Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

Okay, here we go. You're ready, right? Good evening. Welcome to the City of Hialeah Planning and Zoning Board meeting for Wednesday, September 9th, 2026. Everyone please rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, God, for the opportunity to continue to serve. May you give us the wisdom to make the right decisions for the city, for the council, for everyone here. Amen.

Amen.

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

May be seated.

Meeting guidelines. The following guidelines apply to today's planning and zoning board meeting. Any person interested in making comments or posing questions on any item on the agenda may do so during the meeting. Individuals should be respectful of the planning and zoning board members and make every effort to speak with moderate tone using appropriate language and avoiding personal attacks. The public can view the Planning and Zoning Board meetings on the City's YouTube page. All lobbyists must register with the Planning and Zoning Board prior to item being heard. A maximum of four speakers in favor and four speakers in opposition will be allowed to address the Planning and Zoning Board on any item. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes. Roll call. Mr. Perez?

Here.

Mr. Castellanos? Is absent. Mr. Iglesias?

Here.

Mr. Yuch? Here. It's absent. Mr. Morales?

Here.

Mrs. Doritos? Here. We have a quorum. Administration of both tool applicants and anyone who will be speaking before the board on any item.

Anyone and everyone that's going to speak in front of the board, please stand. Raise your right hand so we can swear you in. If you don't swear in, you don't talk.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth before this board? Juras o afirma de decir la verdad hasta esta junta.

Okay. Thank you, Lydia. Record shows the answer was an affirmative.

Summary minutes are a copy of the audio file that proceedings before the planning and zoning board shall be prepared and submitted to the city council before its hearing. The planning and zoning board recommendations for the following public hearing requests will be heard by the city council at its scheduled meeting of Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026. All you want. Small scale future land use map amendment from low density residential to office and professional services. The property is located at one East 52nd place, highly assumed and one industrial district. Applicant Frank de la Paz on behalf of Sunny Comfort Home LLC.

Okay. Mr. Chair, with your indulgence, can I make one announcement? There are only four members of the board this evening to have

So ready.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh, so just a brief announcement to any applicant, uh, who is here, there are only four members of the board present this evening. Uh, any application will require four votes to have a positive recommendation to move on. So, um, just keep that in mind. If you don't think you have the four votes, you may want to, uh, uh, you, you, you have the opportunity to seek a continuance.

Okay.

I'm sorry, before we proceed, I would like to mention that the property is sold R11 Family District, not M1.

Name and address, please.

Craningdale, La Paz, 11,000 Southwest, 143 Mile. Thank you.

The property in this application is located at the intersection of Palm Avenue and East 52 Place. The lot contains approximately 8,481 square feet or 0.19 acres, according to Miami-Dade County property appraisal records. The property was originally plotted in 1924 as a 74-foot wide by 115-foot deep lot, as recorded in Plattebook 76, page 22, and was improved with a 1,738 square feet single-family home in 1965. The property is designated low-density residential in the City Future Land Use Map and is currently zoned R1, One Family District. The surrounding future land use designations are as follows. To the north, low-density residential, medium-density residential, and commercial. To the east, low-density residential, to the south, low-density residential, and to the west, low-density residential. The applicant is requesting a small-scale future land use map amendment to change the property's future land use designation from low-density residential to offices and professional services. A companion resounding application has also been submitted to resound the property from R1, One Family District, to OPS, Office and Professional Services District. This will ensure consistency between the future land use designation and zoning classification for the proposed use. The submitted plans propose they redevelop the site with one-story office building containing approximately 2,150 square feet. The plans provide a total of 12 parking spaces with 11 parking spaces are required. One of the parking spaces is proposed as an ADA-accessible parking space. The plans also provide landscaping buffering in accordance with the City of Hialeah Landscaping Manual. To reduce potential impacts between the proposed therapist office and the adjacent residential property, a six-foot-high concrete wall is proposed along the north and east sides of the property. Additionally, the plans depict a dumpster enclosure as required by the applicable provisions of the City of Hialeah Code of Ordinance. proposed amendment is consistent with the applicable goals objectives and policies of the city of Hialeah comprehensive plan related to land use compatibility and the conversion of residential properties to commercial uses policy 1.5.3 requires adequate roadways utilities and access adequate parking including ADA parking appropriate appropriate buffering adjacent to residential properties and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood The proposed development addresses these requirements by providing sufficient parking, appropriate landscaping, and physical buffering, and a low intensity professional office use that is compatible with the surrounding areas. The proposal is also consistent with the comprehensive plan policies related to buffering and protection of the residential neighborhood. Policies 1.5.4 through 1.5.6 encourage the use of walls, landscaping, and other site design measures to reduce impacts between residential and non-residential uses. The proposed one-story therapist office is considered relatively low-intensity professional use, and the proposed six-foot high concrete wall and landscaping buffer will provide a separation from the adjacent residential properties. The property's location along Palm Avenue also supports the proposed amendment. The comprehensive plan identifies Palm Avenue as one of the city's corridors contemplated for redevelopment and encourages development that is appropriately integrated with surrounding uses. The subject property is located in the intersection of Palm Avenue and East 52nd Place and is therefore situated along the established roadway corridor rather than within the interior of the surrounding residential neighborhood. The proposed offices and professional services designation provides an appropriate transition between the residential neighborhood and the mixtures of residential and commercial land use, loose land uses in the surrounding area. The proposal is also consistent with the comprehensive plan, transportation and concurrency policies, which requires developments to be supported by adequate roadway water. So when another public infrastructure, the proposed development will utilize the existing roadway and utility infrastructure and survey the property. The site is served by pump station PS04-062, which is currently operating in okay status. Final utility capacity, transportation impacts, and concurrency compliance will be further evaluated during the site plan and concurrency review process by the applicable review departments and agencies. furthermore the proposed therapist's office is a low intensity professional use that will allow for the redevelopment and reinvestment of the property while incorporating measures to protect the surrounding residential neighborhood the comprehensive plan also encourages economic development and new businesses that contribute to the economic vitality of the city based on the property's location along palm avenue the low intensity nature of the proposed therapist's office the provisions of adequate parking and proposed landscaping and physical buffering and the availability of existing infrastructure staff finds that the proposed office and professional service designation is compatibility with the surrounding area and represents an appropriate transition from the residential neighborhood to the nearby commercial corridor. The proposed amendment is consistent with applicable goals, objectives, and policies of the City of Hialeah comprehensive plan. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the proposed small-scale future land use amendment. Recommendation, approval.

Thank you.

Frank? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. There is a, obviously, because of Jennings, I have not talked to any of you, so I have no idea what your feelings are. Nevertheless, I would like to say that we want to open the floor for anybody that wants to comment in case anybody wants to comment. I will explain to you the project and then we'll ask for the table for the full meeting.

Oh, you want to table this item?

Yes, after we have conversation, because I don't think it's fair if anybody's here to speak on this item for them to come for nothing. That's my personal feeling. Now, having said that, the intent is for the psychology office. There has not been new office building developing in Hialeah for the least time. 15 years. The last office building that came in line was the 2300 West 84th Street when it was reconfigured to be an office building. If you want to be a psychology like this one, have a small practice, you don't want to be on a shopping center, which is the only alternative that we have in Hialeah. There's still, even if what you do is children psychology work, the stigma of people seeing you on a shopping center going into the nut doctor. So typically psychologists work out of their homes on a private setting. I don't know if you ever visited one. I have, not as a client, but I have. Usually you sit in one chair. The doctor sits on another. They're not facing each other, and they're just having a conversation on a nice office setting because what you go when you go to a psychologist to talk. That's all you do. Now, when you do children, you use a few more offices because you want to have that office space where you're going to be talking to that child on a comfortable way that relates to him. If he's a girl, you want to use certain colors. If he's a boy, you want to have certain things, but basically it's the same thing. It's not your typical doctor's office where you have people running in and overrunning the place. Psychology works very strict timelines. Your appointment is at 3, you are at 3, and you are out by 2. whenever the time allowed for your consultation will be. So there is not a spillover of people throughout the neighborhood. And I want to make that clear because we will not even mind offering that if the OPS gets approved, it will be limited to a psychology practice. We don't want anybody to have a idea that 10 years from now, The psychiatrist leaves, and then you can have some other kind of doctors or any kind of use permitted on the OPS. That's not the intent here. The doctor is going to be owning the building. We have designed the building where it's going to be shift to face Palm Avenue. The parking, as you can see it on your site plan, will be coming in and out to Palm Avenue. There will be no traffic coming in from 52nd. It will be heavily landscaped on the 52nd place size to discourage even what people walk through from 52nd place into the property. This is an operation where you come in, you park, you go inside, you have your half hour with your session, and you move on. And that I wanted to explain to you in case that anybody had a question as to the intent of the use. We're gonna demolish the building. It's not a reconfiguration of an old house into a residential office. We're gonna put a brand new building specifically for the intended use, which is something that I believe is needed in Hialeah. Last night, we were talking about the issues with Some of the buildings on 25th Street and the office uses that they want to put downstairs and all that. And that is Regis and all those people, they come in here because there is no office. I challenge anybody to tell me when was the last time that an office building came online. And I can tell you, having been the one that was at 2300 West 84th Street when it was converted, that there is a great need for office space in Hialeah, but it's not being addressed. Nobody's coming in and dealing with it. Everybody got on the bandwagon, let's build apartments. But the need for private professional officers that are not on a shopping center is great and that's why this application came forward and that's why the doctor family purchased the property for her to have her practice there. Anybody has any questions? I'll be glad to answer.

Do we have any questions from the board? Anyone in the audience have a comment or question? Name and address, please.

