Planning and Zoning Board - Regular Meeting

Everybody, welcome to Planning and Zoning. I believe this is our last Planning and Zoning before the election, correct? Okay, so Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Chair LeCour?

Here.

Vice Chair, sorry, we don't have a Vice Chair at the moment. Board Member Aparicio?

Here.

Board Member Chavez? Here. Board Member Solares? Here. Board Member Pinto?

Here.

An alternate member of science is absent. Chair, you have a quorum.

Okay, thank you. I don't see our town commission liaison, so we'll move him to when he arrives. Let's do approval of minutes from last month's meeting.

Motion to approve. Motion second.

All in favor say aye. aye aye any opposed okay um in regards to agenda and order of business so we'll move the town commission liaison report to the end and then in terms of applications um did you want to talk about the noticing for that one now or when we do the application we could do it under the application okay and then the town planner has asked that 5a be put at the end of the applications until that applicant arrives in person So do we need a motion for all that? Yes, please. Can somebody move, say so moved? Does that work? Okay. Just say so moved.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries. So that brings us to our applications. And Madam Attorney, please read your statement.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Tonight's meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board is an in-person meeting as set forth in the town code. Applications in Section 5 of this meeting's agenda are quasi-judicial in nature. For each application, following presentation by staff and the applicant, the board may take public comment, then close public comment, allow for rebuttal by the applicant, and then deliberate on a resolution. The quasi-judicial procedures require this board to consider the evidence presented to it and base its decision on applicable law and primarily the evidence presented, whether by staff, applicant, or the public. The applicable law includes standards for issuance of design review approval pursuant to Section 90-19 of the Town Code, the design standards set forth under Section 90, Article 5 of the Town Code, and the signed code pursuant to Section 90-68, Article 6, and related sections under Chapter 90, Articles 7 and 8 of the Town Code as applicable. The evidence considered must be substantial competent evidence, meaning testimony or other evidence based on personal observation or relevant expert testimony that reasonable minds accept as adequate to support a conclusion. The board's conclusions are not to be the result of a popularity contest and may not be solely based on non-expert opinions. Anyone seeking to speak on an item should be given an opportunity to speak. Anyone seeking to testify on any item in Section 5 of this agenda should be sworn before testifying and may be subject to cross-examination. Anyone testifying without being sworn or subject to cross-examination may do so, but such testimony may be considered in that context and given its due weight. The public may not cross-examine witnesses, but may request this board to ask questions of staff or the applicant. Anyone who seeks to testify on any item in Section 5 of this agenda should now rise and be sworn by the clerk.

If you plan to speak tonight, please rise and be sworn in by the clerk.

Please raise your right hand. Do you so affirm to say the truth and only put the truth? Thank you. You may be seated.

Clerk, please confirm compliance with the advertising and notice requirements.

Confirm the only item, just for the record, that require advertisements were 5B and 5C, and 5C will be deferred at its moment. So, yes.

So, sorry. 5C did not meet the noticing requirements and, therefore, will not be heard tonight. Correct. Okay.

Members of the board, have any of you had any ex parte communications about any of the applications now before you? No.

No. No.

No.

I have.

Which application?

Garland.

And who did you speak to?

To both the owners and the architects.

Do you believe you can still be fair and impartial in considering the application?

Yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Great, thank you very much. Okay, so I believe we will begin with item 5B, 8919 and 8927 Harding Avenue. Madam Planner.

Yes, this applicant is requesting the site plan approval for a new 1,830 square foot, one-story, single-family home located at 8919 and 8927 Harding Avenue. The subject property is three unified interior lots in all-zoned H30C and is approximately 17,250 square feet in this combined lot size. The front facade features exterior design elements, including concrete masonry unit wall with smooth texture stucco finish, beige paint to match slats, black matte tile finish, white natural stone finish, light brown and beige natural stone finishes, and brown rustic white tile finish. The rear of the home has similar material finishes to the front and sides. The lot coverage and floor area ratio requirements are not applicable in this H30C district. However, just for your information, the applicant is proposing a floor area ratio of 0.14, and setback calculations for the first floor setbacks are provided and meet the minimum requirements. A preliminary landscape plan was submitted, and full landscape, civil, and proposed accessory structures will be provided for during review of the building permit. And staff finds this application for a new construction of a single family home does meet our zoning code and recommends approval.

Okay, thank you very much. Is the applicant here and do you wish to speak? Okay, come on up and state your name and address for the record, please. Good evening. You may need to push the button at the base of the microphone until it turns green.

Now better? There we go. My name is Tom Moenig. I'm an architect located in Davie. My address is 7900 Nova Drive, office address. We were hired by the client to design a one-story single-family residence. in order to make an adjacent paddle ball court accessory. That's the idea. The property is located on 89th Street and Harding Avenue. The front door of the building is facing Harding Avenue. It's about 1,800 square feet. We've tried to go by the zoning restrictions of facade, front facade being 10% open. So the elevations came about based on what's in your zoning code. If you want me to guide you through the floor plan, I certainly can. If not, we can get into materials, whatever you prefer.

Sure, maybe you can give us sort of your vision for the architectural style and materials.

Yeah, the style is, if I can get to the elevations. Style is very boxy, very modern, A lot of the houses you see these days are the Miami modern. This isn't quite it. This has more natural and organic materials on the facade as opposed to just white stucco. We've tried to recess some of the front elements facing Harding Avenue with windows, doors, little pillars that stick out. We are pretty restricted when it comes to setback and depth of the building and having an exterior space on the east side of the building. So wasn't really much here in terms of grand building elements. And it's also something that the that the owner really dictated to us what he wanted to see as part of this house. We have some stone materials. We have some wooden slats on the building, different colors. We tried to keep it as natural as possible. I know maybe in one of the renderings there may be a note about stucco, but I believe most of it, almost all of it is made out of either wooden slats or natural stone material.

Okay, thank you. I see you have some material boards. Do you want to prop those up on chairs so we can take a look? No, you've got to get them up on the chairs. Or you can hold them and we can give you a mic. Yeah. Let's see. Why don't you come here to my mic? You can either hold them in front of us and speak into my mic or, yeah.

Is this work?

I think that should be okay.

This is the view from Harding Avenue. It's closer to the building. But this is steps up.

You got to speak into the mic. That's the challenge.

So steps up into the front entry. It's kind of hidden. It's carved out out of this elevation.

And the steps are made of what?

The steps are made of a natural stone finish. They're probably going to be poured concrete, but they will have a natural stone finish on it. With my apologies, these numbers don't coordinate with what we have here. This is what's coordinated with the renderings. So this would be the color and material of the steps going up into the building. We have an accent wall here as shown in the number. It's hard. I'm sorry.

That's okay. Just make sure you're speaking into the mic so we can hear you.

So this number four works with number four here, not here. This has been made out of sequins. This is also a natural stone finish. We're using a company out of Spain that does a, it's not a natural stone, it's a man-made product that mimics natural stone. It's a much more durable, less porous material.

Quick question. Number four on the right goes to number two behind you.

No, it goes with number three. Three, okay. So I believe it should have been one, two, three, four, five. Ah, okay. There's some confusion in the office. So my apologies, but this is correct. So four works with this four here.

But you don't have a physical sample of four?

We do. We have it here.

Okay.

Yeah, so all the samples are here. They're just coordinated with this legend on the side. These are wooden slats that are put up against the facade, you know, for two purposes, to make it a little bit more natural looking, also to give it some privacy. We have some large openings behind it. In terms of windows and facing harding, we felt that it may be nice to have privacy inside, but also not shine tons of light out when the building is occupied at night.

What type of wood is that?

It's a wooden slat. They look like this. What type of wood is it? I wouldn't know. It's a natural wood. It's a natural wood look, but I'm sure it's some sort of a veneer.

I don't think it's a solid product.

It could be aluminum with a wooden veneer on it. On the side of the building, the north elevation, which we have there, you see that black element on the left side that coordinates with number two here, which is a darker, also natural stone.

Natural or man-made?

I think it's all a man-made product these days.

The front the West elevation has a is that a water feature?

Yes, we have for now proposed a water feature It'll be set back from the main building wall just for waterproofing purposes Sits slightly lower than the floor inside as you see The building has to be elevated based on flood elevation level and

Okay. Thanks. Okay. I would suggest we open to public comment, board comment, and then I'm sure there may be follow-up questions for you. Okay.

Okay.

Is there anybody from the public who wishes to speak on this matter? Okay. Seeing none, let me close the public hearing and open commentary to the board. Let's start on this side. Nicole or Adrienne? Okay.

I was just wondering how we can picture this with the properties that are besides. I can't picture this particular site.

Do you have a rendering that shows the context?

I do have a street section at the bottom of this sheet. What's interesting about our lot is to the south. When you're standing in front of the property on the right side, it's a long driveway that leads to a building that's in the back. It's our adjacent property, but we basically only have a driveway next to us. And then the same is true also on the left side, which is the north side. As you see to the left of the property line, there's a driveway that leads into a parking garage. It's a the road that's east of Harding Avenue that runs parallel to Harding on the east side. I believe it's either a condo building or a hotel. It has a tennis court on top of the parking garage. So these two buildings that are adjacent to us, they sit recessed towards the east. So our building becomes almost freestanding. OK, we may have pictures.

it's not doing it so the image 14 right but yeah i was looking at that one but i i really don't see the one on the left i think i know the building on the right So then on the north side, you say there's a parking lot or a driveway.

