[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to [Music] begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 good morning and welcome to the May 7th meeting of the design review board of the city of Miami Beach um we have a rather short agenda today I apologize for the delay and start we're in a different room and I just wanted to get make sure everybody had time to find us um Michael do you want to start sure we can start with the attendance we do currently have um five of six U members present today including Miss Nelson Miss but cavoli Mr Sheldon Mr niffer and Miss Leen um um presently absent is um shaa Meer but we do expect her um to be in attendance today well that I'll turn it over to um Mr Steve rosin who can let members of the public know how they may participate in today's proceedings as well as go over um any City attorney updates sure good morning all uh today's meeting of the design review board has been scheduled in a hybrid format with a quorum of the board physically present in our new temporary Chambers um which is the second floor of City Hall 1700 Convention Center Drive hopefully we'll be upstairs uh next month and applicant staff members 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 webinar may dial 888 475 4499 which is a toll-free number and enter the webinar ID which is 82273 941 924 or log into the Zoom app and enter the webinar ID which again is 82273 941 924 any individual wishing to speak on an item must click the raise hand icon if they are using the Zoom app or dial Star 9 if they are participating by phone before I swear in those that will be testifying today I'm going to uh remind 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're speaking only on your behalf and not 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 whose behalf they are communicating if you are an AR architect attorney or employee representing an applicant or an objector 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 continuance uh for those of you that will be testifying today I'm going to administer the yoth um for those appearing virtually we'll do it one by one when you're called so for those testifying here today if you could please uh stand and raise your right hand okay uh do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you'll be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you please be seated and with that I'll turn it back to Madame chair thank you very much um I'd like to move on to or should we do the approval of the minutes yes I to approve minutes seconds I in favor I I any post motion passes 5 to zero seems like there are no requests for continuances unless we have any last minute requests for continuances um we have none anticipated on the agenda okay great and then we are now going to move on to our previously continued application drb 24- 0999 AKA drb1 18- 0355 1901 Convention Center Drive the first item of the agenda is drb2 24- 0999 1901 Convention Center Drive 555 17 Street Convention Center Hotel an application has been filed requesting modifications to a previously issued design review approval for the construction of a new Convention Center Hotel specifically the application includes modifications to the prior conditions of approval refinement of the overall design and variances from the ground floor setback requirements along Convention Center Drive and 17th Street this was continued from April 2nd 2024 and the board will remember that the um modifications were largely approved um last month including the requested variances some items were um there were some concerns with some Design Elements which were continue to today's meeting date um the applicant has made changes to the overall design which staff is supportive of and we are recommending that the um modifications be approved I'll turn it over to Mr Penn um for the applicant morning everyone grah Penn 200 South pest game Boulevard if we were on the fifth yard uh towards the end zone last time I think we're on the one yard line uh with this one so as you recall when we left you last time we had if I could get my slides up I'll take I I'm going to turn this over to miss Caruso from architectonica as soon as I can so you're not going to have to listen to me what the rendering in front of you is the revised version of that uh of the Eastern Tower which was the subject of our discussion uh last time you'll see we'll we'll go through it in detail but that rendering already imp includes the changes that we've made to unify the the height along the entire Tower there to uh to basically bring it back more to that swoopy design that we had in the original project the two things that we heard last time um that were reflected in the set that we submitted the aforementioned design of that roof line and then the the T the mechanical equipment the mechanical Penthouse how we deal with it how we hide it as you recall when we discussed last time between the original approval and today we've actually done the mechanical work we figured out what actually needs to go on the roof which necessitated the changes we made to the original design but with the reev revision of that Penthouse revision of that corner we're bringing back the architectural elements um that the board wanted to see uh in that were present in the in the original approval and now are re reintroduced so with that let me uh well you know I'll introduce the rest of our team just in case they have to speak Anna cruso uh is going to speak from architectonica we also have Sarah Jimenez IET Batista from terara William balabin from Turnberry who are the two partners in mb mixed use Investment LLC which is the tenant uh and of course my colleague Emily Balter uh and Maria Hernandez is here from from the city who's been working on the project so with that Miss Caruso if you could come up and take everyone through the revisions and then we'll obviously open ourselves up for questions rebuttal Etc justly has anyone had any exp party Communications that need to be disclosed at this time no thanks good morning everybody Anna Caruso for aronica 2900 Oak Avenue Coconut Grove um what can we say we listened and um and so we had brought back a roof line that uh we actually do think you know we agree with you that you know it it is an improvement so on the you can see the 2019 approved a roof line which was a little bit of a different program alog together than what we presented last month in April and then the the proposed revision now as you can see what we did is that we had brought back like a you know a continuity on the roof line uh which I believe you know your comment was that we had missed in the in the intermediate uh presentation um and what we did is that you know in order to do that we also had to kind of condense to to keep the design consistent we had to condense and bring back the the volume at the corner to be above the roof line as per the original design um so uh to achieve that uh what we had done is that we have condensed um I don't know if I want to go in you know in the in the needy greedy of the mechanical systems but we had the spills that were hiding the the mechanical equipment and now we had condensed them the tallest one in that corner so the rest now can sit low tallest one in that corner so the rest now can sit lower more you know in a more continuous way uh and again you can see the you know the approved version the one that we presented last month we had those kind of pills to hide the the the the equipment and then the revised one in which we had condensed all this tallest element into the um North West corner I mean just looking you know northeast corner I'm sorry um and you can see also on the on the May 7 uh layout so this is the revised rendering uh in which we show what you know how we we have achieved this this the design again we do believe that it brought something back to the Integrity of the design so this was a good a good call and um uh so again the height of the paret is the minimum to hide uh you know what outside are units that are to you know to provide the fresh air to the corridor so we we kept it at the minimum height um that that for which we can screen the the the equipment um and also um to you know to reestablish this you know this new this roof um we have introduced um also like a darker Break um you know that Bernardo the dark charcoal break to kind of to highlight you know that that taller volume um and we have you know this is just a graphic issues which we are highlighting the horizontal band also so on the sheet left shift right um continuation on those balconies uh again this is the this is the um the north facade uh in which you know it just it's just you know the same the same concept again this is an this is enlargement of the roof plan uh where we show how we have rearranged all the all the equipment that's the tall roof and this is the this is the you know the the last rendering in which we show how how that uh basic there is very little change on this facade really is just the volume to the cooling tower to the bottom that that is that pops up a little bit more but that's it um guess we have another plan a more en larged plan of that same an enlarged elevation that what we discussed a little bit earlier also last time you asked us to to see where the hotel sign was sit this is where it would sit um and then um again that's an large elevation and that's it we can go back maybe at the first slide go back to the comparison that's yes this is it um so again nothing else changed the you know everything else stayed exactly the same as before we just did modify the the roof line as for your suggestions thank you very much does that conclude the presentation yes it does good thank you okay thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak I see no one is anybody online I'm sorry can oh yes please good morning you all thank you for being for doing the job you do I'm uh Roberto I have to say it like if I say in Portuguese you don't get it Roberto Caro I'm owner and Resident at 1688 West where West said 17 and they join living hell that's another story I concerning this project I'm very grateful it's beautiful and I love development I love money this is all wonderful but my question is how tall is this how many floors it's 17 floors 17 floors and the do you mean the building height from the ground to the to the roof to the including the mechanical thank you do you have that number okay I've been here 10 years the reason I got out of 40 years in Marina del re the county runs Marina del re not the city and they made a statement 15 years ago or so that it was a cash carow they're going to develop and that was it we tried to fight we lost I got out of there came here a new Miami Beach being a progressive Democratic wonderful little town and now I've seen it nothing but development my question sir how many hotels are too many how many floors are too many if you stand on the west end of Miami Beach and you look at Miami you start seeing Manhattan coming south are they trying to make Miami Beach another Manhattan they're welcome to move there so let's please keep a little profile here a little limit of where we want to go we want tourists but in life there are limits to everything before we destroy it thank you very much thank you very much for your comments there's nobody with their hand raised online if I can just provide an um a little bit more background regarding how we got to the height and room count um there was actually a referendum back in 2018 where the citizens of the beach voted on whether or not to approve um an increase in height to allow a 800 room hotel at a height of 185 ft so the plans here are consistent with what was approved by the voters back in 2018 and does that 185 include now this structure around that doesn't the 185 whenever we talk about the height of a building it never includes it never includes any of the allowable encroachments on top of that which um um in most cases can go up to 25 ft above that maximum height there are some exceptions for example you'll see a project in on sunet Harbor today where the code is modified to to lower those the the maximum height of those allal height exceptions I I just would like to add please you know what I'm I'm sorry but your your time the public section is already everybody gets too muches but I I think we very much understand what you're trying to say and what your comments are look at the building that you approve on alterate f6s I believe you know what that's something that goes beyond the purview of what we're talking about today I I I very much understand what you're coming from thank you thank you um okay if there's no other members of the public wishing to speak I'd like to close the public portion and open it up to the board for discussion who would like to begin or Laura were you here for the original one or do you need to be cut up to speed I was here for the last one to for the interim meeting so okay yeah I think I recall the you know what we okay good I I meant to say that at the beginning sorry okay but if I I'm sorry if I can just provide an update um regarding shaa Meyer I'm sorry I misspoke um she had notified us that um she was not going to be in attendance to today's meeting so we do only have just for the Public's knowledge we have five members present so any application that includes variances requires five affirmative votes for applications without variances only four affirmative votes are required to pass the application okay okay so who would like to begin yeah I can go um yeah I I love the design now I think that it I think our main concern of course was the the North Tower and and screening the mechanical work and I think that this is consistent with what was initially approved and I'll be yet I wasn't there for that but um I think it looks great so thank you for taking that into consideration um the one thing I'm not sure that was addressed which is a small thing I think Sarah you had comments about the sign for the ho Houser building about the text oh yes and I'm not sure if that was changed but yeah actually um they had the team had been I think that was something that we were going to discuss at a different meeting and the team had been in touch with me and then I forwarded it to Debbie tacket for the because it seemed like it was more a historic but so there she's taken care of it and it was something that we're going to deal with it another meting or I don't even know if it any it'll come up that probably something that can be approved administratively perfect yes yes anyway so thank you for asking and I should I apologize I should have disclosed that that I'd been in conversation but it has no bearing on the design that we're looking at today yeah in terms of the design I'm thank you great anyone anyone else yes um there was also a comment I'm looking at the minutes uh variances from the ground floor setback requirements along Convention Center Drive I don't know if you address those in your presentation well Mya that those variances were approved at the last meeting okay so so we were yeah our remit between then and now was to deal with this the the roof okay um I am in agreement I think that the design of the roof of the roof or the changes you made to that um are very much um in line with the area and they're very beautiful so congratulations I I think you uh Bernardo and team did a great job um I have to say I disagree I mean I don't I don't understand what do you it you know what it can I I think at least the comments that I had it was more about well you know certainly the roof stuff um the roof element that you added seemed very clunky but it was also you know we talked a lot about the spirit and the element of this corner and that it is very sort of light and elegant and by adding I I think part of it is is the the the cutout that you have I'm looking you know know from the 2019 approved one to the one that you showed us April 2nd and it looks like the the this corner detail is that you didn't make any changes to the corner um but you know the the shape of the cutout of the balcony is very different and that's something that was really elegant beautiful and then this column here just sort of it I I I think it it seems awkward and it and it goes against I think the spirit of the design I mean you know you know your Architects Your Design people that you know when you have a subtle detail a subtle change makes a really big difference and although the change here is well I can't even say it's subtle because this column here is sort of interrupting that and here was this one you know this is a pretty you know basic shaped building and you have these few Design Elements you have that dimple in the center which is nice and it was you know sort of off set by this corner feature with the balconies and that's what you changed and that's what I was hoping you would change back because now the new one which yeah it does a more complete job of covering up all the Mechanicals which I think is a good thing to have the Mechanicals covered it still doesn't Express the spirit of the original approved design if anything you've made it heavier I was going to add why can you not just do a facade that stays with the same line that you created in the first place like even if there's nothing there you could extend the the horizontal structure to kind of hide the column a bit and and keep with the same silhouette of the building as you had in the first approved design I think that's the corner just looks like it's been chopped off like yeah I think that there was something really elegant about the corner it was almost like it was soaring I don't know if you want to bring up the comparison again you know that was that was one of the few really pretty Design Elements and it was lovely because it was the top of this tall building and and and that's been completely eliminated and now it's just very sort of heavy and then there's this column that really doesn't have anything to do with anything you know at least the the balcony cutout there's a relationship between that and the dimple in the middle and now you've lost that and so the design elements that are left they don't really have a relationship with each other it was I don't I don't know that then that so I I'm surprised it was that corner that I'm surprised that that stayed cuz I was hoping that that's what you guys would rework in conversation with this um roof line cover thing which all you've done is extend it so well you know I mean we extended it and we we did a lot of rework actually from you know the system point of view as you know we already have a foundation permit we're ready to start and then so for us was quite a Quite a feat to make that happen in like 20 days you know so that we could represent again but so what happened is that we we did try again to make this happen however what happens is that when we eliminate so this column we have it in every dmpo what happened is that in you know during these years we again I'm sorry uh um so when we remove the column we have a transfer condition the transfer condition creates a very much of a thick and slab and what happened is that because every single floor of this of the hotel is 9 ft which is actually once we put finishes is below the hotel standards we fought also with the flags to to to to be on board with us because we have the height limitation by the referendum so we have been playing with this puzzle for years and when we tried again last week uh three weeks ago we tried again to make that happen we met with structure engineer with Bernardo and everything there was just no way to make this happen without taking Heights from the guest rooms and we can do that uh again we tried again we did go through the you know through the through the through the process again and we just and as you can see we have that column in every single in every single uh Temple now one thing that the structure Ando wanted to do and we we fought not to do is that he wanted to basic to attach the uh the slab to the column and it was actually like kind of an ugly design so it took a lot of work also for it to be expressed this way also the column maybe doesn't show here but it will have a it will have a metal clading on it uh so that even though it's