The Village of Palmetto Bay was pleased to host the first meeting of the Miami-Dade County District 8 Community Connectivity Committee at Village Hall last night. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins’ Deputy Chief of Staff Jeve “Jay” Clayton opened the meeting by explaining the Committee’s purpose, goals and clarifying Sunshine Law concerns expressed by members. The meeting then officially began with member introductions, an overview of committee member sentiments regarding the proposed SW 87th Avenue Bridge, and continued for approximately two hours with extensive rulemaking, and public comment. The rules discussion set the committee's guidelines for discussing the bridge project, hearing public feedback, and assessing the materials and subject-area experts the Committee would invite to question prior to preparing their final report. The meeting concluded at 9:15 p.m.
The committee is comprised of eight members, four appointed by Village of Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham and four appointed by Town of Cutler Bay Mayor Tim Meerbott. Mayor Cunningham’s appointees are Marcelo Zinn, Carmen Baker, Joseph Miorelli and Alan Farquharson. Town of Cutler Bay Mayor Tim Meerbott’s appointees are Ileah Hoppner, Paul Blake, Sandro Olivos and Michelle Craven. Carmen Baker and Paul Blake were elected during the meeting by the Committee to serve as Chair and Vice Chair respectively.
The Committee will meet four times and is tasked with engaging in “substantial and respectful discussion”. After the conclusion of the fourth meeting, the Committee will send a report with the outcome to the Commissioner Cohen Higgins’ office. Chair Baker is responsible for submitting this final report which will also be provided to the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization.
Hundreds of residents watched on Facebook, the Village website, and GoToMeeting. We were pleased to see such high engagement from our Village residents on Facebook, Twitter, NextDoor and signing up to speak at the meeting.
The next meeting will take place Thursday, February 18 at 7 pm, and will continue with a structured discussion of the bridge's purpose, need and additional public comment.
