
to offset the loss of open space. You know, that's that's something that that people want and they're trying to hold on to. Nonetheless, your comment. Um, I've talked to you also about this being on the cusp of the Redland
>> and luxury homes, estate homes. Other than the setback, there's been no change to to no change to to the models or anything else other than adding a bigger backyard that would make this any more luxury. In many of our meetings, we've talked about
affordable home ownership. um as one of the last little sections of Homestead left that again going back to this is on the cusp of Homestead and the Redland. Um I think there is an appetite for a more luxury higher income area. I
I think the residents would even appreciate that and raise their property values. Um >> so I'm I'm still not there. You know, I appreciate everything you've done. And one more thing also, I know it's not your this is a county issue more than an
issue for you as a developer, but the traffic of that section. >> I forgot um I I did um speak with your public works director. I don't know if Yeah, you're right there. We talked about the four-way stop sign on 296 and uh 187th Avenue. And I think Mr. Mr.
Congress, you told me that um you believe that the county has a warrant analysis they're evaluating to see if a of a signal might be warranted at that location. >> Not what I mentioned was that it would require a warrant. So, it would be uh I would assume if council requests it, it
would be um as part of the development for you guys to analyze it and see if it's warranted. And if it's not warranted to figure out some others that could lead to minimizing the impacts that the four-way stop is currently causing, but it's only it's only a
warrant is the only thing that would, you know, be um lead to an a signalized intersection being allowed to be installed. That's That's what it is. >> Okay. Um well, look, we're happy to assist. I mean, um I I told you that,
you know, I I understand the frustration of a four-way stop sign. Um I I guess I misunderstood the public works director. I believe I I thought I heard I will stick to my guns. I thought I heard him say that they were already looking at it, but um that is the step to to take a
look at it by the county. Um it is not adjacent to our property. It is not an intersection that touches our property. It's an intersection that's several blocks away. And so it is not typically the responsibility of a developer to fix that problem. I'm just going to be very honest. Um so um but we can offer our assistance. We have track traffic
engineers that can provide the data to the to the city and and help the city request of the county that they um perform a you know a warrant analysis to see if it's warranted there. I will note cuz I know I made made this comment before. We didn't change the land use. So, the county or I'm sorry, the city
should always have assumed that this parcel would have up to two and a half dwelling units per acre. Um we're we're proposing a project now, but for 20 30 years, however long the master plan has been in place, this parcel always had land use for residential up to two and a
half dwelling units per and the importance of that is merely that when you're looking at areas and and other projects that might have studied it, they would have assumed this project would have some impact. This is going to be new impact in the sense of actual
physical cars out there, but there will be studies that will have shown that this parcel already had land use in place. Be a different story if this was never intended for homes and was being proposed for homes. But it's always been intended for homes and we're just going through the process of getting the reszoning which we have in the site plan
approved. But all of that said, I'm I'm happy to have our our traffic engineers provide any data that we have and work with the city to request officially of the county who are the only ones who can do signalization. The city can't and the developer can't. The county has exclusive signalization jurisdiction.
We'll provide that data and work with uh Cairo so that they can pass it along to the county and you know obviously if it's warranted then the county you know would have an obligation to install it. Um, so that's I think our our offer and you know try to help the situation.
>> Much appreciated. That would be 250 plus cars. I know what we said. They're not all coming out at the same time >> or in the same direction to be fair, >> but nonetheless, you know, it's already a burdensome intersections. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I think they've uh done what we've asked
them to do ultimately. I just like to hear two little words and you can say it fleeting away from the microphone, but you know what they are. >> Two to hear two little words. >> Yes. Go Irish. >> No. Go Irish. >> Yes, sir. >> Notre Dame way. He wore his tie on purpose. He'd like for us to call it Notre Dame estates. I told him that
there were a few too many University of Miami uh uh graduates at LAR for me to be able to pull that off tonight. But I don't know. We'll on St. Patrick's Day, we'll paint something green for you. So, >> all right. So, let me uh open this for
public comment. Is there anyone in the audience or on line wishing to speak to this matter? Anything further from council? >> Sure. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, regarding these fruit trees, they'll fall they'll fall
in line at least in the beginning while they're maturing enough to survive on their own. That maintenance can kind of keep an eye on that as well. >> Well, I think the trees are going to be in in the property owners. I mean, it's intended to be in their backyards. >> Correct. Otherwise, >> if they're planted before there's a
homeowner. >> Oh, sure, sure, sure. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> And is it one per backyard? >> We we two >> per backyard. Yeah. >> From the from the list, >> maybe, you know, provide some symmetry. Maybe one on each side or, you know, and
we'll work with the >> two different types. >> Yeah. You can you can you can pick two of the same type. You can pick two different types or you can and and we'll work with homeowners to figure out location because a homeowner that doesn't intend to have a pool may prefer to have it in one part of their yard. Somebody who thinks they're going to put in a pool or, you know, may decide they
want the tree on the other side, you know. So, we'll work with them. It sounds like a silly little thing, but I can just imagine driving by that it is going to feel more like non-cookie cutter because even the landscaping on the east, it's it's very different.
There's there's just no grinding >> then. Yeah. Than fruit trees. >> Curious to see what that is going to look like. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Think further? All right. So, let's start. I think appropriate place to start would be the tab six variance.
So, do we have a motion on tab six? Moved by Councilman Roth, second by Councilman Cannibal. Let's have a roll call vote on tab six. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> no. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, >> yes.
>> Councilwoman Ksky, >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. Vice Mayor Bailey, Mayor Lawson. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> And then tab five. >> Moved by Councilman Roth. Second by Councilman Cannibal. Roll call on tab
five, please. Madam clerk. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula. >> No. Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ro. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lawson. >> Yes. The motion carries
>> and then we should go to tab three site plan approval followed by T plant. >> No. >> Move tab three. >> Second by cannibal. Roll call please madam clerk. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Councilwoman Avulo. >> Yes.
>> Councilman Ross. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilman Campbell. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lawson. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. And then finally, Tplat approval tab four. >> Moved by Councilman Roth,
>> second by Councilman Cannibal. Roll call, please. >> Councilwoman Abul, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes.
