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HomeMy WebLinkAbout602 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, DUNE 22, 2004 r 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor McElyea called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL: Present: Mayor: C.K. McElyea Vice-Mayor: Bob Mikes Commissioners: Bob Anton Robert Chunn City Attorney: Tom Ansbro City Manager: Ivan Pato City Clerk: Louise Stilson Absent: Commissioner : Pat Flury A motion was made by Commissioner Anton, seconded by Commissioner Chunn, to excuse Commissioner Flury. The motion passed on the following 4-0 Roll Call vote: Commissioner Anton — yes Vice-Mayor Mikes — yes Commissioner Chunn — yes Mayor McElyea — yes 3. CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES PRESENTATION BY ANTHONY ABBATE ARCHITECT, P.A., REPRESENTING DESIGN GUIDEBOOK CONSULTANT TEAM (BROWARD COUNTY OFFICE OF URBAN PLANNING AND REDEVELOPMENT). Larry Leeds, Director of Community Development, outlined the history of the City's involvement in the County's Community Design Guidebook Demonstration Project and noted that Dania Beach was one of three City's selected to be a part of the project. He stated that staff had met with the Design team and showed them the Design area. He outlined the areas under consideration as Federal Highway from Old Griffin Road to Sheridan Street and the portion of Downtown from the FEC railroad east to Fronton Boulevard. He introduced Anthony Abbate, P.A., Broward County Office of Urban Planning and Redevelopment. MINUTES 1 JUNE 22, 2004 SPECIAL MEETING-CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES Architect Abbate introduced the following members of his team and others in the . audience that were with him: James Archer, Cheryl Dickey, various FAU representatives, and Leigh Kerr, Brian Black, Dennis Miller, and also representatives from the Office of Urban Planning and Redevelopment and County Engineering Departments. Architect Abbate began his presentation with the history of the growth of Broward County and stated that it was anticipated that another one million people would be moving into the area over the next thirty years. He noted that the new trend was an efficient, community-oriented environment, designed with people in mind and that did not rely on automobiles. He reported that redevelopment was our areas last opportunity to connect with the environment and noted that transportation was the most active and determining force in the character of the community. He explained that the process began with the dialog in this meeting and expanded to local artists, storytellers, and historians that know Dania Beach. Architect Abbate stated that the urban design plan centered on locations with a potential transportation corridor. He explained that the redevelopment centered around the involvement of the following five types of design professionals: architects, graphic designers, landscape architects, transportation designers, and urban designers. He expressed that City officials were the urban designers and they decided on the direction the other design systems supported and followed. Architect Abbate showed examples of design redevelopment that included the following concepts: wide sidewalks, open accessibility, trees, glass, street furniture, hedges, signagelgraphics, and public transportation. He described the area that Dania Beach has considered for the project and noted that there were a number of positive things that were happening in Dania Beach, such as garden elements, sidewalks, and passageways between buildings. He also noted that the architecture and landscape in Dania Beach had character. Architect Abbate detailed the following concepts of the City's redevelopment plan that were consistent with County principals and the following layering principals should be followed: ground floor should be retail with parking spaces hidden within the block, second story should be offices or more parking, above that hotel or apartments, and finally residential on the top level. He noted that the key to successful density was space for people; density by itself was a disaster. He stated that transportation should be coordinated for universal pedestrian access and should have breezeways, plazas, and courtyards. Architect Abbate explained that building heights should be used to shape a space, frame a view, and create a gateway. He described the need to provide breezes around the buildings and noted that rooflines needed to be simple and direct. He showed a proportional diagram that gave an example of good street design and described how solar energy could be designed into the concept. MINUTES 2 JUNE 22, 2004 SPECIAL MEETING-CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES Architect Abbate showed a concept recommended for south of Dania Beach • Boulevard and stated that new buildings should complement the historic context; open spaces needed to have a function. He described the importance of functional shades and canopies and noted the possibility of a "shared-condition" of private and public space along waterways. He noted that it was important to develop street section plans with County transportation planners before implementing design concepts. He felt that creativity in the design of pedestrian signage should be encouraged for private businesses. Vice-Mayor Mikes was concerned with vacant retail space and wanted to know what needed to be done first; bring in residents or attract