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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting May 21,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida <br /> Avenue. Her biggest issue is the traffic, however this is a beautifully designed building. <br /> Vice Mayor Gatto said she doesn't understand why there is a restaurant in a condo that is <br /> adding to the density of this whole thing. Her issue is the traffic, and she does her own traffic <br /> study when she walks out her front door, she walks to City Hall from Winston Towers a <br /> couple of times a week. The other day she walked down Collins Avenue at about 1:30 p.m., <br /> the traffic was backed up north as she was standing in front of Denny's. What was happening <br /> is that there is a stop sign on 174th Terrace right across with Walgreen's,two cars were at that <br /> stop sign trying to get onto Collins Avenue and no one would let them in. A half a block away <br /> which is the corner of 174th and Collins Avenue there is a bus stop and nobody was moving. <br /> We will characterize 174th and Collins Avenue as the busiest intersection in the City, it leads <br /> into Samson Oceanfront Park and you have tons of pedestrians crossing the street on the north <br /> side and the south side, and so it is something that we are dealing with. She can't imagine <br /> people coming in and out of Walgreen's, coming in and out of this restaurant, and residents <br /> coming in and out of that area. Without the presence of the building it seemed to her <br /> completely chaotic, and she can't figure out how all of this is going to go down, how it is <br /> going to be executed. Having both a restaurant and a condo there is a little bit on the dense <br /> side, and she is really worried about this, she lives it every day. The only thing that she can <br /> say is if they can rethink this project because in her heart she knows that the individuals that <br /> buy these units in this building have absolutely no idea of what their quality of life will be <br /> trying to get in and out of that building. It is where we have our cars, it is where we shop, it is <br /> where we take our kids to school, it is where we do pretty much everything we do every day. <br /> We have no wiggle room for error, and we really need to figure out this situation especially <br /> traffic-wise. <br /> Commissioner Aelion said so much has been said about traffic issues in Sunny Isles Beach. <br /> Tonight we heard residents presenting for and against the project, it is almost an equal amount <br /> of residents here. He is torn emotionally because he is of the Jewish faith and it is extremely <br /> important to have a Mikvah in the City. With that said, we have a serious issue as stated here <br /> by Vice Mayor Gatto and Commissioner Levin. With all due respect to the Traffic Engineer <br /> mitigating the studies for traffic impact, etc., we are talking about the quality of life here for <br /> our residents, and talking about young families moving in wanting to buy affordable housing <br /> compared to the east side of Collins Avenue. He wants to point out that we have presently <br /> ongoing and upcoming on the west side of Collins Avenue, a huge complex of affordable <br /> single pricing project,we have the Parque Towers,and two towers coming up on the west side <br /> which is similarly affordable. Regarding the issue of parking and mechanical parking,he had <br /> the pleasure of attending a get together at the Regalia which was recently completed and they <br /> have mechanical parking. We have a nice evening,we go out and wait at an average of about <br /> 20 minutes for our vehicle. Mechanical parking is practical for spacing of vehicles within a <br /> site plan of a condominium but the time frame to bring a vehicle which is stacked three high. <br /> When you need the third vehicle, they have to take out the first and the second to allow the <br /> third vehicle to come down, and then replace the first and second vehicle. It is a minimum of <br /> 20 minutes,this is an impact on your lifestyle. Everybody wants to live in Sunny Isles Beach <br /> because we have made it a point to become known as the most attractive South Florida <br /> destination for tourism and we are proud to have one to two million tourists every year here. <br /> With that said,the quality of life for our residents is extremely important. Winston Towers is <br /> very close to this project and Winston Towers is 5,000 residents strong. Their main place to <br /> 13 <br />