Yeah, on the north side, there's a driveway that leads to a parking lot, which is further east than our proposed house. And that building runs parallel to – is that Collins?

Collins.

The road that's to the east of Harding, Collins. So it faces Collins, and that's the backside of their property facing us.

Does that answer your question?

Yeah, kind of. I can't picture it, but it's OK. I just want to know how it fits because of the architecture, right? I don't see it, but it's building is on the that's far.

So that tall building you see up there.

That's even on the other side of Collins Okay other questions Turn to this side Um, I I do have a question this is proposed to be a one-story home, correct? Yes, I Okay, because on one of the renderings, I'm trying to find the page, it kind of makes it seem like it's a two-story with how the windows are stacked on top of each other.

Yeah, it may have been.

And it doesn't necessarily match the renderings. So those renderings make it seem like it's a one-story, but then the proposed plans with the additional windows stacked on top of each other make it seem like it was two and there was additional.

Hi, can you come up to the podium and state your name and address? Thank you.

So in this case, the taller portion is set behind.

Yeah, that was my question, yeah.

Yeah, so it's behind. It almost looks like a second floor to the building, but it's not.

It's just a super high ceiling?

It's a higher ceiling, and one of the purposes for that is for AC, to run AC into that space. Okay.

I'm Lisa Moses hi hi I'm into the microphone please I'm Lisa Moses my address is 3201 Northeast 183rd Street in Aventura I'm on the design team and I was just going to say that it's it is not a two-story house it is for equipment but also internally so to give it more light inside to have the ability to have a lot of natural sunlight going into the home.

Okay. Thank you. That was my question. Thank you.

Uh-huh.

Carlos?

I have nothing to say.

Okay.

No, I do. Okay. Really? You fell for that one? I know. I did fall for it. You fell for that one. Poor woman. All right. I have many problems with this project, but one of them, the basic one, I'm not necessarily against the modernist language that you want to work within. I do have a real problem with the fact that to me it looks like a commercial venue. I think it doesn't look like a home. I think it's It looks like a restaurant. It looks like a nightclub. I'm very disturbed about the way the house feels. And I think it has to do with the fact that the components that you've chosen to highlight the house, for example, the front facade of this house, almost half of the facade is a water feature, which in itself just claims that commercial. You know, if it sat somewhere within the scope of a much larger house, it would be a feature. Here, it feels like the language signifies something different to me. I think that one of the renderings has The steps across the way are rendered differently in two views. One of them shows planters at both ends of them in one of the perspectives it showed. And in this one, you have a series of steps that lead out nowhere. They really lead out to a planter, which to me semantically is very strange because the elements that you compose the facade with are almost kind of not working together. One of them is this fountain that lands on this pond, and then you have almost two-thirds of the facade with these steps that sort of reach out to the whole length of almost the building, but two-thirds, I mean almost 80% of the steps lead out into a planter. They don't lead out into a home. So they attempt to some kind of These all seem to be very public gestures. They don't seem to be domesticity to any of these things. And again, I'm actually not commenting on the... I'm accepting your language as a modern language. I'm not necessarily advocating for a beach cottage. It's just... The sums of the parts makes this house, to me, feel like also next to the court that you're building, next to the landscaping that you're doing that has been built already. The whole thing, I mean, I thought that we just got a nightclub in Surfside. I was going to ask Scarlett what the hell is going on with that property because it seemed he was heading in the public venue. I was not necessarily mocking it. I'm just saying it looked like it was some commercial endeavor that I had no idea was happening in this town. So thinking that this house would join the rest of what went on in there, to me, it really would make even more, like the whole thing feels to me like a commercial endeavor. I'm not necessarily, I'm less disturbed with the back of the project, with the most glassier part of, but again, the whole sensibility of the building to me, when I look at your perspective that shows that story and a half glass portion of the back of the building, it looks to me like I'm looking into some restaurant or commercial venue. You know, it just doesn't, it really, I don't see a home anywhere. And I'm just disturbed. It looks like a clubhouse for a paddle court. It doesn't fit. The whole thing is not fitting within the language of the domesticity that we need to allow in this town to progress or to move forward. So... I'm disturbed about not necessarily the modernist language. I'm disturbed about the essence of the building. It doesn't seem cohesive. I mean, if you look at the bottom right elevation, you have those random steps. You have a fountain. You have a window that is behind us. It's a bit schizophrenic for such a small building. It seems very disjointed. Overall, my biggest comment that I want to say is that in the connection with the two lots that it's adjoining to and the landscaping and the paddle, to me, it reads as a commercial venue for this town. It fills a void. When you go down Harding, I mean, I go down Harding every day, I look to the left and I think that, can I join that club? It really feels that way. And so that's my overall comment. about the project.

Yeah, I would agree. I mean, I think let's call a spade a spade. This is a clubhouse for the paddle court next door. You know, I agree that the feel is not quite compatible yet with the surrounding. I think it feels very boxy. It feels kind of cold. You know, the materials you've chosen are dark and cool-toned. And, you know, you've got these tall, skinny doors and not a ton of fenestration except just that one area in the back.

But that would not be seen by us. It would not be seen by the town.

So I don't think you're quite there. And I'm also two other points I'd like to make. are the trees. First of all, the landscaping that's there now is beautiful. Nice job on the landscaping around the paddle court. That's looking really nice. But there are a couple trees that you're removing that I would love you to try to preserve, because one is a banyan tree, and it's not in the footprint of your building. That's number 12 on your list. And then you have a royal poinciana on your site I think that's tree number one that I'd love to see if you could preserve. I know you can get an arborist to tell you that it's maybe going to be dangerous and it might not survive. But I'd love to give it a shot. And then I noticed that the top of the roof height there is 19 feet. And one of the things we'll be talking about later tonight is about the maximum height of a single story single story structure. And right now it's proposed to be 18 feet. And so I would definitely want this to be in coherence with wherever we end up on that tonight. I think it's a little tall for the scale of what you're trying to do there. So those are my main comments. Any other comments to follow up, Nicole?

I agree. It looked like a commercial building to me. I was confused when I first started looking at it. I 100% thought it was a commercial building.

And also, I was looking at the floor plan, and I was looking for the living room and the dining room, right? So I saw it. But then I saw I'm not an expert on the distribution of the floor plan, but I saw that with the sauna, with the showers, with the kosher kitchen, the pantry, it's too big for just one bedroom. So I really thought that you were going to present a clubhouse. Yeah, but I was misled because of the text that it says single-family home.

Well, I mean, I think that it's this. Sorry. I think that there's some transparency has to occur as to really what are we even looking at. I mean, I don't know if we're looking how does this building is going to operate. I mean, obviously, it's not a single-family home. I doubt that this is a single-family home. It's called Spade to Spade. I mean, I don't know what this is. I mean, I don't know if this is a single family home that is masquerading. I mean, is a clubhouse masquerading as a single family home, and you're adding a bedroom just because you need to get it into the code as a single family home? I feel very sort of cheat, very uncomfortable with having to judge this as a single-family home because I don't think it is. So I think there's a trick here that I don't want to call anything, you know, I don't want to blame anything to anyone, but I'm just saying we're asked to look at it as a single-family home under the guidance that we've worked about, but it's really not a single-family home. So it's really a clubhouse. So how does that fall into...

Maybe we can ask the town attorney to just weigh in. Would a clubhouse be a permissible use here? Or you can research that and get back. Let me look at that and I'll get back to you. Yeah. So anyway, I mean, I think you're hearing generally the collective feedback. I don't know if you have any response or you want to just take that in for now.

Well, one of the reasons we made the front somewhat difficult private and more concealed is Harding Avenue is a busy street. And it's not a great view when you're looking out. When I walked the site, I noticed that the east and the north of this property is more valuable. It's more desirable. And so walking in with the client, we kind of felt that the backyard is where there could be a lot of activity. There could be entertaining. There could be outdoor seating and enjoying There's nothing to be enjoyed in the front. Harding Avenue is just too busy of a street to pretty much ever sit out there and enjoy it. So that's where the idea came from, that the front entry, even though it's on Harding Avenue, is really not not something that we would like to emphasize. It's just to get into the building.

Keep in mind that we're trying to protect the streetscape and what it looks like from the outside. So a gesture to what it's looking at is also appreciated.

Yeah, so you talked about 18 feet as a maximum height. That's not the current code.

No, it's not, but it's something that's going through the works, has had several readings at the commission in here, and we hope to finalize tonight.

And that is height from grade? Crown of road. Crown of road.

Yeah. Right?

I'll say the last thing I will say about it. I think that we as a board, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen to us after this, but... I think that we need to know, I need to understand what the program of this building is, exactly what the purpose of this building is. I don't.

Why don't we let you answer that?

Well, I have. I doubt that it's a single family home, so.

