[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] yeah [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 good morning and welcome to the April 2nd meeting of the design review board of the city of Miami Beach uh we have a new member here today as well as almost a full board we're going to begin rilio good morning everybody um um this is the April 2nd 2024 drb meeting uh we have a few items on the agenda and I'll turn it over uh to the City attorney if you wish to good morning all um 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 temporary commission Chambers located at 1901 Convention Center Drive rooms 222 and 223 and all applicants staff and members of the public can either appear uh individually here live or virtually via the zoom platform webinar in order to participate in today's meeting those wishing to participate via the zoom platform webinar may dial 888 475 4499 which is a toll-free number and enter the webinar ID which is 82273 941 924 or log into the Zoom app and enter the webinar ID which again is 8 2273 941 924 any individual wishing to speak on an item must click raised hand icon if they are using the Zoom app or dial star9 if they are participating by phone uh Madam chair before I swear in those members of the public that are here uh live in Chambers that will be testifying I'm going to advise all of the city's policy regarding lobbyist registration if you're appearing on behalf of a business a corporation or other person you need to register as a lobbyist with the city's clerk's office if you haven't registered yet you should register before you speak 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 to any item expert Witnesses and representatives of neighborhood associations shall prior to appearing disclose in writing to the city clerk their name address and principle 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 continuance for those that will be testifying today um in Chambers here I'd ask that you please raise it this time so I can administer the oath okay uh please uh raise your right hand uh do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you and for those online I'll have to uh sway you in as your names are called so with that I'll turn it back to you madam chair oh and and I would also uh like to confirm that there is a quorum we have uh full attendance today six members present okay um so we're going to begin with the request for continuances or no yeah approval of minutes I move to approve the minutes second motion by Mr Sheldon second by Mr derer all those in favor I I any opposed no okay um for items to be continued for the first item drb 23- 0975 that's for 2344 North Bay Road uh this item will be advertised for a future meeting so no action is required at this time um it's just to let the public know that it will be retis um for drb 23 - 0958 that's for 428 South Hibiscus Drive um the same thing this item will be uh read vertis for a future meeting and again no action is required um this item has been on was on the agenda previously uh in December 2023 and it was continued and so now it's come to the point where it needs to be retis um for drb 23- 0968 uh that's Citywide digital information kiosks um this is uh being requested to be contined to the June 4th 2024 meeting and I believe the applicant is here uh with a few words good morning Emily Balter Bard Del fernandz Laren and tapenz office at 200 Southwest King Boulevard as Mr madon mentioned yes we're requesting a continuance to your June meeting uh we're continuing to refine the design of the kiosks and we'll be resubmitting for your review for June thank you thank you so um for that item we will need a motion to continue I move to continue second okay motion by Mr Sheldon second by Miss Bui all those in favor I I motion passes not so loud today all right moving along um we ready for the first file the first item of the agenda is deb2 24- 0999 also known as db18 0355 1901 Convention Center Drive 55517 Street Convention Center Hotel an application has been filed requesting modifications to a previously issued design review approval for the construction of a new Convention Center Hotel specifically the application includes modifications to the prior conditions of approval the application includes variances from the ground floor setback requirements along Convention Center Drive and 17th Street Okay so this uh this is for for the Convention Center Hotel the site right next door you would have seen it walking into this room um this is the con Civics and Convention Center District the CCC District um this is a modified design for the previously approved Convention Center Hotel the previous design contained uh 800 rooms the new design will contain 767 rooms uh in a seven-story building um just for background this convention center is intended to serve as the on-site Hotel option for conference attendees and it's intended to be large enough to provide groom uh group room blocks uh necessary to support national International conferences and conventions that currently uh typically do not come to Miami Beach uh even though we have this remodeled Convention Center um the applicant is coming to the board for some modifications and refinements to the overall design and also requesting a variance from the ground floor setback requirements um the hotel uh the proposed Hotel will be 185 ft in height and it will contain ground level retail parking deck on the second level uh multiple ballrooms and meeting spaces on the third and fourth level uh an amenity deck and services on level five and then the hotel rooms will be from levels six through 17 um the first level on 17th Street has substantial retail spaces and the Miami Beach Welcome Center um an elevated outdoor Terrace with ramps uh and stairs uh for accessibility there are some concerns with the uh pedestrian experience of of the uh elevated Terrace and a condition that was incorporated in the final order required that a grade level clear pedestrian path be integrated with the abing public sidewalk along 17th Street and Convention Center Drive uh the applicant is proposing to modify this condition due to the uh evolving design and some engineering work that will require some encroachments into that setback area um some of the uh the conditions in the in the final order include uh shifting and enlarging um a dimpled wall plane on the East facade um it's proposed to be shifted Southward and enlarged for further emphasis and visibility from 17th Street um there was a condition in the in the previous order approved by the board regarding that dimple um to shift it and so they're they're now um U modifying that condition a little bit due to um some needs that the applicant has in the room and they'll they'll describe those those in Greater detail um modifications are being proposed for the new FPL and mechanical building uh which is one a one-story structure next to the site um that building is designed as an architectural tribute to the former mid-century Municipal Building designed by Henry huser um that previously existed on the site that's where uh the city's code enforcement department was located um and so the applicant will be uh presenting some refinements to that building as part of their presentation um overall staff is supportive of the proposed modifications to the Convention Center Hotel uh regarding the variance they're recommending they're requesting to reduce uh the minimum required setback along the ground floor which is currently required re ired for 10 ft um because they will have some uh some columns and some other uh stairs that will be encroaching into that setback area um overall the The Pedestrian path will still be provided um at 10 ft but there are some some encroachments that are necessary um and therefore they're requesting the variance and staff is supportive of the variance uh given that they have uh some difficulties uh developing such a large structure without any support columns um so with that staff recommends that the application be approved including the requested variance subject to the conditions in the attached draft order and I'll turn it over to the applicant morning everybody Graham penber Cardell Fernandez Lin tapen his 200 South pisc Boulevard you're representing MB mixed use Investment LLC the exciting name for the tenant for the Convention Center Hotel Graham before we start I just have to ask the board are there any ex party uh disclosures at this time uh no please proceed they visited the site by walking in oh yeah you you may have visited the site by looking to the right as you walked in our team today we' got the man who needs no introduction Bernardo Fort breia and his team from architectonica uh IET Batista from teror group uh do we have our Turnberry rep no repr what what's the name I'm sorry Mr arenson from Turnberry Emily Balter excuse me I've you know I've literally got to get a drink I'm choking to death hold on yeah I'll ask you ask them if I okay sorry for the dramatic and Maria Hernandez also from uh from the city is here who is working with us on this project so we're exciting to be working on this game-changing hotel development to be located immediately south of where we stand today anchoring the the convention center complex and significantly enhancing the city's ability to attract first class Convention Center business just to be clear this application is the last piece of the planning review of this project we've gone through There's an actual active building permit so this approval is necessary to get the planning sign off so we can get a building permit for vertical construction so just a no pressure but that's where we are in the process if we can start the slides I'll take you through it okay here's our view this is the new rendering looking Southeast from the park uh you you'll see as we go through the project we've really enhanced the northwest corner and improved that overall Corner uh that side of the building so I'm just to preview what we're going to talk about I'm going to give you a brief timeline we're talk about the site what we've done to date and then talk about four elements in the revised design first our setback uh request changes the north facade the changes to what they call the East Dimple which is on the Eastern facade uh you can view it from 17th Street and finally changes to the FPL Vault briefly timeline we were last before you in back four years ago in 2019 uh work began on the project in the summer of 202 2022 of course we had what happened for those two years was a little thing called covid uh the foundation approv it was app uh Foundation permit was approved in July vertical permit is in review and again the only planning issue for the vertical permit again is the approval of these minor changes we've uh in April we will be uh completing the early work with the idea that we're going to have our Master permit in May pending this board's approval and then we're anticipating actual vertical construction beginning in quarter 3 I don't need to uh remind you again of the location but there we are this is how the hotel fits into the overall Convention Center uh project you can see at the Hard corner of 17th and Convention Center Drive some views of the existing uh situation which of course you don't need since you see it again uh view looking at the property you can see of course it's all been cleared out and it's ready for vertical construction this is a view of of the property uh at the time of the initial approvals prior to the demolition of course it was a parking lot and it also had an office building that was the city's office building the that that's called the whole Houser building in the in the OR order and we've in our and you'll see in our plans we are uh We've replaced that and replicated it to some extent with the FPL Vault so that was a condition of the original approval that we do that so let's talk about the setbacks this is a view of course this is the plan view of the of the project you and this is essentially identical in in all major respects to what was approved um by the board back in 2019 the programming for the project is established by the lease and of course by our uh flag as well and it will require a very large pedestal to accommodate all the uses that the city wants in there all the ballroom space for example is very big that Ballroom is accessed that that second level is accessed directly from the building that we're in today you can see that on the the ghost of the bridge uh on the nor on the top of your drawing so this is the approval uh that was approved in 2019 you can see the proposed is on the right approved on on the left it's very very similar the B the the big changes that you'll see in looking at the details is that a lot of what we you know in in finalizing the design we we took all of the transition height transitions that are necessary for the building out of the public RightWay and move them on of the uh onto the private l or into the city's land just out of the right of one while retaining The Pedestrian access that was contemplated in the original approval all the vehicular access is the same what our variance is asking for is the ability to syn columns into that area and we have some uh we have some elevated Terrace areas that intrude into that 10 feet this is a a cross-section you can see the the approved versus the proposed big change there there were there were some once once we did the real engineering of course the the W the assumed width of especially of of 17th Street was of the pavement was different than what the reality was but the big thing that as I mentioned before is you can see on the upper left for example uh we had a lot of the height Transitions and stairwells in this original plan in the RightWay and they've all been pulled out of the right one so that clear pedestrian path Remains the Same with the intrusions into the setback as minimal as possible so here's again approv versus proposed you can see this is looking East along 17th stream uh you can see again the the original concept columns are there why pedestrian activity and then you have that raised area that's behind it that that basically your access by stairs or ramps All That Remains the Same and The Pedestrian uh realm is maintained this is a view looking Northwest at the far Southeast corner of the project the this shows you two things it shows you again that the design hasn't changed in any uh real degree and two things the there was a condition of our original approval that we enhance the Welcome Center and bring in the more elements of the whole house are building into that welcome center and you can see the difference between the the left and the right is that we've done that behind that glass you can see we've added stone that that uh to the facade the interior that replicates that that look and again that's part that was one of the sports conditions back in 2019 this is another view looking West again you can see essentially the same the design is identical with the stairs getting pushed out of the road so uh and again finally just looking at the the way that the the buildings are laid out the left is the approved right is proposed this shows you two things number one that the building is essentially where it's always been and second that we've significantly improved that northwest corner of the of the building so speaking of the northwest corner let's talk about the faade briefly this is the this is the flat elevation looking South you can see on uh the proposed is on I mean the approved is on the left the proposed is on the right again that ex out box on both of them is the bridge that connects this building to the new hotel uh and you can see uh especially if you concentrate on the the bottom right of the drawing you can see the enhancements that have been made to that corner which most people are going to see you know there vast majority of this facade is not going to be seen by anyone except for people that are walking in this hallway so we really focused the improvements on that corner because that's viewable for the park Etc the East Dimple this is very exciting the uh so the again approved on the left proposed on the right the the the building on the Eastern facade has always had this indentation or dimple in it the the board in 2019 at approving the project uh conditioned the approval on us revising that dimple to f move it further south for visibility you can see the original version of it was tucked behind the Gleason you could barely see it so the board in at the time of the approval said move it to the South so we can see it uh and then the the is more visible to the public so that's what this revision does it and so you here's the approved on the left proposed on the right pushing it to the South and we're we we deepened it uh up uh from up and down that's that we've change the elevation I mean the way that the the orientation of it because of the the need to accommodate the way that the rooms lay out but it's you know again it's more visible it's it does what the board intended that condition to do Grand I'm sorry can you go back it it's it's hard to do you have a pointer it's this the section in the center goes in yes yes okay sorry and Graham how much more time do you need oh three seconds Ste no just K I I I think probably another four minutes probably I can't believe I've been talking as long as I have been but the uh this shows you again the flat elevation basically been extruded up and down but yeah it's always Sarah to answer your question it's always been an indentation of the building hence the name dimple you can see it in in this drawing you can see that that dimpling between the two sets of uh of blue identified rooms you can see it push in finally the vault this again was originally was always part of the plan uh replacing that uh the the city's office building it's being you know we're basically building a a structure to serve as the FPL Vault but also honoring the design uh of that building so this is the original building this is what it looked like we are proposing to add a plaque to the new structure to remind everyone of the existence of the the whole Houser building so the the um what you can see is we have three drawings here we have the original proposal we have the version that we that's in your set and we have the revision that we've made since the set was provided pursuant to the comments we received from the administration so again one of the conditions of the 2019 approval was to improve that elevation so we have iterated it as we've gone and we think that the final version that's on the bottom right is most consistent with the board's direction from 2019 19 and honors the building's original design better so that is it um we would ask for your approval again of this very important application this morning our entire team is here for any questions you may have and of course I'd like to reserve time for a BAL thank you thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak oh are there any hands up available online we have no hands raised on Zoom excellent okay I'm now going to close the public portion of the presentation and open it up to the board for discussion who would like to begin I just have a question um you don't have a site plan of the before and after do you where which where where is it in our overall computer set is it on this oh you want to use the comparison yeah Miss Mario this this shows you basically the two versions of the billing so left is the approval right is the new one and you know not to belabor this but as you can see this really isn't a big change of design this is just a iteration and um you know as we went through the actual engineering and and programming yeah I I understand I was just asking because you did show the sections at the street level and it there's not really I was trying to understand how the entry sequence and circulation was adjusted can you go back to the slide the I think it was the last one that showed the Houser building currently on 17th and the Vault right yeah this this is well we have the original and then we have the the the honoring with the new structure so in the revised elevation there seems to be scoring on the wall is that on the outside stule is that what it is or St name and address for the rest hi anako architectonica 2900 o Avenue uh the score line that you see are actually the just the the reveals created by the O light stone that will be installing that was one of the conditions for approval 5 years ago okay so the original building had o light Stone CL clading and we will be um we will be replicating the same uh fac and it's probably not going to be it's not going to necessarily read as a grid corre yes and I think also what makes is that because these are you know elevation extracted from construction documents as you know as you can imagine you know they are a little bit harsher in the line work than at the beginning when we are in the in the preliminary phases thank you you're welcome I can I can start with some comments um thank you for the presentation and I I I guess I want to start with the the the street side the 17th Street in the setbacks I um I think that's fine in fact I think the new the proposed stair entryway is actually a nicer so thank you for that I don't really mind it's for me it reads like there is a nice interaction between the street um and the building it's a nice transition so thank you for that um I ALS Al don't see you know such a dramatic change necessarily with this the FPL The Vault building um I will say this um and and this is going a bit above and beyond um the plaque I read the what you're going to write it's it's I think it could be worded a lot more clearly um and I'm happy to to discuss the wording is not very clear as to what it is and and I would encourage um you know a bit of an edit um you know it says built in 1953 and designed by architect Henry huser the original building to sit on the site was the center for Miami Beach tourism and cultural development which was the embodiment of the artco and early modern movement how it's written it wasn't the development organization that was the embodiment of the art deco it was the building so that's something that I would look to revise just for clarification you might have to make it into two different sentences so that was just one of the things that stood out um the other thing that stood out to me so you know most of the changes I like the one thing that you did not include in your presentation that very much stood out to me when comparing the the approved versus the proposed was actually the roof line and and I was going to I'm actually surprised because that seems to me especially in the East I guess as I'm looking at page 20 of the presentation um you can see that that I guess it's the southeast corner and maybe it goes to the other side as well it was just dramatically different um you have on the approv this beautiful long sweeping line that has this very dramatic indentation um and then it's met on the opposite side as well and that seems to have been dramatically taken back and and it definitely does not have the same graceful effect that it did so we're talking about the roof line yes yeah so that is a combination of the reality of the fact right we have we have some of the mechanical systems that need to be housed on that on that on that uh lower roof uh and even though we concentrated the majority of the of the equipment to the North Leg of the hotel some of it even the lowest one needs to sit on the on the south leg of the hotel so is there any way that you can so in the in the original I guess if we go back to if you bring up page 18 which is the drawing the cross-section oh no wait that's the that's the different Wing sorry yeah this is probably the one that describes so sorry I I didn't mean to say that so sorry go back to page 20 um because I there's two different so this is one this is one section and okay um so I guess what I'm trying to say is is there any way in the approved in the approved original that corner there that did did this top floor always hide mechanical or is that something that you added to it s I'm going to ask for a clarification are we talking about the roof you know above the roof line or The dimple below the roof line okay the roof line it seems like in the proposed you also now have this column at the corner so also yes we have to have we have to add columns for structural issues yeah we we could not possibly can deliver that that length as it was originally proposed correct yes right the column is added but I I think it's the way the building meets the sky that that correct me if I'm wrong Sarah is that you know you still you could have the column and it ends on a below roof but then you're showing the mechanical equipment above without any sort of roof that on the left um clearly that language continues all the way up to the top floor but here it's different and I guess it it seemed much more elegant on on the left um and we're just asking you to explain that and I know when the previously approved it was still always planned to have mechanical on that top floor yeah I mean the problem is that we have really 400 rooms on the south leg of the of the Tower and we just we have to have have some of the equipment sitting on that side of the of the hotel um but what we could do is that one you see that parid that we had right now where the where the arrow is uh that also the parable was requested by the flag to put a signage that will be visible from the city from the from my beach from the water um we could possibly elongate if you agree with it elongate and create more like a horizontal effect to reflect CL more closely what we had at the beginning yeah I was going to ask about the the balconies and the the corner they were they were very elegant and now they're like squared off almost where the column is well that again this was that was a compromise between number one the structure requirement number two uh the height of the building and number three the number of of suits and hotel room uh that was required so what happened is that because when we have this very deep dimple cutting into the building those we had many rooms that became unusable so the total count was going down that was one issue and and again by uh by by referendum we owe 800 guest rooms to for you know in the program and the other uh the other item is that um um yes and the other item is really about about the structural constraints but what even a facade even fake balconies on the top like it the building was elegant and almost kind of veered to the left and pointed and now it looks more rounded and squared off like I do you see what I'm saying it looks like the the um piece the very Corner was cut off and squared off well no there wasn't any squaring off of is there another picture that can focus more on that corner it steps down right so now instead of having a consistent I mean from the from the front you are able to maintain that same look like they approved in the proposed on page 16 you're able to maintain the same uh Rhythm and style from this facade sorry which one is that the yeah and then uh but when you go to 20 it really breaks down that language and so it's steps down and I'm also wondering what is the material then proposed for the so you're saying that's all outdoor mechanical um what is the cladding of that the cladding will be um well we have a stle yeah know it's like to match the the color of the building you mean the clading for the mechanical on this roof I guess it just feels like part of the building was chopped off um and it it lost really it its elegance and how it it meets the sky what we could try to do is that we could try to set back and put it Forward uh and move it inward of the of the roof of the roof parapet um so that you know when you seeds it becomes automatically less uh less visible um and the initial the in the in the initial approved one where were you having mechanical or you just left it off the drawings no it was only on the north on the North Leg of the project and then when you started doing the working drawings you realized you needed it on also that Wing as well particularly because the flag has a very restrictive um uh requirements in terms of Life Safety and we needed to add it some smoke back fan and I'm going to go a little bit into the needy greedy for the but at least I will say too I mean to Shauna's point and maybe it's just how the renderings are on the on the North Tower you don't see the mechanical well U on the North Tower is let me see because it because of the angle yes because on the North Tower is pushed toward the Convention Center Hotel the Mechanicals the mechanical correct yes and also it was always about uh you know even just in terms of presentation that was always about very much the corner between Convention Center Drive and 17th and looking up right that effect so in our in our in our design we always try to push everything that was above the roof line toward the edges right so it happened that unfortunately one of the edges becomes visible also from 17th Street because we have the same condition on the North Tower but you you would not be able to appreciate it so if the focus was always on 17th in convention correct yes yes that was always our main uh our main uh View and also and secondary from the park that's also we introduce a little bit more of the transparency in the corner of the of the hotel in that and now that view seems to have been altered significantly to have changed the or you know close to on 17th to have changed the look and the design of the building where it's not as appealing because of the caner Levering U that has been cut off and a structural column appears to have been put in place I I think the what and then the I'm sorry and then the mechanical on the top floor which is going to be covered by a stuckle wall is what you're saying yes yeah I think maybe the assumption that there's only one Viewpoint that should be emphasized I mean this is this building is going to be seen from all angles from many different Washington Avenue is very very busy so you know I I would say that I would I can make the argument I mean also you're going to have people in in taller buildings looking you know also looking at this side you know that that are staying in the hotels on Collins um and to the to the east so I I I think that you know I would like to see you uh explore a a roof line where the Mechanicals I don't know just to sort of bring back the Elegance like I I wish I could get I don't know if we have any more specific Direction but it seems like we're all in agreement that something was lost um in the translation here well and even sorry can I jump in even on the elevations um on the North facade you know you've kept that same language uh as a consistent top of parit you know it has the same reading and the overhang of the roof you know is in line sort of uh at the same lines with the floors below but then yeah even when you look at the elevation on 20 on page 21 there's a complete sort of stepping and breakdown of that language so I mean I'm sure it it comes down to a cost thing but you know I when we're looking at the proposed um the elevation says East Dimple if you want to put it on page 21 on the left side where you can see the stepping then I mean if there's just a way to keep that roof to come over bring everything up like I understand the can of lever perhaps on the approved on the on the far left side isn't realistic but page 21 which one also if you look too there's a different treatment OB of of the B I mean it has a different effect with balconies whereas in the approved there was this gradual the balconies got larger and the building sort of you know angled back a bit uh which you don't it you lose that effect with the proposed um and and I also say too that the same losing the effect of of the backward diagonal is