HomeMy Public PortalAbout01 14 2022 Regular MeetingMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING BEING HELD BY THE TOWN
COMMISSION, OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, ON JANUARY 14, 2022, AT 9:00
A.M. IN THE WILLIAM F. KOCH, JR. COMMISSION CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL,
100 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM, FLORIDA.
I. Call to Order
Mayor Morgan called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M.
II. Pledge of Allegiance
Mayor Morgan led the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. Roll Call
Present and
Participating: Scott W. Morgan Mayor
Thomas W. Stanley Vice Mayor
Paul A. Lyons Commissioner
Joan K. Orthwein Commissioner
Donna White Commissioner
Also Present &
Participating:
IV. Minutes
Gregory Dunham
Edward Nazzaro
Edward Allen
Rita Taylor
Town Manager
Asst. Town Attorney
Chief of Police
Town Clerk
A. Regular Meeting of December 10, 2021
Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve the minutes of
the regular meeting on December 10, 2021. Commissioner White seconded
the motion with all voting AYE at roll call.
V. Additions, withdrawals, deferrals, arrangement of agenda items.
There were none.
VI. Announcements
A. Regular Meetings and Public Hearings
1. February 11, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
2. March 11, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
3. April 8, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
4. May 13, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
5. June 10, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
6. July 8, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
7. August 12, 2022, at 9:00 A.M.
Mayor Morgan called attention to future meeting dates.
VII. Communication from the Public (3 min. maximum)
Chief Allen introduced the newest Police Officer, Joe Yungk, to
join the Gulf Stream Police Department. Mayor Morgan stated that the
Town has a great relationship with their police officers and welcomed
him to the team.
Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting January 14, 2022 @ 9:00 A.M.
VIII. Reports
A. Town Manager
1. Utility Undergrounding
Town Manager Dunham stated that the crews were presently
working on 12 cutovers to complete the condos from Sea Road to Little
Club Road and once that is completed, they would drop the aerial node
south of Little Club to the underground location and then would begin
their wreck -out. He added that the wreck -out of the Core was complete.
Mr. Dunham stated that he had contacted FP&L and their standard
operating procedures were not to take down any poles until all the other
services were complete, but he had suggested to Mr. Robert Weese, the
FP&L representative, that they could begin taking down the poles in the
Core area, to which Mr. Weese told him he would check with the powers
that be to see if this was a possibility. Mr. Dunham added that the
holidays had come into play with Comcast finishing, as well as
difficulty getting people to work.
2. Update on Gas -Powered Leaf Blowers
Town Manager Dunham reminded everyone of the results from
the survey done in Place au Soleil with it being 50/50 from those
responding, which weren't very many. He stated that there had been
approximately 60 respondents from the Civic Association that were in
favor and 20 who were against or not interested at all. Mr. Dunham
asked for a consensus from the Commission on how to proceed. Discussion
was had among the Commissioners with Commissioner Orthwein not wanting
to put any undue hardship on the landscaping companies and Commissioner
Lyons in favor of switching over from gas -powered and didn't see any
downside. Mr. Curtiss Roach, Town resident and President of the Civic
Association, stated that he did a test with his neighbor as one had an
electric blower and one a gas blower and although the electric was less
loud, he stated they were both loud. It was decided to table the
discussion for a month while the staff reached out to neighboring
communities and the landscaping companies to see how many already had
battery -powered leaf blowers.
3. Concerns: Massing & it's impact on neighborhood character
Town Manager Dunham stated the staff had been looking at
the Town Code to address the massing issue and referred to Assistant
Town Attorney Nazzaro to give a report. Mr. Nazzaro stated he had
spoken to Town Attorney Randolph regarding excessive similarities,
dissimilarities, prohibitions, etc. He then read a section of the Palm
Beach Town Code that prohibited excessively dissimilar buildings or
structures within a certain distance of one another and suggested we add
this language to the Gulf Stream Town Code. Assistant Town Attorney
Nazzaro stated that this language takes the concept of the neighborhood
district by looking at the street view and what it is doing when you
drive by relative to within 200 ft. He added that this would help the
staff give counsel when the applicant is going through the pre -
application process as well as help the ARPB and Commission when
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Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting January 14, 2022 @ 9:00 A.M.
recommending and approving applications. The Commission seemed to be in
favor of this proposal, but Mayor Morgan also thought there needed to be
more specific changes regarding special exceptions by not allowing
special exceptions on two-story homes and allowing them on single -story
to encourage more single -story homes. Mayor Morgan also suggested
lowering the roof height on two-story homes because of the elevation
levels having to be raised per government regulations. One more
suggestion was made by Mayor Morgan which was adding more of a set back
for two-story homes than one-story. Vice Mayor Stanley was concerned
about roof pitch when lowering the second -story roof height and asked
Mr. Nazzaro to investigate that issue. Commissioner Orthwein was in
agreement on reducing the setbacks on one-story homes to encourage them.