Hi, my name is Tammy Key. My address is 51 East 51st Place. I also submitted a letter against us. As the gentleman stated, talking about doctor's offices and medical practices, there are a ton of those on 49th Street. This is a residential neighborhood. My family has lived in this area since the 1950s, and we have watched the neighborhood change dramatically over the years. My grandparents worked very hard for this house, as did my father. And I will fight for my neighborhood. This was designed as a residential neighborhood with single family homes, not offices and businesses. We already have a serious parking problem in the area. For decades, the city has allowed illegal efficiencies and other residential conversions to continue and our street now often looks more like a parking lot than a residential street. Turning another single family home into an office will only add more traffic, more cars, more parking problems, and more activity to an area that was never designed for it. I am also very concerned about the impact on our remaining green space If additional parking is required, that could mean more concrete and less grass. In an area where flooding and drainage are already concerns, we should be protecting permeable ground, not continually paving over it. At a time when affordable housing is such an important issue, why would we take another home out of the residential housing supply to create office space? If this is passed, then what prevents other properties along Palm Avenue from also being rezoned? And maybe this is a psychiatrist's office and that's wonderful, but I don't want to live behind a dollar tree or a car lot. I have lived for the past 20 years in Miami Springs. I work for the city of Miami Springs. There's a reason that people want to live there and that our property values are what they are. And that's because our zoning laws are protected and we're able to walk in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, I'm inheriting this home because my family has passed. But as I said earlier, I would like to fight for my family's home and fight to keep the neighborhood intact. So thank you for listening. I appreciate your time.

Thank you. Name and address, please.

Eddie Villamontes, Levin East, 52nd Place. Is that green light on?

Yeah. Okay.

Again, Eddie Villamontes, Levin East, 52nd Place. Okay. As I agree with the young lady here, I've been living in that house since the early 70s. Excuse me. And I don't feel that that residential area is appropriate for an office building like that. Yeah. I've seen a lot of changes as this young lady here. Along 49th Street, a lot of the homes have been rezoned. I could kind of see it along 49th Street where it's a bigger fairway, fairway. But on Palm Avenue and along 52nd Place, it's just a bad idea. You have a canal directly north of the street, just right behind it. And any traffic coming in and out of there, it's a recipe for disaster. As is, there's already accidents along that stretch of roadway without an office building, without people trying to hurry up to make their appointment or trying to leave their appointment before traffic gets there. Traffic's bad enough in that area. I don't think it needs another office building. I think there's areas where there's office buildings should be built. Maybe along Lejeune and 49th Street. There's plenty of areas over that way. And there's plenty of office spaces that are vacant in that area. Why didn't that person try to purchase that? That's going to directly affect me. That's going to be my property lines right next to that. I don't want to have to walk out of my screened area and see a six-foot wall. I don't think it's right. I don't think it's the right place for that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Name and address, please.

Good evening. Leo Villamontes. I'm the resident of 11 East 52nd Place. I agree with Tammy. I lived in that house for 50 years. And that house is not a place to put an office building. If this gentleman says that the entrance is going to be on Palm Avenue, have you ever been on Palm Avenue at 730 in the morning or 5 o'clock? You can't even cross it. With his office there, it's unbearable. I don't want to, like my brother said, I don't want to see a six-foot wall or people. As it is, the neighborhood has gone down. With the people putting in right now in that house, there's four efficiencies. And I have seen three people move in and move out. I don't even know who my neighbors are. And I tolerated it. Now, for this, I don't think it's fair. There's a house across the street. It's been empty for a year. On 49th Street, there's several houses that are empty that our businesses are ready. Now, why go into a residential neighborhood? I don't think it's fair to the residents. I put too much. My parents put too much money into that house for something like this to come in. So I urge you to decide on the resident side. A business can go somewhere else, not in a residential area. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Well, this is a public hearing.

Frank, you... Mr. Chairman, I understand the concerns of the neighbors and Unfortunately, times change. Right now, where Bank of America is in the corner, there will be a major redevelopment within the next 24 months there, and it's going to change the whole area. Right now, between 50 and 51 on the west side, where the famous lot is with the mango tree, was recently purchased, and that already has residential office zoning. because that's the trend. It's a true fair. Right now on Palm Avenue, just east of where the bank is, there's major redevelopment going on there. That's a fact that it's not going to change. I understand that there might be traffic at 7 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock at night. I doubt that anybody's going to a psychologist's office at 7 o'clock in the morning, but that's not here and there. I will request a table to have the full benefit of all. The council.

You've you're going to do me you're entitled to that and if the board which is too. Motion for a table and.

Motion to table for the next meeting second the motion.

Sorry, excuse me. I would like to mention into the record that we did receive two opposition letters. One was from Tamaki, 51 East 51st Place, and another one from Kelly J. Walker, 51 East 51st Place.

Okay. All right. So we have a motion and a second to table until the next meeting.

So we have a motion to table by Mr. By Mrs. Inglis. Yes. I mean, Mrs. Indica's second by Mr. Lesson. Mr. Perez. Yes. Summer Alice.

Yes.

Mr. Lessons.

Yes.

Mrs. Castellano. I'm getting all of that mixed up.

Mrs. Enriquez.

Yes. Okay. So the item has been tabled until September 23rd to 2026.

Mr. Chairman, just to be efficient on the functional government, I will request a table on the rezoning part of the item. If you want to jump to it in the meantime, or if you want to.

If you give me one second, we have to close the land use. Okay. Open the planning and zoning, and we can move on there. So basically, so the audience... going to understand what's going on you requested to postpone this item for the next meeting when we have a full board that's good as the attorney mentioned before it will be beneficial for everyone involved to have as much of a full board as possible to um to come up with a decision, a yay or a nay. As far as the audience is concerned, it will be a little bit of an inconvenience. It means you have to come back another time, but please do and state your concerns again the next time because you will have more board members to listen to, okay? All right, so nothing else, right? That being said, that closes the part of the land use amendment. So we ended up with a table here and we're going to open up the planning and zoning portion.

Item number one, approval of planning and zoning board summary agenda of August 26, 2026 as submitted.

Motion to approve. Second that motion.

So we had a motion by Mrs. Enriquez, second by Mr. Iglesias. Mr. Perez? Yes. Mrs. Enriquez? Yes. Mr. Morales? Yes. Mr. Iglesias?

Yes.

Item has been approved. A written decision, resolution, and or ordinance will be prepared and presented to the City Council for review. The City Council is authorized to affirm, affirm with conditions, or override the decisions by resolution. Following adoption of the resolution and or ordinance, contact the City Clerk's Office to obtain a copy. Upon receipt, contact the Building Department to obtain any required building permits. Summary minutes or a copy of the auto file that proceeds before the planning and zoning board shall be prepared and submitted to the city council prior to its hearing. The planning and zoning board recommendations for the following public hearing requests will be heard by the city council at a scheduled meeting of Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026. I don't remember.

Okay. Before we go any further. Cesar, do you mind just yielding this one spot to... Okay. All right. So go ahead and just call it in for the record and then you can ask for your table.

So item number three. Rezoning property from R1 One Family District to OPS Office and Professional Services District. Variants permit to allow the front setback of 10 feet where 20 feet is required and to allow 22% pervious area where a minimum of 30% pervious area is required. The property is located at 1 East 52nd Place, Hialeah Zone, R1 One Family District. Applicant Frank De La Paz on behalf of Sunny Comfort Home LLC.

Mr. Chairman, once again, Frank de la Paz, 11,000 Southwest 104th Street. I would like to ask for the table on this side and on to the next meeting to have the benefit of a full board. Thank you.

Motion to table to next meeting.

We had a motion by Mrs. Enriquez, second by Mr. Iglesias. Mr. Morales? Yes. Mr. Perez?

Yes.

Mrs. Enriquez? Yes. Mr. Iglesias?

Yes.

Item has been tabled until September 23rd, 2026. Okay.

Thank you much. And now I leave you with Cesar.

Thank you.

He got about five.

So basically, both of his items for the same property, he requested a table or a postponement until the next meeting so that we can have... a full board. So meantime, you're welcome to stay. This is your house, by the way. So welcome to stay. Okay.

I don't know.

Thank you.

Amendments to City of Hialeah Ordinance Number 2023-086 to permit a three-story multifamily development with 14 residential units instead of a four-story multifamily development with 18 residential units. Variants permit to allow a single-use multifamily residential building wherein vertical mix of uses is required. To allow a front setback of 6.4 feet where 17 feet built to line is required. And to allow a street size setback of 6.08 feet where 10 feet is required. The property is located at 3011 East 8th Avenue, Hialeah Zone, TOD, Transit Oriented Development District. Applicant, Cesar Mestre, square on behalf of Casa Amigos 5 LLC.

Good afternoon, Cesar Mestre with offices at 8000 Governor Square Boulevard, Suite 101, Miami Lakes, Florida.

Welcome back, stranger. Thank you.

