2015-0716 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting July 16,2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida months ago. Tonight's Application is 187 feet with 17 feet of mechanical, and so they have reduced their project by 6-feet or 3% of their total building height. Mr. Wasserman said turning to the physical changes in their building, Plan Sheet 010 is an aerial view of how the footprint of their tower structure has changed. Although the King David Condo Association did not object to their original Application, they heard from several residents on the east side of the King David. They responded to those comments by completely eliminating the northwest corner of their building and this essentially opens up the view corridor for those residents in the King David. The previous project contained an average tower space of 41 feet and the revised project contains an average tower space of 58 feet. Although they thought their previous project was compatible in1 terms of density and intensity, they are confident that the revised project satisfies this Commission's concerns with the level of development proposed for this site. Tim Lobanov with the Verzasca Group, said that the City Commission and the residents had provided a significant amount of praise and criticism for their project atlthe first hearing. They appreciated the feedback and they feel their ability to respond totithe community is what sets them apart from other developers. They tried very hard to accommodate every single reasonable comment and request and they are proud of the work that they have done. Luis 0. Revuelta, Architect, provided a refresher on the design of the project and some of the changes made between the two hearings. Mr. Wasserman said in closing, the City Code allows 71 residential units!for this project as- of-right, and they are providing 61; the Code allows 130 square feet of FAR, they are under that amount; the Code allows a restaurant on the ground floor, they Ichanged that to commercial office space; the Code allows a 5-foot rear setback, they are substantially in access of that amount; and most importantly, they are not applying for TDRs. This is an as- of-right project without any special requests other than the mural graphics which is a standard tandem application for site plan approval. We satisfy your Code,'criteria in Section 265-18(G) for site plan approval and urge your approval of this Application. Your professional staff has reviewed their Application and determined that it fully complies with the Land Development Regulations as well as the Comprehensive Plan. This is substantial competent evidence for the City Commission to rely on to approve this Application. Mayor Scholl opened the public hearing and, after hearing all comments about this project, closed the public hearing. Commissioner Levin said she applauds the developer for taking into consideration all of the concerns that were addressed at the last meeting; for listening to staff bringing down the size of the building; for not asking for TDRs; for omitting the restaurant; and it is a beautiful building. It seems like your neighbors are for the building, being King David who are the most affected. There are 61 units that will add some traffic to the City. There is an entrance on the side, not on Collins Avenue, the entrance in the front is for the retail or for the office space. People will be entering and exiting on 175 Street. Right now she has no issues with the building. Vice Mayor Gatto said this is her District and she is very protective of it as she lives in Winston Towers. She knows that some of the examples they brought up and the other buildings being built with TDRs, Winston Towers for example, or the King David but that 5