Architectural Review Board - Regular Meeting

All right, so we have a new member that's not been sworn in, so let's do that first, right?

Or has she? We'll do it. Yeah, she's been sworn in. Oh, she has? Okay. She has been? Yeah.

I missed it then. All right.

No, we don't have to do it in the meeting.

It shows on the agenda, that's why.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. All right.

Oh, this is from last. That was a holdover from last, the January meeting.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So then we can go ahead with the approval of the January 23rd meeting minutes. Do we have a motion to approve?

Second. Perfect. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Okay.

112. All right.

Shall I go ahead and read the statement, Mr. Chair? Thank you. Mr. Acting Chair, whatever you want me to call you.

I have a gavel.

Please be advised that the following items on the agenda are quasi-judicial in nature. If you wish to comment upon an item, please inform the Acting Chair when he asks for public input on the item. An opportunity for persons to speak will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. All testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you refuse either to be cross-examined or to be sworn, your testimony will be given its due weight. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the Architectural Review Board to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for those organizations. Further details of the quasi-judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. At this time, I would ask the board members to disclose whether they've had any ex parte communications, any communications with any of the applicants before you today. No? No? Okay, I see three no's, so there's no disclosures. Mr. Clerk, can you go ahead and handle the swearing in?

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

You may proceed.

All right, so item 4.1, 174 Camden Drive. You guys want to go ahead and start with your presentation?

174.

Thank you. Good afternoon.

My name is Jeff Breidinger.

I'm with Brian Brown Architects here presenting exterior finish changes to 174. This first came before you about a year and At the top there was the original submittal and predominantly the finished material on the building was a travertine stone. And we had a little bit of some wood trim in the front. And what we're proposing at the bottom is what we're proposing at this point is to keep the stone in the front and at the entry so it's visible from the street but he wanted us to entertain looking at a stucco finish. So that's what's represented now where we limited the amount of stone on the building and replaced it with stucco. And you can see at the front elevation there where we had wood slatting, he had some concerns about maintenance on that. So we're proposing a raised stucco banding for that front area there. So that's the entry facade to the south.

This is the rear.

Originally, it had the same wood slatting across the back and the stone finish on the walls. And as you can see, went to a clean stucco finish. The other change that's visible in this rendering is the exterior railings were previously cantilever glass railings. And we're hoping to go with a cable rail system with stainless steel cables and bronze posts and rail.

Let's see.

This would be the west side originally with some of the similar changes. The railing and the stucco. and the east, removing a lot of the stone and replacing it with stucco. And that's pretty much the reason for why we're here for those material changes.

All right. Thank you. You guys have any comments, any questions about it?

Nice cost savings, and it still looks beautiful, so no objection.

Thank you. I do have one comment. If you return to the front elevation, on that left volume where you have the upper story volume, on the return to the building, is that going to transition to stucco? Is it just going to be stone on the front most plane and then not turn the corner?

It would turn the corner on the right side where the front wall is the stone, and it would turn, so it would return in the front of the garage, and then it would transition to a stucco. And on the left, since that's a stucco volume, that would all be stucco going back to make that a stucco.

So it would come all the way to the front left corner, and the right left corner, it would wrap the corner, and all the way back? Yes. Got it.

There are some changes on the entryway.

Yeah, on the entry, where he's keeping the real wood, it's just the orientation of the wood. The original was a horizontal slat. He wants a vertical slat orientation, so that's what's represented there.

I think it's a clean change.

I see no concerns with it. I see no comments. So I guess at this point, does anyone want a motion to approve that? Before we go to a motion. Oh, let's open it to public comments or any online comments.

I do have an email from Nick Logan, who's at 64. Camden Drive, and she writes, changing the walls in parapet to stucco is a great idea and it makes the overall home look cleaner. I don't think changing the railing from glass to the cable railing enhances the home. It adds an element that previously had the railing seems invisible. In the end, I think the homeowners will regret this change. These bronze doors on the east and west side are overwhelming, and landscaping will be key to soften the element. As always, the landscaping plan aids softening the structure and adding the individuality to the home.

Okay. Anyone here in the audience want to comment? All right. I see no comments from the audience, so anyone want to motion?

Motion to approve.

Second. All right.

Second. All right. Yes.

I'm allowed to second anything as well, right? Yes. The standing chair? Okay. I didn't know if I had to be impartial.

But we need the vote of all three of you. Okay.

So a vote. Aye. Aye. All three. Three.

Thank you.

Thank you. Yes. Well, it doesn't matter at this point.

He just has to note it for the minutes.

Yeah. All right. Item two on the agenda. Thank you for your presentation. Item two is 101 Balcross Drive.

Okay, how are you?

Okay, just getting used to it. Good afternoon. I'm Jose Ramos. I'm the architect of this project, Ramos Architects. This is a new home in an empty lot. It's two stories, and the approximate square footage on the roof is 6,400 square feet, and on the air is 5,200 square feet. Let me move on. We follow all the setback requirements, both horizontally and vertically, because since we're doing a two-story home, we had to set back some of the areas to comply with the requirements. And that helped us in a way with the, oops, let me go back. Oh, you can see it there. The renderings are better than the elevations. And what it did, it made us set back so the home doesn't look so boxy. It's a modern-looking home with a lot of glass. Most of it is stucco concrete. We try to keep it simple. And then doing the setbacks on the facade as you went up to the second floor created the movement that we were looking for to enhance the way the home looks. and that carries around. And we created the band like you see on top around the roof to create the difference in 3D so that way some of the walls go back and some will come forward. The rest of it is all glass and metal as you can see. And let me see if I can get it. That's the rear with the aluminum railing and same thing with the setbacks. That's another view. We created some volume so that it's aesthetically pleasing from all sides of the house. There's another shot from the other side. And the rest of it's landscaping, everything was done to code.

And let me go back to the beginning.

The renderings do a better job of explaining the way things are done. The home is a two-story home, seven bedrooms. As you could see, a two-car garage. And you can see on the sides, on the right side especially, where we set back the building. One, to comply with the code, but that also helped us with the design so the house didn't look so boxy. So we took advantage of all that to make it look like it does. So I think we have complied with everything that the code requires. And I'm open for any questions that you may have.

