##VIDEO ID:v3beXiFkGpo## e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e congratulations thank you yeah congratulations man good afternoon welcome to the city of North May beach special commission meeting of Thursday November 7th 2024 U Madam clerk roll call Commission shov here commissioner floron here commissioner Jean here commissioner Joseph here commissioner smuckler vice mayor Smith pres mayor Piper here quum has been established thank you thank you okay would everybody please stand for the pledge allegiance to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America for it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice okay now it's a public comment Madam clerk good afternoon everyone the meeting has been opened for public comment at this time there are three there is a three minute time limit for each speaker speaker when you called to the podium please state your name or the name of the organization which you are representing the mayor and commission of the city of North P Beach recognizes the importance of Civility the city of North F Beach requests at all in attendance to exercise civility at all times do we have any speakers Mr Mayor okay no speakers okay the record reflect no one came forward and um okay so now we're on to our first item I need a motion second to introduce for motion to introduce second okay um attorney I item 4.1 ordinance number 20 24-14 second reading biscan overway District uh the sponsor is Zafar Ahmed the community development director an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of North Miami Beach Florida amending the city of North Miami Beach code by amending chapter 24 entitled zoning and Land Development amending Article Five entitled zoning use distri districts amending section 2452 entitled B2 General business district to create subsection 24- 52.1 entitled B2 General business district overlay to provide specific requirements and to provide uniform development standards for properties facing the biscane corridor within the B2 General business district providing for conflict scribers errors separability and codification and providing for an effective date okay thank you Mr good afternoon U me Mr Mayor and members of the commission this is my first meeting here and uh I'm happy to be here I will try to answer all your questions today I will start with making a presentation about the background of this uh item that we are presenting today and later on I'll walk you through the uh PowerPoint with respect to some of the benefits and some of the key elements of that presentation if you recall uh this uh presentation is being done at the request of uh this or uh overlay ordinance was prepared at the request of midate County because myate County uh developed an ordinance for a rapid transit Zone and one of the requirements of that Rapid Transit Zone was that the all Incorporated areas along the rapid transit Zone should also incorporate their own own Rapid Transit zones and incorporate their own local needs within that Rapid Transit zone so with that in mind the uh uh this item has been brought uh before you um back in U July uh we had a initial uh discussion on this in which uh the um the concept was presented and then on August 12th uh the planning and zoning board meeting uh reviewed the item and and presented and passed it without any uh reservations on October 15 the ordinance was voted as is by the city commission for the first reading with a 6.0 6 to0 vote and uh but nevertheless the commission had some comments which in this presentation we will make some uh we have made some changes and I'll highlight those comments one of the key things that I have brought forward uh different from the prior is that the staff report has to comply with the uh consistency with the comprehensive plan compatibility with the surrounding neighborhoods and in accordance with the Land Development Cod so the analysis uh in the staff report will reflect that there are policies within the comprehensive plan which the item is consistent with for example 1.13 of the comprehensive plan is a transport portation element the initiatives that we have presented here are consistent with those policies that are already been adopted in the comprehensive plan then there's a goal one of the policy 1.27 of the future land use element there's a conservation element that is part of this uh ordinance that uh is cons brings consistency to the comprehensive development master plan and you know this is basically the minimum standards that we think should be uh uh adopted in order uh for the uh the overlay uh to be consistent with the comprehensive plan when look when we look at it uh with respect to the compliance with the uh code of ordinances of the city of North Miami as has been uh approved and adopted by the board of contct commission the text amendment of Article 5 of chapter 24 of the zoning and Land Development code in to include section 24- 52.1 entitled biscan Corridor B2 District overlay will ensure consistency with the Ci's Land Development regulations which propose uh with uh and intent are to provide as which purpose and intent are to provide as per section 242 land use Planning and Development criteria standards and regulations to promote protect and improve in accordance with present and future needs the public health safety Comfort good order appearance convenience morals law enforcement fire protection and general welfare of the citizens of the residents of the uh of the city so in overall the for with these goals in mind of the Land Development guidelines this ordinance is comp uh in compliance with the Land Development regulations then we look at the surrounding neighborhoods is it compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods yes there the corridor is a highdensity corridor uh if we look at the uh development surrounding uh the development the um the buildings are about 30 stories to 25 stories uh in their joining municipalities the buildings are uh you know uh up to 55 stories that are according to their zoning code um the in the city of North Miami the uh behind the federal building that uh uh building has a 450 ft height so these are the this thing our ordinance basically with bonuses it takes us to 375 ft and our by R is 3155 so we have Incorporated incentives and we are asking the developers to provide the uh those uh Services which the ordinance requires which is provide for Workforce housing provide for affordable housing the whole idea is that this Corridor has to have enough density of population to support mass transit rapid trans that's the name of the of the ordinance it's a rapid transit Corridor we're going to have a train station coming in we're going to have uh a high-speed rail coming here and we need to prepare our ourselves for that this is not about just a development this is about the future this is about how people need to move about with the city and that is through transit for not by driving you can't uh continue to drive from point A to point B in your individual cars