Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

The Board of Adjustment has been called to order at the present moment. I would like to have roll call, please.

Vice Chair Kroll.

Present.

Member Brito?

Present.

Member Anne Abandandone? Present. Chair Rodriguez So to?

Present.

Alternate Jones? Here. Alternate Almeria?

He's missing.

We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. At this time, I'd like to have a motion to excuse members that are not here at the present moment, Just so you'll know and for the record, member Pitts called in. He had a death in his family, and he would like to be excused. I do not know where member Almeria is, but I'm pretty sure he's quite busy. So a motion to the fact to excuse both of them.

Mr. Chair, I move for the excuse of members Piss and Amarito from the 06/05/2025 Board of Adjustments meeting.

Any second? I second. All right. All in favor, aye. Aye. All in against, say nay. Pass unanimously. Also present, we have Christian Samora, senior planner Julie Aldridge, planner and sewing technician. We have Paul Hernandez. He has decided to come back and visit us.

So welcome back, Paul. And we have our board secretary. So therefore, having had these excuses already presented, I will proceed to have a motion for the approval of the minutes of the 03/06/2020 sorry, April. Yes, yes, yes, yes. No, no, no, no. May 1. 05/01/2025. I'll take care

of you.

Right. I

move for the acceptance of the 05/01/2025 Board of Adjustments Committee minutes. And second?

I second. GREGORY All those in favor, aye.

GREGORY Aye.

GREGORY All those against it, say nay. GREGORY Similar? Okay. It's passed. At this time, we have one, two, three, four applications for zoning variance. We do have the first one that we'll take over. We'll have now Counselor Hernandez, soar the members of the floor that are going to be speaking in behalf of their clients or their clients themselves. And the floor is yours. Counselor?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The members of the Board of Adjustments are volunteers. The board is here to consider and decide on applications presented by staff. The board is not authorized to change the city's code. Only the city commission is authorized to do that. Decisions from this board for approval require a minimum of three votes from members of the board. Short of those three votes, an application will not be approved. Tonight's hearings are considered quasi judicial in nature and require that persons wishing to provide testimony to the board be sworn in prior to making their comments. The order of business tonight will be first to allow the city to present the application for consideration by the board.

Then the applicant and other witnesses will have the opportunity to present their case to the board. The board will then deliberate and make a decision based upon testimony and evidence presented here tonight. With that, I will now swear in city staff and all individuals present who will be presenting testimony to the board this evening. May you please stand? Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Let the record show that all have answered in the affirmative. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, counselor. Basically, so everyone will know how we proceed, I will be reading the variances that have been submitted. And once I finish that, I will ask the proponent to come forth. And I will ask him a couple of questions if what I read and mentioned are true in nature of what they have or looking for in the variance. Also so you'll know, I have opted to do the following.

Since we do have a vast amount of conditions and situations of people and our own neighbors that, for one reason or another or an oversight, have actually built in their property without a permit. And now they're coming into the front of this board for us to actually clean them of all wrongdoings. If we do have situations of that nature, let me inform you that I will request that if they do pass by majority vote, I will also request that this particular variance be annotated in their title deeds of the county that in case it is sold, it is given to their sons, daughters, or any other family member that was not here in participating in the request of a variance, that variance will no longer be valid, and it will have to return to the existing conditions that the house had at the time that the variance was approved. In that manner, that variance will not be part of the home for eternity. Having said that, I will now read the variances, ZBR twenty twenty five-thirteen-fourteen, that was submitted by Torres Jaimara Ricardo Lapinel Herro of 7101 Southwest 6th Street, Pembroke Pines, Florida.

This variance was presented on 09/05/2024 meeting. At that time, the Board of Adjustment heard and approved a request for a 47% front lot coverage instead of the 40% lot coverage for an existing circular drive. Harold Lapinelle, owner, submitted the zoning variance request to legalize an existing circular driveway for the property located at the address that I just mentioned. And this is located in Pines Village neighborhood. With a zone of a single family residential district, R Dash 1 C.

However, on 11/02/2022, the applicant submitted a building permit application number RX22-eight654 to construct a circular driveway at the property. However, the proposed work exceeded the limitations of the city and land development. Therefore, on 12/05/2023, the city code compliance division cited the property under the case number two million two hundred eight thousand and fourteen thirty three before work performed without a building permit. As a result of the existing non permitted work at the property, the applicant submitted at that time a zoning variance, CVR twenty twenty four, 60, to request that the approved 47% total front lot coverage at that time, it was 30% the front lot coverage, and it went to 47%. Instead of the require now 40% front lot coverage for an existing circular driveway, the Board of Adjustment heard the request for the property at the 09/05/2024 meeting and approved the 40% total front lot coverage instead of the required 40% front lot coverage for an existing circular driveway in a single family resident.

Approve four to zero, and copy of the approved plans and development orders were attached. Upon a zoning inspection of the approved work, it was discovered that the circular driveway that was constructed is not consistent with the granted variance. Therefore, the petitioner would like to make a new request going from 47% to 57%. And that's under CVR twenty twenty five, zero, zero, thirteen. Also CVR twenty twenty five, zero, zero, fourteen is to allow a two and onetwo foot side setback in the eastern property line instead of the required five foot size setback for an existing circular driveway in a single family residential typical lot, which has already been built and was approved for 47%.

And now he is back with in front of us requesting an augmentation of that similar and same variance to 57%. At this time, I would like to have Mr. Ricardo, and Lapinelle Herro come forward. And basically, when you get in, sign your name and adjust your microphone and explain to us why and why we should reconsider this petition when you had all the time in the world, the first time you came around, to basically explain everything based on everything. Now, my other question is, what I have just read, does it clearly state exactly what your intent is for tonight?

Say again, My name is Harold Lapinier. Yeah. And the question that I asked, did I read what your intent is tonight? Yes. Fully. No errors. No errors. Thank you. Please, your name?

Harold Lapinelle.

Please. Harold. It this so you can, basically, can hear you better.

Harold Lapinelle?

Yes, sir. Mr. Lapinelle, having heard what I just read that is in front of me right now, I give you the floor so you can try to convince this board to basically take a look at this case again.

Okay. As you said, we came here for the variance. And as we start bringing our driveway to what we were approved for, we realized we have a member in the family that use a wheelchair. And we stopped it and decided because when we enter on the driveway on the car, the wheelchair will fall off the driveway. We have a couple of incidents when we almost dropped my family member. That's why we decided to stop everything and try to cut the driveway as much as we could, but still being able to use his wheelchair to bring my family member inside the house using the driveway, not the grass or anything.

Is that all you have for us, sir?

Yeah. That's the only reason.

It's a wheelchair. That's the only reason.

And we tried to do it on the street, but I don't know if you know the neighborhood. 6th Street is like the highway of that neighborhood. I've been living there for over twenty five years. And 6th Street is like cars flying 70 miles an hour. We can do it on the street, but it's really dangerous.

Do you belong to an HOA?

No. No.

GREGORY DELL: So you found this out right after 09/05/2024 on something that Unknown caller. You basically have completed without permit your original work. When you came in to basically legalize it, we granted you the 40% addition. But even with that addition, you continue to work on it. And you found out that, oh my god, we need a bigger one.

So at that time, in 09/05/2024, and that you already had a 47% approval, then you found out that you needed a bigger driveway. So you continue to work on it, or what?

No, no, no. That's totally wrong. The driveway was originally made by a company while COVID. They told us that they were going to do all the permits and everything, right? And then it was DELL:

oversized. We were cutting the driveway. We didn't make any new driveway or build anything. We just came here to bring it up to code, to

Which cut it

is 40%?

