Historic and Environmental Preservation Board - Regular Meeting

So, Thank you. you you you Thank you. you Thank you. you

Please remain standing.

If you intend to testify in this proceeding, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you will give will be the truth and nothing but the truth? Thank you. You may be seated.

Thank you. Can we have a roll call, please?

Calling Chair William Hopper.

Here.

Thank you. Calling Vice Chair Luis Prieto Ymunoz.

Here.

Thank you. Calling Member Najeeb Campbell.

Here.

Thank you. Calling Member Christopher Cauley.

Here.

Thank you. Calling Member Elvis Fuentes. Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Here. Calling Member John Perez.

Here.

Calling Member Robert Powers.

Here.

Thank you. Calling Member Hugh Ryan. Calling Member Jordan Trachtenberg.

Here.

Thank you. We do have quorum.

Thank you. Do we have any requests for absence waivers?

No requests for absence waivers.

Okay. Are there any minutes to approve?

No minutes to approve.

Okay. Then we're on to the agenda. Do we have any monthly updates?

So, yeah, I do have one monthly update for the board. As you remember, Our principal planner, Richard Dallas, who joined us about six months ago, has accepted a position with the Office of Capital Improvements. So he's still with the city, but he's no longer with the HEP division. So we're in the process of looking to fill two seats at this time.

Okay, then we'll move. Are there any changes to the agenda?

So there's been a request to move HEP item three. That's the Leafy Way application to the first item. I believe their intent is to request a deferral as we're still working with the applicant on this application.

Is there any objection?

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Carlos Diaz with offices at 333 South East 2nd Avenue. As Ken mentioned, we are requesting a deferral to the March meeting. We've been working with staff and also environmental resources. It's a lot of work, right? There's a lot of vegetation there. So we want to get it right and come to you next month. So we're asking for that deferral.

Thank you. I'd like to make a motion that it gets deferred.

Second.

Any discussion on the motion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you.

Oh, let the record show that Mr. Ryan has joined us. We'll move into the regular agenda. Yes. Oh, and before I forget, we need to have a statement from our city attorney regarding lobbying.

Any person who is a lobbyist pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 6 of the City Code must register with the city clerk and comply with related city requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. A person may not lobby a city official, board member, or staff member until registering. Copy of the code section about lobbyists is available in the city clerk's office or online at www.municode.com.

Thank you. Now we'll move into the regular agenda. We'll start after the staff has announced the item. The applicant or appellant will come forward, give your name and address for the record. And then we'll have the staff report after which you'll have a chance to respond. Then we will open it up to the public for questions, I'm sorry, for comments. I would ask that you please limit your comments to two minutes or less. Everyone has had a chance to speak. We will close the public hearing and limit discussion to the board, the applicant, or appellant, and to whomever they might direct a question. We will have a vote, and that will be it. We'll go on to the next one. We're ready for item number one.

Calling file ID 18650. Step item one, a resolution of the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board pursuant to Section 23-6.2, Subsection B-4 of the City Code of Ordinances, approving or denying a Special Certificate of Appropriateness, SCOA, for property within the Bayside Historic District to permit after-the-fact demolition, new construction, and site improvements on a vacant lot located approximately at 708 Northeast 68th Street, Miami, Florida, 33138, further incorporating the analysis in the attached staff report entitled Exhibit A with the following findings.

Is the applicant present?

Hi, I'm Caroline Berther, 708 Northeast 68th Street.

I'm Giacomo Berther, the owner, 708 Northeast 68th Street.

Thank you.

We'll start with the staff report and we'll introduce you. Ralph Tate, I'm the architect, 11820 Miramar Parkway, Miramar, Florida. Thank you.

We'll start with the staff report. Kenneth Calmas, preservation officer. I request that the staff report, as amended, be introduced into the record. Yes, sir. So as you recall, this item came before the board last month. It's located at Northeast 68th Street. You can see some of the contextual photos. And the plan as originally submitted. The applicants met with the neighborhood association and made the following revisions. including extending the eyebrow to create more of a porch, and including paver stones in the site plan to connect the western driveway to the front step. Staff recommends approval with conditions. Do you want to read them?

Into the record.

So the site shall be developed, the general standard conditions that the site shall be developed um in accordance with the plans as submitted and amended at the time of the permitting or sub-permanent manufacturers brochures or color photographs of proposed design elements shall be submitted all glass shall be clear and or low e tinted and or opaque glass is not allowed the resolution shall be included in the master permit set The stone cladding shall be oolitic or coral rock. The applicant shall satisfy all requirements of the True Permit BD-25-0095-17001 during construction. The applicant shall comply with this preliminary zoning review hep review and all applicable requirements of city of Miami 21 code and chapter 17. Chapter 23 of Miami code of ordinances and the applicant shall comply with all requirements of all departments agencies as part of the same Miami building permits and middle process.

Thank you. Is there anything you'd like to add to the staff report?

Good afternoon. Based on the staff report, we don't have any objections to any of the conditions that were stated. As stated, After the last meeting, we met with the association and we agreed to adding the eyebrow along the front of the building to give it more of a porch-like look and pedestrian walkway from park install to the main entry. Other than that, the remainder of the project stays not changed from what we presented during the last meeting and We're looking for your approval. Thank you.

Thank you Is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak on this item, please come forward give her name and address?

William Arthur I am the president of the Bayside Residents Association and I Both Caroline and Hakamo met with us, with Ralph and their design and architect teams, about a week and a half after the last headboard meeting. And I think the major learning that we got out of this experience is that it's hard to tell a owner who's going through an historic renovation or redevelopment, especially in this case where you have a contributing structure that had been knocked down through neglect. to at this juncture, where they're like 90% into the job after they've paid all the renderings and stuff to make any significant changes. So you probably saw in the letter of no objection that the main comment I wanted to just make to you all is that we really, and I think Mr. Perez said it best at the last meeting, we as the neighborhood association who've been in this neighborhood serving this community for almost four decades now, have an architect and a store committee that's full of really, really talented people. People that have sat on this board, Miguel Seco, Shane Graber, who heads up one of the most premier real estate companies, and a lot of architects and stuff who actually live in our neighborhood who actually contribute to the discussion. And I think the problem is that by the time it gets, not by the time we see it, it's just too late for us to make any substantive changes to make sure that that home reflects the historic structure it supplants. And so what I found out through subsequent discussions with Savan is that by the time it even gets to you guys, they're like 70% or maybe more into it. They've invested all this money. My heart goes out to them because I'm an owner. I know what it takes to go through, especially a redevelopment like this. It's seriously expensive. And for you guys to hear about it so far down the road, it makes it really difficult for all you to make substantive changes because you... You are homeowners probably too. And so what I'm hoping that is the lesson learned from this is that we change the process. We have a checklist for homeowners who have historic, going through historic renovations and redevelopments. And we have a process checklist that tells them this is step one, step two, step three. We hope that one of the first things is what Mr. Perez said. Neighborhood associations should be encouraged to be the first place to go in conceptual phase. And they shouldn't even come to you 70% into the job. They should come to you, like Savannah and I said, 30% maximum into the job so that you guys can make substantive changes that would reflect the historic home that it's now replacing. So I think the lesson from all this and why I really appreciate the opportunity for you guys to let us do this process with you. So we got to sit down with them and they even said they didn't know what to do. There's no road map. We're a city that has all these historic districts and there's no roadmap to tell people who own these homes what to do if they're renovating or redeveloping. And so I challenge this board to work with the community And let's develop that checklist. Let's do that. Let's figure out. I sent you guys a letter after this. It's pretty detailed. It's kind of a follow-up from my letter that I sent you all in October, November, after the 811 Northeast 71st Street. Same thing. You're knocking, you know, the home is going to be replaced by two homes that look nothing like really what's even in our neighborhood or what was there. And we've got, if you've noticed, I had a map. there's about 20 Right now, they're in either process or will be developed. 20 historic renovations and redevelopments in my neighborhood alone. That's from Northeast 61st Street to Northeast 72nd, east of Biscayne to the Bay. That little area, there's about five major redevelopments that are huge, that could completely change the character of our neighborhood. So I'm just imploring you to let's sit down with the other historic neighbors and kind of figure out this process map, and at least do the nine things that I have on there that are process-driven that aren't even going to be helpful for people undergoing historic renovations and redevelopments, but they're also going to be helpful for anyone doing any kind of renovation or redevelopment in this city. They're process-driven stuff that this administration says they want to resolve, and we hope those nine things that we suggest that will help historic districts will be implemented across the city. Thank you.

My name is Mariela Lopez-Albert. I'm at 661 Northeast 68th Street. I could actually say I'm a pioneer. I came into the area in 2000 when things were very, very different from what they are today. Gentrification is a challenge, especially when you're coming in and you have no guidance and you don't know what you're doing. When I came in, the HEP board was quite organized and worked along with all the departments, permit, electrical, everything. When I came in in 2000, my architect, we didn't touch the house until we met with the HEP board. And then we understood what the HEP board wanted in the preservation. Miguel Seco wrote the code. I believe in 2004, 2006, and it was very, very strict back then. It was about preservation. If there was a pre-existing structure before, you had to mimic it. You couldn't get out of it. That's not here, that's not here or there. I'm also the president of Northeast 68th Street, which as you know is the first plot, the Elmira District. Now my house, I had to gutted it out, I had to start from scratch, the whole nine yards. So I understand what this young couple is going through. And knowing that there really is, like William Arthur said, there's no connectivity with the headboard with the rest of the city departments. If there was, it would be much more simpler and much more faster, and people would not make mistakes, or not mistakes, would not be doing things without knowing really what's expected from them. I have no opposition. I'm welcoming them. I'm hoping that they come in. They're really trying to work with the HEP Board, with us, with preservation, and trying to mimic some similarity of what was there before. Because they don't really have much to go with, but what they can do. And I have no opposition whatsoever. They're working really hard. And as William said, the HEP Board needs to be connected. It's like an octopus. Everybody's got to be connected and be fluent fluid. So everybody knows what they're doing and everybody's connected.

Thank you very much for your time Thank you Yes, sir Elvis Cruz 631 Northeast 57th Street. I'd like to echo what William Arthur said about the way the process takes place here and the conceptual phase, before a lot of money has been spent, yes, that is when the projects should come before neighborhoods, before they spend a lot of money with detailed drawings. That's when it should come before you, because as we well know, the HEP Board does not convey any sort of approval on zoning. So their setbacks don't have to be exact and all of that. But the actual concept, for example, this house, not a bad looking house. To me, it doesn't fit at all in a historic district, especially Elmira, one of the oldest streets in the city of Miami. Kendall, fine. A historic district in the city of Miami? I don't believe so. So yes, if this process could be changed so that We approve concept before they actually get to the drawing stage. That would be beneficial for all parties. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak on this item? I see no one. I'll close the public hearing and open it up to the board for questions or comments. Beginning with...

I have nothing at the moment. Thank you.

Ms. O'Dell?

I have nothing.

I'm sorry, Mr. Powers, I didn't see you there.

Well, that's something I've been echoing since I sat on this board. That whole issue that why it's like the cart before the horse. Why do they even come here if they've already gone and done all these other things before they even come to historic preservation? And I think that that's one of our major, that makes this board look so foolish sometimes. Because we're, because the city hasn't set up the system to support the board that it's supposed to support, which is us. And that's why we're here. And that has not been, I've repeatedly asked for that to be addressed. So I don't know, and you have as well, Mr. Chair, if I may speak for you. And we all feel bad about the situation because it's not us that makes that decision. It's the city of Miami and the building department that does that, not us. So none of us feel comfortable with having to tell people because that should have been handled at the very beginning. And we've also asked, and I know that Mr. Perez has brought this up and a number of other board members have brought this up, the fact that you should, if you have an engaged historic, if you have an engaged historic area, like I live in Palm Grove, I helped create that district. So people are very, very, the people that are there are very active and they're very much aware of everything that you can and can't do to a property. And we try to be very proactive with people. But they're not going to come to us if the city doesn't tell them to come to us. You see what I'm saying? And I already know what you went through. There's no thing like the first thing you need to go is go see your neighborhood association. Then the next thing you need to do is bring it to historic preservation. Then the next thing you need to do is the building department. Then the next thing you need... There's nothing of that written down. And that has been said from this board dozens of times. Why don't we have something like that? And we don't. And so you are at the effect of after you... I know because I do building renovations all the time for people. I design stuff all the time for people. I can tell you that by the time they get to an architect, they've already spent 25 to 30 grand to do that. Minimum. At a minimum. So I don't disagree that the system is the failure, but don't look at this board because this board is trying to solve that problem, and it has not gotten the support that it needs from the people who are really in charge. Thank you. Mr. Ryan.

Yeah, I was just going to add, for the members of the public that spoke so eloquently and passionately, and to echo what Mr. Powers said, The city of Miami's had a couple changes with elections lately. So talk to your commissioner and mayor because that's where things get changed here. We can talk in circles and circles and circles, but we're still talking. But that's where things will change. So that's what I would recommend. Thank you.