there we count on the fact that uh we wanted to play with disappearing you know like when we do like this glass you know like this miror claded columns which yes they are there we're not kiding anybody but um we do play with the fact that we make them a little bit lighter and that's probably not really evident in this in this rendering you'd mentioned that there's a column in The dimple that's not something that is is evident in the drawings that you've is there a better not not I'm sorry not the East facade Deo that is only a play with the balconies in uh if we go on the first if we go on just on the cover page of the presentation and and this column it's one of the columns that you can see and I guess the the base or the top of the base it extends all the way up this is it we have exactly the same condition and as you can see because of the angled The View so we wanted to replicate exactly the same view that we had in the previous so that is not the most flattering for that corner unfortunately but so we have exactly the same geometry just so we have the exactly the same geometry in ter in terms of sloping of the building that we had six years ago and five years ago when we got approved 8 in offset at each floor same it stays exactly the same and that column that is there follow exactly this exactly the same geometry we have in the other Corner um the geometry is it is it a little bit not as elegant as it was before but we had a problem with the room counts with the guest room counts Again by referendum we we we owe 800 rooms we are tied with the base we are we are we are set with the base uh with the base of the columns and we just couldn't we just just couldn't do anything to uh that this corner allow us allows us to have an additional Suite on every floor that has this this dimples and that was that was again from the flag uh from the hotel flag was a was a non-negotiable I you know when I spoke earlier I I like very much what you did on the rooftop and how that was changed with just adding some continuity when um with the band um I the previous design without the pole was nice this one is nice as well and I think at the last meeting meaning you also Express the problem with the structural difficulties and challenges that you were having that being said I can understand um that a building for me has to be beautiful on the outside but it also has to be beautiful on the inside and for a guest at these major conventions that we need to continue getting and and receive in the future the last thing you want to do is walk into a room where the ceiling basically tops your hair um at the same time a suite and the number of rooms are extremely important for the operations of the convention center um so I if I have to be given a choice of eliminating height of the rooms of eliminating the number of rooms which we can't because we are held to 800 by referendum and that number was not picked up from the sky it was dealt with basic basically the history of conventions that we receive and based on the number of hotel rooms that they occupy um I think I have to and the number of suits that some of these conventions require and some conventions that have not come to Miami Beach because they don't have enough Suites correct um so I given the choices and the fact that structure is extremely important I think you I would say that this this to me is uh very much uh acceptable do I like the first design yes absolutely uh but if it can't happen then it can't happen and also on the first design we had a bar on the rooftop but again because we didn't have enough rooms I'm just curious though why can you not extend the balconies and have the column pierce the balconies so that the balconies of those top two floors still have the same curvature of the rest of it because then the dimple will disappear right if we extend to hug the column then the dimple is gone if I'm understanding correctly you're you're saying incorporate the column into so the Ed so it goes through the balcony yeah but then the dimple disappears cuz how far back is the dimple from the column it's just hard sort of hard to see I think it's like one or two feet we we play with the maximum can that we could do and also because consider because of the slanting of the building everything slanted yeah right well that's what I wonder you know and I don't know if this is going to be more controversial but I I wonder if I think what you're trying to do I wonder if the solution is to just erase the dimple the the corner dimple completely and just make it part of did that look nice because so let me so again a little bit of history and I think Michael will remember yeah when when all these issues started to come along our first option was Let's Straighten the building and we were told by staff don't even try no I mean keep it and and then we were and then we try to to eliminate the dimples again always to work this the number of suits and the G and again we were push there was a big push back about the dimples and and Maria here and can can attest to that that's weird because that just doesn't look like a dimple to me now it looks like it's just been cut off right I think I think what they're saying though is that keep the keep the the the weather ball where it is but it the balcony so those upper floors will have larger balconies that follow the balcony line below the angle of the silhouette building still see that the building can you do that structurally or I guess what I was trying to say too is just move it I mean move the wall out so I mean what I'm thinking I don't think that it's successful doing what you're doing and maybe the solution is to just eliminate The dimple entirely from this corner you know keep the angle angle is one of those one of the so the last page yeah this is a good one yeah the one that shows the one to the north the North View from Park from the park going too there you go this one right so we're clear right once we do that you will not have this um you know the I mean again what we have been calling The dimple for several years I think we're talking about not this side we're talking about we're talking about but they all have the same geometry but they all have the same geometry I mean so you would have to change all the all of the dimples I mean if you have to change one of course we would yeah wait no no no I I then I I think I'm not expressing myself well let me ask you a question with this picture so this is showing this dimple on on this Tower the The dimple that you've added to the corner of I guess it's the South Tower it has the same it's three because in the initial drawing of what was proposed The dimple it's the shape is very very different and I guess I guess that's what what I'm saying is you've changed it from the original concept that this was the concept that was that we were told that and again we weren't on the board at the time but this was the idea that was you know approved and people liked um and then and The dimple structure in the center seemed a little bit different which I think was fine it works in the drawing but then the dimple that you have here that you're showing in the revised one that is it's not as gradual it's just it's just sort of more of a cutout and what I'm saying is it's it it's the gradual recession that made it really beautiful and I see what you're doing for structural purposes you're making the dimple you're creating a dimple you're making it a bit more shallow and when I'm saying is that I think what that does in the in the corner of the South Tower is that it takes away from this nice the diagonal of the line of the building so okay so so I'm wondering if yeah I'm wondering if you should just sort of square yeah to Square Off The Corner what is the the location of this dimple here is that Southeast that is Northwest Northwest Northwest that is the convention so when we make the the The dimple more elongated we lose a bay right and you said too for structural reasons I guess what I'm saying is the compromised dimple isn't really expressing what I think the intent is and maybe to lose it entirely and to just and if I can clarify I think we're talking about the one on the East Elevation yes cuz I think that's the one you're going to see from further away yes yeah we can go not this one not this one yeah so Michael we will just do it on one yes yes do you want to put up I know on the presentation it's page five is what I keep looking at there's the comparison or we lose the presidential suite well I guess what I'm saying is if you ex if you're you're moving the W instead of the wall being recessed do you know what I'm trying to say you just want to bring everything out to follow the angle of the angle as it shows in the 2019 approved so if it's like this so this is where we are if you can just pull the mic towards you so if you're going to speak so you see what this is actually a complete Bay for right guess what I'm saying is what if you just made it like took that away and just I mean because what what the the the revised thing that the revised thing that you've come up with it doesn't express the same intent I agree I think it may be a cleaner design solution it needs than having than having that more sh having that CAU off do you understand what they're saying angle I think you can still keep the pole for structural reasons but you don't you don't need to see the but it doesn't need to it won't be as visible because the line of that I'll call it the balcony or the building will continue as it was in the 2019 well I I think it's just to to you know the floor is underneath it you don't see the pole you know can you I think what Sarah's saying to bring the to bring the um the exterior wall of those rooms to follow the angle of the floors below so you would have the same size balcony and have consistency all the way up through at on this corner of the building and then of course that column would then be within the building itself and not not be expressed on the exterior so we're saying that we're eliminating the what we call the dimple yes we continue with the shape of the building just replicated all the way up as it was in 2019 it it it doesn't get cut off the causing a triangle I think is what yeah yeah you I mean you're you're lose you're losing that yeah the Triangular you're losing the Elegance but it seems like there's not a choice yeah so that it you know it's essentially like that mhm you know yeah you know I mean I honestly for us the sweet gets fantastic yeah the balconies would be bigger the sweet would be bigger I think that makes a lot more and and it's like a nose job that's been like botched seriously that I'm just telling you that was this elegant and it just seems like it's out of place with the rest of the silhouette of the building yeah fantastic I think you could I think the most important thing is to keep the line of the balconies the same as in 2019 right yeah yeah because I agree that the ceiling height needs to be comfortable and welcoming and also I like that you know the floor slabs they also need to be thin is that you know that's another part of the design and it's a shame that you had this pretty you know you had this one very pretty detail in this corner and you know for structural reasons we lost it um here's here's a question if if that is done on this Southeast Corner the other corner where there's also a dimple with a pole on which is the Northwest facing the convention center from a design perspective do you all have a problem in keeping the northwest corner as it is yeah so you know because of the the particularity I mean this corner is very peculiar it does is is not replicated on any other side of the building so uh it's a focus point it faces so this could probably happen just as because it it almost becomes part of the of the crowning of the building of the it almost becomes like part of the of the redesign of the that contains the roof line yeah so Mar what you're saying is you they should keep the dimple on the other Tower well not if I'm asking from a designed standpoint do you need to keep that dimple there I would say it it the building needs something okay so you're okay with having the dimple on the northwest corner and no dimple on the Southeast corner or the southeast roof so the only thing is that I believe also the dimples were in the in the in the referendum I don't think so no no no no dimples on the referendum so it was just on the original approval okay in the order Okay order the board is part of the review now can modify those design considerations yeah so I just can I ask one another question so not withstanding everything that's been said on the Southeast Corner in the area we're talking about right now is that column necessary like if if you were to keep the design as you're showing here what is that column doing except is is that necessary to hold up the roof line in that location because that's all it's doing right it's structurally required correct correct I think that for me it's the column that's the problem right so that's why what we're I think the direction is to continue the like you show showed us the the exterior wall and the balcony angles all the way up through on the Southeast corner but you can keep the column that you need for structural P purposes but it won't be as visible going to be behind the GL line corre what I think to be honest with you would really make a statement with this building is if so you're eliminating this corner detail and what if that wall so the South Wall was angled a little bit steeper and then you'd really have some sort of statement so again you're you might lose some square footage but it would really it would really be very interesting especially if you're coming up and down 17th Street you know um we are already at the limit in terms of senting of the columns right I mean like I said you'd you'd be sacrif you'd have to make the choice to sacrifice a little bit of square footage for the sake of a much better design I will also say I find it interesting that this client you know the tenant you know you've seen firsthand how great architecture really makes a hotel a destination for people so I mean again I don't know what the M you know I'm not in in I have nothing to do with the investment of anything but if you really wanted to make a nice statement for the residents of Miami Beach on the Southeast corner on the Southeast Corner that that's something that would be really nice because again it's a sort of understated statement it's an understated element but I think it would have a big impact and I think that's maybe the intent of angling the wall to begin with you know it goes back to this is a design that clearly is about more subtle details as opposed to something very very bold and so you know that's just my opinion I mean throwing it out there because I think it would be really nice is that possible we already had the limit for a slanting on the colum I think is 8.5 something degrees so I mean at this point it's we would have to at certain point we did have just so you know at certain point we did have um kind of like more economic Solutions in which we had double columns but actually the client graciously you know went went ahead with this like slanted design in which yeah I mean because it is it is an added right so that follows the glazing line and what you don't see is that also in this all the coordination that happened between when the column lands and the slab and we have bathrooms partitions because somebody so so there's been a lot that went into that that was between us the interior designer um the structure engineer um but I can tell you that in terms of the sling we are at the limit all the slanting so we would have to possibly double column some I mean what is you know what is the angle of that you don't know yeah what is the slanting we the we grow eight inches at each slab much eight inches each slab so it's eight times so when you compare the top when you're looking at it um standing on Washington Avenue and you're looking towards that corner um you don't see the difference from one floor to another but when you look at it holistically U you do see that there's a transition of of um slanting yes yes so these columns are all slanted and what happen is that because of the force when it comes down if you look at the construction documents this was this was a feat uh because then of course we have the The Welcome Center so um no I realized too I'm making this at the one yard line to use so you know I just you know you get you get excited and and again I think everybody here is we want to create you know beautiful structures and so I get it I understand I make a motion oh well do do you okay to to what would be the so I guess the motion I would think would be to eliminate the quote dimple in that Southeast corner and continue the silhouette of the building from the bottom to the top without a indention of balconies on that corner so that just extend the balconies so that it would be a linear silhouette all the way up and let me see you mentioned at one point Point continuing oh the the windows to make it look you know maybe putting were you saying to put false Windows right there in the no that wasn't me that wasn't me maybe that was not me um okay so basically everybody is okay with the new roof line and the screening and how it's been that's where I said last meeting if you could make the roof line have false windows so that it looked more like just another St versus a big Concrete On Top band um I don't know if that's even possible but you you seem to have a different material on that rooftop band I'll call it oh yeah what is a picture of that of what that's going to be no so that's going to be you know it's going to be a tall concrete structure and then yeah it's going to be stuck we're going to solid yes it's going to be well what we usually do is that we continue as a reveals the glazing line below we had it and actually ask her to remove it because it look very busy on the rendering it's very far away but we have those you know basically we have the same pattern just continuous on the building it what's the what would be the extent to glaze it is that just is that a big deal or could you glaze it to make it look like another story well so we have so we have mechanical equipment in the back and also what happened in other projects when we did attempt to do that and you see it it looks from the street it looks kind of ugly uh it just happened on another building almost looks like something is missing because you do see even though when even when it's pandr you do see the transparency of of the sky that's why I asked because I so we tried that on some projects in Miami it wasn't a great no I I you know that's why I'm asking um and is does the wall start at the edge of the building or is it recess it starts at the edge of the building we really continuing the building okay it continues up continue the building yes so it's really like a and you all feel that stco um is the way to go with that rooftop band well that is the language of the building if you I'm sorry the rest the whole building is stule glaze glazing um so we are not we don't have any other material it's actually pretty consistent with the rest of the building with the rest is it there's so there's continuity there is continuity can you not glaze like on top of Stucco so that you don't get light through it does that is that a thing or not but then that so glaze on top of sto they were required to have a slab so we would have to enclose so those all this those those outside air unit on the roof they need to be outside right they need to be out so there's no like I'm not an architect and I'm not a engineer so there's no like a wall with glass on the outside of it that you can leave the top open a wall with like St like a wall of stucco or whatever with glass just put on top of it and sealed to the top standard condition with a yeah with yeah is that a thing or is that crazy it's a thing uhhuh it could happen is so again we do the pandr all the time we do that just when it's strictly necessary really to hide ugly equipment whatever that is not possible for example we have don't mind uh we have like a fire command room that has a lot of equipment so we