Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

So, good evening everyone. Welcome to the December meeting of the North Miami Planning Commission. Today is December the 2nd or actually it's not Thursday as the note says it's it is Tuesday, December 2nd. Um, this time let's uh call the meeting to order. The meeting is now called to order. Um, Madam Secretary, may we have the roll call, please? Yes, sir. Okay. Chairman Erns present. Vice Chair McDermade. Commissioner each. Commissioner each

um Commissioner Ciphered here. Commissioner Pierre here. Commissioner Bob is absent. And Commissioner Besson present. We have a quorum. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Let's all stand please and pledge allegiance to the uh flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic which stands one nation with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. staff, do we have any amendments to the agenda? No, we do not, sir. Thank you, Miss Love, and welcome once again. Thank you, sir. Approval of the minutes for September 18th, our special planning commission meeting. Um, I do I hear a motion to approve the minutes?

So moved. Moved by Mr. McDermade. Uh seconded by Mr. Cyre.

Do we have any continued public hearings at all? No sir. Very good. So the first public hearing we have tonight is uh for PC17-114. Mr. Chair, excuse me, sir. Yes. Under under communications. Yes. We just wanted to remind you of your meetings, but you had also asked for the public works director. Yes. To come come and speak with you all. I'm not sure. I can't tell if he's in the audience or not. Yes, he is. And he's walking up to the podium. I see. Okay. Sir, good evening. Thank you so much.

Good evening, public works. Uh car public works. Thanks, Debbie. Um my um presentation is very I don't have a presentation just a quick update. Sure. So what we're currently waiting on for the bridge is we're waiting on concurrence from FDOT. Once we receive that which should be any day now um our anticipated complete um start of construction is the first quarter of next year of 2026 and completion is the second quarter of 2027. So um that's where we are with the pedestrian bridge.

What was the um delay? uh delayed really um we what happened is um this this project had been bid I think three times. So initially um when we when we got a a first bid I think it was uh we had gotten one bid and the state wanted us to put it back out. So we've had to solicit it a couple times. Finally got a this last round I think we had like three three uh three contractors. So that's kind of what we've been dealing with. And then we also have CI services construction engineering. Okay. And inspection services, also a consultant that we had to put out the bid as well. So that's that's part of it. Now, was all that complete? All that bid process and all done? Yes, sir.

And now the permitting and and planning stage. Yes. If we can get a date or Yes. Do you anticipate a target date of all? Well, um, target as far as start of construction sometime in January, hopefully in January of 2026. And completion is going to take a little bit over a year to complete. Very good. Mhm. Uh you tell us a little bit. Is it going to uh u be a concrete structure or is it going to be a mix mix? It's actually a prefab bridge. So it' be a a metal structure. Um I can I can um share some um plans with you guys, some stuff that we presented to council. We would like to see renderings if you can get.

We don't have unfortunately there were no renderings that were done. Um, so we only have plans um what it what it'll possibly look like, you know, just elevation and that sort of thing, but we don't have unfortunately there were never any renderings that were done for the bridge. Uh Debbie, would it be possible that the next meeting would would there be renderings available for our our January meeting? not not renderings, but I can definitely we have plans and it's public record so I can get you guys a copy of the plans and it has an elevation that'll kind of show you what it'll look like. Um but um the consultant that designed it never, you know, was commissioned to do renderings of the bridge.

Any questions, Mr. Are we going to be addressing landscaping on each side of the bridge? It'll be some minimal landscaping, but not not not a lot. Um because this is uh this is a pedestrian bridge. So it's it's made to move pedestrian traffic um um from one side to the other and and it's a safety a pedestrian safety thing. So u the the landscaping to be you know minimal. Yeah.

Well, we had a an interesting workshop in November of uh I think November of 23 and uh they presented some very interesting design concepts for landscaping. Was that ever referenced? Not not I'm not familiar with that, but I can find out. I'll let you know. But I'm sure once it's in, there's going to be I'm sure we're going to want to do some some some beautifification around the bridge.

Well, I I would recommend that you look into that work product. It took two days for them to do their presentations and uh a lot of their workup was really quite good and very pedestrian friendly. And it's unfortunate that we have these experts who come in, do all this work, and it just gets filed away and nobody ever looks at it. So maybe it would behoove you to look at it. Sure. That that would be a good assignment for me. That would that would be for both sides. Yes.

Because both sides are basically right now they're just um I I would open walkways to either entrance way. Well, I I do recognize what you did bring out that there's some security issues with line of sight. Correct. For being able to see everyone uh entering and exit the pathway. Definitely. But still, I'm sure there's a workable uh landscaping plan that could be put in place that would take everything into mind as far as you know having something that's aesthetically pleasant to look at and also um you know enabling secure pathways. Duly noted.

Will this replacement bridge be any wider than the existing bridge? Definitely. Yes, it would be wider than the existing bridge. And it will be ADA accessible. Um I'm trying to remember if I saw any ramps. Um but um I I believe so, but let me double check that. I can't I would think that they would have to. Yes. Yeah. Because it's a pedestrian bridge. So definitely the width of it and that sort of thing, but I can't, you know, off the top of my head. I can't remember, you know, as far as the approach to it and everything. It has to be ADA accessible. Well, well, these are things that we would want to have reported on and have a chance to look at. Sure. Yeah. Sure.

