Design Review Board - Regular Meeting

Good morning. We are live in the chambers. Can you hear us? Can hear perfect. All right. Thank you. We do have Mr. Subrata-Bazoo, Mr. Mariano Corral, Mr. Christian Rodriguez, Mr. Danny Guerra, and yourself, Chair Baena. So we do have, oh, and Angel Lopez. So we do have a quorum.

Do we need Mr. Uribe?

We do. He looks like he's still trying to connect to audio.

Okay. Do we wait for him then?

If you don't mind.

Yeah, let's wait a couple of minutes.

Morning, everybody. Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I guess we can get started. Yeah. Okay, let's go. Start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let's do a roll call. Again with the city staff.

Yes, Marcus Lightfoot here in the chambers along with Mark Alvarez of the Corradino Group.

Thank you.

Alex Uribe with the city attorney's office.

Thank you, Alex. Let's do a board roll call.

Mariano Corral.

Daniel Guerra. Morning, and Javier Baena. Mr. Rodriguez. There you go. Mr. Serrani, Mr. Uribe, please. Good morning.

Everybody who is going to be providing testimony today, if you're a presenter or you would like to provide public comment, I need you to please turn on your cameras and unmute yourselves at this time. and if you uh okay i see miss pinon please and i see also at chambers please raise your right hand wait i'm admitting someone else if you're going to be giving testimony i need you to please turn on your cameras and unmute your microphone and please raise your right hand do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, you may proceed.

Just a minute, Mr. Uribe. You are supposed to be live, not a picture of yourself. Isn't that the requirement?

They are for the applicants providing testimony, but I am happy to oblige, sir.

There you go. I got to look at you. I got to look at you. Thank you, sir. Good morning.

Good morning, Mr.

Chair, you may proceed.

Yeah, there is another person that just entered the meeting. I don't know who that is, but I don't know if they will be presenting. So Marcus, first item.

Yes, the first item is DRB-2026-005. The applicant is Dayron Gallardo. The location is 7041 Southwest 63rd Court. This request is for new construction, two-story.

Good morning, this is Mark Alvers with the Cordino Group for the City of South Miami Planning Staff. I do have a short presentation. This is an application that we heard a month ago. It is the applicant is Daron Gallardo and the owner is Peacock Construction. It's at 7041 Southwest 63rd Court for a two-story single-family home. We have received... Mark, quick question.

We're not seeing any presentation. We're seeing the audio equalizer. Okay. Give me one second. I was afraid of that. No worries. Just want to make sure that we all get the presentation.

Do you see it now?

Yep.

Yep. Okay. Thank you. It's a location of 7041 Southwest 63rd Court, just north of Sunset, and it is one lot of record, 0.22 acres. The lot of record is currently, there is a single family home there, and it is a legal lot, but it is a non-complying lot. being the requirement is 10,000 square feet for RS3 and it's 9,396. The frontage is compliant. We did make a presentation before and we had missed the actual dimensions. It is compliant on the frontage. It is surrounded by RS3 on all sides. As far as its consistency with the RS3 requirements, what's been presented to us, both the first time and with the revisions is entirely consistent with the RS3 code, both in terms of the building footprint setbacks and heights. As far as landscape goes, the landscape is also modified. This is the modified landscape plan. And we again, based on the tables and the number of trees, we have found it to be compliant with the RS three requirements. That's the original one. As a comparison in this, I'm going to do something a little bit different. Usually I just show you what is before us, but I'm going to show both the the prior one and the original one. So in the case of the design, this is up to the board, but the design, the front elevations have been modified based on board comments. The top one is the modified elevation that's before us today. And the lower one is the original that was provided a month ago. And they have, of course, added additional glazing, particularly on the second story on the right side. The left side elevation and the right side elevations, the modified ones, are a little different, but basically it's about the same from what we can see. There's a little bit of additional glazing in those. Elevations, excuse me. On the rear elevation, I think it's, again, a little bit different, but I think before it had a substantial amount of glazing. I remember the applicant had mentioned that there was a great desire for privacy in most of the issues that the board had, and most of the comments that the board had were about the front elevation. So our recommendation, based on the It's sufficient in its form. It's consistent with the code. And, of course, we would always have the additional procedural recommendations that would comply with Florida Building Code. And any comments from the board would be conditions as well. I'm going to flip it back, if you want, to the front elevation. Or I'll just stop the presentation, if you wish. Let me know where you want to go. Thank you. I'm done with my presentation. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Is there anybody else presenting?

