[Music] Hey everybody. [Music] Natal. Please take your seats. The meeting is about to begin. Remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record. Please stand by. We are going on
air in 5 4 3 2 1. Good morning everybody and welcome to the June 6 board of adjustment meeting. Um it's been a couple months since we had a meeting so it's great that we're back uh we're back here in the commission chambers. Um, we do only have
one item, so it should be a pretty quick meeting. Um, hope everyone has a has a great summer. And, uh, let's go ahead and kick it off with attendance. Mr. Magn, please. All righty. Good morning, everybody. Um, we'll take attendance. Um, Mr. Goldberg here. Mr. Davis here.
Mr. Krennic, yep, M. Melly, Mr. Nagler is absent. Miss Silverman here. And Mr. Silvers, present. Um, so we do have a quorum. We have six of seven members present. Perfect. Great. Uh, Mr. City Attorney, uh, if there's any updates. Uh, are there any updates
this morning? No updates, Mr. Chair. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and ask that you swear in the public that is Well, actually, you'll first advise how to participate via Zoom and then swear in um, anyone here in the public that will speak, and you'll swear in anyone that participates via Zoom um, as
they're called. Perfect. So, good morning all. Uh today's meeting of the board of adjustment has been scheduled in a hybrid format with a quorum of the board physically present in the commission chambers located at 1700 convention center drive and applicants staff and members of the public
appearing either in person or virtually via the Zoom platform. In order to participate in today's meeting, those wishing to participate via the Zoom platform may dial 888853-5257 and enter the webinar ID which is
8286961-5309 or log into the Zoom app and enter the webinar ID which is 8286961-539. Any individual wishing to speak on an item must click the raise hand icon if they are using the Zoom app or dial star9 if they are participating by
phone. Before I swear in those that are be testifying today, I'm going to advise all and read into the record the city's notice regarding lobbyist registration. If you are appearing on behalf of a business, a corporation, or another person, you need to register as a lobbyist with the city clerk's office.
If you haven't registered yet, you should register before you speak to the board. You do not have to register as a lobbyist if you are speaking only on your behalf and not on any other party or if you are testifying as an expert witness providing only scientific, technical, or other specialized
information or testimony in this public meeting or if you are appearing as a representative of a neighborhood association without any compensation or reimbursement for your appearance to express support of or opposition to any item. Expert witnesses and representatives of neighborhood
associations shall prior to appearing disclose in writing to the city clerk their name, address, and the principal on behalf of who they are communicating. If you are an architect, attorney, or employee representing an applicant or an injector, you must register as a
lobbyist. These rules apply whether you are appearing in favor of or against an item or encouraging or arguing against its passage, defeat, modification, or continuence. Um, at this point, um, all those who are going to be testifying
today, if you could please, uh, stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. And please be seated. And with that, uh, Mr. Chair, I'll turn it
back to you. Thank you, Mr. Attorney. Um, Mr. Madden, um, do we have any discussion items? We have no discussion items today. Okay. In your package, you had the minutes from our March 7th meeting. Hopefully, you had a chance to review those. Um, I'll entertain if there's any corrections or changes that
need to be made. If not, I'll ask for a motion to approve those minutes. Okay. Motion by Mr. Silvers. Second. Second. Second by Mr. Davis. Haven't seen your I haven't seen a woman again. Mr. Davis, got to remember your names. I'm a little
bit rusty. Um, all in favor? I I opposed. Great. Um, we do have two requests for continuances. The first one is going to be ZBA22-0143 1253 Collins Avenue. Mr. Madden. Yes.
So, the the uh applicants the applicant for this appeal is currently they're saying they're they're working it out with uh with other parties and they're requesting that the item be continued to the October 17th meeting. Um, and they're here in case you have any questions.
Okay. Any any questions on that? If there's no questions, we need to go ahead and have a motion to approve the continuence. Motion to approve the continuous motion by Mr. Davis. Second. Okay. Second by Mr. Silvers. All in
favor? I opposed. That passes. The second request for continuance is ZBA24-161 605 Lincoln Road, unit 800 RF. Mr. M. this this item as well. They're requesting a continuence and they are requesting a continuence to July 30th meeting.
