A Loss for Krome Gold Zoning Hearing Last Night. By Geniusofdespair

The community council meeting didn't go well for Rodney Barreto last night. See my June 23rd Post on his development Krome Gold. They needed a super majority but only got 3 for and 2 against, so it did not pass. Jeff Wander voted yes, putz. The chair of the community council agreed to let it be heard again in September.

The End of Community Councils is near! By Geniusofdespair

County Commissioner Pepe "Poison Pill" Diaz put this on the Agenda of The Government Operations Committee, which means, you should all incorporate into a City quickly:

ORDINANCE RELATING TO COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS; AMENDING CHAPTER 20 ARTICLE IV AND CHAPTER 33 ARTICLE XXXVI OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA (“CODE”); MODIFYING THE NUMBER OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO NO MORE THAN FOUR; MODIFYING BOUNDARIES OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO CONFORM TO BOUNDARIES OF COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICTS; MODIFYING COMMUNITY COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITIES; PERMITTING ELECTED AND APPOINTED MEMBERS CURRENTLY IN OFFICE TO REMAIN IN OFFICE UNTIL RESIGNATION, REMOVAL OR EXPIRATION OF TERM; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

Redland Community Council Rejected Soccer Field. By Youbetcha' and Geniusofdespair

The Community Council 14 vote was a unanimous 4 against a formal soccer field in the middle of agriculture land. Here is the whole story by Youbetcha' and it is a good one:

The attorney and his client did not seem at all concerned about the Urban Development Boundary or that they were plotting this 240 person stadium and 180 car parking area smack-dab in the middle of farmland. Yes, they knew that farmland was shrinking, but it was okay because their area was surrounded by larger parcels of farmland that could still be farmed. Even better is the fact they stated that they didn’t really want 180 parking spaces; the “county MADE them do it.” (Hit read more)

Since when do fruits, vegetables and farm animals play soccer? Actually, come to think of it, I suspect that the average neighborhood farmer would like to have a good night’s sleep after listening to their neighbors play soccer…illegally, without the benefit of a public hearing.

I found it particularly annoying that the applicant’s attorney stood at the podium and played the “migrant workers “card. Attorney Vera made it seem that out of very goodness of Bernardo’s heart, he was going to construct a private soccer club for the local residents and farm workers to use. He brought the prerequisite beautiful children to fill the seats and stand on cue. It was just like a wedding, his family on one side, her family on the other.

The plan was to light up the field, too. Imagine that. They would be playing soccer and creating traffic in a community that was tractor slow, as well as confusing the heck out of light-sensitive plants and wildlife.

It wasn’t a concern that they would be dumping automobile fluids and septic tank poop into the ground water which flows directly at their neighboring farmer’s drinking water wells. It didn’t seem to matter that the poop would work its way into the canal system or into the irrigation wells to water produce.

Actually, it was pointed out that DERM approved it. (What was DERM thinking?) This property has a canal on one side and an entire community around it that drinks and bathes in well-water that can be pumped from 10 feet down! The county environmental board actually told the property owner that his guests and employees would have to drink bottled water. Screw the neighbors! Screw the environment!

The miserable thing is that the county allowed the illegal soccer games to go on for at least a year. This resulted in anger and frustration that spilled over at the podium as the neighbors spoke. They complained about strangers in their neighborhoods; wild, if not drunken driving after events, noise and pollution. Some of it was undoubtedly true. Other of it, such smoke from fires, may not be solely the doing of the soccer players as farmers burn debris and plastic, too. But, the tone of the frustration took on an ethnic tint. That was not a happy thing for a diverse community such as our county.

I blame the county for not enforcing the laws. If county code enforcement was doing their job, not just the 7-4 Monday through Friday thing, the soccer games would have been shut down long before the growers/farmers sustained damages to their property and farms. The community would have not been able to complain about noise and strangers on the canal bank, and those beautiful children would not have been disappointed tonight.

Tonight could have been a teachable moment for those children. A moment that could have said, “there are laws and your dreams have to abide by them”. Instead these kids were let down because no one explained that they had an unreasonable expectation that they could have what they wanted in spite of laws to the contrary. Tonight’s teachable moment became “we didn’t win because we are not like them, we are foreigners” NOT “we didn’t win because our soccer club was not a legal use for that property”. There was resentment, bewilderment and hurt as a result. You could see it in the young faces.

Community Council 14 board members did the right thing. They voted to protect the environment, the farmland and farm businesses. It isn’t easy to see children and vote against them. But, the Board honored their commitment to uphold the comp plan and Urban Development Boundary; it was an easy call after the evidence, but tough job at the end.

(Genius said: Youbetcha' I think the County Commission will fold and approve the soccer field when they hear it.)

El Nuevo Herald, Translated Column on Community Councils. By Geniusofdespair

Behind the excuse of a budget deficit hides the thirst of control that traditionally flows through the veins of the County Commission... - Daniel Shoer Roth

A good citizen translated this for us...I hope you like it as much as I did:

GOODBYE TO DEMOCRACY IN DADE COUNTY - By Daniel Shoer Roth
The system of the government in Miami-Dade County has faults that sometimes places doubt in the authenticity of a local democracy. Commissioners are elected by their district’s residents and primarily they ensure their wellbeing, although their decisions affect the rest of the residents. This system allows them to be married to their office until death do them part or until a scandal causes a divorce.

