of adjustment um can we start with the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible and for all okay can we have a roll call please chairwoman rosin Phillip Vice chair Michael mcdermaid pres board member Jeff mesier board member BL Pier Lewis present board member Evan Shields present board member Marlin monam present board member Kenneth E pres and board member lumana Joseph okay um Gary you want to read us about the um I recommend we wait until the applicant is here and then I'll I'll do it before we call the item okay is it a requirement that the applicant has to be here no but I understand he or she is on its way okay and staff is recommending approval on all three items just I have a cut off of 75 so if we're going to lose Quorum and staff is recommending approval I we okay yeah that's what I saying I'd rather do the presentation and then if they're not here by now if they're not going to be prejudiced if the board is leaning towards granting approval I'd rather not lose Quorum and have the applicant lose there do you want me to go ahead with the yes quas yes sure thank you Mr chair okay this is summary of quas judicial procedures these rules apply to applications on specific costes of land like zoning variances the board will sit like the court hence the term qua a Judicial reviewing the facts presented at the hearing applying the adopted rules as explained by staff and the staff report and verbally board members can make site visits but must disclose the evidence upon which they intend to rely from that visit board members will disclose at the beginning of the hearing whether they have had Communications with individuals on behalf of the applicant or otherwise including who the communication was with and what the topic of discussion was persons intending to the speak to the board will be sworn by the clerk the staff will make a presentation the board may ask questions the applicant May will make a presentation including expert Witnesses if any and the board may ask questions when the public hearing is open the public can make comments on the application limited to two minutes each citizen testimony must be fact-based not opinion commission board may ask questions and the applicant's attorney if any they may ask questions as in cross-examination members of the public can decline to be cross-examined the board deliberates based upon the evidence presented the board's decision must be based on confident substantial evidence meaning based on the record staff presentations expert presentations and fact-based comments by citizens according to the standards for approval set forth in the in the city code board May approve deny or continue the item a point of voider Mr chair uh I believe that this group should have uh entertain a motion for approval of minutes before moving to quasi judicial items is that correct for the agenda wait from minutes from our February item F and this is item D oh excuse me okay so while staff previously read into the record emailed the mail comments we have concluded that this is improper since the letters are not competent substantial evidence for example not sworn testimony subject to cross- examination the board's decision cannot be based on what is contained in the letters but they can be used to identify is isues and help identify sources of information that do contain confident substantial evidence upon which a decision can be based uh lastly we ask each of you to treat this proceeding with respect and proper decorum not calling out interrupting speakers or disrupting the proceeding please give this proceeding the same dignity and respect as if you were in court disruptions are prohibited and enforcable pursuant to the city code also please silence your cell phones thank you okay um um I guess we can proceed I guess that's the applicant so maybe we can do the quizi judicial oath is that the applicant coming okay are there any amendments to the agenda okay you want to do the minutes yeah okay I have some changes to the minutes pardon I have some changes to the minutes oh you do okay okay so under Communications um staff had included precisely what each board member had said about their disclosures summarizing it and I would prefer not to have you do not to have them do that so my proposed amendment is to remove the text that's under Communications and in following each title of the agenda items um we would have a sentence that reads board members made disclosures on their exported Communications if any as required by city code so just a generic statement that the required Act was done okay so that is my only change okay all right with that Amendment uh do I hear approval of the minute so moved as amended by our wonderful uh board attorney second all in favor okay um any Communications staff no nope okay um Contin uh continued petitions um none um so we start with sorry sir the first two items were continued yeah oh they were oh okay I'm sorry um okay so can we have uh the oath please are you going to be speaking ma'am I'm speaking raise your right hand all right do you swear or affirm that the testimony and evidence you about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do oh see why don't we combine the three items we'll take separate votes but for purposes of your presentations and comments okay so just make your three presentations if that's okay with the board yes sure at expedite a little bit yes sir good evening tonight we're tonight you're considering three items for the getsmart Kids Academy LLC the first is v224 a variance to allow parking design where Vehicles back out into the public right away in the R6 District the second item is a special exception SE 1023 a petition for a special exception to use uh sorry a petition for a special exception use to allow a child care center and the last item is V 0324 which is to allow a reduction to the minimum parking requirement for the educational facility for nine spaces reducing the parking spaces from 9 to 7 um I just wanted to make sure that we got it right on the record I think you said for SE 0124 the wrong number you said 1023 it we're reducing the number from nine parking spaces to seven okay the the actual number for special exception it's se1 124 okay got just make sure that was accurate thank you sorry about that all right the first variance