Okay. Any questions on the continuence? Um uh recognize or if you'd like a different date, feel free. Yeah, I I I had spoken to Nick Cleras. Oh, I apologize. There is litigation between the parties in involved in this. We actually For the record, say I
apologize. My name's Carter McDow with Bill Summer, 1450 BL Avenue representing the applicant. Um, we actually would also ask that this be continued to the October meeting. We're hoping that if the litigation gets resolved, we may not come back to bother you. Um, and but it
litigation takes time and we're not handling the litigation. Uh, co-consel is handling that. So, we would ask that this also be continued to the October 17th meeting, please. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for council? Okay. All I need a motion. Motion to approve. Okay.
Motion by Mr. Davis. Second. Okay. Second by Mr. Silver is all in favor. I opposed. Okay, that passes. Thank you. Okay, so let's go on to Are there any previously continued applications? There are no previously continued
applications. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the one application that we have, which is going to be ZBA25-0179, 3741 Royal Palm Avenue. Mr. Madden, that up. Um, I'll read the title. An application has been filed requesting variances of the maximum unit size and lot coverage to allow for the
enclosure of an outdoor terrace for an approved two-story home that is currently under construction. Um, this is a a rare case where we have a home that is currently under construction. They have an approved building permit um and they are they are seeking a variance while they are currently undergoing
construction to make some modifications uh before the home is completed. Uh the home is currently approved with an outdoor terrace in the rear yard. Uh this is a covered terrace um with columns and the applicant is requesting a variance of the lot size and unit size in order to be able to enclose that terrace. So they're proposing
essentially keep the terrace as it is but put windows up so that it becomes an interior space rather than an outdoor space. Um this does result in a slight increase in the unit size and lot coverage. Um so the the uh the unit
size would go up to the the maximum allowable unit size is 50%. They're requesting to go to 54.13%. So, this would result um in a home with a unit size of 6,89.54 square ft. They currently have
uh a unit size of 5,432 ft and the maximum allowed would be 5,625 ft. The same would go for the lot coverage. Anything uh any projections from the enclosed space that project beyond 5T have to count towards the lot
coverage. Currently, the applicant is very close to the maximum lot coverage, which is 30%. They're at 29.91%. Um, which is a a square footage of 3,365 square ft is the is the current lot coverage, and they're proposing to
go to 4,023 square ft. Um, so that would take them to 35.76% of a lot coverage. The home in it of itself is not increasing in mass because this is a this is an area that is approved um that is under construction. So there's no uh negative
impacts in terms of the massing. Um and staff does recommend that if the variance is approved that there be a condition included that um that they not be allowed to make any additional outdoor terraces to the rear of the home um so that the massing of the home doesn't grow beyond what is what is
currently there. Um the applicant has indicated um two hardships. The first is a personal it's a practical difficulty that they have a elderly family that they wish to move into the home and so they would like a little additional space. Um that's so that would be a
practical difficulty. The second hardship that they identify is that they are on the same block as the 40th street uh religious institution overlay. So, the northern uh parcels on this block are single are designed like single family homes, but they are allowed to be
religious institutions and they do contain several religious institutions um in those structures. Um so, this block is uh the applicant claims is subject to additional noise and traffic impacts that uh your typical residential block may not be subject to. Um creating
the need to have more indoor space as opposed to outdoor space. Um staff is not opposed to the granting of the variance given that it does not increase the the overall massing of the home. Um the the variance is minimal. It is a space that's already there and with the
condition that no additional terraces be added on to. Uh the mass of the home won't grow any further. Um so with that staff recommends that the application be approved subject to the conditions in the attached order. Okay. Before I hand it over to uh the council, are there any
disclosures on the DAS? No. Okay. So, I'll go and hand over to Mr. Reio. Um, 10 minutes. Okay. To start, if you need more, let me know. Yeah, I can probably go quicker than that. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All yours. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My for the record, my name is Tony Russio with Law Office at 2800 Pon
Boulevard, sweet 1200 in Coral Gables. Uh, I'm here on behalf of the Am Ammon family. Uh, they're the they that's their family entity, 3741 Royal LLC. That's technically the applicant because they're the owner of the property, but this is the Ammongh family home. It's
under construction as we speak. Uh they're about six months away from finishing. And the reason we are here is because uh Mr. Ammonov has had a kind of a change in family circumstances over the last year or two and uh since they
designed the home and they've they've realized that they're going to need a little bit more space than what they what they originally contemplated for their forever home. So, let me walk you through what this application entails. Oh, and I also have Mr. Fernandez here, Manny Fernandez, who is the architect of
the project, in case there are any questions. He can respond to any questions that you have. Uh, the property, let me give you kind of the lay of the land. It's just over 11,000 square ft. Zoned RS4 single family. Uh, as I said, the owner's home is under construction, uh, under building permit
BR20004631. And the home includes an L-shaped covered terrace in the rear yard. That's the red that you see right there. Okay, that is that is already a covered terrace. It is just open to the elements. It's open on the north.