But we didn't build DELL: we didn't build anything. I'm not a construction guy. So I don't know, 40%, 50, whatever. So when we start cutting the driveway, those companies takes a while. We bring it like 10 feet from this side or eight. I don't remember. And in that process, it's when my family member comes into his handicap car, whatever. And we have that situation that if we keep cutting this thing, he's going to land on the grass and he's going to fell. So that's when we stop and we try to cut it as much as we can. And it came out to 57%, an additional 10% of the original requested.

Not counting that I have two more personal cars parked somewhere else because it doesn't fit in the driveway. Now it's illegal to park it on the grass. That I don't care. But my family member, I do care because it's a dangerous situation for him. When he get off of his wheelchair, that grass is soft. It's whatever. There's no solid ground for him to and that for me is the only thing that is bringing me to request an additional 10%. However,

and I'll ask another question DELL: just for my own state of mind. However, in looking at the pictures, how many vehicles do you have?

I have DELL:

company two and personal A company two and personal Those

are parked on the street of my warehouse. I have to took it over there because they don't fit in my driveway.

GREGORY So you park them out side of your residence?

GREGORY Yeah, on my business.

GREGORY So basically, we're talking about four vehicles.

Four cars, yes.

GREGORY Four vehicles. Have a picture here that shows three. And easily, easily, easily, you can fit two additional ones. So that would be five without any problem of what I see here.

No. My personal car is two nineteen inches long. A pickup truck is the same nature. My wife has an SUV. To tell you the truth, I can even if she's home and I have my other car there, I can even do a nice island or landscaping on the island. Have to cross in the middle of the driveway to get into the driveway. There's no space for a fourth car there. Like I say, I have all those car parked on the street of my warehouse because they don't fit in my house.

Have you, in any way, shape, or form, basically met with Mr. Samora?

Yeah. Been talking to I

was just I'm trying to go pretty sure that he basically tried to ask you to see if you could cut down some, right?

Yeah.

And your response was?

I talked to him.

Your response as a yes, no, maybe.

If you

say no, I'm not going to do it?

Yeah, from the beginning. So yeah, we're going to do it. Then we realize that's situation. I don't care if it wasn't for my family member on the handicapped end. I will get rid of all that thing.

So please, just for my own state of mind, just so I can basically put everything in the compartments, did you just say that even though you were talking to him and he asked you if he could actually cut out, you mentioned that you could not do it, that you were going to go ahead and complete

that No, no, no, no. Spoke Or

was to am I wrong on that?

I spoke to Mr. Zamora, and I explained to him that I would like to come to a variance because even though we agree on cutting the driveway, it was not going to be feasible for me to cut it because it's that is I mean, it's going to be a problem for me, especially with my wheelchair thing. I have two options. I have to send it

to Cuba with wheelchair and everything and cut the driveway or try to solve this problem and be safe. That's my only concern. And I'm looking at this. The first time it was approved by code was 30%. Then it went up to 40%.

And you were granted at 47%. If we take that from 30%, that would have been an increase at that time, basically, of 17%. But since we went to 40%, that was basically a 10%, basically, give or take. And now you want an additional 10%, which would actually bring you up to about 20% in variances when we really have a breakdown to actually approve around 15%. So based on that, I will stop asking questions at this time.

And I will move forward and ask the board if they have any questions or any concerns. So therefore, right off the bat, to my left here is my vice chair, Mr. Kroll. I will grant him the floor in case he has any questions, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see that you have a garage there.

Yeah.

And I heard you mention before that you have two company vehicles.

And a car inside the garage, too.

So we basically have, what, five right now or four?

Four personal and two company vehicles. No

further questions, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

All right. Moving right along, member Abondo Nalo, do you have any questions, please?

S. Sir, I apologize. You have two commercial vehicles or work vehicles. I'm not trying to shoehorn you. You've got two commercial vehicles. You've another vehicle in the garage. And you have GREGORY Three outside. Personal cars. So you've got that's six altogether or seven?

GREGORY Four, two. So you've got

six vehicles. You're trying to put them in the driveway, you're still trying to make room for a wheelchair recipient. That's what we got so far, correct?

No. The two commercial vehicles, have it parked at my warehouse.

Oh, at your warehouse. So never mind that. We just have four cars that fit. Four And I apologize. I love your driveway. Tell me, do you have any percolation issues with the water? Is anything collecting in your neighborhood? Does your street flood out? No. No? Everything's fine? Like, we just went through that crazy rain, and everything was good at your house? They just changed all the drain. Oh, all they reeked off. Free of them.

That's good. Because the achievement we try to impress upon people that we're trying to do is percolation. We're trying to keep the city from drowning, which is why we're so tight with you're 13% over, you're 10 over. And you see us and they go, what are these guys doing? And the basic mission that we have is just try not to make Pembroke Lakes a lake or Pembroke Pines. That's what we're doing here. So if you wonder what's up with these gentlemen, ladies here, did you at all work with that gentleman over there possibly to cut down that 13% that you needed? Or that's it? This is what you need and this is what you want?

It's not what I want. It's what I need.

It's what you need. That's what I'm saying. You need that 13%. This is what you need. You have no flooding issues. Your neighbors aren't bothering you with the improvements. And everything is fine. And what's the side of the house? You need two feet and six inches opposed to the five foot, correct?

I have like eight or 10 foot on the if you step on the front of the house, I think on the left side, I got like eight or 10 or 12 foot.

And your neighbors Okay with what you're doing? You get along with them? They're 100% with you? Like say if you did if we gave you two feet six inches, it's not going to come back on us. Like, did you do to this guy? I object. That's happened to us.

I'm just a nice neighbor.

Everybody loves me. I try to be, too. I try to be, too. Sometimes you can't help it. I can't thank you enough for answering my questions. Thank you

so much.

JOSHUA All right. Member Brito, do you have any questions? No questions. JOSHUA No questions. All right. Member Jones, do you have any questions?

I do. I do. Okay. So you're parking four cars in there. Are you using these end cap areas as well, parking sideways? Why not?

Which end caps? The brooches of the house?

On the bottom, the part that immediately touches the street

that goes That's really dangerous. Plus, there is a lot of people going to the park back and forth. There is a park on the. I mean, I think it's really bad to block their walkways, especially on that street. The cars fly and people are always on the phone. I wouldn't block the driveway.

Okay. So you just don't want to use those. Okay. So the four cars that park here, there's substantial space in this parking area already for you to fit, as the chair said, at least six normal sized cars in there. It seems to me that if you have someone that requires wheelchair access, that you would give that person access priority.

And they would get the best spot, so to speak, the most accessible. So frankly, I don't understand why that person is ever falling their wheelchair is ever falling off into the grass. Why aren't you giving them priority?

He don't

But his access, even into the passenger side.

Whenever he comes up with us or with bring it in and out for checkouts and stuff like that. He drive anything. And if you can see in that picture, I use my car for work. My wife used it. So basically, whole day until 08:00 that I go back home, those spaces are empty.

Okay. So when is the problem arising with the wheelchair then?

When he's getting

car

unloading from the car.

But there's plenty of room.

There's no plenty of room. There's only 12 feet. My car is like nine feet wide.

So why are you taking up nine feet wide, very long?

No, no. For example, my car is like eight or nine feet wide. And we only have 11.6 or 12 feet. GREGORY So

you have what kind of car is it?

It's a long wheelbase sedan.

So you have this huge car. And because of that, someone that you care about is tipping over in their wheelchair. Yeah.

It's not just my car, any car. My wife And car

we're supposed to accommodate that. Yeah. Yeah, Okay. I just want to make sure. The other thing that we are always concerned with is we can't have everyone fully concreting the front of their house. That's why these ordinances are in place. We can't have the whole place turned to concrete, even if they do allow for drainage or whatever, that's not Pembroke Pines. That's not the way Pembroke Pines was established. There needs to be substantial green. That's why it's limited.