>> The motion carries. >> All right. Before we move on, we need a motion to I think that's it for you. >> I think it is. You'll see me shortly. Very briefly. Yes. Thank you. Okay, we need a motion to extend the meeting to 11 p.m. Do we have a motion? Do we have a second
to move to to go to to 11? All right. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Okay. Six 6 to 1 to uh extend to 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock. I'm going to tap
seven. Say 7 a.m. >> Okay. I received a message from staff asking to jump to tab 25. So if we could go there
tab 25 is wastewater. >> Well, it's it's um the uh wastewater treatment facility issue. Um, >> tab 25 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving and adopting the
wastewater facility plan, Homestead WWTF expansion dated May 2026, prepared for the city by ACOM, authorizing the appropriate city officials take such action as necessary to transmit the adopted facilities plan in connection with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Clean Water
State Revolving Fund Program and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Mr. Director. >> Good morning. Oh, wait. It's the same day. I'm sorry. My bad. All right. So,
um I will try to make it brief, but um as you may be aware, this is a public hearing. So, I have to provide uh certain information um as part of the process required for this that we are here for today. The um purpose of the
project today uh the presentation today is to present the proposed expansion of the wastewater treatment facility in the city of Homestead. And um the the reason why we have to do a facility plan is
because in order to fund this project with very favorable loan terms uh yeah terms we have to first go through it get council approval and submit to FTP for them to uh decide whether or not to put
it in the list of projects that they fund and then at some point uh we begin the project. So let's move on. The purpose is to present a draft facilities plan for SRF which means state revolving funds. These are the
funds that come from the federal government and gets managed by each state's respective um department of environmental protections. In our case is the FDB. Um so the purpose is to present the draft state revolving fun facilities plan for the homestead
wastewater treatment facility expansion project to summarize the project needs alternative evaluated and recommend the path forward review environmental effects and benefits financial feasibility requirements and implementation schedule and receive public input and support council consideration of the facilities
resolution. Where is this project located? It is located on the northwest quadrant of Southwest 328th Street, commonly known as Lucy and Southwest 172nd Avenue, um which is also Southeast 6th Avenue, um
here locally in Homestead. The improvements are centered at the existing wastewater treatment facility site. The plant is currently permitted for 5 million gallons a day on an annual average daily flow basis and disposes treated effluent through on-site trenches. Flows above local treatment
capacity are currently conveyed to the Miami date water and sewer department system and proposed upgrades would occur within or adjacent to the existing historically developed wastewater treatment facility footprint. What is critical and one of the primary reasons
we have a few very important reasons why this project is being proposed. The first one is what was mentioned on bullet point number three, which is that the excess flows have to be rerouted to Miami date county. This um this has two
issues with it. The first one is that um it will cap us at a certain point when it comes to the capacity and the growth of the city. Why? because that is the only um force main that is available that services not only the city of Homestead but also the city of Florida
City and everything to the west of uh the city of Homestead. Now with um the developments that one of them just was approved. This is going to allow the county to expand their footprint towards the west because they by means of these
this development and others now they have the infrastructure which before they didn't and they had to rely on the city to provide the service and as you all know we had mortorium issues. So that is the primary reason we need to make sure that we can treat our own uh
wastewater and not depend on that one piece of infrastructure that will be at capacity soon. The second primary reason is because we are wholesale buyers of the county. We are at the um behest of uh any rate increases. Last
year we were increased 19% and that's not something that we can negotiate. If they come in with 19% increase, we have to accept it being a utility. And um one other reason why we want to do this is you know we talked about the the the well fields and I don't want to talk bring this topic
but the way that we treat our water is very unique. We treat our water to a point that is almost at drinking level. Now we're not going to drink it because it has other components that we don't treat but we are very unique uh in this way of processing our waste water. And
by now increasing the capacity and having those trenches recharge the aquifer that allows us to prevent this salt water intrusion that uh we definitely do not want going all the way up to our well fields. So those are the primary reasons why we're
doing this project. There are others but those are the main ones. Um so why the improvements? As I mentioned before, we are currently permitted to treat 5 million gallons a day, but actually we treat about 4.158
due to some um just features of of the way that it was constructed. uh we produce approximately 9 9.5 million gallons a day and um the 5.3 42 million gallons are the ones that we have to
send to was in addition to that the city has within our uh system not necessarily just the city but within the system we have approximately 23 um 2300 um properties that are on septic tanks that would benefit uh the environment if they
were to connect. Right now there is no plan forward. So that that wouldn't be done at this point unless we could treat the additional flows. The projected total flows approaches 10 million gallons a day when existing system demands and septic tank conversions are considered. The action
alternatives compared 12 million gallons a day, 8 million gallons a day and 6 million gallons a day total treatment capacity scenarios and the city seeks to reduce long-term reliance on external treatment while improving improving reliability and resiliency. That is another reason why we want to do
this project. We would like to make the plant that we currently have more resilient to ensure that if there ever was a time when we were to experience any sort of really bad inclement weather and by that I mean storm surge because
there is a possibility we're in zone C. So with the right direction we could experience it. we would lose the plant and that would also be a pretty bad position to be in. So this project is also helping us with that.
Now we um have to mention as part of this process for the SRF loan application the um the cost and effectiveness analysis for this plan. The city intends to pursue funding assistance through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program as part of the SRF process. The facilities plan evaluates alternatives project justification, environmental effects, public participation, and financial feasibility, a planning level alternative analysis compared the no action alternative with three build
alternatives for the wastewater treatment facility. And those alternatives are listed in the table that you have on um slide number five. As the bullet mentioned, the um package requires the process requires that you
do a no action evaluation. Then you have to obviously evaluate the recommended um alternative that you prefer and others as well. And they have to be presented to council and the public for this draft to eventually become final and for us to send to them.
That's just part of the process. The cost effectiveness analysis for alternative zero is obviously to do nothing. It maintains the existing permitted treatment capacity of 4 million gallons a day. Continues diverting flows above the wastewater
treatment facilities capacity to was for treatment and disposal. Does not address the city's current or long-term wastewater treatment capacity and future growth needs. It maintains continued dependence on external treatment and disposal. does not resolve limitations associated with a 16 effluent disposal
system or current and anticipated regulatory constraints and does not satisfy the project purpose and needs and is not recommended. On the second to last bullet, what this means is that the plant is in serious need of extensive
rehabilitation. The last time that it was, I guess, fixed was in 1999. And um every cycle that we have um the permitting agency FTP come they do mention that we have to redo our um
filters. We have to redo our UV uh system. So we definitely have to do something that is expensive. We just have to figure out what makes the most sense economically and that's part of this process. So alternative number one is the
preferred alternative. What you see on the screen is basically a schematic of the processes that we want to include. Uh we will want to maintain the same uh treatment um uh the same treatment type that we use
now which is the uh SBRS that they they we inject air into it. We let the bacteria do all the cleaning that they they want to do and then it goes into the filters. after the filters it goes into the UV and when it comes out of the UV is almost drinking water level. So
that's that's the kind of system that we want to maintain for a plant our size. It is the most economical to manage and you all know the other benefits that I mentioned. We are not um able to discharge water anywhere else such as the county. They're able to discharge into the ocean and whatnot. We don't
have that. We have to go through the trenches and this is the only technology that that allows us to do that. So that's the other added benefit. So it expands local treatment capacity to 12 million gallons a day above the projected 10 million gallons system demand which means that we're planning for the future. Eliminates routine
diversion to Miami day water and sewer. It includes influent pump station headworks. This is the process that I mentioned for new SBR basins. The nitrification filters. So we would have a higher level of treatment which is going to be required by the
permitting agency anyway. UV disinfection, trench disposal, expansion, slush handling, and new administration electrical facilities. And that is part of the resilience component. Currently, our operators who have to be at the plant 247 even during inclement weather are at ground level
and that is not normal or should be the case. So the new building would put them on the second level where they can oversee the operations. and is recommended for greatest local imp uh capacity, lowest external reliance, and strongest long-term operational
flexibility. The other two alternatives that were evaluated were to increase the plant to 8 million gallons a day, but still maintain approximately two being um diverted to to WADI. And then
alternative three would be to um rehab the plant the current plant and rerate it to 6 million gallons a day and send 4 million gallons a day to Wasi. So the process is essentially the same um as
far as treatment is concerned but you will see now the benefits when it comes to the financial um evaluation. So when you look at the financials, I don't want anyone freaking out. The
total cost is not projected to be that high. That is a very inflated cost because right now we're doing planning level class 5 estimates which are supposed to do that. Um they're not supposed to start from the bottom and work your way up because that's how uh
people typically get into those situations. Uh the reality is that we look at the values that we have now. we add a multiplier to it and then that 125 is with a 30% contingency that's the same across the board for all the three
projects uh alternative by the way under the total project cost um row but what I want um everyone to pay attention to is the second line item which is the 20-year operation and maintenance present worth if you look at alternative
one that is 76 million that is the cost of operating and maintaining for 20 years. If you were to take that money and bring it to today's value, it would be $76 million. Alternative two, which again is diverting 2 million gallons to Wasi increases that to 104. And if you look at alternative 3, it increases it
to 143. And why is the difference that great? Because we are playing paying the wasi to treat the water as wholesale customers. And currently this fiscal year approximately onethird of our revenues are sent to wasi uh at the
moment. So without getting the benefits that this plan would would give us. So last but not least, if you look at the total overall present worth and you compare them across the row, you notice that alternative one, although slightly more expensive when you consider a
20-year operations, is by far the the preferred only because not only are you able to treat all the water, you get to treat it better than what was the wood. their level of treatment is is much lower than ours and all the other benefits that I mentioned.
Um so alternative one is recommended because it provides the cost complete long-term solution. Life cycle costs are close and within the class 5 estimate accuracy accurate um accurate accuracy range
environmental effects and benefits. So at this point in the design, what the um design consultant uh did was a planning level desktop review and they did not identify significant adverse impacts to natural resources at the
existing developed wastewater treatment facility site. Available mapping indicates no jurisdictional wetlands within the facility footprints. Although a wet storm pond is present on site, which has been discussed with permitting agencies and they have um told us that
there is no issue with uh filling that in order to expand the footprint of the plant itself. The project is not expected to result in significant adverse human health or environmental effects on a minority or lowincome communities. And again, these are things that have to be done as part of the
process. And a portion of the northeastern facility grounds falls within the mapped 100-year flood plane. Final design should incorporate resiliency and flood mitigation measures for critical assets and of course they will.
So the tentative project schedule, the tentative project schedule is a very conservative schedule. The schedule is also dependent on funding um because the state revolving fund only
provide it's it's almost like a grant. It works as reimburseable. They only reimburse up to $20 million a year. So assuming that the project were to come in at a total cost of $100 million, you have to split that up into five years.
