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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting February 19,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida <br /> Commissioner Levin asked if there are any other properties in the City where a variance was <br /> granted that are similar or the same as or would it be unique? City Planner Hasbun said not to <br /> her knowledge but she will research that. Commissioner Levin asked Attorney Mars with <br /> regard to the parking, what is the ratio of the valet to self-parking? Attorney Mars said there <br /> are some units there from the original that were assigned spaces. All these spaces were <br /> intended to be valet spaces, and there is valet in each of the buildings. As you go from Tower <br /> I which has more assigned spaces, there are some in Tower II, and Tower III are currently all <br /> valet. He noted that none of the spaces they are considering adding will be assignable, they <br /> will all be valet. Commissioner Levin asked if he has looked for alternatives to this plan or is <br /> this the only thing you have been able to come up with? Attorney Mars said they have looked <br /> at other design type projects and he wanted to emphasize that they are spending a tremendous <br /> amount of energy in trying to locate this massive amount of parking spaces but setting this <br /> back in a way that it creates a really true finish to this project. We have heard through <br /> discussions it has been an issue for quite some time on how to properly finish this project and <br /> get rid of the sheer wall elements that are shared by everybody. They have looked at other <br /> designs and this would have been the most palatable for purposes of setbacks and visually <br /> attractive, and again we are trying to contain everything along tree lines and things that <br /> currently exist. He also made a point that there should not be any more traffic coming onto the <br /> property and being told to leave and find general parking throughout the general vicinity. <br /> There is another element to this which is the safety element that they are very concerned about <br /> which are the cars that are backing up onto Collins Avenue creating another traffic concern <br /> which will be eliminated with this proposal bringing the parking back up to the Code standards <br /> when the project was originally considered. Commissioner Levin asked if there was any <br /> property damage or safety issues with regard to parking the way it is now? Attorney Mars said <br /> yes,again, the backup has been an issue,we have had many instances of problems in the valet <br /> station, especially on a weekend or holiday. The City also has a lot of undescribed transients <br /> traveling from out of town into their units. Now that the buildings are fully occupied or all <br /> sold, there are no developer units at this point, now we are experiencing it which is a regular <br /> problem. <br /> Vice Mayor Gatto said she understands there are 1,050 parking units in total, and you would <br /> like to increase it by 340 additional units. Her question is does every unit in each of the towers <br /> have an assigned space or have a place to park? Attorney Mars said they do not all have <br /> assigned spaces. Vice Mayor Gatto asked if every unit has a place to park one car? Attorney <br /> Mars said they are all supposed to have space to park one car. Vice Mayor Gatto said she <br /> would guess that many of the units are two-car families and so there is also the situation where <br /> some of the units have two cars, and you can accommodate them? Attorney Mars said we <br /> cannot accommodate them, sometimes they cannot even accommodate one car based on the <br /> demand. Vice Mayor Gatto said there are some with three cars, and she asked if they are <br /> asking for the increase to accommodate a three-car situation. <br /> Mayor Scholl said Vice Mayor Gatto is trying to make a determination on what is assigned and <br /> what is kind of in the pot because with valet you have so many assigned spaces that he is sure <br /> is designated for self-parking for certain unit owners,and then you have the valet pool,and so <br /> if you could show that differential. Architect Castineira said he does not know the exact <br /> number of assigned spaces for Tower I and it is only a small portion of the entire building. <br /> The building exists right now with valet for most of it, and in that valet layout it is not only <br /> 8 <br />