So it just seems to me that you don't like moving, one, you don't like the inconvenience of moving cars around to accommodate what needs to handled in your household. And you're not giving priority yourself to the handicap person. It's

my fault. If I'm not there, I'm not adding anything to the driveway. You see, it's what we want to keep. We don't want to add anything. A foot car, 12 feet highway, it's four feet. A typical wheelchair is like four feet. If you measure a typical wheelchair, not a motorized wheelchair or anything, just a regular wheelchair, it's like My 12 car is eight feet wide.

How many cars did you have when you first moved into the property?

Hope you have four cars. Three or four cars. I like cars. Several cars.

Okay. So you've always had a lot of cars. So what made you think that this property was going to be the right property for you when you have that many cars?

Because that's the money that I have to buy at that time. That was all I could afford. Plus, I've been living in that neighborhood for over twenty five years. My first property when I was 19 years old was on 6th Street and 1 Southwest 67th Avenue. I love the neighborhood. It's quiet. It's nice. It's a place that you can have a really nice house. Didn't feel the need to buy any other places. I like the neighborhood.

Okay. Okay. Thank you.

I have another question. And this is for my own state of mind. So I can basically visualize this entire thing. In the pictures that you have submitted, if we basically request

from the

TV team back there. I'd like to see the picture brought up front that shows a van that is parked on the side, if you have it.

That's on my warehouse now.

Here we go. Here we go. On the right hand side, I see a white van. I see a vehicle in front of it. So the white van is actually in between the fence and the house.

Then I see a vehicle in front of it. And then from there, I see another vehicle in front of that. And then on the left side, I see a vehicle there. And then when I go and basically take a look at the actual picture, I still have sufficient space here to park, one, will be parallel to the house, and two, that will actually be facing an existing garage. So that's three, four, five vehicles, and you still have space. I still don't see why we have to go to 57% when you were already given 47%.

That picture that you're showing over there

It's was your vehicle. So Before they work.

We cut the driveway to bring it up to code.

We have pump. GREGORY Before you had an approval for 47%, And once we gave you the approval for 27%, all of a sudden, that individual that said he was going to get all the permits expanded everything and blew the 47%.

No, sir. I didn't expand anything. We were cutting down the driveway. It was completely done. It was oversized. And we were cutting down. When we were on the process of cutting the driveway, at that instance, my family member comes into the clinic car that they bring it. And we realized that if we were doing it at 47%, it will be a problem. It was going to be dangerous for him. So we stopped, came to talk to Mr. Christian to ask him for an extra 10%. With an extra 10%, we

can What do solve stop the construction?

Yeah, we stop everything.

You stop the entire construction? Yeah. We stopped So cutting everything. GREGORY therefore, Mr. Lebaniel, and just another one to clarify in my mind, see, I basically think that once you stop the 47% that was approved, the seven Okay.

And right now, what do we have? We have 57% there.

Yeah. Right now So we just Actually 50 we

didn't have the permit. And then you were notified that the construction that was happening was in excess of the 47%. And at that time, then you came to see Mr. Samora to increase it to 57%. That correct?

We start cutting the driveway.

But the construction had already been completed? No. Or was in process?

Was in process, yes.

Was in process.

Yes.

Was in process.

So even before he responded, I would say within a month, it was already completed?

Not yet. No. No.

And it's still not completed?

GREGORY Well, right now, yes, is. It is.

So you're still in violation without a permit?

GREGORY Yeah. Well, if it's a violation, I just stop whatever you guys approve.

GREGORY All right. I got the picture quite clear. Do we have is that all do

you have for us, sir?

GREGORY Yeah.

GREGORY All right. Do we have any other questions from the board? Say again?

GREGORY With your permission, I have a question.

All right, Member Albon, I'll proceed.

Thank you. Sir, I apologize. I'm looking at the pictures too. Are you parking these vans behind your fence on the side of your home?

Not anymore. This commercial not anymore.

Okay. I'll take that as thank you.

That picture is like probably four

years I understand. Understand. I mean, understand if you're bringing something home, stop at the house. But I mean, from what the picture showed, and it was very alarming. But if you give me your word, that's it. It's over. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you. JOSEPH We're your neighbors. We're not here. We're nothing DELL: KAU more than

your neighbors trying to fix this. Mr. Chair, just have Okay. The vice chair has another question.

GREGORY Yes. Looking at the slope of your driveway and the fact that there's no swell area, any runoff water from your driveway is going to flood into the streets because there's nothing there to capture the water in the swell. Am I correct in that?

The rhymes

I don't know about that. I

don't know what

to think about it.

Yeah. There's no swell area at all. And from your hardscape there, with the 47% you got there, you're going to basically with the two entrances, water is going to flood into your flat street there. And that's a concern.

The runoff water. Where does it get to? Do you have any type of drainage strips along your construction to actually pick up that runoff water?

Just all that grass and empty space on the front.

On the side? On the side

and on

the what about those little strips? Because I see there rectangular pieces of concrete. In between each one of those concrete slabs, do you have any grass or any strip of grass?

Yeah, those are strip of grass, yes.

And will those constitute your drainage for that area?

Yes. It's artificial grass. It's artificial grass.

Yeah, it's artificial grass. That's just

Artificial grass. It's not regular turf?

No, it's

not. Artificial. It's artificial. So therefore, it doesn't work as a drainage because it actually detains it. It doesn't seep into the ground.

I used to have a half in the front of the house on the entrance, and I never had a flood. That drains. It's just like a regular it had holes on it. It's not like a

So it had holes on it. So therefore, it seeps into the ground.

Yeah, definitely.

All right. Any other questions from the board? No, thank you. At this time, do we have any person from the audience that would like to mention something to this effect? Having none, at this time, I would like to ask for a motion to take in consideration CVR twenty twenty five-thirteen through 14.

I mean, I will do only 13. We'll talk about 14 later on. At this time, a motion to approve how the same is submitted requesting another variance to the original variance that was approved for 47% now moving toward 50%, which basically covers practically the entire DELL: front of this house. So I'd like to have a motion for approval.

Mr. Chairman, is CVR 2025Dash0013, which was a table one one five point six two zero, accessory structure driveway circular with the required 40% front lot coverage was approved in 09/05/2024 for 47%, now a request of 57% front lot coverage for an existing circular driveway in a single family residential typical lot be approved under section 155.301C.

I second. Okay. ZBR 20 '20 five-thirteen a motion has been presented to move from 47% originally approved to 57% due to the fact that it requires additional parking area. It was second. So therefore, at this time, the secretary, I'd like to roll call.

Vice chair Crowell?

No.

Member Brito?

No.

Member Ambonanjolo?

No.

Member oh, member picks up. Chair Rodriguez So to?

No.

Member Jones? No. Motion fails.

All right. Based on this condition, you're going to have to meet with Mr. Zamora because this area will have to be somehow using this possibly the same individual that actually put it together and constructed it to, from both sides, make sufficient alterations, meaning cutting, at this time in order to reach the 47%. That is basically what he will meet with Mr. Samora, and he will basically assist you and orient you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

One more variance for the job.

GREGORY Oh, I'm sorry about that. Oh, god. I'm sorry. I really am. Now, ZBR twenty twenty five-fourteen under table 155.62, accessory structures of the driveway, a circular driveway.

The required allowance is a five foot size setback. In here, we're asking for a two foot and a half size setback instead of the required five foot on the eastern side. On the eastern side we're looking at this. That means that it is looking at this is to our left, where you have some green space there, supposedly. All right?

