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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPB Minutes 2006-0328 SUMMARY MINUTES City of Sunny Isles Beach Historic Preservation Board Meeting Government Center, 18070 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 6:00 p.m. • 1. CALL TO ORDER BY CHAIRPERSON: Action: Vice-Chairperson Joe Masters called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The following Committee Members and City Officials were present: Committee Members: City Officials:, Dione E. Del Monico, Chairperson [via Phone] Mayor Norman S. Edelcup Joe Masters, Vice-Chairperson Vice Mayor Roslyn Brezin Trina Duluc Commissioner Gerry;Goodman Phillip Chernoff City Manager A. John Szerlag Cassey Gabor Deputy City Attorney.Patricia SaintVil-Joseph City Clerk Jane A. Hines Michael Tribby, Information Tech. Dept. City Liaison: Absent Members: Richard Schulman, City Historian Michelle D'Arbelles Bonita Shoki 2. SELF INTRODUCTIONS: Action: Vice-Chairperson Masters thanked everyone for attending and noted that Chairperson Del Monico is here via conference call from Colorado, and everyone introduced themselves. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR THE DECEMBER 6, 2005 HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARD MEETING: Action: Phillip Chernoff noted a correction on page 3, third paragraph from the bottom, he said he did not note that the Board had discussed Ellen Wynne's home and that they made a replica of her home; and the third sentence up, he did not say that you can also designate historically not only by the architect but by the person who lived there. Casey Gabor said that she had a change on page 3 as well, paragraph 3, she did not note that the Suez has already been torn down. City Clerk Hines said she would make the corrections. Philip Chernoff moved and Trina Duluc seconded a motion to approve the December 6, 2005 Committee meeting summary minutes, as amended. The motion was approved by a 5-0-2 [Michelle D'Arbelles and Bonita Shoki absent] vote. 4. PRESENTATION OF 2005 FINAL REVIEW REPORT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARD TO MIAMI-DADE COUNTY/STATE AGENCIES - SIGNATURES OF CHAIRPERSON/LIAISON AND BOARD MEMBERS APPROVING REPORT. Action: Richard Schulman stated that the final report was sent to Chairperson Del Monico for her review and signature and that this final Report was the result of accomplishments and decisions of this Board last year. He said the Board's actions and final resolutions by the City Commission have been documented and approved by our City Attorney along with proper signatures. He said that this final report will now be forwarded to the proper authorities in Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 1 of 6 Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida. Cassey Gabor moved and Phillip Chernoff seconded a motion to accept and forward the Report in accordance with the existing rules and regulations. The motion was approved by a 5-0-2 [Michelle D'Arbelles and Bonita Shoki absent] vote. 5. DISCUSSION, REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF TYPES OF PLAQUES FOR HISTORIC SITES — LOCATION FOR PLACEMENTS. • Newport Fishing Pier; • Atlantic Isles Entrance Bridge; • Atlantic Isles Lake Bridge; and • Pergola Home of Chairperson Del Monico. Action: Mr. Schulman said he brought samples of materials and engravings based upon the types of plaques that will hold up the best in front of these historic sites, and passed them around. He said the plaque would be encased in concrete and noted that there are two types of plaques that can be installed: one is a bronze plaque which is privy to the weather, and another material called coreon, which is a very hard substance. He said the cost of the coreon plaque, 8W x 11" is about $200.00 and the bronze plaque is $345.00. Mr. Schulman noted that bronze will eventually turn color and corrode in about a year, and the coreon will not turn color and it will last indefinitely. He said the logo would be in black and white and it will be engraved, and comes in different colors but he would recommend the coreon plaque in charcoal with white lettering. He said it would be embedded either in concrete, depending on the location, or we will drill holes and bolt them into the concrete that is already there. He said he will go out with Public Works Director James Watts and take a look at what the best way is. Mr. Schulman asked Chairperson Del Monico about placing a plaque,in the area of her home and she said she would speak to her husband to see what his feelings are before she gives an answer. Mr. Schulman said that we would not go forward with this until the next meeting when she is back in town. Vice Mayor Brezin said that these are areas where there will be a lot of sand, dirt, and residue and the lettering on the plaques is recessed and it would fill with dirt, sand, etc., and it needs to be determined to be cleaned so that the lettering remains clear for identification purposes. Vice Chairperson Masters asked about the plaques in our parks and Mayor Edelcup said that they are not in good shape due to the salt. Commissioner Goodman said that we need something weatherproof or it won't work. Mayor Edelcup said that we are not spending a lot of money on them and if they deteriorate, they can be replaced. Cassey Gabor said it is important where the plaques are placed. Mayor Edelcup said they should be placed in the most visible place, and Richard Schulman said he would go out and take pictures of the sites. Chairperson Del Monico said that she felt that the coreon was a Ismart move as far as maintenance goes. 6. DISCUSSION OF THE GOLDEN STRAND HOTEL LOCATED AT 17901 COLLINS AVENUE AS AN HISTORIC SITE, TO MOVE FORWARD ON LEGAL OPINION — "TIME SHARE" HOTEL. Action: Vice-Chairperson Masters asked Richard Schulman