Mr. Coley, are you next?

Thank you. Sorry. Oh, Coley, not Campbell.

I think the house looks great. I also was in the neighborhood again this weekend. I think the scale is great. I think there's some huge houses on the street, and I understand that it may be of a little bit different style than what was there originally, but I think it's contextual. I also agree with everything that Mr. Arthur said and the members of the community as well, so I think that's a discussion that we have to have amongst ourselves, but I just want to say congratulations and thanks to everybody for working together.

Thank you. I'm glad that the neighborhood association has approved the project and we can go ahead and investigate the motion to approve. But before I was like to address a couple of the points Mr. Powers and Mr. Arthur made about the process and trying to understand what we want to get to in this improvement that you're discussing. So if an individual purchases a home or a property in a historic district, are you wanting the system where the real estate agent or the seller is the one who notifies that purchaser that they need to do this or is it poignant upon the purchaser knowing that they purchased in a historic district to then pursue the building department if they decide to do work on the property so do you want a system in place where the purchaser is notified by the city that they need to go to the Historic Preservation Office to then do things. I was trying to understand what we do now because we approve when drawings are presented to us. You'd like the drawings to be done half or 30% before they come to us and including an alert to any purchaser in a historic district that they should do this. I was trying to understand the improvement that is desired.

Please come to the microphone. Please come to the microphone.

When I came in in 2000, this is how it worked, and it really, really helped. My architect, we could not touch my house because building told them, specifically told them, before you do anything, before you draw anything, before you touch it, you need to go to the headboard. And that's exactly how it would go. Building would tell them first, you have to go to the headboard before anything would happen. And then we would meet with the headboard, the headboard would make recommendations. I had to go through microfilm, I had to look for things, and everybody had to do their work. My architect had to work, I had to work, building had to work, the head board had to work. Like I said, it was connected. I don't know what happened. The connection fell apart. But when I went in, it was very well connected. And it stayed like that until 2014. Then I don't know what happened. Mr.

Chair. Can I ask you?

Can I just add something real quick, Savannah? I think what happened is we went digital. Don't ask her, ask me. I'm sorry? I said don't ask her, ask me. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry, Chair. Yeah. You may, Mr. Campbell, ask you a question.

I actually wanted to ask the previous speaker before you the question to respond to what she said. Yes. So, just to be clear, you said upon purchasing your home, you were told by the agent that you or whoever you... No, no, it wasn't an agent.

I was never told that it was historic. I was never told it was historic. I found out later. Okay. When my architect went to building, right? Before he even started building anything.

Well, you had to do work.

I mean, before he started remodeling anything. Right. Building said, you must first go to HEP. HEP will make recommendations. And then you will go under association. and then you move forward. So that's how it worked. It was very, very well. The city had a lot of respect and honor for the HEP board. When you went to a historic district, you couldn't touch anything until the HEP board met with you and made recommendations, went through microfilm, saw what was there, if it existed, what to do, how to get it done, economically, how to save money, how not to save money, the whole nine yards. It was a beautiful process. I have no idea what happened. But it worked like that. It wasn't an agent. Building, like I said before, the building department, mechanical, electrical, everybody respected the HEP board.

I understand. So it was the benevolence of your architect that allowed you to understand what you needed to do when you arrived.

Correct. He said we must be with the HEP before we move forward.

and you think it's completely different now that this state, what you went through, is not available anymore?

That's not happening today. If not, the architect would have, when he went to building or trying to present any plans or planning, they would have said, you must meet with the headboard before.

Okay, thank you. Just following up before.

May I sit down now?

No, I'm going to ask you a question. Wait, wait, I have a question for you.

Oh, yes, I'm sorry.

When you said met with HIP, you mean the Historic Preservation Office first?

Yes. Susan, I forgot her name. Susan was on there before. She was very, very strict. Miguel Seco. And we sat down in the Riverside Center. Yeah, we all sat down. The architect, you know, the electrician, everybody was on board. And they went through a microfilm. Well, I didn't, my house, I preserved it. I didn't knock it down or anything like that. But, you know, I gutted it out. But they told me, you know, you are... Greek revival, you must make sure of the moldings. You know, we did research. We did research to bring her back. And that's what I did. I brought her back. And then a lot of people started bringing back the houses in the street. Unfortunately, it's not their fault. The owner before intentionally neglect to have it come down. They have nothing to do with that. They just walked into, you know, a vacant lot.

Mr. Campbell, do you have a follow-up question for Mr. Arthur?

Thank you.

Mr. Arthur, do you have a clarifying remark that is very short?

Yeah, I think where there was, kind of when this all fell apart, just from my vantage point being on this board for about 15, 20 years, is There was, when the whole process became digitized, there was, you know, you could apply for billing permits simultaneously with other things. So because of that, it just, I don't know if it was to decrease the timeline. I really don't know. But when it was allowed to kind of go concurrently, it allowed... the whole system to fall apart, because then you guys got things way too late. The one thing that Mariela did not kind of really talk about is all of the homeowners use associations because most of them in historic districts have a process and we know when someone's moving into the neighborhood and we give them a welcome kit if we just had a process map that the city that you guys put together that is a checklist of what you do this would get to them the moment they got into the neighborhood and we gave them cookies and a bag and we had our bylaws you know, that we give them our bylaws and talk a little bit about the process of renovating your home. We actually have a website, and on our website, we have the historical guidelines outlined on our website. So we would direct them there. We would invite them into our association. So I know that Savannah had said, you know, we can't, the city can't, dictate that they go to the association, but you sure damn can encourage them. That should be, as Mr. Perez said, the first line of defense to defend an historic district is the neighborhood association. So I think if we just fix some of the digital issues, make, as Savannah had mentioned earlier, make sure that the building department passes it by. They can't even get a permit. They can't do anything until they come to you guys first. And then you guys should encourage them to come to us. Thanks.

Thank you. Mr. Perez, if we could get back to the issue of the application.

Yes, sir. First of all, I want to say I appreciate you being with the association. I realize this delayed your process, so I want to acknowledge that. So thank you. I also appreciate the changes proposed. I noticed the extension of the eyebrow acknowledges the original porch and that's I mean, I noticed that, so I think that's good. I think it's a beautiful design, and I hope you can build it and live a beautiful life there. I have a comment regarding the process. Would now be the right time to discuss that?

If it's short.

Yes. Because I want to mimic some of the things that were being mentioned. All these, yes, the historic designation reports indicate active resident associations. And to my understanding, a lot of these designations or all the designations are made hand in hand or even led by the residents, which have a strong interest in preserving the character of these beautiful and valuable neighborhoods. So I do understand what's being discussed here. And just I had a thought. I don't know if this is legally possible. The only way I could think of a buyer receiving this information is if it came up in like the lien search or in a title search. where some sort of a document could be put in as like a covenant because nobody can bypass that. When you're buying a property, you do the title search and any and all covenants and documents come up. If there could be something that mentions that purchasing this property comes with responsibility, please contact your resident association or something to that effect, maybe it might minimize this occurring again or not as often.

Thank you, Chair.

I'll keep my comments brief. I think everything has been well articulated, and I won't belabor this item any further with any sort of loquacious soliloquies. But I think the key here, what you guys are presenting, and I think I said it the last time, I think it's a beautiful property. I'm really glad that the communications happened and that at the end of the day, you know, everybody is advancing content with what's been proffered. Under normal circumstances, I think, the issue with this being an after the fact demolition approval complicates the matter in that we're sort of ratifying something that shouldn't have happened in the first place. And I think that's what puts a bit more weight on this item than otherwise would have had if this were just an empty lot in the historic district. So what you guys did really well, I think, is to bring a property that's tasteful and the scale and the size and the limits on the development that you imposed really make this a lot easier to approve under those circumstances. And so My support for this, and I support I think this should advance, and I think this should be fully approved, and grateful that you guys afforded the month of further deliberation. But I do think it's important that the record reflect that if this were a zero lot line, you know, rectangle shoehorned into this property. Under no circumstances would I consider an approval of that. So I think it's your tasteful scale and thoughtful approach to the neighborhood, despite the fact that maybe the architecture doesn't fully match what's currently there. I do think that you absolutely deserve credit for being very thoughtful about what it is that's been presented. I think if unless, Dr. Hopper, you're next. I'll spare you any further comments. Thank you so much for the revisions, and it's a lovely, lovely house that you're proposing.

Do you want to make a motion?

I can do that, Dr. Hopper, if you'd like me to. I would move to approve with the conditions listed by staff. Second.

There's a motion and a second. Any discussion on the motion? Give it a roll call, please.

Yes.

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

CALLING HELP ITEM NUMBER TWO, FILE ID 18665. THIS IS A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD PURSUANT TO SECTION 23-6.2 SUBSECTION B4 OF THE CITY CODE OF ORDINANCES APPROVING OR DENYING A SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS, SCOA, FOR PROPERTY WITHIN THE PALM GROVE HISTORIC DISTRICT TO PERMIT NEW CONSTRUCTION INSIGHT IMPROVEMENTS ON A VACANT LOT LOCATED APPROXIMATELY AT 411 NORTHEAST 69TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, 33138. FURTHER INCORPORATING THE ANALYSIS AND THE ATTENTION. STAFF REPORT ENTITLED EXHIBIT A WITH THE FOLLOWING FINDINGS.

THANK YOU. AND THE APPLICANT IS PRESENT.

Good afternoon, my name is Delilah Pinhasov. I'm property manager with the City of Miami Department of Housing and Community Development.

Would you give the address for your, would you give your address?

444 Southwest 2nd Avenue, 9th floor, Miami, Florida, 33132. Thanks, and we'll start with the staff report.

Ken Kalmus, Preservation Officer. I request that the staff report be accepted into the record as amended. Yes. So as you recall, this is also an item that came before the board last month. This is for new construction on a vacant lot within the Palm Grove Historic District. So the lot has been vacant since the time the district was established. Records indicate that there are no historic photos or tax cards of a property existing or structure that existed on the site prior. So you can see the neighborhood context. So the applicant did go back and meet with the neighborhood association and has made revisions to their plans. You all should have received an updated staff analysis and substitution memo today. So those revisions include the elimination of the horizontal banding on the facade and the introduction of a water course that surrounds the structure, a change from the stack stone to brick at the front entrance. The windows will have a divided light pattern. They're going to introduce low brick planters on the west side, and the driveway, instead of being a large single pad, will be tandem stacked moving forward.

Is that it? Is that it? Is that it?

Yes, sir.

Okay, thank you. Anything you'd like to add to the staff report?

Yes, good afternoon. Diego Lascano, legislative aide to Chairwoman King. We just wanted to come forth and share on behalf of our office. So this is one of the lots that we are using for our first-time homebuyer program, our infill lot first-time homebuyer program. And we, the HOA... The Neighborhood Association president is here. We've met. She's also met with the contractor who's actually developing the project. So that's where a lot of these adaptations and adjustments came in, from the color schematic to match the character of the neighborhood, to the planters, to the addition of the palm trees, the tandem stacked driveway, and a... And we made those adjustments, again, to not disrupt the character and the makeup of the neighborhood. But additionally, we just want to stress that for the chairwoman, for our office, and I think all across South Florida, right, affordable housing and especially affordable home ownership is paramount to everything. And for the chairwoman, it's a huge priority for her and for one of our residents to have the ability to live in this gorgeous neighborhood, but also in a house that's tasteful and mindful of the neighborhood and the historic neighborhood that it sits in is paramount. So I want to say a huge thank you to... Elisa for taking the time to meet with our office and the contractor and just wanted to present to you all how much of a priority this is for the chairwoman. So thank you so much for your time and consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything else? Anything else?

We would like to state the Department of Housing Community Development would like to also state this is affordable housing. We are promoting the development of home ownership. We are working with local community with local residents and qualified first home buyers to assist them to have a residency, to have a roof over their heads, and promote the wealth of their future families. So please assist us to approve the project. We've been working very hard and diligently to comply with your request, as well as to stay within our very limited budget. Please assist us.

Thank you. Is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item?

Hi, good afternoon. Lisa Zepeda, 531 Northeast 76th Street. As the Chairwoman's aide Diego stated, this has been a little bit of a long process. And this is something that I would like to see come to fruition at this point. It has been an empty lot since I moved into the neighborhood which in March is about 18 years ago So it would be very nice to have this lot filled in and on top of it for it to be an affordable You know property and go to a first-time homebuyer the neighborhood has had significant changes and as we all know, and it is not somewhere that I could move into at this point. So I think this is a very nice use for this lot, and I'm very grateful for the several rounds of meetings that we had with community development and with the different folks from the staff of the, I guess, architect and contractor. The changes, I think, work well and will fit in nicely with Palm Grove. The MIMO color palette was used, so I think this will be a great project going forward. No project is perfect, but this one, you know, comes close. Obviously, we'd all like to add, you know, our touch to things. You know, we all had comments the last time, but I think this will be, you know, a nice, safe place for a family, you know, to grow up. So, thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public? We should just speak on this item. Yes, sir.