And and also bear in mind that it would be not only pedestrian traffic, but also bike traffic. That's correct. Using it. So, there would have to be enough room for both pedestrians and bike traffic to share um the rideways that are going to be provided. That's correct. Yes. And I ride that bridge twice a day, Monday through Friday, and not having access for over a year is going to be very unfortunate with such a small bridge. Yes. Yeah. The the long lead time is probably going to be the fabrication of it. Once it's fabricated, the in the install should go pretty quickly.

Let's hope any questions from Sapphire. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. You have a good evening. All right. Take care. Okay. Now we will move on to continue public hearings. I believe we said that was the only thing that we wanted to

actually under communications. There was one more thing we needed to discuss. Um normally every year uh you all decide whether you want to meet in January cuz so many are away with family or on vacation. So, our next um scheduled meeting would be on January 6th if you so choose. Um and if you would rather meet again in February, it would be February 3rd, unless of course um if we do not have any items to present, then there definitely is no meeting. But that was something to be discussed tonight.

Mr. chair. Typ typically you only do that if you if it's the very first week of the month and this is actually the following the on the six. So it doesn't typically typically we have we would have a meeting. Yes. So we just want we want to get your direction that you would like to have that meeting on the six. I I have no problem with it. Does anyone on the commission have a problem with that date? No. I think the sixth is fine. I'm going to be out of town.

All right. But we I think we'll have a quorum without you. So, all right. Very good. If you make note of that, Cincy, if we do run into um a question of a number of attendees for that night that are alternate would not be available. Okay. All right. Um and then February 3rd I'm fine with that. We'll just go ahead and schedule it if if anything doesn't come up. Uh I'm sure staff will notify us. But um absolutely

at this point and we can always change our mind on the January 6 meeting should something come up that we we have problems with scheduling on the uh for the 3. But we will have items, sir, for for your January meeting. All right. Very good. Thank you, Debbie. Yes, sir. And again, I I know for some reason I'm still hung up on this continued public hearing item. Um I take we have none. Is that correct?

Thank you so much. Now we will move on to the public hearing portion of our agenda tonight. And our first item on the agenda is PC17-114. This is a resolution of the mayor and the city council of the city of North Miami, Florida, approving the execution of the campus development agreement and substantially the attached form between the city of North Miami and and the Florida International University Board of Trustees in accordance with section 1013 Florida statutes providing for an effective date and for all other purposes. May we have staff report?

Yes, sir. Again, for the record, Debbie Love, uh, community planning and development director. Uh, before you is the campus master plan development agreement for FIU, um, Biscane Bay campus. uh FIU adopted their update to their uh campus master plan um as required by Florida statute and they it's the update covers the period of 2015 to 2035 and so Florida statute then says look after you adopt this campus master plan you need to enter into a campus development agreement with the jurisdictional body that that you're you're And in this in our case, it would be with the city of North Miami and the CDA um the purpose is multi multi-purpose. It is to ensure that the campus master plan is of course consistent with our comprehensive plan, but that it also addresses any impacts that it would have on public facilities such as roads, water, sewer, etc. uh and it is our framework for managing the growth of Biscane Bay campus and it's a really great um tool for um cooperative work between the university and the city. In November of 2024, FIU adopted the update and uh Florida statute says you have they have within they have 270 days to transmit the camp development agreement in to the municipality in our case the city of North Miami.

And on August 18th, they of uh this past year, they transmitted the agreement to us and that was the within the time frame that is required by Florida statute. The next step after tonight is that it would go before a public hearing before city council on 12726 at their meeting. One of the things that is really key for us um as a city is the um potential opening up the campus to 135th Street. And in this update that is not um proposed. There is actually no new student proposed. They do have some really interesting programs and um expansion of different facilities they're going to be doing, but it is does not affect the opening to 135th at all. With that, that is the end of my presentation. I'm not sure if the um representative from FIU is in the audience. We did invite them to attend to answer any questions you might have.

Yes. Uh in your in your package, you see that you have the campus master plan that was update that was adopted. I'm going to stop sharing my screen now. And as I said with that, that is the end of staff's presentation on this item.

Thank you, Debbie. Yes, there is a representative here from FIU. Um and uh before he begins uh uh I just want to reiterate um that um everyone received the complete campus and and university um up uh update from uh for both campuses. So tonight, keep in mind that we're only interested in what what you saw and what you received in the packet had had a combination of both the uh north campus or Biscane um campus and then the FIU campus south campus portion. So again um only the items that are listed for the Biscane um campus will will be discussed I believe and if the gentleman from FIU would like to come up and introduce himself we would be happy to hear from from him. Good evening sir.

Good evening planning commission members and staff. My name is John Cal C. I'm the associate vice president for facilities management at Florida International University. Thank you for hearing or having our first uh public hearing and for looking at the campus development agreement. Thank you. Uh and I understand the city of Sweetwater already has uh senior proposal and and uh the day um actually the relevant jurisdiction for the uh Modesto Madik campus is Miami Dade County. Oh, it is. Okay.

Yes. So, are we the first one up for um uh Yes, you are. Okay, great. All right. Go ahead, sir, if you could, please.

