All right. Uh, good evening everyone. We are here for the city of Opaaka planning and zoning board. Uh, seem to have a full board tonight. So, or just about full board. So, I'm actually very happy to see this. Um, we
do not have the chair with us, so we are going to need to have a substitution. So, if there's anyone on the board who would like to serve as the chair for tonight, and it seems like everybody's
pointing to Mr. Barnes, and Mr. Barnes hasn't been here in a minute. So, Mr. Barnes, would would you mind serving as the chair for the meeting for this? because I hadn't been here for a while, I wouldn't have to do it. But all right, let's go for it. Okay, the the agenda
packet is in front of you. We will follow the agenda as presented and u Mr. Barnes, it is your meeting. Roll call. Good evening. Board member Hibbert Smith,
present. Board member Dominguez here. Board member Megan. Thank you. Megan, can you repeat that? Board member Don Megan here. Board member Williams present.
Board member Mata present. Um, Chair Barnes present. Attendance confirmed. Okay. The invocation. Can somebody not me do this?
Maybe we bow our heads. Dear Lord, we like to thank you for this time, this space, and this opportunity as we attempt to move the city forward with new development, new activities, and and progress. We like to thank you for the board and their presence. We like to thank you for those who are here. We
like to thank you for those who had a desire to be here, but are not here. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Now the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one
nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. So, first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from November 19th, 2024. Have all of the board members had
a chance to review those minute minutes and make sure that there everything is accurate with no changes. I'll take that silence as a yes. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes? Move it. May I have a second? Second.
Roll call, please. And uh for the record, I need to call attendance. Chairman Elio Guerrero. He's absent. Board member Hibbert Smith. Yes. This will be for the approval of
the minutes. Yes. Yes. Board member Dominguez. Yes. Board member Megan. Yes. Board member Williams. Yes.
Chair Barnes. Abstain. Board member Mata. Yes. Minutes approved. All right. So, we'll move into public hearing. And the first resolution, the city commission in city of Opalaka, Florida recommending approval denial of
Brave Investments Incorporated site plan review request for the construction of 15 residential units, three live work units, 12 residential units on the vacant parcel site on Alibaba Avenue and identified by Folios 082122003
2390, 0821220032400 in the BO zoning district and within in the Magnolia North mixeduse overlay district provided for an effective date. Do we have a presentation ahead? And good evening. Uh my name is Jorge
Deaf. I'm the president of Rafi Investments. Uh we're trying to You want me to tell you about the project, right? Yeah. We're trying to build 15 units. Three units are going to be business uh live apartments. The other 12 I'm trying to do for uh lowincome senior citizens.
They're going to be they're going to be done in a way in which the senior citizen will feel comfortable. Like the showers are going to be for wheelchair. They're not going to have a bump because I know at my house I did it have problem lifting my leg over the bump. People could fall. The switch for the lights in the master bedroom is going to be
automatic. So if they forget, turn it off. When they walk away three minutes later, gonna turn off. Okay. Uh there's going to be cameras everywhere and access to the cameras, it will be myself and the tenants. So the more eyes are looking at the hallways and the stairs
and the elevator and the parking lot, the best. It's worked for me in other projects in which somebody was trying to break in into a shopping center and somebody another one of the tenants called the police because she saw it because it was 11 o'clock and then she couldn't sleep and she started to look at the cameras on the phone and the
whole building is going to be concrete block so very little fire hazard. Let me see what else we got. We're going to put 20 parking spaces. Um, excuse me. I'm looking at my bullet
points. the the shower going to have a bench so the senior can sit on it and a little one with a water so they can wash their feet comfortable. These are things that people don't think about but I'm 78 years old and I know I have problem with things like that. So that's why I'm I'm
looking at that that point. The microwave ovens are not going to be high because somebody that's an older an elderly person tries to put a plate of food or take it out of a of a of a microwave that's high could fall. Usually
does have a laundry room which is going to be open certain hours and I'll probably designate one of the tenants that was most aable able to be able to open and close to so everybody can have access to it. The door locks are not going to be
knobs. They're going to be handles because it's much easier for a senior to open a handle than to turn when you got to try to hand be central AC of course and heat. And the front doors are going to be open out so nobody can kick it in. Nobody can come and bang on the door and
kick it in. And that's about it. I I brought a picture of uh the cover more or less. It's not the colors that but it's the color that the the engineer put together. Gotcha. But the colors will be according to what the city
approves. Are there any questions from any of the board members? Yes. I have a question. Um I like the idea. It's beautiful. We definitely need more senior We definitely need more senior housing. Uh
my question is um the maintenance. Who's going to maintain that once it's built? Was it rental? Was it rental? Okay. Cleaning. Yes. The maintenance of the outside and everything.
Okay. Thank you. The lighting is going to be a lot of lighting. I know that's very important. Be able to see when you're stepping when you're stepping down. It's not going to be just a light be even inside the unit. LED lighting. It's going to be a lot of lights. Okay.
And you said they were going to be affordable. Yes. For seniors. Low incomes. Okay. Section low income seniors. Perfect. Going to be detailed and made significant for seniors. Even I'm making
it so hoping one of the parking spot that's underneath the cover area. It's going to be right next to the elevator. So they can get their groceries into the elevator and their car and go right up. The elevator is going to be a fourperson elevator. Okay. And regarding the disabled
parking, how many disabled parkings are you going to have there? Because it's going to be a lot of seniors. There's two required. I think I put one in there. And it's going to be fenced completely. So, no one can get in and out. I mean, they can get out. No one, you know, that don't have like the
passcode will be able to get in. trying to make it so it's safe for seniors to make them feel comfortable. I'm not sure if it's in this set of documents or not, but one of the things in the packet says lush landscape, but
I'm looking for the landscaping plan should be in there. None of these are required by Another thing I'm doing for so I won't
so because of the drainage. Can you can you speak can you speak onto the mic so it can be sorry? Yeah. Thank you. Another thing that we're trying to do is uh um they have something called uh a burrito which is is a it's a piece of cloth 5t down full of rocks and then
they wrap it and then they put more rocks and then the grass on top. So when the rain water comes from the roof, it doesn't it goes straight out. You never see water. I know it's a little more expensive, but it's easier because it doesn't create a lot of puddles, so
nobody can slip or fall. supposed to be in the package. It's okay at the moment because in a second we'll ask the department and they might have some additional information. So grass back and one side on the west side there's trees there now big trees
oak trees there it's going to be grass and it's going to be bushes and on the front it's going to be grass and bushes whatever is required I am going to put at least five feet from the fence I make sure that the back fence that that faces the uh train tracks is something that
that that's 5t away from us so people can jump in there wonderful Thank you, sir. Any more questions? Any more questions? I don't think so. Mr. Lee, do you all have a presentation?