Hello, Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street. Mr. Campbell, you mentioned something earlier today about the lack of notification to new property owners when they move into a historic district, when they buy in a historic district. Absolutely correct. We've been dealing with that since 1984 when Morningside became Miami's first historic district. One of the big problems is that there has not been a lot of continuity of institutional knowledge in the Historic Preservation Office. It's pretty much been a revolving door ever since Sarah Eaton left. Also, I would caution all of you, please do not lean on the neighborhood association to be your guiding star on projects. It is very difficult neighbors to come down to City Hall and stand at a microphone and speak against their fellow neighbors. We count on you guys to do that unpleasant task for us. You should never perform surgery on yourself and it's not nice to contradict or criticize your neighbors. Also, some neighborhood associations have been infiltrated with developers and architects for developers, and they want to influence the architectural decisions in a way that will help their profit motivation down the road. Some, not all of them, but some of them do not have a historic preservation motivation. They have a profit motivation. Regarding this particular project, you threw me a little bit of a curveball because that is not what's on the agenda, but I did make some notes. I'm very glad it has a pitched roof. That's nice. and it fits in with a historic district. I'm thrilled that it's not modern boxitecture. Thank you for that. I'm very pleased with the planter boxes. Again, that is an element that is found in historic districts like this one. Covered porch, excellent. Pastel blue instead of white, black, or 50 shades of gray, excellent. I'm troubled with a shingle roof. I get it, shingle costs less than tile, but shingle will not last anywhere near as long as tile. So if you guys could scrape up a few nickels and try to put a tile roof on it instead of shingle, that will be much better in the long run, and it will also help the neighborhood's aesthetic. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public or she can just speak on this item? Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and open it up to the board for questions or comments, starting with Mr. Prieto-Imenos.

No comments. Looks great. I would be very supportive of approving. Well done.

Mr. Perez.

Mr. Perez. I understand this is an affordable housing project, and I want to be sensitive to that. However, I don't think this project, even with these revisions, rises up to the occasion of the neighborhood. That's my opinion. I understand it does not detract from the neighborhood, but I don't think it significantly contributes to the neighborhood. And I think, I fear that this may be a missed opportunity for somebody who may live there. I, for example, I'm a little thrown off by the fact that the architect is not here for this project, am I correct? I believe it's not a requirement for the architect to be here, but certainly it seems to be something that everybody comes to the meeting with. Also, I think it would go a long way if the architect could present an analysis of how they came to to the conclusion that this is the optimal design for this neighborhood and how it relates, not just to the adjacent neighbors, but to the overall historic character of the neighborhood. I think, I'm not saying it's bad, but I think it could be better. And I understand budget limitations and I'm very conscious of that, but I think it could be elevated, that's my opinion.

Thank you, Mr. Campbell.

John, I agree with you. And I'd like to say that when I first saw the drawings of this, I knew it was a city of Miami halls. They all look the same. I'm not sure if they all look the same south of the river, but north of the river, they all look the same. So this goes back to a process that maybe we could delve into where the city, instead of using the same person or firm they've been using for the last maybe two decades, because all these houses look the same, maybe they could find a way to hire someone who will do what John suggested and go into the history and really develop a really good design, and the city just pays them instead of rehashing their typical floor plans and elevation that they have been putting all over the neighborhood, especially in a historic district.

Thank you, Mr. Coley.

Yes, thank you very much for the updates and for the presentations. I'm very supportive of the project. You guys listen. I mean, from my point of view, you listen to the comments. I've been looking up and down that street there, and there are numerous buildings that are very similar. And you met with a representative of the homeowners association who provided some valuable input. So I think the fact that this is part of this program and part of this project goes a lot towards maybe how the process is moving forward. And so maybe there wasn't enough. I agree with everything that everybody's saying on the board. But maybe there's not the opportunity to be able to make these changes and have an architect and everybody be here so quickly in just literally four weeks. So based on everything that we've been going through as a board, In this scenario, we're relying on the Homeowners Association to provide valuable input, and you guys did that. And Alicia, congratulations for your wonderful comments. Adding the palm trees at the front, the planters on the front, I think are a big improvement. And so I'm very supportive of the project. Thank you again.

you mr ryan um i echo what has been said as far as the um the details i mean it's it is a city mining one-story house i think at the least and maybe we can get into this before there's a motion at least make the roof a flat tile because a flat tile will last 40 years and not 20 years or 15 years and it'll look a lot better and um in the long term that saves money too if you don't have to redo the roof every couple every 15 20 years um that being said um i think it's it's you know a good use of basically an empty lot since there's been recorded history and plot books and historic photos As far as the comment about us leaning on the homeowners association to do our work, I don't agree with that. I think there's input involved. I think that the people that know the guidelines and live there and see it every day, their input is valuable for us to make a decision up here. So that's my thought on that.

Thank you, Mr. Bell.

I don't really have anything to say. It's a great project.

Mr.

Powers?

Yeah, the only thing that I recall out of that whole conversation was that they were supposed to get a hold of somebody here on the board to discuss updating. And the other argument that had been brought up was that it was a formulaic. We have two affordable housing, HUD housing units over on 63rd Street that look exactly the same. And I think that that's what Mr. Perez and Mr. Campbell and a bunch of other people, like this whole formulaic thing of building affordable housing, which then makes it look affordable housing. And the thing is that that's not what the historic district is supposed to be about. It's making it look like affordable housing. And that was addressed to, not to you, Elisa, but to the people. The young man that was here that day, hold on, the young man that was supposed to speak to Mr. Trachtenberg, and have a conversation with him. Yes, he was directed to do that. And that never occurred. And this board also discussed that there were many other things that could have been done to make this truly an interesting home for an affordable housing component. And that is not what has transpired. The other thing that they were directed to do was that whatever they did to the roof was that they should put on a cement roof or tile roof. And because we, on this board, since I've sat on this board, had somebody remove a roof they put on to put on a new roof. I'm just going to tell you something. We did that as a board. Before, we had them remove it, and we also had them remove the tile and everything else that they did to that house on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 63rd Street, if my memory serves me correctly. So it's not about the affordable housing. It's about the design of the affordable housing, that it's a formulaic thing, that this is what they do everywhere in the city. And this is a historic district. So you have to bring it up a notch to make it look attractive. And it's just not historically attractive to me. So I wouldn't support it. And I'm glad. You know what? And I got news for you. We tried to sell that lot a multitude of times. And you can't because it's an affordable housing lot. And when we created the historic district, it's also on a 5,000 square foot lot. It's actually smaller than that. It's under 4,000. It's almost 4,000 square feet. It's really a small, small lot. So there's not a whole lot you can do there. But what you can do there is really make it an interesting corner. And it should be something that people should go by and go, wow, what a great job they did there. You know what I'm saying? So that's the way I look at it.

So that's all I got to say. Thanks, Mr. Treisenberg. Can you talk a little bit more about the process?

Sure. Thank you. So when we left from the last meeting, we agreed there were some things that could be helped out.

Talk a little bit closer.

We agreed.

Sorry, I don't realize how short I am sometimes. We agreed that there was some things during the last meeting that could really be helped out, that this could be added to. So I did try my very best. I had a conversation right after the meeting to not let the moment go by with Mr. Quaid, and we met back here, and we went through some examples, and we went and talked a little bit about the guidelines in the neighborhood, and so he could kind of get a you know, basic understanding to take back, you know, the marching orders. Later, about two weeks after that, we had a meeting where community development staff, the architect, the developer, the contractor, I'm not exactly sure what his role is, but everybody at Diego here, everybody got on and we came up with some nice, you know, things that would fit within the budget that is set. Unfortunately, you know, we all would like, you know, that the budget is $600,000, but I really did try to take care and come up with the best things that I could that would fit within the budget. So I was left with two things that I asked for clarity on. One was to find a tax card photo. Community Development asked and I asked. There is no tax card photo that anybody could find. I asked staff. I looked. I can't find anything. And then I was supposed to get recommendations from board members if they wanted to proffer any. So I did the very best I could. I used the MIMO color palette. I know the neighborhood like the back of my hand. I've lived there nearly 20 years, like I had mentioned, 18 in March. And I suggested that brick be used, that planters be added, palm trees. The concrete strips are prevalent throughout the neighborhood. So these were all really simple. You've got to paint a house. You can't leave it just bare stucco. So these were all really simple, cost-effective things. And I did the best that I could for the neighborhood with the budget that is there. This is a house that is going to a first-time home buyer that's going to provide a home for someone. So I'm trying to be cognizant. And while we would all love to have very special things, I mean, I could go to town. There's a ceiling here. So with all of the constraints and all of the considerations and all of the time and effort that has been put into this, I personally took three meetings around this, came to last month's meeting and came to this month's meeting. So unfortunately, there's just no more appetite to add anything else to this project. I think it's a nice compliment. I think that this is a great first time home for someone. And it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. It's a nice color. I mean, there's only so much that the Palm Grove Neighborhood Association can do. So if there's other specific feedback, I'm happy to try to suggest those things, but I'm one of the biggest proponents there is of historic preservation, and I will really go to town and pick at something, and I'm satisfied at this point. Yes, for our resiliency guidelines, for all of those things, a tile roof would be nice, but I understand where the city is coming from at this point, and the chairwoman has done an amazing job to put people in homes. So I think, you know, as Mr. Powers mentioned, this house is not even a buildable lot. Public Works is asking for a dedication. It's just shy of 5,000 square feet that you need. It's been sitting there for as long as that I can remember. So there's a lot of positives here, even though, as I mentioned before, it's not perfect. It's pretty good. So thank you guys for listening.

So, did you have something you wanted to add to that? Yes. Please.

If I may, if I may. Yes, we do appreciate your comments, and we did listen to you. We did reach out to general contractor to see how much would it cost to go extra step in order to comply with your request. So, in order to change this single roof into a tile roof, that would increase the cost at least $35,000. $35,000 that we didn't have. And please, just to remind you that Department of Housing and Community Development is a federally funded department. We have a very limited amount of dollars available to us. So we're trying to work with the best options at the cost that we have. So please take that into consideration. We did not ignore your request. We explored every possible option there is. We also involved the commissioner office. They also assisted us to explore the avenue. And thank you, Alicia, for helping us. She was a guidance. She was great help. we did the best that we could do at this time.

Thank you. So it's sort of unfortunate that we're put in the position where we are told that if we make a decision, we're against affordable housing. If we approve it, then we're for affordable housing. That's sort of not a fair position for us to be in. And I find that that's sort of hindering our process. And last time we met with, I don't remember his name.

John Hoyt? Mr. Hoyt?

Yeah, okay. Mr. Hoyt, who presented, we asked him explicitly what the design process was, and there really wasn't any. It was literally just taking something that existed, and then they formatted it towards this property. Now, I understand that is a process that is I guess, repeated over and over again. But as mentioned, this is a historic neighborhood, so there's something that needs to be done in the start of the process prior to doing your project planning. To understand that you're in a historic neighborhood, let's design around that historic neighborhood. So now what I'm seeing, which we just received today, so we literally have not looked at this until, I didn't see it until I got in here, because i'm running around today and then i got an email saying well here's the updated package so again i find myself in a position that's a bit unfair you know um so for me it's it's just one of those well um like it or not and last time we were here we talked about it and we said it was too soon to come back like doing it within within two weeks or whatever it would take to give them the um give them the updated design or whatever it might do, it was not enough time to go through that process to create a home that was compatible with the neighborhood. What I'm seeing here right now is basically a nicer version of the same thing. It's basically the same home with some planters and some color. And basically, what I'm being told is that, well, it's affordable housing. And if you want to support affordable housing, please just approve it. But is that fair to anybody else that's living and dealing with historic preservation? I don't think so. I think that it's actually a bit of a disservice. And I am totally for affordable housing. That's why it feels a bit unfair that I personally am put in this position where I have to say, yeah, let's just proceed because this is the best that we can do for what we have in front of us. And if you want to support affordable housing, then please approve it. I feel like that's kind of the position I'm put in, and it's a bit, I think, it's a bit unfair not only to us as members that have been volunteering our time for all these years to better these neighborhoods, but it's also unfair as a public comment for me to look to the outside to say, no, if I deny this, I don't support affordable housing. But I think that there's a disconnect between the process of bringing this into the neighborhood and what's presented for us today. I do agree that if I was to do one thing to this, it would be trying to find a way to do a flat tile roof. I understand it's more expensive, but this is literally the cornerstone of the neighborhood. When you drive on Fourth Court, you see this home. It's literally the house you're going to see. It's a very important lot. I know that there's a problem with somebody that isn't able to develop on a smaller than a non-conforming lot. But at the end of the day, it's a very important lot. And I'm happy that it's being made into a single-family home. And I'm happy that it's going to be affordable. But, I mean, there has to be some kind of middle ground that allows this to... I don't know, give also a little bit of respect to the neighbors that also have gone through this process. Some of them are original owners and are trying to catch up with the neighborhood and are on very small budgets, and they're still put through the process. So that's kind of where I am. I'm a little bit between a rock and a hard place on this because I want to see it happen, and I did suggest last time that they reach out to me, but nobody reached out. from your side. I'm happy to help. I didn't hear anything. I know you met with Elisa, which is great. But, you know, I'm a little bit, I'm not sure what to do. I will go with how the board sort of leans in general. If you guys decide that you want to approve it, I'm here to support it, but I think we should do it with the roof updated. I'm sure you guys can find a way to make that work, just because this is a special property. Yes, please, can you, I know you wanted to say something first.

