##VIDEO ID:Ng6BHLy2CZ0## he [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 [Music] 1 good morning and welcome to the September 3rd meeting of the design review board we have a full Quorum today uh as well as a fairly long agenda so I'm going to get right to it and turn it over to um the City attorney thank you uh good morning all today's meeting of the design review board has been scheduled in a hybrid format with a quorum of the board physically present in the commission Chambers at City Hall and applicants staff and members of the public appearing either in person or virtually via the zoom platform webinar those wishing to participate PA in today's meeting via the zoom platform webinar may dial 88847591 47544 99 which is a toll-free number and enter the webinar ID which is 822 7394 924 or log into the Zoom app and enter the webinar ID which again is 822 7394 1924 any individual wishing to speak on an item must click the raise hand icon if they are using the Zoom app or dial star9 if they are participating by phone before I swear in those that are testifying today I'm going to read into the record the city's notice regarding lobbyist registration if you are appearing on behalf of a business a corporation or another person you need to register as a lobbyist with the city clerk's office if you haven't registered yet you should register before speaking to the board you do not have to register as a lobbyist if you are speaking only on your behalf and not any other party or if you are testifying as an expert witness providing only scientific technical or other specialized information or testimony in this public meeting or if you are appearing as a representative of a neighborhood association without any compensation or reimbursement for your appearance to express support of or opposition to any item expert Witnesses and representatives of neighborhood associ iations shall prior to appearing disclose and writing to the city clerk their name address and the principal on whose behalf they are communicating if you are an architect attorney or employee representing an applicant or an objector you must register as a lobbyist these rules apply whether you're appearing in favor of or against an item or encouraging or arguing against its passage defeat modification or for a continuance for those that are going to be testifying today if you could please stand so I can administer the oath and raise your right hand okay anyone else going to be testifying thank you okay uh do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you and please be seated and with that uh Madame chair I'll turn it back to you now moving on to the discussion rilio okay so um first of I just want to confirm we do have a quorum we have six members present so we have a full board um I did want to make an announcement that uh item number four on the agenda which is drb 23- 0958 that's for 428 South Hibiscus drive has been withdrawn by the applicant um so that will not be heard today in case you're online um expecting to hear that item um also drb2 24-104 that's 4 to6 Star Island Drive um that was already listed as a request for continuance the item um will is requested to be continued indefinitely so no action is necessary we will Ren notice it to the public once the item is ready to move forward and that's as a result of changes that the applicant wishes to make to the design of the home um so with that we can go ahead and proceed to the first do approval of the minutes oh yeah yeah if you're if we have a motion in a second I'll second somebody needs to make a motion oh okay oh there we go Motion to approve the minutes okay Mr Len do we have a second I'll second Mr dender for all those in favor I I motion passes okay um and then I guess we can proceed to item number three on the agenda just so if you want to read that in the first item of the agenda is drb 23- 0968 Citywide digital information kiosk an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the design of a digital information kiosk to be installed within the RightWay at the following approximate locations Convention Center Drive in 19th Street and Lincoln Road and Alton Road Road this was continue from April 2nd 2024 June 4th and June 2nd meeting okay so this item came about as a result of uh requests for proposals issued by the mayor and City commission uh back in 2022 uh for digital information kiosk these are becoming more common in cities throughout the world um basically this will be a uh 8 foot 3 and a half inch tall by 3 foot 3.5 in wide uh with just over a foot of depth uh digital kiosk uh um that will provide uh uh people will be able to walk up to it and it will be interactive they'll be able to use the screen to get information on restaurants and other information in the vicinity it will offer free Wi-Fi which is which is uh very helpful for tourists that may not have self service in the United States um it has an emergency call system uh and and a whole range of other services that are provided for it when it's not in use uh it can display City messaging and it does display some advertising which which is what funds the cost of the system uh the kiosk will be in a gray color have the street name on top uh and a wave pattern on the side we'll we we'll see a description from the from the applicant um there are only two locations outside of the historic district uh just I'll mention those addresses one is in front of the convention center and other one's on Alton Road and Lincoln Road um there are several more in the historic districts I believe there's 11 in the historic district so only a few will be outside of the historic districts which is which are the two that we're considering today uh and staff recommends that the item be approved subject to the cont conditions in the attached draft order and before we start are there any ex party disclosures at this time no thank you all right um is the microphone on yes so good morning Madam chair boaf Michael Lin T southp King Boulevard here today representing the applicant and I do hope everyone had a great summer I know I did had some fun summer vacations but now back to the Grind um I'm here today with Jabron Marissa from the applicant also our architect William Lane who is famous for his lifeguard stands among other things and his link the substantial career here on the beach and other cities and last but not least my colleague uh Emily Balter we appreciate opportunity to present to you all today to tell you about the company history and why they believe that they are adding such great value here to Miami Beach the application was scheduled to go to you all many months ago but we decided to take a step back and do sign ific community outreach to stakeholders neighbors and we've done that in advance of our meeting with you today the design of the kiosk has changed substantially since it was first uh shown to the his store preservation board and now to you all we hope that you all will appreciate the design and William Lane's intent he was not a member of the original design team but after getting constructive advice from board members and City staff we added a bill and we I could not be happier with the results so with that I'm going to turn over to Jabron and have him talk you about the company history and other things thank you hi everybody um my name is Jabron Sher Mohammad I'm vice president of Business Development for ik smart city thank you madam chair members of the board staff and Michael for having me here today excited to show you our project um so Ike was founded eight years ago with the intention of developing the most uh Innovative and effective City Communication platform in the country um we've now installed in over 20 cities Across the Nation installing in five additional ones in the next eight months including many cities in um South Florida um to give you a sense of how the project works you walk up to the screen and you tap it and it unlocks and it reveals a series of applications that help you figure out where to eat and drink where to shop where to play where to stay how to navigate to the destination that you've selected or to find food Aid addiction recovery resources and other services that the City offers when you select eat and drink instead of organizing based on whoever is able to pay for elevated placement like what happens normally on search engines or mapping options on your phone you select eat and drink and it organizes based on proximity so all all of the options that are presented to you are the ones that are in immediate proximity to you no company no business is able to pay for elevated placement so when you're walking around Miami Beach the best coffee shop isn't always Starbucks and the best sandwich shop isn't always Panera even though those are great options um the intention is to help people that are trying to discover the city find your local gems and the things that make your city truly unique um we've also been working closely with the Lincoln Road bid um the business associations across the uh the city to make sure that not only are the local businesses being featured on the kiosk but that we're showing content that makes those local businesses feel um uh uh shown the in the light that they would like for instance the photos of the businesses are going to be the ones that reflect the most recent inventory if they have coupons if they have other promotions that they want to serve on the kiosk new business hours are all going to be available um again updatable in real time once you select where to eat and drink uh let's see here once you select where to eat and drink you'll have the option to select um uh to route a destination a trip plan to get to that destination it'll aggregate all of the public transit options available and will aggregate microtransit options available so for example it may say take the bus three blocks and then from that destination there's a bike share station with three bikes available at the dock and then you can select one of the bikes and then we'll say take this bike the last two block blocks and there's a docking station that's empty and you can dock your bike at that destination as well so giving you real um real time information on how to use all of the various public transit options available in the city um also the kiosk has a security camera on the top and has a light sensor next to that security camera as a result the light sensor picks up ambient light conditions and dims the kiosk according to light conditions so that the kiosk is never going to be brighter than street lights or ambient like conditions in the environment you also have an emergency call button on the spine that you can push it'll dispatch Emergency Services um the Emergency Services will know exactly where you push that button from and we'll be able to come to you um as you're there um as as uh Michael pointed out we worked uh closely with uh with Mr William Lane to revise the hardware and the kiosk cabinet to reflect the Miami Beach aesthetic and um I'd like to I'd like to ask Mr Lane to come and can show you what we've worked on together I think we're gonna switch the presentation uh good afternoon or good morning William Lane architect um I was uh very excited to be brought into the team um you know as you see around the country there's many of these and typically they're black they're very uniform very monolithic so when we were asked to do a different version that would be unique to Miami Beach we looked at different things that might characterize the be Beach and you know we have the very normal ones which are cloud formations and the waves but we also were looking at mid-century architecture and we wanted to reflect the unique culture and support of great architecture that the city of Miami Beach is known for and I think that was one the intents with going back to actually thinking a little bit more about its form so uh and during this we uh we tried to make some simple things because um we did want to keep we were asked to keep the basic functionality and size of the cabinet so what we did was we did a very simple we're having a bit of technical difficulty they're trying to upload the new rendering if you might remember this was the original design and the team is working to upload the the rendering that Mr Lane worked on so if you'll just give us one moment to resolve the technical issues yeah I don't know if you have maybe in front of you um you know images of the proposed but we uh did a couple a very simple move which was to add a curved uh Edge to one of the sides uh the other one was to use a lighter metallic color than the black color that you typically see um you know some of the references that we saw uh besides uh you know the mid-century and the clouds were also the outline of the island itself you know on one side you have the beach line relatively straight the other one you know some of the buildups that we have along the west side um we you know we really wanted to also look at this specifically as Street Furniture you know rather than just being innocuous and blending into a more urban environment and you know larger cities we saw the opportunity to add uh another element of Whimsy uh where we saw the kiosk as Street furniture and therefore kind of um scale to human use and the fact that it was an information element so we wanted to also enie it with a anthropomorphic Feeling So within the reading there might be some nature some uh references to the island but also a little bit of a surrealism where we we kind of imagined it as actually being something that spoke to you um the color uh color again goes back to more tropical City uh we looked at of course the whiteness a lot of the architecture here but also some of the secondary Elements which is aluminum a light colored uh anodized aluminum so um all of them we had done two for the historic district which I'll get into later but all of them have a continuous uh aluminum clear aluminum band or stainless steel and these um in a way Mo reference some of the older prototypes for the iPhone so again we saw as like this kind of information feature and uh in terms of color um I'm not sure if we're going to show the color one but we did um you know we did go ahead and we did design maybe three four of them for the uh historic district the silver one would be used predominantly in any other areas but we want to pick up some of the history you know that happened back in the 80s and 90s when horor wits uh tried to um bring out some of the importance of the art deco architecture by using pastels tropical colors uh these you know later on a lot of them went back to white but they were a big influence you know we saw turquoise and you know as being kind of a watercolor Sky color but also very popular you see it on you know buildings like the uh Eden Rock uh Pink of course flamingos Coral so we wanted to add a little bit another layer of humor and Whimsy so that's really you know our moves that was our design intent simple but uh something unique to our city thank you you seem like you have something to add if your time is up but how much more time would you need not a lot available for questions the one slide I wanted to make sure that we showed you was the various Community organizations that we've met with receive feedback for a critical element of the kiosk is that they're customizable on a per kiosk basis and so we just wanted the the board to know that we are working with organizations for each individual kiosk to make sure that they reflect um the intent of that Community where the kiosk is going to be located and available for questions thank you m thank you thank you madam chair that concludes our initial presentation i' like to reserve time for rebuttal and we're here for your questions great thank you uh are there any members of the public wishing to speak good morning Madam chair good morning board members my name is Annabelle yies I'm the executive director at the lincol road bid and I'm here just to show our support for the alternate Lincoln Road location that the digital kiosk will be located we find this is going to be a great addition to the businesses to be able to promote themselves on there so I just wanted to share that we've working very closely with the team and we're very excited for this project thank you thank you are there any anyone online we have no no hands raised online okay then I'm now going to close the public portion and open up to the board for discussion who would like to begin um thank I I have a a comment and a question uh thank you guys for the presentation I guess my only question is what kind of if any review process is in place for once these are installed and you can see how the community or how the businesses are either interacting successfully or how the technology part of it could or should be tweaked to be more engaging to the community I'm just wondering if that part is planned yes we'll be providing the city a realtime dashbo board that shows how the kiosk is being used so what locations get interacted with most for instance if you want people to discover where to eat and drink let's put that tile on the top left because it gets clicked the most and then at each individual kiosk what are people searching for the most so you can make decisions based on what people are looking for at what location as you grow in the city um so we'll be providing usage data we'll be Pro providing dwell time um kind of all of the information the city could Desire with respect to kiosk you and then making adjustments on the software based on that usage and actually to I was curious too about sort of you know how the the system works the maintenance Etc so it is your team is going to be maintaining and running it in conjunction with the city but it's you guys as opposed to somebody at the city that's exactly right think of the city as a curator we just take their Direction but we have a full maintenance team that cleans them every day we have a full software development team that pushes out upgrades and we have a a city relationship management team that coordinates with the city regularly and how um how does I know you said that with the search it comes up due to proximity but how do businesses or organizations get on get included in the list there is a a publicly available database that's generally very accurate with respect to all the businesses that are currently operational but that's also why we work with groups like The Lincoln Road bid to make sure that there isn't anybody slipping through the cracks so we get this data and then we scrub it against the database of a local organization Washington Road Lincoln Road Etc and so to be included do does a business organization have to pay or it's just based on location this is considered a service to Residents and visitors that's exactly right nobody can pay for placement or elevation by function of existing you are featured on the kiosk can you also give us a sense because um first of all I I want to applaud your efforts both to interact with the community and to have this redesign um that is very much in keeping with the spirit of the design of Miami Beach um Mr Lane I feel like in this in these meetings we've often referenced your lifeguard stands as a direction that we would love the con the city to continue to go with everything from you know bus benches to things like this so thank you very much it seems like you've done a lot of work um and this is indeed a much better design than when you know had initially come to us all those months ago thank you for that um one of the things that I I haven't been able to see in any of the presentations is what the screen will look like when it's not being used is it all because in your pre in the presentation whenever you show it from other cities there's always an advertisement being shown um you know so I was curious about that is it always going to read as an ad and also is there going to be an easy way if there's something wrong with the screen or something an easy way like an easy number to call for a maintenance or for information or for help or something like that sure I'm happy to answer both those questions also if if if we're able to activate screen share um I have a a slide that shows you know it not being interacted with so you can see um when it's not being used think of it as a screen saver on your computer there's a slideshow the slideshow contains eight slides of those eight slides one slide at all times is reserved for City content that can be road closure it can be weather awareness or it can be promotion for or D downtown or an artwork that the city wants to promote a community artist um the other seven slides are going to be programmed by us we sell those slides to advertisers and share a portion of that Revenue back with the city but we also when slides are not sold we share that slide back with the city as well or we find a local artist pay for their artwork and display their artwork on the screen so the other seven slides that are not the city slides are either going to contain advertisements which we sell artwork which we Source or Community content from groups like the business improvement district or the city um I have the slide if if somebody wants to enable screen share I'm happy to show it to you sure and so what the the sense I'm getting is that the majority of the time these screens are on it's going to be displaying some sort of advertisement as a sort of a seven to one ratio it it seven to so while the seven slides are able to be sold by us it is infrequent that all of those seven slides are sold um it's very frequently the case that we have between 40 to 60% of the content that we have available to sell sold and so between 40 to 60% of the time will be given back to the city for Community content if we are sold out that means our rates are too low right so we're trying to keep our rates where National advertisers are buying them high enough and so we're not selling out all of our slides and usually how long does it stay on each image each slide is about 10 seconds oh okay so it's constantly rotating and and the slides aren't motion right they just come in and out correct right and then it goes all or you said it stops at 10 or it goes what are the hours of the sign it it's on 24 hours a day but it dims according to ambient light conditions so for instance at night it is much more dim than it will be during the day when there's a full Sunshine um also cloudy days it's dimmer than sunny days okay thank you sure um I have one more question when you were were talking about the local businesses and organizations that you were working with and you said that they are they've been invited feedback on collaboration on is that what the screen looks like is that what you were saying or that or was that to the color choice of the it's um and I'm trying to see if I have a slide of it here it it's it's on their application so when you select eat and drink right if you don't mind allowing screen share again please thank you um so let's say you walk up and you select the eat and drink application there will be a list of restaurants that are around you restaurants and bars and coffee shops all around you um let's say you see a coffee shop you want to go to and you select that coffee shop there will be a photo of that coffee shop there will be the store hours there'll be reviews and a promotion if the coffee shop wants to put a promotion that entire directory card as I'm calling it information about that coffee shop is all content that the coffee shop can customize if they want us to customize on their behalf and that's done as a service to the city so it's not a cost to them but it's a free way for them to get promotion get more people to come in put out promotion okay thank you sure can you briefly State the locations they mentioned 11 within the historic district and then one on by the convention center and one by Alton and L if you don't mind sharing the screen again please um this shows the two locations that are under review today and I'm happy to go into the other locations approved by historic preservation board if you would like um one is at the intersection of Alton and Lincoln and the other is on Convention Center between 17th and Dade um we've worked closely with the convention center on this location so here it is an elevation View and I'm happy