Good evening. Gerald Lee, planning and zoning, city of Oval. Um, we do have a small presentation. What I didn't see in in my documents was u more detail about the landscaping. I do recall that the
gentleman did Mr. Mr. develop did provide um three or four renderings of information about landscaping. I'm shocked that it's not there. Actually, if you look at page
eight, if you want to count the pages, um there is a site plan that does provide some landscaping information. Yeah, I saw that part. I was more so looking in response to page two which
has item number 16 circled about the proposed strategies for tree preservation and so was trying to see if there was a plan that actually showed where those actual trees and the gentleman mentioned the large oaks that are also on the site but it's not shown on the actual drawing but should that's something that you all have taken into
account taken into account for sure. Okay. As far as the um the the presentation is concerned, you've already seen this legislation. Next slide, please. As you know, the subject property is owned by this gentleman and
his investment group. Uh the property is approximately 13,125 square ft. The property owned um business office, but it's within the mixes overlay. So it requires for development that they incorporate both
residential and commercial uses. Um the developer had the idea that instead of trying to do a retail shop at the end of this street on Alibaba, instead the individuals that would make use of the live work units could do their own
business there. And I think that's pretty innovative given it's not but a 15 unit development, but it's going to be three stories, three individual business live work individuals will be there. And he's catering it to um an
elderly population. as it relates to the um um handicap parking. If it's less than 50 spaces, only one parking space is required. So, he's still within the requirements for
what he is providing. um the information that they've provided complies with the the zoning code and so we are in support of a development of this sort in particular that it was so innovative for such a small property to
do so much with so little. Um the site plan does provide for 20 parking spaces. um those live work units are going to not only take care of the two parcels that are there, but he's already
submitted for a unity of title so that these properties can never be sold separately. I think um when you look at the site, it would be compatible with the area because he's going to help with the development of this area by bringing
new units, new uses, a different kind of retail or business opportunity for the for the area and it's not in conflict what's around it. Uh if you notice the other properties
that are also on that side of Alibaba, the south side of Alibaba are also zone BO and within the Magnolia North overlay. And the properties across the street are a mixture of B1 and R1
zoning. I think we provided please um move forward. I'm sorry I didn't even look over. Move forward. Okay. And again and again. That's what the property looks like. It's completely vacant. Next slide,
please. That's just another picture of the same. Um staff is in uh in agreement that this project should be supported. Um I remain for any questions that you may have. Any questions from the board?
I have a question. When I looked up the address, there was a different I don't know if I was looking at something else, but I saw something different. Also, there was like an a house that Okay, back this uh the slide
up on the on the on the right side of where those trees are. There is a house. Okay. That's not the property. That's not the property. Yeah. It's the banket lot here and then go forward and that lot. It's those two lots and they're Yeah, they're side by
side. They're side by because one address is 1804 and the other ones is 1816. Correct? Yes, ma'am. If you look at it on Mighty Dade um property appraisers website, they both have addresses and it would make me think, I haven't researched it, I didn't look,
but it would make me think that back in the day many of those 2400 square foot properties were shotgun houses. Okay. And so they may have had something on them way back, you know, maybe 10, 20 years ago. That's why there's an address
because something was developed there previously. Question. Can you speak to the design elements of the live work spaces that he's creating? So like what makes them live workspaces? What are the design elements that provide for that? Okay.
Typically, um, the live workspace in in a in a perfect world, let's say you had a a garage area that you would have with your unit. Well, instead of a garage, that's an open space that is for the business to
operate from. And that's what he's doing here. Yes, ma'am. Beautiful. Okay. Mhm. So he doesn't have to move the kitchen table when somebody comes in for a haircut or a hairdo or whatever tax preparation. I think with that though, right? So
there's 20 parking spaces for the residents. Are we taking into consideration the fact that there are live work spaces and so people might be coming to support and patronize the businesses? Um what
happens if they need parking? Well, I um two things. Uh one, the live work space is to be utilized by appointment only. So it's not like 20 people show up at one time. They they come as they have an
appointment scheduled. Secondly, in this particular area of Opalaka, on street parking is a regular. So any overflow would be taken care of by that means. Thank you. I actually was about to ask about the
street parking. Is that something on that corridor? And I can't remember that we were trying to I'm sorry. Was that something we were trying to eliminate the street parking or No, no, not not in the Magnolia North area because Okay.
That's mostly residential and me residential and commercial mix. Um the the the major place we were looking at trying to eliminate it or regulate it by charging fees was in the industrial area between 27th Avenue
and 22nd. Got it. One more one more question for you on the Yes. on the premise of the live work um units, right? Those are the ones are on the ground floor and that have the larger square footage. Am I correct in
assuming that those bedroom number ones that are on the floor plan are the ones that have the potential to be the actual offices for those live work units? I would be guessing cuz I have not identified the actual units. I believe those are the
ones. It would have to be all the ones above. All the ones above are Okay. Yeah, that's the one. You can have the applicant answer that question. Yeah. separate. And can you go to the mic, sir? Can you go to the mic?
That front bedroom has it own. That front bedroom has its own door. So, they don't have to go through the apartment to get into that. That's the area that's going to be designated for like a hairdresser or somebody that does, you know, something that they can control at home, a small
business. So, follow-up question, this is for you. Um, is there a demand? Is there a requirement that that has to be live work or is it okay if that's just somebody that's become somebody's two-bedroom? The development comes in with the
ideology that it's going to be for live work. Um I'm not sure how we would enforce or um make sure or or guarantee that they are following it to the letter but the development is coming in with
the understanding that that's what the what's required because it is a mixuse uh district. So it's essentially the preempt. So let's say for instance when they first do it that may not be the case but maybe three years down the line somebody might have a business. So you don't have to come back here and then ask for an exception to then allow that.
That makes sense. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. Right. I just have a question because he he mentioned that it's going to be for lowincome seniors. So are all 12 apartments or the 15 going to be for lowincome seniors?
No. 12 of them. 12. The other three at the bottom are not. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. So, we'll open it for questions to the public. Okay. No questions from the
public. All right. Then at this point, uh, can someone move the resolution? Move it. Second. If I may clarify just before you call the role on that, is that a motion to
approve the site plan? Yes, ma'am. Before you Okay, we could just state that for the record uh so that it's clear. Thank you. All right, we're going to do a roll call for the approval of public hearing resolution number one, approval of the
site plan. Can I have a roll call, please? Board member Hibbert Smith, yes. Board member Dominguez, yes. Board member Megan, yes. Board member Williams, yes.
Board member Mata, yes. Chair Barnes. Yes. Item approved. All right. Now we move on to the second resolution. The city commission and city opal, Florida recommending approval or
denial of the RA investments development agreement. Review requests for the construction of 15 residential units, three live work units, and 12 residential units on the vacant parcel site on Alibaba Avenue and identified by the folio 082122003
239 0821220032400 in the BO zoning district and within the Magnolia North mixeduse overlay district providing for an effective date. Uh I don't think we have to do another presentation. He just did one. What we'll do, we'll have Mr. Lee come up and talk about the particulars as it
relates to the development agreement so that you'll have a full understanding of that and then you can follow the agenda. Sounds good to me. Gerald Blake. Um the development agreement is is the opportunity for the
city to partner with the developer to look after or to encourage economic uh empowerment through the development that is coming. Um but by by by by this agreement they
are to agree to support promoting employment while they're doing the construction. And if there's any opportunities after the building is built to maybe give even opportunity for someone to be employed maybe in the
maintenance or in the supervisory or the rental aspects of of the business. It also provides for timelines. Timelines for when they should submit permits. Timelines for when they should begin construction. Timelines for when the
construction should be completed. It also includes some caveats to allow for if those timelines aren't met that they can get an approval from the city manager's office for an extension. All of those things are within the the
purview of the development agreement. So is there something else you wanted to add, Mr. Gay, to the development agreement ideology? In some cases with larger scale projects, there
are other aspects of it revolving around employment opportunities, which Mr. Le has already spoken about, but also opportunities um as it relates to renting to persons that are residents within the city of Opalaka. With this particular one, because it's such a
small project, those aren't necessarily going to be put at as applicable as it relates to this application. So, we're just looking at it as is. Which page within the packet is the actual development agreement? Do we have
a copy of it? Um you should yes if you go if if you look within your package um there is a section that starts off um with an explanation of what the project is about. The next page
which has a number one at the bottom is act is the actual development agreement. Gotcha. Yeah. We're going to work on getting these pages numbered for you all. Are there any questions from the board?