If I may, so the flat, the, what, And I understand your perspective of kind of being caught in a rock and a hard place, and I totally respect it. I think the big issue here is that, number one, in terms of these lots that the chairwoman has done that has been her priority since she's come in, this is, and I could say this with 95% certainty, this is the first one that we are doing in a historic neighborhood, right?

So it's a precedent. But...

Which, but there's also similar to the previous item, opportunities to learn, right? And what to take away from that. And I totally understand and respect that. What I would urge you all to consider is also the limitations of the budget that we have and ultimately prolonging every delay means that someone that is approved and ready to move into that house gets delayed further and further and to the point where there could be an issue where that individual no longer qualifies for that home. I don't know if that's necessarily the case, but it is an issue that we have encountered with delays in the past. As it relates to the roof, right, beyond the budgetary concerns that we have, I think the reality is, and you'll see in the context slides that were provided, You talk about the cornerstone of the corner house, right? The house directly in front of it is also a shingle roof. There's multiple structures in the same neighborhood within a half a mile radius, even less, that also have a shingle roof.

I just want to also make you understand that some of those homes were done before it was turned into a historic neighborhood, and some of them... were originally built in a certain way and have to be restored when they come before the board to a roof that was exactly the same as when it was originally built. So it's hard to put those contextual references. It doesn't really work in that because most of those have a history that I just explained. Okay. Thank you.

Yes, sir. I have nothing else to add. Thank you.

But here, let me ask you a question. When it comes to that increased budget,

what is it that if that was one of the conditions for your approval today what is it that's um preventing that from happening i know it's going to raise the cost a bit but is that preventing another affordable housing from being built like what yeah well that that part of that part of money comes direct directly from other that would take away from another project and additionally and additionally it would also it would also have to take an act of the city commission to allocate more additional funds. So not only is it a delay for, if it were to be the case, a delay until the next HEP board meeting, but additionally, it would be delayed as it relates to coming up on the next commission meeting. So again, I understand where you're coming from, and I think a lesson that we could extract from this is, should there be another infill lot that is available in a historic district of which the chairwoman would like to develop, or any commissioner, right? It could be a commissioner partner with the historic districts in his area. But I think that that's something to take out of that. But again, we have a finite amount of resources. Like Delilah said, this is all federally funded money of which was already cut down significantly due to the current administration. But then again, it takes away from other projects that we have either going on or in the pipeline. So it detracts from that and also and I think me being on the public service side of the individual basis, specifically to this individual, it's further delay of them moving into their forever home, having a hold and a voice in a community and someone that's going to be there forever, again, on a lot that is not even 5,000 square feet. I can give you the numbers of some of the work that we've done in other areas that truly makes this affordable housing. You can look at projects that we have, one right across the street from Roberto Clemente Park, praised at $600,000, but after all the benefits and everything, that young lady's home, mortgage is $80,000 after everything's said and done. So this is true affordable housing to the point where people truly have an opportunity. Again, you can look at the parameters by which we have our first-time home buyer program. This is truly to help these people get a foothold in the community. And as Elisa stated, right, maybe she wouldn't be able to move into that neighborhood now today. As someone that's also looking to buy a home, it's virtually impossible, right? And so I don't want to discredit the discomfort that you feel, because I totally understand and respect your perspective on that. But however, I also don't want to take away from young individuals or whoever it may be, opportunity to live in this space. So, thank you.

May I make a suggestion or ask a question? Well, I just wanted to thank him for his... Oh, sorry.

Jordan, I thought you were finished. I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful explanation of the process. You have to understand, you may look at us like we're naive when it comes to this aspect of historic preservation in relation to affordable housing. It's because we are, right? We're not in the process of affordable housing, but at least most of us aren't. So when we ask questions, it's because we want to know, right? And thank you for that. And thank you for also letting us in on your process a little bit more from a, let's say, from your chairwoman's perspective on the lot. I live in this neighborhood, right? So I see this. I'm going to be seeing this every day. It's a little bit special. This conversation is special for me. With that said, I would like to get a little bit more, now that we've heard all of your back end and a little bit more about the process, hear back from the board to help me get pushed over the line here. Thank you. Thank you.

I would like to make a comment, if possible, please.

No, the public hearing is over.

I'm sorry?

The public hearing is closed.

It's closed? You may only respond if someone asks a question.

I just want to respond that the headboard is about preservation of historic homes. It's not about affordable housing, and it shouldn't be selective enforcement. They need to go to the same guidelines as everybody else. And if the federal budget doesn't have the budget to restore them...

I'm going to stop everyone right there. All right? What you have before you is a project. Does the project meet the Secretary of the Interior standards, and does it meet the neighborhood guidelines? That is what you need to ask yourselves. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Colley, you had a question?

Yes, I have a question for the board and for, based on everything that we're hearing here. Like if there's images up on the screen, can everybody see them? So we have architects on the board, designers on the board. I'm a landscape architect. The top left picture in this neighborhood context too seems like a very simple structure

to me, and it's very... But Chris, those contextual photos are not of the context of the neighborhood. They're out at Fourth Court. Right, that's just one, and that's industrial property across the street.

So that is the property south across the street.

Okay, well, thanks, Jordan. Just to explain my definition of context? My definition of context is the neighborhood of Palm Grove. Palm Grove is made up of many homes that are surrounding the context, not just the immediate context.

Correct. And we look at the context of the individual property and its neighbors, and then we look at the context of the district as a whole.

You are correct. And you should have taken a photograph of the house next door, not the house across the street.

So Mr. Colley is the one who has the floor, please.

I was just gonna thanks everyone in Jordan sorry about the sorry about that I guess my point is I there are many structures in the neighborhood that are very simple right and I mean maybe this is a case where we as a board could make a couple simple suggestions I know that the tiles is a cost thing that made they're not may not be able to do much about it I don't know if architecturally I mean I feel that. I thought some of, like, the mid-century architecture and stuff was incredibly plain and simple and flat and, you know, simple color maybe that matches the MIMO. Like, I always think that the lettering, even though this sounds, you know, kind of crazy, that the lettering for the house numbers makes a big difference if it's, like, a mid-century font. I'm just wondering if there's any suggestions we could propose at this point that wouldn't be cost things, but maybe, like, for example, I don't know if the brick planters that you're adding to the front necessarily make the big difference. It doesn't sound like it does. So I'm just throwing this out there. There have been times in the past when we make suggestions to applicants and say, hey, if you could do X, Y, and Z, maybe it's a little bit more consistent. And I'm just throwing that out there to try and break the impasse.

This is the property immediately adjacent to the north, and I just had the property immediately adjacent to the east.

Sorry, not to keep talking. My time was done. But, like, to me, there's a lot of buildings that look like that in the neighborhood. So I just didn't see a huge difference here.

Mr. Tremes. What kind of roof is that on that building? Do you know? If I could. No, I've asked the question. It's an asphalt shingle roof. Okay.

Also, I haven't spoken yet. Was it originally on the tax card? I would have to look at that.

Mr. Ryan, I haven't had a chance to speak yet.

Mr. Ryan, please let me speak.

Okay, I didn't know.

I was impressed with the changes you've made, especially with respect to the position of the driveway. I think it looks a lot better and fits better on the lot. However, I agree with my colleagues, especially with the composition of the roof, particularly what we were presented last time in the letter from the city suggesting that the roof would be some kind of tile, either flat, barrel, or metal. I think we've had a couple of metal roofs in the neighborhood, and I'm not necessarily advocating for that. But I also would like to indicate that there is no reason why affordable housing can't have a more deserving example of something that would really blend more easily into the neighborhood. Although I think this one is probably as good as you can get on that small lot. Now, Mr. Ryan, you had a question.

Okay. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I mean, I agree with that. I'm also thinking about the other end of it, and this is really a question. You mentioned that you have a contractor. Is that correct? You've already picked one?

Yes, we do have a contractor.

I'm sorry. I didn't hear it.

We do have a general contractor.

Okay. And you have an itemized quote for the plans for what's to be done. Is that correct? For the plans as they're drawn and as we've seen?

We have a full budget for all of the line items. If you were going to ask me how much it is for architecture right now, I would have to defer that.

Yeah, I mean, it's the other end of it, because we're talking about one end of it, but the other end of it, and look, I'm a contractor, and I don't like people kibitzing about what I put down as estimates and quotes and stuff. However, It's 1,300 square feet. And if the budget's 600,000... 1,500 square feet. Okay, with the porch and stuff. But I saw 27 by 49, right? It's a rectangle. 27 by 49? My calculator said 1,332. 1,500 square feet, whatever. Is that... I mean, this is an honest question. Is 600,000... plenty of money to build a simple bare bones 1500 square foot house? Okay, I mean, things have changed. I do remodeling, so it's different. That's a lot of money.

May I answer your question or help?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I'm trying to educate myself.

No, no, no, no, no, that's fine. So I can explain how it works. The budget for this house is $300,000. I might be off by a few thousand. The appraised value of the similar house, not too far, is about $600,000. We sell the house almost at the cost that we built to make it affordable. So I know you're trying to calculate the cost of the current construction cost. For now, the cost of this house is about $300,000. I would say up to $3,000.

Okay. And the roof, I'm imagining 1,500 square foot. Shingle roof is what, 15,000?

That's already inclusive of Shingle roof. And the additional cost to change the roof from Shingle, which provides minimum from 10 to 15 years of warranty, lifetime warranty, the Shingle will be running additional 35,000 plus. Okay.

Let me ask anyone up here who's kind of in the business, a 1,500 square foot shingle roof, I'm thinking brand new without ripping off the old one, 15,000, maybe 20 at the most? Less? Yeah, it's less. So if you add 35 on top of that, a $50,000 roof for a flat, I mean, I think the prices, I think you can actually do some work on that end and get to what we're talking about here.

Mr. Chair?

Yes, sir.

So the board member who lives in the historic district that actually just recently had a roof put on two years ago, and it was a tile roof, was $45,000. And mine's a four-unit apartment building. Okay, so... If they're saying $35,000, I can guarantee you on that house, that's top of the line.

They're saying $35,000 on top of what the shingles are.

I'm just saying, sir, I know what I paid for a top-quality roof.

To your point is what basically you're saying is a $50,000 roof because you're paying $15,000 for the shingle plus $35,000, so they're saying per contractor is $50,000. I got it. That's wrong, and it shouldn't be.

Mr. Chair, Dr. Hopper, is it possible to insert something about the roof conversation?

Would you like to submit some comments about the roof situation?

Yes. Two things. So in the Palm Grove neighborhood, there is an exception for very low-income people. That is how I came to be able to swallow this. I am a huge proponent of resiliency and keeping houses standing. And, you know, I am the first one to yell about tile roofs, but I looked at it from that point of view. My second, I'm here really caught between a rock and a hard place because of that. I'm really struggling because there's lots of folks in the neighborhood who have had to put on tile roofs. And I was thinking, and staff can weigh in on this, but we do have a historic preservation trust fund, and maybe the difference of the shingle to the tile roof could be pulled from that trust fund if it's an appropriate use. I don't know. I'm just... thinking out loud to try to get this house approved. It's an amazing use for this lot, and I want everybody to be comfortable. I want it to be a good example and set good precedent for the neighborhood, but I don't want to lose the opportunity either. So maybe that is a vehicle where the difference To not have to go back for more federal funds and have two commission readings and all of that and stop this up for another six months. Maybe that's something, a good use of some of these funds since they are to go to homeowners. It would go to a future homeowner and they would have a more resilient roof in the process.

I think you made two very good points. One being about, you know, we have approved people that were in need of housing. of being able to afford a new roof, the ability to do an asphalt shingle roof. So I have been thinking through that. But that point that you did make about this trust fund, are there funds available?

So I want to go back to the question you asked about did we have the tax card. There's not a tax card for that property based on the date of construction, and it most likely, based on the date of construction, an asphalt shingle roof as it does you're talking about the multifamily next door yes thank you so that is the context of the site that we're talking about secondly the historic preservation trust fund is open so the city would have to apply for funds and then it would be graded based our it would be the application would be given points based on the points that are set out by the code. And then if it received enough points, because it is a city project, it would then have to be also approved by this board. So I cannot guarantee based on the applications that we get in, or the applications that we have received, in where it would fall in terms of points, because there are, the points are given, I mean, if it's a homesteaded property, which it's not currently a homesteaded property, so it wouldn't get those points. If the homeowner is over 60, it currently doesn't get those points. If it's an AI, if it meets affordable income based on who is applying at the time, So there's a lot of points that it wouldn't get until it was actually sold and there was somebody in it, or there was actually a purchase agreement for that property. So it would just fall as the city as the applicant, and we would grade it based on that.