The reality based on my experience, what I've seen, and also other municipalities, is that we don't anticipate that the city would have to pay for this project in its entirety because this loan has uh a component of
um principal forgiveness. It's dependent on FDP if they want the project or not. And then they they make that determination. And we foresee that when it comes to grants which we have been very successful um this could
potentially get in a conservative and of course I can't say with 100% anything but conservatively I think we could potentially get 30% to almost 50% grant funded for this project. Every single agency that we spoke to was extremely
excited over this project and they much rather we do this than continue sending water to was and again I want to reiterate I'm not knocking was what they do is amazing and they treat billions of gallons. All right so they do they do great work but because of the way that
we have to dispose our water is better. That's just the reality. So everyone's very excited about that. Okay. And now I'm going to turn it over to um Carlos, our finance director, to go over these three slides. >> I'll do it sitting down if you don't mind. Ah,
>> okay. The the formula that they asked for to calculate what the debt service would be is basically taking the capital cost allowances, but only a 10% contingency. So that comes up to the $103 million. Then they provide for a loan service fee that we would have to
pay for for the loan if we get it. And that's considered 2% of capital. That that's an additional 2 million bringing it up to 105 million. And then we're allowed to capitalize the interest. So interesting being calculated during the construction uh program. We would that's
about another four million bringing the whole project to be advertised that we would have to calculate the debt service on to 109 million. Now, the part where and I think he might have mentioned it before, the beauty of going through the state revolving fund is the discounted
rates. If you go to a 20-year uh treasury bill right now, you would be paying maybe 5.02. When we calculated it, they do it based on census and I think maybe poverty poverty levels. Um, this is the calculated amount. So, it's a very
discounted rate at 1.588%. So when you calculate that to the amount you get 6.4 million for the debt service but then we also have to meet coverage of 120%. So that brings the debt service at $7.6 million.
Now this what they wanted to see here is basically a projection of revenues and expenditures and in particular they wanted us to start with a year before the project is completed. As Cairo mentioned the project completion is 2034. So therefore the exercise was to
calculate it from uh 2033 through 2037. How did I do that? Basically took fiscal year 26 adopted budget and made assumptions on the projections for revenues. Those assumptions included CPI. It included growth. It included the
Miami Date County pass through that we usually do every year. On the expense side, I did similar for personnel cost uh for operations and for the WASA bill, which is like Cyro mentioned, it's one of the biggest bills for their
operations. So, in 2035, I mean, in 2034 when the project's completed, I'm also assuming that the WA was bills would start going down there. So you see the the last item is showing that even with the debt coverage, even paying the the debt service of the existing $12 million
that we have for the water and sewer loan that was approved in December and in addition to the the the new debt service. We still have sufficient funds. Now that's not necessarily all surplus. Don't think that that's going to fund balance. It would probably be used for capital projects that they would have
from year to year. >> No, no, you have to go through each one of the numbers. I'm sorry. >> The numbers go to each one. >> He would love it. >> And the most important part here is that if we had to basically increase revenues, increase rates in order to
cover the debt service of the $7.6 million, we're looking at a 7 to 8% increase on the water and sewer rates. That's it. >> All right. Thank you. So this is the public participation part of this
process. Uh this is a public hearing and here we're showing you a timeline of all the um steps that were completed. The public uh notice was uh provided. The draft facilities plan was available to the public and is available to the
public online. That was um also advertised. And right now we're currently conducting the public meeting and um comments from uh the community. And last but not least also today we um we would need to have council resolution
consideration for the adoption of the facilities plan and obviously directing staff to continue with the process. So what is the requested council action? Um council and public received public
meeting presentation. Now council and uh public comments would take place and then the adoption of the SRF facilities plan resolution for the homestead wastewater treatment facility expansion would be requested um from council and
last authorized last but not least authorized continue pursuit of the FDB clean water state revolving funding for the recommended project. Thank you. more information. This is the information with the draft report. This
is only a presentation. Our consultant put together the mandatory draft report and that can be found at homesteadfl.gov/wtf for wastewater treatment facility. >> Cyro, it's it's also important to note that what you're doing tonight is basically approving us to move forward
with the application. This would come back if we're awarded in August, it would come back to council in in January and that's when you would have an opportunity of approving the moving forward with the loan. So once we send it now at the beginning of January of
June, FDP takes their time to evaluate all the projects that come from the the whole state and by August we find out whether the project was um moved forward as one of the uh projects that they want to um move forward with or not. At that point,
we would have to come back to council because that's when we start looking at what is going to be the rate if the loan is approved and and whatnot. By January, which is the um the date that Carlos mentioned, what we would be coming to council is with the agreement for the
first of the loans. They break it up into design and construction. They treat it as two separate loans. So at every step of the way they they give council or the governing agency of that entity to do whatever they they feel is
necessary at that point. >> So your ask tonight is for us to authorize you to go forward with the application under the choice of phase of option one. >> Correct. Yeah. approval of the facility action plan recommendation for
alternative one and to proceed with uh putting it uh sending it to FP for consideration. >> But before we do that, we need to open the floor for public comment. >> Correct. >> Okay, I'm opening the floor for public comment on this uh wastewater treatment
facility upgrade and overhaul. Is there anyone online? Is there anyone in the audience? Is there anyone in the audience awake? All right, seeing none. Yes. Well, we'll close the public hearing and then back to council.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um I will motion to to proceed on this item with option one, but with um uh direction for our city manager's office. There were multiple points of information that I requested in the briefing relating to this matter. I don't recall receiving it, but I'd
like to um I remember Last time I think I asked for the county contract with regards to the the processing. The majority of my district, if not all of it, is on that contract. >> Um, >> if I got it, great. And then I'd like to
I'd like to have a follow-up meeting so that we can discuss it further. I want to become an expert in this u infrastructure um department. And there's going to be plenty of time between now and uh when we when we go to approve the the loan.
And um you know, I really I really encourage you to to try to you know, work on gaining my vote of confidence um over these next couple of months because I super impressed with the site um the site tour, the expertise that I
heard on site. Um, I have I have no doubt that we have excellent staff working uh at these facilities and I really want to know how the bacteria is doing this week. But I'll save I'll save the conversation for another time. But um I really want to be able to believe
that I'm getting all the information 100% of all the details and um and be able to vote confidently. Thank you. >> Let me ask you a little bit of clarification and maybe I misunderstood when we we talked about it.
your district is directly offloaded to the county. It never comes through our system or No, >> no. So, uh is that's for water for portable water and although the infrastructure is citymained and
operated, the water source and pressure comes from the county. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> But waste water >> waste water is Yeah. It it goes to through the plant and then the excess has to go then back out again. >> Just a a a one big pool from all over the city and whatever we So, you know,
you're not directly your your water is >> and going out in the weeds really quick late at night. >> When was the last time we dug a new water well? >> I think in the 70s uh we have I think well number five wasn't 77 or something like that. is the villages of Homestead
wasn't completed until 1981. So without getting into the nuances of permits and all that kind of stuff, do we have the legal ability if we needed to drill additional wells at other sites? We're pretty concentrated
at at two sites. Ha. Have we looked at where where an alternate site may may be? Obviously, it's a city-owned property. >> Are you referring to water? >> I'm talking about drinking water. Well, >> drinking. So, we are only permitted for those two location, Wickop and and
Harrisfield. There is no other location in the city. The only ones that at some point were looked at were further southeast obviously because there's more room, but because of the salinity um intrusion that that is discarded. So,
the only wells that we are permitted by a DB is those two locations. Now, we also have another uh location that I believe is called the Newton, and that one services the county. Uh we don't use that one. It has a different um correct me if I'm wrong, Eddie. Am I good?
>> What? >> Wake up. No, Newton that services the county. >> Okay. So that's a different chemistry and we don't connect it to our system. So the ones that we have are and Harris field.
>> So any additional capacity would have to come from within our existing fields or can we even drill another well to bring more out faster? >> Not only can we we have to we >> just a point of information we currently have submitted a request to the state
for funding for a brand new well at Harrisfield which is well number seven. So, we're waiting for funding. So, >> mayor, if I can just on that topic, we might as well with the regulatory mayhem that that exists around Wells. I don't know if I want to add any more regulation restrictions anywhere else
around the city. Let's stick to what we've got. But I I guess >> I just wanted to clarify, we have two, >> but if we lost a Wellfield, >> which is kind of funny because Harris Field started out as an airport. Well, there's salt plume.