Yeah, we have a client who gives us direction on what he wants. In essence, I follow directions from our client. And I can't argue with him if he doesn't want two or three bedrooms and he just wants one bedroom and he wants a big kosher kitchen for entertainment. I don't really truly ask questions. This is his program. So I design based on what he wants. I see your point. I also see his point. So I'm kind of stuck in between.

I know, but if you file something as a single family home and the activity that is going to be performed at this home, it's not a home. It's actually a different kind of operation. a secret club or people coming to something that is outside of the realm of being a single family. It is a big deal. Yes, it is a big deal because you're operating something you're not allowed to. It's not a single family home.

But I don't ask that question to my client, right?

You need to ask the question because you presented to us a single family home. So we cannot be tricked in saying that we're looking at a single family home, but it's actually not going to be a single family home nor operate as one. It's just using the code as to grandfather a different kind of

operation that's what it looks to me obviously when i look at the plan this is not this is not a home someone might sleep here once in a while but this is not going to be we've made our points pretty clear um i think it's we're probably at a point where we need to be making a motion um madam attorney you're probably still looking that up but i'm not sure it really i mean they're going to have to verify the legal use Regardless, I think our purview is really design compatibility within our design guidelines in our neighborhood. And under that, guys, I'm not hearing we've got it. So I think I would entertain a motion to deny or a other motion as you see fit. Motion to deny.

Second.

Okay. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Board Member Aparicio?

Yes.

Board Member Chavez? Yes. Board Member Solarez?

Yes.

Alternate Member Pinto?

This is, well, point of clarification, this is to deny it, right? Yeah, so yes.

Chair LeCour? Yes. Madam Chair, motion carries. Okay. Thank you very much. We will move on to item 9056, Garland Avenue.

This is an application for site plan approval for an addition to an existing single-family home property located at 9056 Garland Avenue. The applicant proposes adding 580 square feet to what is currently a single-family home consisting of 2,461 square feet. The home will remain a one-story structure. The property is 5,625 square feet, and the single-family homes are permitted. No variances are requested. The addition will be in the front and in the rear of the home. The proposed addition in the front will remain approximately 20 feet, whereas the rear setback will be 20 feet and 4 inches from the property line. The applicant's design elements include tavertine and stone-for-wall façade, concrete driveway, concrete tiles, steel frame, wooden louvers, glass railings, and black and undyed windows, and a new front door. The resulting FAR after the addition is 0.44, and the lot coverage will remain less than 50%, which is what is allowed for a single-family home. one-story single-family home. We found that this does meet the zoning code in H30B, and the applicant shows compliance with the land use regulations, and staff recommends approval for this addition and remodel of a single-family home.

Question, Scarlett, before we turn it over to the applicant. Why is this an addition when the entire structure is being demolished?

Sorry.

Well, I was I was hoping our planner knows the answer to that but it looks you're my yes, okay Good evening everyone.

Thank you for your time. My name is Kirk when I'm the architect of Raker for 20 sauce DC highway crow cables and So to answer the first question, the reason this building look like demolished, but it's not since we, the amount of scope of work is trigger the 50% rule from the FEMA regulation. So which means the entire floor finish need to rise up to 10.0 NGVD. compared to current about 5.0 NGVD. So on the upcoming slide, I'm going to show you some diagram of what has been remained and what has going to be demolished or improve in the height.

Before you go there, I'd like to just also ask our town planner, while she's reviewing, if this were to come before us as a new home, would there be a different evaluation criteria than what we're evaluating as an addition? So that we'll come back to you.

Madam Chair, if I may, I do not believe he was sworn in either.

Oh, okay. Let's swear you in.

Can you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm to say the truth and only put the truth? Yes. Thank you. You may proceed.

All right, so it's a single story home existing condition. We're going to add addition in the front and also a portion in the back. If we look at the diagram on the second right side, the purple one indicate the current footprint of the house. The orange one, I talk about the right side and the second one. The original indicate the front addition, which including a small portion of the entry porch plus a new bedroom we're going to integrate to the existing condition. And the orange in the lower left side, which currently is a Florida room right now, we enclose it to an AC area. So this is basically the area we are adding to the current structure. However, since the amount of the work is triggered more than 50% of the FEMA regulation, so we need to rise the entire structure, entire floor to meet the requirement of the FEMA floor elevation. And next one I want to show you.

So can you just, can you go back to that for a second? Of course, yeah. So you're saying that the, maybe, do we have a mic we can give him so he can kind of point? We don't. Okay, I'm just gonna repeat what he says. Okay, so the second. Purple is the current footprint of the existing home. Okay. And are those side setbacks at five feet? Five feet on each side. Okay. And then the orange is what you're filling in, basically.

Okay.

Okay. So you're filling in the front porch.

Okay.

You're enclosing a portion there on the lower left side. And a small portion at the top left. Okay. Okay. Okay, thank you.

And in this diagram, we can see the orange one is the current building mason. The one with the black line is the proposed mason, so we can understand how the transform of the mason from the current condition to the new one after rising the entire house. And let's go back to a few slides here. This is proposed elevation compared to the current context. On the street, majority of the house beside two houses on the north side has two stories. Everything else has only one single story home. And this is a side diagram indicate the proportion also indicate how our roof going to be proposed with two different level, the higher roof and the lower roof, based on the different function for the space. I'll explain a little bit more detail when we go to the floor plan. And here's the landscape plan. We keep all existing landscape in the backyard. There are total 10 tree right now, including ponds. We keep all of them. Plus, we're adding on the north and south with additional landscape to define the edge of the property, also provide the privacy between the neighbors and the new proposed house. I mean, I shouldn't say proposed. I said new proposed addition, since it's, yeah. And the fung, also we create a series of prong and planting to define the fung elevation which we will see some elevation in the rendering in the upcoming slides. This is a current condition based on the survey, so we can understand the footprint. The small corner with the X on the lower left corner is the current for that room we're going to enclose. And the front, which currently has just landscape, we're going to have a new addition in the front, which will be including porch and bedroom. Okay, here's the floor plan. So we tried to make the house a little symmetric in the front side with a central step coming up from the street and with a driveway split to two sides. So one car on the north side, one car on the right side. to try to reduce the amount of impact of huge driveway or huge park in the front. And with a series of landscape in the middle to create a pedestrian walkway leading to the main porch enter to the house. And then once we go into the house, it's a wide open space with dining, kitchen, all the gray area which has a higher roof. And then on the north side, it's a series of bedroom, I mean two bedroom. One is master and one is the second primary suite. So this create, we define the lower roof portion of the project. And then leading to the backyard, we step coming down to the current elevations. So the backyard still keep as current elevation. The pool keep as current. So there's no concern for the privacy that people might seeing from the neighbor, looking to the north or south neighbor, or even the west neighbors. This roof plan indicate the drainage plan, which including all the roof drain with rainwater lead going inside to the house, so there's no downspout, there's no gutters in the facade. Gonna jump to the color elevation. There's a side elevation. The side elevation will create a lot of different moment by playing with the window, proportion, height. So to playing in the facade, yeah. and this is the render elevation, next one, okay. This is the phone elevation, I mean phone renderings indicate the landscape we have keeping on the side, also the proposed step leading to the center of the house, and then we have, the right side of the house used to be a garage, and we decided to cancel the garage and we make to a, A storage under plus the office on the half floor above. We can see on this floor plan here. Would you mind go over there to expand to? Okay, so single story home at 10 NGBD.

You have like a half-story. So you have sort of a half-story storage with a half-story office above it. Okay, so you've got eight foot clear in the office. Mm-hmm. So maybe you can come back, because one of the questions, I wasn't totally clear how it worked, is when you're looking at that front elevation, I mean, is that a, are you looking through those windows at the top, or those windows, is that?

Those windows with louver, with louver in the front, since this is facing facade, so the sun exposure from the morning is very strong, so we create a series of louver to have a like...

The windows, the whole band on top is glass. Just the left and the right have louvers.

I can indicate. Got it. On this elevation, you might be able to see on the top elevation, you can see there's a staker in the front and see the additional window on top. And this is my view. I mean, we mixed, but the idea is only showing the, only have a step lighting for safety and also some ambient in the entrance. But somehow the image show much brighter than what we have seen in my screen. It's not this bright, but idea is the step has all the light on the step, create the safety.

I did see some lighting in the soffits. Was that... still the case?

It's not continuous. It's more about ambient light to indicate, highlight the architecture feature. But the majority of the light is on the entrance and the step. The rest is more in ambient. And however, most of the light will be in the backyard since it's a gathering space for the family, which you can see the high head over the roof overhead. And these are asymmetric for different angle. And lastly, we have the proposed materials, which we have all the physical sample bring up to the presentation. I can share with everyone.

Before you do that, can you pull up the demo plan and just walk us through what's being demolished?

OK, so the demo plan, the roof going to demo, entire roof, since we're going to have a higher floor. So the current roof doesn't work. It's not going to. accommodate the proposed height since the new floor will be seated almost five feet from the current floor elevations. So immediately the ceiling into total demolish for the roof. We keep all the north wall and south wall. We build a new typing over the current CMU wall on the north and south and create a new roof over it.