Yes. So, I do see here where we are um recommending that they work with the Beacon Council, the Meek Foundation, Miami date county public schools, Miami date college, as well as with Career Source South Florida. I know we no longer have a career source South Florida here. I'm curious how uh the
city facilitates uh them working with these organizations. Are you all uh introducing them and making those connections? How does that happen? This particular document is a boilerplate document that we utilize for all development agreements. So that language is going to be there for every
development agreement depending on the size and scale. The associations that are referenced within this agreement are more so geared toward larger projects, projects that are either industrial or commercial or I
would say a a mixeduse project that will probably be in excess of 50 units because this is only 15 units th the association with those particular entities is not necessarily applicable for this particular project. So then uh
to follow up on that, so we are not going to require that they host local job fairs and uh do different things to make sure that they're hiring uh folks within who work who live within the city of Opalaka. Based on the scale of the
project, uh we can encourage for them to do that, but we're not making it a strict requirement for this particular project unless the board wants to reference otherwise. Yeah, I would like to recommend that they uh I mean hosting a job fair and working with be uh not
Beacon Council with Career Source South Florida although they are no longer located here in the city of Opalaka I think um is small. Uh I don't know how many people they will be hiring here but I think any effort to make sure that people in the city of Opalaka are working on local projects I I I I would
recommend that we try to enforce it. Okay. We we'll definitely take that into consideration. Oh, Miss Attorney, question for you on that. As that would require um may potentially require a change to
the actual development agreement. Should we get to a point or resolution with this particular number, would I have to amend the the respective motion to make sure it includes that caveat that boardman Williams mentioned? Um, I don't
think we have to do that. I have a different suggestion. If the applicant wants to come forward um and respond to that request by the board members, what they're asking is in the development of this project, are you willing to work with the different agencies to try to
hire local residents? So, if you please come to the mic so we can have it on the record. Um if he responds to this, he can answer that question, then yes, it's a part of the record. It's a part of the motion and that portion of the agreement would be honored. Um so, I'll let Mr.
Rafa respond to that question. Uh Jorge de la I'm the the president of Rafi Investments. Uh the group is my wife and I. So there's no group and she's the boss. So she's at
home, but she's the boss. I know my place in life. I known him I known him for many years. Been together for 60 years and I known him for many, many years. I love it. Yes. I would very much wish that if I if I'm given the the entities that you spoke about, I will
talk to them to see if they have people. Now, the builder that I usually use, he has his personnel, but I can tell them, "Hey, I need you to hire." Then I that's going to be a that project is going to take maybe 10 people to build a whole project. You know, they come every day,
they work, and they go home. So, maybe I can get them to I know the person that I use to cut the uh the grass every two weeks is Randy Jones. He lives like about five blocks away from there. And he's the one that's going to do the maintenance of the yard and the trees and they're picking the trash, you know.
I don't know if you he's laughing, you know, Randy Jones. Oh, no. I'm just I'm I'm smiling because I used to live in Magnolia North and I'm just glad that there's some development that's happening. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. I would I would I would much would like to in fact I I would like to have everybody that lives there from the area, people
that have their mothers and their grandmothers and so so they can go there and walk and see them constantly because that's a plus that's not a minus. And I have spoken to a few people in the air in the houses around they don't have people, you know, they're younger people. They don't have anybody elderly
in their house. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, madam attorney. Is that suffice? that is sufficient. It's on the record uh that he will work with those agencies to try to meet those conditions and hire locally. Uh so there's no objection to
that provision remaining in the agreement as well as being enforceable. Thank you. Uh do we have any questions from the public? Can I have a board member to either move or deny uh resolution? Okay. Thank you. Can I have a second?
Second. Roll call, please. Board member Hibbert Smith. Yes. Board member Williams. Yes. Board member Mata. Yes. And chair Barnes. Yes. Item approved. Thank you, sir. All right. We're moving along to
number three. A resolution of the city commission of city opal, Florida, recommending approval or denial of the special exception site plan review request to modify the site to operate a kindergarten located approximately on this seven parcel site in 1290 Alibaba
Avenue and identified by folio 082121002 1840 082121002 1850 082121 0021860 082121 02 Jesus that's the answer's job yes the numbers
continue in the historic district of Opaaka district providing for an effective date thank you sir thank you Mr. Chair uh honorable uh council people madam attorney madame clerk Mr. manager. My name is Al Cruz.
I'm a former fire chief Miami Dade and decided to continue my service and helping the community, especially navigating through building and compliance issues. And I teamed up with Mr. Manny Roman who actually has quite a bit of uh properties in the great city of Opalak. He has, I believe, eight. So,
this would make nine and 10 because we're talking about two different structures. Just so you know, with all the growth happening in the city, he felt that it was important to have a daycare in this particular strategic location. So that's what we're asking for. It's a change of occupancy. It's a
daycare and kindergartener. There's different types of daycare. This is considered an educational daycare. That means they're going to teach you and prepare you to move on to elementary school. Um, this particular place has it's going to be housing about 139 kids
based on the occupancy loads. There's going to be four to five classrooms in each structure. Very safe, fully sprinkler with fire alarm and all all of the codes that are required in the state of Florida and the city of Opalaka. And basically, we're understand
that there's issues as it relates to traffic. So, we're working out a stacking program where the kids are going to be checked by a security guard. It's going to be a maximum of three to four vehicles at different times during the day because since it's a daycare, they're going to be able to augment.