Uh what happened here? Pardon me. Technical difficulty. What happened here? Please load this up. There we go. Hey. All right. We're back. Thank you. Very s Thank you, Stephanie. Uh so this uh this
covered terrace which is open on on the three sides. The three sides are are set back about 22 feet from the east side. Uh about 11 ft from the north side, about 10 ft from the south side. Uh that covered terrace is what we're looking to enclose. It's essentially we're putting windows. It's already got a roof. It's
already got a floor. Uh it's and we're enclosing it in windows. That's that's the whole concept of this application. Um and then we are reconfiguring space inside. Okay. Um why are we doing that? Okay. Uh the ammonos have realized that
they got to move their parents in. Um their parents are getting on in years. Um they walk to temple. The current walk to temple is uh about 15 to 20 minutes, which doesn't sound like a lot, but the older you get with this heat and humidity, that's what's that's that's
becoming more difficult for them. Uh this house is much closer. So, what they've done is reconfigure the space to include a bedroom on the a second bedroom on the ground floor. They already had their master on the ground floor. They're adding a bedroom for their parents. It's got its own bathroom uh to give them kind of the privacy that
they're looking for. Um that walk, as I told you, this is where the house is on the south and their temple is uh just about a 3 to 5 minute walk away. So, it's very convenient for the Ammonovs. It's also very convenient for for their
uh parents um more so even um there are this is the before as you can see in that top uh that would be the the northwestern corner of the house the top left that was a kitchenet and laundry before uh that's being redistributed as
a bedroom that's the bedroom that I showed you before the other parts of the house are are being a little bit redistributed that pantry is moving over to the northeast corner This is the after and you'll see where that the pantry is now in the northeast
corner. I think I have a that highlighted. Um the kitchen has also been redistributed. Uh because the ammons um celebrate certain holiday excuse me holidays that require a certain level of cleanliness in the uh in the kitchen area. The pantry, the
spacious pantry affords them the ability to do that in a separate space um and keep that clean and clean it when necessary without disrupting the kitchen uh for during those days. Um the Ammonos are also Manny Ammongh the patriarch well I guess not the uh the son of the
patriarch uh is also the president of his congregation. Uh he does host Shabbat uh on on fairly regularly. So the dining room has been expanded a little bit just to provide the space necessary. So
the particular requests specifically are about a five just a just under a 5% increase to the maximum unit size. Uh the maximum unit size for this lot is 50% of the lot. That's 56 5625 5,625 ft.
We're looking to to exceed that by about 4%. Uh the lot coverage is also technically affected, but I want to stress no there's no added footprint to the home. It's the same home. It's just enclosing what was already covered space with windows. And
I know I've said that a couple times. I just want to really really emphasize that. Um these two requests are variances. Variances under your code can be justified for two ways. either through a hardship, the traditional hardship criteria, or through what's known as a practical difficulty. And
what we are we are uh submitting to you is that the practical difficulty here is occasioned. It's it's both a personal practical difficulty um and just a a function of what they do. So it's it's it that is the practical difficulty here. The fact that they're moving their their their parents in and need to
reconfigure the space for it. Um again, they're not adding to that footprint. I know I keep saying that. They're not changing the setbacks. They are not modifying any other aspect of the house um other than the interior configuration and just enclosing that area. Um the in
terms of the the buffering around it, they've got uh three level they've got walls and fences throughout the perimeter. They've got um three levels of landscaping at 16 ft at at 12 feet and at 8t uh to to basically provide the
privacy both to them and to their neighbors. Um, and that's the idea. I would say that the enclosed space and the gathering that can occur in the enclosed space is going to be a lot quieter for their neighbors than anything outdoors. So, and I just show
you a couple more things. This is the site. The property immediately to the uh to the rear of it is about a seven just over 7,000 square foot home, about 15% larger. Uh, so this house, even with the enclosure, is still very much in scale.
uh with with a lot um and as Mr. Madan had had mentioned before the area includes the the religious uh institution overlay. Um there are there's actually a function a a nonhomelike uh uh congregation that meets on the
north end of the block. Uh it's got that's the parking lot that you see there and then there's also the commercial corridor just just north of that. So that's basically the concept. Um the staff is recommending approval uh subject to conditions. We accept
those conditions. We agree to abide by them. Uh we do have letters of support from four neighbors in the area. Stephanie, please uh submit that uh for the record that we'd like to submit for the record. Um let me see if I can find those for you. Hang on a
second. Trying to give you the fast forward version, but these are where the letters of support are. Uh there the house is the the gray one that you see right there. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions or we've got Mr.