So the exterior walls are remaining. It was confusing because it says existing one story structure to be demolished. Like everything's being demolished. But is it just the dotted lines, I guess?

It's dotted, yeah. Since the wall going to be partially, since we need to reinforce the, yeah, to put on a new structure in order to lift up the entire roof. So it might be, sorry for misunderstood, the house going to keep the wall on the north and south. But then there's a big portion of the wall being rebuilt on top of current wall.

Okay.

Mm-hmm. Okay. And here's the material. So here.

Whatever you're comfortable with. If you want to prop it up here, you can use my mic.

So basically, all the metal. OK. All the metal material, it will be in a bronze material. That's including the window marlin and the overhang thing on the top. That will be on the same finish. Traveling will be on the wall, like where we see on the real wall and the front facade. There will be a travel thing with two different finish, the floor and the wall. The floor is the travel thing with a filling to fill all the holes for maintenance issue. But for everything on the wall, It's more natural look with all the pores, all the holes, which you don't require that much of maintenance. But the floor will be with all the failure. But they are basically the same material with different failure. Stone pavers, which the walkway and the driveway will be the, I mean, with concrete pavers, keep very natural look. The rubbers will be in this color.

What material?

Right now we're proposing as aluminum. It's a product from Vespa, which is a premium aluminum material with a very high quality of the print. So the color they're going to fade it, it's realistic textures from the wood panels. And yeah, this is the same thing we have for the beam on top, the horizontal beam on the top, which is the same color as the window mounting. We try to minimize the material going to show on the facade. And then last one.

What's that gray stained oak veneer? Which one? What is this? This one? Yeah, what is that? That will be the main entrance. Yeah. What part of the main entrance?

The main entrance to the center portion.

You mean you're talking about the door?

The door, correct. It's more like a driftwood look, a little bit rustic type of start to emphasize, but still try to keep a very natural look. So basically what we are looking at the facade, there are three different materials. First, the bronze metal. Second, the travertine stone. And the third one will be the wood with two different color. But they are in the same type of family with different fetch. And the flow has them.

Is the gray stained oak veneer also a wood look aluminum, or is that an actual?

This one, we don't have a product defined yet, but this is the intention of the look. But look like it will be a metal door with a veneer. It's very hard to find a profile in this size in wood with NOA, with a product approval. So in reality, it should be a metal door with a wood veneer.

So that's for the... And then lastly, I want to...

Since we talked about the building height, everything, I want to show how we get into the building height.

You want to speak here or there?

I might see if there's an additional diagram I put something. So regarding to the building height, we've been struggling to try to find the best balance for the building height. We look to the very fundamental of architectural theory, golden ratio. So we're using the golden ratio to define the height of the building. I think it's kind of best interest to the whole neighborhood, to the context. It's not something to flatten, not something to toe, but it's kind of being proof the best ratio in the facade. with this, with probably two hours for starting the width and height.

Thank you. Anybody from the public wish to speak on this matter? Everyone's looking around, so I'll take that as a no. We'll close the public hearing and open it to the board. I'll start on this side. Moses?

No comments from me yet. I'll let the board speak.

Okay. Carlos?

Yeah, I have. I think we're... One question I have is in the detailing of up on the clear story where you have the greenery running around. That's actually a planter, correct? Correct, yes. You're building a planter because it doesn't look like in the sections it's showing a planter there. So it just...

Yeah, it will need more detail defining to check how much soil, how much printer depth we need to provide. Yeah.

Right, but again, I'm looking at your drawings, and we're saying that that part of the house is actually where greenery would grow, but you're not drawing it in the sections as such. So in the perspective, it looks like you have a planter up there, but in the technical drawings, it doesn't show a planter. So I'm asking you, which one is it? Is it the one that has a planter or the one that doesn't have a planter?

It's going to have a planter.

It's going to have a planter.

It's going to have a planter on the...

Would it be on the roof plan, I guess?

It would be a narrow planter on the way we're seeing over there. Usually it would be a six inch over the small parapet.

The reason why I'm bringing this up because the way that you render that planter is not deep enough to hold dirt and to grow plants. You can't structurally... The thinness of that element there, it's not really structurally feasible for it to hold a planter. So I think that part of the zeitgeist of this house was really to hold a garden along that stretch. A linear garden. A linear garden up there. So you're showing it to us in the perspectives where you're not giving us to us in the drawings. So I'm afraid that it's going to be lost in the translation when it gets built, and that we're just going to get a... a very massive, I think that part of the idea of having a setback in the clear story is that to create a garden element in that setback. So I think it's something that it needs to happen and something that it must happen. And it's a condition of, because there's a discrepancy in the information.

I do agree with you. I think there's something we need a little more detail to work with either our structure and landscape designer to define how much space we need to put.

But that whole cross-section needs to be engineered to hold dirt and to hold plants and to be allocated for this. So I'm saying the proportions of that are going to change a bit because it's going to get thicker. And you have to engineer that whole top section of the house.

Might lose some height in that first story, for example. Or the proportion.

There's a bit, there's engineering missing to that portion of the house. When it comes to, I have a series of elements that are very specific. When it comes to the front door of the house, I don't see the driftwood sort of language fitting into any of this. I don't see why driftwood just brings into the mix. I think that the house has a very clear, very, very clear language, which is warm tropical wood and bronze and beige stone, limestone, which is something we see very often here. It's not alien to Miami. But there's a little bit more of a South Pacific sort of feel to the house, which is fine. It's compatible with Florida. But I think that To me, that lacks definition as what the front door, because it's such a big panel onto the front door that I think, to me, the whole house could be ruined by the whole front door. I'm not exaggerating, but it can be. So I think that that's another thing that I have to point out. As it comes to the louvers on the house, I think that... We're advocating for not to be used sort of fake materials of any kind. So I think that this house, we're not going to fly with the idea of printed, you know, printed patterns on aluminum with weird sheens on the front of this house. I think that if you're going to use wood, it has to be real wood. Okay? I mean, I'm speaking, I think that it's what we've discussed here, so I'm taking... the lead and to... And then the other thing is that the two... I'm trying to help you define, going through the things that are not defined yet. Okay. So... Because it looks like it's very finished, but I think it still thinks I need to be fine-tuned. When it comes to the garage door, it's another thing. We need to know what the garage door is, because that's a huge panel of something. So I think that the elements definition is... The louvers have to be wood. I think that the front door has to be defined. I think that it needs to stay with the language of either it has to become a bronze door or a door that matches, in my eye, the rest of the wood. I don't see it necessarily adding another element to the mix.

What had you envisioned for that?

Okay, yeah, so actually we did try using the same material as a lot of rubber on the main entrance. However, the main entrance has a big portion of the glazing, which has a very dark bronze. So with the other wood we proposed, it became a very strong concrete. Yeah, in the entry area. So we decide to find something to tune down to more or less close to the window mounting we are proposing in a darker gray tone family instead of the wood we have on our other portion of the house.

Yeah, it's just the tone, the warmness of the louvers. With the driftwood, they're not working together. One is a dry, dead wood, and the other one is a very honey-colored, very warm. So I think that if it were my house, I would do a bronze door, something that's very tomb-like and very silent. If not, I would try to make it work with the louvers. It has to work with the other component. Then I'd need a definition of what the garage door is.

Is that like a roll-up door, that storage door? Actually, there's no garage door. It's a storage room.

So you're saying that you don't open that?

Yeah, there's no door over there.

It's just a panel.

Yeah, it's just a panel. I can show on the floor plan here. No, I know the plan. So you have to show it to them. So basically there's no door. If you look at small floor plan on the upper right corner with the storage area with a small door from the north side.

Oh, I see. You access it through a pedestrian door. It's not a roll-up.

Right. It's basically the storage.

So what is that wall made of then?

It's a panel. Try to take the same language we have found with the elevation.

Would you not just fill that in?

We can fill in with, like, travel thing we have on the other side, or we can have a... Could you put planters? We can put planters, but the limitation is we need the space to park the car, so the planter not able to... have huge planter. We can have maybe the most 18 inches. Linear. Yeah, something like this. Yeah, since we do need 20 feet for the car park in the front.

You could do a linear planter and plant a vine to crawl up that.

I think we already showed some of the planters, like between the wall to the car.

Yeah, it's just the proportion, the cladding of that volume is awkward.

I understand.

I think that... I think it would benefit because you have the crown of greenery on the clear story. I would probably make ivy grow on that panel or maybe a patch of green. I think that panel has to go into the language of landscaping and avoid any kind of material. Because if you put granite or any kind of stone on it, I mean granite, if you put limestone on it or any kind of travertine, it's going to look like you sealed up a garage. It's going to look like you had a garage and you sealed it up. So it's absolutely the wrong reading for it. So I think that... Your best bet is to just probably clad it in the same stone and just grow ivy on it. So it's not necessarily, it's still a little bit of a, it has to become warm and combined with nature. It's definitely what it needs to be. It will soften that side of the house meat in the ground. And then I'm going to go to the back of the house. Sorry, I'm taking more time. I'm not crazy about the soffit lights, which on the back, to me, looks like a bit of a discotheque. The other neighbors from the back are going to look at the house, and they're going to see those lights on there, and I find them really annoying. So we try to stay away from those. We live in very small lots, and we're very close to each other, and I think that these things have a lot of effect into the neighborhood. I would be... I would advocate for trying to find another way of lighting up the back, perhaps more from down up.

