Bulldozers demolish rear portion of the famed Coral Rock House last month. Photo by Jacqueline Carini/Jacqueline.nexsoftware.com.

After some consternation about procedural matters, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board denied a request for a rehearing of the controversial Coral Rock House matter, during a meeting Tuesday.

Planning Department staff had recommended denying the request for a rehearing. Such requests are traditionally granted only if new evidence has come to light that would have changed the board’s original vote.

But that was precisely the argument attorney Kent Harrison Robbins made before the board Tuesday. Arguing on behalf of his client Mitch Novick, Robbins insisted that two main pieces of information had not been considered during the board’s original approval of a plan to allow the partial demolition of the Coral Rock House and a Mediterranean Revival building located just behind it. Both are owned by Michael Stern and Ivor Rose and under a deal approved by the HPB, Stern would be able to construct a new four-story mixed-use complex if he just retained the Coral Rock House’s façade, which many say was built prior to the end of World War I.

Stern’s attorney Carter McDowell insisted that since Novick once served as the chair of that very board, he had no ethical standing to bring the petition.

But current HPB Chair Allan Hall saw no ethical quagmire since Novick does indeed own a building, the Sherbrooke Hotel at 901 Collins Ave., within the required 375-foot distance from the Coral Rock House that city code demands for a rehearing petition. Robbins, foreseeing McDowell’s argument, even had a back-up resident waiting in the wings — David Wallack, owner of Mango’s Tropical Café on Ocean Drive, sat in the audience ready to take Novick’s place should the board accept McDowell’s ethics argument.

Staff and the board were also unsure how to proceed with the matter if the rehearing was granted. Would it be a majority vote? Or would it require the five of seven votes some measures need to pass? With only five board members present, Robbins’ task was difficult — he would have to get the vote of all five to be successful.

With that determined, Robbins was free to present the new material he argued the board was not aware of during the first hearing of the matter — information he said was grounds for a rehearing.

But Robbins still argued that the board was missing a critical financial feasibility study.

Robbins claimed that once the Coral Rock House had deteriorated (which he claimed was allowed) owing to age and what Robbins called “neglect,” the house was inspected and a demolition order issued by the Miami Beach Building Department, Stern and Rose snuck one past the board by not having to submit a feasibility study proving it was financially impossible to restore the house, which should have been required for partial or complete demolition of the historic house.

The argument gave rise to another piece of information Robbins claimed was grounds for a rehearing: “demolition by neglect.” Robbins cited city inspection reports attesting to the poor condition the Coral Rock House had slipped into, a state he said was purposely allowed to occur.

“This is a building kept under complete disrepair — these buildings are required to be kept up,” Robbins said, asserting that the owners “knowingly purchased” the high-maintenance building and then let it fall into an unsafe condition. Robbins accused the Coral Rock House owners and their legal representation for “misrepresenting to the court” that the demolition was “involuntary.”

“They’re motivated by profit,” Robbins said, and reminded the board that it was their job to protect historic properties. “They’ve thumbed their nose at this board and they’ve thumbed their nose at this community.”

Robbins ended his argument by playing a four-minute film, a compilation of somewhat emotionally charged sound bites from past board meetings about the Coral Rock House, which ended with slow-motion Channel 10 footage of Stern driving the truck through the Coral Rock House’s rear walls last month as chunks of coral crashed to the ground.

“This was an execution of the building that occurred when the appeal was pending,” Robbins said. But according to First Assistant City Attorney Gary Held (often present at Coral Rock events), the demolition was done legally in accordance with an order that Stern and Rose were already operating under. Held added that the city was court-ordered to issue the demolition permit.

“The extent of the demolition that occurred in July of 2007 was consistent with the order that this board approved,” Held said. That approval was for a rear portion of the Coral Rock House, known as “the 1939 addition.” The developers do not have demolition permits for the Mediterranean Revival building on the west end of the parcel. The original approval for the project allowed Stern to build his new mixed-use project there, if he restored the Coral Rock House. If it was determined that the Coral Rock House could not be restored, it would have to be replicated — a deal that apparently upset Novick.

