With the municipal election for mayor and two council seats just over three weeks away, the Miami Springs council had little business to conduct at last Monday’s March 11 meeting, and it was adjourned in just over an hour. Councilman Bob Best, who is term-limited and not up for election, was absent from the meeting.

    The council did address the planned Maintenance of Property (MOP) sweep in April and gave their go-ahead to proceed. Lourdes Tavares of the city’s Code Compliance Department made a presentation and described just what her department would be looking for in the sweep.

    “We will be looking for code violations that occur in carports and canopy-, roof-like structures in this sweep next month,” said Tavares. “The first thing we do is give a 30-day Courtesy Notice and then a Notice of Violation that gives the resident another 30 days to comply. Then if they don’t comply, they’ll get a summons to appear before the Code Enforcement Board.”

    Tavares showed the council examples from the community of carports filled with junk and canopies oozing with the makings of a Saturday morning garage sale. She assured the council that these violations were easily viewable from the street or alley in front or back of the residence.

    “Miami Springs is lucky because most cities have a ‘see-it-and-ticket’ policy,” said City Manager Ron Gorland. “Here, we try to cajole the resident to comply but our procedures are not cost-effective. We do sweeps so we don’t get accused of selective enforcement, although we do react to complaints.”

    By consensus, the council agreed to the April Code Compliance sweep of carports and canopy structures, giving residents due warning to clean up and clear out those areas by the end of this month.

In other news,
the council:

    • Passed a resolution by a 4-0 vote requesting that the Miami-Dade County Commission rename the portion of Northwest 36th Street between Curtiss Parkway and Northwest South River Drive as Miami Springs Boulevard. It is now named Doral Boulevard and, as City Attorney Jan Seiden said, “It would be good name recognition for the area we are trying to develop.”

    • Passed by a 3-1 vote (Councilwoman Jennifer Ator dissenting) an ordinance setting the hours of operation and placing restrictions on the hours of use for the Gazebo and the adjacent greasy area.

    • As required by the City Charter, gave a unanimous Vote of Confidence to City Attorney Seiden and City Clerk Magali Valls.

    • Scheduled a Special Meeting for Monday, April 8 at 6 p.m., prior to the regular council meeting, to canvass the results of the April 2 general election and install the newly elected officials.