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CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT NAME: Arches' @ Boynton Beach LOCATION: Multiple PCN: I FILE NO.: HTEX 03-001 AGENT/CONTACT PERSON: I TYPE OF APPLlCATION:Height Exce tion OWNER: Contract Purchaser (Multiple Nancy C. Graham-Urban Principles, LLC PHONE: 561-832-6908 SUBMITT AL / RESUBMI' . 1ST REVIEW COMMENT: PUBLIC NOTICE: TRC MEETING: PROJECTED RESUBMIT ACTUAL RESUBMITTAI 2ND REVIEW COMMENT: . LAND DEVELOPMENT S (SITE PLANS): PLANNING & DEVELOpr MEETING: COMMUNITY REDEVEV AGENCY BOARD CITY COMMISSION MEETING: FAX: 561-832-2864 ADDRESS: 319 Clematis S. West Palm Beach, FL 3340 COMMENTS: Owners) . .._ ~,{L .......... .. .... f .Q):~ ~ d_ ~ \; { ~etin2: dates: 5/20/03 S:\Planning\SHARED\WP\PROJECTS\ARCHES @ BB\HTEX\2003 PROJECT TRACKING INFO.doc [Th[]rn URBAN PRINCIPLES, LLC CITY BUILDING / REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT February 28,2003 Mr. Mike Rumpf Planning and Zoning Director City of Boynton Beach City Hall, West Wing 100 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. Boynton Beach, FL 33425 Re: The Arches - Request for Height Exception Dear Mr. Rumpf: The Applicant, Boynton Ventures 1, LLC, through its designated agent, Nancy C. Graham, has filed simultaneously with this Request for Height Exception, an Application for Site Plan Review for a mixed-use high intensity development known as "The Arches at Boynton Beach" ("The Arches"). The Arches project consists of276 residential condominium units, 56,500 square feet of retail/restaurant/office and 669 off-street parking spaces (634 spaces in parking garage and 35 surface parking spaces). The Arches also contains a number of public and private plaza and courtyard spaces as depicted on the Site Plan. The MU-H zoning classification allows a height of 150 feet for all buildings/structures and a height of75 feet for parking structures. In order to provide for a more interesting, pedestrian oriented urban development and to allow more public open space in the public plazas, the Applicant has varied the heights of the buildings in Blocks I and II, with the highest being 149 feet (a 1 O-story building with a ground floor area of 13,014 square feet representing 8% of the total site area), with one three-street building of 47 feet, a five- story building of 70 feet, an 8-story building of 100 feet and a seven-story parking garage of75 feet. Accordingly, the Applicant has attempted not to maximize the various building heights. In order to compete with suburban residential and other urban mixed-use developments in the market on these types of high intensity mixed-use urban projects it is necessary to provide amenities to the residents such as clubrooms, swimming pool, pool summer house, pool deck, etc. The most common and cost efficient place to provide most of these residential amenities is on the top floor of the parking structure. This also prevents residents from having to look down on the top of a large parking structure by providing a much more visually attractive top of the parking structure. 319 CLEMATIS STREET, SUITE 512 · WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33401 · OFFICE 561-832-6908 · FAX 561-832-2864 Mr. Mike Rumpf February 28, 2003 Page No. Two The Applicant seeks to construct a 15,246 recreational roof deck on the top floor ofthe parking garage that will include a swimming pool, pool deck area, pool clubhouse, restrooms, and electrical and mechanical support systems. While the actual roof deck and swimming pool would be within the 75' height limit, it is necessary to obtain a height variance to accommodate the pool clubhouse, restrooms, electrical and mechanical support systems, required life safety fence for the swimming pool, and a privacy screen wall around the top of the garage. Specifically, the Applicant seeks a height exception for the following: 1. A 15-foot enclosure wall for supporting the facilities of the recreational area atop the garage structure that includes the clubhouse, restrooms and electrical and mechanical support systems. The total amount of the area needed for the 15- foot enclosure is approximately 22% of the roof deck recreational area. 2. An 8-foot privacy screen wall around the perimeter of the top floor of the parking garage to provide for the safety and protection of the residents who will be using the recreational roof deck area so that they are not in danger of falling off, particularly if there are children using the swimming pool. The Applicant will provide some landscape along the privacy screen wall areas if the City desires as a condition of the requested exception. The Applicant requests the requested height exception be approved based on the following standards: 1. The height exception will not have an adverse effect on the proposed land use of MU-H for The Arches project. In fact, failure to obtain the requested height exception will have an adverse effect if the project were not able to accommodate the recreational roof deck on the top floor of the garage for the residential tenants. The roof top amenities will not be able to be seen from the street or ground level by the general public. With the exception of the requested 8-foot privacy screen wall, the other rooftop amenities such as the swimming pool, clubhouse, mechanical and electrical support systems, and restrooms will not be visible from the street level at all, and will only be visible by residential tenants on floors 8 through 10 of the residential buildings. 2. The requested height exceptions are necessary in order to provide the amenities to the residential tenants, provide for the life safety and protection of the tenants on the recreational roof deck area on the top floor of the parking garage by the privacy screen wall. It is extremely Mr. Mike Rumpf February 28,2003 Page No. Three difficult and not cost effective to place the swimming pool and recreational area on top of any of the other buildings. While the recreational amenity could have been placed in Block I in a large private courtyard area, to do so would have prevented the Applicant from providing the large public plaza area which the City wanted to have within the project. 3. The height exception will not severely reduce the light and air in adjacent areas. By keeping the other buildings within The Arches lower than the height allowed in MU-H zoning, the Applicant has provided much more light and air within the development than would otherwise exist. This reduction, in turn, provides for more light and air in areas adjacent to The Arches. 4. The height exception will not be a deterrent to the improvement or development of adjacent properties in accord with existing regulations. The adjacent properties are within the redevelopment areas designated by the Community Redevelopment Agency's Plan and will ultimately be redeveloped in accordance with the MU-H and MU-L Zoning Ordinance recently adopted by the City of Boynton Beach. 5. The height exception will not adversely affect property values in adjacent areas. The development of The Arches in accordance with the Site Plan Application with the requested height exceptions, will have an extremely positive and beneficial affect on surrounding property values by increasing those values and making the properties more valuable for redevelopment purposes. 6. The height exception will not adversely influence living conditions in the neighborhood. 7. The approval of the height exception will not constitute a grant of a special privilege to the Applicant as contrasted with the pubic welfare. Adjacent property owners will be free to apply for any height exceptions, if any, as may be necessary for the development of their property. The public welfare will be benefited by the development of The Arches and its necessary amenities by virtue of the redevelopment within the CRA boundaries as envisioned by the City. The Arches is the first project to file for Site Plan Review under the City's new MU-H zoning classification, as well as the first mixed-use residential, retail/restaurant/office project as envisioned under that Ordinance. It is critical to the success of the residential portion ofthe project that the necessary amenities be developed in order to be Mr. Mike Rumpf February 28, 2003 Page No. Four competitive in the market. Based upon the justifications set forth above, the Applicant believes that sufficient evidence has been presented to justify the need for the requested height exceptions set forth herein. Thank you for your attention to and processing of this request for height exception.