The beauty of the lighting back there is going to be the light in the pool. That's going to really be a beautiful feature for that house.

Okay. And I would just get rid of the soffit lights and either our sconces or spots lighting up the back wall from below. You need to light up the house the other way, instead of from up down, from down up.

Yeah.

And something that I, it's just my, I think that you could look at it. The limestone wall, the minute that it hits the ground, that whole idea to me, it feels a little bit unresolved, the way that that huge wall, meets whatever paver you have in there. It's another opportunity. You're not really understanding the full breadth of that scale, but that's almost the height of a person there, right to the edge, to the bottom of the window.

It needs a planter.

It needs either an indentation, so that part of the house, I mean, I've been looking at this house before, so my idea is that that part of the house, it would be nice if it floats in, so You get actual visual space into the back of that. You cave, you carve into that volume because that's all hollow there. So you can plant underneath there and do a garden so that part of the house looks like it's floating above a garden. You could benefit from landscaping in that corner because that's just dead. That's just like, it doesn't look nice in the perspective. It's certainly going to look much worse in real life. So I would advocate for try to let some overhang of that portion of the house, set it back, set back the back wall, and then do a garden there so that whole, the house will feel so much lighter as it meets the backyard. And you can illuminate that garden from below so the whole volume when you're sitting in the pool looks like it's floating above a garden. That'll look a lot better and it's pretty much the same house, not changing anything. But it would be a big deal about the way the house is going to feel in the backyard. I'm done.

Okay, let's move over here.

You want to start?

You got to turn your mic on.

Good start. I think Carla's covered everything. It's his world. We're just living in it.

start first anyways. So on the back, what Carlos was saying before in the original site plan, you had the AC there, right? So now I wonder, where are you going to set the pool equipment, the AC, maybe?

Very interesting question. Okay. So I can show to our site plan and the roof plan. So as I mentioned earlier, the roof has two level, higher and lower. And you can see on the lower roof portion, there's a condensed unit in the corner, which will be high behind the upper portion of the roof. Clever. Yeah, which also has been indicated from the side diagram here. The purple one, it's indicating.

I just wonder, you might need a parapet to cover it from the side as well, because I think that site.

It will be over, correct. Yeah.

So that's the AC and the pool equipment is going to be there?

The pool equipment, it's okay. I'm not sure you can see.

It's a little cut out, yeah. Yeah, go on, go ahead. That's the terrace? Yeah, okay.

It's sort of a balcony. Then he put this over so you don't see it.

So it's not a balcony.

It's just a big balcony. Done.

Okay.

It's on there.

Yeah. Very cool.

Oh, my God, that's really good. Yeah.

You just got to make sure you have, I think there's air circulation requirements, but you'll hit it. Yeah.

Yeah, he'll hit it.

Okay, cool.

But, you know, even more that I see what you're, because actually.

That would be cool on the other side.

You're going to see this bit floating over this. What I'm advocating for the left-hand side, you're trying to make the whole back float. a bit more, it would be a really good addition to the last. Because in the perspective, it looks like it's a wall, but actually that balcony floats. You see light through. No, you'll see light. You'll see a lot more light than you think you would. Because you need quite ventilation. I mean, it has to be louvered. So you just see through it. So even if it's an angle, you see it.

When you are understanding how you see, but when you are in the higher or lower, you see the angle.

But you feel it's not as solid. You feel like it's solid.

Did we get through all your comments?

Just another thing. On the front, you have the front door. And I think, well, what it says is that you have two windows besides them. But you don't have plants there, right? It's just the rendering. You don't have plants because you have the door, right? And then you have two windows. But because of the render, it's like... No, there's no... It's a reflection from the... Maybe that's why we can't see the door. Maybe if you just take out the plants there, yeah, it would look better. I don't know, because Carlos mentioned that that part is not really good. And... Oh, yeah, the lights. I agree with Carlos. Every time I walk at night on Surfside, I see the houses that have the lights there. And they're really together also. Like, they're... You don't need them. They don't have a good space, right? It looks pretty bad.

I'll take that advice from Carlos. Yeah.

That's it.

Okay, thank you. I have just a couple more. I agree with everything that's been said. They've hit a lot of my comments. The side elevations, if we could look at the south or north elevation... The window placement, for me, I don't understand it. It seems a little wacky. You've got one side that's sort of, you've got some alignment. What is that? The bottom one, there's some rhyme or reason. The top one just feels awkward to me. I don't know if anybody else sees that.

They feel a little bit Mondrian. They feel a little bit pictorial. Like you're trying to say something, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Like they lack a logic to reading and thinking that you're just going to see the house from the side. Those side walls, you're going to see a lot more than you think you do. You know, we're so concentrated on the front of the house, but as the house turns, you see the turning of the house. And I think that there's a ratio between masonry and glass that I think is important. You know, the house has such an ethereal facade. And then when it turns, it's huge. It's this huge expanse of white stucco with these.

Get that golden ratio back out.

It's like a bunch of Legos. It's like you were trying to play a game and you got bored. You know, you're trying to make up patterns. It's good enough.

It lacks a lot of... Cohesion or logic, yeah. I do appreciate that you're protecting many of the trees during the process. Thank you for that. But, you know, I think all of the commentary thus far...

I'm going to say one thing before and then that's it. I think that perhaps... Go back to... Kirk, go back to the front of the house or... The final issue? Yeah. I think that... one thing that i keep on telling to benefit is that they just you know you looking at the front of the house but the house is never see you never really hardly see a house like this you see it in passing you've seen it three quarters you see more like the parthenon i think that i think that the some of the language of the front it would be nice if it it makes it to around you know which is it's very odd people just think that the house ends here but the house you always see the corner of the house you don't see

It's the 360-degree architecture that we've just worked hard to put into our design guidelines. Right.

So I think that part of what I'm saying is that go back to the plan.

I think that maybe part of the language, like you have that sliver window in that bedroom in there, and then you have no window.

I think that maybe you should bring one expanse of the front to the side so the house wraps around it. And then you can play with the windows on the side, give it a bit more thought. But I think the house would benefit from taking the facade and wrapping it, wrapping fenestration to the side. So it doesn't look like, you know, it's like an imprint of a facade that doesn't make the turn. I think that bring perhaps one of those pieces of the front of the glass and turn it. one of the side isometric. Yeah, like, exactly that exactly the top left hand side drawing, you see how you have all that big bit a lot of masonry there. To me, that's the opposite. I think that you should bring the glass, you should wrap it around in that corner, open up that corner. So the facade Some of the language of the front continues to the side. And then as you move further back into the elevation, you can... I still think that the windows feel very small to me. But, you know, I understand that they... I don't know why people just have this obsession with putting small windows on the side. But I know there's neighbors and all that stuff. But I think that... Take the facade and wrap it with fenestration on the sides, with bigger fenestration on the side. And I would... I think that the placement of the windows on the side needs some work to me. You know, the problem is that also all the windows are the same size. They're different positions, but they all feel the same size. So it feels like you're just playing a game with these windows. It lacks some hierarchy on the side. But I'm sure you can work on that.

So any other comments or questions? It seems to me we've missed... I'm reading the room needs to come back to us unless someone is comfortable making a motion to approve with a lot of conditions.

I think we can make the conditions. I'm okay with making the conditions.

If you can name them. If you can list them, yeah.

There's going to be quite a long list. Are you testing me? Sandra, are you ready?

Are you testing me?

I do have a list already. I have a list. I'm going to have a list.

Have some gluten-free vegan chocolate cake.

Okay. You guys have no idea how good it is.

Okay, let me attempt to collate the comments unless you want to do it.

That's really good. I think that we need...

Here we go. Sandra, are you ready?

Let's make it... Okay. God, that's thick. Okay. I think that we need – let's talk about materials. So we make the list of the materials. We make it very straightforward and very simple. I think that we need to change the aluminum that you had to real wood. I think that the panel on the garage, what we thought it was read as a garage door, I think it should be clad in stone with an ivy growing on it. I think that the front door, to me, it needs to go into the language of – Excuse me.

I need to write it so you could... Slow it down.

Chew your cake.

You get it? I have to go back?

No, you've got aluminum to real wood for the wood slots. The garage facade needs to be clad in stone.

It's reset. It has to be clad in stone and ivy should grow on it. I think the front door... needs to, it's your choice. I think it should either belong to the language of the bronze or the language of the louvers. I don't think it should be another material. I leave it up to you. The engineering of the planter or the clear store needs to be worked on because it's not there at all. So you need to re-engineer that whole sort of ledge of the house to be allowed. We want to see a planter there. So you have to engineer it so it allows a planter. then I think we're done for the front of the house. I think that we're going to go to the sides of the house. I think that you're a talented architect. You can work this out. But I think that some of the language of the front, of the administration of the front, should wrap around the house on both sides. I would advocate for perhaps having two of the bigger pieces of glass occupying the both sides of the house so that it wraps. I think that the fenestration should require one more look. I trust you that you make that work. I think that you should change a little bit the ratio and the proportions of them so they become more thoughtful, more thoughtful and more facade-like. Then we're going to get to the back of the house. We talked about removing the lights on the soffit. And then we discussed the possibility of the master bedroom volume. We talked about that detail where it would just be a garden. It would fly over a garden underneath it. and that will be landscaped and illuminated.