put spendal so that you don't see behind but usually we don't do that on the roof we're a little we're just I personally I've been seeing buildings go up and I'm seeing a total neglect of the equipment on the roof and it's looked really awful and this building is so sleek and to see something heavy or to see that like I'm just trying to it's such you're so close I think we're so close and I really appreciate what you've done so far um I think that you know well let me ask you a question so can you bring up um page 10 of the presentation because I I I just I think what you're trying to say is that the um there's an expans of Stucco on the side of the building by the tower is that what you're going to reproduce along the top like this I went too fast it's on page 10 are heavy PL yes let me TR okay try to find a wi before I go yeah there's a it's a detail on the North Tower and I guess it's just gray stucco like along the side of and that's exactly what you're going to put along the top too right oh wait go back oh you it no we'll go back there okay there so that that vertical the sort of thicker that's it's going to be the same material color everything is what you're putting on the top correct correct yeah I mean is the I consistent with the light it's consistent it's consistent I I think that yeah I mean the continued discussion here is that you know the the intent of the original approved and what what based on all of the structural what we're now getting I find to be different but you know I think that it's it's it is what it is so do you want to take a tab at the okay so I would like to approve with the condition that the dimple on the Southeast corner be removed and that the GL the glazing be stuck in line with the rest of the building so that it looks consistent and just creates a Sleek consistent silhouette to the top corner of the building to be reviewed does that to be review by staff yeah does that work for you Michael yeah that that's pretty clear crystal clear and just for the record that impacts floors 15 16 and 17 right I second the motion all in favor I I thank Youk you thank you thank you for your patience I don't want to reiterate because say I mean I'm probably like a cockroach on this project since 2018 I mean oh my God yes we have a reason for you to come back don't worry thank you thank you she I appreciate everyone's time thank you so much do it okay we're now going to move on to new applications uh drb 24-17 2701 North Bay Road right the next item of the agenda is drb2 24-17 271 NorthBay Road an application has been filed requesting designer review approval for the construction of a new two-story addition to an existing two-story home including variances from the required side yard yard and rear yard setback requirements and a variance from the required previous landscape requirements uh thanks Jazelle so as noted in our report um the existing house was constructed in 1954 by noted architect Robert lawed who was prolific in the architecture of homes in Miami Beach um the house is situated along the side with a large um pool deck and Landscaping on the North side the applicat is proposing to construct a small addition in the area that's most reasonable on the site however this does result in them requesting variances for the side setback rear setback as well as for the amount of previous Landscaping required within a required rear yard however that those variances are balanced by the predominant predominant open space that exist you know along the remainder of the site so for those reasons we are supportive of the three variances and are recommending approval of the application I'll turn it over to the homeowner for his presentation hi hi before we start sir uh sure I just have to ask the board if there's been any exp party Communications no okay thank you and I'm going to set the clock at 10 minutes if you need more time I don't have any dimples so it shouldn't take as long uh hi my name is Gad golden Holtz I live at 2701 with my wife and my two children and we have a third on the way so uh one of our rooms is a gym warehouse storage and we're looking to build an addition so that I can use that one for the baby room and have the addition So currently we [Music] have there we go so we have a little wood structure in the back little summer kitchen and the idea was to remove it and build what you see in the back there an addition that kind of ties into the house same Motif same style um same open air at the bottom uh and a useful room so that was uh the design however the house uh uh positioning is as such where the actual front of the house now is not really the front of the house it's the side of the house which means the rear and the side are flip-flopped and so uh I need a variance to allow me to build in what would now be considered the rear yard uh what else I'm sorry the addition that you're building is uh where the people are standing where the people are standing yeah yeah the rest is the actual current rendering guy did a good job uh so yeah that's the uh the current house and then you've got the the addition same open air as what I sorry uh what I currently have just uh but uh structure on top of it that overlooks the pool back to the next one absolutely this one yeah yeah so this is uh so 27th Street um and you can see the from the sidewalk where the entrance to the house and then on the left side is actually the front of the house on North Bay Road but everything parking garage front of the house is where the side yard now technically would be so uh where the the yellow in the back is where the structure is and where we're looking to build the second floor SEC two-story Edition in the same location still keeping all the same uh Greenery as I currently have not changing anything of that nature and uh that's really about it does this does this connect to the main house I see like a little roof line it does so um you can see on the current house there's a staircase uh just below the yellow and there's a landing on the second floor so there's a bridge that ties to that so it's a freestanding structure with just a a bridge that ties to the current Landing that I have from that second from that that staircase and Michael where is the front and side on this so for zoning purposes um North Bay Road is the front and the so to the right of the screen that is the rear yard if that that's based upon the size of the lot and the the dimensions of the lot the narrowest is typically the front which is North Bay Road and that's why um to the right side of the screen that is the rear if this was rather than the rear the sidey yard the home could be classified as architecturally significant and they would be allowed to do an addition at a 5-ft setback following the existing building without a variance so so because this is a rear yard there are no um the the code does require a 20ft setback with incentives that can be reduced down to 15 ft but that doesn't help them in this case because this is located in their required rear yard but as indicated you can see how the majority of the front and the top side is is completely open and they are constrained by the location of the existing house and the pool so it does make most sense to put the addition you know as they have shown it in the plans I just for procedural purposes does this is there anything to add to your presentation are there any members of the public wishing to speak anybody online and there's nobody online with their hand raised okay I'm going to close the public portion other comments from the board I will say it seems like this is a pretty pretty cut and dry I very much appreciate that you're not destroying the house and building something different and this just seems like the the the the existing structure is in one way and the the newer code is a different way um I will also say I um grew up here in Miami Beach and and your house happens to be one of my I have a younger brother it's one of his favorite houses because of the curved Windows you know like we grew up riding our bikes on North Bay Road and would always see that so um so thank you when I saw the sign up in front of your house I was very nervous that this this project was going to be a tear down and redo and so thank you for for that she really thought you were going to put a dimple on the so I um I I mean and I understand the reason behind it my one question is you know this is close to the property line have you talked to your neighbors at all the neighbor behind it uh there's no one there it's an empty lot uh they there was an old abandoned house it took years they finally tore it down and I I I don't even know it's just grass right now so there's no one even there and then the neighbor to the north then there's so there's two there's another empty lot and then there's another guy who we're friendly he's in a band and he's never even there so uh we we exchange friendly conversation but he's no issues from what I gathered and then it's hard to tell from the design so along that um you know what what what you know one of the things that we try to do is make sure that you know somebody doesn't build a structure that like looks into their neighbor's bathroom you know sort of thing so just to make sure um that the the addition the the the wall that's going to be looking on to the neighbor to the north that's solid or has no windows solid no windows we wanted everything to kind of focus on into our pool yeah so okay so yeah that's solid wall thank and the height of this additional um addition uh will be consistent from what we can see in the picture now with the rest of the height of the second floor of your home it is because I need to tie in to the current Landing so everything is is flush that's right so again no windows to the east or North that would interfere with those properties whe if and when they get developed no windows everything's facing west m West and and South to the house there and the setback just seems consistent with the rest of the property on that side ofre yes they're not asking for less than that does anybody want to make a motion I'll make a motion to approve the project including the three variances yes do you want to read the three variances you want me to read no no I think it's fine um the them before the rear variant the side set back and um the previous open space within the rear yard right I'll second second by Mr Mr dender all in favor I I any opposed congratulations congratulations good luck with your new baby appreciate it the next item in the agenda is deb2 24-16 AKA Deb 20-06 614 6360 North Bay Road an application has been filed requesting modifications to a previously issued design review approval for the construction of additions to an existing two-story home and a new tennis courp specifically the application includes Varian variances from the setback requirements and height for a wall fence gate along the front property line so just um some clarification here in the final order we need to make a correction to the final order in terms of um which is shown on page two of the draft final order under the variances a two this is a variance to exceed by 2 feet the maximum allowed height of 7 fet in the required front yard versus the side yard in order to construct um wall fence and gates at a height of 8 fet thank you I'm sorry wall fence at a height of 8 feet and Gates plural at a height of 9 ft as noted in a report this property has unique circumstance where it does not have a sidewalk so typically the code requires that you measure the height of the um fences and walls from the great elevation of the front of the property which is typically the sidewalk this case the property is at a disadvantage because there's no sidewalk in the crown of road is low lower than where a sidewalk would be so when you measure the height of the walls and fences from the crown of the road it results in them only getting an allowance for about a 4 foot tall you know fence along the front property line so that's why they're asking for these variances um this application just for the board members um knowledge um because this went to the drb back several years ago for uh I think an expanded tennis court on the side of the property that's why we brought this back to the board um for these variances we believe they're minor in nature and based upon the specific site conditions we are supportive of the variances but I'll turn it over to Mr amster and Mr amster before we begin just the uh question for the board as far as ex party Communications no and uh have everyone of your team no we need to have a few people warning okay thank you uh for those of you that need to be spor in please stand 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 please be seated is 10 minutes okay yes good morning Matt amster with the law fir of burkow Rell Fernandez Lin and tapenz office is at 20 South biscan Boulevard in Miami here today representing North Bay Palms trust which is the owner of the property and the applicant for the variances um I have Yara here U from the family that lives there uh it's a family with four young children ages 3 to 14 uh and I have Chris Fernandez our architect uh who did help with the uh original application which was they basically combine two lots uh and uh have one home and then they are uh finishing up the development of their amenities a nice court and lots of lush Landscaping uh it's very beautiful um so that was from 2021 and that's near in completion uh there is an existing wall um in the in the home that has been retained um which they bought and was had already been there had a a 5-ft wall how the measurement is made from the city it's 5T but uh measuring from what's called grade um especially with this large Swale as it kind of slopes up to the property means that the Wall height is actually measured from below ground so the effective height of the wall at the front is only about 3.8 ft uh and that uh unfortunately in uh recently there's been two attempted break-ins uh and they've had to call the police one was even in the middle of the night uh so very uh frustrating and unsafe and so basically we're here to uh address that situation that's a combination of it's a wall that's so easy to jump over uh as well as to make sure that we have the most secure place but they've done it in a way that I believe was aesthetically uh will be appealing uh so the combination of these variances do uh address that uh discrepancy in this uh the height measurements as well as create safety um we have a presentation if you could call that up please we did do neighbor Outreach um that uh was also in the handout um so we uh we spoke with uh and have letters of support from three of our close by neighbors uh which are the ones shown in blue here uh and uh the green ones are people that we did reach out to and while they did not write a letter support uh there were no objections at all so I think we've got it covered that uh we have addressed any concerns from the neighborhood and just so you get some context you know here you can see uh when the when the project is definitely complete this is the appearance with a tennis court on the side and and Lush landscaping and I'm going to turn it over to Chris to discuss briefly the design and uh materials thank you hello Chris Fernandez 4051 Northeast 27 Terrace Lighthouse Point um as you can see the first slide uh that blue dash line is indicating the area that we're um trying to um raise the the Wall height um the area or the renderings above is actually the proposed solution um just below that you'll see a you know site plan that shows in Blue uh the wall that we're proposing to raise one foot and in yellow they're actually the the columns on either side of the rolling gate that we're proposing to also raise um so this is currently the existing condition um like Matt said you know the the the heights measured from the croner road or croner road is very low um in that section at the very bottom you'll see that we also include the future crowner road so in the future that wall gets even shorter um I can't see the dimensions but um um so what we're proposing is really just um a aluminum um cor uh aluminum powdercoated uh picket fence that kind of sits on top of the existing wall in front um and that extends up a foot and then along the each column of each gate will will be going up two feet uh this is kind of a close-up view um there will be a section of that picket fence where it's a little solid that's where we're introducing the mailbox um we're going to still retain kind of the similar same materials we currently have with the comp the composite wood on the rolling gate the the stone that's currently there now um stule and the the color of the actual gate is going to match the window frames of the of the residence um this is kind of a diagram showing the spacing and how we're attaching it to kind of you know one give uh security and privacy and also you know we feel that this this fence you know still allows light and nature to come through um so we're not you know proposing something very solid and it's also future proofing it in the in the future so when the road does get you know risen um this wall doesn't look really small so and Ju Just to add a few things you know the the wall is existing so this was instead of you know demolishing the wall and trying to you know uh redo that uh as well as this is purposeful not to have a solid wall at 8 ft tall so this way you neighbors passer by you know will we'll see something a nicer facade a more sensitive warmer appeal um and what Chris was mentioning I I do think is very important right the current crown on the road is very low this the city has in many areas and will eventually raise the road so they have a um a measurement over time the future crown of the road so for 2025 it's already at almost 6 feet which is uh 2 feet 2 in two it's 2.2 ft above what it is today so again it's a gauge for what will likely happen so we're trying to uh and that's only 2025 and 2040 it goes two feet higher than that or one foot higher than that so we're trying to um basically build this for the future because at some point the road will be raised and that will likely affect the sale here in the front which is all the public area and we don't want that to now raise it up and make it uh again a security issue uh for that future condition so we think that this is the most ideal uh we're not using the maximum 3 feet would be the maximum height we only have one foot for the majority of where the louvered fenes and two feet at the columns by each of the gates and it's just the columns by the gates right the other columns as you can see interspersed with the louvers those remain at just the the 1ot variance height so we're trying to again address today's conditions of the the ground elevation future conditions of that as well as the for sure Safety and Security of the family that lives there we're here to answer any questions and Michael gave the nice clarification on the wording of the second variant so we're very comfortable with that and we agree with all staff conditions thank you thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak I'm there's nobody with their hand raised online I just want to add one last comment so I just want to point about point on the design one of the things we didn't want to see is a solid wall you ring the entire length so I do think they did a good job with the design to break it up so it doesn't feel like this giant mass along the street so thank you very much um let me just get some clarification then the the the fence the stuckle wall right now is at um 3 feet above the crown of the road do you have the exact I think it's a little bit more than closer to 4 feet above 3.8 3. thetive crown of the road which at some point hopefully in the very near future the road will be redone and it will be elevated or at least crowned so that it will no longer be 3 38 now um if the crown of the road is at currently what is it at right now 3.8 okay and they raise it 2 feet that's let's say five let's say six feet you're only going up one foot above then at that point um the question is how far are they going to raise the road on North Bay that has been their their issue on North Bay for a while the real