What's the significance or the reasoning behind the glass garage door?

We just wanted to follow the same glass and stucco and concrete all around. We didn't want to put a wood garage door, a metal garage door, especially since it's visible from the street. We wanted to look like it's part of the house. We didn't want it to look like a garage. We wanted to look like a space that goes along with the rest of the house.

Is there no worry about the contents of what would be in a garage visible to the street?

Well, cars, that's what should be there. I don't think they'll try not to make it a messy garage like we're accustomed to. But you don't see it directly from the street anyway. It's the sides.

The material and the banding on the side and at the parapet?

Yeah, it's all the same. It's all stucco.

So it's just a gray stucco? It's just a different color?

It sticks out, and then we did a different color on it so that it would stand out more. Kind of do a frame around the house.

Can you flip to the landscape plan? So I noticed that this is substantially different than what your rendering showed. It looked like your renderer took a lot of creative license there, making your various elevations from the front. I mean, so long as it meets the code, I don't have major qualms with it. I looked at it, and it does look like what one would expect of more of a commercial property. plants that I'd call like bulletproof. It's kind of the general term, just stuff that's really durable, which is fine, but I wonder if it will match the aesthetic that kind of people expect in this community, which is a little more of the playing with the tropical plant palette. Do you have your landscape architect?

Not here.

Not here? No. So I'm going to add just a condition of whatever the decision is, or not, of the group, that you revisit some of the plants to maybe look at something that's more appropriate. Because I even looked at the landscape architect. He's from Port St. Lucie or somewhere?

No, he's in Broward.

Oh, he's in Broward. Okay. All right. Anyways, it just seems slightly underwhelming for a new build of this price point. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

That's a condition?

Yeah. Consider more subtropical native landscape. Yeah.

Any other comments?

My question for Ellie is, is that enough direction so that you'll know how to administer that when it comes time to review it?

Basically, by what he's saying, more tropical landscaping, more native and more of the rest of the community than basically our plan reviewer for planning. And landscaping, we'll take that in consideration. If it doesn't meet that, then we'll do a revision. later on as the other member did, making some changes. So it will be a minor change if that's the case.

So more specifically, I won't add this to condition, but just for your clarity and for your consult's clarity, there's a couple items that are more arid plants that are like typical of the desert, which they'll live here, they'll do well here, and people use them because they're so durable. But I think the aesthetic will be underwhelming.

Okay.

Yeah. So especially around the front, like you basically have these two big planting beds with a bunch of desert plants, which if that's the aesthetic, then I can't discredit them for that. But just in looking at it, it didn't seem like that was likely the intent.

Okay.

Yeah. Is this a younger family moving in, or do they have kids?

Yeah, they have, yeah. Okay.

I would just say, just from a practical standpoint, these beds take up a large portion of the front of the property, and that could be a great usable space for kids. So, you know, just taking up, if it's allowed by code, a jungle gym or just areas for the kids to run around, just keep that in mind as a practical matter. You know, a lot of people in the neighborhood spend time in the front of the properties, being that there's not much green space in the backyard.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. Any further comments from the...

I will say I'm still a little hung up on that glass door just because if it is children, there's going to be bikes. I mean, I've seen some garages that aren't pretty, and I would love to see if there's some alternatives or frosted glass or something just to alleviate some of the views inward, especially if you're saying that it is... visible from the street, even though it's from the side, just because the walls are most likely where you're going to have the biggest mess.

Okay. Would you take issue with that being like a film, something that's applied after the fact?

Yeah, I think if it could be a film, like frosted film or some sort of... Reflective film, something? Yeah. Got it.

And that's a recommendation.

The distinction of that question is sometimes we just give guidance to the applicants and we leave it to their discretion. Sometimes we make it a condition of approval and Ellie will supervise that that happens. So you'll make that choice about whether to include it in the motion as binding or just as a suggestion. I know this is your first meeting.

So we can deny it, approve it with conditions or just approve it and give some friendly guidance.

Okay. I would put it as a condition.

What is usually used is, it's called white interlayer, that it's a film between the two layers of glass, and then the light passes, but you don't see

Yeah.

The figure behind it.

Most likely that's what they're doing. But I would caution you with the interlayer. That's not changeable. That's a done. They'd have to remove the garage door. It comes like that.

When you buy the door, you request it to be glass interlayer, white interlayer, and then it comes with that film in between the two glass.

It's an architect discussion, but just reviewing the look of it from the street.

So it can be applied after the fact as well? So it can be applied on the surface or on the interior?

One is after the fact, but if you put it as a condition, they'll put it in, and the architect needs to put a stamp on the actual product approval when they submit it and verify that the contractor ordered that type of glass. Okay, great.

I think we should just exercise a little caution because a lot of people like that look, and the code specifically puts the garage facing inward for that reason. So if they want to use that space, they have young kids and have natural light coming into the space, I just don't think it's fair to make that a condition. But maybe we should have it as a recommendation and see how much the family wants to push on that.

So, Eli, for that reason, could it be something that's a film that's applied, that it's not part of the product when it's ordered, that it's applied?

Legally, once you alter the glass, it loses the product approval. It says it on the comment. Even putting a vinyl over the top of it. Unfortunately, people do it, but they lose the product approval. They could have film within the glass, and it's applied to the glass, and they sell it with that glass, with that film. If you alter it or modify it in any way, it could lose the warranty of the actual door.

Maybe we just do a suggestion. I'll just change it to a recommendation.

Easy enough. Okay. All right. Any other comments on this? Good. Seems simple enough. All right, so do I hear a motion from the group? Oh, public comments.

Man, I'm going to have to get used to this. From Nika Logan again, 64 Camden Drive. Just another plain facade with nothing exceptionally exciting. She says landscaping is key to this home and expect a swing set and other children's structures in the front yard since there is virtually no space in the rear. It meets all the basic criteria. The landscaping plan needs to be beefed up. The driveway appears inadequate for a home of this size with six bedrooms. Nice to see the mailbox and garbage areas clearly defined.

All right. Any comments from the audience in attendance today? No? I see none. All right. So do I hear any motions from the group?

Motion to approve.

