2007 1115 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November 15, 2007 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida land they are putting the ficus hedge on, and City Attorney Ottinot said we are going to put the enhanced landscaping on the developer's property in the back of the wall, and if the enhanced landscaping does interfere with our existing easement, staff will probably not have a problem. Mr. Perlow said to add enhanced landscaping to the conditions of this approval. Vice Mayor Thaler said besides the beautification there has been a number of problems in that area pertaining to water, as we have had a number of complaints over the years including tonight's Protest Letter that relates partly to that. He said the developer is permitted to build almost 3-feet higher than the old building, and so the containment of that water is very important, and he wants to make sure we have assurance that we will oversee that area and problem before we give a CO. Commissioner Iglesias said that is part of the Code, right now the flood elevation criteria is at 8 in the entire City, and what he is saying is correct, obviously when you are building higher you can't allow the water to flow on the neighboring property but DERM and City staff would require you to retain your own water. Mayor Ede1cup noted the Drainage Statement in the additional handout items, and City Manager Szerlag said one of the issues that he asked staff was pertaining to drainage, that any new development cannot cause a drainage problem on adjacent properties nor can it exasperate an existing drainage problem, it doesn't have to correct the drainage problem but it can't make it worse. He said staffwill take a look at storm water calculations and ensure that the statement that we have from the engineer for the developer is mathematically correct and that we will not issue any permits until such time that we are satisfied that drainage issues are taken care of. Commissioner Goodman said he is concerned about the front of the property which is cement that could cause drainage problems because the water has a tendency to run and it can flood. He noted the letter from the engineer saying that he is going to do a French drain system in the rear yard areas to make sure that the water doesn't flood the neighbors, but his concern is the front where you don't have any landscaping to absorb the water and he is concerned that Golden Shores will be flooded. Commissioner Iglesias said by law you have to provide an outlet. Mayor Edelcup said there are drains in the front and in addition, there are drains at the rear of the property. Mr. Perlow showed renderings of the front where there are patches of grass between each house and a swale area in order to catch rainfall for run-off. He said when they designed this they wanted to make sure there was not a lot of traffic and parking on the street, which is why they have 2-car garages and allow two guests to park on the property. Assistant City Manager Vera said one of the things omitted as a condition was to plat this property, and it needs to be put in. Mayor Ede1cup said there are swimming pools at the rear ofthe homes, are each of them fenced off from one and other, and it was noted that there are aluminum fences between them with a private back yard between each one. Community Development Director Solera said they will come in as separate permits. Mayor Edelcup said in regards to Art in Public Places, we need to be specific as to what that entails under this particular project, there is an option of either doing an onsite or offsite, what is the formula. City Attorney Ottinot said that the Code requires that the developer construct a piece of art work on site, in lieu of the artwork, they are required to contribute to the Public Art Trust Fund of 1 % of construction costs of the development project, not exceeding 4