BREAKING NEWS! Palmetto Bay Vice mayor will call for a Special Council meeting to discuss filing suit against Miami-Dade County.

Will Palmetto Bay face off against Miami-Dade County, specifically Miami-Dade County Transit (DTPW) in court? If so, what are the relative gains versus risks, both immediate to the lawsuit as well as for future relations with Miami-Dade County?

Miami-Dade County notified Village Staff and Member of the Village Council that the 4-way stop signs temporarily placed on 87^th Avenue at 174^th  will be taken down. If my memory is correct, these 4 way stop signs were placed there conditioned as a temporary measure, only for so long as it took for the Village of Palmetto Bay to fund, design and construct a traffic circle at this location (with County approval). The Village Council agreed to this, but then voted down the traffic circle at the October 4, 2019, Regular Village Council meeting.

It is my understanding that the deal was: no traffic circle, no signs.

Response to date? The following was put out from a resident, providing a response from the Vice Mayor to (their) email: 

I (Vice Mayor John Dubois) have called for special council meeting on Oct 17that 7pm for a resolution to instruct the City Attorney to file an emergency motion for preliminary injunctive relief against the County to stay them from forcing us to remove the 4-way stop signs for reasons of public safety until we have a ruling from the county commission on this matter. The resolution also includes instructions for a petition to the county commission to instruct their DPW to cease and desist from their action to have the stop signs removed. It shouldn't be a problem to leave the stop signs there.

I will not be supporting a traffic circle there or anywhere else unless there is a public safety benefit.All of the data I have seen indicates that traffic circles cause more accidents than stop lights and stop signs.

I spent 20 years living the capital of the US for traffic circles - Wash DC. Even thought they were typically much larger circles, they too were the culprits for about triple the number of accidents vs. traffic lights and stop signs.

Please note that there is no notice of any such meeting posted on the Village website as of 2:15 PM, Wednesday, 10/9/2019.  

10/10/2019 update- the meeting has been added to the village website, listed on the Public Meetings Section (CLICK HERE).

RECOMMENDATIONS: Please weigh the benefits and risks. This will be interesting. Miami-Dade County has been both partner and opponent to Palmetto Bay at various times on traffic issues. We have received millions in traffic related Grants from Miami-Dade County including the $7.5 million obtained under my leadership that was applied to the Franjo Road revitalization. See: July 19, 2016, Final approval from our County Commission- $7.5 million GOB grant APPROVED. More good news for Palmetto Bay. Another grant obtained under my advocacy was a $1 Million TAP Grant for mobility improvements (CLICK HERE). I even pushed and obtained the grant currently being used for the FREEBEE - CLICK HERE - TPO Service Development Grant Program awarded to Palmetto Bay - $225,000 for this upcoming year, year 1of a 3 year grant.

I ask the Village Council Members to tread carefully and not file a lawsuit unless it has a solid chance of success, but also be mindful of what future ramifications are for loss of significant partnership, including placing the entire Old Cutler Road traffic relief program on hold creating traffic nightmares for years to come.

There is much I have written, much more that I could write. But a lawsuit changes the dynamic and could put all other projects at risk, that are far too numerous to list here.

Why not Mangowood? Finally, why now, this lawsuit for Malbrook, and not discuss taking the same action in regard to the past removal of the 4 way stop signs the County removed from Mangowood? CLICK HERE to read more about Mangowood, past traffic town hall meetings and work to find comprehensive traffic solutions.