So this is the point at which, if I can help you with the motion, I'd be happy to. Are you seeking to approve with conditions? Approve with condition. Okay. So what I heard, and you guys correct me if I'm wrong, what I heard is motion for approval with a condition to revisit the planting plan to consider more subtropical native landscape and with the suggestion to find a solution to obscure the view into the garage through the glass garage door.

And we need to include the conditions of the building official.

And the building official. The 18 conditions that were already acknowledged by the architect.

One clarification on my condition?

Yes.

Subtropical and or native, not combined.

Oh, okay. Subtropical or native. Got it. So now that the motion content is clear, feel free to proceed.

All right. So we need a second?

Do I have to say it again? No, I think so. Or you can just say so moved if it's easier. I will second that.

Okay. All right.

And all in favor?

All in favor? Aye. All right. We have three ayes. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. All right, moving on to item three, 209 Belle Bay Drive. You want to go ahead and present your project and introduce yourself to the group and the mic, please.

Before we go on, also I need to, on the first item, we also have to include the building official's recommendations, right?

It was also 18 conditions, and also we have a written confirmation by the architect of record stating that they confirmed those conditions.

So the motion, you need to do the motion again?

Can the board verify that they intended to include the conditions in their vote of approval?

Yes. Yes.

I'm seeing three nods. So let's just assume that the written conditions are included in any motion of approval unless they're specifically addressed. Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

So in this case...

I've received confirmation also on the 18 conditions, and the architect is agreeing on potting. And then, in my opinion, the proposed revision to the pergola site for the 209 ball bay, it follows the appearance code and the zoning ordinance, and also the planning and zoning consultant has reviewed it and concurred that it complies with the code. Thank you, Elliot. All right.

Okay, hi, good afternoon. My name is Denise Preschel. I'm the architect of the new tennis court and pergola project to be located at 209 Valbe Drive. This project was previously presented and approved by the ARB back in June 2024. And now we are presenting a revision to the project. The client wants to maintain everything the same in the tennis court, but they want to simplify the design of the accessory structure. So instead of being a gazebo of 900 square feet of living area, they decided to do like a small open trellis of 200 square feet of area. So basically in the presentation, I'm going to show you images side by side of what was previously approved and what we're presenting now for your review. So here you will see in the left-hand side what was originally presented, and on the right-hand side what we're presenting now. The lot was originally two parcels, 209 Balbay Drive and 160 Biscay Drive, which were, sorry, 209 Balbay Drive and 161. 160 Biscay Drive, okay? So those two were incorporated in one lot, and from the beginning, we made sure to comply with the building, maximum building area, impervious area, and green area taking into account the existing home, the existing hardscape pool, and the new tennis court and gazebo. Since the structure is now smaller, we have more green space now with this revision. These slides show more in detail how we are complying with the maximum building area and the impervious area calculations and the green area calculations, all within the zoning requirements. And on this slide, again, towards the left, you will see the original and the right is the new. You'll see an enlarged view of the floor plan where in the previous version, we had a living area under AC and we had equipment. So we had elevated the slab PERFIMA requirements, and that generated a series of stairs and ramps to access. In the new version, since it's an open pergola, it's basically set on grade. We don't have to do any of that grading. We just have a seven-inch step between the court and the pergola, so it's much simpler. And these are on the top was the previous approved project, and the bottom is the new version. You will see the simpler pergola design. One detail that you can appreciate in the bottom view is that towards the back, the tennis court enclosure, it's higher. It's 10 feet. Towards the front, it's lower, 5 feet, because we do have an area of that tennis court enclosure within the front setback, and we want to comply with height regulations within the front setback. This is a view from the existing house, and you will see that even though the accessory structure changed, we are maintaining the same concept of connection and integration with the existing pool and deck with the tennis court. And this last view is from the street. So even though the project was simplified, also the landscape project was simplified towards the interior, but we made an effort that towards the street we're maintaining exactly the same concept for landscape. We have a hedge of podocarpus. Towards the interior, we have a line of green buttonwoods, and towards the exterior, we have a line of coconut palms in the right-of-way. The idea is to create layered... green like buffer towards the street to have like maintain the same nice appeal towards the city and also to have privacy for the owners of the property. And I think that's mostly it. If you have questions, feel free.

Thank you. All right. I remember this one.

Okay.

So I'm the only one here other than the staff that saw this prior. It's unfortunate. It was actually a really nice design for the pavilion. Yeah. I see no issue with it, especially with it being not visible from the street. Okay. I'm a little disappointed to not see it built. Yeah. As I'm sure you are.

Yeah. They were value engineering and, you know, it changed for the client. It was a budgetary. Yeah.

Yeah, of course. Understood. Well, it still looks nice, even the same, so thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Do we have any conversation or discussion up here?

I think it's a beautiful and simple intervention of the court, so thank you.

All right. Do we have any comments from the public or from online? Yes.

One second. This is also from Nika Logan, and she says, the landscaping appears to be lush, which will help offset the tennis court. The shade from the trees and the smaller pergola are a good compromise since the home is right there a short distance away. I think the connection between the two lots needs to be reimagined to fully embrace this enhancement. It's simple and straightforward.

Okay. I see nothing out of the ordinary from that comment. Anything from the audience here? No? All right. Anyone? Brett, you want to do the honors? Sure.

Motion to approve.

I would second. All in favor? Aye. All right. Three. Congratulations. Your pass. All right. We are moving on to item four on the agenda, 102.75 Collins Avenue. Thank you.

All right. Ellington? So I've received written confirmation also for and they acknowledge the eight comments and conditions of this project and in my opinion the proposed amenity deck renovations for the 102-75 Collins Avenue Harbor House and condo follows the village appearance code and zoning ordinance and also the planning and zoning consultant has reviewed and has confirmed that it complies with the code requirements.

All right.

Thank you. Ellington?

You want to go ahead with your presentation?

