2003-0515 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting May 15,2003 City of Sunny Isles Beach,Florida recognizes changes in elevation or structures. He said the intent of establishing a VE Zone is not to put persons or property in undue risk or to cause property damage, which increases your flood insurance rates. Vice Mayor Edelcup said that the V Zone is dangerous compared to a VE Zone,and Commissioner Kauffman said it is the velocity of the waves and Mr. Cutcher agreed also adding the static elevation. He said that one is a vertical dimension whereas setbacks are a horizontal dimension and he is not sure that the two should be combined or compared. Commissioner Iglesias read on page three of the handout under Obstruction Considerations: "Any construction element,such as a garage, deck,bulkhead,or accessory building,that is structurally dependent on or attached to a V- zone building is considered to be part of that building and must meet the requirements of Section 60.3(e)(4), (5), and (6)." Mr. Schulman,Esq. gave his interpretation of Land Use implications of a VE Zone verses the Land Use Code. He stated that a VE Zone basically means that, under the FEMA regulations,if any portion of the garage is within a V Zone,the entire garage is considered to be within a VE Zone. From a Land Use point of view, this garage has to be taller then it would otherwise be if it wasn't in a VE Zone because you are not allowed to excavate, go down below grade, and everything you do in a VE Zone has to be above base flood elevation,you basically have to have the garage elevated. Mr. Schulman,Esq.stated that the clarification is we don't want big tall garages in the City, and if it is in a VE Zone it has to be taller then it otherwise has to be without this Ordinance. Vice Mayor Edelcup noted that if a property is wider, then the garage does not have to be taller. Mr. Charles Sieger noted that the yield per acre is given for each acre in the zoning density and so therefore the impact of this has to do with every size and every width garage because you can get x on a hundred feet and you can get xx on two hundred feet and therefore the number of cars doubles and the impact is relatively the same. He noted that during the workshops, the intent was tall and skinny, suppress the garage and create subterranean garages. There are instances where the VE Zone is seaward of the bulkhead, which is a lot of the properties to varying degrees and up until the LDRs were passed,you had a 25-foot setback behind the bulkhead which is the furthest seaward that any building could go and now it is to the bulkhead. The intent was clearly"don't go into the setback with anything", keep the garages as low as possible and if you correct this Code, it will allow us to continue doing it even when there are a few properties that do lack the VE Zone. Vice Mayor Edelcup asked how can we correct this and still be within our Code for side setbacks and beach accesses,we may be causing another problem with another section of our Code that requires setbacks and beach accesses. Commissioner Iglesias said that if you have a big enough land you don't have a problem, it only happens on a few lots that are small. Commissioner Goodman stated that the VE Zone is very difficult and asked if you get a smaller lot why can't you put the garages under the building and then go up to the third or forth floor and start the building. Commissioner Kauffman asked how many projects do you think these lots affect overall, and Mr. Sieger answered that there were 7