to go through these more slowly again if helpful um I'll move to the next site and this is the one on Alton and Lincoln next to citzen next to the Citizen M Hotel all of these have been approv for utility conflicts we've made sure there's sufficient clear path of travel for wheelchairs to go by we've made sure that there's sufficient distance from Seline triangles the one specifically on Alton and Lincoln there was another project that came before us some months back concerning the landscaping for that area of Lincoln Road and putting some sort of barrier to keep cars from entering uh Lincoln Road or crashing into Lincoln Road uh from Alton um have you all communicated with or taken this plan into consideration When selecting the placement of the kiosk on Alton and Lincoln we've definitely taken into consideration the prominade and the Lincoln Road bid actually recommended to us this site because they think of it as as a Gateway bookend to let people know that the prominade is beyond the site but I'm not familiar with that specific development intent we did work closely with the city and with the bid to make sure that our sighting wasn't one that was going to create some sort of obstruction it's on the other side of the street the the kiosk is not where the barriers are so it's on the acoss the yeah it's on the west side um when it comes to maintenance of the kiosk um you mentioned that you all maintain it so I assume that once you're into contract with the city there will be some specifications and goals or benchmarks as to the maintenance as so that it just doesn't sit there broken idle for more than x number of hours or days or what have you um because that has been a problem with other um implementations here in the city can you just briefly if you have any information on that uh speak as to that as to what the breakdowns have been maybe in other locations that you've implemented these kyosk uh we're obligated to respond to any service request within 24 hours um we clean the kiosks daily um so that means any sort of graffiti removal Etc any sort of things that someone has done to in vandalism will be removed immediately um we're very proud of the fact that that our clients in other cities will tell you that before they can report a problem we've cleaned it up um because we're checking them every single day which is critical the other really critical element of this type of technology is software upgrades if your phones weren't getting upgrades you know every every so often they wouldn't be very useful to you we push out upgrades every month to the software and we're obligated to and if we fail to do that the city can also revoke our permits and so the intention is for the hardware to remain Best in Class and for the software to remain best in class thank you pleasure I have one more question just on the relationship to other places I know that this is Miami Beach and our goal is to serve the Miami Beach residents but often Miami acts as a tourist attraction to the larger greater area is the intent for any of these to perhaps ever communicate about oh well you're here in Miami beach but you could go x y and z where there's another kiosk or another kiosk begins to acknowledge these kiosks installed in some sort of cross collaboration absolutely so we're installing 150 in the city of Miami um we're about to cross a 100 barrier there we're installing 15 in Aventura we've already installed I believe five there um we've already installed 10 in Coral Gables and we're installing them across South Florida um and absolutely the idea would be to you know let's bring artists from from Windwood to the beach let's bring artists from the beach to Windwood right and create kind of that Network effect of having a shared uh wave mining system across South Florida so that people can not only discover other parts of the city but understand what's attractive about other parts of the region and I'll give you a good example I was driving home um from work last week and I was just about to get on MacArthur from biscan and just in front of the frost science Museum uh there's a kiosk and it was advertising FIU which is a countywide institution so specifically it was advertising FIU up front and then it said wolfonia Museum so there is going to be some type of cross-pollination between the jurisdictions however if if I can just add are you okay the advertising that you do on the Miami Beach kiosk will be for establishments within Miami Beach or Miami Beach and other areas the advertisers are generally going to be kind of the big National Brands you see when you turn on a football game on a Sunday or a basketball game um our biggest Advertiser last year was Apple this year it was Samsung and Apple's a close second entertainment um so it's going to be the kind of the big big National Brands we have a discount rate card for local businesses so that when local businesses do want to advertise they're not having to pay the rates that apple is paying I have one question actually foro and I don't know I haven't been on the Block very very recently but in one of the pictures that was part of the presentation it showed that the Citizen M on that side of the sidewalk is still there's still a barrier up is that still the case I that is still the one of the barriers has been removed it's it should be opening soon the the construction I believe is during completion we actually have an item on the citizenm uh later on the agenda for an unrelated um some ofers have been removed um but there is still construction taking place on the site I don't know what your time frame is like for installation but I would just request that before that one goes in that the citizen because it's going to block the street right you know so okay um any other questions or concerns someone want to make a motion oh actually sorry sorry I meant to say sorry um is there a way so again to Echo um my's concern about maintenance which I think a lot of us who' lived here for a long time have is there a way that somewhere on the kiosk there can be a if maintenance is needed whatever number to call yes there there already is and we're we're happy to ensure that it's on all of them great thank you good pleasure okay sorry okay just I just want to mention two during the presentation that uh the discussion two two people rais their hands online I don't know if you if you'd like to take those comments or I mean I think we should okay yeah um the first uh hand raised is Janet Woods Janet Woods if you would unmute yourself no okay uh going once going twice okay the next person is David Perez David if you would unmute yourself good morning could you hear me yes yes good morning David before you address before you address the board I need to sway you in um do you swear or affirm that the testimony you be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you okay and I'm going to set the clock for two minutes for you to address the board awesome so good morning board thank you for allowing me to speak just for a quick moment um so as a local resident I'm just wondering um so I know he mentioned a discount regarding local business being able to advertise on the board is there a criteria in place for what can be advertised I'm just wondering if um there's something in place to make sure that people are you know that have the money are not putting something up that might not be acceptable for everybody to see you know considering families considering um people who come to visit um and I'm just wondering what you know what that criteria is what they're going to use to review and if it's just based on well you can pay it so we're going to put it up for you good question David thank you happy to answer um if you could please activate the screen share this shows the content restrictions nothing political nothing LW nothing obscene no tobacco and um generally nothing that doesn't doesn't align with Community standards um also when requested to take contact down content down we're obligated to take that down within 24 hours pleasure do we want to try Janet again or she never got it working okay her hand is no longer raised okay okay great thank you um so is there a motion I MO to approve I'll second the motion motion by Miss Meer second by Miss Bui um all those in favor I I I motion passes thank you very much thank you thank you okay moving on to our next agenda item 1691 Michigan Avenue that the next one the next item of the agenda is drb 24-19 1691 Michigan Avenue an application has been filed requesting designer of re approval for exterior modifications to an existing commercial building this was continued from June 4th and July 2nd 2024 okay so this item uh was considered by the board uh in July 2nd as stated uh the board uh did provide some feedback to the applicant uh so the applicant did go and make some changes to the plans um which which they'll present today um this is oh just for background because there were some members that weren't here today this is a a site that has an existing office building uh the office building is on land owned by the city and they have a long-term lease for the office building which which is which was privately developed um the the uh the site has a an architecture style that is is dated and they're looking to refresh the building they're going to be reworking the interior um and reclad the facade uh the facade will have a a limestone veneer uh there will be new uh screening for the parking garage that's attached to the building to the rear of the site um and and uh and they've made several changes uh based on the feedback that they received from the from the board last uh in July um so they've they've uh refined the proposed cladding uh to the existing parit wall on the corner of 17th Street in Michigan Avenue to reduce the amount of metallic cladding at the center portion of the parit wall uh the awnings above the ground level were replaced with Planters at level two through five uh and the planter at the roof level was removed um they've replaced um a proposed long uh strip metallic light scones the throughout the facade uh with a midsize light with midsize light scones uh collided with natural travertine um and that complements the facade a little bit more uh they've aligned the Limestone veneer uh a little bit better to complement the the window pattern uh Planters on the garage uh facade were proposed to be removed and replaced with regular pattern of limestone veneer and metal screening and the proposed metal screening on the garage facade uh was modified at various locations of the elevation um to better wrap the southeast Corner um staff uh believes that the proposed modifications are in line with the board's Direction uh and staff is supportive of the changes and staff recommends that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the attached draft order and Madam chair before we start uh are there any ex party disclosures no okay thank you and I'll set the clock at 10 minutes Michael is that okay yeah thank you so uh good morning again Madame chair of boarder staff Michael Larin J souis K Boulevard representing the applicant you know this property has had a significant history here in Miami Beach it was just one of the simple surface parking lots in Lincoln Road a long time ago over 20 years ago and then the city decided to do a joint venture where they retained ownership but they brought in a long-term Le to do the office building and Lucky Strike was in the base of this for a long time I realized Iz didn't how bad I was at bowling so I stayed away from Lucky Strike for a while that was carved up into two Home Improvement spaces now that you know West Elm and willing Sonoma which are good for a lot of us that would go there um but then Robert has come along and purchased it and wants to turn it from it's a somewhat dated office building now into like the most luxurious office building in Miami Beach you all recognized that you considered it and you all are always thoughtful you you zeroed in on some details I'm going to go through the details and tell you how we responded so some of the details were the configuration of the onions and Planters at the corner of 17th Street in Michigan number two the material finish and design details with a building crown that wraps around the corner 17th Street in Michigan number three the design of the light sconces on the facade and number four the materials and colors used on the ground floor storefronts so we have responded to each of those four concerns first the is now limited to the ground floor level and the color matches the building facade the remaining levels have Planters except for the roof level number two the building Crown has been refined to accentuate the corner and the shape of the decorative material cladding is more angular to create the desired textured effect number three we swapped out the long dark light uh sconces for shorter travertin cladded light scones that blend into the building facade and finally we have clarified the materials and colors along the ground floor storefronts we would not have been able to do this without the tremendous team I've already identified to you Robert ravani as uh the owner our project management team from Robert shop is James Duke and Andrea Munos and we have Jose Gomez from BJ Architects and Carlos rguez from Escala Forma as our design team so what I'd like to do is turn over to Carlos and have him walk you through all the different changes thank you very much good morning my name is Carlos Rodriguez uh principal of is scal fora um after the last hearing we took a lot of the issues that the board had into really really dissection and study we wanted to understand every point of the flow from design to the integration of the lighting certain kind of figures within this speech so in in front of you you have the light condition which is a travertine scon that was one of the main points uh we wanted something that faded into the building facade but created a um lighting play at night we wanted this um integration to be soft versus the previous submittal which was a harsh statement that was a little foreign to the building um in taking into consideration the corner one of the main adjustments to the corner I think was a very beneficial point which was um originally we had awnings all the way to the top uh one of the comments was to integrate planters that soften that corner condition coming from Michigan um I think it created a layer that the building needed um the building was always a little bit even now it felt feels a little Force to that corner so I think it pulls the the eye straight to that corner um the other comment was the cladding um certain finishes in the cladding that was um before it was a little dark so as you I see here um it's a light champagne metal that is going to be integrated between the panels and also the Molin we want this building to be a continuous language um the existing condition um does not create a marriage between the garage and the existing building so our intervention is to unite them to create a beautiful um almost study into the neighborhood um the next finish that was requested was really the crown the crown was always a problem um in the beginning design of this building um because the feasibility of whether it's um hurricane rated whether it would withstand the lighting conditions so we looked into materials that wouldn't create such a dominance on top of this building we wanted it to fade into the structure so we looked at similar finishes like this um micro cement um that would be applied to to the facade of that ground ultimately the building right now as it stands is a direct connection into Lincoln Road and it's predominantly what I feel it's uh part of the Catalyst to the renovation of um Miami Beach okay yes as you see here um in the two studies we have the awning on the upper side the awnings were a little dark and then you have the planter condition that Fades into the clading um as you see the center metal the center metal was reduced so that it created a direct link between the height of the garage we after this we started studying the current Planters the building has uh planters that wrap around the garage and one of the points that was addressed was the maintenance of them and after further study we wanted wanted to see what worked in the current Planters and what didn't the plant material has not survived in those Planters so we were concerned that why it didn't survive so after further dissection we found out that the long run into the building between the drainage line and the water lines ultimately the plant material would die um so it wasn't recommended to have these Planters in that area ultimately we don't want a product that doesn't last where you approve it and then suddenly in a couple months you have this dead planter that it becomes a little bit more of a maintenance issue where the plant material is not consistent to what is approved so we decided to create more of a fixed condition where it's always going to look like that um the corner Planters on the opposite end have direct access into the building so those lines and drainage lines are easily accessible maintained as you see here this is what I was discussing about the current uh structure um this building accepts the corner but also rejects it we want to create this floral play where the the visitors kind of get pulled into this corner and get into a soft transition into Michigan and this is the Overlook into the corner so this was original um as you see we have the awnings um that flank that the facade one of the main issues was the materiality of the awnings so we decided to move forward with the removal of the awnings and only having them on the first floor and that is all thank you very much conclusion are any other members of your team wishing to speak or this is I mean good okay I'm sure we have some questions okay thank you um any uh members of the public anybody online we do have one hand raised online uh Lyall Stern good morning everyone good morning Mr Stern before you address the board I just need to swear you in do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do okay and I'll set the clock for two minutes for you to address the board thank you ly stor with officers it's at 690 Lincoln Road uh I'm the president of Lincoln Road business improvement district but I'm not speaking on behalf of the bid only because we haven't had a chance to bring this before the board and vote on it but as a property owner on Lincoln Road uh and with significant uh commitment to Lincoln Road I can tell you that i' I've reviewed this uh uh as importantly as the design is the opportunity to have had Mr Rani purchase an office building of this caliber on Lincoln Road he has an incredible track record of recruiting the types of of tenants uh both office and and Retail that that we as a community I think would like to see a budding Lincoln Road uh I personally welcome him uh and his investment to Lincoln Road um I think that his ability to recruit the kinds of office tenants that we'd like to see here uh is going to be spectacular uh we were involved in bringing otomar p uh AP to Sunset Harbor um we see what uh Bar St is done with his building on Collins Avenue with recently with the announcement of the Bastion LOM office tency there were a significant number of individuals living in Miami Beach uh with with significant companies and family offices that would like better quality Class A office product uh to reside in in our city and there's true lack of it uh so I'm excited for what Robert's going to do with this building I'm excited for what he's going to do for our community I'm excited uh that it's part of the Lincoln Road Fabric and I would urge you to uh to pass it today so that Robert can begin uh the renovation and the leasing and I thank you for for your time and your service to our community by serving on the board thank you very much anybody else no other hands raised okay I'm now going to close the public portion open up to the board for discussion um who would like to begin great thank you for listening to us I think you're really successful this building looks so um mature I guess so elegant and Simple and Clean um I think the plants on every level all the way to the edge make a nice difference it really makes that corner consistent um as much as I hate seeing planners go away on the garage they were ridiculous and randomly scattered and always looked terrible and I think the Elegance that you established and the connectivity with the garage with the other building it's really for the first time you can see that they're actually belong together so I think you did a great job with that and that's it I thank you for listening to us and I think it's a very successful um Improvement thank you else sha yeah I'll Echo those comments um yeah I wasn't here for the July meeting but um I I love the the changes here um coming in with fresh eyes the only you know I one thing I really like about the building that I wish I saw a little bit more of is the at the entrance corner where the crown is on the first level I don't know if it's um you have like metal horizontal lines going across on the entry level I don't know if if was there any thought considered to bringing that maybe around on the garage side as well on the the first level I'm not um you're referring to the the first floor awning yes yes exactly so the first floor awning metal was it's kind of an exposed um rendering technique to the awning um so there was no um uh consideration to to extend it the idea is to make it as flat as possible it's depicting it like a severe line play but it's a little bit more clean yeah thank you yeah I like the way this looks thank you and yeah as we continue with the continuances please whoever was in here will go into as much detail as you need um I agree thank you very much I like all the changes um and I particularly like this lighting fixture and thank you for bringing in a sample um I um I agree it definitely has a sort of Elegance and a cohesion and it's it's interesting the building was so gray and that was you know everybody was doing everything in Gray and now we're moving more into the brown and the bees and and here we have this um but I like it and I I really think it was a good choice to rework the sconces but also the sections it has a different Rhythm to it that I think is going to is is more successful um the one thing I would say is I really like the crown I think it's a really unique feature I was wondering why you didn't continue and and was it fluting or is it the light that is creating the pattern on the other part of it it's fluting oh how come you decided not to include it all the way all the way in the front well the building currently has a signage um the wick sign that extends through that uh fluting portion um the opportunity for the corner was with the approval of the board of course is to potentially uh submit uh an opportunity for a sign a building sign yeah and that and you couldn't do that on top of the fluting you think it would be too busy I think it would be too busy the idea is for the transition tonight to become this beautiful light plate so that the pattern is unobstructed so from any angle where you see it from Miami Beach it becomes a this beautiful textural crown so then you're missing the well then the in your mind the texture would be the sign would be part of the texture correct correct and the sign would be for one of the tenants or the name of the building the name of the building okay of course after hopefully the approval um it this would be a second layer to it that uh needs to be really properly detected that's okay so this is a work in progress but you're aware that it needs something correct correct okay great um did you have any comments about it no I I just wanted to be last I was uh just a few years ago involved in the sale of this property by the city to the then group that bought it and we thought back then the design they had presented was was nice eventually um but Styles have changed tastes have changed and I really like what I saw today I think it would be a wonderful Improvement for that corner does anyone want to make a motion or I make a motion to approve I second mtion by m Myers second by Miss Bui um all those in favor I I motion passes great thank you all