We do have the applicant here. Can you turn off the presentation?

The applicant I see has their hand raised, but I don't believe we can hear them. Okay.

Can you hear us?

We can hear you now.

Yes. Can we share our screen to show you the renderings?

Yes, you can. You definitely can.

Okay.

There should be a green button at the bottom that says share, and then you can choose whichever monitor you have.

Yes, we just wanted to talk to you about the changes that we made on the plans after the meeting. uh because we understand that we were a little bit stubborn with the balconies on the side and and after the the last meeting we understand that what was the point so we actually uh change um the floor plan of the second floor uh to comply we move um We reorganized the layout of the bedroom so they could have windows and more glazing to the front and to the back. We understand that it's making more sense than before. The other presentation, we had the bathroom and the closets near the facade. That was the reason we were having the balconies in the laterals. But now with the new layout, we could keep all the bedrooms, the glazing and windows, you know. Now we are like very, very happy with the design. We believe that it's more, it functions very well, even better than before. And the renderings, This is like the final result. So now it's up to you to give us comments. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ma'am, if I could get your name and address for the record, please.

My name is Amaya Romero. We are the ones in charge of the design. And our address is 10804 North Kendall Drive, Miami, Florida. Perfect.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Rivett. I believe that's the end of the presentation, correct?

Yes, yes.

All right. Thank you so much. We'll start with public comment. Anybody in chambers who would like to speak? There's nobody in the chambers but Steph.

I'm sorry. If anybody on Zoom would like to speak, please indicate by raising your hand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Uribe. Nobody in chambers. Let's go with board members. Mariano, would you like to start?

Oh, OK. Let's begin with the tree survey. You need to correct the tree survey because one of the things that it shows on the tree survey in the front of the property that the power line runs along the entire length of the property line going from south to north. In reality, the power line is across the street. There are no power lines running in front of this property. The only power line that is running through is through the side yard on the south property. So have the survey make that correction. Number two, and by the way, the reason because of that, there's a slew of various reasons on like if it's raining and you got power lines, you can actually get electrocuted when you're touching a wet truck, okay? Very rare, but it does happen. And on top of that, with hurricanes, it's an issue. And I would have said, hey, if you want to remove some of these trees because of that, so that's the reason why I'm saying have your surveyor correct that. Two, I want staff to review the architectural and landscape plans that the proposed drain field matches the septic system plans as per the sheath SSP that is noted on the architect site plan. Three, mitigation. The mitigation is incorrect. Alexander thick of sperma elegans are invasive, so I'm giving him credit for removing that and not having to mitigate. However, he does have to mitigate for the avocado tree number four, which is 24 inches. He does have to mitigate for the mango tree, number 14, which is 36 inches. He does not have to mitigate for the camphor tree. And what I would like for the African landscape architect where it says this position and he has removed to put the reason. It's invasive. If he wants to remove it because of conflict of the design, Dussault said that we know, and in case in the future somebody looks at this, they understand why those trees were removed. The legend is also incorrect. The calculations based on the number of trees, they show that it's 15, but when you go down to the shrubby area, they're saying that you only have to require to place, how much was it? 60 shrubs. Well, no. He's proposing 15 trees. plus four palms. So based on that, it's 150 shrubs that is required, and out of that, 30% obviously have to be native, and on the trees, 50% of the trees have to be native. One more issue on something, but I'm going to overlook it only because I could not find it in the code. He's replacing palm trees one by one, and I kind of like that. but I'm not sure Marcus can later on correct it or correct me right now if it's based on inches or it's based on a one-to-one type of palm.

