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Minutes 01-12-76Mi~JTES OF THE SPECL~L }~ETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL, HELD AT CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORID_a, MONDAY, JAh-G_~RY 12, 1976 PRESENT Joe DeLong, Mayor Joseph F. Zack, Vice Nmyor Edward F. Harmening Emily M. Jackson Norman F. Strnad Fra~< Kohl, City Manager Tereesa Padgett, City Clerk Robert Reed, City Attorney Mayor DeLong called the meeting to order at 2:30 P. M. and announced it was a Special Meeting by the Chair at the re- quest of Mr. Joseph Aranow in behalf of the residents of Village Royale on the Green. Mayo~ DeLong informed the audience that the majority of the our male memoers of thls City Council have ir~herited the problems that exist at Village Royale on the Green. He added that the City Attorney City Fm~na~er C~t~, ~o~e~ and Buiidmng Officlal also have inherited these problems. These gentlemen will sit here as observers and after the presentation, the~ will state what action is to be taken. He as._ed if ~M. Azanow agreed and Mr, Aranow replied that he did. He Stated that this is~;the only item the Chair will permit to be discussed ~ud the item for which the meeting was called. Mr. Aranow appeared before the City Council and first apolo- gized to his friends at Village Royale on the Green for hav- ing his back to them. Mayor DeLong suggested that he turn with his back to the City Prosecutor. Mr. Aranow continued that they wanted to start off the new yesm on the right foot. He has heai~what all the Council members have had to say in the spirit of cooperation and good will. He just received e subpoena to testify here on Friday for Village Royale on the Green. He bears no ill to anybody and hopes they will get started on the proper ground. Mayor DeLong replied that the subpoena is~ample proof of the high regard'the City administration holds to him. ~'~. Aranow continued that everybody sitting in front of the City Council in the room came to Boynton Beach with the same idea, that this was a nice place to live. It is a place where they will probably spend the rest of their days. They t~ought it would be beautiful.They enjoy the wonderful cli- mate and people here. It is peaceful and quiet without too much fleck. Sometimes this is true and sometimes it isn't. It shows that they have been able to get along. He then re- minded thetpeo~le in attendmuce that the City Council has given them something they have been trying to get for three to four months. They have the opportunity to tell 2heir story without interference from anything else on the agenda. MI~TES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL ~ETiNG JANUARY 12, 1976 He will try to get this thing started and completed, in so far as ~illage Royale on the Green, most of these people came hers within the past two to t~hree years. They saw plans of what they thought they were going ts get. They liked what they saw. They decided to go into a 45 acre a~a of build- ings a~nd live comfortably. He doesn't think perhaps two or three people are competent engineers or architects and doubts if they had anybody with~owledge of the laws of Florida. They find they are faced with problems and have difficulty in solving them. With the help of the City Council, he is sure they are going to come to a lot of solutions. In the first place when they looked at papers given to them describing Village Royale o~ the Green,Jif they saw this bro- chure with trees on the golf course a~ud landscaping, and Mrs. Jackson stated this too, you would have to fall in love with it. it looked like the most beautiful place in the world. It is on paper,that is all. He then pointed out how much smaller the golf course was than shown. Where there should have been trees, you don't even find shrubs. They are faced with the problem of how to get these things. They could sue, but they do have a Building Department in Boynton Beach and Me. Howell has addressed him that he will do the job. If the problems are made clear to him and with ~he backing of the City Council, he will see that the laws of Boynton Beach are enforced° Not only will the people of Village Royale on the Green benefit, but they are entitled to it, and also those who will come ~ud they~ too, will get a fair shake,from the Building Department to see that people in Boynton Beach are protected. He referred to the code stating rules that when a man wants to build, there is a certain method to follow. The first section~states anybody owning a piece of property must build according tothe Planning& Zoning Regulations. He must ask for au application from the Building Department and when he complies with the rules and regulations, he can build. He explained how this was~regulated. ~. Aranow then informed them that Village Royale on the Green was a subdivision. They live according to Section 25 of the code. They live where they say if a viece of land is being subdivided into five or more building~ with less than five acres for each one, you must follow certain p!