2015-0917 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting September 17, 2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and for daycare. Today we have an economy that requires in many instances both parents to be employed, and they need a place for their children to be watched. There are also a lot of single parent families in this community who work and needs a place for their children to be watched. This is the only daycare facility in the City of Sunny Isles Beach, as there are limited areas in which daycare can be created. This is an ideal location for a daycare, it is internal to major roadways, and it is serving existing student population of 25 which was approved by this Commission. When this was approved, they had originally asked for more students but the Commission said to try 25 and if they were successful and operating properly, to come back and ask for additional students; no guarantees. This property is a rwo -story retail office space. Traditionally the second floor of this building has been occupied by people of the medical profession. Their Traffic Stud}, which was submitted as part of their hearing indicated that the traffic caused by this use, is less than if this was 100% leased on the second floor for medical offices. Unlike schools, daycare centers do not have a time of starting and a time of ending, it is based upon the schedule of their parents. The younger children, the 3 to 18 months, are basically there for a couple of hours in the morning, and some are there for a couple of hours in the afternoon. And so there is no one time of loading and unloading students from this property. They believe because of the geographic location of this City where it has basically two major roadways, 163rd Street and A 1 A. there is no other sound place for a facility of this type to be placed in the City that has the necessary buffering away from the major traffic areas. What they have asked for today is consideration, the second floor has become available and the}, would like to put in an additional 65 children. There will not be 90 kids there at the same time as the schedule varies throughout the day. Mr. Price said they believe this is consistent with the way this Commission has acted over the last 18 years, when there is a community, need, this Commission provides for that need. He has heard arguments that this is going to create more traffic in this immediate area. He thinks the Traffic Report belies that but more importantly, of the 25 children enrolled in this facility today, 18 live at Winston Towers, 6 others lives within the City, and one is the child of a parent who works in Sunny Isles Beach. They would like the Commission's consideration to remove the restriction. They have a small retail space on the first floor, they have the necessary required open space even though they are asking for a variance. There is a provision in the Statutes that the daycare centers, if designated as an urban area, and he noted that the City is using the same argument that you don't have to provide the necessary open space for your new school for three (3) grades. You are also going to be filing an application for an urban community and that is quite common in South Florida, they are asking for the same consideration. There is a dramatic need in this community for parents who work, for a place to place their young children. In a relatively short period of time you are going to be hearing requests to provide senior daycare facilities which is also a need in the South Florida area. They believe this is a reasonable request, they would like to get the Commission's support so they can go fonvard with their zoning application, and indicate why they believe the zoning application provides a relevant basis for approval by this Commission. Mayor Scholl said procedurally, what we are doing is modifying the restriction that was placed on the property when we approved it. This has nothing to do with the legacy restriction on that particular parcel, this has to do with the restriction that the Commission placed on the property several years ago when the daycare was first approved. Just about 8