people have to start to learn to get onto the mass transit but we cannot expect that if we do not provide the services and the facilities to accommodate the the highspeed rail and the corridors that will continue that will pass through us if we don't provide this we will lose that those opportunities the uh the transit uh Corridor basically has been uh uh adopted by mate County to allow other municipalities also to follow suit and have a uniform highdensity Corridor so that's the uh the the background and the analysis of why we are sitting here and reviewing this and and we see that with the uh building Heights in the suround ing communities the surrounding municipalities as well as uh in our own uh neighborhood uh within on the biscan corridor we have compatible high density uh buildings we are actually below those uh other uh building standards now I'm going to walk you through the uh the PowerPoint uh so that you can uh before before you do Safar is um because I know our commission is pressed for time um is there specific areas that we need to kind of go into I know he gave a pretty detailed analysis of the purpose of the the ordinance and the requirement with the county is there something more specific that we can Zone into so that you all can can get the information that you need um outside of the conversations we've all had individually yeah I mean there shouldn't be that much because we've been through a workshop in a first reading so um you know we were all doing our job and paying attention at that point but does anybody else have anything through the chair I'd like to just before we start the presentation I'd like Mr manager for you to explain to the public why we have the emergency meeting why we had to call a special meeting could you explain that to the public sure um if you give me one second I'll I'll be glad to um even had a couple members of the public send me a email which I've responded to um and so I'll be I'll glad that's the reason I'm asking a question I have a lot of phone calls as well of course it's not a problem um so the special meeting which was scheduled for today November 7th was planned in coordination with our city attorney's office and Community Development Office to address ordinance 2024-the overlay District this ordinance is a priority because it ensures North Miami Beach is in compliance with county code that ideally would have been adopted over the summer we've been working closely with the county officials to address specific needs of North Miami Beach and to create a zoning code that avoids spot zoning a critical step for sustainable long-term planning within our city timing is also played a significant role here the ordinance was originally set for a second reading on October 24th but when that meeting was canceled it was delay um it delayed this process again we also have an applicant waiting for a code to be in place um which is county compliant um so that they can secure um their financing for their um project any additional delays would have put that um project at risk with these considerations and after confirming Quorum the City attorney and staff coordinated for the meeting today November 7th so that we can keep North Miami Beach in compliance and avoid further delays support for both ongoing and future development is aligned within the county standards okay thank you thank you of course all right anything else any other question okay would you like me to go through the full so so Mr manager do we are we going to is this just going to be something we've seen before or do we need to go through the exercise anyway I believe this is something that we've seen uh prior to and we can just go Um from slide to slide um very quickly um again and and it's very consistent with all the information um that our director just mentioned in his uh verbal presentation it's our B2 uh District along biscan Corridor um which is matching the smart plan of the county um this is very similar to the live local the state standards the county did their own um standard to encourage Workforce and affordable housing um and again the ordinance is meeting the minimum requirements the differences between what's typically done is um in North Miami Beach we have zoning codes by right in other words the developer or anybody can build up to x amount of feet because they have that right innately what we're doing is to meet the county code um if they wish to go higher they have to purchase that um additional height um as a bonus depending on what that is the overall height of the entire building which even includes any air conditioning or anything on the roof of the building or anything the the top is 375 um and we gave a couple questions that we received that we thought were excellent questions and we wanted to share with the commission other existing buildings we currently have um um solest on the bay which is currently under construction that's going to be at about 348 ft 30 stories um 237 ft for Riverwalk North 23 stories Aurora 8 stories 94 ft Marina Palms 25 stories 283 um regardless of the height of the building the top amount of um or the max amount of stories that a building can have is 30 um so the difference here is is a a taller Lobby mezzanine instead of 10 ft it might be 11t um um units things like that which might determine the height and it also deter determines the square footage of the lot uh because obviously we have various setbacks and stuff and that also determines on how high um the the building can can come um I think that kind of even went through the entire presentation um if I'm not mistaken uh Zafar if you can just go through the slides real quick sure um just to see if there's anything that we missed uh nope keep going now as you can see in the graphic here the uh the rapid transit Zone itself is a quarter mile but then there are boundaries for uh up to a half mile that go on both sides of thiscan Boulevard but the major development is within that uh quarter mile uh that is on both sides of biscan bouevard is there a proposed time that the rapid transit is going to be in so the zoning is already active within the county um and they are anticipating a train station on 150 so so what's the time frame of that I'm we don't have the time frame but I know that they are moving towards obtaining the funding and the necessary federal and state approvals in order to bring that uh to fruition yeah there's still the county is still working with um State and the second question to that is okay if it's not being built for sure in a specific time period could it be moved from 151st or is it set in stone there I believe it's set in stone okay thank you can we confirm that though I can thank you yeah we can verify that but because they proved their plans already but we can verify that uh the zoning map which I just uh distributed is the basically what was adopted and is the current plan uh this is again the over boundary that I just discussed uh again the purpose and intent is to provide suitable mixt developments within the B2 District