If I may, we do have identified family who will be moving into this property. And considering the fact that the property still will take some time to build, to finalize the permits, to build, we are hoping we don't lose these buyers or these buyers don't lose the opportunity of a lifetime. So please keep that in mind too.

May I say something, Mr. Chair?

Yes, Mr. Campbell.

we have another opportunity of a lifetime in the opposite direction, meaning that this, I think I heard, is the first build in a historic neighborhood. So this is also an opportunity because the city has to ask itself, Is it invested in the historic preservation and the historic neighborhood process? And does a project in a historic neighborhood warranty or guarantee a step up just for those? So Mr. Bellon, architecture who I see there, he has to know that, okay, he may be the guy that gets the contracts for these things. He should know as a guideline process for the city that, okay, this lot is in a historic neighborhood, you have to do another step and the city should have the budget ready to apply to that. That is also an opportunity we're facing right now because if the city just puts, like I said before in my first comment, I see this typology all over my area. I live in Buena Vista. They're all over, they're the same. So if the city does the same thing in a historic neighborhood and just drops it there, what is it saying to other architects in town, builders, developers in town about the historic process? You guys have to come here and we have to battle with those people at the city. We can just drop whatever we want and just put it there and we can put some brick on the edge. And I mean, is that the city's commitment to the historic neighborhood process and the designation process? That's what we have to ask ourselves.

Coming to the tiles and the shingles the historic districts guidelines allow shingled roofs.

So yes shingled roofs are appropriate if the house if we're talking about we don't have again For new construction, yes. You can approve shingle roofs. There's no requirement that a house have a metal roof or tile roofs or is what the board feels is appropriate. You have that authority. If we were talking about a new roof on a historic home, yes, shingle roofs are appropriate, depending on what was historically there. So if a house had rolled tar originally, yes, a shingle roof would be an appropriate replacement of that. If a roof was originally wood shingle, not so common here in Miami, but yes, it would be an appropriate substitute for that. Shingle roofs are appropriate of course there are houses within the historic districts that fall within periods of significance that had has that had shingle roofs Historically on them so again it goes back to that What treatment is appropriate for a specific property right we try to treat everybody the same? But the same treatment isn't always appropriate so in this case you are approving where you would be potentially approving new construction and It's within your purview to approve whatever type of roof is being proposed. Thank you, Mr. Collins. Certainly. Mr. Perez.

Yes, I'd like to echo some of the comments that my colleague, Mr. Campbell, said. Maybe this is not exactly what he said, but I wanted to say I worry that it would be unfair to approve this to be unfair to hold homeowners to a different standard than what we hold this application because it's coming from the city. Again, I appreciate that it's affordable housing. I understand what Jordan is saying. It's kind of a tough position for us to be in. I can't help but think that the desire to add concrete tile onto this is because we want to add some feature to what ultimately is a box. I'm sorry to say it. It may be a low-scale box, not a tall box, and we all appreciate that, but it's a box with some colors, and I appreciate that that effort was put forth. I looked up the architect that prepared these plans, and based on the portfolio, they seem to be more than capable to come up with something creative. I can't help but think that it's the client in this case that is tying their hands and not allowing them to come up with something creative, whether it's budget related based on their fee or budget related based on the fact that the city wants to move quickly with this model. I think you have a capable person that could lead this process and come up with something good that we would think is appropriate for this location.

Just to maybe move this along, I agree with the comment that was made earlier. This should be blind to the end use. I mean, ultimately, I think we should all ask ourselves whether this is a project we would approve in this historic district, irrespective of whether it's affordable or not. I mean, I think that is the foundation of what we do here. So, I mean, from my layman's view, I believe it struck me as in keeping, but I'm also very willing to bend to the architecturally minded on the board who don't feel that to be the case. And I would be very happy to follow your leads on this. So I think if we could maybe just run through that is who at this point is willing to approve it as presented. And if not, what would be the threshold of approval? Because I do think we not only owe it to the applicant, but also those who are waiting to go through that we create some sort of threshold that allows us to advance this item in one direction or the other.

So the threshold is set forward by the Secretary of Interior Standards. I'm going to read it. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials. So the question is, is what is presented to you Compatible with the historic materials found within the district The features so is its architectural features such as things like a front porch compatible with that of the district the size and scale so in terms of size and scale is it compatible with the historic district and the proportion and massing and That is to protect the integrity of the historic resource, which is the whole district. Yes

But I do believe that there is discretion on this board to interpret those standards through the prism of each individual board member's expertise, correct?

That is correct.

So my question is to my fellow board members as to what they feel the threshold is for them to approve. Otherwise, we could just administratively approve this.

You're looking first.

So, Mr. Perez, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Trachtenberg, Mr. Powers, who you've all been the most vociferously opposed to the project. Perhaps we can think through what elements would be required to change for your votes to be in the approval category, if at all.

Well, we could mirror what took place last meeting with the couple that was here that had to meet with a homeowners association to have good faith in their approval. The city could do what it promised to do, to meet with Mr. Trachtenberg and discuss the vicissitudes of the design before presentation. That could be a start and maybe it could also be the finish. So why not the same thing we did to them, we will now do to you?

I think, Mr. Campbell, if I may, I'm sorry to sort of take over a little bit of this. I think it would just be good to advance this. I do think it would be problematic to create some sort of slightly arbitrary standard, being that this is a quasi-judicial board. So I think if there's something here that's problematic to you, I think it would be better to articulate what that is specifically. And maybe the solution is through that avenue. But I think it would be helpful to all if you could specifically give some guidance as to what it is that gives you umbrage

Well, if Mr. Bellon was here with me, I would maybe take a half an hour of a review of his drawings. I'm not sure if I can fulfill that here until staff, but I could sit down here and actually do that, but it would take a bit of time.

That's fair. Go on.

I mean, I guess I'll say what I said last time. I would suggest you pick one of the predominant styles, Spanish colonial or deco. I'm looking through the designation. Ranch house style, minimal traditional. Those are the ones that are predominant in the area. And have the architect present the project in a way where he explains how the project that is being presented has the elements, basic elements, of one of these styles and what led him to conclude that this is the best design. I think it would be fair to explain how, let's say if there's a budget constraint, we would have liked to do this, but unfortunately this was not possible because of, why? It just, I think a more academic presentation would go a long way, but I think some of the architects or the other members.

So I think there is an analysis in the staff report. The Secretary of Interior standards are style neutral. We don't pick styles. They're style neutral for a reason. If you were looking for a style that it fit best in, it would be minimal traditional, specifically in size, scale, and proportion. And I think that if you were, if you look at the context of the neighborhood in terms of looking at minimal traditional style structures, this one has a lot of the same characteristics in terms of features, but is also, I mean, very compatible, if not exact, in terms of size, scale, and proportion to what you find in a minimal traditional structure.

You might add to that the Secretary of Interior Standards also recommends that it be differentiated from the other historic buildings in that area.

Yes, and that is specifically so that we can tell what is new from the old so that it allows the old resources or the truly historic resources to be the shining stars of our overall resource of a historic district. So in terms of it being new, it shouldn't distract. It should be compatible. And so it is compatible specifically with the form, scale, and proportion of a minimal traditional style structure or a mid-century modern style structure. I think it's also in keeping with the materials that you find in a minimal traditional or a modern style structure. an asphalt shingle roof would have been appropriate for that style of structure, and we find it already within the district. And so while I think that it is incumbent upon the board to look at the Secretary of Interior Standards and say, yes, it meets the Secretariat of Interior Standards, it isn't that you have to approve the absolute best or the question is whether it is appropriate or not for the historic district. And if it's not appropriate, then how is it not appropriate and how can changes be made to make it appropriate? But what I haven't heard is any specific item that follows the Secretary of Interior standards that makes it inappropriate, all I hear is we wish that it was more appropriate. But I have not heard anybody say that it is unappropriate or how it is inappropriate.

Are we ready for a motion if there's no other comments?

Well, my whole basis of, as I said earlier, for trying to push this forward and assist in, I guess, proving that we support affordable housing, if we denied this, I get this sort of sense that we're against it, was that The roof being asphalt shingle, in my opinion, I mean, but what do I know, right? I mean, I'm just an architect and I've only been on support for 10 years, but what do I know? I'm being told otherwise that this is supposed to be asphalt shingle. That if it was a flat concrete tile roof, but the only basis of argument that you're telling me that we shouldn't do it is because it's a $35,000 property. difference, which is something that you have from hearsay from your contractor. So for me, if it was like, maybe you misinterpreted. Maybe it's $35,000 as opposed to $15,000, so the difference is actually $20,000. I don't know. I mean, are you 100% certain that that's not the case?

Because $50,000 for this roof is exceptionally high.

Is there any world in which that could be misquoted or you can get a second bid?

This is the information that was provided by general contractor that he said that goes overall above and beyond the budgeted amount.

Again, I go back to my, I'm naive to your process, but I sort of feel like on the back end that could be accounted for somewhere. through some sort of budgetary exchange. Maybe it's interior finishes. Maybe there's something that could allow for that roof to be not asphalt shingle. But other than that, I mean, it's hard for me to agree with as it is.

Jordan, if it had a flat tile roof proposed, would you be more supportive or would you be supportive? Would that be the defining feature that would propel this into an approval category for you?

I would make it better. Yeah, it would align it to a more 1950s style that it's coming across as.

And perhaps we should just move it along with that condition and leave it to the applicant to figure out how to afford it. They can find it.

They can get a second quote, third quote.

So who would like to put that in the motion as an additional condition? Yeah, that's good.

Yeah. I think that's in keeping with the Secretary of Interior standards to say that... It should be approved because you think that an asphalt shingle is not in keeping or compatible with the historic district, and the tile roof would be. That would be appropriate.

And in this sort of low-slung, low-pitched roof, typically it's a flat roof. tile not a barrel tile so i think you should make a motion yeah i'd like to make a motion that the that the uh proposed item number two be approved um with all the items read in by staff but including the the condition that the roof be a flat concrete tile type as typically found on structures of this kind in the neighborhood, and there are plenty of references to that. Second.

There's a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? Good. Can we have a roll call, please?

Calling Member Jordan Treichtenberg. Yes. Thank you. Calling Member Najeeb Campbell. Yes. Calling Member Christopher Cauley.

Yes.

Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Yes. Calling Member John S. Perez.

No.

Calling Member Robert Powers. Thank you. Calling Member Hugh Ryan. Yes. Thank you. Calling Member Vice Chair Luis Prieto y Munoz. Yes. Calling Chair William Hopper. Yes. Okay, this is approved by a vote of seven to two. As amended, this decision is final unless appealed to the hearing board's office within 15 days.

Thank you.

Thank you all. We're on to item number four.

Calling HEP item number four, file ID 18780, a resolution of the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board pursuant to section 23-6, Subsection B4 of the City Code of Ordinances approving or denying a special certificate of appropriateness, SCOA, to permit a modification to previously approved plans for the installation of a metal roof for a property within Buena Vista East District, located approximately at 56 Northeast 46th Street. Miami, Florida 33137, further incorporating the analysis in the attached staff report entitled Exhibit A with the following findings.

Is the applicant present? Please give your name and address for the record.

Yes, Adam Rodolphe, 56 Northeast 46th Street.

Okay, we'll start with the staff report.

Okay.

Hello, I'm Karina Gonzalez de Mendoza. I'm a historic preservation planner. I request to submit the staff analysis to the record.

Approved.

Okay, so as said, the applicant's request is permitting a modification in the color. The metal roof has already been approved. The SCOA was already approved for a metal roof by the board. Rather than appeal, one of the conditions for it was for the color of the roof to be... Can you choose the... So it's a modify the color so the metal roof had already been approved with the condition of it being in a gray or silver rather than appealing that decision the applicant chose to bring it back to the board because they would like to Modify that approval to have it be celestial bronze instead now as said during the previous approval and now staff agrees that that the choice of celestial bronze does not detract from the historic property or from the neighborhood at large. The proposed color does not detract as it matches what has been existing on the house, as well as matching most of the other roofs within the district.

Thank you very much. First of all, I stand for you not only as an appealant, but also as a committed steward of Buena Vista. I'm really invested significantly and meticulously in this area, and I'm very conscious of the visual uniformity that makes this historic district so special. And I respect the board's role in protecting that consistency. However, I'm here to appeal the condition one, which is the roof color, because of this specific instance. I'm not doing it just for my, I want to be clear, I'm not doing it for my personal choice or taste. I'm doing it also for the consistency of the area. Because when you look everywhere, my block is unique. If you look at the four houses next to me or the four houses immediately across from me, they all have direct bronze finishes. Everywhere, dark accents, earth tones. If you do mandate a silver roof, you're not only creating a new formality, you're creating a visual burden. It would be really forcing my home and my neighbors to look at something completely inconsistent with a bright silver roof in a row of only earth and bronze tone finishes. So the idea is to really harmonize everything. Second of all, it's for the visual continuity. The board has previously approved high-quality bronze fenestration, gates, doors, rails, everywhere throughout the house. And architecturally, the building must read as one cohesive thought, not things in bits and pieces. So if you mandate a silver roof, on the house with bronze details, it creates a complete architectural dissonance, which fragments the design of the house, the street, and which is not only a burden for me, but also for my neighbors who have to look at my house every day. And a bronze roof really anchors the home into the approvals you have already done in the past. And third, this is a 1961 non-conforming structure. Sorry, non-contributing structure. So, and it currently, as you look, you know, I can, I have all the pictures here. It has a brown roof since 20 years. So it doesn't even remotely.