to report on his meeting with the Golden Strand. Mr. Schulman said that at this point as a Board, we;are in the investigative stage, and are gathering information for our Legal Department so that they can come up with Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 2 of 6 some answers to move forward on this as an historic site, and noted the following facts about the Golden Strand: • there are two buildings: the first one is 4-stories high and was built in 1946; and the second building is located on the north side and is 6-stories high built by Sid Solomon in 1964; • there is a 500-foot frontage in both buildings (the running linear feet in the building); • in 1980 it turned into a timeshare ownership; • management is a 9-member Board of Directors; • there are 152 units; • there are 4,700 timeshare owners; • there is a Lease Covenant Agreement that runs through the year 2032, so that a developer cannot touch that property as an investment for another 26 years; and • noted that there were originally 16 villas that are now gone. , Mr. Schulman said that he met with Board Member Joe Feldman who had two concerns about making the Golden Strand an historic site: 1) in case of a major hurricane, the cost of the damages that they would have to put out of their pockets as unit owners, and thought it could be very costly if there was a storm surge; and 2) there would be a distinct devaluation of the property. He said that Mr. Feldman didn't know if he would talk to the Board at this time as there will be an election within 30-days for a new Board of Directors. ' Mr. Schulman said that the fact that there is a 26-year additional covenant that they would not sell that property to any developer, and then they have an option in 26 years to roll that over for a certain period of time. He said that our Board has the authority to devote on that, but that he would like to see a legal opinion on how that would work. Chairperson Del Monte asked for clarification from Mr. Schulman regarding the 26-years left on their land lease hold, and asked him to repeat the restriction that they have on it. Mr. Schulman said that they cannot sell that property to a developer for 26 years. Chairperson Del Monico said that is the owners of the land but the unit owners are not'the owners of the land. Mayor Edelcup said what Richard is referring to is the timeshare and that they have a limited life, and Mr. Schulman said that most of the leases are one week out of the year. Chairperson Del Monico said she is not concerned about the timeshare but is more concerned about the ownership of the land and the buildings because she is trying to get an idea of, and what she thought Richard said was that they can't make any changes to the building for 26 years but actually they could tear down the building tomorrow if they wanted to, it is just that they have 26 years left on their lease. Mayor Edelcup said if the Board were to make it historic they would be bound by the Board's decision regardless who owns it and who would eventually own it. Chairperson Del Monico said she wanted to ask the City Attorney what happens when you have an historic structure sitting on leased land, and Mayor Edelcup said that we are not sure if that is the case, and Mr. Schulman said we need to get a copy of the covenant lease and the land lease. Deputy City Attorney SaintVil-Joseph said we would have to get the lease documents or ownership documents to verify what type of ownership exactly exists on the property outside of the timeshare ownership and then once we get that we can advise you but essentially you have the authority as a Board to dedicate any type of site as an historical site. Chairperson Del Monico said she is trying to understand who is going to resist this designation, obviously you have got the timeshare owners and their Board, now if you have a different owner on the land then you are going to have another group that we are going to have to deal Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 3 of 6 • with and because obviously they are not going to want to see a structure sitting on a leasehold that has a finite term being designated as historic which means that they are going to be stuck with it after the term of their lease is over, so that is something that we should understand as we are going forward. Mayor Edelcup said one of the things you need to decide also is, is it worthy of consideration, and Chairperson Del Monico said that was her next question to Richard and to the City Attorney, what are the points for historic designation on this property. 'She said it needs to be clearly defined and presented to the Board at the next meeting, a poirit by point presentation. She noted that in the file there are guidelines for doing this, the process you need to go through in order to present formally a property for designation to the Board andtit would give you certain points that you basically check off or acknowledge that yes this exists,;etc., and this is why we think it should be, and until we have that we really shouldn't do much more because we really don't know, we know it is maybe 50 years old, but that alone is not enough to make something historic worthy. Mr. Schulman said that there are historic criteria that have been printed in the paper, and he presented an article that was published in the Wall Street Journal 'last week, and read a paragraph: "Local criteria for designation varies. Usually, codes draw on guidelines from the Secretary of the Interior, which say landmarks should have characteristics that individually or collectively represents historic or artistic significance, or are related to important historic people or events. Different cities have their own twist." Chairperson Del Monico said that you have that and you have the Federal Guidelines because we each got a copy of that at one point. She