Hello. My name is Scott Davidson. I'm with Davidson Design Studio. I'm a landscape architect and designer for the project. With me today is Ed Lockhart. He's a board member. And Arnold Villars, he's our project manager. So just so you have, we have people here to answer questions if needed. Thanks, everybody, for being here. I'm going to go to the pretty pictures so we can see what's going on. So this is Harbor House. It's, you know, the second to last condominium right here in Bow Harbor, of course. This is the existing conditions currently. It's an entire waterproofing renovation. So the entire deck is coming up and, of course, being restored back to this new design. Things that are remaining exactly the same are the pool and there is an existing pavilion or bar structure, as we call it, that is not an original Portion of the project was added, I don't know, years ago. So things to note on this that we're trying to improve are access and visibility into the beach. So you can see that the planters are widespread. There's a spa. It's a very high-ray spa, so from the pool you can't see to the water, to the beach, or even though it's there at some points. Like I said, the bar pavilion stays. Everything else is going. All those little tiny planters are going away. This is, again, existing conditions. And this is our proposed concept. There are a couple of things that were desired. One, to see the beach from the pool. So we removed the existing spa. We added in a smaller spa, but closer to the pool where it was able to stay out and be lowered actually into the garage level below. One of the other things that we did that they wanted to do was to mesh the existing bar structure out by the pool with the internal social room, which, there's no pointer on this. Is there a pointer on this? One of these buttons? It might help.

Does this one work, just the pointer?

Oh, there we go, okay. This will make it easier. So this is the bar pavilion that's existing. And then this is the social room here. So this area here was basically three different levels. So what we're trying to do is, even though the bar pavilion is a little bit taller, we're able to fill in the space above the garage here and make this all one level to make this a more cohesive internal part of things. So the social room and now this exterior piece now feel like one integral space. We're covering it with a pergola here. to create a dining – I can point to both if you guys don't want to turn around – a dining area here. We're adding a fountain. We're also adding a small pergola over here to create a little bit more dining and bar space here. It's not a commercial bar. It's still only used for the condominium. To answer that question, we're improving. So here, this is all raised to be level with the building here. And then these are existing rampant steps. Adding an existing step here, the existing steps here just flow better out into the space now. In addition, we're adding a row of cabanas here. This is just a porcelain deck just to create a different space, and that happens on both sides with the wood porcelain look in here. These are cabanas, lounge chairs on both sides. There's no cabanas on the bottom side here. additional cabanas here and here. Again, some lounge chairs in front. And of course, this is just your pool deck all around. In addition to that, we're adding a kids area down into the corner here where we're adding a whole additional kiddie pool. The kiddie pool is raised above the garage deck. We're not able to lower this one. So it will be ramped up here, starting back in here into this area to get it up to the height that we need. We're also creating a kiddie play area back here This is a playground with a covered area over top of it. This is just open play for the kids. This is all going to be a rubberized surface here, and this will be just a concrete colored surface, as you see. In addition to that, we're creating, these are raised areas to feel like you're walking. So as you're looking through here, These are raised to feel like you're walking through a dune. So we have a little bit of a natural feature coming in. It's just going to be artificial turf, of course, just from a maintenance standpoint on both sides. We have some hammocks over here. This is all landscaping. It's important to note that this line right here, I'll draw it straight as I can, is the limit of the garage underneath. So with that in mind, we wanted to create a separate spa out closer to the beach so you can enjoy the beach view even more. So this area here is a new spa over top of, it's in ground, so it's not a garage here. So this we're able, we have some flexibility, so it's lower, same as the pool deck. And then on this side, we create a small barbecue area with a just, you know, the pathway through straight out to the beach. Currently, this path comes up here and they have to go out like this. So now we've got everything just going straight out to the beach here. This is a pathway here. There's a barbecue area here. A little sand area so you can get your toes in the sand if you like. Those are all the new improvements that we have going on. I'll just give you a couple different views. to help this. This is looking from the beach back to the pavilion. Again, this is the existing bar pavilion. You can see where we're adding the pergolas up in here. This is raised. You can see where it raises up. So this is level with the social room inside. This is two steps higher, unfortunately. That's where it was built years ago. So we have two steps going into that. The fountain in here, the cabanas that we're proposing. You can see the wood porcelain floor, the new deck. The pool is going to be redone, refinished, new tile, new coping. We're getting rid of the old raised top and going flat so we have a nice edge. New landscaping, nice palms, all very hardy because we do have a nice wind going through here, not to mention salt and sand. In this next view, oops, I'm going to use this one. Looking from, so you're standing up at the bar looking out. Previous, their spa was here, and you couldn't see this out here. It just felt like you're in a valley. Now you can see how we're just looking straight out. The dunes are very low, so you still have the view. But you're able to put chairs and stuff on top of these, so you get up even higher to have an even better view. A lot of those coconut palms that I show towards the back are existing. Most of them are staying where they are. We are relocating a couple of palms just to make it work the way we want the design to work. But we're just keeping them on site. We're not moving them anywhere. You can see we have palms on both sides. We've got some big palms, some smaller palms, everything that kind of works. New pool deck, new lounge chairs, new everything. Oops, I've got to use this one. This gives you a little view of the child's, the kid's area. The little kiddie pool there. It's surrounding has its own shower. It's to be gated off, of course. Fenced off as required. A couple of different looks of the pergolas and the cabanas. Just some different looks. All the materials, which I also have copies here. That's the We could go through the landscaping if you want, Nathan. This is more hardscape plans, just more details, but it shows kind of what that original site plan did. Lots of sections showing the fountain, all the different materials. The finishes plan shows all different materials. They're not exactly in the color, but in the color it kind of relates there.

And you have these materials.

The materials are here, yeah.

You mind passing those up while you're looking out? I'm sorry. Yeah.

Dog park. There's an area there where they walk their dogs. Now we're going to do an actual dog park with a couple of features and benches so people can get comfortable and water, trash receptacles. Tree disposition plan is required. Here, I'll go on to this one. Landscape area, landscape plan, palms. I mean, of course, you can go through whatever, how much detail you want on that. Those are the design elements of the project. I can hear to answer any questions you may have and any comments.

Where are the last two ice and ocean marbles located?

I'm going to make sure we're talking about the same thing. These two? The gray. Okay. So the main body is – The main body is the first one there. That's the ground plane. When we go vertical, we use the second one.

Okay.

The third one is some banding that we have in some spots. They would all be... Slip coefficient. Slip coefficient proper, yeah, yeah. I don't think I have much banding, but there are some.

Okay.

Yeah.

So it will be a similar finish like the leather or the brush finish?