So based on that, can you explain to us why you want that two and onetwo foot size setback, please? Where is that? I don't know where is that.

On the east side of the property?

Yes, on the eastern side of the property. So that will be to your right, sorry.

Where

you had the van parked earlier. At one time,

you had a van parked there.

I believe the applicant is not clear. He cannot explain, right? But the survey tells you where the two and onetwo feet are located.

It's right there in the corner.

Correct.

Right in the corner in order for you to have a wider entrance into the

Oh, in the approach?

Into the approach, yes.

If I had to cut it, cut it.

DELL: You don't need it?

GREGORY No, don't need that. Cut it.

GREGORY So you want to take it out?

This point, I don't even care anymore because my situation is not solved. So I'm going to continue Cut it whatever it is.

But it will have to come from you, sir, for you to pull that out.

I'm just going to cut it, yeah.

So you're basically going to take that out?

Yeah, I don't need any variance. If it has to be cut, I'll cut it, that's it.

So at this moment, as expressed by Mr. Lapinell, that two and onetwo foot size setback, which is in the entrance on the approach to the actual concrete driveway, he mentions that he will remove that from this petition.

Why don't you guys, if you can visit my house, I try to get into my driveway at five or 06:00 with a driveway entrance like that, see what your car tire is going to look in a couple of days. Just leave it. I'll just cut it. That's fine.

Well, thank you for the invitation, Mr. Raffi.

Yeah. Have a coffee and

I remember being at your house. I did go to your house back in September. Or was that when the last one was September?

Yes.

The first time.

We have I even have video of

me trying to enter in my house. I have to get into the other side of the road in order to get

Mr. Lapinel, we have visited your area. So even though we have not been invited, but we have driven by. So we have been there.

Yeah, that one I don't need it. I'm just going to cut it. If I'm going to cut the front, I just

But anyway, thank you for the invitation.

Thank you.

GREGORY please. GREGORY Next.

GREGORY You still need to GREGORY vote, or is the applicant withdrawing

He his withdrew it. GREGORY He withdrew it.

For the record, he withdrew the second one.

City attorney.

Mr. Chair? Yes, sir.

Just for the record, based on the discussion and what the applicant has stated on the record, application ZVR202514 has been withdrawn by the applicant. Thank you.

That is correct. All right. Thank you, Mr. Lappel.

Thank you.

All right. Moving forward, we have CVR2020 submitted by Puch Priscilla Rojas Alfredo from 600 Laurel Lane, West Pembroke Pines, Florida. And basically, what we have here is the following. Alfredo Rojas, owner submitted a residential zoning variance request to install a screen enclosure at the property located at 600 Laurel Lane West in the Grand Palm neighborhood, which is zoned plan unit development, PUD. The property follows the guidelines for a single family residence with lots not less than 7,875 square feet in area.

It's basically a pie shaped lot, meaning that having that pace, you will have to the front of the house the less dimension and opens up to the rear. The applicant is proposing to build a 72 by 25 screen enclosure, which is attached to the real wall of the house. And it belongs to the Grand Palms guidelines required to be built with a five foot rear setback. As a result, the petitioner is requesting under CBR twenty twenty five-fifteen to allow six inch rear setback in lieu of the five foot rear setback along a segment of the Western and we bring it up, we have of the Western property line instead of the required five foot rear setback for an approximately 72 feet, 25 foot proposed screen enclosure on an existing swimming pool deck. The applicant is aware of the board consideration of residential variances requested and does not preclude the property owner obtaining all necessary developmental related approvals or permits.

Now, in looking at the entire proposal, I noticed that right now, of course, you have an open space. And you have basically, I think it was a small pool area. Or is that like a It's a spa with a pool that's

existing, yes.

It's a spa. And then over to the right of that, then you have the pool.

GREGORY DELL: Correct.

And patio. GREGORY And therefore, you are asking to basically have a six inch setback from this aluminum white fence in order to cover your spa?

So the reason why we're asking for the variance first of all, we love the open. We don't like enclosures. We are doing this

Mr.

Chairman? To protect my family. Please, can you Mr. Chairman?

Yes, sir.

Sir, may you please just identify yourself for the record?

Yeah, sorry. Thank you. And then fix the microphone so you can even raise it so it'd be Yeah. Two year height.

ALFREDO My name is Alfredo Rojas, Pembroke Pines resident, twenty three years. I'm here with my wife and my kids, both born in Pembroke Pines. We've never felt unsafe in the city except in our backyard. Behind what you see if you look at the picture on the top right, that is a golf range. Behind there, it's extremely close. Last week, a ball hit our window. We just installed the impact windows, broke it. I have videos.

The impact one?

Impact. I have pictures here Oh, no, that you'd like to no, no,

Is that where the drive in range is?

Yes. Where you see those white dots? And I've contacted the company, Grand Palms. That's where they aim. So I have to constantly tell them, the wind took it. Please move them away,

at least so that we're safer. So they basically want to go over the lake?

The balls are hitting our property, our home. If you see and the main reason we're here is to protect our family. Like, we've been living. We moved in right before COVID. The the the golf course closed. We love the outdoors. There's no more playing golf. Started happening when they opened back up. And I don't know if you've seen the videos. I have videos here if you would like to see. The balls almost hit my kids. My wife doesn't let them use the pool anymore. If you look at our pool now, we stopped using it. It's not safe. I have multiple videos.

Mister Zamora said, yeah. Get a video. As I'm walking out to record the video, the golf ball hits where I'm located. It's not safe to be there. So this is essentially to protect the area and to protect my family. The only reason that we're asking is, as you stated, it's on the corner. I know when it was built and why it was done in this way. But you can see there's only one corner where we're just not compliant. We have 50 feet from one neighbor, 20 feet to the other side for the other neighbor. There's no one behind us.

And I went to the South Power Drainage District. They confirmed and I provided the documentation that there's no easement. There's no one behind us. So this is really just to protect and cover it. Otherwise, it's probably $4,050,000 dollars to remove the spa and then to somehow make it work so that we can use our backyard. That's really the main reason why we're asking. And you can see here in the it's just that one corner because of the weird shape, as you stated, of the property.

I do have a question, though. Since your property is a pie shape, the distance from where you have right now your spot to the property line is more than five feet.

So you can see the right hand side, yes, almost all the rear, the side behind the pool, it's over five feet. That's all in compliance. It's only as you see the curve on the corner on the left, top left, that's where it becomes

I the see the one that actually goes into the lake. Correct. All right.

Now behind there, it's over 20 feet. Like the lake, there's a lot of open space behind the home. It's all grass. I don't know if you have pictures, but there's no one there. It's a lot of space behind there. But to be compliant, when we started looking and we brought in, the first thing we did is before we even applied for the permit, we said, well, what is the requirements? And that's when we immediately identified, which is why we're asking for the variance.

So basically, those six inches are away from your white picket fence?

Yes. Yeah. It was like that when

And we white purchased picket the fence is already about 10 KAUFMAN: feet from the lake. JOSEPH 20 plus feet. JOSEPH 20 some odd feet. JOSEPH It's way beyond the even So therefore, that particular picket fence, since you have your own property, actually exceeds that, you can even move the picket fence if you wish.

GREGORY Well, can, right? We need to enclose the pool area

I understand. I understand. What I'm basically saying that that particular picket fence is still in your property and you still have additional space.

Oh, yes.

So basically, the variance is from your picket fence.

Correct. We're not looking to go beyond the existing. It's using the existing layout that's there. It's just that my understanding when we looked with the screen enclosure to use the already existing fence area in the property, it doesn't have the five feet clearance in that corner.

In that corner. Okay. Which, of course, you can do it by moving the picket fence.