also happening the northern Tower as well and it's also something again I mean when the building is about just these simple gestures simple but tramatic gestures you know that was so much about what this design was and and what you've done is you've removed many of those simple gestures um I mean we we think we did a pretty good job considering uh everything went through we went through covid we have to change the building because of covid we have to change the building because of the flag requirement we have to adjust the building um we also going we also had the third code reiteration right in which as we know uh the energy calculations are more stringent to to present so we have a series of of constraint that happen in the meantime right again I think the referendum was in 2018 um we believe we did a pretty good job in making like um something that was very um uh conceptual uh into a reality again the whatever you see on the proposed is literally extracted from the construction document um which is in itself um a little bit of you know harsher reality than the original conceptual plans um well even if you look at page 18 you know you can see that there's a difference again with that angle again you know there were these nice subtle gestures that made a big difference and on this on this page yeah 18 no El the north elevation not the the angle the angle is the same what what you see why what is perceived difference is that the balconies wrapped to to hug the all the suets and they did it in the original rendering again it was more schematic in concept right but the actually we had we always had an 8 in per floor um increase in the tower and that has not Chang that has not changed so it's just it's just how it's drawn correct yeah as you can see on the left side we didn't have the balcony so that also creates a little bit of of of a a different impression right but we in the reality we are continuing the balconies to the sweets in the corner to the one that faces the the north as well but actually these geometries have not changed at all not at all we kept the same 8 in um step step back yes that has not changed I have a question about the Loc of the column I'm on page 16 and it looks like it's actually a few stories lower than the top floor is that correct because when you look at the elevations and then the which the um is that on 20 I'm sorry what's your question um the the DraStic indentation I think that they were concerned about with the balconies it looks like it's on on page 20 it's right on the top floor but here it's showing much lower no okay this is this is the This Is A View From the park this isn't the same element of build the park okay so this is the other leg of the L so this the same sort of pattern picking up okay and and I think actually that's a very good point B as you can see this is this we the the adjustment of The dimple and the column act happen in exactly the same way on all the dimples I we have five dimples as you can see on this one because of the perspective the The dimple the importance and the geometry of The dimple is as good as or as close to the region as the current one as you can see right so that happens also for all of them the geometry just repeated the geometry went the same adjustment went through on all the dimple so I also believe that part of it is the uh is the perspective right in in for that rendering our main worry was to show the move of The dimple to the South and the enlargement of the dimple we went from two row to three row so uh that was our main worry uh if we need to produce a different view of the rendering that shows maybe how uh how actually the new dimples are not so dramatically different than the original ones as you can see on this VI I think this is perfect as you can see on this one the um they are very close in Geometry I I was going to say you can see that on page 21 on that drawing I think it it presents a clearer comparison I just want to say that I I completely respect the challenges that you know this project and many other projects that your firm has done in the last in the recent years in Miami Beach have endured and you know sitting up here and I haven't been up here that long I've seen several projects um you know from your firm come through and and you really obviously for many decades have been shaping you know Miami culture Miami Beach and my concern is you know that you you guys do amazing work that's a very sophisticated design but these slight nuances that I know come down to probably budget right um and different constraints but actually hold on I just want to finish real quick um they really they really determine the quality I think of our city and of our buildings and so you know when and it may be just from a distance we're looking here and we see how the building meets this guy and we understand that there's always you know mechanical equipment but there but we also understand the talent that your practice can achieve in in completing and presenting you know a whole um sort of cityscape and building scape and so I just want to express that I I understand and I value and respect all of the difficulties but I think it's said these moments where somehow that Innovation to solve the hardest design challenges is what your firm brings to our culture to make sure that we are a top you know architecture design City not just well you know we look at a building and we see the intent but there were some sacrifices or compromises made along the way so I'm wondering if there's a way we can feel like it wasn't compromised at all I don't know do you want to propose that's my suggestion yes so for the for the roof line the way we what we could do is that we could number one we could extend it so that we we reinsert some of the horizontality we kept it just to the minimum so that it wouldn't be so obtrusive but we do see a point in which maybe it does need to be elongated and maybe it does need to have a little bit of a you know of a more of a different treatment right uh so that is not just a just a stockle wall um so which is um which is something that um we can discuss with ownership um I think also what H what's happening is that this the mechanical is is um competing with this nice roof line that you had and if there is a way to whether it's make the mechanical the roof line or the mechanical part of The Grand Design or to hide it or you know whatever it is that there was this beautiful I so there was just this beautiful dramatic line that's completely now obstructed almost by and if you could get back to that Essence whatever that looks like I think that would resolve the problem and and I I believe you're actually right we we probably didn't even look that much from that side again we always worry about the dimple and not the rest but again in our effort to to keep to preserve the the the the other Corner we probably and also in the worry about giving a place for the sign right for the grand High sign on the wall um we might have not really uh we might have over because I mean I do I do see I do see your point so one thing that we could do is that number one offset it from the uh from the edge of the building right so once we offset it automa from your Lineo sight you will it will be a less of a presence uh we could probably even see something with that we can look at that or how we can sometime we call it in you know in our ways like pancake the equipment very elegant way of saying that um and we could just so basic I believe if we offset it from The Edge right and we try to Pancake all the equipment to make it shallower uh it automatically will acquire again the horizontality that we have lost may apologize and maybe how you cover that equipment can be more a part of the building and not just as you mentioned before a stuckle wall so it appears we don't have a problem with the Vault we do not seem to have a problem problem with the setback but we all apparently have issues with um the roof line as well as I personally I think also the rest of them here have a problem with what was done because of structure or whatever other reason the elegant corner on 17th and um facing the Park yeah I think it needs to be structural column and maybe also to incorporate this sign into the what you show us so that rather than you explaining I mean I know the city has has all these regulations about the signs correct we actually did show the sign but we were asked to remove it oh yes so but we can we can we can provide a version anybody want make maybe make a motion to continue let me just ask roio can we come back back can we ask for they come for them to come back at the next meeting that they are ready to come back to us with some changes to the roof line include the sign and the I'll call it the that eyebrow that comes out instead of the structural column that we see I I believe so I don't think these changes would require any would have any zoning implications so we don't need to do a full zoning review but and they can present their changes as part of a as part of the presentation to the board and and the board can can discuss them I would also actually before does anybody else on the board have any other comments I would just be curious about the roof equipment from above is there nothing around it's just a wall around it and it's all exposed to the top I mean we've we've we've put some really ugly things when you're looking down from buildings that are much taller than that all around and I mean it shouldn't be overlooked yeah it it should be thoughtful I I think so well speaking of overlooking I don't know who's going to see over us honestly Scott given where this building is but the I mean obviously our preference would be to work on these as a condition um given the the the the position we're in with the project um you know of course it's you know it's at the board's discuss I mean the saai is three blocks away and it's 40 something stories yeah like they they might be able to see us you're right is there a way to they're asking for a variance does that need to be voted on separately is there a way for us to approve that um um I suppose you could approve the variance but um perhaps you could approve most of the project and bifurcate the roof line the roof line can come back that that would be our preference like if we get everything but this corner approved or the on the roof line and and the corner um of 17th the I don't know what you want to call those but uh I I consider it more than just the roof link as it goes underneath and to also bring back the um sign the proposed sign location and design well let me ask you orilio with the yep so so we can approve part of the design but not all the design or would it just be better to approve the variance and then have the design Revisited just the design continued not the variance or you can't bifurcate it like that um I I leave that up to the board the variance is really not useful unless you approve some of the the changes that are being proposed um so if you approve the variance without approving the the changes to the ground level the variance is is sort of meaningless I think um sorry I was just going to say I know that it gets a little sticky but I I would like to in good favor and Faith you know approve this with a condition I mean we know um we know the team we know that they're listening and that I I don't doubt that you know they can achieve this I would like to Second your proposal but um add the uh I don't know if it's called advice or feedback that you know I think we're looking for consistency in in the roof line and not that necessarily you need to hide the equipment or even embellish the stucco but if it just of the overall building form feels like it belongs you know I think that's what we're looking for um I I personally would like to see the design of that roof line coming back and the corner um which was the Elegance the rest I don't have a problem with they seem to want to move forward on the balance of their request um I guess so that they motion and I second it would it would it be helpful to word it so we're proving the design of the pedestal down but not necessarily the towers can we can we do it is that a good way to break it up roio what's the best way to um I think I think that would work the the approve the the pedestal all the modifications of the pedestal and and bifurcate the Tower or sorry to interrupt but we could even go I Bernardo has an idea he wants to talk to you about but the other thing would be that the really is the roof line right it's not about even the tower right so if the if the if the board's will is that we have to come back I would request that the the project the bulk of the project be approved with the variance with the condition that we continue to work on the design of the roof line and if it's the board's will we have to come back one thing our preference of course would be to keep working uh with your with with your direction we've heard today with staff on the roof line issues but I know Mr for breia had a an idea he wanted to run by you briefly if you if at your yeah pleasure thank you I'm Bernardo for 3900 Oak Avenue um if you were to permit us to do this we could create keep the concept of what you're discussing uh what I'm showing here can you all see or is it too far it's too far too far um if you could direct us to the page we have the presentation page oh I think he sketched I sketched that over yeah I can go there in true artistic fashion it's been sketched yeah looking for um the idea is that this was a straight line and there was a box behind but if you were to allow us to bring the protection The Hiding of the mechanical if I if you allow us to move the panel that was recessed to forward in line with the facade and therefore raise a parapet of the building as a totality but it would and then raise this parit to hide the elevator overrun then we would have the same concept it's not occupi space so it's a roof it's just a mechanical equipment and then I would put an eyebrow on top of that wall like a ledge so it would look like one more of these Stripes so it it steps back right now because zoning requires it to step back is that is that I don't know no well it's because the height of the building because the original line of the building was here right we had to step it back but if we want conceptually I from zoning point of view it's a wall it's not a um building so to speak there's no rooms behind but then it would keep the same concept just slightly a few feet higher but it would leave the the same idea Alive by moving the mechanical enclosure in line with a building volume would that then I think this was Scott's Point exceed this is the ridiculous thing about our code is that that it the height doesn't take into account these stupid equipment things which are ugly so instead of making it pretty and 5et taller people would have a heart attack like it's you know it's silly put it but he's right this is a big problem that we're getting bad design because of our this because the zoning would then read it as another floor and but are you guys suggesting that it that wouldn't possible we we suggesting that it be on the camera okay at the podium to oh we need you to be on the podium after you show because it's not coming out on the what has to be on camera this you gonna zoom in there PJ they'll zoom in on if you stand on there they can zoom in on what you're holding be careful coming down for stand come back over here other the way that those are definitely the ideas that I think that we're interested in I I can't State at this moment like if that requires another variance or not but I I know I would be more in favor to approve a variance if it meant you know a cohesive design so I would I would prefer something like that than what we're looking at right right now today rilio do you have what is your I guess the official City would that then go again is that something that they could do or the building it would have to be it would read as another floor so the the allowable height encroachments are the drb is allowed to approve uh parap pits up to 25 ft in height so I think I think that would be an allowable height encroachment the height limit here was actually 300 ft though there is zoning and progress for 150 ft but I I think the code was in effect at the time that this was approved would still apply so I think that would be an allowable height uh allowable to build that at that height it is a mechanical enclosure it's there's no occupied space behind and it's 25 ft no we don't need how much height would you need 12T probably 12T yeah yeah enough to hide the cooling towers and their and their support and uh and where the elevator overrun yeah I may need Well normally your elevator overruns is 27 feet but in the range let's say 25 where the elevator overrun is I mean it would change the whole but but if I don't even the elevator overun is insignificant I could leave everything at 12 feet if needed if you leave it up to us and see what happens but it is uh but 12T should around 12 feet give me some leway 14 just in case it just makes so much more sense to have something pretty that's going to be the same height anyway um but we still just maybe to Circle back um the motion that was on the floor before was to approve the variance approve everything but come have a look at the at this roof line again so I just I would second that motion I think the ideas that you're sketching are correct and you could just work it out with the team and then bring the roof line back yeah I was say there's a motion was made it was seconded I think we need think I I great D it seems like we're interested in this direction but I think it's the reason why I did the sketch is because it's a very simple line yeah it's not a complicated analysis of um that I would have to submit and because of the this is holding up a building permit it's holding up everything in the project so it was important to get it approved today because they have U pressure to get going yeah now we understand okay so a motion was made it second it's okay with this idea we will incorporate is a very simple one line that we'll be missing in one of that right 50 pages you know yeah no we understand we understand a motion was made though and I think we should do a roll call vote okay so I have a motion to approve except for uh the roof line and I believe that motion was made by Miss buoli I think it it was everything the P the pedestal not the towers is that again the high sign as well the the only concern I have about again the pedestal versus the tower is that you know if we if we're dealing only with a roof line I think we've got a good argument that the city could still issue a building permit right so rather than the pedestal is the majority of the building right so I think we all know what we're talking about right we're all talking about the top of the building right the redesign of that that rooftop element and and associated architectural elements you know it's and we have again we have no problem coming back and showing it to you if we can get a building permit for the main building which of course is not your decision right but I I think we have to if everyone's happy with the building and we're dealing with that corner um or that entire roof line I would really humbly request that the motion be Li the that the review of this board be limited to the roof elements when we come back so that we can tell the building department look the drb has approved all these changes subject we're only going back for these roof elements please give us a building permit for vertical construction that's the motion I made was basically to remove and bring back continue the roof line the southeast corner and the sign the highight sign as to where it's going to be placed and what the design will be everything else um be it the bubble the setback uh the variants um The Vault um are to be approved today that's part of the motion I think we need to do the roll call okay so I have a a motion by Miss Bui do I have a second yeah I second that okay by Miss Meer okay uh we'll do a roll call Miss buoli yes Mr dend derer yes Miss Giller Nelson yes Miss Leen yes Miss yes Mr Sheldon yes motion passes and and do we have a separate motion to approve the variance I motion to approve the Varian second okay motion by Miss Meyer second by Missi um roll call Miss Bui yes Mr dend derer yes Mr Giller Miss Giller Nelson yes uh Miss Leen yes Miss Meyer yes Mr Sheldon yes motion passes when do you want to have it at the next meeting thank you you you you you and I were on the same page I mean ideally I'd like to have that the roof line continued to next month and if we can make it by next month we'll see you then um because I don't want to introduce any additional deline but I think we can this is simple enough I think we can bring it back to you you can see it in uh drawn and we'll um hopefully be happy and in the interim you can continue with your permitting process for the building hopefully we're hoping that that and again I think I think your motion the board's or uh Direction was clear enough to allow the building department to give us a permit I was trying to solve it all here no because I actually can now suddenly incorporate the sign into that zone because it's not blocking anybody's window we're trying to work with you here so okay thank you so much we'll look forward to seeing what you come up with next month thank you thank you okay so and that's uh continued to the May um May 7th meeting correct and and I got I'm going to apologize again Madam chair one more Interruption I just want to note this for the record there's a typo in the staff report that suggests that there's 767 rooms there's 800 rooms in the building and that was there was a typo in our one of our sheets that probably led to that but it's 800 rooms and that's requirement of the lease as well sorry so just for the record and the referendum as well correct the next item in the agenda is drb 20- 0593 1915 Normandy Drive an application has been filed requesting designer review approval for the construction of a new five-story multif family building including one or more waivers to replace an existing single family residence this was continued from November 133 uh February 6th and March 5th okay so um this application as as justel just stated was continued to today's meeting in order to address uh several concerns raised by the board um this is a a project uh located in the rm1 district with a lot size of 6,250 square ft um it's they're proposing six units and five parking spaces with a height limit of 47 feet um they are requesting a variance um the variance is of section 7122 C Roman num rule 2 number one uh regarding the minimum height um uh of the first floor of a building um and they're requesting uh the code requires that it be 12 feet uh they are requesting a waiver of 2 feet which the board is is authorized to do um this is um a building which is located uh within the within the site features ground level covered porch at the front of the site an enclosed residential lobby with an elevator towards the back of the building a utility room five parking spaces a pool swimming Spa in the rear yard um and the project includes a roof level with a Sund deck and Spa and a solar panel array um the applicant is proposing uh that the first habitable floor of the building be located at 20 feet which translates into a garage clearance height of about 10 feet 4 Ines above um above the uh base flood elevation plus plus uh free board of one or 9 ngvd UM in order to provide a um a parking slab clearance that accommodates elevation changes uh to the ground floor and future raising of roadways uh staff uh is supportive of this waiver given that that first habitable floor will be located at a at a high elevation uh the applicant was initially heard as as stated and in the December 13th meeting uh it was well received but continued to allow the applicant time to address several concerns with the design um and then to update the applicant has made several changes to the design uh including uh the varied colored uh window frames have been modified to a consistent white finish uh the varied Mullan pattern on uh on the Windows of the front elevation have been resi revised to be consistent with the windows in the rest of the building uh the green Walls of the balconies have been replaced with l uh the solid side walls of the balconies at the upper levels of the front elevation have been replaced with louvers to visually lighten up the massing of the upper two floors uh the exterior spiral stair has been removed from the front elevation in the rendered views uh the varied railings for the second level at the front elevation are now consistent um one consistent simulated W finish uh The Irregular Louver placement of the of the louvers at the upper levels of the front elevations have been made consistent across the entire elevation and eybrow has been added above the garage door of the front elevation um and The Irregular horizontal slab elements of the East Elevation abing the elevator have been removed providing a consistent uh U vertical plans from uh for the Elevator Shaft overall the architect has simplified the building's architecture with the changes just described uh while still promoting a high degree of V visual interest along the elevations um the architect did not provide a a realistic rendering of the building as recommended however uh the details and the uh and the material samples and the photos of the material samples um are suff staff feels are sufficient um in order to approve the building and so with that staff recommends that the application be approved uh subject to the conditions in the draft order including the the waiver and before we before we start Madam chair um have there been any exp party Communications with any of the board members okay thank you good morning everyone good morning I was going to make a recommendation and you're already might be planning this because we've seen this a few times to just focus on the changes that you made you know I feel like we've already we okay with the variances sure that was an excellent uh summary of of the project um my name is Edgar fontanez architect of record Eco Urban Design 690 Southwest first court and uh member of Miami AIA so we have the Normandy LS uh building the six units in five stories uh and each of the units is a l space so uh what we've done on consideration of our last discussion was uh soften the pallet of uh the building we have samples uh of color charts of what uh we intend to uh to incorporate what we've done is is lighten also the that front box uh by uh decreasing the mass on the sides and making it more trans uh transparent uh by means of louvers uh We've also um defined a bit uh the entry uh made that more uh uh Less massing on the top also on that parit over the entry uh to kind of balance the scale of of the of the building and uh so basically we've we've uh simplified the the palette the color palette and uh kept our our same concepts of amenity areas in the ground floor with a rear uh rear yard uh pool deck spa and barbecue area and also rooftop garden with also barbecue area and a hot tub yes that concludes it thank you very much um anybody in the public wishing to speak any members online we have no hands raised on okay great I'm now going to close the public portion and open it up to the board for comment I'm also going to start by saying thank you I know this has been a lot of revisions and um I know I speak on behalf of everyone when I said that it's that um thank you for taking into account the the comments that we've had absolutely I think it's a much better product myself can you um I appreciate the sample board can you clarify where the bamboo is I see I understand the lamboo cladding but the two uh left samples where where is that those those are just uh uh variations and colors that we're considering so uh that would be on the um parking a park screening so we're we're kind of we're kind of um uh probably leaning towards towards that upper left sample the upper left sample but it'll be in the cladding system that you've displayed on the right and then you'll only have one variation you're not going to have multiple colors on it no yeah I also want to uh second What Sarah Said and I appreciate the ambition and endurance to um continue to re refine the project you know make the plan changes originally and continue to work on um really the Aesthetics and and the design agenda of the project um I feel like it it has come a long ways uh I I still have my own sort of questions um you know I think that the gray and the white um I understand sometimes our comments up here are we would like to see color or we would like to see something other than you know a white box proposed however in your case where there's so many elements you know introduced on the facade and other materials like the wood or like the green and orange color you know I'm wondering if do you just choose the white or do you just choose well I would recommend choosing the white and let it all be white and then let these three accent colors um be be what they are but I appreciate you know sort of the refinement in the overall form um sort of the bleeding together and um stitching together you know of the wood elements throughout and and the reduction of I think the orange and green colors and I think also in the um proposal that we received it the walls actually tend to look white um they don't seem to be like gray and it looks um I think better than I agree with uh the comments just made I think um putting it white may be something to consider instead of introducing yet something else like the light gray and the darker gray you're you're saying that there shouldn't be any gray at all it should all be white that's what I'm suggesting yes and let the other sort of accents of the would and the color be a variation you know if you look at the um at the board we have the white there that would be the main color of the building and the gray is just an accent on the front by the balconies correct guess it is I don't really mind the grade too much I was actually it's funny because I what I was going to say is I like I I like the green and the yellow and if there was some fun way to in which is not in the in the facade at all you know if there was some fun way to incorporate that in one element I don't know if that's going to be agreed upon but you know that that's one of my favorite Parts about this building the the the green and the yellow accents on the sides and in the back um but I also agree it shouldn't get too busy let me ask you another question too and I this is just to clarify because I think this keeps happening that the um you show in your materials board this garage door that has Windows and then in all the drawings the garage door is solid so we're it's the one with window it's Windows yes there's a spec on that I have a spec on that door and then the louvers I appreciate that you took out the green wall um and again this is just a clarification the L in the facade in between the two units is there also a louvered wall or is all open yes a l wall to uh maintain privacy uh between the two units so uh the front facade has uh two units on the uh first floor there's a mezanine and then you have on the second floor another two units now does anybody else have any other comments and what is the material on that Louver between the the two balconies that you that would be a the wood that one that material yes which is a laminated bamboo very durable and very aestheticly pleasing any thoughts Scott no it's funny I don't I don't I don't like the green and the yellow at all but I'm not going to go there nice improvements by the way okay thank you yeah um does okay any other do you have any comments Laura I know I know that you're I should have said that I know that we didn't really