July 10, 2003 Special Commission Meeting - City of Miami Beach

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Afteraction July 10, 2003 City of Miami BeachAdministration seeks direction as to how to proceed, and since the amount ofinformation that will be presented by the consultant will take time for decisionmaking, he asked if any follow up meetings may be needed. At the meeting ofJuly 9 th , the Administration solicited an extension on the 120 days deadlineestablished by the MPO, and informed the Commission that the MPO hasaccommodated that request and will not formally be taking action until theSeptember meeting of the Miami-Dade County Commission.Charlie Hales, from HDR Engineering, Inc, stated that it has been a pleasurebeing here in the City of Miami Beach and added that they received excellentcooperation from the City staff and the community. He made a PowerPointpresentation and explained that this is an overview of the written reportpresented to the City Commission and the Administration After carefulevaluation of what is best for Miami Beach, looking at the four modes , and afterreviewing the previous study on the Bay Link, the consultant’s recommendationfor the best mode of transit in this developing urban community is probablystreetcars , the City does not have to lose the landscaping in order to have thisproject and no travel lanes are to be built for these type of systems. Therecommended alignment is a clockwise one-way route described as the “SouthBeach Connector,” and a counterclockwise one-way route denoted as the“Downtown Connector.”Mayor Dermer announced that Commissioner Garcia regretfully has a familymatter to attend and could not attend this meeting.Luis Mas eda spoke.Dave Barlet spoke.Ken Harrison Robbins spoke.Jeff Weiss spoke.Richard Schnechts spoke.David Goldman spoke.Jeffrey Bradley spoke.Marilyn Kramer spoke.Blanche Weiss spoke.Sylvia Ospina spoke.Elliot Thompson spoke.Bob Kunst spoke.Mark Needle spoke. (gotransit.work)Bea Kalstein spoke.Milton Montalvo spoke.Olga Quintana presented a CD from James Cuccheiros.Erika Brigham spoke.Professor Jean Francois LeJeune spoke.Joe Fontana spoke. He informed the City Commission that he had thousandssignatures from residents opposing this project.Ray Breslin spoke.Mario Porvelli spoke.Mark Abend spoke.Alfredo Rey spoke.Marty Evans spoke.Benita Argos spoke.Prepared by the City Clerk’s Office Page No. 2M:\$CMB\CITYCLER \AFTERACT\2003\Afteractions\aa030710SC.doc
Afteraction July 10, 2003 City of Miami BeachStuart Reed spoke.Carlson Keirman spoke.Peter Evans spoke.John Thornton spoke.Tony Guerra spoke.Robert Warren spoke.Mike Burke spoke.Jerry Bishop spoke.Charles Hales , consultant, HDR Engineering, Inc., answered some of thequestions from the public. He explained that he was general on the presentationbut more detailed on the report. He stated that the trackless trolley option isdiscussed on the report and this system does not have the capacity that isneeded in Miami Beach and will not get the funding from the federal constructionfunds. In addition, there is no volume of users for a subway project to qualify forthe federal construction funds. He explained about the issue of substation boxesfor light rails , which are required to be placed about every two miles and they’rethe size of a mobile home and are difficult to hide. The substations for thestreetcars are the size of a minivan and are typically located in a vault or even aparking space in a parking structure. In reference to the parking spaces, thereare several alternatives explained on the report and depending on thealternatives used the number of parking spaces lost changes. The routerecommended on Alton Road is right lane running, parking on the side, streetcaron the right travel lane and stops being curved extension; parking spaces lostwould be about 30 spaces for those stops. On 17 th , on 5 th or Washington, noparking spaces would be lost. Overhead wires are built to stand winds up to 120mph. The criteria used by the federal government to evaluate projects areridership, cost effectiveness, integration with local land use, and compliance withthe environmental process. With that criterion, this locally preferred alternativeproject will rate very well. Mr. Hales recommended a series of conditions thatneed to be considered, if adopting this system , which are on page 47 of the“Evaluation of Rapid Transit Report.” The conditions are a way to assure the Citythat they are leading this project.Commissioner Gross asked if the City adopted the recommended route, wouldthe left turn lanes on Alton Road be lost.Mr. Hales explained that one would have to skip some intersections, since therewould be no left hand turns in both directions at each intersection, one wouldhave to alternate the location of the left pocket.Vice-Mayor Bower stated that there is a concern that this project will serve Miamimore than Miami Beach and asked to see in more detail the routes in Miami, andwhat hotels are parts of the route. She wants to see how many hotels in Miamican be counted for conventions in Miami Beach and requested that theconsultant provide this information as soon as possible. The Commission needsto know how this is going to service our community needs.Commissioner Smith informed that under the People’s Transportation Planadopted this last November, Miami-Dade County will not allocate any money forany project north of the Convention Center. He requested the consultant toPrepared by the City Clerk’s Office Page No. 3M:\$CMB\CITYCLER \AFTERACT\2003\Afteractions\aa030710SC.doc
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July 10, 2003 Special Commission Meeting - City of Miami Beach

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