Good job. I think you got it all. Did we miss?

We got the lights. On that point, I'm going to have her. Okay. Yeah, he's second.

Okay, so would someone like to move to approve with those conditions?

Motion to approve with all those conditions.

Is there a second? Second. We'll give it to Nicole. All right, Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Board Member Aparicio?

Yes.

Board Member Chavez?

Yes.

Board Member Solarez? Yes. Alternate Member Pinto?

Yes.

Chair LeCour? Yes. Chair, the motion carries. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Congrats, thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you. Okay, are we ready for 5A? Okay, let's do it. Site plan extension request for 9064 Harding.

Senator, do you read the resolution title?

5A is the extension request. But it has a resolution in it.

Oh, sorry. My apologies. A resolution of the Town Commission of the Town of Surfside, Florida, approving or denying a site plan extension application for property generally located at 9064 Harding Avenue, Surfside, Florida, to extend the site plan approval for one year, retaining all other aspects of the previous approval, providing for additional conditions, providing for violation of conditions, providing for a severability clause, and providing for an effective date, item 5A.

Thank you. Um, just to remind you, this is a previously approved plan from, um, a couple of years ago in April of 2023, their request is approved for a second story addition to an existing home. The existing two-story residence consists of 2,122 square feet of square footage. The property was granted an additional 586 square foot of second-story interior space along the northern portion of the structure, resulting in a total square footage of 2,700 square feet of habitable space. This was already approved by the Planning Board, and the applicant did not pull the building permit within the two-year time limit. The code allows him to apply for an extension if he requested it before the expiration and it was approved by the town commission. which both have occurred, and the commission has approved the extension, with one condition that they ask this resident to bring this back to the Planning and Zoning Board, and if any comments on the design are advised by the board. The mayor and the commissioners did specifically ask that This review would not be financial burdensome or cause the homeowner to spend more funds on the design of these plans for preparation for this meeting today. The applicant is... Okay, I think that's the end of my report. Thank you.

Is this addition complete?

No.

Okay.

This isn't built, is it? No.

No, the addition has not been completed. Is the applicant here, and do you wish to speak? Come on up and state your name and address for the record.

Hi, my name is Roberto Marquez, and my address is 9064 Hardin Avenue. So what happened here is that we bought the house five years ago. We are a young family. We have, at that moment, just a baby. So this house, on the first floor, we have one bedroom, one bathroom. And the second floor, we have two bedrooms, one bathroom. So at that moment, I think after like a year or something like that, We were looking to have another baby, so we thought that we maybe need an extra bedroom on top so we can have all babies in one bedroom and my wife and me with them. So we started this process of the addition, and it was a while more than we thought. So we submitted the plans, then we have some comments back. We have the planning and zoning meeting first, and they have some comments. They are for our rendering. So in the meantime, by when we were approved, we were expecting for the second baby already. So we thought that it was not the best timing to start construction at home. So we wait until the baby has like a year and a half. And then when I came here to the building department to see how we can start the process, they told me that my permit was just four months to expire. I didn't know that, honestly. And they told me that it was not the best for me because if I start working with the plans and the comments and everything, I will be cut in time. So they asked me to ask for an extension, and I did a letter explaining of the extension. And it took like a year for me to be in the agenda for the town commission to be heard about the extension. That happened last month, finally. And they told me that it's fine, it's okay, but they wanted me to come here to see if you have any comments, any ideas, or whatever for the addition.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, anyone else from the public wish to speak? Okay. We'll close the public hearing and open questions and comments to the board.

I can't remember which side I started on.

Let's start on this side. Nicole or Adrian, any comments?

Not yet. No.

Not right now.

Any comments on this side? I do. So I, were to comment, were to comment, like it's new, were commented like it's approved?

No, it's an approved addition that's already been approved for the extension with the condition that we provide any design and architectural feedback.

Okay. All right. So...

This is the opportunity to provide feedback. Right.

So we're...

Sorry, the clerk is clarifying. You're not clarifying. Okay.

Okay, so... I'm going to discuss the way this house looks. You know, this house sits on Harding, which is a complicated... We know it's a complicated street, so there are issues about living on Harding. I think that there's a ratio of fenestration to massing in this house that it's a bit disturbing to me. I think that there's almost, I don't know, it feels very bunker-like. It feels like I don't... There are no windows in this house.

No, I have a lot. Actually, when we have the new windows, we have 19 openings in the house.

You have a lot of openings, but it's about the proportion and the size of the proportions. We have a ratio between the size of fenestration and the amount of wall that you have. I think when I look at the front of the house and I see... You know, it almost looks like a commercial venue. I don't even know what the windows are. Look, you have this window up in, I think, above the garage, which is a bathroom.

Yeah, they say that there is supposed to be the new bathroom. That's why we have a higher... because the shower is going to be there so that's why we cannot put like a bigger window there but then we have another on the side for the bathroom and then there is a working closet with no windows obviously and then we have two more windows on that bedroom and then a sliding door facing the the pool that is in the back i mean but but i i mean let me let me finish i i think that there is

I'm trying to make the house better. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass. I'm just saying it's... I think that there's... I have a problem with the ratio of the fenestration of this house onto the street. I have a problem with the front door and that strange... rectangular window next to the front door, and then that little window in there, and that little square window in there. I think that there's a problem, to me, with the language of these windows on the massing. I think that the house has no soul. I'm not sure what... They're just random windows that you put on this facade that doesn't seem to be inspired. you're doing quite a substantial amount of renovation, but it feels like its sole purpose is just to have a window, not to be

It's beautiful.

It's too pedestrian.

It's just the existing window replaced. What? It's the existing window replaced.

I know, but this is quite a massive renovation of a house. I mean, a house has to make sense in the new rendition of the totality of the house. When you add this amount of square footage to a house... The whole house has to make sense as a whole.

I think just to provide you with maybe a little context, in the ensuing years since you have submitted this, there's been a pretty tremendous change in how single-family homes are sized in Surfside. This doesn't meet it. So you're grandfathered in under a former code that allows a lot more mass of... a lot longer taller walls down the side setback and that's been pretty drastically changed since you did this so you know it's it's hard for us as a board to see a house like this right now because it doesn't conform with what we've worked really hard to adjust in terms of having the right proportions and scale to be consistent you know more coherent with the town um The fenestration is another point, though.

So what I was trying to say, when I look at elevations like this, that side elevation, this house, I know this house. You can see this house, all sides of this house. You can see the totality of the house from Harding. This whole wall is seen when you drive, that long wall with the small windows. It's not just a facade. You perceive this house as an object. And I think that there is, to me, there's a very disturbing ratio of fenestration to wall. I think that there is...

To translate, not enough windows, not a large enough window.

Not enough windows and not large enough windows. I understand, but because the thing is that when we bought the house, that was the layout of the house, and we just replaced the windows for new ones and replaced the roof and did the stucco. So right now it's like we are asking just for an addition on top of the garage, but you are saying to me that to do so, I'm supposed to be changing all the windows in the house?

That's why I asked, has most of the work already been completed on this house?

A little bit. So the thing is that when we bought the house, the house was, I don't know if you remember the house five years ago, but it was a mess. So we bought the house. The house is, I think, 1940s or something like that, from the 40s. So it's a really old house. So we did the roof because the roof has leakings. Actually, when we bought the house, and we put aluminum roof, so the roof is a 16th. right now, as you see in the renders. And then also the windows, it was really ugly because they have even bars inside the windows. So it was like a prison when we bought the house. So we replaced the windows and we installed impact windows, but just with the same size that it was.

So right now... Sorry, I'm getting lost. So I'm looking at this. I don't have enough information. You're saying that this is not the way that...

This is already built. The only thing that they are changing is popping up the story over the... Right. That's what I was trying to say.

That's done.

Yeah.

So it's not like I'm making the whole facade by new. It's like that's existing. I know it could be pretty. I wish it would be pretty, but it is what it is because when we bought the house, it was what we had. I don't have that. And now we are just...

I just pulled it up on Google.

Ah, you put it on Google.

Yeah, this is the street view.

Right, no, I just don't.

That's the current street view. So all they're doing is popping up a, you know.

Yeah, because we are doing that because we need a bedroom on top because right now we are looking to have another baby. So it's like.

So the only thing we can, you can really comment on is the one window where the bathroom is.

I think we can add some greenery. Not really because they're adding, they're adding a whole second floor along the whole stretch of. of the side.

Yeah, on that side, we have the garage, and then we have a bathroom and a... All this, this is all...

The north elevation is going to... Yeah, the whole...

So let's look at the... Now I understand better what...

Moses, you're right on, though. I think we need a lot more greenery in front of this house.

We don't have a landscape plan, I don't think, but... No, because so far, I just submit the plan is to do the addition first, and once all the work is finished, we are trying to then submit a new permit to do the driveway, but the driveway at this point, we're not going to be touching the driveway.