Fernandez here to answer any any technical questions that you that you may have. Great. Thank you. So, um before we open up the board to questions, I'm going to open up the public comment. Do we have anyone on Zoom? Mr. Madden, I don't see anybody with their hands raised on Zoom. I do see that the owner is on in case anybody
has any any questions. He had to travel. he was on business so he I'm glad that he was able to log on. Okay, great. All right, with that I'll go ahead and close the public comment and then I'll open it up for questions uh from the board through the chair. Mr. Chair, if if I just may make one clarification um in
the draft order uh that was in the original packet, we had an incorrect name for the applicant listed from our from the template that we used. Um so we have since corrected the draft order. We've handed out copies um and and it's just the the name change. It just says
that it's the applicant is 3741 Royal LLC. Great. Thank you. Questions from the board, Mr. Krennic. So, the the additional bedroom is in part of the terrace area or it's next to the terrace area. No,
the bedroom is actually on the corner the front corner of the house. What the terrace area now will be expanded will be a uh the pantry. The I said expansion of the dining room a little bit and expansion of the living area.
Okay. And just the the operating congregation that's close by. I mean I assume that that congregation's been operating for a while or is that something new? Yes. Okay. Thanks. And it's actually in the commercial corridor. It's not on the block.
Okay. Other questions? Miss Silverman? So, it's just technical, but on the new draft order that we have, it says that it's file number ZBA 2500161 and on the agenda it says 0179. I don't know if that needs to be
changed. That's probably carried over from the other carried over. Good catch. Good. Good catch. Good catch. Thank you, Miss Thank you for the catch. Question. Other questions, M. Morelli? Nothing. You good? I was saying given
given the nature of the community, I think it is beneficial for the city as well as the neighborhood to enclose it. Mr. Davis, you're good. I drove by the property. It looks quite large relative to the other properties on this side. I
know you said the house on Sheridan that's could sorry, could you turn on your microphone? I apologize. Can you hear me? Thank you. No, I think the property is quite large relative to the to the neighboring properties on
Royal Palm. It's actually it looks significantly larger, which didn't excite me, but I know you're not expanding the footprint, so that doesn't So, my excitement is irrelevant. Thank you. I I will say it looks larger
because it has to be higher. The higher elevation plays with that. Flood resiliency is very positive in the city of Miami. Good. Silvers, you're good. Questions? No. Um, I've got a couple. Can you do me a favor and put back up the slide where you had the letters of support?
Absolutely. I just want to make sure I'm saying which one is the the subject the gray one. So, the first one on the bottom is the subject house, right? Or I just want to make sure the No. So, the the one on the bottom that So, the the four highlighted are the four letters from the from the neighbors and the subject property is right in the middle.
Right in between those those two middle ones. Yes. Okay. So, the one behind it, I guess it would be the east. You didn't get a letter of support from the house directly behind them. Yeah, I have. Have they been spoken to? He had he was definitely spoken to. He I think he originally wanted to purchase this
property uh from the owner cuz he's the one that would be most impacted. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he would except that uh remember that the set the setback is in it's going to be enclosed, but I would correct. Yeah. Okay. So, he would he wouldn't do less for it. Um couple other quick things.
Um, it's under an LLC and I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I'm just kind of curious. When someone typically buys a house to be their primary residence, it's bought under a personal name, not an LLC. I got to put my banker hat on. Sure. Um, is there a reason why it was purchased under an LLC? I I think it has to do with uh with during the construction, they were trying to
mitigate their their liability. Liability, maybe liability. Absolutely. You know what that totally They're going to have to convey it to themselves anyway because it's they can't do homestead. They can't declare homestead. Exactly. So, that will resolve itself. They'll take they'll take a hit on that. Um, the other thing, and this is really
um a question for staff, um, because I haven't seen this, you know, I've been on the board six years, I'll be termed out the end of this year. Um, practical difficulty is this. The applicant has identified a need to allow for a multigenerational family to occupy the home as a practical difficulty. I mean,
if you look at our standards of what practical diff difficulty is and hardship, that doesn't really fall under that. It does. or I just I just kind of want to expand on that because you know precedent and you know right anything can happen you know once we we approve
this so so we have two standards we have the the hardship standard and the practical difficulty standard the the hardship standard is very precise and you see those criteria um listed in the code and and listed in the staff reports and then the practical difficulty is
sort of open-ended there's no precise definition of what that is so it's it's really up to this board to determine if they feel um that what they're presenting is a practical difficulty. It's it's not a very precise uh set forward standard that that we have.