It's not like a school where they directed, hey, you got to be at school at 7:30, 8:00. So, based on their age groups, that's how we're going to be able to work out the issues with uh parking. The other thing is we have quite a large playground. It's about
7,000 square ft. We're about 3 or 400 square f feet higher than what we would need for the amount of uh children that are going to be educated in this facility. Any questions so far? Again, this is uh much needed,
especially with all the growth happening in in Alabama. And uh we went from the elderly to the children. I guess that's what today is about. Thank you, sir. If there's no questions, Mr. Lee, please
do your job. Gerald Lee, uh, City of Opalaka Planning and Community Development Department. I'm waiting for the presentation to come up. This particular site,
um, as you notice in in the in the title, we talk about a kindergarten as opposed to a daycare. When I look at the educational or schools legislation, it talks
about kindergartens are more for an educational component whereas a daycare seems to be more for a younger population without the same kind of educational benefits. And even though it kind of includes both, I wanted to
include the one that had the most detail and intensity and it would encompass both. If you look at the legislation, I think uh the ordinance is uh ordinance 1016 is is the school
location ordinance um that we use to determine um the zoning district where this can can apply. And in this particular instance, that application is being done because this property is within the um
historic downtown opalaka district. If you look at that legislation, that ordinance says that it is the prevailing zoning for the entire area. And and so at some point in in the
presentation, I'm going to show you where that encompasses so you'll see it. Um presentation please. In the meantime, what are they doing? I have a question for you. Okay, go ahead. I'm looking at the site plan of the
proposed school. Yes. And there's a one-story commercial building on both sides of the parking lot. Am I understand that the schools operating out of both of those structures or just one? Both. Yes. Okay. Yes. They're using both of the structures and and the the
most important aspect that I wanted to make everybody aware of. This is a built environment. They're not building anything new. They're retrofitting the building for the use and adding a large and oversized playground because, as you
know, anytime you do a school or a kindergarten, there is the requirement of based on the number of kids that that playground area has to be a certain minimum per per child. And that's what they're doing. They're they're they're giving um a play area that exceeds what
the minimum requirements are to be able to do this um this use at that location. While we wait, also question, what was the prior use of this building? It was a church. Okay. Um the main the main building was the church. The secondary
building was um an NAA uh facility. Thank you. Yeah. One more question for you before you get into your presentation. Were there any conversations on behalf of the city to perhaps increase the size of the play area at the expense of some of the
required parking? Um, everything that they're everything that they're adding to the site for a play area is completely new. It was all asphalt. No, no, I I understand that. I'm looking at the site plan, right? And
on the and on the site plan, there is quite a bit of area, right? Like by definition area for the playground, right? But if you look at the site plan, it is oriented in the shape of an L. So not necessarily like the best sort of
actual outline of where a potential play area could be. So my question was were there any conversations around perhaps an exception to where the required amount of parking spaces that I hear on the lot might be sacrificed in lie of making a more comprehensive play area
for the for the kids that would be in that school if that makes sense. Okay. There was not that conversation. Gotcha. Um, in in our review of it, um, we we looked at that it meets that that minimum for play area, in fact, exceeded it, and that it was going to be a new
use that was going to bring, um, better activity. In fact, I think the last use on this property was a thrift store and nothing else was in the rest of the property. Um, nothing legal. So, um, at least it's going to come back to higher,
better use. So, good evening everyone. My name is Felipe. I'm the owner of Alibaba. I think you have a very good question, Mr. Barnes, which is expanding
the parking lot instead of the playground. And let me share some additional context. We own and operate over five schools in Miami Date and Broward County, primarily low-income communities, right? We partner with all
the main educational bodies like the early learning coalition to offer school readiness VPK early head start with United Way Miami date county with the ELC as well offer step up by students right and when we partner with a lot of governmental agencies like we're going
to do in this case as well they're very strict in different terms for example making sure that we keep the right ratios right in classroom and then when we go outside to the play area, they usually require the different age groups to be separated for safety purposes.
Right? So, let me provide some additional context. We wouldn't mix in the same playground, a one-year-old with a three-year-old. Most acres would do it, right? But since we are held to a higher standard, that means that we need some additional space in order to provide the kids with, you know, enough
space for them to play in a safe environment. If you have any questions, happy to answer them. Uh this I mean the question was more so directed at at Mr. Lee and he answered that they had not had those conversations. I was just thinking from the perspective of if your kids that are
playing there and you look at the actual site plan given the orientation of where the play area is not exactly conducive to kids having a bunch of freedom to run around like there's a massive fence that's on the south side of the lot. They're flanked by parking on the left and the building on the right. So
there's basically a strip that's only 17 feet wide that the kids can play with, but they're also less than five years old. So it's not like that. Me, but I'm just saying it's we have more than enough parking. Do we have enough area for the kids to actually have freedom of movement? And I know that's something
that the required parking spaces is necessary, but I think in this case, it would have been a conversation starter to say, well, we're willing to remove a few parking spaces so that you can enhance all of the capabilities of learning for the kids. But that would be a zoning thing. That wouldn't be on the
client. That would be on you all to suggest that. And yes, I am looking at you, Mr. Gay. I mean, Mr. Go for it. Through through the chair. Uh basically when they separate the parking from the playground, they're going to put ballers. They're going to put a
sixft fence and they're going to put like, you know, some type of uh padding and stuff to make sure that there is no incidents. And we are 300 square feet greater than what the city or the county require us to be with the amount of
children that we have. Plus, they're going to just like we're doing with the traffic, we're going to stagger them out like 10:30, 11 o'clock, BPK and kindergartener. At 12, we'll go ahead and bring out the kids that are two and three years old, etc. So that they the
same age groups, like Mr. Santos just stated, are going to be playing together, which is something that we do above and beyond in this particular uh team that we're working with. They just feel that it's better and more cohesive in learning when they're playing with kids their own age. No, no, I totally I
totally understand. It was more so just a design consideration, right? Like I can tell you, well, 1,000 square feet is required. I can give you 1,500 ft², but if that 1500 ft² is in an odd place, it's still not useful. You got the extra 500, but what is it actually doing for you? So, I was just asking a question,
but that was just I appreciate the clarification. Are there any other questions from the board? No. Okay. Okay. Next slide, please. Okay. So, schools and daycarees, um,
kindergartens are all approved based on special exception review. Um, as you know, uh, this this this project in this project, the property owner is is Mr. Um, I'm sorry, Manny
Roman Trust. And you just met the um business owners who are profering this this this this new use. And you already know that there are seven parcels that make up this site. and the making up of that
site is now going to be unified um unified so that uh this new use occupies the entire square footage of pro uh approximately 26,387 ft.