Yeah, exactly. Yes. Okay. The porcelain wood look is the wood look that I pointed out, the pool tile, and then the one that he's holding now is the vertical and the columns. because the columns currently are round on that bar. We're going to make them square, and instead of being stucco, we're going to put tile on them.

What's the finish on the structures, on the pergolas, or the cabanas?

They're going to be aluminum but painted brown, but they need to be aluminum to give it a wood look.

Okay, so they are wood look, not painted brown?

Well, they're powder-coated brown. Yeah, they're not painted to look like wood. They're just a powder-coated brown to match everything. So there's two different manufacturers there, so we can't. It's next to impossible to do what you're thinking, do wood look and wood look. We wanted to match, and we're able to get, even with two manufacturers, matching colors. Just match the powder coat color. Yep, matching the powder coat color.

Just checking because the landing looks like wood.

So what is the other structure that doesn't match? Is that the larger structure that's on the pool?

The larger structure next to the pool, yeah. Yeah, I see it there. Got it. Okay. Yeah.

So they'll be matching. Okay.

And is that similar to the wood? I believe that's wood banding on the condominium edge.

Yes. Again, the same thing. We're trying to match. So it's more of a powder-coated finish.

Okay. I had a few questions from the plan. If you go to the overall, there's an area to the west of the children's area. Is it mechanical? What is that area?

So we're limited with emergency access, so how far back you can go with usage. So we stopped with a fence right here. So this actually currently all this right now is storage. It's just blank. for the most part, and so we're limited to how far we can go from an emergency access point, so we have to stop right there.

Got it. What does the fence look like from there?

It is just a vinyl-clad chain link. It's existing there, basically.

Okay.

And you guys aren't modifying the fence at all along the beach frontage?

We're replacing it, and we're actually going to match. We're still matching next door, right? Yeah. What's next door, One Bow Harbor. Okay. So it's different now, so we're going to try to match that whole lineup there. Got it.

All right. Overall, I think it's a really nice plan. It looks like something I would have done in the past, so I think that's nice. It's my taste. I'll take it as a compliment. Yeah. I like the materials. I like the way you've laid out the spaces functionally. It makes a lot of sense. Excuse me. The way you can kind of move through and see through the spaces and how they're organized on two axes I think is overall really very nice. There might be a discretion, but I just want to make sure I'm understanding it. So you have two different grain tones. You call the mounds a synthetic turf. Yeah. You have, like, a patterned grain there, and you have a synthetic turf called out, which is like the chartreuse? I think it's just a...

So they're one and the same? They're one and the same. Okay, good.

But... I mean, I have no comments or no conditions that I would add to it. I do have one friendly recommendation that I make for all these projects is the amount of sun. I mean, you've shaded it a lot. You put the cabanas. But if you were able to structurally add another palm or two, I see you have these like kind of framing it with the medjools, I think they are.

Yeah. I've got as much shade as I possibly can from a load standpoint. We have more umbrellas coming in, too, that aren't shown. Otherwise, we wouldn't see the plan with all the umbrellas that are planned as well.

They're going to be, whatever those cabanas are, the fabric that you can pull closed, they're going to be closed all the time. Yeah. If people want more shade than they realize, which I imagine you don't. All right. Any comments to anyone else in the group?

I have no comments. I definitely think the plan and the design has definitely elevated the space. It feels more resort-esque. I would agree with the fact that it does need shading. I don't know if you would think about eyelets and putting shade structures, being like tensile structure across some of the spaces just to add, depending on certain days. But that would just be a friendly recommendation as well, but I think it's beautiful.

Thank you.

All right. No comments?

All right. Looks like a resort. Beautiful residents are probably going to be very happy with the project. So good job.

Thank you. All right. Any public comments?

This is a big project at Harbor House, and the end result appears to update the space and create new spaces for the residents.

All right. Anyone in the audience? I see no comments from the audience. All right. Ellie, you don't have to read anything, right? All right. Well, do we want to make a motion from the group?

Motion to approve. Second.

All right.

Aye.

All in favor? Aye. Aye. That's three ayes. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Good job. Good work. All right, moving right along. Item number five.

Yeah, don't forget your stones.

Oh, yeah.

Do you think? Yeah, sure, right?

All right. Item number 5, 122 Balbay Drive. Elliot, if you want to go ahead and read anything you have.

Also on this one, we received the confirmation for the acknowledgement of the 18 conditions and their agreeance of them by the architect of record. And also it's my opinion that the site renovation for the single-family residence located at 122 Balbay Drive follows the Village Appearance Code and also the Planning and Zoning Consultant has concurred that it complies with the zoning regulations in the code.

All right. You want to introduce yourself? Sure. Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board, ARB. For the record, my name is Joseph Kaler. I'm the architect of the project. Our offices are located at 2417 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Florida. Anyway, welcome. Thank you for having us this afternoon. Basically, it's an interesting project, this particular one. The actual project, let me, how do I do this? I'm going to get it to the landscaping that's colored. There it is. Okay. Basically, the property or the house was built in 1987. It contains, it's an interesting conglomeration of buildings. In the back towards the water is a two-story residence. And at the top right, you basically have a, you know, service quarter that's one story along with a two-car garage. And that's at the top right of the site. Originally, the site featured, you know, open kitchen barbecue areas with the majority of the open space being paved. And it was paved with so many different varying materials. resulting only presently as it is today with a 24% green area, which was way too little. So what we started to do in this particular design is remove the pavers in certain areas to create more green area and then replace the pavers that were there. The rear of the property does have a pre-existing wooden slat pervious walkway, which was built directly on the soil and allowing also runoff, water drain off. What happened is in about A year ago, the client went for an interior renovation, and he upgraded the second floor of the house, as well as an outdoor terrace facing the pool area, which was built under a separate permit in 2024. The current requested permit application seeks, let me show you, to complete the overall property upgrade. As you can see, there's a lot of green now where there wasn't any before, but we basically are increasing the green area from 24% to 42.32%, quite an increase. And this will be achieved by removing large paved areas from the site and replacing them with sod and new landscaping. In addition to that, we have a little sampling of some of the plants that were proposed by the landscape architect. Very tropical and I love them all. You know, some of them are, you know, need less water. Others need, if they're positioned in the right areas, they need less light. So it really worked out perfect. The remaining paved surfaces that are on the site will be done with new travertine pavers and tiles. Let me show you the architectural colored site plan. And you can see it's got a really, really funky undulating wall up against near the waterway. And then you have the dock. west of that. So it's really, it's a very interesting home. The canopy which is located is cross-tatched at the bottom left of the yellow two-story home. Basic will be added and an existing paved area over the existing paved area and it will create a shaded outdoor living space especially connected to the interior dining room and the living room of the house. Let me go to the next slide. Okay, the front street fence also will be upgraded, replacing the existing solid masonry wall. It really did not look good at all, with a decorative picket-style fence, including an automatic gate opener. You could start – this is the facade facing the waterway, and you could see at the one-story portion of the home to the right, there is that covered area that we're proposing, and the top left is a blow-up of that immediate area that we're adding that covered portion of viewing the pool. We are putting also, you know, what do you call it, new railings. They're going to be made out of stainless steel. They are more in a vertical format rather than horizontal, kind of interesting. And they're cable, stainless steel cable railings. And a lot of the finished, you know, items are located along horizontally along the bottom of the page. Anyway, thank you. I really appreciate it. If there's any questions, it's really more of an exterior embellishment and bringing things more up to code with as far as in reference to perviousness.

