[Fair use for education and research purpose only]

Published Sunday, May 7, 2000, in the Miami Herald

Title: Advertising Typos Can Torpedo Zoning Council Schedule

BY KARL ROSS kross@herald.com

Members of the West Kendall Council 11 say advertising errors by county employees are becoming commonplace and creating a backlog of zoning applications. This can clutter up meeting agendas and limit time available for public discourse, they said.

Council 11 Chairman Robert Curbelo said the council will have to double up its June schedule and hold two zoning meetings to handle backlogged applications. A computer glitch on a batch of mailings wiped out most of its May 24 zoning agenda.

``It's a problem for the employees, it's a problem for the neighbors and it's a problem for us because I get an agenda with 14 to 16 applications and I'm under pressure to finish it,'' Curbelo said. ``If we didn't have so much backlog, we could have more time for debate, more time for neighbors to speak instead of having to limit their remarks to two minutes.''

Developers are also penalized as a result of the delays, especially those who have already bought a proposed development site and are making finance payments. Such carrying costs can reportedly run into the tens of thousands of dollars per month.

Al Torres, acting zoning services division chief at the Planning and Zoning Department, said his staff tries hard to minimize errors.

Torres said regulations governing public notification -- whether through newspaper ads or mailed notices -- are so strict that even a small glitch can nix a scheduled hearing.

Torres said the error in the mailings for Council 11's May 24 meeting was the result of a computer glitch that omitted the site of the hearing. He said the council will still be able to review two of the seven applications that meeting, but the five others were rescheduled until June 14 when a special meeting can be held.

Torres said the computer blunder cost ``thousands of dollars.'' He noted that the agency is self-funded, drawing its revenues from fees assessed zoning applicants.

Torres said advertising errors by county officials -- in which a legal description is inaccurate or a variance is left out of an ad -- are less frequent than errors caused by faulty information supplied by the applicants themselves.

Council members said there are still too many mistakes.

``It just happens constantly,'' said Councilman Hector Varela, who said the council got backlogged and doubled-up meetings last summer, too.

``It's a waste of time for everybody,'' Varela said. ``It inconveniences the hell out of the citizens who came out for their two minutes of time.''

On March 22, two of nine items on the zoning agenda were scrapped because of inaccurate advertisements.

Torres said those were the only two advertising errors at Council 11 meetings this year, not counting the May 24 computer mishap.

http://www.miamiherald.com/content/today/news/dade/south/digdocs/051190.htm

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), May 08, 2000