It was in the spring of 2016, the season of rebirth, that North Miami Councilman Alix Desulme hatched the idea of a forming a Chinatown in his city.  He envisioned transforming a 36-block long stretch of NW 7th Avenue from a “a drab commercial corridor, in a predominately African-American and Haitian area, into an exciting Chinatown that would attract real estate investors, entrepreneurs, and tourists,” as described by Biscayne Times reporter Eric Bojnansky’s Chinatown or Bust.

Despite some push back and skepticism from several vocal residents, Desulme was determined to turn his vision into a reality.

On February 23, 2016, Councilman Desulme and his colleagues on the dais voted to officially designate the area as a “Chinatown Cultural Arts and Innovation District,” and then proceeded to create a master plan for the project.

Less than four months later on June 2, 2016, the City of North Miami issued a Request For Qualifications (RFQ) No. 33-15-16 “soliciting Proposals from qualified and experienced firms (“Proposers” or “Respondents”) to provide a Conceptual Design Master Plan for the proposed NW 7th Avenue Chinatown Cultural Arts and Innovation District.”

On October 24, 2016, the Executive Director (City Manager Larry Spring) of the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) sent a Memo to the CRA Advisory Board recommended a Resolution approving a  Masterplan Consultant Agreement with the civil engineering firm of Keith and Schnars, P.A. for a “lump sum fee of $175,000.00 for the Chinatown project.”

Debbie Love, the Director of Planning for the consulting firm, told the Biscayne Times, “if a master plan is created with a themed “attraction,” NW 7th Avenue could expect to see a 600 percent increase in retail activity in the area, the development of 218,000 square feet of retail, and 261,360 square feet of new office space in the next two decades.”

Keith and Schnars (K&S) went to work preparing a master plan for Councilman Desulme’s Chinatown Project.  The firm also entered into several sub-contractor agreements, including one with Synaesthesis, LLC, a company in Stuart, Florida, as well as Heather Chase of Magnolia, Texas, both of which were to provide professional services for the Chinatown Project.

On January 23, 2017, Debbie Love presented a letter to the CRA proposing “additional services related to the development of a logo” for a “Consultant’s Lump Sum Fee of $450.00.”

On February 2, 2017, Debbie Love presented another letter proposing additional “project web presence” for K&S to receive a “Consultant’s Lump Sum Fee” of $350 a year, plus $1,500 a month for “Web Presence Maintenance.”

By the time the final master plan was ready to be presented to the CRA’s Advisory Committee at its July 10, 2017 meeting, trouble was already brewing inside the chic walls of the engineering firm’s tony Fort Lauderdale office building.  It was discovered that its Director of Planning, Debbie Love, was engaged in some nefarious dirty dealings, and things were about to get, well, complicated.

Three days before the Advisory Committee was to meet, the City of North Miami entered into a Consulting Agreement with Debbie Love, AICP.  For the sum of $9,600.00 over the course of three months, Love would “provide Services to finalize the process of updating the City’s land development regulations.”

Interestingly, paragraph 15 of the Consulting Agreement reads:

The importance of this clause would become apparent later that year when on November 15, 2017, the American Institute of Certified Planners, or AICP, advised Debbie Love that her AICP Certification was suspended for a one year due to Ethical Misconduct.

According to this Settlement Agreement with the AICP, Debbie Love violated two specific rules of the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

The first was Rule of Conduct #4, which states, “We shall not, as salaried employees, undertake other employment in planning or a related profession, whether or not for pay, without having made full written disclosure to the employer who furnishes our salary and having received subsequent written permission to undertake additional employment, unless our employer has a written policy which expressly dispenses with a need to obtain such consent.”

In violation of this Rule of Conduct, Debbie Love did not disclose to her employer, Keith and Schnars (K&S), that she was a General Partner of the consulting firm of Synthaesthesis, LLC., nor did she disclose that she was involved in another project in DeSoto County, Florida.

It seems that on December 8, 2016, shortly before K&S entered into the sub-consulting agreement with Synthaesthesis, LLC, Debbie Love became a General Partner in that company.

In addition, the AICP ruled that Debbie Love violated Rule of Conduct #6, which states, “We shall not perform work on a project for a client or employer if, in addition to the agreed upon compensation from our client or employer, there is a possibility for direct personal or financial gain to us, our family members, or persons living in our household, unless our client or employer, after full written disclosure from us, consents in writing to the arrangement.”

Apparently, while she was a full time employee of K&S, not only did Debbie Love approve a “sub-consultant arrangement with Synthaesthesis, LLC” of which she was a General Partner, but she also approved a “sub-consultant arrangement with Heather Chase,” who is her daughter.

The AICP Settlement Agreement closed with the following remarks:

As a result of her unethical behavior, the investigation by the AICP, and her duplicitous double-dipping, Debbie Love was fired by Keith and Schnars on June 27, 2017.  Ten days later, she became a paid consultant for the City of North Miami.

Not surprisingly, city officials subsequently hired her on a full-time basis as its Zoning Manager of the Community Planning and Development department at a salary nearing $80,000.00 per year.  Apparently, no one bothered to perform a background check or request references from Debbie Love’s former employer, K&S, the company that developed the master plan for the Chinatown Project.

And despite the fact that Debbie Love is currently not certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners, sources tell us that the current City Planner, Nixon Lebrun, is resigning, she is next in line to take his place.

Nor was it surprising to learn from City Hall employees that Debbie Love, whose firm secured the lucrative Chinatown Project bid, is a close personal friend of the wife of the also ethically challenged Deputy City Manager, Arthur “Duke” Sorey.*

*UPDATED:  This accusation by a city employee was proven to be unfounded.  Mrs. Sorey does not know Debbie Love.

Because … North Miami.

Where ethics don’t matter.

But the Friends & Family Plan does.

Councilman Alix Desulme, and especially North Miami residents, all deserve better!

Stephanie