Commissioner Lyons was concerned about rear setbacks and massing.
Mrs. Patricia Murphy, Town resident, had concerns about massing
on the Intracoastal and wanted to know how that was going to be
addressed. Mayor Morgan stated this was the issue at hand with the
house on Banyan that technically meets the Code but doesn't fit within
the Core because of the impact not just from the street, but on the
water.
Mr. Bill Boardman, Town resident, stated he thought the proposal
was fantastic and very impressed at the progress one month had made and
thought it would be a major improvement. He added that he agreed with
all of Mayor Morgan's suggestions as well. Mr. Boardman questioned
whether 200 ft. was enough and thought it may need to be broadened.
Mayor Morgan stated this was a great starting point and there was
always a risk of unintended consequences when you begin changing things.
He thought it might behoove the staff to get some expert analysis on
changes the Town was thinking of making and what the positives and
negatives may be. Town Manager Dunham stated that when he was on staff
in Manalapan, they had reached out to the Palm Beach Planning and zoning
for input and suggested that Gulf Stream possibly do that as well.
Commissioner Lyons thought the FAR should be looked at as well, but
Commissioner Orthwein thought the FAR had worked for 25 years and didn't
need to be changed. Commissioner Lyons stated that the Village of South
Hampton dealt with these same issues and told the staff he would get
them in contact with someone to see if they had any suggestions.
Commissioner Orthwein thought the dissimilarity language should be added
immediately while the other items were being looked at. The other
Commissioners agreed. Mayor Morgan asked that the staff compare Gulf
Stream's FAR with other municipality's similar in size. Vice Mayor
Stanley stated all these items seemed to be angling toward getting a
survey done.
Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro stated that the Town had three
levels of applications with the Town and that he would like to make a
change to Level 1 language to read "not significantly" instead of
"significantly". The Commission was unanimous in agreeing to this
language being changed.
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Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting January 14, 2022 @ 9:00 A.M.
Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro suggested changes to be made
regarding special exceptions to which Mayor Morgan asked that he send a
memo out to the Commission regarding these changes and they would be
discussed at the next meeting.
Mrs. Murphy asked what the requirements were for revisions.
Mayor Morgan questioned what she was referring to and Mrs. Murphy stated
there was a fire pit across from her that was five or six feet above
grade and there was no elevation or landscaping plan for this, so she
wanted to know what it was going to look like as it was impacting the
entire cove. Town Manager Dunham stated that staff could not find a
revision but were in the middle of investigating this issue. Mrs.
Murphy wanted to know if input could still be made regarding the fire
pit to which Mr. Dunham stated the structure met the Town Code, they
just needed the documents that a revision would require.
B. Architectural Review & Planning Board
1. Meeting Dates
a. January 27, 2022, at 8:30 A.M.
b. February 24, 2022, at 8:30 A.M.
c. March 24, 2022, at 8:30 A.M.
d. April 8, 2022, at 8:300 A.M.
e. May 26, 2022, at 8:30 A.M.
f. June 23,2022, at 8:30 A.M.
g. July 28, 2022, at 8:30 A.M.
Mayor Morgan called attention to the dates.
C. Finance Director
1. Financial Report for December 2021
Mayor Morgan accepted the report as submitted.
D. Police Chief
1. Activity for December 2021
Mayor Morgan accepted the report as submitted. Chief Allen
gave an update on an incident that had happened two nights prior on
Middle Road and explained that the police had done everything they were
legally allowed to do regarding the incident.
IX. Items for Commission Action
A. Agreement W/Baxter & Woodman -Core Area Improvements
Phase I & II.
Mrs. Rebecca Travis gave a presentation of the contract
proposal for design and permitting and the timeline of these
improvements. Mrs. Travis stated there would be a dedicated link for
the project to be put on the Town's website where the schedule would be
posted daily, weekly, and monthly of what was happening with pictures,
etc. and questions could be asked on this link as well.
Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve the Consulting
Agreement for the Core Area Improvements Phase I and Phase II as
presented. Commissioner Orthwein seconded the motion with all voting
AYE at roll call.
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Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting January 14, 2022 @ 9:00 A.M.
B. Items by Mayor & Commissioners
Mayor Morgan stated he would be sending out a letter with all
the information regarding the Core Area Improvements and the timeline of
when it would begin.
X. Adjournment
Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 10:27 A.M.
Renee sel
Deputy Clerk
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