explain the project to you very well no that's okay I yeah I'm not super familiar with the history of the project um I tend to agree with Shauna that I the gray I mean the the orange and the green aren't aren't my favorite either but if we're going to be highlighting them and it sounds like we've kind of reduced the highlighting of them maybe we want to embrace it and get rid of the gray to Showcase them and then maybe I don't know it seems like if we're going to go with the green it's lacking in the front um with the I know there's no orange but the wood that that pattern so if we were going to get rid of the gray um maybe the eyebrow over the garage could be green or something um to just bring that continuity through that facade as well that would be are you with the addition of the gray was that cuz you felt like it was too plain without it yeah well the the gray I think it's a subtle uh transition from the white uh White plane um I thought the gray was kind of a a good transition uh as a backd drive also for the wood and um defines that that that uh um Southern um entry elevation uh previously we had more colors on on this and so now I had to reduce the uh um the scope or or simplify the pallet if you will and um I mean we can we can uh I actually uh provide a a color some more color samples or would that [Music] suffice I agree with one of the last comments um it's just the green on the side is like all by itself standing there um and it doesn't um flow with anything else in the building and maybe that's the way you want it to be um but um I would not I personally as we' mentioned be as mentioned before I would not add the darker gray uh complement in the front um because I think it just competes with too much still with too much color too much um difference okay but thank you you're welcome there seems to be a good consensus Den but want to make a motion I can make a motion to approve um The Proposal uh with the condition that the gray is removed and perhaps you can add the the green color to the front eyebrow or with a friendly my to explore inserting a popup color a subtle pop of color one of the same not a new sure yes yes yes do we have a oh and well I guess there's there was the waiver on this one yes yes okay so it'll it's not it's not a variance okay is there a second I'll second okay so motion by uh Miss Meyer second by Miss Luen let me just clarify the motion it's to approve uh subject to removal of the gray from the facade and explore adding uh green color to the eyebrow or just uh explore adding green the green or yellow to green or yellow a minor facade element pop a color to a minor facade element okay okay and I'll put in a manner to be reviewed and approved by staff yes okay um all those in favor I I I any opposed motion passes congratulations thank you thank you very much pass this do we want to maybe take a five minute break and then so we're going to have a five minute recess we'll be right back [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] oh take [Music] yeah High [Music] take [Music] [Music] up [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to [Music] begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 one good morning and welcome back to the April 2nd meeting of the drb uh we are now moving on to drb 23934 1940 Bay Drive okay and and Madam chair before we start uh have there been any oh officers waiting for to be called in I'll wait the next item in the agenda is drb 23- 0934 1940 Bay Drive an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new five-story multif family building including one or more waivers and a variance from the driveway setback requirements and a variance from the minimum required width of interior Drive aisles with parking this was continued from January 2nd okay and now before we start are there any exp party uh disclosures to make it this time no having none thank you okay so um this uh this project again was uh continued from the February 6th meeting there were there were some concerns raised at the time um in response to those concerns the applicant has revised the plans and they've actually removed the request for a waiver and one of the variances so now there's only one variance request remaining um which is to reduce by 1 foot the minimum required width of 22 ft for a two-way Interior Drive aisle with 90 Dee parking in order um and so they'll be providing in in certain portions of their driveway um only a 21t drive aisle um given the uh the makeup of the lot the shape of the lot the the lot is narrower in the front than it is in the rear uh staff is okay with the variants for the driveway um in regards to the design this this the site has been revised to address several of staff's and the board's concerns um with the proposed driveways and the associated hard Hardscape proposed at the front of the site uh the architect has reduced the width of the two drives entering the site from 14t to 12 feet in width and the drive a and the associated Hardscape have been pushed back into the site just past the 20 foot 20 foot front yard setback uh providing for additional landscape within the front yard um addition Al The Hardscape has been designed with a mix of perious and impervious Pavements uh with landscape Planters set in um the relocation of The Hardscape has increased landscape areas with the incorporation of of prvious pavement which has resulted in a reduced lot coverage of 41% uh which is 4% less than the maximum permitted so that's that's the reason uh the previous waiver request was removed um and also the parking spot that was previously proposed in the front of the building near the entrance was also removed uh the applicant is to be commended for their efforts to address address the concerns um of of staff and of the board uh that were raised at the February 6th meeting um and the board did appear amenable to the site plan that was provided um provided that The Hardscape could be reduced and to that end the applicant has complied with the board's Direction based on the latest plans proposed uh however staff is still believes that the project should better address the established Urban context of the surrounding area and and move the building closer to the front yard setback um and staff uh does continue to recommend that the building be relocated and and the site plan be uh reconfigured to accommodate this plan um by removing that front front parallel driveway um so um staff is supportive of the variance uh staff uh with that staff does recommend that the application be approved including the requested variants subject to the conditions in the attached draft order and I'll turn it over to the applicant good morning board Monica enson MH law office is at 7953 Northwest 53rd Street um I am joined today by our architects of record Barbara pedrelli from RTA uh K assembler he's our landscape architect our uh traffic engineer hin Vargas uh for those of you who are not here I'll kind of give you just a really quick rundown since I know that uh we've spent a lot of time this morning already so this is a multif family Residential Building in The rm1 District in North in the north area of the beach currently there is a structure there that houses 23 units what we are proposing is to reduce that count to 12 and provide all of our parking for the site within the site um we will also be providing hopefully a drive aisle too so that we can provide uh a drop off area for UPS FedEx Etc and we were here in February at that time I think Miss Meyer actually brought up some really good points with respect ECT to the intent of the front of the building and we went back to the drawing board we took all the comments Mr Hagopian had very good comments and we went back to the drawing board and I think our architect and landscape architect did an amazing job of trying to address some of the concerns that that were brought up the first being that we did in fact internalize completely internalize the accessible parking spaces that we had in the front of the building this allowed us to provide additional landscape and more of that uh softer feel in the front we also moved our electrical components that were also in the front we shifted those elsewhere again allowing for a softer feel and more Landscaping directly in the front of the building we reduced The Hardscape and the in the drive VI we also lined it with more Landscaping that also again soften and I think Miss Meer uh brought up during that time uh you know really activating if if we really wanted this to be activated how would we invite how would this be an inviting building and our landscape architect went back not only did he add additional layers of landscaping but he added pockets of seating throughout the front so that there is uh that that livable area that uh seating area that we had been discussing so we have addressed we believe all of the all of the comments from this board we do have one variance all the other variances and waivers have been removed the only variance that remains is the internal driveways um within the garage space because we are on a pie-shaped lot um in small portions of the garage the drive a does Reduce by one foot it is completely internalized not visible from the street nor does it impact the street staff supports this application at this time while we understand that staff would like us to move the building back to the built environment as I brought up to your attention last time and I'm happy to provide the the uh exhibit again half of the street if not more has sold over the last two years so that built environment will be changing so we do believe that setting the building back actually creates a more pedestrian uh feel to the area it is actually more compatible with the single family homes that are down the street um and we believe that it just softens the feel all over and moreover and and more important and just as importantly I guess is the fact that it does remove it allows us to remove from the street those deliveries that we've discussed that really impact traffic within the area so with that um I will open ourselves up to any comments and Reserve time for rebuttal thank you very much thank you there any members of the public wishing to speak architect is going to present it no it's good okay no hands raised okay thank you very much I'm now closing the public portion and open it up to the board for discussion who would like to start do you want to start I mean I didn't have a problem before thank you for the additional Landscaping I think that that's a really nice uh a really nice asset to the to the neighborhood and some green space so I I don't necessarily agree with staff on moving the building forward so nice job yes thank you and I'm wondering if staff could explain because I do understand that you're recommending approval but also requesting that they move the building forward so what I guess is an ideal resolution like how much are you asking them to moveing forward or I believe I believe the building is locate is set back about uh 40 feet is that correct about 43 ft and ideally for us it would be brought to the setback line which is is located at 20 ft and this would be consistent um with the way the buildings are laid out along that Corridor most of the buildings are located at 20 ft so this would be introducing a new uh typology into this neighborhood and additionally staff feels that um while we do like to see this is an arm1 District we do like to see a lot of landscaping in the front yard we feel that the 20- foot setback is intended to provide that and can provide that um and and we would like to see buildings at front the street in order to provide additional eyes on the street and create a more uh pedestrian friendly environment so that's that's our ideal uh view there however if staff um wishes to approve it as proposed that's that's uh that's up to the board I have to say this with respect because please know I always take you know very seriously I can't imagine a more lovely pedestrian experience than being able to walk through this treesy area going you know past I also remember I think Scott made a very good point about the deliveries this is a really narrow it's not a real it's it's not a terribly wide Street and it just seems like this would be a more livable space and a more livable block to have this almost Park like area in front of the building and then also to be H not having the street block by delivery trucks coming at all times of the day um you'd mention a clarification question you mentioned the that you put some benches or something in the front area there are little pockets of seating kind of uh round little seats and stuff right in the front um it is they're going to show you I think they're shown in a rendering but I didn't see them on any plans Yeah we actually that was my question okay we got to have you on mic are they on a plan because we can reference the plan yes okay can you hear me okay forgive me okay so they're uh they're local Stone um Stone Boulders cut flat on top like seating um and they kind of go with that little Hill that sleeps up with the steps so they sort of um retain and and pull back a few feet here they're about 12 feet on either side of the front entry stairs um and so they kind of you know the intend is to kind of harmonize our garden area with The Pedestrian sidewalk just please please if you come up please there's steps over there sir I would also like to thank the applicant for all these the detailed presentation it's really appreciated to see these renderings oh okay I see it very nice Ro Helio I I have a question because as mentioned before I think we all take seriously staff's recommendation and you're all requesting planning is requesting for the move of the the building forward if the building moves forward that basically eliminates the driveway they have for deliveries so deliveries would then have to take place or the truck for deliveries would have to stay on Bay Drive would yes would be in any any of the loading zones in the area or on Bay yeah all right and what other buildings in the area in that street um within the block are set forward and when were they built um I don't I don't have the dates that they were built but I would say just eyeballing it every single building is set forward 20 ft are they older buildings or for the most part they're older buildings there are a few that are more that are more contemporary um looks I would say they were built within the last 10 or 15 years and and they are but they are all set closer to the setback line I I also I mean I hear what you all are saying I um but I I tend to agree with staff comments so far that having the building set back so that deliveries trucks do not have to block the street is is a plus for the neighborhood um and and I think it's a plus for the building itself and in addition having that um Greenery area in the front I think also is a u benefit to the neighborhood that that for me that's the tradeoff like that's a nice because you are bringing this which it seems like it's not like you're going to put fence up this is almost okay almost like a gift to the neighborhood of here's this I mean that that's what it'd be one thing if this was just you know shrubs low shrubs but you've created this lovely park so I wonder if this part of the approval we could have a condition that a certain level of landscaping needs to be maintained at all times because I would hate you know I mean this is a condo yes yes you know for there to be a situation where you know in five years the condo owners decide they don't want to spend the money on the maintenance and then they cut everything down and so we're left with the issue that staff has of it's just all of this big empty awkward space in front of a building so that might be maybe a compromise Way Forward um and I think that's a condition that we can probably put into the order that there be you you know some level of of landscaping maintained in the front um just to address briefly Miss buelli and I'm sorry I know I Slaughter your name every time um with respect to to the the built environment there are 20 buildings on the street 13 of them have sold um that does not account ours within the last two years so we do expect that there will be a change in the landscape generally in the area and that built environment will definitely differ for me also this this area in front the landscape structure also goes with maybe the concept of the building of that you're taking you're you're downsizing there's not going to be as many units as was originally there and so clearly part of the marketing appeal of the the project is that space and that space is what gives you a sense of luxury and openness and um which for me I think is is a lovely gesture um and I think it's going to enhance the um the neighborhood as well so thank you um to just build on what Sarah was talking about the Landscaping um I think what the renderings are showing is also a sense of maturity to the Landscaping so I don't know in the condition if if that's where we go if they can be of a certain maturity when installed because you know they're going to these look great here and give that sense of bringing the building to the street which is you know I think why staff wanted to bring the building closer but gives you that pedestrian experience so I I do worry if we install very young trees here it's not going to give that effect for quite a long time so I'd suggest that as well I was going to ask about that too how long will it take to get to this sure I can address that partially um so the Palms that we have going in are all large and mature size uh the trees are are you know 12 foot or uh in the site and 14 foot at Street trees um we can explore bumping that up a little bit I can tell you that we have 13 more trees than we're required to have um for site and we have more than double the number of shrubs um I think we need 400 shrubs we have 800 and something um so it will be dense but you know that's something that you know can be explored too yeah I appreciate the um um the development um and I agree with all the comments said here today you know whatever however the condition could be worded that when the landscape goes in it should already feel sort of welcoming and grown and and be a clear place you know for pedestrians to feel welcome and the seating being there um I do agree with staff on the whole um agenda of the building I know I'm I don't live in that area so I know that the other opinions I respect on this board as well but um I don't think that you guys are going to change your approach because you're back here even though staff didn't agree so I make a motion to um approve the application uh with the conditions that the landscape um it is put in place as as shown with a more mature trees uh more M mature tree growth the public seating and maintained I second motion and just to be clear that is a motion to accept the the order as proposed with moving the the building forward not the building that we are proposing to clar the draft order has a condition that says a drop off driveway located parallel to the front property line shall be removed in the entire first uh first level of the building brought closer to the 20 foot front set back line in a manner to be approved by staff so so from what I'm hearing you're recommending removing that I am recommending removing that okay um as you uh vote we'd also like you to consider in a sub three paragraph D of the order we are providing a public Baywalk for the property we will be going to the Shoreline review board this order requires that we have a 10-ft wide uh Baywalk we'd ask that you'd remove the term the 10 foot so that we can uh have that addressed by the shoreline review whatever the shoreline review decides that we need to have can we I would like to make the condition be yes that the shoreline review requires the width but maybe a minimum I I don't I know that a lot of times these get planned and then later like we've seen this recently where Gates want to put up and they don't want it public anymore so I wouldn't want to no we have a condition Miss Meer that it's that it is public one of the other conditions is that it is a public Baywalk I'm just talking about the the width of the Baywalk per se so that the shoreline review can address the actual width of it and that's and that's the portion in the rear not on the sides the minimum of it is five roio just to confirm does the shoreline Review Committee get involved in the width of the Walk that that is certainly within their perview to make recommendations on that and what is their normal standard they're proposing 10 ft here here but the requirement is 5T 5T yeah that's what I would think would be the standard requirement it can't be less than 5T because of ADA so correct um I'm okay with that caveat do we need to amend our if if uh if the board agrees then then we can amend that condition okay and and I think we should also amend it to and I don't know how to I don't know how to word this but to require that this area in front of the building always be densely landscaped yeah trees or yeah that was included in in in the in the order we can include a condition that a landscape maintenance plan uh be provided uh prior to the issuance of a building permit I guess I'm I'm worried about you know five 10 years from now five years from now and that landscape be maintained okay you know what can you read that back to us sorry okay so uh approve with the modification that condition d1a be removed removing condition where did it go I lost it removing condition uh 3D regarding uh the Baywalk being a minimum of of 10 feet so it'll be up to the uh to the Shoreline Review Committee and then requiring that the landscape include mature tree growth when it's installed uh providing a landscape maintenance plan prior to the issuance of a building permit and that the landscape be maintained in perpetuity and the public seating uh and that the bench seating be included throughout the front uh throughout the front yard I suppose it's not bench I don't know if it's they like seating seating area do we have a second I'll second I had second already yeah right all right so we have a a motion by Miss Meers second by Miss buoli uh all those in favor I I I any opposed thank you board motion passes congratulations thank you thank you guys I'm sorry I need a separate motion for the variance I make a mo I make a motion to approve the Varan second okay motion by Mr Sheldon second by m all those in favor I I motion passes thank you thank you too for the back and forth and also listening to our concerns appreciate it's a pleasure the next item in the agenda is drb 23- 0956 1901 Alton Road Whole Foods an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new three-story commercial building including waivers from the long Frontage standards and a variance from the maximum width of entrance and exit drives to replace an existing structure on the site okay so um this is a a project uh that there was initially a whole foods that was approved at this at this site in 2015 uh very similar layout and site plan it was for Whole Foods and and the W Fargo bank that ex that exist the Ws Fargo Bank bank is currently in existence they'll be demolishing that building and replacing it in a new building um the site is located in the cd1 uh commercial low intensity District uh the lot size is 55376 square ft uh they're proposing an F that's less than one so this will be a 5339 ft uh building uh proposed height of 45 ft um this the the project was approved last Tuesday at the planning board uh the site plan was generally approved as is being presented with a few changes um they are recommending uh that the driveway has uh uh uh technology exit gates uh uh gate gate arms or other other methods to slow down traffic exiting the site um and a and um and and improvements to the site plan in order to re reduce the uh the back of house uh area on 19th Street um so generally the the project all proposed commercial uses are proposed to front Alton Road in 19th Street on the first level uh and then there's a mezzanine on the second level of the grocery store with with Cafe seating um all Street all off street parking is configured in the second through fourth levels of the project uh the project will be providing more parking than what this area requires uh because much of the parking is on the rooftop it does not count against their their F uh the applicant is requesting a waiver of the long Frontage standards in the code for for uh for non residential construction um and these are uh related to the sidewalk widths and the landscaping that's required along for Street trees um they're also requesting a variance from section 7.1.6 point2 uh which requires that habitable space is applicable at the first habitable level along every facade facing a Street sidewalk or Waterway um and then for properties not having access to an alley the required habitable space May accommodate entrance and exit drives um and that the total width of the entrance and exit drives not exceed 22 ft uh for habitable space that screen parking and uh and there's also and that are located below DFE there shall be flood proofing for Al faades below DFE so in this case uh they are providing uh three driveways one in and two out um which exceeds 22 feet they're also providing their loading area a trash pickup area and an FPL Vault along 19th Street um so staff has concerns um with this area this is a very long stretch of back of house uses fronting 19th Street uh 19th Street is an important pedestrian path for the residential buildings that are located to the east of the site um which include the uh the New World Symphony dorms um and so this is the way they would walk if they were going to Sunset Harbor and we also believe that once the grocery store opens that a lot of people will be walking to the site to uh to get their groceries the way we see um at the other Whole Foods that exists on Alton Road um The Proposal um um so as a result of that staff does uh recommend that the that the number of driveways be reduced however since their their their final submitt the submitt that's in your your application packet uh staff has met with the applicant we've had uh successful discussions regarding how uh these back of house uses can be reduced um and they're going to be uh making a presentation showing that um we we again we we think that it would be a better solution to have one driveway in and one driveway out out however the applicant feels that this is vital for their uh for the for their uh operating model and for the way they they expect the grocery store to operate um so with that we do think it it can be accommodated provided that they're in they include the technology as I stated that the planning board approved the control arms and other other methods for um for slowing vehicle traffic in order to provide pedestrian safety um um and so um regarding the internal layout staff does have some uh proposed conditions regarding uh the layout of the of their shelves making sure that they do not block the windows there is a nice pedestrian path on Alton Road that they'll be able to look into the store um and so staff is proposing a condition that that uh that their displays uh not be placed directly upon along the windows to provide those views into the stores into the store um they are modifying they are for 19th Street they are requesting uh waivers of those Frontage standards as as I said they're they are providing a 5ft clear pedestrian path however they will not be providing the uh the landscape uh transition area from the from The Pedestrian path into the street um and and and the and the long Frontage standards require that there be 10 feet available uh of that which of which 10 feet has to be clear for pedestrians they're just providing the F feet that will be entirely clear for pedestrians um this is as a result of their requirements for their ground floor to to go almost all the way to the property line uh given their the the site constraints and and to meet the needs of the grocery store so staff is not opposed to that um regarding their their variance on habitable space um um staff is is uh agreeable to the variants given that there is no other place to put their back of house uh uses on this property there's no Alleyway there's no uh it's impossible to include anything on Alton Road nor would we want it on Alton Road given the traffic volume that are that are on Alton Road um so 19th Street is the best place to include to to uh to have these back of house uses um however we do feel that that that uh this situation can be approved upon um including requiring that uh that uh U the facade be improved including high quality uh roll down doors which will remain closed when the when the loading is not in use um minimizing the driveways they're currently proposed to be uh um uh 12 feet I believe and we're we're recommending that they be reduced to 11 feet um we also have concerns with lighting and lighting uh impacting um the the adjacent Residential Properties um and we are um uh recommending that that the that the lighting uh impacts be reduced and we have uh conditions indicating that as such in the in the draft order um so with that staff recommends that the design review board approve uh approve the project uh subject to the conditions the in in the attached draft order as well as the waivers and variance Madam chair before we begin um first with the EXP party Communications has anyone had any exp party Communications that need to be disclosed um also thank you and also this time unfortunately uh board member Laura Luen will need to have um will need to leave the room she has a voting conflict uh she is an attorney license to practice in the State of Florida she has Offices here or prac IES in Miami date County one of her firm's client although she doesn't work directly with Wells Fargo is Wells Fargo so under Section 112314 3A um she does have a voting conflict because it's a director indirect um Financial benefit to her firm uh to maintain the client Wells Fargo so with that um Miss Lan's going to be um just confirming it and stepping outside that's confirmed thank you okay okay and also just remember that within 15 days you have to fill out the form with the clerk's office okay and thank you and with that um Graham I'll set the clock in 10 minutes morning again everyone grahe penber Howard El Fernandez Len tapen is 200 southpas g Boulevard at this point we I we have some folks that came in after the initial swear in so I think we if we could get them sworn in that would be helpful sure uh at this juncture anyone who will be testifying in this matter please stand and raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you please seated great thank you I appreciate it uh back again here representing 1901 Alton property LLC which is uh the galet family uh with us this morning Marissa galet Cameron sedan from uh Whole Foods I hope I did that last name correctly Jennifer mccan uh our project architect Damon Sanchez our landscape architect from Urban robot U Michael Lin my partner and last but not least miss Emily Balter my associate uh what we've handed out to you is a are two slightly modified proposed uh conditions that I'm going to talk about in a little bit first one is is related to the interaction of the building with the New World Symphony property which is our neighbor to the east and north um that condition is what was requested by them so we've agreed to do it and and when Jennifer goes and shows you the plans we've already implemented that a version of the plan second condition that we're proposing to modify relates to the as Helio noted the the code requirement that fixtures be pushed back from this building Frontage because the nature of the of the of the use we need to uh accept certain area certain uses in the building small areas of that long Frontage that we