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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 103097CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 30, 1997 The October 30, 1997, Special Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens was called to order at 7:30 F.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL The roll was called by the Deputy City Clerk and the following elected officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Joseph Russo, Vice Mayor Lauren Furtado, Councilwoman Linda Monroe, Councilman Eric Jablin and Councilman David Clark. CONSENT AGENDA A motion was made by Councilman Jablin to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Councilman CIark and unanimously carried. The following item was approved on the Consent Agenda: 1. Minutes of the 10/16/97 City Council Regular Meeting. PUBLIC HEARINGS Ordinance 20, 1997 Mayor Russo declared the Public Hearing reopen open which was duly advertised on 6/4/97 and postponed from the Regular Meetings of 6/19/97, 7/2197, 9/8/97, and 10/16/97. Mayor Russo stated that the purpose of this meeting was to continue the Public CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 `? Hearing to the 11/6/97 Regular Meeting of the City Council. A motion was made by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Jablin, to postpone the Public Hearing on Ordinance 20, 1997, to 11/6/97 at approximately 7:30 P.M. The motion unanimously carried. ITEMS FOR COUNCIL ACTION Municipal Complex Kevin Ratigan of Architects Design Group made a presentation to the City Council regarding the approval of elevations and building materials for the proposed Municipal Complex. Mr. Ratigan stated that they now had all the information they needed to proceed with a detailed design of the site, but in addition the City now had a document for the first time that explained exactly what the holdings were and what the improvements to the property were. Mr. Ratigan explained that one of the things that slowed down the progress was that all the legal documents were not in place and the property could not be tied together. For the first time in the City's history there is now a legal description of all the holdings. ADG was now working toward having the project ready to bid in February, 1998. Mr. Ratigan stated he would be back before the City Council two more times before bidding of the project. Mr. Ratigan stated he met with staff today and is now starting to CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 develop details in terms of what would be needed in legal documents for the contract to develop the specifications. Mr. Ratigan showed the Council the survey and stated that in addition to the model, boards have been prepared showing the elevations of the project. Mr. Ratigan reviewed the various elevations and the overall master plan for the site. Mr. Ratigan 3 stated that the model and the boards would be left with the City for presentations to the residents. Mr. Ratigan stated that the intent was to make the additions to the Fire Department as seamless with the existing building as possible. The intent was not to build a clay tile roof, etc., but rather work with what was already there. Mr. Ratigan stated that the proposed training center in the Fire Station would be equipped as an EOC and that this section would be the strongest part of the building. The site plan was reviewed as well as elevations. In response to Mayor Russo, Kevin Ratigan stated that his staff had already discussed design alternatives and once detailed costs are obtained, he would discuss those alternatives with the City Council. Mr. Ratigan stated that while structural considerations were still being made, it appeared at this time that the roof would be made of clay tile. Mr. Ratigan reviewed comments made by the Planning and Zoning Commission, and stated that the current configuration CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 would seat 200 people in the Council Chambers. With the design of the building, there would be an opportunity to use the lobby for overflow. It was also suggested that monitors be located in areas where residents congregate so that they could see and hear the Council meetings if there was not enough room in the Chambers for all to be seated. Discussions ensued as to the layout of the Council Chambers to allow as much space as possible for seating. Kevin Ratigan stated that he would rather deal with the issues to make the circulation work rather than make the building bigger again. Mr. Ratigan stated that he would come back to Council with Chamber design alternatives. Mr. Ratigan stated that the Chambers would have mixed theater type seating and would show samples of recommended seating closer to the time the Council would be choosing furniture. Discussing the layout of the site, Mr. Ratigan stated that the architects would present all turning radiuses to the Engineer with the basic layout and suggested that adjustments would be made now before the detailed layout of the site was completed. Mr. Ratigan stated concerns have been expressed that parking for the soccer fields did not work and stated this was an opportunity to make adjustments. Staff suggested a turn- around at the end of the rd parking area and pointed out that the congestion occurred when the CITY COUNCH- SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 players were changing games. Mr. Ratigan stated that Burns Road was a City road, therefore, the City could control the signalization. Mr. Ratigan stated that signalization options would be researched and presented to the City Council at a later date. Mr. Ratigan summarized the comments made by the Council and stated that he would have most of the issues taken care of by the next presentation to the City Council. Fire Dept. Level of Service Peter Bergel, Acting Fire Chief, made a presentation to the City Council regarding Level of Service and a Departmental Overview. Mr. Bergel detailed the various types of calls performed by the Fire Department. Mr. Bergel pointed out that some of the data presented was received from Palm Beach County Dispatch. Mr. Bergel presented a map that showed areas of the City that were accessible within the 6 minute level of service and those that were not able to be