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P.O. BOX 25010
TAMARAC. FLORIDA 33320
5811 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321
TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900
NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING
January 21, 1985
JOINT MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL,
BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE AND PLANNING COMMISSION
TAMARAC, FLORIDA
There will be a Joint workshop Meeting of the City Council,
Beautification Committee and Planning Commission on Wednesday,
January 30, 1985, at 9:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers of
City Hall, 5811 N.W. 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida.
The purpose of this workshop meeting is discussion of the
Municipal Facilities.
The public is invited to attend.
Carol E. Barbuto
Assistant City Clerk
"An Equal Opportunity Employer"
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;AM*
JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING
OF
CITY COUNCIL, PLANNING COMMISSION AND
BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE
January 30, 1985
Tape 1 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Philip B. Kravitz called the meeting to order
on Wednesday, January 30, 1985, at 9:00 A.M. in the Council
Chambers.
ROLL CALL: PRESE T:
CITY COUNCIL:
BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE:
PLANNING COMMISSION:
ALSO PRESENT:
Mayor Philip B. Kravitz
Vice Mayor Sydney M. Stein
Councilman Jack Stelzer
Councilman Raymond J. Munitz
Councilman Allan C. Bernstein
Chairman Florence Bochenek
Morris Landman
Seymour Stein
Howard Kusnick
Lynn Redfield
Brewster Hoffman
Nicholas Camerano
William Sutter (absent)
Chairman Arthur H. Gottesman
Vice Chairman Herman Larry Bender
Commissioner Martin Schoenfeld
Commissioner Lynn Redfield
Commissioner Lee Rappaport
Commissioner Jerry Leibowitz
Commissioner Emil.B tner(absent)
Commissioner Saul Mesinger (absent)
Elly F. Johnson, City Manager
Jon M. Henning, City Attorney
Carol E. Barbuto, Assistant City
Clerk
Joann Colwell, Secretary
Tape 1 MEDITATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Kravitz called for a
Moment of Silent Meditation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Kravitz noted for the record that this meeting was called at
the request of the Chairpeople of both the Planning Commission and
the Beautification Committee. He said the purpose of the meeting
is discussion of the municipal facilities.
Planning Commission Chairman Gottesman pointed out that the
drawings that were submitted weeks ago are not the same as those
displayed today.
Craig Kenyon said he and George Miller of Miller & Meier Archi-
tects are working for the City and it is their responsibility to
design a City Hall and Police facility to the City's needs. He
said they have had input from City staff, Council and are seeking
input from the Planning Commission and Beautification Committee.
George Miller said they have tried to develop a site plan with
easy access, especially for the Fire and Police Departments. He
said the median cut is set for this purpose and the Fire Depart-
ment should remain at its present location. He said if too many
curb cuts were set between this location there would be confusion
without easy acceleration lanes.
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Mr. Miller said they tried to locate City Hall in a place to be
seen well from the road and act as a hub of the complex with
visitor parking and drop off area in front of City Hall. He said
the City workers would park in the back of the complex with a
circular drive around the property to allow easy traffic in and
out of these parking lots.
Mr. Kenyon said they spoke with the DOT regarding the opportunity
for a traffic signal at this intersection and they said they agree
there is a need for a signal at this location. He said the DOT's
process is to review traffic flow after the facility is open and
they have agreed to initiate that process now and to immediately
move forward on this.
Nicholas Camerano of the Beautification Committee, said when this
was presented to the Beautification Committee, they thought this
was only one lane around the property and they discovered that it
was two-way. He said the Committee felt another exit was needed
to go south to help relieve some of the traffic. Mr. Miller said
there is the possibility of cutting in at that point and making a
right turn; however, the problem is there is no median cut at that
location and could cause confusion. He said the hardest problem
they encountered is where to cross the median.
Florence Bochenek Chairperson of the Beautification Committee,
said the Beautification Committee objected to the fact that the
first impression of this complex by the observer is that of a
parking lot in front. She suggested the building be moved to the
front of the area so that it be most apparent.
Mr. Miller said exposure, view and convenience must be considered
but the entrances from most buildings today are from the parking
lots and not from the street. He said the concept of turning the
entrance the most important part of the building, to the back
where the parking would be was not appealing. He said to solve
the problem they put a small area for visitors parking in the
front.