No. You can't. The spa is

right behind it. I understand. I understand. But you can move the picket fence. You're not moving the spa, but it will actually give you additional space from the spa to your own fence.

It's maybe another foot. It's still I still need a variance.

Ah, okay. There's no if you look

in the pictures, if not, I can

have a picture here. I I see it. I see where you're you're probably Yeah.

You can see this

spot in the original. The one on the right, it's not clear. But in the original one, you can see it's only about a foot. So even if I were to move it, I still need a variance. I'm still only two feet from Understood. Okay.

That was just to clarify based on the fact that this being a pie shape and all the property is behind your house, And to that particular property limit, which is the rear portion, that's the difference. But you still have additional space that belongs to whatever, to the what do I call it? No, not the association. It's basically to the South Florida Yes. Water Management that they use it for basically maintenance. Correct.

And I got approval from them. There's no easement encroachment on that area.

GREGORY Understood. Understood. It's quite clear now. Now I can visualize the entire thing. All right.

GREGORY And if I may, have you guys seen the video of what I'm talking about?

GREGORY Yeah.

You have? Say again? If you've seen the video of the block No, we have not.

It's needed. I'm sorry. It's not not needed. It's It's not needed. Because

we're visiting We're the the property. With the plot plan, All the doubts were clarified, all right? Because I do see the approximate shoreline, which is in the back of the lake. And then we have the 20 feet, which belongs to the South Florida Water Management District. And then your pool comes to about a foot, a foot and a half from your property line. But as you are going to put in the Florida room, which is basically the cover, then it will require a six foot from your picket fence, a six inches from your picket fence, basically, give or Yes.

I think it's actually more than six inches, like seven, but it's closer.

GREGORY Yeah, basically. Yeah. Right. I have that clear line now. And you have clarified that for us without getting hit by a golf ball. That

is the main reason. It's not safe. I mean, you see the pictures of it now, we don't use the backyard at all. It's been two years.

It's horrible.

All right. Got it. You play golf?

I do. I love golf. My kids, we play into the lake. That's a convenience. But we're not going towards the house.

All right. I have no further questions. I'll ask our vice chair, Mr. Kroll, if he has any other questions, please. No questions, Mr. Chairman. Moving right along, I have also board member, Ms. Jones. Do you have any questions, please?

Yeah, just a comment. Grand Palms is a great development, especially if you're a golfer. But that's always been the hazard for many houses there, the backs of their houses in particular.

Yeah, and they

all have many times when I hear this,

Yeah, and our neighbors, they all have screens. But I guess they were built before the permit rules were changed.

Well, but here's the thing, too. I'm wondering, though, if your impact window was damaged by a golf

You got a problem with the people that actually installed the impact windows.

Well, no. I mean, it can be damaged.

No, it was a long drive. I mean, the problem is that during the week, the regular people, no problem.

But what's going to happen when that long drive hits your new enclosure?

So great question. I met with a we're installing it's not just regular screen. It's meant to have higher impact. So it's a different type of screen. Most impact, of it comes towards. So it's not necessarily even at the top. Because it's coming and in pictures you can see all the balls are right

by the fence.

So they're coming straight into it's like A missile. It was designed so that whole wall that will happen is 10 feet. It's to be like tax Exactly.

And they've told you it will withstand

Yes. That? In order

to withstand that, you're going to have to be at flexibility. So it actually gives ten days.

GREGORY They know exactly when I mentioned it. They said, yes, is All right. It's it's for. GREGORY

So right down the line, now I have DELL: board member Abondandolo.

I'm good, sir.

Any questions? No, thank you. I want to get that in writing, though, about the

No question.

No question. It's called a warranty.

But make sure it specifies the golf balls.

Big ball throwers.

Now, having no further questions from the board, I move to the floor. Do we have any members of the floor that would like to basically participate in this concern? Having none, Madam Secretary, will you please pass roll call?

Do we have to make a motion? Motion, sir.

We need

a motion.

Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I have to take care that.

I make a motion. I'm requesting a motion for the approval of Sony variance twenty twenty five dash fifteen submitted by Mr. Pucc, Priscilla Rojas, Alfredo of 600 Laurel Lane, West Pembroke Pines. And I need a motion for approval as submitted.

Mr. Chairman, with the ZVR twenty twenty five-fifteen for the design criteria for pools, spa, and screen enclosures with the required five foot rear setback and the request of six inch rear setback along a segment of the Western property line instead of required five foot rear for setback for approximately 72 by 25 proposed screen enclosure on existing swimming pool or deck be approved under section 155.301 c.

All right. Having a motion, I'd like to hear a second.

Second.

Motion has been presented. It has been seconded. Madam Secretary, please pass roll call.

Vice Chairman Froll? Yes. Member Anne Bernandolo?

Yes.

Member Member Brito?

Yes.

Chair Rodrigo So to?

Yes.

Member Jones? Yes. Motion passes.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Butch and Mr. Alfredo, enjoy your terrace again.

Thank you. All right, moving right along. I have Sony invariance CVR twenty twenty five-sixteen submitted by Shabazz Steven, H and E Vaquedano Veronika from 8441 Northwest 7th Court at Pembroke Pines, Florida. And their submit variance basically stipulates the required allowance for a front lot coverage total is 40%. The request is a 50% front lot coverage total for proposed driveway in a single family residential typical lot.

Mr. Steven Chavez, owner, submitted a residential Sony variance request for proposal driveway in a single family residence at 8441 North West Forest Court in the Westview neighborhood, which has a zoned single family residential R-1C. On 05/01/2025, the owner submitted a building permit application, RX25Dash400218, to construct the driveway at the property, and the permit cannot be approved as the proposed work exceeds the limitation of the city land development code. As a result, the owner have requested that under CVR twenty twenty five-sixteen, he'd be allowed to move from 40% to 50% front lot coverage instead of the allowable 40 for a proposed driveway on a residential single family property. Having said this, Mr.

Basque, have I basically read and presented, in essence, the concerns and variance that you're requesting? STEVEN Yes, sir. GREGORY All right. Having said that, please sign your name, stipulate your name, fix the microphone so we can hear you, and present your case to this board, please.

For the record, my name is Steven Chavez. Thank you everyone for meeting with my family and I. Our current driveway is deteriorating as it seems like it's the original installation, and it's unfortunately unusable in its current layout. We'd like to beautify our home and construct a functional driveway. We have four cars plus a fifth and sometimes six depending on who shows up to the house to care for our daughter who is present.

Our garage is set up like pretty much everyone's garage these days, which is storage. Both of my wife's parents have passed, and we rely on her aunt as well as my mom to help take care of our daughter. My wife's aunt relies on a walker or wheelchair depending on how she's feeling, but both require her to fully open her car door and have enough space to get out comfortably. Every morning, I have to move the cars and position them either on the swale, which isn't allowed anymore, or leave them on the street so that there's enough room for visitors for my daughter. On several occasions, have had close calls with school buses and couriers flying down the road and almost hitting me because I have to put my vehicles on the street.

I have missed postal deliveries because of vehicles being on the road as well as trash pickups. This approval would make everyone's lives easier and safer. With my proposed layout, I would be able to keep our household cars in place and have someone come over without needing to clog the street or ask more friends, Bobby and his wife, Luisa, to park in their driveway, which are our neighbors.

Will that be all, sir, of your presentation?

That's it for me.

Right now, I will then ask our vice chair, Mr. Kroll, if he has any questions, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We bring up the picture of the existing driveway again? Yes. Okay. Thank you. You have a good slope there from your house down to the street. I do. And plenty of grass in the Parkway area. Question, what material will you use for the new driveway? It will be concrete. Concrete. Would you consider having any kind of spacing in there where you may have grass or something to So we will have

rectangular strips and then in the middle will be paver sand and then artificial grass or rocks. Both that allow more than enough drainage.

