New Year's 'resolutions'
City plans capital improvements for '04 and beyond
By Bari Auerbach

The City Commission recently passed resolutions to facilitate beautification projects and capital improvements in keeping with goals to promote the "new and improved" upscale image of Sunny Isles Beach throughout 2004 and beyond.

New Median Closures
A resolution was passed approving an agreement between the City of Sunny Isles Beach and Calvin Giordano & Associates, Inc. for a Collins Avenue median closure traffic study in the amount of $43,004.50.

City Manager Christopher Russo explained, "The City is advocating the closure of certain medians along Collins, which will provide for wider medians, better flowing traffic and much more landscaping. It's estimated about 72 more date palms [could be installed] if we went forward with all the [proposed] median closings.We have about five or six we want to close that are not signalized; and don't have a turn lane associated with them which makes it dangerous - most notably at 186th Street, 175th Terrace.[we're actually talking about] the complete area between 183rd and 178th Street.as well as the area around Poinciana and the Turnberry project."

Russo noted the City has had meetings with FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) to get a "handle" on what will be necessary for the Commission to approve closing the medians. "We're proposing to do the study and get all the information meeting FDOT requirements.their reception has been very positive to the whole project."

Commissioner Ros Brezin pointed out, "This is something to look forward to.It's what we all want - beautification.Everyone looks to our neighbors to the south and says, 'How gorgeous.' [The median closings] will allow for magnificent landscaping.We'll have wider median strips, so there isn't any question about the importance of proceeding with this study."

New Road Improvements
A resolution was passed authorizing an agreement between the City and Tenex Enterprises Inc. for roadway and central island resident parking improvements in the amount of $88,056.38

"This is part of the long-awaited resident-only parking areas that we previously approved throughout the central island area," Russo said. "It's also a per item contract for some professional replacement of asphalt on a number of our roadways. In the past, we've just been patching potholes - but now, we're going to do a number of cutouts and replacements.most notably the area on 178th Street near Sen. Gwen Margolis Park.there are a whole number of areas that we want to professionally patch.

"We will also ultimately move this contract into finishing the stamped asphalt crosswalks on Collins Avenue. We're 'piggybacking' off an existing contract.There were two contracts with [Tenex Enterprises, Inc.] that can accomplish everything we want with this parking and drainage project on Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic Isle.

New Bathroom Fixtures
A resolution passed approving an agreement between the City and the Spire Corporation for bathroom upgrades at Gilbert Samson Oceanfront Park in the amount of $21,000.

"This is another long overdue project to replace the 'police cell' grade, stainless steel, low pressure plumbing," Russo said. "This is a total replacement of all the fixtures and tile repair.We're putting in commercial grade, standard porcelain fixtures that are totally mechanical and we're not going for anything 'automatic.' The over-time test near salt air and salt water shows it's not good to go with automatic."

New Streetlight Poles/Trees
A resolution passed approving the purchase of light poles from Municipal Lighting, Inc. and light fixtures from Holophane for 159th and 174th Street in the amount of $103,301.

Addressing the Commission, Winston Towers resident Phil Chernoff noted he felt it would be important to protect certain trees in the area where light poles are designated to be installed. "Whoever puts those poles in should see to it they do everything possible to retain those trees," he said.

In response, Russo noted, "According to the electrical engineer, it will require removing some trees to put in these poles and get the proper lighting we want in that area [as requested by the Winston Towers complex master association]. We'll do our best to set the lights, concrete bases and conduits while trying to avoid the trees as much as possible."

Mayor Norman Edelcup later suggested, "We should make a commitment that for every tree we take out we'll put another one in.Trees will be replaced as necessary."

New Lower Parking Meter Rates
A resolution was passed reducing the rate of parking meters located on North Bay Road and 174th Street from one dollar per hour to fifty cents per hour. The cost of the project will be $400.

"A number of people who use the [neighboring] commercial entities recommended we [lower the meter rates]," Russo said. "After consulting with [the company] that maintains and empties these meters, we were told we might actually increase the usage if we reduced [the rate].

"This is one of the only metered areas we have that is associated with any kind of retail stores people use on a regular basis and we just weren't getting any usage here - so we said, 'It can't hurt' [to lower the rate] - especially if we may actually collect more revenue.Monthly permit fees will stay in place.($75 per month)."

New Improvements for Sunny Isles Boulevard
A resolution passed approving a joint participation agreement between the City and FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) for the design and construction of Sunny Isles Boulevard. The City is accepting $3 million in grant monies and providing a match of $1,269,383 for a total amount of $4,269,383 for the project.

"Our plans are about 60 percent complete and this is part of the process we have to follow to get the $3 million grant," Russo said. Mayor Edelcup added, "We want to thanks FDOT for their contribution to making the city more beautiful."

New Sites Sought For School
While passing a resolution in reference to supporting public school facility planning in Miami-Dade County, Mayor Norman Edelcup noted, "We cannot use the active park site [in the city to build a school] because we received monies from state grants labeling it as a park.But we're working diligently with various other very potential sites that will be there for us to move forward with a school.

"We've made a commitment we would have a school by the year 2006. The job for this year for our City Manager is to complete City Hall.and when that is completed, [the Commission's] next directed focus will be on a school.That gives us the year 2004 to finalize on a site and if at all possible I'd like to see that by the end of 2004, we'll be ready to file an application for a school.More than likely I feel it would be a charter school."

New Stormwater Projects
A resolution passed approving an agreement with Beiswenger Hoch & Associates for a technical and economic proposal for Sen. Gwen Margolis Park final drainage design and technical assistance during the final bidding process in the amount of $167,040.

"We just completed phase one [of the project] with Beiswenger Hoch & Associates doing an engineering study for the central island stormwater project," Russo explained. "They have gone with a different direction from what we inherited from the County and are proposing we go with a deep well approach throughout the area similar to what we did in parts of Golden Shores which has worked very successfully (the deep well approach will result in substantial savings to the city of about $1 million). This project will be started in six to nine months."

New Re-Pump Station
At the Dec. 18 City Commission meeting, George Berlin of Turnberry Associates announced he had met with Russo to discuss a project with the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department regarding a "re-pump station" with an emergency generator.

"As you probably know, all development could be stopped if we don't enhance the sewer capability," Berlin said. "The Department feels that by locating the site on the north end of the city (under the William Lehman Causeway) they'll be able to accomplish what will be required. Some years ago, we put a sub-aqueous crossing from Aventura into this area. What they want to do is hook into that and re-pump over that way into pump stations in the Aventura area.This would then provide the capacity.It would take all of the flow from Sunny Isles that comes down.starting with 12 inch pipes and going all the way up to 20 some odd inch pipes."

TOP