Council Approves Ban On Puppy Mills

  Homestead City Council unanimously approved an Ordinance banning puppy mills at its meeting on Wednesday September 24th. 

  Councilman John Burgess based the ban on the retail sales of cats and dogs on measures passed in 62 other cities plus Chicago’s CookCounty.  He persuaded author Michele Lazarow, a City Commissioner for HallandaleBeach, to attend and speak about the ordinance.  She in turn presented Don Anthony, Executive Director of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, who spoke eloquently in favor of the measure. 

  “I’ve searched with City Departments and no local business would be affected by this,” said Burgess.  “Hobby breeders can still sell to the public.”  He offered a technical amendment to the Ordinance before it passed unanimously.

  Councilman Jimmie Williams, who was attending the Council meeting by phone, apologized and said that he’s been in the hospital for a week with a serious illness.  No further information was offered about his condition.

  Council began the evening with a final public budget hearing on its 2014-2015 finances.  It amended the plan to include $150,000 in feasibility studies, adding the lakes in the study of future uses of the baseball stadium property.

  Dr. Sam Porco from the Youth Fishing Foundation persuaded Council to do more for fishing with the lakes it already controls.

  “You never see a kid with a fishing pole in the back of a police car,” said Porco.  “Fishing is the number one recreation, bigger than football and bigger than soccer.”

  Council approved a final budget of $44.729 million, reflecting the added cost of the study, and unanimously approved its final tax millage rate.

  Council also approved minutes of its Sunday emergency special call meeting where it voted to release the City Attorney’s privilege so he could testify on Monday at the trial of former Mayor Steven Bateman.

  There was continuing discussion on an application for sales of beer and wine for off-premise consumption by a business on Lucy Street.  City Attorney Matthew White advised Council it could not deny the license if the six criteria in the Code were met. An additional petition from residents protesting the sales approval was offered by Councilman Williams and two neighboring business owners also spoke against the measure.  Ultimately, Council voted unanimously to deny the certificate of use on supposed failure of criteria four, the endangerment of the health and safety of residents.

  A request for approval of a roofing variance on new residential buildings by D. R. Horton sparked discussion from a resident.  The homeowners association next to the site was unaware of the company’s plans and had complaints about the construction.  Council agreed to amend the requirement that these new homes had to have metal roofs, while the D.R. Horton spokesman agreed to meet with the homeowners’ association president immediately. 

  Councilman Burgess admonished the City’s development services office to stress the need for developers to reach out to local associations early in the process. 

  HomesteadHospital asked Council to allow an interim agricultural use of 10 acres adjacent to its building in order to build a community garden.  Hospital CEO Bill Duquette was asked to comment on the application.

  “I know this doesn’t meet our mission,” Duquette said.  “But the land is fallow and should be put to some use.  We think it will mesh training on wellness and education and nutrition.” 

  The measure and a required general impact agreement resolution were passed unanimously.  In response to a question by Councilman Williams, staff said the interim use is allowed for five years with the ability to ask for two additional one year extensions. 

  A measure on allowing parking garage exceptions to the Southwest Planned Urban neighborhood Code passed by a vote of 5-0. City Manager George Gretsas had proposed a retail study of the Homestead market in order to solicit new retailers.  Buxton, the company with proprietary credit analyses and successful retail recruiting, had prepared a presentation but settled for answering Council’s questions. 

  “The contract is for one year with options to renew for years two and three,” explained Gretsas.  “The cost is $50,000 per year plus $10,000 for the first year’s VISA card data and analysis.  This can be done in ten or eleven weeks, giving us a snapshot of where we are and what retailers are a good fit for us.”

  Homestead staff annually attends the huge International Conference of Shopping Centers and Gretsas wanted the study’s data in order to set up recruitment meetings with likely retailers. Council approved the first year cost of $60,000 for the study and the data, charged to the 2014-2015 budget. Councilwoman Patricia Fairclough announced two openings on the Homestead Youth Council and asked local students to apply.