along biscan Boulevard ranging from Northeast 135th Terrace to Northeast 174 uh Street and that are compatible with the miate rapid transit zone now yeah yeah we've already went through this a couple different times the same yep yes there the most of the uses compatible but there are certain uses which are not compatible would would have to have certain conditions though have those have been identified in the tables here that there you know you have to have special conditions as in other uh codes that we have um and the challenge is to increase the density along the biscan corridor that would provide for new developments compatible with the city's comprehensive plan the opportunity is to prepare for an overlay of the B2 business district along the biscan corridor compatible with the existing neighbor neighboring developments along the corridor bonus density opportunities and opportunities for public benefits uh what I just discussed with some examples about the adjoining uh municipalities as well so we have I I think we've addressed the the PowerPoint um in in the multiple meetings in our descriptive um narrative that we've given all right so um that being said I think we're good with that presentation um Madam cler can we do public comment thank you if you wish to speak on this item please come forward didn't we do that already okay let record reflect no one came forward and public comment is closed anything from the Commissioners on this nope I have a question okay actually it's a statement a couple statements one would you put on the record please if they wanted to come and buy the rights and we turn that down if we say you want to buy the rights but this this this no once they meet all of requirements we have no say so is that correct the whole intent of the biscan uh overlay ordinance is to provide for those additional uh uses that are not by right so that's the whole intent and that happens when we allow the developer to take benefit of those bonuses so if we tell the developer provide us all of these things but we're not giving you any bonuses that defeats the very purpose of the whole exercise I just want to make it clear because when you hear the density go up and the height go up the public which has unfortunately had the results of other communities using us as a Thor way so therefore they have all that extra traffic and I wanted the public to hear that so that when we get developments and we we vote to put them in they understand that they get that right that isn't a decis and to your point and to your point vice mayor um the county is encouraging the and part of why this is the rtz and and we have to be in compliance with the county the county is encouraging that increase in density around the train station uh for mass transit use um and so that people are not using cars so they they're close enough to that um station and through that Corridor where they would walk over to the train station get on the train go where they got to go get off and there's no car um it's a completely different shift in how South Florida is to operate and there will be a time until that kind of normalizes it's yeah but it's the county who's mandating the increase in density it's understood but from the train station stop over 151st to where this is also going to apply the whole way North we're still going to have traffic of course and what the public has to understand because those are the phone calls we get is a we don't have a choice and B they pass the fact fact that you can have a lesser tax if the value goes up well that's less Revenue to the city so development is a bad thing with traffic but it's a good thing for to Pro provide the services but I think it's important to put it on the record because before we come here to vote we get nine out of 10 people telling us to vote no and I think the public has to understand why the no can't apply yes Madam vice mayor the each of the developments will be going through the the stringent site plan review process where every uh on-site traffic circulation their access to services and uh you know setbacks all of those Urban design standards will be looked at it's not a blanket approval for 30 stories or 37 stories it has to meet the standards the setbacks the Landscaping the you know all of that space is going to be there exact and I we studied it thank you for your time this afternoon quite extensively because the one thing I didn't want it to look like a concrete wall and so that's why I ask what does North Miami's regulation what's aventura's regulation because we go in and out of the county in the north Miami along that Corridor it's not all North Miami Beach Madam vice mayor with the Landscaping buffers and the additional bonuses for uh uh additional Landscaping this will become a nice green Corridor which will be high density at the same time it will be uh you know uh some some place that people would like to walk to and and like to live in and not ride in their car they would say I'd rather walk to the station that's the whole idea the environmentally friendly the you know walkable and the you know reachable uh place where people can you know live work and play that's the purpose of the mixed juice thank you for explaining it I think it was important not to rush this through and let the public understand why we're up here voting for this and why our vote is necessary thank you nothing nothing else from the Commissioners we need a motion to approve second okay and um a roll call please commission shov yes question you have a question well I had a question about how does it relate in any way to the live local live local is a separate uh State regulation but within the corridor if a live local uh uh project comes in it will not only have to meet the live local requirements but also the uh uh Rapid Transit Corridor requirements I think um to answer commissioner more to towards your point um the county along these corridors did a a mini live local in which they wanted increased density and to control that and then they wanted the cities to also pass something so that we can also help control what that looks like that meets ours so it's it's almost like a mini live local although it doesn't bypass the live local does that also include the um the community benefit portion of it is that tied to how that resolves both so any development will still have to go through that Community uh benefit portion um they can by purchasing additional bonuses to boards Library Parks um and and other um such things they can go all the way up to 30 stories or 375 so instead of that them having that by right where they can just do it they would have to purchase that which was ENT all right thank you no problem okay so roll call please roll call commissioner shernoff yes yes commissioner floron it's great to be here um yes commissioner Jean yes commissioner Joseph yes commiss vice mayor Smith yes mayor Piper yes passes 60 okay great all right now it's time to Jour a motion second to adjourn second okay all in favor I we're adjourned thank you for