Not So Fast! No Forced MACs, Annexations, or Incorporations

Commissioner Lynda Bell, representing District 8, on the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners (BCC) stood on principle not to support the creation of three Municipal Advisory Committees (MAC) for West Kendall unless each MAC garnered signatures of 20% of the residents affected prior to its creation.  Commissioner Juan C. Zapata, representing District 11, wants to create three MACs in West Kendall splitting the district somewhat evenly along transportation corridors.  Currently there are no municipalities in District 11 so annexation is not a consideration.

Commissioner Zapata would like to have the ordinance requiring 20% of the signatures waived for his proposed MACs.  Commissioner Zapata provided a justification akin to "a previous MAC didn't need to meet the threshold" but Commissioner Bell did not budge.  Commissioner Jordan also voiced some reservations and asked counsel to provide more information as to the threshold and its particulars.  She motioned to deffer the item to the next meeting and Commissioner Jose "Pepe" Diaz, who chairs the Land Use and Development Committee second the motion.

At first one may think this is an altruistic proposal by Commissioner Zapata whereby citizens will get together and decide on the future of the proposed areas.  Everyone will have their say and then decide cordially to incorporate or not to incorporate.  However, history has shown that these committees take a life of their own and suddenly incorporation will not be a choice but a forgone conclusion.  Fact is creating new municipalities is an arduous task and all the ordinace requires is a 20% commitment by the residents affected.

Commissioner Zapata needs to garner 20% commitment from the residents in each of the three areas proposed to create the MACs. Incorporation will be moot if not successful since there is an even greater commitment of 25% of the residents affected to achieve an incorporation vote. This may be a case of a solution looking for a problem; however if Commissioner Zapata can garner the signatures then surely Commissioner Bell may readily sign on to his proposal. 

See video below specifically Lynda Bell's explanation starting at 16:55.