Mayor Scott Newton warned people the July 23 city commission meeting would be long. He was correct. The body met for four hours and covered a lot of ground.

Development Developments

Commissioners gave approval to a new development, 57 Wilton Manors Project. This is a two-story duplex at 1308 NE 24th St. near The Metropolitan.

A representative for the developer came prepared with props and displays, but it wasn’t necessary. Given the size of the project and the fact that city staff has thoroughly reviewed the plans, commissioners quickly gave the okay and moved on.

Party On… Or Party Off?

A proposal would overhaul how the city addresses permits for special events of more than 1,001 people.

The proposal was full of contradictions. One commissioner pointed out that the time limit to post a security bond for an event could have already expired at the time of application.

The most notable objection was about the frequency of major events. The ordinance requires 90 days between big events. Assuming that Stonewall (mid-late June) and Wicked Manors (Oct. 31) are still around, leaves only one viable window (February).

There was support to change that to 30 days. Given the lack of other major events clamoring to get on the schedule, some felt this was a solution in search of a problem.

In the end, the proposal was deemed extremely flawed and sent back to city staff to be reworked.

Lien Appeals

City staff has been working on revisions to how the city responds to lien appeals for code violations. Appeals, which have already been heard by a special magistrate, are usually held at the end of meetings. Public comments, which can cover any topic, are often much earlier.

There is support to add more comment time right before appeals are heard.

The city attorney warned against this idea. Appeals are quasi-judicial, and introducing new evidence for the commission to consider is legally dicey.

In the end, they tabled the issue until September.

About two hours later, after this discussion, commissioners heard a lien appeal. A developer bought four distressed, run down properties in the middle of a code investigation case. Commissioner D’Arminio knows the area and was sympathetic to their plight.

He said developers have taken the dangerous eyesores and turned them into some of the best properties in the city. D’Arminio felt like enforcing the fines would discourage others from coming in to improve neighborhoods.

In the end, fines were reduced to about 10%, plus administrative costs.

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