61 RESOLUTION NO. _____ _
2 A Resolution amending Resolution 084-16-14639 and urging the Miami-Dade
3 County Board of County Commissions to reject the request to change existing
4 zoning of the University Baptist Church property folio 30-4035-052-0010
5 WHEREAS, on September 9, 2015 Somerset Academy ("Somerset") filed a variance to a
6 1997 Miami-Dade County Resolution No. Z-18-97 to build a charter school with 2500 students on
7 Sunset and 73rd Court; and
8 WHEREAS, under the 1997 Resolution a school is prohibited in this area with the
9 exception of a day nursery limited to 96 children; and
10 WHEREAS, under the 1997 Resolution a school can only be operated from 9:00 a.m. to
11 1 :00 p.m. but the Somerset proposal would call for school be opened from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.;
12 and
13 WHEREAS, the traffic study provided to the City of South Miami Commission is over
14 two-years old; and
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16 WHEREAS, on P21 of the traffic study under the heading "School Operations" it states
17 "the. School will be using vehicular stacking areas for the few parents that will use their private
18 passenger vehicles as a means (of) transportation"; and
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20 WHEREAS, on P21 of the traffic study it states, "The School will have a large
21 percentage of the student body transported on large yellow busses; and
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23 WHEREAS, Table 5.4 A-2 states that 375 of the 2,500 students will arrive and depart on
24 school busses; and
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26 WHEREAS, on P53 of the traffic study it states "The School is committed to having
27 15% of the student population using busses; and
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29 WHEREAS, on P24 it states, "The School SHALL not allow for students to walk to or
30 from this site alone; and
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32 WHEREAS, the traffic report lists only 24 as the number of bicycle parking spaces for a
33 school with 2,500; and
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35 WHEREAS, the traffic report lists ZERO (0) as the number of school crossing guards
36 provided by the school; and
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38 WHEREAS, on P54 it states "the intersection of Sunset and SW 74rd Court will require
39 to be controlled by a police officer during the arrival of students"; and
40
41 WHEREAS, Table 9-0.2 Traffic Control Resource Officer Commitment requires the
42 School to have an officer at the intersection of Sunset and SW 73 rd Court for ONL Y the first two
43 weeks of every semester; and
1 WHEREAS, the City Manager of South Miami has made repeated attempts to contact
2 Julio Robaina, the representative of Somerset and prior Mayor of Hialeah, to determine the
3 number of children receiving reduced rate/free school lunches. While Mr. Robaina finally
4 responded, on or about June 7, 2016, it was not responsive to the request and therefore the
5 Commission can only presume that the school does not provide any reduced rate/free lunches;
6 and
7
8 WHEREAS, the Traffic Report done two years ago did not measure any volumes of
9 traffic WEST of the Palmetto Expressway; and
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11 WHEREAS, according to Mayor Stoddard, the traffic study estimated that 25% of the
12 students will arrive from the north, but the traffic study DID NOT count the volume of
13 southbound Palmetto traffic existing east onto Sunset nor the frequency to which this traffic
14 presently "blocks the box" of the intersection preventing westbound traffic from entering the on-
15 ramp to the southbound Palmetto; and
16
17 WHEREAS, emergency vehicles routinely transport patients along Sunset to South
18 Miami Hospital, and should the addition of vehicles transporting 2,500 children to the proposed
19 charter school happen and negatively impact Sunset traffic, a patient's chances of dying in the
20 ambulance on the way to South Miami Hospital increase; ;md
21
22 WHEREAS, the proposed school will be built on the south side of Sunset Drive directly
23 adjacent to one of the last protected rock pinelands in Miami-Dade County -Trinty Pineland
24 County Park; and
25 WHEREAS, the South Miami City Commission has been a strong proponent of protecting
26 threatened rock pinelands and we are concerned that this proposed school may harm the Trinity
27 Pinelands; and
28 WHEREAS, in 2014, after a number of complaints by local residents, South Miami's City
29 Commission instructed city government officials to investigating why just 1 % of Somerset
30 Academy South Miami Charter School's students are African-American when 17 % of South
31 Miami residents are African-American; and
32 WHEREAS, 2% of SOMI Somerset's students receive special education and District 6
33 of Miami-Dade Public Schools has 16% of its students receiving special education; and
34
35 WHEREAS, the South Miami City Commission is concerned that this new charter school
36 on Sunset will not provide equal opportunity access to all families and students in the community.
37 It is our hope that the admissions process would be open and if this school is approved it would
38 become a community asset; and
39 WHEREAS, due to proposed drastic zoning changes, concerns regarding increased traffic,
40 environmental concerns, and concerns regarding whether this school will have an open access
41 admission policy. We hope the County Commission will give this proposal more scrutiny and
42 reject the request for rezoning ofthe property in question.
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1 NOW, THEREFORE, BE RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
2 COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA THAT:
3 Section 1. The City of South Miami hereby requests that the Miami-Dade County Board of
4 County Commissions reject any of the zoning changes being requested for the University Baptist
5 Church property folio 30-4035-052-0010.
6 Section 2. The City Clerk is hereby directed to transmit this resolution to all members of
7 Miami-Dade County Board of County Commission and all members of the Miami-Dade School
8 Board.
9 Section 3. Severability. If any section clause, sentence, or phrase of this resolution is for
10 any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the holding shall
11 not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this resolution.
12 Section 4. Effective Date. This resolution shall become effective immediately upon
13 adoption by vote of the City Commission.
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PASSED AND ADOPTED this __ day of ___ , 2016.
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM,
LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND
EXECUTION THEREOF
CITY ATTORNEY
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APPROVED:
MAYOR
COMMISSION VOTE:
Mayor Stoddard:
Vice Mayor Welsh:
Commissioner Harris:
Commissioner Edmond:
Commissioner Liebman: