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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-10-18 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesF� oF�rgM9 9 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 l7 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. Page 1 `�' 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. Page 2 10/18/88 1 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. Page 3 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. Page 4 1--� 1 7 Lj 1 10/18/88 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." Page 5