2010-0902 Special City Commission Meeting

Home Browse Search

Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 2, 2010 Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 4. PUBLIC HEARINGS 4A. Hear an Appeal by Becker and Poliakoff, P.A. regarding Designating Temple B'Nai Zion Located at 200 178th Street, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, as an Historic Site. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Additional information was distributed prior to the meeting on the zoning history and permit history oJ200 1781h St.] Mayor Edelcup gave opening remarks on procedures/decorum and City Clerk Hines read a disclaimer for the hearing, and administered the oath to the witnesses for the hearing. Jeff Crockett of the firm of Coffey Burlington representing the City, said that we are here on an appeal of Historic Preservation Board Resolution No. 2010-13 which approved the designation of Temple B'Nai Zion as an historic site under the standards of the Ordinance. He said he would call only one witness, Ellen Uguccioni, the Consultant hired by the Historic Preservation Board, and her conclusion was that the site was a site of an historical event with a significant effect on the community which is one of the criteria. Second, that it exemplified the historical cultural, political, economic or social trends of the community. Anyone of those if found by this Commission, is sufficient for historic designation. The effect of historic designation allows continuation of the same use that has been in effect since 1977. It allows for interior modifications, but it allows for exterior modifications only with a "Certificate of Appropriateness" issued by the Historic Preservation Board. Consultant Ellen Uguccioni reported and gave a power point presentation of Temple B'Nai Zion located at 200 178th Street, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. She said that she was asked to evaluate this building, currently Temple B'Nai Zion, to determine whether it was eligible for historic designation or not. She noted that the City took the opportunity to recognize 300 survivors who lived in the City and what is particularly important about that beyond recognizing people who went through this, is that the City took that initiative, and to her knowledge it is unprecedented that a City went to honor these people. She noted that there is a site plan identifying parts of the building as A, B, C, D, and E. The three pieces that meets the standards of Chapter 171-5 of the City Code are: A) the main building; B) the Portico which is a covered walkway in front of the building; and C) the Memorial Tower. The connector building which was built earlier and the community center, we do not believe merit historic designation because they are not part of the visual whole that Mr. Kreidt designed in this mid-century modern style. She noted that the copper roof, which is the most unusual feature of this Temple, had to be engineered with structural engineers that met indepe1?dent from anybody else to try to figure out how to hold this up. She showed the buttresses which are a very stylized version of a traditional building component. The memorial tower originally had a cross on top and now has the Star of David, and she quoted Mr. Kreidt, although it was designed as a Lutheran Church, its design as a House of Worship was more universal allowing its use to be modified as has been accomplished. The building expresses by virtue of just being there, that the community placed emphasis on its spiritual condition, it testifies to the demographical change that occurred in Sunny Isles Beach and is part of the history which is both social and cultural. She also noted that some of those here tonight were responsible for the incorporation of Sunny Isles Beach and that is of course a political happening which is also included in this continuum of history. Public Speakers: Keith Poliakoff, Esq.; Joseph B. Kaller, Architect; Marla Sherman Dumas;