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<br />Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting
<br />
<br />July 20, 2006
<br />
<br />City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
<br />
<br />Public Speakers: Stanley Price, Esq.; Paul Murphy; Paul Fishman, Architect; John Shubin,
<br />Esq.; Scott Schlesinger; Carla Pfeffer; Frank Tumminello; Mercedes Cantrell
<br />
<br />Stanley Price, Esq., representing the applicant reported that they are here tonight because ofa
<br />change in regulations by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) relating to
<br />coastal construction. He said it has caused them to move their building forward toward
<br />Collins Avenue, that they still meet all the required setbacks contained within the City Code,
<br />and that this is purely to get the permits from the State of Florida. He noted at the same time
<br />they were redesigning this building in terms of moving the building forward, they also came
<br />to the conclusion that the previous scrivener's error that was corrected by this Commission in
<br />February 2006 [Resolution No. 2006-890] could be addressed at that time and made a non-
<br />issue in any potential of existing litigation. He said they asked their architects to go back and
<br />look at the design of this building to see if we can go back to what was erroneously advertised
<br />at the first hearing, the 38,000 plus square footage necessary for TDRs, and they were able to
<br />accomplish that with no variances, making the building a smaller footprint on the site.
<br />
<br />Paul Murphy, Builder/Developer, said he came in as a joint venture partner on this project,
<br />and when they analyzed the project there were three things that they felt they needed to
<br />improve: 1) increase the parking slightly by squaring up the footprint which allowed the
<br />columns to be placed in a symmetrical where they were able to increase the parking by about
<br />where the limits are to 70, keeping a smaller footprint then they had before, putting most of
<br />the curves in the balcony outside the building; 2) they had to resurvey the beach, in order to
<br />apply to DEP they had to do a new survey, a new dune survey, etc., and in the formula that the
<br />Coastal Engineers have, they found that the building was 14.5 feet closer then they were
<br />allowed to be, although they wanted to do just minor modifications; and 3) one of those
<br />modifications also was to hopefully pacify this suit that is going on for the TDRs, so they had
<br />hoped to get permission to go ahead and eliminate that TDR problem and reduce the square
<br />footage of the building by 16,000 square feet, which they did. He said in the process, they
<br />moved the building back 14.5 feet, they moved the tower back an additional 20-feet, they
<br />squared up the building, and eventually they kept the exact same footprint that they had
<br />before. Paul Fishman, Architect, Arquitectonica, presented renderings and described the
<br />project, noting that they gained 12 more parking spaces in the garage, and created a more
<br />functional floor plan all the way up.
<br />
<br />Mr. Price noted for the record that he would like to incorporate all previous hearings, the
<br />transcripts of those hearings, and presented the booklet to the City Clerk, as well as to Mr.
<br />Shubin who represents the objector here this evening. He said it contains relevant portions of
<br />the record which they want incorporated into the record, and they would like to reserve time
<br />for rebuttal.
<br />
<br />John Shubin, Esq., said there is pending litigation regarding this building and for that purpose
<br />he reincorporated all of the previous testimony and previous transcripts of the hearings into
<br />this hearing, to the City Clerk. Mr. Shubin said he is here tonight on behalf of Scott
<br />Schlesinger, the Town of Golden Beach, Sheldon Schlesinger, Murial Skimler, and several
<br />Sunny Isles Beach residents. He said he would also like to incorporate into the record the .
<br />boards that have been presented by the applicant. He stated that this building as proposed is
<br />completely incompatible with the as-built environment of the town of Golden Beach which is
<br />a single-family community. He said his first objection is that this is not a modification of a
<br />previously approved site plan, this is a new site plan developed by a new Architect, according
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