~us, rules, and regulations. The developers of Village Royale on the Green have told everybo~ that nobody tells them how to build, but they build how, when and where they ~lea~e.~ ~ This state- ment made by M~. Gross has so impressed him that he won't forget it until he dies. M~. Gross must find out that there are rules and regulations controlled by the Building Depart- ment. He then read Sections 25-A3 and 25-A4 from the code. -2- MINU~ - SPECI~/L CITY COUNCIL ~ETING J~UAR¥ 12, 1 976 He then referred to what exists at Village Royale on the Green. The original plat is a plan called Plan A, which he displayed for the City Council. This is Plan A and this is the original plan submitted to the Planning & Zoning Board and the date is September 19, 197t, He may be off a little on the dates, but he is sure they won,t be off any material amount. In Ju~ne, t972, this came plat, only with the da~e of June, 1972, was submitted to the Planning & Zoning Board for their recommendation and approval. In June, 1972, the Plan- ning & Zoning Board recommended this particular site plan to the City Council and the City Council approved this particu- lar site plan. In October, 1972, three to four months later, a new site plan called Plan B was submitted to the Planning & Zoning Board for recommendation and for approval to'the City Council. Please remember~ they have Plan A on file already having been approved by the City Council prior to Plan B. He will point out the difference as they go through. What hap- pened to Plan A? Do they have the right to assume that Plan B took the place of Plan A? If this is true, they must find somewhere in the ordinances or someplace where the Planning ~ Zoning Board has the right to entertain a new olan for this construction. They must also keep in ~nd wha~ he read from Section 25-A4, which states within a year there must be final approval of this particular plan which a builder submits. At no time, was there ever submitted any final plan for approval of either Plan A or B or other plan submitted by the builder. He again read this particular section. There was never final approval pur~mant to Section 25-A4. This is what he calls a violation of the ordins~ce of the City of Boynton Beach. He continued that he did not say that the previous superin- tendent of the Building Department did not know about this. He did not say that they overlooked it in bad faith. He did not say they have sufficient mempower to investigate these things to see i~ i~ done. He does say that it has never been done and is in violation of the code. If the Building Depart- ment does not have sufficient manpower, then they should come back to the City Council stating what manpower is needed. The law says this is the way plans are approved ~d people are supposed to build. He presumes M~. Barrett k~uew what the code stated. He thinks probably Mr. Barrett could have re- cited the code. He believes Mr. Bushnell did not have suf- ficient experience for the Job. He feels pretty sure the present superintendent has the experience and ~uow-how and he is sure the members of the City Council want the laws enforced. They raise this because of the failure of the City of Boy,ton Beach to have their laws enforced has caused them an ~×" amount of dollars. It has placed ~b ' ~ ~emr p~operty in non-conforming buildings. In the event of a fire, they could not even re-build their buildings. They are placed in a position if they wanted to change their buildings, they could not get permission from the Board of Adjustment. -3- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANU~RY 12, 19~6 ME. Aranow then referred back to Plans A and B and stated he would like to point out the difference and how it affects them. He added that they have a committee which did this work and they all worked together, but worked sincerely for hours and hours at a time. There have been days wheR they put in 16 to 18 hours to get this done. He informed them that the ~urvey was prepared in M~y, 1975, because N~. Bar- rett directed the builders of Villsge Royale on the Gree~ to prepare a survey and show exactly how this property was built. M~. Aranow read Ms. Barrett's letter to hE. Irving Gross dated April 18, 1975, referring to the parking spaces beir~g short and the different orientation of the buildings than the plan approved. It requested that a~urvey be made showing all the buildings and parking spaces allocated. He also advised that the plan ~ould have to be presented to the Planning & Zoning Board and City Couacil in order to proceed with construction. It ended with stating that this must be done within 15 days. ME. Aranow stated that he thinks they got the plan a~day or two before June 10, ~975. He then read Mr. Bushnell's letter dated September 22, I975, to Mr. Gross. This~letter referred to the shortage of parking spaces ~ud being in violation. He advised that according to the survey, no additiomal parking spaces had been provided. He referred to the parkir~ being inadequate aud regulations continuing to be violated and he insisted that corrections be submitted to the Building ~epart- merit within 72 hours. M~. Aranow informed the Council that the red markings were Plan B.