very much for your time thank you well and I think I speak on everyone's behalf to say that we appreciate that you felt that our comments were helpful and constructive as opposed to an obstacle to moving this forward so thank you very much and I think you know the result really speaks for itself thank you well I I would note for this item we can expect it to come back in about 2 months uh for the driveway portion they're looking at at modifying the the driveway portion of the building which really wasn't focused on in this set of plans so we can't expect that uh I believe for the November meeting is the parking lot still going to stay open to the public Michael do you know is the parking lot still going to be open to the public or it's going be yeah because it serves the business on Lincoln Road it so they they go together so always be open the next item on the agenda 1801 Alton Road the next item on the agenda is drb 24-105 1801 Alton Road an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new one story commercial building including a variance from the minimum landscape requirement bordering a temporary or provisional surface parking lot AB butting a property line Street or sidewalk and one or more waivers replacing an existing two-story commercial building this was continued on June 4th and July 2nd meeting okay and before we start uh any ex party communication disclosures from the board no okay Mr Muro 10 minutes perfect should I give my sorry Sor quick staff presentation um okay so this site uh it it was uh previously on the agenda it does include a variance which requires five votes so that's why it kept getting continued for a few months uh so this has not yet been heard um the site is in a cd1 district which is a low intensity commercial District it's just over an acre uh it's an irregularly shaped lot on an irregular Block it's the block that has also a Publix and a Walgreens um and so this is a building that currently has I believe a Chase Manhattan bank or Chase Bank um and uh Social Security offices uh as well on this site the applicant is proposing to replace that building um and and they they don't have the full site fully fully developed with what they want to do but they do want to reintroduce the bank on the corner on the southwest corner of the site uh so they're proposing a 5,000 ft on story story building the rest of the site is currently has some existing parking that's in place uh and they'll be providing some additional parking lot but we can expected in the near future they'll be coming back with a plan on uh on doing something else with that parking lot um in the meantime uh they will be screening the parking lot with Landscaping uh improving the the look of the parking uh they are seeking some variances related to the parking and keeping that parking some of those spaces are non-conforming they're a little bit smaller than what we would require today um and we have some additional standards that we would be imposing on on new parking lots uh that they're requesting a variance from staff is not opposed to the variants because we do expect it to be temporary as as the site we do expect will be will be developed at some point in the future um the building is U of contemporary style um um they are requesting some waivers of our of our Frontage standards our short and long Frontage standards um because it fronts an F doot Road they do expect having to make some changes based on ft's uh requirements um however as part of these standards uh they will be maintaining a 5 foot clear pedestrian path basically they're requesting to reduce the um um what's required a 10 foot wide circulation Zone to about 8 feet uh 5 in but they will be keeping a a clear pedestrian path of 5T so staff is not not opposed to the to the requested waivers um so with that staff recommends that the uh application be approved including the requested variances thank you good morning uh Madam chair members of the board Mickey morrero burky Ral Fernandez lar and tapinis student at South bisc bouevard with me today my colleague Emily Balter our project architect Renee Gonzalez our landscape architect Vincent fenzi is on zoom and we represent Santa Elena Holdings the property owner and its its principal Dominic kago so Dominic's owned this site for a long time and some of you were here I think in 2021 we were we had approv for a office building that we were actually very excited about at the time um and and hope that that went forward but because of changing market conditions construction costs the limitations on on the cd1 and challenges with the existing tenant that project will not be able to go forward and we've since been working with Dominic and and his design folks on trying to find uh an ultimate solution for the site um one of the things that is challenging is as sort of get into a little bit we have a long-term tendency with Chase Bank um it has two 20 year two two remaining 10year options that they've they've indicated they're going to exercise so when we're trying to figure out what best to do with this building one of the things that keeps coming in is how do we work around this this tenant um the building that exists today Emily if you could kind of start yes so as as R pointed out uh the property is very regularly shaped sort of shaped like Oklahoma but turned over is the way I sort of see it um you probably see this site almost every day um and you didn't realize that they also owned that sliver connecting uh between the publ and the Walgreens so that is the site it's a very prominent location on on dve Boulevard in Alton Road and the building that exists there if Emily can go forward it's a 1982 building that may have been very exciting many years ago but it's certainly not really functional today and not not a place where we're attracting the class A tenants um so Chase is anxious to see a new space for their tendency and our client really wants to do because of the prominent location and because of of the opportunities at this site wants to do something special that that's going to be a permanent solution here but we're not there yet um so what we're trying we're bringing before you is a really simple current solution which is removing that 198 and that was just what I mentioned before that was the 2021 approval from this board very nice we were actually very excited about it that resulted in comments from you all and we came back but ultimately it's just not going to happen um this is what we're proposing now obviously it's a simple solution here it replaces the dated Bank space with a more modern simple space on the most prominent location on the lot um and makes a lot a little bit breathe a lot more more functional a lot of landscape a lot more resiliency on the slot um so this this will be the solution for the bank it takes the bank that tency out of the equation of the design of the new building which has has been one of the challenges and and Dom's been working very closely with them they're a great tenant uh they're a great partner but it's just been a challenge to try and figure out what to do with the whole site as their part of it um so here's again just pointing out the variances which roio described in some detail they don't relate to the building they really relate to the existing configuration of the parking and the and the requirements of the code we do believe this is a temporary solution but we still feel that it's an improvement to what's there now it removes kind of this overbearing building that that really isn't helping anyone at this point in not drawing any design excitement to to the area replaces it with Landscaping more than enough parking for the Chase Bank and and and a new Sleek simple resilient Chase Bank uh location here are some renderings of the of the new building which has a similar vocabulary to the prior approval but obviously taking out a lot of the additional square footage here's the architectural plans and again I want to point out the main thing that strikes most obvious is the irregular shape which just makes trying to comply with these site standards very very challenging uh which is why we requested variances and why we had to skip the last few meetings to be here um but staff understands and we hope that you do as well the challenges with the site and as a result the the warrant the warranted variances here's just again it's hard to sort of see here but the Landscaping we we've met with staff on the Landscaping it's going to be a open walkable pedestrian friendly Lush environment on on that prominent location that we think will be successful and an improvement to what's there today between now and when the site is ultimately we will be back before you we hope I don't know if it's in 2025 or or the next year we just there there's no definite uh plan for a the new building that will come here but but we do we do think that will happen soon Dominic also in addition to being an owner here and a business owner in the community he lives in the community and has been reaching out to his neighbors and colleagues and we were able to sayain letter of support from five uh members of the community that are interested in seeing the project redeveloped those are in the record and and with that um like to to conclude it we reserve some time for rebuttal we have our landscape Arc ticked on Zoom Renee is here in person so if you have any questions we're we're happy to answer them thank you thank you very much are there any other members of the public wishing to speak and there are no hands raised okay great I'm now going to close the public portion and open it up to the board for con comment who would like to start I have a couple questions if you can make clarification So when you say that you anticipate future development that's in your Oklahoma shape site or the sort of rectangular area that would be directly north well no no the the property the Oklahoma shape site that's our property yeah so you mean this is a temporary building I guess I don't understand the building will the anticipation that this building will remain the building itself is is not a temporary solution I mean that I'm not telling you that that couldn't change in the future but the idea is that that building will be the future home of the chase it'll be on the on they they wanted something on that corner so there will be a development again the hope is a development in the future on the remaining remainder of the site which will incorporate parking it would replace the parking that might be directly east to it or something okay um I okay I mean that helps clarify a little bit um you know looking at that intersection I think it's a very prominent intersection in in Miami Beach and it's one of the larger intersections I'm you guys are probably more familiar with the walkability there um versus drivability and and if Trends would shift to be more pedestrian friendly well I think that the design is very clean um it doesn't really address the public at all and I don't know I guess I'm interested to hear your guys's uh thoughts on on that I yeah I just before we go into the design itself you were asking for a variance can you go back to the uh rendering and show exactly where the variance in the parking area is requested sure so the variances and and there's summary of the variances they relate to the existing parking area not to the building not to the new parking that we're providing but since uh instead of re redeveloping the entire thing and starting from scratch we're trying to maintain some of the existing parking areas that are functional and there so it's again the 16 foot parking spaces when two feet of perious overhang is required um we're providing 16 or 18 is required uh we are maintaining Asphalt heartscape in certain areas and maintaining an existing four to five foot border where 5 feet is required uh four and a half landscape boorder were 5et Square we believe they're really minor variances um and that's why staff is supporting them because they're they're just maintaining existing those existing components the building meets all the code and most of the new all of the new stuff does meet the code as well so you're going from 5 feet to 4 and a half feet right and then the 16 ft parking spaces uh with a two foot of perious overhang um where exactly is that going to be it's occurring in the temporary uh parking lot which is the yellow shaded area so that meets code but it's it's the temporary lot where the existing building used to be uh but where you have to the north and to where the Oklahoma Park uh goes north that's all existing but it's converting to Temporary so when it's converting to Temporary it doesn't meet the current codes right so that's the variance thank you we're just leaving it as is well new Landscaping the the cha brought up the issue of um its connection to the pedestrian traffic and then to the vehicular traffic on a very major intersection the vehicular traffic actually um if you're heading west and then going north is decent because you've got that little um Island that allows you to get away from the main intersection and and make that turn um as as to the rest of the vehicular traffic I I'd like to hear from the rest of the board members because it is kind of closed in not very welcoming to anybody driving by or walking by not that there's a lot of walking in that area but there is some there's I I I've I've there's more than you would expect like I've been at that corner and I've seen pedestrians and more than I would ever expect but there is um my I have some reservations about this plan and I'm very concern that once you tear the building down and just put this one small building that the lot is going to just read as a giant parking lot and this is such a prominent Corner um the other thing too is the design of the building itself um I mean it really just looks like you had a design and then you just sort of erased everything else and this is what we were left with so you know I would love to see a little bit more intentional I mean I understand I understand what what this could be down the line but who knows what you know it's it's very hard to plan now for what will be things are so unpredictable you know and there is for me the design of this building so now you have essentially an asphalt parking lot and you're right like these this parking lot it's it's black asphalt it's not pervious it's not anything it's and then you're adding more parking lot to replace a large building and then you have this Pavilion like structure that reads to me this feels like a like a greenhouse like I know this corner it gets really hot it's really in fact that was my comment for the last design that we had that you had this open space up top and I was like it's going to get really hot it faed the sun I'm just I I feel like this design needs a little bit of something like sh I think she said to respond like even if it was an overhang to create shade onto the sidewalk um but I think as a whole you know if you would to say okay we're we're not just replacing with parking lot there is going to be mature trees there's going to be a little bit more um something like that you know with this building you just have this ring of greenery along the top again it just sort of looks like it flew there and stuck um interestingly you mentioned that you know this resilient new design I I find this to be one of the least resilient designs I've seen so you know and and please correct me if I'm wrong if if I'm misinterpreting if I'm misunderstanding what's happening here but you know a glass Pavilion surrounded by nothing um on a busy street where there are pedestrians and there is traffic I don't really know if that's the right gesture for this space and maybe sorry one additional comment just and I know we can't control budgets and development possibilities but again like being less dense than that's currently there this major intersection also you know like a small one-story building on that intersection just seems out of place so I don't know if there is a way to talk about you know the development plans of the full site or like if this building you know if if other development happens will it go up you know is this building being designed to anticipate you know growth in the second or third floors or you know it just it feels just way out of context at this intersection just to add to that when I when you first when I first saw the the design now this um in in the agenda it just looks like a temporary thought not a permanent and sure enough it isn't permanent because the rest of the site the plans haven't been put together and so I it doesn't make sense without having an entire plan for the site um so especially in Miami Beach to go from um several stories to one story it just um um doesn't it it just to me it looks more of a temporary structure yeah I I I think we're responding to to chase really as being like a long-standing business there servicing that Community um obviously you've seen their logo on the tower and it's been there for at least since I've been here you know 20 20 years um so in order to do that and to think about the future development and keeping Chase there like Mickey mentioned the the lease agreements and things like that that they want to enforce um how do we do that so the idea was to create the smaller building that was a remnant of of the previous design uh but the place Chase there with that now with the walkability our intent was to uh address that with beautiful landscape Lush landscape trees that'll remain there you know throughout hopefully for for decades to come and really address uh that now with how it responds to the intersection um we were hoping that the metal screening you know that's above that creates this Pavilion uh I guess aspect uh was kind of create some depth because it is off the facade a little bit um so it's not like a metal panel like shining direct light you know as you're driving north or or west as you say and you know at night as you know Chase is known for their their lighting and you know really attracting you know um customers to their to their space and to to those intersections uh so at night we're hoping that it becomes this jewelbox which is exactly the words that chase describes this as something simple it's their Jewel box and of course you know with the future building it'll be integrated the idea is you know based on the the previous design that we had that the new building could integrate the Rooftop at some point and really activate that space even further uh so those are the intent um but you know I think uh with the landscape and with how Alton Road that that edge right there can really you know be quite beautiful and you know shaded and people can walk to Walgreens it's got the same context as Walgreens and publ so you know with that I don't know if we can show the rendering that I have on the screen can we put up yeah there you go so this is the kind of I think idea that you know Chase can really you know attract people to to the site and and I think it's usually bizarre for us to come asking for a building that's smaller in scale than what's there it's usually the opposite or at least you know a wash here it is it is different than what we usually do um but it is a step in getting to what I think ultimately will be the right solution here uh the the site is is Zone cd1 as as Rio said and it's feels like it would be a more intense zoning just because of it's prominent location and what's around it cd1 is a 1.0 F it's that's one of the challenges that we've had before um but what so we believe that there are ways now to to maximize a site and do something more exciting work with the city be it a mixed use be it some exciting residential project something there that that we we know that hopefully the community will support and and the city will support but the one of the biggest challenges as I pointed out is working with again Chase long-term tenant great tenant but making them part of the design of that new project has been a challenge because they they're anxious to have a new space and that building that's there now is kind of just a big cement block that takes away from what's around it this will I think open up the site in a way that's a more breathable and yes parking's there just in lie of doing something that we're going to demolish immediately we we we we know that we don't have the answer but this is we believe a necessary step to get there um we're happy to take in your comments but really hope that we can carry this this temporary measure in a way that will get us to make make this point B and then to get us to the final Point C so man um it you know to me honestly it feels kind of like a sales Center for a condo I mean it's just like a tempor I know it's not a temporary building I know what you're trying to do I got to ask you though why the hell are you trying to narrow the sidewalks when you're doing this small building on this big parking lot you you want a less space on the sidewalks did I understand that from eight and a half feet instead of 10 no actually um well the new standards has the The Wider 10- foot circulation but currently there's a little tiny but why are you asking for a variance on the width of the sidewalk when you're doing this from scratch for this tiny little building no well on the Alton Road side we can't really change because that's all F dot so that will have that 8 fo8 regardless because that is what it is uh so we're just maintaining that 8 foot 8 uh and having a smooth transition let me see so normally you'd have to do 10t right on the da Boulevard side 10t of circulation I don't know if R Helio can explain it a little further but it can be a combination of 5 foot sidewalk and and also landscape but in this case but 10 feet instead of eight and a half and that my whole thing is with I know staff approves it but this town has just not done a good job with the widths of sidewalks and never has anyone said this sidewalks too wide so it bothers me with a new building that you wouldn't meet the new standards that's all when you're when you're yeah I mean we're actually increasing the sidewalk I understand but you're still not meeting the new 10 foot width and that I It just I don't find a need for that variance yeah and that I think is a waiver that we're asking for that right but one of the issues that I think it's at Le I don't Helio said it in the staff report is it is an fot road so we recognize that getting that additional those additional changes will be close to impossible we're open to having them and maybe we ended up not needing it but but that is something that we was recommend that we include it because of the unlikely scenario that F thought will approve those changes we're not decreasing and we're increasing it in other places but in that one spot we're just maintaining the you know a little over a foot difference yeah sta staff was not opposed to it because our standard calls for essentially a 15 foot uh uh sidewalk basically 5et of that is supposed to be landscaping and then 10 ft for what we call the circulation zone of which 5T needs to be total clear you can't put sidewalk cafes lighting signs or anything on those 5 ft this area has a very wide landscape uh area it's wider than 5T um so overall the width of the of the space is greater than 15 ft which is what we would require um but the actual circulation zone is a little bit narrower uh than than what we would typically want to see uh but given that the overall width was greater they are maintaining a 5-ft clear pedestrian uh uh path uh because we don't expect Sidewalk Cafe seats or anything like that in this area uh we were okay with the waiver uh but that is a concern we raised to them we did want to see it 10 feet but but given the you know their their concerns with fot and and their and and the existing width of that ride of way we were we were willing to accept the waiver and and on the date Boulevard side where the triangle is we we wanted to keep two feet of landscape in front of the building so that's where you see that that sliver of green right in front of the building that is and that that's where the 8 foot 8 is and then 5 foot of landscape so that's where the the discrepancy of that foot foot and a half is really there keeping that twoot edge in front of the building which is on the