2014-1218 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting December 18,2014 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida beautiful building on a very challenging,unique parcel. The building will serve as a gateway as you enter the City eastbound on the Causeway. She introduced Jaime Schapiro to give an overview of the building, the project, the design, and some of the unique traits about this building. She incorporated all of the City files associated with this Application, all the exhibits, and the testimony you will hear tonight. Architect Jaime Schapiro said they are collaborating with Carlos Zapata, a world renowned Architect, and he described the property and presented renderings of the project. In order to harmonize the relation between the Tower to the Community Center, the Tower has been submitted into five(5)distinctive groups of apartments which relate to the scale of the Jewish Community Center (JCC). The formal language, materials, and glass color are similar for both projects. The blue/green that we are applying to both projects will change into a golden hue at sunset. 500 Sunny Isles Boulevard is a unique building with only 22 apartments. It has a 9-story artistic water feature in the northeast side fronting the motor court plaza. Because of the proximity of the building to the bridge,one will be able to experience the building height, it will only happen from the water and from the bridge. The total height as perceived from the bridge which is approximately 35 feet high, will be 290 feet above the bridge, giving a total height of 325 feet. Because of the location it will not cast shadow to any of its neighbors. For the tower they are providing all required parking on site. It will consist of a motor court plaza, lobbies on the ground floor with car elevators,mechanical spaces on that floor,and it will be at the level that connects the building with the Baywalk with a subterranean with two parking levels. A recreation piece will be on the second and third floors, lounge and business center, and a covered swimming pool. The first apartment starts on the fifth floor which is exactly above the bridge. It goes all the way to the 28th floor. The roof has a swimming pool for the exclusive use of the penthouse, and mechanical including tower. Marissa Amuial, Esq. said Mr. Schapiro gave a brief overview but she wanted to go through some more details of this project. This 22-unit building is well within the permitted FAR, density, and parking requirements. The project has been designed by right except for the following two variances: first we are requesting a 2 1/2 foot setback variance. The building is required to have a minimum setback of 15 feet plus an additional setback of 20 feet from pedestal creating a total setback of 40 feet. Because the property is so small, the 40 foot setback is very restrictive and the proposed building is currently set back at 37 '/2 feet. Special conditions and circumstances exist which are unique to the property which is isolated, very small, oddly shaped, and its proximity to the State Road also makes it a unique parcel. The 40-foot setback will create an undue hardship because of these unique characteristics. The second variance they are requesting is 35 feet in height for this unique parcel that is very closely situated to the elevated State Road. The Causeway is approximately 35 feet in height, and is bounded on the north side of the property. This significantly impacts the first 35 feet for the floor closely situated to the Causeway. These first few floors we have sight lined to the north and are significantly impacted, therefore the request for an additional 35 feet will offset the negative impact of the elevated State Road. These first few floors will not be visible by the majority of the public as they enter on the State Road. Because the elevated Road is so close to the building,it will actually appear to be shorter by those 35 feet from the public's perspective. The height will not affect any abutting neighbors since our neighbors are only the Causeway, water, and our Community Center. Therefore this property is uniquely situated in its request for height variances. 5