“Kent is a master at creating a circus,” McDowell said calmly during his turn to respond. “He is insulting the board in assuming you don’t have the intelligence to deal with the items that come before you.”

McDowell countered that the reason inspections occurred when they did was that the owners themselves were prohibited from entering the house because it was deemed unsafe by the city. He says they entered a set of shoring plans to the city to brace the walls in the interim.

He also said it was the board’s discretion whether or not to require a financial feasibility study and that it wasn’t an absolute requirement in this case, as Robbins would have them believe.

Local historic district watchdogs Frank Del Vecchio, Bill Farkas and Wallack spoke before the board in favor of granting the rehearing. Resident Joseph Cafaro, though, reiterated the idea of simply moving the Coral Rock House elsewhere, a solution that has been considered impractical because of the cost and the precarious condition of the structure.

Most board members did not see sufficient evidence to grant a rehearing. When put to vote, a motion to approve the rehearing failed for lack of a second. To further solidify the board’s position a reverse vote was also cast, to which board member Erika Brigham was the lone “nay” vote. Moments later Michael Stern, in characteristic tennis attire, swooped over to the microphone to thank the board.

After the meeting, Novick told the SunPost he “most probably” plans to appeal Tuesday’s decision. Held told the SunPost Novick can appeal to the city’s Historic Preservation Special Master, who is independently contracted by the city.

“I’m disappointed that it may stand in the way of restoring the house,” McDowell told the SunPost. “The board did what it should have done. It ruled the way it should have ruled — that nothing new was presented.”

 çhome

Historic Expansion

City Board Moves to Expand Flamingo District to Alton Road

By Cynthia Archbold

Preservationists say these structures on Alton Road and 13th Street should be protected. Photo by Cynthia Archbold

Much of Alton Road, one of the busiest streets in South Beach, will become part of the Flamingo Park Historic District, if the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board has its way.

The panel voted Tuesday to extend the historic district to Alton Road from Eighth Street to 14th Street. However, board members left the fate of the Seventh Street block up in the air, postponing the decision of whether to include it in the district until a Sept. 11 HPB meeting.

Currently, the Flamingo Park Historic District stops one block short of Alton.

Extending the district west to include Alton would restrict building heights to five stories and limit density of use. Fans of the proposal say that would preserve the architecture and history, while keeping the traffic on Alton flowing.

The stretch is now a hodge-podge of one-story buildings used as small businesses, single- and multifamily homes as well as a commercial shopping center. The two blocks between 12th and 14th streets contain 14 homes designed in the 1930s.

“The historic district should have gone to Alton on day one, but they didn’t do that,” says Bill Farkus, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League, noting that the district was created in 1990. “Now we have to play catch-up.”

Equally important as the architecture and history is protecting area homes from new construction. Homeowners living on Lenox Avenue, behind Alton Road, say there is basically no land buffer between their homes and the buildings on Alton, so if a developer were allowed to build big new projects, they could dwarf the one-story residences and decrease property values.

But Alton Road property owner Russell Galbut and others say commercial development should be allowed to evolve, even if it means constructing bigger buildings.

“What we have in Miami Beach is an over-high-rised and under-commercialized community,” Galbut said. “Miami Beach residents today are demanding that professional retail services be provided locally.”

He and other critics of the proposal argue these buildings aren’t historically or architecturally significant enough to warrant the sacrifice of the area’s commercial business potential.

The Historic Preservation Board’s recommendations will go to the city’s Planning Board, and then to the City Commission for approval.

 çhome

Signature Chase

A Beach Candidate Says He’s Collected Enough Names to Qualify as a Candidate and He Wants Them Verified — Now

By Ben Torter

Jonah Wolfson has pounded the pavement all summer long to gather voter signatures to qualify to run for the Miami Beach City Commission’s Seat 4 this November, and he’s ready to be counted.

