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pz 10-16-08Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 1 MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE PLANNING BOARD REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 16, 2008 The regular meeting of the Miami Shores Planning Board was held on Thursday, October 25, 2008, at the Village Hall. Richard Fernandez, Chair at 7:00 P.M. with the following persons present, called the meeting to order: ROLL CALL: Richard Fernandez, Chairman Robert Abramitis Norman Powell ALSO PRESENT: David Dacquisto, Zoning Director Richard Sarafan, Village Attorney Valerie Bierley, Clerk Norman Bruhn ABSENT: Sid Reese Mr. Sarafan swore in all those participating in the meeting. SCHEDULE ITEMS: PZ-12-07-200761 MSVC LLC (Owner) (Applicant) 9450 NE 2ND Ave. Special Approvals, Sec 600: Sec. 504. Signs. Master sign agreement. Mr. Abramitis moved to table this application. Mr. Powell seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. 3-0 PZ-9-08-200895 Alex Edelman (Owner) Caroline Poussardin (Applicant) Mark Campbell (Agent) 9999 NE 2 Ave. Special Approvals, Section 600: Sec. 523. Restaurant remodel/expansion Mr. Dacquisto provided background information and summarized the information on the Staff Report. The Planning & Zoning staff recommended approval of the proposed site plan with the finding that it is consistent with the technical provisions of the code subject to compliance with listed conditions. Although the applicant did not question Mr. Dacquisto the Board did question him concerning the location and available parking space. Mr. Dacquisto stated behind Catholic Charities. Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 2 The applicant did not address the Board. The Board discussed the conditions set by staff with the applicant and commented on the appearance of the exterior. Mr. Abramits moved to approve the application with the recommendations set forth by staff and modifying the first recommendation concerning the offsite parking space. Mr. Powell seconded the motion, Mr. Fernandez made a friendly amendment to require a parking sign to which all Board members agreed. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion. 3-0 PZ-9-08-200896 Bank Of America (Owner) Andres Rodriguez (Agent) 9475 NE 2nd Ave. Special Approvals, Sec. 600: Sec. 523. Bank remodel, ATM Lobby. Mr. Dacquisto provided background information and summarized the information on the Staff Report. The Planning & Zoning staff recommended approval of the proposed site plan with the finding that it is consistent with the technical provisions of the code subject to compliance with listed conditions. The applicant had no questions. The Board questioned Mr. Dacquisto concerning the visibility from the street into the ATM lobby. The applicant did not address the Board. The Board questioned the applicant about the designs of the vestibule and the crime rate since establishing the enclosed area as well as the lighting and video surveillance. After a discussion with concerns to safety issues Mr. Powell moved to table the application. Mr. Abramitis seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion 3-0. PZ-9-08-200897 Rubin Matz (Owner) (Applicant) Scott Kimball/Michael Rosenthal Associates (Agent) 9600 & 9636 NE 2nd Ave. Special Approvals, Sec. 600: Sec. 523. Site Plan approval, exterior and internal building remodel. Mr. Dacquisto provided background information and summarized the information on the Staff Report. The Planning & Zoning staff recommended approval of the proposed site plan with the finding that it is consistent with the technical provisions of the code subject to compliance with listed conditions. Although the applicant did not question Mr. Dacquisto the Board did question him about the provided drawings and available parking space. The applicant did not address the Board. The Board asked the applicant if they planed on changing the buildings and where the main entrance would be located. Another expressed concern was the lighting, shutters and the time of closing for each shop. After further discussion, Mr. Powell moved to table the application. Mr. Abramitis seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion 3-0. Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 3 ACTION ITEMS: PUBLIC HEARINGS a. First reading of amendment to permit Chickees in Miami Shores. - Chairman Fernandez: First reading amendment to permit Chickees in Miami Shores, Mr. Dacquisto? - Mr. Dacquisto: Mr. Chairman, this is the first reading of amendment to sec. 523.1 of the Miami Shores Village code to permit Chickees in the Village. At a public hearing on Sept. 2, 2008 the Village Council passed a resolution to consider amendment of sec. 523.1 of the Miami Shores Village code of Ordinances to permit Chickees in the Village. According to the Miami Shores Code of Ordinances, code amendments initiated by the Village Council are referred to the Planning Board for consideration and