So through the Chair, we do not give any credit for palm trees other than if it's an existing cabbage palm that's already on the site. But we give no credits for mitigation for palm trees. We give mitigation for palm trees as site trees. The only time when we give any type of credit, and it is one-to-one, is when it's used as a street tree, but only 30% of your street trees may be palm trees.

Got you. So anyway, the trees, the palm trees that are removing are sable palms. So they're proposing for vicha palms, but if my understanding is that whenever you're mitigating, you're supposed to put native trees or native palms back on the site. Am I correct on that, Marcus?

The code is silent on whether it has to be native, but definitely it has to be a hardwood tree. You cannot, we don't allow any type of mitigation to be satisfied by palm trees.

Okay, but we do follow Miami-Dade County Landscape Code, correct? Yes. And that's where that is also. And it's also on your definition, See, this is what I say to everyone, including architects. Read the freaking codes and read the definition. In there, you're going to find a slew of information that can be beneficial to you as well. It can, you know, you don't commit any errors. continuing on the legend also the street trees calculation should be placed under this the street trees of 35 feet on center because you do not have any power lines along the right away so having said that uh from that aspect those are the minor things that he has to make a correction on and he's going to have to also take a second look at the amount of trees that he has because 50% have to be native. But here's the catch. If he meets the three trees per lot native, then anything else above that is actually for the better of the project, whether it's native or non-native. As long as he meets the three required trees to be native, And if he's good to go. That's why I'm not objecting to using the for the eighth law great morals, which will make it very nice. Otherwise, from that aspect. I mean, there's an improvement in the landscape from that aspect. At least he addresses it. And the only thing I will tell the developer is be careful when you're removing the home and you're starting to remove some of these trees. that the other canopy trees are basically pruned back carefully so that you don't lose that character and you're able to move your equipment in so be able to construct your home without a problem. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mariano. Basu, would you like to go first? Next.

No, I don't have any specific comments. I think it's improvements from improvement over the last Submission.

Thank you, Sue.

Angel. No, I don't know. Well, I don't have any specific comments. Amaya, thank you very much for making the changes on the plan. I think you, you know, I saw that you were visibly upset last time and that was not my intent. You know, I just, I wanted to, you know, what was best for the project and I think the plan works now. I think the openings make sense. The floor plan makes sense. The elevations are consistent. Materials are balanced. The glazing is balanced. I don't really have any comments. I appreciate you making the changes. I know it's a lot of work to move around some of these cores, the bathrooms and all of that, but I think it's a huge improvement. I would just say add some lighting. I know it's probably not part of your presentation right now, but that's maybe some sconces and I think it's good.

Thank you, Angel. Christian, would you like to go?

No comments. I agree. I think the changes that they've made from our last meeting have improved it, so I'm good with it.

Thank you, Christian. And Daniel? Daniel?

No, my comments were covered. I have nothing more to add. Thank you for making the changes.

Thank you, Daniel. I think the last one to comment on this. Yeah, the changes to the facade really improved the project. So I'm also very happy with it. I don't have any other comments. So I think we can make a motion.

Is there a motion by board member? I make a motion for approval. based on staff comments and board member comments.

Thank you. Is there a second? A second. Thank you. Let's vote. Mariano? Yes. Angel? Yes. Christian? Yes. Basu? Yes. Daniel?

Yes.

And I vote yes as well. Thank you so much for your presentation.

Thank you.

Marcus? Second applicant?

