HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes P&Z 112503•
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
November 25, 2003
MINUTES
The Regular Meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida, was called to order by Chair Craig Kunkle at 6:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the
Municipal Complex, 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and opened with the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
REPORT BY GROWTH MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATOR
Growth Management Administrator Charles Wu reported that the following cases had been approved by
City Council at their November 6, 2003 meeting: Ten ordinances for newly annexed areas of Garden
Oaks, Sunset Drive, and Mary Circle changing land use and rezoning; Mirasol Walk, Mirasol Town
Square, First National Center, Frenchman's Reserve Pod E, and Doggie Day Care conditional use with
addition of a couple of trees in front. The Build Out Date Ordinance was considered and it was
requested that ability to appeal the Growth Management Administrator's decision to the Special Hearing
• Officer be added, At their November 20, 2003 meeting, the City Council had approved Landmark on a
3 -2 vote, with Vice Mayor Sabatello and Councilmember Russo dissenting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mr. Hansen made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 28, 2003 meeting as submitted. Mr.
Panczak seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 6 -0 vote.
ROLL CALL
Betty Laur, Secretary for the meeting called the roll for the Planning & Zoning Commission:
Present Absent
Chairman Craig Kunkle Chairman Pro Tern John Glidden
Vice Chairman Barry Present Joel Charming
Dennis Solomon
Douglas Pennell
Randolph Hansen
Alternate Michael Panczak
Also in attendance were Growth Management Administrator Charles Wu and Senior Planner Michael
• Sanchez.
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November 25, 2003
Workshop
Petition PUD- 03 -07: The Weiss School
Workshop: A request by Nexus Design Group, agent for the Weiss School, for rezoning a parcel of
land from a zoning designation of Research and Light Park (M -1) to Planned Unit Development
(PUD) Overlay with an underlying zoning designation of Public Institutional (P/I), and a Conditional
Use Overlay for a private school. The 7.76 -acre site is located on the south side of Burns Road at
4176 Burns Road, approximately 112 mile east of Military Trail.
Senior Planner Michael Sanchez presented the staff report in the absence of Project Manager Natalie
Wong. Vice Chair Barry Present requested an explanation of why 40 drop -off spaces were needed. Mr.
Sanchez explained that the code required one drop -off space for everyl0 students and that now it was all
parent drop -off but in the future busses were planned.
Greg Haung, Architect and agent for the applicant, introduced the owner, Elizabeth Weiss. Ms. Weiss
explained that the school was founded in 1989 in West Palm Beach, and in 1994 the MacArthur
Foundation building on Burns Road in Palm Beach Gardens was purchased. The school had grown
faster than anticipated. Ms. Weiss commented they were proud to have worked with the city, and had
leased space to the Police department for training from 1994 to 2001. The city had recently requested
• the ability to lease space again and they were happy to continue in that venue. School Principal Dr.
Rosemary Daniels commented that the average price of homes in Palm Beach County was $240,000 and
in the next 1 -2 years the average price of a home in Palm Beach Gardens was expected to be $400,000.
With homes in that price range and both parents working, parents looked for particular things in a
school, such as the type of accreditation provided by Weiss School. Dr. Daniels reported several
families from other areas and out -of -state had moved here specifically so their children could attend
Weiss School. The school also accommodated the community by allowing use of their building on
Tuesdays for a Hebrew school and on Sundays as a Baptist church. Other community events were held,
such as a recent show by local artists. The school had received publicity in a widely - circulated gifted
school magazine which described civic activities the children did to give back to the city. Dr. Daniels
indicated the applicant hoped to work with the city in partnership to achieve common goals.
Mr. Haung showed a location map and reviewed project data. Engineer Stuart Cunningham reviewed the
existing site plan on behalf of the applicant, and explained that parking had been lost during the Burns
Road expansion, for which the applicant was requesting a waiver. Mr. Haung reviewed the proposed site
plan, showed elevations for all four sides of the building, and provided samples of materials. The plan
was to do the project in two phases, with the first phase to include everything except amenities. The
north 1/3 of the building interior would become classrooms. Mr. Haung explained that the present drop -
off scenario required cars to stop at one point where they were met by faculty who got the children out of
the cars and took then into the school. Mr. Haung reviewed the requested waivers, plus an additional
waiver not in the staff report- -in lieu of the 20' required maintenance easement along the canal to
• provide 16' at the location of the existing basketball court- -which had been discussed with the City
Engineer and he had verbally indicated no problem. The applicant indicated they would like to begin
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November 25, 2003
construction as soon as possible.
Chair Kunkle questioned whether a roof was provided between the existing building and the proposed
colonnade columns along the west elevation, to which the response was there was no roof except at the
entrance. Chair Kunkle noted excellent points had been made regarding adhering to standards to make
the school successful and asked that the Commission remember the vision of the Burns Road facelift and
stick to the LDR standards. Chair Kunkle expressed support for staff s position on everything, especially
the architecture.
Mr. Solomon recognized the Weiss School as a great asset to the city and requested clarification of the
position of the entry architectural feature, which to him appeared vertical on the west elevation. Mr.
