PB MINS 08-10-04
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
PLANNING BOARD
Regular Meeting
Action Summary Minutes
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
City Commission Chambers
7:30 P.M.
I. Call to Order and the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Action: The meeting was called to order at 7:40 P.M.
Action: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.
II. Roll Call
Action: Mr. Morton, Chairperson, requested a roll call.
Board members present constituting a quorum: Mr. Morton, Ms. Gibson,
Ms. Yates, Mr. Comendeiro, Mr. Mann, Mr. Liddy, and Mr. Illas.
Board members absent: None
City staff present: Don O’Donniley (Planning Director), Sanford A. Youkilis (Planning
Consultant), Brian Edney (Video Support), and Patricia E. Lauderman (Planning Board
Secretary).
III. Administrative Matters
Mr. O’Donniley reminded the Board members about the Ethics Seminar that will take place
on Monday, August 30, 2004, at 6:00pm in the Commission Chambers of City Hall.
IV. Planning Board Discussion Item:
Applicant: Rick D. Ruiz
PB-04-013
Location: 5837 SW 82 Street
Planning Board Meeting
August 10, 2004
Page 2 of 6
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR & CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO A REQUEST TO ALLOW FOR THE
CREATION OF TWO BUILDABLE LOTS AS PERMITTED BY PROVISIONS SET
FORTH IN SECTION 20-4.2(B) OF THE SOUTH MIAMI LAND DEVELOPMENT
CODE AND SECTION 28-4 OF THE MIAMI DADE COUNTY CODE PERTAINING
TO A WAIVER OF PLAT FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5837 SW 82 STREET,
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA WITHIN AN “RS-3” LOW DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY
ZONING USE DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR A LEGAL DESCRIPTION; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE
Action: Mr. Morton read the item into record. Mr. O’Donniley presented his staff report. He
stated that in 2002 the same property was subject to a waiver of plat application, which at that
time required only administrative approval. The application was for the creation of two
parcels each with 75 feet of frontage. The application was recommended for approval by the
City Manager and subsequently approved by the City Commission at its meeting on June 4,
2002. The waiver of plat procedure at that time did not require public notice or public hearing.
The only criteria was that the new lots should meet the minimum dimensional requirements
(frontage/lot size) for the zoning district in which it was located.
The applicant in following a routine procedure to record the plat document (replat) with the
County, discovered that the frontage of the parent parcel was actual 1.53 feet less than 150
feet. This error was made by the applicant’s surveyor who sealed the waiver of plat document.
The result is that the City would not sign off on the replat document because one of the two
lots actually has a substandard frontage of 73.47 feet.
The only way for the applicant to correct the situation is to submit a revised plat and obtain a
new waiver of plat approval from the City of South Miami. The revised application includes
a variance allowing for the substandard lot to be used as a building site. The waiver of plat
procedure in the City’s Land Development Code was amended in September, 2002 to
require public notice, posting, and public hearings prior to final action by the City
Commission. In addition, the revised regulations governing a waiver of plat application
requires that the proposal must meet a number of criteria set forth in the Code in order to
insure compatibility with the neighborhood. These criteria are:
(a) Whether the building sites created would be equal to or larger than
the majority of the existing building sites and of the same character
as the surrounding area (this shall be demonstrated using copies of
the official plat maps for the subject property and surrounding
neighborhood).
(b) Whether the building site created would result in existing
structures becoming nonconforming as they relate to setbacks and
other applicable regulations of these land development regulations.
(c) Whether the building site created would be free of encroachments
from abutting buildable sites.
Planning Board Meeting
August 10, 2004
Page 3 of 6
Mr. O’Donniley explained that an analysis of the size of 66 surrounding lots within the
standard 500 foot radius indicates that 87% of the surrounding single family home sites are
larger than both of the two parcels being created.
He concluded that the waiver of plat application does not meet the three basic criteria for
judging a request. The lot size of both new building sites is below the standard of being equal
to or larger than surrounding single family home sites. In addition the waiver of plat would
result in creating a non-conforming condition with encroachments.
Staff recommended that the requested waiver of plat application be denied.
At this time, Mr. Morton opened the Public Hearing.
Applicant: Rick Ruiz
Mr. Ruiz explained to the Board that in producing the plat for recording purpose the
city assigned surveyor as well as the surveyor of record discovered a discrepancy in the
legal description as well as the site based monuments. This discrepancy altered the
width of the full frontage from 150 feet to 148.47 feet. The lot affected by the lot
frontage requirement of 75 feet that is tract A. Tract B will have no change in lot
frontage. Tract A will be 1.53 feet shorter in width but will still be 1,808 square feet
larger than the 10,000 required with the RS-3 zoned district. The difference in width for
Tract A will still provide a suitable and compatible residence.
Speakers:
NAME ADDRESS SUPPORT/OPPOSE
Butch Paddor 5851 SW 83rd St. Opposed Application
Ms. Paddor opposed the application and thought that the proposed sizes for the houses would
not be compatible with the other homes in the neighborhood.
Yvonne Beckman 5871 SW 83rd St. Opposed Application
Ms. Beckman opposed the application and does not want further lot-splitting in the
neighborhood.
Cathy McCann 5820 SW 87th St. Opposed Application
Ms. McCann stated she opposed the application because there was not enough room for
two lots on that property.
Mary Succar 5837 SW 82nd St. Supported Application
Ms Succar (owner of the property in the application) stated that at the time of the
waiver of plat back in 2002, there was opposition from the neighbors.
Florance Ferre 609 Ocean Dr. Supported Application
Ms. Ferre supported the application because she believed that having two homes would
increase the value of the neighborhood.