The city staff has prepared an excellent summary already. I I don't unless you have specific questions. Um or you I can kind of highlight a few additional items. Um I do have a thumb drive that I if you need additional explanation but the relevant key factors are first of all we already have a campus development agreement in place. It's a 10-year agreement. It was signed February 20th 20 I'm sorry February 12th 2018. So while it is already in place and it's good for until 2028, the relevant statute as Debbie Love mentioned 1013.30 requires that whenever we do a master plan update, we also have to update the agreement. So this agreement that you have is substantively the same as the agreement already in place. the um board, as Debbie mentioned, our board of trustees approved the plan November 21st of 2024. That triggered a 270day period where we then had to provide you the draft CDA that was done as she outlined and the the subsequent date 180 days from that point we have to have a signed agreement in place and that date is February 12th of 2026. So I'm pending any questions you may have. Um the only thing that um um between you and staff Debbie in the draft we didn't see anything uh any additions or any underlines that would call our attention to any changes in the plan but as you

stated are there any uh updates that we don't see in the draft here that you would want to point out to us and and is coming Mr. Chair?

Yes. Uh they and I Mr. Cal uh and I spoke they're doing some really amazing things at their campus and said they do have some um amendments and some programs and some building changes that are strictly to allow them to do more of the great work. So if Mr. how um has an opportunity to share any additional information about some of their programs and what they're actually doing in at in this this time period. Uh I think that would be um I think that's what you're looking for. Sure. If I may come to say,

yeah, if anything was relevant to what would be changed in the master plan that uh the city received that we would would recommend approval for specific mainly what I'm I'm concerned about specific to the campus development agreement. The the there are no substantive major changes there Scrivener changes just updates. There's no substantive change in the campus development agreement.

All right. Is there anything new that you would want to share with us that perhaps is still relevant with with what is is planned uh either cosmetically or infrastructure within the the campus itself that would be of interest. the the the capital plan for the future is laid out in the master plan and that's consistent with the again with the previous plan. The most significant project that will be coming up shortly is a uh robotics marine robotics lab uh being um constructed under a national institute of science and technology grant. So we are actually in the uh competitive selection process for that and that will uh house uh a robotics lab and it's consistent with making the Biscane Bay campus the center of marine science and marine studies focused for example on Biscane Bay.

Okay. Very good. Um, at this point before we open the discussion to the commission, I will call for public hearing to be open. Public hearing is now open. Anyone wishing to address this item may step forward. Seeing none in the audience, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. Did and and also um Cincy, did you receive any written comments from anyone? None, sir. All right. Thank you very much. Public hearing is now closed. Item is now open to the commission. I got it.

Mr. Reach, Mr. Cal, hello. I haven't seen you in a few years. Last probably since Ron 2018, I think. So, the last time you were here was very contentious. I hope we're not like that tonight. Thank you for being here.

I have the same hope. Well, you know the issue. It's 135th Street and um actually I I don't want to bring up dirty laundry, but it was quite offensive at that time to the city. Uh try to sneak in it through the legislature, which you I'm sure had nothing to do with, but uh we just want to ensure that 135th Street remains closed. Uh it's a nice neighborhood and it would be very upsetting to the decorum of the neighborhood and to the quality of life of those people if all of a sudden we dropped 1,000 cars a day on that and here we're using 130th Street as an entrance and going through the preserve that we have now uh developed over there and same thing with the passive parkways and so forth and so on. People enjoy that street. They work, they walk, they have a good time out there. I Debbie, I didn't get a chance to see any of the maps or any of the diagrams, but um the last time we we had a look at this. I have my old actually I saved it from your old master plan from 2018 when you were here. Um do do we have any depiction showing 130th Street open going through the campus? That's what caught our attention the last time and I just want to make sure. Yeah. From it's east of Biscane Boulevard 200 uh to the campus. We show any

Right. No. Um and um that's a critical piece of that. Let me let me reshare my uh PowerPoint real quick so I can get you pointed back to that. Okay, on the screen you should see um the the Biscane Bay illustrative plan. And as you can see, uh there's nothing going through here. And you can also look in the master plan itself, which is in your package. Um there is nothing going through to 135th at all. Uh they do have some other plans uh and uh one as I said as Mr. K said was the robotics very exciting work they're doing out there but nothing related to um uh 135th Street sir.

Okay. Thank you Debbie. Appreciate that. Mr. It's good to see you. I'm glad we don't have to go to loggerheads tonight over that. I'm sure you're very happy and I I wish you all the best and the campus all the best. You're doing a great job out there. Do one one question Deb I have is uh any new development that goes out there, does that impact our uh our supply of water and does sewer goes from you right right to the county sewer system out there? How does that work, Mr. Cal? Yes, we we have control of the sewer system and and uh I think years ago we purchased that from the city and so we're responsible for that. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. Mr. McDermig,

Mr. Cal, good evening. Good evening, sir. Um, you all do amazing work out there. Um, and I have no issues with this as long as Debbie assures us that 135th Street is protected. Um, I'm it's exciting about the aquatic ro robotics lab. That's going to be an exciting feature. So, look forward to seeing what comes from that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McDermy. Dr. Besson, good evening, sir. Mike,

the um have has there been any plans to change the roadways for greater access through the 151st Street area, the main campus entrance point? We don't control those roadways. So, we can How'd you get into the campus itself? Into the campus itself. No, because the entrance to the once you're on that road, you it's easy to get into the campus. No, no, no. It's I I'm familiar with the campus. Um just once you get into the campus, are you planning any development? I didn't see any development for additional parking as the university grows.