Is there a rendering from the side view where the garage is? Because all I see is the other side that we're, is it this side? Correct me? Yeah. Is that the side where the new, OK.

So I wasn't finished when I was starting. I think that the whole section of the house up there is an addition. So you're adding that whole stretch of it.

Yeah, on the second floor, we already have just a part of the house. The second floor, we have just two bedrooms and one bathroom. And we're adding one side to have one master there.

Yeah, but I'm saying you're adding a second floor along the whole length of that part of the house. So when I look at your elevation, you have a bathroom window that is a tiny little window up above the garage. And then I look at the, which is, this is north, the north elevation of this house, the whole length of that entire wall has three windows. We're talking about a wall that is, what, 80 feet long? 80 feet long. It's from here longer than that. You have three windows in the entire length of that.

This is one for the bathroom. Then we have the walk-in closet with our windows. And then we have two more for the bedroom because also the bedroom on the other side for the pool, we have a sliding door. But if they are the windows, I can put more windows there. But then I don't know if it's going to be strange in combination with the first floor because it's existing and we don't have that many and that big window. Do you know?

Maybe. I would say cover this whole side with tall trees. Yeah. And trees in the front.

Because besides you have the townhouses, right? Yeah. So you can just have trees.

The idea actually right now in the backyard, we have the and we have like 10 or 12 feet long. So the privacy in the backyard is full, so we don't see the neighbors on the sides. And the idea is to do the same when we do the driveway. The idea is to continue that all the way to the street and also at the front.

They only get to be about 8 to 10 feet. You've got a 30-foot wall here. So, you know. Yeah, it's got to be trees. It looks like you have a beautiful green buffer on the south side of your house that creates a nice buffer. You've got to create that same thing on the north.

The only issue that we have on the side that is facing north is that we have just five feet to the setback. So like if we put like a big tree, we don't have access to that site. So we can try to look for something that is tall but not wide demanding. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean, look.

You can grow portocarpuses on five feet and still have a, I have it in my house, you can still walk. You can have portocarpuses that grow 20 feet and you can still have in five feet. And they look beautiful.

They look beautiful. The front facade of your home also is just grass. It really needs some tall trees, some lush greenery.

The front facade is just because Scarlett asked me to do something. I said, okay, I'm going to put something about my idea of the driveway, but the driveway is not on this permit. I guess the permit that I submitted is just for the second floor addition.

So usually when we get an addition, it's a complete package, right? So we're not piecemealing everything out because then we don't understand how everything works together. So that's a little challenging.

I think you would benefit from putting a window. I don't know why you didn't put it, but I think you should. I don't know why you don't have a window in the walk-in closet, but I mean, in that dead wall that you have there, you can add a window. I mean, it would benefit from having natural light on a walk-in closet that has a dead wall, so... That would add at least one more window.

Okay.

Because that's a longer span without fenestration you have between the one from the bathroom and the first one in the master.

Okay.

You can have another window there. It would... One more window. You know what I'm talking about in that side.

Then it will give natural light.

Yeah, I don't have any issue with that.

And yeah, I would want to make a condition that we have some significant planting in the front and the side setbacks.

I'd like to make a condition also for the landscaping and also the driveway.

Yeah, the driveway needs to be redone.

Are you asking for... Are you asking to redo the front of the house, the driveway portion of the house? Was that done? I don't recall. No, that's a separate.

I'm just asking for the addition so far.

Just the addition.

Because my plan, we did, I think three years ago, we did the pool with the whole back is new. So then we are waiting to finish the addition to then move to the front, because if not, with the machines and everything, they are going to ruin everything.

But you're going to make the front nicer?

See, we're planning to do the front nicer, and actually we are planning to do more privacy if it's possible. We're planning to do .

That's the only way to handle Harding.

Then just to leave just a gap for the car to enter and go out. That's good.

That's going to help.

That's my idea, but also about the plans on the driveway, I would like to point. that on Harding Avenue we don't have street parking, sadly. So it's like our front yard is our parking lot. So I love plants and I have a lot in my backyard, but in my front yard, All that I have in my mind, I can do something different, but it's all on the perimeter because if I put whatever tree in the middle, it's going to block me to enter with my car.

See, but right from the front door underneath that window, you can still do more planting.

I'm looking at right here.

Yeah, I'm talking about there and to the left of the front door.

There is any way to put the render here?

Yes. Scarlett, can you help him put the rendering up, please?

It's like in the second floor. Sorry, sorry. I just saw it. I was looking at Lindsay's. See, like in the windows in the bedroom? Like, I don't know. You have so little windows. It's like, why don't you just make the windows bigger and go down to the floor or something? They look like you bought them at Home Depot. I mean, it's just, when you have a chance of putting a new window, just put the biggest window you can.

This is all done. Huh? That's already done.

No, no, I'm talking about the addition. No, I'm talking about this.

This is the addition.

No, but this side isn't.

This is already done. Yes, this is all new.

Those windows could be wider and lower.

Yeah.

I mean, you know. We're talking about this side. So we are. I understand the placing on them because I understand your floor plan. So I know where they can be. But I don't see this side here.

So this is the front. But you have the view of the side. So you mean the two windows that are on the bedroom on the side? I don't have the side here.

Well, you have the front up. But I'm.

Because this is the back, and this is the front. Scroll down, keep going. That one. We'll have it there. Okay, so here on the bedroom, you mean like going all the way to the floor?

Right there, next to the balcony, those are the two windows you have in your bedroom.

I mean, those windows, you know, they should... Those windows, the size are because also I asked the architect to do it all the way to the floor. But the issue is that he told me that because the bed is going to be between the two windows, he told me if you put a window going to the floor, you don't have any place to, you know, to have an outlet and something to charge your phone.

You can't.

You can, I mean, you told me so, but I can't, we can't, you need a different architect.

That was my idea too, to do it all the way to the floor. You can do it on the wall and you should do them all the way to the floor. And I think that.

And then you said adding another one in the middle here.

I'm asking for these windows to be lower. So there's, there's a grant. You know, right now you have a tick tock, you know, you have these sort of. windows the same size, I think that because you're making an addition, I think you should use the addition to give larger fenestration. And I'm not going to change your floor plan. So the way to do it is make these windows go down to the ground, all of them, and put one in the middle where you have the, which would be great because you walk into the dressing room and you have a full length of glass

But when you say all of them, you mean the bathroom too, the bathroom window to make it all the way to the floor?

Why not? Just put louvers and shades, whatever you want. But it would read less pedestrian to me. It would read a little bit more like a bunker. Do you know what I mean? It would give it a little bit of soul to this house.

That's what I was thinking, but I don't know if that's possible because on the sliding door, Also, it would be nice if we make maybe the whole wall, you know, instead of being just in the middle of the wall, we can make the whole wall in glass.

What is that little sad window there you have under the balcony?

That's for the bedroom that is there.

That's the bedroom that's there, right? That's existing.

So on top of the garage, maybe we can make a bigger sliding door, taking the whole wall, so no stucco, just glass.

Listen, what portion... The portion that you didn't change of the house has a certain ratio to massing, but the portion that you're adding to the house, you should try to change the feel of the house and should try to make it, you know, Just grander. I think that if the windows go down to the floor, it always makes the house feel more modern. You know, it feels like, I mean, if it was my house, I would make it to the ground. I would add shutters to the house. I would put, you know, shutters to the house would benefit this house immensely. It would cost you, you know, $10,000 with shutters in the house.

You mean like decorative wood?

Yeah, with shutters. Wooden shutters, yeah. It's a house with this metal roof that you have. It's a house that actually is quite compatible with shutters. I have shutters in my house. And I think that this house would make it so much softer and chiquer if you add shutters to these windows. Because the windows are small, but the shutters make them feel bigger. Because you have this, and then you erase some of the massing of the house.

He's talking about the decorative shutters on the sides of the windows. Are they functional?

Well, the ones in my house are functional, but you don't have to make them functional. They would soften so much. You would love it. I mean, the minute you put them up, the house feels like a home. Right now, it doesn't feel like a home. It's like a converter office. But I think the shutters and bigger windows there, just those few moments, and then the closing up the front of the house and landscaping, I think it would be much better.

Can you go back to the front elevation, please?

Yeah, sure. Let me see here.

So I understand the concern about the parking and making sure you can get everybody in there. What I'm suggesting is you've got a little notch to the left of the front mass that has a tall vertical two-story blank space.

Yeah, that's the idea is to make like maybe a vertical garden or something for the kids to plant and stuff because that's a wall that is dead wall right now.

What I was going to suggest there is instead of bringing the pavement all the way to the house there, you carve out a little space for a planter there and get a nice signature tree there.

You need to get the biggest, most vertical tree that you can. It would change this house. Just carve it out of the pavers, let the pavers go.

You're not going to lose that much on the parking. You can still get one, two, three, four, five, six cars in there. That's a dead corner.

That's not as usual for cars.

No, that's mainly to make the chart, because if you're entering the house, it's like you are parking sideways to the house, but then going back, it's like you need that space a little bit to make the chart.