>> Yes. >> Thank you, mayor. You mentioned that no updates had been made since 99. >> No major updates. Yeah. >> So, was it major like along these lines or >> Yeah, that one was pretty major. We went from clarifiers. I I don't know if you can picture, but typically when you see
a wastewater treatment facility, you see these big round circles that just let the water flow and slowly all the um well, you know, particles settle to the to the bottom. Yeah, they sink to the bottom. So, those occupy a lot of space.
And this plant had it originally from when it was um reconstructed in in the 50s. We moved away from that and and um constructed this type of process that creates a much cleaner water. But since then, no major improvement have been
done. We just um I'm pretty sure I don't know if council remembers, but we we brought to council to purchase um equipment that is needed that is very old and and we're going to be installing it soon in our current SBS, but nothing else major other than that.
>> So ballpark. If we go with option one, we're looking at a good 30, 40 years. >> With proper maintenance, you can get more out of these. Um, but everything runs down. So, for example, the filters that we have,
>> I became aware that the casing were used when they were purchased in 99 because of funding constraints. So, that alone is a little dicey. It's hard to get a lot more out of them than we already have. And really, our staff does miracles with what we have. They do
miracles when I hear this type of stuff. I don't know about this. cuz I'm not, you know, waste water, but you know, it's it's pretty impressive. >> Okay. No, I think um especially looking at the long run and seeing how much we'd be saving eventually, we might as well blend bigger.
>> Yeah. And there's a a possibility that with reduction of infiltration, uh inflow infiltration, you could even at some point have the county be treated through our system as well, which would be a source of revenue. We're not there yet, but with the improvements that we
are currently doing to the collection system, we could get there within 10 years. >> Mayor, if I may, just one more thing. Not that I'm hearing any objection. I think we're all in favor of supporting the infrastructure, but for our public purposes, this is critical infrastructure. our our plant or our
treatment facility is currently designed based on 30,000 residents in 2009 which then exploded in um >> oh 99 >> I'm sorry in 99 which then exploded in 2009 and now it's even doubled from there. So you know this is absolutely
needed um and you know I look forward to it being done expeditiously. I will ask if staff can please look at um the perimeter the existing perimeter right now while I did the plant the the tour I I could see neighbors residences and you
know it's curb appeal next to a a city facility you know so that's part of the plan the land security walls >> and the security walls for sure in the in the redesign but if there's anything we can do right now to help obscure the visibility and the smell not that it's
that bad I know you say it comes comes from solid waste. I know not >> letters from us. >> I'll make the motion to to proceed with the plan option A. Thank you. >> Option one. Okay. So, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Have a second from Cannibal. Roll call.
>> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilman Roth. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Lawson. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> Okay. We got a lot of people out there
and those fee clocks are spinning off the wall tonight. Okay, going back to tab seven. Back to tab seven. Tab seven and tab eight are companion items. Tab seven is the site plan for proposed McDonald's
>> and tab eight is um >> read them both >> combined variances. Introduce both >> please. >> Tab seven is a resolution of city of homes of Florida granting site plan approval as requested by McDonald's USA LLC for the development of approximately 3,859t
commercial restaurant located on approximately 84 acre parcel land generally located west of South Chrome Avenue between Southwest Fifth Street and Southwest 6th Street as legal described in exhibit and providing for an effective date. Tab eight, part number
4978. It's a resolution of the city of Homestead, Florida, granting a variance as requested by McDaniels LLC from the city of Homestead Code of Ordinances section 30-296.62 sub areas to allow a minimum parking placement setback of 7.58
ft where a minimum of 20 feet behind the front facade is required. and a variance from city code section 30-45416 drive-through businesses to permit the elimination of a porcier where a porcier structure is required over a drive-thru
and any associated customer service window and a variance from city code section 30-53828 general district regulations to allow a minimum sidewalk width of 7.2 2 ft where a minimum of 11 ft is required. and f
and a fourth variance from city code section 30-541 drive-through businesses to allow a drive-through aisle interior radius of 20 ft where a minimum of 25 ft is required for the development of an approximately 3,859t commercial restaurant located on
approximately84 parcel of land located west of south avenue between southwest fifth street 6th street as described in exhibit A and providing for an effective date. So, tab 8 includes four variants. >> Yeah, let's start with tab eight to do the variances before we do the next
approval. Um, I know representatives here. >> Yes, sir. Good evening. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Uh, Miriam Solar Ramos with office at 701 Bickl Avenue on behalf of McDonald's. Uh, with me tonight is my
partner, Hugo Arza, as well as representatives of the McDonald's team and our traffic consultant in case there's any questions for her. >> I hope we made a good impression tonight. >> And so, um, with that, we'll get started with the presentation. They are all together. Mayor, I know you want to take
the variances first, but there's one presentation all together, but we'll vote on the variances first. >> Fantastic. Okay. So, uh, this property is located, um, in the southwest planned urban neighborhood district. It's on West Chrome Avenue between Southwest 5th and 6th Street. It's just shy of an acre
at 845 acres. Um, and you will see uh in the aerial here that it's a very narrow and long site. That is the reason for the variance request because it's hard to accommodate really anything in this particular site. There's some history here that's important in framing the
request. Uh you might remember in 2025 for those of you who were here, we had a text amendment to allow for drive-through businesses in this neighborhood. The concept was that it would start to revitalize the area, bring businesses to the area, and this is the result of um that text amendment
making this possible. This is um basically the proposed commercial restaurant development. It's 3,859 square ft. It's obviously a fast food restaurant. It has the new sleeker design that we see in the newer McDonald's, not in the older ones that maybe we we were used to seeing as we
grow up or grew up. Uh on the on one side you will see what is the uh the non-drive elevation. In other words, the side that's going to face North Chrome. And on the other side you see the front elevation which is on the short side. In other words, on fifth. So it's not what you're going to see from Chrome is the
side of the building, not the front of the building. Um it is inscale with the neighborhood compatible with the surrounding uses. Um you have um south of it the park motel and north the Koralito cafe and a smallcale cargo facility. There's not
much else there. So again it's a catalyst for activation in the area that needs some um development and economic prosperity. This is the proposed site plan. Again it is long and narrow. So it had some design challenges. um the the team worked really closely with staff in um
addressing staff's concerns and and kind of putting things in a place that made sense. So, as you see, um the building is in kind of the middle of the property. Um and I'll go through the variance requests in a minute, but basically it allows for all of the queuing to occur on the property and not
affect um either of the two side streets. Um the all ingress and egress is happening off of Fifth and Sixth. There is no ingress and egress on North Chrome. so as not to create a traffic uh a problem there. So um there are four variance request
again is a long narrow site which is what's um led us here to needing those variances. Um one is from the parking location. So typically you need 20 ft um for from where the site starts to the parking. Um this is at 7.58 ft and it is
because if I go back to the site plan as you'll see um on that left side that is the the quote front of the building. So if they went to the 20 foot um required uh a setback then they would not be able to accommodate parking which would be a
terrible result. The second is the variance from the portico share requirement. So what they've done now is uh in in consultation again with staff um probably the next best thing which is to construct um a deeper covering. So there
the the idea is to have 4.5 ft of covering over each of the three windows and then a continuous covering between the windows. That would be shorter at 1.5 ft. The reason for that is that having a longer continuous covering
could be problematic during storms. Um, and so this allows for a little bit of a safer covering without being a complete porticocher, which would obviously take a lot of space in the site. Um, but it still allows for people not to get wet while they're getting their food, which
is the idea of the porticochair. The third variance request is for the width of the sidewalks. uh as you'll see in a couple of slides, they are providing sidewalks all around the site. And so in order to make that work, they needed to be a little bit narrower. And then finally, the interior radius of the
drive-thru aisle. Um not where you go into the site. We originally thought that it was when you when you went into the site to the left. It's actually further down the queuing aisle. When you make the right, instead of being 25 ft, it's 20 ft in order to accommodate the turn to again allow for more queuing on site.
So, there are on and off site improvements that are being offered as part of the site plan. One is sidewalks on Fifth and Sixth Street to promote future walkability of the area, which is the ultimate goal. Replacement of the sidewalk on Chrome Avenue. Replacement of street lighting along Chrome with
decorative features. Um, widening of eastbound lanes on Southwest 5th and Southwest 6. also curbs and gutters along the property frontages and having decorative stamped asphalt and concrete throughout the site which makes it look a lot nicer.