Really quick, I previously made a statement. I wasn't sure that this would be called up. Just wanted to disclose that I am friends with the phallics. I have told them I am on the ARB, and we previously discussed artificial turf versus sod. In abundance of caution, I wanted to disclose that. I previously mentioned there were no communications, but there were. I did not know or receive any of the plans or review them previously, but in abundance of caution, just wanted to disclose that.

Thank you.

Yeah, I know we did go through all the departments, and so far everything as of right, no variances, no special exceptions, none of that. So we're really excited, and they want to move in now as soon as possible.

All right.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

I noticed on one of the renderings, I was studying the view from the garage, from the, yeah, this one.

Yeah.

So in the area where you have the D, are those sliding? Are those operable?

The D, let me check what the... You know how it is. You have so many of these. Okay, D happens to be... No, no, no. Okay, let me take a look at the other... One second. Yeah, D is... It happens to be D is new sod. So I don't know. So it's pointing down to the sodded area. I apologize. I was looking for, you know, if anything, we're not touching any of the windows under this permit. So if anything was done, it was done under prior permits.

The reason I ask it, it's sod immediately in front of that, which struck me as a little odd. Like, it looks nice. Overall, the plan looks good, and I like the improvements in terms of the pervious area, making it, unifying it.

You see there, the bottom right portion of that, the yellow structure, we needed more green. It was just a requirement, and we thought that, you know, doing it in front in that area did fill in and doubled our allowable perviousness to the land.

Was there a reason for not having a little bit more landscaping than that, than just the grass there? Was that functional?

Let me show you. Let me see if it's in here. One second. It should have I do have the landscape architecture drawings, but I don't know why they're not included. Here it is. I mean, it really has – there you could see all of them without color. I decided to put color so it can pop out. So I see where you have grass, but you have a small planter on the – Correct. What we did is the landscape architect decided he wanted to bookend it at each side, and the window in the center is viewing out towards the grass. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah, that was my question. We have no issues, I mean, in taking another shot at that, you know what I'm saying. I usually hate to put, me personally, again, I'm not the landscape architect, but to put a tree, a couple of trees right in front of your window, you know, so you see a trunk. I like to more bookend it so that you're able to see out towards the front. But we will definitely look at that if you have that.

Just curious about what the reasoning was for it.

Yeah.

That space is also very usable for kids. And it's a very big front courtyard.

Yes, it is.

So for active kids, it's great. Because the back, there's not much green space. But in the front, it definitely adds to the house. And I think you did a great job renovating. It's not easy to do that. But the house from the street looks beautiful. And it's a great enhancement to the neighborhood. All right.

Thank you.

Well, thank you so much.

Any further discussion from the board? No? All right. Public comments?

As Nika Logan says, the selection of the gates is boring and uninspired. Updating the pavers will be nice. Adding more sod and enhancing the landscaping is something they will enjoy.

So on that comment, there's no landscaping besides the trees and street trees on the right-of-way side. Is that village property, or is that from the gate to the... That's at the easement?

Yeah, exactly. Right here is a property line. Look at that. It's clustered all over the place so that we make sure that it gives it an enhancement. It's not just frontally seeing the gates and then nothing on it.

Yeah. On this plan, on L2, all the ones here in the corner and all the ones that are existing to remain.

Yeah. So this is the canopy, though. There's nothing on the understory. It's my question. Which, if it's the city's property, the city can choose to do what they want. Yeah. My preference would be to have understory planting kind of concealing that fence so that you're getting more privacy even from the property. But it's the city's property, so I don't know how you would work that out between the two parties. All right. Any comments from the audience, a couple of you here? I see no comments. All right. Do we have any motions from the group?

Motion to approve. Second. All in favor?

Aye. You're stealing my job.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

I'm in with this.

Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for presenting. Good job. Congratulations.

Should I stand or you want to? Oh, you're the next one as well.

My goodness. Yeah, you can stay here. I'm just going to get rid of me now. All right. So the last item, correct, or the last project on the agenda, 4.6, 226 Balcross Drive.

to solid motivation for their existing single-family home at 226 Cross Drive. And I also apologize for the appearance code and also the zoning.