Haung explained that the feature was on an angle and was supported by four columns. Mr. Solomon
requested that the applicant bring a different drawing to the next presentation to clarify how this feature
looked. Mr. Solomon asked if the driving path around the building had two -way traffic. Mr. Haung
responded yes, but the applicant would like one -way traffic in front and in back, and pointed out the
locations for two gates to close off entry. Mr. Solomon indicated the following items were issues:
architecture, landscape buffering, and screening roof -top equipment. Mr. Solomon commented the
applicant should be able to find fencing material opaque enough to screen the equipment to meet code
standards. Mr. Haung explained the applicant had discussed screening around individual units but that
• would be costly. Mr. Solomon advised that he considered proper screening a very high priority, and the
most important view was every view that could be seen., and the east and west views were very
important. Mr. Solomon considered the present buildings to be a hodgepodge and suggested at the very
least taking the column idea from the front and wrapping it around the sides of the building back a
certain amount of feet to tie in the sides to the front. Lighting scones in front could be carried along the
sides. Mr. Solomon suggested that the irregular- shaped entry feature might be duplicated or duplicate
something to invoke that image on the sides to make it tie in. Stucco banding or awning treatments were
suggested for the windows and doors Mr. Solomon stated he could live with the requested waivers but
the architecture and screening of the rooftop equipment were most important to him.
Mr. Present complimented Ms. Weiss and Dr. Daniels on the school's reputation, indicating he had never
heard anything but good comments. Mr. Present expressed concern that the school was a victim of the
Burns Road widening but his biggest concern was stacking to get cars off the road, and he felt stacking
around the building was a good plan. Mr. Present commented concerning the requested waiver that he
would give more credence to the drop off as opposed to more spaces, and suggested 6 to 8th graders
might be dropped off at the door to keep traffic flowing. Mr. Present recommended keeping the front as
clear of traffic as possible. Mr. Haung clarified that the parking spaces in front were full -size spaces and
that the waiver request was because the spaces encroached into the landscape buffer. Mr. Present stated
the roof -top equipment must be screened and agreed if four sides of the building could be seen then four -
sided architecture was needed, but advised that the applicant could be creative without spending a lot of
dollars. Mr. Present indicated he liked the idea of the gates, and he had no problem with the waiver for a
• fence on the tennis court.
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November 25, 2003
Mr. Pennell agreed with staff and that the Commission should stick to the vision for Burns Road. Mr.
Pennell indicated that the two key issues for him were the architecture and the screening for the roof -top
equipment. Mr. Pennell stated architectural features were needed on all four sides and he liked Mr.
Solomon's idea to repeat the theme of the front on the other three sides. Mr. Pennell suggested that a
high parapet wall might sufficiently hide the mechanical equipment.
Mr. Panczak indicated he supported staff, that the mechanical equipment definitely had to be screened,
and there was a lack of four -sided architecture. Mr. Panczak questioned if adding the colonnade out
from the building necessitated having to request a waiver for 2 -1/2' for the front buffer. Mr. Panczak
commented he liked the colonnades but instead of asking for a waiver suggested applying them directly
to the front of the building, which would effect the same look. Mr. Panczak indicated the direction of
the traffic around the building seemed backwards. Dr. Daniel explained that if the traffic were reversed,
the car doors would be on the wrong side to get the children out and they would have to cross in front of
a car to get to the school building. It was noted the City Engineer and staff had reviewed the traffic
pattern.
Mr. Hansen complemented the Weiss School on their continued growth, and stated he supported the
previous comments. Mr. Hansen expressed his opinion that the stacking and loading concept of trying to
• consider the parking spaces along the east side of the building did not really work, because it would be
almost impossible to pull in and out of those with a single lane of traffic stacked behind them. The
applicant agreed it would not be practical, and explained that the required number of 77 spaces had been
determined by counting one space per classroom and one for every 250 s.f. of office space. Mr.
Cunningham explained that extra spaces had been included to meet drop -off requirements and for
parking at school functions. Mr. Hansen questioned the projected total staff at buildout, which was
estimated to be 40. Mr. Hansen commented regarding the architecture, expressing his opinion that the
proposed changes to the front facade along Burns Road were positive, but recommended cutting costs by
cutting the monumental size of the colonnades to 1/2 or 1/3 and putting them against the building and
wrapping theme around the building. By doing this a parapet would have been created that could hide
some of the rooftop equipment. The circles on the wall plan could be kept. This would allow
enhancement of the building sides for basically the same cost as the proposed freestanding colonnades.
Horizontal banding could be created by extending the element below the top part of the capital around
the sides of the building. The column bump -outs could be spaced farther apart to extend that look farther
down the sides. Mr. Hansen indicated this was a suggestion to try to work with the applicant to create
four -sided architecture without breaking the bank. Mr. Hansen commented that he liked the paint colors
but not the bright copper color proposed for the roof since he considered it too garish. Mr. Hansen
indicated he agreed with screening the roof -top equipment and felt that could be accomplished with light
weight design elements.
Chair Kunkle thanked the applicant for coming, and advised the next presentation would be in January.
• The applicant indicated they would investigate materials for screening the roof -top equipment, they
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November 25, 2003
would like to keep the waiver request regarding the landscape buffer, and they would try to carry the
front motif around the building, but did not want to run into problems at the next presentation. Chair
Kunkle indicated direction had been given and the Commission would look forward to their next
presentation.
Public Hearing and Recommendation to City Council
Petition LDR- 03 -06: City Code Amendment to Section 78 -221 PGA Boulevard Corridor Overlay
A City- initiated request for approval of a text amendment to City Code Section 78 -221 — PGA
Boulevard Corridor Overlay. This City Code amendmentprovides for the approval of changes to the
boundaries of the PGA Boulevard Corridor Overlay and to the permitted and prohibited uses within.
Mr. Wu indicated no action was required since this item was postponed for a future date.
Old Business
Mr. Wu explained that Mr. Glidden was absent due to the death of his mother..
New Business
• There was no new business to come before the Commission.
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• Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes
November 25, 2003
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. The next regular meeting will
be held December 9, 2
APPROVED:
Barry Present, Vice Chair
&74-
.John Glidden, Chair Pro Tern
• Joel Channing
Alternate
O
etty fa7uV Secretary f'or the Meeting
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