Thank you very much, sir.

Having said that, Member Jones, do you have any questions?

Yeah, I do just want to So is this I see this is going to be a semicircular driveway

Right now it's semicircular. My proposed plan is to make it a rectangle.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. Oh, so you want to square it off.

Yeah, I want to square it off.

Makes sense.

So you drive in, but into a square lot Correct.

So it expands there.

Yeah. So my plan is to where on the left side, our four cars will be there. And then on the right side where the garage and the entrance to the house is will be enough space for whoever visits us to have a safe spot to park.

All right.

And I'm just trying to see the so it past where the garage starts. Am I seeing this correctly?

Yes.

Okay. All right.

Okay, I'm done.

You're good. Member Al Mondal Nalo, do you have any questions?

No questions, sir.

Member Brito, do you have any questions? No questions, sir. All right.

I'm sorry. I do have a question. Did you discuss planning it just a bit smaller on this? I mean, how did you come up with these

I wanted to take advantage of the full allowed 40% width of the lot. And then the house is a little more back than like my neighbors so that's why squaring it off, don't really see a way to make it smaller. Maybe do four feet instead of three feet but that's negligible. Like my front lot is big. I will still have a ton of grass where my daughter can play. And

you still have green area. Oh, of course, yeah.

All right. Yeah,

I suppose the layout it's a good plan for this layout. Yes, GREGORY

it is.

All right. Having no further questions from the board, I move forward to the audience. Do we have anybody in the audience that would like to add regarding this request? If none, Madam Secretary, please. Mr. Rollins.

Mr. Chair, move for a motion for ZVR 2020. Right. To a circular driveway with request of 40 front lot coverage and with the requirement of 40% lot coverage and request of 50% lot coverage with concrete with inserts to allow for drainage be approved under 155.301C. I second.

Motion has been resented. It's been second. Madam Secretary, roll call.

Vice Chairman Kroll.

Yes. Member Brito?

Yes.

Member Abel Dando?

Yes.

Chairman Rodriguez So to?

Yes.

Member Jones? Yes. Motion passes.

All right. Mr. Stevens? Thank you so much, everyone. Go do your stuff. Have a good night. Good night. All right. Moving right along. Moving right along, I have in front of me CBR 2020 and through ten, the zoning variance submitted by Ronald Cuevas and Sylvia from 312 Southwest 184 Way, Pembroke Pines, Florida, 33020 And 9.

And basically, we're looking at three variances. The first one is under code section one hundred fifty five point four two one point three, residential single family R-1C, a rear setback. The required allowance stipulates a 15 foot rear setback. The request is for an 8.5 rear setback for an existing roof structure attached instead of the required 15 rear setback. Variance twenty twenty five-nine under code section, same code section, one hundred fifty five point four two one point three residential single family, R-1C, maximum lot coverage requiring or allow a 40% maximum lot coverage of all the building.

And the request is for the 45% maximum lot coverage of all existing buildings. And last but not least, we had CVR twenty twenty five-one 110, which at that time was under code section 150 five-six 20 for the accessories and building of the structural patio with a five foot setback and a four-five setback. This was basically request to be removed by the owner. Is that correct, Mr. Zamora?

Yes, that is correct.

All right. Therefore, moving right along, Mr. Ronald Cuevas, owner, submitted three residential zoning variance requests to legalize an existing construction for the property located at 312 Southwest 184 Way in the Stancia neighborhood, which is zoned residential single family R-1C. On 11/15/2024, the property was cited for work performed without a permit. The code case number 240000013449, The owner is pursuing to seek a relief to retain an existing patio and a 31.8 times 25 roof structure attached to the real wall of the house.

The property owner is providing a copy of the property survey showing present conditions and footprints of the existing items at the location. The petitioner is specifically requesting and I'll read again. I'll say again. Under CPR twenty twenty five-eight, to allow an eight foot and a half rear setback instead of the required 15 foot 15 rear setback of the existing 31. It's actually 31.79.

I'll just round up. 31.8 times 25 foot roof structure attaching a single family resident typical lot. And the second request variance, CBR twenty twenty five-nine, to allow a 45% maximum lot coverage of all the buildings instead of the required 40% maximum lot coverage, all buildings in a single family residential typical lot. Per staff review of the city archives, no permits can be found for the existing work on the property. Nonetheless, according to the Broward County property appraisal imagery, it appears the patio and the roof structure have existed allocations since at least December '2 and December '4, respectively.

See, the property changes. The applicant is aware of the board consideration of a resident variance. Variance request details Again, I don't have to read this because it's been read already. And therefore, looking at the areas, we see that the terrace wooden roof, which we basically it actually comes into an offset of the house. And therefore, the actual extension to the rear is approximately, what, eight feet, nine feet?

But overall, it's the 25 foot. It is basically the 31.8 times 25 foot roof structure. Having said this, I'd like to ask Mr. Cuevas, Ronald Cuevas, to come to the podium, sign your name, mention the items that you might want to present to the board, even though we heard most of it. And that was done previously, if I recall correctly, by the counselor representing Mr.

Cuevas. Is that correct?

Good evening, Mr. Chair. Good evening.

Good evening. So I am correct. My

name for the record, right? Right before we get into this, Christopher Machado with Acreman LLP, 98 Southeast 7th Street, Suite 1100, Miami, Florida, 33131, on behalf of the property owner, Ronald Cuevas.

GREGORY Yes. Before you proceed, I am pretty sure that Mr. Samora, did Mr. Cuevas and his representative meet with you?

GREGORY Yes, we did share some information. Actually, I received a copy of the updated survey, which indicates the removal or the confirmation of the withdrawn variance for the preexisting walkway patio that was four feet away from the right side property line has been corrected. So nothing really has changed for us. It's just the removal of that variance. And the survey shows the existing conditions.

GREGORY Understood. So meaning and for record, they have sat down with you. And basically, you have mediated a possible solution in order to mitigate some of the conditions that were possibly, possibly exceeding the requirements of the city.

Yeah. Some of those conversations already took place moving forward with the application with Mr. Cueva. So that's what the

standards So counselors, so ascertaining that situation and for the record as is shown. So that tends to be correct. You guys did go forward and basically mediated some of the hardship that could have been found by basically exceeding the requirements of the city. And at this case, I will grant you the floor so you can tell us what we have to observe, what we have to see, how you like to basically present this to us so we can have all night here.

I'm ready. If you're ready, we're ready. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you members for your time. I will say just two minor corrections based on the preliminary statement that you read. The 25 feet includes an existing part of the house.

That's correct. I did mention that. So therefore, instead of the 25 feet approximate, you will be talking about nine, ten feet.

More or less on one side. And on the other side, it's slightly longer because the house does have an insert as a So the other correction that I'd like to just restate for the record, I think there was a reference to the property appraisal aerials showing that this was in existence since December 2022. We mentioned that last time. I think what you're looking at in those aerials is a white area, which looks like the roof, but it wasn't a roof. It was like a gravel area. The roof was, in fact, built in November or December 2024. And we were cited by this was a courtesy notice. It wasn't an actual violation notice. It was a courtesy notice for the improvements being built without a permit in November actually 11/15/2024. And we immediately thereafter met with Mr.

Zamora, and we started to work through the process of obtaining the application to be able to try to legalize this condition. So we moved rather quickly. This has not been here for two years.

GREGORY Honor to it. Counselor, I always say, for my own state of mind, basically, since I don't know the case as well as you do, we would basically say that the building department gave them a warning. I'm basically telling them that if he did not proceed to legalize this matter, then he would be fined.