Um as I told you before this is a built environment so no new construction of the buildings themselves is going to happen. and they may renovate or uh make modifications to the interior and they're going to make improvements to
the outside to accommodate the uh recreational space, but that's the only major changes that are happening to the site. Next slide, please. Um the special exception review is in accordance with
um ordinance um 1016 which is about school development and ordinance 22-08 is the ordinance that that deals with the creation of the historic downtown opalaka
district. Next slide please. The criteria for the special exception review is based on the following. It it requires um the this specific um approval criteria that this this new use is in
compliance with the city's comprehensive plan and it is consistent with the character and purpose of the zoning district. zoning district is for mixed use and it actually speaks to allowing this particular use within this zoning
district. Uh the size, shape, and character of the property are suited for the proposed use. Yes. And in fact, it's an improvement on the use that has been there for quite some time. Uh will not adversely affect the development of the
general neighborhood or the district. It is a benefit to the district so that other property owners within in a small amount of of of area now has another place that they can bring their kids for the youthful education. Uh number five
is will not adverse uh number six is will not generate vehicular traffic or create vehicular circulation or ingress egress problems or parking demands that have an unfavorable impact on surrounding properties when compared with uses permitted by right in the same
district. They are going to provide some mitigation as to um traffic stacking and for pickup and drop off to help relieve or reduce any major effect that might happen in this
area. Next slide, please. Uh number seven, the potential for fire and or other equally or greater dangerous hazards. There are no instances that we know of that are going to be created by this use at this
property. Number eight, will not create unfavorable environmental impacts or on surrounding uses for noise, glare, smoke, dust, odor, fumes, water pollution, or general nuisance. Number nine is consistent with
existing and planned pedestrian and vehicular circulation adjacent to and near the property. I don't think this interferes with any of those um things. And number 10, the site is adequately served by essential public services and facilities and not requiring additional
public expense and infrastructure improvements. That is also true. Next slide, please. uh will not adversely affect any site or feature of the historical, cultural, natural, or scenic importance because
they're not building anything new. None of those things are being interfered with. And I think it's going to be a nice thing to see when you drive by and see little people having a good time for a change on this property. Number 12 will not be contrary to the public health safety and welfare provided that
a denial based exclusively on the language shall include explicitly finding findings regarding the way in which granting the special exception would be contrary to the public health safety and welfare. I don't think anything about this project is going to
be contrary to the public health safety and welfare of the city. I think it's a benefit. Next slide, please. That's just an overview of the full property site from overhead that shows the seven
properties. Next slide, please. This is what it looks like from street view. Next slide, please. Next slide, please. As I I explained before, the entire area is within the HOD, the historic downtown
opalaka district. Next slide, please. That's a better depiction of the historic district, downtown west, downtown core, downtown east. Next slide, please. staff is recommending approval of this special
exception to allow for a daycare, kindergarten, youth education, however we want to define it, but I think it's it's a good use for this property that has been in disuse for quite some time. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Do we have any
questions from the board? Yes. Yes. Whoever would like to go first. Go ahead. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, I'm happy that someone is looking into invest in
the city of Opalaka. Um, however, you talking about possibly 139 children and uh you have Opaak Elementary right nearby. I think we might have an issue
with the traffic as far as picking up, dropping off. Um, I know for a fact because I went to even though it's a different school, I went to pick up my grandson with my daughter and they had to make a line
like they have to line up almost half an hour before picking up the child and it's a huge line. If you don't make it within that line, I mean, it's a different school. Let me say it again. If you don't make it within that time frame, they send you back.
And yeah, it's so I don't not against it. I love children, believe me. I have four grandchildren, but I'm seeing the overview of all these cars dropping off, picking up children and
um I don't know how that's going to affect the city. Thank you very much for your question, Miss Dominguez. You bring up a very good point, which is traffic flow, right?
That's very important and we went in detail with Miami Data County when getting the plans approved of how would this work and indeed it it takes some magic to make it work and I would tell you that in our other locations which are located as well in Maine, thorough
streets and cross town streets, right, we've been able to master that art. So how does it work? First of all, how Mr. Cruz was saying earlier today is we have staggered a pickup and drop off time, right? So we're planning to have nine
classrooms, right? Each classroom is going to have a different pickup and a different drop off time. So for example, the one-year-old class will not combine with the 2-year-old class at the same time. On top of that, we will have a designated security guard, which is what
we do at our other locations in order to make sure that the parents park in one of the designated spaces. They do a smooth drop off, right? And usually what causes traffic is not a lack of space is usually people do not know where to park or they occupy two parking spaces or
they just park in the middle of the of the drive-in, right? So, the security guard works extremely well because organizes the traffic flow. And then on top of that, since these are small kids, like Mr. Barnes was saying, we have a designated escort who's also a teacher,
that person is there at pickup and drop off time. And what that person does is think about like a greeter. They come in, they greet the parent, they greet the kid, and they take them inside the building. That we also do that to ensure student safety, but also helps out with
the with the traffic flow. From years of experience doing this, the combination of the security guard along with the greeter has worked extremely well and as well as having designated times for pickup and drop off for each specific age group. If you have any questions,
happy to answer them. Board member Williams, suggest you have a question. Yes, my questions were related to uh traffic flow as well. I think you've answered them. I'm glad to hear that. I think Yeah,
I'm curious. Will the school zone extend to because I know there's a school not too far from here, right? The elementary school. That is correct. We have an elementary school which we will be overlapping only one grade level and we don't plan to have the same hours as they have given that it's day. It's a
little bit more flexible the hours and it's not like the school which I understand Miss Dominguez's point that yeah I've driven through that school and many other schools and they're all getting at the same time and that's what really causes the trouble. So what we plan to do is you know have the the
greeter have the security guard and have staggered times at which people come to drop off and pick up their kids in the afternoon because you may have traffic not only in the morning but you may have traffic in the afternoon as well. So that that helps really well. And then something else to keep in mind, especially during also drop off and
pickup time is the windows are so wide, meaning that they could be dropping off a child at 7:00 in the morning and they could be dropping off a child at 10:00 in the morning. It's not like an elementary school that, you know, drop off happens within a 15 or 20 minute window. Here, that wider window actually
gives us flexibility in order to have a much better traffic flow. Just for clarification, madame attorney, um I just want to make sure because this specific resolution is merely for the modification of the site to even allow
the kindergarten, right? So if there were certain provisions that the board wanted to add, that would actually be on the next resolution, which is about the developer agreement. Correct. That is correct. Okay. So, just to the board, just as a reminder, this specific resolution is merely are we allowing
them or are we recommending they're even allowed to have a kindergarten on the site? Like to open this to the public. Please say your name. My name is Sarah Allen. Okay. And I do
have several question for both the board and the company which is St. Matt's Capital LLC. I know you all have other names that I saw up there on the presentation. Okay. First off, I am a
third grade teacher reading for Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary. My first question is, how will this business affect Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary since it will
incorporate kindergarten. Now on the wrong proposal here it says kindergarten but they are stating daycare but still the kindergarten affects us and the daycare. Why? Because we also have EPK at the our school. Next question. Will
funds be diverted from my um Dr. Robert B. Ingram school to now a private school. Next question I have, how is the project
working with Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary School? Because I heard that comment that the business is going to work with the school. Next question I have here is where are these 139 kids
coming from? Is it coming from our community or coming from another community and they're bringing the kids to that school? That's another question because I know some schools they have for their wanting a school but they're
placing it in a different community and those children are coming from there and they're not actually in our community. So that's another question I have. Next, I have here that the school where they proposed where they would like to have
it built, the railroad track is literally in the backyard. So now, what is the safety of it? Heaven forbid. We don't want no accident to happen, but literally there's only I think they had
mentioned a gate, a fence, and then there's the railroad tracks. In addition to that, by me working at Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary, sometime the trains do make the sounding of their horn. How would that noise be affecting the
children that literally thing divide them is a fence? That's another thing to put in consideration. Unless cuz I know one of the gentlemen said that he works with the fire department or used to whatever his career was, but I know it dealt with that. Are they going to have
the school sound proof that the children does not hear this truck zooming by on the traffic? I work at Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary School. Sometime I have to stop my lesson so that the train
can go by then I will continue talking because I have competition with the AC and the train and I literally will have to wait. So that's another thing to consider because I know it's educational. They're teaching the kid will be teaching the kids at that school. They have to put that in
consideration the sound. Next question I have the traffic. I know they speak about it. I know you all asked, but when he was saying with the flow of the traffic, you have to remember if you have daycare, they have to take those kids out of the car
seat. Between my daughter and now my grandson, you don't just pop them out of the car seat in less than one minute. So, how is that going to affect the traffic? Cuz they're not going to rush to get these babies out of the car seat because the new car seats they have now,
I mean, they are really a lot of things you got to be buckling in to have them. So, that is something to consider in regards to the flow of that traffic and especially if they have more than one child to take out of that car. So, now
that is something to reme um to in consideration. Then I have here where I saw something on the special exception review where it says affect in regards to affecting the district. This is going
to affect Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary not only with the kids but those of us who work there cuz less enrollment means less teachers and we will be losing our job. And of course, not down in any charter schools cuz you
have the right to create your own business. But we know that when these businesses come up, we lose enrollment at our school, which means to say less people needs to be working at the school and teachers will lose their jobs. So, I
know they say they're going to work with the district, but for me, that is not working with the district because these kids of 139 that they're saying if they're coming from our community, all of these kids go over there, we lost a kindergarten teacher,
we lost a BPK teacher. So, that needs to be in consideration. Again, I do not down anyone that wants to do a business, but it also in consideration. Then it's like you come in in our backyard to come and say, "I'm going to build something
here, but I'm not going to affect Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary." And based on what I was hearing from the proposed from the city, what I was hearing from the company, no, this business is
greatly going to affect Dr. Robert B. Ingram both internally and externally. Okay. So that is my questions that I have between the board, the city and the company. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your questions and thank you very much for your service and for being a teacher. I think it's one of the that's why why I got into this business in first place because it's a great way to give back to the community. So, I took notes here from each of your points and I'm happy to go
one by one in detail and we can make it as interactive as we can. Feel free to hop in and and ask me any follow-up questions if you if you need. So, first point that you had was about the grade levels overlapping. That's that's a very good
point. And let me give you some additional context. So the way we think our school is going to work with the elementary school is actually going to be a compliment. It's not going to be a substitute. And then let me elaborate why. We offer additional options.
