2013-0108 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Special City Commission Meeting January 8,2013 Sunny Isles Beach,Florida Beach and it adds a special aspect to the look of the City which is very positive. He is concerned about the underground parking and the potential flooding that may occur,he thinks that Golden Strand has somewhat of a one level underground parking. We have a lot of beach erosion and an aggressive ocean, what are the procedures or mitigating steps that the developer may take either to create a hill or some sort of impediment for the water to reach the garage. Ron Choron, VP of construction at Fortune, said the garage is going to be raised higher than the beach level,above the flood plain level. Vice Mayor Aelion asked if there was a perimeter around the proposed structure that will prevent any water from entering into the lower levels of the underground parking. Mr. Choron said the entire garage is enclosed except for the one entrance and exit ramp, and at that portion we will have flood gates or flood barriers, it is a complete concrete bathtub top, sides, and bottom. John Cardello said before the walls get poured,there will be a complete waterproof membrane that will be surrounding it, there is one entry and exit point that will have a flood barrier at that point to make sure there is no water infiltration. Also,you asked about water on the site,we have water wells on either side to control any rain water that may come on the site. Vice Mayor Aelion asked about noise from the air ducts and asked for a pilot test of the decibel levels of the fans, and if it is high, that some action can be taken to mitigate it. Mr. Schulman said the City regulates sound and decibel levels,the maximum level is 65 decibels. This is a variable speed fan,meaning that it does not always run at the same speed,it depends on what is going into the garage. If there is one car,you don't have much in way of the fan. If 30 cars come at the same time, the fan speeds up but it is basically throttled down so that it can never exceed the 65 decibels limit. The east side is passive, there are no fans. Vice Mayor Aelion said in the parking layout you have for guests"0",for tandem"124",and for commercial "2". The two parking spaces for commercial, he fails to see where the daily trucks are going to be able to get accommodated. Rachel Cardello said the spaces would be integrated into where the loading dock is located and there are also additional parking spaces within the garage itself. Mr. Schulman said that area around the loading dock is heavily landscaped from its northern neighbor. Commissioner Gatto said assuming the issue of the garage and the noise are satisfactory,she likes the idea of less density,there are no variances,and she found the site strategy to be very interesting. We were challenged with a similar issue last time where someone was asking for a deferral,no variances were involved,and this is like history repeating itself. It has been out there since September, and so she is in favor of moving forward with the project. Commissioner Scholl said these developments are never tasteful with adjacent property owners because they get used to having a vacant lot next to them, no shade on the beach, a nice view, and the fact that Sands Pointe was built a long time ago when the land was at a premium and so the garage is actually on the beachfront and creates a buffer between this project and the Sands Pointe tower itself What bothers him is when he thinks the adjacent property owners has not had a good process, or the developer has not been proactive about reaching out to the adjacent property owners. Unfortunately with Mr. Book being hired yesterday, he knows that the adjacent property owners had a lawyer involved in the process and they have looked at it. In this case, the project is as of right, and clearly the developers have complied with every ounce of our Code. Every project when it gets built can have an 6