While thinking about writing this article for our local paper, the Doral Tribune, it occurred to me that maybe the general public did not understand the scope of the Community Council.

The Community Council was the brainchild of the County Commission three years ago. It was a response to the incorporation frenzy in local communities who hoped to have better government in their respective areas.

Incorporation would surely bring tax dollars to the immediate community and help facilitate getting the much needed services such as parks, schools, library and road maintenance. But in lieu of incorporation, they gave us community councils.

The community council of this locale is Doral Community Council 9, with seven councilmen/women representing your area.

The Councilmen/women are all volunteers and are voted in office by the general public.

The council has two meetings a month : one for zoning and one is a non-zoning or planning meeting.
First I'd like to talk about the zoning meeting. At this meeting, we're actually called the Community Council Zoning Appeals Board of District 9 (not the Doral community Council).

This meeting is for developers/landowners who want to change the zoning of their project/land to suit their needs, but not all development in this district comes before the council.

All previous approved zoning changes by the Board of County Commissioners do not come before Community Council 9--if the landowners/developers plans satisfy that zoning criteria they are allowed to build without coming before the Community Council.

For this reason the Community Council does not have control over all the construction being done in the Doral area. The only control we have is over zoning changes and use variances, and we try to have the applicant adhere to a solution that is in the best interest of the community.

In this setting , despite these limitations, I truly feel we have made a difference in the improvement of our community.

At our non-zoning meetings we discuss planning agendas for our district, subjects of interest to the community.

We work with the government agencies that handle the item in question: the School Board for schools, the Parks Department for parks and Public Works for traffic, etc.

The Community Council works in conjunction with Team Metro, serving as a liason to the surrounding neighborhood.

As we all know, government moves slowly, and things we'd like to see

changed in our community, the progress we've made, seems to take forever to materialize. But there are a few bright spots.

The public schools are finally being built in our community, with Charter Schools and private ones coming to our area as well.

The Doral Meadows Park is slated for opening this year with the others coming soon.

A "children's library" will be coming to Doral sometime later this year.

I'm very excited about all of these projects coming to fruition because it took much time and effort from the Community Council.

As for our traffic, well, the Community Council knows this situation all too well and so does Public Works since it is a problem facing all of Dade County.

Traffic Engineers come before the Council as part of our process.

We have passed resolutions along to the County Commission in regard to widening of roadways and to DOT for adding a ramp to the Turnpike.

Hopefully these items will take place, as the paving and construction of the section of NW 58 St. finally happened.

I feel the most satisfaction in the planning part of the Community Council because this is where work is done to enhance the community.

The Community Council'a meetings are open to the public and we welcome public participation.
Meetings are held at the John I. Smith Elementary School (10415 NW 52 St.).

The WDHFA, which meets at the Doral Park Clubhouse on the third Thursday of every month, is always looking for volunteers to work on community projects. People who have called me with a desire to volunteer their time to work on a community project as a library, school or community need in the Doral can attend these meetings and sign up with one of their designated committee.

The WDHFA Development Committee spends many hours working with developers and government agencies for the betterment of the Doral Community.

The Doral community has needed a local newspaper for a long time. I'm happy we finally have one, the Doral Tribune, getting the news out to the immediate locale.

Our community is growing faster than any other in Miami-Dade County, and with our own newspaper we can keep in touch with the local action.

New restaurants, shopping establishments, personal services, facilities, and (guess who?) your local Community Council can all be found in the Doral Tribune.

I hope this article clarifies the range in which the Doral Community Council 9 works and how it works to benefit the residents. Our next non-zoning meeting is April 27, and I would all of you to join us.