Can we stop just one second? Yeah, please. Are we on the wrong item?

No. I'm sorry. You're just, I think this is 56 Northeast 46th Street? Correct. The application in front of us that the staff is recommending approval is that we approve your bronze roof.

Okay, yes.

You don't have to appeal anything. Okay, okay, okay.

The approval is, they're saying approve it. I was very confused also. I'm like trying to... You're all right. Okay, and I just want to know is also that, you know, for sustainable reasons, I put solar panels on it, and that's the reason, the main reason why we put that color too is because that allows the solar panels to blend in. Yeah, no, I think the city agrees with you, so I think you're okay.

Okay, sorry. All right. Go ahead, Doctor.

Can we have a motion then? Are you okay not finishing?

Are you okay not finishing your speech? On what? Are you okay not finishing? Oh, I'm perfectly okay.

Okay, is there anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing no one, we'll close the public hearing and open it to the board for questions or comments.

I have no questions, but I do have a motion. Dr. Haber, if you wish to.

There you go. Okay.

I move to approve as conditioned.

There's been a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? Have a roll call, please.

May I? I'm sorry. I just want to say I appreciate the thought and preparation you put into your presentation. Thank you. That means a lot.

That's right. It was very well written. I agreed with all of it.

Okay, now can we have a roll call, please? Yes.

Calling Vice Chair Luis Prieto y Munoz. Yes. Calling Member Jordan Trachtenberg. Yes. Calling Member Najeeb Campbell. Yes. Calling Member Christopher Cauley.

Yes.

Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Yes. Calling Member John Perez. Yes. Calling Member Robert Powers. Yes. Calling Member Hugh Ryan. Yes. And calling Chair William Hopper. Yes. This passes by a vote of nine to zero as amended. This decision is final unless appealed to the hearing board's office. Within 15 days. Calling help item number five. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your time. Enjoy your roof.

file ID 18781, a resolution of the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board pursuant to section 23-6.2, subsection B4 of the City Code of Ordinances approving or denying a special certificate of appropriateness, SCOA, to permit the installation of a metal roof for a property within the Buena Vista East District, located approximately at 122 Northeast 43rd Street, Miami, Florida, 33137, further incorporating the analysis in the attached staff report entitled Exhibit A with the following findings.

Is the applicant present? Is Ms. Porter here?

Please move forward and give your name and address for the record. Were you sworn in at the beginning? No, I wasn't. Would you do that now, please?

May you raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm the testimony that you will give is the truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you.

Now please give your name and address for the record.

Hi, Robin Porter, 122 Northeast 43rd Street. I am requesting to change my shingle roof to a low-profile metal roof.

Okay, we're going to start with a staff report first.

Oh, okay. Sorry. Okay. Okay, so Karina Gonzalez de Mendoza, historic preservation planner. I'd like to request to submit the staff analysis for the record.

Approved.

So the applicant's request is to allow for a metal re-roofing of a contributing structure. Staff determines that it does not detract from the historic property nor from the district at large. The proposed undertaking has minimal visual impact on the property and the color of it, a coastal gray, is appropriate to the historic district. The standing seam of the metal roof has a low profile, so it doesn't detract from the material. Additionally, other houses within the neighborhood have also installed metal roofs, so it's not something that stands out within the historic district. The undertaking would also enhance the building's resilience to weather conditions and reducing the need for frequent replacements, adding to the resiliency of it. So as the proposed change in roof material would not adversely affect the historic architecture aesthetic character of it, we do recommend approval with conditions as it demonstrates compliance with Chapter 23. The conditions being that the The plans would be included with the permit, the resolution be submitted with the building permit, and at time of permitting, the necessary manufacturers brochure and color photographs would be submitted, and that the applicant would comply with the requirements of all other departments and agencies of the city.

Thank you. Is there anything you'd like to add to the staff report?

I just found out from the prior applicant that I'm at least roof number four unless there's something else in the pipeline, and it would be great if I was the last one to have to come before the HEP, and if this would be something that could be moved administratively to the HEP offices.

I have goals. I have goals.

And they've been phenomenal about their process. But I've also been here since 2002, so I'm familiar with seeing you guys and asking questions and getting answers from people, so.

You're good? So you are good?

I'm sorry?

Are you good?

Oh, no. Yes. This is the last roof I'm going to put on. I'll be dead by the time I get to change it.

Is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak on this item? Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and open up to the board for questions or comments.

I'd like to make a motion.

Well, let's see if anyone, does anyone have a question or comment? Okay, my question is why gray?

Why gray?

I was looking for a light color. I gave them, there was kind of a dove white gray. It was a little lighter. And whatever it is works for me. I'm just looking for something that is the least heat trapping.

Any other questions or comments?

Well, historically, it would have been gray anyway. Right.

Historically, it was a slate roof.

No, no, no. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, it was all slate. I know that neighborhood very, very well. And I know that house. And I also know two or three of the other homes because I renovated them. And I know because my slate, I had to get it down from Connecticut. I actually had to bring a roofer down from Connecticut because there's nobody down here that knows how to put a slate roof on. But nonetheless, that notwithstanding.

Just to be clear, it was rolled slate. What? It was rolled slate.

It was asphalt. Oh, okay. But I'm talking about those houses had real slate roofs on them when they were built, just to let you know. That whole neighborhood did.

The picture's got a 90-pound felt on it. yeah it's rolled slate rolled slate went to shingle and the pitch I've got a similar house and it had a shingle when I bought it asphalt shingle and the pitch isn't steep enough so it leaks so I put a metal roof on it so I think you'll be fine I have a problem with where the but it should be silver two different angles meet on the porch and it just ruins everything it'll be great it goes with the stone

Bob, what were you saying about a motion? Just to make a motion to accept as applied by the city to accept the roof as it is when she wants to put on.

I'll second.

Okay, so there's a motion to approve the application with the submitted conditions as in the staff analysis.

Yes, but in the discussion? Yes.

I just have a quick question about the process with the metal roof. So in general... Metal roofs typically were not allowed, right? In certain neighborhoods. What's going on with that?

Metal roofs were not historically found in most of Miami. In the Grove, we do tend to find some metal shingle, but we don't tend to find metal as a roofing material. So it is one of those, within our guidelines, a change in material does require... It's not... There's no substitute that we can say, based on our guidelines, that a metal roof is appropriate to change that. So the requirement is to change the material to come to the board. That is why we have this process. It is one of the processes that I wish to help, right? Because, so getting back to the earlier roof, right? She had what we call rolled tar, right? And the tax card in the photo will show rolled tar. So we then look at it and go, we're not making you put that back on the house. That would be inappropriate. An appropriate substitution would be an asphalt shingle, generally a three tab, a little bit more lenient with a dimensional tile. They last longer. It would be appropriate for this style house. So we have some flexibility within our guidelines to do that. We don't necessarily have the ability right now to say, She had rolled tar. A metal roof is more sustainable. It is more resilient. It is appropriate. And that is why this board gets to see metal roof changes.

It also takes some interpretation about what kind of metal, because I've got a V-crimp, which I think works perfectly, and it looks like some of the houses in South Carolina or Georgia or wherever, but my next-door neighbor has the same house, and it's like a real...

tall standing scene right it looks like a warehouse on top of this 1914 house right so the profile to this to the steel is accepted it's very important i it and just as an aside it is something that um even i i believe uh uh lisa had alluded to in a previous meeting about Metal substitutes for clay tile if they are an appropriate match in style and color and so there There's a lot that I have goals.

Yeah, so that's kind of where I was gonna do is the idea that this is going to evolve into a change in general to access the material of metal because it is a very sustainable approach for long term of our historic homes, right?

Yes Can we have a roll call now, please?

Calling Member Robert Powers.

Yes.

Calling Member Jordan Trachtenberg. Yes. Calling Member Hugh Ryan. Yes. Calling Member John Perez. Yes. Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Yes. Calling Member Christopher Cawley. Yes. Calling Member Najeeb Campbell. Yes. Calling Vice Chair Luis Prieto y Munoz. Yes. And calling Chair William Hopper. Yes. This passes by a vote of nine to zero as amended. This decision is final unless appealed to the hearing board's office within 15 days. Thank you. Calling help item number six, file ID 18783, a resolution of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board pursuant to section 23-6.2 subsection B4 of the city code of ordinances approving or denying a special certificate of appropriateness SCOA for property within the Buena Vista East Historic District to permit new construction and site improvements on a vacant lot located approximately at 68 Northeast 44th Street, Miami, Florida, 33137, further incorporating the analysis in the attached staff report entitled Exhibit A with the following findings.

The applicant is present. Please give your name and address for the record.

Good afternoon. Doris Allen, temporary, 6365 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, until we hopefully get our house built here.

I'm Jason Allen, 6365 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.

Thank you.

I wish we could have water in here.

We'll start with the staff report.

Ken Kalmas, preservation officer. I ask that the staff report be accepted into the record.

Approved.

So the request today is for the construction of a single-family dwelling on a property within the Buena Vista Historic District. The subject property is vacant and has been vacant since the onset of the district. So you can see the location map and subject property. Again, a bit of the street view. And you can see some of the context within the historic district, notably the two-story structures with balconies, recessed porches, hip roofs are all contextual items that the applicant used. So again, they're proposing roughly a three-bay hip-roofed irregularly masked structure finished in stucco with a clay tile roof structure will have open eaves with wooden brackets see the side elevations and the site plan Staff is recommending approval with conditions. Mostly our standard conditions that the site shall be developed in accordance with the plans prepared by Oscar D. Gonzalez, submitted as part of application PZ2418744. Time of permitting or sub-permitting, manufacturer's brochures or color photographs of proposed design elements and materials, including but not limited to windows, doors, railings, roofing, etc., shall be submitted for approval. All glass shall be clear and or low E tinted and or opaque glass is not allowed. The corbels to be spaced at a rhythm compatible with the facade elements. That's an item that we wish to work on at staff level. The resolution shall be included in the master permit set. The subject property is a non-contributing site and approval of the special certificate appropriateness confers no waivers, warrants, or exceptions pursuant to Chapter 23. The applicant shall comply with all applicable requirements of the Miami 21 Code and Chapter 17 and Chapter 23 of the Miami Code of Ordinances, and the applicant shall comply with the requirements of all departments and agencies as part of the City of Miami building permit submittal process.

Thank you. Is there anything that you would like to add to the staff report?

We accept all the conditions, and we have spent a lot of time in the neighborhood We spent a lot of time in the neighborhood making sure that the house is very similar but not a copy of anything in the neighborhood. We spent a lot of time with different folks at your office, and I think we have pretty much nailed everything we've been asked to do. The original plan was significantly different, but through the advice of your folks down there, we've come up with a good plan that fits into the neighborhood.

Thank you. Is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak on this item? Please come forward and give your name and address for the record.

Elvis Cruz, 631 Northeast 57th Street. I came down here today for two reasons. The first... was to talk about this specific project. I've never met these people, I don't know them from Adam, but I look at the agenda every month, and this project is a fabulous example of what compatible new construction in a historic district should look like. They have an articulated front facade, both vertically and horizontally. They have a covered porch. They have historically accurate ratio of window space to the wall surface. They have a tiled awning over the front window. They have window sills, the balcony, the decorative brackets, and the rafter tails, and to top it off, the pitched roof with the barrel tile. So this is the poster child. I hope every other application that comes before you emulates this sort of caring, this sort of compatibility with a historic district. The second reason I came down here today was to invite all of you to the Morningside Historic and Architectural Walking Tour. I'll be giving two. Friday, February 27 at 11 a.m. And the second one will be Saturday, February 28 at 3.30 p.m. and you'll enjoy learning all about Morningside's beginnings and its fabulous architecture, as well as the neighborhood's connection to famous people, including President John F. Kennedy, Mark Twain, Shirley Temple, G.W. Romer, Robert Duvall, Richard Harris, Pope John Paul II, Howard Johnson, Jim Belushi, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and others. The tour for you guys is free, and not only will it be free, but I will have satisfaction guaranteed or double your money back. So please come, and when you're there, don't talk amongst yourselves, because you're not allowed to do that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to speak on this item? Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing and open up the board for questions or comments. We'll start with Mr. Trachtenberg.

I have a question about your Your first level. Is the reason why the first level is so tall for floodplain reasons? So tall? No, I'm talking, so basically your first level.

Based on the way it appears?