A little bit, but I think you could have a signature tree there.

If you're working with the shutters, I would make those windows go to the ground. These few things that we're asking you to do, We're not asking to change anything. We're asking to make it better.

You're going to like it better. But about the shutters, do you mean to do shutters just in the addition or in the whole house?

You'd have to do it in the whole home.

Yeah, we'll do it in the whole home. You know, it's a suggestion we're making as a board. I mean, because I think your house is going to be more beautiful. You have a problem that your house... lacks domesticity, you know, it's very harsh, you know?

You gotta soften it.

You need to soften it. You're not a harsh, you're a good-looking young guy with beautiful kids, I assume. So it's like, the house needs to look better. It needs to be... more beautiful, and I think one way, because you have it given, the house is already given to you, I think if that side becomes more modern and vertical, and you add shutters, and what we talked about, that tree, the few things that we're asking is going to make a huge difference.

And I think the north, the side elevation on the north needs planting as high. Yeah, I will plant portocarpuses on that so you can still walk that one because you've got a single-family home right there on the other side Exclusive they're not the right plans for them. They get knocked out by hurricanes.

They don't root So I don't harvest this away But the only issue that we have there on the north side is because they on that side we are facing the townhouses, you know People Okay, so the issue there, because even we have the issue with the grass, is because the sun is coming from the sea and going back. It's like we have saddle all the time there. So it's like, I don't know if the polo carpus, because as far as I know, polo carpus has pretty picky with the sun and the water and everything. So I can try polo carpus, but I'm not sure about because... Polo carpus need a lot of attention when they're young.

It doesn't have to be that. It just has to be something that gets tall. Yeah, you can pick. It just needs to be tall.

No, no, what I mean is like for the greens to grow there in that corridor, because it's like I have five feet from my place to the side back, and then the neighbors is the same. So it's like there is not that much sun. Actually, my next door neighbor, he has.

I have it in my house exactly that, and they're 30 feet tall.

Yeah, there's a lot of conditions like that in town where people... That's what I have in my house, and they're 30 feet tall, so they do grow. You will need to engage a landscape architect and talk through that concern.

I mean, I guess if I do podocarpus, maybe I should do podocarpus in the hole.

Well, you have the southern... It looks to me from the street view that you already have a pretty significant buffer on the south side. So don't tear anything out. Leave that. That's beautiful. It's already a beautiful green screen. You want to just fill in the areas that you don't have the privacy screen.

No, but I mean already if you see here, because here all these Clusias are already existing. So from the right side, from the gate, all the way to the corner, and all the other side is Clusias already. So I mean it's like maybe it's going to be weird if I do Clusias and then start Protocarpus.

I mean, you can feather in some other taller trees on this area, too, and it doesn't have to be so manicured and exact, I think. That's part of, I think, what we're trying to counteract a little bit with this house is it's very linear. We need some texture, some asymmetry, some softening. So I think some different landscaping would actually work to your advantage there. And a good landscape architect will be able to kind of blend in a few things on the other side so that it speaks to each other. All right, I think we've given quite a bit of feedback here. I think, help us with what the vote is here. Is it approving the extension with some additional conditions?

As far as I understood on the town commission, it's like they approve and they say, okay, go to the... Yeah, legally, what are we doing?

Recommendation, right?

I think we just have to make a recommendation of what we...

Okay, give the recommendation to approve the site plan extension with the conditions that you concluded.

Okay, so I think that... Do you want to do it or do you want me to do it? The conditions. Yes.

I'm going to eat.

Okay. So I believe the conditions are, let's start with the front elevation. We would like a signature tree on the double height wall on the south side of that front elevation. And then on the north elevation... We want the fenestration on the upper story brought down to the slab. And we want... And a window added in between. In the walk-in closet. And then we want landscaping sufficiently tall to cover those windows through the length of the facade.

And I think the shutters is a suggestion.

Oh, and the shutters is a suggestion?

It's a suggestion, but I think you should definitely look into it.

Yeah, I'm going to check, but the shutters, do you mean on the whole house?

You know, I have them in some windows. I don't have it in all the windows. I think that strategically you can add shutters. They don't have to be. But, you know, when I look at the front of the house, that upper left-hand window, On the front, you know, there, I think a shutter would be beautiful. I think that maybe that's just, even just having on that window, I think it's poetic enough.

Maybe just on the upper.

Yeah, maybe you do it on the upper windows and not on the bottom windows, but certainly in that window there, it would benefit immensely.

Yeah, because the scale of that window to the expanse of the blank wall is small. So you're trying to expand the feel of the window by having the shutters on either side.

No, maybe because honestly, when we submit this like three years ago, we were trying to do as less as possible to get approved as soon as possible to be able to do the addition. So it's like why we don't like, we're playing with different material. We just say, okay, why there's two coins? That's it. And the same roof, everything the same to pass by. But I know maybe on that wall where the garage is, maybe we can do another material to cover that wall, the whole thing.

No, I don't think you do. You don't. I think that...

It feels stuck on.

Another thing that you should look into is perhaps a planter under that window that I hate. I hate that rectangular window because it looks like you're going to buy Cuban coffee from that window.

It's a window?

Yeah, it looks like you're going to buy Cuban coffee.

No, the idea there because actually... La ventanita.

It looks like la ventanita. So it's, to me, the way to solve that window is if you had a planter down there, just the same width of that window would maybe... green in there, it's gonna make such a huge difference to have a planter down there and have green next to the front door. It's just gonna make,

You know, the idea is to have some plants or whatever, but, you know, with the pots and everything, but they're all there.

No, I think you should do a rectangular planter to fit. So it's architectural, you know, like almost like built, like you cannot move it. So it becomes part of the elevation of the house, is my suggestion.

Okay.

You know, right as long as the picture window right below it. So it's a box that is almost maybe the same stone of the steps to the front door. and then just a luscious green there will make a huge difference.

Yeah.

So I think that's it. That's it. So does somebody want to move to approve the extension with those conditions?

To put a motion in?

You just say so moved.

So moved.

Second.

Okay. Please call the vote.

Board Member Aparicio?

Yes.

Board Member Chavez?

Yes.

Board Member Solaris. Yes. Alternate Member Pinto.

Yes.

Chair LeCour? Yes. Chair, the motion carries. Okay, great, thank you.

Congratulations. Just for me to be clear. So I supposed to amend the plans and the rendering with that, and then I submit that where? To Scarlet. And then after that, I'm ready to do the planning and everything. To the building permit. You're approved. So the year that I have is counting since today or since I submit everything?

Madam Attorney.

It would be once the commission finalizes it.

So this has to go back to the commission?

No? Okay, I'm sorry. I apologize. They were waiting for your approval.

So effective today. Your year is effective today.

Starting today. And I have to do fair with Scarlett to submit the correction that you said today. And then after that, I should go directly to the building department. And I have one year to have the building permit granted to start the work. Okay, got it. Thank you so much. Have a good night. Thanks. Good luck.

Okay, let's keep going. We want to move to ordinances. Let's begin with a 6A. Madam Clerk, please read the ordinance.

Madam Chair, would you like to vote 5C and deferred it?

Sorry, which one? 5C. I thought you said we did not meet the notice. Correct. Do you want to make a motion to defer? Won't it just come on when it's placed on the agenda?

It's up to you. Either way works for me.

Yeah, we don't need to motion on it. We didn't hear it. Ordinances, paint colors.

Yes. An ordinance of the Town Commission of the Town of Storyside, Florida amending the Town of Storyside Code of Ordinances by amending Section 90-50, Subsection 9, Architecture and Rules Dex to revise the language for paint colors. Providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for conflict, and providing for an effective date, Item 6A.

Yes, if you recall, this item has come before you a couple times over last summer and through the fall. And based on discussions from those meetings, the code amendments are proposed. In section 90-56-9, paint colors are proposed. In addition, language is added specifically addressing painted roof colors as well as to provide clear definitions for what's considered accent colors. And the town commission has read this ordinance on first reading in the February meeting and had a few small suggestions. One would be that staff organizes and education on the process for reviewing exterior paint colors, and also that any non-conforming painted homes are grandfathered in. Those changes were made and presented to you tonight. The next action will be to present any revisions at second reading at the March Town Commission meeting.

Thank you. A couple questions for you. One, the roof colors says roof materials or painted roof surfaces shall be limited to the following approved colors, light gray, dark gray, white, or terracotta. Do those need to be further specified, or is that we just let the applicant interpret that?

Is that a I know it when I see it type of thing?

Right. That's what I'm asking. It is. So it's basically up to you, the planner and planning team, to determine if that meets those colors. OK. And then my other question is accents, which are defined as exterior design elements that stand out from the surrounding features, shall be complementary to the approved color palette. That's also a judgment call by you all. Are we comfortable with that? I am.

OK.

That was my clarifying questions. Pardon, I didn't open it up to the public before I spoke. Does anybody for the public wish to speak on paint colors? Okay. Board members, any other comments or questions? Are we okay as it is?

Okay.

I'm okay. Yeah.

Okay. May I have a motion for approval?

Motion to approve. Second.

Okay.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Board Member Chavez.

Yes.

Board Member Aparicio?