So the second applicant is DRB-2025-007. The applicant is Enrique Bello. The location is 6126 Southwest 58th Street, and this is a request for new construction. It's a one-story home. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning again. This is Mark Alvers with the Corardina Group for the City of South Miami Planning Staff. And I have a short presentation. We're just waiting for it. So again, this is for a one-story single-family home, new construction at 6126 Southwest 58th Street. The applicant is Anita Pignon, and the owner is Algebe LLC. I want to point out that we have an error on the staff report on the owner, and we will change it for the record. But the owner is Algebe LLC in Hialeah, Florida. The location is on the corner of 62nd Avenue and 58th Street, not just a stone throwaway, so to say, from Brewer's Alley. It is zoned RS3 and is surrounded entirely by RS3 homes. This property is vacant at the moment, other than a clothesline that's been on it for a long time. It's 0.35 acres. It's compliant with the RS3 zoning code. both in terms of frontage as well as the area. Again, we have reviewed this. Everything that has been provided to us for the plans of this home, of a one-story home, complies with the zoning code as the zoning code is right now. I know many of you are aware that that will be changing, but in any case, this is compliant with the existing zoning code and would be with the future one. both in terms of the site itself and the building coverage, the impervious area, the setbacks, and the heights. I would note that on the drawings, and it's a small thing, that the applicant has shown the 18 feet as the height of the roof. It's actually, they went to the top of the roof instead of the midpoint, and we have used 14 feet in the staff report, which is the midpoint.

Thank you.

The landscaping plan, again, by the tables, by what we have right on the tables, is compliant with the Section 20-4.5 requirements for RS3. We find that it complies in terms of the mitigation requirement and the number of trees. And I will note that the issue comes up. We do have a power line on this side of 62nd Avenue on the east side. So the front, excuse me, this is a one-story home. This is the elevation of the front and the west side, which would be the 62nd Avenue side. These are both of the sides that are exposed to the streets. And we see that it's basically a fairly neutral colorway, and there is... more to the side of the glazing and probably a little less to the front. And that will be something for the board to discuss. To the rear of the property is extensively glazed. This is the interior. The rear would be an interior side and on the east side, which would also be an interior side. It is glazing with some groupings. Again, the colorways are fairly neutral with the tan wood finish and the gray roof. Our recommendation based on the code would be to approve it. However, we have a few sufficiency comments. The first one is that the drainage plan that was provided to us is sheet A0-02. We would require it to be signed and sealed by the PE. It's very well done, but it is signed by the architect. We would also need to show this is not a stringent requirement, but we noted that the site plan does not show what the fencing or wall would be on the interior sides. There's an existing chain link fence on both sides. We would ask the applicant to provide whether they're going to retain the existing chain link fence or build a new wall so that we would be able to evaluate it. Again, it's not a hard comment because the applicant could decide to do that fencing at a later time under a separate permit. For plan consistency, we have no comments. And procedurally, of course, that would be compliant with the Florida Building Code and any comments or suggestions by the board.

Thank you.

We do have the applicant here. I believe Ms. Pinon is here.

Through the chair, Mr. We have two AIs running in the background.

I don't know. Do we?

I removed two that I had seen at the beginning of the meeting, but I am not.

Okay. I just saw the notes in the chat. Okay. If they're gone, they're gone. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Please proceed.

I'll go ahead and start very quickly.

if you'd like to provide a presentation that would be the time your beauty hello there we go yes okay thank you it wasn't allowing me to mute hi everyone my name is anita pinon i'm the architect on this project um for lgb llc um As you saw a brief summary of the project there. I do have a presentation that I can show if you wish it's most of those main documents. Perfect. Let me go ahead and share screen here. Okay. Let me know when you see my screen.

We can see it now.

