Could potential for conflicts influence review of Miami’s powerful zoning code?

Should three prominent Miami developers’ attorneys be permitted to participate in a new task force that’s revising the city’s much-lauded Miami 21 zoning code?

That’s the question that kept the three attorneys specializing in land use from joining eight other experts – a mix of architects, planners, developers and residents appointed by the mayor and commissioners — at the high-profile task force’s inaugural meeting earlier this week.

The city attorney’s office advised all three on Wednesday morning to abstain from participating in that afternoon’s virtual meeting. The reason, assistant city attorney Amber Ketterer told the task force, is that she’s awaiting rulings on the question from the Miami-Dade County and Florida ethics commissions.

All three attorneys – Vicky Leiva, Iris Escarra and Melissa Tapanes-Llahues — are registered to act as lobbyists for dozens of developers seeking waivers and city zoning and development approvals under Miami 21, including some proposing controversial projects.

Tapanes-Llahues said she abstained on her own from participating in the meeting “in an abundance of caution.” She said the city attorney’s office cleared her participation, saying conflict rules don’t come into play because the task force will make no binding decisions. Any recommendations would have to be approved by the city commission, she noted.

The reason for the last-minute timing of the city decision is unclear. Ketterer said the city has sought an opinion from the Florida commission and expects one by the next task force meeting in July.

Meanwhile, a complaint from a city resident triggered a Miami-Dade review, according to a June 4 email to the city from county ethics commission executive director Jose Arrojo.

But attorney and activist David Winker has been publicly challenging the appointment of the attorneys to the board for months. He argues it’s a prohibited conflict of interest under Florida law for registered lobbyists to participate in drafting rules that could benefit their clients.

In a letter to the city, Winker compared the attorney’s participation to the proverbial “foxes guarding the chicken coop.”

Winker said he did not file a formal complaint and does not represent the resident who did. But he said the city didn’t take the matter seriously until Arrojo intervened.

“I put the city on notice in February. Nothing was done until the (Miami-Dade) commission on ethics contacted them because of the complaint,” Winker said.

Escarra, of Greenberg Traurig, represents the owners of the new Inter Miami soccer club. They’re expected to file a Miami 21 Special Area Plan application for a voter-approved commercial complex and stadium they have proposed at the city-owned Melreese Country Club golf course.

Leiva, of Bilzin Sumberg, represents landowners at the center of a prolonged battle with the city planning board over a proposed SAP. Known as Eastside Ridge, it would replace 22 acres of low-rise apartments on the border of Little Haiti with a dense cluster of towers. The board has repeatedly postponed a vote on the proposal because the owners, SPV Realty, have declined to meet with residents or provide an updated analysis of the project’s impact on the area. Leiva also helped lead opposition to Miami 21 before it was enacted.

Tapanes-Llahues, of Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin and Tapanes, represents a developer who wants to build a tower on the site of the demolished Babylon, a significant early building by the Miami firm Arquitectonica that was demolished after the city commission overruled a historic landmark designation by its preservation board. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed city commission approval for a new 24-story on the site, zoned for a maximum of eight stories.

Leiva did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Tapanes-Llahues said she decided to await the state commission decision. That’s because the penalty for violating conflict of interest rules would bar her from representing clients before the city for two years.

However, she argued the same rule should apply to architects and planners on the task force who represent clients before city boards.

“The City Commission has taken special care to ensure that a fair cross section of interests are represented, keeping in mind that every member of the committee may have an inherent bias or position they represent as a result of their education, associations and experience,” she wrote in an email to the Miami Herald,

Escarra said she still hopes to serve on the task force, arguing that she can separate her clients’ interests from any advice she provides to improve Miami 21. She said she sees her role on the task force primarily as helping to clarify the wording of some regulations helping the planning and design experts on the board draft their proposals for revisions.

“I know I can do the job fairly and impartially,” Escarra said in an emailed statement. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the city where I was born and raised and have spent my entire career.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 12:37 PM.