property so in essence the space is there corre space is there so if in the future we we wanted a 10 foot wide sidewalk there's room for it correct okay that's all that's my biggest concern in front of the temporary parking that that is all that Lush landscape and in layers and with trees um but as you can see how the property line is kind of like in the public rideway or you know quote unquote public rideway and goes all the way to the curb at Dave Boulevard so you know just trying to maintain and for the future okay that that's all you know I just it makes me crazy when we have these narrow sidewalks with new stuff and it's ridiculous so I I get it I'm okay with that I I think that to go back to the design thank you for your comment important um and then to go back to design the nice thing about having a fairly straightforward sort of Pavilion structure is that you know you have the bones and it's probably not going to take that much to add a little bit of something to get it to I think what we're all sort of getting at of a little bit more of a punch a presence I I know that this is It's a pretty long building but you know I keep thinking of the context of this property that it is next to the Walgreens that is surrounded by a big parking lot and then there's an Alleyway and then there's a parking lot and then there's Publix and then across the street it's Dade Boulevard and there's a canal so there's just a lot of again I don't want this to feel even more like an island of parking lots in a very central location of our city um so that's my concern about the plan in general um yeah yeah I mean that's kind of what I was getting at I I don't mind the one story I I'll disagree with my peers up here but um I think it's a little refreshing to have a one-story building at this intersection but I am like them I am concerned actually on the date the date Side Of The Pedestrian experience I feel like it's very tight on the I guess the southeast corner of the building um where we just hit that right angle and then go into the parking lot um I I'm also curious to see what the Landscaping looks like along that temporary um I don't know landscape architect can speak to that if it's just a straight hedge or if Vince is Rio Vince uh ven I think is on Zoom I don't know if he can raise his hand if if there's specific landscape questions he should be available I see there's a phone number I don't know if that's his phone number but I don't see that name um like it just it looks like a low hedge and I don't know if you know we can put some temporary tree or I know or shade trees or yeah I mean that um those are the their shade trees you can see the the four kind of medium size circles and then there's an existing beautiful tree that's there that we want to maintain I think vce is trying to get on if is there's a 305 858 number is that is that him because I don't I don't see that name well I also I had a similar comment so way you guys are queuing up you can what is happening in all of this temporary parking because like why not since we know this is going to be developed or that's the goal have like a temporary you know enlarged planting area um a tree bank if you will and then they get dispersed around the site when the building comes or like why do we need so many parking spaces in this area to the right and could we not AC that green a little bit more well that's more of a guess technical question why we went to the temporary park right yeah well number one I mean how much over on required parking are we because we do have to still Park the the bank which is significant to 5,000 square foot space so right so there's 55 existing spaces in the in the current parking 17 of those are are dedicated to to the Chase building per code and then I think it's kind of 30 more spaces are dedicated actually per lease I guess I think it's even 40 there's quite a bit that are already dedicated per lease that were there before because Chase was the the primary tenant Social Security just had more kind of In-N-Out uh type of uh clientele um but in terms of switching to the temporary parking it just seemed the you know the least I mean impactful I mean I guess if we do plant beautiful trees and it's a tree Bank those have to then come out so that I don't think that is right that's how a true Bank works right they would be could be moved and integrated into the landscape as the rest of the building was designed I mean I guess I'm just trying to help see a path forward where the city isn't say so temporary parking is the least amount of cost you know like paved surface lot but you're getting income on the site so how long can it be temporary parking and why would there be an incentive for any other development the the the goal here isn't to generate income on the soci there there is a lot to it being the a simple and more economical solution because we know in the relatively near future and I'm talking again I can't guarantee a time but probably sometime next year we'll be back before you with something that that will be the more permanent solution this was a it is it is bizarre but it was a necessary step to separate the chase discussion from the new development uh and we took us a while to get Chase on board basically everybody on board and everybody in the neighborhood that we've spoken to sees the the the future potential of this site so we didn't want to start with something that would be intrusive from us landscaping and the site work that we just know is going to have to come out possibly before we get a permit for it we don't know so that really was a thinking we're trying to you know again it's not a desire to make a tempor an economical an income generating lot it's just a simple way to get us from point A to point B to hopefully soon thereafter Point C uh and we CH it was a challenge to try and be as simple as possible but but we do think this will get us to the successful solution I'm I'm sorry um I I will tell you my experience has been that the building isn't fully utilized uh or doesn't seem to have a lot of activity above the chase um floor right the Chase Bank floor there is the Social Security office um a lot of it is done by zoom and some of it is done in person contact and it is a wonderful amenity for Miami Beach residents to have that a wonderful service but I will tell you that between Chase employees Chase customers and the occupants above the Chase Bank that parking lot as it exists today A lot of times it's full um my my biggest concern again I will reiterate is that it seems we're approving something peace meal I I would like to and I don't mind approving something peace bill as one board member as long as I know what the overall future plan is going to be so that I can see how this would incorporate into the future plan um that's my thought I I think to sort of cize I feel like you've gotten a lot of comments and feedback from the board I this I I don't I can't speak for everybody else I this to me is heading towards another continuance um so I just wanted to maybe sort of you know do you feel like if that becomes what everybody votes on you have some good direction of why we think this might not be as successful as it could be and therefore how to make it a little bit more successful like have we effectively conveyed our concerns I well I I think I wouldn't mind pushing that a little further I I you Sarah you made a comment about maybe Kent was it Kent delivering something or adding some uh accent to the ex to that proposed building can we hear a little bit more about about that because I think that's something that can be done without too much disruption it seems like the building almost needs some sort of anchor and maybe because it is again every time I Envision that that parcel there's just Sun beating down I don't know why of all the but it just seems like there's not ever a lot of shade there and you know PE people are walking any overhang and you're right at a busy corner it would be nice if people could stand under something if it was raining like so like an eyebrow I mean I know it's cliche but you know we used to have eyebrows on every building that was on the sidewalk in this town in the early days it would also provide some shade into the interior you know I think about the one nice thing about walking down Lincoln Road is so many of those buildings are built so that you do have almost this Loa effect right I don't know how deep you can or want to go but that's what and I also think that having I guess CU you did put this horizontal line in but it it if that could function more as an awning or a shade structure or something maybe that that would offset I'm going to say sort of the awkwardness of this small building and you know shoved into the extreme corner of this very large property so that could be one thing to play with um I also don't know and this is my personally if if the greenery along the top Edge is really doing what you want it to do um and then you I mean I would like to it's so funny because in so many of our city parking lots they've taken away parking spaces and added trees and here you're doing the opposite so I think there's also Direction too about how to make this a little bit you know maybe give it some presence with some mature trees or something again we all seem to keep going back to like oh it's just going to be a sea of parking lots you're just adding more parking lots to a very parking lot heavy site to begin with within on a four lane road or at the corner of two four road so it's just a lot of an open space I think I think it's important to stress though I mean if anybody's not on the same page as me but I understand your purpose and your reasoning for this so I would not want to cause conditions that were wasteful or went against what you're trying to do here so I think we all need to be cognizant of that understand the parking lot's not being changed because it's what's existing anything you could do to fluff it but I I would never want you to spend time or money to do something that's going to be torn out uh in a short period of time so I think if you could add some kind of shade structure to the sidewalk area and then kind of fluff up the Landscaping a bit with within the parameters that you guys are are saying I I think we all understand this is going to be redeveloped right so we don't want you to spend we don't want to waste the energy and money to do that I mean at least I don't that makes sense well and I'm also concerned you know I'm thinking right across the street is that property that we've now seen since I've been in the Bo and I've seen three different presentations of what should happen there you know it's I I understand the the reasoning behind what this design is and the long-term plan but it is very hard to plan necessarily I do think that Myra had a good a very good suggestion of at least give us where this could be going I know that there is um there's a skycraper in um in Chicago that it was designed to be added to and it has since been added to but what was there before the additions stood on its own and I think that that's our concern that maybe this building doesn't have the presence that it should considering the location okay so yeah so can anybody is anybody want to make a motion or we we do have uh vfd is that your I don't know if you want them to make any comments just since some questions on Landscaping if you don't mind just having address those very quickly I'll just need to swear in the yes hi yeah sure this is Vincent fenzi uh Vincent if you could um do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving this proceedings the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do okay thank you you may address the board now okay yeah so I guess the issue at hand was yeah you want to start Micky well I guess I could just repeat the question is just mostly um you know long dat Boulevard I guess in the site in general like in terms of of uh providing more trees or shade or shading type of elements uh uh throughout the landscape is is really the question and like what is really going on like around Dade Boulevard and then you know we do have some trees proposed on the other side of the the temporary structure and along Alton Road uh in terms of the the landscape there right so basic we'll start with the parking so the parking yeah that's fully enclosed and and buffered from the the street and then what we're also talking about is the providing shade elements along um the the sidewalk areas is that is that's what I'm assuming we're speaking of so we've we've have trees and palms and and Street trees that do align on Dade Boulevard uh that do that um and I understand that there's future improvements so I mean anything can be relocated later time uh but we will we will make sure that we have we do have actually the the shade trees and planting but like I said that can easily be relocated for future improvements so going back to what you all were saying I think what we're going to at least try and bring back to you not completely redo this whole thing but maybe add a little bit more character a little bit more accents to the building make it have more prominence um with the understanding that I I don't know Myra that we can bring you a plan I mean we can talk about ideas but we're this is we we really were hoping to have whenever this is approved that blank slate so we could then fully work on something with knowing the limitations that we have right now it's just been too many different options but we can maybe have a little bit more information on where we think it might go but but as far as that building today and making it a little as you said a little more ump a little bit more character we can come back with that and maybe just modify the Landscaping a little bit so it's further buffers the the parking and and provides a little bit more shading and and character to the walking area I I'm not sure if um if you're um if you have the information on this but in removing in reducing this building from the number of stories it has now to the one story design that you're presenting um does it require total demolition or is it just going to be interior demolition removal of part of the building on the sides and and on the upper floors it's a it's a two-story building now it will be total demolition of that existing building the proposal is a total demolition of that building 100% And just back on the Landscaping I think when you guys come back what what could also be helpful is if you have any elevations or or renderings of of what that parking lot's going to look like I I think it's a little hard to visualize in the plan view only um I think that would be helpful for us as well okay okayy does somebody want to make a motion sorry yeah make a motion for continuing October I think it's we're pretty narrow what we're looking at so I think we can be ready in October okay to October they they have the deadline of whatever you know that so yeah something by Friday the 13th good lucky day all right uh so that would be the October 1 meeting so I make a motion to continue to the October first meeting yes I'll second that motion by Mr diff Ander for second was Miss Leen okay all those in favor hi I I motion passes thank you thank you very much okay I now need to recuse myself for the next item and have uh our vice chair take over the next item of the agenda is drb2 24-16 976 West 41st Street 3925 and 3915 Alton Road an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new sstory commercial building to replace existing commercial buildings specifically the application includes a variance to reduce the required rear setback and include one or more variants this was continued on June 4th and July 2nd meeting only the variance was continued the remainder of the project has been approved so just uh for background the the project actually received design review approval uh on June 4th 2024 uh by the board there was a variance that was part of the application we did not have five members present at that meeting so the item uh the variance has been continued so the only thing before you today is the variance request um the actual project the design review of the project has already been approved um the project also received approval from the planning board for a conditioner's permit for a neighborhood impact structure in in March um the uh this is essentially a seven-story office building on the corner of Alton Road in 41st Street um the uh the site is requesting a variance for the rear yard setback the code requires that there be a 5- foot rear yard setback it is an irregular lot it does have an irregular Corner that forces the building to be pushed back uh in order to create some more open space on that corner um and and because it is an a regular lot um it's is basically the textbook case for why variances exist um and so that is a a hardship for the site and staff is supportive of uh of the rear setback variants um the rear of the site is where the loading and the trash pickup and everything takes place they are improving the existing conditions currently that happens Outdoors they are internalizing uh the loading they are internalizing the trash pickup um they are providing uh a ramp into the garage in the rear setback so there won't be any driveways on the primary frontages of the building um which which improves the the look of of the 41st Street Corridor and the Alton Road Corridor so staff is supportive of the variance request um and staff recommends that the variance be approved subject to the conditions in the attach draft order and before we start I just need to know if there's any uh ex party Communications that are uh need to be exposed no thank you Steve I was not sworn before okay thank you um do you swear please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do and are you expecting any members of your team that I should swear now okay thank you okay Mr Vice chair and members of the board my name is Ira Giller 975 Arthur Godfrey Road uh I'm the the principal in this development it's a our family is developing this property that we've had for over 40 years uh as most of you recall I think Myra you were not at the meeting uh the previous uh requests for the building itself have all been approved so today's focus is really just on the on the rear setback along the alley uh and as R Helio said this is a classic case of why variances were created there's a hardship because of the shape of the land uh I will bring as you can see in the site plan uh uh the axis that we're talking about is along the alley that's in the center of the circle and uh I can point that out right here and I've got some views here you see uh the view in the alley itself in its current state as well as all of these are are views of of from the alley uh that's affected we've got other development in the area the buildings themselves I think I'll just go to the site plan and uh we can talk about that so this is the alley in the gray and the entrance to the ramp for parking is here and this is the loading zone which is a covered loading zone uh there building over over it so we're talking about the variance of the five foot setback along here that's the long and short of it if you got questions I think this is I don't want to belabor it I think it's pretty straightforward but if any of the board has questions I'm happy to answer them okay should we open it up to the public first is there anybody online there's nobody online with their hand raised okay nobody in person so this concludes the public portion I'll open it up to the board um I concur with staff's analysis that um the irregular shape of the property and the required transition between uh base flood elevation and sidewalk elevation do indeed create practical difficulties that justify um the approval of the requested variance and so I intend to vote to Grant the variance and I would encourage the other members of the board to do so as well thank you does anybody else have any comments yeah I I think that entrance um to the garage and the loading areas in the back hiding it away from visibility of people walking on that sidewalk and coming to that building in the future make a whole lot of sense if the variance is not granted the 5 foot setback then there really what happens is that there's less area for a truck to go in and park to do loading or uploading um and the ramping into the parking garage would be reduced by 5T and I think that creates more of an inconvenience for those was using um that service in the back so I agree um think it makes sense okay anybody else do we have a motion then I move to Grant the variance second okay all in favor I I unanimous thank you Mr much beautiful project thank you okay motion pass I will just note for the record that the chair Sarah Giller Nelson did recuse herself uh due to a conflict of interest thank you next item the next item in the agenda is drb 24-19 13394 Terrace Casa Leroy doas an application has been filed requesting design review approval for a new four-story duplex Residential Building including one or more waivers to replace an existing residence on the site this was continued from J the July second meeting okay so this this item as stated was continued from the July 2 meeting the board at that time did express some concerns um with a green wall that was located on the Eastern portion of the of the front facade uh the concern was that even though initially it may look very good um that the maintenance of the of the green wall would be very difficult in the future uh leading to leading to that green wall not not looking as good in the future um so keeping that in mind the applicant did submit some revised plans essentially they're continuing the screening that was uh located on the west side of the facade into the east side of the facade uh staff feels that is consistent with the direction that was provided by the board um and staff recommends that the uh that the uh design be approved including the proposed waiver the waiver was simply of the of the ground floor clearance which which should be okay because there's not much um um habitable space on that ground floor it's really for upper level access so really staff has no concerns with that um so staff recommends approval and before we get started are there any ex party Communications and sir have all have everyone been sworn in on your team or do you need to be sworn in I was sworn in okay perfect thank you good morning uh board this is uh Ronnie m m architecture 8887 Southwest 131st Street Miami um we were here here two months ago with um this project uh I know that some of you were not here at that at that meeting and I uh I'm remiss that in my submitt presentation for today I didn't show what it was the last time versus now I don't know if there's a way we can look at that but nevertheless um I recall basically a couple of comments from the board regarding the concern as roio has stated the the green wall that we had proposed uh over the garage entrance uh vertically on the east and south corner of the building um even though we proposed A system that is uh designed to be green on the front and on the back of it in other words it's not a green wall that was would go up on a solid wall but it was intended to be a transparent green wall and the system that we had proposed was accessible from the uh front porches if you will of our of our duplex but uh the concern was raised that maintenance might be an issue for this and so with that regard uh we made this proposed uh change uh our designs uh typically in our work is uh we try to be very simple and straightforward and clear about the intentions this is a duplex uh project but we wanted to make sure that the presentation to the street was not of a you know uh bookend or you know backtack design split down the middle so we tried to create a facade that was more unifying of a of a single uh structure even though the the plans for the project um are symmetrical East and West um see if I'm going to do this right how do I how do I change this here we go all right to go to the next page oh okay here we go I'm computer illiterate um the site uh uh the location the context is a eclectic neighborhood with highrises and still some single family homes Etc surrounding the property uh these are a number of pictures of the surrounding the issues with u