Mr. Miller said they designed the two-story building with an
important entrance at this point with light, view and sculpture.
Mrs. Bochenek said they want convenience for the visitors but they
also want a beautiful complex to be seen from the road. Mr.
Miller said it will be a predominant part of the property and he
noted that the entrance to City Hall should not be a back door.
Mrs. Bochenek said another area of concern is the Police facility
and she questioned why the emergency road was not placed with a
separate ingress/egress for safety purposes.
C/M Bernstein asked how many parking spaces are provided for
visitors and Mr. Kenyon said 52 spaces are planned in the front
but there are a total of 378 parking spaces on the site. He said
they had responded to the Planning Commission's request to in-
crease parking.
C/M Bernstein asked about overflow parking since there could be as
many as three hundred visitors to the City Hall complex at one
time. Mr. Kenyon said the site is 14 acres and they are limited
to the acreage of the site. He said the green space, buildings
and parking are all very important and must work together. He
said they showed a maximum amount of parking leaving space for a
community center which may be developed in the future.
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C/M Bernstein asked what provision has been made if the parking
should prove inadequate in the future and Mr. Kenyon said at this
present City Hall there are 155 parking spaces in the lot with
approximately 60 spaces added in the gravelled area to the south,
totalling over 200 spaces. He said there are almost double that
amount provided for with this new facility. He said there is
always the possibility that there will not be enough parking for
an unusual situation but there is a limited site to work with.
C/M Bernstein said frequently fire stations have signals espec-
ially designed to control the traffic signal as a warning when
there is a fire and the trucks must leave the site. He asked if
this will be used at this location and Mr. Miller said it is
recommended and the City can apply to the County for this.
C/M Bernstein asked what consideration was given to the problem of
both police and fire vehicles responding simultaneously on an
emergency basis. Mr. Kenyon said the two independent ingress and
egress areas from the location would cover this situation.
V/M Stein referred to the Council Minutes of 9/12/84 at which time
the Police and Fire facilities were planned to be together. He
said; however, the Police and Fire Departments objected to this
arrangement and the Council took staff's recommendations and split
these departments.
Mrs. Bochenek said one of the Beautification Committee's objec-
tions about the entire project was that they received all of this
information but the members of the Committee were not aware of
what was suggested. She repeated her concern that the City Hall
will not be as prominent as the Police Station.
Mr. Miller said the City Hall will be prominent because it is two
stories tall and, with the skylight material planned, will be lit
brightly at night with shadowed areas around it. He said the main
hall or auditorium will also light up; therefore, there is no way
the City Hall will take a second position.
Seymour Stein, of the Beautification Committee, said the Boca
Raton City Hall has parking on the side with no parking in the
front and he questioned whether any provisions have been made for
the proposed Community Center.
Planning Commissioner Schoenfeld said if the City builds a Com-
munity Center, there will be provisions for sufficient parking.
Bruce Hoffman of the Beautification Committee, said a major
concern is that there is only one ingress/egress for the whole
property and this will be a very busy complex. He suggested the
County be requested to provide another median cut for official use
only.
Morris Landman of the Beautification Committee, said the City Hall
should be a point of beauty within the City and he objected to the
Police and Fire Department facilities having prominent places for
Tape 2 viewing on the property.
Lynn Redfield of the Beautification Committee and Planning Com-
mission, asked the present grade elevation of the site in relation
to flood criteria and Mr. Kenyon said the building is required by
the South Florida Building Code to be above 100 years storm flood
criteria, which would give the elevation of the site from 10 to
11. Mr. Redfield asked if they have considered making this higher
to gain some prominence and Mr. Kenyon said it is above the
criteria by two feet now.
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Mr. Redfield said one of the auxiliary uses of a municipal complex
such as this is as an emergency shelter during hurricane or storm
and he noted this should be sufficiently elevated because of that.
He questioned whether any consideration was given to demolishing
the present Fire Station, continuing 75 St. as a dead-end road and
having the various buildings combined to funnel into a 75 St.
intersection which is signalized and could be improved.
Mr. Kenyon said the funds set aside in the bond issue did not
contemplate reconstruction of the Fire Station. Mr. Redfield said
he would like to see the concept he just mentioned considered
further. He suggested the visitors parking area in the front of
the building be eliminated and established elsewhere with use of
the front area for overflow parking in the future when and if it
is necessary.