Okay, great. Right. Here's the project LG precedence. As you mentioned, it's 6126 Southwest 58th Street to five bedroom five bath and it is along the corner that does have a power line running along 62nd Avenue. So you'll You'll note here, this is the front view of the home, the location, the survey. These are the neighboring properties all along are one story as well. This owner decided to do a one story just to kind of keep it similar with what's in the neighborhood in the surrounding area. This is the front and the rear. The rear does have a lot of glazing that faces mostly the pool area and the rear yard to kind of really embrace that space. While the front is more privatized, we do have a lot of natural cladding. We're going with a soft bright white and then an off-white color for the home to make it very natural and warming tones. This is the site plan for the lot. As you can see, we've maximized the amount of coverage allowed. And we provided the home as further away from this main 62nd Avenue as much as possible. That was one of the requests by allowing the driveway and everything to kind of come in from the more private side than the 62nd Avenue side. One of the main concerns for the client as well was that this is on a very, could be busy corners, a lot of cars coming in this way. So we did provide a smaller, as allowed, you know, small fence on the front just to kind of provide a little bit of extra security from the home in case, you know, there's any cars or anything. um coming in from that main street here um we also provided as allowable fence um on the side of the 62nd avenue and along the front and the front here um yes as of now we have not provided any fences on the side i know that's one question that they just brought up um the The grading on the side is very simple. The home is at 10 NGBD. It's one foot above BFE, which is nine. We've graded it very slightly from nine to eight and then kind of grading into the existing grades of the property, providing a swale all the way across and around. And then this is the first floor plan showing the basic planning. Most of the public areas in the home are here at this front entry. And then here kind of wrapping around this pool and covered terrace area, while a lot of the bedrooms and privatized areas are more on this side. We also have another bedroom here as well. We have a laundry and coming in from the garage area that kind of separates that garage area from the main public spaces in the home. This is the elevations, very simple, very clean. We do have some minor windows on the sides to provide some lighting into some of those spaces and of course egress windows for each of the bedrooms. This is the rear and the other side as well. Very minimal windows to the sides just to provide some more clarity into some of these spaces. And this is the rear view, which is the majority of the glass. And then landscaping, you'll see this is the tree survey. the tree disposition and then showing the new design, which one of the comments or wants from the owner was to provide a good amount of vegetation along the edge of 62nd to provide a sound and visual barrier from that main road and also to kind of encase this rear yard to provide it kind of more of a scenery within the rear portion. We've also provided, you know, looked at all of the sight lines, everything required for the hardscaping and the landscaping at the front as well, which we can show here, the irrigation. And here you see your impervious area exhibit for the driveway in the front portion. And more details on that hardscaping and the pool and the hardscaping in the rear as well. And in a gist, that's basically the project.

Thank you very much. I believe that's the end of the presentation. Anybody else presenting on the project? No. All right. We'll start with a public comment.

There's nobody in the chambers but staff.

Thank you. Let's go with more members. Mariano?

Let's start with the grading. If we can go there, please. Just a couple of things that I'm concerned with. I'm glad that Mark brought up the fact about the fencing because along 62nd Avenue and while the landscape architect has shown a Tremendous amount of buffering if you want to call it because of the privacy here's the deal take a look at the gate or the fence that comes from the house and 90 degrees and They're calling out for a six foot high wall and fence or gate So what is that connection between the four foot and the six foot is gonna look like so that detail? I've got to be looked at now me personally, but again, this is code and I wouldn't mind if they went six foot high along 62nd Avenue because it is a very high travel road. It gives them that privacy and protection. But that's me. That's up to them whether that will be allowed or not from that aspect. But that connection of 90 degrees between a four foot high wall and that six foot high wall, what that's going to look like, I think that I would suggest, Anita, take a good look how you're going to make that transition, okay?

Yes.

The other thing is that you have a 2% minimum slope that you're calling out for. In reality, you have 4.5% slope. Nothing wrong with that except for one issue. You have to contain your water within your property. And so at the property line, you may have to put some sort of a metal gutter to collect the water to retain it. The gate contour can continue On the right away, but you're going to have to bring another eight contour within your property to stop that water. Okay. So then you can slope down because in actuality between 7.7 and 9.42 gives you that 4.5% slope. So you, but again, the property line is your edge. That's what you got to look at. Otherwise, the other thing is your soil area guarantee you a two and a half foot wide soil area. will not be able to collect all the water that's going to be coming down on a zone area like this. Your soil area, and this I'm only talking from experience, probably is going to be wider than that. But if you were to lower your entire site by two inches, that can become part of your collective of water. And then you can have that soil area increased to about three or four feet wide. drop down to four inches, that's an additional help to be able to collect. And nobody will even see it. That large space, two inches, nobody will see it. And here's the other question. Do you have a drain fuel and septic tank here, or is this a storm?

No, we have connections from the municipal nearby.