question is when is that actually going to start yeah so it's been going on for 15 years now um but hopefully it'll be sooner than later that they redo the road because of the flooding that current ly exist on that road um but if it does go up um it goes up let let's use six it'll be six feet so you basically will be at one foot above the crown of the road what if it does go up to 6 feet Michael the crown of the road what would the requirement the zoning code then then they would be more consistent with what the code allows and are there other homes along North Bay that have a height of front wall similar I'm sure I I when I did a site visit okay um I was trying to understand the math of all of this and I went and I actually measured everything sorry um the the wall now it is really low I I am so sorry that there have been break-ins but really low and right now and what happens too is their Swale you know goes up so the the top of the Swale is higher than the road um so it is really low it does it it needs something I understand and I think the design is really nice I appreciate that there is thank you for discouraging a solid um yeah my concern and then my concern became too you know to your question they you're asking how does this additional relate to the other you know most of the homes along North Bay Road especially on the water side have these walls or defenses or whatever um my only concern I think that I'm I'm supportive of the idea my concern is that it is higher what they're proposing is higher than the neighbors and and I wonder if um I think it's s feet in total it's it seemed like yes make it higher but I was not as supportive to make it as high as proposed that's because it doesn't seem to be compatible with the other um homes and fences on the street so and I don't in terms of the numbers specifically um which I feel like isn't it seemed like it's hard for me to describe because the numbers that I was coming up with wasn't necessarily I wasn't measuring from the crown of the road I was measuring from the actual ground there um and it seemed like and I and I measured a bunch of other people's fences and they're they all are sort of five feet and it seems like what you're proposing from grade is 7 feet is that's what correct when you say grade or you know the actual the actual ground the actual ground where the stuckle wall of 3T currently especially two because then understandably you want even taller columns for the gate it's uh approximately 6' 8 and half in yeah from today's current swell on the outside and two other concerns that I think are important uh just as the swell on the outside is raising up to the wall for resiliency it's actually a fairly newer house 2000s built so the grade of the ground on the inside of the property is actually higher than the sale on the outside which is another reason why it's so easy to jump the fence because you don't have a long drop on the other side in fact you have a shorter drop on the other side well hopefully they won't get there yes so so but um when assuming that the future crown of the road may not happen next year right but that uh basically six feet right if you add the 7 ft on that uh that would be uh 13 ft ngvd and so the top of what we propos with this these loers is 11.77 so we would be well under that yeah but that's not it's going to it's not going to appear to be 11t tall because that's from right right so saying as a point of comparison that um we're closer to the 5T plus Mark right in that future crown of Road situation which is what you're allowed to have on the property line except it's based on grade which is the current number that number we're assuming is going to change so I think that we're we'd be well within that meaning if this wall was to be built in let's say the road is raised to six we could do a 5-ft wall right on the property line which would be the effective height that we're proposing today without a variance so I'm just trying to make sure that we don't need to bother coming another time or adding a foot onto this when the city comes and raises the the road what would be that what based on on her previous question I think going back to it if you're sitting inside the property how much higher is the fence the proposed fence or gate to the inside of the property property where you're standing today how many more feet is it above the inside today today from the inside since that's higher it looks like it's about 6 feet 4 and a half Ines it's four and a qu 6et 4 and a number here okay um so the fence if I'm standing the fence is six feet above me yes that would be our proposal yeah now and and I'll tell you that the issues with North Road my understanding is they don't want the road raised and so for us to think that it's going to be raised two feet from the crown of the road may be um may not be may not be what actually ends up happening so I don't know Michael does it make more sense to look at consistency with other Homes at the same time giving them Safety and Security and is s fet necessary if you're standing inside the home um inside the yard on the either the east or the west side of the of the stuckle wall that they currently have do they need to be six point some feet above that so I I think here there's a couple um mitigating factors in terms of height request one is the design so I think if this was definitely a solid wall yeah then that'd be a reason to say no we don't want to prove a solid wall so I think they've mitigated the height with their design and I think also what's mitigated is that they're trying to reuse what's already there now so they're not demolishing it and building something brand new so I think you have those two mitigating factors as well as the the fact that the area does slope up from the crown of the road and the property is higher along the property line and if the city was ever to build a sidewalk here it would probably be at the higher the higher elevation so um we're comfortable with the design and the location as shown um you there's a lot of the houses on the water side of North Bay Road typically do have you know fences walls and Gates if someone's coming in and doesn't want to reuse their existing wall they're going to set the the the wall back four feet and go to the same height so it's it's probably not that much difference to have a 4 foot setback with a brand new wall at the same height versus on the property line in this location and then also by not having the sidewalk there no one's walking directly on that on that wall and experiencing that height so I think there's a lot of mitigating factors here that support their their request I know I think that this is also part of a larger conversation that maybe I feel like we we've had where you know we're now extending the heights we're having the underst stories the buildings Excel the the homes are taller and you know is there any movement in the city to increase the maximum height of fences in we want to be we want to be careful I think that's why the whole purpose purp of variances is to look at the unique circumstances of each particular site versus you know doing a blanket um a blanket um quot Amendment Citywide so we have amended the height requirements for fences and walls along the side yard um because that doesn't affect the the front and the the public view we've also amended the height requirements along the water side when you're elevating elevating the the site we've also amended the high requirements for ocean front proper Properties or not doesn't really affect single family homes but for decades we had typically the the height the height of the beach is typically higher along the dunes along the Oceanside so we had the case where we were measuring the height of fences and walls from Collins Avenue and The Yards were sloping up towards the back and to do a code compliant fence resulted in like a two or three foot wall along the beach front when the city put in the the the beach walk we modified the codee to now measure the height from the beachwalk so you have reasonable you know fences along along the the beachwalk so I think over time depending on the unique circumstances it warrants you know code changes but right now we're not ready to make a blant raising of the the fences and walls you know Citywide and so this they did the this is this is the appropriate manner to come for for a unique circumstance for them to ask for variance and I I will tell you that at some point maybe still in the code um shrubs or hedges could not be higher than 4 feet now if you walk if you drive on anywhere on Miami Beach you'll see that sometimes these Hedges um are cover the entire house they're 10 ft and we don't enforce that anymore although police hates it because of lack of security um it it is an existing condition in this case at least there's visibility through um you're right if they wanted to they could do a 20ft tall hedge you know on their prop line on the inside and you know that would that could be even [Music] worse any other did you have any comments or I'm I'm comfortable with the height but okay yeah I'm I'm comfortable with the height and I appreciate the transparency of the design so so I make a motion to approve the uh let's see how many the two variances uh requested for the uh property the project second all in favor I I any opposed congratulations the passes 5 to zero thank you thank you very much um moving on to drb 24-105 409 East Delo Drive the next item in the agenda is drb2 24-105 409 East delito Drive an application has been filed requesting design and review approval for the construction of a new two-story home including one or more waivers and an understory to replace an existing home so staff um is fully supportive of the design we didn't have any recommend recommended changes so we are recommending approval I'll turn over to the architect for his presentation and just before we start start um just uh time for uh anyone to have any ex party disclosures on the record no okay every member of your team been swor in uh no the landscape architect is uh online okay what's it what's his name Mauricio Del okay I I see him on is he gonna be talking during your presentation uh if needed yes okay um all right then I'll just take a break and swear a minute at that time but you've been swor in right uh no okay then please 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 okay good morning Jose Sanchez practice architecture um just okay this is the project we're presenting here today it's a under story single family home in Delo and and first I just would like to briefly explain the the concept then we can move into the floor plans and and come back so it's um a house that we're doing a design with planer elements mostly planes and a concrete screen instead of the more prevalent cubes or white cubes so that we're basically trying to do the opposite and create a sense of texture in the in the front and of uh space um created by these planes as well as uh having a project that has the um sites recessed and it's also a step to break down the the perceivable mass of the project of the project now moving on into the context this is is Theo somewhat close to the cway and I think everybody's familiar with the the area and has a mix of uh new uh modern houses and and um houses built in the 16s and 7s but I don't think there's a a particular style that it it's prevalent I'm going to come back to this this is the side plan and it's mostly technical drawing but here you can see uh the two main uh Courtyards one on the North side and on the south and a pool that goes through the building but this drawing will explain in better in the ground floor we have uh two car garage and part partially covered parking three stairs the main pedestrian stair uh exterior on on the south uh they daily use stair and um and ground floor lobby with an elevator and a stair that connects to the family room and common areas the under story next to the Waterfront side the first floor you can see the um pestan stair with access that one around the front Courtyard and it's really acts as um an outdoor Vesti I would say you go into the uh two main common two main living areas one more casual and then one more formal and in the front a a detach um guest bedroom or office and a core for services in the second floor uh four bedrooms uh with a compact circulation and um windows on the stair providing natural light to this area and you have access to the roof through an exterior stair and this is the roof Terrace in the center of the of the house and with the access St and elevator front elevation and um here uh you can see the the the concrete string screen in the front and uh the recessed uh volumes on the um on the left side the side elevations um this uh this side shows um that we don't we don't have one main long wall with just one 8 by8 corrier but the the wall that's right at the setback which is the one with the heavier lines it's a short wall it's uh probably 40 45 ft or less but we don't have a long wall that's it shows the recesses on the on on the sides of it and this is the opposite side and it also shows that it's not one long wall but it's broken down into discrete sizes of volumes and the rear elevation sections and back to the front of the house here uh we're using a color H palette of light 10 and top colors and basically to make it more blend more with the Landscaping we have several um Planters and the landscaping and and it's it's been designed by Mar I would say as as um a a very tropical landscape with lots of Palms a tropical but botanical garden and it's not shown uh in detail in the in the rendering but that's the idea to have the plants and then the light going through the through the concrete screens so it gives you that feeling uh of being in a tropical place and uh it's essentially um paint and stocko as we felt that trying to provide Stone in one portion it would feel it would be more like a decoration instead of having an all over design that I think it's more abstract and this is the rear of a property you're obviously more open for the views and um that's uh that's it that's essentially the project I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak no anybody online there's nobody online excellent okay I'm now closing the public portion opening it up to the board for comment I have I have a question Michael is this just a is just are they just seeking a under story or is there a waver okay um and then on the just on the main front facade the the brown and the woodwork is that going to be like wood do you know what kind of materials you're going to use no it's Concrete Construction okay and then it would have a stco with a lime additive that um it it it looks more matte when you apply paint to it because it absorbs it and but that's the idea because to do it in in real concrete it would be a challenge we tried that in other projects and we have to do eight or 10 different types of testing but because of the geometry it would be complicated so that's his decision with Metals it gets complicated with the construction and and the longterm maintenance yeah I just I noticed um on the on the the rear facade from the water view where you have the number three it looks like it's this this nice like more natural wood siding at least in one piece so I was wondering if that was going to be incorporated in the front of the home it it could be applied to one of the walls in the front Okay um the one that's right next to the guest bedroom that's uh possibly okay yes yeah um yeah I think I think it's beautiful I I mean you're you're only seeking an underst story so I don't want to be you know too critical but um yeah well but it is you know this is what we're here for to review the design so any comments that you have apply yeah I mean my that would the what I said previously would probably be my I'm I'm sure it's more expensive um but if you could incorporate some of the more natural elements so it's not just the stucco on the front facade I think that would that would make the home yes it can be done and the the underside of the um of the ground floor will also have the wood in the ground floor I mean it will not be seen in the facade but okay that's the plan um just one question is is it I guess your um decision as a architect on the project but also um the owners is it the dark colors that they're looking for is that their preference uh to me it just looks extremely dark from all sides front back they're they're on board um the the owner is a developer that's been designing Waterfront Houses for 15 years so he's um fam familiar with design of houses and um that's the intention it could be lighter um and uh we had problems back and forth with you know renderer just trying to get the right color so it may not be that exact color it's something we can review with uh planning staff my preference would be to go with something lighter um but then again I'm not going to be living there either so but I just um from being in that area um it just seems that the other homes in that area tend to be much lighter um than the proposed um coloring color scheme in this one yes that's right we we have seen several that are not white in the area and they do stand out and they they look different and more trob yeah I mean I gota concur I I I'm so distracted by the color scheme in this it it's so 70s to me and we've just trying to be get away from that and this dark dark brown in the heat in the sun it never looks great it fades it gets water spot I just feel like this whole thing is so heavy and and agree with Myra you go through the neighborhood and everything's white or light beige and I don't know how staff calls this a warm color because it just seems so dark and heavy to me that's all I just the architecture is really interesting but I can't I'm distracted by the color I think I really I just I do not like it I think it doesn't fit I I think maybe that one of the my initial I first of all I like how you're you know interspersing the elements and the overall design and layout a house is really interesting um the the the pool pond thing I mean it's like all my tropical fantasies so the what I think for me what really struck me about the design though is I I don't really understand this Grill feature you know and I I see what you're saying about wanting to I I applaud your effort to do something interesting and different to make the house stand out but I worry that the design that you've created it doesn't really have a rhythm to me it just it I it I think that there needs it's sort of missing an intention I know that a few meetings ago Shauna brought up the point with another design that you know the the the structure it was just like they threw some windows in wherever and I would love to see this Grill I like this idea but for it to have a little bit more Rhythm and intention to it and I mean this is a major design feature of the property and I know you've replaced it on the roof deck as well and I think if if it had that um I think that that that it the design needs to be refined I would also say two to the point about intentionality of why you're using certain things here and certain things there on the rear um the the the wood siding you know that also strikes to me is like well why is that there you know why are you using that what is the intention behind it how does it relate to the composition and the choice of materials overall I would love to see that expressed more um I I agree with with the other board members that this does seem very very dark especially if this isn't necessarily metal but it is just painted stucco um but I I think that the overall design of the home would be much improved starting with the grill um and that the color is part of it as well as the design in general um driving around looking at all these properties the other day I do appreciate and I'm very glad that we're no longer seeing these white cubes which I think there was a very strong reaction against and I I wanted to yeah you know I wanted to apply to you and you know the last you know chunk of things that we've seen it seems like Architects and designers and developers are moving away from White which I think is it you know can be nice but I I I agree that this is maybe a little bit