Mr. Miller said if the Fire Station is relocated, the problem is
that the Fire Department wants prime access of that road to fight
fires. He said if time is added to their immediate egress it
could cause problems and it is not good planning to put an exit in
front of the Fire Station. He said to bring the building forward
and eliminate visitor parking would cause the building to be
turned around because the visitors would have to park in the back
and walk all around the building to enter.
Mrs. Bochenek said a great deal of money has already been expended
but she noted that she would rather see money wasted now and have
the building completed the way it should be then to have something
that is not acceptable. She said most of the members of the
Beautification Committee are objecting to where the buildings are
being placed on the site.
C/M Stelzer said the Council asked the people to permit the
building of a City Hall complex, issue bonds and, after question-
ing where this complex should be built, the people agreed to have
this on 88 Ave. He said the Council hired Miller & Meier at
public meetings and has reviewed these plans several times. He
said public input is always sought and yet no one from the Plann-
ing Commission or Beautification Committee gave any input.
Mrs. Bochenek said their objections are that the normal procedure
was not followed and the Beautification Committee did not have the
plans submitted to them. Planning Commissioner Gottesman said the
normal procedure is that they review these plans and they were not
informed that plans were being submitted to Council for approval.
He said they received the plans after Council approved them and
3/4 of the money allocated for engineering was spent.
Commissioner Gottesman said since Council already accepted this
concept, he questioned whether comments of either the Planning
Commission or Beautification Committee would be considered. He
said there are 14 acres of land but the Fire Station is presently
on 2 acres leaving only 12 acres for this complex. He said they
are planning for the year 2000 and this building is totally
inadequate.
Commissioner Gottesman said the architects have said that the new
City Hall is being planned for 50,000 people and he thinks a
rotunda for 250 people is much too small. He said the architect
has told him that 88 Ave. will eventually become a 3 lane road.
He said he was told there has been a model in existence for 9
months now and he questioned why the Planning Commission has not
been shown this.
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Commissioner Gottesman said he cannot foresee a Community Center
at this location. He said he has been told by the Administration
that in the near future there will be approximately 400 employees
and he questioned where this many people would park.
City Manager Johnson said he did not tell Commissioner Gottesman
that and he questioned where he got these figures. Commissioner
Gottesman said he was talking about more than 400 people by the
year 2000. City Manager Johnson said they would not all be in
that building. Commissioner Gottesman repeated that there will be
a parking and safety problem with the proposed situation there.
City Manager Johnson said there was the largest crowd at the last
Council meeting in recent history and there were still several
vacant spaces. C/M Stelzer said he is not against input from the
Planning Commission and Beautification Committee but he questioned
where they were from March, 1984 to the present.
Lee Rappaport of the Planning Commission, asked why a service road
is not provided in the northern area of the property for Police
use only. Mr. Miller said the problem is that there is no access
across the median at this point.
Commissioner Schoenfeld said there are three main issues raised
here today:
1. The entire complex is insufficient for the year 2000. He
suggested this be eliminated from discussion since this is a
major decision on the part of Council.
2. Aesthetics vs. Efficiency - He suggested the visitor parking
be put on the side with the building put up front.
3. Entrances and exits - He suggested another exit be considered
with a deceleration lane separate and apart from the road.
Nicholas Camerano of the Beautification Committee, said 6 months
ago he suggested the Police Station be located elsewhere since the
acreage would be sufficient for City Hall alone.
Mr. -Miller said they were told by the DOT that the emphasis was on
maintaining these two lanes as strong entrances and exits but he
will discuss this further with them. Commissioner Schoenfeld said
if there is more good created by another exit, it is more import-
ant than isolated instances of people making right turns and U
turns.
Mr. Miller said the building is designed and turned north/south to
meet the ecology of the area using the sun on the building for
light and control for cooling. He said if they turned the
building they would have to reevaluate the complete mechanical
system. He said this is done by State Law and they must conform
because the Code demands they do this.
Commissioner Schoenfeld said the study should relate to moving the
building forward and concluding which direction the building will
face.
Larry Bender, Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission, said the
drawing shows a large complex in a small area of space. He noted
that there is vacant space between buildings, parking spaces and
roads which could be reduced by proper traffic patterns.
Mr. Kenyon said the parking spaces cover approximately 70% of the
open space when the Fire Station and the proposed Community Center
are considered. He said the resulting open space is the result of
the City's Ordinances requiring green spaces on municipal pro-
jects. He said the green area is broken up because access was the
primary controlling factor.