have um from that requirement the food prep and the food pickup so we're going to ask you to approve it at the end of the hearing with those slight modifications so let me get rolling and I'll I'll turn it over to Jennifer as soon as I can the other thing that you'll note um we've been working very hard with the administration on the 19th Street issues that reelio noted so we have in our presentation plans that we've already submitted that we've already shown to the planning board that in our opinion resolve the concerns that that have been raised by the administration so PJ if we could there we go just uh as reelio noted I don't none of you were on the board at that point I don't think but this project is essentially identical in in design to one that was approved back by this board in 2015 it both had a certificate uh uh conditional use permit and a design approval for that building that never went forward this is a modernization of that design uh here's our site as you it's no should be no stranger to anyone 1901 Alton currently developed to the Wells Fargo oddly shaped triangular site uh bordered by 19th Street in Alton Road the as I noted before the New World Symphony housing is our only other neighbor on our little island that we have there and of course to our South Publix Walgreens so 19th Street is basically you know immediately across the street we already have the Publix and we already have Walgreens so it is a Commercial Street in that sense the the Walgreens that's I mean the Walgreens the Ws Fargo that's on the property is a very traditional Suburban style development with a large area devoted to drive-throughs that's right on 19th Street and and the uh before I go beyond this you'll see you'll remember at the Hard Corner uh when we talk about it they have basically SED areas that's at the adjacency of Alton and 19th that we and and urban robots PL significantly improve that little corner so as I noted we have this project in its original form was approved approved by both this board and the and the planning board back in 2015 two tenants will be in the building uh the the the Whole Foods and then the relocated Wells Fargo three stories total uh with parking on the roof and and as you'll see from the plans all the vehicular access is from 19th Street which of course makes sense um we don't have the benefit of an alley so everything needs to happen on 19th Street uh we are providing uh forign acccess of the required parking that will allow us significant areas of parking for our employees because this is going to be a large operation with a lot of employees so we have parking and bicycle parking for them within the structure and because of the unique nature of this use we Whole Foods believes that this will be a store that serves the entire town entire city so the goal is to make sure that we're providing a parking resource for all those folks briefly on the operation um and again this has been uh discussed at length with the administration and this is designed based on the the years and years of experience that the Whole Foods team has we've got truck loading where you can back a truck all the way two large tractor trailers all the way in uh and then we have a the trash is handled by a compactor system which is basically these large you don't have traditional dumpsters they're loaded from within the building they're sealed completely and when they're ready to be emptied which we agreed with the planning board only to do a maximum of twice a week they just get put on a truck and takeen out so you don't have the traditional kind of garbage system where there's a truck coming every day to pick up a dumpster these are only emptied twice a week and we've agreed to enclose the doors as staff has recommended with a decorative doors on both of them and our conditions of the planning board already provide that we cannot leave them open when they're not in active use so let me turn it over to Jennifer now to take you through the design Steve we're going to need more time probably another 10 minutes uh the uh and then and then we'll talk about landscaping and then we'll wrap it up in for your questions good afternoon good morning Jennifer mccan with Studio MCG architecture so this is a view of the Whole Foods in Wells Fargo from the corner of 19th Street in Alton Road the building is basically of double height uh Market uh with a Wells Fargo on the North End and then a on the corner we have a mezzanine which has some of the seaing for the uh prepared foods that I think all of us have enjoyed it at Whole Foods and then above that there's a decorative screen and behind that is about 8T deep of of landscaping um designed by Urban robot with a metal screen in front so that those um those plants can be seen from the street and and I think it's a really nice detail that was originally designed by oppenheim and that screens the parking so there's three levels of parking and you really don't see much of that at all this is a view from Alton Road uh Wells Fargo on the left side Whole Foods on the right and you can see now when you walk down that street now probably not many of you have uh because there's not many places to walk to at the moment uh but the the streetcape is really going to be improved with this design you're going to have Street trees and and there is Landscaping uh because it's an fdot Road there is a large area of landscaping and parallel parking on on Alton and again as you can see we could not put any of our loading on that side there's an intersection coming from sunset uh so uh you know you wouldn't want any sort of loading on that side this is the corner and I think Urban robot has done a great job designing a what's called a bio whale which is taking some of that uh water from rainwater and kind of depositing it in the in the city property but right now that's just grass at the moment so I think what you see on your left they they've used some native landscaping and Damon's going to explain a little bit that next this is the these are the plans this is the ground floor plan that you currently have in your set and since we've submitted this we've worked a bit on it um you know we most of 19th Street was uh service and what we've been able to do we work with staff and we've been able to push over the fpnl Vault we turned it sideways um we kind of squished over a little bit all of that and we gained an additional 27 feet of um of glass area so there might be some prepared foods area in the front of that but um but we still think that's a much better way to to to handle uh 19 Street so I think it's a much better project along that side now you'll see see that revised plan in a minute and again on the ground floor you have facing Alton Road you have the um vertical Transportation coming from the parking the cart card of a uh and the escalators coming from the parking this is the mezzanine so what you see there in dark gray on the bottom is the seating area so when you get your prepared foods you can go upstairs and and have um meet your lunch or dinner also what we've done is taken some of that back of house area that normally is on the ground floor when you have an alley so you know um domestic water pumps and and air conditioning units things like that that usually are on the ground floor we've been able to put that on the mezanine level so to take that off the street then we have three levels of parking two that are have a roof over it and then we have the the um the roof which is you know complete parking open to the sky and you're able to park get in your uh elevator or escalator and go down to uh the shopping area for the Wells Fargo or Whole Foods and this is the roof parking and we've also put a lot of our mechanical up there as well and screened it from View and this is a section cut through the Alton Road side where you can see we have the um future sidewalk level kind of a veranda at the ground floor along Alton above that we have um that that deep landscaped area screening the cars and then you can see the the parking above that are that's set back and again as part of the planning board approval last week some of the lighting that all of the lighting on the roof it was agreed to that we would that would be at a lower level and you wouldn't have any light pollution to the neighbors and this is the revised plan so um you can see there I I don't know if you can see it but next just just next just to the left of that staircase it's going to show you down uh there we were able to add 27 additional feet of glass along that side so I think that's a it's a huge Improvement uh for that that floor plan along 19th yes and that's so you'll see that we'll talk about the conditions next but uh there's a conditioned to say we will need some prepared foods back there so we won't have that as fully Open Glass it will be glass but there's a lower level area that would may have to be screened for the prepared foods you don't want that sitting on on the Open Glass and what we've also done is we worked on the 19th Street facade and we added additional louvers um we added additional glass um before in your in your plans on a201 currently there was a lot of blank walls at the that mezzanine level so we added additional fenestration at those levels as well also uh we added screening with the neighbors so they they wanted additional screening facing the New World Symphony so that's um also one of the conditions I think in your package now there's just uh a concrete wall facing them and then I'm going to invite Damon up here to explain the Landscaping hello I'm Damon Sanchez representing Urban robot um so the landscape component of this project uh we feel provides a beautiful benefit to the area uh with the improved streetscape and the bio swell that we've designed on the corner of Alton and 19th uh the BIOS swell will be an ecological Improvement to this area uh and be a Showcase of sustainability with native plants and um storm water um uh retention we also worked with the New World Symphony to ensure that the building was properly screened on the East and Northeast sides with planting and they are in support of the project thank you you want to take everyone through the plans just briefly D so this first plan is a rendered site plan plan you could see uh the bio swell on the corner of Alton and 19th uh we've kind of added uh some color pops which will be the MU grass you see in that pink and then there's also other native plants like Spider Lily and uh milked in that area and then with the big trees being cypress trees um just to also highlight on the northeast side and the East Side you see the kind of dense screening we have in that uh thin zone of planting but we took full advantage of it and then New Street trees on the south uh along 19th and then also New Street trees on the North uh East sorry Northwest or just North corner of the site there keeping the existing Street trees uh wherever we could um on the northwest side or Southwest I guess side and I would only add to on the on the North and the East that plantings was that was designed hand in hand with the New World Symphony folks and their Architects please stop me for interrupting thank you and then here uh are just some beautiful images of the plants that we're proposing you see the the bald cypess in their native habitat and then also some beautiful bald cypers that are planted just south of us on Lincoln Road in Alton and then just three images of uh the the beautiful native smaller plants and ground covers that we proposing and then onto the this is the planting plan or technical side of basically everything we just explained this is the garage level planting plan so we have uh I believe it's around 3 ft of soil depth for all of these uh plants that we're proposing on the edges of the uh garage and then just wanted to note that in response to a comment last week we've increased the height of two plants uh in these in these Planters so as to block um headlights from um you know pollution or light pollution and oh this is The Hardscape plan just showing the different Hardscape materials also noting that we're uh proposing um silver cells or similar for the uh uh root bace to grow below the sidewalks in the areas where we're having New Street trees and this is the tree disposition plan uh important to note that we're removing a lot of prohibited um species that are currently there on the North and the east side and then just keeping as many of the really nice Street trees that are there and then we are relocating um one date palm and one Live Oak very nearby is this the same plan that's it perfect thank you thank you Damon so I'm going to wrap it up the I just wanted to note before we left you know uh reelio mentioned and this did come up at planning board um the rooftop lighting there's condition J of your order already requires limit limited height on the on the rooftop lighting to ensure no spilling so we have no objection to that the we have objection to a lengthy list of these conditions obviously but the only caveat being those proposed minor tweaks that we've handed out which would you know first one as I I I don't think I need this read this in the record this time but basically what it would do is modify the design that faces the New World Symphony on the levels two and above um to replace any uh large areas of of block that were on the original plan with mesh um with the the only limitation being the Florida building code requirements um and that mesh will be narrowed down to to uh help it uh reduce any kind of headlight intrusion the um because there is a there's a condition in the you the reason I put that in that in this condition because that the the bulk of the remainder of the condition requires the uh adjustments to the screens to basically make them larger so we want to make sure it's clear that they're narrowing in the back to prevent that kind of spillage on the New World Symphony and the additional language in in 1D uh 1e that would allow us to put food prep uh and and pick up within that 10 ft uh on the first floor uh again an essential element of the Whole Foods business and made it and it really is triggered by the fact that we've expanded the length of the of the of the glass around 19 18 Street um you know by 27 and2 ft so we think that there's going to be plenty of uh empty beautiful space for for storefronts but we need that exception for that use That's essential to the business so with that um we're here for any questions you may have of course I'd like to reserve time for a btal if it becomes necessary but we'd ask for your approval this morning with those tweaks to those conditions thank you very much thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak anybody online online nobody online okay excellent I'm now going to close the public portion and open it up to the board for discussion I would like to say um thank you for working with the adjacent neighor members of the community the the the borders between the apartments and the site were a concern and I also appreciate you working so hard with saaff it seems like you know you you everybody was working together to resolve some important concerns um sha would you like to sure um uh thank you for the very thorough and clear presentation I do have a couple questions um I'm wondering it's 54 feet tall right now what is are you at your max height for this building no I believe they they can go up five five additional feet okay just five feet but not for and actually I think they can go to 55 because the the drb can approve um uh height limits up to 55t and extra 5 feet if their first floor is is uh higher than 14t okay I I was just asking because I know in these Urban lot conditions you know um which you guys are the experts with Whole Foods but uh you know you can have double height shopping spaces um and you know if you chose to do that then it would relieve a lot of the pressure on the ground floor footprint that the urban realm is now absorbing um I do want to Echo comments that I think you know there's been a lot of conversation um and you have been you know um stating the issues and maybe working to address them um you know I I would argue that maybe they can't be resolved uh if you look at this you know Street Publix already um it doesn't have its back of house there it does have it to an internal lot but it doesn't really have a street friendly presence so I appreciate the the willingness to work hard to make that a street friendly presence and and actually my concern right now is just this is a messy process with trash with loading with everything with the groceries and and I would want to make sure that we're not pushing to consolidate um something in too small of a footprint that then when it actually comes to a working condition it's only option is to spill over into 19th um you know I look at the loading dock and I my experience um I work with a lot of truck drivers and deliveries and you know I just common day truck drivers there's no way that two trucks would ever fit in here and I have concerns about one truck being able to back in there um so uh the trash compactor I appreciate you know that it's not a dumpster because again it would just be a you know a dump truck pulling that out and dumping it so are you saying that they just back up and sort of that's a trailer and they connect and just take it away it doesn't get emptied or the entire yeah miss my the entire unit is picked up as one thing so basically gets pulled out of its little cubby in the wall and taken on a truck off to the dump emptied and then returned so we have one compactor that's trash one compactor that's cardboard so under the terms of our plan board approval we've agreed in our operational plan that that trip can only be twice a week so you know again the that's why the advantage are using the compactors right you're losing all of that trash activity you have with traditional dumpsters you know you would be there five days a week seven days a week if you had dumpsters there instead of compa so again I'm not in the um very much detailed layout of this uh but I would actually suggest that if there's a way to allow the loading dock and the trash and the recycling areas actually share space um where they're not separated by the stairs then when those messy times or those unexpected moments or you know Whole Foods is great about donating to their their local neighborhoods to the food pantries and people you know come over and pull up and load up their cars and I just know there's an there's a lot more messiness than being able to say I'm going to back in to these areas and put down a door and it goes away so I would encourage us to say not try to condense this as much as possible but actually to give them a little Breathing Room behind those closed doors or in that space for those for that messy process um again I you guys are the experts on what that looks like but that would just be my advice for the for the continued conversations I appreciate the landscape um proposal um there seems to be a lot of thought uh put into it you know I do I mean the the section does um show the raised Planters at the parking I'm concerned about you know their their maintenance and continued functioning but I I think the approach is is um very worth is there an example that was my question for was it Damon um has this been done before like is this a precedent for for Whole Foods no I I for Whole Foods I don't know this was a I can tell you this was a hardfought uh issue in 2015 when we designed this project right the the um what the go the the goal um of of this kind of layer you know that Chad oppenheim came up with was because we had discussed this at length with sunset Islands three and four which were concerned about the original design of this building um and this you know is designed again to give this soft kind of uh you know Green Layer to the parking structure as to I I don't think we I don't think we have an experience directly with it with Whole Foods but I Damon I don't know from your experience in other projects yeah in terms of Precedence yeah I mean I've personally worked on many projects and seen them built where um within this soil depth and on roof structure the plants can Thrive and be very successful in a uh similar condition sure like I'm looking at page 39 um where we have a section at the escalator Lobby you know and there's the screening in front of it which you know I'm I guess I could look closer at your material board but you know what is that maybe you could also just share real quick what that screening is and then you know there's a solid wall right behind it it is open to above but again I think you know when we're looking at small buildings uh smaller residence buildings that may not be in the main public eye we talk about Landscape Maintenance so I just want to put that out there for for my board to think about I'm I'm really glad that you brought that up so is this the that's the materials board my main concern with the design um oh I think sha brings up some interesting thing about the just say my main concern about the design is that I sort of don't understand this screening element like why are you using all this beautiful landscape and then hiding it or smooshing it between fencing or screening and a parking lot you know why not have the greenery show through I don't understand the concept and I'm also concerned that this exoskeleton um is just going to give a feel to this this whole section is very massive structure which I know that you know one of the challenges of the site is that it's this borderline between a residential commercial area I'm very familiar with this corner and this area in general and I don't know if massiveness is what we want expressed here necessarily so that was I I just wanted you to explain the concept of of of enclosing the Landscaping in mesh yeah so I think originally um you know when you have a parking garage typically you do want some sort of screening so that's it's the mixture of the screening and the landscape we have both and we worked a little bit on the size of the openings so I think we probably need to go a little bit even bigger than what we're showing there I think that's three in I would probably go to uh five inches opening um so the the leaves can kind of start coming through um they'll come through on that size as well but um you know I think we're going to be working with a much open mesh the the pictures that you're seeing in front of you on the plans you know there's that's probably about a 3-inch opening what we're showing and I think we can go a little bit bigger we didn't specify that on the plans but I think you know I think the the bigger the mesh is I think the better and I also like the fact that you do have something for it to grow up against so it's not just you know coming over the sidewalk or you know so so it has some sort of form um so so it's it's a mixture it's a double layer of the mesh and the Landscaping to hide the parking I mean I think it was I think it was very successful when it was done it's not a dark mesh it's a it's a light it's a white mesh that matches the building so when you look at it it's it's going to look like the the additional the adjacent stucco also the the mesh and the stucco will look the same color I guess I just don't understand why why don't you want to just see the beautiful landscaping I'm you know originally that's how it was designed back in 2015 so we kept the same uh as what was originally approved I mean does the other I'm wondering if the other board members had a similar questioning yeah I'll just um have a few comments and um I agree I mean it it seems that the screening and I understand why the use of the screening to sort of protect what activity is happening behind it which is basically a part par in garage um but it sort of is in the way of um the Landscaping the beautiful landscaping that could be over there and if it caner levers over the sidewalk that's fine it's on a second floor and on a third floor so I don't I don't think it's going to be in the way of the side people on the sidewalk um I refer you to I think um comments made earlier um there's a parking structure on six and Collins referred to as the ballet valet parking structure and again it's all Greenery it's a parking structure but yet no screening so maybe take a look at that maybe lowering the screen so that it isn't it just I agree it makes it look more of a mass of a building um so that's one comment um that I have the other one is it it appears to me at the same time that the Landscaping on 19th Street uh I'm sorry the Landscaping on Alton does not seem to follow the lushness that you find on the corner of 19th in Alton so along Alton all the way to the Yeshiva school going north it just seems to get more um less seems to be a lot less I would like to see a lot more I think it would soften up the building and create a better environment um the um comment about the um deliveries and the trash area um could that be Revisited if you were to eliminate you have currently two exits in the design do you really need two exits is one exit sufficient and that would then give somewhat uh an additional 10 ft or so of space to that other area um um I know other parking areas coming from the second and third floor of other grocery stores currently have just one lane of exit and it seems to be okay seems to have been working but Whole Foods obviously um has a better feel for this uh I don't know if this is their first double story facility um because I know those started at least here in date County uh sometime in the 1990s um uh so I give that as an option um I think also when we look at the Alton roadside the corner is very beautiful on 19th in Alton but yet I think it would be nice to soften the corner on the Wells Fargo um which is also next to I think it's still at the yiva school there um so maybe that's something that can be looked at with additional Landscaping there um there was concern about Landscaping being maintained towards the future and maybe we can in the motion eventually when we do a motion we can add that the caveat that there be a land a maintenance plan for the Landscaping going forward um so those are my comments thank you Madam chair may I just correct something that I said earlier um I said the the height limit in cd1 was 50 feet it's actually 40 feet and the drb can approve an additional five so the height limit is 45 ft here so they they are at their height limit yeah I just have a question about the driveway um what I want to avoid is what's happened at Trader Joe's where the Wall comes right up to the sidewalk and the cars can't see and they have to pull the sidewalk it gets a mess and I just want to see what can be done to avoid that kind of scenario of setting back the retaining the whatever well I can tell you Scott that issue came up planning board so we already as part of our planning board approval we already have the requirement to adjust that corner okay basically to pull the wall off of it and so basically it would be a column space so that you know so when you're coming along westbound you'll be able to see that that's my biggest thing so that's yeah I can tell you that we had a very lengthy about that and all the driveways uh but yes that was already in their their order good morning Marissa galba with cresen Heights 2200 bisc Boulevard um I agree I wanted to say again with graham we did spend some time on that item at planning board so we already included that um in terms of the Landscaping we are lucky on this corner that um where you see that Lush landscaping that's actually city property so we are very lucky that we were allowed to do additional planting there and make that even more inviting um with on the 19th side and the Alton side we are working within that area that we have so you know Justine did a very good job of putting in as many plants and different variety of plants as she could there and then on the other side it's not currently the Yeshiva it's the New World Symphony student housing so that we're the only people on that little island as gram likes to say it's would be our Whole Foods Well Fargo project and the New World Symphony housing we were actually just our landscape architect work together with the New World Symphony landscape architect to create that area there to make sure that everyone was satisfied so let me just clarify so New World Symphony is where the Yeshiva School used to be that's correct okay because she was asking me and I was sure if it was the apartment building on the other side of 19th okay that's correct it's their student housing um and in terms of the screening structure I mean there have been plenty of garages that I've built recently I keep thinking of the Mount siai garage that has like all that screening they all have screening um here we felt that because we are in that area that's residential commercial we wanted to add the greenery on this parking garage um we are happy to minimize the screening or remove the screening it was just an architectural feature that we thought was pretty um but we will take your guidance on that one so thank you yeah on the screening sorry sorry but on the screening the condition C already requires us to adjust just the size of the of the holes right so that um that can be further modified based on the board's Direction um but that would be a good place for it to be and sorry conditions to you is from the planning board or from our staff it's from drb okay the again I'm interrupt you but yeah that's that's what that condition is intended to incorporate the idea that they widen it up so you can see more of the greenery behind them so it seems like there's two issues up for discussion there is this loading deck you know the street escape on 19th um as well as this screening feature um I will say for the loading side um I like that there's two exits I I think that this is going to be a very busy facility and and in that that to me is I can see why you would fight that I also completely understand Shauna's point about needing a little bit of breathing room um so my thought is how also if with the parking with the exit if you have this arm coming down that's going to slow it down to not hit a pedestrian but that's also going to call to cause a buildup of cars coming out so I I I'm supportive of the three lanes as opposed to the two um there's really this is tough because you definitely don't want people coming in and out on Alton you know this is really this is what it is my thought would be how can we make this and I think this is where staff was going how can we make this area more inviting more attractive more of a pedestrian friendly sleep seate as possible I'm going to make the assumption that the metal um louvers are are this is going to be are going to be down most of the time no especially if they're just they're taking the trash compactor out twice a a week it's they're required under our cup to be closed in outside of being in active use so right if there's not a truck doing loading or there's no trash they have to be closed now again twice a for the compactors the uh the the deliveries are going to be more often but in when they're not in use we have Decor decorative doors that have to be closed and that that was what I was going to maybe offer as you know a suggestion maybe not just to maybe have that be you know wouldn't it be great to have some sort of mural there or something painted or something inviting to have this interactive you know pedestrian experience um instead of trying to camouflage these gigantic aluminum gates why don't we make it so it becomes a more a decorative nice feature we need the loading docks you need the trash compactors you know are there ways to make it a little bit more inviting I don't know what anybody else or even you know the staff has to say about that but that was just an idea you know my agenda always is to make the city