Yeah, basically from, you know, the elevation at 00 to elevation of, I guess, I mean 11.6, let's just say that, but like... trying to understand the proportions between your garage.

The elevation or the height of the first floor?

Where your finished floor is, let's say, and then with that finished, and then with the height of the second story. I'm just curious the proportions, because your garage door and that sort of first floor seems quite tall.

It's a distortion. It's a 10-foot ceiling on the first floor with a two-foot webbed truss, so it's just a distortion. It's not...

I'm just trying to reconcile the height of your windows with the height of your garage in this elevation, right? Because it seems like they're moving in plane. When you look at some of the lines of your house, everything else aligns. And the only thing that doesn't align from a... You see the garage, what I'm talking about, where the garage drops? There's an overabundance of space on top, and I think you put those three little dots there, which I guess are reliefs of some kind.

Is it not clear what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Because it's off. Yeah. They're off. Yes, I'm sorry. I was trying to... Yeah, those are just drains.

Those are drains?

Drains for that patio. Drains from the patio.

You have a draining onto your driveway? Over your garage door?

Well, yeah, it needs to go somewhere, but I guess we could have... to the left.

So your water is being pulled into your slab and then being drained under your slab out the front of your facade?

Well, we have a draining system, and the terminal point of that draining system is pretty much in front of the garage door, more toward the street. But yeah, it's not the optimal place to drain the water, obviously.

gutters on the house. So the gutters are capturing the majority of the rainwater that's coming off of the roof. So what you're capturing is the small uncovered spot on the patio, which would be drained down to the first level. Yeah, those are a huge part of design, not just for water, but the design itself to be there.

The three round holes, the three little circles. I would say one, you shouldn't have a draining into your garage door like that because you're going to have issues as the water comes down. Over your garage door, maybe it's on either side, or maybe you pull it to the side of the house.

Yeah, and it's pretty simple to do. When we do the finishing on the tile patio, we can send it in the other direction. Pitch it to the side, and then you have a gutter there.

Right. And I'll reserve some comments as we cycle through. Thanks.

Ms. O'Dell. I'm sorry, Mr. Powers. Yes.

Yeah, my only question to you is where the front door is and then the window to the right of the front door. Is that one height? And then your front window seems to be at a different height. Follow what I'm saying? It seems a little high. Your front window seems high, a little high. It's not, I can't see that it's in line. But if you tell me that it is in line, then I'll believe you.

Well, they are in line. And I know where this complication came from because we had larger windows on the front porch and working with Ken's people, we changed the height of those. And I don't know.

But yes, they're in line. All right. Dude, it's a beautiful project. It really is. It's a lovely project. It's just, you know, our job is to see these little inconsistencies and point them out. and possibly I agree with Mr. Trachtenberg and somebody else who said while aesthetically they look cool being there they should be first off they should be in line and they should be equally spaced but where the water really should come out is to the side no of course it's it should go to the side so that it's not falling on your driveway or your car when you pull out and

Make it worse. I'm actually a GC, so this is my project, and it will be my house.

All right, great. It would never have ended up that way, but yeah, that's a very good point. Sir, I've worked on houses that had 3,000 square foot things outside on the second floor, and nobody bothered to put in a water stand. So you could hose it off, because people don't think about that. And you should have a hose bib up there, too, on the second floor, so it'd make it easy to wash your windows. I'm just saying, because you have a patio up there. Is that not correct?

Correct.

I mean, not that you see that in the plan, and not that that's architecturally significant, but does anybody think about that? And then the next thing you know, you're throwing a hose down to hook up to the thing to wash down the windows or whatever, unless you hire a window service. I don't like that design in the front, so try to change that a little bit. But other than that, that was my only thing. That window struck me as being higher for some reason. But you go up three steps to go into the house, correct? Correct. So the house sits about two and a half feet off the ground. And you have the crawl space and then your garage is that grade?

Well, the finished floor elevation is 19 feet. A certain height above the crown of the road. And the lot kind of slopes down to the back. Okay. That's why the FFE ended up being that.

Okay. And the roof itself is at the same pitch all the way around? Correct. All right. Thank you.

Ms. O'Dell.

I think it's a great project. It's really a very attractive house. Thank you. You did a great job.

Thank you. Mr. Ryan? I agree. I think if you're a contractor, then you know what's going to work, and you're practical from experience, so beautiful. Let me ask you this. We had this come up earlier tonight. How did you know to go to the city first before coming up with a giant set of plans that cost you a fortune?

Well, I've restored 10 houses in this neighborhood. Okay, okay.

Mr. Allen has a lot of experience with historic preservation office. All right, well, good job.

Thanks, Mr. Cawley.

No, great house. Very nice set of drawings. Congratulations. All good. Thank you very much.

Mr. Campbell.

Thank you. I wanted to firstly follow up with Mr. Trachtenberg about the three drains and the garage door, are you thinking that they should raise the garage door to the height of the front window by being able to remove those drains?

So that's why I wanted to kind of go through, because I wanted to hear what you guys were coming up with to help out with that. I don't want to have an oversized garage door because that's also a problem, but that space is huge. between the top of the garage door and the... Yes, it is. little parapet where the slab would be, right? Yes. So there's some kind of design motif that could happen there.

Okay. Well, secondly, the garage door itself. One thing about being in a historic district on the east side of Taula, not in Kendall, in a Lennar spec home, is the presence of the garage door in the front of the house. That's a typical feature of suburbia. And if you go through the houses in Buena Vista or the historic districts, there's not a direct garage door in front of the house, just like you typically get in suburbia, right? That's one of the main differences architecturally of the housing. And I'm wondering if... you know, in partnering with the fact that it's probably a standard size garage door. That's why it fit there and didn't line up with everything else. So I'm just wondering if you would see the port cocheres throughout the neighborhood. And I'm wondering if this feature, this is the only feature on the house, That makes me wonder if that could be adjusted somehow to take it out of the bracket of the typical suburban home, which is one of the attractive features of the neighborhood, and actually one of the mainstays of the historicity of the homes there is the lack of that typical suburban garage door in the front having to share the front facade.

That was one of the comments from Ken's office, and we submitted probably 10

12 photos of examples of garage doors in the neighborhood but it's not just starting to up it's not just the door but the the positioning of the door opening its presence in the front facade and maybe even if you were to adjust maybe put some shoulder designs in the corner so it's not just square and then maybe the door is set back or you that wall is thickened somewhat so it gets pressed back so it doesn't look like i'm in country walk

Make it more three-dimensional?

Well, that's my comment. And last but not least, in one of the drawings, it seems to be that, I don't know if it's a line drawing problem, but there's some scoring in the concrete. Is that your intention by the drawing? Or is it a drawing mistake? Or you do plan to score the concrete with vertical?

I'm not going to score that. I don't like that detail. It was in the original drawing. Okay, that's good.

That's good Okay, so yeah that Raising the garage door and in the garage door itself are my issues Mr. Perez I Wanted to appreciate the massing the steps I

It looks like you've looked at a lot of the adjacent properties or the properties in the neighborhood. And I appreciate the detailing. I like the exterior space at the entrance, maybe where a bench could be placed, which brings ice on the street. helps the community my my com i i agree i hadn't thought about that but but the notion of the garage door being front and center perhaps pushing it in or maybe even pulling that volume out a bit to create a little bit of three-dimensionality would enhance the house the other the other comment i had is I look at the north elevation and the east elevation, and they're beautiful. The detail, there's dimensionality. The mountains on the doors and on the windows, it's gorgeous. I look at the south and the west elevation, it's like a different house completely. And I understand that it's in the Historic Preservation Department and Board's purview. What's in our purview is what faces the street, maybe just as an architect, I was always taught to make it cohesive. Now, I understand perhaps the desire to not block visibility to the rear, so I acknowledge that, but I guess I would urge you to add some of the beauty that you have put on the north elevation, the east elevation, the west and the south as much as you could find, you know, as much as you can because I think it'll just make it that much more of an exceptional project.

Thank you. Back to the garage door. The garage door is set back. It's not flush with the front of the house. That area that has the little corbels and the The porch top, that whole section is pulled out forward, so it's not flush.

Mr. Chair, I'm not interrupting anybody's turn, but I didn't mean the wall. I meant the door itself.

Well, it's a 10-inch wall assembly, so it's easy to find real estate to push it back to make it.

Well, the door is already paneled like a wood paneling, which is different from the steel, which is good. Which it's not. But the fact that it appears pressed right, they're just like a typical suburban home. That's what's kind of bothering me. And one of the suggestions I've made also was to maybe put some shoulder details in the corners. You go 90 degrees. If you did some concrete filling in there in the corners and they come like this and they go down, that a lot of the port cashiers have where they meet where the vertical meets the horizontal. They have all kind of movements that happen in the port cashiers. Maybe you could mimic that for your garage door instead of this typical square and that heavy suburban feel that it brings to your facade.

Well, we have to go for a separate permit for that anyway. So I guess we could work with you on that design.

If everyone is amenable, a condition could be that the applicant will explore with staff appropriate treatment for the garage door surround.

Yes, yes.

If you're amenable to that.

And just to reiterate my colleague's point about the windows, excellent observation. The west and south elevation of the floor to ceiling glass That's different from the mountain glass and all the facades. So I just want to support that comment.

Mr. Prieto, you can just...

If I can actually add, we have lived in Buena Vista East the entire time we've been in Miami other than our first year. So we've been residents of this neighborhood, homeowners of this neighborhood. We very much try to honor everything, every project we do in there, we try to honor the historic preservation of this neighborhood. So the feedback does not go unnoticed. Obviously, Jason worked very closely with Ken's team. And yes, the back does look a little different from the front, but that is something that our yard is only the yard seeing the front of the house. We always want to make sure we are maintaining a historic look to it. That's really the only area we could play with to have a little bit of a different design, but with the interior still matching appropriately with what we're doing on that back invisible wall. Just wanted to add that.

I have one more question. Wait a minute.

I have no comments. I think it's a lovely project.

Thank you. Okay, yes, Mr. Powers.

Yes, so because everybody's had this thing with the space above the garage. Is there any way to like, you know how you have that beautiful thing over the window in your front bedroom downstairs? Is there any way to do something like that over that garage?

I don't think that's a bad idea, personally.

Because when you park your car and it's raining, it would be nice to be able to run up to that side of the thing and go under something of cover. Yeah, I mean, it'll require... I mean, it's three feet. I notice that it's three feet back. That would satisfy that space because it does just look funny, guys. I'm just saying it just looks funny because you put so much time and effort into creating such a beautiful thing.

Is this your forever home?

My only other suggestion, it's just a suggestion, from dealing with people as they get older, your bathroom downstairs... Make it a shower that you can just walk into. Don't make it something you have to step over. I'm just saying because eventually that day will come where you will have to live downstairs. There will be no going upstairs. Or a parent will have to come stay. And I'm just telling you, biggest mistake I see people make when they redo a bathroom is making that step that people... Don't do that. If you can design that bathroom differently on the first floor off of that bedroom, that would be a very wise thing for you to do. And I hate to bring up the idea that you'll get old, that you will, and it comes faster than you know. That would be my only other suggestion.

I would second that from experience.

I'm serious. Because one day you're going to say, damn it, when we did that, we should not have done that.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. You will.

You will someday. And finally, you should bring that up because that was going to be my suggestion, too, about over the garage.

Speaking on the microphone, please.

That would be my only other comment.

Any other comments from anybody? Are we ready for a motion?

I can offer a motion, Dr. Harper. Please. So I move to approve with the eight conditions included by staff and a new condition nine that the applicant will explore a treatment for the garage door with staff. Second.

Second. Any discussion on the motion?

With the possibility of the suggestion that Mr. Powers made. Is that a discretionary suggestion, Bob, or did you want that to be added as a condition? I think they're going to look at it.

The man wouldn't have said what he said if he wasn't going to do it, I don't think.

If I may, we make condition 9 the door surround. The applicant will explore the introduction of a garage door surround. And we will make condition 10. The applicant will explore... the introduction of a shed awning over the garage, and those will both be approved by staff.

Yes, I wish to revise my motion as just written. I accept those amendments.

What about the drainage?

The drainage, he said that he wasn't quite there yet with how that was going to be. I would suggest that you put it out the side. 100%. I would keep the design elements, but just space them out.

That would be explored during the shed roof, the shed awning part.

Okay, great. Okay? Yeah, good.

We good? We have...

Right.

So we have a motion that has been seconded and both... MAKER OF THE MOTION AND THE SECONDER HAVE APPROVED THOSE, THE WORDING OF THOSE NEXT TWO CONDITIONS.

SO WE HAVE 11 CONDITIONS NOW.

NO, 10. WE'RE INCLUDING THE DRAINAGE IN 10. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ON THE MOTION? WE HAVE A ROLL CALL, PLEASE.

YES. CALLING VICE CHAIR LOUIS PRIETO Y MUNOZ. YES. CALLING MEMBER HUGH RYAN. YES. CALLING MEMBER NAJEEB CAMPBELL. YES. CALLING MEMBER CHRISTOPHER CAULEY.