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Howard Kusnick of the Beautification Committee, said for aesthetic
purposes, the Police Station should be moved back on the same
angle with the City Hall moved forward on the same angle. He said
the visitor parking could be considered on the side instead of the
front.
Mr. Miller said the roofs act as canopies and, if moved forward,
it would challenge the loop road to where it will be located.
Mrs. Bochenek asked if the Police Station could be moved further
over and back so that the City Hall could be moved forward.
Morton Student, resident, said the City Hall, rather than the
parking lot, should be seen from 88 Ave.
City Manager Johnson suggested that the City staff have an oppor-
tunity for input as well and Mayor Kravitz said they will have
that opportunity.
Don Scribner, resident, suggested the Police Department be elimin-
ated entirely with the County taking over the police activities of
the City. Mayor Kravitz said that is out of order at this time.
Commissioner Redfield asked the status of the electrical, mechani-
cal and air conditioning drawings is at this time and Mr. Miller
said they are all moving together. Commissioner Redfield asked
what ceiling is proposed for City Hall and Mr. Kenyon said most of
it is tile ceiling.
Commissioner Gottesman questioned whether the Police Department
could stay in the present City Hall with a revamping and Mayor
Kravitz said Council decided long ago that this was not feasible.
Commissioner Rappaport asked what is planned for the present City
Hall property and Mayor Kravitz said that has not been decided at
this time.
City Manager Johnson said Commissioner Gottesman made the comment
that the procedure in the Code had not been followed on this
project and he noted that this site plan was displayed in the
hallway of City Hall for some time.
Tape 3
City Manager Johnson suggested Council question the architect
regarding what the costs would be to make the suggested changes.
Richard Rubin, City Planner, said he was not present when the
accusation was made that improper procedures were followed regard-
ing the site plan and he asked what the problem is.
Commissioner Gottesman said he and others have commented that
these drawings were submitted to them after they were approved by
the Council and this is the reverse procedure that is normally
followed. Mr. Rubin said the City Council is the client, this is
their building and they have instructed the architect where it is
to be conceptually located. He said the Council has not approved
the drawings but has instructed the architect to prepare the
working drawings.
Mr. Kenyon said the Council reviews the drawings at each phase,
schematic, design and working drawings and presently, they have
accepted the design and authorized development of the working
drawings.
Mr. Rubin said when Mr. Kenyon prepares a final site plan, as
required by the City Code, the procedure is that it must be
reviewed by the City Engineer, City Planner, Chief Building
Official and the Fire Chief:
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Mr. Rubin said when they feel the drawings comply with the law,
they are submitted to the Beautification Committee first. He said
this was done, there were questions and they wanted the Planning
Commission's input. He said this was immediately placed on the
next agenda for the Planning Commission and, based upon that, this
Workshop meeting was called.
City Attorney Henning said he received memos from Mr. Rubin that
on 11/6/84, 12/4/84, 12/11/84 and 12/18/84, the site plan went
through staff review with comments and suggestions at each meet-
ing. He said this site plan has not been approved by the Council
but is at the stage of consideration of both the Planning Com-
mission and the Beautification Committee.
Mr. Henning said if the changes recommended are agreed to by the
developer, which in this case is the City Council, the drawings
may have to be redone. He said what was approved by the Council
on 9/12/84 was the general locations of the buildings on the site
plan. He said this Workshop meeting is to fine tune the details,
such as, how many lanes of driveway, handicapped spaces, traffic
control devices, parking locations, lighting, etc. He said;
however, the basic locations of the buildings was discussed for
months by the Council and was agreed upon in September.
Mrs. Bochenek said she is sorry her Committee did not have an
opportunity for input on the placement of the buildings on this
site. Commissioner Gottesman said the biggest problem they have
concerns the location of the buildings and he noted that 70 to 75%
of the money for engineering drawings has been spent already.
Mr. Henning noted for the record that the architects are not
authorized to do any work as a result of this meeting until it is
brought up at a regular meeting.
Mayor Kravitz adjourned the meeting at 10:45 a.m.
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This public document was promulgated at a cost of $103.50 or $2.88
per copy to inform the general public and public officers and
employees about recent opinions and considerations by the Council
of the City of Tamarac.
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