more colorful and add art wherever possible so that's something that you know I think might be nice I don't know if anybody else has an opinion on that yeah I you brought something up and that's the arms on the exit and entrance um on 19th I don't know that we need our arms for the entrance and exit to the U markets I don't know of any markets currently that have it um and I think that would cause backup um of people getting in and people coming out um so I would revisit that as Whole Foods um I I know that there are people that will uh yeah and and that may be a problem maybe it needs to go back to planning because it will back up the the traffic coming in and coming out there is a problem right now with people going into the parking garage for example by Publix um that are not Publix's patrons but that are visiting the area around it and they're experiencing a problem with that but the arms in and out aren't going to alleviate that so I would revisit that Ro Helio I think it's it's a mistake to have those arms only because of the backup that it's going to cause yeah I'll just jump in the um first of all we do have a Whole Foods rep here if you have specific Whole Foods questions but they are um a tremendous Community partner as you mentioned and them being able to bring their flagship store to Miami Beach which is what the community really wants they do need this back of house so we did put it where we felt it was less invasive but they do need it to be able to be successful um the the arms for the parking are actually above the ramp they're not by the street side so it won't cause a backup there they're up top once the car reaches the landing Dar I mentioned the Trader Joe's lot but it's similar to how you get the arm is above um so that should not be a problem I think also there the parking lot not by the the municipal parking lot across the street from Publix it has correct me if I'm wrong the same sort of configuration where it's one in two out and there's an arm because there's so much tra uh foot traffic on the parking garage parking garage and that that has a good flow but that's because you have to have the arms there because it is a parking garage this is this is you have to get a ticket in and you have to pay going out this is as well we do need the arms we we do need the arms there as well for mainly for I mean obviously for security we have to be able to know who's in and out of our garage the people will take a ticket they will get validated they will use their ticket to exit I I would like to say that I think that clearly you guys have spent a lot of time addressing this circulation issue and sort of the conflict of you know a pedestrian Urban environment and you know the utilitarian space is required to make something like this function so I I value your guys's professional opinion my advice would be to not hide excuse me what it is Embrace what it is make sure it can be what it needs to be you know there's also workers at Whole Foods who have to be in those trash spaces putting in cardboard so I would hate for them to be in a tiny box where they can't move around anyways I would like to if it's okay take the discussion back to the screening and the green um I'm going to have to step out soon so I I wanted to try to make a motion before I left if the rest of the board feels like more conversation is needed I support that um I do think that the sort of higher level building you know sort of the I'm looking at page 10 um the larger screening if you will that's the concrete structure um that goes above and sort of brackets the parking is is appropriate but instead of you know this maybe um screen that's being proposed and I know you you mentioned Jennifer that you're going to review it that if there were it felt more of a layering like if there were just a few secondary members that are either vertical you know in this Rhythm maybe they have a relationship with the moans below but it's more open it's not screened and it's just a secondary sort of smaller member that's adding that layer between the front and then the green or I'd be okay completely with without that layer but I think that that you know I am concerned about it feeling Stark with this big um sort of um yeah no I can't my you know the the garages have to have some sort of screening and I guess you're just moving it from hitting the the walls of the garage itself to outside um but yeah I mean I again I don't really understand I don't understand the point I think it it takes away from something really beautiful and they still have a a rail at the parking yeah to do that yeah yeah I don't I don't I don't I don't I don't know and it doesn't seem like there's a lot of answers coming from you know from you I I'm trying to figure out a way to justify this very awkward tight design it just seems I think maybe it's what they said it was something proposed several years ago before Co it just was left uh without looking at it twice maybe if you could look at it now um you know it's the height of it it's the it's the massiveness that it presents um and yet even though you open the space between them between the grills um you still are hiding and keeping um the view of beautiful landscaping that could be behind it that is behind it especially for a brand that's all about maybe the environment and green you know I I don't I I personally to your point of like okay let's let's get this going um I I I can't really support I can't support a design like this so that's that's one do you feel like there's a way to approve things without the screening or you feel like it needs to that sort of whole sort of upper level facade and the relationship with the below needs to be rethought I mean it it seems like the screening and this exoskeleton is the main design feature of the building I mean I I think we could I think jna had a great idea and I think we can look at having a much smaller members in there so we have you know vertical uh aluminum mesh but with a much wider opening and I'm talking you know four feet by four feet instead of 4 in by 4 in so I think if we had something like that that did still create a um that layering effect with the landscaping and I think that that layer is going to go away because all the the Landscaping is going to be growing through it so I do think the layering is important um because you know it may take up there's a if there's a an area of the landscape that's not as full then you have the screening so I think if we just really open up that screen um I think that that would work and then I mean cuz what it also seems sort of severe to me the this exoskeleton feature it it again you know you're right up to the property line behind it the block behind it and even the blocks around it these are all lower buildings you know this this to me the scale of the exoskeleton it would work well if this building was surrounded by taller buildings you know 10 10 10 stories tallies and you needed to create a structure that would fit with the that would fit with the neighborhood that has a presence like this has a real presence but this building is going to be so much larger than anything around it it's going to have a presence you don't need to overemphasize and create more height with it and that's what I'm just I'm just concerned about how does this building fit within the context of the other buildings around it again you know this is on the other side of this island there are all these two-story Apartments so and this is going to be towering over that and then you have all of this empty space the publs across the street the CVS across the street they're all or Walgreens they're all pretty low so I just wonder how you know and again it's there's no setback here it's all right there and I think this inclination to soften it with the greenery like that it's speaking towards that but it's almost like it's it's reversed where it's you're hiding the elements that are going to soften the space and then you're just enhancing these very severe tall lines I I think that what the architecture did was break it down into two stories so you have the first level uh and then you have the second level which is the parking so I mean it it really is meant to look like a two-story building I know it's we we're 45 ft but it it did break down the massing so and I think what you're really going to see is is the glass facade at that first level um and that's you know where where the usable space is and I think that the parking that which is three floors has been really reduced down to two with the Landscaping in front yeah I I agree with you I see that part of it but it's it isn't just the screening it's also the framing on it that it just jumps out at you um and it is out of context with the rest of the buildings in the neighborhood as they are today now they may change tomorrow um but at least Publix isn't going to change walgre isn't going to put a twostory unless they sell that whole corner there who knows um but you also have a park right across the street from you um I call it a park you know with the fountain and the landscaping and you know there's no structure there you're to if I may you're totally getting rid of the architecture if you get rid of that because if you look beyond the screening you're looking at a parking garage an ugly not even not symmetrical parking garage with stairwell yeah it's it's awful and making the screen too big by the way I'm looking at um slide number six and I think that gives you a good a good rendering of like how really not architecturally attractive what's behind the screen is so I'm on your side on this I think with the with their Landscaping I think that they can still cover the parking on both levels um without having that framing because it's been done in other parking garages of this city you're looking though at uh three stories of parking yes and you can't put trees that big anymore in these spaces you have them at each level I think I'm not an architect I'm not going to design the project here on the on the de but I think there's something that can be done um with the landscaping and the various floors of parking without having such a structure yeah just I'd like to say also that um you know the buildings that you're looking at today next to us are where they are currently if you looked at this lot currently you know it is what it is today but we're building within right as could anyone else near us um the typically we have a lot of people from the community that call in for these meetings but we have worked extensively with all the neighbors around us for many many years on this project and I think the architect that the architecture that you see today is something that we came to in agreement with everyone that people who live here and breath this neighborhood are happy with yeah I got to we're sitting here this has been for so many years and PE there's been rumors that this Whole Foods is not going to happen so I was so frustrated when it kept being delayed and now that we're seeing it come to fruition I'm just saying we're we're being delusional if we don't think every building on that street is going to be five stories tall or four stories tall because that's what's happening everywhere on Alton Road and I think back to the architectural Des design that was originally an oppenheim you're going to a really unattractive not architecturally stylistic building if you take away the the exoskeleton and the screening you make that screening too big and it re it no longer does the job of screening those cars which you can see on the slide that I Told You So anyway I think we' I think we'd have a lot of upset people with us if we delayed the kept delaying this for to redesign it at this point I mean I I can make a a motion to approve it with the condition where we do um understand you know more details of the construction and the material of this screening element you know I I think that the super structure has a language with the you know with the building so I'm not proposing changing that but just what is that layer and you know what are those plants exactly planted height you know but more about that screening layer that's my motion thing too you know we've we've seen buildings on West Avenue and know we've talked about this before about we've seen lots of proposals where the landscape is a key part a key architectural element and then it's hard to maintain because it's living beings and then you have these buildings that are these large buildings dotting our community that the Landscaping Works in some areas and it doesn't and and the concept Falls flat and that's something that we've traditionally um you know uh not been very very in favor of and that's I mean that's also a huge concern here if you're saying that the the garage the the garage itself the design is a bit of an afterthought and or it's not very pleasing and then what if a tree dies or a section gets more Sun than the other whatever it is because again these are living things that we're using to decorate the facade um you know then then what happens then and then the concept fails so I I I don't I don't know I understand that you know there there was a lot involved with this but it doesn't mean that you know I I I don't find it to be the most pleasing design I've ever seen thank you thank you we um we're happy to have a landscape maintenance plan attached to this as well and again it is Whole Foods so they don't want to have a brown trees obvious I mean nobody ever wants that on their building no but we we understand so we're happy to have a landcap meance plan and Sean I know you have to leave early but I just something came to me when you mentioned earlier about pickup and grocery pickup and what Whole Foods does for the community um I don't know if it's in the purview of the board but I know that Whole Foods would love to have pickup parking spaces along 19th Street um if that's something that we can talk about as well I think there are parallel parking spaces right now on 19th U pick up yeah there are there are public are public parking spaces yes that's correct so do you have a drawing of the parking garage without the Landscaping no you didn't provide that in your materials a drawing without Landscaping no you know like so we could see what what the interior Building looks like if if the I'm not necessarily take I'm just curious to know what the what what the architecture of the garage looks like because we can't really see it in in the the pictures can't see the structure the form of the Flor plates but I think in the renderings that you see well I don't know if he can pull it up but you know you're you you you basically have the the slabs of levels three and four so level two which is the first level of parking is hidden by the planter um and then behind that you're really just seeing a very thin 8 in concrete slab for levels three and floor with a um an aluminum uh rail a guard rail for the cars so it's it's very simple there's not there's the trees are really meant um to shade that those to be the screen as well as the the screening of the garage itself so it's that double layer of screening hiding the parking well I put a motion on the floor I don't know if anybody I I guess does that it does it die if nobody seconds It Go for the motion you don't even know what it is but was part on I'm sorry I so far I only heard a motion to approve the design I motioned to approve with the condition that the the screening come back to us so not to um adjust the superstructure but to understand the material and the um exact detailing of the screening its relationship to the planting Etc we have no objection to come back to discuss that detail second motion by Miss Meyer second by Mr Sheldon um do we want to do a roll call or or we okay with The Voice vote on this one and I apologize is that with my proposed tweaks to the the other conditions that we handed out the New World Symphony will kill me if that hit their condition isn't in there um the the first condition I believe that was included as well in the planning board uh uh is identical condition the planning board so whether or not it's included here it still will it will still apply and we really and we really need that flexibility for the pickup area uh on the 10- foot setback issue will that so that's essentially being limited to the South Side along 19th Street that there will be blocking or will there be any on Alton Road Cod based on your description that's where I the reason I'm hesitating reelio I'm not exactly certain that that's only where it's going to be but that's necess those elements of the building require it to be the use require those small interruptions of that 10- foot space so I can't tell you that it's going to be limited that area no major objections um I guess I would just add in a manner to be reviewed and approved by staff yeah we will minimize it as much as we can but we need this flexibility the setbacks would basically be on the 19th Street not on the alter road side this I mean all we're talking about is the interior of the space right can we have fixtures like a shelf or something like that within that 10 ft because of the nature of the use we need the flexibility to have it with the Those portions of of the operations so I can't guarantee Myra that that's going to be limited that little corner um and but I think as reelio noted that we we're happy to work with staff to to minimize that and when work with it during the permitting process Ro Helio what is the setback now on Alton Road the the code just requires that the that there be sufficient room for the clear pedestrian path I believe they are providing so the building can actually come up to the property line if there is sufficient right of way the building can come to the property line yes remember talking about the building we're talking about inside the building to this condition I'm I'm asking him about the building what the setback is if if if the sidewalk is wide enough they can come up to the property line and I believe in this case they're requesting a waiver so they can come up to the property line yeah yeah I I personally do not agree with doing a waiver to come all the way up to the property line I like the additional parking you know but I don't I don't see the need to come all the way way up to the property line I think that becomes especially on Alton and even on 19th Street it becomes too much in your face on on Alton we have an additional layer of sidewalks so you have it's basically a double layer of sidewalks so we're not right up on there we have the frame coming down at the property line but behind that's about an an an additional 8 foot walkway on Alon so we have 8 ft of sidewalk for the cafe that you're doing or the for when you the entry where the entry vesle is we have an additional 8T there do you have the rendering that you can put up sure or that you can even see the site plan site plan's probably best to show yeah they're sort of creating a colonade condition okay yeah there's a colonade there okay take it back so so the the waiver is necessary to provide the colonade for those columns to come down in the into the clear pedestrian path but but they are providing a good pedestrian area openness that's fine let me just as a as a point of order we're gonna need we're gonna lose somebody right now toly we need a a quorum or should we pause and then come back take a lunch break and come back or is this something that we can move forward and vote on it's there's a motion in a second so we can have a vote okay yeah definitely VAR five for the correct I can't lose shaa okay so then maybe because I want to move this forward too um should we take a pause for a lunch break and then come back and continue or we already made a motion a motion on the table yeah there's a motion in a second on the table so then um the I think the question was a roll call or just a Voice vote yeah are you comfortable with a voice Vote or should we do a sure yeah yes no yes okay all those in favor I I I any opposed nay okay motion passes and then uh do we have a second SEC uh second uh motion for the variance uh I I move to approve the variance and um yeah I think the the shape of the law poses a the fact that there's no alley uh poses a practical difficulty warranting the grant of the variant and so I concur with staff's analysis okay do we have a second second okay motion second all those in favor I I motion passes thank you again for your very much now i Ro Helio just to make sure the motion we made on the design will come back to us as it pertains to the grill um do you structure should that be continued to a date certain the screening are you ready to bring that back okay so yeah we would on this one I think we would need at least a month to work so if we could continue that piece of it until June okay we'd appreciate it all right should we take a motion to continue the landscape to June this project can we have a motion to continue the screening to June and I think we have it motion to continue the uh screening to June meeting okay second by Mr Sheldon all those in favor I I I and we have four members present so we we're okay and and just to be clear with Helia we're going to get an order on the project and then we'll get a separate order on the uh on the screening second order on the screening okay the second order will be take the first order and add add the screening conditions underlined great because yeah we we're eager to start the building permit process appreciate it and I'd like to call a recess for lunch uh coming back at 12:45 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] High take [Music] High [Music] take [Music] up [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n n [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] see High [Music] take [Music] oh [Music] High me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin [Music] please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 good afternoon and welcome back to the April meeting of the design review board um we are going to continue with our new applications uh drb 23- 0990 1649 West 22nd Street the next item in the agenda is drb 23- 0990 1649 West 22nd Street an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new two-story home including one or more waivers and an understory to replace an existing home okay so uh this item there there on this lot there was a home that was previously approved by the design review board back in 2022 uh that approval did not have an understory home so now the applicant is proposing a new home that home was never built um and this home will is proposed to have an understory um it is in the RS3 District uh it has a lot size of 21497 Ft which exceeds uh the minimum lot requirement um and a unit size is proposed at 10,493 FT or 48.8% of the of the lot size um so it is it is in compliance with the unit size requirements um the applicant is also proposing that the that the uh home be 29 ft uh for a flat roof which is within the allowable height limits um of 31 ft for an understory home however that is at the discretion of the design review board um as understory homes are are are required to come to the design review board in order to determine if the height is appropriate in the specific situation uh the applicant is seeking uh two waivers uh both waivers are are for the same thing but on different facades of the house um the one is for the East Elevation and one is for the west elevation and they are for when uh a two-story elevation uh is in excess of 60 fet in length um it's required to have a uh an open space equivalent to 1% of the lot size um and that open space is required to be of a regular uh of a regular shape and open to the sky and so they are they are not going to be providing those Open Spaces however uh they will be designing uh little little uh um they will be designing open areas into that it just does not comply uh with the minimum requirement and they are they are providing uh breaking up those elevations um with different architectural features um St is supportive of the waivers because by by uh the the lot is irregular they are moving the home back significantly in order to preserve a specimen tree in the front yard um and and providing some significant open space in the front yard in excess of what is required um and so with that um because of that staf is supportive of those waivers with regards to the height of the home staff does have concerns there are uh homes in the vicinity of different elevations and different heights um which could be impacted by by the proposed height um specifically uh to the east there is a single story home that was constructed in 1953 that will be significantly lower than this proposed home um across the canal this is a very narrow Canal there is a pre-1 1942 architecturally significant home uh to the North and then to the West we have less concerns there was a recently approved home um uh with a four foot 4ot uh height waiver to the Southwest so St staff really doesn't have concerns with the height facing uh facing that west elevation our concerns are really to the north and to the east um with as a result of the um of the surrounding context staff is recommending um that the um that the uh height of the under story be reduced by one foot um so the let me see the height by 1 foot so they are proposing uh the underst stor elevation uh to be 10t 2 in staff is proposing that that be reduced to 9t 2 in um this is consistent with other uh approvals that the board has made in the past to reduce the the understory height between 9 and 10 feet um staff is uh is okay uh for maintaining the the height that is proposed for the home the 24t first floor to the top of roof slab for the for most of the home on the south W curve facing the Ark in the floor plan uh which separates the uh higher height proposed along the Waterfront um however staff is recommending that uh that the height be lowered for the northeastern section of the home on the floor plan they call those areas out as the her bathroom and her closet um and staff is recommending that those be reduced by 1 foot 6 in um in order to reduce the overall impacts uh to those to those neighboring properties um so those are those are the major recommendations that staff has made otherwise the design um is a staff is very supportive of the design of the home there was a a technical issue with this submitt um the the plans that were initially submitted uh for uploading for public viewing were too large the our agenda system has a limit of 25 megabytes and the the PDFs that were provided um were larger than that as a result the the PDFs could not be uploaded to the city's agenda the system 30 days prior to the public hearing as is typically done um and one of the uh neighboring properties one of the neighboring Property Owners reached out to City staff and said the plans weren't available um on the agenda software as a result of that as a result of that staff does recommend that the Board review and discuss the application as well as open the public hearing and continue the item to the May 7th 2024 drb hearing um however should the board be inclined to approve the application staff recommends that the approval be subject to the conditions in the attached draft order and Madam Madam chair at this point in time does anyone have any ex party disclosures uh no none um Mr Amer I know um some of your folks are they all here or or any of them need to be sworn in you have anyone online Jose did you get sworn in okay as long as you get sworn in that's we're all here and okay is 10 minutes okay um I think we'll probably need a few more than that but we certainly start 10 start with 10 okay thanks good afternoon Matt amster with the LOF M burkow Rell Fernandez Lin and tapenz offices at South 200 South biscan Boulevard in Miami here today representing 1649 Partners LLC uh the applicant and owner of the subject property uh with me from ownership Fred Carlton uh also we have our project architect Jose Lobo from so Design Studio uh and for Partners at my firm Jeff burkhow and Michael Lin uh we do have a presentation if you could call that up thank you uh this is a very challenging site to develop it's uh an irregular wedge-shaped lot at this Northwestern area of uh the sunset Islands um it is angled along the canal by the way the canal at a minimum is 100 ft but as you head around the curve that becomes even longer and I do uh bring to your attention that both of uh our home and the homes across the way also have rear setbacks um to make that distance even longer um the property itself at towards the front although significantly set back from the front property line is a very large specimen tree which for sure we are definitely preserving but that does restrict the buildable footprint on the property uh as far as the context of the neighborhood raelo mentioned a little bit of it there is a trend towards new homes the two properties to our our west and southwest uh have new home approvals and the one immediately to our West the one with the 4 foot waiver that they got approved um is well under construction uh and then to our East yes there is a one-story existing building uh but again the trend and I'm sure at some point in the future that will be redeveloped likely with I would think for resiliency an underst story as proposed here and two stories above uh and there's a new home relatively new home to the east of that that is a already a two-story uh home so again that's the trend in the uh uh in the community uh we are seeking to be as resilient as possible for longevity and so that's why we've come here for the underst story uh we took a critical look at all of these factors even the prior approval which was not built uh and certainly have designed what we feel is an appropriate resilient home that is sensitive to the neighbors we have especially Fred himself have had extensive discussions with multiple neighbors uh to address concerns we've even worked well with staff to get here we've had uh previous discussions and meetings with staff there was a proposal to have a portion of the home at 31 feet uh which was the maximum allowed height staff strongly suggested that we reduce that to 29 we agreed and came here and felt that that was what a staff would be approving and we are a little surprised that last week when the staff report came out that they're requesting even further reductions from that um the staff also suggested some other design changes uh and those actually we also did make and put into our plans and I'm going to turn it over to Jose thank you much uh Jose Lobo from so design studio for laale so as um as Matt mentioned the house is a pie-shaped lot and it's um it's constrained in the in the front of the prop at the street level at the street on the street side and it opens up towards the Northeast Northwest uh towards the bay and um we saw the opportunity well the design of the house is based on constraints or we looked at the constraints and the opportunities that we had the biggest opportunity is to um to radiate the back of the house towards the towards the view and take advantage of of all those spaces having the best possible view of the house and then uh and then the front uh of the house is um we pushed it back far as far as long as we could so we could have usable space in front of the house here's um here's an image of the site um with a 12 foot 12 foot setbacks on the sides here's the existing house that has um um it's basically a two-story house a three-story house um with u is about 30 30 feet or 34 feet to the midpoint of the of the uh roof it's uh it's nine it's about 9 ft from the from the East property line and here's a here's a plan of our uh landscape and under story of our house uh where we we're obviously abiding to the 12T setback on on both sides so the house sits uh further further away from um both neighbors and then um and then as you can see the the