uh rais in the property and then the floor plans that are composed of a parking garage on the ground level uh it is hidden by the foyer and the front porch if you will of the of the building that hides the the parking and then the units uh occupy uh two floors uh above the parking plus a roof uh deck uh the other comment one of the other comments that was made at the board meeting last uh time was uh uh a bedrooms uh that we uh proposed on the third uh floor uh sorry on the on the second floor in the back of the of the building that uh a comment was made that uh we may need to have some more windows and we introduced some new windows on the east and west side of that uh of those bedrooms uh those two things were the major uh commentary of of of our board meeting last time and we have done that um by incorporating additional windows in the rear bedrooms which are not the main bedroom but uh two uh bedrooms U on the on the lower level uh again um a straightforward simple composition is what we we intended to do here with a central area that was a twostory volume that would bring light in from the sides of the units and uh using uh horizontal louvers for shading on the south and and east side and in the front of the building while using vertical lers on the east and west sides to allow light into the center portions of our composition um we have landscap AP Planters throughout um they're all accessible uh uh uh so that they're easy to to maintain and uh that's basically the presentation that we have here uh today thank you very much are there any other members of the public wishing to speak anyone online nobody online with their hand raised okay I'm now going to close the public portion and open it up to the board for discussion um who would like to start I can say thank you I appreciate you taking into consideration the recommendations that we gave you I did notice um I did spent a lot of time really looking at this because I wanted to you know again to move the fr process forward as productively as possible and I did notice that the bedroom orientation and the bathrooms were changed so I think that that's a very nice I'm glad that you did that um as well as removing the green wall so thank you for that um any additional comments or thoughts I can keep going I don't know I can just yeah add on to that that um I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the bringing the design back to our board and I think it's still a very clean and thoughtful building and I think it it's a good addition to the community um I do think I agree that the floor the slight tweaks in the floor plan um are are improvements and and the facade elevation as well so thank you I umum I do have some questions though um one of the things that I noticed was the window placement in the bedrooms on the third floor it seems and maybe I'm just reading the elevation wrong it seems like those windows are maybe in the middle of the wall whereas I would expect it to be up higher is that uh in the master bedroom in the the bedroom the additional yeah the third floor we have a a light top clear story faing north correct because in the plan it looks like the windows are in the center of the wall not towards the ceiling no they um there are windows that are at the the at the lower level uhuh that are sideways on a into a planter that no on the on the master bedroom the third floor I'm thinking the third floor the additional bedrooms bedroom two and the ones on the second floor on the second floor okay one no I think it's the third floor okay it's the third floor I don't know I'm looking at um looking at page 19 but not of the presentation is there an elevation that you could show okay is it where the tub is is that where you're speaking no I think it's the bedroom okay so if you no no no if you go back it's the side it's the side yeah do you see to the left there's there's two Banks of Windows there's a square one and then above it there's a rectangular one the rectangular one looks very low shouldn't it be higher towards the ceiling the rectangular one um it starts at the floor of the third floor yeah but isn't that the bedroom yes so wouldn't the bed be against that wall I was wondering why you're putting no the bed windows at the bottom okay hold on uh so the uh the windows that are uh the vertical one that you referring to is where the um where the tubs are I I'm referring to the horizontal one after the closer to the front of the building oh I'm sorry okay so you're talking about the front bedroom yes yes okay I'm sorry we have um the the uh horizontal B uh the horizontal band is at sort of headboard above the headboard level across where the bed is ah it's not in front of the the that slot is just above the head sort of in the middle of the wall if you were to walk into the room as opposed to closer to the top okay I was just going to recommend again like not not binding but for usability or comfort you know what if the person that buys or rents the unit has a taller headboard or it just mean it would be a little bit more versatile if the windows were up a little higher I think it would also balance out the window placement in general that they would all be on that floor all the windows would essentially be starting at the same so iine so I I could I could um say that we could take that window and put it up at the score line that's above and be done with the headboard issue yes yes no and I think that overall it would it would because you know one of the comments that we had last time was that you have these elements the placement of the window is it it doesn't seem like there was as much intention necessarily I mean I'm sure there was but it's not necessarily being conveyed and certainly doing that you know I always had questioned the relationships between the window placement and all the different facade elements and that would help unify it um we don't have any with that uh you know but but we do put Windows in yeah uh intentionally we don't do them uh randomly and a lot of times in some of our projects we've done windows for example uh in a living room let's say that are from the floor up to three floor uh to three feet because you know when you sit down in the living room couch or something now all of a sudden you can see out and you still have a wall that you can hang art on Etc or shelves or Furniture whatever so we do these kind of things so that we give different views and different experiences from the from the ordinary ones or the ones that everybody expects and that's part of the composition of how we treat this but we don't have an issue with moving that horizontal uh oops uh window up to the to the score line above okay yeah no I understand thank you for the explanation and um the other the other I guess to that point so one of the things you talked about in your presentation with the front facade is that you didn't want to make that here this is It's a duplex and in the rear you do have this almost like a fin that really does Define the two different units yes and so I was curious though why you didn't continue that in the front in the front you do have this other vertical and whereas you know before there was the green wall did add some dimension and some interest and now it just seems like you have this vertical it doesn't go all it just sort of ends so I don't know if that's something that you know you would continue or again I'd love to see a relationship between the front of the building and the back of the building well the the the thinking behind it is that we while we do have those fins sticking out because it is in fact a duplex and we thought it was not as important that say that the back of the H of the building or the North Side um uh show the same kind of treatment as the South because it's not a public space it's not a public side but we wanted these the even though I I was intent in making sure that the building in the front didn't look like a like two things mirrored we did have that fin wall sticking out to sort of suggest that there are two units here rather than just one it's sort of a symbolic uh separation it wasn't intended to go all the way through Etc as as the building is in fact the duplex so that was why those little you know those fins were were proposed Ro Helio can you explain the um variance that is being requested um they're so they're they're requesting a waiver a waiver I'm sorry um The Wave the code requires that the ground floor have a minimum clearance of 14 ft above the designed flood elevation um because this is It's really just providing access and I believe a mail room on the ground floor it's not really a true uh usable space um they're requesting a waiver to reduce that to 12 feet um and given that it's not really a very important prominent space we don't have any major concerns with that thank you you know I also had a question about the materials the trellis I I noticed that that in the presentation that the trellis is made of metal though I had initially assumed it was some sort of wood or wood product Louver is um the the materials around the window frames is that also metal or is that paint that's a metal so in your presentation whenever we see something that's a brown color that's metal it's not wood it's not paint right because of you know maintenance and you know being where it is we thought that it would be I mean we all love wood but how long when you refer to maintenance of the of the green wall I mean the maintenance of wood is an issue also so we made it all aluminum tubing yeah okay just to clarify um and then what about the garage door the garage door would be a a a composite and it would be painted the same color as as the metal as a loers yeah yeah we do have by the way I don't know if you noticed but we do have a small little green wall in the at the fourer uh entrance on the left side I did notice that I mean I personally think that that you know the facade could still use a little bit of of refinement and that it just you know you took out the green and you just sort of put some you know very plain tile um I don't know if maybe there's so much metal screening I I don't know what it is but I I do feel I I want I want to go with you in this sort of very simplified design simplified elements I I think that's always a nice gesture but I also I think it also has to have a little bit maybe push the personality a little bit more I don't really know what I don't really know how to advise you but but it just seems like the rest of the building especially with the center how you have you know the trellis along bisecting it it's really sort of interesting and I'd love to see something I don't know maybe there's just too much screening in the front I wish I could be more articulate I don't know shaa do you have any thoughts or something well I guess I I actually appreciate the Simplicity of the design at that moment so and I feel like the moments of Personality are the articulation of the finestra As you move around the facade and then I think that the you know the rooftop deck has been sort of nicely designed and the vertical trellis so the horizontal to the vertical shift I I think that it's sharing a same language but it's changing the elements just enough and so I I I personally support it yeah by the way the the tile in the front was was always there oh it was behind the no it was uh the the green wall was was to the right yeah I think it was it was like symmetrical but instead of it being the horizontal wood across was just green on the right and then that's what I guess I it seems like now there's just more horizontals maybe part of the answer and I'm not quite sure it seems like on the balconies the solid balconies on the front some of them do have green hanging down or Planters were you going to put Planters in all of those balconies yes the reason the one in the center doesn't have that because it's the landing of the going up on the stairs so we couldn't put in a u planter in the front part it has them it has them on the side on the side cuz I think that for me that would a little bit of green there would create that balance that I think I'm I'm sort of offset the metal um so I'll I'll I'll agree to this how okay we'll take uh on the second level where where the where the planter in the front doesn't have I mean whe where the railing on the left side doesn't have the plants cuz it's a landing on that that floor level what if I introduce a planter on the right side and remove the the horizontal screens from a railing height just in that you put a planter it breaks up the verticality of the corner a little bit I don't know you know what maybe can you bring up a picture and show me I'm not following okay so I don't can I point do an an arrow thing here you know this would still this would still be on the landing okay here we go here we go so my suggestion is I would take a planter in this like this one yeah and introduce it here on the and and turn the corner and get rid of some of these horizontal railings and sort of balance out um break up the verticality of the right side there with a planter or not I mean I I would be willing to do that if that how would you get to that what would be the access to that it's a it's the it's the it's the front porch of all of the floors there's a whole circulation space behind that so you get access to it just like the other Planters from behind I I have to say though it's nice that you have I think that would disrupt the Rhythm that you've created I agree but I think if if the issue was that it was too many horizontals I would think that might be a a sort of okay what what about like a I don't I don't want to you know influence the design too much but in the the planting on the ground level which is just you know it's all lowlevel plants like what about like a statement tree or something in that swath of landscaping with that I but I don't know if that'll detract from the the Simplicity of the structure I don't know where they would put that higher tree because you have the entrance appears to be an entrance to the garage where the car is and on the other side you have some trees yeah yeah know there's something there something to explore with something it's all it's all new I think that's the interesting thing for me about designs that are simplified that it's just a little tweak here a little tweak there it's all about the proportions and you know the little changes make a huge difference so I I yeah I don't know maybe something to sort of expl that that landing area for me it'd be really nice if there could be some sort of brain or something there but but that's just yeah you know I like her idea of um some sort of um landscape that in in that area but at the same time in in general uh I think the Simplicity as Shaya said and then when you mix it with the Landscaping that you're providing um in the plants it it's nice to me I'm not it was meant to be a dialogue of lush and the combination of both it doesn't overwhelm more maybe there's a little bit more more sighting than than Landscaping but I think it's a good mesh and a good balance thank you person I I do you know I feel like we gave feedback last time and and I think you know you did a good job responding so I'm I am in support of of approving um I don't want to cut anybody off if we feel like we need more conversation but I would be in support of making a motion to approve go second good and then I make a motion to approve a second okay can I can I make a clarification just it includes moving uh approve with moving that horizontal window no no conditions no condition no except we talked about the window oh the you're talking about the window yeah moving the window up that yeah yes with the condition of moving the window up sure in in the front bedroom or however you identify it okay to match then that would be to match the score the score line so that all windows start at the same level the head the data yeah horizont Windows the same horizontal Point okay so I make a motion excuse me to approve with a condition that the horizontal ribbon Windows the datam line is shifted up to align with the others and I'll second again okay um all those in favor I any opposed no okay motion passes thank you thank you thank you okay moving on okay moving on to uh drb 23960 7484 Street Denora Bay 2 the next item the agenda ZB 23- 096 704 84 Street Denora Bay 2 an application has been file requesting design review approval for a new four-story multi family building with one or more waivers to replace an existing residence on site this was continued from the July 2nd meeting okay so this this item at the July 2nd meeting um there were the item was presented there were some suggestions made and the item was ultimately continued uh to today's meeting the the applicant did not provide the plans in time for for us to consider them for this meeting um so we are we did suggest to them that they make a presentation to the board this will be new to us as well um and that the uh that the board provide any feedback and continue the plans uh to the October 1st 2024 meeting and before we start start are there any ex party disclosures NOP have uh all members of your team been swor in sorry have you all been sworn in yes okay you all hear are okay perfect I'll set the clock for 10 minutes so we're sharing now okay um well basically um I'm not sure how much you remember of the project uh we were having um like the the layout and the floor plans are the same what we were trying to improve is the colors using the facade so it doesn't have that such an industrial look so we changed the colors to be lighter more in in V or sun colors and white and that's basically the the main change that we did for this one um no I didn't G to um we we also had a screening in front of the stairs that was very very impacting too much so we change it and and we have more visible the stairs and the wood like we have a sample here if you want to if you want to look at it it's it's lighter than than the one that we proposed before and there is no Grays it's all white in the in the exoskeleton that we were proposing um the idea is to make it more friendly what is that you're showing us I'm sorry that will be the the uh like um the main wall of the building um let's see if I can actually show here there will be this this walls here like in so it's horizontal though right it's horizontally yeah that will be there we have uh as we remove that um screening that went uh was covered the entire staircase uh now we have a screen only in the AIS in the in the VES you can see it from there and the only darker color that it's brown it's uh in the framings and in the roof of uh of the AIS the oning it's an over hang uh on the entrance and then the rest of the facet is is the same only with the change of callers to make it lighter I I'm unfortunately I wasn't here in July um when you may have presented this can you show me where what the surrounding neighborhood is and where it fits within the Normandy aisle area the overall map the surrounding neighbors I'm not sure if I have the image here please talk into the mic yeah sorry I'm not sure if I have that um context here in the presentation no what do you have within the surroundings single family across behind to the sides but I cannot zoom in though I don't think I can zoom in I'll it's it is an rm1 District it consists of primarily two one to two story apartment buildings uh and there are some single family homes mixed within but it's primarily one to two story sing uh apartment buildings okay you know I hate to do this to you but usually when when we usually at least for for me I like to look at I like to have a good amount of time to really look at and study the presentations so that we're able to provide the applicant with some you know really productive constructive feedback and it's very hard for me to do this right on the spot um just seeing you know it's so different what the changes you've made are so different um yeah I I don't I don't know if if if anything constructive is going to come out of this I don't know what anybody if anybody else would just like a little bit more time with this to begin with yeah I do have one question just because I remember from the past it seems like you lost that that large trellis element and so you just okay yes basically like it was very um noticeable and it was helping a lot with the in industrial look that we were trying to avoid that's why we Chang it like okay like know yeah yeah would you would you mind going back to the the now stairway and I wasn't here for July either so but um it definitely does seem like an improvement I guess just on the spot comments The Stairway To Me seems a little out of place I don't know if we need to like integrate materials into just what's like a white concrete facade as showing like to the street um I would suggest that is something to consider if if we're taking this back it looks just a little harsh and different um but I do like the main structure the living structure do you have a a a like a a front view of a front rendering not from the side I think that might because I also am wondering I don't understand the relationship between the stairwell and the main structure and it's a little hard to tell straight to the front no the St form didn't change right you just Chang the you just removed the trellis I think you pass one that may have so here you can see the the gap between the staircase and the and the apartments if that helps think I guess the question would be um is there an in between uh I you know I think you're right the feedback you guys got was it it was heavy and and Industrial and maybe that was the colors it was exposed concrete and the scale of the screening I'm wondering if there's a a scale of screening or something that happens at those stairs that integrates with the with the rest of the language of the building I I don't know how you guys and that maybe looks less of a staircase because I mean the stairs have to be I think we had this conversation last time they have to be there they have to be VIs ible um and correct me if I'm wrong you didn't change the plan of the stairs right you just removed the black trellis and so that metal that you have at the ground floor that is the expanded metal as well or it's it's something else it's like more more Square it's not the the standard one yeah so I mean I I mean I I'm I wasn't opposed to the design before I agreed that it was less Miami Beach and more um of a different um place but I think if the now that it's white I don't know how you guys would feel about integrating some of the screen back to the stairs so that maybe it has a softer touch um yeah I I I think the fact that the stairs aren't attached to the building or integrated aren't attached to the front I think you don't you didn't notice it as much before but right now it looks very disjoint and I it's just sort of like huh make it's too obvious now that the stairs are like yeah and then the front of the stairs it's just you know what what's that material it's just stco like it's a stucco yeah yeah it doesn't seem as in you know the one thing that the Trellis was doing is it was create it was unifying it but now but I I I yeah I also playing with the screen and not too solid and and in in light col yeah I also feel like maybe your your idea is not being expressed as well to us because there's not as many views of it like you know we really I I don't really see what that's going to look like head-on and maybe this if it was seen straight on it would seem more integrated but because of the angles of the renderings and the drawings it's it's you can't really see it in an elevation so I mean this is going to be it seems like it has to be continued anyway you know I I would say when you resubmit it or when you do if you could add additional so we really understand what's what the relationship is between this steril which is a very predominant element in the design um with the rest of it I would say and and is this the same thing happen with yeah with the other the other one that you did same the next project the same yeah and that's I mean yeah you know at least just for me like I like to sit with it and think about it and take some time to really study it it so um yeah yes um in in the last presentation um we have uh a chat with the neighbors after the the meeting