2012-0216 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting February 16,2012 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida City Manager Cohen said prior to this current administration an administrative approval was granted, that approval was granted to a structure as a temporary structure. When the second application came in and we reviewed the application, it was their opinion, and they received concurrence from the Building Official as well that the structure itself was reviewed as a permanent structure from the Building Permit perspective and from the Zoning perspective, it was granted administrative approval as a temporary structure and we felt that was inconsistent. When they sat down and looked at the Code, and spoke to City Attorney, they felt that this should come before the Commission in the Site Plan Review process, which is why it appears that it is an after-the-fact request. We are here now to take a comprehensive look which is what the Site Plan Approval process is designed to do, and we do believe that the way the landscaping is set up, it can accommodate the proposed landscaping. Mayor Edelcup said we are left here with a situation in which something was administratively done, there was an initial approach to have more of these racks put in and with a discussion with staff, they compromised by coming in with one rack. The second rack at the request of the City was set so that a boat would not be visible above the bridge much like the original rack that is there today which is 3 stories high. This rack would fall in where it could only be two levels high. On the other hand, there is a great need for boat storage. There is a lot of compelling-reasons in-his-mind-that-as long-as-the second boat rack does not exceed the height limit of the bridge so the boats are not above the bridge line, and we have an understanding from this point forward that there would not be any additional racks put in. In reading the application, it is permitted to have up to 250 boats and they will wind up with only having 200 - 210 boats in the facility and so we are still under the maximum that was allowed and we are accomplishing the goal of providing boats whether it is on a temporary basis or longer until such time as something is built to capacity for this area. Since most of it is hidden from people entering over the bridge, admittedly people living on Atlantic Isle don't have the advantage of having a bridge blocking our view and so we will see these two racks but he does not find them to be objectionable. Commissioner Scholl said his issue is what is temporary because if you are coming in and we keep kind of piece meal it we don't have a unified plan, as this is more like a survey than a site plan to him. Under any other circumstances, if an applicant came in we would ask for a unified plan, and something that we would want to make sure that has got some aesthetic value to it based on the use even though it is alongside the bridge. He asked if there was a timeframe when their approval expires. City Manager Cohen said to clarify it, the structure itself is not a temporary structure, it is deemed a permanent structure, but the applicant only has a five-year lease for the property. He understands the concern that the Commission is expressing, the only thing he wants to express is that he wouldn't necessary hold the applicant responsible for the action offormer City staff. The first rack should have been here before the Commission and it wasn't, the applicant was led to believe by City staffthat they didn't need to go through that process, and we believed they did and technically both of the structures are before the Commission tonight as part of this site plan approval because the first structure that was approved was approved as a temporary structure, and so the time period for the temporary structure is over and so it is in essence a comprehensive plan that is being put before the Commission as both racks have to be approved tonight. 3