The City holds a right-of-way dedication to the following right-of-way areas:

(1) the northern half of an alley known as Abbott Court, running south approximately 125 feet from the southerly right-of-way (“ROW”) line of 72nd Street, which consists of a 20 foot ROW containing approximately 3,521 square feet, as shown on the Plat of the Normandy Beach South Subdivision, recorded in Plat Book 21, Page 54 of the Public Records of Miami-Dade County (the “Normandy Beach South Plat”), and more fully described in Exhibit “A” attached hereto (the “Abbott Court Alley”); and

(2) the portion of the alley known as Normandy Beach Court, located between the easterly ROW line of Abbott Court and the westerly ROW line of Abbott Avenue, which consists of a 10 foot ROW containing approximately 1,000 square feet, as shown on the Normandy Beach South Plat, and more fully described in Exhibit “B” attached hereto (the “Normandy Beach Court Alley”); (collectively, the Abbott Court Alley and Normandy Beach Court Alley shall be hereinafter referred to as the “City Alleys”).

Abbott Avenue Partners, LLC; Pumps at 71, LLC; and 7433 Collins Avenue Corp. (the “Applicant”) own the properties abutting or in the vicinity of the City Alleys; which parcels are known as 7117 and 7135 Byron Avenue; 7120, 7124, 7134, 7136, and 7140 Abbott Avenue; 430 72nd Street; and 409 71st Street (collectively, the “Property”). 

The Applicant intends to develop the Property as a mixed-use residential and commercial development (collectively, the "Proposed Development").  The Proposed Development shall be developed as a unified development site.  In conjunction with Proposed Development, the Applicant is requesting that the City vacate the City Alleys, and has submitted its application to the City's Public Works Department with respect thereto.

The vacation of City streets, alleys, and/or rights of way, require compliance with Article II, Sections 82-36 through 82-40, of the City Code (which establish the procedures governing the sale or lease of public property).  Prior to approving a request for vacation, the following requirements must be satisfied:

(1) the title of the Resolution approving the proposed vacation shall be heard by the City Commission on two separate meeting dates, with the second reading to be accompanied by a duly noticed public hearing;

(2) the proposed vacation shall be transmitted to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee (the "Finance Committee") for its review;

(3) the City's Planning Department shall prepare a written planning analysis, to be submitted to the City Commission concurrent with its consideration of the proposed vacation; and

(4) the City shall obtain an independent appraisal of the fair market value of the property proposed to be vacated.

On March 6, 2019, the Land Use and Development Committee discussed the proposed vacation, and recommended that the City Commission refer the vacation proposal to the Finance and City Wide Projects Committee (FCWPC), pursuant to City Code Section 87-37(a).

At the FCWPC’s June 14, 2019 meeting, the Planning Department staff advised that the proposed vacation would be consistent with the North Beach Master Plan recommendations, as well as the recently adopted land development regulations for the TC-C district.

At its June 14, 2019 meeting, the FCWPC recommended in favor of the proposed vacation of the City Alleys, with the vacation of the City Alleys subject to and conditioned upon the Applicant’s delivery of certain public benefits to the City, including: the Applicant’s dedication of the southern forty (40) feet of 7117 Byron Avenue, connecting Byron Avenue to Abbott Court, consisting of a total of 4,741 square feet, for use by the public, as described more fully in Exhibit “C” attached hereto (the “New City Alley”), with approximately 2,543 square feet of the New City Alley to be dedicated as a new alley for pedestrian and vehicular travel, and the remaining 2,198 square feet of the New City Alley to be developed as a new stormwater retention area, and improved as a bioswale, as described more fully in Exhibit “D” attached hereto (the “Bioswale Improvements”).

The Planning Department analysis of the vacation, pursuant to Section 82-38 of the City Code, is attached as Exhibit “E” hereto.  The Public Works Department obtained an appraisal on April 2, 2019, which appraisal is attached as Exhibit “F” hereto and valued the City Alleys at $2,350,000.

Section 82-39(a) of the City Code provides that the lease or sale of public property also requires an advertised public bidding process, which requirement may be waived by 5/7th vote of the City Commission.  By operation of law, upon a vacation, a right-of-way reverts to the abutting property owners or the holders of any interest in any reversionary rights to the vacated area.

As the only persons entitled to the vacated City Alleys is the Applicant (as the abutting property owners and holder of the appropriate reversionary interests), the City Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission waive the competitive bidding requirement, finding that the public interest is served by waiving such condition.

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 1.03(b)(4) of the City Charter, the proposed vacation was heard before the Planning Board of the July 23, 2019 meeting, where it was approved by 5-0 votes (the required was 4/7th votes). 