recommendation. The Board will conduct a first reading of the proposed amendment at a public hearing October 16, 2008 and then hold a second reading November 13, 2008. The state statute exempts Chickees from meeting local Code of Ordinance requirements. - Chairman Fernandez: Excuse me just a second. I don’t think it exempts it from the building code. Doesn’t it exempt the contractor from having a contractor’s license? - Mr. Bruhn: No, as long as it’s built by the Miccosukee or the Seminoles. - Chairman Fernandez: Ok that’s fine, I understood from prior discussions with prior Building Officials that the Seminoles and the Miccosukees did not require having a contractor’s license to build it. - Mr. Sarafan: That’s true because the contractor’s license is generally required under the building code. The section on the building code actually says, under exemptions, that these guys are exempt. - Chairman Fernandez: The structure itself is actually exempt? - Mr. Sarafan: Yes. - Mr. Bruhn: Let me read the section just so you could get started. “The following buildings and facilities are exempt from the Florida Building Code as provided by law. Any further exemptions shall be as determined by the legislature and provided by law. In that event, Chickees are constructed by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida or the Seminole Tribe of Florida.” Then it talks about what the definition of a Chickee Hut is which is an open-sided hut. - Chairman Fernandez: Local determination still can preempt? Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 4 - Mr. Sarafan: We did it as a legal research early on. We found some attorney general opinions and basically, they’re exempt from the Building Code. Since we had an express provision in our code that says, “Chickees not permitted” it wasn’t a Building Code issue. We do have the authority to preclude it and we’ve been enforcing that fairly regularly. There’s at least one that I know of that I believe was constructed before our prohibition was enacted and he is a lawful non-conforming use. There is at least one other that’s been constructed since. That’s been cited and that has provided the impetus for this epic. - Mr. Dacquisto: Chickees that are constructed by members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida or members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida as evidenced by a copy of the builder’s Tribal Members Identification Card are exempt. What the state statute said is if members of those tribes build them, they are exempt from the Building Code and no municipality has the right to regulate them as such. However, what the state statute specifically said was that these are not exempt from municipal code regarding zoning. Under zoning, any municipality has the right to zone out Chickees. Municipalities such as Coral Gables prohibit location of Chickees within the municipality. Today the Village of Miami Shores prohibits Chickees within municipal boundaries. The state statue allows municipalities to prohibit them. Other municipalities also prohibit them so we are not alone. Part of the issue has to go to what do we always look at around us; this is the harmony clause. There may not be anything wrong with Chickee Huts in certain locations. In the Florida Keys, it’s accepted construction that belongs on the waterfronts. The question is whether or not a Chickee Hut fits into a mediterranean style community does it fit with the ambiance and style of the community. If we are regulating the design of houses to maintain a harmonious blend of buildings within the community and we are emphasizing a Mediterranean- Italianated Spanish style then where does a Chickee fall in with that type of design in our endeavors to maintain the community? The question arises, is this something for the Board to consider? Is a Chickee, and we all know what they look like, harmonious with the intent of the design of the community? Should we choose to allow Chickees, the amendment I recommend would strike out the old language prohibiting Chickees and we would substitute it with the language I have within the report and the change would include: sec. 523.1 Construction ( j ). Chickees are permitted in the residential districts subject to the following conditions and again it would only be in the residential district. You couldn’t have one of these over a commercial district. 1. A Chickee shall not be permitted as a principal use on a plot and shall only be permitted as an accessory use to residence; if you have a vacant lot, you can’t just build a Chickee. 2. The Chickee shall be constructed solely by members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida or members of the Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 5 Seminole Tribe of Florida as evidenced by a copy of the builders Tribal Members Identification Card and shall otherwise satisfy the criteria of section 553.73(9)(i) of the Florida Statues. 