The property in this application is located at the northeast intersection of East 8th Avenue, Lejeune Road, and East 30th Street, within the boundaries of the Hialeah Transit-Oriented Development District, more specifically within the transfer station subdistrict. The lot is approximately 12,282 square feet, or 0.28 acres. The site is currently improved with a 3,109-square-foot single-family home, originally built in 1956, according to Miami-Dade County property appraisal records. The property is designated Transit Oriented Development District on the City's Future Land Use Map and is zoned TOD, Transit Oriented Development District, pursuant to City of Hialeah numbers 2023-081 and 2023-0816. I'm sorry, 086. The surrounding land use designation and zoning classification are as follows. To the north, low-density residential zone R1, one family district, and R2, one and two family residential districts, and to the east, south, and west, low-density residential zone R1. the applicant is before the city requesting an amendment to the city of hialeah ordinance number twenty twenty three dash zero eight six to allow the development of a three-story multifamily building containing fourteen residential units in place of the previously approved four-story multifamily building containing eighteen residential units The applicant is also requesting a variance permit to allow a single-use multifamily residential building where a vertical mix of uses is required within the TOD zoning district. Based on the submitted site plan, the proposed building provides a front setback of 6.4 feet where 17 feet built-to-line is required and a street-side setback of 6.08 feet where 10 feet is required. Accordingly, variances from the applicable front and street-side setback requirements are also being requested. Since the site plan associated with ordinance number 2023-086 has been modified from the previously approved site configuration, the project is required to return to public hearing for consideration and approval of the revised multifamily development. The proposed project consists of a single-use multifamily residential building. Although the development does not provide the required vertical mix of uses, the development approved pursuant to ordinance number 2023-086 was also designated as a single use multifamily residential development and did not include the vertical mix of uses. Therefore, the revised site proposal maintains the same residential only use previously approved by the city. Additionally, the revised proposal reduced the overall number of dwelling units and building height, resulting in a less intensive development. According to the submitted plans, the dwelling units consist of a 12 two-bedroom, two-bathroom units and two one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit. The ground floor is primarily dedicated to parking and provides a total of 20 parking spaces, including one ADA-compliant parking space, thereby meeting the minimum parking requirements established by the City of Hialeah Court of Ordinances. The ground floor also includes a residential lobby with pedestrian access from the interior parking area as well as a trash room, elevator and two stairwells providing vertical circulation throughout the building. The residential units are located on the second and third floors. The site also indicates that the property will provide approximately 3,850 square feet of pervious area or approximately 31% which exceeds the minimum 15 pervious area required. The proposal was submitted to the Miami-Dade County Public School Concurrency Management System, CMS, to ensure that adequate parking school capacity is available to accommodate the students anticipated to be generated by the proposed residential development. The proposal is currently under review. The site is served by pump station PS04-011, which is currently operating in okay status, indicating that sanitary sewer capacity is available to serve the proposed development at this time. according to section ninety eight fifteen sixty approvals are subject to expiration if no action follows suit in this case a complete application for site plan and concurrency shall be submitted to avoid an expiration of such approvals the revised proposal represents a reduction in the overall intensity of the development previously approved the reduction in the number of units and building height provided smaller scale development and helps reduce potential impacts on the surrounding residential properties the requested front and street size setback variances allow the site to accommodate the proposed building while providing the required parking vehicular circulation landscaping and purpose area additionally the property is currently some tod and by right can be developed in accordance with the applicable tod regulations however this development proposal is subject to approval of the requested variances as that finds that the proposed development and the requested variances subject to the conditions hearing will not create an adverse impact on the surrounding area Based on the applicant request, staff recommends approval with the following condition. Number one, the property shall be developed in substantial accordance with the plans prepared by Oscar J. Gonzalez, AR, sign and seal in July 14, 2026. And two, following hearing approval, the applicant shall submit two sets of architectural plans to the Planning and Zoning Division to initiate and finalize the site plan and concurrency review process within 12 months according to Code Section 19-1516. Recommendation approval with conditions.

Thank you, Claudia. Cesar.

Thank you. This property is 3011 East 8th Avenue. And as your planner said, it's an amendment to a prior approval. It was approved in ordinance 2023-086. And the staff recommendation for today is approval with conditions. Next slide. This is the ordinance dated 9-21-23, which approved the TOD four-story building. Next slide. The property is located at the corner of East 8th Avenue and the north corner of East 30th Street. That's the lot right there. It is located within the transit-oriented district. It was rezoned to transit-oriented district. Next slide. And due to changes in the economic circumstances surrounding us, the rising cost of construction, the change in the residential rents that are able to get for these units, The owner, which has developed about five or six other buildings in Hialeah already, within the TOD district, saw fit to come and ask you for a change of what he had proposed. So I have on the left side what was approved before, and then on the right side is the current request. Before, you had approved, and the commission had approved, a four-story, now we're asking for a three-story. It had approved 18 two bedroom units. Now we're asking for 14 units, 12 are two bedrooms and two or one bedrooms. It had been approved as a single use building residential. And we're asking again for single use building residential. When it was approved, there was no parking variance granted. And today we're not asking for a parking variance. We comply with all parking, minimum parking requirements. And today we comply with landscaping purpose areas are all met. Next slide, just to show you that it is located within the Tennessee-oriented district. Next slide, this is what the property looks like today. It's a single family home. Next slide, different view of the same property. The next slide, this is the building that was approved in 2023. And the next last slide is this is what the building would now look like with the proposal for now. So based on the change of economic circumstances and the request to make the project a smaller, less intensive project, we would ask for your recommendation of approval and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you, Cesar. Comments or questions from the board? Anyone in the audience have a comment or question on this item? All right. Closer to the public hearing was a pleasure of the board. Motion to approve.

With conditions. Second that motion.

Okay. Sorry. We had a motion by Mr. Morales and Mr. Iglesias. And we had a second by Mrs. Enriquez. Mr. Morales?

Yes.

Mr. Perez? Yes. Mrs. Enriquez? Yes. Mr. Iglesias? Yes. Item has been approved. With conditions. Pattern number four, variance permit to replant the property into two substandard lots and to allow the construction of a duplex on each substandard lot, having a frontage of approximately 50 feet and a total lot area of approximately 5,500 square feet and 5,365 square feet, where a frontage of 75 feet and a total lot area of 7,500 square feet are required. To allow the following setback adjustments for the west lot. Allow a rear setback of 13 feet where 25 feet is required. To allow the following setback adjustments for the east lot. Allow a street side setback of 13.8 feet where 25 feet is required. The property is located on 981 East 13th Street, Hialeah Zone R2, 1 and 2 Family Residential District. Applicant, Cesar Mestre, Esquire on behalf of Gregory Carlin and Shannon Bustamante.

Cesar Mestre with law offices at 8000 Governor's Square Boulevard, Suite 101, Miami Lakes, Florida.

You changed your address?

Yes, sir. You noticed?

Yeah, I didn't sound familiar.

The property in this application is located at the northwest intersection of East 10th Avenue and East 13th Street. The lot contains approximately 11,203 square feet, or 0.26 acres, according to Miami-Dade County property appraisal records. The property was originally planted in 1949 as a 101-foot-wide by 111-foot-deep lot, as recorded in Plattebook 50, page 6. and was improved with a 1,644 square foot single family home in 1949. The site is designated low density residential on the city's future land use map and is zoned R2, one and two family residential district, which is consistent with the future land use designation. the surrounding land use designation and zoning classification are as follows to the north low density residential zone are one one family district to the east industrial district zone m one industrial district to the south low density residential zone are one and are two and to the west low density residential zone are one The applicant is before the city requesting to replant the subject property into two substandard lots to allow the construction of a duplex on each substandard lot. This includes lot frontage, lot size, and setback variances. According to the submitted plans, the proposed development consists of a two-story residential structure in each of the two substandard lots for a total of four residential dwelling units. Each residential unit will consist of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The proposed duplex on the west lot provides tandem parking accommodated a total of four off-street parking spaces. The duplex on the east lot provides two back out parking spaces front and east 13th Street and two additional off-street parking spaces toward the rear of the property with access from East 10th Avenue. Each lot therefore exceeds the minimum required parking for the proposed duplex use. As a note, the parking configuration reflected on each proposed lot is permitted within the low density residential developments. Additionally, the site plan indicated approximately 2,424 square foot of pervious area on the west lot and 2,120 square feet on the east lot, representing approximately 40% on each property and exceeding the minimum of 38% pervious area requirements. The additional previous area will contribute to site drainage while providing adequate landscaping areas throughout the development. The submitted site plans also propose new driveways and vehicular approaches along East 13th Street and East 10th Avenue to provide access to the proposed parking areas. Staff requested a preliminary review of the proposed access by the City Street Division, which determined that the proposed driveways and approaches are acceptable provided they maintain a minimum width of 10 feet. The driveways and approaches will be further reviewed and approved by the street division during the site plan and concurrency review process, and any required modifications will be incorporated in the final site plan. The requested rear setback reduction for the west lot is primarily due to the placement of the building farther towards the rear of the property in order to accommodate the required tandem parking at the front of the site. Also, the requested street side setback reduction for the east lot allows the proposed building and require parking to be accommodated within the smaller lot. Despite the reduced setback, both lots maintain adequate open and pervious area and provide the required on-site parking spaces. Based on the overall site configuration, the proposed improvements and the existing R2 zoning staff finds that the requested variance will not negatively impact the surrounding properties. The proposal was submitted to Miami-Dade County Public School Concurrency Management System, CMS, to verify that adequate school capacity is available to accommodate the students generated by the proposed residential development. The review determined that the project will have no impact on the existing school capacity. The site is served by pump station PS04-009, which is currently operating under OK status, indicating that sewer capacity is available and sewer location may be approved at this time. Based on the applicant request, staff recommends approval with the following condition. Number one, the subject properties shall be developed in substantial accordance with the plans prepared by Oscar J. Gonzalez, AR, sign and seal on June 26, 2026. And two, submit two set of plans of architectural and landscaping plan to the Planning and Zoning Department to initiate site plan and concurrency review subject to hearing approval. And three, the proposed driveways and approaches along East 13th Street and East 10th Avenue. shall be reviewed and approved by the city's divisions during the site plan and concurrency review process. Any required modification shall be reflected on the final site plan. Staff recommends approval with conditions.

Thank you.

Thank you. First, we accept all of the recommendations from the planner. I have a small slide presentation for you. There we go. Staff said this is a variance to replat two substandard lots. The staff recommendation is approval with conditions for 981 East 13th Street. The property is located on East 10th Avenue and 13th Street. It's the northeast lot. You see it there in the yellow part. It's directly across the street from the warehouses on East 10th Avenue.

Yes, sir. Cesar, can you pause for one second? Sure. We have a little bit of housekeeping. You're saying this is 981 East? Correct. 13th Street. We're reading here 981 West.

I think it's just a typo on the second page. If you go to the first page, it's listed as 981 East.

Page 2 on location.

East. Yeah. Second page is West. Yeah, there's a typo. Yeah.

Through the chair, yes, there is a typo on page 2. We'll address it.

Just wanted to make sure that the record was straight. So Cesar?

So we are on the east side.

Go ahead, proceed.

