Remarks by Reinaldo Borges
341 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 5 of 14
- Play at 15:01
“Do you have the specifications of how the paint is applied?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 15:15
“This sample is applied to what material? Like a porcelain?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 16:30
“Okay. Are you done with your presentation?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 16:36
“Okay. Can we start with some board questions? Do we do public input first? Yeah? Okay. Let's do public input. I put it on your desk. You should have the letters. I'm going to read this into the record. Several items stand out immediately to me. This is from a neighbor. Her last name is Logan. She lives here in the village. The height of the building exceeds the height limit by five feet. That's her projection. Just for the record, the building official wrote his report, and it seems like according to the zoning guidelines, review the houses in full compliance of all zoning regulations,…”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 18:15
“Yeah, so the way the method is represented in the presentation is in compliance with zoning at this stage, subject to final review during permitting, but it seems like it's headed in the right direction, it seems. Of course, we're not a zoning review board, so, you know, we just have to accept that. The setback invasion to the second level is even more significant, 11 feet in some areas. So there is in Ball Harbor a regulation where you need to step the massing in the second floor or reduce the exposure to the side yards. That has been reviewed also by the zoning reviewer and the houses in…”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 20:30
“So tree number nine is an oak and tree number two and one? Six.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 20:47
“And the landscape designer has tried to maintain or relocate some of these trees and that has not worked out?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 21:40
“I mean, the trenches right now are basically over your property line or on the side yards.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 22:19
“You're trying to maintain the grade as it is so you don't have to do retention rolls.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 22:25
“There seems to be in the front yard a lot of room for an oak tree to be relocated to. I mean, significant area that would allow that oak tree to be relocated there. I don't know if that's something that other members of the board would encourage.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 26:01
“Also, leaving the oak tree, number six, in its current location, Does that not work? Did you check that with an arborist if the house becomes too close to the tree?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 26:26
“I mean, I think civil engineering is easy. So let me see.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 28:11
“Yeah, and I think that you're very early on, you know, to reorient utilities and things like that if it means that you could keep a tree on site. May I ask the building official if there's any experience here recently where the village has voted or discussed the idea of trying to maintain tree canopy, like oak trees and all that, whenever possible? I mean, is there like a mandate? Because some communities have that as a restriction, kind of like a deed restriction that comes with a property to try to maintain and preserve tree canopy whenever possible. I don't know.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 28:55
“Do you have an arborist that reviews these things or a landscape architect on behalf of the city?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 30:16
“Yep. So let me just finish off reading this neighbor's comments. Of course, the oak tree is a big concern. She's saying that the house needs a lot of landscaping to soften it up a bit, you know, which some of our favorite landscape architects love to do that. We're always concerned that the architecture is behind the trees. But some people like that look, you know. So as an architect, I always have to be open-minded about that. Once again... too much house for the size of the lot. That's the opinion of this neighbor. Again, for the record, the project has been reviewed by the zoning reviewer.…”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 31:45
“You can't drive to the party, I see. So this is a walkable community.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 31:51
“Yeah, okay. So that solves that problem. So, yeah, so in terms of the architecture and its stylistic compliance with the regulations, is there any comments from the board on that?”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 32:42
“This metallic finish on this house in the method that you're describing, right? I would consider it to be experimental, which means this is South Florida. It's very tropical. There's a lot of moisture. We don't know how this is going to perform over time. And it's a significant aspect of this house. So let's say... If the experiment fails, what happens? I mean, besides the golden trim, right, which seems to be something the client really likes, and we see it in your sample, right? There's a golden piece here. So we see the amount of gold quality.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 33:35
“So these are anodized aluminum windows that will be anodized to be like a goldish color.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 33:44
“And a more expensive solution, but that's the aesthetics that the client has.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 33:55
“In the ideal world, I would like to have the power as a board here to ask for a mock-up at some point that is installed on the building before the entire house is treated with this, right? So you don't commit to the entire thing and... and the board could even go and see the, do like a site review of the application in a mock-up setting. I mean, that would be ideal because there's so much of this in this house that if we approve it without those kinds of restrictive criteria. I know this is probably unprecedented that the Board has ever approved anything and then requested a mock-up to be…”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 36:56
“This is not like a going cheap concern. It's more like, okay, stucco cracks. So what happens when the stucco cracks? when you have such a metallic? I mean, how do these things behave? You know, because it's typically not in the nature of the materiality to apply a metallic product over stucco. I mean...”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 37:22
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 38:04
“There could be a one-of-a-kind disaster. And that's kind of what we're trying to avoid, right? It's a unique disaster. Go see this. You know, it will be a drive-by experience. So I don't know. I don't know how the rest of the board is feeling about these finishes. I mean, I'm primarily concerned about the gold and the sort of metallic bronze. There's two aspects of it, as I see it. One is sort of does it look happy? Does it look nice? Does it look elegant? Does it look like it's enhancing the character of the architecture of the neighborhood? The other thing is how is it going to perform?…”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026
- Play at 39:40
“So in the rear, it transitions from the metallic paint.”
Architectural Review Board · May 7, 2026