Again, board members, thank you so much. Let me identify myself for the record. Joseph Kaler, architect of the project, 2417 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Florida. This is a totally different feel of a house. It's not on the water. It's a one-story. It really is lovely. It's almost like a courtyard home. You know, you go inside the house and it's a surprise. You know, all of a sudden, you know, there's an area, a scooped-out area in the center. The property owners really proposed to upgrade and improve and enhance the front facade of the one-story residence that's existing there today. And they want to upgrade it within the neighborhood context. Also, this house in the R1, the R1 zoning district, The front facade of the house will have a new treatment focused on contemporary materials and colors and textures. I'll show you how that would look. Right here, okay. And you could see that we're adding, you know, contemporary lectures have materials, colors, textures, porcelain tiles being applied in certain areas of the front facade. The vertical element, which is existing to the existing home, it's colored in like a light brown color. We call it a tower. It is not a fireplace or anything like that. It was meant and designed initially when the home was designed years back. And it will receive a new brown composite type of vertical slatted cladding to give an accent, especially to the main entrance. It roots down the main entrance down to the ground. And completed as well with a new really nice entry door of which you can see the materials on the right. It's the brown rectangular with a large handle on the right side of the set of drawings. The porch and access steps were designed to harmonize with the rectangular shapes of the planters and the tower that is presently. existing in the home. And the site will be improved with pavers. Believe it or not, the entire driveway, if I'm not mistaken, Yankee, is asphalt. It's asphalt. And if you look at the size of this, look how big the driveway is. Can you imagine that being kept in asphalt? It would deter from all the money you're spending on the facade. Here you could start, like I said, here you could see it angularly from one side. And to complete the site, the landscape frames the base of the facade and gives the property a new feeling of a natural Florida landscape, you know, theme up against the windows and up against the new landscape. area that we're reworking. Again, we're adding materials to it, and it is all shown in our palette board on all of the drawings that I think are in your package. So if there's any questions, we would love to answer any of your questions. Here's a close-up of... that front door where we're doing all of the steps the steps are all broken they have a planter uh book ending these steps which make it look crimpy and small and tight you know you just have to look at each item and enhance it so that you feel a lot better about walking into the house yeah if there's any questions uh i'm here to answer them so yeah I'm curious about the tower. Is that a solid mass? Believe it or not, if I recall correctly, it was an L-shaped wall. If you look at where the door is, to the right of the door, we're enclosing that so that it reads as a form. It was amazing. They spent all this time and design, the prior architect years back, and they left it hollowed. I mean, it didn't make any sense. You're driving and you're thinking, you know, this is meant to, you know, to actually break the horizontality of the house. And they left it open. So part of that was enclosing it to make it look more massive and important, which we thought was essential in making this a successful new facade.

So that's inaccessible.

It's totally exactly.

Okay.

I had two small questions. With regards to the vertical wall, what was the intention of just putting that small sconce? It feels like it breaks it a little bit.

No, it's a very, very good point. Right now, we probably will have to select a sconce more in line. I don't have a problem with the color because you have the browns and things like that. But I think you brought a very good point. I'd like to see that maybe a bit taller and more in proportion to the sconce. to the turret. But we definitely wanted to tell the board, hey, we're adding electricity here and there to enhance, number one, bring more light as you park your car. And you are correct, maybe it should be more vertical, more taller.

Vertical or even, I'm not sure.

Or it could be some other form, yeah.

And then my other question is, everything seems to be very cool tone except for the tower piece. Is there a reasoning for that?

No, I mean, they like pretty much everything, even in their interior. It's very soothing. It's very, I don't know, you know, light. They wanted to carry some of that work which they had done on this house. On the inside, they wanted to bring it out to the front facade. Yes.

So if you had to liken that to a wood tone, like it looks orange-ish?

Yeah, I don't think we have a problem with that. I mean, basically the material that is shown here on that rendering comes in, oh my God, a lot of colors or it could be, you know, you can actually... make it what you would like. So we have no problem with that.

Is the intent for it to be more like a maple or something like a washed oak?

It was meant, I think, if I recall, it was like a maple. It's not that light. And unfortunately, you know, when you use Xerox and you send things by email, it kind of mutes or tends to take away the reality of the color. It is. It's darker. It really is. And I apologize for that.

I have no comment. I wouldn't.

No comment.

Okay. All right. Any public comments to read into the record?

Yes, from Nicola. She says, updating the front will really enhance this tired-looking home. New pavers will be a great accent. Fresh paint and new landscaping will greatly enhance the home's facade. Why don't they take the new pavers all the way to the garage so they have a seamless look?

New pavers all the way to the garage.

Can you... Yeah, let me go back to the... Let's go back. Okay. Okay, let me try again. It's not moving. I wonder why. Okay. Maybe it's this one. You know how it is. When you have two of them, it doesn't say which... Oh, there it is. Let me go. I mean, there's no garage that stops. I'll show you the actual site plan. You see, there's no garage per se. It's basically, you know, those are for extra guests. You know, if you have a party, they can park further remotely to the top right.

So it does cover the entire paid drivable area?

Yes, yes. Now there's a band that occurs eight feet in front of that car in that image.

Yeah.

That band transitions to another?

No, if I recall correctly, are they planning, Yankee, to maybe put some sort of a fence so that they don't see beyond that car that's parked at the top right, or are they going to just let it? Not right now, so they're going to leave it, and we're going to stop the actual material, the pavers, where the black line is dotted. Yeah, and then, okay.

Supposedly back there is concrete.

It's not asphalt.

Yes, that's correct. Correct. So there is a transition back there.

I don't think you'll see it from the street. Yeah, it is so far back, if you notice. Look, it's almost towards the rear right-hand side of the house.

All right. Any comments from the crowd? I see no comments. All right. Do I have a motion from the group?

I have a motion to approve.

All right. I would second. You have no comments? No. No. Thank you. Congratulations.

Hey, thank you so much. Enjoy your week. Okay. Thank you.

You as well. All right. Other business. Thank you so much.

Yeah, that was one of the things that I have two items to bring up. One is, Nika had a little bit more of a comment, in general comment, but I'll discuss the October meeting. This is something I had put on the January meeting, that October 2nd falls on Yom Kippur, which is a non-workable holiday. So we'd like to see if you'd be amenable to moving it to the 16th. Which is also Thursday, October 16th.

I will not be working the 3rd, so yes, I can do the 16th.

You can do the 16th? You too?

October 16th?

Yeah.

Yeah, I could do that.

Okay.

Susan, so... Yeah, we have the other two members.