Uh there has been a lot of work with staff again on the traffic and making sure that it would be uh a site that would work well interior circulation. Ingress and egress points as I mentioned are designed to reduce stacking and traffic congestion with all of it coming
in and out of fifth and sixth. uh great um internal circulation, intersections and roadways were counted and expected to uh be at the appropriate levels of service and the queueing analysis. They worked with staff a lot in order to make sure that the queueing would work and
only be on site. That's a landscape plan. Obviously, you can't see much other than just there's a lot of writing, but what it means is that there's a lot of trees coming, so it should be uh nicely buffered uh and uh and make really make the area look very nice. So staff recommends approval
subject to the conditions. The conditions are the variances. Obviously you need to grant the variances in order to um to grant the site plan approval as it is um designed today. Happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Council Councilman Fletcher first and then
>> yes. Is there a way we can get a side view of the landscaping potential? Because again I'm going to look at it from the public safety aspect. Uh police need to be able to see in you know and if we have too many bushes and trees that are too low they that capability. >> So my understanding I have the technical team here, but my understanding is most
of the landscaping is on the inside, not on Chrome so that it it you know buffers the inside of the um of the side, but I can I can have them come up if they have some more information that they can provide on that. >> I don't need an answer tonight, but I >> Okay. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. That
just so we can see it. That's all. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Council Pleasure. >> Thank you, Mayor. What What do you What is the definition of a covering? What is the covering going to look like? An awning. >> So, no, it's it's more um permanent for
a lack of a better word than an awning. It's basically a metal square overhang that will be longer at the points of the window and less or more narrow at the individ in between points. >> So, you mentioned there being issues potentially with storms, but if it's
something that's permanent, then wouldn't it have to be >> Yes. The concern is that if it's four and a half feet all the way across, it picks up more wind and they would need to have stronger fasteners to be able to contain it in the building. If it comes in and out of the building, which is
what it does now, it creates less of that effect if there were to be wind coming under. >> So, you're requesting a variance so that there's less >> the variance is to not allow the to not need the portico share. So, technically would be for nothing. In talking with
staff, we understood that this was important and so this is a condition that we're willing to profer to um make it more palatable. Okay. But what I don't understand is why not make it a long even porticoet or covering um
that you said >> it's late. It's okay. >> What time is it? the fasteners that it requires more fasteners, then we install more fasteners and have it be an even. >> So, if it's important for for the
council for it to be 4.5 ft across, we certainly take that back. >> If you're going that far, you might as well just not have a variance and have what the code requires, right? We would still need the variance because a porticoer comes all the way across and has columns on the opposite side creating a traditional old picture like
a bank drive-thru and that takes up a lot of space on the other side. >> I didn't think that the columns were required. >> The the >> by definition that's a port of cache, right? >> The code called for a structure and there's no place there to put the columns.
>> Okay. So enough fasteners will be used that it's not any issue with potential storms is the bottom line that I'm trying to get to. >> Well, the calculations have to be made because that this is something that was proper today between an architect and a
lawyer. No engineers were involved. So until they don't go to the engineer, we don't know how then we're fine. >> That is very interesting. Um, okay. Because my big concern was if it was some type of awning, who's going to be maintaining it? Because they do not
look nice for for a while. Um, and sidewalks real quick. So, the variance, what is the variance asked for on Chrome Avenue? >> It's just to narrow the width of the sidewalks. >> Yeah, but sorry, but the variance is not
on Chrome Avenue. The variance is on the sidewalk that is between the parking on the side and the building. >> Okay. So, chrome. >> Yeah. The code calls for when the cars are fronting the side the sidewalk, they the code calls for 11 ft and here they
are providing seven feet. Okay. My concern is, you know, once we get to this grand walkable downtown area, they are close enough. So, not that the that sidewalk is shorter or less wide than what we're doing.
>> In the front, on the contrary, in the front, like the regular sidewalk is widened, so there is more more space for pedestrians. >> Those are my two concerns. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Okay. Um, we have Fletcher, that's you to my right. Are we good? Yes,
Councilwoman. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, we had a briefing and I know that you you listen to me. You always do. And and I I always can count on the fact that um you'll go back to the client and and let them know what the asks are and it ultimately is up to the client to decide if they're willing
to make the accommodations or to uh offer, you know, different suggestions. I made various requests for uh curb appeal improvements for uh a review of the landscaping for um for for for the
option to still have the protocol share on the queueing lane area, not on the pickup window side of things. So, in this particular application, we're force-fitting a McDonald's to, you know, be built on a on a piece of land that otherwise, according to code, it would
not fit in an area where it is a food desert. And so I'm all good with uh a big corporation coming in and investing and you know potentially bringing in um you know being a catalyst for more development, but I didn't I don't I don't hear any of
the feedback that I that I discussed with you guys and so I don't know if that's just being flatout ignored or there's just >> No, not at all, Councilwoman. So let me let me kind of walk through what I remember. So the idea of adding this and I'm sorry that we don't have a picture but the idea of adding the slide on the landscaping was so you could see the
amount of landscaping that it would have in terms of curb appeal. I know we talked about the potential for a mural in the walls that encase the the garbage receptacle essentially. They are willing to consider that at the end of the day this is this application is for McDonald's corporate. It's going to have
an operator and a lot of that's going to be up to the operator. Um, so they're willing to let they're of course going to let the operator know that that's important to you. Also, you wanted to know about community benefits. Um, obviously McDonald is known for the Ronald McDonald House, uh, which does
tremendous work, uh, for children who are, you know, undergoing all sorts of difficulties. Um but understanding that that's not super close to the city. Um they have told us and they have assured us that when they know who the operator is and part of the challenge is we don't know who it's going to be that they will let them know that it is important to
you all that there be community benefits in the sense of working with local schools or community programming or what they can do to make this community better in the immediate area where they're located. >> I'll rest there. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Let me open the
floor for public comment. Is there anyone online? Okay. So, we'll close the public comment on tabs seven and eight. And if there's nothing further from
council, we need a motion on tab eight. Moved by Councilman Cannibal on the variance portion on tab eight. >> And we have a second by Councilman Fletcher. So, let's have a roll call vote on tab eight. Councilwoman Abula,
>> no. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Ross, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawman,
>> yes. >> Motion carries. >> All right. And then back to tab uh seven, the site plan approval. >> Motion. Councilman Cannibal. So that is clear. I'm sorry. That is clear. I was just looking again at the
wording there. That is clear that there is no that the sidewalk on Chrome Avenue is the same width as we are doing downtown. Thank you. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a
second on tab seven. So, let's have a roll call vote on that. >> Councilman Wrong. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo. >> Yes. Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes.
>> The motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so I think we need another motion to extend the meeting to 1140. >> We have a lot of folks that sat here a long time tonight. All right, we have a motion to second to 11:40. All in favor?
I. >> How many opposed? Two. Okay. Okay. Moving on to tab nine. >> Nine. >> Yes. >> Tab nine. Car number 4979. It's a resolution of the city of Homestead, Florida granting final plat approval as
requested by Viking 162 LLC for that >> for the development of an approximately 14,918T commercial retail facility on approximately 1.44 acre parcel of land located at 16195 Southwest 320 History.
The city of Homestead is legally described in exhibit A and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Does anyone need a staff report at this point? >> No. >> Didn't think so. All right. Do we have a motion to approve Tab 9? Moved by
Cannibal. >> Second by Vice Mayor Bailey. Any public comment? Close the public comment and a roll call vote on tab nine. The final plat for Viking 162. Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> yes.
>> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Tab 10. >> Yes. Tab 10. Car number 5018. Resolution
of the city of Homestead, Florida, granting final PL approval is requested by LAR Homes, Inc. for the development of 54 single family home residential subdivision on an approximately 9.37 acre parcel of land located north of Southeast 3rd Street, east of Southeast
18th Avenue, south of Southwest 320th Street, west of Southeast 21st Terrace as legally described in exhibit A riding for an effective date. >> Okay, wave staff report. Any questions from councel? Let's get a motion on the
table. Moved by Councilman Cannibal, second by Councilman Fletcher. Any public comment? Close the public hearing. Roll call vote on tab 10. The final plat for Portoello Estates. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal,
>> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> And tab 11. >> Tab 11. Card number 5019. It's a resolution of the city of Homestead, Florida, granting final plat approval as
requested by Lenar Homes, Inc. for the development of 296 town home residential subdivision on approximately 54.45 acre parcel of land located at the northwest corner of Southwest 344 Street
and Southeast 12th Avenue as legally described in exhibit A, providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Questions or comments from council? Any objection? Awaiting the staff report. Public comment. Close the public hearing. Let's have a uh motion
on this item. >> Move moved by Vice Mayor Bailey, seconded by Councilman Roth. And let's have a roll call vote. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Councilwoman Abilo,
>> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> Mayor Lawman, >> yes. The motion carries. >> And that was tab 11. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, moving on to tab 12. >> Yeah. >> Tab 12 is also um like we did in the LPA
is tied to tab 13 and 14. >> Um so, I can introduce each one of those >> vote separately. >> Collective discussion. Yeah. >> Tab 12 card number 5022. The first reading of an ordinance to the city of Homestead, Florida approving the reszoning as requested by Blue Net
Commons when approximately 10acre parcel of land from retail commercial V2 zoning district to multiple apartment R3 zoning district for property generally located south of Southwest A Street and east of Southwest 192nd Avenue as legal described in exhibit A and providing for
an effective date. Tab 13, car number 5021, the first reading of an ordinance to the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the comprehensive plan future land use map designation as requested by Blunes of an approximately 20.33 acre parcel of land from technology mixeduse
TMU to medium density residential use for property generally located south of Southwest 8th Street east of Southwest 192nd Avenue as legally described in exhibit A. providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan, and providing for an
effective date. And last item is tab 14 card number 50-5038 is the first reading of an ordinance to the city of Homestead Florida amending the city of Homestead comprehensive plan by amending the text of the medium density residential use MRU future land
use category contained in objective 2 policy 2.1 to permit density up to 15 dwelling units per acre for properties containing a vested rights determination providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for inclusion in the comprehensive plan and providing for
an effective date. >> Thank you. Does the order of adoption matter? >> Yes. Tap 13 14 or 14 13 and >> 12 >> 14 13 and then 12. Okay. All right. So, I think we we touched on
this briefly at uh the LPA. Are there any questions or comments from council on this? Councilwoman, >> I consider this a housekeeping measure. This item was already or the related items were already heard way back when and has to get done. We have precedent set for it with other reasonzoning and
flu combinations. Thank you. >> It wasn't this is one of those darn if you do, darn it if you don't. There's no good and our staff initiated these items to to bring everything into compliance. So, all right. So, let's uh let's have a
motion on tab 14. Moved by Roths, seconded by Cannibal. Any public comment? Didn't think so. Close the public hearing and let's have a roll call on 14. >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes.
>> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> All right. Tap 13. Our motion >> been moved and seconded.
Public comment. Close public hearing. Roll call on tab 13, please. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> Councilman Roth, >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carries.
>> And tab 12. We have a motion on tab 12. Moved by Vice Mayor Bailey, seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Any public comment? Close the public hearing. Roll call on tab 12. >> Councilman R. Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Catalon, >> yes.
>> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> And I have to say, the public needs to know, we cut by 50% the risk of the total amount of units that would have
been allowed under the old zoning category. We don't make the rules. We just have to live with them and find a way to uh to do what's best. All right. Let's jump to I know we have some folks
here. Uh let's go to 18. Tab 18. >> Yes. Tab 18, car number 4951. This is the second reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 25 subdivision and platting article one in general section 25-1
definitions and further creating article six unity of title covenant and loo thereof providing for severability providing for inclusion of code providing for conflicts providing for effective date second and final reading. >> Thank you. Moved by Councilman Ross, seconded by uh Councilman Fletcher. Public comment
we're good. Second reading. Our apologies to your entire family that you work with tonight. Roll call vote on tab 18. Second reading. >> Councilwoman Abula. Councilman Roth. Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes.
>> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion. >> And we'll let the record reflect that council for this uh item was present. has been present all night waiting for this. >> I appreciate that my client would want
to know that. >> Thank you. Yeah, I want to make sure your client knows you were here all night. All right, so that takes us back to >> 15. >> 15. >> Tab 15 is a second reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 20, parks
and recreation to repeal and replace existing regulations related to fees levied for the use of park facilities. Establishing new schedule of fees for the use of park facilities. providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. >> Moved by Councilman Ross, second by Councilman Fletcher.
Any public comment? Close the public hearing. Let's have a roll call vote. >> Councilman Ross. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo. Councilman Cannibal? >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher? >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey? >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner,
>> Mayor Lner? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> And second reading on tab 16. Tab 16 is the second reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the budget for the general fund for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025, ending September 30th, 2026 by increasing the total budgeted revenues
and expenditures by $50,000, providing for severability and an effective date. >> We'll wave the staff report. We have a motion moved by Councilman Ross, seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Any public comment? Close a public hearing and a roll call vote on 16. >> Councilwoman Avula, yes. >> Councilman Roth,
>> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. Councilman Cannibal. Yes. Councilwoman Ksky. Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. >> Mayor Lawson. >> Yes. >> The motion catch. >> And moving on to second reading of tab 17. >> Tab 17 is second reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by
amending chapter 29, vegetation article 1, landscaping by establishing the minimum standards and landscaping regulations pursuant to the city of Homestead Landscaping Manual to supplement the Miami Dade County landscaping standards and requirements. Establishing regulations related to landscaping and irrigation certification
and reertification for properties developed as multif family residential, commercial and/or industrial and providing for the enforcement of such certification and reertification and further amending article two tree preservation and protection by modifying regulations to clarify applicable permit
fees and tree preservation trust fund contribution rates providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code providing for conflicts providing for an effective date. All right. Moved and we'll wave staff report. Second. Moved by Roths. Second by Cannibal. Public comment. Close the
public hearing and roll call vote on tab 17. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. Councilman Ross. Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carried.
>> So, in case we run out of time, let's hit the bigger picture things on down the line. Let's jump to tab 20. >> Um tab 20 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead Florida authorizing the city manager to execute a covenant for maintenance and landscaping within the rightway
providing for implementation providing for an effective date. >> Moved by Councilman Rob, second by Councilman Fletcher. Is there any public comment? Close the public hearing and roll call vote on tab 20.
>> Councilman Ross. Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Have 21. >> Do we want to hit 19 or we
>> No, we're going to come back. >> We're going to come back to >> if we have time. We don't know. Great. Tab 21 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, requesting Miami Day County to convey certain county-owned property identified at folio number 10-7813-052-0260
to the city of Homestead to resolve a property encroachment affecting city- owned pump station number 15, authorizing city manager to accept the property on behalf of the city, take any action necessary to effectuate its transfer, providing for implementation, providing for transmitt, and providing for an effective date. by Council Ros by
Councilwoman Avala. There any public comment? Any further from council? Let's have a roll call vote on tab 21. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Catwell,
>> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. Mayor, if I may, for the record, the staff advised that these um properties with these pump stations or whatever they are, >> they're going to be curb appealed and landscaped, etc. So, that's
>> absolutely. All right. 22 pocket park. Tab 22 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, requesting Miami date county to convey certain county owned property identified by fian number 10-78130750 to the city of Homestead for public park and neighborhood revitalization purposes, authorizing the city manager
to accept the property on behalf of the city and take any action necessary to effectuate its transfer, providing for implementation, providing for transmitt, and providing for an effective date. Thank >> you. Do we have a motion? >> Moved by accountable, seconded by Alvalo. Public comment. Close the public
hearing. Roll call vote on tab. Uh, what's this? >> 22. >> 22. >> Thank you. Councilman >> Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abula. >> Councilman Cannibal. Councilman Roth. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes.
>> The motion carries. >> On to 23. Item 23 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead Florida approving the ranking of the evaluation committee of proposers to RP 202610 events AV lighting staging equipment and services authorizing city managers to negotiate and enter into an
agreements of the top rank firms Event Factor Inc. Live 305 LLC and Multimedia Solutions LLC for such agreement shall be subject to approvals to form legal sufficiency by the city attorney providing for implementation providing for an effective date. Moved by Councilman Ross, seconded by Vice Mayor
Bailey. Any public comment. Close the public hearing. And we'll have a roll call vote on tap 23. >> Councilwoman Aila. >> Councilman Roth. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes.
>> The motion. >> 24. Four >> is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the utilization of soul source contracts, competitively bid contract, and continuing contract RFQ 2013 for the purchase of the city's police department, information, technology, hardware, software,
maintenance, and related services through capital improvement program number 2659 for an amount not to exceed 1,911,599.76, exempting the procurement from competitive bidding in accordance with section 2-411.1 of the city code. Authorizing city manager to execute all
necessary documents to effectuate this resolution subject to budget appropriation and availability of funds authorizing the city manager to negotiate and approve a price adjustment of up to 10% providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> I move it.
>> Thank you. Absolutely. All right. Moved by Ross, seconded by Cannibal. This is a big expenditure. Chief, is there anything you need to add to the record? Nope. Okay. Public comment, close public hearing, and a roll call vote on this tab 24.