here um and they were uh requesting a little bit more of the of the old Miami and that's why why we try to address this H after that conversation that they were like going to the like trying to to make it more classic and yeah having that industrial look it was difficult to match it in the other one we are trying to make more Miami colors putting a little bit of color there we have some samples too um but yeah I think also on the on the trellis piece okay that was removed from the stairs it also was sort of very rigid um and had you know sort of this thin rectangular form you know that was separate from the rest of the building which I think it's fine I think it's a nice move to move the vertical circulation and allow light in between the living space and the stair but maybe when you explore adding the trellis or parts of it back with the expanded aluminum if it's painted white could it you know instead of have its own form could it somehow respond to the form of the stair and go from one Landing to another maybe there's breaks in it I mean if if we can ask for this I don't know if it's technically Poss as part of the process but where you have images where maybe it's just different views of your current design because I think the one view is like super distorted and dynamic and hard to read so maybe you don't add it back but just different views and then you show us an option of like but here's if we add this back and here's how we were thinking about doing it and we can review those those sort of like options is that okay to ask for I also think like with a bold stare there's so many possibilities you you know and and just sort of keep exploring that um okay so should we officially continue this one okay so and okay so would somebody like to make a motion to continue I shall move that's to uh to October 1st yes okay we have a motion by Mr SE Sheldon uh second by Miss bu AI all those in favor I I I motion passes um we will need everything by um Friday the 13th actually Sunday so we can start Monday uh so we can start Monday immediately because we need to get our reports out that week to the to the board members finalized so thank you I would also especially because our agenda is so long today I think we should just continue the next one without maybe and then you know we'll give you plenty of time next time to really get comments and thoughts about the new the revision for Den Borth Den B 3 you you know you want to take a quick look now now I I mean I I think it would just be a lot more efficient if we would do it all together during the next you know have you made some changes since July to Bay three procedurally I think we have to call in that case to the record here's one of the owners that wants to speak Hi how are you Hi everybody you know we were um moved last time because of the lack of uh yes I mean now we're moving everything back to October so it's everything you know like no I understand concern money we're the investors you know we're trying to move this along so we're trying to I understand your concerns but it was your team that turned the materials too late for us to review right you know and and we need the time we can't give you the feedback that your design team needs that's constructive and helpful without having a chance to look at it I mean I sit I personally I can't speak about the like I'll spend an hour looking at these plans and really really trying to getu understand the previous meeting we were ready and there wasn't Quorum I understand that and that's not you know I apologize for that happening there was an emergency of one of our board members but we weren't going to approve at that time anyway you needed to make we going to get right trust me when I say I would love to be able to approve your project today but we didn't have the material in front of us un time to be able to review it and so I really can't approve something that it isn't hasn't been had the proper time to review everybody else look at it whether we look at it today or whether we look at it tomorrow I mean right now whether we look at it now or whether we look at it in a month it's still going to be the same comments it's still going to be the same process the comments that we had last time still stand and if they've made those comment if they've made the changes that we've requested then it will be moved forward again this is because the presentation was delivered a little bit late i' love I know all of us would really like to help you and to move Mo it on so that it wouldn't come back cuz everybody is very busy and we want to pass these but we do need some time to review and there's a lot of other people on our docket that are waiting to be heard that did turn in their materials on time where we did have a chance to review it and we can provide some constructive feedback to them let me just ask you this did you make any changes to the danora Bay 3 since the July meeting yes as you did with Dora Bay 2 yes because it it was also industrial look and we Chang it actually we but I guess what I'm saying is and then at the end of what we did we lost Quorum but then they still stayed after and we gave them feedback which was great and then now the deadline has been missed and you're asking us to review now whereas everybody else followed the deadline and had their materials in it's it's I just feel like we keep making exceptions for you and you know you missed the deadline the idea was to have a quick feedback as we did last time yeah I mean I don't think that you know us saying let me ask let me ask this I don't know what the board's entire board's pleasure is but we gave some feedback based on some of the changes made on what was on the changes made on the on the Deora 3 uh a dbora 2 um does it make sense to just quickly look at this demora 3 and see what changes have been made and if there's any additional comments that they can take back with them and bring forward to the October meeting I mean we just went through that process with the other building and I don't think that we were able to provide very constructive comments we were all a little confused by it on the contr I think you did you just brought some comments that we could take back to the board okay I mean I I'm just trying to follow the procedure that everybody else every other applicant has to follow so I think that we should move on and when you guys come back we will give it all of our attention just like you know even with the comments that we just gave the project had to be continued and what I think is that the same thing is going to happen again so why should we use our time now when many other people the same way you used my time when we came on time and there was no cor because this gentleman left right I mean I can't control that you none of us can control that and I'm sure was an emergency apologizes it wasn't intentional at this point we've spent more time than I wanted to talking about this project and we've gotten nowhere so I'd like to know if another member of the board has can call a uh a make a motion to continue we we would we need to call the item before we make a the vote to I will call the item so I'd like to call drb 23961 2125 Bay Drive Deora Bay 3 I'll just read it into the record um an application has been filed requesting design review approval for a new for story multif family building with one or more waivers to replace an existing residence on the site no one's called in or anything I personally as I'm sorry I don't mean to I I just I wasn't here in July so whatever comments were made to all of you in July if you've made some of the changes to respond to those coms comments if we can take five minutes quickly to just see what you've done and if there's any other possible comments that can be given to you that you can bring back in October as we did with demora to like for example with the staircase or the stairwells then we do so uh I don't know the thoughts on the rest of the board on this that would be my thought um for it and then obviously we would still have to continue because you have not submitted the paperwork no I understand the idea was to have like last time as it changed to have a feedback and because of the neighbors too um to make sure we we were addressing that so at this point I guess do we but well we still have to read everything and go through it the same as we did with the prior case Helio is going to have to do his presentation I'm going to have to ask the disclosure question and then we can open it up for 10 minutes or shorter time if the chair wants it shorter we what is the what does the board want to do I think it should be continued and we should really treat it with a lot of we need a motion to continue which would priority I'm sorry what we would need a motion to continue I so move okay okay and a second a second and a vote all those in favor I any opposed motion passes contined to October 1 thank you okay um okay um okay so now we're going on to new applications okay I think we probably have time for one more before lunch okay with that okay good so drb 24995 2334 Alton Road all right so the next item in the agenda ZB 23- 0995 2334 Alton Road an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new two-story addition to an existing two-story residence including one or more waivers okay so this is uh an existing single family home the applicant is proposing to build an addition to to the to the home um because the extent of the second floor of the new addition um exceeds 60 ft um they would requ be required to have uh an open space uh of uh of regular shape a minimum depth of 8T equivalent to 1% of the of the lot area um the applicant um is providing uh an open courtyard however it's only 5 ft deep it does not comply with the minimum requirement as a result they are seeking a waiver of that requirement um and that's why they're they're here before the board today um the the applicant is providing is complying with the intent of that requirement which is for there to be movement in the facade um given that they um um that they comply with the intent of the of the requirement uh staff is not opposed to the request for the waiver um the waiver is they are still breaking up that design breaking up that facade um and and complying with that intent so with that staff recommends that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the attached draft order okay and are there any exp party Communications and or disclosures at this time no okay as every member of your team been sworn in this morning I don't think you were soring I I I was partially soring so if you wanted do go ahead then for your benefit if you could please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes thank you may lower your hand and I'll set the clock at 10 minutes okay my name is ju Barry I'm the architect for the project with offices at 2640 South Bish Drive Miami Florida and let me just briefly take you through all the pages so that you understand the project because it's an existing house and and the reason that we can provide the a ft is that the house it's already s uh 70 70 feet long plus the porch plus the balcony so let's go through pages let just next to you A5 is existing ground floor and you can see the length of the house is already 70 ft plus the length of the porch is 11 go to the next page that's the second floor which is also um more than um than 70 ft plus the balcony which is 11 go to the next elevation that's the roof that's existing that's the existing elevation please use the microphone I'm sorry oh that's the existing um you can speak into the microphone please ceration oh you can hear me in the microphone yeah okay sorry okay that's better so go go go to the next one that's the that's the uh existing North and existing West and the materials of the existing house okay and these are the existing pictures of the rear of the property and the open p porch and the balcony above so now we're going to show you the propos that's the proposed um no that's the second floor proposed ground oh proposed ground floor and the stairs going up to the guest um guest bedroom being proposed on the second floor go to the second floor that's the second floor that sit there right below the stair will be the actual open space that we're providing and and you can see that you know it's an existing house there's no there even if I were to propose it on the on the addition I'm already past the 70 ft so this is the reason why we are requesting the the variant go to the next one that's the roof that's the exist the proposed elevation the same thing they propos North and proposed West go to the next one and that's the proposed South elevation go to the next one and the the picture go to the fourth to this one 18 they it's not the they didn't put 18 in the presentation I guess not let me check is another no no they didn't put it for us there's two PDFs do you guys have both PDFs do you have do you have in your in your end 18 yeah there's two PDF see the propos you can see the propos and it's pretty much in scale this is a small house um and like I said we we we we're sort of in a position that we are we this house was probably built prior to this condition being uh okay there it is yeah and and that the rectangular box that's what exceeds the code exactly that small section that that's the area that we're going to provide we're providing more than the 1% but we just can't do the a feet we can provide with the 1% but we to do the a feet you have to destroy you know then now you're demolishing a big portion of the house and and and I think that the facade is not a critical facade I mean I've dealt with this in in bigger projects where there's it's a really big house and and I understand their purpose of breaking up the the volume but this is a small house and it's existing and and that you got a2.2 which shows you in the Blue Area they open they're the open area that we're proposing and so what is the how much longer is the structure going to be with this addition I I know the rule is it can't be longer than 60 feet how long would it now be it well the the the the total the total length of the of the of the thing is existing and it's 81 feet the ground floor is 81 feet the second floor will be 81 feet the existing the existing the existing is 81 feet right now and what are you proposing the same we're just basically converting you know the the the the cover ter below becomes an office and the balcony above becomes a bedroom with the stair right so in the other drawing that you had that with the I guess what I'm asking is how much Beyond in that rectangle that that you showed us if this is what is exceeding how how is it three feet more how you're saying that the entire length of the house is already 80 ft and you're adding to it no we're not adding to it we're just we you're you're making the wall solid where it used to be open so you are you're putting you're making more of a solid wall exactly right so you're adding to that but you're using the existing foundations we're using the existing Foundation we're not adding New Foundation I see and so and then what you're saying is the house is already longer than the wave longer than it should be without yeah longer than it should be without providing the the 8 foot open space I see I see they have I believe they have five feet um but but they're you know the code requires three feet and and the drb has the ability to wave that so it's not a variance it's it's a it's a waiver that's that's so they're just going five feet Beyond where they no no no they're they're short three feet for their open space requirements go back to 2.2 I do want to say that you could have done a way better job with diagrams because yeah like um you know just so here that purple is where they're showing us that's an existing relief area and that's all that we're getting and it's only 5 feet deep instead of 8 feet deep corre correct oh so the footprint of the house isn't changing and because it existed before this code and so they're sort of they're saying hey we're going to use that area to meet the code but we can't meet the current code with the with this depth but yeah I think very simple diagram just in the future of like here's the plan and I know you had the existing and proposed plans but they're all the same line weight they're just like it's a little you you're you're you you're certainly right it should have been done that way you know the existing the propos and and in every other board that's the way they like to see it because that way it makes it nice and clear but you're right I tried to do my best you know going through one and the other one but but but it is that that's the that's the open area that we're proposing and they're within the square footages and like there's no variances it's just the waiver in this yeah so I mean I I propose to approve the the waiver or the proposal second I would I would also um if you don't mind to get I there's a what I think would also help also meet the intent of the code is if in the addition you right now you have on the first floor just one small window if you added a second then I think that would also help you meet the intent of the code and if you go to what elevation yeah the propos least in the plans I'm looking at it's a15 or Page Six oh we're not controlling it oh there it is yeah so if you were to add a window you know sort of a little bit underneath the stair so that would also I think help you meet the intent of the code because it's not all such a solid wall well I think that there's a door there that stair is not really I don't think it's completely solid and we did put a window on the bottom of it on the top but I mean if you the issue let me see let me see something go to the floor plan to the ground floor I think there's a closet there on the interior there was an office and a closet door for something okay there is there is a it's a closet um but if you feel that that that we should put a window I don't mind putting a window inside of a closet it you natur I think that would help also yeah you know again like meet the intend of the code if that's the condition to approve I don't have a problem with that okay sorry I interrupted the motion yeah we just skipped a few things because presentation's closed but we have to open it up for public kind of morphed a lot of stuff into one discussion is there anything else that you want to add to your presentation no no that's it I'm the M okay thank you are there any other comments public comments oh yes okay please come forward I apologize for sking that oh okay and sir have you been swor in yeah I was sworn in the beginning um yeah just um I mean I I I understand what you're saying but um it's really um we don't really want to have a a window in the closet it makes it insecure you know in the sense of like we don't want to have a opening into it um and also that particular part looks out into essentially what is like a covered garage for the neighbor it's just like a storage thing he has out there so it's not even a good view um I'd prefer it if you could approve it without that so that's my you know I I don't see that being a an important thing I'm sorry thanks well and that I mean that is the the intent of the code is that that the person next door is not looking onto a solid wall but if you're saying it's solid from their end they're not looking anyway okay the GU house is way to the okay thank you for your comment um okay any other public comments no public um okay I'm G to close the public portion open it up to the board for discussion it seems like we've discussed sorry for the out of order we jump the gun I think there's a pending Motion in a motion has been made a second okay all those in favor I I I I okay Jo thank you good luck thank you okay um I wonder if we have time for another one yes lunch hasn't arrived yet it should be here any so if we want to continue we can the next item in the agenda is zb2 24-12 1801 pry Avenue an application has been filed requesting designer riew approval for the replacement of an existing fixed storefront with a new operable storefront system okay so let me just for for background state that this this uh item is here because the code requires um that if a if a commercial use is proposing operable windows and it's located within 300 feet of a residential district um it is required to be approved by the drb um so the this applicant um had received a permit to replace the windows uh back in 2022 the windows were replaced and they were replaced uh inadvertently with operable Windows according to the applicant um so they have come in for and after the fact approval uh for the operable Windows um the uh essentially that's it U these are these are windows that can open they can allow would allow theoretically music to escape if they're playing any back but but this area only allows for background music um would allow for any other service to happen between the windows Ro in that residential area you're talking about is the a condominium across the street correct this is located in the Sunset Harbor neighborhood on uh on py Avenue and it's across the street from the arm 3 District um where you have uh several several apartment buildings and condominium buildings that are that are located within 300 feet of the site um the the windows that were that were in place are are fitting for the structure there so there's no design issues they don't look any different than a fixed window um and staff has no uh is not opposed to them uh the applicant has indicated that they are profer to close the windows no later than 10 p.m. each night and staff has incorporated a condition in the draft order uh indicating that they have to be closed by 10 p.m. every night um so with that staff uh recommends that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the attached draft order and before we begin any ex party uh disclosures no having none okay um Michael 10 minutes okay yes that's fine um good morning uh Madam chair board M staff Michael Lin turn South bisc Boulevard here represen the applicant um next slide so with regard to the project team it's py Avenue lllp is the owner of this property the principal is Brad safei he's been around for a long time the tenant is the most famous tenant Sunset Harbor Sardinia restaurant which we've all gone to off and on since 2006 it's a great restaurant and I'm here today with my colleague uh Michael lopolis next slide so again uh Sardinia has been around the block for a long time time you know restaurants typically come and go in fiveyear Cycles but theyve managed to hang on since 2006 they recently gotten a special award uh in 2024 next slide so with regard to location it is on the east side of py Avenue the zoning is cd2 just North of 18th Street and across the street from the Sunset Harbor Towers uh the South and North Tower next slide um this is a plan view site plan a little bit confusing but on the left hand side is pry Avenue noting that those windows will be operable on the South Side on 18th Street that label indicates of course that those windows be not while they're new they're going to be non-operable next slide we also took the opportunity to fix the front of the restaurant on the left hand side as it was before on the right hand side uh as it is now next slide this is the before on the left as you can see the difference is imperceptible on the right is as it is now next slide this is what it looks like if you're looking from the Sunset Harbor uh from the park basically looking Eastward next slide this is 18th Street before and after kind of there's a strange thing that they kind of pushed and made more streamlined uh next slide this gives you an idea of how they work um they'll just from the middle they'll be pushed in either direction and just kind of line up behind the last window on either side um and as roio said we' like integrated into this order a condition of approval that says they have to shut at 10 p.m. every night we met with the Guardians of this neighborhood who are Marilyn and Sarah they come out for all these hearings and we sat down with them sergia we explained it to them we opened the windows and they said the only thing they wanted in return was that they shut at 10 p.m. every night and we of course said that's fine uh next slide and that's the voluntary condition uh next slide that's