~ These were superimposed on the drawing, which is the as is plan made by Ms. 0'Brien. He then paased this around to the members so they could see the difference in the build- ings. A ~epresentative from Village Royale on the Green showed the plans to each member ~ud explained. M~. ~ranow then read from the minutes of the Planning & Zon- ing Board meeting on October 30, 1972. He read the discus- sion about the first item on the agenda, Village Royale on the Green, pertain~g to the building hot being built ac- cording to the original site plan which the City Council approved. He read how a code violation was brought out at this time and they were advised to appear before the Board of Adjustment. ~. Aranow informed them that M~. Gross did appear before the Board of Adjustment, but because he forgot to put a stai~¥~ in the building. He then read the minutes from the Board of Adjustment meeting on December 11. ?~. Aranow stated that Plan B, which was supposed to change Plan A, was ~passed by the City Council in November 1972. On December 1~, they went to the Board of Adjustment for approval and the variance was turned down. No other appli- cation was made to the Board of ~djustment to correct this situation to this day. They have gone through the records -4- MIh~S SPEC~A~ CITY COUNCIL MEETING JA~OJARY 12, 1976 at ~ea~t a half dozen times. There was never another applica- tion to correct this thing, but the building was built. They were stopped at the second floor, but still continued to the fourth floor. ~. Aranow informed them that part of another building is on City property. They think this is a violation. They do not have the expertise to say this, but these are violations they can see, - - He informed the Council that they have counted the parking spaces %a~tthey are missing. On October 27, when they appeared here at a meeting, they gave input of various things they found. The law says they are entitle~ to 1½ parking spaces for every unit in the complex. According to their figures, they are short over 200 parking spaces, The law also states under a different section of the code that for an auditorium they are entitled to one parking space for each four seats. The builder has recently advertised that the auditorium is for 800 people and based on tha%, they are entitled to 200 parking spaces. According to another section of the law, they are entitled to one space fo~ each two seats in the club house. They would be entitled to another 200 p~king spaces. There is a tota~ in excess of over 500 soaces short. He read Section 31.13 pertaining to offstre~t ~arking in the code. They actually counted the seats in the building and at one or more times, there have been over 900 peeple there. In the auditorium and on every Monday night ~_ud perhaps three or four nights, there are over 400 people in the other roo~s of the club house. Mr. Aranow stated he would like to say something else about M~. Kohl. He thinks Mr. Kohl is one of the most competent men for the job and he explained how he came to this conclu- sion with more than 50 ye~s in the business world. He has his highest respect for his ability and confidence to do a good job. He can also say this about N~. Allan Nyquist of the Fire Department. Both men are competent and do a good job, but Certain problems arise. ~. Aranow referred to having receiv~-~ at Village Royale on the Green at least a half dozen or more reports pertaining uo their building. In 95% of the cases, these violations existed when the developers were running each of these build- ings. When the developer got tired of h~udling these build- ings, he turned them over to the unit owners and now thsy receive these notices from the Fire Department stating there are certain violations which must be corrected. These viola- tions should have been given zo the developers, because all of these violations existed with the buildings then. However, when M~. Nyquist wanted to place these violations on the buildings some time ago, he received orders from some people telling him to hold off since they were trying to straighten -5- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL .~ETING J~ARY 12, 1976 it out. The point is now that these things are being served on them, they must again suffer. There have been times and he has heard from members of the City Co~cil, City Manager, or Mr. NyqUist, that if~.