HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-10-18 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesF� oF�rgM9
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7525 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE a TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321 2401
TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900
October 7, 1988
NOTICE OF
CITY COUNCIL
WORKSHOP MEETING
There will be a Workshop Meeting of the City Council on
Tuesday, October 18, 1988, at 9:00 A.M., in the Council.
Chambers, City Hall, 7525 NW 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida,
for the purpose of discussing signage.
All meetings are open to the public.
CAE/gt
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CAROL A. EVANS
CITY CLERK
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
POLICY OF NONDI` CHIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS
CITY OF TAMARAC
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1988
TAPE 1
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on
Tuesday, October 18, 1988 at 9:05 A.M. in the Council Chambers.
PRESENT:
Mayor Norman Abramowitz
Vice Mayor Jack Stelzer
Councilman Dr. H. Larry Bender
Councilman Bruce Hoffman
Councilman Henry Rohr
ALSO PRESENT:
John P. Kelly, City Manager
Mike Von Hofen, Assistant City
Planner
Bob Kegan, Assistant Building Official
Pauline Walaszek, Special Services
Secretary
Mayor Abramowitz said the subject being discussed was the
Sign Ordinance and, because of the concerns expressed in
the past, the City Council felt that the meeting should
take place in the Council Chambers. He said the meeting
was properly advertised; however, he was very
disappointed that the people who were concerned were not
present.
Mayor Abramowitz said he was very disappointed in the
turnout and he was sure that once the Sign Ordinance was
reviewed and adopted, there would be opposition as to
it's contents. He said he would be recessing this
meeting and reconvening at 9:30 A.M. in Conference Room
#1 (City Clerk's Office).
At 9:15 A.M., Mayor Abramowitz'RECESSED this meeting and
RECONVENED at 9:30 A.M. in Conference Room #1 (City
Clerk's Office) with ALL PRESENT.
City Manager Kelly said the purpose of this meeting was
to discuss the Sign Ordinance and the possibility of the
City doing the engineering for their own traffic signals.
City Manager Kelly said he recommended that a moratorium
be called on the existing Sign Ordinance because as of
October 24, 1988, compliance had to be met; however, if
the City wanted to revise the Ordinance, it was unfair to
require compliance. He said the community would be
spending money to comply with the existing Ordinance and
staff would be spending time inspecting the signs for
compliance.
Mayor Abramowitz said what the City did in the past was
not the concern of the present City Council. He said the
City Council was concerned with the beautification of the
City and the interest of the residents. He said
priorities had to be recognized; therefore, if possible,
he would like another Workshop meeting held on Wednesday,
October 26, 1988 at 2:00 P.M. regarding the Sign
Ordinance.
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10/18/88
C/M Hoffman said a Special meeting should be called to
declare a moratorium on the existing Sign Ordinance and
Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City Council could express
their opinion on this matter and direct staff to take the
necessary steps to call a moratorium on the existing Sign
Ordinance.
C/M Hoffman said the City Council could not take positive
action on a matter at a Workshop meeting and he did not
feel comfortable directing staff to take such an action
without official approval from the City Council. He
suggested a Special Meeting be called.
V/M Stelzer said there have been problems with the
signage at Sunshine Plaza and if they conformed with the
existing Ordinance, they would have to conform again once
the Ordinance was amended. He said this was not fair to
the business; therefore, the City Council should review
the existing Ordinance and make the necessary changes to
correct the problems at Sunshine Plaza and throughout the
City.
Mayor Abramowitz said after reviewing the existing
Ordinance, he found several matters that had to be
corrected.
C/M Hoffman said Sunshine Plaza has not complied with the
existing Ordinance and it seemed that they may not comply
before October 24, 1988.
Scott Elk, Representing Attorney for Sunshine Plaza, said
Sunshine Plaza has hired a sign company and intended to
comply with the existing Ordinance; however, if there was
to be a moratorium called on the existing Ordinance,
Sunshine Plaza would prefer to wait and see what was
expected.
Mayor Abramowitz said a Special meeting would be needed
to declare a moratorium; however, he would like to
discuss the Ordinance and the time frame needed to revise
the existing Ordinance and expire the moratorium.
C/M Hoffman suggested that the moratorium should expire
90 days after the revised Ordinance was passed.
City Manager Kelly said this matter had to be resolved by
October 24, 1988 and he would like to have an Attorney
present. He said the City Attorney was away; however,
Janet Lander, from Ruf and Carsky, would be sitting in.
He sad he would contact Alan Ruf's office after the
meeting to see if Ms. Lander would assist the City in
this matter.
City Manager Kelly suggested that the Special Meeting
regarding a moratorium for the Sign Ordinance be held at
2:00 P.M., October 21, 1988 and the City Council agreed.
Bob Kegan, Assistant Building Official, asked if the
Building Department would be allowing new signs.
Mayor Abramowitz suggested that the person applying be
asked to wait until this matter is resolved.
City Manager Kelly said he would draft a letter regarding
this matter and see that it was advertised properly.
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10/18/88
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C/M Hoffman said the various Boards and Committees should
be attending the Sign Ordinance meeting and suggested the
meeting be postponed.
Mayor Abramowitz asked the City Manager to see that all
Departments, Boards and Committees and other Agencies be
Properly noticed of the next meeting.
George Hershenson of the Chamber of Commerce, asked where
the City stood with the signs that complied with the
existing Ordinance.