GREGORY That's right. It's actually interesting what happened here. And we went through the records. I asked for the information because by Florida law, you're supposed to provide the name of the complaint. This project went to the HOA for approval. It was approved as an aluminum structure. My client built it as a wood structure. He's trying to correct that now by going back and having them approve the wood structure instead of the aluminum. One of the HOA board members who approved the application, approved the size and the location of this terrace or patio, is Ms. Donna Daniels, who lives two doors down from my client's property.

The HOA member? HOA member.

Miss Daniels then reported him to the city because she felt that he was building something illegal, even though as a board member she approved the application. She submitted a letter, which I believe the chairman read into the record last time, about some drainage concerns, which are completely unfounded. And we have support letters from three neighbors, including the neighbor to the north who is closest to the patio, to the terrace, saying, we support this application. But Ms. Daniels, who is two doors down, would not like this to remain.

Be it as it may, we've been working with the city. And we are grateful to the code compliance department, which I don't say very often because typically they give us trouble, but not in this city. They have been generous in giving us an extension to work through it with this board to see if we can obtain DELL: these variances and legalize the structure.

Understood. So basically, as you well know, being of legal mind, that we in the city, we hear the HOA, but not necessarily we actually follow their requirements and their requests because we just follow that of the city. Some of the HOAs tend to basically come here and say, well, I will keep on basically fighting this individual until it comes to our own concerns, which of course they're just looking for a lawsuit. And so therefore, thank you for that clarification. I wanted to make the clarification that we do not follow the HOA requirements But as we do basically accept that they have seen the matter and they tell them, but you have to meet the city requirements.

And that's where we are right now.

No, I appreciate that fully. I thank you for that. I do have something additional to add into the record as part of the case. At our law firm, I have a colleague, Ms. Jamie Berger, who is a certified planner. And she looked at this with me. And we have a report for you that serves to analyze how this application meets the various criteria of the code. I submitted that to Mr. Zamora this afternoon. And he asked me to bring hard copies with me. So I do have eight hard copies to pass out. It's a short memo, five pages, attaching the application, the surveys,

Do you have the sufficient copies for the board?

I do. I have eight copies. All right. I will hand them to the clerk so she could pass them to you. Thank you.

We'll take care of them.

All

right. Having said that, I did make a comment. I did make a comment at the beginning whereby reason, as of yesterday night, I presented my annual report. And even though this doesn't come to this vein, I reported to our director and direct bosses, which are the commissioners. And I did ask him that we wanted to basically detain the practice of people that have lived in this vicinity for a long time to basically take it on their own and basically move forward without permits in order to avoid this type of condition.

And I did ask them that in the future, if they had any type of presentation from anybody that we basically deny the variance. And if they were to do it, to have a majority or five to zero, but to ensure that in order to avoid perpetuity into the property, they would basically do an exception to the matter and actually tie it into the title of the property, meaning that if the owner either move, sell, or give it to one of their kids and everything else, then everything would have to come back to how originally it was. And that person would have to come forward and then go through the process In this case, I was asking that because you were given a letter of a warning and basically an opportunity to legalize the matter. And in the process and I'm doing a synopsis of this you met with the city. You all came to a happy agreement in order to basically eliminate some of the conditions that would actually exercise additional requirements against the needed city.

So having said that and having put that on the record, I give you back the floor, please, so you can basically present and tell me what I have in front of you.

GREGORY Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I will note, for the record, one of the variances that we originally requested was for a side setback to allow some pavers. We met with the city. In that process, we said, let's make it right so that we only are requesting the variances that are absolutely required. And so we moved the pavers to provide a fully conforming five foot side setback. And that has been addressed. That variance has been withdrawn. And so we're only before you for two variances.

One is for the lot coverage going from 40% to 45%. And the other is for the rear setback going from 15 feet to eight and onetwo feet. The survey, you'll see it shows 8.9 feet. But I think eight and onetwo feet is fair because there are minor deviations. So ultimately, we have are two requests that, for the reasons stated in the memo that's before you, comply with your criteria for issuance of the variances. And specifically, there are three available avenues under which you can grant variances as a board. They are set forth in page two of that memo. The first one is pretty onerous letter A. The second one is a no alleged hardship. It's not based on a mere disregard for the code.

We're not following those two. We're following number C here. We believe we satisfy the third one, which is granting the variance is not incompatible with public policy, will not adversely affect adjacent property owners, and the circumstances which cause the special conditions are peculiar to the subject property. We detail in our memo each of those three prongs of the criteria, and we specify why this project complies. And I'll summarize it for you briefly.

When it comes to public policy, if you look at your land development code, it has been established both in your land development code and in your comprehensive plan that minimizing, mitigating, avoiding heat is good public policy, that it should be undertaken wherever possible. And you even have certain elements that are found to be desirable green building elements, including white roofs. This terrace incorporates a white roof. This terrace has been built for the singular purpose of avoiding sun, especially in the afternoon. The property faces due west.

It receives a great amount of sunlight and heat in the afternoons, as you all are well aware, the South Florida sun. And the building is oriented so that the kitchen and the living areas are facing those exterior windows at the rear. So all that heat is coming into the home and is coming into the living areas. It's increasing energy costs. It's increasing the undesirability of being in those areas.

And your code very clearly states that it is desirable to avoid heat where possible. And so we meet that as a matter of public policy. When it comes to the setbacks, this is an unusual situation because and you'll recall the prior application you had about a screen enclosure near a lake. Well, screen enclosures, detached parking garages, other elements only require a five foot rear setback. This is an attached roof to the house.

And because it's attached, it takes on the characteristics of the home for purposes of rear setbacks. And so we're required to provide what the house would provide, which is 15 feet, which is unduly onerous. When you think about it's an accessory improvement, it's akin to or similar to a screen enclosure, a detached roof. If this were a detached roof, we could put it as close as five feet to the rear property line. But because we chose to attach it to make it more integral with the property, now we're having to deal with this 15 foot rear setback.

I understand that quite well. I also see that you are installing a cool roof system.

Well, it is painted in white material that is meant to reflect the sunlight. It is high albedo, and it is meant not to retain sunlight, retain heat, but drive it away. That is an element that, as you see in the record before you, there's an article from the EPA which says that these are desirable features that should be incorporated to minimize and mitigate heat.

And your client is going through with that? I believe we will be going

It already has.

It It already has.

It has their cool roof system. The white The white Yes.

And so the other thing is we also are requesting a slight 5% deviation from lot coverage. Well, when you look at lot coverage in your code, the code treats buildings the same as driveways and accessory improvements. So even though this is a roof with open areas on all sides, when it comes to lock coverage, it's treated as if it were just an extension of the house.

That is because it's a patch. If was in there, you would have a plywood setback.

Then perhaps not. But for lot coverage, the same thing. Now we're dealing

with I sliding have to rectify that that's not correct. We look at under roof lot coverage maximum.

Well, exactly right.

Just clarify. That's dedicated.

Exactly right. The roof, because it is a roof, it counts as if it were a building for purposes of lot coverage. And that's set out in the accessory sections of your code. And that's why we're asking for this variant. Specifically, section that deals with those accessory improvements says, lot coverage. Accessory buildings and structures constructed with solid roofs in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be subject to the lot coverage standards of the zoning district in which the structure is located. So because it has a roof, although it's unenclosed, it counts as if it were part of the building. And now we're up against that 40% threshold. So we are exceeding it by 5%. It is a minor deviation in my opinion, in our opinion in the memo report before you.

And we feel that it is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. If you look at the aerial images that are in your packet, you'll see that many houses in this community have accessory rear yard improvements. There are many screen enclosures. There are many attached or detached roofs. That's just a character of the vicinity.