other thing that we had on the side was the big tree that we're trying to preserve and we've created this wonderful yard in the front that will um that we'll see them in a little bit and it's a 75 1/2t setback to the front twostory portion correct and and then um what you see here I think you see on this this is this is the air condition space that acts as the main entrance of the house and um we have requested 10 foot2 or or designed the house to have the 10 foot2 from slab to slab in order to accommodate an eight an 8 foot ceiling on on the main entrance of the house basically then as you get to the main level uh you can see that all the social areas are open opening up to the to the deck and then eventually to the yard and then the view and then the the City View uh we have um we have removed some of the walls so we have expansive U open floor plant on on the social areas of the house and um in order to accommodate 10 foot ceilings we have also designed the house with within those 29 ft um but we're very very very limited to uh what we can do and then as you go to the Upper Floor we have uh the main the main bedroom or the master bedroom master bath and the sitting areas also facing the bay and then a secondary room that can also act as a um as an office or or sitting area for the master and then uh secondary bedrooms facing the back uh or facing the front of the house which is behind the radio um part of the house house then um we have an elevator that goes up to the roof um to um access a deck that was placed in the middle of the house so we could be far away from our neighbors and we could have private um uh it could be as private as possible for both the neighbors and and our owners here are the sections um I think you can see them bigger here on on in detail but we have um there's the under story uh we are um this is an BFE or or our base Flo elevation is at 8 ft and then we uh we're using our our freeboard that puts us at 13 ft and then from there we measure the 29 ft this is directly from uh from from the code and then for the elevations we have um you can see in the renderings a little bit better but what we have is uh we we have this this the screen in the front that acts as a backdrop to the to the front garden and at the same time it um it creates this this screen that will glow at night um and and create a give a presence to the house in on the on the front of the street and then um the second story is is an open balcony across the the whole front and then that whole front wraps the the corners um in order to to embellish the side elevations as much as we could um as recommended by staff that we we treat the side elevations as front elevations that was what the conversation that we had and then on on the sides we have U we have designed them carefully so we can have privacy and at the same time um be um respectful to to neighbors and you're seeing that uh this is the East Elevation on the at the bottom you can see that the materials have been also been extended to those side elevations and then the back elevation is um it's a it's a big frame that that expresses the whole back of the house and um that that has been the only uh element that has well it's the only element that's claded in in a different material uh to um to to um to have it be um um I'm sorry I'm trying to come up with that word uh to be in harmony with the rest of the material that we have picked for the house you want to take a second to just uh discuss the actual materials I know you have samples but maybe the type of material that you're proposing yeah we we brought samples we have some um here the board shows uh this this wasn't part of the of your presentation but we have uh we have put together a board with some samp that we ordered and that we've been able to uh um procure we have the um the the cement element that would be that would be the front of um the the front of the screen then we have this the stone element for the base and then um some clading elements in wood and then um and then our paint color um to be mindful of our time uh just quick overview of the waivers um this diagram uh is basically um showing you that we do have breakup of the massing on the both side yards uh which is while we don't meet the regular ins size 8 ft deep 1% of the lot size um as the intended um breakup of the home we have uh angled portions uh balconies Terraces uh even change of heights cuz the southern half of the second floor is even lower than the central part that faces the Waterway here you can see again with the framing elements there's quite a lot of uh breaking up of the massing so again we we're not meeting this very regular um uh restrictive code language but yet the intent is being met with both um to be sensitive to our neighbors even the layout of the house itself uh um we're keeping essentially the east side in the the significant footprint of the existing home but pulling it further away um and um being very far setback as far as the massing of this home on the rear from our West neighbor uh the rear setback right is a curving um yard is 34 feet but for the wests side neighbor the home actually is 110 ft the two story portion away so it helps to you know utilize uh the rear yard for this property owner and it's sensitive to our neighbors uh regarding height which is a portion of you know the reflecting our under story request um Jose was saying you know the understory which does have that access to the floor above will have an 8ft ceiling that's where the height is needed to put it in the understory and while the code allows you extra height we're really not maximizing it and putting in uh that height into uh the building the interior of the two floors above um the these numbers are taken from DFE however a lot of that height we're still 3 feet above I think in more than 3 feet above DFE um so that the center portion where you can see the curved Center area of the home which is again meant to be as centrally located and uh least impactful on our neighbors while it's 29 fet from DF it's actually 25t 4 in for the two interior floors and and uh the red part towards the front which is again the majority of the um two stories that face our East neighbor which is to the top of the drawing that's actually only an interior height of excuse me 23 feet 10 in uh which I know staff in one of their conditions which we actually comply they say to maintain 24 feet well that's the 23 feet 10 in um but by providing an understory that meets both the minimum floor requirements of the understory itself as well as appropriate ceiling height this is where we need to and we're only providing essentially a 12T Plus on the first floor 11t plus and that's slab to slab on the interior so we feel that we're being again sensitive to uh the neighborhood by minimizing the areas that are of the highest height uh that could be up to 31 ft which again speaking with staff we agreed to and have reduced that already and the majority of the home in the South part is already much lower here it is just uh spread out so that you can see our first floor is only 12' 8 and the second floor is only 11 fo2 in that front portion uh and a little bit taller when you get to that center part of the building and there's the context uh and maybe just give it back to Jose for final maybe go to the renderings so just just how we worked up from from the height of the roof all the way down to the um to the back of the property where we have the the yard and this is the the elevation facing the East this is the the rear of the property where we we try to incorporate all the different levels from the from the from the roof to the deck deck to the to the water from the water to the yard um we if we have questions about the landscape we have landscape plants here and then these are the renderings of the house preserving the tree the sides which are which are heavily landscaped and and Landscape is taller than what's shown on on the on the renderings and that's the rear of the property and just one more minute to conclude uh we cly certainly are addressing a very challenging property and you know the context but we believe we have provided a very sensitive uh and resilient home we've worked with our neighbors we worked with staff we feel that this is uh being the least impactful to all of them and again uh providing a a home that's uh resilient for years to come and uh with that we respectfully request approval of the project as we proposed without those additional reductions that staff is recommending uh again we do adhere to one of them but the other two we respectfully think that this is the the most appropriate design certainly a much better improvement over the prior version due to its uh views towards the bay that minimize uh the impact on those neighbors and with that we respect approval again without those staff changes and our entire team is here to answer any questions we wish to reserve time for a bottal as may be needed thank you thank you very much thank you um are there any members of the public wishing to speak please come forward good afternoon everybody um The Honorable commission I wanted to introduce myself my name is Agnes gray and my husband Keith Gray is also with uh with me here we reside at uh 1645 West 22nd Street so we are that Northeast small house which is directly on the east side to the subject property I just wanted to let you know that my husband lived in this home for 55 years since he was like an 8 years old boy when he moved from uh New York and he made his home here on Sunset Island I've been here on Sunset Island for the past 15 years as it was mentioned before our house is a one-story home built in 1953 we are very quiet people who enjoy private living and we have many friends in the neighborhood sadly the peaceful neighborhood is not so peaceful these days there are three constructions pending next to us one finished and two more are coming up and also as you may remember I was we were here two years ago when the previous applicant for the same property was asking for waivers and by the way I wanted to remind everybody that their hide waiver was denied and at the time nine neighbors came up and spoke against the proposed project but coming back to this project I would like to put on record two things first of all the red notices that were displayed on the property notifying the neighbors they did not meet the requirement of 30 days I think they were over there maybe for two weeks two and a half weeks and the second most important thing that was mentioned by roio the plans did not upload on the city website so therefore the neighbors didn't have a chance to review them in a timely manner I'm going to read you the expert from the email of Mr Bouch do a technical sorry how much more time do you need two more minutes three yeah no just it's going to be short okay thank you do it take I'm going to read fast do a technical issue of the size of the architectural plans initially submitted there was a delay in uploading these plans to the city's website for public viewing the application instructions informed the applicant to check the city website 30 days before the public hearing to ensure that all applications while files were successfully uploaded however this did not occur an affected resident notified City staff that the plans were not available online which caused delay in making the plans available to the public for this reason staff recommends that the Board review and uh uh review and discuss the application along with taking public comment and continue to the May 7th drb meeting I really like what Mrs bavali said that you as a commission take the recommendation of the staff seriously so for that reason I would like to support staff recommend to continue the the application process in review ideally to J to June if not to May 7th drb meeting because the neighbors did not have the chance to familiarize themselves with all all the aspects of that plan I also wanted to mention that the that the neighbor on the west side is objecting we are asking for the continuation there is a concern from another neighbor across on you know right on the North side so you have three concerned neighbors next to it and I do believe that the commission that your board should grant us the ability to get familiar with the plans really and for everybody to discuss it and make an informed decision thank you very much thank you any other members of the public wishing to speak is there anybody available online no hands are raised on Zoom okay oh sorry one hand just got raised I apologize uh Irene B hi there thank you so much my name is Irene Brandon I live at 2130 Bay Avenue two doors down from the proposed project I just wanted to concur with my neighbor Agnes we need more time to can you hear me yes I just need first before before you address the board since you're virtually so um um I can't see it but 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 okay and I'm going to set the clock for two minutes for you to address the board go ahead I I won't need that my name is Irene Brandon I've lived in this home since 1988 and I just wanted to support both the neighbor who lives next door Darren and Frank and Agnes who just addressed the board we need more time to discuss this and um I I would like to say that I am against the height variances being granted and that I think concurs with the preliminary suggestions of the board um yes I know that they're trying to address the massing but believe me it's big and I one of those people that lives in a single story home two doors down thank you so much thank you very much we had and we had one more person rais their hand uh Darren's iPhone number two Darren before you begin I I'll need to have you sworn in Darren are you there Darren if you're there please unmute yourself yeah sorry can you hear me yes Darren do you um can you hear me yes do you swear 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 was gonna set the clock for two minutes for you there um I would just like to agree with Agnes I think as neighbors we haven't had enough time to fully review um the proposal and also I'm very concerned that not only is this a height variance but then there's a proposed rooftop patio on that when people add furniture and umbrellas you're going to be many feet above the existing surrounding roof lines and I think we really have to think about what our island is going to look like from the water and from the land because if you start having you know rooftops that look 10 15 feet higher in the surrounding ones it's going to really change our landscape thank you very much how I would like to end okay thank you no more hands are raised I'm now going to close the public portion and open it up to the board for comment actually if I could have rebuttal and I would like a moment for Fred to speak okay how much because you did go over on the presentation so just a minute I will I will be a minute if you could still give the two minutes to Fred as any member of the public thank you uh regarding the the plans uh from on the City's online website uh we're not actually clear um why there was a problem because the size we gave and we reave to staff that are now posted which I believe was as March 18th so significantly prior to this meeting um I don't know where the glitch happened but again our file size was only 18 megabytes under the 25 and not sure where the difficulty came from but regardless that is not a requirement of notice and advertisement to be heard and you are fully able to make uh a informed decision and vote on the application today because that is not an error that needs to be fixed and as you heard the neighbors have actually gotten to see the plans I think that the Grays even met with staff so uh as happened in old days when there wasn't a virtual online ability to get this the our plans were in on file at the city can be viewed at the city and uh do appreciate that you take that into consideration thank you thank you uh good afternoon board members and thank you for allowing me to speak here today before you so um we must have gone through nine versions of trying to figure out how to lay this house out uh as you know uh our turn as Matt said it's it's a very difficult proposition because of the way that the lot lays out and we really did try to take into account how how to give our neighbors the most privacy because we recognize that whoever were to buy this house is going to want privacy as well we incorporated privacy Hedges uh really went as far as we could on landscaping and um you know what's been frustrating for me in the process is that we had a deal uh in the beginning with Mr belouch who told us that he didn't want us to go to 31 feet and that he wanted us to go to 29 feet and so we designed around a 29 feet home what they're asking now for is for us to reduce the size of the the hers bathroom and hers closet to 9 feet and you can't sell a home today at 9 fet in a hers his or her's closet it is a Cornerstone of of the house and um so uh you know it's just very disconcerting that this was put on us at the bottom of the ninth inning with two strikes and two outs I've tried to work with the neighbors um what the Grays really want is they want a view corridor to the Bay which they currently don't have and I would love to be able to accommodate them but unfortunately if I give them a view corridor I've been told by Jill Herzberg I've been told by Julian Johnston that that will ruin the Integrity of the home and it will be make it very difficult to sell so they also if I can just get a little more time so they also wanted me to move a uh uh a wave runner dock um that was imposed upon their property line I agreed to move it the 24 feet that they asked I'd be willing to put it into the into the record now that I will move it um and I also agreed with them that you know whatever height we get here that I'd be willing to stipulate that we would agree to now for them so trying to be as reasonable as fair with with them and their concerns they had some privacy concerns uh when it comes to swimming and you know uh the way that they prefer to swim and we address that by putting 30 foot tall trees to you know give them their privacy Peter Lauria across the way he wanted me to make sure that the water coming over the Cascade he couldn't hear it and I don't know how to publicly I I I said to him somewhat in just but what would you like me to do you would like me to measure every drop of water and give you the deciel amounts you know it's a cast it's it's a very trickle down water he's 125 ft away so um you know and um my neighbors to the West they they got a a height variance and um you know we really feel like we've done our best to accommodate our neighbors and to be sensitive to their to what their needs are and to design a house that doesn't look directly across as the other one did but looks out Northwest to give a lot more privacy so um that's all I would like to say thank you so much thank you very much thank you anybody any other members of the public wishing to speak you good okay I'm now going to close the public portion thank you very much uh and open it up to the board for discussion who would like to start well Helio can you um just to make sure I'm clear and maybe for the rest of us um there's three items here on the order one is um D1 di which is to reduce the UN story height from 10 10t 2 in to 9 ft 2 in if that is reduced to 9t 2 in then what is the total height of the structure going to be sorry the height would be 28 ft 28 from from design flood elevation yeah so they're currently at 29 with that yes and they're allowed a maximum of 31 31 would be the maximum y okay and so what is the reasoning from planning standpoint to reduce the under story height by one foot if they still are within or below the um maximum height so while that is the maximum height it it is up to the design that's why these have to come to the design reboard to to determine if the height should be reduced if it should reach that maximum level um it is staff's opinion that by reducing that by one foot you will you will help to lessen the impacts on the adjacent single story home uh you won't have that as large of a mass adjacent to that home that could negatively impact as was stated ear their privacy and their and their ultimately their quality of life so there's one home that's a one story and then there's a home on the other side that was given a height variance what is the height of that home that height the height of that home MH I believe even with the height the the waiver that they got the house next door is still not as tall as what they're proposing this yeah the other one is not as it was under the previous code it was under the previous code they did not get the extra right and it's not an under story home okay so it's not an understory okay then the other two um items are in page in the order um in the drb order page two of seven it's item one uh D B one and two um can you explain D1 and I mean sorry B1 and B2 so um the the maximum height of 24 ft shall be maintained from the first floor slab uh to the top of the roof for the max massing of the home that is Southward of the curving Arc in the in the floor plan um so let's let's go to the the floor plan to highlight the curving Arc um the hard for me to show but essenti this is the what page is that it's page 13 of the presentation you yeah that would be great I assume they're above the 24 right now there are uh I believe there are sections that are above 24 and this would uh ensure that it be consistently at 24 from the from the first floor slab so if they reduce the under story elevation by 1 foot height does it make the rest in compliance with the 24t height the yes um we and then we are um so we're only talking we're concerned primarily the edges of the property in the middle it can go higher so then the also the other section that we think should be lowered is the the her bathroom her closet right which is on the uh the northern portion of the Northeast portion yeah can you point on the on the um plan where that is right there okay so that currently has a height of higher than 24 and you want the overall there to be 24 yes that is our recommendation that that be no he says it's that but yeah that corner MH okay and what is the height currently on that uh 209 ft okay from base flood elevation from from design flood elevation and that is a concern because it overlooks into the one-story home to the north to the north Northeast but still within the height limitation allowed correct with the with the approval of DRP this this is allowed it doesn't require these Heights don't require variance so they they are allowable Heights but we are suggesting that they be brought down uh to the extent possible let me add to also a further question about that point it said that that condition is it's based on the East open space requirement shall be waved in so that what you're proposing is you wave one thing if they make the height more reasonable right so it's not okay that's the condition recommendation where is that one so that was first part asking for that TR and and through through the chair if I can just try to make a clarification the way that I read the first uh B little I the maximum for 24 feet it says shall be maintained from first floor slab to the top of the roof and as I mentioned that is the 29 that that's the portion that was shown in red in fact if we're we're not showing the presentation but the front the the southern front part of the house so I believe that um that condition in the uh staff report the order is mentioning the red colored portion the front half of the home and while this says 27.5 feet that is from DFE but the way that I read the condition just so that we're clear it says 24 ft from first floor slab to the top of the roof so our Dimension is only 23t 10 in so we are meeting that 24t interior first and second floor height to the top of the roof in the exact area that is mentioned in that condition so we comply with that condition what staff I think is getting at is that would be a whole foot lower if we were to take out which we do not want to from a foot from the under story so that's those two portions then you get to little two the bathroom area now you're talking in that that curved area uh that peels away from our our neighbor in fact significantly you know uh it's 12 at the point of it in the gray that's the 12 foot setback but as you can see the rest of that comes even further away and that in doing so that's associated with the area that we are articulating uh to address the waiver of the side um so that area is interior wise 25' 4 in and staff is saying to take out a whole foot and a half from that and I think the next one is can yeah so it's 12 foot 8 in in there and that would be where you would reduce but again from a Harmony of design I don't know how that looks and be impractical to have that portion of it a whole foot and a half much lower than that so as Fred mentioned that's not something that we feel is appropriate and also I think it will definitely change the design of the home uh substantially in a negative way and can I ask staff a question the first recommendation was just to lower the overall um freeboarding space and so then if everything came down that foot we would be very close to you know these Heights that were asking in the other one so is there is there a trade-off in your guys's mind that way where it's like if if we just lowered the clear story then do we can we um not make this other lower the RO roof in the he in the she closet or would you like to see both of them ideally we would see both um both would would have the effect of improving the the views the privacy of the adjacent property um if I had to pick one I would I would likely pick reducing the the overall height by one foot um over just the his and her closet uh but ideally both would be would be put in place and if tomorrow the house on either side or in front um get sold and get demolished they have the right to also come up with these Heights with approval of drb that's correct okay and so I think you mentioned that you all were willing to do one thing what is that one thing that I understand you properly are you I guess the question is are you willing and what is the effect of removing a foot from the height of the underst story is that doable all we we are saying is that that condition B little one the maintaining the maximum 24 ft is what we our plan already does we're 2 Ines lower than that right so so we're not inclined we feel that this is being that the project as designed is already being appropriately sensitive uh to the neighbors this area that we're talking about that his and her closet space right is uh is a Interior Space 25t 4 in uh for comparison the home that is to the west of ours that did get the 4 foot waiver of height uh they have 14 foot floor to floor that is fully 28 ft within their interior space the biggest difference between that home and this one is that and they could have requested an under story that was available under they weren't under a different code they just did not go for the and then 14 to 14 floor to floor wouldn't be a conversation because it wouldn't have been approved so I think she was referencing 1 a are you guys willing to do one a or do you want to give us your stance on 1 a the height of the under story so so the under story we have we have picked 10 feet because we have the way the house is designed we have 10 foot slabs and then we have 10 we've leaving 12 inches for ducks so it kind of limits it limits the why do you have ducks in the under story because it's air condition space the end the main entrance of the house is air condition where you have the grand stair so it's a it's a small portion of the under story but that that portion of the under story is the main entrance of the house so we're we're trying to maintain at least an 8ot ceiling which is which is lower than the standard right now it's a very very small area and it's a double height space with the stair right I mean I can't imagine how deep the Ducks need to be for that entry level well an 8 inch duck is actually 12 inches in height once you have the insulation and everything so we have um we have looked at this with the with our mechanical and we're we're at the limit um I'd like to direct my comment toward the rest of the board members and note that and that you know as it says in the material that we provided that you know the height waiver is at the discretion of the drb and this 31 ft um this new resiliency Cod this is something that recently was put in front of us that it is something that could have been decided by you know the city the commission whatever but they've decided to put the onus on us to make the hard decision and say yes or no to the applicants and it's at our discretion um the whole point of the underst story and this comes up again and again as you know is that there's this interesting challenge where we want to create resilient structures in our community but we don't necessarily it it doesn't necessarily work well to have three-story houses and so this under story becomes this sort of gray area of resiliency but not necessarily another story and what we've traditionally done is to look at the design and say what is the effect of having this under story does this read as an under story or does this read as a an additional story to the house and I think I think that's that is why in the requirements that this is not considered the understory is not necessarily habitable space and so it's within that context that I urge all of us to think about you know what is the appropriate height for an under story um is it a full habitable story or is it just another way to create a resilient structure and I think that that's the problem that you know we're running into here with this design where you know a 10-ft ceiling I mean my question too as I was reading through the material ahead of the meeting was why is this really necessary and I didn't really have a good answer and knowing that this is at our discretion yes we could say no we could say yes but it's also at our discretion to say no the fact of the matter is even though the house next door already got additional height it's still not as tall as what the applicant is proposing just because we can doesn't mean that we have to I think it all relates back to the appropriateness of the design for the context of this property and this location you know this property I will say yes um it isn't you know a non standard size shaped lot but it also you know they're proposing a 10 thou over 10,000 foot house and it is a very large property um I will say I really do like how you've oriented the house I thought that was very lovely and it was a very nice gesture um but I just want everybody as we're going over these numbers and understanding the scale and the impact that this home will have on the neighborhood um that it is still a very very large house even without the additional height so those are my comments something to think about and I'm not quite sure and I don't understand I I feel like I've been confused by the presentation as to what the correct height is the correct height isn't because on the the things that you proposed it shows 29 but then you said you're proposing 31 I don't know if you could clarify from different dats they're from different datums okay I'm glad you asked that question to clarify because I was confused too so going back what is the problem with Bringing Down the underst story one foot I hear about the doct work can you not accommodate doct work that is 12 in by bringing it down a foot because that would resolve everything else I think right this is this this is the ceiling height of the entrance of the air conditioned space which again this is a whole thing that I don't remember dealing with an air conditioned space and the underst