v224 is a variance to is to allow parking a parking design where Vehicles could back out into the public right away the applicant Mr Montes for good Get Smart Kids Academy is requesting to expand the child care facility to include this the subject property located at 1560 Northeast 25th Street for the applicant the expansion will improve the quality of life for his workers his team is growing and also allow more resources for the for the teachers and the students um there's a demand and there's a need for more classrooms in the area additionally he's going to be beautifying the area and adding more Landscaping a playground and some other amenities for the children uh gsmart Kids Academy was granted a special exception to open their school in 2009 9 and was granted another special exception to expand their school in 2012 the subject property's primary use it purpose is to further expand their school because they've grown in the past 12 years sorry so again the request the first request is to to allow parking design allow parking design that would allow for backout parking per section per Article 5 division 14 section 5-41 K this is not allowed backout parking is not allowed in in off of um major arterials this the location as you can see the school is located by it's it's nestled by the existing buildings that are included in in the child care facility as well as adjacent to some duplexes existing duplexes this is a site plan and on the bottom you can see um there's the green area that's the playground there may introduce another building later on into the property and then you have the um where it's boxed in red that's where the new location for the the expansion will be so during staff's analysis we felt that the applicant met five of the six criteria variance criteria the first is the special special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land structure or building involved and which are not applicable to other land structures or buildings in the same zoning District we said yes the building's proximity to the lot line and limited Frontage make it difficult to provide adequate parking however the approved solution of backout parking is consistent with the area and other approvals for the Academy the second criteria the unusual circumstance or conditions necessitating the variance request are present in the neighborhood and are not unique to the property no the circumstance is not unique to the property the third one the request the request of variance maintains the basic intent and purpose of the subject regulations particularly as it affects effects the stability and the appearance of the city yes the requested variance maintains the intent to provide adequate parking and for the proposed use and will not affect the stability and appearance of the neighborhood the fourth criteria the little literal interpretation of the provisions of these ldrs would deprive the applicant of the rights commonly enjoyed by their by other properties in the same zoning District under the under the terms of these ldrs in asset yes the literal interpretation of these provisions of the ldrs would deprive the applicant of the rights exist enjoyed by others other properties in the neighborhood and the properties also make use of Park the other properties also make use of the backout parking the fifth one the variance requested is a minimum variance that would make possible the reasonable use of land structure or building we said yes the variance is the minimum the minimum of the variance hold on the variances at the minimum will make this land reasonably and make it possible to reasonably use the land and that s um the last one is the granting of the variants will be in harmony with the general intent and purpose of these ldrs and the variance will not be injurious to the area involved and we say yes the variance is in harmony and the general intent and purpose of the ldrs and should not be injurious to the surrounding neighborhood or community so staff is recommending approval with one condition that the applicant obtain a CU business tax receipt a certificate of occupancy and complies with all City County state and federal regulations the next consideration is for a special exception to allow the CH Child Care use at the same location so I'll just jump into the analysis so in order to in order to Grant a special exception the applicant has to demonstrate compliance with the the following criteria so the first one is that the use is listed as a special exception in the district where the property is located and yes pursuant to the ldr is Article 4 division 2 section 4- 202 of the ldr's list educational facility private as permitting permitted through special exception review and is approved by the boa in the in the R6 residential district the second one there is an adequate provision to assess the facility there is an adequate provision for Access facility acate adequate for the estimated traffic from public streets and sidewalks so to to assure that Public Safety to avoid traffic uh congestion Excuse me yes the subject property abuts Northeast 125th Street and the site plan shows pedestrian Pathways there is an adequate parking area off Street loading spaces if applicable for the anticipated number of occupants employees patrons and the layout of the of the car park is convenient and conducive for safe op operation yes the applicant has provided a site plan to include the correct well an adjusted amount of parking due to the sub uh the subject property being an expansion of in within a a current neighborhood and an existing educational facility the extra parking will be there will be extra parking adjacent to the property and across the street there is suitable landscaping or fencing along the lot or rear lot lines adjacent to the resid itial uses or zoning districts yes the property Contours existing landscape has an existing landscape that will enhance um and enhance the property and it has more plantings the property special exception is reasonable in terms of logistical sorry logical efficient and economical extension of the public service and Facilities such as public water sewers police and fire protection and transportation and the answer that sass that was yes all basic public services such as public water sewer police and fire protection are readily