The growth right now is is essentially capped. So, we have sufficient parking. There's no need for additional parking. Mhm. Um the mast school is uh does intend to expand and so they will take care of their own parking and there will be a slight modification to an access road there. But beyond that, we have no plans for specific road changes within uh within the campus. Okay. Thank you very much, sir. You're welcome. Thank you, Dr. Besson. Uh Dominique, nice to meet you. um my first time equally

meeting you all. As someone that graduated from FIU twice and is very familiar with the BBC campus, um it's nice to see that there are some new changes coming about. So, great work. Thank you. Thank you, Dominic. Chair recognizes Mr. Cipher. Is there any interaction between FIU and the University of Miami? Rosensteel School of Marine Sciences.

That's actually beyond my purview, beyond my scope as the facilities management uh AVP. Uh there is there are a lot of associations and the and the professors I know interact, but that's really beyond my purview to address. I I would not be an authorative source of information on that. All right. Thank you. I have I have no questions and no objections to the plan. At this time, the chair will call for a motion to approve. So move proposals um motion's been made to approve the item. Second second.

Second by Mr. Ciphered. We'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Mr. Each Mr. Each is yes. Mr. McDermade yes. Mr. Mcder is a yes. Uh, Mr. Pierre, yes. Mr. Pierre is a yes. Mr. Ciphered, yes. Mr. Cy is a yes. Mr. Besson, yes. Mr. Besson is a yes. Chairman Erns is a yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. And thank you to the work of the city staff. And please enjoy the holidays.

Thank you. Okay, the next item is a quasi judicial item and I'm going to call upon the all of a sudden the room has emptied. Okay. Um going to call upon the commission council to read in the record the u quasi judicial proceedings for us sir.

Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair. So this is a summary of quasi judicial procedures applicable to this item. These rules apply to applications on specific parcels of land like zoning map amendments, special exceptions, variances, and conditional use requests. The commission will sit like a court, hence the term quasi judicial reviewing the facts presented at the hearing applying the adopted rules as explained by staff in the staff report and verbally. Commission members can make site visits but must disclose the evidence upon which they intend to rely from that visit. Commission members will disclose at the beginning of the hearing whether they have had communications with individuals on behalf of the applicant or otherwise, including who the communication was with and what the topic of discussion was. All persons intending to speak to the commission will be sworn by the clerk. The staff will make a presentation and the commission may ask questions. The applicant will make a presentation including expert witnesses if any and the commission may ask questions. When the public hearing is open, the public can make comments on the application limited to two minutes each. Citizen testimony must be factbased, not opinion. Commission may ask questions and the applicant's attorney, if any, may ask questions on cross-examination. Members of the public can decline to be cross-examined. Staff may present additional testimony to supplement or rebut arguments made. Commission deliberates based on the evidence presented. Commission's decision must be based on competent substantial evidence, meaning based on the record. Staff presentations, expert presentations, and factbased comments by citizens according to the standards for approval set forth in the city code. Commission may approve, deny, or continue the item. While staff previously read into the record emailed or mailed comments since these are not competent substantial evidence, for example, not sworn testimony subject to cross-examination, the board's decision cannot be based on what is contained in the emails or mailed comments, but they can be used to identify issues and help identify sources of information that do contain competent substantial evidence upon

which a decision can be based. Written comments submitted before the meeting are part of the record and available for review by the commission. Lastly, we ask each of you to treat this proceeding with respect and proper decorum. No calling out, interrupting speakers, or disrupting the proceeding. Please give this proceeding the same dignity and respect as if you were in court. Disruptions are prohibited and they're forcible pursuant to the city code. Please also silence your cell phones. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hel. Uh, Madame Secretary, at this time, could you please for in all those that will be giving testimony?

Okay. Anyone who's going to be speaking this evening on this item, I need you to please stand at the moment to take the oath. Only one person. Okay. Um, do you swear or affirm that the testimony and evidence you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. You may be seated to be sworn in if she's giving a staff report. Miss Love as well. Oh, Miss Love, did you hear that? I did. I unfortunately I got cut off, so I'm I'm on my phone. So, yes, I am raising my hand. Okay. Um, you swear to that everything you say is going to be the truth. Nothing but the truth.

I do. Wonderful. Thank you. And welcome back. Thank you. I can't believe it. My laptop battery actually died. My apologies. Oh my goodness. All right. So, this is PC17- one 15. You want to disclose if we had comments? Um, there is no um Oh, okay. Yeah, there's there's no disclosure mentioned here on this item.

Well, you it you should still do disclosures if there are any. All right. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and ask if there's any one that needs to disclose uh any conversation or um or any talk with the petitioners or anyone else in the community regarding this item. Uh it's open if anyone wants. Yeah, I' I've had communications uh for and against the project. All right. as well as a telephone conference with a representative of the petitioner.

All right. Right. Anyone else on the commission? Right. So note that Mr. Mcder, thank you very much. And Mr. McDermott, it's fine to uh council. We're okay to proceed. Yes, of course. With this disclosure. Very good. Thank you, sir.