Meaning that we offer options for, for example, for summer camp. We're going to be open 365 days a year. Students can come here. We offer an additional option for after school. I'm not sure if the elementary school offers after school options, but they can also join our
program in order to enjoy a different variety of activities. As I had said earlier, we work with different governmental entities, meaning that most of the kids are going to be coming tuition free, right? So, we see ourselves as a complement to the
elementary school. We do not see ourselves as a substitute to the school. In terms of your next questions, if funds are going to get diverted, that's a complete no. And the reason why is public schools in the in Miami date county get primarily funded by the
Florida Education Finance Program. That is a non-governmental entity that consolidates funds from local, state, and federal funds, right? And then they distribute that to the public schools. We do not get funded by the Florida
Education Finance Program at all. As I had said earlier, we get funded by different entities, primarily the early learning coalition of Miami date and Monroe County, which is a completely different set of funds. We also get
funded by step up by students, which is a state program and comes from a completely different channel. And then we get funded by United Way, which many of you have heard about. It's a non-for-profit entity based here in
Miami, Florida that works with a lot of daycarees that offer services to low-income families. Erh, where are the children coming from? Erh, the children are primarily coming from the Opaloka
community. Opaloka has a thousand students, a thousand kids under the age of five. That is our market, right? which is completely different from the elementary which targets kids that are older. We may overlap in one or two
grade levels as you said in VPK, right? But we offer an additional option in case somebody wants to go somewhere else for those grade levels. On top of that, Opala we think and this is more of a personal anecdote is in our other day which are located in
Liberty City, Brownsville, Little Haiti, right? A lot of the families do not necessarily reside in the area where their children attend. We have found out that offering a daycare is good for the community and it's good for business
because what a lot of parents do is they would rather many people commute 30 to 45 minutes each way. They do not want to be 30 or 45 minutes away from their child. They want to be close by. So they send their child to a facility that's in proximity to where they work. Right. So,
being able to offer this is a way to help out local businesses and attract talent that not only is in Opaoka, but can can actually help grow businesses within Opaoka, having a positive impact in the community. On top of
that, we work, you had mentioned a point about teachers potentially losing their job. That's not going to happen. Actually, what we're doing is we're expanding the pool of teachers, right? By increasing the supply of educa of
educational facilities, we can actually hire more teachers. So, you've probably seen this and I've seen it in my other schools is there's currently a shortage of teachers. People do not want to be teachers. So, what we're doing is we've come up with our own university. meaning that people we work very closely with
career source with different placement specialists and we go after people that you know didn't think about becoming a teacher. So what we do is we give them an opportunity we bring them over we pay them to come in for our training program. They come, we train them, we
get them their 45 hours, we get them their CDA certificate which are the basic licensing requirements for any daycare and preschool employee, right? and then we teach them the basics of the job and we convert them into teachers. So we're actually doing quite the
opposite. Instead of actually reducing the number of teachers or getting teachers from one place or another, we're actually expanding that pool and that helps your profession grow over time. Erh, let me keep going through my notes. Erh, you brought a very good
point as well on erh railroad safety and noise. The interior of our schools will be they will be furnished with acoustic panels and foam. This reduces the noise. On top of that, we go through different
environmental testings. One of them are noise levels. So, we need to make sure I'll give you an example for us to be able to partner with Early Head Start from Miami Data County as well. One of the things they do in the pre-qualification is they measure the noise level in the room. If the noise
level is high, they won't award us a contract. So, it's that simple. We need to make sure we are compliant. And I don't know the exact noise level that's going to be whenever we install the acoustic tiles and the foam, but if that noise level is very high, I won't have a
business and I'm going to need to do something about it in order to make sure that those noise levels come down. And then the last point we had which is on traffic. You brought also a very good point which is absolutely and I never intended to say that a parent of a
three-year-old is going to be doing a pickup or a dropup in one minute or two minutes. The average pickup and drop off time actually takes about six minutes. That's what we have observed in our other facilities. Right? We're going to have nine classrooms approximately 12 students per classroom.
We plan to do the staggered pickup and drop off time every 30 minutes as I had said and this gives more than ample time more than the average six minute pickup and drop off time in order to make sure everybody has a smooth transition and there's no traffic accumulation in
Alibaba Avenue. Any questions? Happy to answer them through the chair. I I would like to bring up one thing that of the 139 kids that's simply the maximum allowable amount of children based on the
occupancy for safety of those only 42 can be kindergartener. The rest are all going to be four or five and down because we have different requirements for educational than daycare with
building and fire. So, if you look on here, there's only a couple educational rooms in each one of the structures. Just wanted to bring that up for clarification. I do have a quick question. So, you said 42 or kindergarten, but I think I heard you say that you were going to do VPK as
well. So, is that inclusive of VPK? VPK is is considered like prek, right? So, that wouldn't be included in So, that is included. So, that's both VPK and kindergarten. You're saying that number is 42. that right now we have it as educational and basically it's the way
that the the the actual classrooms are constructed. BPK according to the state of Florida is considered daycare. Got it. Okay. Got it. Got it. And so then to that point though, how many VPK students
do you envision you will have in the space? that that information you have the I can come up and give you a number, right? But I'm going to be completely honest. Usually what happens is we have um an idea of how many students we're
going to get. Probably you were if I were to guess, I would will probably be getting 15 BPK students in the in the first year. But again, that number changes on on on multiple factors. Thank you.
