Historic Preservation Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're live and recording in the chambers. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. Thank you very much.

Good morning. Good evening. This is Lourdes from the chambers. I'm so used to my DRB meeting when I sit here in the chambers up in the dais, I automatically say good morning. But welcome. Glad to see there's quorum. We've got four members. I see Fefeiro, Costales, our chair, Guillen, And Ms. Lang, thank you all for confirming that we do have a meeting. I also welcome our applicants. There's one item. So, Mr. Costales, if you want to call the meeting to order, we certainly can.

Okay, I'll go ahead and call the meeting to order now.

Pleasure of allegiance to the flag. I'm going to ask the applicant if you want to share your screen with the front facade. That would probably be great. Thank you.

Just one second. I just want to get set up here. Okay. All right. Okay. Now I have the agenda here. Okay, I stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. To roll call, Gary Costales, President. Okay, that's all for the board members. All right, so for those participants in tonight's meeting that are going to testify, who would that be? Or that might answer questions or give a statement, who would that be? It would be the applicant. So who is it? My name is Nicholas Florio. Okay. All right, Mr. Florio, I need you to raise your right hand.

Staff also.

And staff, do you swear or affirm that the statements or the testimony you will give tonight is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do. I do.

Okay. All right, yeah, this should be a pretty short meeting. So the first is for HDB 2024-002. Lourdes, you want to give a summary?

Thank you, Chair. Before I get started, it's not on the agenda, but I would like to welcome a new Historic Preservation Board member, Mr. Rosado. Welcome. Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, the first item, the applicant is Coastline Wholesale Signs, property owner, MMG, Sunset, LLC. Location, 5850 Southwest 72nd Street, Sunset Drive. And the request is for signage installation. Nick Florio, are you able to share your screen and put that front facade, or are you driving?

I am driving at the moment. I was unaware of the meeting. I thought it was Friday, so I apologize.

No, no, no worries.

I'm trying to stop in an area if you need me to.

No, I'm sure the board members are looking at their computer. So are we good? Okay, thank you. If you recall, this historic... designated building, two story, accommodates several tenants on the ground floor and also apartment units up on top. Now this business is already functioning under a different name, Vitacam, and I'm sure the board members remembers when that signage came before the board, I'd say about a year or more ago. Now it is changing names. The new sign is obviously going to go at the same location facing Sunset Drive. It will go underneath the... Other business that's currently by the name of Carrot Express. So underneath the Carrot Express, centered on the facade and above those awnings, Planet 13, you will read, that's part of their logo, the 13, and the cannabis for the planet below. So being a flat sign, signage that is permanently erected, constructed, posted, painted, altered, or relocated on a designated structure or a contributed building must be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Board prior to the issuance of the building permit. That's the reason why it's before you. The sign has been categorized as a flat sign. We know that, according to the code, it cannot exceed 20% area of the building phase, nor 200 square feet. This sign is at 45.83 square feet. As I mentioned, it reads Planet 13, Cannabis for the Planet, with a logo up towards the right-hand side. this complies with the flat sign regulations in section 20-4.3 for a flat sign and as far as being historic it is a permitted type of sign it just requires the board's review and approval prior to the issuance and approval of a building permit and with that said stabs recommendations for approval with any comments and suggestions from the board Thank you and welcome, Mr. Florio. If I remember correctly, he was also the applicant at the last the last the previous.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. And I appreciate your help throughout the whole process as well.

Thank you. Very kind. I turn this over to the board. There's no one in the chambers also to speak on behalf of this project.

okay i have i have a question is it the same size as the beta can sign or it's actually smaller a little smaller did you say i came somewhere you said smaller but you said it's much smaller or no about the same size but a couple square feet smaller just for proportion standards because we met all the regulations from the window size

percentage there was you know we went before the board two or three times to critique it properly we meant the same thing you know from a year later basically okay does any other board member have any questions

chairman uh simply for the record if you would open and close um for public comment okay um i don't think there's any members of the public here is anybody else does any member of the public have any questions or comments there is no one in chambers okay hearing um no response we will close for public comment um Then I move to approve. I second. Okay. I was going to say HPV 2024-002. Julio, second. Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Okay. It's unanimously approved. Thank you, as always, to staff and to Mr. Florio for doing a good job with this. You know, the pictures, it looks like it's about the same size. It does look a little bit smaller. It looks like it's well done. So I had some concerns before about the size of it, but it looked fine, you know, the Vitican sign. So thank you for your... you know, presence in South Miami and for doing a good job with this.

Chairman, just for the record, just for the written record, I want it stated that all members present voted in favor of the application. Thank you.

Yes, yeah, I'm sorry. I thought I said, yeah, the vote's unanimous. All those, all members present, the three of us voted in favor of approval.

Thank you very much. I hope you guys have a happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks, you too.

Bye-bye.

Sorry, Mr. Floria, I called you. Maybe I called you a different name, but yeah.

No, you're good, bud.

Okay. All right, thanks.

Thank you. Have a good one.

You too.

Bye-bye.

Okay, the next order of business is to approve the minutes.

April 29th, and I've also included Monday, September 30th. There was no quorum, but just for the record, attendance-wise, who was present and not. I included that as well.

Okay, I move that we approve the minutes for April 29th, 2024.

Is there a second?

