Palmer-Trinity hearing from hell...Guest Blog By Miamigal

This came in while I was away....

Palmer Trinity won at the May 4th meeting...but not entirely because a seemingly endless list of amendments were added to the application. One amendment in particular softened the impact of the vote. The amendment was placed on the table to reduce the maximum number of students that Palmer-Trinity could have from the proposed 1150 to 900. The motion was made by Shelley Stancyzk, and seconded by Brian Pariser. Voting for the motion was Mayor Flinn, Shelley Stancyzk and Brian Pariser. The motion passed 3-2. This vote locked in the student size. The student limitation requirement should be interesting since Palmer can’t seem to seem keep their current student population at the current allowed level of 600 students. Attorney Stanley Price did not look happy.

The hearing was crazy from the start.

Upon entering the sanctuary we were surprised to find the village council seated in front of a giant light house, with blue water behind them and fish bones to either side. It turns out the zoning hearing was slated to be held right smack-dab in the middle of Perrine Elementary School’s “Little Mermaid” drama set.

The circus that followed started with a parade of commission District 8 Candidates. The news was out in South Dade that there would be a large crowd at the hearing. The threat of unhappy future constituents did not deter this bunch. Pam Gray, Albert Harem-Alvarez and Lynda Bell were all working the room. That was an easy thing for them to do since they were not chairing the meeting, like Mayor Eugene Flinn, who had to stay near to dais prior to the meetings start. The Palmetto Bay council and mayor candidates were out in force as well.

Then along came the TV cameras. Video cameras were popping up everywhere. Some cameras actually were from T.V. stations that were looking for news. And other cameras were a bit unusual. It seems that commission candidate Alvarez brought his own video crew. Two cameras? The hearing attendees were not going to behave bad enough to be a hit on YouTube.

The sound system was so incredibly bad that the village council could not hear their cohorts speak; they could not hear staff nor the speakers at the podium. What the audience could hear were the politicians, attorneys and public speakers, unfortunately multiple times. The system was producing an echo chamber effect. Even the attorneys were having some very strong issues giving their presentations. As one attorney put it, “The echo is so bad I can’t hear myself think, only what I am saying”.

As with many public hearings, there were numerous speakers who meant well, but had no idea that they were supposed to be talking about. It is surprising how off topic people can get with only 2 minutes. We got to hear them twice too - the echo.

In the end, about 1:30 AM, on May 5th, the issue came to a final vote. A very tired council and audience kept pushing to get this hearing done. The final vote was taken; it passed in favor of Palmer-Trinity, 3-2.

Mayor Flinn and Councilwoman Shelley Stancyzk voted with the community to oppose the mega complex. Councilmen Ed Feller, Howard Tendrich and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser voted in support of the expansion leaving village residents angry and feeling disenfranchised.