available and currently serve the property at an appropriate appropriate service level and the two last ones the proposed special exception will constitute an appropriate use in the area and will not substantially injure or distract from the use of surrounding property or from the character of the neighborhood yes the child cood Center will provide a service to the community by respecting the desired neighborhood's character the neighborhood property to the North and the East provide child care service already and such as such such a such a use of a private educational facility May per be permitted after review well by the board so essentially it's saying that this use is allowed and if you um if it's approved then it it would be able to operate without any any problem problems and the last is that no open violations or unpaid code enforcement fine exists and yes there's none we've checked that the last variance before you is V 0324 and it's a variance to allow for reduced to parking reduction from nine parking spaces to seven parking spaces so pursuant to Article 5 division 14 section 5-1 1402 um daycare centers have to have one space per 200 um gross uh park for sorry I'm sorry they have to have enough parking one space per 200 square ft of gross floor area and when we did the calculation of the gross floor area we found that they didn't meet that instead of the providing nine they could only provide the seven So based on saf's analysis the applicant met five of the six criteria and then I'll just read the criteria again in the analysis so the special special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land structure or building involved and which are not applicable to the other land structures or buildings in the same zoning District so no this part of the city is consists of smaller lots and non-conforming backout parking exists thus previous approvals have been requested by the applicant for a child care center the usual circumstance or conditions necessitating the variance request are present in the neighborhood and are not unique to the property yes this part of the community was developed in 1950s and it contains many non-conforming structures such as duplexes in the R6 Zone and backout parking requesting a parking reduction will allow for the community's nature and character character to to remain while adding childcare use to this property that the requested variance maintains the basic intent and purpose of the subject regulations particularly as it affects the stability and the appearance of the city yes the requested variance maintains the intent to provide parking for the proposed use and will not affect the neighbors neighborhood stability and appearance non-conforming parking exists already in the area in the last three the literal interpretation of the provisions of these ldrs would deprive the applicant of the rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same zoning District under the terms of these ldrs and we say yes the little interpretation of these Provisions the provisions of these ldrs would deprive the applicant of Rights the rights of other property owners in the area and their the these properties already have backout parking the variance requested is the minimum variance that would make possible the reasonable use of land structure or building and we said yes the variance is a minimum variance that would make reasonable the use of the land and the last one is the granting of the variants would be in harmony with the general intent purpose of these ldrs and such the variants would not be injurious to the area involved and we said yes the variance would be in harmony with the general intent and purpose of the ldrs and should not be injurious to the area and I I apologize but I did not express that for this special exception staff is recommending approval with the following conditions the first one is that the use complies with all the applicable requirements of Miami date fire fire rescue Department other County and state approval agencies approval of the special exception shall be deemed to authorize only the particular use for which it's being issued and shall entitle the recipient to apply for a building permit or any other approval that may be requested by these ldrs the city or Regional the region state or federal agencies three that the certificate of use of business tax receipt from the development service department will only be issued upon compliance with all terms and conditions of this approval and the same subject to cancellation upon violation of any of these conditions and the last is that the application for a business tax receipt or building permit is necessary to establish such a use would be made within one year of the date of the special exception approval and then for variance V 3-24 staff is also recommending approval with the following conditions the first one that the applicant obtain a c a conditional use permit building permits and all necessary licenses prior to construction of the building which is existing prior to the commencement of the rental renovation should put um the applicant must contain a CU business tax receipt as well as comply with any other applicable ldrs and the last one is that the applicant will provide a detailed s um site plan drawn to scale including Dimensions indicate lot size Street rways the pavement measurements from the center line size of buildings or buildings interior floor layout uses location and size of recreation or play areas location of fences and or walls that such shall enclose Recreation and or play areas said plans shall include but not be limited to off street parking areas and driveways walls fences sides and Landscaping as part of the building Prim process and this plan will be reviewed by the development services department as part of the permitting review and that would conclude my report okay thank you um would you like to say something sir I would thank you thank you Mr Watson name and address hello my name is James Montes uh I'm a current resident of the city of North Miami as well as our business our business address is uh 1565 Northeast 125th Street which is right across the street from the subject property um thank you board members for the opportunity tonight coming out and hearing this um as I said my name is James Montes I'm here