3. A building permit issued by Miami Shores Village is required for a Chickee and no building permit shall be issued or construction take place until the status of the builders has been verified and the requirements of Code of Ordinances have been complied with. My understanding in discussing this with the previous Building Official is that as a manner of tracking these, we could issue a building permit. It wouldn’t have to meet the Building Code. The issuance of a building permit would allow us to check for setbacks, which they’re not exempt from, and also to make sure the builders are legally allowed to build it as members of the tribe. Some municipalities do that throughout the issuance of zoning certificates. We don’t do zoning certificates here, so without creating a new process of zoning certificates the best thing to do is just use building permits and we do it as a record keeping not for compliance with the code. The village administrator can always set fees and that would be determined. It would be an administrative fee and review fee rather than a building fee. 4. The Chickee is located in the rear of the residence and shall be situated so that it is located between the prolongations of the sidelines thereof and further provided, that all setbacks for accessory structures are met. Basically this is the same as a lot of the canvas structures in the rear of buildings it has to be behind the house at least so it’s not seen at the sides. 5. A Chickee shall not exceed 300 square feet in area. 6. A Chickee shall not exceed 15 feet in height or the height of the residence measured from the ground next to the residence to the roof peak whichever is less. A Chickee is going to be approximately 15 feet. When you look at the slope of the roof in order to build them, you’re going to come up to about 15 feet. I think there’s no way to avoid that if you’re going to allow Chickees, that’s basically the height you’re struck with. One thing we also want to make sure is this thing doesn’t tower over the house. If your house is a flat roof 10 foot house it’s going to be a problem but I think we want to somehow shelter the neighbors as much as possible from the view because that’s not necessarily the view they intended when they moved to the Shores. 7. A Chickee shall be properly maintained and free of insects, vermin and mold, and shall be rethatched as necessary. Chickees normally last about five to six years before they have to be rebuilt. The most optimistic estimate is ten years but it has to be maintained or it will fall apart. Recommendation Planning and Zoning staff recommends DENIAL of the proposed amendment to the Miami Shores Code of Ordinances and further that the Planning Board make a motion recommending to the Village Council DENIAL of the amendment to Article V, SUPPLEMENTARY Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 6 REGULATIONS; DIVISION 7. QUALITY OF BUILDINGS; Sec. 523.1 Construction, Providing for a Chickee as an Accessory Use in the Residential Districts, Providing for Conflicts, Providing for Severability; and, Providing for an Effective Date. However, if the Board finds that the proposed amendment is harmonious with the community and consistent with the intent of the Code of Ordinances the Planning Board may make a motion recommending to the Village Council APPROVAL of the proposed amendment to the Miami Shores Code of Ordinances. If the Board votes to recommend APPROVAL of the amendment, staff recommends that the amendment include the language as I read. - Chairman Fernandez: Mr. Dacquisto, does that complete your presentation? - Mr. Dacquisto: Yes it does. - Mr. Sarafan: A Couple of words about procedure here, as you may know there’s several ways of proposing amendments of the code. We could propose them from this body, the council can propose them, there’s a petition initiative. When the council proposes it, it goes to this body to have public hearings, collect evidence make a report and recommendation. That report and recommendation together with the evidence that you collect and look at, then goes to the council for their action. I just want to make it clear what everybody is doing here. You’re looking at it, your collecting evidence, your hearing public testimony, public comments if any, your making a report which together with all the evidence will go to council and then the council will do whatever in their wisdom they do. That’s what’s here before us. - Chairman Fernandez: Thank you. - Mr. Abramitis: Does the Board vote on it? - Mr. Sarafan: Yes, your going to have to make a recommendation together with your report. - Chairman Fernandez: Are there two public hearings? - Mr. Sarafan: It’s been scheduled for two. It’s not required that there be two, but there’s two now. - Chairman Fernandez: We could deal with it in one? - Mr. Sarafan: You could. He’s scheduled and advertised it I guess. Even if it’s posted up front that there will be two I’d be a little uncomfortable in short cutting that at this point. To answer