story so it's a precedent thing that I think is about is is frustrating I think they're saying the under story is the UN what the duct work is for the entrance but it's not for the entire ire under story is that correct no we we the under the same provision that you were reading about the underst story you're allowed to have a foyer that's air conditioned for the house so it's only that foyer that is air conditioned not the entire understory no so the doct work for that foyer in the underst story that goes up to the first habitable space can you accommodate that duct work if the understory height is reduced by a foot to 9 9t 2 in so uh if you if you lower it to 9 ft then you're you're looking the underside of the slab is already 8 foot a foot2 and then under that we have to have air conditioning we have to have lighting we have to have uh duct work and we had to have a ceiling so nothing works under six inches of duct work I think we could maybe phrase this differently because you know they are talented architects who have told us how different ult it's been to design on this site that I don't doubt that you can problem solve that if that's a mandate that we that we put there I mean the mechanical closet is above this adjacent storage space and you could come through the wall and you don't have to have ducks in the space I mean I think that I want to just back up because we're getting into the minutia and back to Sarah's point I I do think that you know there's a lot of thought that's gone into the design of this house um I appreciate very much that um it's it's uh responding to site and context in its in its own way I think it it is hard to sit here and hear that it's a potential hardship or challenge to design on a lot of this scale yes it is a wedge shape but it's a very large lot it affords lots of luxury for design and there's a very luxurious house design proposed in front of us um I think what the issue is is there's these little moments that you know the code is designed to give and give and then the designers take and take and instead of just acknowledging you may not like the 60 foot length and then having a courtyard space or whatever you just say well I'm going to do what I'm going to do and I I'm going to tell you that it's good and I think that we're having a hard time hearing that you can't make this one you know compromise work so that's my point and you know I also don't understand exactly why you said you're in the 12T setbacks but if I'm reading the plans correctly there's a stair in that setback um and then on the upper levels there's this sort of wraparound screened in area which I'm not saying it's not permissible it's probably defined as a roof overhang or something but again you know like you you built to the setback and then you took a little bit more because that's the way the code's designed you can have overhangs whatever but I think we're just trying to have a conversation here and find a place that we can find a little bit of compromise if I may respond actually actually if you could hang on to that I I have I'd like to clarify because this was another question I had just a clarification um for staff about it was hard for me to read in the application materials can you discuss the area with the the waiver and what exactly because it's it did seem to me that you weren't they weren't too much off with the requirement but where are they so they they are providing a somewhat of an open space on the on the north um North West corner it's hard can you bring up the image the corners are are hard to detail on this it's Northwest side um I guess that's Northeast sort of slide 13 18 okay so what where are they they can you point out exactly where they're exceeding it's kind of in blue okay they're they're showing an outline they're highlighting it in blue but the notch is kind of a triangular shape and uh that the requirement of the code is that the notch be 1% of the lot area and that's that's less than 1% uh so it would not comply with the requirement of the code um and so they're requesting a waiver of that now the the intent of the code is to break up the Mass uh so you don't have a really long solid uh wall and and and we feel that they are successfully breaking up that mass by including that small Notch and the trade-off is that they're moving the home uh to the back on the property and protecting that specimen tree and providing additional open space on the front uh to help break up the the mass so they're achieving what the goal of that requirement is um they're just not meeting it the way the code would would specifically require and so if they made that well I mean it looks like it's just a few feet over if they made that wall two feet less it would they wouldn't need a waiver I just want to make sure I'm understanding What's Happening Here the top blue box is a big space I think if they made the notch the size of that blue box they wouldn't need the waiver I see that's why the box is there to show what so they could just make the closet smaller or the kitchen's smaller right that's what but what you're saying is because they've how they've designed it because there's a lot of movement that you're okay with the waiver correct okay and then it it's the same thing on the other side same thing on the other side yes right which also it looks like it's just a little bit you know if the game room were just a little bit smaller then it would meet the code yes there's not that it's just not that many right okay thank you for clarifying because this is what I was sort of getting out that it doesn't seem like it's that they're that much off from the code it's just a matter of the scale M but what you're saying is because of the curve of the house that's just naturally where that you're creating a curve on the pro property is curved and you've created this building that also works with that and that's why it goes a little bit over the 60 feet right right right but again you know there's a lot of room to work with I I think that the Nuance here because it's a waiver it's a design focused waiver you don't want to have these veritable blue boxes you know put into every single home this is exactly what you are prescribed and must do uh the waiver is to allow for certainly when it's a wed shaped lot and you're trying to address other concerns that you have the uh architectural flexibility to design something that can be varied and so it doesn't look cookie cutter in every single time you uh a project comes in for for this open space but yes I think that you know the other part of this is that the home itself we have this is I granted it's a a large home but it is a very large lot it's uh it's actually greater than the rs2 minimum size uh and rs2 lots as far as going back to a height perspective they get 28 feet of height as of right um so the point is that the the under story providing height and being now a factor of how the sides are addressed uh that this can both accommodate the height but we have placed the home it is compact it has a EXT it has more than double the front setback right the front setback is 30 feet it is a minimum of 75 ft some portions are at 80 uh we are at 34 at that uh northeast corner but again that curve of the home as it comes down is 110 ft away from the rear property line and then on top of that the two-story portion that is the tallest is very Central and very limited in size very narrow so you can see how I think collectively the design is meant to address how to address height in appropriate areas how to address the the nature of the uh massing of the homes towards the uh neighbors uh and by you know creating this compact varied both elevation wise as well as height wise uh you can get the uh intent of the code to be as least impactful on your neighbor uh even to the point of that roof deck is is extremely Central located it's very far from all sides and including all um property lines so all of that's been taken into account preserving that very large tree is a factor that I think is being addressed very appropriately here let me another qualification again I just I don't know why I found this a little bit difficult to read um can you go to page 17 because this is this is the Southwest elevation so this is one of the sides that you're requesting the waiver for and so I don't know if maybe or Helio or the there's this large section just white expanse stucco is that the section that is a little bit too long or is it part of the concrete wall panel it would be the entire the entire length of it the yeah the entire two-story portion so what you're saying is there's although there's no fenestration here it it although these are just a few solid expanses of material staff feels like that is enough correct there is enough movement there there is enough movement there's movement on the first floor um um and so staff is comfortable with with the waiver for this Frontage okay for this elevation it's going to be mostly covered with landscape anyways that whole entire first floor then what are the East open space and West open space requirements is it that just lot open space or what are you asking for then that you said the requirement shall be wav where we talked very back at the beginning the the requirement that the facade have a break of one yeah so we are referencing that so you guys are okay with it but you're asking for these tradeoffs just to be the he yes the height is the tradeoff um if we can go back to the foyer issue and the height there am I reading the I'm on page 12 and 13 the floor plans for the first and second floor it looks like the that foyer space is actually open and it extends all the way to the second floor ceiling so if you're walking into to that foyer you're actually going to have quite a high ceiling is that correct correct it's a naturum okay and but the concern was that of having that low space when you walk in why you don't want to lower the we want have a we want to have a a ceiling in that space and U and 8 ft is you know it's standard height this is the one and only entrance to the home this is been designed that you only enter the home through the front through this understory area that's your entry experience right you there are other homes even with underst stories that have walkway stairs you know Terraces essentially that uh get you up to uh the front door at the first level which is allowed you can walk up to a first level but here the design is purposeful again in part because saving that tree pushes the entire home towards the you know further into the property that this was a a a purposeful uh entry experience that is the other reason why not to reduce it in height because now you're you're telling people that this is not an access point this is actually the true entrance to the home well and I think that that's the issue that we keep stumbling on because because it doesn't and correct me if I'm wrong I don't think that we've seen the underst story used in this way before that usually it's just a pass through and it's always been my understanding that that's the intent that it's just it's a pass through space it's not a habitable space um maybe I'm wrong I don't know I definitely allowed access to the floor above that's 100% but to have it the intention it be I mean essentially your an air conditioned space is now another room another habitable space as opposed to just an open space for storage there are limitations in the code telling you that it can only be a certain size but it is expressly an air condition allowed space certainly for stairs and even an elevator so you're you're you're proposing a design that someone going against the intention of the code and in order to make it work you now need uh a variance from us no to make it work no we complet the so the under story must come to the drb for approval associated with an understory if you seek above 24 feet of the from DFE to the roof then right that's where you can go to the maximum allowed 31 ft that is uh allowed through an understory request so it's just there is no separate waiver or variance and far as as the entrance is concerned that is not a waiver or like we comply with the square footage that is allowed for an AC uh area to be in the under story area let me ask you this so you have stairs and an elevator and you could add another Landing or two but again to the point that the site is deep and you don't actually come to the front entrance you know deep into the site you could slope your grade you know 1 to 20 for 20 ft be a foot lower when you enter so if you bring down the overall height one foot you can still maintain your 8ot ceiling and you never know that you're lower there you don't have to change the rest of your grading it can just be your path I I understand uh your proposal but the thing is that this that the city is requiring us to design the house one foot above it's at the new Street elevation which would be one foot above where it is right now yeah but not not this Spa I mean we're not this space what is because again the under story isn't you know that's supposed to be sacrificial space right yes I understand that this is the challenge and this is the design challenge that we have on every conversation is there these nice homes entry sequence is important it's critical we we agree with you but how and so how do you design a house that doesn't feel you know like over town or under a highway right how do you present an entry sequence and so creating this Grand moment that's what you're saying but the co intent of the code is that everything at this first floor is sacrificial so you don't that floor doesn't have to be at a height there's actual code no there's specific minimum elevation requirements for the understory level for the for the understory for Theo and uh and with that you just as far as your in on the sides of it too you have to be careful that you don't create a basement that's basically says that you can't be higher than the you can be lower than the street okay you can be lower than the street and the street is proposed at six feet by um Public Public Works what is the height right now of the under story floor six feet six which is the same as the crown of the road right yeah so you can't go 6 6 in is the elevation of Entry it's six and a half correct most of the most of Bot of the road is six the the under Story the majority of the under story where you park is six feet and then you you step up six inches to the four year you're still going to have water and so so we raised it six inches there in and the crown of the road is going to be six six feet m in the future you guys have plenty of room for swes and any runoff coming from the crown of the road though I mean again the luxury of this site is to understand drainage and manipulate water flow I have no doubt that your team could do that we we will and I guess what I was getting at with the Open Spaces is is that is that grand moment lost when you lower the roof on the understory just in that perimeter area because you will have that that vast opening all the way all the way above you for a majority of the foyer is what it looks like on the plans so there's there's a there's a the foyer has the larger opening is on the from the second to from the first to the second we have a small opening because we have circulation around the stair in um uh from the first level to down to the under story I I think what I feel like we're sort of getting at is if you want to use the understory as part of the grand entrance then you have to sacrifice height this is what this is how high the understory can be and that's that's why we haven't necessarily seen requests like this before that's why I think we're all a little confused as to why you would do this because it isn't so much height and usually this is just you know an an an extra like you know a sort of lost space to get to the main the the the main event sort of thing um and I think that's why and maybe I'm wrong I don't know if I'm am I sort of summarizing well and that you know that you know what shaa keeps going back to too is that this is at every step of the way these are a lot of design choices and that's that's what's affecting these requests and that's why you know you hear the feedback from The Neighbors which I will say it's been a while since we've gotten neighbors to come in to give us feedback about the design so it's it's something that we all want to listen to I did do a site visit and this is a large property and the things are fairly close and there is a real mix of taller homes and lower homes and for me I'm always looking at the context and you know I completely understand staff's you know what staff is saying of this is just not a necessary additional height and again it's up to our discretion and I I don't really know if it's something that's you know it can be designed around or these are choices that your team has made and you know we responding in such a way I don't know but scottt you might disagree we're we're literally at the difference of one foot correct one foot is not going to make them happy one foot of a 20 wherever whatever you measure it from is 28 feet or 30 you're not going to see one foot it's not going to change anything for you just letting you know and I get like I'm happy they're saving the tree um I think this whole under story ceiling thing is this I I think one foot is ridiculous it's not going to change anything for anybody and we're sitting here arguing over one foot it's not going to change anything for you I know they're pissed because the thing wasn't posted for me I would have said post it and let's do this next month because this has been a like one foot's not going to make any of the neighbors happy it's not going to change anything the way the house feels so like I feel like we're going in circles over something that's stupid and really you can't see it from the street it's they're saving the tree and I'm really happy about that and I get the side things you're pushing all the limits here but one foot is not going to change it and it's not like it's crazy I feel like we're going crazy in circles that nobody's doing what I just did so did you I think the resident wanted to say no no we hear listen and I don't mean to diminish it I don't mean to diminish it because I know how frustrating this is to watch the whole neighborhood be completely changed it's happening everywhere but one foot is not going to change anything right no I understand what if if you're going to it needs to be on the microphone so yeah I'm sorry the the code though with with the changes and these stupid waivers which I hate the city for putting us in this position they should just make it or not because this is this these fighting over a foot is ridiculous well and that's what I wonder too if this is where we can like this is just the beginning I mean that's what I'm concerned about and it's like if we say okay this is we we don't we don't want to have these requests come back to us you know we set a president in the past that we're not as sympathetic to height waivers as other boards have been in the past and this is where you know this is the beginning of you know this is going to be the beginning of designs in which now the entryway which is livable space is now going to be encroaching upon the understory and it's the end of this non-habitable understory concept you know at what point yes it's one foot is this where we're going to take and they're going to ask for the maximum and they're going to yeah cut it down two feet and get higher than they are now this is what happens this is what has become ridiculous for us yeah so I don't know if anybody wants to and then and the reality is as you're all saying is that there's still unless I'm reading this wrong under the maximum height of 31 ft um so we're placed in a position to decide whether they can even meet the maximum height am I right Ro Helio that's correct okay so they're now at 29 feet above um as maximum height uh I'm sorry they're at 29 fet height and they can go up to 31 and I agree with Scott one foot they would have asked for 31 and then cut it back they did the right thing and asked for the minimum that they thought they could cram it in and this is what is frustrating on both sides which which which sir which was staff's recommendation to begin with we recommended 29t I mean this is really a week ago they changed it so yeah yeah yeah that I mean that was so it's 29 I think that was the confusing part too so it what's the ma the max height is 29 and then it's our discretion to do it to 31 to 3 no there's the max height is 31 the entire height is up to the board's discretion right yeah right the 29 there there were questions on the understory I just want to read the regulation the understory area below the lowest habitable floor can um can have um an an enclosed air conditioned elevator and stair vestibule for access to the first habitable level of the home um and the total area enclosed and air conditioned uh shall be limited to no greater than 5% of the lot area so that is the and are they within that 5% they are within the 5% okay so I'm going to take the risk here um I make a motion that we go ahead and approve the project as presented yeah my second no uh without wait what about what about with the the waivers the waivers of the along the side yeah I think that the blue we'll call them the blue boxes all you know we approve it even though it doesn't meet code it does in essence meet the essence of what the code is trying to do um so we would approve that um and are you removing the height and no no because we're within the height no but they sta made a recommendation turn on your microphone but the total height I know so you have to if you're wanting to approve you have to say that you're going You're dismissing that staff recommendation dismissing that staff recommendation sorry roio no hard feel go back to the commission and tell them to do what they need to do can you yeah that was also they had recommended a continuance because well you know rohelia what what's the what's with with that condition about making the available to the public so the the code only requires that the plans be available 30 days prior and they have been they've been at they've been at City Hall anyone who asked for them we we were able to email them however our instructions say that the the plans the files have to be less than 25 megabytes and I have the the file that we received at the first submitt deadline and it's 44.8 megabytes so when our staff went to upload everything to novas which is our agenda system that did not go so everything else went the application the landscape plans the letter of intent all that got uploaded but the plans themselves exceeded that file size and and so it just didn't make it and we didn't were the plans available in planning for reie yeah I received but the but the but the the sign wasn't up until there was only two weeks so the residents only sort of knew about it for two weeks the or no yeah yeah to me they got a mail not they got a notice problem I mean that's the problem yeah because this is not going to change with all due respect having the neighbors here to complain to to be upset and the staff's recommendation unfortunately of one foot like I think that's that nothing would change but I yeah if we continue it's just going to be the same because you're going to ask for the same you made your points so what you're saying is whether we make the decision now frustrating though I mean I think that you know technically if that happened it should have been stopped by the attorney I know because this is not really fair I mean if this were something that could be changed or different you know this is one of those situations where I think the attorney should have stopped it and said but I I think what they're saying is that the posting needs to be 30 days in advance the posting of the sign it was made 30 days in advance and that was made 30 days in advance in in addition to that there's a letter that goes to all residents within a certain area circumference of the project and that was done that was done okay so what did not get happen is that the plans were not available online they were however available at the planning department and the notice that goes to the resident as well as the posting says it's the planning department and it has 1700 Convention Center Drive third floor so all of that information is there as to where you could go I think there's even a phone number I wouldn't call I don't know that you'd get an answer but we answer every day unfortunately yes unfortunately unfortunately yes and the building department too so um I I agree it's not easy trust me nothing in life is easy especially here in this type of of um deal that you're trying to do whether it's Miami Beach Miami and or Coral Gables or any other City it it's just the nature of the work that we're doing but all requirements were met we are now I think there was a first and a second motion so maybe we should just have the V yeah there's motion a second fin do we finalize what the motion was for I'm sorry can you repeat what the motion was the I have a motion to approve including the waivers um and remove the the staff uh the three conditions recommended by staff and so then with the height would then be allowed to 30 well it would be as presented as presented which is 29 29 where the maximum allowed is 31 second the second by Mr Sheldon okay all those in favor I any opposed nay okay what was the count I there was I don't know maybe uh so so it's uh five to one pass any passes thank you very much thank you appreciate it okay I can get my daughter see you later all right so please leave me okay the next item in the agenda is drb2 24- 0997 230 North hibiscus drive an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new twostory home including one or more waivers an understory and a variance from the minimum required landscape perious open space in the required side yard facing a street to replace an existing home okay so this uh this is an interior lot um it's located um um on North hibiscus Drive uh and it's a corner lot it's located in the RS4 District it has a lot size of 9,366 square ft they're proposing a unit size of 4,683 Ft or 50% which is allowable allowable by code uh again this is an understory home the maximum height limit is 31 ft however they're they're proposing uh a height of 24 ft uh as measured from base flood elevation plus a free board of five um so given their uh their future adjusted grade the understory height here proposed is 9 feet 9 in not sorry 9.9 ft um they are requesting a variance uh of the uh required lands uh open space for the um required side yard uh the code requires for understory homes that they provide uh 70% open space on front yards and side yards facing a street um in this this case on the sidey yard facing a street uh they are proposing a a circular driveway um so that reduces the amount of open space on that side however they are providing additional open space on the front yard facing a street which more than makes up for the loss of open space um so the so so staff is supportive of the variants because they do have a practical difficulty in providing a driveway where Vehicles won't have to back out um and so they they do have a practical difficulty and staff is supportive of that variance um the design of the home it's of a contemporary style the residence is clad with u with exterior Uh Wood material that alternates the wood screening um and the Florida and Florida ceiling panes of glass um staff is is supportive of the design as proposed of the design is proposed um so with that staff recommends that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the attach draft order as well as the variants and before we start U Madam chair are there any exp party disclos no and have you been wanted okay please raise your right hand uh do you swear or affirm that testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do thank you and I'll set the clock for 10 minutes thank you thank you for your time this afternoon uh my name is Robert Morin with me is Francisco yato we're principles of Domo architecture and design our office is located at 420 Lincoln Road suet 506 um joining us also online are the property owners and the landscape architect with Tabor and Tabor landscape is via Zoom if should you have any questions could we bring up the presentation please thank you the property is located on Hibiscus Island at the center when you come down West Midway it is an interior dry lot um of 9,366 square F feet as raelo said it is a corner lot the frontage of the home is on West Midway even though the address is on North abysus so North abysus is the sidey yard facing the street for this property the neighborhood sorry the existing property has a home built in 1945 with modification in 19 uh 49 sorry 1959 small Edition um this is the view from the front from the street corner and from the opposite corner this home will be removed and the new construction in its place the neighborhood is a mix of both one and two story homes um flat Ruth modern contemporary with more traditional one-story Bal roof HS um down the street we have a large contemporary two-story home um and then across the street again we have a large two-story with roof Terrace modern contemporary home a one-story sloped roof home then the bottom photo on the left is immediately adjacent to it on West pal Midway a two-story contemporary home and then immediately the top left is the home to the right on North biscus Drive a on story mid-century home imediately behind that is a two-story contemporary home and across the street a two-story contemporary home um mixture of of one and two stories across the street and then a new construction two story contemporary home um that we previously received board approval for note West Paul Midway does have a linear park down the center that is across the street from the home so for the architecture of the home um we want to do something warm and natural in appearance um with the expression of these deep roof and floor plate overhangs um we sought to create kind of a topographic nature to the to the architecture for the home and tapered the edges and rounded the corners to create a softness to the architecture um embedded Within each of these floor plates in the roof are green roofs that allow landscape to drape over the edges and soften the facades of the home the materials at the ground level or the understory level are to be clad in a stone material because it's of the earth and then the upper first and second floors are clad in a synthetic wood material it's a aluminum that is powder coated with wood grain um it has the exact appearance of wood but none of the maintenance uh this rendering shows that without landscape um in front of it the streetscape planting does that pigeon plum trees so it'll be screened along the public front edges uh this rendering is from the other Corner that shows you the backyard um which is small but it's got a linear lap pool and a te us off the living spaces so here you can see the layout of the home this topographical layering of the floor and roof plates um the uppermost floor has a small roof Terrace with within code parameters um with a canopy and then we provided four openings in the roof structures to allow the landscape of the green roofs to Cascade down and permeate the architecture of the home as well as to bring light into the structure below the understory level the main entrance for pedestrians or guests will be off of West Paul Midway there's a pedestrian gauge you come across Stepping Stones through the landscape um to the right you go up the grand staircase that is the primary entrance to the home that is our our grand ENT entrance um the enclosed vertical access for the home uh are are stair and rest and elevator vestibule is more for your day-to-day use you park your car you