He walked into City Clerk Robert Parcher’s office Aug. 14 to turn in his petition and was stopped in his tracks. Bring it back Sept. 4, the first day of the qualifying period, Parcher advised him. Wolfson e-mailed a press release to the SunPost.

“I am disappointed that the city is not following the rule of law,” Wolfson wrote. “City government bureaucrats shouldn’t be allowed to operate in an ad hoc manner.”

The press release continues: “Section 6.03 of the City of Miami Beach Code provides that candidates seeking to qualify by the petition process must submit the required number of signed petitions ‘no later than the second day for qualifying as a candidate for such office.’ But the code is silent on the process and timeline for signature verification.”

Wolfson interprets that to mean he should be able to hand his petitions in now.

“In the past we’ve never accepted petitions earlier than the qualifying period,” Parcher told the SunPost.

This year the qualifying period runs from Tuesday, Sept. 4, until the end of business Friday, Sept. 7. The election is Nov. 6. Four out of seven seats are up for grabs, including mayor.

Wolfson and his election advisor David Custin met Wednesday afternoon with Parcher and Deputy City Attorney Jean Olin to see if they could sway their opinion. They were unsuccessful. Olin told Parcher not to accept the signatures early.

“I interpret it to mean that the initial date of the qualifying period applies to all candidates, whether they are applying by petition or check,” Olin told the SunPost.

Candidates for commission can either pay $1,020 to qualify to run ($1,360 for mayor), or collect signatures from a portion of Miami Beach’s registered voters. This year there were 38,866, so candidates must get 778 valid signatures. Wolfson said he has 1,029.

Wolfson told the SunPost he’s worried the qualifying period may not allow enough time to verify all his signatures. He referenced Florida State Statute 99.095(3), which gives the Elections Department more time to count petition signatures: “Each petition must be submitted before noon of the 28th day preceding the first day of the qualifying period for the office sought to the supervisor of elections of the county in which such petition was circulated. Each supervisor shall check the signatures on the petitions to verify their status as voters in the county, district, or other geographical area represented by the office sought. No later than the 7th day before the first day of the qualifying period, the supervisor shall certify the number of valid signatures.”

Parcher and the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections have promised Wolfson they will verify his signatures within the qualifying period. Wolfson can hand them in at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 4, and they will be forwarded to the Elections Department that morning, said Parcher. If at least 778 of his signatures can’t be verified, he will still have time to pay the $1,020.

Wolfson’s opponent, Luis Salom, is also collecting signatures. Salom told the SunPost he was not aware of Wolfson’s challenge, and didn’t know whether he had a valid point.

“I was under the impression that we had to turn them in Sept. 4,” Salom said. “That’s what I’m planning to do.”

Though both candidates have chosen to go the petition route, either could easily afford to pay instead. As of June 30 Salom had deposited $165,023.10 into his campaign account, $25,000 of which were loans from Salom’s own money. Wolfson has deposited $121,244.50 in monetary contributions to his campaign account, $66,466.50 of which he loaned to his campaign.

Though he acknowledges he can afford the fee, Wolfson sees the issue as discrimination against other candidates who might not have the money, and plans to fight it.

“At this time the city attorney’s actions have forced me to seek legal remedy to insure the voters’ signatures are counted in a timely fashion in accordance with state law,” Wolfson said.

Olin stands by her decision and said she’s confident it will stand.

“Mr. Wolfson referenced some state statutes,” Olin told the SunPost. “I’m very familiar with them, but they do not apply here; the city charter does.”

 çhome

Sunny Isles Beach

A Condo Project, a Fishing Pier and a Wireless Island

Just Some of the Topics SIB’s Elected Officials Are Expected to Discuss in Commission

By Randy Abraham

Should Sunny Isles Beach assume control of the Newport Fishing Pier? File photo by Laura Behfar

At tonight’s (Aug. 16) Sunny Isles Beach City Commission meeting, elected officials will consider a request for site plan approval of a 225-room condo-hotel and a 60-unit condo building from the development firm Turnberry Associates.