All right. Once again, this will be PC17-11 or uh I'm sorry, PC17-115. This is a resolution of the mayor and the city council of the city of North Miami, Florida approving an application for a conditional use permit and substantially attached form for the conversion of 15 dorm dormatory units to residential dwelling units for proposed redevelopment consisting of two apartment buildings that are comprised of one sevenstory unit two uh story buildings and one eight unit one-story building and 57 Seven parking spaces of five parcels of real uh real property located at 1640 Northeast 127th Street. uh 1605,625 and 1645 northeast 126th Street and a portion of a parking lot located directly north of 1645 Northeast 126th Street and specifically identified with Miami Dade folio numbers as follows 06-229-00007-210 06-22 229-00007- 02806-62229-00007- 029 06-2229-00007-00003 and 6 dash 2229- 007- 020 0 totaling approximately 0.98

acres in accordance with article 3 division 4 sections 3-42 through 3-47 article 4 division 2 sections 4-205 and article 4 division 3 sections 430304 and 4-310 of the city North Miami Code of Ordinances Chapter 29 entitled land development regulations providing for an effective date and all other purposes. May we have staff report please?

Of course. Once again for the record, Debbie Love, Community Planning and Development. You share the screen. Once again, um this is a conditional use permit for Arch Creek Apartments. These apartments were actually um former part of JWU. uh they had many many many many moons ago they had converted to dormitories and as after JWU sold off the properties um many of these parcels uh have been purchased by different owners and in this case uh this is a 15 unit project and what you see is uh that is in A is located at 1640 Northeast 127,6005,625 and 1645 Northeast 126. And a portion of a parking lot just directly north of 1645 Northeast 126. And you can see that's right up here. The total size of the subject property is a little less than an acre. Um they are currently well they were used as dormitories and this is to legalize them into back into apartments and we needed to do that through a conditional use permit to reassign the density back to the parcels um in zone PU that area and community

facility university on future land use map and it's also within the north Miami transit station override Uh in addition to being able to do 250 um ft in height and 150 dwelling units per acre through a CUP, it does require a minimum of 500 square ft per unit. So the proposal is to as I said to convert the 15 dormatory units to apartment units and they have added more than enough parking. has 57 service parking spaces. There are actually three buildings on the subject property. Uh one is a 7 unit apartment building and then there are two 4unit apartment buildings for again a total of 15 units. Um the existing structure sizes range from 200 to 600 ft. Um, and on November 20th of last year, the board of adjustment granted a variance to the 500 square foot minimum unit size to allow this project to move forward. The economic impact is the existing abnormal taxes. They're existing buildings and not redeveloping them. If somewhere down the road they do that um then you know of course that'll be a different story as toum impact permanent fees etc. But in this case all this is is legalizing them to be permanent residential wall units. Uh very few CP conditions. um they need to get a a certificate of use in the BTR uh and they have to unify the properties

prior to the building permit if any or prior to certificate of occupancy. And as I said, if the property redevelops in the future, um they'll have to do a number of things that you all have seen typically before. um anything from sustainability commitments to installing um 6' wide sidewalks. But in this case, none of that is applicable for right now. It is just uh legalizing the existing 15 uh dormatory units, converting them to residential apartments. That is actually the end of my presentation. I do know the applicant is here. uh and andor their representative and and they may have a a brief presentation uh and they are certainly here to answer any questions in addition to me uh that you may have. Um Debbie, just a quick question. Um we had a similar item if this is not correct um before us at one point. Um was this the same project that we asked?

Yes, sir. No, no, that was actually called Palm Gardens Apartments, but it's the same it was the same thing. You we you legalize the uh dormatory units back into um uh residential dwelling units. Um correct. And that did pass. Yes, sir. For a different project, of course, but yes, it did. Yes. But the same concept.

Yes, it is. de definitely recommends approval. Um it's pretty straightforward. Um not a whole lot of redevelopment going to happen for right now and this will become you know housing for residents in the city.

All right. Thank you very much for answering that question and if we could have the petitioner come before us. Good evening. State your name and address please for the record. Good evening, planning commission members. My name is Alexandria Sanman with law offices located at 701 Burkel Avenue. Uh with me this evening is my colleague Mishka Situte uh as well as representatives from the Arch Creek Apartment LLC. Uh we're here on behalf of the applicant. Um Miss Love did a fantastic presentation. So, I will try to keep this uh very brief, but as Miss Love mentioned before you tonight is a conditional use permit request to allow for the continuation of the multifamily uh development as it's existed in the city for over half a century. Uh really to continue providing affordable housing in the city. So, just to orient you a bit, the property consists of a little bit less than an acre uh parcel of land located uh just between Northeast 16th Avenue and between Northeast 17th Avenue and then between Northeast 126th Street and Northeast 127th Street in the city. The site may seem familiar to you all as it was part of the former Johnson and Wales University campus, but even long before that, these buildings were were still there and they were used as an affordable multif family development. Here are the buildings. In 1957, the first of two buildings on the site opened its doors to residents and then shortly after, the southernmost building was erected in 1961. Now, today, the property has a land use designation of community facility university and is zoned public use, but it is part of the North Miami Transit Station Overlay District, which allows multif family residential uses, but only through a conditional permit. With the code changes that created the North Miami Transit Station Overlay District and the reasonzoning of the site due to uh the Johnson and Wales purchase, the current use is being brought back up to the city's uh code requirements. As it

