2015-0416 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting April 16,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida were talking about the TDRs, that the difference between the extra 12 or 15 floors is actually less than 7 to 10 minutes of sun difference between the shadow coming down, and so that is not in effect either. He commended the architects on this project. Vice Mayor Gatto said it is not very often that we hear "trying to be a good neighbor" when we view Zoning issues, and so she was very impressed with the almost 45 degree angle of the building. It shows that there was some thought and consideration in this because you have to remember that this is an as-of-right project. The investment that appears to be made in the landscaping is also very impressive, it is beautifully laid out and a lot of thought was given to the aesthetics of that especially at the pedestrian level. She is happy that Mr. Armani is involved, people will be buying his aesthetics and the brand name that he is so well known for. She thanked Mr. Price for clarifying the TDR situation. She thinks the 600 parking spaces is daunting to hear, she knows that not all 600 will be used at the same time. There is a reality that there are a lot of homeowners now living on the east side that if they are coming south on Collins Avenue it requires them to make U-turns to go north to get into their buildings and it is definitely impacting traffic a bit, it is just a fact of life. She thinks it is a beautiful project. Commissioner Levin said she has to agree that it is an absolutely beautiful building, she loves the helix aspect of it. She likes the way it is situated on the property,and the fact that we have a larger than average beach access easement. The landscaping is beautiful, and she likes the long driveway up to the building. It doesn't look like it is a very steep ramp because it is long. About the traffic, there is obviously a lot of through traffic that goes down A 1 A and if you consider what is south of us, Bal Harbour, Surfside, South Beach, people come here and they want to drive along A I A, it is what you come to Florida for,and so people use A 1 A just to get around. She is glad that Mr. Price explained the TDRs aspect and that it just shifts from one property to another property in Sunny Isles Beach. The City makes money from the sale of the TDRs and that is in addition to money that we get from taxes and so that helps to enable us to provide the services and the amenities that we are able to provide. One of the things that Mr. Sieger mentioned was that if we did not have the TDRs, if we remove the top 12 floors, in order to make the building work it would have to be shorter and squatter to get enough units in it to make the project viable. And so it would look different from the ground rather than being tall and narrow, it might be shorter and squatter. You have to consider what the cost of the properties are here and so you have to be able to build something that is going to work in the end. She cannot wait to see the interior. Mayor Scholl said it is good having informed colleagues, they did an excellent job but he will recap a little bit. To Attorney Price's explanation of TDRs, so basically we did a Comprehensive Plan, the State gave us a basket of development rights,and they said to create this Ordinance that moves those development rights around. Truthfully once we are going above 4, 8,or 10 stories on a building on the beach,you might as well go as high and get those rights packed into that building because as Commissioner Aelion pointed out,the sun you are blocking on the beach by that extra height in the afternoon it is basically minutes. The building itself is already going to block the sun, and so as-of-right without the TDRs it is not material differences. He knows it seems like a material difference because our sensibility says a taller building is worse but truthfully he would rather pack the density into the taller buildings than pack them into more buildings if we have that option. That is why we have parks because the fact is what we did was property owners own that land where we have parks,