Well, Bernardo said yes, and I just need to check with Jose. Okay. but it seems like everybody's on board. Okay, so I'll send out an official email showing that so you can get it on your calendars. The second thing is... I don't know how much of this I want to read. Nika has at the beginning of her thing, this is just general comments in general regarding some of those things. So she says... We really need your opinion to help formulate what to do with the driveways and garages. The current code is outdated and unrealistic based on the massive size of these homes. There is not adequate space in the streets to accommodate the overflow of the home's vehicles. This is a fact. The location of the garage needs to be evaluated on what the aesthetic purpose is versus the ultimate use. Today's garage doors can be very attractive, not like it was 30-plus years ago. This requirement of turning the garage entrance away from the street is not practical with the size of today's garage. vehicles, the oversize of the home, and the general six-plus bedrooms. This means eight-plus vehicles will be at the house as soon as the children reach driving ages. At every home, the household staff on a daily basis. So she's just, and it goes on, just saying that it just needs to be addressed. So it's just a general comment, and we don't need to do anything if you don't want to, but.

So it's just for our consideration as we're reviewing this because there's no amendment to your internal regulations that would guide the size of this. We're already up against the previous area regulations.

There is a section of the zoning code that requires the garage to be facing away from the street.

But a change to the zoning code would not come from this group. It would come from the community support and the commission, correct?

It has to be amended. If you're in agreement, you can make a recommendation that I can bring to the council, the manager in the council.

We've heard this comment, too, about the cars on the street. The orientation of the garage is not going to change that. If you have eight cars, not many people have a motor court big enough.

Based on the size of the lots, I just, even if they extended, I don't think we're going to require three-car garages, but people are still going to park in the driveway on the street. I mean... I don't know what really there is to do other than have it face the street so it's more usable. But then again, it's the aesthetic. Yeah.

How many of these houses are you seeing with lifts in the garage? Like you have a lot of car collectors that have the lifts with two cars in the garage. Are you seeing that at all in any?

The thing is that these garages are basically 12, 14 feet high. So they actually have the height that they could do a lift. The older homes don't because they have the eight or nine foot garage. But all these new homes... Like the one we saw today, that one has more than – you saw it has eight feet, plus it has like a three-foot clear glass in the front. So that one is above 14 feet, basically the interior of the height.

A lot of the traffic now is because of the construction, I think. There's just tons of – Construction. Construction is going to be all the time.

Yeah. But is the comment focused on the direction of the actual garage? Because if it is, then it's really focused on how much usable space for turning radius is to get the cars in and blocking so that could the garage be more efficient when it's angled a different direction?

Yeah, there's kind of three points, and I don't want Ms. Logan's comment to fully drive this, but it is kind of a theme of comments that we've had from the public, and sometimes we have an applicant and their neighbor came here to say, like, hey, I'm concerned about the cars. So it's not an unfamiliar comment.

I think if the garage faces the street, a lot more people would use it because the way it is now, you have to pull into the driveway, and it's usually a tight turning radius. You have to pull in and then pull in another car.

Makes it impractical.

Practically, if it faces a street, I think a lot more people would use it.

You would make a lot of enemies of the architectural world. It's not common convention to rotate it back to the street. But it works, right?

No, functionally, yes. The spacing works and people could use the garage.

Yeah.

Would it bring more paving to the street as you know you're using it? Because right now you could have a two-lane element instead of if the garage is larger, it could be more paving.

They have a maximum width on the driveway apron or the driveway entrance. Like 20 feet.

But the other way, then, if they put a three-car garage or even a four-car garage, then you're talking about almost 60 feet of approach. Then you don't have no area where to park for the service or for the landscaper outside on front of the property. So you win by one or you lose by the other.

So the crafting of this revision to the zoning code would go before the commission, they would ask for a consultant, the consultant would draft something up for public comment? What would be the procedure for that?

So I have a couple of recommendations for you. This is a pretty fundamental feature of how we develop in the gated community that has been bumped up against for years and years, and the village has stood with it. And so given that we only have three out of five here today, and given that we didn't give prior notice that we were going to be visiting this situation, I think it's good that we brought it up based on the public comment, but maybe we should schedule a further discussion at this body when hopefully more of you are present after you've had some time to think about it. And then your question procedurally, what you can do is once you all reach a consensus, if your consensus is to advise the village that something should happen, then what you can do is you can frame that for us. We can memorialize that in writing and communicate it to the appropriate people. Ellie works with the village planner who's been with the village for a very long time and looks at these issues in the zoning code. And so we know what would have to change. The wording itself is not necessarily that big a deal. It's more the impact on the look of the community and the history of why that's there. I'm not aware of that being required by the plat or anything. I think that's purely the zoning. So it is within our control to make a different decision if we believe that's in the best interest of the village today. And if we do decide to go down that path, an ordinance would be drafted. It would go to the local planning agency, which is the village council wearing another hat. They would have a public hearing, and then it would go to first and second reading. And after adoption of that ordinance, then it would actually change.

but I recommend you guys to go to Bay Harbor Islands, which the garage faces forward, but they have a soil parking area in front of their property. So that alleviates the issue about people on the street. Here, we don't have that. So the scenario is different from Bay Harbor than to Bay Harbor because of that condition. The plat does allow you guys to, if I'm not mistaken, to produce that swale parking, but nobody wants it. Everybody leaves it in green. And then everybody leaves their car or their service vehicle in the actual street, which is dangerous until we don't have an accident or a fatality. Then it's a problem that somebody can't get in to give rescue or just a couple of weeks ago, almost a month ago, I was driving around and somebody was bumper carring two cars and the gentleman was drunk. Because the cars are in the street. If the cars were not on the street, he would have kept on going, but he had to maneuver and move back and forth. That's something that you guys need to think about. Okay.

And if I may make another suggestion, Ellie, I think over the intervening weeks, we have a while before October 16th, maybe some photographs would be useful to show current conditions when it's particularly clogged, how it works. And likewise, if the ARB has ideas about the best way to handle garage orientation, if you have visuals or pictures of houses and places you're happy with, that might inform this discussion. So I just propose that for all of you to think about.

I think they're a combined item. I appreciate all these comments. It's really helpful. I think they're combined, but they're kind of two competing things. To reorient the garage is not necessarily, it's helping for ease of access, but it's going to actually probably reduce the paved area, motor court area, because the turn ends up being the de facto motor court. But we can table this for another discussion for the next group. So thank you for your guidance there. All right. So that's any further public comments there? All right. Thank you, everyone, for your time. The meeting is adjourned. I'm going to use my gavel here.

Recording stopped.