Remarks by Luis Prieto y Muñoz
433 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 16 of 18
“I have no further comments echoing the sentiment of the board. Well done. Nice project.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have very many questions, and I'll try to keep it brief in the interest of time. Coming back to your original preambles following the city's presentation, did you object to any of the seven conditions presented by staff? Could you come back to that?”
“But that is the only condition to which you're objecting?”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Thank you, Adrian. That's clear. And I think from my perspective, I would defer to the more aesthetically and architecturally minded members of the board. So I have no further questions at this time. Actually, I did have one question. I take that back. You say the square footage shrunk from its original design. I was curious where the shrinkage came from.”
“So it's footprint of the interior, it's actual square footage of the interior, not the building envelope itself.”
“Thank you so much. I have no further questions.”
“I think the arguments made have been very compelling, and I'm not convinced that Chapter 17 standards for the removal of the two large trees are justified, so I would be inclined to grant the appeal in part and to deny it in part in regard to the remaining trees. So I try to keep that brief. I don't know where everybody else lands, but I am validly convinced that those two trees do not need to be removed to satisfy the conditions of the code.”
“Yes, sir. And I think just really briefly to John, on the arborist report thing, and I don't mean to impugn anybody's professionalism here, but I mean, I've sat on this board long enough to know that every tree that comes up before it will have two competing arborist reports. I'm very much of the opinion that for the most part, through the prism of Chapter 17, I'd prefer to err on the side of mature canopy than on the side of, you know, it's remarkable how every tree in a footprint is always diseased and problematic. So with that in mind, I wish to make a motion to grant the appeal with…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“You were aware of that? Okay. Well, then I will end my disclosure there.”
“I'll take a stab. Okay, go ahead. I think it's remarkable that so many of you did stay this late to hear this item. And I do think it's important from a Coconut Grove facing standpoint. I also live in Coconut Grove. I live two blocks from this house. And I walk my dog in front of this parcel every day. And I think it is incumbent on us, the residents, also to take steps in a different direction. I won't belabor this hearing with that, but I do think that it's important that we recognize that an appeal is a bit of a blunt instrument for the purposes that we're intending. And there are a lot of…”
“If we could start with the avocado tree, tree number 34 slated for removal. Let me throw a preamble into this before we go into the back and forth. I'm looking at the list of trees to be removed. The majority of these, mercifully, are relatively small trees. So my main focus is going to the larger ones. And this avocado, I believe, is the largest of all with a 28-inch DBH.”
“That's fair. Let's go to the sapodilla, number 17.”
“Sorry, would you mind talking a little closer? Sure.”
“Thank you, Carlos. That clarifies why. That was one of my curiosities. It's on the perimeter of the property. Why would you have to remove it? Coming to the royal palm, tree number 14, why was that not a candidate for relocation?”
“I mean, this is relevant, Carlos, because I think we dealt with this maybe a month or two ago on Leafy Way. There was a number of royal palms which were, everybody agreed to move them. So why can't we move this one?”
“critical root zone there's just no space to move it with it so even if we wanted to relocate it i don't think there's a spot within the property where you could potentially relocate that i think that's a good segue here carlos um so in mr winkler's um opening remarks he made a comment and actually mr mcalilly made the same comment which was that there was a back and forth recently and that it was in communicated to them that if you had your druthers if you had the ability to choose there are certain trees that would not be removed but you were being mandated to remove these by the city Could…”
“So I'm going to take a very candid... tack here. I think at the end of the day, ultimately, you have a fairly large building footprint. I think you've brought in a good team of professionals to get you where your client needs to go. But I think that there's certain elements here that are problematic for me. And I don't think I can get over them without some adjustments. So I'll just be very frank. I'm not going to abuse the bully pulpit more than I have to. But What I'm seeing is there is a significant element of the mature canopy that's being removed. I'm taking your word on the avocado…”
“Okay, so just for those who were concerned about the potential survivability of the gumbo-limbos that are being relocated, the developer is posting a replacement bond for those trees. So there is some mechanism to safeguard that. So I don't know if that was clear to those of you who were. 16,000 each. So, yeah, so I mean, that's where my concerns are. I mean, I don't know where you guys can, I don't know if it's something you have thought about. I don't know if those are concerns that the team has arrived at independently and if there are some areas of mitigation, but in the current state, I…”
“Okay, so I'll pause there if my colleagues have additional comments.”
“Okay. But that is not within this application?”
“I'm not happy about that one bit. I'm not happy about that removal.”
“I think if there is some mechanism for you and your client to do... Thank you. to take steps to mitigate or to preserve that oak tree and ensure that it has the potential ability to survive and not be cut down by the city, I think that would certainly go some way.”
“Carlos, would there be an appetite to plant a specimen mahogany in lieu, knowing that this tree is going to be torn down or cut down almost inevitably? Oh, sorry, I've monopolized it.”