Little bit of subjectivity, little bit and if something happens and the house is sold and they don't move into it, what I mean everything I always say everything's for sale. You know, people build houses that want to move into and someone knocks on the door and makes them an offer they can't refuse, you sell the house. I mean, that's my speech. So, um Okay, I just wanted to get the clarification on that. Thank you
so much. I I would want to emphasize, Mr. share that uh because it's so close to where they are and it's so convenient. This is their house. You know, I I I want to just put that on the record. They're they're they're not going anywhere. They're on They're on They're on West 40 They're on 47th Street now. Uh correct. Correct. Uh 43rd
43rd. The The parents, you're saying the parent the parents live where? The parents are on 43rd uh and Adams about 15 20 minutes away. Okay. Yeah. But but Mr. Amnoff is on 40. Yeah, they have a house on 47th, which is that's a
different property that Oh, that's a different property. Different property. That's not this one. Not not associated with this. Okay, awesome. Okay, that makes makes sense. Um, and the reason for the redesign is mostly because the parents need to be downstairs, right? I mean, because if the parents could be up a flight of stairs, then there's extra
bedrooms in this house. Absolutely. Yeah. They if but if they could be upstairs if they were if they could make the 15 to 20 minute walk they could probably be upstairs. Yeah. You know I drove by the house this morning which I always do. I always look at the properties and you know um you know it's amazing. I'm born and raised
on the beach and you see these houses and you want to maximize the best you can but there's a lot of houses that the one behind is is is is larger. Um but they're making a big investment in building the house. Um looks it looks good. Um, it makes sense and I I agree with you enclosing it is actually going
to be a benefit to any of the surrounding neighbors because if it's open, you know, there's gonna be a pool in the backyard. I don't permit if it was open, you know, they can have people out there and, you know, pool parties, yada yada, you know, so it's really more it's going to be more if I was a neighbor, I would be happy.
I'd be happy to do it. So, I I I don't have an issue. I don't have an issue with this. So, um, any more questions? Okay, with that, I'll entertain a motion. Okay, M. Melly, a motion to approve um the variance as stated with
the stipulation that the city put in put in there. Um do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Second by Miss Silverman. All in favor? I opposed. All right. Congratulations and good luck. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming here. Appreciate it. All right.
Have a great Friday. Okay, guys. So, our next meeting is going to be June July 30th. um July. Do we need it now because the one thing was continued? Are there other things on the agenda for that meeting? We we do have four items on the agenda. Yeah, we have
four items. That's why I wanted to make sure. So, I just wanted to kind of just take a straw poll on is there anyone that can I know it's summer. Some people go away. Anyone is not going to be able to attend the July 30th meeting. July 30th. We pul we pulled the board a few months ago because the commission
requested that the uh the date that we had previously scheduled the commission took the date. or one of the committees of the commission took the date. So, everyone's good for that date. So, it is July July 30th. Yeah, everyone's good because we have four items. We want to make sure,
you know, sometimes if we go down to five, you know, someone may pull or want to continue on. I'm good. But just mentioning I didn't realize the October meeting was on the 17th and we you know, if if we do end up hearing those continuences, I won't be at here on the 17th. Okay. So, just Okay. All right.
So, All right. So, so we'll be good for the July 30th meeting then. Um and uh we'll see what happens. Uh any other questions, good and welfare, before we close out the meeting. I believe I believe uh Mr. Nagler indicated that he would also be he would be out of the country on July 30th. So
So we do have one confirmed out. So he'd be the only one out. So we have six. Okay, that's great. There's more. All right. As of today, as of today, everything's always subject to change, right? Yeah. Okay. All good. All right. With that motion to close the meeting. Salute. Let's do it. Thank you so much.
You all enjoy the summer. Stay cool. And the meeting is ended. Thank you.