your question, at the end of the day, the way I see it there’s at least two possible ways you can go. One possible way is “no we don’t think it’s appropriate and therefore we voted and passed a resolution that Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 7 says we recommend against it and here’s the evidence on which we based it” and you can explain why or not. The other one is to say “yeah we like it and here’s the type of ordinance that we recommend that you, council adopt and here’s the evidence we based it on” and here’s why. Either one of those will take a vote. - Chairman Fernandez: Thank you sir. Mr. Dacquisto, last time I think the Board had requested to see if you could get some experts to come and testify. One was dealing with the issue of fire; one was dealing with the issue of vermin. Were you able to locate anybody to that effect? - Mr. Dacquisto: I contacted Guaranteed Floridian and they seemed cooperative with in terms of attending the meeting. However, they didn’t follow thru. In terms of fire, I’ll let the building official talk about that. He was perusing the Fire Official for information on that and can talk about it. - Chairman Fernandez: I had talked to Mr. Sarafan earlier. Norm, what was your last name again? - Mr. Bruhn: Bruhn. - Chairman Fernandez: Do you have any experience in dealing with these Chickee Huts? - Mr. Bruhn: Yes. - Chairman Fernandez: What is the extent of that experience? - Mr. Bruhn: Basically, the same as the way Mr. Dacquisto put it. We basically monitor and track the process through Zoning. - Chairman Fernandez: Let me go in a direction here. Do you have any opinion in reference to the fire resistance of these kind of structures? - Mr. Bruhn: It’s a palm frond dried out, put fire on it, it’s going to burn. - Chairman Fernandez: Would it be more or less flammable than typical concrete construction? - Mr. Bruhn: I would say that it would be more flammable. - Chairman Fernandez: OK. Do you have any opinion as in reference to vermin, and by vermin I mean rats nesting in it, insects including termites. Would you have any opinion in reference to that? - Mr. Bruhn: Yes, my first opinion would be the palmetto fronds that are used to Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 8 thatch the roof have a big or a vermin named after them in the state of Florida. Either the tree was named after the bug or the bug was named after the tree. - Chairman Fernandez: We’re speaking of palmetto bugs, roaches right? - Mr. Bruhn: That’s right. My personal experience is yes, there are tons of bugs, vermin, snakes and everything else that live within these structures. - Chairman Fernandez: Do you agree with the statement that these structures are designed to fall apart in big storms? - Mr. Bruhn: That is correct. The wind blows through the fronds, the fronds fly away and there is just the structure portion left without the thatching or with minimum thatching. As Mr. Dacquisto point out the thatching is only estimated to last five to six years. Again they say with some of the treatments that you can get ten years out of it but the older the thatch gets the more brittle it gets and the faster it falls apart during a storm. - Chairman Fernandez: So, would you agree with the statement that it is less sound that the typical concrete structure. - Mr. Bruhn: Definitely as a domicile. I would not expect during a storm we have here the main structure of a tiki to fall apart. You would see the thatch go away, but you would see the main structure remain. - Chairman Fernandez: Mr. Dacquisto I’ve got a couple short questions for you sir. You’ve had the opportunity to have worked in the village and view the various structures, I think you earlier expressed your opinion as to the general theme being a Mediterranean style home is that correct? - Mr. Dacquisto: Yes. - Chairman Fernandez: Do you have an opinion as to the appropriateness of a Chickee hut in a Mediterranean style community? - Mr. Dacquisto: My opinion is it is not suited to a Mediterranean style. If you’re looking at a Mediterranean style, there’s not a lot of Chickees in the Mediterranean. I also would go to the example of Coral Gables. Which is a community that this community patterns itself after. Coral Gables finds that Chickees do not fit in with the style of architecture they’re trying to promote. They very strongly promote that mediterranean style in Coral Gables, they have an architectural design board that is much stricter than this board’s view. Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 9 - Chairman Fernandez: So, your opinion is that does not fit in? - Mr. Dacquisto: It does not fit in. - Chairman Fernandez: Is there any public comment? I do not hear any, public comment section is closed. Members of the board? Questions? Comments? I’m going to share with you an experience with Chickee Huts. When I was going to the University of Miami, we had a Coral Gables resident who had a home close to the university, that a lot of us used to hang out at because he was just a nice guy and football supporters and all that kind of stuff. The guys from the various clubs and things would go on over there and the guy would have basically a tailgate party in his backyard at every football game. In his backyard along the waterfront in the Coral Gables waterway was a Chickee Hut. This was a fairly large Chickee Hut. I would say this Chickee Hut was probably 10 across by maybe 15 wide. 150 sq ft. or so, 10 ft. up right on the waterline. It served purpose so he could bring his yacht up along the back there and he could unload his stuff in the shade, clean his fish, and do all the various things. The city of Coral Gables eventually found out about this thing and he had to take the Chickee hut down. He asked a few of us to help. We thought this was a fine idea. A bunch of us go over there to take the Chickee Hut down, I have never seen so many rats come out of a structure in my entire life. There were dozens living in the Chickee Hut. I share that, because there’s waterways here. We’ve got rats along the waterways, the point being is I don’t know how we’d avoid it. I go to the issue concerning hurricane stuff. Which we’re always very careful about the engineering of things and making sure with the building official. I look at a neighbor of ours who had an aluminum structure put in behind her front yard pool and a hurricane came through. She didn’t get it permitted and what did we have? We had aluminum structures all over the neighborhood, in the trees, in the houses, everywhere. I could not imagine with a 300 sq. ft. and 15 ft. tall. It’s going to be everywhere. Now to mention my last thing, what do people tend to do under Chickee Huts.? Bar-B-Q! We had a testimony concerning potential fire rating a palmetto thatched roof. In my opinion I don’t think this is appropriate for Miami Shores. - Mr. Sarafan: Mr. Chair, if this Board wants it’s recommendation to be followed by the council, my suggestion is the board identify the evidence supporting that position, to submit together with the report. To that Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 10 extent I think we should probably follow up with all of the previous suggestions including the fire dept., down the street, including pictures of what Chickee Huts look like after five or six years. Anything that can convince the council that whatever recommendation you’re making is based on solid evidence, will make it harder for them to depart from your recommendation. That’s just my suggestion whichever way you go. - Chairman Fernandez: I concur with that. That was the attempt this Board made earlier to get somebody to come and testify. We have testimony from two officials here of the Village but I do believe it would be a good idea to have some backup. I also think it would be beneficial on the political side of this to do the same thing. Mr. Dacquisto can you do that? - Mr. Dacquisto: We will try to round up more evidence. - Chairman Fernandez: OK and then we could deal with it at the second hearing. Is that what we do? - Mr. Sarafan: I think that a great idea. - Chairman Fernandez: I was the only one talking. I hope there’s other support so that people get on the record with us. Mr. Abramitis: I don’t think we need Chickees in the village. To me it’s straightforward, I’ve seen Chickee Huts at different times, I’ve seen the rodents in them; Frankly, I wouldn’t want those next to me as a breeding ground. That’s my thoughts. There unsightly, they breed vermin, their not gonna look good, how are we going to maintain them if there’s hundreds of them in the Village over time at different stages of repair or disrepair. I just don’t see how it’s really going to workout. - Mr. Sarafan: You might want to reach out to the agriculture extension office. They may have some information on that. - Chairman Fernandez: The politic of that would indicate to me that the state exempting the Chickee Huts would not necessarily see the agriculture people getting up in their face. - Mr. Sarafan: The agriculture people are not subject to the same set of pressures that the legislature is. It may or may not be helpful I don’t know. It’s a thought. - Chairman Fernandez: OK Mr. Powell do you wish to be on record? - Mr. Powell: I just don’t think it belongs here. I’ve seen a couple of them in the Planning and zoning October 16, 2008 11 same experiences you guys are talking about. - Chairman Fernandez: Alright, at this point in time the appropriate item is to table to the second hearing, is there a motion? Mr. Powell moved to table this item. Mr. Abramitis seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion 3-0. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting will be on November 13, 2008 ADJOURNMENT The October 16, 2008 Planning & Zoning meeting was adjourned at 9:30 P.M. __________________________ ____________________________ David Dacquisto, Director of Planning Chair, Planning & Zoning Board