reached within that time frame. The City Manager was directed to research whether the mutual aid agreement with the County would be beneficial once the County closed their fire station on AIA at Cabana Colony. Mr. Bergel stated that the City responds to approximately 1200 calls a year in the County, while the County responds to approximately 700 calls in the City each year. Mr. Bergel stated that long range plans show that a fire station is CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 needed along the Northlake Corridor as well as a station at the north end of the City. Mr. Bergel discussed depth of coverage, stating that some stations required more staffing than others because of the depth of coverage and the amount of calls received Mr. Bergel discussed the various services offered by the Fire Department, stating there were 4 basic divisions: Administration, Prevention, EMS Medical Services and Fire Suppression, and discussed the major responsibilities of each division. 0 Scott Fetterman detailed services and programs offered by the Fire Prevention division, Chris Brown detailed services and programs offered by the EMS Medical Services division, and Mr. Bergel detailed services and programs offered by the Fire Suppression division. Kim Glas, Principal Planner, stated that the City's adopted Comprehensive Plan called for a response time of 5 minutes for the Fire Department, however, it had been suggested that the trend was more toward a district response time so that the responses were not spread out over a wide area. Ms. Glas station this would require the additional stations that Mr. Bergel cited as future needs. Ms. Glas stated that the Comprehensive Plan contained a statement that it was not necessary for level of service standards to be met prior to the issuance of a development order and this practice has presented CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 7 problems. Ms. Glas stated that the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee wanted the City to go immediately to a full concurrency mandate on fire. Mayor Russo stated that staff needed to research the cost of whatever path it chose to take, as well as research what surrounding cities were doing regarding concurrency and level of service. Non Conforming Signs City Manager Herakovich stated that Jack Hanson, Building Official, had prepared a report for Council and it was in their packet. Several years ago the Council adopted a non - conforming sign ordinance and as renovation occurs in the City signs are brought into conformance. City Manager Herakovich suggested that the City not go to war with the business community, but suggested that staff work with the business community to bring all signs into conformance. Mayor Russo stated that there were laws on the books, and while he did not want to go to war with the business community, the City needed to form a plan of action to get everyone to comply with the sign code. City Manager Herakovich stated that the Council needed to define what non - conforming meant. Attorney Acton stated that any law on the books required the enforcing authority to exercise some discretion as to how strictly CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 that law would be enforced. Attorney Acton stated that the City needed to determine that if the law could not be enforced to a significant degree, then perhaps the deadline should be changed, however, that was not the only option. Attorney Acton stated that other options would show that there was a good faith attempt by the City to not only enforce the ordinance but to give notice to the business community. Attorney Acton further stated that there was another 7 year provision buried in the code - a nonconforming use ordinance that was far more broad than the sign code nonconforming use. In 2001 the City would experience all types of nonconforming use problems that needed to be addressed that were well beyond signs. Attorney Acton stated that he would discuss this issue with the new Growth Management Director and warned that however the Council handled the sign issue tonight may set a precedent that would be happening within the next 4 years on a much larger scale, Jack Hanson, Building Official, stated that an opinion he received today from City Attorney Carole Wallace was that any sign that did not comply with the City's Sign Code was nonconforming, and read her opinion into the record. Mr. Hanson stated that he has sat on several sign revision committees and felt that it was not their intention to cite every sign that was nonconforming. Mr. Hanson gave examples of various CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 nonconforming signs. In response to Mayor Russo regarding selective enforcement of codes, Attorney Acton stated that as long as the selective enforcement of the code was not done either in violation of some constitutional prohibition or done by some malicious or arbitrary G6 manner, it may be selectively enforced. Mayor Russo stated that if the Council agreed with what Mr. Hanson stated, the City Manager should have staff come back to the Council with a plan on how the enforcement would be done and encouraged friendliness with area businesses. Roxanne Manning, Growth Management Director, stated that a very constructive way of dealing with this issue was to first take inventory, as it may be found that the situation may not be as bad as imagined. Staff would have to set priorities of what types of nonconforming signs would be cited first and may even find that business owners and property owners may want to work with the City to bring their signs into conformance. Ms. Manning stated that with advance notification, cooperation would be given by property owners. City Council gave direction to staff to inventory nonconforming signs in the City. Councilwoman Monroe asked that staff research whether the billboard sign on PGA Boulevard across from U.S. Highway One, on the south side was in the City. CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 10/30/97 10 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 P.M. APPROVAL APPROVAL_ c " k R J SOH R.RUSSO v VYCE MAYOR LAUREN FURTADO COUNCILWOMAN LINDA MONROE CILIGIAN hi4t JABLIN COUNCILMAN DAVID CLARK ATTEST: CINDY HARVEY, CMC, ' EPUTY CITY CLERK