Term of the day: Shoe horn or shoehorning

or

Shoehorn - verb per Merriam Webster dictionary

shoehorn

 verb

shoehorned; shoehorning; shoehorns

Definition of shoehorn (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1: to force to be included or admittedshoehorned irrelevant arguments into his essay

2: to force or compress into an insufficient space or period of time : SQUEEZEshoehorn the past, present, and future into about 500 pages— Otis Port

EDITOR'S NOTE: Where am I going with this? Wait and find out. Watch this blog.

Transparency is important. Florida has strict disclosure laws relating to Public Records – Citizens have the right to access. The burden is on the government to demonstrate any exception.

This is a set up; the first in a series. Transparency is important. In Florida, providing access to public records is the law. With a few exceptions, the records of state and local agencies are subject to the Florida Public Records Act. It does not matter if you are seeking records from your local municipal government or records in the Governor's office. Any/all must give access to public records for inspection as well as for copying. Your request may be made verbally or in writing. And any request may also be anonymous! 

This is the law of the State of Florida. Palmetto Bay does not make the law, but it is Palmetto Bay's responsibility to follow the law. 

When I was mayor, three terms, our Village attorneys always provided a primer of the public records and Sunshine law for each and every incoming council. Transparency and access to records is important, so important that it is the law! (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes):

119.01 General state policy on public records.—

(1) It is the policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty of each agency.

It is clear that it is time for the current mayor and council to undergo training in both the public records and Sunshine laws. More will be posted on this situation in subsequent posts.

For now, here is a great presentation:

Florida Department of Health - Public Records and Government in the Sunshine
Learner Course Guide, FY 2014-2015

The basics:

• The public records act is construed in favor of openness while exemptions are construed narrowly and limited.
• Any person may request a public record.
• A person does not need to provide a reason for requesting records, they don’t need to explain their purpose, they don’t need to give a justification.
• The agency cannot require a person requesting records to explain why they want them.
• If it is unclear whether something is a public record or falls within a specific exemption of the public records laws, there is a higher likelihood that the record will be public than not.
• If a person seeks disclosure of agency records, the burden is on the agency to show that a record is exempt from disclosure.
• The agency must cite the specific statute or law that requires the record to be withheld from disclosure.
• Attorney’s fees are usually awardable to the person who is forced to go to court to compel that government agency to disclose the requested records.

More will follow, explaining the need for this primer on the Florida Public Records Law.

LUXCOM - Tuesday, July 14, 2020 is mediation day. a day that will set the future of development in Palmetto Bay. Some thoughts.

Residents of Palmetto Bay were promised 1 unit an acre at the LUXCOM property, formerly known as the FPL property. So how is that working out?This is another of a series of updates relating to this land use issue that may set a precedent for years to come.

The "mediation" is set for Tuesday, July 14, 2020. I put the quotes around mediation as there is no Bert J Harris claim lawsuit filed, at least yet. Pre-suit mediation do happen by agreement of parties, but the fact of this matter is that this matter could have been worked in the public through a zoning hearing, where residents could have attended and put in their testimony, their input into the final numbers. 

At last check, the negotiations offered by Palmetto Bay officials included the following:

• 145 units (which is significantly more than the 1 unit per acre limitation imposed by Palmetto Bay - promised to residents by this mayor and council)
• Revert the zoning back to "institutional" but specifically excluding a use for a hospital, or
• Participate in binding arbitration

The one unit an acre zoning was represented as fully defensible by both the Mayor Cunningham and Vice Mayor DuBois. If this is true, then why the offer for significantly more units? Once again, the issue is whether this promise and council action - setting one unit an acre - will be aggressively defended or will the political realities and promise breaking rear its ugly head once again. 

Perhaps this is less about political promises, but in reality demonstrates that the current administration is out of their depth, unable to fully grasp zoning issues and property rights.

Should the council exceed 1 unit an acre? The bottom line: LUXCOM has few true expectations of unit rights. Why?

• They purchased a property known to be contaminated. A known health risk not just to the site, but to surrounding areas.
• Due to the contamination, there is a valid argument for ZERO units per acre.
• The majority of the site had only been used for power plant production, not residential (and is also the reason for the contamination).
• The area to the north is in a differing jurisdiction, Coral Gables - which has its own zoning / land use codes, rules & regulations; what I considered to be a 'hard wall' against liberally applying any trend of development into Palmetto Bay.
• The area and few houses (caretaker houses) were zoned 5 unit and 1 unit per acre in the applicable close proximity. This would support reasonable zoning decisions of between 15 - 65 units on this entire property.
• Hearings were held on the legislation establishing the 1 unit per acre designation.
• (There are many more reasons not included here)

LUXCOM is significant. This may be the first time ever that a Palmetto Bay mayor and council upzone any property, increasing density. This property has important distinctions from the Palmetto Bay Village Center (PBVC). First of all, back in the 1980s, the PBVC won a court-order right (against Miami-Dade) to over 1,400 residential units on the 80 acres long before Palmetto Bay residents ever though of becoming a municipality. Palmetto Bay officials have worked hard to whittle down the number of units over time. LUXCOM is an attempt to actually INCREASE the number of units.

But now is not the time to interject, let's see what happens. Perhaps Palmetto Bay Village Officials will keep their promises and fight to reign this project in and keep the 1 unit an acre designation that was promised to the voters, the residents of Palmetto Bay.

Fair questions:

• How long will we be kept in the dark as to any agreement reached at this mediation? 
• Will an impasse be announced the same day? 
• Will a proposed settlement be announced or will we have to wait until the proposed settlement is released in an agenda for a special council zoning meeting to approve the proposed settlement? 
• What happens if a majority of the Village Council rejects that proposed settlement, or, 
• One possible result being talked about - an announcement that no agreement was reached; that an update mediation will take place after the respective attorneys confer with their respective clients (one possible translation: pushed off until after the upcoming elections).

PREDICTION: Mediation will start, but will suspend and reset for another day further down the road, preferably after the upcoming elections.

Foreshadowing - for now, please review the Palmetto Bay Path conceptual Plan proposed by Marsha Matson, Palmetto Bay Councilmember, District 3, March 18, 2019.

I am merely putting this out there for now- more to come later. This is foreshadowing.

Please review the Palmetto Bay Path conceptual Plan proposed by Marsha Matson, Palmetto Bay Councilmember, District 3, March 18, 2019. (CLICK HERE) to download and view this 23 page document.

And also please note - I do not believe this is available online on the official Village of Palmetto Bay web site, but you can find it here as it is posted to my Googledrive.

There is some good stuff (and some items where I will express opinions on at a later date) here - the SW 136th Street plan, consistent with the Joint Agreement with Miami-Dade County and Palmetto Bay - specifically resolution 2018-47.  And once again, please note - neither of these documents appear to be available online on the official Village of Palmetto Bay web site, but you can find it here as it is posted to my Googledrive. (CLICK HERE) to view this Miami-Dade County Memorandum of October 23, 2018 (17 pages). This County Memo includes Palmetto Bay Resolution 2018-47.

Here is what is currently posted on the official village website (CLICK HERE) - note the information is as posted on October 29, 2019, 4:00 PM.

136th St. Improvement ProjectThis 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.

Finally, I have uploaded (former) Item 10E from the February 4, 2019, agenda - the Staff Report (remember when those were made available to the public?). This is a 31 page document relating to this issue I will be discussing at a later date. Please consider this part of your SW 136 Street Improvement 'tool box' for now. (CLICK HERE) to download and view.

There is more to come - I promise you. Information that is relevant to transparency in government (or lack of) as well as the status of prior agreements, notice and impact to residents, especially those who are most directly impacted.