~people would leavehim alone and leave him do What he ~nts to do, he would be better off. He thinlms this is so. He thin_ks with a new City Co~cil, new Building Official, etc., he hopes these departments will be able to go ahead and do what they think is a good job. Let them have the opportunity to do it. He is hoping that this Council, the City Manager and the executives will t~.ke care of this. These ars only some of the things which have been affecting the people at Village Royale on the Green. ~.~. Aranow referred to certain units that have bathrooms and as you go in the bathroom and turn on the light, you hear a fan. This fan moves the air around in the room. In this one particul~r bathroom, there are no windows amd this fa~ is not connected to fresh air at any place. There is no w~ the fresh air can get in. There is no way the air in that bath- room can go out, which they think is a requirement of the code. Of Course, the City of Boynton Beach has accepted the Southern Standard Building Cods in the last few years. He read Section 201.4 on Page 20-2, Subdivision B, from the Southern Standard Building Code. He also read Section 201-6 pertaining to mechanical ventilation. He added that they didn~t have anybody who could tell them whether these bath- rooms were in violation or not. -~. Aranow informed them that there were many, m~ny other things of a sim. ilar nature they are not competent to go into. They feel the Building Department has the duty to check into the plans and s ec~f~cat~Ons of ~uy o~d~r to be sure they are followed. If tne~ are not followed, m~ is uo to the Building Superintendent to call in a prosecutor ~or every violation and not issue a c/o until the violation is re- moved. ~hey k~ow there are violations placed on the ~ - lng because of offstreet parking. They know there is a matter pending__~ City Court in connection with this vmo~a~mon.' ~ *' They also know there is a violation under the Fire Depart~nt~rules and regulations for emergency lights in the stairwells, which will be prosecuted in the City of West Palm Beach. They don't Y~ow what violations are~existing on the problem. They have some idea, but they feel it is the duty of the City of Boynton BeaCh for the betterment of the ?~eople at Vilis~ge Royale on the Green that they have a Building Depart- ment who will not let a builder get away with letting him build how~ where and when he pleases. M~.~Aranow referred to the original olans calling for build- ings wm.n a ~engtn of 250 ft., but o~ the as built plan, the bu~lmmngs wind up with 280 to 290 feet. He read the Permit -6- ~tNUTES SPECi~ CITY COUNCIL ~ETING JA~U~ARY ~ 2, 1976 No. 8262 given to Green Tree Building. He read the amount of square feet given and total valuation given of $4,000. He then explained how the actual building differed from the size stated on the permiti He pointed out that the City gets a fee de- ~ending upon the amount of footage in a build~_ng,.so he thin~ it is im_portant that the City checks these th~ugs. The Build- ing Department should check this. The City is losing money on it. If the size of the apartment is increased, it does not benefit the other unit owners, does not benefit the ter~w~ut, and he is sure the developer ~ ~.~ not sell this larger apart- ment for the same price as the smaller ones. He would say off-hand that starting with Building #7 thru 14, that every building except #tl has radical changes in so far as the site plan. If he read the list of all the changes and problems, it would certainly be beating ~ dead horse. He thinks they have the idea. ~. Aranow informed them that they requested this special hearing as they think things can be done. They have stated what they think the Building Department can do and thi~k the City Mmnager and City Council should be sure they do it and check that it is done. He doesn't see in the code any auth- ority for the Planning & Zoning Board to go back e~d have a new site plan for buildings in construction. He referred again to the situation with the Fire Marshall and called their attention to the provision in the code that where there are violations on a oiece of property, the Build- ing Department can suspend or re~oke a permit and certainly they should permit a c/o from being issued. He doesn't see any reason the City should continue to let a developer have benefits if a c/o has been erroneously issued. They know the c/o's for Buildings #8 thru 14 have been without question erroneously issued. There are apartments being sold now that are non-conforming apartments. In ~ ~her words, they are not ~eing sold as non-conforming, but as 100~ valuable apartments. They are non-conxo~m~ng because the c/o has been erroneously issued. Why can't the Building Department prevent the issu- ance of c/o,s? As far as the oeople residing there, they are stuck. Red tags should be pla~ed'on all the unsold apartments until the violations are removed. He also stated that they must find out the violations