2005 0322 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting March 22, 2005 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida believes that overall it works well with the Town Center. Commissioner Goodman asked about the design, the four entrances one on the left, two in the center, and one on the right, driveways to get into the building. Architect Kobi Karb presented renderings and asked the Commission to look at page A201 of the site plans. Commissioner Goodman said there will be parking for the commercial property and for people that live in the building will come through the main entrance and park in the garages, and Mr. Karb said that is correct. Commissioner Brezin said that we worked long and hard planning the Town Center and in making the decision about the southern side of 163rd Street that we were dealing in the birthday cake effect. She said the building is beautiful, however, her concern is if we grant this variance, it would set a precedent and that would mean that we are no longer dealing in the birthday cake effect, our pedestal, our tower, and our penthouse. Mr. Schulman said that when you are dealing in abstract with an ordinance and then you try to apply it to a piece of property, you have to mix a number of items, one is the intensity of the development which you permitted and that is the type of activity you want to take place, then you have to take into account the size ofthe property and the width ofthe property in order to make that happen, and you put it together and then you start coming into the reality of a real proj~ct and how it really works. He said that they have set back this building in the pedestal and have not made this pedestal as high as they could have because the pedestal is the one that really confronts the pedestrian, they have a four-story pedestal, and that they could have gone up to five stories. He said he has stayed within the height which was permitted, and are only at the 190-200 feet level, but what they ran into at the FAR and the bonus, and the TDRs, with that setback you can't economically develop the property without making some modifications. Mr. Karp said that the buildings are not square they have a unique shape to them, they made them into unique triangular shapes, which not only maximize the view but also maximize the open space and the negative space between the buildings, so when you arrive from Sunny Isles Boulevard from the bridge what you see is faceted parts of the building, and the skinny side of the building. He said they took the wedding cake concept a step further and made it even a better and stronger design on the towers themselves. Mr. Schulman said that they also separated the buildings more then the Code allows, they are only required a minimum of fifty- feet separation between each ofthese towers and they are at approximately 70-75 feet, a wider view corridor between the buildings then the Code basically permitted. Vice Mayor Thaler said he has three points: 1) we gave them a variance from 190-200 feet, and Mr. Schulman said that they had 190 feet and would be allowed 200 feet ifthey narrowed the building but they didn't have to narrow the building; 2) that we had two meetings prior to that on this variance where we elected not to move the top keg piece from 20 feet to 35 feet back which is what Mr. Schulman came back and asked for a variance on, and there were two meetings on that and this Board voted 4-1 that we did not want that put up on that building; and 3) the handicapped parking is, he believes, underestimated, he has not been able to prove that but he believes it should be either nine or ten handicapped spaces not eight. Mr. Schulman said they will meet the handicapped parking requirements, when they had various meetings regarding theoretical projects and not real projects, and what the Commission was looking at was rectangular blocks, and these are not and that have tried to do something other then the ordinary and come up with a unique architectural design. Vice Mayor Thaler said that looking at it he doesn't see where on top going from 20-35 feet does anything except perhaps give them another apartment on each building. Joseph Milton said the unit count 3