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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 2 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. 3 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. 51 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 5