>> Councilwoman Psky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, Councilman Rob, Councilwoman Abilo, C. Tab 30 is a second reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending chapter 2, administration, article 8, contracts and purchasing of the city code of ordinance
of the city of Homestead to create division 3 processing of proposals creating section 2-423 general provisions creating section 2-424 qualifying public private partnership proposals creating section 2-425 unsolicited land proposals for city-owned rail property establishing a procedure for the receipt screening
evaluation negotiation of qualifying public pro partnership proposals consistent with section >> 255 55.065 Florida statutes establishing a separate procedure for the receipt, screening, evaluation, negotiation of unsolicited proposals for the sale, lease, ground lease, redevelopment, or
other disposition of city-owned real property or interest therein, codifying application fees for each category of proposal subject to other applicable law governing disposition of property, providing for codification, severability, conflicts, and an effective date. >> Thank you. It's been moved and seconded.
>> I just I think we've addressed all of the issues that >> that's what I want to know. How did we address the issues? >> So, okay. Um, yes, very quickly. Um, >> or slow it down so he doesn't get his raise.
>> So, the the instruction that I took from the previous meeting was um few separate things. What we did was we added a few definitions um to clarify the P3 application versus the um the property
application. We've established the fee. We provided for the refund of unused funds which was one of the topics of discussion that we so it it it'll serve more like a cost recovery function. So any unexpended funds will be um returned
back to the the proposer. And from a structural standpoint, what we've done is city staff will conduct an initial evaluation for completeness. But it once an an application has been deemed a proposal has been deemed to be complete, it will be presented to the council as a
matter of course. So the council will make the decision as to when you know whether or not it wants to proceed. So that won't that decision won't rely with staff. It'll be Once it's determined that it's complete, it comes back to council and the council will give direction to staff as to how they want
to proceed from there. >> Good. I think I did a good job of incorporating all of our our concerns. Anything further? Did we have a motion? >> Okay. Moved by Leure, second by Cannibal. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Public comment.
>> All right. We'll close the public hearing. We'll have a roll call vote on tab 30. Councilwoman >> Abilo. Councilwoman Ksky, yes. >> Councilman Roth, Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, yes. >> Mayor Losa, >> yes. >> The motion carries.
>> All right, we might make it. Tab 31. Tab 31 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving a revised retainer agreement loa healthman colon Beerman PL for the provision of city attorney services authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement exempting the transaction competitive bidding in accordance with section 2-41.18
of the city code authorizing city officials to take all actions necessary to implement the agreement providing for implementation and for effective date. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. Um, I we probably need to do in the future a
second part. You know, we're we're still working off a contract that was two pages from many years ago. And I think this more of a managerial where we establish the procedures and it's called LSRs, legal services request, and kind
of get that honed honed down. Um that's just a function of uh you know codifying what we've uh our course of dealing. All right. Any public comment? Close the public hearing. Roll call on tab 31.
>> Sorry. There's one public comment. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. Go ahead. Is it RAM? >> How did I know? Go ahead. You're on. >> Yes, it's RAM. Unfortunately, I'm still up with you guys. So, good job. Uh I just want to know how much is the
existing contract and how much are we increasing it? >> This only increases the hourly rate. This this is not you know at budget time we typically allocate a lump sum that
that is not changing this this adjusts the rate that has not been adjusted in how long Mr. Pearl? >> Eight years. >> Eight years. eight years. >> Okay. So, how much is the hourly rate going up to and how much is it now? >> I don't have that in front of me.
>> The hourly rate would be $300 an hour. It had been at $2, I believe $17 for eight years. >> Good. Good luck finding that rate anywhere
with a firm of this caliber or in for second place. That >> answer your question, Ram. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. I think we have a motion in a second. We need a roll call on tab 31. >> Councilman Ron.
>> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Avula. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carried. >> Okay. That takes us to >> 33.
Tab 33 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead Florida convening a charter review committee in accordance with section 8.04 of the city charter calling upon each member of the city council to make a respective nomination to the charter review committee providing for the city attorney service council for the charter review committee establishing deadlines
for the commencement of proceedings and submitt of recommendations providing for implementation providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Move it. And can staff please provide us with what the last board was to refresh our memory. >> Sure. >> I remember my pick, but I just wanted to
see. >> I've recently seen it, but don't ask me at this time and I who was who was on it. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Second. >> Okay. So, we have a motion, a second. Any questions to my right? Comments? >> I just want to clarify this is not foreclosing the opportunity for us to
put any items on this uh this November's election and those charter changes still be discussed. the council can do it at once. >> Yeah, >> I support this item. Thank you. >> And and these are for some of the more link, you know, some things can't be done on the fly and there are some other other things that need to be to be done.
Okay, we have a motion in a second. Uh any public comment? All right. Roll call. >> Yeah. Oh, we do. Okay. Good evening. >> Good evening. Brandy Ramirez, 2231 Southeast First Street. Um reference the
charter review committee. Are they going to be discussing the three charter um amendments that was recently like would they be making that decision prior to coming to you guys or is it totally separate? >> Remember these are the committee makes their recommendations
as is advisory only. We can and I think in the past each of us has submitted topics to the committee for consideration. >> Okay. Um, so you know this it doesn't foreclose
anything. Some of the issues that were raised a few weeks ago probably cannot be fully vetted either by us or a committee >> in time for the mid July cut off for the November ballot.
>> But that doesn't preclude you know next year. >> Okay. And the other question I have because I'm not sure if I may have missed it. Tab number, where is it at? The 26. Did that one already get discussed?
>> Which one? 26. >> I know. I know. We did. That was amending the rules of council rules of procedure. Yes, that was adopted. >> So, it did get passed. >> Correct. >> And just had a quick question. Wasn't there a clarification regarding cutting down the three minute time to a lower
time >> if necessary given the number of speakers and the length of the agenda? >> Got it. >> It it's not an across the board reduction. >> Perfect. >> Every meeting, every topic >> just depending >> stand on its own. >> Okay. >> Like tonight.
>> Thank you for clarifying because I I just wanted to bring that up. It was great to see the people come out and talk. So, thank you very much for clarification. >> All right. So, did we vote on the roll on the charter committee? >> No, we're still waiting to vote. >> Okay, that's right. So, we'll close the
public hearing and have a roll call vote on tab 33. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, Councilman Raw, >> Councilwoman Abilo, >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries.
>> Okay. Uh, Councilwoman Avoa, did you want to defer 34 to our next meeting? I I'm okay with that, but I I do believe that this is being rolled out right away and there's a June 2nd event also that's going to be incorporating this
initiative. So, I believe it has to get passed. Um, and I and I know that >> understand they're kind of doing some of it on their own already. They being the police department. >> Yeah. Uh I I would like to give them the opportunity because I know they've prepared long and hard for it to go
ahead and do it quick preview and um and present the reszo. >> Okay. >> So I'll just do it because we we are going to start and we haven't been using any of the any of the marketing materials because we've been using the name assuming this was going to get
passed. But this was born on um this was born on February 18th out of public comment. Um, a caller called in and asked for a zero tolerance initiative for distracted driving. Uh, Councilwoman Aila spearheaded it. We met
several times. We talked about it and we've started to roll this up. And basically where we are, let me go through here is, and why is this important? And in some of the research that we did, we found that we had 7,525
crashes in city of Homestead. 79 of them we wrote citations for text messaging while driving which is a lot. That that's one in seven of the accidents that we've had did that. I mean it's such a problem that the state of Florida made two statutes for texting and
driving. One regular texting and the other one if uh texting uh near schools or in construction sites. So what we've done is when we have a very talented community policing unit, they've made this logo. So, this will be the city of Homestead if approved. This will be the
city of Homestead's logo for safe road, safer homestead, which is our distracted driving initiative. Um, it'll be a four-pillar operation. It's going to be education first, enforcement next, community engagement through social media, through
touch points, you know, all of the events that we're going to have and our partnerships with FHP, with the Florida Highway Patrol, Department of Transportation, and the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department who have their own which they call put it
down. So, pillar one is the education part. a lot of school presentations. We have teen targeted marketing materials. This is some of it that you'll see here. This is some of the uh flyers that we're putting out. This is some of the teen targeted flyers
that we're putting out uh and and educational materials for teens. You can tell by the colors. And then um one of the things that we came up with that was pretty innovative by again our community policing unit is that they made pledges. And so the idea is if you look at the
bottom there, that's a pledge that that adults will give us on the side, but students will give us on the right side. And we'll keep those pledges, we'll log them, and that'll be that'll be part of the statistical data that we're going to keep to to kind of um determine the the
the efficacy of this program. The next thing is the P pillar two and number four is all about enforcement and our partnership in enforcement with those agency those partnership that that we've have with uh Florida Highway
Patrol, Department of Transportation and the Department of uh Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle. Obviously, I'm trying to move fast because trying to get it done. So, there's several events. We have a Super Saturday event coming soon. We've already done a town hall, which we didn't call it by the name
because we didn't want to roll that out yet. And there's going to be some social media campaigning that we're going to do on the on the uh um initiative. This is some of the texts that our community policing came with. There's a lot of statistical information. These are only two, but
there's actually like there's actually like eight of them that uh that are totally different along with some of the videos that we're going to do. So, there's five phases to this. Uh we've already started the foundation. We we have the launch prep. We're going live tomorrow if this gets approved today.