said to take that and go through it and determine what it is that you believe this particular property's characteristics it possesses that make it worthy for historic designation, and then present that to the Board: Deputy City Attorney SaintVil-Joseph said that was correct, and in addition, the Ordinance lays out specific procedures in Section 4 that we need to follow in order to properly dedicate this site. She said that she was able to contact the County and spoke to David Hertzberg'and he has advised her that the County has initiated a County-wide survey to assist in identifying certain properties that they will eventually propose as historic sites and that they have already completed Phase I of their projects and that included blighted and low-income areas which did not include Sunny Isles Beach. She said however, that Phase II will include Sunny Isles Beach and once they have concluded their survey, they will then share their findings with usdif we are inclined to use their findings. Chairperson Del Monico asked if they had a timeline on that because the last time she spoke to them about a year ago, they told her that Sunny Isles Beach would be at least 5-7 years out in their survey process. Deputy City Attorney SaintVil-Joseph said according to Mr. Hertzberg, he has indicated to her that Phase II is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007. Chairperson Del Monico said that it is a terrific tool, and that they haven't done that in about 20 years, although she doesn't know if it will help with the Strand at this point just because it is a couple of years out and she doesn't know if the Board wants to wait that long. It was mentioned that if you decree an historical site that the property would be devalued, what would make it devalue and would that affect the fact that it be designated an historic site. Chairperson Del Monico said that she doesn't think that that is a good topic for our Board because we are not involved in that and if you start doing that, you are acknowledging that historic preservation in some way takes away property rights, and it has been constitutionally Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 4 of 6 decided that it doesn't. She said that is something that every property owner is aware of but it is not for our discussion. Vice-Chairperson Masters said what if you do not make this an historic site but perhaps they would accept a plaque. Mr. Schulman said that we can go ahead and put together the characteristics that would designate this as an historic site and the reasons behind it, along with the legality of the land lease. Chairperson Del Monico said that she felt that was definitely the next step if the Deputy City Attorney agrees, and Deputy City Attorney SaintVil-Joseph said that she definitely concurs because we need to start building the record with technical findings to support it if it is the Board's decision to designate this site as an historic site. Chairperson Del Monico said she agrees with the Deputy City Attorney to start building the record correctly, with public notice as everyone has to be aware of what we are doing, and we have to have some formal position as to why we believe this is up for historic designation. Chairperson Del Monico noted to Richard when he brought up the fact that Board Member Joe Feldman said that if a storm came that it would be onerous. She said the Historic Preservation Code has clauses that allow for such catastrophes, if a building is blown down there are rules and regulations to guide the Historic Preservation Board when these people come for their permits for rebuilding, so that is something that really is not a problem. She said if a building sustained such damage that it was unrecognizable, then other code provisions kick in and take over. Chairperson Del Monico said that the bottom line is that this is supposed to be a reasonable set of rules to protect historic structures, but reasonable is a primary word involved in here and things that would be ridiculous obviously would not happen under exceptional circumstances. Phillip Chernoff said that he just had the opportunity to read of the history of the Golden Strand and noted that in the forth paragraph down it states who stayed there and included a lot of famous people. Mr. Schulman also noted that there is a song that was written entitled "The Golden Strand" and he framed it and hung it in the History Hall. 7. NEW BUSINESS. Action: Cassey Gabor said at the last meeting that Richard said he would check with.the Sahara Hotel about the camels. Mr. Schulman said that Dezer owns that property and Mayor Edelcup said that Dezer does own the property and that if the camels are moved they may collapse. Mr. Schulman said like the Sphinx, it is ready to fall apart and the camels are the same way. Vice-Chairperson Masters said that the Beautification Trust checked them out four years ago and they were falling apart at that time. Mayor Edelcup said that the Dezers said we can have the camels when they demolish the Sahara. Ms. Gabor commented regarding the structural integrity of the camels in the event of a major storm as they withstood the hurricane. Cassey Gabor suggested that when we place the plaques, we should have a ceremony. 8. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING. Action: Vice-Chairperson Masters asked when Chairperson Del Monico will be home and she said in June. After discussion it was decided to have the next meeting iri June 2006 at 6:00 p.m. 9. ADJOURNMENT. Phillip Chernoff moved and Trina Duluc seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting, and Vice- Chairperson Master adjourned the meeting at 6:40 p.m. Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 5 of 6 Respectfully submitted, n January 23, 2007 Jane A. Hines, CMC Date City Clerk Summary Minutes 2006-0328 HPB Mtg Page 6 of 6