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<br /> <br />City Commission <br /> <br />Norman S. Edelcup <br />Mayor <br /> <br />Lewis J. Thaler <br />Vice Mayor <br /> <br />Roslyn Brezin <br />Commissioner <br /> <br />Gerry Goodman <br />Commissioner <br /> <br />Danny Iglesias <br />Commissioner <br /> <br />A. John Szerlag <br />City Manager <br /> <br />Hans Ottinal <br />City Attorney <br /> <br />Jane A. Hines <br />City Clerk <br /> <br />18070 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160 <br />305.947.0606 www.sibfl.net <br /> <br />December 1 5,2006 <br /> <br />Via Certified Mail <br /> <br />Mr. Clifford A. Schulman, Esq. <br />Greenberg Traurig, P.A. <br />l221 Brickell Avenue <br />Miami, FL 33131 <br /> <br />Re: 18320 Collins Avenue/Request for Code Interpretation <br /> <br />Dear Mr. Schulman: <br /> <br />This letter is in response to the attached letter in which you requested an interpretation of <br />certain provisions of the City Code. Specifically, you have asked me to determine whether <br />your client, a developer, may use submerged lands for density and floor area purposes where <br />the submerged lands are not within the legal boundary of the property owned by your client. <br />You have also asked me to determine whether a liquor store within the proposed new Publix is <br />exempt from the conditional use requirements. As more fully discussed below. your client <br />cannot use submerged lands for density and floor area purposes where the submerged lands are <br />not within the legal boundary of your client's property. The liquor store is subject to the <br />conditional use requirements. <br /> <br />Submerged Lands <br /> <br />In your letter, you asserted that certain definitions set forth in the Land Development <br />Regulations ("LDRs") permit a developer to use submerged lands for density purposes even <br />where the submerged lands are not within the legal boundary of the property owned by the <br />developer. Unfortunately, I do not agree with your interpretation of the definitions in the <br />LDRs. In fact, your current position is inconsistent with the position you asserted for a <br />different client when the City Commission agreed to allow submerged lands within the legal <br />boundary of a property to be used for density and floor area purposes. <br /> <br />As. a matter of background, the LDRs had initially excl uded submerged lands or water bodies <br />from being counted for density and floor area purposes. Through your lobbying efforts on <br />behalf of a particular client, the City Commission decided to revisit the submerged lands issue <br />because there was a claim that certain property owners were not able to use their entire <br />property for density and floor area purposes due to the natural erosion of uplands in certairi <br />areas of the City. To remedy this problem, by Ordinance No. 2004-215, adopted September <br />22, 2004, the City Commission amended the definitions of the LDRS to permit the use of <br />submerged lands for density and floor area purposes where the submerged lands are within the <br />legal boundary of the property. A copy of Ordinance No. 2004-2 1 5 is attached hereto. Indeed, <br />the intent of the aforementioned ordinance was to ensure that submerged lands \vould be <br />