stands today, the permitted use or the existing use is not permitted uh under the code. And so that's why we're before you uh per uh obtaining a conditional use permit. As part of our efforts uh to make the existing site consistent with the code last year we requested and received approval from the board of adjustments for a variance to legalize the unit sizes which they um are not not all are within that 500 foot minimum requirement. Uh today we're requesting that last final approval the conditional use permit as Miss Love noted really to allow this use to continue and be consistent with the city's code today. So, I'll keep the next few slides very brief, but you know, you may be asking yourself, what what makes these units so special? These units are part of a very unique type of affordable housing that's called Noah, uh, naturally occurring affordable housing. It's unsubsidized privately owned residential properties that are typically lower in cost than those charged at migrate units due to their age, their condition, um, and their size. Uh but they're very desirable for tenants because of the price truly and the location in neighborhoods that are really located near places of worship, uh transportation, um and really because the rent is affordable. For reference here, the average Arch Creek rent is about $1,510 whereas the average rent in Miami Dade County is about $2,500. Here's a sketch of the site. Here are a few uh photographs of the existing residential buildings. And just for reference, the property is also within walking distance to a nearby school and neighborhood retail. Now, on the screen is the conditional use permit criteria. The applicant meets each and every uh one of the criteria listed. To summarize, these are really existing buildings that uh were built well over half a century and we want to be able to legalize them back into multif family use. I'm happy to answer

any questions that you may have. Um again, we uh Miss Miss Love noted that we are not redeveloping the site. I think there was a condition in the original um approval that we would need DRC approval since we're not seeking to redevelop. um we will do that if if even necessary um at a future time and we would work with staff. Uh that concludes my presentation. Again, we urge you to uh recommend for approval uh this application. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Before we turn questions over to everyone here on the panel, um let me open the public hearing real quick. Public hearing is now open. Um, seeing no one that has arrived, um, after everyone was sworn in to give testimony, um, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. Public hearing is now closed. Okay. Um, we had something like this before, I believe, and um, so there might be some questions. We'll begin with Mr. H.

Hi. Um, couple of questions actually. U did we ever we did vacate the ride away on the alleyway in the back. Did you get that? We have not done that just yet. We uh need city council approval to final in the works. That is still in the works. It was uh deferred indefinitely until we can figure out all of the uh So once this is done, you're going to go back for that. Is that the plan? That's correct. And then eventually I hope that we're going to redevelop this property eventually. Um not not not on not something we have discussed just yet but it's something that would be in the works uh once we're ready to do so.

Yeah. I mean like you said they're 70 years old or 200 square feet. I know these were dorms. I have a question for Debbie if I may. Debbie there. I am sir. Okay. I see that we were going to send it to the uh the development review committee. What would we send to them? I mean, this is the building is just going over. I mean, what would they recommend? What would we do? Are we going to be improving it or we're just we're just status quo? I understand we want to get out of the tax roll and but why would No, this is this is actually just a condition of a CUP so that they don't have to come back and modify the cup, right, if they decide to redevelop in the future. Okay.

They would just have to do if they were going to do astronomal units or something like that. um then they would have to go to DRC. So those are just our standard comments. We don't anticipate this to go at this in this configuration. This will not be going to DRC in this current configuration. I mean you you guys plan to do anything or just it's going the way it is. I I understand I yeah for now we are not redeveloping in the future. Should we do so we obviously would work with staff. Okay Debbie you answered this before and kind of interesting. Um, I see where we're going to take apartments out of the pool. And I think what what are we looking at here? A total of 20 apartments, something. 15.

15. 15 apartments. Okay. My question is this to you, uh, Deb, and you did answer it, but forgive me. As I get older, I I get more forgetful. Um, the 15, they were originally apartments. I remember them. And then they became dorms. And now we have to take it out of the pool to put them back to apartments now. And the reason that we do that is because of our services, our sewer and so forth and so on. The sewer, the water, the supplier is that that was the whole criteria. Correct. No. No. What happened is that when when we changed the zoning, okay, from back in the day, okay,

to PU, all the density was removed from the property. So in order to have apartments there, you have to put the density back. And the only way you can put the density back is through a conditional use permit to take the allocate the 15 units out of our bon floating unit pool to reallocate density back to that site. Okay. And the reason for that is usage of the water and sewer. Correct. I'm not That is absolutely correct, sir. Yes. Okay. Now this is, you know, I I I I new Johnson and Wales, I mean very well.

And I can assure you, I bet if we compare today's bill to what Johnson and Wales and the supply that they were using, they're using a hell of a lot less than Johnson and Wales was using. They had four and five people in those dorms. A and you know and it just I I was thinking about this today when I was and yesterday when I was going through this and I'm saying you did answer this to me a while back and I'm saying why in the heck are we taking these apartments out of the pool? Because the whole predicate for that was we're using more water, more services, more sewer. But you guys are probably using a heck of a lot less than they were when they had four kids to each apartment over there. And that's correct.

But there's no residential density left. That was all removed. It has nothing at this point whether they use 10 times more or 10 times less. It's because the the residential component I I got you on that. And it's it's a matter of sematics. I I I guess because what we're saying is when they had the kids there, when the students were there, it was a hell of a lot more crowded than it is today. It just doesn't it doesn't add up. I you know I mean I have no problem with the project. I know what Mario was trying to do and you know go for it. I I was just wondering to get my own thoughts together on this and thank you all. Good luck with it. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you Debbie.

Thank you Mr. Re. If I if I can follow up on one of his points that he brought up. Uh you mentioned in your presentation that it would uh comply with multifamily use. Explain that terminology because it certainly the size would restrict the amount of people that you could have in the apartment complex. So how do how do you define multifamily use?