they car~uot see and c~unot find by being inexperienced. The City has inspector~, engineers and competent men ~nm should go in there and find the violations, so those who live there will k~uow what is wrong with the property. He thin2<s, accordiD, g to the code, once there has been a stoppage of work on a job for over 30 days that no work can be continued u~atil a new permit is issued. Also~ a new permit should not be is- sued until the plan has been submitted to the Planning & Zoning Board and notice has been given to oeoole in the area. They must notify the builder if they contemplate doing any additional work, that they must do it according to the zoning -7- MINUTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL ~ETING J~UARY 12, 1976 code and present a new plan with proper notice bei~ given to people living within 400 feet. A new permit should not be issued to them unless notice is given to these people. ~. Ar~uow continued that one thing he thinks is very im- portant is a misunderstanding some members of the City Co~n- cil have had. They have the CAB, which is very important in Boynton Beach. They are proud of it and very happy with it. However, they have~heard the argument that the ~ermmt was issued to ~illage Royale on the Green before the CAB came into existence. The CAB and Building ~epartment cannot now step in and say they have to do the landscaping. In Boynton Beach, they have had a similar situation where a church wanted to put up a seven story building and the City Council said no, they ~e passing a law for buildings not to exceed 45 feet. The courts held this was the right of the City. He thinks under this authority, the CAB has a perfect right to go into anybody,s place saying they must consult with them regarding what they are going to do with the property whether it was built five years ago or not. He thin_ks perhaps the City Council should get an answer from the City Attorney. He thinks Mr. Simon's information that they did not have the authority to compel ~. Gross to submit plans to the CAB was erroneous information. There is a waste laud in a port_on of Village Royale on the Green and they would like the landscaping they are entitled to. M~. Aranow then thanked the Council members for giving them this time and stated he would like, if possible~ to have the recommendations they have made. Mayor DeLom~ complimented him on the in-depth study he made. M_~. Aranow informed him that the Board did the work. Mayor DeLong outlined a motion to the effect that.a meticulous and in-depth study which has been made be turned over to the City Building Official in conjunction with the City Manager and if there is additional help to be employed to conduct this study that they engage extra help. They want a thor- ough study and they in turn will get together with the City Attorney and he w~_l tell them what is answerable at this particular time and what is not answerable and they are also instructed to check what the residents cannot see. Mr. Aranow added that whenMr. Bushnell came to their build- ing and turned in the report that the catwalks were safe, this was made through the efforts of the City M~uager pre- ~.mlmD~ upon Mr. Bushnell, Mr. Schmidt and lit. Fellows to come with him. They measured the level of the catwal~ from the various buildings. The plans~called for a ~ inch drop and the best they could find was in one place, the level was s~amg.~t which means the building was ~ inch off. ne explained how ~. Fellows measured and also found pockets in ~b ~e catwalks containing water. M~. Bushnell made the -8- MI~JTES - SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL ~ETiNG JA1CJ~RY t2, 1976 report that the catwalks were okay because Dr. List told him they were okay. He read Mm. Bushnell's letter to M~. Kohl regarding the inspection of the catwalks. He pointed this out to show that ~r. Kohl is not only competent to do the job, but came out with M~. Bushnell. Mms. Jackson asked if they had ever found the colored picture brochure of Village Royale on the Green and Me. Aranow in- formed her that Mrs. Padgett had found it. ~s. Jackson looked at it ~d stated that this is what the City Council originally voted on. They assumed Village Royale on the Green was going to look like this. }~. Zack made a motion to follow the recommendations outlined by Mayor DeLong and if additional help is needed, that they get it. M~. Strnad seconded the motion. No a_scuss~on.~ ' Mrs. Padgett took a roll ~ ~ vote as cai_. follows: Councilman Harmening ~ye Councilwoman Jackson - Aye Councilman Strnad - Aye Vice M~yor Zack - Mayor DeLong - ~c¢e ~otion carried 5-0. ~. Strnad moved to adjourn, seconded by Y~. Zack. Motion carried 5-0 and the meeting was adjourned at 3:55 P. M. ATTEST: ~YClerk CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ~ ~ ~/~unci!member / ~ - ' ~Councilmember Susan Kruse, Recording Secretary (2 Tapes) -9-