bring in your groceries or luggage and bring it up to the floors above the understory is all open air with the exception of the garage the um Lobby entrance and small storage rooms as permitted by code at the back of the property as off the Terrace we do have a elevated linear lap pool this is brought up to 10 ngbd uh per code um so it's essentially set midway between the existing ground level and the first elevated abital floor of the home this is for ease of access this is the first floor of the home to the front we have a one-story guest structure and then the two-story portion of the home is to towards the center of the property uh this level contains one guest room and then all of your living spaces for the the property large living room kitchen and family room uh all facing a Terrace off the back and to that couple steps down to that linear lap pool second floor of the home is setback substantially from the front property line um it contains three bedrooms for the family there we have worked to break up the facades even though it is a small home we want to give it architectural interest we do have a Terrace along the um North amisus Drive Frontage there for use by the by guests off a small family room roof Terr should come up either via open air stair or the elevator and a small vestri bu to a small roof deck that is compliant with code requirements for area and a canopy provides a shade over that roof Terrace and is compliant per code requirements material pallet um we're looking at warm uh materials we're looking at uh natural stone for the cladding of the understory volume of the garage and elevator vestibule um the roof lines will be done in a painted stucco but in a warm sand finish very of the beach Miami Beach um and then it gives you the coloration of the wood look aluminum clading for the exterior um the pavers again will be a more open rough cut version of the same Stone ciding that's on the understory walls so will be complimentary in texture but but um a different pattern in the way that the pavers are set for interest you can see the west elevation um note that there is a variation in the yard Heights that are required as the previous applicant mentioned the level of the understory needs to be at Future cron road which for this property is 6.11 ngbd um but the future CR adjusted future adjusted grade is halfway between the base flood and the future cronal road so that requires that our side yards and front yard wherever possible is up at 8.56 ngbd so it creates a little variation in the topography as you walk around the home but the underst store itself is at 6.11 per code this is from the front of the property you see the staircase when you went to the Garden goes up to the right into the front door of the home this is from the neighboring property on the East looking the unstore is completely open here we do have a courtyard upon the entry that recesses back and gives more visual interest to the neighbor and then from the rear facade the rear yard is raised up we have like the elevated lap pool and then the the home Beyond this just shows you the property wall that will surround the property 5T High compliant with code so in section with the under story at the minimum required 6.11 ngvd we have 7 foot height clearance ceiling height for the underst story our first floor is set at um base flood of 10 ngvd plus the 5et of freeboard and then our building height is 24 feet we're not asking for any height variances for this project and the section longitudinally showing the pool in relationship to that rear Terrace we're compliant in sidey guards um and elevations with the exception of the East um sidey yard which we are keeping at a lower elevation to allow for the preservation of existing landscape and our storm water um retention areas will be along that side of the property on the west it'll be for the driveway only and then in the front and rear we step up to the requirement elevation as you can see here quickly we are compliant in lock coverage this is the first and second floor diagrams and the composite diagram we're at 29.9% and then Unis size with the underst story we are compliant at 50% D is 4,685 square ft first floor second floor and the roof Terrace elevator and vestibule for the underst story um we had originally thought we need to request a variance for the openness we are compliant on all sides except for at the rear which were're at 44% and that was due to the elevated swimming pool um but staff removed that um request because it's all encompassed within the review of the understory by the board so the open space we are compliant in the front and rear yards and the side yard we're at 61% that is to allow for the circular driveway we've indicated Circle and dashed that is the minimum charion radius of a SUV so what it does is allows you to pull into the property back into the garage and then pull out of the property without having to back up onto the street so that is our variance request for this project that completes our presentation thank you very much um there any other members of the public wishing to speak anyone I see nobody here anybody in the online nobody online okay I'm now closing the public portion and opening it up to the uh board for discussion thank you for your presentation um I just want to make one clarification we might as well pick up where we left off I see the entry for year and then the enclosed garage as well so can you discuss the intent to enclose the garage and are you conditioning all of those spaces down there so sorry the garage is allowed to be enclosed space you can have up to 600 square feet for garage or storage that is enclosed in the understory and then 5% of your lot area maximum for the vertical access to the building which is your stair Lobby and elevator if you have one so we are complying with code and those requirements the rest of it is open air and open to the sides thank you I'm thank you for your presentation I mean I I don't see an issue with this I think particularly because the where the drive is located adjacent to the the park or the open Green Space it's it's in I'm glad that to see it on that side and you know not not in any other line of the house so I think that that helps with where the variance is being requested um let me ask a question I think it is for oio about the variance um just a clarification so what you're saying is that you support the variance because if you add up although it's it's less un one side because they're setting it back on the other in total it makes more square footage of landscaping it's they're just orienting the home a little bit differently than what the code described okay that's correct and aren't the and the pavers that they're using oh those are not those are pervious pavers or are they not and that wouldn't add to okay the privious pavers by code you require to have s set paper no concrete slab other than your elevator vestibule and garage can be slab but everything else needs to be per permeable that's correct okay I think this is lovely and um it's funny because usually I'm not personally a big supporter of the roof deck concept but because this is an interior lot as opposed to I thought that was a really nice amenity so I think that's something that that the they're defin I mean the location is so fantastic that this is it it's it's really nice I was a little concerned about these very large expanses of um the wood uh you know it's generally I don't find it as so friendly but I feel like with the with the hanging planters that it really sort of offsets that and and and warms it up and and breaks it up enough um yeah no I think that this is this is lovely and I mean I can't help but think about sorry the discussion we just had with the necess the the 10 foot under story and then it seems like they're doing this here with a seven and A2 foot I just want to make sure I understand the like the new codes related to the underst story and that what's what's what can and cannot be done they they are providing a slab to slab uh 9 feet n 9.9 feet um with with with uh the grade here so I suppose the grade is a little bit different here and that gives them a little bit more room than what the grade was at the other site the future crown of Road elevation here 6.11 ngvd I think in the other one it was six was I think the other one was 6.5 no 6.6 so we're providing um floor the understory to the first floor top of laab of 8.89 feet oh 8.8 okay we have here it's a little different our first floor is that baseball plus 5 15 NGB ngbd I would like to say that I think that you had a very clear presentation as well and I appreciate the thought that went into the design and and the spaces my one question is on the materials why it says wood in quotation marks um to collide a house like this in natural wood would be a maintenance nightmare You' be constantly having to refinish it so what we use on particularly on Miami Beach because of Salt Air is is aluminum that is powder coated is first painted then powder coated with a wood grain and that gives you um visually you cannot tell the difference well I disagree with that statement but I I do think that thank you for the clarification and I think if it's an aluminum with a wood finish then I would like you to label it that way and also the renderings Do Not represent any kind of um aluminum with a wood finish that I've seen so they look like they're r with wood okay so it's a it's a rain screen or it's a cladding or what is a clading they're they're extrusions um rectangular box in section vertical with a plate behind it so it gives you that that vertical slot appearance they're vertical slots yeah yeah but it's a rain screen condition or you're it's a plate that is watertight that interlocks the the walls are finished on the out side and waterproofed and then this gets applied on top of that screen correct we've done this on um quite a few homes in Miami Beach and it does have a beautiful appearance to it and it stands the test of time so you don't get the fading like you would with eBay due to the sunlight okay well I appreciate natural materials and the Aging over time so I'm just continuing to correspond with you but I I think that um it's yeah it's just not it's misleading to label it as wood when it's definitely not wood and I know it's been done a bunch that doesn't make it one way or the other I'll make a motion make a motion to approve it with the variance um as per staffs you have to do two separate ones one's a motion for the design and so I'll make a motion to approve the design okay motion second uh the second came from Miss Babi okay uh all those in favor I I any against I sorry motion passes okay do we have a motion for the variance make a motion to approve the variance okay motion do we have a second I'll second second by okay all those in favor I I any oppos no motion passes U project passes congratulations thank you so much have a wonderful day thank you I think the last item in the agenda is drb 23- 0993 6650 Sheffield Lane an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new two-story home including one or more waivers and an understory to replace an existing home okay so this is a a home that's Lo a proposed home located on lagor island um it's in the RS3 zoning District it has a lot size of 13,125 square ft uh lot coverage of 29.7% and a unit size of 5,551 Ft or 42.3% of the lot size so those are all within the the requir of the code uh the project is not seeking any waivers is not seeking any variances so so the board in this case is just looking at it because it is an under story home um the uh the proposed home is designed in a contemporary Style with contrasting materials and rectilinear volumes um there is a single Story Volume facing the street that connects a two-story Mass on the South Side um and then there was also an accessory structure in the rear yard that will serve either as an office gym or or a guest room room um the uh the first fully enclosed habitable floor of the residence is designed at an elevation of 16 ft ngvd or BF Plus 8 so it's above uh above the uh the freeboard allowance that we provide for however the height of the home uh is well within the allowable height limits um the uh intention here is to create a non-air conditioned space uh that serves as an amenity for the owner um staff has a few minor concerns regarding the design of the understory these are primarily zoning issues um the first is the uh the driveway width on the North and South Side they are proposed at 11t 9 in uh staff feels that those are a little bit of excessive a little bit excessive and that and is requesting that those be reduced to 10 feet um additional additionally some other modifications are required to the understory level um in order to comply with the requirements of the code for understory home um particularly that the um that the uh the front that the um under story be open uh 50% um I believe they have some spaces there that are blocking that that and and it's not complying with the 50% require requirement um so with that staff recommends that the uh design review board approve the uh proposal subject to the conditions in the in the attached draft order and before we start uh with the testimony have are there any ex party disclosures that the board nope okay good and then has everyone been spawn in on you team no like to get sworn in please okay sure then please uh stand 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 okay and I'm going to set the clock at 10 minutes okay thank you thank you all right good afternoon everybody um chair board members I'm Vanessa Madrid with the law firm of Holland and night at 701 brickl Avenue and I'm happy to be before you today again uh with me today are The Architects for the project Rex Nichols of Studio Kora the landscape architect Jason Nunes of Fernando Wong as well as the owner Miss Joanie Wilkins um first and foremost we want to thank staff they always do a sell job at working with us the applicants and this application was not an exception um they've been very thorough and provided invaluable um comments that we've Incorporated throughout uh before we continue I want to say that we have reviewed and discussed the staff recommendation um with staff and fully understand what their recommendations entail and accept to all of those recommendations except for one which uh we'd like you to consider allowing us to keep a w wider driveway just for Comfort um and more functionality there's no code requirement per se there's no variance per se it was just preference um the difference here is so minimal it's a foot and and a half basically that will allow for more functionality if you have a medium-sized car those are typically about six feet once you open the door it's an additional 3 feet so it gives very little room to actually walk out of your car or um you know if you're carrying groceries you have to now step into the landscape and for us ladies that like to wear heels that seems to be um not very functional so just providing an additional foot and a half allowing us to keep the existing Dimension would just create more um comfort but um it's just something to consider um also just some housekeeping items I've been listening to what has been said today um my team and I have been just talking in the background and and making sure we make this very easy for you and wrap it up as quickly as we can so I want to point out on the record that we've been reaching out to the neighbors the property owner has been a very good neighbor she's been walking up and down the street making sure that none of the neighbors see this as a surprise and you'll see in a minute um we have photos of the existing property that has been you know um running down and it it's in pretty bad state so all the neighbors are very happy to see the falling roof go away um in addition to that we do have a support letter from the at the time the president of the islands Association um that's on file we've also received verbal and written support from a lot of the neighbors including of the owner at 6626 Pine Drive uh tree Pine Tree Drive um last housekeeping item I'd like to reserve sometime for a bottal I don't see anybody here but just in case somebody storms in last minute so the property is located at at 6650 Sheffield Lane as roio mentioned it is in an RS um land use designated um category District it is also zoned RS3 uh there's currently as I mentioned a two-story residence on the property and we're seeking to replace that with a brand new twostory residence with an under story and that's why we're here today um this is the survey of the existing property there are no variances or waivers being requested this is a very straightforward application the house um contemplates a very modest height it will not be the tallest house on the Block there are taller houses already there today um we wanted to be considerate of the surroundings and make sure that was inspiration for the design of the home which I find very unique and striking so um with that I'm going to pass it along to the architect but oh but before do let me show you some images of the existing home um clearly um it it's not in the best shape you'll see the interior is falling apart here are more images for context um these are some of the houses are already in the neighborhood some are already under construction um and are our project responding to the scale the context the location is appropriate here so um now I'll let the architect speak to his design yeah that's the first okay uh good afternoon and thank you very much for your time in reviewing this project um I'd like to read a brief narrative uh this is the front elevation of the house um and we have three renderings the front the accessory building and aside and so I'm reading this narrative in response to these uh today we're thrilled to share with you the P house a project that embodies our dedication to integrating architecture with nature fostering a dialogue on sustainability and resilience the facade of the pee house this is the front facade no I'm sorry go back to yes the facade of the pee house stands Resolute against the elements a symbol of strength and Innovation while it provides protection from Hurricane its significant lies in its embodiment of our secured relationship with nature the raised Living Spaces not only offer a practical solution to climate change but also serve as a visual representation of our commitment to adaptability and environmental Consciousness uh this is the accessory building Step Into the Heart of the pee house and you'll encounter a Serene Sanctuary where architecture and nature might converge in Perfect Harmony here the courtyard unfolds as an artistic Masterpiece a creation by the artist tasked with intertwining Nature's Beauty with architectural form as the elevated living space provides shelter they create a striking contrast with the Lush Greenery below inviting contemplation on the delicate balance between human habitation and the natural world and then the side as sunlight filters through the Pea house it illuminates not just the space but also a collective vision for sustainability the collaboration with our artists may bring to life a sanctuary Garden that enhances the natural beauty of the surroundings through this project we aim to inspire others to embrace the beauty of coexisting harmoniously with nature fostering a sense of resp responsibility for preserving our planet for generations to come thank you you can do the site plan now all right here's the site plan yeah yes that's fine what was really important to the owners of the project is since it's a a dry lot is that we have a wonderful interior Courtyard so from the very beginning we set out to Define that courtyard by the use of the massings for the project the there's a one-story Mass facing the street which of course provides a a great Street image but it begins the definition of that courtyard and then there's a twostory mass at the South End of the property which is the bedroom wing and then there's an accessory building on the west part of the property and that completes that containment for the courtyard So within that courtyard we're going to have a a beautiful pool and a great water feature you can continue to the uh this is the story level and the understory is strictly for parking and access there is an exterior stair that is covered that leads up to the balcony uh which leads up to the front door and there's an elevator that brings you into the living area as well um this is the area at the bottom of the sheet there which is the south side where the staff had determined that we were uh not quite 50% of the open area and we're willing to slide that foundation of the two-story Mass over and create that 50% and then the accessory building completes that containment uh you can proceed this is the floor plan um it is completely open as you can see all the way across the back of the property the side so the kitchen the dining room the living room the stairwell the master bedroom even the master bath are complete glass with no solid elements except minimum structure um um and and and this is the second floor and it overlooks the courtyard as well and it's all glass has a wraparound balcony which over looks the courtyard continue on uh the roof plan um which has a a a garden on it on the second floor roof it's not the upper roof but it's on the actually a balcony for the second floor you continue on uh these are just here is to show that we meet the lock coverage requirements and we also meet the minimum minimum size requirements so you can keep going um let's go back to the first Runway the first front Runway okay on the uh we have the materials noted on the front of the rendering um one of part of our concept you know is to rise above nature to meet the climatic challenges but also to give a very light floating feeling to the structure um the fascia is actually very thin and it's a an aluminum channel that will be pre-finished in a shop and brought in so it would be perfectly horizontal perfectly horizontal and it provides a frame for this entrance uh the materials that are beveled which you see are are treated wood it means it's a wood product that has been treated so that it can weather um and they're very very narrow vertical uh strips of wood that create this uh beveled uh entryway to the house and the the roof which also the ceiling which bevels back are large wood panels um and then uh the support for this flying structure um which is the underst story support is um exposed concrete with board form but not a rough board form a very very delicate but board form to give it texture and interest and then the stair is a like a piece of sculpture in front of the house it's a major feature um which at night would be beautifully lit the amount of glass that we're showing on the front we're hoping to do in frameless glass so that all you see is glass and no metal you can continue on the accessory structure it we intended to be like a piece of sculpture when you walk into the house that's the first thing you're going to see look across the pool and see this incredibly light floating structure which is all exposed concrete um and to make it it extremely transparent so when you're looking at the house the accessory building you're actually looking through it at the landscape and then we have a vertical screen sliding screen um that will have plants behind it as well and then uh uh so you've got the sliding screen which is wood and then the concrete uh material and then the last slide um again we're repeating the uh the aluminum uh fascia uh the second floor has a concrete exposed concrete fascia um everything is light and floating and the glazing elements are very very slim so that uh and you can see the glazing RS on the house so uh we can move on right to the landscape yeah okay thank you so much for listening and I'm available if you have questions you want me to control it for you hi I'm Jason NIS with Fernando W's office for our landscape drawing um we are meeting and exceeding the minimum requirements um starting in the front um we designed the landscape to be very structurally and nice and clean um on either side of the driveways it'll be framed with a pached hedge made out of of a ficus Nida the main hedging for the north west and south of the property will also be done out of Ficus Nida installed at 16 ft high and then it's all um the trees on the back will all be nice and loose so in relation to the trimmed Hedges it'll just provide a nice Green Cloud for the for the main house the Palm in the front on the right of way is the Royal Palm it's existing um it's meant to remain and Fernando has designed a live o um off to the right slightly off of the main entrance just to provide softness and a lighting interest at night this is the render plan showing showing the landscape it's all intended to be nice and green um it will have some flowers but the flowers will be in the rear this is an elevation of the front oh that was quick yeah it's just a quick elevation showing the pach hedges on either side of the drive with the FASA Hedges on the North and also on the lower part of the East facade this kind of shows a cross-section um to the back this is a crosssection looking south from the north property line these are the open space diagrams and these are just some quick 3D renderings that were done solely for the landscape um for the feel these are the ex Heights of the plant material that will be installed this is the north entrance this is for the pool area it's looking South looking North looking East um looking West this is going to be a meditation Garden um and this would be on the western side back to the front and just an overview looking South yeah these are some of the materials that we're proposing to use um the Limestone will be used on anything that's pedestrian use the pt1 will be a shell um shell loock which will be the paving material for the driveways and also for the understory we're proposing ePay for the rear deck courton steel would be to create the grass tearing effect that we have along the front and then the pool would be a midnight blue this is irrigation drawings as well as lighting drawings as well all right um so with that I'm just going to conclude by saying that I hope that you agree with me this house seems to be the perfect balance between privacy and simplicity yet elegance and openness I don't know how all those things can coexist but they do um and we're looking forward to your approval today thank you thank you very much are there any other members now wishing to speak anybody online we have no hands are raised online okay great I'm closing the public portion opening it up to the board for discussion want to again Scott want to start I mean I think it's a beautiful house and um that's I think it's a beautiful house I just want to say I think um I really appreciate the presentation uh the architectural presentation speaking about architecture thinking about Place material experience um I wish you would present everybody's project as long as you're not lying to me about the wood I warned him um yeah I'll eeko is a beautiful presentation beautiful house um the only thing and I mean I I love the backyard um more to the Landscaping speaking more to that um I love the the soft grasses against the the hard lines of the house I almost just wish we could see that in the front yard too um the the I don't know if it's just the renderings but the if those are tall ficuses that have been cut into like a box hedge it would be nice to kind of see the the soft grasses beneath to kind of make the house look like it's floating from the street as well but um that's just more of a personal thing so but beautiful thank you I agree I think that's a good point in fact when I um one of the I guess I didn't see the presentation until today but I looked at the other materials over the weekend and it I think it was the floating that's a word of the house that was really very very appealing um but overall I mean first of all I feel like we're all so calm after listening to you and also there's such a difference too I think between a house you know that's that's a person personal project as opposed to maybe a speck home there's something so beautiful about this um I I really I really love the design even the Landscaping seems very fresh to me you know I I I'm a I'm a Florida girl at heart and I like that you know lush tropical look but this works so well with this design so you know yeah thank you very you know wellth thought out really beautiful elegant simple but like a wow um I'm also sort of a preservationist at heart but you know a modern gesture like this when done right you know this is just I think great um I there was one question oh I don't really mind the the driveway having it be a little bit wider that was my only comment to any of the others and I appreciate that the other conditions that the staff has recommended you're willing to comply with thank you thank you oh and then this is what it was that typically we do do sort of encourage our applicants to not use to use something a bit more environmentally friendly than eBay so that's something that you know would like you to look into and Alternatives um I I forgot one thing oh the Fus is gorgeous but I can't tell you how many people with homes that are fighting the white fly and the chemicals and the exhaustion it takes to keep that so if there's any other Alternatives you can come up with I would highly recommend that ask your neighbor and the Fus is a nightmare right now sounds good thank you I I thought it said oh sorry weathered wood does it say eBay on there yeah you mentioned okay only only on the deck correct yeah it was just on the rear deck on the rear deck um because the facade oh I was on the on the house it's not eBay no no it's just the rear deck off of the the courtyard yeah there are I mean obviously for obvious reasons you choose ePay for a deck but there are some American thermally modified products that you could look into that okay are more resilient thank you um roio in terms of landscaping is there a way to maybe build in some flexibility to Scott's point you know if we find other Alternatives that um would work here without having to come back to the board we don't have a condition that says it has to be uh uh okay a ficus included um I suppose some modifications to the to the landscape can be approved administratively okay as long as the the species is of the same uh size that's being contemplated here perfect yeah thank you for your proposal and it is a beautiful home that you will enjoy I am sure um I I agree with the um Fus being approved um by uh the administration or any change of it um if you see fit and then maybe also incorporating some additional Landscaping towards the front of the home I don't think that any of that needs to come back to us in my opinion we we agree so um if I can make a motion if we're ready for that unless someone else has more to say make a motion that we approve the project with um stipulation that any changes to landscaping and additional Landscaping in the front be approved administratively and not come back to drb and with the existing driveway width to remain yes I'll second let me clarify not the existing driveway they proposed driveway the driveway that you said we'll give you the wider driveway correct 11t 9 in so that would be removal of condition D1 uh three okay we have a motion by Miss buak AI we have a second by uh Mr diffenderfer and all those in favor I I any opposed okay motion passes congratulations thank you all thank you so much app all right the the date of the next meeting the next meeting will be May 7th May 7th okay until then thank you very much see you next see you actually I will not see you next month Michael belush will be here uh next month but I'll be back in June tired of yeah all right that was enough last [Music] n