Did I see other hands in the audience from the from the public? Come forward, please. And please state your name. Dr. Cynthia Clay. I I just wanted to come to speak regarding how you said you would compliment the school. Um we currently
have a summer program where our children as well as residential children from other areas attend. We also have two afterschool programs that offer excellent care to our students. So those are things we would not be in need of. I
also had a question. You you you spoke about the prek and kindergarten. Do you have plans of expanding more rate levels as the years pass through the chair? based on the zoning requirement, the square footage, the answer is we cannot go further than
kindergartener in that space. And just another point you made about the 42 students, that would be two of my classrooms, two of my kindergarten classrooms. And the VPK we also offer as
well. You said 15 students. Uh my VPK offers 20 students. So this will be a conflict as you can see with everything that's been pointed out by one of my teachers as well as the things you say
you can complement our school with. At this point it just seems as a conflict and taken away from our school opposed to helping it. Thank you. Dr. Clay, I have a really quick question. I am curious. Has there been any prior
discussion between uh these operators and you at the school or is this the first time you all are connecting? No, this is my first time. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you. Any other public comments? Please state your name for the
record. Good evening. I'm Cherylyn Bass. I've been in education for 25 years at Dr. Robbie B. Ingram Elementary School. Everything my principal have said as well as our teacher, I concur
with it. I am not in agreement with having um another school down the street from us. Yes. And some of selfish reasons because Opaaka Elementary used to be Opalaka Elementary. Now Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary is a stable school
in our community. That's a school where the majority of our kids attend. We are at risk being closed, believe it or not. You all know what's going on. And to add to it would not be a positive for us um as a community, as Opalakians, as some
would say. Um and again, I'm trying to envision that main thare with traffic coming, you know, like this. I just can't see it. It's already bombarded in the mornings. and to add six minutes per vehicle. To
me, that's going to create an issue as well. Thank you. I have You go for it. No, no, you go. I have a question. Um, regarding the train track that's immediately behind the
school. There was a church there before, which I could imagine probably was kids there, maybe Bible school. maybe Sunday school with children. H what was the remedy for that safety
hazard when it was used as a church opposed to now as a school? I'll address that. Um the the building that they just acquired um has not operated for a church for a number of years. I've been
here at least 10 years and I don't recall it functioning as a church for at least eight out of the 10 years that I've been here. Now, as it relates to whether they provided the ch particular services for for children and
things of that nature, um we're not aware of what was done previously. um if it was incorporated as a part of the church programming itself, they didn't have to go through any particular lensure for Sunday school and things of
that nature. Um so staff is not aware as to how that was done previously. It was utilized as a church. The building has been there for a number of years. I think it was built in the
1940s, 1950s, somewhere in that time period. So and and I think that the that's only the church building the the uh retail space was done like in the 60s
and 70s. So they have some the the buildings have functioned as other as other things over the years. So we're we're not familiar with how that was integrated into as part of the train operations as as we know
um with um tri rail operating um that has increased in the frequency of trains passing through um Opaaka. Um prior to that you just had you know Amtrak which
runs three trains a day in and out. Um you do have it and it still um provi the rail line still provides cargo which is moved through the city at least two to three times a day as well. So there's a lot of train traffic that comes through
our city. A lot of train traffic even even just with Tri Rail they're on a 20 to 30 minute headway. So every 20 to 30 minutes, and I'm speaking to, you know, those that are in education, you hear a
train go by. Every 20 to 30 minutes, every day. As someone who worked across the street, it is very loud. Very, very loud. And I imagine a church, assuming they were there on Sundays, it's a
slower uh schedule than it is, you know, during during rush hour. It is incredibly busy and very loud. I do have a quick question for Dr. Clay. I would be curious to know how many students do you have at Robert B. Ingram currently and what is the capacity of your school?
You have 224 students and the capacity of 528. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Well, I'm sorry. Come back. How long have you been there? This is my 16th year. Okay. Let me ask you, do have
you seen a decline in numbers? Yes. In the last five years? Have you guys ever been to capacity? Yes. Um before I arrived there, the capacity was over over the 500 because we used to
have portables there. We used to have 10 additional portables. So the enrollment was over a thousand at one point. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Do we have any other
questions from the public? Okay. So at this point um we move forward to move the resolution and then once we do roll call we'll know if this resolution passes. Absolutely.
Just one final comment is and this is primarily to a board who's going to be voting right is I think our educators bring a very good point which is yeah they want stability for the school and if I were in your shoes I would be doing the same now and again
everybody may have different viewpoints I'm a strong believer in school choice which is offering options to the parents and to the students of the community and that's where the viewpoints may differ. Right. You said you offer the after school, you offer the summer camp and
that is fantastic. Right. And I I'm a believer that parents need to have a choice in terms of what they decide. Maybe they don't want to enroll in a specific summer camp. Maybe they want to enroll in one of my athletic classes that we're going to be offering, one of our karate classes, one of our soccer
classes, right? And it's about giving a options to the community for them to choose. And that not only goes for summer camp, that not only goes for after school, but that also goes for VPK and kindergarten because the curriculum may not be the same here, may not be the
same there, as well as the hours as well as the teachers as well as what the students are going to be learning, right? And we're doing this to actually offer options to the parents. And each parent can decide what's better for them. If they like the public school curriculum, they like what the teachers
are offering, they're more than free to sign up there. If they if they feel more aligned with what we're offering, they can come and sign up with us, right? I believe in a free market system and let the best player win pretty much. Thank you so much for
that. Um, I'm curious. Uh, have you all considered or will you consider not including grades that overlap with the school? We have considered and it does not make
financial sense for us not to offer BPK and kindergarten. And let me elaborate why. BPK is, as many of you probably know in this room, it's universal preschool, meaning that everybody, regardless of race, religion, income,
demographic, everybody qualifies, right? Same with Stepup, which is the program that covers kindergarten. So, without those two, we believe there is no way for us to pay our teachers competitive wages and be able to maintain
our facility in good shape. Yeah. And I just want to um maybe uh acknowledge something that you said earlier today which is where you said that the funds wouldn't get diverted. Um you mentioned the funds that public school gets which are uh state and federal funds but if I'm not mistaken ELC are those are both
federal and state funds and step up for students those are state funds as well. Definitely correct. So they are all public funds and so ultimately some of the funds that potentially go to public schools are being redirected to private school institutions like yours. Is that correct? Uh yes and let me elaborate. So
the funds come from three major channels right you have the federal funds you have the state funds and then you have local funds right now where it differs and this is probably where I didn't provide enough clarity is the entities that consolidate these funds are
different right so you have for example Miami D county they consolidated funds for the head start and the early head start program United Way does that for the daycare program early learning coalition does that, right? They're not getting funded by the early learning coalition or by any of those entities that are
funding me. Now, that may come from the same federal grant that is coming from DC, but the entities allocating the funds at a local level are completely different to the ones funding the public schools. I also want to be clear that for every
student that leaves Robert B. Ingram, that is less money that they get and that then in turn affects their enrollment. And potentially what we see is a a a world in which our public school, the only elementary school in Opalaka could potentially be shut down.