I second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Okay. By show of hands, we have all board members unanimously approving. Chairman, we also have meeting minutes for September 30th.

Yes.

That was, we had a lack of quorum there. I just want it recorded for the record that there was lack of quorum. Is there a motion?

Let me, sorry, give me one second to locate that.

Not a problem.

Okay, well, I move to approve the minutes for September 30th, 2024.

Do I get the motion?

All those in favor? Aye. Okay, those, the meeting, the minutes for September 30th, 2024 are unanimously approved. All those are in favor? Okay. Before we conclude, and I think that's the last item on the agenda?

Correct.

Okay. All right, well, before we conclude the meeting, I want to welcome Mr. Rosado to the board. And I think let's... Let's each do a brief summary of how long we've been on the board and what our experience is. And we can hear from Mr. Rosado about his experience and as a new board member. I'm an attorney by the county, I'm sorry, the city ordinance. There should be one attorney on the board. I've been on the board for several years. I'm not sure how many years, kind of lost track. And yeah, Julio, you want to give you a summary? And I'm not trained in architecture or building or anything of that nature. I practice labor and employment law primarily. Julio, you want to give a summary of yourself and how long you've been on the board?

Yeah, I've been here like four years already, I think, three to four years. And I'm an architect, a registered architect, which the board should be, I think, too. You know, I'm so far the only one. There's a noise in my office because we're working late, like architects do, frequently. So I want to mute myself. OK, Lily? Lily, you're muted.

I cannot hear you.

You can't hear? No? okay all right lily's muted all right it's fine it's fine um well mister okay here we go here we go okay perfect perfect hi everybody

Well, my background, I am involved in a lot of South Miami real estate. However, I studied design and a bit of architecture. My parents have built many homes in this area, and I have assisted in all the finishes of those homes. So that's why I like to be on the board. I like to be involved with my community.

Okay. Israel, do you want to tell us about yourself?

Sure. Thank you, everyone, for your warm welcome. For myself, I've been a 15-year resident of South Miami, previously in Coral Gables. Nevertheless, this is a great way to get involved in terms of the historical aspects of the city itself. My background is an executive that I've been an executive for the better part of the last 25 years with an insurance, property casualty, medical health, and most recently, I'm now a for a company called SFM Services, which offers a lot of municipality and city contracts.

Okay. And Lourdes, are we having a meeting in December or is that, I guess we're not gonna be having a meeting in December. I forget if we traditionally have one in December.

I don't think we heard from Ms. Lang before I answer your question.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, my background is I presently work in real estate. I have been for over 15 years and I have an art history degree, a master's in art history. So that also helps when it comes to the historic and preservation board side of it.

Okay. All right. I apologize for that. No problem. Do we have a meeting in December?

To answer your question, it depends if I have an item or if you request anything, as is stated in the code, any of your... If I receive a request. Remember, we discussed this last time or... I need to hear before, like three weeks before the meeting, you need to send to staff your request.

And the next meeting date is December 30th, is that right?

Correct, correct. If I don't receive anything, whether it be from an applicant or from a board member, then I cancel the meeting. It's not, oh, let's meet to discuss. You need to send me what you want to discuss and so forth.

Right. And, you know, I have some ideas on subjects that maybe we should discuss. But given it's the holidays, if there's no item on the agenda, I think it's something that could wait until January. I mean, that's a pretty busy time of year. And I recall, I know that, I think it's June where we traditionally don't meet. I wasn't sure. I forget if...

Correct. We meet every month.

Same exception.

As per the code, we meet every month on the fourth Monday except the month of June.

Exactly. Right. And I know that. I was trying to remember if that rule also applied to December. But as far as... things to talk about. You know, I've been on the board for a while. And one thing that we could talk about, and I'll send you this agenda, Lourdes, but I want to talk about the board, talk with the board about this for now. We talked years ago, we talked about oversight of the the Sylvan Martin building in South Miami and there by City Hall. And my understanding is that that's all... It was an item that was discussed in the RFP for the upcoming redevelopment of Sunset Place and City Hall, and that it's all tied up in that. So I haven't really done a deep dive into that, into what... is to become of that building. I've got sort of the broad strokes of it. It sounds like a good idea. It sounds like they're not going to move the building or anything, but I would invite all the board members to look into that, as I will myself, just to see if there's any role for the board to play with regard to all of that. And I think in the new year, we should also discuss some other ideas that we've discussed in the past that sort of fell by the wayside. I'll send you those items. We had talked about grants before. There was a grant that I identified a few months ago, and I think we missed the deadline on that. I think we have to figure out ways to keep track of that and see if there's any grants for designating any historical properties. And I have a couple of other ideas that we can talk about, I think, in January. Does anybody else have anything going forward that we can possibly discuss? No, I don't think.

Not at this time.

Okay. All right. Well, I'll go ahead. Do I need to move to conclude the meeting then? I can just adjourn the meeting?

Yes, you can adjourn the meeting.

Okay. Well, I hope everybody has a great holiday. You know, let's all be thinking about, you know, the future and whether, you know, I know Manny's not here and we had some other ideas with regard to designating additional properties and things of that nature. And, you know, all of that is kind of falling by the wayside for now. But I look forward to discussing all of that in January.

Sounds great.

All right. Meeting is adjourned. Have a great holiday, everybody. Take care.

Bye-bye. Thank you.

Bye. Bye. Bye.