Mayor Abramowitz said this was a great concern of the
City and C/M Rohr said this matter should not be delayed
because it was a serious problem.
Mayor Abramowitz said pole signs should not be permitted
in the City and C/M Hoffman said he was concerned with
monumental signs, color formats and limited ground signs.
C/M Bender said the landscaping of signs should be
discussed as well.
V/M Stelzer said the existing Sign Ordinance was
valueless. He said an Ordinance indicating exactly what
was to be complied with was needed. He said the Planning
Commission was responsible for seeing that the Sign
Ordinance was complied with; however, it was difficult to
determine exactly what was being complied with by the
existing Ordinance.
Mayor Abramowitz said no one was looking to punish the
business community; however, when businesses enter the
City, they look at the City's marketing value to see if
their business would do well in the City. He said when
he goes to Coral Springs, he likes what he sees.
Mayor Abramowitz said if the City presented itself
Properly, the City would not only be benefiting from the
businesses, the businesses would be benefiting from the
City. He said he wanted the business community and the
residents to give input on the Signage and beautification
in Tamarac. He said he wanted the Sign Ordinance revised
to better the City and make the business community more
comfortable.
C/M Bender said the City did not want to flounder and
make existing mistakes. He said he contacted the
American Society of Planning regarding this matter. He
said the American Society of Planning submitted documents
that the City could use in their planning. He said the
City should be very careful in planning and do the best
for their City and business community.
C/M Hoffman said there were several shopping centers and
businesses spending a lot of money for beautification of
their projects. He said if beautification was not
important, these business would not be spending their
money.
Mayor Abramowitz suggested the City Manager get a wish
list from staff regarding their best planning for the
City and City Manager Kelly said it was unfair to ask
staff for this because sometimes they could only approve
Items that were workable.
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Mayor Abramowitz said he understood the pressure staff
was under; however, they were responsible to inform the
City Council of enforceable matters. He said the Sign
Ordinance could not be changed every two years.
C/M Rohr said by discussing the problems and finding
solutions, there would be a time where the City would
find the ultimate in their Sign Ordinance.
City Manager Kelly said it was staff's responsibility to
inspect the signs for compliance and approve them. He
said this matter should be implemented in the Ordinance.
Mayor Abramowitz said when he came into office, he
requested that the Planning Commission's reason for
denial be submitted to the City Council. He said there
was a lot of indication that the purpose of some of the
denials was because staff did not submit completed
documentation. He said he did not feel that the signs
should be denied for this reason; however, staff was
responsible for submitting complete documentation to the
Planning Commission.
City Manager Kelly said at the next meeting regarding the
Sign Ordinance, staff should be prepared to give
direction instead of waiting for it to be created.
City Manager Kelly said a specific group should be
assigned to handle the matters that staff could not and
Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted input from the different
parties before making any conclusions.
C/M Hoffman said he would like the Attorney for Sunshine
Plaza to discuss his concerns.
Mr. Elk said he was serving as a representative for the
firm; however, there have been several meetings
concerning Sunshine Plaza complying with the existing
Ordinance. He said there would be a problem with the
time frame to achieve compliance. He said Sunshine Plaza
was one of the oldest developments in the City and it
would cost a lot of money for the development to comply
with the Ordinance; however, Sunshine Plaza intends to
comply but it would not be possible to do so in the
limited time.
Mayor Abramowitz said Sunshine Plaza had 5 years to
comply with the existing Ordinance; therefore, he could
not find the time frame concern valid. He said the Plaza
has had a lot of tenant turnovers and compliance should
have taken place during that time.
Mr. Elk said the new tenants were asked to comply and
Mayor Abramowitz said when an Ordinance was approved,
compliance was expected.
V/M Stelzer said the City once had a Beautification
Committee that was eliminated and combined with the
Planning Commission; however, only two people were taken
from the Beautification Committee and placed in the
Planning Commission.
V/M Stelzer said he was not sure how many people on the
present Planning Commission were aware of beautification;
therefore, he suggested a Beautification Committee be
recreated.
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C/M Hoffman said the existing Ordinance was created with
input from the Beautification Committee and it was not
created in a manner that followed the City Code. He said
the City needed to revise the Ordinance following the
City Code without depending on any Board or Committee.
Mayor Abramowitz said he was not aware of the functions
of the previous Beautification Committee; however, a
Committee would not be needed if the Ordinance was
written properly.
Mayor Abramowitz said if the signs were not meeting the
criteria of the Ordinance and City Code, they should be
denied. He said he would like to stop so many sign
applications coming before the City Council.
V/M Stelzer asked who in the City Council and the
Planning Commission was familiar with beautification
matters and Mayor Abramowitz said he knew about things
that were not considered beautiful.
V/M Stelzer said the City was not aware of the
landscaping of signs, etc., unless they have experienced
it.
Mayor Abramowitz said staff was the experts and should be
advising the City Council about these matters and V/M
Stelzer said professionals should be inputting their
knowledge when the Ordinance is drafted.
Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted the public, businesses,
staff, Chamber of Commerce, Planning Commission, etc.,
involved in the input of the Sign Ordinance as well as
the City Council and Attorney.
C/M Bender said he consulted professionals and received
information from the American Society of Planning. He
said the information should be reviewed and possibly
implemented.
With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this
meeting at 10:30 A.M.
CAROL A. EVANS, CITY CLERK -
"This public document was promulgated at a cost of $98.00 or $2.72 per
copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees of
recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of
Tamarac."
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