YES.

Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Yes. Calling Member John Perez.

Yes.

Calling Member Robert Powers. Yes. Calling Member Jordan Trachtenberg. Yes. And calling Chair William Hopper. Yes. Okay, this passes by a vote of nine to zero. As amended, this decision is final unless approved. Hearing boards, within 15 days.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Calling help item number seven, file ID. 18782, a resolution of the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, pursuant to section 23-17 of the City Code of Ordinances, approving or denying an application for an ad valorem tax exemption, part two, for the individually designated historic resource known as the Walgreen Drugstore, located approximately at 200 East Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, 33131. Further incorporating the analysis in the attached staff report entitled Exhibit A with the following findings.

The applicant's attorney is present.

Alexandra Simo here on behalf of the applicant. Office is at Bills and Sundberg, 1450 Brickell Avenue, accompanied by my colleague, Javier Vino.

Thank you, and we'll start with the staff report. Gabriel Alvarez, City of Miami, planning technician.

So I want to take a minute and introduce Gabriel Alvarez. He is a very important member of staff who I am certain most of the board has never met before. He is our planning technician. He's responsible for 99% of our intake, a lot of our scheduling and planning, a lot of my calendar, and he also Helps administer very very well the ad valorem program that we're really trying to get back started and our TDD TDR Program as well. So he's he's a very valued member and I'm happy to have him presenting before you today Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you Well, we presented a ad valorem tax exemption for historic property part two and THE APPLICANT IS REQUESTING APPROVAL FOR THE PROPERTY ACCESS EXCEPTIONAL HISTORIC RESOURCES PART TWO, A PROPERTY LOCATED ON DOWNTOWN MIAMI COMMERCIAL HISTORY DISTRICT, CONTRIBUTING PROPERTY, AND ALSO NATIONAL HISTORIC PLACES. THIS APPLICATION PART TWO WAS APPROVED ON SEPTEMBER 2025. but have resolution R25030. Sorry. Okay, improvements. are the cleaning of facade by large pressure water and stain removal, new thinnage, extended mezzanine concrete slab with catwalk, new steel and glass staircase and glass railings, new storefront and rooftop area, rooftop restaurant, repair of elevators, structural repair and waterproofing, new interior fire stairs, and interior mechanical, electrical, plumbing, gas, fire sprinkles, fire alarm, mechanical exhaust system, and dock work. All the complementary work meets the standard of the Miami guidelines for historic sites and districts as approved in the special certificate of appropriateness issued by preservation staff. Preservation staff have reviewed the complete work in accordance with the vision 2. Section 2319 of the City Code found that the work complies with the resolution HBR 21008. Conclusion. The applicant has demonstrated compliance with Chapter 23 entitled Historic Preservation of the City of Miami Code of Ordinances and the Secretary of the Interior Standards. The stand finds the request complies with all applicable criteria. Recommendation pursuant to Section 23-14 of the City of Miami Code of Ordinance as amended in the Secretary's Standards, the Planning Department recommends approval of the application for the ad valorem tax exemption for historic property part two.

Thank you. Anything you'd like to add to the staff report?

Yes. Thank you, Chair, members of the board, for your time tonight. So this is the historic Walgreens site, as Gabriel mentioned. I just want to give a little bit of context. This site has been before this board several times for the approval of special certificates of appropriateness in accordance with the improvements that have been made on the site. So you guys have seen the plans. They have been approved. At this point, we're just here on the ad valorem piece. The part one was approved, as Gabriel mentioned, on September 2nd. Now we're here before you for part two. And once we get approval here, we can move forward with the county's process. So we appreciate staff's hard work. We really appreciate Ken and Gabriel working with us and Savan. And we hope to bring this to a close. And thank you over here for any comments or questions.

Thank you. Anyone from the public wishing to speak on this item? Seeing no one, I will close the public hearing and open up to the board for questions or comments. Any questions to my left or to my right? Yes, Mr. Perez.

I wasn't part of this original approval.

Get closer to your microphone.

Yes, I wasn't part of this original approval, so these questions may seem redundant. This application has to do with new scope of work, to be approved. Okay. I guess my only comment is, it's already built. Okay, cool.

Yeah, you can go visit the site Julian Henry's. Yeah, no, it's confusing.

No, I love the place. And I think whether these were done already, these storefront windows are great and keeping the character of Miami.

So the tax exemption piece is just in accordance with the scope of work that was already approved and almost done.

Chair, I have a motion. Yes, please. Move to approve.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion on that motion?

Yeah, I think that we hope to see many more tax ad valorem in our days here to come. Yes. I'll echo that. Jordan.

Can we have a roll call, please?

Calling Vice Chair Luis Prieto y Munoz.

Yes.

Calling Member Jordan Trachtenberg. Yes. Calling Member Hugh Ryan. Yes. Calling Member Robert Powers. Yes. Calling Member John Perez. Yes. Calling Member Julie O'Dell. Yes. Calling Member Christopher Cawley.

Yes.

Calling Member Najeeb Campbell. Yes. Calling Chair William Hopper. Yes. Okay, this passes by a vote of nine to zero.

Thank you all. Have a good night.

The next item is the HEP item one discussion item, file ID 18714, the 2026 annual HEP training.

I'm going to ask the board if there's no objection. We defer that indefinitely until I have a chance to develop the training that I have in my head for you all. Unfortunately, I have not had a lot of time to focus.

So if we deny that, that means you have to come on the spot.

It means I got to come up with something on the spot. And trust me, I can.

So it's not just that Ken isn't prepared. We are developing a full workshop for all of our board members that we'll do in the month of August. And I think it'll cover a lot of the things that you guys have also been asking for. The goal is to have some breakout groups, some training, you can do your ethics refresher at that time as well. So it'll be more of a day to celebrate the work that you've done, but also provide some training and get through some of the specific things that you guys have asked for as well. And it won't just be focused on HEP. If you want to come and listen to PSAB stuff or Art in Public Places stuff, that'll be up to you. But there'll be some different types of trainings that we'll do, and then you'll be invited to all of them.

Will you provide lunch too? That is the hope.

We can find that in the historic budget. Mr. Chair, I have an item.

Oh, wait. We have to vote on this. Is there a motion to indefinitely postpone this? Second. Motion to second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

This is a spy report. I wanted to ask the staff, Ken, are you familiar with this project in the Riverside District, 337 Southwest 10th Avenue? It's a two-story, typical two-story walk-up 1920s building.

What's the address again?

337 Southwest 10th Avenue. they've done a ton of work on it. And basically it got my attention because they kind of did what I would consider Mickey Mouse sugar cube, where they totally flat stuccoed it, scraped off.

Is that the Alpena?

It was the Alpena. It was the Alpena. The Alpena's gone.

Okay, so what I'm going to ask you to do is please send an email to code enforcement with me cc'd on it. that you believe that work has been done on this property that was done not in accordance with our guidelines or without a COA, and then I will follow up with a review of our files and follow up with code enforcement.

Okay, well, just, I will do that?

Because I'm not familiar with work.

Okay, well, did they pull a permit on that? I'm sorry? Did they pull a permit?

Off the top of my head, I don't know.

Okay, because the windows are sliders. They've scraped off everything historical about it. They basically, short of cutting off the parapets, they made it a Mickey Mouse sugar cube. Smooth stuck with it, scraped off the alpina. It got rid of the bands under every window. Every detail that made it historic is gone. I'm happy that people are spending money, but this same thing happened right next door to the building I own, and apparently what they were required to do is try to recreate some of the emblems and shields, and it looks like Epcot Center. It looks ridiculous. So I'd like this one to be done correctly, because the thing that makes these unique is the stucco name or... the details that are in the exterior. And this goes back to what I've said for as long as I've been up here. If we don't have anyone in the field to inspect from historic, then they do whatever they want. So they scraped this clean like they did the Thomas Jefferson around the block, like they did the one next door to my house. So I'll write an email, but just so you're aware that the Alpena doesn't exist anymore.

So there is an application. It does appear that there is an application in, I don't know, they're in pre-screen. So that's actually in Gainesville's court. Oh, no, no, like it.

it came in today so we're trying to it it may be well we've also had ones in this neighborhood where the where there was a mix-up and they put in these sliding windows and that doesn't fit either these guys just popped them in so so likely what what has happened is they may already have

been cited, I don't know, and are in the process of trying to move that forward. Either way, please contact email code, CC me on it, I will follow up and say this is the status of all this, and that way we can make sure that it is moving through the proper channels, which unfortunately doesn't always happen, but we've caught it now.

Okay. I'll do that. And also, the one next to my building, which I don't... It's like 1017 Southwest 4th Street. It's the mirror of five of the exact same four-unit buildings on that corner. And what they did there was the same thing. They just put in the windows they wanted, scraped it clean. Everything remarkable is off of it. But... Instead of coming in front of us, they, I guess, were told to do something, and it looks ridiculous. So if there's any way, I don't know if the Alpena people could come in front of us so we can tell them what we think.

Well, if they removed the historic texture, I... People refer to windows as eyes. The stucco is the skin, right? And so your skin is your largest organ. The stucco is the largest historic fabric on a structure generally. So if they have smoothed that out, they will either have to rectify that, and we will have to make sure of that, or if they wish to do something different, they will have to come before this board, and the board can say yay or nay on that. Right. Okay. Well, I'm glad I said, so yeah.

All right. So along the same lines, I, I, I have, I have, I have, I started speaking first.

Okay. So I didn't hear you.

That's all.

I was along the same lines. You are aware of what is going on at the Bacardi building.

So the structure to the north, which is not within our purview, has been demolished.

Right.

So I'm wondering. There's a proposal for a new tower on that site. Again, not within our purview.

But what I'm wondering is within our purview. So our purview. Let me finish. I'm sorry.

Is within our purview the wall that goes around the entire property, the blue tile wall? My understanding is a section of that blue tile wall, not the entirety of it. Okay. Yes. It would be the southern... Third, where the blue building stands around to where the orange pavilion is. And our purview does not go all the way to the street.

Thank you very much.

So, yes. So I did have somebody come to me the other day and say, how did the Bacardi building get demolished? So that's how my day started the other day. So, yeah, so I'm familiar with what's going on at the site. All right.

So to the board, just to let you know, because in our historic district, we have 7700 Northeast 77th Street Road, which has now been boarded up that had people living in it just a month ago. And part of that problem is that's an apartment house. It's right on the corner of our roundabout at the end of the boulevard, 5th Avenue, that goes into Manatee Bend Park. A year ago, they sent out things soliciting people for sales to build something there. And the thing is, is that that's a contributing property. And that hasn't come before our board.

It's not. The application isn't ready to come before the board. What? The application is not ready to come before the board. There's an application in. It will work through the process. And when it is ready to come before the board, it will come before the board. All right. So you are. I am. Yes. Well, no, no. I am.

So many times things are already knocked down and demolished. And by the way, so just another piece of information. Whenever a piece of property comes up for sale in my neighborhood, I call the real estate agents and ask them what they know about that neighborhood that they're selling their lots. Because you asked that question, Mr. Perez. A couple of other people asked that question. Real estate agents just lie or they don't find out. Okay? So the thing was, is I informed that woman. that there was a restriction to what could be built on that property because the picture they have up on 77th, I'm on 66th, so this would be 76th Street. The photograph they have up is one of these sugar loaf key things that they want to build, sugar things that they want to build there. And I called her up and I said, you can't build that there because the property that was ripped down was done. And I found that out by calling up Ken, so I wasn't speaking, you know, I wasn't speaking off the cuff. And I said, I just want to make you aware whoever buys that property is required and restricted into what they can build there. And so I had other people call that real estate agent to see what she would say to them. She didn't heed that at all. She just said, oh, it's for sale for X number of dollars and there's no restrictions on it and so forth and so on. Now, I will tell you, I sat in the county on a special board meeting that I was asked to sit on. So now on all your tax cards for the city of Miami and every property in Dade County, it will be listed as whether the house is in a historic district. So that was done through that committee, which I was asked to chair. So we did that. So now every time a piece of property, you get your tax bill, it'll say on there that it's in a historic district. So there will be no more I didn't know, right? And they'll also be supporting documentation underneath it. But I just wanted to let you guys know, we have that going on. And I think that if you're a real estate agent and you actually say that out of your mouth, that's fraud. That's just fraud. And they should lose their license to participate in selling any property in the city of Miami. That's just the way I think it should be handled.

But I find it offensive that they do that.

And that's part of our problem. Having sold real estate, specifically dealing with historic and antique properties for almost 10 years, I don't say you're wrong.

Thank you. I just wanted to put the board on notice, especially you, Mr. Cawley, and a bunch of other people who live up in that upper northeast side, to keep your eye on that property. They boarded it up poorly. They didn't even do a nice job boarding it up, which I'm going to call up. I think we should all call up code enforcements. And by the way, I had to, that is actually our lever to level fines against people as code enforcement. So that's our leveler for our board. But thank you very much.

Anything else come before the board? Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion to second. All in favor say aye. Opposed? Thank you. See you next month.

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