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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting November 20.2014 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida <br /> special events permit but he doesn't think it will be applicable to them anyway. <br /> Commissioner Levin said if you did have an event you would have Police Officers there to <br /> direct traffic, etc., and Mr. Finvarb said yes, we would be required to. Commissioner Levin <br /> said she understands on the second level above the restaurant which you plan to put on Collins <br /> Avenue. You have a swimming pool up there for customers at the hotel,and you are going to <br /> have another restaurant and a small bar area_. and Mr. Finvarb said yes for the hotel guests. <br /> Commissioner Levin said she knows that 18 stories seems like a lot but the building itself is <br /> almost 80 feet wide, and so it is quite a narrow building, and so the footprint is actually very <br /> small. The only other use you can possibly put in that would make sense is an office building <br /> which of course would increase the traffic which seems to be the biggest issue to most people <br /> here and it is a problem on Sunny Isles Beach. Then we have the Avila who is concerned with <br /> the traffic in the back, and we have the Pinnacle that is saying we don't want the traffic on <br /> Collins, we want it in the back, and so obviously there is a lot of competing interest here. <br /> With that being said, she thinks she will approve the project as it is a good project, and we <br /> need a hotel like this in Sunny Isles Beach. <br /> Commissioner Scholl said so there are always trade-offs.and a couple of people came up and <br /> talked about their campaign promises, and actually his video is still up on his website. When <br /> he talked about west side development he was pretty clear. He said let's stick with the <br /> Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Regulations for west side development. We <br /> allowed a lot of variances on the east side, and buildings got larger than they might have been <br /> and we deviated from our Comprehensive Plan. It is always a tradeoff between the owner's <br /> property rights and what residents want to see, and it is tough. He said he has been a strong <br /> advocate for owner's property rights, the Temple issue and he felt like we were dealing with a <br /> property rights issue. Developers have a right to build something, and they have a right to <br /> building something that does not involve variances,and doesn't involve exceptions unless we <br /> grant them. In this case, it is a tough one because the alternative use is probably an office <br /> building, and the truth is an office building would be much more intensive of a use on a site. <br /> Recently we had two office buildings come before us and he voted against both of them <br /> because both office buildings wanted variances, and he thought an office building is an <br /> intensive use to begin with and a variance on top of that is too hard to swallow. He lost on <br /> those but nevertheless he did not support them. In this case we have a number of issues going <br /> on. No. 1,he agrees,when we have folks coming to town we send them over to Aventura and <br /> they stay at the Marriott in Aventura because we don't have a property like this in the City and <br /> so it is a use that he believes the City needs. The second thing is and he thinks it was <br /> overlooked here, the staff induced the developers to get the loading and unloading off from <br /> Collins Avenue. How many of us get stuck in the morning when there is a semi-truck <br /> unloading supplies for a particular building. In this case it is not going to happen because they <br /> encased their loading and unloading within the property. But again, consistent with his <br /> campaign promises, he said we are not going to approve variances and exceptions on the west <br /> side of Collins Avenue, in this case the property owner has rights that are vested with the <br /> property. Tonight he thinks that the developer brought in a plan that has no exceptions, it is <br /> 100% compliant with the Comprehensive Plan, and it is 100% compliant with our Land <br /> Development Regulations. Commissioner Scholl said with that in mind we could end up with <br /> something worse in the future and we could get sued because if we are arbitrary about turning <br /> these things down, that is what happens. He said he is going to support the project. <br /> Vice Mayor Aelion said the fact that the Comprehensive Plan allows this to be built, there are <br /> to <br />