And it is something that you would typically find in this community. In the same way, the deviations that we're asking for we feel are minor and are absolutely necessary to have this remain in place and provide shelter and shade for these homeowners. When it comes to the second prong of the criteria, the fact that it is not going to adversely affect neighbors, well, we can show that by giving you the three letters we received, including the neighbor to the north, which you can see the house pictured under that roof area. That house, that homeowner, submitted a letter of support for this application. We're grateful to them.

They are the ones closest to this. And so if anybody could possibly have a claim that this would adversely affect them, it would be those people that live there. But they decided that they support this, and they are happy to see this in their community. We are grateful to them for their support. We also have two additional letters from other homeowners in the community who've also submitted letters of support urging that you approve this application.

So with that, we show and we satisfy the second prong, which is it will not have an adverse effect. And then finally, we have the third one, which is that it results from a peculiarity. And if you see, there's a distinction here between A and C in your criteria. A, you have to show that it's peculiar to the land or building and does not apply generally to the land or buildings in the neighborhood. Whereas C, you only need to show that it is a special condition that is peculiar to the subject property. Peculiarity, defined in typical dictionaries, is not other than the norm. That's basically the standard. It is understood to mean different from the norm. And so here we have a property that faces due west. Others in the neighborhood do not have this condition.

There are some that do. But again, we don't have to show that it's not generally applicable, simply that it's peculiar to others. And so we satisfy the peculiarity standard by showing that it is a westward facing rear yard that suffers from excess sun in the afternoons. So with this memo, you have in your record competent substantial evidence to support this application. You have every right to approve it because it is supported also by neighbors who have shown their support in writing. And it will not cause any adverse effect to the community. I am happy to answer any questions you might have. I'd be happy to turn it over to Mr. Cuevas.

I congratulate you. You did your homework quite well.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

GREGORY However, we don't have to approve it, but it is a document that is part of your records. And as such, it will stay. And therefore, what I'm going to do at this moment, since I am fully aware of everything here, I tend to deal with the building departments and the code enforcers on a day to day basis in my particular area. So anyway, having said this, I will ask our vice chair, Mr. Kroll, if he has any further questions.

Yes. This is Mr. Cuevas. Good evening, sir. Hello.

You're in

a very

you guys have another pen? It ran out of ink.

Say again, please. Do you

have another pen? It ran out of ink.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Came to battle without a weapon.

It's going to cost you.

Hi, my name is Ronald Cuevas. I live in 312 Southwest 184th Way, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33029.

And how long have you lived at that residence there?

Since 2022. 2022.

So you're new to it. So you've seen most of the houses they were already built when you first moved in. For this roof attachment, did you hire a general contractor or was it self performed?

No, it was self performed.

Okay. Under what guidelines? Because it opens up a lot of concerns. First of all, footing. How big

was your footing? The footings were I did five footings, 16 by 16 footings, 10.

I do have I will interrupt you a moment. Yes. Based on the fact that the two variances that we have are for size, location, and extension of the dimension. The building department and the code enforcer, you're to have to prove to them exactly what my colleague have just requested, the size of the footing, the uplift, and everything else that is required. So for all purposes speaking, you can respond to those questions.

But we don't really need that information because you're going to have to basically make that determination with the building department and the court enforcers, which are the ones that are going to legalize your existing structure. And they will go through all the buts and i's and everything else. And you'll have a headache once they finish with you. But that's their function. My function is to basically approve or not approve your variances.

Okay. Thank you. All right? Thank you.

So you can go ahead, my friend.

No, you just cut all my questions out because I was going to ask for, since you self perform the work, the guidelines, the codes, the attachments to the house. My concern is that you have an area the size of two garages and you're facing the perimeter of the Everglades and a strong wind, which I quote is now 185 miles per hour, this roof structure could be a flying object through the neighborhood. That's my concern. I'll withdraw any questions about the way you built it because you've already let me know that certain things are ready for the footing may not meet the current twenty twenty three code.

That's my concern. But that will be your doing in order to meet the requirements of the building department and the court enforcement.

Okay.

And they will basically be handling that aspect.

Okay, thank you.

So I want to basically avoid any further discussion as to the structural components of that particular facility in order to actually alleviate the process and the stress that you may have and that we might take. Maybe as an engineer, I could go ahead forever here. But I'm not.

Okay. Thank you. I'll withdraw all my questions

I have

here,

Thank Mr. You. Concern, sir, you can never build anything like this without a permit.

That is another aspect. And that aspect, even though you just move in on the twenty second on the twenty second twenty twenty two, sorry, I would just it's a word of advice regarding this particular city. You will be requested to request a permit even if you breathe in excess in an area that is limited for one breath every minute. That's just an exaggeration. But just to prove a point, everything that has to be done in the Pembroke Pines, Pembroke Shores, Pembroke Pines, and everything else of this city requires a permit.

In the future, I really keep that in mind, please. And if you contract somebody, you have to ensure because it will be your responsibility if they do or don't.

GREGORY Okay.

DELL: Along the same line, you have a Asheville plan here. It's just the beginning of what's going be required for the building department to prove what you've installed. So

if you have pictures, if you have anything that you took while you were doing everything, they're going to ask for it.

Okay.

Thank you. And as he said, there's plenty more the two of us could ask, but I'm going to not discuss construction. GREGORY Okay.

All right. Having said that, member of Ondo Donato, will you have any questions? No, sir. Member Brito? No questions. Member Jones?

Sure. You've explained it quite well. I have to ask you this. It's not really part of this, but what are those four columns to nowhere along your fence?

Oh,

that was there originally, where I would string lights.

Oh, Okay. Yeah. And they allow that. That bothers me more than

Yeah. I mean, if the variance passes and I'm allowed to have all the permits and everything, I will be

I can't take my eyes off.

Oh my gosh.

Those are going be

Who let that happen?

Okay. Don't let her come close to your wife.

But I think everything as far as rest of it has been explained. I think I'm good with that. Thank you. Okay.

All right. Do we have any other questions? And the board here. There's nobody in the floor, yes. But I have to do this as a part of the protocol.

Bring it to the floor if there's anybody that actually has any concerns that would like to participate in the discussion of this case. Having none, I would ask Madam Secretary well, to before we do that, I would like to have a motion to the effect that ZVR twenty twenty five-eight and nine, which is the front lot coverage, both. Counselor, am I would it be all right to basically do it in that manner and join them, or you want them separate? Let's take each All right. We'll have them separate then.

Variance request. That ZBR twenty twenty five-eight be approved as noted and as submitted. We have had two sessions of this case. And today, there were some items that actually clarify my mind quite a bit. So therefore, I need a motion to that effect, please.

Chair move the ZVR twenty twenty five dash zero zero eight under code section one five five point four two one three, residential single family rear setback with a required 15 foot rear setback and request eight and a half foot rear setback for an existing roof structure attached instead of the required 15 rear setback that was brought to the board early on May 2025 be approved in the section 155.301 c. I second.

We have a motion. We have a second. I need a roll call.

Vice chairman Quarle?

No.

Member Brito? No. Member Abundandolo?

No.

Chair Rodriguez So to?

Yes.

Member Jones? Yes. Motion fails with three to two.

Say again?

The vote is three nay to two aye. Motion fails.

All right. Moving right along. I will go into ZBR twenty twenty five-nine, where we have a required allowance of a maximum 40% coverage for all the buildings And the request is for a 45% maximum lot coverage of all existing buildings. I need a motion for the approval of this variance. Yes, sir.

Say again? Can you open up the floor for this application? Sorry. Yes. I open the floor in case there's anybody that would like to make any statements or concerns regarding this variance. Having none, I'd like to request a roll call, please.

Mr. Chair, may I have a vote?