dark that there could be some lightning in the pette um I did have some questions um oh and then do you can you bring up um in the presentation page 21 the other I think the one before it the picture before this that so this is the so let me ask you a question um where it says two is that the the Second Story roof line or is is that the roof deck that's the second story roof line the roof deck is well there's two number two the roof deck is you can hardly the top of it yeah so is that the top of the roof duck or is that the top of the house that's the top of the house you don't see the top of the roof deck from that was my question because it seems like you have a very um large roof deck structure and what I want to avoid um you know we're always thinking about context and what I you know you have it looks like the ground level is raised and you have an under story then you have two stories and then you have this large roof deck structure and what I want to avoid is to give the impression that you're plopping a four-story house in a h in a neighborhood that has single and twostory homes and so that would be my concern with the design of the roof deck you know how much do you see from the street I when I was looking at the neighborhood there are buildings not immediately adjacent but there are some newer homes that have roof deck full structures but they're very much to the back you can't and they're smaller um so that was just a concern that I had um and maybe perhaps if when you rework you know the grill work design and then apply that to the roof dead structure maybe it'll lighten that up but again it's just it it's it strikes is being a four-story house which is not generally what we want to encourage yeah and I just one more comment on this picture you have the the tall walls on each side uh which is on the North and South right and if I were a neighbor living on each side uh I don't know what that would do to my landscaping and my home view um when I have a wall that how tall is this wall on each side uh the the two stories height yeah and then how um 15 ft yeah it just seems that that really is an intrusion um while not on their property it's an intrusion to their airspace View and um there could be a house there with Windows and and lots of glazing um and I have to keep in mind also what I mentioned about the landscape it will probably not even be seen or very little of it because but but right now in this presentation you have it is visible from your side from the project side and it's going to and it obviously is visible from the property owners to each side do did you receive letters of um approval or recommendations on no from the neighbors okay no I didn't on uh the north side there's a three story appr house approved much larger yeah I was wondering if those two walls could be an opportunity to to bring in that wood element and then maybe you have they're not it's just not a flat stuckle wall but you have space in between slats to allow for Breeze and light to come through and it's just not a flat wall I don't know if structurally that available completely POS it just will get busier right but it's completely we need a support for the for the grill the grill yes yes but maybe the support can the entrance this is um an equivalent of a modern porch that's that's signal in the entrance we we have done it in other projects in R Alto somewhat similar 40 West rivo and it doesn't it's it doesn't feel too high as a matter of it um yes it's set back and um you know this house the view it's a little higher on the eyee level but from the side you don't even see the third floor it looks like a two-story house because you you can go by and see it or we have pictures so I I think for visualization the eye level was raised here but you don't see the third floor at all you see a two-story house which is rare for an under story project and I mean we can look at the wall um on by the entry but I think that if we have a composition of abstract elements sometimes you need simple gestures you know if we if we add openings and wood in that location it would probably get busier I think it's probably better to add wood here in this area or in the um the ceiling the ceiling that will be seen and keep the rest of the and it's not uh budget it's really to to keep it cohesive this wall you're saying on each side is how wide and how tall um it's the the height of a twostory structure which is about 20 feet about 20 fet yeah you know what if you bring up the first or actually the I guess I'm looking at page 16 it shows a view from the street that there it doesn't because you know that other view it was very very close yeah so I don't know if that makes is a 20ft wall basically close to the property line right M 5 ft no but a half ft from the property line on the sides but but that that wall could be 60 ft long in that location starting there yeah it's it's much smaller than what it's allowed when you go back to the project that I mentioned try to take pictures we go out of our way to do the side elevations it's impossible to take the pictures the planting could $200,000 worth of landscaping you're right excuse me if I can add a point so I noticed cuz I was trying to see the difference between the presentation and what my understanding was of the stucco color so the plans that were submitted the stucco was shown as Almost White so the presentation drawings show it much darker so I think that you know going to because the even even the presentation drawings call out for a a white sand and that's s really reflective of the material shown on the presentation but the plans that were submitted col out white sand and show a much lighter color so I think I do think that there's enough visual interest on all the elevations that you don't need to add anything more maybe it's a matter of just you know um using that white sand finish that's shown in the submission and modifying the um the the color of the dark framing element maybe it doesn't have to be so dark I also think the renderings I think I mentioned I looked at this project I think initially I didn't I was involved in the the later review of it but I think very very early on I think I commented on the renderings and maybe the time of the day that the renderings were taking and it sort of like artificially darkens B whether it's Sunset all of the stuff inside and undercover you can't even see any details because it looks like it's just all so dark um I think I think it's maybe the time of the rendering so I think lightening up the materials is going to address the board's concerns yeah and I also think across the board you know we recommended we've seen dark Browns and we've always recommended it to be lightened up a bit and I mean yeah like it's some people's taste you know but if this isn't necessarily this is the homeowner who's going to live there and you know this is development project I think it it would certainly Worth to be explored and I think that would you know relieve some of the issues I don't mind that the facade doesn't have wood in it necessarily I think Laura's point was that you know it's if you're going for sort of texture and planer movement um you know was that sort of what yeah I mean I just saw that the element was incorporated on the other facade so bringing that through to continue and that may just it's warm but so like maybe so it's not so Brown I know what's brown but make it more of a natural feel so it's just not dark stucco on medium stco I understand you know the comment about the color I I understand it I I gu we were trying to do you know to make it look tropical instead of wood make it brown but if it doesn't work doesn't work that could be uh light gray we could explore the colors that it's uh that's completely flexible so that's that's fine I just think you know in this hot sunny crazy climate that the dark colors they just attract so much heat I mean the front of the house is facing west and whatever it looks like is there a balcony in there yeah there's a balcony I mean that's going to be like it's going to be brutal that that just attracts and holds all that heat and the brown wall like takes away from your from your se you know uh the screen which I think is kind of interesting and I think you did a great job on the sides by the way with the Artic just the variance of stuff I love the I love the slap work on the understory that you can see through and stuff that that's really cool I I think yeah it just looks the rest of it so heavy but again if it looks if it's lighter and changing it you know to more of a gray tones even including the you know the wood more of a a whitewashed versus brown you know I think that that would completely change the whole feeling and lighten things up if the if you're willing to go that route do you have Michael the I I don't even know if they're available the colors that were presented to staff originally it's it's in the um it's in there but it's still dark I me I don't I don't know if you need to go Gray like I'm I'm okay with the Browns taes um but I I think where where this is sort of going I'm wondering if somebody would like to make maybe a motion to continue to work on this um I certainly would recommend that that the the Grid at the front be refined a bit um I don't know if anybody wants to make a motion yeah I mean I'd be if you're going to continue I think since it's just a matter of colors continue until next month and then you can come back with a revised pallet that's acceptable okay yes and and also to like I said to work on the grid and then that also translates to the grid also the roof element I I need to understand about the grid and can you elaborate a little bit more it let me add this maybe it will be helpful if you go back to the picture on the screen here yes um if you look at the at the fence in the front M the gate it seems to be more of a wood color a lighter color even though still dark um but it it it's much lighter than or somewhat lighter than the grid that you have in the front and and maybe it doesn't need to be stuckle maybe it could be another material but I think once you lighten up all the colors of the home the grid itself needs to be lightened up MH okay is that I don't know if that helps in what you were saying Sarah I think with the Grid it's maybe the proportions maybe that there's too many verticals too busy it it's it's too busy and it it to me you know be it doesn't really have a rhythm to it necessarily well it's a random pattern it's on on purpose and if if it's has less elements it it's not agreed anymore you know I mean I'm open to any suggestion I think it just I mean Beyond just sort of playing I mean if it was me I would just sit there and sort of play with it um because yeah it just doesn't look as intentional it just looks like you threw it here and you threw it there um there's also what's interesting is the last I think the last project that we're going to review today there's also in in the facade as part of the structure a bit of a grid and I was looking at your project and I was looking at their project and asking myself like why does that one seem more I don't know it doesn't seem like it needs to be refined where this one does and and it was just a could it be the color that makes you think that I don't think it was necess the color it was more just the spacing and the Rhythm and the amount of elements so I I don't I don't really know how to get there for you but it would just be to sort of play around with it and and you know it when you see it I mean that's his you know design is but I but I do I mean that's the dominant Street side element so it really has and I think if it's perfected it will be really something that will stand out and be very appealing and make it a you know a better project like it it's definitely to me worth your time to go through and do that and I do think playing with the color um because that's also you know we all had a very strong reaction about that um so yeah okay understood and if there's any did you have any comments too about this roof structure which it just seems very large or maybe that's just how I'm well it cannot be seen from here but we could reduce it and and meet the code requirement can can we see it in the back because I don't see it here it would not be seen here this is real rendering right I mean or Dimension you know I noticed it a lot of in a lot of giants I was like oh wow that's I guess I'll we're not used that's from the back and then it it just seems it just seems larger than what we've seen before am I am I imagining that they're limited to um the roof deck cannot exceed 25% of the floor below they have a very far it is it is very far set back from the front property line there are side setbacks 10 ft required the structure itself has to be no larger than 20% of the floor below it can come out closer to the water but it also is mitigated because they do have a structure that's closer to the water so it is centrally located you know on the and it meets the code with its setbacks and the percentage of the ground floor of the of the floor below yeah I think that maybe if you know let me just take a look and see where the the limits of the if it starts here starts here so it's not yeah I think it's because there's you got you know lots of of sort of essentially walls on the side supporting it maybe in the past we've seen covered areas that just have and so it doesn't make it feel like a room it just makes it feel like a covered porch it's a large frame so that large frame doesn't really give you shade you're probably better off to do something that's more Compact and maybe a trellis or something that does provide some shade and cover versus doing a perimeter because a perimeter just accentuates the volume so I think reducing that will help okay well said that Mak sense yeah um okay so was that a had a motion been made no so okay let's take a stab at this one so um make a motion to continue the review of the project for approval and to go back and um refine the color scheme and the the Grid in the front and what do you call the rooftop and just take a look at the rooftop uh the rooftop canopy P canopy yes sure so that'd be a continuance to the June 4th meeting is there a second second second by Mr Sheldon all in favor I I any opposed let's continue till June 4th okay thank you you thank [Music] you right the next item in the agenda is Deb 23 D 0985 1333 Dade Boulevard an application has been filed requesting design review approval for the construction of a new five-story mix use building including variances to reduce the required width of a two-way aisle to reduce the required floor to ceiling height for the non-residential first habitable floor level and to reduce the setback and increase height of the rooftop architectural features so we should also note that due to the mechanical parking this will also be reviewed by the planning board um you know just for the mechanical parking as jaelle mentioned they are requesting um for experiences this is a relatively tight site um we are supportive of the design however we do have one recommendation regarding the ground floor right now they're proposing this um sliding material all the way all around the lobby we're recommending that that be opened up because right now it's very difficult and does lack transparency so our recommendation is approval but that transparency be dramatically increased along the ground level we our supported the variances and are recommending approval of the application that I'll turn it over to Mr amster for his presentation sure and uh before we start any ex party dis disclosures at this time and also Mr Amon do you need your team yes please okay sure uh those folks testifying please raise please stand and raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that testimony you be giving in this proceeding is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth okay thanks and is 10 minutes okay yes that should be sufficient we may may need a few more but we'll do our best uh good morning again uh Matt amster the L burkow Rell Fernandez Lin and tapenz office at 200 South bis G Boulevard in Miami here today representing crear office LLC which is the owner of the property as well as the applicant for uh a new five-story building uh very Slender on this extremely narrow lot uh it's very challenging to develop but I think they've done it in a great way uh with me uh from ownership is uh Bento Kos um and we have our architect and Landscape team from Urban robot we have Sebastian VES Justine VES Julio fomina and my colleague at the firm Robert Alvarez uh we have a presentation if you could call that up please um so there's the design uh is is a very interesting lot very narrow only 50 ft um and and only has Frontage on Dade Boulevard uh it's next to the the public storage uh to the East and uh two towing companies one immediately which is Beach towing to the west and to the north uh behind us is uh Treemont Towing I actually passed out a letter we've reached out to both towing companies uh this letter is from Tremont to the north they're fully supportive um and I have spoken to representative multiple times at uh Beach towing um they did not write a letter but they are supportive of our project um this just gives you a sort of the context uh while the building there uh in the Middle with the reddish orange roof that was the building there before and actually since been demolished but as you're on the picture on the left is really helpful because this is the area where Dade Boulevard is to the south then you have the the canal and that landscaping and then of course continuing South you have the uh the rest of the the road before you even get to our nearest neighbor to the South so it's a great very wide Corridor at this location uh these are the existing conditions showing you that uh it's a vacant site that we're um hoping to develop with this new building and I want to um turn it over to Sebastian to take you through the plans hello everyone um my name is Sebastian Bellis I'm uh with Urban robot Associates uh we are here a firm here Miami Beach located in 420 Lincoln Road uh very happy to be here I'm also a resident so we take great pride in working in Miami Beach and making sure that you know we whatever we work on you know we hope that it contributes to the urban fabric so this was a really interesting site uh not only because uh of the neighborhood that it's in but also because of how narrow it is and they Boulevard is quite a unique uh Road uh you know you have different you know City elements with you know the Holocaust Museum you have you know different banks uh you have the tow yards and then you have you know interesting buildings like the uh the old the public storage was the old Copa City uh club which is you know pretty interesting building if you look into it uh Norman Giller designed it and so there's quite a lot of Rich history there um so a couple of things were important to us uh one of them was we know that the building is not going to be a very large office building so we wanted to make sure that the the frontage was maximized for architecture and not for cars so one of the first things is we didn't want half the site to have a very wide driveway one you know where people are walking in and all you see is either a garage door you see the cars in so we went with a narrow drive lane and uh and so we can kind of maximize that front uh Lobby uh the second thing is that we we're thinking about how the building fits in the urban fabric today and potentially the urban Fabric in the future right so it's interesting because even though it's a very narrow site uh the building is going to be seen because it's five stories uh you're going to see it when you're driving you know westbound on date and when you're coming in uh from Venetian into Miami Beach you're also going to see the building right so even though our setbacks are zero feet on both sides right we really didn't want to do that we didn't want to create walls so we set the building back instead of zero we have 15 ft on the East we have 5T um on the sorry 5T on the East 15 ft on the west and we set it back from the rear as well as the front um so the building starts acting more as an object building