Directors/Alternates Present
T. Sinclair (Tory) Jacobs/Brickell 25
Berdie Archer/One Tequesta Point
Mac Seligman/Brickell Townhouse
Celestino Penar/Brickell Harbour
Harry Turk/The Palace
Ralph & Roberta Slonim/Villa Regina
Herbert J. Bailey/Brickell Forest
Michael Silva/Brickell Biscayne
Norman Mininberg/Brickell Place, Phase I
Henry H. Taylor, Jr., Esq./General Counsel
Ronald K. Smith, Esq./Deputy General Counsel
Natalie Brown/ BHA Communications Director
Associate Members Present
Rev. Joseph Combs/Immanuel Lutheran Church
Evangeline Gouletas, Alex Tellez/Skyline on Brickell
City of Miami Police Department
Chief John Timoney, Commander Frank Fernandez, Officer Jeffrey Giordano
Sgt. Raul Herbello, Sgt. Carlos Suarez
Also Present
Joe Bier, Linda E. Baker/Brickell Place, Phase I
Joe Lombard/Brickell Bay Plaza
Gary Reshefsky/Greenberg Traurig
Kenneth T. Barber, Melissa Barber, Phyllis Baker/Trion Ventures
Victor Yue/Dorsky Hodgson
Marilyn Golhaber/Brickell Townhouse
The Meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m.
A motion to waive the reading of the November 2002 minutes and accept them as published was made by Berdie Archer and seconded by Ron Smith. The motion passed unanimously
President’s Report
Special thanks to Joe Bier for hospitality and Norm Mininberg for hosting.
Condolences. Bruce Cotton lost his son this week. The BHA expresses its sincerest condolences to Bruce.
Annual Meeting. Bruce Cotton has still agreed to chair the nominating committee for the annual meeting, next month at The Imperial. Volunteers for running for office were encouraged.
Traffic Matters. FDOT’s Robert Register will be here at the next meeting to address the discussion generated about and problems with the new no U-turn signs on Brickell, which were added to help UTD Towers residents and Lutheran Church goers get across the street. Imperial residents are not happy.
Bus Benches. Three designs are on display on the plaza of the Miami River Center. Meeting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to discuss preferences. If you can’t make it at 5:30, go at another time
Traffic Closure. Miami Tropical Marathon will be on Brickell Ave. Sun., Feb. 22 for two hours in the morning.
1900 Brickell Avenue. The doctor has applied to the Zoning Board for lifting of the covenants. The latest news is he’s withdrawn the request and is now planning to go to court claiming discrimination.
Brickell Streetscape Plan. On Jan. 23 the item will appear on the Miami City Commission’s consent agenda for approval. The plan includes lighting, entrance monuments…it’s a $1 million appropriation for the beautification effort.
Police Report
John F. Timony. New Police Chief for City of Miami
Spent 29 years as NY officer. Spent two years traveling around as a consultant, then four years as police commissioner for Philadelphia, tried private company briefly…boring. Speaking of when he first interviewed here he said, “I didn’t have any intentions of taking the job. But from the moment I met Mayor Diaz and City Manager Carlos Gimenez, I become interested. I could see the Mayor is a real visionary. He sold me on the idea of coming on the ground floor and being part of the changing of Miami.
“I can tell you from my brief tenure here, meeting the officers, supervisors and mid-level supervisors, the department has a lot of talented people who are waiting for the opportunity to turn it around and make it one of the finest police departments, again.”
“The mayor is out there actively working behind the scenes for us. There are good things ahead for us in the coming years. I’m working with officers like you see here, and I can tell you that great things are in store for Miami.”
Commander Fernandez said that in 2002, the officers did an incredible job bringing about a 3% overall reduction in crime.
Officer Giordano shared what was done but first extended thanks for the Southside Elementary School donations from BHA, among others: 35 complete turkey dinners and 450 toys for all the kids. BHA is one of the biggest donors continuing over time.
Sargeant Suarez was introduced. Has been working the Coral Way NET area for many years. Typically the holidays bring about more crime so he initiated Operation Zero Tolerance, which involved increased visibility and planning. They had two-hour rotations of officers patrolling and proactive plans in case of a robbery, which enabled them to catch two strong-arm, purse snatchers on Brickell before they could get away; purse and money was recovered.
Brickell Village Mixed-Use Development
Gary Refshefsky. Proposing for Coral Way and 2nd Avenue a mixed-use building including a public storage component. They will need to change the ordinance to allow 25% public storage. Will have retail on the ground floor and the storage will be hidden. The change in ordinance will apply to this project as well as others that may come along with public storage.
Question about whether it would permit others to do the same thing.
Planning and Zoning department didn’t object to the use, but rather the aesthetic of it, which the architect said he can solve. Retail would line Coral Way and 2nd Avenue. It would include 182 units of rental apartments on top of the podium of parking and retail. Seven levels of apartments, two levels of storage and two levels of retail. Storage is 76,000 sq. ft. Five levels of parking to be concealed behind the retail and storage facility which appears as retail store fronts. 517 spaces of parking.
Mr. Refshefsky said they received positive feedback from City and Zoning staffers. Because of its medium size, it makes a nice transition between the single-family neighborhoods of the Roads and the high-rise Brickell area. The deal is also structured so that if in the future the developer wants to convert to condominium association it can be done.
Safeguards in the wording were shared. Wants our support and non-objection to the project. Mr. Barber is the developer and has asked for a letter saying that we don’t have objections to the project. A motion on the subject was not made.
Evangeline Gouletus, Skyline on Brickell
A developer for more than 30 years, Ms. Gouletus has recently taken over the Brickell Bay Village development between The Atlantis and Bristol Tower.
She made many upgrades to the plan. They had a white picket fence…changed to a beautiful green glass. More landscaping, more waterfalls, bigger swimming pool. Concierge desks….marble floors not tile. Living room lounge. A gym from one end of the building to the other, a party room from one end of the building to the other. The pool/spa/tennis court/sand volleyball area is three times bigger than Bristol Tower. Outside ballroom. marble floors, jacuzzi, granite countertops in the units…
All were invited to stop by the sales office at 1548 Brickell Ave.
The meeting was adjourned 7:30 p.m. Next meeting Feb. 19 at The Imperial.