with my wife um Maggie Montes who we operate the business who we started u roughly 16 years ago in the city north Miami and we're very proud of serving our community here and living here as well in North Miami um Miss Watson uh summarized uh a lot of what we want to do very well uh uh so thank you for that uh but one of the things that I wanted to mention is uh as it as it relates to a lot of the conditions for these variances we started the business in 2000 and um we expanded shortly after we we uh opened the initial business and we went through this this uh variant uh request to the board of adjustment two times prior and I think it's important uh we were accepted uh thankfully uh with all these exceptions and we've operated with within the confines that we're uh petitioning today uh in two other buildings and that's how we've expanded successfully and during that time um operating in the city of North Miami we've had no incidents at all uh related to back of party parking completes from our our neighbors um in fact we've actually beautified that section of of that corridor from when we originally purchased the property and business um and so we continue with that same uh intent uh with this new expansion of of of improving and going through the entire process that uh that we know we have to go through um and we certainly feel confident that will meet the conditions um that Miss wat Watson um discussed in her presentation um and you know our intent today is obviously to to get your approval uh and we hope you agree uh that we want to make this happen and we appreciate the time okay thank you um I don't see any public here but oh yeah it's on yeah um but of course um it's open for public comment and seeing done we'll go to the board members um Mr Shields any questions or comments no questions comments for me none for me no I don't have any questions okay no it's the nicest property on on 25th street I got to tell you that it is and I I think it would be I think it presents obviously um uh uh a great opportunity to expand your business and I appreciate that staff has recommended all three uh passage of course with certain uh so we'll do recommendations so we'll do each each one at a time okay on on the third item we need clarification on the staff recommendation as to the requirement of a conditional use of permit and also the first item it is also inclusive no it does not need that condition okay so so on your staff reports for both variances there is a recommendation for a conditional use permit um staff is REM striking that from the conditions of approval okay all right so um as to v224 do I have a motion to approve so so moved all right we have a motion in second on in favor say I I I in se-1 D 24 do I have a motion so moves second all in favor say I I I and under new petitions v-3 d24 do I hear a motion so move second okay all all in favor I I okay um thank you very much congratulations congratulations the gu's do a nice job is there any old business to come before us staff no we do not have any old business okay and no new business uh well brief point of personal privilege I know that one of our board you still have to go in 6 seconds okay uh if if through the chair if if so loud for just two minutes sure okay so I I just want to go on the public record with you know a couple of thoughts on what I believe was a a probably the most controversial set of opinions that we've ever issued as a board and I'm talking in specific I I won't even mention the exact numbers I mean for the public you know what they are it's uh both of the B uh bz Zone projects the Ala uh condo development project and Continuum development project project in the bz Zone and those are in October and February and we voted as a board generally in favor um and certainly not meaning at all to to criticize staff or the applicant or a community or even us as a board but I think in general there's a pretty General consensus from my opinion from staff and the community and us as a board even and our city council that there could be a loopholed interpretation of our you know city code involving the board of adjustments role in height variances and I know that there are many interpretations of that even since uh our board meeting and Council and the appeal uh that happened just a few weeks back I'm personally of the opinion that know we have voted on height variances at least since I've been on this board Al albeit not as controversial I think there was one time where we voted to add a story I think to a one or twostory building uh but certainly not as controversial as those and when we've got something of that nature it requires robust community input regardless and I think the text amendment process is that best process moving forward for items like that obviously going through the Planning Commission public input and going before city council that said I'm not sure if we have the power I hope we do but I'm not sure if we have the power to suggest any changes to our Council in our code but if we had that power what I'd recommend is that our Board of adjustment uh be capped in its ability to recommend height variances my personal opinion is I would like to see that cap at maybe no more than 10% of what's allowed as of right in a given Zone but that's my personal opinion I'm not sure and I'm not sure staff knows just yet either because I I've suggested this for public record over email and we're all trying to do research on this and find a way to have the most the cleanest most transparent process for community business businesses and developers and of course staff and and other boards across our city so I mean that's my personal opinion I'd love to see us resolve this as a board and maybe suggest something for our Council to to opine on I know that staff is doing additional research but I wanted to just sa for the public record what I believe you know would be best as next steps and um just wanted to make that clear okay staff you want to say something well if if if we're still on new business I did have something to to announce okay I wanted to welcome our two new board members Miss lumana Joseph and Mr Chief each welcome congratulations new and old or returning I should say yeah okay okay anything else okay do I hear a motion to adjourn yes you do second second okay all in favor say I