all we have for you I hope um I got done before your lunch got here and that's all we have thank you very much are there any other members of the public wishing to speak we have forl online go okay good morning Marilyn I'm going to need to swear you in before you address the board go ahead please Marilyn she's there yes speak up do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do okay I'm going to set the clock at two minutes fine thank you uh Sarah and I have met with the applicant and we have no issue whatsoever with the windows they prer to close them at 10m so if there's any normal noise coming out of the restaurant we will not hear it in the neighborhood uh I have to say that this has been an amazing um operator from day one I was involved in the original um opening of of Sardinia when they were planning to open the restaurant and the windows and all of that so for so many years they have operated beautifully in the neighborhood and I think this is a a good um thing that they're doing and we have no issue or opposition to these windows thank you thank you very much I'm now going to CL are there is there anybody else online no okay their hands are raised I'm now going to close the public portion open it up to the board for discussion um I don't have a problem with um approving this I I think the windows are only going to be open some portions some months of the year um but I you know if the neighborhood is okay with the window closing at 10: a.m. at 10 p.m. um I'm sure that if they want to change that they'll come come back to you and I'm sure that Arrangements will be made so I just have a question so why is it being explain the process of the post approval what's that why are we reviewing it now that it's already been installed it was a mistake by the window installer they just I kind of want you guys to go on record to be like it wasn't a mistake detailing fixed windows and operable Windows the Jam Set everything's different so I think it's great that they're operable and I have zero issues with it but if you have a few hours I'll go through the whole sorted history of well this massive confusion that took place but it's after the fact it is I I appreciate the operable windows but I as an architect can't agree with the fact that it was a mistake also speaks to here's a good neighbor and they met with the community they resolve the issue you know it could be that as a way to prevent the opposite from happening you know this happens to be a good a success story that you know it's a little bit more procedure than was yeah a good mistake um does anybody want to make a motion or I'll make a motion that we approve second second by Mr Sheldon uh all those in favor I I any oppose thank you the mistake was not coming here first yeah the tenant and landlord always wanted operable windows but the and they told the window installer that it's just when the window installer first install the windows they were fixed and everyone's like what the heck and so it was a mess but thank you all for resolving the mess appreciate it great day yeah I think should we break for lunch now the next one might be a little bit longer ored yet okay so let's keep going you know what we could do I was gonna say too the the next one or the one after the lincol wrote the signage that's also not going to take very long maybe we can do that one and get it over with and then take our lunch break and come back and then talk about this other getting it over with is something I support wholeheartedly not drb 23129 1200 Lincoln Road and 1628 d634 Alton Road okay for the record um the next item the agenda is drb2 24-10 29 1200 Lincoln Road and 1628 1634 Alton Road an application has been filed Crossing design route review approval and related variances for a hanging sign to exceed the maximum allowable signage area for a previously approved five-story commercial and hotel building okay so this is uh this we were talking about it earlier this is the Citizen M Hotel um the uh the applicant is proposing a hanging sign um and the code has some very strict Provisions for hanging signs of which they are seeking variances and this uh so this is the first one is a variance to exceed by 5.82 square feet the maximum side are per side of 3T for the installation of a hanging sign um they're requesting a variance to exceed the text height of 6 in U so the the m is obviously very large exceeds six inches um so they say they need a variance for that and then they are seeking a variance to allow for the internal sign illumination um which the code prohibits uh illumination of hanging signs um the applicant is not proposing any other major signage for the Citizen M Hotel so this will be the predominant signage for the Citizen M Hotel um and so um it's consistent with their branding with their with their identity and so staff is not opposed to to the variants um and staff does recommend approval of the variants um and and the design of the of the sign um staff would note uh that we we've since been notified that the sign has already been installed um we found we have some pictures of it so we will be uh invoicing for an after Thea uh variance which is three times the fees before and Order is recorded sure so just noting that um I know Miss Mar's gonna love that one too um so uh with that staff recommends approval of the proposed variants and before we begin any ex party uh disclosures nope okay um Steve I do need to be sworn okay you got it do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do okay and I'll set it at 10 minutes right good morning SL afternoon Grant pen burow Rell Fernandez L and tapenz 200 South biscan Boulevard if you could take my slides up I'm going to take you through it quickly but just to to highlight this as reelio noted this sign we're requesting today is the only ground level sign that this use has the sign code allows projecting signs wall signs uh of larger significantly larger than what hanging signs are Pritt simply because this is a hanging sign and we can illuminate it and we're Limited in in size so that's why we've had to bring this application so if you go past the property there's not going to be a wall sign there's no projecting sign Etc this is it and and this this serves as you'll see hopefully in this presentation a very important wayfinding function for the use given how tucked away it is so really this is just is a really serving to notify people that it's there if they're looking for it so 1212 Lincoln as you all know southwest corner of Lincoln Road an Al uh two phases phase two is a Citizen M which is now open uh I I suggest you go visit it is actually a very beautiful space this is what the building looks like looking uh Southwest from Lincoln the the front along Alton is all commercial storefronts and then vast majority of the of the Lincoln Road Frontage is is commercial storefronts that are not the hotel the hotel is the upper levels as you can see and the entrance as far on the western side basically where that cherry picker is uh on the building this is an older picture I'll show you what it looks like built this is the just so you know you may remember the original plan for the project had this stairwell that connects phases one and two that is now complete to the left there so you're looking at Alton there there there's there's commercial spaces on your left hand side this is a view of the of the building looking North along Alton that's the redesign uh bus stop that we've done with FD and the city this is the view along Lincoln this is similar to what you saw when you looked at the ike uh kiosk because that's where it's basically going right in the foreground there if you I don't think you can even see it from where you're sitting but if you're squint there's a guy who's in pink all the way down there that's the entrance to the hotel so at the Hard corner from from Alton you've got all that run and you'll see there's no p portion of that uh the hotel that actually Peaks out beyond the storefronts this is what the ground floor plan looks like on the left hand side is the Lincoln Road Frontage uh you can see again as you go on from the top to the bottom it's all those uh commercial storefronts that are going to be filled with other tenants and then you have the steps up to the hotel uh which is set back so you have the steps and then you can see the entrance so it's about 135 ft from the edge of the of Lin of the intersection to the hotel door and that of course leaves us with a significant problem for people coming back home at night trying to figure out how they where the hotel is when they're trying to check in people dropping their friends off or picking their friends up Ubers Etc so we so what we wanted is a very subtle sign a hanging sign located at the main entrance so this is where that sign is uh and you'll see it in the plane so it's a very small 30 inch square sign illuminated sign that's hanging from the from the upper element there it is again in in in elevation pushed back and I'm um my little red thing is thicker than it actually is but it's pushed back off of the front this is what it looks like the outer rim of the of the enclosure is over 30 in but the sign and asio noted we have to request relief from the the size of the of the the lettering because the m is bigger than six in here it is in context so this really brings it home you can see the front of the building that storefront system is basically Way Beyond where the sign will be so we're right up at where the stairs are so that's our presentation uh we have folks online I think Louis Castillo at least the project manager available if you have any questions but as I noted the importance of the sign is for w finding for our customers and we are it the ultimate sign program for the ground level here is way below what we could get if this was projecting or if there a wall signs or if we put it behind the glass so it really is not designed to overwhelm the neighborhood and it is essentially invisible from the street unless you're really looking for it so with that I'm here for questions our folks online are here for any questions you would have i' like reserve time for a bual and we'd ask for your approval this morning or this afternoon thank you thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak no one has their hands raised online okay great I'm closing the public portion opening it up to the board for any comments or questions uh I concur with staff's analysis that the regulations present a practical difficulty as they prevent pedestrian wayfinding from Lincoln Road and would note as staff notes that the proposed sign in location although it's it's an actual sign in location now um are proportional to the scale of the building and will not create any negative impacts to the surrounding area and so um I um support the the grant of this variant and you know encourage the other members of the board to do so as well I support the sign as well someone like to make a motion a motion to approve I'll second that hi hi hi thank you very much thank you and lunch is still not here huh Gabby went down to to check what's what's going on with taste it should hopefully will be here very soon um but but it's not here yet okay so should we continue does anybody need a break or should we continue what's the general feel here let's just finish okay power through okay next it is beyond cold today you're not cold I'm freezing I mean I am I am literally yeah do me to okay the last item in the agenda is dearb 24-10 2694 Palm Avenue an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new twostory residence with an under story level including a variance to permit an existing structure to remain within the front and sidey setbacks a variance to allow driveway to exceed the maximum allowable WID and one or more waivers to replace an existing residents okay so thank you so this uh is a proposal for a new two-story home and it has multiple detach structures um it is uh replacing an existing home on Palm Island um the applicant is here before the board because it is an understory home which requires approval of the board it does have two design waivers and as well and two variances as well um the home uh features the the UN Story the understory uh is is uh is raised to 16 feet ngvd uh so it's offering a 7 foot freeboard so it does for resiliency purposes it's uh it's providing a lot of space between that first habitable level um given that it's on an island uh that's that's a very important element um the um the design is a contemporary architectural style um has some candal levered volumes uh pronounced floor SL slabs um and and stonik finishes um it does feature um um large format tiled walls uh and and several other elements which I'm sure the architect will go through uh that provide for a ve visually interesting uh home uh for the lot uh the applicant is requesting some design waivers the first waiver is similar to the one that we just recently discussed uh the the frontage exceeds 60 feet in length and so they are requesting a waiver of the requirement for the open space that's equivalent to 1% of the lot area and 8 ft in depth they are providing uh a movement along that facade so it's complying with the intent it's not going to be a very large blank wall um so staff is supportive um of that waiver um the other waiver is related to a requirement that in understory homes all parking be located underneath the understory um the applicant is requesting that there be a a carport on the side of the lot which would allow for the parking of a of a van that has a higher elevation uh higher so they need a little bit more room than what the understory would provide for in order to be able to park that van um and staff is supportive of the of the waiver the applicant is seeking two variances as well uh the variances are related to the ability to keep an existing structure that's located at the front of the lot um so the um that structure um is a two-story structure the ground floor is parking and then the upper floor um I believe will be used as a guest house um the uh so the the issue is that the home requires a 30- foot setback the new home complies with that but this existing structure is located near the front and is only providing a 5 foot2 inch setback um the other the other requirement is related to the sidey yard um the the the existing structure is within the sidey setback as well so they need relief from that um the applicant will be um modifying recladding this structure so that it fits in architecturally with the new home uh and they will be providing additional Landscaping on the Frontage to screen this structure uh from view of the public RightWay um given that it's an existing structure staff is supportive of keeping existing buildings so staff is supportive of of these variances um um and and again the rest of the structure complies perfectly with the with those setback requirements um so with that staff uh recommends that the application be approved including the variances subject to the condition in the attached draft order before we start any ex party uh disclosures nope okay uh 10 minutes okay M yes sir perfect and I see your lunch has arrived so I don't want to get cold so we're going to zoom through this presentation uh and every member of your team has been sworn right what's that swor no okay do you swear our firm that the testimony you'll be giving and this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth okay thank you all right good afternoon Madam chair board staff Michael L to in a South eastc Boulevard here representing the applicant with me today is raldo Borges and Amelia Garcia I often worked with Ronaldo in the past it's been a long pause so I'm excited to work with him on this project he's a great partner to work with and um it's always a privilege Matthew Lewis is our landscape architect he's also in the house hello Matthew and last but not least my uh colleague Emily Balter you know the Zone in Palm Island is intered in that the eastern half is much more generous zoning than the Western half and it's with these larger lots that are here Star Island a portion of Pine Tree Drive North of Arthur Godfrey and a Lor Island that the better more creative Architects can really do wonders with these single family homes and that's what Ronaldo has done here this is a really interesting home as raelia has described to you all there's different requests one is for the underst story which is pretty common the second one is a waiver to permit one parking space outside of the understory for an ADA accessible van the third is required open space that notch in the East Elevation that Helio uh described that and that Ronaldo will going under greater detail about and the last one are a couple of variances just to keep a non-conforming structure in the front of our yard to provide a guest house and a parking area um that's it I'd like to turn it over to Ronaldo and have him walk you through his desire thank you thank you Michael good afternoon always interesting to be right before lunch so I'm G to go fast so as Michael was saying I'll walk you through the um the architecture and the complimentary landscape that um Matthew will also uh present to you um briefly as you can see from uh Palm Avenue there are multiple layers of landscaping we like to show some of these images with and without the the the sort of the final layer of trees so so you can start to see how it affects the architecture um and I think really complements it so uh it's an understory strategy we're racing up this house um it's an underst story uh for many reasons mostly for resiliency uh and then it allows us to kind of use the understory for additional uh outdoor living um young family super excited to to to be designing their their dream home here with their with their children um so it's a house that's full of uh lots of activities and and lots of fun um as you can see you know we're playing with with some forms you know like that that volume that is suspended is sort of you know supported by this sculptural column that is also wrapped in a u um Venetian stuckle um the primary Stone material uh as you can see here the bluish um stone is actually going to be state-of-the-art um uh porcelain and we have the samples here for you to see and touch uh mostly because of the durability of the porcelain and and that technology has advanced so much that you really can't tell um the difference and it just performs better in this environment um we also have the vertical element these um these Lou elements that we have a sample of the material for you to look at in touch as well and and and those sort of add to that texture and that layering as you come up to the um the main entrance the main entrance takes you over uh a cascading fountain element as well um here it is with the the final layering of of the internal landscape um from this side again without the trees and with the trees and you kind of see what happens when you add that additional layer of trees and Matthew has selected these beautiful gumbo limos that will mature and really help uh to layer the architecture along uh the main Road internally um as you enter you know we have this um beautiful uh paved area to allow the cars to come into the under story and also to the um there's there's a guard house that is being retained and uh we're basically just modifying this architecture to kind of blend it into the new architecture and and that uh stores three additional cars um as you can see the floating steps as you come up to the entry over the fountain elements and then at the far end of this thing will be a pickle ball court couldn't keep the pickle ball court out of this this is why this house is so much fun but it's a small court on the side and it's screened off so you know the Landscaping really U makes it disappear in that front area with the splendid exposure to the biscan Bay environment uh you'll see it with and without the landscape layering as you can see you know the landscape layering really adds a lot um on on the left side you have more of a cavana room you know to kind of enjoy the bay and be closer to to the water uh from the primary house on the left I'm sorry on the right side you have a fitness center and a spa that is also within the sort of the accessory building um allowance for its setback so it kind of brings it a little bit closer uh to the water uh they're both at uh 10 ft uh ngbd which is the minimum uh the Florida building Cod allows us and then the main house is up you know with the understory um allowance um and and um maximizing the views out to the water there's a primary level of of public rooms uh and then the private rooms on the on the uppermost level with a private terrorist towards the right and then of course you can't miss you know having this beautiful Terrace on the rooftop to enjoy the beautiful um panoramic view of the skyline of both Miami Beach and the City of Miami um moving forward here as you can see a lot of pools a lot of water which is really the reason why people come to our beautiful city and um this particular pool also has a bottom that comes up and and and for for safety reasons the pool kind of disappears for for the children um you can see a a sunken fire pit that also allows you Splendid views of the bay and and the Port of Miami and the Skyland of the city with a pool coming right up to it and then the primary stair that takes you up to the main deck of the house that also has these um aluminum trellis elements that allow for more usage of that space you know to protect it from the Sun so you can see here from the under story this is the view you get out to the water so you know you're at that lower level uh which is kind of the lowest level of of the site uh overlooking the pool into biscane Bay little bit upper uh deck view so this is the deck above the primary deck overlooking you know the splendid scenery of um of the bay and the Port of Miami another view of the same Deck The underst Story So the underst story really becomes a very active um sheltered area to enjoy the pools the spa uh and some entertainmen uh with the family down below this is the opposite view of that kind of looking into the under story we're going to have a 300 inch wide digital uh screen uh to view movies there and enjoy that space you know uh during the day and during the night becomes a very active festive uh environment this is more of a private Terrace right off the master bedroom suite that also enjoys uh the view of the the bay you can see the site here the context is a double double Lot 200 feet in width by like 320 in depth contextual elevations kind of give you a reference of the current uh Ever Changing context and then this kind of gives you uh the site of the um under story and and Matthew will go into more detailed um uh presentation of the landscape but it kind of gives you a sense of the texturing and the way we're dealing with with the landscape environment the main uh level big open rooms you know that sort of cross over and become one larger environment uh they're also adaptable to different uh you know events that they may have uh dinner parties and so on um you know and uh and then you can see the deck the Terrace that that also has a protective uh trellis element um allows us to enjoy that area uh more frequently uh on the upper level you know you have all the private rooms and um guest rooms and then the rooftop uh that's allowed you know allowing us to put some mechanical equipment up there screened and then you know views out towards the towards the south towards the east towards the West you know the Skyland of the city um so these these images uh give you all the materiality of the project I know you have these in your package so I'll I'll just go quickly and wait for your questions and the sectional quality of the project you know the under story again creating a very resilient environment for our uh storm surge uh condition here and um allowing also for outdoor living under the house you see a greater detail here um and as you know this is all prescribed by a formula that kind of gives you all the different elevations that are allowed another section towards the south side of the house and the pool de this is always an attractive exhibit kind of shows you how we um had to compute all the uh allowable areas um in case you have any