Architectural Review Board - Regular Meeting

No comments.

A motion to approve the minutes.

Disclosure.

Disclosure.

Yes, sir. Please be advised that the following item on the agenda is quasi-judicial in nature. If you wish to comment upon an item, please inform the chair when he asks for public input on the item. An opportunity for persons to speak will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. All testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you refuse either to be cross-examined or to be sworn, your testimony will be given its due weight. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the Architectural Review Board to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization, and further details of the quasi-judicial procedures may be obtained from this clerk. At this time, I'll ask our board members, do we have any disclosures of ex parte communications concerning this item? Okay, all three say we have no disclosures. So with that taken care of, Mr. Clark, could you please swear in anyone who wishes to speak?

Yes, all those who will be providing testimony today, please raise your right hand. Do swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Thank you.

You may proceed, Mr. Chair. And start with Ellie.

Oh, wait a second. We need a report from the .

Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. I received the written confirmation, and they acknowledge the 18 conditions, and they're in agreeance with it. And in my opinion, the proposed new single-family residence for the 271 Bowcross Drive follows the Village Appearance Code and zoning ordinance. The Village Planning and Zoning Consultant and our Parks and Space Department has also reviewed and concurred that the plans comply with those requirements.

Good afternoon. Zeb Juros. I am the principal of the firm Juros Architect, PA, and we're commissioned by my client that is present here to design a home in Ball Harbor. The premise of the design was a more contemporary interpretation of a Mediterranean style which was fairly vernacular to the island and were sensitive also to, despite the fact that it's a fairly large home, we attempted to break up the massing and be more to scale and again vernacular aspect of the island. It's a two-story structure. with the garages that are split into left and right, and with the central focus of the entry, and perhaps we can go maybe two more renderings. No, I don't have a clicker. Oh, here, I'm sorry. Here's the choice. These are the surroundings. You can see the scale of the homes is relatively small, mainly one-story, some two-story. But again, it is very quiet, very understated surroundings. This is our structure, which again, we tried to break it up into smaller sections, which I believe were more in tune with the neighborhood. As you can see, the garages are to the left and to the right, encompassing the front entry courtyard and putting accent on the front entry. Again, the details, the structure relies more on massing and proportions and scale versus size. overabundance of elaborate detail. This is the rear facade. Again, views of the side elevations, which are more understated and plain versus the rear and the front. Some additional views. Here's the site plan with the circulate driveway. We are in full compliance with all the requirements. Additionally, as a matter of fact, we set back the entire second floor from the property lines, even the decode allows certain portions to be at the minimum setbacks. You can see that here, first floor. Probably open design, but it's still with a certain aspect of formality to it. As I said, you can see how the second floor is pushed in and it's floating, again, maybe creating a maybe lesser impact mass-wise on the neighborhood. a roof plan, and then two-dimensional elevations. Again, relying more on the proportion scale massing versus overabundance of some elaborate detail. I am not quite sure. Okay, these are just fences and gates, relatively plain and simple. Landscaping design, we're preserving two trees, the large trees in the front and the rest of it. You can see it's not... relying more on hedges and separation, also the grading on the back of the property. We created some small retaining walls allowing the property to step down gradually to meet the neighbor elevation. This is just the engineering portion of the drainage. And grading, you can see again, the two terracing back from the swimming pool towards the neighbor on the back. I'm trying to remember. I think, let me see. I think it's around, I think we're around six. Six and a finished floor, we're at 10, which is the FEMA plus one.

Okay. Okay. So you're not bringing any fill, right? The site stays pretty much?

No, we are staying the same. The only area that is filled, again, if you see those fine lines on the back, this is landscaping terraces. We are putting some, not even retaining walls, we are using some woolite to create steps and stepping down because, of course, the pool had to be as close as possible to the elevation of the house and 10 foot was dictated by FEMA plus one, one foot freeboard. So the front and the sides are pretty much the same as what you have right now. We are grading a little bit the driveway to the garages, but otherwise, at least in the areas of the setbacks, there is very little changes, which was dictated, by the way, also, which you might have heard, by the two, you see the two big existing trees. Yes. We don't touch them.

The elevation on the sides, is all the same or the same?

Yes, there is very little grading on the site. I don't think we go more than maybe food, maybe food and a habit the most, if that. No, I'm pretty much preserving the existing grades, aside from the added cost of creating retaining walls and all this. But because of the restrictions and all this, we are working with the existing grades very much. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Yeah. Board, let's open discussion questions.

If I may, you can even see the sections. You see how close we are coming to the existing grades. But in the back, you see the terraces again going to the level of the grade of the neighbors. So we're very cost-conscious of the feel of the property and saving money on it.

Okay. Any feedback? I think, obviously, the mandate was to do this architecture, and I think you've performed it well, controlling the language, the proportions, the articulation, fenestration, everything. I think Addison Meisner will be very proud of you. Thank you. It's very clean.