particularly because of its proximity to the public storage building right which it kind of peels back uh and then it starts kind of showing us part of that building so uh the building uh as we you've seen uh is a primar an office building it does have have a single residential unit and then it has a private roof deck on top we're utilizing uh lots of uh landscape we have our landscape architect here part of our team uh to make sure that that uh even though it's a narrow site that it okay some little problem here let's see if it comes back oh I'll keep on walking you through um so we do have Planters on the facade of the building in the you know Street facing on date Boulevard and in the rear as well as uh Lush landscape buffer on on the street uh as well as the rear yard and so you can see here the section we we wanted to be uh we were really inspired by Miami Beach architecture we we we try we strive to make buildings that when built are part of their context and again they contribute so you know we wanted this building to be a building that was very much of Miami Beach that it kind of was inspired on our you know on our heritage that it's a building that if you place it anywhere else it really doesn't work if you place it in Coral Gable and Kon Grove it it doesn't really work that it's a building that speaks of Miami Beach so it's kind of an expanded rolay pattern that grows and then it it kind of it shows you how the building comes towards uh date Boulevard um it is a very wide Street and obviously we have Collins Canal uh and so the building has uh it's it's dynamic in nature it it it starts facing towards the other taller buildings across the canal and having a dialogue with them and it's and it becomes lower as it goes towards uh Sunset Harbor neighborhood so here you can see the different views and this facade is particularly interesting because a lot of this facade bu fire code requirements right we we can't really have an open facade because we're very close to the property line but we wanted to make sure that it wasn't a blank wall so we have a lot of spandrel Glass on that facade so when you're driving down dat Boulevard you really see the building and it's not you know a blank wall or just a pattern right so some of those windows are real because we can do certain percentage of them some of them are spandrel right but the building really speaks to you know 360 Dees and let me go here and the materials are interesting we we wanted we wanted to be very pristine and precise on the pattern you know it's not a stucco work it's we wanted to uh use uh pre-cast uh panels that are clipped on on the facade so they're you know made offsite they're very precise and uh on the bottom and the top we actually are proposing a really cool product it's uh nbk terracotta it's actually a glazed product so we can achieve an interesting color it's not just paint so we we want to have the base the pedestal which engage engages The Pedestrian at the ground level have these this tonality of like different pinks right because terracotta has a lot of depth uh this is one of the the things that staff brought up and we're we're in agreement that they wanted more transparency and we're totally agree and we'd love to work with them to achieving a little bit more uh transparency but part of that is you know potentially something that you see through these um through these louvers made out of this glazed terra cotta and then we have the glazed terra cotta on the rooftop as well covering the mechanical uh enclosure and at that point the Terracotta is a white terracotta and here you can see some of the images with the Public Works building that has this kind of nice curves to it this is the side that's that you'll see as you're driving on on da Boulevard and this is what I I like to call the the Miami uh Vice shot the render got a little excited here but we thought it was fun and uh this is just kind of a view of the the office and I'll hand it over to Matt thanks Sebastian um so I wanted to say a few things about the variances but um o overall just to let you know like this is uh you know small slender building here um bento's uh partner Luis um Nea sea is of a company from Brazil to Future and this is basically uh been designed in close um you know working closely with the Architects to be the family office here in the United States uh so much like you would design your own house you know this is how this is intended to be uh used at the moment it's all intended to be this one family business with one residential unit for you know coming in from at town this is a place that you can stay uh the property is going to have valet operation and uh you know it's been designed with this as being the intent uh for the residential unit it's not intended to be rented but if it were there's no intention for short-term rentals uh and that has you know the the the sole use of the rooftop it's not meant to be any public space um as far as the the variances are concerned uh and I will need a little bit more time if we could um we do have four variances but I think they're all uh basically referencing you know the slander nature of this property um if you look at the top right the drive aisle uh we have at least 12T clear it's like 15 ft between the building and the property line for two-way um you know in Ingress egress uh again it's a one residential unit and uh an office all managed by valet you'll come in past even that location shown on there so there's no queuing issue with uh cars coming in to get to the valet um since we have a companion planning board application there was a full traffic study uh fully vetted by both our study and the city's peer review and transportation staff and that was approved uh so uh everything is um has been Justified as far as you know maneuverability access the valet operation trash loading pickup type of things has all been vetted uh so uh and I know that smaller apartment buildings even places that have just 10 parking spaces you can have a 12-ft drive AIS uh the interesting thing here uh Sunset Harbor has incentives that offices actually have zero parking requirement we are electing to put in 12 spaces for those offices so that they don't have to go find places to park elsewhere in the neighborhood especially because we don't have direct access you know it's around the block to go since we're not on an alley uh up to the parking garage so we're electing to put in 12 parking spaces that gets us over that 10 so we need a wider Drive F but it'll work because again it's uh fewer people coming here again as a office use they're going to be regulars for the most people coming valet operated um the left side of the drawing is really and and below is really referencing that uh there's a need to have a new construction have space for the ground floor to be raised we do have that it's just at a lower starting point uh than what the code requires right we have a 14t clearance in there and it can be raised if needed um unlike the other application I was on where the road uh at that residence is really low this crown of road is actually already high and in fact it's higher than the 2025 future crown of the road so at 9 ft for our finished floor which by the way is just parking and a Lobby entrance there's no habitable space here that would otherwise be affected on the ground floor so our first habitable floor is the residential unit much much higher right very resilient so we uh feel that this variance is reflective again of the conditions here which are sort of the opposite we're already much higher and even the 2040 uh number is only 7 feet and again we're at 9 ft we're already 2 feet higher than the 2040 number so we feel that we are meeting that requirement uh for the other two variances they are reflective of our architectural design of the rooftop and again this is only the part facing uh Dade Boulevard to the South which has no nearest neighbor right the the middle and Northern half of the building all are at the 55 ft that's the max height allowed with no other real structure except maybe a small parapet you know that are affecting any of the internal neighbors uh so the height that we're looking for is just to continue the design as you come up the with those architectural features including that overhang Up on the Rooftop uh and that also built into that is all of the um you know Landscaping opportunities on each level so it's not just ground level plantings and on the rooftop but as you saw in other the renderings you can even see it here um in our physical renderings that there's um you know those additional planting items to soften it's meant to have cascading uh plantings uh so just uh to finish up the we do have you know support from our nearest neighbors uh both west and north of us uh I did speak to and I know they're here um representatives from the Sunset Harbor neighborhood association so we explained our project and uh I am understanding that they are supportive uh with our companion planning board application there is a change uh of the number of parking spaces um I told you that total we have 13 uh but the plans as we submitted them they did have a 14th parking space so to address that full traffic study and maneuverability we had to remove one space it's still there it's just meant to be open at all times so cars can move into it as they are taking cars out of the lifts so I did submit I don't know if you need to see it but all it does is change the numbers on the plans um but we submitted what I'm calling a three-page exhibit a to staff um that make I just want to make sure that when we go to building permit that it's a 13 spaces in the plan are what's approved not the 14 uh but it's really just a numbers game no change to the layout whatsoever so with that uh we agree with all staff's conditions and our entire team is here to answer any questions thank you very much are there any members of the public wishing to speak please come forward SAR I just need to swear you in I I my I raed my hand when perfect then you're good two minutes yes two minutes okay you go ahead hi Sarah de is Sor Harbor neighborhood association President we we we review the plants and we discussed with the attorney in regards to the building the laws are have no objection to the building is a beautiful building for the small space that it is and uh we do approve the fact that they're going to have parking because it is a little bit far away from the parking lot that we have in Santa Harbor and you know and it's good that they have the mechanical underneath it just in case there's any flooding they can always race all the cars up no it's it's it becomes very uh very good very good for for them so we love the design that I think is beautiful it's uh we love the pattern on the side that we're going to be able to see and the lofs are going to be able to see a very nice building besides the bisho and Trea that we have there and the height is a lot lower than anything else that's there even though the building is you know it's lower there even than the one in purova which is going to be 87 feet so we totally approve hopefully you approve it too thank you very much for your comments anyone else yes we do have some callers online um the first one is uh Bruce Bachman hiy uh Bruce backman 1800s yeah Bruce before you start I just need to swear you in for the board 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 okay I'll set the clock for two minutes for you to address the board really short what's the actual height from the sidewalk to the top of the front uh with a rooftop um structure there on Dat Boulevard you that goes above the 55 ft I just want know the the total height to that very top element well they are um 55 ft to the top of the roof are you asking to the top of the all the structures yeah the top of that there's like when you look at the day Boulevard side of it the front of it there's that thing that goes up above all the rest of the roof so it goes 55 ft to the top of the um the roof deck and then additional 12 foot 10 in to the top of the projections above that okay that's how I went to okay he thanks that's it thank you our next um caller is Seth Kar and Barbara Harris Seth and Barbara are you there yes this is Seth this is Seth Curr speaking okay Seth I just need to sway you in first 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 okay I'm going to set the clock for two minutes for you to address the board thank you very much and I appreciate this opportunity we reside at 1688 uh West Avenue uh West Bay Plaza which is directly across the street from uh the subject property and uh we have been observing the property that went up on perie uh which uh not only interfered with our view but also added significant numbers of Mechanicals on the top of the building so we are very very concerned about um the uh variance for height because we do not want to have our view further sullied by other matters um I that's my comment my question is I I don't understand how traffic or indoor cars are going to what is the access to that property access is from Dade Boulevard so you're G to come up date Boulevard from West and there's going to be is going to be a curb cut to go into the property there already is a curb cut to go in there where and it's it's it's just going to be the same Lane just one lane in and one lane out correct is that help because I I haven't observed that I'm not aware that is that office build the um storage building and the in the subject property yeah I think I wonder if we could bring up a picture to illustrate to answer his question do you have any do you have any other question if you could um bring up your points and then we can ask the applicant to to to um answer the questions no that's the extent of my comment although I'm sure we're all aware of the of the traffic that's been occurring at the intersection of West Avenue in Dade Boulevard so I'd obviously be concerned about further traffic problems that would uh come up because of this property thank you very much for your concerns and I have to tell you Seth the concern you have about the other building um the roof mean IAL elements we actually had a conversation amongst ourselves before the meeting started so that's thank you for noting that as well so that concludes our callers online yeah do you want to answer his question about the in the Ingress and if you want to bring up that picture yeah is this the exact Sebastian why don't you come up here is that the existing uh curb cut that you're using so essentially we are narrowing the curb cut that is already there um and um we're keeping all the garage and parking is internal so you you know they won't be able to see that and we agree with the mechanical we're shielding the entire mechanical uh equipment obviously it's not a very large building so there's not a lot of equipments we have a parit surrounding it a Louver around it uh which is not part of the variance um the variance is part of the uh coinus design we didn't really want to have a building that has just kind of a little box on top that's shielding it because we can we want it to be meaningful in this particular case because the building is so narrow the you see the loued area uh around that is is covering all the mechanical uh elements it's covering the elevator overrides the the small very small compact Lobby for you to get out of the elevator and out uh so we wanted to to incorporate that top element into the architecture and that's why we're asking for that variance for that corness that goes within 15 feet of the front uh property line right just kind of that hovering element so all the Mechanicals are going to be within that structure on the r yes that's the plan yes yeah okay but there's no roof on those right see this is the thing that happens that we're all concerned about we have no sort of we have no rules about what you see from above and these buildings where these guys are looking straight down so you can put something around it but that doesn't block that you're looking down on this really ugly equipment and I mean is there no I think you could you could typically the mechanical equipment has to have you know no I know but grids or I've seen right so there's probably an extent to a griding or something you can do on top of that to sort of yeah I've just seen some kind of this is the problem I think that we're all we're just not addressing as a city is like what when you're looking down on something it looks horrible and that what's gone on in that other building is so egregious with what you're looking at and there's going to be nothing I I see it all the time when I'm in a highrise looking down I can't believe that we approve with zero thought of what looks like from above versus from the side so I I would like to see if we can address that for the people that have to look down by the way the Design's gorgeous so I don't I really love it so but here I don't think that there's much the angle of view from any nearby building is not going to be direct ly to that center part of our building you're you're there're so far away there none of these tall buildings are anywhere near close the one to the South is at least I'm going to guess 150 ft away because you have Dade you have the canal how tall is that the guy that just called from is that a 12 story believe that's a 14 story building so he's GNA he's he's you know he's looking down on they're looking down on it it let can you go back to the previous uh screen that you have and going to this one can you point to the actual area where the housing of that mechanical equipment is going to be is it that white box on the yes rooftop yes let me let me before I say that I think that's the elevator we're absolutely sensitive to that understanding that the other buildings are further away we kind of wanted to centralize it so the mechanical spaces I'll show you so it's in that area that's gray MH um the white box is really the Elevator Shaft and so is there going to be any visibility at all of the mechanical equipment if it's within that area that you just pointed to no the mechanical equipment is enclosed on all sides by these L lver and what's on top of it currently it is open okay so if but the if you're looking at it the Elevator Shaft sort of hides or blocks The View I think this is a good shot okay okay the equipment is right there the other half in the St Boulevard is where on this one here on the left okay and that building is further to the left and sunset how Towers Sunset Harbor Towers or Sunset Harbor residences are to the to the east like where Matt standing um so it could be visible if they're much higher than than this building is which is this is not a high building is it possible to put some sort of trellis on the top to sort of buffer the view of the mechanical equipment so just a couple of thoughts and you know not to address that yet but um we do have the louvers which is the first layer the second layer is we do have large planting around it as you can see right and maybe the landscape architect can talk to us a little bit about that that planting is going to grow right and so it's going to buffer the entire enclosure right so I think that helps in in a bit it's not you know kind of a dead roof um regarding yeah yes exactly so the entire enclosure is surrounded by a number of different plantings among which are palm trees and the palm trees are intended to be even taller than the screen itself so they will be hovering overhead now of course that's not you know 100% coverage but essentially they're adding beautification and general upper higher level uh buffering and I just want to sort of restate what Sebastian said earlier and I'm going to step away from the mic for a second to to gesture we did not perform an analysis from that far away but if we go back to uh the cross-section where we did the analyses for the screening um we can maybe interpolate from that and I'm not as familiar with the order of the slides thank you I think the the callar was across the street to the to the South so it was not that far away so I think that we can add a condition to the extent possible to include um screening so I think you know we would work with our mechanical and engineer to make sure that the