My comment for example, and let me elaborate. Let's use the example of a VPK student. If a VPK student decides to enroll with me instead of in the public school then in that case the VPK funds would come to me. Indeed that's in the
grade levels we overlap. Thank you for that. We of course we're sharing the program which is which is VPK for the kindergarten. We are not overlapping with the same program because public schools do not accept step up by students. No, but and I just want to
clarify when a child se if a child decides not to go to that elementary school that funding leaves with the ch they don't get that funding anymore. So although you're not getting
they're not getting step up for students they I don't know it's like 7500 I don't know what the figure is down to the cent but when that child is leaving that elementary that funding leaves the school and I'm very aware of what's
going on in Miami day county and Broward County and they are shutting schools down because of the plethora of schools and school choice. Not only that, um I I and I guess this is not really a question, but I do want to reiterate
that now you have a school that is right behind a train track and I can hear the train miles away and I'm never near like I'm not in a constant place, but it is a very loud obstruction for the
daytoday operations when we're talking about children. We're not talking about um It's not an industrial company. Yes. An industrial comp. Thank you. We're talking about our students that you said
are probably going to come from the city of Opaaka now having an I mean, I could just imagine the teacher here saying she has to stop and pause and fight between the AC and the train. Now, what does that look like for our students? And so
I just wanted to be to be clear although the funding source is not the same for kindergarten um when a child leaves that school they are now not getting that funding which means if they have a
facility that can have the capacity for 528 students and those numbers shift to under 200 we've got a problem not just with VP PPK in kindergarten. We've got a problem
with first, second, third, four. They don't just shut half of the school down. We have a very huge problem there. And so just consider that that and I was going to ask the same question. Would you consider not having VPK in
kindergarten? But I also know that that probably doesn't make financial that that's a very good point. And so two comments. Number one is I don't know the way public schools get funded. I cannot I'm not a subject matter expert on that topic. What I can share are the what I
was saying earlier which is a lot of parents that may live in Miami Gardens they may live close by but they work in Opaloka they want to have their child close by right and they may remember we're going to have infant room one year old class 2year-old class threeyear-old
class right so PP kindergarten is less than half of our enrollment right and then what could happen which could be a positive impact for the elementary school is a mom who lives in Miami Gardens may say I want to sign up my or lives close by. I want to sign up my my
my kid here right in in in in Opaloka in my elementary school and then maybe for summer camp or for after school they want to bring them over to the elementary school. Now I don't know what's their acceptance policy if they need to live in the city of Opaloka but we would be bringing additional people
into this geography. So, I would I think we've exhausted the amount of of questions between not only the public, but as well as the board and the applicant. I think at this point there's been enough information to go around for
board members to make an informed decision on this specific item. So, I think it's in our best interest to move towards the actual voting on said item. Mr. Chair, board members, if I may make a comment. Um, Mr. Lee mentioned it in
his presentation. Uh, one of the things that's required, it's a statutory requirement, also part of, uh, the city's code. Um, if the board is inclined to deny the special exception use at this location for some of the reasons that I've heard you discuss, I
want to point you to, and if you don't have a copy up there, I will give this to you to take a look at the 11 criteria uh, in the city's code. It's actually 12. Um, so you can look at those and state your basis and your reason for
deni a denial of an application. If you're going to make a motion to approve it, it's not a concern. Uh, but I just want to caution you, uh, take a couple of minutes and look at the criteria if you're inclined to do that to make sure you can state your reason for it. What
page is that on? One one additional thing, Madam Attorney, because I recognize that that is one potential avenue. Uh, isn't there also the potential avenue of an individual moving the application forward and then the subsequent votes not having enough to
actual make it approved as well? Repeat that one more time. Want to make sure I'm following you. Sure. So, in the event that a board member moves this resolution forward for approval, Yes. it is seconded. And then we get to the roll call portion. In that roll call portion,
don't the board members also have the ability to decline support and should that motion fail effectively gives the same circumstance as immediately denying via one of these criteria in the document. Correct. Just when you deny
the application, the applicant needs to know why. It would also be to the benefit of the city commission as it moves forward to say what was your concern uh based on this criteria because that's what you're judging this application by. I appreciate the comments from the uh teachers as well as
the principal. Uh but you want to look at the criteria. That's what we're obligated to review and base your approval or denial on. Got it. Thank you. Understood. So, can we have a few moments for the board members to review the documents?
Absolutely. Thank you. Do board members need additional time? No. No. Okay. So, at this point, we will either move to approve or deny resolution number three. I'd like to make a mo a motion to
deny this uh resolution and I'd like I think you want me to name off all the reasons. Is that correct? We can get a motion in a second as a roll call is called if you would state the item number in the criteria if you'd like to do it that way. If you would like to elaborate that's certainly at your
discretion, but you can reference one of the criteria enumerated in your packet. I think we'll take that approach. Do I have a second to the denial of resolution number three? Quadian seconds. Roll call, please. Board member Hibbert Smith. Yes.
And you have to identify a criteria on the document. Board member Dominguez, I am disagreeing with the um special exception for the uh number six which is the
traffic. Um that's basically my main one which I discussed earlier. Board member Megan Um, I would say yes. And my criteria is uh number six, board member Williams.
Yes. Number four, non-compatibility. Number six, vehicular traffic. Um, number eight, I put it's unfavorable environment impacts. I'm sure the unfavorable environmental impacts are to the community. I'm more concerned about the kids, so I might be looking at that
wrong. And and I'll just leave it there. Board member Mata. Yes. And um I'm also considering the special inception of six and eight as well. Chair Barnes.
Yes. Number six and number eight. item did not pass. So, Mr. Gay, considering the item did not pass, how do we want to deal with resolution number four? We will still deal with resolution number four because it is an item that will proceed forward with uh item number three to the
commission meeting. So, we would need to take that particular item up and we will have to have a vote. Um, I would probably conclude that the vote may be similar, but this Resolution 4 is dealing specifically with the development agreement. So there may be
other aspects um that you may want to have addressed in the U development agreement based on your responses uh of of the criteria that was expressed in item three. So we need to move forward to that item.
So we move forward to item number four. I'll spare the lengthy text. Um we've had a presentation from um the client and we've also had a presentation from the the department or
to assume we do not need additional presentations at that point. If there are no other points that need to be addressed from the developers agreement that will be it. Okay. So, I just want to make clear to the board if there were things that you may have saw in the
special exception review that you feel could be um added to the developers agreement, this is the opportunity. But also, please be aware that while things may be able to be placed within the developers agreement, some of those things are not actually able to be enforced, they are encouraged. So that
said, uh would the public like to make any other comments or have states already been claimed? All right. So we are now at the point of either approval or denial of resolution number four. We like to make a motion.
I make a motion to deny it. Have a second. I'll second. Roll call, please. Board member Herbert Smith. Yes. Board member Dominguez. Yes.
Board member Megan. Yes. Board member Williams. Yes. Board member Mata. Yes. And Chair Barnes, yes. Item did not pass.
Thank you. As was previously expressed, the item will still move forward before the city commission for their consideration. Y. So, thank you all for coming with us this evening. Um, it is
now 7:22 p.m. and we are adjourning this meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, by the way, um I do have an announcement. Uh it's bittersweet. Our
secretary uh Miss uh Diana Chang has uh informed us that she will be retiring at the end of this month. That's the sweet part. The bitter part is you're the new secretary. I might have to be but we
will be losing one of our crown jewels in our department who has really improved our level of efficiency.