The proposed project is at 185th Street and Collins Avenue, the site of the Turnberry Isle Ocean Club, which the applicant plans to continue operating.

The applicant is not requesting any zoning or setback variances for the proposed Turnberry Isle Ocean Resort Hotel and Residences but is seeking conditional-use approval to continue operating the ocean club as a private club within the proposed building. The current Ocean Club structure would be torn down to make way for the proposed condo-hotel building.

Turnberry also intends to increase the base permitted Floor Area Ratio of 2.5 by paying $2.75 million into city fund programs earmarked for beach access, public recreation enhancement, streetscape public parking enhancement and oceanfront park and open space to obtain zoning bonuses to allow a FAR of 4.0.

Commissioners will also hear a report from city staff on the feasibility of assuming control of the historic Newport Fishing Pier behind Pier Park. The pier, built in 1936, was damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and has been closed for two months. Because of the pier’s beachfront site, applications for repairs must be approved by a number of state, county and federal government agencies.

The Newport Beach Resort’s owner, Robert Cornfeld, who controls the fishing pier through a lease with the state, has offered to donate the unrepaired pier to the city. City staff is completing an independent study that would give estimates on repair costs, which currently range from $3 to $4 million.

A memo to elected officials tentatively estimates repair costs of $3.8 million, and, over the life of a 40-year lease for the pier property, projects a need for an additional $1.5 million for maintenance and operating costs. Over that same 40-year period, city staff estimates potential revenues of $5.4 million from the property’s restaurant and gift shop.

City officials will also discuss plans for their “Wireless Island” initiative that envisions providing wireless Internet service throughout the city in a phased-in project. Amid talks of state-mandated property tax cuts, the project may be rolled out more gradually in coming years than initially expected.

The City Commission meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the first-floor David Samson Commission Chambers at Government Center, 18070 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach.

çhome 

Surfside

Witch Hunt?

Official Says Town Could Be Denied Flood Insurance Thanks to Ex-Mayor

By Erik Bojnansky

The Surfside Town Commission narrowly rejected a proposal to go after its former mayor for allegedly using fraudulent means to avoid complying with federal flood regulations after renovating his home, early Wednesday morning.

Vice Mayor Howard Weinberg said when former Mayor Paul Novack underreported the true value of renovations of his Biscaya Drive home back in 2001, he not only avoided having to invest an additional $200,000 to raise the elevation of his home but also defrauded the town of tax money and jeopardized the rest of the town from participating in the National Flood Insurance Program. Weinberg claimed regulations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency leave it to local authorities to pursue infractions of its “50-percent rule” requiring homes that invest more than half their value into the house to comply with current flood regulations.

Town Attorney Lynn Dannheisser, who asked the commission for instructions regarding FEMA, said there is no “legal precedent” regarding Novack’s case. She also admitted that forcing Novack to comply with FEMA regulations might cost the town more than $100,000 in legal fees.
A February 2006 Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics report stated that the office received information that “Mr. Novack and former Surfside Town Manager Eduardo Rodriguez … conspired to circumvent the rule by underreporting the true value of these renovations on a May 18, 2001 Surfside building permit application.”

The Ethics Commission referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which subpoenaed documents in February 2005. In 2006 the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to seek criminal charges against Novack.

Novack was out of the country and not available for comment, a secretary from his law firm told the SunPost. However, back in March 2006, Novack and his allies denied any wrongdoing. “I can’t imagine a job in South Florida when the final payout price matches exactly the original contracted price …,” then-Mayor Tim Will told the SunPost. Novack claimed the charges were part of a “politically fueled agenda” filed by a small group led by Charles Burkett.

Novack, an attorney, was mayor of Surfside for 12 years before deciding not to run again in 2004, instead backing a slate of his political allies. By 2006 Burkett and other critics of that slate captured all five seats. Burkett himself was elected mayor.

