Hotel construction, road work, flooding and Sun Pass on Belle Isle residents agenda

Can robotic parking machines change how people feel about parking garages?

Will a new pumping system, almost complete, keep Sunset Harbour dry the next time we have a full moon and high tide at the same time?

When will the city of Miami Beach finish work on the new Collins Canal seawall and adjacent bike path?

Should digital signage — also known as electronic billboards — be allowed as part of Miami Beach bus shelters?

All those issues and more are one the agenda for the Belle Isle Residents Association annual meeting, which happens Wednesday, Jan. 16, at the Belle Plaza meeting room, 20 Island Ave.

The gathering starts social at 6 p.m., and the meeting should begin at 7.

Representatives from the city of Miami Beach will be on hand to discuss a variety of projects, and hear from residents, says association president Scott Diffenderfer.

Here’s a look at the full agenda:

Discussion and updates on the following City, County and developer projects:
– Collins Canal Seawall and Dade Blvd. Bike Path
– Alton Road Construction and traffic detour plans which will affect West Avenue and Venetian Way
– Ongoing Sunset Harbour Flooding and Pump Station Enhancement project
– Venetian Islands construction on side streets
– Proposed expansion and addition of parking at Standard Hotel
– Proposed Hotel on 17th Street and West Avenue
– Introduction of Miami Beach United
– Update on selection of City Manager
- Update on Convention Center Expansion
– Discussion of request to install Electronic Billboards to bus shelters in Miami Beach
– Timeline and info on how to register your SunPass for use on the Venetian Causeway
– Open forum for residents to ask questions and provide comments

Venetian Causeway will be converting to Sun Pass

By fall, toll collection on the Venetian Causeway will convert to Sun Pass, and island residents will be turning in their C Pass transponders.

Miami-Dade County’s Causeway Division — which oversees tolls on the Venetian and Rickenbacker causeways — is making the change on the Rickenbacker first, said Michael Bauman, causeways division chief for Miami-Dade Public Works.

Bauman says his best guess is the Rickenbacker transition will happen in June or July, and the Venetian change-over will take place around October.

As residents of the Venetian islands know, if you live on the causeway, you can purchase a C Pass transponder and pay $24 a year to cross the Venetian Causeway. If you don’t live on the island, the annual fee is $90. Without a transponder, it costs $1.50 every time a car crosses the toll booth on the west end of Biscayne Island.

After the conversion to Sun Pass, Venetian residents will still pay the $24 annual fee. There is no increase in tolls planned.

C Pass owners must renew their pass each May, and this year will be no different.  During the summer, the county will begin an informational campaign on the change to Sun Pass, Bauman said.

“You’ll renew as normal,” he said. “When we get closer, we’ll advise everyone with an active account about the changes.”

The county will hold meetings with causeway homeowner groups and also have representatives  visit condos on Biscayne and Belle Isle to give residents the opportunity to turn in their C Pass transponders have their Sun Pass converted to work  at the causeway toll booth.

After the transition, the county will continue to maintain one toll booth lane east and west for drivers paying cash, but the Sun Pass devices will work on all lanes.

It should enable smoother traffic flow, Bauman said, but the county still wants the toll plaza to serve as a “calming” influence to ensure the causeway doesn’t become a speedway.

It’s a road that has lots of bicycle and foot traffic, in addition to being completely residential.

“It’s important that we don’t turn it into a throughway,” Bauman said.

In addition to no longer needing two transponders, the new system will allow people to renew and pay their annual fee online, without having to mail in paper work to prove residency, Bauman said.