I'm not quite old enough, but...

I understand. But, yeah, it's quite nice, and I think the materiality, everything works with the style. So congratulations on that.

I thank you very much.

I would second those comments in terms of the quality of it. It wouldn't be my first choice in terms of styles, but I think it's masterfully done. Good job. Same with the landscape. I do have one comment that I'd love to maybe get your feedback. But before I just go dive straight into it, in looking at the site in the first photos with the existing structure, and then I drove over there today before this meeting, one of the things that stood out from the existing condition as compared to the proposed is the kind of the awareness of the context with the tall buildings beyond. And there's a couple view sheds to the east, to the southeast, and to the northeast. Let's see if I can find those.

Okay, which ones?

Go one further to the existing. So here you can see. So over the top of the house, you can see the taller structures. And then to the northeast and to the southeast, you can see the same. The two-story mass will conceal that. But the view to the south, I think it may be worth revisiting the keeping the two large – mahogany trees there. If it's feasible to where enough of the root structure is not damaged by the, I know you're proposing a wall there and it's near to the house, the front of the building kind of creates a courtyard and you have the two garage doors that kind of enclose that and those two oak trees kind of further create that enclosure. But the view shed going out to that southeast over that one-story volume of the house I think will no longer be captured when you get rid of that.

I am in absolute agreement and I am for, but I think that Part of those trees were on the neighbor's property maybe, but I'll discuss it with the landscaping architect. And as a matter of fact, because we are not raising the grade, for the most part, we'll be using aluminum picket fences and spend money on landscaping, on hedges, and so on again. So, absolutely, I am a big fan of preserving, especially mahogany.

Yeah, I mean, they're 28-plus inches. Furthermore, I'm just looking at the plan from the bar. The view from that bar area, the two windows framing that, will be out to that side yard. And even with the arecas there and the proposed new planting, I think that view shed will be to the roof line of the adjacent house. So if you keep that...

I'll definitely have that and I'll insist on preserving those, especially that our foundation is far away. We are not impacting the The roots at all, so why not? I couldn't make sense of it. They looked to be outside of the impact area of construction. I think they were on the neighbor side of the property, maybe. I'm not quite sure.

Not per the tree survey in the tree disposition plan. Okay. Yeah, I think it was one of the last pages, and the landscape architect did their own, and it showed it in a protectable area. Let me see.

Let me go to the landscaping design page.

This one, yeah. So it's on either side of the fence on the right side are what I believe to be the two mahogany there. So they fall within a green space. They don't seem to require much reconfiguration.

I don't see any reason why we wouldn't preserve it. I mean, I have the setbacks are very adequate, and we should be able to preserve it.

Okay. Yeah, that would be my only recommendation then.

Okay. I certainly will accommodate and I'll discuss with Mr. Crowley.

That is a friendly suggestion, not a condition of your vote? That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, so something for consideration. Do we have any public comments? Yes. Okay.

letter, an email from Nika Logan, 64 Camden Drive. She says she was having a little trouble deciphering the setback lines. All in all, the architects did a good job keeping the building footprint and most of the stairs within the red dotted lines. She says, I'm not a big fan of multicolor roof tiles. I prefer one tone with minimal color change. Are the garages and driveway, this is a question, are the garages and driveway ingress and egress sufficient to park a large SUV such as a suburban or equivalent inside the garage? With the new retaining walls and decorative fence on top, are there any tall plants that will act like a hedge shielding the homeowners from the neighbors? Privacy has become an important element as the homes have gotten larger and green space has been reduced. My experience is that after thought, Plantings frequently don't meet any of the ARB criteria and become invasive to the homeowner and the surrounding neighbors. I found the photo rendering of the landscaping to be sparse as seen from the street and the sides of the home. The rear had much more inviting vibe. Thank you.

Very well, thank you for that. So that's one of our neighbors, her thoughts.

To answer her concern about, yes, the garages are very adequate, even those are one-car garages, but they are very oversized for one-car garages. Therefore, SUVs you can definitely park. Otherwise, the paving area, I think we kept it relatively to the minimum in order to satisfy the layout of the house. And we are far from exceeding even remotely any percentages of pervious area versus impervious area for the front yard. You can see that it constitutes maybe, I'm eyeballing, maybe 15%, if that.

Very well. Any more comments from the board? Are we ready to vote on this? Yes. Any initiative on voting?

All right. I would motion to approve with no conditions but the friendly recommendation as discussed.

It is a very valid recommendation and I am a little surprised at how in the process those trees were removed. I missed it. Okay.

And with LA's conditions?

And with the, yeah, building officials' conditions.

Building officials, yeah, absolutely. Very well. Second that. Second and go to a vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. So you got three votes out of three members of the board here today.

And I say aye as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for coming today. Thank you again. Beautiful project.

Thank you.

So meeting is adjourned. Go back to the office and be productive for the rest of the day indeed.