Okay, next slide just shows you that it has a low density residential zoning and low density residential land use and R2 zoning, duplex or two, one or two story houses. Next slide. Just shows you the property again. As you can see, and I'll be a little more detailed on one of the next slides, it's substantially longer than most of the ones that are located right next to it on East 10th Avenue, and I'll talk about that a little more. I just wanted you to see that. Next slide. This is the property right here on the left side behind the truck. As you can see, and I said before, there's industrial warehouses located directly across the street. Next slide. This is where you can see the aerial view. It's the one on the bottom left-hand corner is the property that we're proposing to subdivide. And it's 11,203 square feet. The property directly next to it, actually, one, two, three, four, five, six, no, five. Five of the properties directly to the north. are all 6,000 square feet. So you can see that what we're proposing is much more in line with what the neighborhood has than what was there before. The one right after the fifth house, the sixth house, is actually 5,820 square foot lot. And the one second from the corner on the top is 5,460 square feet. So what we are proposing, a 5,365 and 5,500 is much more in line with what the neighborhood actually provides. Next slide is just showing you a survey of the actual property. And the last one is a slight site plan showing you how the duplexes are going to be laid out and how they're going to be sitting on the lot. So next slide. The original plat was in 1949. Originally it was 101 feet by 111 feet. Right now we're proposing two. One of them is going to be 50 by 110, which is 5,500 square feet. The second lot is 50 by 107, which is 5,365 square feet. Parking requirement is exceeded. Pervious area requirements are exceeded. School concurrency is met and sewer capacity is in okay status. So based on this, I would respectfully ask you for a recommendation of approval. And if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Thank you. Comments or questions from the board? Anyone in the audience? All right. It's a pleasure to board. With conditions.

Second with conditions.

We had a motion by Mr. Iglesias, second by Mr. Morales. Mrs. Enriquez?

Yes.

Mr. Iglesias? Yes. Mr. Perez?

Yes.

Mr. Morales?

Yes.

Item has been approved with conditions.

Thank you.

So item number five is actually a tabled item from August 26th, a meeting. You will need to remove it from the table.

Motion to remove from table.

So we had a motion by Mrs. Enriquez, second by Mr. Iglesias. Mr. Perez?

Yes.

Mr. Iglesias? Yes. Mrs. Enriquez? Yes. Mr. Morales?

Yes.

Item has been removed from table. Item number five. Variants permit to allow 34 parking spaces where 45 parking spaces are required. The property is located at 2122-2124 West 62nd Street, Hialeah Sound M1, Industrial District. Applicant, Cesar Mestre, square on behalf of Level 2 Palmetto LLC and Samurai Fireworks.

Good afternoon. Cesar Mestre with offices at 8000 Governor Square Boulevard, Suite 101, Miami Lakes, Florida. And I'm here today with the owners of Samurai Fireworks.

Somehow, it just doesn't...

It doesn't roll out the same?

It doesn't. It doesn't have that same smoothness, but we'll get used to it.

I like the Governor Square, though. Sounds good.

Yeah. Sounds official.

The property in this application is located on the south side of West 62nd Street between West 20th Avenue and West 21st Court. The property contains approximately 46,270 square feet or one acre and is improved with two industrial buildings containing approximately 10,840 square feet each. Originally built and constructed in 1986 according to Miami-Dade County property appraisal records. The buildings contain a total of 18 bays. The site is designated industrial on the city's future land use map and is on M1, industrial district, which is consistent with the future land use designation. The surrounding land uses designations and zoning classification are as follows. To the north and east, industrial zone M1. to the South Industrial and Commercial Zone M1 and C2 Liberal Retail Commercial District and to the West High Density Residential and Transportation and Utilities Zone R35 Multifamily District and M1. The tenants of Units 2122 and 2124 had been operating a fireworks wholesale business at the property since 2019. Unit 2122 has an active business license for wholesale, durable and non-durable goods and miscellaneous retail, while Unit 2124 has an active license for warehouse and storage use. The tenants also lease Unit 2126 and 2128, which are currently being used for warehouse and storage purposes. A review of the City of Hialeah microframe records indicate that Unit 2122 received a certificate of occupancy on June 11, 2025 under permit number BLDC-004296-2023 for mercantile occupancy, which permits retail use. The permit was subsequently revised under permit number RV-018059-2024 to change the use to the sale of fireworks and sparklers. The tenant recently submitted building permit number BLDC-002661-2026 for the change of use of unit number 2124 to retail, wholesale, and fireworks and sparklers. During the zoning review of the latest building permit, staff determines that the existing parking for the entire property does not meet the parking requirements for the proposed expansion of the retail use into Unit 2124. The property was originally developed for industrial uses, where the parking requirements are not as stringent as for retail uses. As a result, a variance is As a result, a variance is requested to allow 34 parking spaces where 45 parking spaces are required. This parking variance extends to the entire property. The variance presently under consideration is intended to address the parking deficiency and allow the tenant to proceed with the change of views through the building permit process. The submitted site plan as part of this variance application demonstrates that unit 2122 containing approximately 1,350 square feet and unit 2124 containing approximately 1,086 square feet are proposed to operate the retail use components. Unit 2126 and 2128 will remain as warehouse and storage uses and will be utilized for the storage of merchandise associated with the fireworks business. The site plan also identified 11 parking spaces assigned to the business out of the 34 parking spaces available on the property, which will be used for customer parking. According to the City of Hialeah business tax receipt division records, the remaining bays on the property are primarily occupied by warehouse and storage and carpentry uses, which require one parking space for every 1,000 square feet of floor area. The tenant's representative submitted a letter of intent explaining that the business has been operating the retail component from one unit and is seeking to expand into the additional space to accommodate the sale of merchandise due to the growth of the business. The letter states that the business has been operating for almost a decade and experiences the highest customer demands only in a few times per year and for a relatively short period of time due to the seasonal nature of firework sales. The letter also indicates that the regular hours of operations are Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The business is closed on Sundays. Staff has confirmed with the fire department regarding the safety concerns having a firework open to the public. The fire department has confirmed that the entire warehouse building has been upgraded with full fire sprinkler system and annual inspections are performed on the business. Staff finds that the requested variance can be approved. However, certain conditions are to be considered to reduce a significant parking impact on the property or surrounding area, provided that appropriate measures are implemented to manage parking demand during the business peak sale period. The majority of the units within the development are occupied by warehouse storage and carpeting uses, which generally generate lower customer activity and parking demands than retail uses. Additionally, 11 of the 34 parking spaces available on the property will be assigned to the firework business for customers and employee parking. The retail wholesale component of the business will be limited to units 2122 and 2124, while unit 2126 and 2128 will continue to be exclusively for warehouse and storage associated with the business. Staff recognize, however, that the seasonal nature of fireworks sales may result in periods of substantially increased customer activity, particularly during holidays and other peak sales period. Although these periods occur only on a limited number of times throughout the year, the applicant shall be responsible for actively managing parking and vehicular circulation during such periods to ensure that the operation of the business does not adversely affect the remaining tenants of the property, obstruct internal drive aisles or fire access, or result in unauthorized parking on adjacent properties or within the public roadway. During peak sales periods, the applicant shall implement appropriate parking management measures as necessary. Such measures may include the use of on-site personnel to direct customer vehicles, clearly identify the parking spaces assigned to the business, coordinating employee parking so customer spaces remain available, arranging lawful off-site parking for employees when necessary, and controlling customer access to the business when the designated parking area reaches capacity. At no time shall vehicles associated with the business be permitted to park in fire lanes, drive aisles, loading areas, landscape areas, or other locations that interfere with emergency access or vehicular circulation. to further address parking demand during the business peak sales period the applicant has obtained a parking permission agreement allowing samurai fireworks llc to utilize twenty additional parking spaces at sixty to eighty west twenty one court located approximately three hundred thirty three feet from the subject property The agreement provides for the use of these parking spaces during the 4th of July season from June 25th through July 4th and New Year's Eve season from December 22nd through December 31st. The additional off-site parking will supplement the parking available at the subject property during the period of highest anticipated customer demand. If the planning and zoning division determines based upon observed conditions, complaints, code enforcement activity, and other documented evidence that the parking demand generated by the business is adversely affecting the operation of the property or surrounding area, the applicant shall implement additional parking management measures as required by the City. such measures may include additional parking attendance revised employee parking arrangements additional traffic control measures or the provision of lawful off-site parking subject to the review and approval of the planning and zoning division based on the existing uses with the industrial development the allocation of eleven parking spaces to the tenant the availability of twenty additional off-site parking spaces during the 4th of July and New Year's Eve peak sales period. The comparable low parking demand generates by the remaining warehouses, the storage and property uses, and the seasonal nature of firework business. The staff finds that the proposed 34 parking spaces can adequately accommodate anticipated parking demand subject to the parking management requirement described herein. The requested variance will allow the tenant to proceed with a change of use permit while maintaining adequate parking and circulation for the remaining tenants of the property. Based on the applicant's request, staff recommends approval with the following conditions. Number one, the subject base shall be developed and operating in substantial accordance with the plan signed and sealed by Oscar J. Gonzalez, AR, on April 22nd, 26, and that the applicant prefers a declaration of restriction reflecting that base number 2122 and 2124 shall be limited to retail wholesale use associated with the sales of fireworks and sparklers, AR, And A, base 2126 and 2128 shall remain limited to warehouse and storage use associated with the business. Any future conversion of this base to retail wholesale or any other use requiring additional parking shall be subject to review and approval by the planning and zoning division. And B, police and fire presence shall be in place during the periods of peak activity, July 4th and end of the year week. with all the proper safety measures in place. And C, during peak sales periods, including holidays and other periods, increase customer activity. The applicant shall implement a parking management plan sufficient to maintain safe and orderly vehicular circulation throughout the property. The applicant shall provide parking attendance or other on-site personnel when necessary to direct customers to available parking spaces and a minimum of 11 parking spaces of the 34 parking spaces provided on the property shall be assigned to the firework businesses and shall be maintained available for its customers and employees at all times during business operation. The designated spaces shall not be used for storage, outdoor display, merchandise loading, or any other activity that will prevent their use for vehicular parking. 3. Applicant shall complete Building Permit No. BLDC002661-2026 for the change of views of Units 2122 and 2124 and obtain all required final inspections and approval prior to operation under the approved change of views. 4. Applicant shall comply with all the comments and requirements of the City of Hialeah Fire Division Plan Reviewer, including all applicable fire and life safety requirements. Requirements associated with the storage and sales of fireworks, sparklers, and five all fireworks, sparklers, merchandise, inventory, and other materials associated with the business shall be stored entirely within approved base. No outdoor storage of merchandise shall be permitted. Recommendation approval with conditions.

Thank you. Have a drink. I hope you have a copy of that. Yes. Good.

My comments are yes.

Okay.

I have a question before you start. Yes. Because there's a lot of mention of Fourth of July and New Year's. Is this going to be like an ongoing business, open every day?