It's simply the apartment style because right now it's considered a dormatory uh in the code. So we would be going back to multif family. We wouldn't be changing anything of the building. They would be studio or onebedroom type units, but the units themselves would not change. It's just the categorization of it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um Mr. McDermade, sir. Uh good evening.

Good evening. Um, I like the project mainly from the standpoint that is bringing affordable housing to the area. And I don't think any you'd have to be in Alaska in a hut somewhere not to understand the affordability crisis that we have in Miami Dade in particular. Uh, the fact that we're adding uh affordable housing um particularly on this side of town. Um, as you know, a lot of the units that are going up, uh, two bedrooms are like $3,100 and 35. I mean, it's just crazy stuff. Um, so I I'm really glad to see that affordable housing is, you know, going to be part of this area because certainly the people uh who live here certainly need it. Thanks,

Dominic. You have chair recognizes Mr. Pier. Um, just like uh Mr. McDermott said, having affordable housing down here sounds like a great plan and you guys aren't making any major changes, so fully support. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Ciphford, sir, you have floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm I'm glad to see that we're finally bringing these apartments under the the code umbrella where they should have been brought some years ago. So, we're finally legalizing their status. Uh, the affordable housing element is crucial. It's not adding, is simply sustaining these units in that affordable housing market, and that's a plus. Uh, I have no objections to this proposal. I hope to see it pass tonight and wish you every success and hope it moves on and continues to contribute to the city.

Thank you. Thank you, M. Mr. Dr. Besson. Uh, a couple of questions. You mentioned that these were affordable houses. How many square feet is the smallest unit? About 234 ft. And what is the charge for that unit?

Um, if you give me one second, it's about like 1300 or 1,100,100. So that works out to about somewhere about $6 a square foot give or take. Now if you have a 5,000 a 500 square foot unit which typically is the size of a twobedroom that would work out to be probably $3,000. Okay. So what's affordable about this housing? because it's you're getting a very small footprint of a home. Mhm.

Basically at the same price as you would a more updated unit built in North Miami. Explain to me why it's, you know, why is this affordable? Because you get less for your money. So, still right up there at the same cost per square foot. If I'm not mistaken, the Let me just confirm, but the, for example, the 500 square foot apartments are are far less than the 3,000. But if you will give me a second, I can confirm with our client.

Okay. Okay. So, I just confirmed the the rent roll. So, for example, the 500 is about 1,600. The reason why some of the smaller units are on the higher end, if you will, is demand. uh there has been a a significant amount of demand for actually the smaller units. The larger units um are priced at a maximum of $1,600 uh dollars.

How is the uh Debbie? Are you there? Miss Love, Miss Love. Yes. Yes, I am. Have a question. Um what what's the total um property taxes that the city collects on this type of propert? I couldn't answer that question, sir. Okay. They're paying approximately $45,000. 45,000. Okay. So, if the property was to be developed into something else, uh, multi-story, new, fresh, would that bring in more dollars for the city? Miss Love,

that would that would definitely change the the um Aidorum assessment. Um, I can't I'm not the property appraiser or the tax collector. Uh that typically new development um brings in additional adorum uh because it it it does raise the property value. Okay. Um do you have any pictures of the insides of these units? I know they're occupied, but there must be some sort of when one was empty. Not with me this evening, unfortunately. Um I do have the floor plan, but not any images inside.

Okay. Have they been updated at all recently? Um, they've been just painted. Um, and any What about the What about the stoves or refrigerators? Are they from Yes. the 60s, '7s, 80s? No, no, no, no. Anything that has been broken has been fixed or replaced, paint as well. Um, but no walls have been changed. Okay. They have a single bathroom for each unit, correct? Okay. Sounds like San Francisco. Um, okay. I have no further questions. Thank you. Thank you.

Um, carrying forward in the same line of questioning. Um, they're basically studios. How many of those 200 square feet units are we talking about? It's a small amount like one. Actually, one one. Yeah. So one, but that would be a typical amenities for a studio. In other words, they would have a bathroom. That's correct. They have cooking facilities. Um, yes. The difference would be that they sleep and live in the same area. That's correct.

Um, I can't The prints are real small. I think I'm looking at one now. Um, and it looks like um the kitchen area is Oh, no, that's the two-bedroom, I'm sorry. Or single bedroom. I I had seen one, but the layout just consists of a living area, kitchen area, and bathroom area for that studio. For a studio, yes.

Okay. And then u the only change with the bed um you you would had had to have gutted out uh portions of some of the uh dorm previous dorm uh setup to allow for initial bedrooms if you were going with a a 21 or or something like that because every dorm was the same size. Correct. Sure. Yes. the the unit sizes never changed. Um perhaps like we mentioned stove or anything like that that changed. The walls themselves, the buildings, the structures did not change. Nothing inside. Okay.

Yeah, the inside stayed the same. So um then what? So again, they're one bedroom each. No, there's a mixture. You've got um a studio, one bedroom, and two. Okay. Um, yeah, I'm just a little confused with the two-bedroom as to how it could how you can fit two-bedroom and what you had as a dorm space. The dorm space wasn't if you're not changing that or restructuring a particular area to allow for additional space. So, what

um Yeah, sure. He would need to be sworn in. Yeah.