businesses with downtown development. Director Leeds explained that retail vacancies were caused by insufficient demographics--meaning residents living in the area to support the downtown retail area. He stated that planners had concluded that market-rate, residential development was lacking. Vice-Mayor Mikes questioned how to attract a different clientele and noted that people were afraid of walking in these areas and wondered how to phase into these concepts. Architect Abatte agreed that housing in Dania Beach was not extravagant like • other areas and felt there was an opportunity in this City to attract artists and younger people to the area with affordable housing. Commissioner Anton felt that mixed-use development was the right way to go and noted that he expected some of the retail space would remain vacant until the residents moved in. Architect Abatte felt mom & pop operations should be encouraged. Commissioner Anton asked Architect Abbate about the vision he had concerning Federal Highway. Architect Abatte cautioned about putting too much on Federal Highway because something would have to give and it most likely would not be the automobile. He noted that Dania Beach's redevelopment plan included rerouting that may be a good concept. Commissioner Anton had an idea of dual frontage for retail but was unsure how to have that accomplished. Director Leeds felt that noise on Federal Highway was most pervasive and was not conducive to conversation in an outdoor cafe. He noted that NE 1st Avenue MINUTES 3 JUNE 22, 2004 SPECIAL MEETING-CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES and NW 1st Avenue could become the best locations to pedestrianize. He noted that the question remained of what to do with Federal Highway. Architect Abatte advised not to abandon Federal Highway and noted that it was important in this area to have passageways between buildings. City Manager Pato commented that passageways were common in Santa Fe, NM and noted that it worked well. He asked if the project would begin on Federal Highway or behind it? Architect Abatte stated that they had debated it themselves and decided it should include a little of both in order to demonstrate the pattern. Mayor McElyea felt that the area needed to be redesigned to allow for safe traffic patterns. Vice-Mayor Mikes felt the starting point should convert a problem area into a positive one. He was concerned with the pressure that would be placed on Commissioners to make decisions based on long term planning and felt that developers needed to have confidence in the Commissioners' actions. Commissioner Anton liked the ideas of breezeways but was concerned about criminal activity early on noting that opening up the area and attracting people would eventually solve that problem. He agreed that a catalyst was needed within the heart of the area. Commissioner Chunn asked if there were any recommendations as to when this should begin. Architect Abatte stated that the development pressure on the east coast was not going to weaken and reported that the County was working on programs that helped enhance the program and the time to start was now. Mayor McElyea recommended starting in the North East. Cit� Manager Pato stated that a meeting was scheduled with the County on June 29t . He assured the Commission that they would be cautious in taking the first step and noted that the County had an intriguing idea that created interest. He felt the City needed to find out what the County expected and commented that he liked the approach of keeping buildings low with proper setbacks. Vice-Mayor Mikes asked if the City should require theme architecture. Architect Abatte felt the most important thing was to get the concepts right and felt that themed architecture worked against sense of place. He explained that • sense of place came from getting the public spaces, corridors, and courtyards in MINUTES 4 JUNE 22, 2004 SPECIAL MEETING-CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES proper proportion and that style did not change the reality of how the buildings • functioned. He felt there was no problem with various styles of architecture and cautioned against having a theme drive the area. Director Leeds felt it was a mistake to be married to one architectural style, instead the orientation, the form, the massing of the buildings should be regulated. He noted 12 historic buildings in Dania Beach that had different architectural styles. Architect Abatte agreed with Vice-Mayor Mikes' concern, but felt that the focus should be on public space amenities, not style. He noted that incentives could be offered to encourage developers to include certain things in their designs. He noted that one success story would lead the way for others to follow. Vice-Mayor Mikes reiterated his concerns about developers worrying only about their projects and not the entire community concept. Director Leeds reminded the Commission that the reason they became involved in this process was to establish guidelines and set certain requirements to regulate these things. Vice-Mayor Mikes stated that he agreed with the process, but he wanted to point out the difficulty they would have in getting their goals accomplished. • 4. ADJOURNMENT. Mayor McElyea adjourned the meeting at 5:19 p.m. C.K. M ErA MAYOR-CMISSIONER s. ATTEST: LOUISE STILSON CITY CLERK Respectfully submitted by Jill Fiorentino APPROVED: July 27, 2004 MINUTES 5 JUNE 22, 2004 SPECIAL MEETING-CRA DESIGN GUIDELINES