It's open. It has been. It's been open for almost 10 years. But it's wholesale right now.

Okay.

So they store them and they sell wholesale. Now they're trying to do the retail component of it. That's why the change of use comes up.

Okay. It will be open year-round.

with the storage and the warehousing and the sales, but the customers trickle in. As you can imagine, nobody goes and buys fireworks In mid-August or September. So that's why the issue is the peak times.

Well, that's why the question is because there was a lot of talk about those two particular dates. And I'd fail to hear a special use permit of some sort, you know, just for like those special days. That's why the question is that it's going to be like an ongoing issue.

It is an ongoing and we will proffer the declaration of restrictions with the conditions as set forth by staff. As I said, it's been in operation for almost 10 years, the wholesale at this location. There are 18 base total. It's two lines of warehouses. I'll show it to you now. Next slide. It's the two long, skinny warehouses that we used to build back in the 80s, I guess, with the parking in the front. They occupy four of these bays, not all of them. It's located on West 62nd Street between West 20th Avenue and West 21st Court. It's located right across the street from where Comcast was. That's exactly where it was, where it is. Right now, the next slide, the next two is just showing you the land use and the zoning, industrial land use, M-1 industrial zoning. The next slide, if you can see it on the left side towards the top, says La Roca Firme Community Christ. It has a little cross. We've entered into a parking agreement with them. As you can see, they have plenty of parking there to provide 20 spaces. during the two peak periods, which are the July 4th and the end of the year. So we listened to staff and we went and we hopefully took care of that problem by entering into an agreement with them. Next slide. The business hours are Monday through Friday, 12 to seven, Saturdays, 12 to five, During the non-peak, which is 50 weeks out of the 52 weeks of the year, they have one employee because they don't need any more than that. And then during the busy seasons, which are the 4th of July, normally runs from June 25th through July 4th, they have six employees. And then the New Year's period, which is December 22nd through December 31st, they also have six employees. The next page, this is the actual parking permission agreement that shows you that they've made a financial commitment for these 20 spaces during the peak times. So hopefully that'll take care of it. Next slide. We accept the parking management measures, onsite personnel to direct the parking, identify, clearly mark the parking spaces, coordinate with the employees to park at the church. during the peak times, no parking on the fire lanes, driving aisles, loading areas, or landscaped areas. So that is basically it. They just want to continue to do business. Thank God they're there. Successful and they're able to to expand so this will allow them to get their change of views. I also think it's very important for you to know that they have a very, very good working relationship with the fire department. They are inspected every year and they have a direct communication with chief. They go out there. They they ask for advice. They ask him how to do things. So everything that they do complies with city of highly a fire department codes and any advice that they have. So based on that, we would respectfully ask you for a recommendation of approval. And if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer it.

Thank you, sir. Questions from the board?

Yes. That. Okay, they're talking about full fire sprinklers. Is that enough for this type of hazard?

They've already put them in. They've already put in the sprinklers. And like I said, the fire department has been out there and inspects it. And they will get this again to verify that it's okay. But everything will go through them again. But they have been out there and they have inspected it recently. So we believe everything complies with what they need.

And complying with the fire department, is this enough? Just fire sprinklers for this type of material that's going to be storage there?

We go by whatever fire tells us, whatever they require, and they have complied with everything that they need, yes. We are unaware of any additional requirements that they haven't taken care of.

Okay.

Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone in the audience? All right. It was a pleasure, the board.

Motion to approve with conditions.

Second with conditions.

Mr. Chairman, may I add? Yes. Just to consider expanding on the conditions. There's county code provisions. There's also state statutes that are on point. So just compliance with those laws. The applicant has proffered some certain hours of operation. During regular times, I would submit that maybe, what is it, three or four holidays a year?

The two holidays.

The two holidays a year. Maybe allow for an expansion during those times. But the other times, they should comply with the hours of operation. And the agreement for off-site parking, just for that to be a condition.

Understood.

Is that acceptable?

That's acceptable.

Thank you.

Thank you. Do we need to motion?

We had a motion by Mrs. Enriquez, second by Mr. Morales. Mr. Iglesias?

Yes.

Mrs. Enriquez? Yes. Mr. Morales?

Yes.

Mr. Perez?

Yes.

Item has been approved with conditions.

Thank you very much. Good night.

Good night.

Good night.

Item number six, variance permit to allow the legalization of an oversized carpool with an area of approximately 879 square feet, where a maximum of 400 square feet is permitted. So allow a rear setback of 10 feet, where a minimum of 20 feet is required. To allow an interior south side setback of eight inches, where a minimum of two feet is required. and to allow the carport to have a height of 14.3 feet, where 10 feet is the maximum height allowed. The property is located at 4698 East 9th Court, Hialeah Zones, R11 Family District. Applicant, Armando Llanes.

Good evening. I'm the owner, Armando Llanes.

The address?

4698 East 9th Court, Hialeah.

Thank you.

The property in this application is located in the southwest intersection of East 47th Street and East 9th Court. The lot contains approximately 8,000 square feet or 0.18 acres and is currently improved with a 1,382 square foot single-family residence originally construction in 1955, according to Miami-Dade County property appraisal records. The subject property is designated low density residential in the city's future land use map and is zoned R1, one family district, which is consistent with the future land use designation. The properties to the north, east, south, and west are also designated low density residential and zoned R1, one family district. A review of the city's microfilm records indicates that the property was originally developed as a three-bedroom-to-bathroom residence under permit number 1955-28190. A Florida room addition was subsequently constructed under building permit number 1974-22988. City records further indicate that a roofing permit was issued under permit number 2013-1525. A concrete slab was installed under permit number BLDR-018294-2024. The windows and doors were replaced under building permit BLDR-007-7878-2025 and a fence was installed under permit number 2025-11185. In August 2025, the property owner was issued a building without a permit violation under code case number BWOP-003875-2025 for failure to obtain the required building permit for existing windows and doors and a mini split AC unit and a carport. The property owner has since obtained the necessary permits to legalize the windows, doors, and mini split AC units. However, the carport remains to be legalized. The owner subsequently applied for building permit number BLDR-003396-2025 to legalize the existing carport. During the zoning review process, staff determined that the carport exceeds the maximum allowable size and height for an accessory structure and does not comply with the required rear and interior size setbacks. As a result, the applicant is requesting this variant permit to legalize the existing carport. According to the submitted survey and site plan, the existing carport contains approximately 879 square feet, where a maximum of 400 square feet is permitted. The carport maintains an interior each size setback of approximately 8 inches where a minimum setback of 2 feet is required and a rear setback of 10 feet where a minimum setback of 20 feet is required. Additionally, the carport has a height of approximately 14.3 feet where a maximum height of 10 feet is permitted. City records further indicate that our recreational vehicle RV is registered to the property under RV registration number RVREG number 0077-32-2025 and the existing carport is currently being used to accommodate the registered RV. As part of the staff review of the application, a site visit was conducted on September 4, 2026, to verify the existing conditions of the property. During the site visit, staff observed that two sides of the carport are covered with vinyl material. Accessory structures of this type are required to maintain open on all sides. Therefore, the existing vinyl covering do not comply with applicable requirements and shall be removed. Staff also observed an additional small shed on the property that is not depicted on the submitted survey or site plan. A photograph documented the carport and existing site conditions is attached to this staff report for reference. The submitted plans also depict an existing seven foot by seven foot shed located on the rear of the property. The shed does not comply with the minimum three foot rear setback required conditions to section 98-1670 and will need to be relocated accordingly. A review of city records also indicates that no building permit was issued for the shed. Therefore, the shed shall be legalized through the applicable permit process. Additionally, the additional shed observed by staff during the site visit will need to be legalized and demonstrate compliance with applicable requirements. Furthermore, the submitted site plan does not provide pervious area calculations. Based on staff calculations using the survey provided by the applicant, the property currently contains approximately 2,177 square feet of pervious area, which is below the required pervious area of approximately 2400 square feet in 2024 when the property owner applied for a concrete slide permit the proof plants demonstrated compliance with a minimum 30 per visitor requirement providing approximately 2421 square feet of pervious area however the existing site conditions do not reflect the two food drainage separation along the south side property line as shown and approved under the permit number BLDR-018294-2024. As a result, the property no longer provides the minimum required pervious area. The plan shall be revised to provide complete pervious area calculations and demonstrate compliance with the minimum 30% requirement. According to Section 98-2090 of the City of Hialeah Court of Ordinance, every property owner is required to provide for the proper disposal of surface water and drainage onto adjacent property and drainage onto adjacent private properties is prohibited. The existing carport maintains an interior east side setback of only 8 inches, with the supporting columns located directly against the existing concrete wall along the east property line. Due to the limited separation between the structure and the property line rainwater runoff from the carport, it is expected to be directed towards adjacent property. The requested setback does not provide adequate space to accommodate proper drainage within the subject property and creates a potential for drainage impacts on the neighboring property. A staff finds that the existing carpets significantly exceed the development standards permitted within the R1 zoning district. The structure is more than twice the maximum allowable size, exceeds the permitted height by approximately 4.3 feet, and encroaches into both the required rear and interior size setbacks. Additionally, the vinyl covering observed during the site visits do not comply with the requirement that the accessory structure remains open on all sites. The carport's proximity to the east property line within setback of only 8 inches also provides limited area for proper on-site drainage and create a potential for runoff towards the adjacent property. Given the extent of the deviations from the applicable R1 development standard and the potential impacts on the adjacent property, staff does not support the localization of the carport in its existing configuration. Therefore, staff recommends denial of the variance permit.

I was wondering when an issue like this will come up before us as far as a big carport for an RV. And you know where I'm going with this. Okay, good. Then don't. But I was wondering, you know, what the... what the code, what the restrictions and all of that was. And we'll talk about that later. Anyway, I'm sorry. You have the floor.