ventilation is preserved but I certainly think that we would be absolutely open to a TR to a trellis overhead um I will say this too or do want more comments no I wish I did have a couple more things really the Design's amazing I think it's going to really be an iconic structure for the neighborhood um the residential unit is not for sale as a condo so it's going to be used by the owners of the which cuz that is a nightmare by the way you're about you're between a parking lot and a storage unit um and it's it would be awful but the rest of it I'm really happy to see now the mechanical parking it never these are just the simple lifts right so it's not like a whole robotic thing how does that actually work though in and and I I applaud putting parking where none's required but how does that work from just a logistical standpoint when people are come to the office and there's other cars like how how do you do that so it's uh it's it's interesting um it basically it that's why we need a ballet operator right so and they will have an empty slot and they'll just move the cars around the longterm people that are staying for a few hours get you know get lifted and put on the top uh slots and then people that are quick uh will go on the bottom slots and they just pull them out lower it gets lowered you know within a minute and out you go so it's pretty straightforward there's there's few spots uh we've worked on these quite a bit we we worked on a garage um built a garage on uh 49 colons where Carbone is right it's all lifts and elevators and and it works well uh these are pretty heavy duty lifts right so there are no robotic systems or anything just a button and even if the electricity goes out you can always lower the car so you know we like them you'll have a valet like yes that's yeah during office hours you have to have a valet okay because once you have lifts you have to have a lift yeah I know I hear well let planning deal with that so I have a a question on the variance for the um dryve vial you're asking for 12T width where 18 ft is the minimum required why can't you meet the 18 ft because of the frontage of the property yeah this is only a 50 foot wide uh property and we could actually put the building at zero at both at the both property lines um but obviously as you've seen and maybe we could call it back up we're providing a much narrower uh slender building um the the width at 12 ft though is still accommodates especially when it's in you know coordination with valet and again these are going to be regular people full-time employees coming on a regular basis so it really only is when that occasional guest I think is coming uh that you know there might be someone who's not familiar with how the operation Works uh but a 12T wide Drive aisle is acceptable when you have 10 or few fewer parking spaces we're electing to put a few more than that and so that's when the requirement goes up to 18 but I think that that's mitigated with again just the clientele essentially the the standard typical regular people coming here are will know how it works they'll know that obviously there's a valet they drop it off there'll be communication like hey I need to go out for lunch you know they can make that uh um be organized and operationally uh not be a factor and it's wide enough for deliver and bigger trucks garbage so it doesn't back up on in the sort of the back um sort of left corner of the facility is you know the trash and uh and a loading zone and again that was all fully required and vetted and maneuverability everything so that uh you know exactly how and again the valet operation will help with those delivery uh as well so that they can you know uh maximize the space available and and minimize the conf with other people needing to come or go uh so and again as an office but it's not like it's a restaurant it has lots of deliveries it should be very simple and brief I I doubt it'll be even every day so uh but anyway that was all vetted in our traffic study peer reviewed by the city and we have that at the planning board but I'm we wouldn't be able to proceed to the planning board meeting which is later this month if that traffic study had 12 approved I'm sorry the 12 foot width of the of that um Drive aisle is wide enough to allow for a car to come in and out cont at the same time yes that actually is the because it basically leaves six feet for each car They al they also would back up so this is something this is not like it's a it's also the case where if there's somebody coming in and somebody trying to going out the person going out would back up to allow the car in so this is that's that's how it typically work yeah it would have to be and if with this mechanical parking you actually are requesting a lower floor to ceiling height in the parking area from 14 ft minimum required to 11 ft even though you have the mechanical parking no we have the 14t clearance okay it's just that the 14t clearance by code is meant to be from design flood elevation which is the uh the the lobby level uhhuh so this par the parking area is lower at and so the the only the the requirement is to have 14 ft from that 9ot measurement we have it from the floor of the parking uh level itself it actually makes the building shorter is really what what's happening and yet we still have the 14t clearance which is meant to be right the intent of the code is to allow for a future raising of that floor should it be needed right because the road can be raised and now your access points uh are going to be instead of going down maybe you raise up your floor so we we have that remember that was already I mentioned the crown of the road and even the future crown of Road are are below what the the existing crown of road is today and still a foot and a half or so I don't remember the number uh exactly um below where we are putting the floor of this garage and our entry to the lobby so we were we are basically going to be resilient like the code is intending to allow for that and what it does is still leaves a space lifts are minimum 11 and A2 ft but we do have the 14t clearance in that ground floor level we're just basically measuring from a lower point right is the whole point of the variance and it does actually reduce the the effective height of the building and the variances that you're requesting for the rooftop structures the decorative rooftop element can you go back to the screen and show me um where you're requesting a zero setback instead of 15 ft exactly which rooftop structure are you it's the very topmost chitectural projection at the very very top we can see there's green on y that that that just by code and again I think this is this is a different situation because we're on the perimeter of the whole neighborhood right if this was an internal Street it has much more uh bearing and massing effect but here that's why we're putting it towards the South uh and and that there's an opening above that that isn't like a completely solid uh covered I don't know if we have that in it uh you can see in the rendering here here yes just the very top you can see how you can there's Sky it's basically it's just the frame right that's coming out to uh the zero foot and the height of that is I believe it's about 2 feet or so taller than you otherwise would need so it matches the symmetry of the design thank you just so you know we're not going to let you add columns to that so you guys need to build that as as well I'll my job part- time will be to hold it up no uh no no uh what do you call them uh I'll do that for free so I'm ready are there any other comments I was just going to say that um I like this design before you gave your presentation and your presentation really added to it and made me like it more um I think that this is this is interesting and exciting and I applaud you the property is not very big and you've really done a great job of of taking advantage of that um I like that it's my first impression was it almost seem like a little bit of like a center pompo sort of arrangement with everything on the outside and it seems very mechanical I keep wanting to like mush it down you know like an accordion so I think it's interesting I also what I also appreciate is the um the design and the use of the greenery because quite often we see buildings designed to incorporate um plants and in those designs the plants sort of substitute or cover up for for good design choices but I one of the things I really like about your building is even if the plantings are not there which I like it's still going to be a fantastic looking building so thank you for that um I also really appreciate the pink and the Terracotta and that's nice I do I do agree with staff you know to encourage you to work and to make that a little bit more I understand the reason the design choices were made but it is nice to still have some sort of Street side dialogue um but no I think that's I think this was everything um and yeah and I don't mind the height I mean it makes a lot of sense it seems like it's I think you did a great job of being aware of the site and the context um and and I do like that this is something that people are going to see I mean I don't know if you know the towing companies are going anywhere anytime soon you know who knows but I do like that there was that sensitivity to the sides of the building and that you're designing on all different sides and I'm less concerned with the roof in that because you had said that the owner is going to be using this privately and I can understand why that would want it to be nice so for him and his family and the business so thank you very much I'm I'm very supportive of this does anybody want to make a motion I make a motion that we uh approve the project we should do um since this is different than before we should do one motion on the design and then a separate motion on the variances okay and with the exhibit a uh to correct the parking count I don't think we need to include that I think we can just will reference the that there she include one one parking space for maneuverability okay that works too as well as the condition regarding the screening of the rooftop of the mechanical with a trellis to the extent possible in consideration mechanical requirements and staff's um condition regarding more transparency at the ground level okay so I make a motion to that is there a second how about that second Mr differenter all in favor I I I he oppose that M passes 5 to zero now if I get a separate motion on the variances uh I move to approve the variances second second second by Mr differenter all in favor I I any oppos passes 5 to zero thank you thank you very much I think before we move on to the next one can we just take maybe a five minute recess and then e [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] High [Music] [Music] take take me take me [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] High [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 [Music] 1 welcome welcome back to the drb meeting of May 7th um we are hearing our last item on the agenda drb 23- 0982 1100 fth Street the final item in the agenda is cb23 J 0982 1100 fth Street an application has been filed requesting design and review approval for the construction of a new five-story commercial office building including one or more waivers and a variance from the Open Court requirements for Lots greater than 100 feet in width and a variance succeed the maximum allowed Building height on a site containing two existing twostory buildings and a surface parking lot to be demolished thanks CH alen just so the board um is aware the planning board reviewed the application for um conditional use approval for projects over 50,000 Square F feet at their planning board meeting um last last Thursday there's also a neighborhood impact establishment that's part of the site and that will be reviewed at a later dat because they did not have the actual tenant or operational plan for for that information so that will come back to the planning board at a future date um all issues regard regarding you know site circulation parking loading that was all reviewed by the planning board um last week and we did note in the report that there was an issue with the landscape plans that were submitted so the applicant agreed to continue the landscape portion of the application um to the June meeting so that we can resolve internally and with the applicant the issues regarding um Landscaping uh we are supportive of this application with a provision that the landscape plan be continued um to the June 4th meeting that I'll turn it over to Mr lurin for his presentation great Mr Lin before you start uh any ex party communication disclosures none and has everyone in your team there's a lot of new people here I think that I think everyone has to be spor I agree okay so uh all those that are testifying uh in behalf of on behalf of ownership or this applica in connection with this application uh please stand 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 okay thank you and 10 minutes or 15 15 please so uh good morning Madame chair board member staff Michael Lin T of South LC Boulevard here was under the applicants you know this truly is a gateway property and right now the Gateway leading from the MacArthur Causeway into fist street is lacking somewhat it's a mixed bag you know you have the Alter Road fly over that you see directly in front of you and then to your right you see the base of the icon they early embraced a biophilic design so it somewhat moderates the appearance of their Podium parking garage but it's there U that'll be softened soon with pedestrian bridge this designed by a French artist Daniel Buren as a part of the 500 Alton project but then if you look to your left further you see the podium of Bentley Bay you see the podium the 500 Alton then you look at a rather large and imposing rero Brito sculpture at the base of a vertical shopping center owned by Eden a little bit beyond that Michael comis took control of a property and created a vertical shopping center there designed by covich who is with us today um it replaced a night club called the fifth where a nightclub in prario called Jerry Kelly used to hold Court uh in the 9s and then you come to our subject property which is now a Burger King home with a Whopper and previously a Pier One uh there to literally greet hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals as they course from the MacArthur into Fifth Street to Points North or South staff is enthusiastically supporting our project we're proposing a Class A office building to replace the pure one and Burger King we have a world-renowned design architect Ardo suto deura he hails from Porto Portugal the name Porto didn't mean much to me until recently when friends of mine called Kevin Marcio gmati who owned a local marketing firm decided to abandon us here and they moved to Porto so I started investigating it turns out it's a sensational City in Portugal um Mr Soo Deora began his education at the School of Fine Arts in Porto he was an art student he studied sculpture but then he met an American artist who convinced him that the communal nature of Architecture is much better than the solitary nature of sculpture so he decided to switch and we've all been benefited from that decision he won the pritsker architectural prize in 2011 which is the Holy Grail of architecture I'm sure you all know that um and our clients have now assembled a strong team to compliment Mr Deora we have sirar and Dam Bush as our architects of record from covich we have Justine valis Urban robot she's our landscape architect Adrien debowski is our traffic engineer and my partner Paul Savage has wonderfully managed this case and made sure all the train ran on time and with that I'm going to turn over to Paul and he's going to walk you through some more details thank you so much Michael for that perfect introduction again my name is Paul Savage with offic is at 200 South biscane Boulevard Miami Florida with the burkow Rell team with Michael um I'm here accompanying with the uh AR the uh applicant Saif sumata and um his his partner mitt corana and uh as well as the the ownership the Weiss families Alan and Miriam Weiss are here in attendance together with our design team as Michael indicated um if I could have the slides pulled up please great so this uh this is our uh Fifth Street elevation uh fronting Fifth Street uh as Michael said we have a five-story class A office building beautifully articulated um I'm going to try to very quick quickly go through my remarks because I think today is about the architecture and about the design uh so I I'll let uh our Architects really get into these details but you can see that uh we have an elevated um first floor ceiling height and uh as you as you go up through the building you have this feeling of light and air that is helped Along by the by the idea that the floor plates and the decorative columns are slimming as they go up through the floors uh and not think that Michael gave a beautiful introduction and we all know the site well as we come over the bridge on the right hand side so I won't belabor those points uh but it is on the right when you come in there's are um existing conditions with the now closed Pier One former Pier One on the corner and uh the Burger King that's still in operation uh as Michael says where you get your Whopper have it your way um so the site here is not really um circulated well so we have proudly work with staff at Great Lengths to put all of the circulation uh onto Linux Avenue uh and close some of the curb cuts that are not working um just to again give you a sense of the place here you can see the icon on the right hand side and our uh proposed building here nestled in uh to make really an entryway with uh our five stories up fronting fist Street for our commercial office activity and then stepping down appropriately to two uh so that it's a really nice transition from the commercial activities on Fifth and with respect to the school principally the school and other retail and Civic uses to the South um it's 100,000 foot building uh we will have extensive uh bicycle parking that was a big hit at the planning board um and an open patio at the entrance that is open 247 um I'm going to uh turn the presentation brief over to Amit corana our developer uh who's going to talk a little bit about uh the design the vision and the architect team thank you amid thank you Paul uh good afternoon board members my name is Amit kurana and alongside by partner safe sumeda and our colleague cine Wang our firm sumeda and kurana is the developer of 1100 Alton Road in partnership with Roslin and nordon nus uh Robert and Miriam Weiss of Weiss properties and Aaron Butler of Avenue real estate Partners due to our site location we are fortunate to have a singular opportunity to develop a Gateway building the first to be seen driving into a city the Mandate here is to develop one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the United States not not just Miami beach but actually in the United States given this requirement we commissioned the pritz prize winning Mass Master architect Eduardo SOA deura Eduardo is largely viewed as one of the most important architects of Our Generation and will it will actually be his first building in the Americas the building is being designed in collaboration with renowned Architects Bernard zovich and suria yaer of zovich and our distinguished landscape architect Julian vales Justine valz I'm sorry of urban robot the architecture reflects an objective to create a timeless An Elegant building that stands a test of time the type of building defined by its subtlety detailing and craft with a similar intention in mind we are also developing an office building currently under construction at Fifth Street and Michigan Avenue that building is being designed by the master architect abordo Campo Baya with both projects our goals have been to make a profound impact on the built environment and to create architecture that is aligned with the sophistication that defines Miami Beach and the south of fifth neighborhood we do hope you will appreciate the thought and care that has gone into the design of this building and we would