During the meeting, Burkett said he had e-mailed the ethics report to then-Vice Mayor Frank MacBride a year and a half ago to point out the hypocrisy of the town working with Novack while going after people’s homes for relatively minor code violations. But Burkett didn’t understand what the rush was and suggested the matter be referred to the Planning and Zoning Board.

Commissioner Mark Blumstein went a step further. He didn’t know why such an important matter had to be discussed at the tail end of a marathon meeting (the item was raised after 1 a.m.). Blumstein also said sending the town attorney against the former mayor was the sort of thing he wanted to stop when he was elected. “There is no way I am going to support this,” he said.

A few people in the audience echoed Blumstein’s sentiments. “This is dirty politics!” yelled one man in the audience, who refused to identify himself.

Weinberg’s motion to refer the FEMA matter to Dannheisser for action was rejected by a vote of 3-2. Voting for action: Weinberg and Commissioner Steve Levine, a former Novack loyalist. Voting against: Burkett, Blumstein and Commissioner Marc Imberman.

“Do you want to refer this to Planning and Zoning?” Burkett asked.

Weinberg shook his head no. The meeting was then adjourned.

 çhome

Sticking Around

Town Manager Has No Plans to Leave Job

By Joshua Malina and Evan Berkowitz

Residents of Surfside expressed support for their town manager during a Town Commission meeting Tuesday night.

Their support came after Surfside Town Manager W.D. Higginbotham Jr. complained to the mayor and commission of having to deal with constant information requests and attacks on his ability as manager by Commissioner Mark Blumstein.

During the “Good and Welfare” segment of the commission meeting, residents Barbara Cohen, Bob Fisher and Richard Iacobacci, among others, offered glowing support for Higginbotham, calling him “the best city manager we’ve had” and “the most professional man we’ve seen in a really long time.”

Their remarks followed the poorest evaluation of Higginbotham in his 30 years of public service, he said, by Blumstein. In his evaluation, which occurred last month, Blumstein accused the manager of “acting as a political figure in the management of the town, of reducing his management responsibilities of Town employees through the elimination of staff necessary to implement town business, and not [keeping] pace with Commission action,” among other complaints.

Higginbotham denied Blumstein’s charges, writing in a letter to the commissioner that because of the vague evidence Blumstein offered in his evaluation, his “ratings are clearly without merit and appear to be a personal attack on me rather than an objective evaluation of my performance.” In the letter Higginbotham suggested Blumstein may have ulterior motives for presenting such low rankings, including the commissioner’s previous opposition to his pay raise, which the commission approved 4-1 last July, according to the manager.

Dissatisfied with last month’s evaluation session, Blumstein sought a public review of Higginbotham to take place during Tuesday’s commission meeting. But because the meeting went long (it adjourned at 1:30 Wednesday morning), Blumstein agreed to reschedule the discussion to the commission’s next meeting on Sept. 11.

In a July 12 e-mail from the town manager to the rest of the Surfside Town Commission, Higginbotham complained of being “micromanaged,” referring to an onslaught of unnecessary communication from Blumstein in the form of daily, after-hours telephone calls.

Shortly afterward, Higginbotham announced his intention to the commission to leave the town when a new opportunity became available. Yet overwhelming support from past and current commissioners, as well as favorable public opinion, left him determined to stay with Surfside.

“There’s probably no job that you could have, that you can have such an impact in the community in which you live,” Higginbotham said.

Commissioner Blumstein could not be reached for further comment.

 çhome

 

Bay Harbor Islands

Getting Artsy on a Lawn

Group to Hold Story and Movie Nights Near Town Hall

By Evan Berkowitz

The Bay Harbor Islands Town Council unanimously approved $17,000 to fund two cultural programs that will be held on a grass lawn near Town Hall, during a meeting Monday.