Yeah, first I'd like to address the issue with the shed. This is a 7x7 shed that I purchased in Lowe's. It's a plastic shed. And I did not intend to install this without a permit. When I went online to see if this required a permit, and I want to say before I say anything that this morning when I got the notes, I did a little more research. And whatever it says here doesn't apply to Hialeah. but it says that when i got back it says that in florida any shed that the size doesn't exceed 100 square feet at the base and it's lower than 10 feet and it doesn't have electrical plumbing hbac or mechanical system it doesn't require a permit BUT WHAT I FAILED TO READ WHEN I DID THIS IS THAT EVERY MUNICIPALITY HAS THEIR OWN ORDINANCES. AND EVEN THOUGH IT SAYS HERE ON THE HIALEAH CHARTER 14 BUILDING REGULATIONS IN CHAPTER 98 IS NOT REQUIRED, I went and I read the entire two chapters, and it doesn't say that it's not required. It actually says that in Hialeah, any shed, regardless of size or material that is built, is required to have a permit.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Claudia. Utility sheds can maximum square footages 10 by 10?

That's correct.

This one is seven by seven is 49 square feet at the base and it's only six feet tall. But like I said, I read that regardless of size or height, it requires a permit. so i spoke to the architect that those are my plans for my permits and he said that it's gonna cost about two thousand dollars to do wind calculations and do uh float plans for this shed it doesn't make any sense to spend two thousand dollars on something that is purchased a warmer it's just a plastic chair so i decided to remove it i'm gonna remove the shed and get get it over with Now, as far as all the notes that were read here, these notes fail to mention that in 2019, I got permits to build a wall on the south and the north side of the property. That is not mentioned here. And when I'm going with that, it's part of that permit. There was a permit. for two feet of pavers that run across the south side of the wall. Because some of the things that I mentioned here, it says that, however, the existing site conditions do not reflect the two foot drainage separation along the south side property line. And that's exactly the permit that I got in 2019 when I built the wall. And I submitted what I printed from the microphones that I submitted for review, and it shows that there is two feet of pavement running across the south property line next to a wall. And that was what they asked me to have as a previous area. minimum required when I build the two walls. That was approved. It's not, it doesn't, this is not reflected here. And like I said, it's in the microfilms that I submitted for review. And it's part of the permit that, that was part of the permit for the wall. That was all approved and it passed inspection, all the inspections were done and all that. Also, regarding the, it says here that in 2024, when the inspector went and I passed inspection on the concrete slab, the inspector determined that there was approximately 2,421 feet of total purpose area on the property. 2A says here that according to the calculations from the last survey submitted, it's only 2177. If you compare the survey that I submitted when I submitted the permit for the concrete slab, and you look at the last survey that I submitted for the carpool, you can see that they are identical. And 2A, before I came here, me and my beautiful wife, we took a tape. And we measured the area, the purpose area, and I did the calculations. And if I include the 200 feet that was approved in 2019 for the two feet of pavement running across the south wall, the three by 80 feet that I have on the back of gravel, That is there. Anyone can go and look at it. And 42 feet of gravel that I have on the north side, the total comes up to 2,482, which is pretty close of what I measured with the inspector on 2024 when I passed the inspection for the concrete slab. So I'm not really sure what happened when they calculated and they came up with 2,177. But I printed these copies. I don't know if you want me to submit it as areas.

Claudia, while he walks back there, real quick question. Did we change the code as far as pavers are concerned being pervious?

No, sir.

So pavers are not pervious?

No.

As I mentioned, there is a permit there that I submitted also on the microfilms, and it should be on the records. I actually gave just Lacey the copy of the permit that I printed from the microfilms that I submitted. How it got approved, I don't know.

Well, the reason I'm saying that is because I know that we've had this particular argument, not argument, but discussion several times where some applicants have said, submitted a request to like the swale area in front of the house instead of using landscape and they use pavers and we've been corrected that not here in Hialeah. Now in Miami Gardens They allow it, but not here in Hialeah.

I'm one of the ones that submitted permits to do papers on the whole front of the property because it's almost impossible to maintain the grass. I mean, the heat in the sun is so strong these days that it burns the grass. It doesn't matter how much water, because I have a well, a home, and it's been there since the house was built. And I watered the grass. Still, it just dies. There's no way to maintain it. But that's regardless. I mean, I couldn't do on the front. But still, according to a survey and the measurement that I took today, I have 2482 square feet of previous area in the property. So I'd like to submit that for review so we can clear that from this. Now, as far as the carpool goes, if anyone here does camping and have an RV, you know that the enemy number one of an RV is the sun. It basically cooks the roof of the RV. And if you don't keep it under the shade, every three years you have to spend $7,000 to $10,000 to replace the entire roof because it just destroys the roof. So the only objective for me to have that carport and that oversized carport is for the RV. Now, an RV with the AC on the roof, it's about 12 feet. So I made this 14 to give some clearance at the top so I can keep the RV and the roof safe so I don't have to spend that much money. Because we do a lot of camping. We go to the Keys. We go to the West Coast and everywhere. We do a lot of camping with the kids. And also, because I built this carport, because my neighbors, I've known my neighbors since I own my house, and that property has been on the same family since the house was built in the early 50s. My next door neighbor, I spoke to him before I built the carport, and I told him, do you think this is going to be an issue for you? And he told me, as long as I don't get any water on my side, I'm okay with it. And what I did is that I install this next to, on top of the wall. I'm gonna show you.

And

All the water that drains from that carport is redirected onto my property and it falls on my property. The fact that I have the carport for over four years and my neighbor and I never had an issue with the carport shows that it's really well built and that everything drains on my side. So I don't believe water draining from the carport is an issue for anyone. Also, I spoke to a few of my neighbors, and I asked them, do you think that an oversized carport like mine does anything negative for the neighborhood? And everybody told me the same. He says, your house is big. It's elevated. You have a property that has 80 feet up from. That oversized carport really doesn't look oversized on your property. It actually looks okay because your house looks beautiful now that you have done everything that you've done. It looks beautiful and the carport doesn't really affect negatively the neighborhood. And lastly, I went on the city ordinance web page, and I only checked 2026. But I remember a while ago, I went back to 2024, and I found a few city ordinance where oversized carports, due to the circumstances and whatever people exposed, they were approved. And these two are from 2026. They were approved this year. These two city ordinances are for violences for oversized carports. The violations might be different, but when it comes to violations, violations are violations. I mean, if one can be, everyone's agreed that it's not anything negative for the neighborhood, it can be legalized. So these two... I can only assume and feel that mine can only be legalized. And that's why I recommend the board to please change the decision from denial to approve.

Well, correct me if I'm wrong in understanding that the issue with the carport is mainly the height of

Is the height and specifically the closeness to the property wide?

And like I said, I build it with my neighbor's consent, and they still own the property. I'm actually in talks with the, because they own the property, but they haven't lived in that property for the past 10 years. And now the owner is one of the daughters of the original owner, Gloria Garcia, and And I'm in talks with her to buy the property because she's old now. She's retired. She's in their seventies. And she said that she cannot upkeep that property anymore. She has the house rented. And she said, I can't, I can't keep up with that property anymore. And I have the means and the resources to buy the property. And I'm in talks right now with her to buy such property.

Um,

Think about this for a second.

There's only four of us here tonight, like you saw with Frank, that he opted to ask for a table or a postponement to the next meeting so that we can have more board members. The recommendation from staff is denial. There's a lot to consider here. And again, think about it. It's your decision whether you want to let us go through with what we have in front of us or whether you want to ask for a postponement until we have more board members, that way your chances improve. But consider asking for a table for a postponement until next meeting so that we can have better chances of an approval. There's a lot. There's a lot on this application that just doesn't quite sit right.

Is there any way to modify somehow the carport so I can keep it? Lowering the height one feet instead of having a 10 feet setback, reducing that to 20 feet setback?

Again, we can't do that here. right now we're we're in a process where those options they don't they're not they don't exist here they will exist or they could exist or there is a possibility if you table the item come back in uh meet with staff and propose some changes, some reductions in length, width, height, that could meet some of the requirements. As it is right now, it doesn't look good. So I'm being as honest and as fair as I can. Given the fact that it's only four of us and you need, as the attorney said, you need all four of us to be in agreement. If one of us says no, then it's a dead issue.

How would those changes can be added to the proposal?

That is something that you come back to the office, to the planning office, with either a new drawing, a new measurements or whatever, and you sit down with staff and you go over what you're proposing to change, to adjust, to manipulate, trying to make it as close to fitting as possible. I don't know. You know, it's...

I think I'm going to tell you...

The board also has some questions or comments.

Yes. Yeah, I wanted to ask something. So just because I was once trying to consider one of these myself, and then I knew that I had my proper limitations, so I just decided not to do it. But I understand his point of view wholeheartedly, and I agree with what you guys always do via the code always, and you guys are more than fair always, right? Now, one question is, is there any type of actual hazard that can come about this like any danger any i don't know if i'm asking the question correctly um because for me that would be like my super red flag and other things maybe we could work it out but i want to address any red flags that you see professionally the the first red flag is if this structure does not have a building permit and that is the process where they're

excuse me, the reason it doesn't have the permit is because to get the correct plans, calculations for it, I have to spend $5,000. And I said to the engineer, hold on on the calculations because if I don't get Sonnen to approve it on the audience, I'm going to waste $5,000. So I decided to come here first, get the size and zoning approval, and then I can go back to the engineer and do the calculations. The top of the carport is fabric. And you can call any installer right now when there is a hurricane coming, and they just charge $500 to come and remove the whole top. store it, and then they come back and reinstall it for you. Because it's very easy. It's just fabric and it has string holding it. That's it. It takes about two hours to remove it.

As I was explaining, that process doesn't exist. You need to come first to a building permit process in order to review it. That would have cost you way less than all the problems that you are fronting right now with this application.

I came to review.

Let me finish. We listen to you. So the first question that you imposed is safety. We don't have any plan review, any safety requirements. Drainage is one issue that it has to be. It's too close to the property. It has been added to the wall. The material hasn't been reviewed. So there are several issues in terms of safety that they need to go through the proper channels to assess the structure.

Thank you for clearing that up. Go ahead. No, no. I mean, thank you for clearing that up.

Through Cher?

Yes.

I think what you said a little while ago, I think you should take that under consideration and table the item and work with... planning and see what you can do.

Okay, then let's start with the item.