Section 1.03 (b)(4) of the Charter also requires that the vacation be approved by 6/7ths vote of the City Commission.  The vacation of the City Alleys shall be subject to and conditioned upon the Applicant and City executing a Vacation Agreement that includes the following terms and conditions:

(1) Applicant shall dedicate to the public the New City Alley, consisting of approximately 4,741 square feet, with approximately 2,543 square feet to be dedicated for public use as an alley for pedestrian and vehicular travel, and the remaining approximately 2,198 square feet to be dedicated for the Bioswale Improvements; and

(2) Applicant shall complete construction of the Bioswale Improvements, at Applicant’s sole cost and expense, prior to the Applicant’s completion of the Proposed Development; and

(3) Applicant shall pay all City’s costs in connection with the proposed vacation of the City Alleys and dedication of the New City Alley, including any City closing costs, recording fees, or outside legal fees that may be incurred by the City; and

(4) Applicant shall be responsible, at Applicant’s sole cost and expense, for the relocation of any underground utilities located within the City Alleys and the New City Alley, as may be necessary for the Proposed Development and/or to fulfill the vacation conditions herein.

(5) Applicant agrees that City’s quit claim deed for the City Alleys shall contain a reverter clause, to provide for the City Alleys to revert back to the City in the event Applicant fails to satisfy all conditions of this Vacation Resolution prior to the completion of the Proposed Development, and with such reverter being without prejudice to any other rights or remedies that may be available to the City in the event the Applicant fails to satisfy the conditions of this Resolution; and

(6) Applicant agrees that City shall not issue a temporary certificate of occupancy or final certificate of occupancy for the Proposed Development until the Applicant has satisfied all conditions of this Resolution; and

(7) The Applicant agrees to indemnify, defend, save and hold harmless the City from any claims, demands, causes of action, liabilities, losses, costs, fees, expenses, orders, judgments and/or decrees of any nature whatsoever as a result of City’s adoption of the Vacation Resolution or issuance of a Building Permit prior to the satisfaction of the conditions of the Vacation Resolution, including the reasonable, out-of-pocket attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in the defense of any such claim, demand or cause of action; and

(8) in the event the foregoing conditions of the Vacation Agreement are not met, following notice to Applicant and a reasonable opportunity to cure, the Vacation Agreement shall be subject to termination, and in the event of any such termination, this Vacation Resolution shall be null and void.

On July 17, 2019, the Mayor and City Commission held the first reading of this Resolution, and read the title into the record as required by Section 82-37 of the City Code. 

The Administration recommends approval of the vacation at second reading, subject to the terms and conditions contained herein, and further recommends that the Administration be authorized to finalize a vacation agreement incorporating the conditions set forth in this Resolution, and that the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to execute the vacation agreement, upon form approval by the City Attorney.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Applicant is proposing to redevelop almost an entire block with a mixed use project consisting of commercial and residential uses. As it stands now, the assemblage is 53,980 square feet in size. The applicant is asking the City to vacate one alley in its entirety, Normandy Beach Court, which is 1,000 square feet. In addition, the Applicant is asking that the City vacate a portion of another alley, Abbott Court, which is 3,522 square feet.

As proposed, the floor area from Normandy Beach Court and Abbott Court will be absorbed into the Applicant’s project. However, as stated by the Applicant, the purpose of the vacation request is to have a more efficient building.

The Applicant proposes to dedicate a portion of its property to the City to be used in two ways. First, the Applicant proposes to dedicate to the City a sufficient amount of property for a new alley that will connect the remaining portion of Abbott Court westward to Bryon Avenue. The amount of this dedication is 2,543 square feet. The Applicant will also dedicate to the City a sufficient amount of property for what will used to construct a bioswale. The amount of this dedication is 2,198 square feet. In combination, both areas total 4,741 square feet, which is greater than the square footage obtained by the Applicant through the proposed vacation process.

In summary, at the beginning of the vacation process, the area of the assemblage is 53,980 square feet. Once the square footage of the alleys being vacated is added to the assemblage and then the square footage amount being dedicated to the City is subtracted, the area of the assemblage is reduced to 53,762 square feet. This represents a net loss of square footage and, therefore, a loss of development rights for the applicant. Based upon the foregoing described loss in development rights, the Applicant’s motivation in seeking the vacation of these alleys is to have a more efficient building and not to obtain a greater amount of development rights.

Accordingly, the public benefit analysis is not based on increased development rights because the Applicant is actually losing development rights rather than obtaining them by undergoing the vacation process. The Applicant is proposing to construct a bioswale which represents an innovative way to handle the stormwater drainage. The Applicant has valued such construction in excess of $350,000.

BIOSWALE DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE OF WORK

Bioswales can improve stormwater runoff water quality by allowing solids and other pollutants to settle out of the water naturally in the bioswale depressions and the engineered soils beneath the surface of the basin rather than passing into storm sewers and eventually the waterways and ecosystems.

The proposed Bioswale will consist of landscape elements designed to concentrate or remove debris and pollution out of surface runoff water. The Alley Dedication will be immediately to the north of the Bioswale and will be sloped to maximize drainage into the Bioswale (Exhibit D).

Public Works is currently working with the applicant to expand the public benefit package in different ways and will give a verbal report at the City Commission meeting on July 31, 2019.