We're going to expand it with uh more education. We've made a lot of deals with different schools, but they haven't counted us in to their schedule because their school, you know, next year's school year just hasn't started. And then we're going to measure based on citations. We're going to base uh
determine how uh efficient it's been based on community feedback analysis. And obviously um all the data that we receive on accidents if we if we get 79 accidents less than last time than last year we'll be okay. And part of that is
because the we are enforcing the byproduct of distracted driving which is the hazardous mover the the running the red light the speeding and all of that. It's the more um it's the more obvious and easily recognizable byproduct of
distracted driving. And that's it. That's how we're going to measure it by citizen volume, school reach, social engagement, community touch points based on some of those uh pledges that we have and crash data improvement. It's not going to cost us much. We we
have a couple grants that we're going to be dealing with and and pulling from and a lot of the educational materials are stuff that we we budgeted for and we have. >> And you're really not inventing the wheel. Other agencies have similar
programs and you were somewhat as part of your bigger traffic enforcement were we're dealing with distracted driving. >> Yeah. So, so what happens is what we deal with most of the time. So, you saw that we wrote 79 tickets, but there were
7,000 accidents. Um, we can't say that they were texting only 79% of the time or or 79 of those incidents. What we can say is that we will write the ticket on the more obvious infraction, which is running the
red light, speeding, weaving in and out of lanes, which like I said is the byproduct of texting. The problem with the statute of texting is it's very limited. It's very hard to prove and it's hard to it's hard to prosecute in court because there's a lot of
tolerances for you've got to hit double, you know, uh multiple digits, multiple you have to see them. If they're typing into a GPS or uh some kind of GPS ways or anything like that, that doesn't count. You can't write them a ticket for
that. We can't search their phone. There's so many protections that it's easier for us to write again the byproduct and and the consequence of distracted driving which is the hazardous moving violation. >> If I me
>> thank you. So you know that was one of my questions was what have we done in the past? What are we doing now? And what are other agencies doing? And we did not have any programs or uh similar uh enforcement programs ever according
to the research that was done. We don't currently have anything specifically looking for distracted driving and we don't have anything to compare to. The county has basically said they're going to uh enforce what the state is doing
and there's just a state statute. So, this is very unique to Homestead and I want to congratulate the police department under the chief's leadership for putting together a fully um uh thoroughly uh uh pres thorough
presentation which is identifying education in addition to enforcement because right now they just have the states of statute to enforce. And as you can see, only 79 out of all of those accidents have been able to be identified. And so by being more um um
you know purposeful in in in identifying these issues and making it an educational and a commitment right there's a commitment engaged between the individual and the city through that uh what do you call pledge >> through the pledge factor I think that that is going to create um safe roads
and a safer homestead. Thank you for the name uh improvement. So, I do ask for support on this resolution and for us to all um celebrate it being part of our overall um policy within the police department to to advocate for it and to
keep a keep it a strong program and it's for all of us to champion, not just me. Thank you, >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yes. >> Not to belong. >> I would offer that uh we all sign the pledge ourselves and we have city
employees sign the pledge as well. He's he's the manager, but your mother >> and just one quick thing, chief policies, if you remember, she was >> policies. Sorry, >> I'll ask the vote first. >> Okay, we have a we have a motion.
>> We have a second. >> Got one question. >> Yes. >> Hey, the new the new software we're buying for you guys, can you track those pledges in that software? So if you pull a kid over that's got a pledge. You can tell them, hey, you pledged to do this. >> February.
>> So So we'll we'll definitely track the pledges. Um we'll see if that if the uh force metrics if we can find a way to save it through there. >> I think it'd be a cool idea. >> All right. >> Um can I just read this one into the
record so we can >> Okay. If we didn't Sure. >> No, we didn't. Uh this is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida promoting supporting the Homestead Police Department's safe road safer homestead initiative recognizing importance of distracted driving awareness defense of driving seat belt use pedestrian safety
compliance with applicable state traffic laws directing the city manager and police department to implement public education outreach partnership and enforcement efforts consistent with state law providing for implementation and an effective date. >> Right. So I understand there's a public comment online.
>> Yes, sir. Uh, Romero, >> go ahead Romero. Welcome back. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, this message is for Chief because I also um concur with uh Councilman Fletcher in regards to signing the having staff
signing that that pledge. How is this enforcing I mean enforcable on your police officers? And by the way, did we ever find out who was allegedly drag racing? um um from the social media post that that was broadcasted all over the
media. >> Yes, we did. Our uh our internal affairs unit did investigate that. They identified the officer and we have already disciplined him. >> And I know the officer's name.
>> Officer Rivas. >> Officer Rivas. I appreciate that. Thank you so much, Chief. >> No problem. >> Thank you, Romero. Hey, Fred. Brandy. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, it's almost midnight and this was one of the main
reasons why I came back. I came to stay late. I wanted to support Councilwoman Erica on this matter, but uh major support to our chief and the police department. I just wanted to mention it's very appreciated from the community
that the police uh is giving heads up on certain initiatives that they're working on. Um seat belts, you know, speeding, different DUI checks and stuff like that. Us the community, we really appreciate him all the things that he's been doing since he's become chief and
and working with our command staff and the officers. They're keeping us the residents safe. So, it's important sometimes that we stay late till midnight to come and show them that support and uh this is a a great another great initiative. So, thank you, Councilwoman Erica.
>> Thank you. >> Any further pardon? We close the public hearing and we'll have a roll call on this item. >> Councilwoman Abula, yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Councilman Roth, Councilman Fletcher,
>> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. Mayor Lner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> Mayor, we have one item. It was tab 19 that we skipped over. >> Yeah, I was going to go back to >> Okay.
>> So, go ahead and read tab tab. >> Extend it. Okay. So, we have a motion to extend to midnight. >> All in favor? >> I. Tab 19 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, accepting proposal and approving work authorization from EXP US
Services, Inc. for the city's vision zero safety action plan, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. We have the staff report. Is there anything we need to hear? >> Okay. Moved by Councilman Ro, second by
Councilman Cannibal. >> There's nothing further from council. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. Okay, we'll close the public hearing and have a roll call on tab 19. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abel, >> yes. >> Councilman Ross,
>> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> Mayor Losman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> All right. Is there anything that any member of council really needs to get off their chest and say tonight or can we Oh, we're going to hear from the city
manager first real quick. Uh just a couple of announcements. Monday is Memorial Weekend Day. So there will be a ceremonial event at the usual place which is the Cababayero Woodlon Memorial
Cemetery. Uh the event starts at uh I believe at 8:00 in the morning. So I urge mayor and council to strive to be a be present. I know Councilman Roth usually shows up. Uh, also shout out to Homestead Police Department officer
George Valdez uh for being named Rookie of the Year by PBA. Uh, there will be a FIFA Youth Clinic at the Homestead Regional Park on May 30th by 9:00. This is being hosted by County Commissioner
Kuni McGee. Uh, I urge our AYSOs and everyone involved to show up. And uh just a point of information, council and mayor, we will be starting the installation of the America 250 banners on the streets, I believe, in the next
one week. >> That's all I have for tonight. >> Good. Thank you. Do we have any questions for the manager? >> All right, Mr. Attorney? >> Nothing. >> Okay, Councilwoman, anything further? >> Thank you, Councilman Roth.
>> Thank you, Councilwoman Wanssky. Oh, come on. Tonight was your night. Everybody else's show. >> Council Cannibal. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Good one. >> Thank you all for supporting the Haitian Heritage event. It was amazing. The
turnout was great. They're putting together some pictures so they can thank you personally. Good night and almost happy Friday. >> Thank you all. Appreciate you being here. Motion to adjurnn. All in favor. Thank you all. Good night.