2003-1218 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting December IS,2003 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida which will cost in excess of$3 Million to build. She said that in an abundance of caution and because the cost of designing such a structure was considerable and it was being located in the setback, they brought the plans into the City to confirm that no zoning action was required. She said the plans were submitted to Jorge Vera in early August,and on August 21,2003,Ron Korn from Fortune and herself met with Mr. Vera to go over the process. She said that Mr. Vera confirmed that the proposed sales center fell under the Code provision dealing with temporary use structures and that the only thing they needed to do was to apply for a building permit, and she confirmed the information that Mr. Vera provided to them in writing, and based upon the clear wording of the LDRs, and Mr. Vera's confirmation that no zoning public hearing or similar approval was required,they instructed their architects to begin preparing the working drawings, which cost thousands of dollars to prepare, were then submitted to the City for a building permit. Ms. Burke stated that it was late October when they were asked by Mr. Vera to attend a meeting at the City to discuss issues related to the Sales Center and they were initially advised that it had something to do with the landscaping in front of the Sales Center, however, during that meeting, which was attended by City Manager Russo, the City Attorneys, Jorge Vera, among others, they were advised that the City Attorney did not agree with their interpretation and they were further advised that they would be required to obtain a Conditional Use,a Site Plan Approval, and a Variance to construct in the setback and that this would all be through public hearing. She further stated that after they expended such considerable sums of money on the working drawings for the Sales Center, and having made commitments to begin marketing the project at a certain time, they agreed to file for the approval, and they filed without waiving any of their rights that such approvals were not required but the filing of the application was the only way they could get this issue in front of the Commission. Ms. Burke said that it has come to their attention that the Sales Center was a little high, and if it was set back a little bit further from Collins Avenue. She said if they could move the Sales Center completely out of the setback area, they would do so, however, if they move it out of the setback area it will be on the building footprint and they will not be able • to start construction of the project. She said that they are concerned about obtaining a building permit for this already designed structure as quickly as possible and they understand that the permit is almost ready and could be issued in three weeks. She said they need to construct the building and have it operational for their selling season and if they lose any more time in the redesign of the building they could completely miss the most important part of that initial season, however, they were advised by their architects that it would be possible to revise their plans to decrease the height of the roof of the structure from 44-feet to 30-feet without significantly delaying their construction schedule, and they believe that the height of the building as it is,really diminishes the size of the building because it creates space where you can actually view the ocean and that is why it was designed that way. She said that in addition to changing the construction schedule as it relates to the footprint of the project's garage, she said that they can move the building back an additional 121/2 feet from Collins Avenue,and that would create a 25- 3