Yeah, because right now, honestly, right now, it doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. If there is any way possible that you can meet with staff and come up with reductions, arrangements, relocations, a happy medium, It will, you know, something that will improve your chances.

Anything can be done. It can be cut and reduces the rear setback. It can be lowered about a foot.

Right here, right now, at this moment, it's not the time.

All right, let's stay on, and then I, who do I meet in?

Through the chair, and also, remember, these are the documents that you supply us to review. So in order to, you know, go for and have another plan review, we'll need to see what is your proposal on paper. Okay. So we need to make sure that if there is a separation, if it is a lowered height, if it is open, all the sites are removed, et cetera, all the issues that we discuss, it needs to be shown on a site plan. And then we're going to have to figure it out if we have to re-notice the item, because I don't know what the proposal is going to be. So just keep in mind that this could be extended, not just to the next meeting, but it could be extended to the future as well. So just have in mind as well. We'll contact you tomorrow to set up a meeting in the future. All right.

Yes. So as far as postponing it for the future, typically we do like to the next meeting, two weeks. We can go four weeks. Or as she just said, it all depends on what your desire is, what you bring to the table, in other words, because it'll probably take a lot longer than that. It could take a couple of months or more. So.

And definitely have a meeting, discuss it. You go back to the drawing board and then, you know, we will assess the application again.

Okay. Now I'll wait for your call tomorrow and then we can meet and see what we can come up with.

He is agreeing to table. Now, should we table on to an open date or suspend the application or.

I think given the uncertainty better to suspend the application basically or table it indefinitely.

Okay.

An indefinite. Yeah.

Yeah, because that way it'll save you a lot of other fees if you leave. Put it to sleep right now. Let it, you know, let it sit while you do your due diligence. Okay. And then when you're ready, you know, come up with a date. And then just, you know, wake her up again and come back. Or else you're going to have to do all new paperwork, all new filing.

No, it makes total sense.

So... I just need to hear from you what you want to do.

I want to table.

You want to table an open date.

This will be an indefinite, tabling it indefinitely with no, so no date certain. Right. There will be new notice required at that time whenever it's ready to come back.

So, right. So in the meantime, you will need to visit with staff and try and iron out all your Okay. We got a motion.

Motion to table indefinitely.

Second the motion.

We had a motion by Mrs. Henriquez, second by Mr. Iglesias. Mr. Perez? Yes. Mr. Morales? Yes. Mrs. Henriquez? Yes. Mr. Iglesias?

Yes.

Item has been tabled on to further notice.

Thank you very much.

I want to help you. Like Mr. Morales says, it's something that it hits home, but We have to do it legally, man. We have to do it right.

Okay, no. Thank you. Thank you very much.

We want to make sure that we can help you as much as we possibly can within the law.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Item number seven. Variance permit to allow 11 on-site parking spaces where 24 parking spaces are required. To allow a one-way driveway of seven feet where 10 feet is the minimum required. To allow two parking spaces within the public right-of-way along West 2nd Avenue where parking spaces within the right-of-way are prohibited. It's a lot of 1% pervious area where a minimum of 10% pervious area is required. The applicant is also seeking a waiver from the city council pursuant to section 86-53B of the city code to allow the issuance of a business tax receipt for a use that has been revoked within less than three years of the revocation as provided in section 86-53A2 and 86-54A3 of the city code. and to waive all minimum landscape requirements through landscape mitigation pursuant to Section 98-2235 of the City Code. The property is located at 201-205 West 22nd Street, Hialeah Sound M1, Industrial District. Applicant Raul Alonso on behalf of 205 West 22nd Street, LLC.

Name and address, please. Hi, Max Morales, 1955 Bright Drive. Hi, Leah.

What was that again?

1955 Bright Drive.

Oh, Bright Drive.

Yeah, Bright Drive. Hi, good afternoon.

Thank you for the... Let her read it into the record and then we'll...

Through the chair.

Yes.

Are you a registered lobbyist? Are you part of ownership? Can you specify your role, please?

I'm family. So I'm speaking on behalf of my grandfather, who's the owner of the property.

Is he present?

Yes.

Oh, there he is. The young man there with the big guayabera. So let's look at the lobbyist rules.

You're representing. So normally anyone who's speaking for someone else needs to register as a lobbyist. Okay. I'm going to see if there's some kind of exception that will cover you.

Okay.

I don't believe that there is.

Right, because I'm not registered as a lobbyist is what it is.

Didn't we have Jose once be able to speak because somebody, I guess, verbally approved him? Say that again? There was a time that I remember that Jose, he was, I don't know, I don't think he was registered, but they had the owner jump in a Zoom call and verbally approve him. Since he's here, could he verbally approve him?

He can really approve the authority, but the question is, does he have to register? Oh, okay.

I was trying to.

Yeah, I know. I think we get there. Sir, are you employed, paid, or retained by your grandfather to do this?

No.

You're just speaking voluntarily? Yeah.

He should pay me. I'm going to ask for some money.

And he can confirm that.

Yeah.

All right.

But you're not paying me.

Yeah, he's not employed or retained. I think it's okay to have him speak.

Okay, cool, guys. Thank you so much. Thanks for that.

So let her read it into the records and then we can open the floor. You can say your piece.

The subject property is located on the northwest corner of West 2nd Avenue and West 22nd Street. The subject property was originally planted in 1924 under book number 8, page 127, and it was later modified in 1933 under book 34, page 34 of the Miami-Dade County official records. Therefore, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraisal, the subject property contains approximately 16,293 square feet of land area. The subject property has an industrial land use designation within the city comprehensive plan and an M1 industrial district designation within the city of Hialeah zoning code. Therefore, the properties land use and zoning designation are consistent. The subject property is surrounded at the north, south, east, and west by properties with the land use designation of industrial and zone M1 industrial district. According to the city records, the subject property was originally developed in 1948 as a 4,480 square foot storage warehouse under Building Permit Number 1917. A series of building permits are part of the records of the subject property. One permit issued in 1961 for a parking lot includes plans showing nine parking spaces. Subsequently, in 1974, Building Permit Number 25746 was approved for a warehouse addition. Under this building permit, a plan approved by Pollution Control Metropolitan Dade County reflects 11 parking spaces located along the rear of the property and perpendicular to the alley. It appears that under this permit, the warehouse was expanded to its current area of 11,374 square feet, thereby complying with the parking regulations applicable to the warehouse and storage use of the time. According to city records, the subject property has been identified as 201-203-205 West 22nd Street. Subsequently, Building Permit No. 26787 was approved in approximately February 1975 for a coffee shop. Building permit number 35965 was approved in approximately February 1978 for a spray booth and later a certificate of occupancy was issued under building permit B86-610 for a paint and body shop at the address identified as 203 West 22nd Street. Additional building permits were also approved for interior renovations while maintaining the warehouse in use within the remaining portions of the warehouse building. Consequently, the food-related use was established in 1975 and an automotive use was established in approximately February 1978. Therefore, a City Occupational Certificate of Occupancy, CO, application was issued in 1987 for a restaurant with an alcohol license for beer and wine. Since approximately 1987, no additional building permit records had been identified in the building department microfilm records. Therefore, these records provide the baseline for determining the legal non-conforming uses and instructions on the property. Additionally, building permits had been obtained for buildings recertification and attempts for enclosure. However, these permits do not represent a change of use since 1987. The applicant is requesting a series of variances relating to a reduction in the required number of parking spaces, driveway aisle width, placement of parking spaces, and pervious area. The parking space requirement is based on the site plan submitted by the applicant, which identified the following uses. A cafeteria of approximately 1,500 square feet occupying base 201A and B, which requires 10 parking spaces. a food processing use of approximately 1,500 square feet occupying Bay 201C, which requires two parking spaces, a paint and body shop of approximately 3,600 square feet occupying Bays 203A and B, which requires seven parking spaces, and the remaining approximately 4,280 square feet of warehouse spaces occupying Bays 201D and 205A and B, which require four parking spaces. Based on these uses and areas, the total parking requirement is 24 parking spaces pursuant to the city's current zoning regulations. Legal non-conforming uses have existed on the property since the 1970s. However, the property has also been the subject of a series of code enforcement cases and police activity. These activities ultimately led to the revocation of the local business tax, BTR, on March 11, 2025, for the restaurant-cafeteria business. The circumstances preceding the revocation are identified in the order affirming the revocation for 8-Ball Amusement LLC, also known as 8-Ball Cafeteria LLC, hereby attached. Currently, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation does not have an active license for restaurant or any food-related activity, and there is not active state alcohol license as well. The police activity is accumulated to 89 police incidents or calls between 2021 and March 2026, reflecting recurring police activity and concerns regarding unlawful or illicit activity associated with the property, specifically with the operation of the restaurant cafeteria. See attached summary provided by the police department. although the food related use was established in nineteen seventy five it subsequently became a legal nonconforming use under the adoption of ordinance number twenty one i'm sorry two thousand one eighty four adopted in october twenty third two thousand one under which the use of restaurants selling and serving alcohol beverage wine and or being was prohibited Since the restaurant and associated alcohol license has been discontinued and the operation ceased following the revocation of the BTR, Code Section 98-378 stipulates that a non-conforming use discontinued for 90-day consecutive days or for 180 days within one-year period shall be terminated and shall not longer exist. In addition, Fire Department latest inspections to Unit 203 West 22nd Street performed on May 14, 2025 revealed failed items such as the possible work without permits, without the benefit of a building permit and other deficiencies throughout the unit. Therefore, no active business tax receipt is found on city records. At this juncture, the applicant request for a parking variance to serve a use that has been revoked and is considered a discontinued legal non-conforming use is not in the best interest of health, safety, public interest of the community. Records demonstrated that the safety and maintenance of the property and structure has been deficient, affecting the quality of the surrounding area. These actions and inactions had been adversely affected the discontinued businesses. As a result, City took action to revoke the food-related business tax receipt based on substantial evidence of recurring police activity, code enforcement actions, and fire safety concerns of the subject property. In addition, staff attempted to assist the long-term property owner by developing a conceptual plan to accommodate up to 11 parking spaces, including a federal-mandated accessible parking space, according to the American with Disabilities Act, ADA, accessibility requirement that must be incorporated into private properties that are open to the public. The City of Hialeah does not have the authority to waive these requirements. Moreover, the plan submitted by the applicant proposed one-way Drive aisle of approximately 7 feet in width. According to the submitted survey, the rear property setback is 32 feet 2 inches. The proposed plan showed three parking spaces, each measuring 8 feet and 6 inches in width, requiring a total parking area of 25 feet 6 inches. That leaves the drive aisle of less than 7 feet, which will not provide adequate clearance for a typical passenger vehicle to safely pass through the area. Based on the lack of property maintenance and history of the activities on the subject property, staff recommends denial of parking-related variances. In addition, the property does not provide the minimum required pervious area and the applicant requires a variance to accommodate the potential parking spaces on site to maintain the property as a whole. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the variance for the pervious area. A staff recommends that the subject property continues the warehouse and storage uses, with the exception of base 203A and B, consisting of approximately 3,600 square feet, which received the certificate of occupancy for a paint and body shop in 1986 under building permit number B86-610, as long as it can be satisfied all the fire and building department requirements. However, parking spaces without the benefit of the approval of the street division located along West 2nd Avenue and West 22nd Street shall be removed until proper review and approvals are obtained. Therefore, a site plan reflected improvements necessary to properly accommodate the parking layout, the pervious area, the removal of right-of-way parking spaces and fences, and the proper paving and drainage of the property shall be submitted to the building department for review and approval. ALL FIRE DEPARTMENT FAIL ITEMS SHALL BE RESOLVED RECOMMENDATION STAFF RECOMMENDS DENIAL OF THE PARKING RELATED VARIANCES AND RECOMMENDATION TO DENY THE WAIVER TO ALLOW THE ISSUANCE OF A BILL FOR BUSINESS TAX FOR A BUSINESS TAX THAT HAS BEEN REVOKED WITHIN LESS THAN THREE YEARS STAFF RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE PERVUS AREAS VARIANCE THAT'S A LOT DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THIS DO YOU DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THIS UH RECOMMENDATION