Created by the Bay Harbor Islands Art and Culture Foundation, the two programs will be called Movies on the Green and Story Telling at the Park. The events will be held on the south lawn of Town Hall, located at 8665 Bay Harbor Terrace.

Movies on the Green will take place every third Saturday of the month from October to May. Eight films, mostly foreign, will be shown outdoors on a screen placed on a nearby building wall.

Story Telling at the Park, consisting of story readings for children, will be held on Friday afternoons. This year there will be 10 readings, held twice a month, from October to February.

Councilman Alberto Ruder said the town’s Parks and Recreation Committee recently went through the program’s budget and agreed to funding, which breaks down to $15,000 for the movies and $2,000 for the storytelling. He pointed out that last year the town paid money directly to the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival for film rights, insurance, the projector, screen, etc., but this year, because BHIACF has 501c3 nonprofit corporation status and will be seeking grant money, the town agreed to pay the foundation directly. “They’re going out in a very aggressive campaign to try to attract other grants from other agencies,” he said, adding that the organization now has a grant consultant aiding in this effort. “They need to show that the money that Bay Harbor is contributing is coming to them,” he said.

But the town will not turn over the funds all at once; instead it will disperse them in small amounts. Ruder said this is a more appropriate way for a government entity to hand over money. If done in a lump sum and “if there is anything wrong we have to chase after them,” he explained. One condition put on the BHIACF organization is that it will have to provide evidence it applied for at least five grants before next year.

The BHIACF started in 2005 and was incorporated in 2006. According to the organization’s funding request form, the total cost for the two projects will be $47,400. The foundation also claims to have 12 corporate sponsors and numerous additional private sponsors.

BHIACF literature also lists Publix Charities, the Shepard Broad Foundation, Florida Power and Light and the Kennedy Family Foundation as possible grant sources. The grant consultant will be paid a fee of $4,500. Last season BHIACF received its largest business/private donation, $6,000, from developer Millennium LLC, which has several building projects going up in Bay Harbor. “In kind” donations were also received from the Carnival Center, Books and Books and several other merchants.

Movies on the Green received promotional assistance from the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Florida Israeli Cultural Institute, the Argentinean Consulate and the Miami International Film Festival, which advertised to its members.

“The goal of the BHIACF is to provide quality programming utilizing a variety of cultural outlets. This includes but is not limited to visual arts, film, music, storytelling and other art-forms from countries around the world,” the organization’s literature states.

BHIACF literature also quotes a study by the Urban Institute released in 2003 that said three of the top four places where people attended art and cultural events were located in their community. It also said 69 percent of these events were located outside in a park or a street, which people found more appealing than traditional art venues. “These events increase awareness of the town and help to attract new businesses while offering an added value to existing businesses,” states the literature.

Violeta Horne, the organization’s director, is a four-and-a-half-year Bay Harbor resident who is originally from Argentina. According to Horne, BHIACF presented six films from places like Israel, France, Argentina and Iran. They averaged more than 180 persons per screening, with the largest event being their last in April, which was attended by well over 300. This year they plan to have preshow music and food available from the same country or culture of the feature. Introductory short films also will be shown on some nights.

Horne said people from all over South Florida come to the screenings. She hopes they will sample these movies and discover that foreign films are not overly “arty” or “difficult” to understand. She and other board members, who include her husband Rolando Epstien, make the film selections. Because children attend, “R”-rated films are unacceptable.

“BHIACF believes that our success is multi-faceted, most importantly because it appeals to a wide target audience. This is evident based on the increase in popularity and attendance throughout the season,” their literature says.

Tickets for the films are valued at $10 each, but will be discounted to $5 for Bay Harbor residents and $8 for nonresidents. Movie nights will include, at no extra cost, raffles for gift certificates from restaurants or goods from more than 15 different local shops. This year a photography/art contest will be introduced at the first October movie event; later in the season winners will be announced and works exhibited. There will also be a season-opening fundraising event.

Admission for Story Telling at the Park is free.

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.