be very grateful for your support and consideration thank you so much I think it's still good morning right right or good afternoon s surria Yaar um we're delighted to be here uh representing um our design team it's been a delightful and productive collaboration with Eduardo Soto deora's team and his representative Pedro Oliva um under Soto deora's leadership um so we are happy to describe the project for you today um um let me start with that slide as the Gateway um as the client mentioned their goal is to provide a singular architectural Masterpiece at the entrance of the city um this will be the first building that you see as you come into uh from the MacArthur cway just past the landscape of the icon uh you would be presented with this um modest but we find architectural uh design and um wonderful architectural design and Landscape that will receive you at the entrance of the city um it is in fact when you see it um five-story office building that steps down as it net you know it's nested right in the neighborhood just south of fif so it goes from five stories to two stories um both roof decks provide resit and an environment of landscape and trellises and um Lounge areas for the tenants to enjoy this is a view of a closeup of Alton and fif and you can see that the architecture is playing with this concrete Bree solay pattern uh that is provides a very regular approach in terms of the the elements but also a harmonic play with the the uh the architecture in which um we end up with something that is very vibrant against the very transparent uh presence of of the office space and the ground floor um in the second floor you can see that is the floor where we have the parking lifts that in addition to being screened by a metal mesh there's also a landscape is introduce um landscape will also be part of the different Terraces of The Office Buildings so that it is something that is harmonically present um throughout the entire building as well as the roof plan and most interestingly at the ground floor where the building ends up kind of touching the floor lightly this is the corner of fif and Alton where you see that it has been sculpted in order to celebrate that entrance um in the Gateway properties of the site um it is played in a way that it really is making a statement in order to introduce the entrance into the city um this other view is the view just East um this represents the lenux and Fifth Street you can see that the architecture is very clean it's concrete glass um there is some materials in extensive landscape that becomes a dialogue that is extended into the design of the project um in here you see that is the main entrance into the project from lenux uh and we'll get to that in a moment um there is a play of color and textures in this facade as it steps from a five-story structure into a two-story structure you can see the the speed ramp um the color material stone at the entrance of the lobby the transparency of the lobby and also the restaurant um and right in the middle where we have the uh por crocher we have a um an element that is a sculpture to bring in light uh the light glow that is is is um we find that is similar to an an artistic interpretation of of some artists that um we all know um we have again the second floor the parking lifts we end up having in addition to this screening mesh material um more landscape that is screening that um that floor and I think it's one of the comments that we wanted to respond to the the balconies and The Terraces wrap around the entirety of the building and as you see here all of that is um becomes uh an interesting architectural design in which the columns and the slabs as they get to the top of the floor begin to be reduced in size so they become lighter and lighter and the slabs right when we get to the top floor on the roof deck it becomes almost razor thin so the building in fact is getting lighter as it extends upward this shows the site plan and you can see the on the corner on the right hand side of their drawing that the lobbies in fact push back so that we can create a welcoming Plaza right at the corner of lenux which is our main entrance um in there we also have a um Port cocher that um connects and links through a a a garden entrance into the restaurant and in blue you see underneath the parking ramp a uh bike storage area that contains both um temporary and and sorry shortterm and long-term uh bicycle parking um there's also extensive amount of parking right along lenux which is the main entrance of of the building along the street this is a typical um office floor um we're looking right now at variations where there could be a tenant that would be a full floor or also multiple tenants on one floor and you can see the wraparound Terrace all the way around the building consistently and we have the roof deck here where we have Lounge areas um beautiful TR you know trellises with landscape and some Gardens uh for the tenants to enjoy we wanted to show you this so that you can see that progression of the more close thicker um structure to the thinner slabs and how that is being played with as well as the openness that those Terraces bring into the the building as it extends upward um as well as the way it touches the ground is light just the the the structures end up the brol extending down and um with landscape in between and that concludes my presentation thank you so much s uh through through the chair may I have a few minutes to conclude the legal variance part sure sure okay thank you so much Madame chairwoman okay so um thank you sua that was beautiful the presentation and the design is is gorgeous um I have some of uh some housekeeping to do as the uh attorney on this file I've been working with Michael balouch extensively uh both uh in connection with planning board and this board and his staff report is supportive of the variants that we're requesting as well as the waivers that we're requesting uh the single VAR ience that is at issue today is an open court requirement for the long Frontage which would be an open court uh in the middle of the building to prevent sort of unarticulated walls that would be uh experienced by a pedestrian for example uh in this particular case principally uh the staff and the applicant are in agreement that the court the Open Court patio that is at the entrance that surria just talked about that will have stone Paving ample uh landscaping and will otherwise be open you know that we've pulled it back so it's not under closed air it's open to the public 247 that that which is on the left of the screen in front of you that that open courtyard uh if not technically in compliance with the text of the ordinance certainly complies with the spirit of the ordinance uh that together with the articulation across the building as well as the open area on the other end on the West End uh staff and the applicant are in agreement that the well articulated facade uh and and ample openings in public areas are are adequate to address this open courtyard uh so that is our one and only variance uh that that we're seeking uh and it has a favorable staff um Rec recommendation all that text there is from staff's discussion um here's another slide on it uh this would the the open courtyard under the code would be approximately 750 feet we are demonstrating with this slide that we are providing 1350 square feet of open area again that will be accessed uh by the public 247 and I'll also note that right in front of this area is fronting Fifth and Linux where the existing bus stop is so if you go there in person like I did to the Burger King you'll see that there are you know there are reasons for people to be there they're waiting for the bus uh so this will all be open and uh for either visitors to the building or just the public at large so um with with that that will conclude the my discussion of the variants and then I'm going to move on quickly to the waiver that we're requesting which has to do with the elevation of the Fifth Street sidewalk now hearkening back to some of the things that Matt amster was saying in his presentation in his file I want to make similar sarly clear that our building is in compliance with all of the elevation that all of the future crown of Road and all of that the building itself is entirely in compliance both in height of its floor and its top what I'm what I'm pointing to here is only the requirement to raise the fist Street sidewalk and what we've discussed with staff is that this this is an unusual situation because we have on Fifth Street a very wide Swale with a lot of existing trees that provides a buffer between pedestrians and a very busy uh intersection there if you go there um and also there's a turning lane as you go east approaching Linux there's a turning lane and a bus stop and an existing uh uh bus you know bus shelter so uh some of that is shown from the above and then from the cross-section all of that uh we just uh as staff writes in their in their uh staff report compliance with will would create an undesirable condition with several grade changes on one Frontage so for all of those reasons we and staff decide let's leave the Fifth Street sidewalk alone it's too complex and too cumbersome uh to have all these different elevations so that is a waiver that we are requesting with staff support um finally there is a um long and front fronted standards pedestrian circulation Zone which is a 10 foot wide area that is not to be impeded with any other items um and based on the some of the site conditions I just described along um fifth and then somewhat on Alton uh we are in we have some minor non-compliance here as you can see it's 10 ft most of the time it comes down to nine there are some planters and things but again working with staff and relying on their analysis of this point um we at all times keep a clear pedestrian path uh you know complying with that requirement and then uh we have other other protected areas where pedestrians can experience the building and will do so unimpeded so again this is kind of a special sight condition here uh on these two frontages and we believe and and staff agrees that this is an appropriate waiver uh at this time um in in in overall Global conclusion uh I just want to um again pull out um staff's favor able recommendation highly supportive of the beautiful project that we and and they agree that it's a dynamic Gateway into Miami Beach as Michael so aptly described in the beginning and we're essentially today technically requesting for approval approval of the design with the waivers uh the one variants and then also as Michael Baloo described We are continuing the landscape plans uh because uh that is just it was so important and we needed some additional work done at staff's um request so with that beep going off and looking at the chair I will respectfully request your favorable action in accordance with staff's recommendation and their proposed order and I'll Reserve time for rebuttal and any questions by our design team thank you so much thank you very much good job um are there any members of the other members of the public wishing to speak please come forward good afternoon and thank you I'm a resident in the neighborhood South the fth I live on actually South Point Drive in Alton Road so I pass this site daily maybe multiple times daily and I would like to speak in support of it because I think it's a beautiful project I think that we should be proud to have the property being done built by this designed by this architect and aside from the fact that it's a vast Improvement on what's there now in its own right it's going to be a beautiful property to welcome people to the area and I for one look forward to having it there so thank you hi before you step away could you just tell us your name yes it's Laura l a a Bala b l l a thank you so much thank you are there any other members of the public wishing to speak is there anybody online there's nobody online with their hand raised something to add yes of just 30 seconds before you close uh for board discussion Madam chair um I did neglect to mention that we met with icon condominium across the street and got some feedback from them which we took to heart and and they are supportive of the project and also we did a full presentation in front of the South Fifth neighborhood association and they um passed a formal resolution of support which I just got in my phone and uh I would just like to read uh the end of it um we further support maintaining the elevation of the Fifth Street sidewalk to preserve the continuity of the existing crosswalks along Fifth Street and the existing bus stop and shelter the developers of the proposed Class A office building presented a beautifully designed office building at our sofa board of directors meeting the plan depicts a project that is appropriate in height greatly improves existing conditions and provides a showcase entrance to Miami Beach that is compatible with the neighborhood and nearby existing uses based on the foregoing softness supports this application and the proposed 1100 fth Street office project uh so with that I I would conclude and we are available of course the rest of the team here for any questions thank you thank you very much I'm now closing the public portion opening it up to the board for discussion i' like to start just one question I either to the architect or or Michael to yourself the project currently meets the parking requirements based on the office space above and the parking requirements are all met on the second floor I guess cor that's correct through the use of mechanical parking right okay thank you I'll um yeah I live in this neighborhood too so it's very refreshing to to see this and this design is is beautiful um I just had a question more along the Linux Frontage and then I guess that's Fourth Street the plans show there's a curvature going on but is but then obviously the the other frontages are more linear so is there like a is it going to be boxed around the curvature I'm just I'm just curious how that will look I didn't really see an elevation there but maybe I'm missing it how do okay yeah okay so it is going to continue through yes you can see here is behind the frame okay so the always comes forward it's kind of the first layer the and here we have a play of objects the ram this uh beautiful lighting object the texture of the wall the glass of the lobby and the landscape that is present Plaza okay so it's we wanted to really play out with all of these pieces underneath that first level and you can see how we made a conscious effort to keep the parking as narrow as as short as possible play more and emphasize the height of the ground floor and the typical floors of the office so they take pres yeah yeah it's beautiful and and I guess I had one other question unrelated um where the open space is for the public which I guess is on the right side there is there a ramp for for Ada okay I only saw the stairs let and where is that you can see the ramp over here it's it's a one to 20 um to get to that patio so we're trying to avoid you know um unnecessary railings things of that nature and all of this is going to be a landscape planter beautiful thank you I think this is just a beautiful design and your presentation was great um I'm I'm very supportive and I'm very excited for this um I did have a few little questions um I should say I'm also in support of the waivers and the variances it Mak sense considering the conditions um you'd mentioned about or actually Michael can you tell us about the the Open Court requirement what what is that what does that typically look like typically so the the purpose of that is to sort of break up the mass of the building so you just don't have a a run on mass that's continuous in this case they've divided it especially on LX avue where you have the office portion not really Tower but the tower portion and then the lower garage so they broken up the massing it's not it's not an L-shaped building with the same height all the way around but the purpose of that is so that you didn't have like a a a block development it was just one complete Mass um so that's that's that's part of the reason why we're suppored of that that um that variance and this is something that's not typical for most are of the city that it's only typical for areas um south of fistory but we do believe that there's um ample outside spaces that are part of this development to sort of offset the requested variant thank you I know one of the things that I like about this that has come up in the board before is you really do see the relationship between the building and the pedestrians in the street and I think that you've done that really nicely um I like to the open court my one thought was and I'm not sure if this is going to be because I I do like that you're inviting the community um especially people waiting for the bus or whatever that is seeking shelter from Sudden downpours to open up and I wanted to encourage you to add benches to that open area again to be more welcoming I think that's what people are going to seek out um do you have any more details I know you mentioned that the stone detail what what that's going to be what material that's going to be we we are looking at different Stone materials but we wanted something you know we we started with something that was a little bit brighter um terracotta but we also want to play with the light of Miami Beach so we are evaluating other materials that might bring in a little bit more of a white along with the pinks um in that stone material so that's research that is ongoing that we are evaluating but now we are at a Roman Trav team CU I was going to suggest it's so common in so many of the ardco buildings to have sort of a pink tinted Keystone that would be lovely the the texture would be such a lovely contrast to the glass and the white um concrete so something like slightly tinted but textural yeah and like that and and the thought is that it wraps around as well inside the lobby so that everything feels like again reinforcing the lightness of the building as it comes into the ground great and you can see also we the corner of the building was carved out to begin the visually people into the main entrance of the building so there's very subtle moves as well in the building that begin to indicate the entrance and and the subtleties of that open space coming forward um on that edge of the building and I don't know if you caught it before but this was the building I was referencing with the other applicant of having a beautiful rhythm and intentionality between the verticals and the horizontals so thank you thank you other comments are we ready for a motion or are there more comments do you know no okay I make a motion we'll need um actually three motions here one for design one one for the design and waivers one for the variant and one to continue the landscape por to the June meeting so before we before we um have a vote I just wanted to go on the record that um I concur with staff's analysis that um the that practical hardships exist warranting the grants of the grant of the requested variant um and I guess I will make a motion to approve the design okay I'll second that second by Mr Miss Len um all in favor I I I make a motion to approve the waiver we just need a motion for the the variances now and there's only one variance the second variance is okay make a motion to approve the variance second second Mr Sheldon all in favor I I and if I can get a third motion to continue the landscape plan to the June meeting is so move second second Mr def for was a second all in favor I I I congratulations thank you is June was June okay for the Landscaping to come back yeah yes we're ready for that yes okay thank you thank you so much congratulations beautiful beautiful project thank you Michael blo thank you and staff only one thing beautiful more beautiful than this and that's Porto a well that I think we can adjourn motion toj and the next meeting is June 4th correct and do you know will it be here we should be we should be in the um commission Chambers on the third floor okay hopefully excellent thank you very much June 4th [Music] oh [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e e e e for