2006 1116 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting November 16,2006 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida to have 30% ofthe interior restaurant to have outside within certain guidelines, among them they have to provide a 40-inch wide area for handicap accessibility. Commissioner Goodman asked how much they are allowed to use as the restaurant, and Mr. Solera said the amount that they are using at this point is within their standard which is 30% of the total amount inside. Mayor Edelcup said the entire open area is available, the question is whether a wall or fence is permitted, and under our Zoning Ordinance, no wall or fence is permitted in that front setback, that is the issue we are looking at. Mayor Edelcup said that the ordinance states that no wall or fence shall be in the front setback. He said we now have to determine whether or not that ordinance is sufficient to stand and go forward or needs to be changed in any manner. Vice Mayor Brezin asked if there is some provision in that ordinance where they would be permitted to have any kind of flower box enclosure that would be where they have their shrubbery, hedges, or their flower beds. Mr. Solera said under the Code we do not have that with the exception of the landscape Code which allows them to have a landscape buffer in the front. He said there is a height limitation on the hedges because when there is an access road you have to have a certain amount of space available to be able to see oncoming traffic. Commissioner Thaler noted that the pictures handed out were taken today, and he was out of town for a few days, and this is not what he remembers when he left. He said there must have been some modifications that were done during that period. Mr. Solera said yes there were some modifications done, some palm trees were installed on the other side of the alleyway as well as some trees on the other side, and there was no permit obtained and they are in the process of issuing a warning for that as a site plan is required for landscape issues. Mayor Edelcup said that we also have the situation in other parts of the City where you issued warnings for similar encroachment of front setbacks, and Mr. Solera said that is correct. He said they have done the same following the policy of Code Enforcement for everyone, the City enforced on Sunny Isles Boulevard three locations that had an issue, Madame's Restaurant, Cafe Gold Restaurant, as well as the Russian Restaurant which also has had walls, and as an update, Madame's Restaurant had eliminated any fence, they only have shrubs, Cafe Gold has eliminated all the walls, and the Russian Restaurant has requested an extension to come before the Commission. Commissioner Iglesias said we have two issues tonight, first we have the wall issue which is a clear violation to our Code, and the second issue is do we like it or dislike it, and if we do like it then we have to modify our Code. He said he can come back for a variance, which he hasn't done so because it was built without a request for a variance, or we can modify the Code. Mayor Edelcup said it would be difficult to modify the Code because you almost have to look at each one of these on a case-by-case basis, to try to simplify all the issues, we have moved down to one avenue and that is where we are at, we have a violation which somebody could ask for a variance and it mayor may not be granted. Commissioner Thaler said we also have the tree situation. Mayor Edelcup said that Code Enforcement has issued a violation on that, and he would hope that they would proceed on that as well to the same conclusions that we are now facing here today. Mayor Edelcup said we need to take this on a two-step basis, one to vote it up or down, whether or not we accept or deny this appeal, and whether or not there is an instruction to go for a variance. 13