Stealth meeting regarding the MEGA sidewalk? Interested residents should attend. Monday, Oct 26, 2020, 8:30 - 10:00 AM. The site location by Howard Drive Elementary

 Word on the street is that the current mayor has a private meeting set up with select County officials to review the SW 136 Street MEGA Sidewalk project. This meeting is currently set for Monday, October 26, 2020. Time scheduled is 8:30 AM and the present location indicated is by Howard Drive School. That is unless the meeting is moved now that it has been made public. 

Other fair questions: Is there a change, or an explanation, proposed exclusively for the benefit of Howard Drive Elementary? If so, then why not the other areas, or are some areas of SW 136 Street more entitled to special attention than others? Other questions, listed below the meeting e-mail include:

---Original Appointment-----
From: Soria, Miguel (DTPW) <Miguel.Soria@miamidade.gov>
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2020 4:35 PM
To: Soria, Miguel (DTPW); kcunningham@palmettobay-fl.gov; angusnyc@mac.com; Maturo, Donna; atstein@bellsouth.net; bcolledge1@gmail.com; Levrant, Maria Elena (DIST8); Mesa Valdes, Barbara (DTPW); Ona, Leandro (DTPW)
Subject: Face to Face SITE VISIT w/Mayor Karyn Cunningham, Village of Palmetto Bay
When: Monday, October 26, 2020 8:30 AM-10:00 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).
Where: Site Location by Howard Drive School - 7800 SW 136 Street

Please confirm your attendance.

Regards

Miguel Soria, P.E.

Assistant Director, Highway Engineering

Department of Transportation and Public Works

• What pre-selected insiders will be invited to participate in this meeting?
• Is the current mayor entitled to make changes to this project on her own or will the discussion come before the entire council?
• What changes or re-design options are available for this MEGA sidewalk?
• Why wasn’t the entire council notified (or were some, but not all)?
• Who is paying for the cost of staff or consultant time to participate in this meeting?
• Is there an agenda or any materials available that provides any clues as to the purpose of this meeting?
• Will members of Palmetto Bay’s Education Advisory Board or the Howard Drive PTA be participating in this meeting?
• When will the affected residents be brought into the loop?

My current concerns is why have this meeting now? This project has gone through numerous votes and went through design. It went from bike lanes on both sides of SW 136 Street to a change to a sole ‘shared path’, aka, the MEGA sidewalk outside public view. So then why the meeting? Is another change in the works, and if so shouldn’t affected residents be brought into the loop and involved?

The ‘shared path’ slated for SW 136 Street is far from an exclusive project of Miami-Dade County. It is a Joint Participation Project done under a contract known as a Joint Participation Agreement (JPA). This means:

You can't blame Miami-Dade County for the change from a bike lane to the MEGA (8-10 foot) shared path. The current Mayor and Village Council of Palmetto Bay had control over the project design. (* see last paragraph below for an explanation of a JPA). The original plan: (Prior administration) The Palmetto Bay Village Council adopted Resolution No. 2017-47 approving the Joint Participation Agreement (JPA) with Miami-Dade County to construct a bicycle lane along SW 136 Street from US1 to Old Cutler Road.

This same Resolution, (2017-47) allocated a total of $500,000 in Village funds toward the project.

It was the Village of Palmetto Bay that negotiated a contract with RJ Behar as the design team. 

This is how the Village website once sold this project to the residents (as of 10:00 AM, Sunday, 12/29/2019):

136th St. Improvement Project

This project is currently under design. Improvements include minor widening of the roadway to add bike lanes on both sides of the road and milling & resurfacing the existing roadway. We are looking to replace the existing 5’ sidewalk on the South side of SW 136TH Street (Village of Palmetto Bay Side) with a new 7’ wide sidewalk. Other improvements will include pavement markings, ADA Compliant pedestrian ramps, and landscape improvements. This is a LAP Project between Miami Dade County and FDOT, and Village of Pinecrest and Village of Palmetto Bay are also stakeholders.

We shall see what eventually gets poured in terms of asphalt and concrete.

The Tool Box: CLICK HERE to view prior related posts on this SW 136th Street project.