Uh, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Okay. Sure. Good evening. We'll need your name and address, sir. Sure. Mario Borda, 224 Atlantic Avenue, Sunny Al Beach, Florida. So, I'm the How are you? So, I'm the owner of the property. Um, I mean the buildings were always multif family. So when we purchased it from Johnson and Wales, they had a kitchen. So for example, the onebedroom, you would you go in, you have a kitchen, right? You have like a dining area and then you have the bedroom on one side. The way that Johnson and Wales had it, they had two basically bunk beds in one bedroom and two bunk beds in the living room.

So the only thing that we really did was painted a different color and that's it. So they've always been the studio was I guess just for a single person. Then you have the one bedrooms which has a living room, kitchen, nice kitchen with a lot of glass bedroom and a bathroom. And then the two bedrooms are two bedrooms and one bathroom with a living room and a kitchen. So where would the second where's the number two bedroom is that? So you basically are you combining?

No, it's existing. So the same thing as for example the buildings that are on Emerald or the buildings that are located um south of 125th they were all buildings that the only thing that Johnson and Wales did was they put bunk beds in the living room but they didn't change anything. Okay. Yeah. They didn't they didn't change the configuration Charlie. What they did is they improved the bathrooms. They improved the um the kitchen and they generally upgraded the apartments. But what they did was they had bunk beds. I I live next to that's why I know. Right. And uh you know they they had bunk beds in there and they stuffed the kids in. You thought you were in the subway, right? It was like four kids to an apartment.

So for example, Mario's property. The the two bedrooms had six bunk beds. The one bedrooms had four, right? The studio had two. I mean it was it was amazing. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then I'm sure you had to bring everything up to state code. Mhm. Uh, because when these were built back we kept the alarm system. It just made sense. Oh, really? It's like this sophisticated alarm system. So, obviously Johnson Wells must have upgraded everything to stay standard. So, they upgraded that. And then you were asking in terms of the rent, right? Yeah, between what we pay in real estate taxes, we pay the water bill and just upkeeping. I mean, we maybe make$1 $150 per unit, right?

All right. That's that's all. Thank you for clarifying that. That's merely a um a clarification on the I was just trying to visualize what a onebedroom looked like in a two-bedroom. Need to be on the record. Yes. You were trying I guess you were trying to visualize how they converted the apartments to dorms, but they really didn't do anything. It wasn't like the other building that they had where they actually did dorms. No, this was just an apartment building. There are floor plans in the agenda package.

Yeah, I was looking at they were just kind of hard to the prints very small for us to see there and I just want to get a better understanding. Thank you so much for that clarification. I have no other questions. Mr. Chairman, um, any other comments, questions from anyone? Mr. Chairman, bring up one thing if I might. You make a motion. Yeah. I just want to bring up one if I may. I don't want to belver the subject. Nothing to do with Mar's project here, but what I see happening now in in in North Miami

where before I didn't see for signs, I'm seeing them up all over. And as we develop new buildings, they're going to see the rents come down. And with M and I don't know what's going to happen now with Mandami in New York, if we're going to have a flood of people leaving New York City because of rent control, so forth and so on. But what what's happening right now is we're having new buildings going up and I I eventually to say that this project will probably change in a couple of years also. But what I do see is where I've never seen for rent signs before and I do a lot of walking in this city. I do see the price coming down and I I think when Mario bought that property, the rent was up here and now it's coming down if I'm not mistaken. And there is more affordable housing coming up. So anyway, that was my two cents. All right. Okay. M chairman.

Uh Mr. McDermag. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to approve the item. Second. And I'll pull up the number right now. Oh, hold on one second. Yeah, hold on. And PC 17-115, I'd like to make a motion to approve. There's been a motion to approve the item. I'll second. I have a second from No, Mr. McDerm made the motion. Right. And then I thought Chief Each seconded. That's not yet. I haven't heard officially now. Mr. Yes, Mr. It's just seconded the motion. Um, we'll do a roll call on this again.

Chairman Erns, yes. Vice Chairman Dearade, yes. Commissioner each, uh, yes. Commissioner Ciphed, yes. Commissioner Pierre, yes. And Commissioner Besson, yes. The motion passes unanimously. Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And happy holidays. Happy holiday. Thank you very much. Uh before we uh ask for adjournment uh uh staff, is there any committee reports we need to get tonight here? No sir. No sir. Any old business?

Uh nope. But at our next meeting, we're going to give you an update about the LDRs in January at your January meeting. Oh, great. Okay, great. And then new business. Um if Debbie if we could get a report back from the public works commission scheduled at one of those meetings that would be great on the bridge. He actually uh Mr. Chair Mr. Mr. Fiddler actually just sent the plans that he was referencing and um Cinc will email those to everyone tomorrow.

Okay, great. Is that all right? Did you still Did you still want him to attend your January meeting or would the plans be sufficient? Let's decide that after we see the plans. Yes. We'll uh if we could get back to you on that and not make a commitment tonight, we'll look at the plans and then uh if if we need to, would it be fine that we could uh get in touch with you before the January meeting if necessary? Yes. Um just as as soon as you can let Sim know. All right.

And then she'll make arrangements with um with Mr. Fedler for either him or a member of his team to attend your meeting if that's what your desire is. Thank you very much. Okay. Hearing no other items. Um um I call for adjournment. Motion to motion to adjurnn. Second it. Second. All in favor? I. We are ajourned.