Yes, they sent me a copy.

Okay, we need your name and address, please.

My name is Raul Alonso.

Raul Alonso. I'm representing the 205 West 22nd Street, LLC. My address is 4014 Staghorn Lane, Western Florida.

My question to you is, She has a lot of conditions here that you pretty much don't meet.

Well, let me explain. Let me explain. I will answer every one of them. First of all, I want to thank you for the opportunity you gave my grandson, but it looks like it's too much for him. I had Dr. Zorris not to do this because I get very excited. I worked on this property all my life. My first home in Hialeah I built in 1969. I am a professional engineer, registered in Florida for over 50 years. And I know my business. Sometimes you run into tenants that are not law-abiding, and you are not kept up to date on what's happening. but I have a condition that being trained at home by parents and by church to follow the principles for when I've been educated. Last week I was on a cruise. I am a cancer patient. I was on a cruise to celebrate my 65th year of marriage. with the same woman, with the same family. And we had some changes here that unfortunately took place during the time of the violations by the Igbo people. And the Igbo people came into the property after the virus thing, the cafeteria was closed. bacon, and it looked a couple, very nice, very educated. And they operated the cafeteria without, I say the word, gambling machines. Some people call them amusement machines. And in my list to them, I did not put that you could not use gambling machines. I never thought of it. Maybe that was a mistake, but I knew exactly what was going on with this thing. They came in, they asked me to approve, and I went to my attorney and he said, you don't have it in the lease. and the city approve the machines, you have to buy by the city that allows these machines. So I wrote a letter to the license or tax, what do you call that?

The one that issued the license or whatever, a letter.

I don't have a copy here today with me, but I provide the copy. And the letter stated that I had no objection to the machines, providing they were used for amusement only. And I did not assume any responsibility for the operation of the machines or any harm that the machines could cause, such like a fight or whatever in my locale. Okay, that's for it. Then it came in, the meeting was called, oh, when I discovered I had two cancers, so I was looking for help, physical help, and this also, my accountant said do better, get your things ready in line and then we thought that the get the the the properties into an llc the wheel and all all that kind of thing together and this lady in pompano was uh the the accountant recommended this lady to do the changes to all the properties. All these properties were changed to other cities. I have properties in Tennessee, and I have properties in Florida, and I have properties in Georgia. My son is a hunter, and he loves hunting in Tennessee and Georgia. Well, anyway... By doing this, the notice of the meeting where the A-ball people went to the council, we didn't get the notice. The attorney that did the LLC got the notice. And they sent it to us. The secretary sent it back to us. By that time, the meeting had passed. There was a second meeting, informal meeting, with Attorney Alexander Madraso and the lady in charge, I don't know, the lady that came after... well, lady in charge of tax, and Carla, the assistant, and the lady from the lease of the A-Ball cafeteria, me and the wife, and I brought in, what did they call you? A lobbyist, a lobbyist recommended by my father-in-law, was partnered with Mario Ferro, and I contacted his son, and he recommended that I use this man as a... Okay, well, anyway, this man went with us to the meeting, too. And at the meeting, they gave, they had, when they did the race, they said that they took the gambling machines with them, and... At the meeting, they asked us to leave the room. The attorneys were going to talk attorneys to attorneys. And the thing was that they returned the machines back to the lady. The husband is an outlaw person that has been... charged with firing handgun to the people in a cafeteria. And people say that, well, people say too many things. The man first hired a company for the machines. Then maybe he thought it was too profitable and decided to go to business by himself. And that's where he crossed the line. And They took care of him. That's a typical mafia thing. You won't say that. I don't care if they kill me tomorrow. I say what I think. I might be wrong, but it was all planned. The raid was all planned. So I'm here paying for what these people done. And We as an engineer categorize roads by the level of service. Level of service means the amount of traffic that you get. This is a corner of a dead end street. That is Second Avenue, it's a dead end street. And the 22nd Street is just a short piece between Pan Avenue and West 4th Avenue. So it's below a low-level traffic. It's a very, very low traffic. And I have pictures to show, not my own pictures, aerials of the parking scenes in the daytime taking other sites.

Okay, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this.

Uh-huh.

What exactly are you asking from the city?

What I'm asking from the city is that I've been operating this business for 50 years plus. That has been my business. I have no, me and my wife, we don't have any company in the city that is an LLC. It's just what we did because we thought I was going to die soon, okay? And we had- Need to speak into- Here, yeah.

I'll just clarify just because we wrote this together. It's our goal today is straightforward to get this property back up and running and begin leasing it again to lawful businesses.

Okay, because what I'm reading here, to put it in a nutshell, what I'm reading here, the city is basically stating that you can continue doing business there. However, restricted businesses, warehouse, paint and body shop, theater, industrial business okay so you can in fact still conduct business it's just the type of business that you've been conducting and the improvements that you want to make don't quite go with with the property with the area with with uh

Sir, I don't have to make any improvements. The cafeteria has a lot of improvements.

It has...

air conditioning, it has tile, it has plumbing, it has grease trap, 90-gallon grease trap, more than required, okay? And when these people left, I have done what I had to do. I pump out the grease rack. I went to Durham and told them the grease trap pump. I went when the, oh, when the body shop, left too. I had come in and do all the cleaning. Oh, by the way, I was at the fire department today. I spoke to Rick. Rick, what's the last name of Rick? Well, and the fire chief. They were at the body shop. The inspector that called the... The violation on the thing, it's no longer with the fire department. I've been calling him because I'm disputing that violation. The thing that they said that the door, first of all, the door hinges were on the outside. So by removing the door hinges, they had no obstacle there. in getting into the warehouse. Secondly, the other violation, as they call it, electrical violation, was the air-conditioned plug, the... What do you call that? No, no, the plate. The plate was missing. On the other hand, in the cafeteria, I... Got all kinds of violations, okay? I didn't have access to the cafeteria during the time of the violation. I called the police, but when the facility was closed, they were disconnecting the split units that they were putting on the side. I called the police. I was not going to call the police. And the policeman, I said, well, no, no, no, no. Nothing.

Okay, sir. I hate to interrupt you. I hate to interrupt you, but we're... It seems that we've lost our way here. Florida, please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just going to read pretty much what you read here. This is the recommendation. This is the report from the... Based on the lack of property maintenance... and history of activities at the subject property, staff recommends denial of the parking related variances. In addition, the property does not provide the minimum required pervious areas. And the applicant requires a variance to accommodate the potential parking area on site. And I can't read as fast as you do, but. and maintain the property as a whole. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the variances for the pervious areas. Now, staff recommends that the subject property continues the warehouse and storage uses with the exceptions of Bay 203 A and B consisting of approximately 3,600 square feet, which received a certificate of occupancy for a paint and body shop in 1986 under the building permit, yadda yadda. All fire and building. So basically, what they're saying is that you can continue doing business there.

But did I mishear that? It's the bar, the cafeteria service is like, Let me, if you don't mind, Ms. Aspen, thank you. Just to clarify. I'm going to jump in.

At one point, there was what's called a legal non-conforming use. Right. And that's the Gramsci clause. The law changed and it became a legal non-conforming use. By law, whenever a legal non-conforming use is discontinued for 90 days or more, 90 consecutive days or more, okay, that use is lost. So the cafeteria with alcohol was the legal nonconformity. There was a second legal nonconformity, which had to do with your parking for that use. Again, the moment that it closed and it had to close as of March of 2025, when the business tax receipt was revoked for illicit activity. Once that was revoked, 90 days passed, that use is gone. And the deficient parking was gone, the right to that. So you would have to come in. If you wanted to reinstitute the cafeteria, you would have to come in and provide the required parking. It does not appear from the aerials that you would have sufficient space to provide compliant parking for that use. I see. It's not a thing that can be reinstituted until you can meet those conditions. Yeah.

Cool. I have one thing here that really strikes me.

Please speak into the microphone.

I am a professional engineer. I'm licensed in the state of Florida for over 50 years. I'm also licensed in the state of Tennessee, and I was licensed one time in Alabama, too. I have done a lot of engineering work in my 50 years over, and this property was, the engineer on this property was my dad, who was also a professional engineer. And as part of the building plans for the building slopes towards the back, this was a very low area.