Miami City Board Meeting Cancelled Due to Lack of Quorum (April 1, 2026)
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Miami City Board Meeting Cancelled Due to Lack of Quorum (April 1, 2026)
The regularly scheduled board meeting on April 1, 2026, was cancelled because eight of ten board members had requested absences, resulting in a lack of quorum. Chairman Adam Gerston and staff noted that the date fell on a holiday (Holy Wednesday and the start of Passover) and that alternative dates were unavailable. All agenda items were deferred to future meetings, with specific dates pending notice publication.
Discussion Items
- Chairman Gerston questioned whether the city could have provided advance notice of the six absence requests, as some came in very late in the day.
- Staff explained that all agenda items would be split between April 15 and May 6, depending on Miami Herald notice confirmation. Conditional use (CU) revocations (items 1–6) and the Miami Loop legislation were projected for the first May meeting, while MUSP, variance, and vacation applications were targeted for April 15. The TDD affordable housing legislation was also expected on April 15.
- Board member Mr. Torres argued that hearing public comment at the deferred meeting would be more efficient, as the public could address the voting board directly rather than speaking twice.
Key Outcomes
- No formal actions were taken; the meeting was effectively cancelled without adjournment due to insufficient quorum.
- All agenda items were deferred: CU revocations and Miami Loop legislation to May (with potential further delay for the loop item); remaining applications to April 15, subject to notice deadlines.
- Applicants and the public were instructed to contact staff for specific deferral dates.
Meeting Transcript
And they will be moved to a future agendas um a future agenda either April fifteenth or May sixth. Do you know is there a date that you will know or are you splitting them between the two? Um, we'll we'll reach out to all of the applicants tomorrow to let them know what date they'll be their items will be deferred to. Um right now I I don't know because I'm waiting, I have to wait on the Miami Herald. So confirm my notice. And so everything that's on the agenda for tonight is going to be split between two future dates. Um based on confirmation from the Miami Herald to staff that the notice, you know, to say when the notices are actually going to be published, we'll determine which items go on which dates, and the applicants will be notified so that they know when to show up for their item. Um I guess when when will the website show the next couple days the agendas will be updated on the not even no? No. No. So people are welcome to email me and to find out the additional um the additional what date each item is going to. And so instead of having six people sitting here and everyone speaking their mind now and then having to do that again later to a potentially completely different board or a much expanded board, I think you'd miss out on the opportunity to address the board that's actually voting on your items. So I think doing it once correctly and being voted on is going to best serve the community. Yes, Mr. Torres. Right. My point my point is that if we do that, we're gonna do it twice. And possibly to a different board that's you know, in other words, the public wants to be heard, that's fine, but it's somewhat pointless if they're gonna say the same thing again and to additional comments and to a larger board that's actually going to take take action. Because some of these folks may not be here. So just putting it on the record, I there's a value to that, but putting it on the record in front of the board that's going to take action to make recommendations to if they want to I'm sorry, if anyone in the public is going to speak, they need to speak onto the microphone because Right, got it. Thank you. Chairman Gerston. Sir, yes, sir. Would it have been possible for the city to have let us know in advance that there were six different requests for absences? No, it it it seems like some came in very late in the day. Because we're feeling like this has been an April fool's joke and the joke. Well, I'll tell you the the real the real the r the appreciate that. I'd like to just let you guys know that we absolutely uh thought that it might be an issue holding a meeting on a holiday. It was discussed back when we set the calendar. We did everything we could to find alternate dates. There were no dates available in this room on a Tuesday or Thursday, even if we wanted to have a meeting two days in a row. So we actually tried. And my comments at the time were, well, we're just gonna have to roll with it and assume that because of the holiday, there'd be an unlikelihood of quorum. So I don't think anybody did this on purpose and doesn't think it's okay. I don't think anybody thinks it's okay. It is extremely unfortunate. There are some serious items on the agenda, but this is what we're dealing with. Thanks for coming, everybody. And we're trying and we're we are discussing some okay. Nobody was able to come there either at work. It is also holy week. It's holy Wednesday. It's also the beginning of Passover. So we know a lot of people and it's spring break. So we know that there are a lot of people um that have a have a lot going on this week. Uh items one through six, which are the CU revocations. Those will most likely be deferred to the first meeting in May. The Miami loop um legislation will most likely be um it will it will most likely end up at the um first meeting in May. But I would expect or there is a potential for it to be further deferred at that time. Um the remaining three applications that are there's or I'm sorry, there's a exception for um um a MUSP, a variance application, a vacation um application.
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