Planning Board Meeting
August 10, 2004
Page 4 of 6
Rosario Schrier 5827 SW 82nd St. Opposed Application
Ms. Schrier stated she recently bought the house next to the proposed property that
requested to be split. She did not support the application.
Eric Johnson 5780 SW 81st St. Opposed Application
Mr. Johnson said that he believed that the lot-split would increase slightly the density
and also add a potential risk when flooding occurs.
Charlotte Dison 8031 SW 58th Ave -------
Ms. Dison stated she is not opposed to the change but is concerned about increasing
density and urged the Board members to consider the impact of lot-spltting on the
environment.
Victoria Zamorino 5870 SW 82nd St Supported Application
Ms. Zamorino supports that application and believes that the proposed properties
created would increase the value of the neighborhood.
Tina Admiral 5761 SW 82nd St. Opposed Application
Yvonne Beckman entered into the record a letter from Ms. Tina Admiral (Ms. Admiral,
resident, did not want to speak at the podium) The letter voiced her disapproval of the
applications for lot-splitting and variance.
W. Mitchell 5911 SW 83rd St. Opposed Application
Mr. Mitchell did not agree with the application because the quality of life is diminished
as well as the privacy when lot-splitting occurs.
Elaine Paddor 5851 SW 83rd St. Opposed Application
Ms. Paddor stated she was very pleased when the City Commission voted denial of lot-
splitting the Smith Property and did not support the current application for lot-splitting
and a possible two-story residence which could be built.
Annette Cortese 5908 SW 82nd St. Opposed Application
Ms. Cortese was against the application because she believed that lot-splitting causes
lack of privacy due to the lots being closer.
Thomas Meyer 5837 SW 82nd St. Supported Application
Mr. Meyer state that when they purchased the property they had the intention to
beautify the land and create two houses that would add value to the neighborhood.
From what he had understood the error of not detecting that the parent parcel was
actually 1.53 feet less than 150 feet has occurred since 1946. He believes that the
situation is a hardship and urged the Board members to recognize that hardship.
Mr. Morton closed Public Discussion.
The Board and planning staff resumed discussing the request for waiver of plat.
Planning Board Meeting
August 10, 2004
Page 5 of 6
Motion: Mr. Liddy moved to deny the application based on the recommendations by
staff. Mr. Mann seconded the motion.
Vote: Ayes 5 Nays 2 ( Ms. Gibson, Mr. Illas)
Applicant: Rick D. Ruiz
PB-04-012
Location: 5837 SW 82 Street
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR & CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH
MIAMI, FLORIDA, RELATING TO A REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FROM SECTION 20-
3.5(E) OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE TO ALLOW THE LOT FRONTAGE OF A
BUILDING SITE TO BE 73.47 FEET, WHERE A MINIMUM OF 75 FEET IS REQUIRED ON
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5837 SW 82 STREET, SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA WITHIN AN
“RS-3” LOW DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL ZONING USE DISTRICT; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE
Action: Mr. Morton read the item into record. Mr. O’Donniley presented his staff report. He
explained that the applicant is requesting approval of a variance from Section 20-3.5 (E) of
the Land Development to allow a building site to have a lot frontage of 73.47 feet as opposed
to the minimum required frontage of 75 feet in an RS-3 zoning district. The variance is
necessary if a companion application to allow a waiver-of-plat creating two parcels at the
same address is approved. The lot requiring the frontage variance is identified as Parcel “A”.
In June of 2002 this parcel was part of a waiver of plat application, which was approved by
the City Commission after administrative review. At that time the submitted survey showed
the parent parcel to have 150 feet of frontage and each of the two created lots having the
minimum required 75 feet of frontage. He concluded his presentation by stating that planning
staff’s recommendation is that the variance request be denied.
Mr. Morton proceeded to make a motion, however, Mr. O’Donniley suggested hearing from
the applicant, Mr. Rick Ruiz. Mr. Morton withdrew his motion.
At this time, Mr. Morton opened the Public Hearing.
Applicant: Rick Ruiz
Mr. Ruiz urged the Board members to consider this application on its own and to take into
consideration the hardship caused by the surveyor’s error.
Speakers:
NAME ADDRESS SUPPORT/OPPOSE
Cathy McCann 5820 SW 87th St. Opposed Application
Ms. McCann stated she did not support this application and that she believed that this request
for a variance did not qualify under a hardship.
Motion: Mr. Liddy moved to deny the application based on the recommendations by
staff. Mr. Mann seconded the motion.
Planning Board Meeting
August 10, 2004
Page 6 of 6
Vote: Ayes 5 Nays 2 ( Ms. Gibson, Mr. Illas)
V. Approval of Minutes
Planning Board Meeting of July 13, 2004.
Action: The Board duly voted on and approved the minutes of July 13, 2004, as presented.
Vote: Ayes 7 Nays 0
Planning Board Meeting of July 29, 2004.
Action: The Board duly voted on and approved the minutes of July 29, 2004, as presented.
Vote: Ayes 7 Nays 0
VI. Remarks
Remarks included but were not limited to: (1) Mr. Youkilis informed the Board that the two
proposed ordinances to set forth a charter referendum, which was before them at the last
meeting of July 29, will be on the City Commission agenda on Tuesday, August 17, 2004;
and (2) Ms. Gibson inquired about the starting and ending hours that a private construction
company can begin their work at a site.
VII. Future Meetings
August 31, 2004;
September 13 and 27, 2004.
VIII. Adjournment
Action: There being no further business before the Board, Mr. Morton adjourned the meeting
at 9:30 PM.
DOD/SAY/pel
K:\PB\PB Minutes\2004 Minutes\PB MINS 8-10-04.doc