Beautiful. Okay. So now to get back to the landscape very quickly. Let me just say this because I really like what this guy did. They're this professional, this gentleman. There's certain things that, again, I'm not sure whether it will work correctly or not. But my main concern is the relocation of the fishtail palms. We have no photograph what they look like. I'm going to take it on the city staff and arborists. When they do go out there, they're going to look at it and say what conditions they're really in. the relocation of that, which will give you eventually that blockage that you're looking for and that privacy. And he's using an interesting tree, which I am very happy because technically you're supposed to have a large canopy shade tree. But the fact that he's coming in with a mulberry tree, Oh, very true. Excuse me. Where did it go? Oh, with the Cynacord. I think that's going to be different for South Miami. I think that's going to be fantastic. It's the proper size from that aspect. So overall, I think the landscape architect that used a lot of textures, you are going to use a lot of water here. I'm going to let you know because of the plant material selected. But otherwise, he meets code and it's excellent. So good luck to you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mariano. Christian? I don't think we can hear you, Christian. Can you hear me now? Perfect.

Yes.

No, I have no comments. Thank you. Basu? I'm okay with this. Thank you, Basu. Angel?

Yeah, just a question. On the west side of the property, on the front elevation there, that corner there, there's no window or anything, correct? That's just a stucco?

Here, yeah, there's no window.

Oh, okay. All right, well, you know, that's what I said.

It's a wood slot, like the New Tech composite wood. It's that.

Okay. It would be nice to see a window there, some more glazing, but, you know, that's an aesthetic decision. And then maybe the main entry in the front, like that feature, you know, the second roof, I don't know, maybe make that so that it recesses or that it comes forward a little bit so that it's a little bit, that entry is a little bit more prominent.

Okay. Okay.

That's my only recommendation. It just doesn't seem prominent enough.

Okay, yeah, totally. You mean right here to kind of pop that out?

Yeah, maybe pop it out a little bit forward. That's it so that it's not on the same plane as the rest of the house to give it a little bit of pop. That's it.

Okay, yeah, that's a good comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Angel. I think we only have Daniel.

My comments have been covered. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. I agree with angel. I think there's something missing on the front elevation. I mean, it's a, it's a very white house. And I think is lacking glazing. We made a comment to another property that have very little glazing and I think that, you know, it's an easy fix for you if you were able to bring back more glazing because I know you have three bedrooms and only two bedrooms have glazing to the front and then you put the glazing to the corner bedroom to the side. Yes. I find it really strange. Also, the headers of the windows are not aligning with anything else in the house. I don't know if you could take a look at that. Maybe you could just revisit that. I know the other elevations of the houses have blazing that go much higher. So, I mean, you did a great effort in locating properly that house because I know that corner well at 62nd Avenue, although a small road does have traffic. And so pushing the house to the right, The plan is and and you know introducing The fence and put in a lot of landscape there will do really good to the property, but there's just something missing. on the front of the house. The back of the house has a lot more glazing, has a lot more attention to it. The back of the house opens up to the yard and to the swimming pool. I just think that a little bit more glazing or maybe revisiting that facade would really put a lot more pressure on the house. I don't have anything else. I think we should make a motion. Anybody like to make a motion.

I would like to make a motion for approval based on staff comments board member comments.

Thank you. Let's vote. Yes. Yes, Christian. You're muted, Christian. Sorry.

Yes.

Thank you. Angel? Yes. Daniel? Yes. And I vote yes as well. Thank you very much for the presentation.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Marcus, I think we have approval of many minutes. Did anyone have a chance to review the minutes? I would assume yes. We have a motion on the minutes.

Yeah.

Thank you. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Hearing none, minutes approved. Next meeting, it's Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everybody. Take care.

I'm going to be out next month, so I'm going to miss a couple of meetings.

Okay. Understood. Thank you for letting us know. I'll cover you, man. I'll cover you.

I'll be out of the country. Have fun. Somewhere nice. Yeah.

Have fun. Thanks. Take a lot of pictures.

Take care, everybody. Bye-bye. Yeah.