questions about these pretty straightforward in the back you know we have to respect these uh green areas that are uh provided in the rear yards and in the front yards as well and then this is the modified uh front Pavilion it gets a new facade some of the exhibits to explain some of the waivers that have been uh recommended for approval and then this is where Matthew uh you'll say a few words about your landscape and this is where started with the management of existing plant material when Matthew finishes his presentation then we'll we open it up for your questions um you've exceeded your 10 minutes but how much time would you need I can be pretty quick two minutes two minutes okay and then mat I need to swear you in oh because you weren't swor in you came in late right do you swear or from the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir okay I'll set it at two minutes hi Matthew Lewis um 7294 Northwest first Court Miami um thanks for having us here today it's it's certainly a great project um um you know I think what's what's interesting about the site you know being a double lot and having having the architecture being as it is welld designed as raldo did it it was really important for us to keep as many of the the trees although there are not any trees on site we kept many of the perimeter um palm trees because one it helps to provide a a nice scale in relation to the building because when we're first starting on this project we really think about the trees as part of the architecture so it was important for us to really give a large and Grand scale to the Palms um that were existing to the site and then as far as the landscape goes um we are the the city uh urban forestry doesn't really count they don't count Palms um towards our calculation for the landscape which is which is fine but in this case we did bring in about 30 to 40 Palms again to bring that scale to to help kind of reinforce the house to the to the ground by having these 25 and 30 foot clear clear trunk Palms however um from a tree perspective uh as you saw in one of the earlier renderings along the street we're we're indicating um several large gumbo lumbo Gumbo Limbo trees and then throughout the site we're actually bringing in over 150 native um Native South Florida trees which are green buttonwoods um Jamaica Capers Simpson Stoppers Bay rums that sort of thing and and by doing that with the large trees and those native unor trees we really start to uh infill them infill the site with Native planting which from uh you know from the perspective of you know the environment sustainability really what we really see in in projects like this is we really see the the return of birds and bees and butterflies and all things that that create the E ecosystem not just the building and and the people using it so I'll leave it at that great thank you Matthew that concludes our presentation and we're available for your questions thank you very much are there any other members of the public wishing to speak see no one here online no one online excellent okay I'm now going somehow online as well I don't know how but you're here I don't know if you need um I'm now gonna close the public portion open it up to the board for discussion Sam um I I concur with staff's analysis that the special that special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land structure or build building involved I.E the existence of of this structure which would absent the grant of the variants but otherwise need to be demolished um and that these circumstances aren't applicable to other land structures or buildings in the same zoning District um and I also concur with their note that the granting of the variants would be in harmony with the general intent purpose of these Land Development regulations and that such variants would not be injurious to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to public welfare and note the absence of any objection from the neighboring property owners and So based on that I intend to to vote in favor of the grant of the variance and would urge the other members of the board to do so as well thank you thank you Garian says anyone else want to com um I think Ronaldo you always uh do bring good thoughtful designs and I appreciate you know the underst story when we review these projects it's hard think of resiliency when there is such luxury but I know you're doing the best my one question and maybe you can help me um feel better about it is why are you requesting to keep the um existing structure you know my thought is I'll tell you where I'm coming from on this is that you know the zoning has changed and we're taking advantage of that with height with the new regulations but holding on to that existing structure allows you to have you know a building where you wouldn't otherwise be able to build if you weren't maintaining it and so why do you feel like how do you how are you justifying the need for that so thank you um shaa so I think um the justification for me was clear because there's a caretaker that lives on site right now that takes care of the whole property for the owners um and the intention is to leave him in place and then um it you know the fact that there's three parking spaces underneath is it's probably more than what we need we probably just need a couple of cars there so it was there and um the code allows us to ask you know for this uh variance on that element it's it's far to the east side of the property so it's really not obstructive you know to the new construction so uh again it was a client request programmatically it's important that they keep that as a caretaker's uh home has like um a small apartment upstairs for the caretaker and his family um so that's the main Reon you know we sort of defaced it and and brought the new architecture into context with with the house um and that's what you see in the Ries well I have to say Ronaldo um I really I really like this house um it's amazing to me how big it is but how kind of light it feels it feels like it's floating it feels I I mean I absolutely love the the column and the the asymmetry of it all so anyway I just wanted to say that I really it's I think it's beautiful thank you is the um I agree it feels sort of dreamy I mean this is a dream house um the the stone that you've selected it's very unique is that is it pretty said or is this just a general you can for a second show you the material for a second you need to speak into the microphone sorry just move over there's no way to detach this device okay good it's all good so indeed this is the portion okay so the client wanted something bluish you know blue is our favorite color and um that's why you see it represented like that in in both the U the renderings and and in these samples here so we basically have three stones and you kind of see them represented here although this is more of a porcelain uh product this is the the vertical panels as you can see the it's more of a copper uh finish on it and it'll it'll have these perforations then our typical epe uh for the underside of some of the canopies some draping uh screens that we're providing in the side stair and then the mechanical equipment enclosure so that's kind of the sampling that you see here and of course the um the perious paper that Matthew has selected for the project it brings warmth and it also you know is perious um does that answer your question about the the stone so so the the one that we keep seeing it's it's that that one that's a little bit bluish the the main sort of highlight here okay nice for theant um so we we have a condition in here the final design details and color selection of the exterior blue blue- like Stone cladding uh shall be submitted in a manner to be reviewed and approved by staff um is that so it's not Stone it's going to be porcelain tile it's a p okay so I I just want to clarify so that we don't run into issues in permitting that the order says Stone they come in and it's porcelain tile that that they then run into issues um so can you clarify these are definitely the materials you're going to use yes okay I mean I think that that could just be materials as presented drb yeah and we know we have to bring the material pet to you during the final permitting as well I just want to make so I wouldn't so I would basically strike the word Stone um so that that gives us the option to consider the porcelain or the other other Stone like porcelain yeah right for durability or stone like yeah what is the material used for the covering of the mechanical area so this is an aluminum uh screening system U so you know at at the scale that it will be um used on the rooftop experimentally the rooftop is where we have the equipment this is um it becomes very opaque but it allows for vation to come through as well so it's an Innovative way of screening the equipment that we thought we'd like to introduce where's that bubble um the white yeah where where so that is these vertical elements that you see in the facade if we go back to the rendering on on the screen um it's the vertical copperish looking vertical elements in the facade oh okay can you see thank you um I I so I agree with I I think this is a a fantastic design um and I understand I also am supportive of the variance and understand why that structure would need to be retained and I also appreciate that there's some good Landscaping covering you know what would otherwise be a solid it seems like in the existing condition there's a wall then there's stuff in front of the wall and so it doesn't have a sort of overbearing effect and that that you're going to be reproducing that consuming that as well um I so I'm in support of the variance um and then in regards to the waivers um it's can you just show us just to be thorough what the the side the first waiver about that exceeds the 60 feet length because staff had said that that the design East Elevation it breaks up the elevation to meet the in you have a a good rendering or drawing or so first let me show it to you in uh in this image here you can see we do have a bowling alley you know for Friday nights okay Friday night bowling uh um so you see that linear uh piece that sticks out and you see the articulation of that and then there's there's a distancing we we sort of created a space in between the main house and that element as it kind of protrudes out and I think it it you know what we calculated it sort of meets the intent of kind of breaking up the side facade and create creating those green areas that we have to create by formula in Miami Beach um let me show you what it looks like in 3D right so in 3D um we have a vignette that we did here well did we take that out of the presentation this seems to be at the end oh there it is I didn't click enough so you kind of see the the way the massing kind of breaks up and all of this of course is layered with Matthew's beautiful you know plant material um so it really softens that facade this is sort of the East um and and North uh facade of the project and so the section that's closest to us that's the bowling alley and then there's a sort of a square next to it and then there's a recess yeah so we have a a panel of stone at at the inaside and then you know it kind of transitions to the side we had to had a u we have to service the the sort of the end of the bowling alley in case something mechanically goes wrong and that's sort of that Breezeway that gives you access to that but it's also elevated as part of the understory strategy thank you so I I'm I understand this faor I think you did a you know a good job of expressing the intent of the code the one waiver that I'm I I'm I I'm not convinced is a hardship has to relate to the carport um I know that carports aren't necessarily something that we often have or encourage or what I was also under the impression that a carport has to be attached to a structure it just can't be freestanding just showing the site plan the code has a requirement for carports when you're encroaching into the front set back this is not encroaching into the front setback so that requirement doesn't necessarily apply here this would be considered essentially part of the main structure so the the main structure requirements would apply so that structure can be there there's no there's no code restriction on on on building that structure at that location the the requirement is for understory homes that the parking be located underneath the understory so that's why they need the waiver if this were just a Pergola or some other structure um that wasn't used for parking it could be located there and I think my thought is this really a hardship you know you have this very large double lot you have I counted parking spaces for 17 cars you have an enormous driveway and now you're asking to convert a part of the open Green Space to more driveway granted its perious surface and then we're planting a carport in the property to park I I don't see how I just don't see how this is a hardship which seems to be the criter I mean there seems to be plenty of driveway space to park the car why is this necessary and and I also don't think it's I just don't think it's very nice to have a carport in the middle of an elegant Miami Beach home yes uh I I wouldn't disagree with that what we did is we put it on the site so it's really on the shadow of the house house behind all these huge trees now obviously that came as a functional requirement from the client because they have this Mercedes ben oversized van that they use and I wasn't going to tell them that they needed to sell the van you know um obviously the understory uh strategy limits the height of the understory you know so that the house doesn't get too bulked up right so only cars could go in there this van wouldn't fit it would have been beautiful for the van to just sort of disappear in in sort of in the shadow of the underst story so we did a very fragile clean uh minimalist canopy structure you know so that they could park their van and they could exit you know there's like a service uh uh entrance that gives you direct access from the upper level down adjacent to this so it's primarily you know sort of let's say taking the kids to school in the morning that kind of activity we did carve a very narrow pathway that is also um in in in in crush coina that that sort of is not more Paving but something that is more of the landscape environment so when we explore it in three dimensions with all the Landscaping really it's not really there you know it's I'm delighted that it disappears you know can you bring it up on the screen please so there's a I think so I have this site plan on the screen and and I wish yeah it's hard roio we need to put in an order for blue beam you know what what blue beam does it allows us to do Dynamic zooms um and that's why I this sort of adobe thing here is kind of awkward I can't zoom into this but if you see this exhibit is is created to kind of show you the scale of the van the scale of of the minimal canopy um and and the way is sort of tucked back in the back uh and it really is sort of behind the The Greenery that um that you see in the the landscape side plan I guess my my objection is you again there's so much driveway why is this even necessary to sacrifice we removing it from the front yard like right now the existing condition they have no other option but to park this wonderful van in the front yard right so this kind of disappears the van to the side is is is more discreet and um you know I mean obviously nobody wants to celebrate this van um it is on the site and um there's a lot of greenery around there let me see if I can show you and I take it the van doesn't fit into the parking garage at the front it doesn't it's too high no yeah it's not high enough these are these sort of oversized uh um mercedesbenz vans that are huge but very comfortable that accommodate a c of a lot of car seats you can get kids in a car you know it's like the children the soccer practice they've gotten used to it and they really would enjoy I'm not saying don't have the van I know I'm just saying you've got an enormous amount of driveway why are you adding more driveway we wouldn't want to put it in the front yard you know so we put it on of course not not in the front yard the front yard but that's the only other option and it's not a pape surface leading to it the coina that pebbley thing that I have in my yard that's really porous so reminiscent of old Miami Beach not a terrible driveway so it's just you know when you have something like this and the children enjoy it and their 10 friends enjoy it picking them up from soccer practice is a hard thing because there's no other place we can't put it in the understory we can't put it in the retained guest house so we're doing the best we can Ronaldo is certainly not proud of it but but he's oh yes I he was tasked with it and he has to do it and he's done what he can do to make it modest and not in the way if you see um could I point with this um does it have a point there yes it does okay so if let me see because this is the screen that you're seeing here so you could see over here the plants uh the trees the the significant Palm right around the canopy so it really I mean you cannot even see the roof of of the canopy of of of of the um where we're storing the the van so it's kind of like a magic trick I mean if I'm in the minority I'm in the minority I I I I I would think that in you know this double lot there'd be a better solution but the only other solution would be to be able to carve more in the underst story so then I could kind of have like a mini kind of like basement half basement but we don't want to do that in water accumulate water can't do that Water World Is Right is so so perfect I mean the the the regulation allows us to kind of level off things and but we're trying to keep the water from accumulating um so so it's just in general a hard cell to say I have a 62,000 square foot lot and there's some hardships because of it that that's sort of my point it's more the principle of you know this is really you know this is a design decision this is you know not really a problem and it's a shame that you're covering up open space but again if if I'm in the minority if this is you know this is not a hill I'm going to die on but I just also don't want to see carports in people's yards from this point forward for every house that comes up that has another story because it goes the whole point I think of the underst story is is to have more open space and less Park space and that's you know it goes against the intent of what these codes and regulations are for and what we're trying to promote so that that is just the point that I wanted to make publicly moving forward so G given I'm I'm inclined to make a motion but given the resistance I'm hearing um do you suggest that we take up the variances variance one variance number two separately can I even see the roof from anywhere yes yes because of the voting requirements so the design with the waivers would be a motion and the variance approval we would start with we would start with the design and waivers okay and also the condition the um clarification or change that instead of um Stone it would be the blue porcelain or the porcelain tile for the frontage design yeah so look as someone that has to deal with this very complicated resiliency code which is a work of art I tell you this shouldn't be a hardship we shouldn't have to ask it should be allowed because when we live in the tropics in a very you know hot and humid and the Sun is very active so it's nice to be able to shade this van and not just leave it exposed right so I don't know if the that canopy is what creates the the request that the fact that there's a structur um what about two things what about if we make the the surface well like porous just like the drive leading to it like you're saying it's taking up open space I hear you so what about if there's a concrete surface that it Parks upon why can it be more porous in nature well and I don't know the materials you said it was that yeah I think it's already labeled as porous on the plan yeah right so so we already have that you know so what about a green roof then minimum footprint um I mean I I think that just adds to the structure of the car you know what I listen as I said they could just park the van on the driveway like everybody else who has a van does where where in the driveway we that's why I'm saying that this is not really a problem this is not a real problem right so but again if I don't want to you you did with this resiliency code you managed to design a beautiful home that I'm sure they're going to be thrilled by I I ju I just needed to make that point yeah they yeah understood yeah it is it is a waiver uh so it's not it's not a variance they would still even if they don't build a carport they would still need the waiver because the waiver is for parking outside of the outside of the front yard outside of the under outside of outside of the understory oh so You' need a waiver like so not only does it have to be designed to have the cars under it the cars do actually have to park underneath it right not just out and despite the presence of the driveway correct so we couldn't have this the driveway is supposed to be to drive on not to not to park on not to park on okay okay with an understory if you if you had a conventional home you could you could park there but the the goal of the under story is to have all the parking hidden underneath um underneath the home so that that's not visible from the public RightWay again to increase open the open space the permeability and right correct you know as one board member I don't take exception to the carport I I can understand the um although not a hardship I understand the the difficulty of um the children the van not going in the underst story because of height um and having it shielded from the Sun all of that understood whether that qualifies as a hardship I you know a lot of us don't have that and we still transport children and and the like however with a lot this big you know you would think that eventually we would have projects coming to us um and even with smaller Lots where mechanical equipment is not on the rooftop of the structure um of a home or you know especially in a home with a lot this size and yet we are allowing it because the code allows it so I think that would have been more of a um of an issue for me okay let's start with the design inclusive of waivers um which I move to approve second and that that includes modifying the condition uh for stone to be stonik or porcelain clading yes yes as shown during as shown yeah okay we have a a motion by Mr Sheldon I believe we have a second by Mr dender okay uh all those in favor I I I I any opposed okay motion passes so I now um move to approve variants number one I think you can approve to both if you would like well I I just I I I don't know if there are some that are supportive of one variance but not the other um I people are shaking their head so let's do them both and move to approve both of the requested variances second motion by Mr Sheldon second by Mr Defender for all those in favor I I I any opposed no motion passes great thank you all very much take care all right thank you uh move to adjourn if if you I just make may I make one quick announcement um so this is uh jelle's last meeting with us here on the design review board I want to thank her very much for all of her assistance she made my transition from the planning board here easy um and uh her expertise on on the code and specifically the single family section is is is unbelievable the single family section is is a tough one um so she's made my transition easier um and she's gonna be go going to work on the planning board with Michael Balo so to keep things interesting changing up her her uh her purview and we're gonna be working with Alejandro garavito who I think is somewhere back here if you can say hello Alejandro um and so you'll see him on the day at the next meeting on October 1st so thank you jelle and welcome Alejandro thank you very much thank you thank you um do I have a second to my motion to adj return no we have to stay second all approved all in favor I motion passes okay thank you so much you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]