However, within this system, there is aspect that functions democratically: the 10 community councils within the unincorporated areas of the county, such as Kendall and Redland. These councils make zoning decisions within their jurisdiction and make recommendations to the county about any proposed modification to the land-use comprehensive plan, which could change the identity of a neighborhood. These boards have seven members; six elected by voters within their jurisdiction and one appointed by the district commissioner.

Nevertheless, last Tuesday, on a first reading, the Miami-Dade Commission voted 8 to 5 so that commissioners themselves appoint members of the community councils instead of letting the public vote for them. The ordinance also reduces the number of community councils from 10 to four or less.

The effectiveness of these councils is that they represent their communities from within. Diluting them through the expansion of the jurisdiction they cover destroys their reason to exist.

These councils were created in 1996, as an initiative of then-commissioner Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, to stop the pressure from the communities anxious to incorporate as municipalities. The commission then argued that incorporation promoted pockets of poverty.

Because a house is the most costly investments for the majority of the residents, many prefer to have autonomy over their neighborhoods. This is the reason why so many residents strongly oppose any projects that are not compatible with the identity of the area where they live.

For example, if you are a homeowner and the Commission approves installation of a cellular tower next to your property, it is possible it will lose value. If zoning in your neighborhood allows four houses per acre and the Commission expands the density to six houses per acre, it will create more traffic and overpopulation in your schools.

Since members of the councils –all volunteers- know their area from corner to corner, they know better than anybody else whether a project is compatible or not.

In order to guarantee more democracy, the jurisdiction of each council has been divided into six areas and each one has a representative on the panel. However, each member must be elected by the voters of all the six areas. Meetings are held at night and within their neighborhood so that more individuals can attend. Whenever controversial project is debated, hundreds of residents attend the meeting.

Then why change a system that is functioning so well?

Even though community councils are popular among residents, they represent an obstacle in the way of developers and the powerful business interests behind them.

The commissioners that voted in favor or the ordinance proposed by Jose “Pepe” Diaz argue that the county will save funds by consolidating the community councils, as they require attendance by county personnel. It will also facilitate concession of permits to continue to build.

Behind the excuse of a budget deficit hides the thirst of control that traditionally flows through the veins of the County Commission.

By being the commissioners in charge of appointing the members of the community councils, they ensure their influence over the decisions of the community and the councils will become less independent. We will next see campaign contributors appointed to the councils as it happened with the Planning Advisory Board.

If this ordinance is approved, the residents of Unincorporated Miami-Dade will lose control over the future of their communities. It will be like saying goodbye to democracy in Dade County.

Community Councils On The Way to Massive Changes. By Geniusofdespair

First reading of either doing away with Community Councils or making the elected positions appointed instead, passed 8 to 5 a few minutes ago. Commissioner Katy Sorenson gave: "an emphatic NO." Also voting NO: Moss, Sosa, Souto and Gimenez. Sally Heyman -- What were you thinking? There was no discussion at this point, there will be a public hearing. I recently reported on the issue and Paola Iuspa-Abbott has a report today in the Daily Business Review, an excerpt provided in "read more".

Oh, and Vile Natacha Seijas is going on a new globe-trotting trip on our dime: This time to Brazil. Last time Warsaw.

Residents of nearly 90 homes in Kendall no longer get their water from a well with a high arsenic concentration. With the help of the Kendall Community Council, new water mains now bring clean municipal water to the Glenvar Heights area.

In addition to lobbying for neighborhoods within their jurisdictions, community councils also help bring some order to development in unincorporated Miami-Dade. The councils, which were established by the County Commission in 1996, are popular among residents, but developers argue the panels make the permitting process cumbersome and inefficient.

Developers may get relief. Today, county commissioners will discuss cutting the number of community councils from 10 to four or simply replacing them with a central zoning appeals board. Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz is sponsoring the proposed ordinances.

Diaz also wants council members to be appointed by the County Commission — instead of being elected, as they now are.

Opponents of appointed councils argue the commission would populate them with political cronies.

The Beginning of the End for Community Councils. By Geniusofdespair

Pepe Diaz, the County Commissioner who had bariatric surgery, is up to no good. This is on the Commission Agenda for September 15th:

Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Prime Sponsor

ORDINANCE RELATING TO COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS; AMENDING CHAPTER 20 ARTICLE IV AND CHAPTER 33 ARTICLE XXXVI OF THE CODE OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA (''CODE''); PROVIDING FOR APPOINTMENT OF ALL COUNCIL POSITIONS RATHER THAN ELECTION OF CERTAIN POSITIONS; MODIFYING THE NUMBER OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO NO MORE THAN FOUR; MODIFYING BOUNDARIES OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS/COMMUNITY ZONING APPEALS BOARDS TO CONFORM TO BOUNDARIES OF COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICTS; MODIFYING COMMUNITY COUNCIL RESPONSIBILITIES; PERMITTING ELECTED AND APPOINTED MEMBERS CURRENTLY IN OFFICE TO REMAIN IN OFFICE UNTIL RESIGNATION, REMOVAL OR EXPIRATION OF TERM; PROVIDING SEVERABILITY, INCLUSION IN THE CODE AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE

If you live in Unincorporated Miami Dade, Community Councils is what you have. If they are appointed by the County Commission, what good are they? Now the positions are elected. "Modifying their responsibilities", that couldn't be good either. This is exactly what I have been telling you all, they chip away at your rights.